surrender," answered the man. "I am helpless."

"Then come aboard without arms. I'll send a boat."

A small dinghy-like boat was dispatched, and it returned with the man, a
Japanese in lieutenant's uniform, whose beady eyes twinkled in alarm as
Metcalf greeted him.

"Well, Saiksi, you perfected it, didn't you?--my invisible searchlight,
that I hadn't money to go on with."

The Jap's eyes sought the deck, then resumed their Asiatic steadiness.

"Metcalf--this you," he said, "in command? I investigated and heard you
had resigned to become a doctor."

"But I came back to the service, Saiksi. Thanks to you and your
light--my light, rather--I am in command here in place of men you
blinded. Saiksi, you deserve no consideration from me, in spite of our
rooming together at Annapolis. You took--I don't say stole--my
invention, and turned it against the country that educated you. You, or
your _confreres_, did this before a declaration of war. You are a
pirate, and I could string you up to my signal-yard and escape
criticism."

"I was under orders from my superiors, Captain Metcalf."

"They shall answer to mine. You shall answer to me. How many boats have
you equipped with my light?"

"There are but three. It is very expensive."

"One for our Philippine squadron, one for the Hawaiian, and one for the
coast. You overdid things, Saiksi. If you hadn't set fire to that sealer
the other day, I might not have found you. It was a senseless piece of
work that did you no good. Oh, you are a sweet character! How do you get
your ultraviolet rays--by filtration or prismatic dispersion?"

"By filtration."

"Saiksi, you're a liar as well as a thief. The colored lights you use to
attract attention are the discarded rays of the spectrum. No wonder you
investigated me before you dared flash such a decoy! Well, I'm back in
the navy, and I've been investigating you. As soon as I heard of the
first symptom of sunburn, I knew it was caused by the ultraviolet rays,
the same as from the sun; and I knew that nothing but my light could
produce those rays at night time. And as a physician I knew what I did
not know as an inventor--the swift amblyopia that follows the impact of
this light on the retina. As a physician, too, I can inform you that
your country has not permanently blinded a single American seaman or
officer. The effects wear off."

The Jap gazed stolidly before him while Metcalf delivered himself of
this, but did not reply.