rs of the ship with the
commander.

"Morgan," said Captain Trevor, "let me hear about your finding of this
paper Mr. MacMasters has brought to our attention. There seems to be
something of moment in it in reference to the _Kennebunk_."

Ensign MacMasters put a translation of the torn letter into the young
fellow's hand. The letter had been so mutilated that it was impossible;
to make any exact translation of it. But here were extracts that stood
out plainly:

"_. . . success of your water-wheel bomb.
Congratulations._

"_. . . from Headquarters an order to_ . . .

"_. . . If it equals your former . . ._

"_. . . clockwork arrangement that may raise your
name as an inventor to the nth power. The Ken----
. . ._

"_. . . shall hear of her destruction at the time
appointed._

"_. . . for the German Fatherland._"

"I am told that you, Morgan, have some knowledge of the dastardly work
of this spy, Franz Linder. Is it so?" asked Captain Trevor suggestively.

"Oh, sir!" cried the young fellow, in excitement, "I believe I know what
is referred to here by Linder's correspondent, as 'the water-wheel
bomb.' That is what he blew up the Elmvale dam with!"

"Do you think, from what the woman on the island said, that there is
some plot afoot against the _Kennebunk_?" went on the commander.

"It's referred to right here!" declared the excited Whistler. "This
'clockwork' thing. Oh, Mr. MacMasters!" he added, turning abruptly to
the ensign. "You know some of the crew, before we left to carry poor
Grant to the hospital, were bothering about a sound they had heard on
the lower deck? Remember Seven Knott's ghost?"

"Right!" declared the ensign. "I had forgotten it, Captain Trevor," he
added. "Something about a clock ticking."

"I have heard it myself," Whistler said eagerly. "And the boys say they
have been hearing it, off and on, while we were gone."

"Do you two mean to intimate that there is a time bomb, or some such
infernal machine, aboard this ship?" demanded Captain Trevor, in
contemptuous amazement.

"Look at this, sir," urged Whistler so earnestly that he forgot his
station. "'_. . . clockwork arrangement that may raise your name as an
inventor to the nth power._' That certainly means something. And that
noise below does sound something like a clock."

"It seems ridiculous," stated the commander of the _Kennebunk