The following May, one of the United States cruisers went to the port where the men were imprisoned, and the officers saw them.
The men begged the officers to do something for them, because they had been told that when their five months' imprisonment was over, they were to be arrested again, and sent back to prison once more.
The officers asked the police about this, and were told that it was all nonsense; the five months would be up in a few weeks, and the men set at liberty. The officers were satisfied that this was the truth, and went away.
But when the five months were up, the sailors found that their fears were only too well grounded. They were rearrested, and sent back to prison for eighteen months.
The sailor who brings this news says that, when he reached the port where the men are imprisoned, he managed to be taken to see them, and found them working on some Russian fortifications.
He says the men were very unhappy, and had almost lost their courage. Their second sentence will not be over till October, and they are afraid that they will be rearrested, and imprisoned once more, unless something is done for them.
They declare that it was not their fault that they were on the island. They insist that they were doing no harm, and their vessel put back to sea and left them in their unhappy position.