"I thought not, from the way you were firing at us," said Clif, with a smile. "I thought more than once that you would send this particular American to the bottom along with the shipload of the enemy. You were firing too accurately to suit me this time."
"Well, the American boys do come pretty near hitting what they aim at," responded the officer, evidently pleased at the compliment to their marksmanship. "But I am curious to know how it has happened that we find you here."
Clif then briefly told of the adventures that followed his finding of the unexploded shell, which he picked up from its lodgment in the boat and held in his hand.
"So you have risked your life for that piece of steel!" exclaimed the officer. "What can have been your purpose in that?"
"Does it not strike you, sir, that there is something peculiar about it?" asked Clif, as the other examined it.
"Yes," replied the officer, "it is decidedly out of date, and might be interesting as a relic, but not of sufficient importance to risk one's life for."
"I had an idea that there was a mystery about it that was well worth solving," replied Clif. "And with your permission, sir, I will put the matter to a test."
"As you like," responded the officer, with the air of a man who is indulging some childish fancy.
Clif was not slow to take advantage of the permission granted, and carried the shell to a table that stood upon the after deck, the officer meantime paying no further attention to him, but attending to some further detail of transfer.
Clif had procured a fuse and inserted it into the shell and was upon the point of lighting it when the officer appeared.