The three entered the cabin. Inside, Frank made out several big sacks scattered about the floor. "Potatoes," he said, and looked further. There he also found an extraordinary amount of salt meats and a bountiful supply of vegetables.
"Looks like your good father had been very busy," he said to young Cutlip with a smile. "That's what the Germans will have the whole world doing for them if we don't lick 'em."
"You're right there, sir," agreed Lieutenant Hetherton.
"Well," said Frank, "we'll leave these things as they are. It will help divert suspicion from young Cutlip here when the Germans find his father is not on hand. But I guess there is nothing more we can do now. Come, we'll go outside."
Frank now saw to the disposition of his men. These, as he had decided, he stationed on three sides of the cabin. He himself took command of the men on the left, Lieutenant Hetherton commanding the right wing and a sailor named Hennessy the left. A short time later the sailors who had conducted Cutlip the elder to the Essex returned and took their places.
"Did he go along peaceably?" asked Frank of one of the newcomers.
"Well, he kicked once or twice," replied the man, "but he went along all the same, sir."
Frank grinned.
"Just so long as you got him there," he said.
"Oh, he's there, all right," grinned the sailor, "but when I left he was threatening to have the whole American navy down on us and hoping that these German submarines shoot us to little pieces."