tention from the
figures in the immediate foreground, and raising his eyes he gazed in
the direction in which the other was pointing. Some fifty yards away,
on the edge of Starfish Cove, a half dozen objects of strange shape
and design were drawn up on the sand. They were long, shaped somewhat
like torpedoes and gleamed wet in the moonlight.

Not a soul was in sight. The moonlit stretch of beach was empty except
for them.

"What in the world can those be?" asked Captain Folsom.

"They are made of metal," said Jack. "See how the moonlight gleams
upon them. By George, Captain, they are big as whales. Can they be
some type of torpedo-shaped boat controlled by radio?"

"This is luck," exclaimed Captain Folsom. "That's just what they are.
Probably, those two scoundrels were coming down here to see whether
they had arrived, coming down here from their radio station. Come on,
let's have a look."

He started forward eagerly. Jack was a step behind him. An
inarticulate cry from Tom Barnum smote Jack's ears, and he spun about.
The next instant he saw a man almost upon him, swinging for his head
with a club. He tried to dodge, to avoid the blow, but the club
clipped him on the side of the head and knocked him to the ground. His
senses reeled, and he struggled desperately to rise, but to no avail.
A confused sound of shouts and cries and struggling filled his ears,
then it seemed as if a wave engulfed him, and he lost consciousness.

When he recovered his senses, Jack found himself lying in darkness. He
tried to move, but discovered his hands and feet were tied. He lay
quiet, listening. A faint moan came to his ears.

"Who's that?" he whispered.

"That you, Jack?" came Frank's voice in reply, filled with anxiety.

It was close at hand.

"Yes. Where's Bob?"

"He's here, but I'm worried about him. I can't get any sound from
him."

"What happened?" asked Jack, his head buzzing, and sore. "Where are
the others?"

"Guess we're all here, Mister Jack," answered Tom Barnum's voice, out
of the darkness. "Leastways, Captain What's-his-name's here beside me,
but he don't speak, neither."

"Good heavens," exclaimed Jack, in alarm, and making a valiant effort
to shake off his dizziness. "Where are we? What happened? Frank, do
you know? Tom, do you?"

"Somebody jumped on me from behind," said Frank, "and then the fellow
I was sitting on, this Higginbotham, squirmed around and took a hand,
and I got the worst of it, and was h