“I’ll go up to the deck and see!” offered Ned.
“Be careful, don’t let them get you!” warned Jack.
“I’ll watch out for that,” laughed Ned, mounting the iron ladder.
Directly the little group at the foot of the ladder were startled to hear their companion’s voice. A note of anxiety vibrated through his words.
“Boys,” Ned cried, “there’s a gunboat out there, and I think I see another submarine. It looks to be like the ‘U-13’ for all the world. What shall we do?”
“Here,” urged Jimmie, “take the glasses and have a good look. If it is that Dutchman, I’m for beating it out of here mighty quick!”
For a tense moment Ned gazed through the glasses at the strange vessels. At length he lowered the binoculars and turned toward his companions. With a shake of his head and a quick indrawing of breath, he said:
“It’s the ‘U-13’ as sure as can be!”
“Let’s go!” was Jimmie’s only comment as he turned toward the switchboard with outstretched hand.
“I’m with you!” declared Ned, quickly descending the ladder to join the group. “Go ahead slow, though. Don’t break the hawser, or we’d lose the other vessel.”