"So they got you, too, eh?"
"No, they didn't get me," replied Frank, "but it seems we have got you, all right."
"What's that?" demanded Jack, believing he had not heard aright.
"I say," declared Frank, "that we've got you. I'm second in command of this pirate crew and I don't want you to forget it. You will address me with civility."
"What's the joke?" asked Jack.
"No joke," returned Frank. "I'm the first officer of this submarine, and Captain Jack—that's your captor—has left it to me to pronounce sentence on the men who have killed two of our good pirates and wounded two others."
"So you've joined the pirates?" said Jack, with a smile. "All right, we await the sentence. What is it? Walk the plank?"
"No," said Frank, "the sentence is that you become members of our pirate crew."
"What," said Jack in mock seriousness, and supposing of course that
Frank was joking, "me a pirate? I guess not."
"Either that," said Frank, "or you shall be bound and securely guarded until we have returned from an imminent cruise."