to the surface again, and climbed up on the deck to a seat beside his friend, he remarked: [53] [53] “Well, Max, it is as I thought. Your pirate craft is some sort of a submarine.” “Is she? How do you know that? Have you seen her?” “Well, not exactly.” “I didn’t know but that was why you stayed under water so long. I thought maybe you had gone after her.” “Well, you weren’t far wrong, at that. I figured that if she could dive, that was pretty nearly the explanation of how she approached you so silently, and, following up that idea, I decided that if she did dive, she must have left a mark of some kind on the bottom not far from that buoy.” “And you found one, eh?” “Yes, I found one.” “What was it?” “Merely the impression of her keel in the clay at the bottom.” “And I suppose that from that impression, which would mean nothing at all to me, you have read enough facts about the pirate to fill quite a respectable book, eh?” Nick laughed. “No, Max,” he said. “For once you are wrong, and for once I did not find anything more than you would have discovered had you gone there in my place. All I know from what I saw there is that a vessel’s keel has rested on the bottom within the last twenty-four hours. I could tell, of course, approximately, her length,[54] and from that could make a good guess at her breadth of beam, but you have already done that for me. Now, old chap, let’s get into our clothes.” [54] Fifteen minutes later, they were reclothed and seated again in their favorite chairs under the awning. “And now, Nick, what next?” asked Kane. “First, tell me what yacht is that one, heading in here toward the anchorage?” replied Nick, pointing over Kane’s shoulder.
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