"Did you pull?" asked Jimmie.
"Sure. Jack and Frank are out there now, ready to beat you up for keeping them out so long."
The prisoner turned his face away from the two and sulked.
"There"s the boys now," Jimmie said. "Let them in."
In ten minutes Jack and Frank were in the large room, busily engaged in taking off their deep-sea clothes.
As Frank threw his helmet into a corner he held up the end of a line.
"You see," he said, glancing angrily at the prisoner, who had moved as far away as possible. "The line was cut."
"Aw, it would have come away in your hand when you pulled, then," said Jimmie. "You"d have found that out quick enough."
"I tell you it was cut," Frank insisted. "It was cut and tied to a rock that lies at the bottom. When we pulled we pulled at the big old boulder we saw lying there on the sand. Now, what do you think of that?"
"Why did you do it?" asked Ned, turning to Moore.
"I didn"t," was the reply.
"Who did?"
"I don"t know."
"I don"t believe you."
"There were others besides me," insisted Moore.
Ned made an examination of the end of the three cords. All had been cut. All had been tied to something, for the ends were frayed as if by being twisted about in the hands.
"I presume you thought you were cutting the air-hose?" asked Ned, tentatively.
"I reckon I know a line from a hose," was the reply.
"So you did cut them?"
Frank sprang toward the prisoner with flashing eyes. "I"ll show you what such sneaks get here."
Ned drew the enraged boy away.
"He"ll get what"s coming to him at some other time," he said. "Let him alone for the present."
"But he did attempt to cut the hose!" Jack exclaimed. "We ought to throw him out to the sharks."
"Not now," said Ned, coolly.
"Anyway," Frank said, a smile showing on his face, "he made us swim to the boat."
"He did that himself," laughed Jimmie, "and lost his weights."
"That"s the worst of it," Jack remarked, "we"ve lost our weights, and there"s no knowing how we are to get more."
Jimmie now pointed to the air machine.
"Was there something wrong with it?" he asked.
Ned shook his head.
"Working perfectly," he said. "There wasn"t a screw loose."
"Well, he," pointing to the prisoner, "said there was something wrong, and I began to think he was right."
"Imagination!" laughed Jack.
Ned now faced Moore and asked:
"Have you taken the gold out of the wreck?"
A shake of the head was the answer.
"Have you discovered any important papers? You know what I mean by "important.""
"We have not."
"You came in the Diver?"
"Yes."
"Run her across?"
"No; came on a tow-line."
"I thought so. What steamer towed you over?"
"I can"t answer that."
"Why?"
"I"m not permitted to."
"It was a j.a.panese boat?"
"Well, yes, it was."
"And she kept you out of sight all the way over and dropped you here to do this dirty work?"
"She didn"t put a bra.s.s band on board of us," replied the captive, sullenly. "What is the meaning of this third degree business? Who do you think you are?"