e work on the part of the quartermaster to set his
launch alongside without crushing it.

Gauging closely with his eye, Ensign Darrin called out:

"Ready to board! Board!"

Making the first leap himself, Dave landed on both feet on the
slippery deck of the undersea boat, the marines following eagerly and
quickly.

"Lay off and wait!" Dave called back to the quartermaster. Then he
stepped closer to the conning tower, through which two holes had been
drilled by the two registering one-pound shells.

"Open up, you fellows down there!" Dave called, briskly. "And don't
attempt any tricks."

Inside he heard shuffling movements, but there was no evidence of
intent to obey his order. So he called again, but this time spoke in
French, believing that order might be more easily understood by those
inside the submarine.

"Don't shoot! I'll come up and open," answered a voice in broken
French, strongly tinged with Maltese accent.

After a few moments the hatch was raised. Then, one after another,
eight or ten of Darrin's crew went below.

"No more men below," ordered Dave, who then followed his men in.

It was a miserable spectacle that met his eyes. A heavy body lay face
downward in a pool of blood on the steel deck.

"Who was this?" demanded Dave of the other four men who crouched to
one side in fear and trembling.

"Gortchky," answered one of the quartette sullenly.

There could be little danger of mistaking the dead man. Though no
feature of the face had been preserved, every line in that odious body
stood out clearly in Dave Darrin's mind. It was, indeed, all that was
left of Emil Gortchky. Mr. Green Hat would never again steal the
secrets of nor plot trouble between nations!

"An able man, even if a wicked one," said Dave slowly, uncovering in
the presence of Death.

The body of Emil Gortchky was allowed to remain where it lay. The
other four men of the submarine crew, one of whom was proved later to
be an expert submarine commander and a deserter from the Swedish navy,
were taken up to the platform deck, and thence transferred to the
launch, where they were put beside Mender, Dalny, the badly-scared
Filipino, and the other prisoners removed from the yacht.

In the meantime, Dan Dalzell had ranged up alongside, followed by
Sutton of His Majesty's Navy. Both of these young officers went aboard
the submarine and below deck for a look.

Rocket signals had informed those on anxious watch in Grand Harbor of
t