“Submarine!” Doris whispered, as she and Dave gaped at each other.
“We are about two hundred feet down,” the voice went on, desperately. “Something’s gone wrong with our pumps, and we can’t blow out the water in our compartments. You gotta help us. We have a friend of yours here and she’ll tell you I’m speaking the truth!”
Doris and Dave were startled beyond description when they heard Mildred Kennedy’s voice coming over the air.
“Listen, Doris,” the girl’s voice was tense with emotion. “I’m down here in this submarine. I blundered onto that ancient castle up on the ridge, and there were spies there. They wouldn’t let me go because they—they said I’d tell what I saw. And that—that’s true. I would!
“But these boys on the submarine—they—” her voice broke a little, “they’re not really spies! They’re just boys in the navy of their country, doing what they’re ordered to do. They’ve been decent to me, and they’d have put me back on land if they’d dared. So—so you can’t let them die like this. You just can’t, Doris! Besides, I—” she choked, and could not finish.
“We won’t let them die and most of all—we won’t let you die!” declared Dave, who had been absorbing every word. “Just you keep cool and stand by. We—we’ll have our whole navy here in no time. Just you see!”
“Th—thanks, Dave ... Mil—Mildred, signing off,” came in a wee small voice.
“Gee, she’s a game kid,” whispered Dave to Doris. Then into his microphone:
“Put that man on again,” he said.
“Here, here I am,” came the hoarse voice from the submarine.