No answer came, but there was a question from out of the darkness.

“Say, messmates, hear that?”

“Tom Fillot.”

“Ay, ay, sir.”

“Where are we?”

“Dunno, sir. Here, I think.”

“But where is here, stupid?”

“That’s a true word, sir. I am stupid—who’s this?”

“Dick Bannock, AB, it is,” said the familiar voice of that seaman.

“Know where we are, mate?”