Without further interruption the boat ran alongside the deck of the "Aphrodite." Her crew jumped aboard the parent vessel, hauled the collapsible on deck and folded it.
"Look sharp, sir!" exclaimed Gwennap. "There's a steam-boat bearing right down upon us."
There was no time to be lost. Hastily the folded boat was dropped through the hatchway, her crew quickly followed and the hatch was reclosed. One touch and the emergency chambers were flooded, and the submarine began to sink to the bed of the river. It was a close thing for the picquet boat. Had she been a quarter of a minute earlier they would have stove her bows in against the massive plating of the elusive vessel. As it was she passed over the after-conning-tower with less than half a fathom of water to spare, utterly ignorant of the narrow escape she had had.
"Welcome home once more, Kenwyn!" said Mr. Devoran cordially, extending his hand, which the new arrival gripped like a vice and shook like a pump-handle.
Had the chief officer of Southsea Coast Guard Station, or P.C. 445 of the A Division of the Borough of Portsmouth Police been present at this reunion, they would have had no difficulty in recognizing Mr. Kenwyn as the quiet and very retiring unknown who had landed under most unusual circumstances on Southsea Beach.
"I had to abandon my diving-suit, sir," explained Kenwyn, who served on board the submarine in the capacity of second officer.
"That I have already learnt from Press reports," replied Captain Restronguet. "And I was glad to know that you took particular pains to get rid of the air reservoir. That did the authorities nicely; they are welcome to the dress, and if they can analyse the metal it is composed of they are also at liberty to make use of the secret. It has not been patented. But how came you to get out of your bearings, Kenwyn? I notice you had to concoct a cock and bull yarn about walking from the beach at Gosport."
"I never tell a lie, sir, under any conditions. As a matter of fact, after I left the 'Aphrodite' I did go ashore at Gosport, somewhere behind a yacht yard. No one saw me. I then tried to cross to the Portsmouth side of the harbour to try and recover the submarine welding tool that Carnon, you may remember, dropped when we examined the entrance to No. 5 Shipbuilding Slip. Before I realized it the ebb tide caught me, and I was whisked off down the harbour at a rate of at least seven knots. As soon as I felt the current slacken I took compass bearings and came ashore, and the rest you know."
"You have, of course, heard that we have a naval officer on board?"
"Heard? Rather. The papers are full of it, sir, and every one is talking about it. At Exeter Station and again at Millbay, on my journey down, it was the sole topic of conversation on the platform."