Going below to his cabin, the skipper began to make preparations to receive his involuntary guests. They had come aboard of their own free will, it was true, but already they had discovered that getting away from the Alerte was quite a different matter.
Presently the gunner knocked at the door.
"Mr. Broadmayne, sir," he reported.
"Take that chair, Mr. Broadmayne," said Captain Cain.
The Sub did so. Although giving away the slight advantage he possessed in height, he realised that it was decidedly uncomfortable having to be interviewed with his shoulders bent to prevent his head touching the sweating steel roof of the little cabin.
"I suppose," resumed the pirate, with a slight tone of irony, "that you are already acquainted with the nature of the craft that has given you shelter?"
"I'd be remarkably dense if I weren't," replied Broadmayne.
"And what, might I ask, is the result of your investigations?" inquired Captain Cain suavely.
"To put it bluntly," rejoined the Sub, "you're a filibuster—a pirate."
"That's putting the case rather strong," protested Captain Cain. "The vessel we intercepted was a Hun. I was fighting Germans in the high seas when you were a child in arms, I imagine. I saw enough to make me vow I'd go bald-headed for one whenever I had a chance. That chance I took to-day."