marine, would surely attract attention, by using a double air-line, one to carry the air to the man, and a second, attached to the exhaust-valve, to convey it back to the point at which the airpump was located. The extreme muddiness of the water removed all chance of the diver being seen, so there remained only the question of getting the man exactly beneath the submarine's keel, since to let him approach the surface in his endeavors to locate the vessel would be disastrous.

Coolley had supplied both man and outfit, the latter, equipped with telephones, being in excellent condition. Unfortunately, this could not be said of the man himself, for he complained of illness, and on the very day set for the first under-water trip to the Deutschland Wilson had to rush him to the hospital for an appendicitis operation.

The meeting held late that night in the "thieves' den" was probably as dejected an affair as that room had ever witnessed. Wilson sat with his head in his hands, utterly beyond speech. There was no other diver available on whom he could depend, and already the time was far too short. Roy, being young, felt the blow much less severely than did the others. Everett, his hands behind his back, paced the floor restlessly and fought out his problem. He knew what he ought to do, or, rather what he ought not to do, and he was perfectly certain that if he asked Washington for instructions, he would be told emphatically to stand clear of the whole business. And yet there was that cargo of nickel and rubber, and unless somebody stopped it, it would undoubtedly get to Germany. And if it did get there, how many lives-English lives, maybe-would it mean? And against all that there was merely his life at the most, and not likely that. Time and time again there ran through his mind the words of a famous English admiral, "Better men have sacrificed far more and for a less worthy cause.' About midnight he turned suddenly upon Wilson.

"That man 's just about my build." "What man?"

"That diver."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm going to soil my hands. I can wear his things and I can do the work just as well as he can—and tomorrow, by gad! I'm going to, that 's all!"

And he did.

WHEN the time for action arrived, the Judith's tender lay alongside the tug, Wilson at the oars, and Roy, a big graflex camera on his knees, occupying the stern. Waiting until Koenig appeared on deck, Wilson yelled at the top of his voice, pushed off from the Judith, and with all his strength rowed across the intervening water and full tilt into the very center of the Deutschland. Koenig, enraged and shouting like a madman, rushed to the spot.

"You fool! You fool!" he cried. "If you do not leave these waters instantly, you will be shot!" And suiting action to the word, he whipped out a heavy automatic and covered the pair in the boat. Wilson never turned a hair. Speaking under his breath, but loud enough for Koenig to hear, he said:

"Quick, Roy! quick! Snap him threatening the life of an American citizen!" Roy leaped to his feet, and swung the big camera into position.

"No! no! no!" shrieked Koenig, as the delicacy of his position flashed into his mind, and he quickly pocketed the firearm. "You are nothing but a curse," he cried. "You waste my time and cause me more trouble that all others in America. When I say 'No' to you I mean 'No'; I do not mean something else. Why do you not take the straight answer and go away before something happens?"

"I want an interview, and I intend to get it, " called back the man in the rowboat. "I won't take 'No' for an answer, but I'll take just ten minutes of your time instead. If you 'll give me that, you'll have no further bother. If you don't, you'll waste far more than ten minutes trying to keep away from me."

"So? If I had you in Germany, I— Ach, Gott! of what use Come on, then; I must be rid of you some way. But not the camera; indeed no!"

Thus did Wilson reach the deck of the Deutschland, and thus did he live up to his reputation and scoop his fel

In

low-workers of the press with an authentic, exclusive interview with the famous captain. Thus also did he accomplish another matter of which Koenig was in complete ignorance. When the tender pulled away from the Judith in that first headlong rush, Roy's right hand was behind his back. that hand was the end of a light, strong rope, which, after being snubbed one turn around a convenient cleat, passed over the stern of the rowboat and straight down into the water. Ten feet below hung an iron weight, from which the rope, previously soaked so that it would not float, continued under the Judith and then upward, where it was payed out with complete secrecy. The instant the tender struck the Deutschland, Roy let go his end of the rope and brought his hand around to the camera in the most natural way possible, the weight sank to the bottom, and Everett, waiting in his armor beneath the Judith for word to proceed, had only to follow the guide-line thus laid for him to arrive at a point almost under the submarine and half-way between her bow and stern. Thereafter the line indicated a direct path between the two vessels. His walk over the harbor bed released a material number of air and gas bubbles from the mud, but Wilson's strenuous oarsmanship had so disturbed the surface that they went quite unnoticed. Besides, Wilson's interview-by-sheer strength was at that period absorbing all the attention the Germans possessed.

Once on board the Deutschland, Wilson opened fire with a series of lightning-like questions that embraced Koenig's family history for five generations, the history of Germany, of the war, of transatlantic traffic, of submarines, of the Deutschland, of the Deutschland's first complete voyage, of this last voyage over, the experiences anticipated on the trip about to be made (Oh, sumptuous irony!), the future of sub-ocean traffic, and so much else that Koenig soon gasped for breath.

Meanwhile, not very far beneath them, Everett worked silently and with good effect.

Wilson switched to the matter of the forbidden photographs.

"I've got three minutes yet," he lied

glibly, pulling out his watch. "Now look; Captain, be a sport! Next to flying across the Atlantic, you 've pulled off the greatest stunt of this century! People want to know what you look like. I don't care a damn for your old boat; I want you! Come on; be a good fellow! You really owe it to the public. Just as you are-no, no, no fussing up; stand where you are."

So Koenig again gave in, since to do otherwise with this irresponsible person merely meant further trouble. Roy was pulled aboard, and after some delay made the exposures desired. Then as

a hail came from the Judith, a prearranged signal which meant that Everett was on his way back, Wilson bade the captain an embarrassingly effusive farewell, called him the prince of good fellows, and asserted that he had known all along that perseverance would in the end win the very much desired, and very much appreciated, interview.

"And now I am gone," he concluded as he went down into his boat. "Say, you won't mind if the tug follows you out to sea, will you? It's the boss's orders."

"I have no means of stopping you," answered the captain, with some asperity; "so you may come if you wish, though it will be of no benefit. But let me tell you one thing-do not ever let us meet in Germany, for your own sake!"

"Sure I won't!" laughingly replied Wilson, and pushing off, he proceeded to obliterate the new line of bubbles which Everett had kicked up from the mud.

"Only Germany is n't your next port of call, old chap," he muttered as he paddled slowly along. "it'll be England, I'm thinking-England or hell."

IT should be said for Koenig that he left no stone unturned, no precaution untaken. A more capable man could not have been chosen for his perilous task, nor one more thoroughly conversant with transatlantic work. He adopted every possible safeguard against interference and capture, and if he in the end was defeated, it was due solely to his being pitted against a cleverer man, a man whose natural skill, ingenuity,

resourcefulness, and courage, inspired by an all-consuming hate, proved irresistible.

Came the morning when the Deutschland gave evidence of an imminent departure the general cleaning up, the closing of cargo-hatches, the final overcharge of her batteries, and so forth. Roy, working at his wireless outfit in the "thieves' den," quickly called the Amphion. Ten minutes later every man on the cruiser knew that with the coming of night the submarine would slip. quietly from her pier and strike for the open sea.

In the afternoon Roy packed his instruments and brought them down to the Judith. With the first suspicion of darkness, the little party assembled in the after deck-house for a final conference.

"Everett, boy, this is your last time, and I wish we could have fixed it otherwise. I still believe that we 'd be crazy to let you finish up before the Deutschland actually casts off. Koenig is no fool, take my word, and if we count on any laxity on his part, we 'll land on our backs, and he 'll get clear away. So get into your suit-and may the Lord be with you! You 've got a nice easychair over there, have n't you?”

"Oh, yes, with cushions, and a stove to keep my hands warm," answered Everett, though with little enthusiasm. His nerves were evidently on edge. "However, there's nothing else for it." So saying, he proceeded with his helper's assistance to get into the diver's dress.

"The very second it's safe to go ahead, I'll give you word," continued Wilson. "Then hustle as if the devil were after you! Finish your job and beat it back here; we can't start till you get aboard. And don't get scared if you feel the sub move; only hustle. Once she starts, I'll hold her about three minutes; but that 's the limit."

Had Koenig seen what shortly occurred within that cabin he would have been shocked into hysterics. A little to one side of the center stood what looked like a good-sized phonograph cabinet, over which was carelessly draped a turkey-red table-cover. This was now thrown aside, and the top of

the cabinet removed, disclosing a kind of dumb-waiter shaft about two or three feet square. A shaft it was, and it led down through the bowels of the tug and out through her bottom plates. The air-pump was started, and Everett's face-plate screwed home. By means of tackle attached to a cross-beam overhead, he was carefully hauled up and then as carefully lowered into the shaft, and down, down, down, until he stood in the mud of the harbor bottom. And not a soul outside the narrow limits of the cabin had the slightest inkling that a diver had entered the water.

For some days past, workman had been busy erecting an electric sign on the roof of the Judith's pier, advising the world in general as to the merits of "Baby's Own Soap." The sign had been finished and placed in operation the previous evening, and while the flasher seemed a little irregular in its action, this may have been due to the control wires, which ran into the tug's cabin. The sign's position was innocent enough; it seemed mere chance that while the tug Judith was thrown into deepest shadow, the Deutschland was brilliantly illuminated. Koenig cursed what he called "stupid Yankee notions," but beyond this paid little attention to the sign, although its constant flashing on and off was a source of annoyance.

Shortly after six, the watchers aboard the tug saw preparations for immediate departure. Then before their staring eyes Koenig did the very thing which Wilson had most feared-the thing which he had so strongly warned against, the thing concerning which his wise counsels had fortunately prevailed. He shivered a little as he realized how near they had been to failure.

"Quick, Roy! quick!" he called softly. "Warn Everett-tell him what he 's doing!"

The lad dived into the cabin like a frightened rabbit and snatched the telephone from the astonished helper. Then as the men on the sub reported "All clear," and Koenig gave the order to cast off, Roy, no longer able to control himself, fairly shrieked into the instrument:

"Now! now! Go to it! And for God's sake hurry!"

But the first hawser was barely clear when a boy in the uniform of a messenger rushed wildly through the entrance of the Deutschland's pier, waving a yellow envelop over his head, and shouting at the top of his lungs:

"Telegram for Cap'n Koenig! Telegram for Cap'n Koenig!"

On reaching the submarine, one of the men on the dock extended his hand for the message, but the boy sidestepped him.

Are youse Cap'n Koenig?"

"No; but I'll sign it."

"Oh, I guess not! An' me lose me job? Nobody signs for dis but de guy it 's for, see!"

And nothing would change him. Nor would he surrender the telegram until his "book" had been passed with some difficulty over the widening stretch of water to the Deutschland, signed by Koenig, and safely returned to him; after which he promptly disappeared. Koenig ripped off the yellow envelop and attempted to read the message by the light from the "Baby's Own" sign. No sooner had he accomplished the first few words of the illegible scrawl than the light annoyingly flashed off. Turning so as to catch the comparatively feeble gleams from the pier, his eyes had barely accustomed themselves to the change when the sign flashed into life with blinding brilliance. Twice more he repeated this cycle, Wilson meantime standing grim-faced in the Judith's cabin, the sign-controller beneath his hand, watching with evident relish the working out of his plans. Not until a lantern was brought did Koenig succeed in reading this message:

Captain Paul Koenig,

Washington, D. C., November 21, 1916.

Submarine Deutschland,

New London, Conn.

I offer you the most heartfelt wishes of all America for a safe and speedy homeward voyage. We of this nation stand always ready to welcome to our shores men in whose hands difficult tasks reach a successful culmination, and I assure you on behalf of the people that we regard the trans-oceanic voyages of the Deutschland not only as enviable national achivements,

but also as conclusive evidence of your sterling personal worth. Auf Wiedersehen. WILSON.

Koenig, bursting with pride, quite naturally, read the message to his friends on the pier. Thus six full minutes elapsed before the departure of the Deutschland was resumed, whereas only three had been counted upon. Wilson possessed another card had it been needed: he would have asked Koenig to repeat the message to the tug, and the slow transcription, combined with occasional skilful misunderstandings, would have secured several minutes more. Koenig would have been less than human had he refused the chance of publishing such a message to the world. But the extra time was unnecessary. Less than the estimated three minutes had elapsed when Roy, his ear glued to the receiver, cried out:

"He's through! He 's through! He's on his way back!"

At which Wilson, for reasons best known to himself, turned away so that the boy might not see his face. As the Deutschland passed out not far from the Judith's bow, Wilson reached up and opened the siren wide. When the ear-splitting shriek died down, Koenig, his arms waving, cursed him through the megaphone.

'Thou fool and blockhead! Do I want the entire world to know that I am going?"

Whereupon Wilson apologized most humbly. He was sorry, but he had n't understood it that way. To him it was an event to be celebrated and published broadcast; but since Koenig did not wish it, he would not offend again. And all was happy, and a little extra time was gained to assist Everett in getting back.

Even while they talked, a thing resembling a giant octopus was hauled up through the Judith's dumb-waiter shaft. Roy fed it a stiff dose of neat brandy when the helmet was removed, thrust its benumbed, bloodless hands into a bucket of steaming water, and, so far as he could, wiped the face free of the muddy water which covered it. "I suppose I 'd do that again," gasped