"Oh, I forgot it was locked! Wait a moment!"
A moment later he had swung the door open, and the man who, the boys believed, was a German spy confronted them, smiling.
"You are locked in as if you feared another submarine," he said. "It is not the best way to do. You should be on deck!"
"But not on deck as you were, with a flag to signal to the Huns," thought Joe; and he wished he dared make the accusation.
Blake motioned to the caller to seat himself on a stool.
"I came to see if I might borrow something," began the caller. "I find that mine is out of order for some reason," and he held out a small, but powerful, electric flash lamp, of the sort sold for the use of soldiers. "Have you, by any chance, one that you could spare me?" asked Mr. Labenstein.
"I do not want it, if it is the only one you have, but they are a great convenience in one's berth, for the lights must be kept turned off, now that we are in the danger zone made by those terrible Germans. Ah, how I hate them!" and his anger seemed very real and earnest.
"Did you say you wanted to borrow a pocket electric flash lamp?" asked Blake, wishing to make the caller repeat his request. As he asked this question Blake looked at his chums, as though to ask them to take particular note of the reply.
"I should like to, yes, if you have one to spare. There are three of you, and, I presume, like most travelers, you each have one. I am alone in a single stateroom, and I may have need of a light. I will return it to you at the end of the voyage, or buy it of you at a good price. You see, I have a little Jew in me. I will make a bargain with you. And I will pay you well, something a Jew proverbially does not like to do. But I realize the value of what I want, and that the market is not well supplied, so you may take advantage of my situation. My battery is either worn out or the light is broken. It will not flash."
He shoved down the little sliding catch, but there was no glow in the tiny tungsten bulb.