hot was too far away to be at all dangerous, as Alfred
thought, but the voice of the captain explained it.

"Signal to stop!"

"Which lever?" inquired Alfred.

The latter hesitated. He glanced out the door and then at the boy. To
refuse meant that the ship was doomed and his companions below without
hope of rescue.

The captain, with the white signal in his hand, stepped to the door, and
with the revolver pointing full into the face of the officer, said:
"Stop the ship or you will never have an opportunity to save yourselves
or your companions."

"Pull the second lever," he said, and Alfred did as directed.

"Reverse!" demanded the captain.

"The lever below," said the officer.

A mile away was a small, speedy craft, sailing around the submarine. It
seemed fairly to skim over the surface of the water, and cast the spray
astern like a mist. It had come up unnoticed by the captain.

"Look at the little boat," shouted Ralph, who had now recovered and had
moved to the open door.

The captain turned quickly toward the stern, waving the white flag in a
frenzy. It must have been regarded as a remarkable thing to those on
board the little cutter to see a German submarine hoisting a surrender
flag. It seemed too good to be true. They evidently supposed the white
flag was a ruse of some kind, for they did not venture nearer.

Meanwhile, the cruiser, which had fired the two shots, came up behind
the little craft, and the latter cautiously steamed up. The small vessel
was one of the speedy torpedo boat chasers, carrying two three-inch
guns, and drawing less than six feet of water. The safety of these boats
lies in their great speed and in the shallow draft, which prevents the
submarine from reaching them with their torpedoes.

Once abreast the commander called out: "I am sending a boat for your
officers."

"I have only one here, that we can get at, at present," shouted the
captain.

"What is that?" asked the commander of the chaser.

"I have one of the chief officers in the conning tower, and the others
are below," said the captain.

"Who are you?" asked the commander.

"Captain Leclere, of the French service," replied the captain.

"Captain Leclere!" almost shouted the German officer in the conning
tower.

"That's the man," said Alfred.

"Then I am not surprised," said the officer in a low voice.

"Surprised?" said Ralph. "Did you say 'surprised?'"

The officer sighed, turned his head away, and was sil