lake?

A few minutes elapsed, and I began to think that the _Sword_ had
eluded the tug and was rushing through the tunnel.

Suddenly there was a collision. The shock was not, it seemed to me,
very violent, but I could be under no illusion: the _Sword_ had been
struck on her starboard quarter. Perhaps her plates had resisted,
and if not, the water would only invade one of her compartments, I
thought.

Almost immediately after, however, there was another shock that pushed
the _Sword_ with extreme violence. She was raised by the ram of the
tug which sawed and ripped its way into her side. Then I could feel
her heel over and sink straight down, stern foremost.

Thomas Roch and I were tumbled over violently by. this movement. There
was another bump, another ripping sound, and the _Sword_ lay still.

Just what happened after that I am unable to say, for I lost
consciousness.

I have since learned that all this occurred many hours ago.

I however distinctly remember that my last thought was:

"If I am to die, at any rate Thomas Roch and his secret perish with
me--and the pirates of Back Cup will not escape punishment for their
crimes."

CHAPTER XV.

EXPECTATION.

As soon as I recover my senses I find myself lying on my bed in my
cell, where it appears I have been lying for thirty-six hours.

I am not alone. Engineer Serko is near me. He has attended to me
himself, not because he regards me as a friend, I surmise, but as
a man from whom indispensable explanations are awaited, and who
afterwards can be done away with if necessary.

I am still so weak that I could not walk a step. A little more and I
should have been asphyxiated in that narrow compartment of the _Sword_
at the bottom of the lagoon.

Am I in condition to reply to the questions that Engineer Serko is
dying to put to me? Yes--but I shall maintain the utmost reserve.

In the first place I wonder what has become of Lieutenant Davon and
the crew of the _Sword_. Did those brave Englishmen perish in the
collision? Are they safe and sound like us--for I suppose that Thomas
Roch has also survived?

The first question that Engineer Serko puts to me is this:

"Will you explain to me what happened, Mr. Hart?"

Instead of replying it occurs to me to question him myself.

"And Thomas Roch?" I inquire.

"In good health, Mr. Hart." Then he adds in an imperious tone: "Tell
me what occurred!"

"In the first place, tell me what became of the other