Then, turning to Mr. Henderson, he exclaimed.
“Better get the suit off this other chap. Don’t know who he is, but he’s something rotten! Guess it’s a good thing the police are here.”
As Mr. Henderson and Rawlins stepped towards the man who still wore his suit, the fellow raised an arm and leaped, or tried to leap, away, quite forgetting the heavy, lead-soled boots he wore. The result was that he tripped and fell heavily and, before Rawlins or Henderson could reach him, he was twisting and rolling towards the gaping trapdoor. An instant more and he would have been in the water, but just as he reached the edge of the opening, Frank, who with Henry had been staring open-mouthed and dumbfounded at the surprising and incomprehensible events taking place
so rapidly before them, sprang forward and slammed shut the door which, in falling, pinned the fellow’s legs beneath it. Then, as if fearing the man might wriggle free, the excited boy jumped upon the heavy planks. But there was no fight or attempt to escape left in the fellow and, as several policemen rushed forward and seized him, he submitted without the least resistance and a moment later had been stripped of his suit.
Once more it was Mr. Henderson’s turn to be amazed, for, as he caught sight of the man’s face, as he saw the closely-cropped, bullet-shaped head, the tiny, close-set piggish eyes and the big loose-lipped mouth he could scarcely believe his eyes and uttered a sharp exclamation of wonder.
“Put the bracelets on him and don’t give him a chance!” he ordered the police and, as the shining irons snapped with a click about the man’s wrists and the officers led him to one side, the small piglike eyes glared at Mr. Henderson with such mingled hatred, brutality and ferocity that the boys shivered.
Rawlins was now bending above Tom beside Mr. Pauling and when, a moment later, the boy
took a long, deep breath and his eyes fluttered open, the anxious, strained expression upon the diver’s face vanished.
“I’ll say he’s a good sport!” he ejaculated. “Poor kid! Don’t wonder he went clean off! And he saved my life too—with his under-sea radio at that!”