But now that the French had approached close enough for their commander to distinguish the faces of the English sailors the tenseness of the French sailors relaxed, and they came on more confidently. The French officer ran his boat close to the one occupied by Frank and Jack and leaped lightly aboard it. The lads rose to greet him.
All three saluted, and the French officer said:
"I'm glad to see you."
"Not half as glad as we are to see you," replied Jack with enthusiasm. "This time yesterday we didn't know whether we would ever see land again or not."
"You have been adrift all that time?" questioned the officer.
"Yes, sir."
"You said something about having been sunk by a German cruiser.
Why didn't they pick you up?"
"Because they were already at the bottom of the sea," replied
Jack calmly.
"You mean that you sunk them with the small guns of your ship?" asked the officer in great wonderment.
"Yes," replied Jack briefly. "We were fortunate enough to do that with our last shot."