The journalist pointed. Every eye followed the general direction indicated by the pointing finger.
"Some object floating in the water. Can't see what it is from here," added the lookout. Several others standing by his side agreed there was something out there in the water.
"It's Dick! It's Dick, my chum!" Jay was in a frenzy and would have leaped overboard to go to the rescue had he not been restrained. Captain Austin by this time had run aft and with megaphone in hand directed the sailors in the dory to row around the stern of the Jules Verne and come up on the port bow of the vessel.
In all this confusion, amid all the babel of voices, there resounded the furious barking of a dog. Fismes, an eye-witness of the rescue of Jay, had become all excited, too, and was giving vent to himself with raucous barking. With canine instinct the animal seemed to sense the situation. And when everyone began pointing in a certain direction over the side, the dog concluded there was something out there demanding attention; something to be retrieved from the water.
It required no word of instruction, no exhortation, to tell this dog what to do. Gathering himself with all his strength, the lean hound leaped from the deck of the Jules Verne directly into the water. No one told him to go; none had an opportunity to hold him in check.
"Fismes! Fismes! Good old dog! Go to it!" screamed Jay in sheer delight.
Almost breathlessly the crowd on the ship watched the dog. As though guided by some uncanny power the dog swam straight and true in the direction of the floating object. Was it the body of a man? Was it the form of Dick Monaghan? The dog knew not; he sensed only the fact that something was floating out there in the water, and it was something that all eyes on board were watching.
"Good dog, Fismes!" they were shouting.
On and on the faithful canine swam with all the strength of his slim legs. And soon he had reached the side of this mysterious object and set his teeth in it. They who were shouting encouragement from the Jules Verne saw all this and marveled at the strength of the animal. They saw him take a firm hold. They saw him stop for an instant. They saw him start to swim again, this time toward the ship—and towing the object along through the water as best he could! Only a dog—but what a wonderful animal! Swimming superbly and maintaining a vise-like grip on the salvaged object.
A mighty shout arose from the deck of the Jules Verne.