"Yes, down there, but up here—say," he added, "the blood of that champion sea serpent never got to the surface, did it?"
"Just enough of it to cause me to think a shark was making a meal down there," replied Frank.
Jimmie told the story of the encounter, laughing at the peril which was past, but Frank looked grave.
"We'll have to be more careful how we wander about on the bottom of the sea," he said. "It was just luck that brought you out alive. You might wound a serpent a hundred times with that steel bar and never again strike a vital spot."
"Then," Jimmie laughed, "when we get back to New York you put in a claim for a Carnegie medal for me! It would look fine on the front of me hat." "I'll have Ned make you a medal out of a fish's fin," laughed Frank.
"All right!" cried Jimmie. "It will be all right, just so it is a medal."
Then Jimmie told of what he had seen in the vicinity of the Shark, and Frank complimented him on his courage and good judgment in keeping down until he had secured the desired information.
"We know now," he said, "that the Shark people are communicating with the shore. Perhaps Ned and Jack will learn just what they are doing there. If they do, we shall know just what course to pursue."
"What's the answer?" asked the little fellow.
"Why, if the Shark people dispose of the documents—if there were any documents in the plunder—we'll have to chase after the men who take them. The gold doesn't count."