rs, a few trinkets,
a knife and a purse, containing all the boy possessed, were removed. The
coat when thrown back revealed a cross, suspended by a ribbon, the
decoration which had been bestowed on the boys after their last flight
at Verdun.

Alfred handed over the contents of his pockets. The German officer
glanced at the medals, and made another motion. The seamen then pushed
them into the conning tower and the boys saw a narrow flight of stairs
to which they were directed, the captain following.

Down into the bowels of a submarine! A warm, peculiar, oily odor greeted
them as they descended, but the air was not at all unpleasant and
breathing was easy. Glancing about they saw confused masses of
mechanism, tanks, pipes, valves, levers, wheels, clock-faced dial plates
and other contrivances, all huddled together, with barely room to pass
from one place to another. Electric bulbs were everywhere visible,
lighting up the interior.

Suddenly there was a slight tremor in the vessel, indicating that some
machinery was in motion. Once at the bottom they stood there until the
seaman stepped forward and opened a small door through which there was
barely room to pass, and he motioned them to enter. They did so, and
found themselves in a compartment which did not seem to be more than
five by six feet in size, and even in this small space mechanism was
noticed. The moment the door closed they were in total darkness.

"This is a nice place to get into," said Ralph.

"I wonder if they are going to keep us cooped up like this without a
light?" said Alfred.

After an interval of ten minutes a rumbling was heard, which continued,
a rhythmic motion followed in unison with the sounds generated by the
machinery.

"That is the propeller," said the captain.

Voices were heard occasionally, but words could not be distinguished.
Confined as they were the air seemed to be pure and in abundance at all
times, and while there was not the faintest signs of closeness, there
was an eternal monotony,--an existence in which there was nothing to do
but breathe and think.

How long they were thus confined, without a single thing to break the
stillness, they could not conceive. It seemed that hours had gone by,
during which time there was nothing to disturb them, except the one
steady whirr, broken occasionally by some remark by one or the other.

Then came an unexpected hum of voices; the machinery seemed to stop for
a moment, and when it