“So you killed the traitor, eh?” he said at last, coming to a stop in his contortions. “Good for you! I should like to have done it myself. You are a brave chum, old man, and I am glad to have you for one.”
“No more glad than I am to have you for a chum,” replied Frank. “I have done nothing you wouldn’t have done had you been in my place. It was simply luck, that’s all.”
“It was a brave action,” put in Alice Beulow, “and for the second time I owe you my life. The debt, I fear, can never be repaid.”
“It was nothing any other fellow would not have done,” protested Frank modestly.
“But tell me how you happened to arrive so opportunely,” demanded Alice.
“Well,” said Frank, “after the battle, our first thought was of you. We had heard, just before our wireless apparatus was put out of commission, of your arrest, but, until after the battle, we could do nothing.
“Since noon yesterday we have been scouring the sea for the Alto, and we were beginning to fear that we should not locate you in time. The loss of our wireless came near proving fatal. It was early this morning when we finally made out what we felt sure was the Alto.”
“He doesn’t tell you, Miss Beulow,” Jack broke in, “how he stood watch all that time without a wink of sleep; and that but for the keenness of his eye we should probably have missed you.”
“Well,” said Frank, “I could do nothing less. But that’s all there is to the story. Now, Miss Beulow, will you tell us your experiences aboard the Alto?”
The girl complied, and the boys listened with the greatest of interest.