was marched off to the canal bank and, following the towpath for
a time, the party reached a small fishing village of not more than
thirty or forty huts built upon the banks of a stream that Jack
realized immediately was the same waterway up which he had made his
way to the wireless station. Now he was a mile or more inland from
the lagoon and the seacoast.

In the water, moored alongside a wharf, was a huge submarine---one of
the latest type of U-boat. This, no doubt, was its hiding place and
the rendezvous of other U-boats. Like a flash it occurred to the
American boy that he had penetrated, or rather had been escorted, into
the heart of one of the submarine bases.

"If I ever get out of this mess," he resolved to himself, "I'll put
Uncle Sam wise to this rat hole."

Down into the village he was led and directly to the headquarters of
the base officer. The party paused before a cottage that once had
been the happy home of a Belgian fisherman. The German lieutenant
tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow. In a
moment Jack was ushered into the presence of a corpulent German
naval captain with sleepy eyes, who looked without interest at the
youthful prisoner and yawned as he heard the story of the capture.

"Shoot the wireless man who fell asleep," he drawled. "Lock up the
boy for the present. I'm not in the mood to cross examine a young
spy." And yawning again he waved dismissal.

Jack was conducted to an old boat house that in the days before the
war had been used by the Belgian fishermen as a repair shop for
their fishing craft. He was glad of a chance to rest. The ropes
had bound his legs and arms painfully, and his muscles ached from
the battering he had received in the sea while making his escape
from the _Dewey_. The _Dewey_! Jack thought now of his good old
ship and wondered what "Little Mack" and the rest of the boys were
doing.

Completely tired out, he climbed into a dilapidated old fishing dory
and stretched himself out in the bottom of the boat. Using a
tarpaulin for a cover, he made himself as comfortable as possible
and dozed off.

So fatigued was he that he slept soundly, unconscious of the activity
without, where the moored U-boat was being fitted for another voyage
into the North Sea.

It was several hours past noon when he was awakened by the roar of
guns, hoarse cries of men, and the stamp of feet outside his prison.
As he jumped to his feet and clambered ou