"Wonder if he's going to submerge and let us be washed away?" he asked.
Jack shrugged his shoulders again—a habit he had.
"We should have thought of that sooner," he said. "It's too late now.
We'll have to wait and see."
But the vessel remained on an even keel and directly the conning tower opened and Captain Jack emerged.
"Think I was going to run from under you?" he asked, with a smile.
"Such a thought had struck us, to tell the truth about it," said Jack.
"Don't worry," said Captain Jack, and added grimly, "at least not until this night's work is over."
Neither Jack nor Frank felt called upon to reply to this remark. For some moments the three stood in silence scanning the black expanse of water as the submarine nosed gently along. Then Captain Jack broke the silence.
"Let's go below," he said.
Two hours later Captain Jack again went on deck. He motioned to Frank to follow him. In spite of the fact that Captain Glenn, a man of proven experience, was aboard and that Jack had ranked above Frank on the Albatross, the pirate chief still held to Frank for his first officer.