"Hail 'em. They're close at hand," Joe replied.
The first hail brought an answer. In a few moments more the iron box was carefully brought over the side into the small boat. Finally Tom and Ted nimbly joined the others.
"Get back to the yacht as quickly as you can. Rollings may come to, and, fighting in a small boat like this, he could make it unsafe—for the money," Captain Tom Halstead added, with a wan grin.
Little time passed before strong hands bore the iron box up over the side of the "Victor." Then Frank Rollings, just beginning hazily to come to, was carried up. This time he was handcuffed, to remain so until San Francisco should be reached.
It was an anxious conference that gathered in the main cabin as Assistant District Attorney Jephson proceeded to force the iron box that had come within a hair's breadth of going to the bottom of the ocean. The three boys who had gone overboard after it stood by in their dripping garments.
As the lid of the sheet-iron box went up, a subdued cheer arose. This increased in volume to a din as Mr. Jephson swiftly tore the paper wrappings from one of the packages that he had lifted out. The first tightly-packed bale of crisp, new thousand-dollar bills was in view.
"All of the stolen money—the whole three million dollars—appears to be here," announced Mr. Jephson, presently, as he began placing the bales back in the iron box, which, now that it was open, proved not to be as thick or solid as it looked when closed.
"Then I'm off to where I can get dry and warm," muttered Tom Halstead. "Come along, fellows."
It was all over but making the anchorage at San Francisco. There was a somewhat long, though uneventful cruise, through fog that lasted to the end. With the "Panther's" crew divided up between two boats, the work was hard, indeed. It was a welcome hour to all when anchorage was finally made not far from the foot of Market Street, San Francisco.
Frank Rollings was afterwards tried, convicted, and sentenced to twenty years' confinement, which he is now serving.