“He’s the young man who goes down in the steel ball? I—I’ve been watching you through the glass.”
“Yes, that’s Dave. He takes his work of exploring the sea’s depths very serenely! Tell you what!” Johnny exclaimed. “You get him to take you down!”
“In—in that thing?” The girl drew in her breath sharply, eyeing the distant shadow of the huge sphere.
“Sure, in the steel ball! He’d like to! He’s proud of it. And he likes showing people strange things. If you want someone to do a certain thing for you—ask him to do something else, first! That’s a grand rule.” Johnny looked into the girl’s frank, grey eyes, and decided he liked her.
“Yes—I—I suppose so,” the girl replied, slowly. “But you know—well, anyway—it’s worth thinking about!”
“Look!” said Johnny, starting up. “Perhaps you can tell me what that is.” He pointed to the distant island, where again the blinking green arrow could be seen.
“No, I—” The girl sat there, staring. “I never saw that before. But you know,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “there are spies on these islands! Lots of spies!”
“Spies?” Johnny’s voice expressed astonishment.
“European spies,” she added.
“But why?”