"Yes, sir; they are all returning, sir."
The noon hour had arrived, and the crew was piped down to mess just as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. As the captain's motor boat drew alongside the captain called over to the boat to pull up by the starboard gangway. In a few moments he joined the boat there and boarded her.
"Run up under the bow of the ship," he commanded.
A few revolutions of the propeller brought them to the spot indicated.
"Is this the place you signaled about, Davis?" he demanded sharply.
"Yes, sir."
The bottom, shining and white, lay in plain sight. One had only to glance over the side of the motor boat to see it.
"Pass a lead line over the side."
A line was dropped to them and at the captain's command Dan Davis took a sounding.
"What do you make it?"