"Vat's der madder mit him, I vonder?" queried Carl. "He vouldn't be doing dot oof he knowed aboudt dot odder poat und der dorpeto."
The _Grampus_ had no more than dropped anchor in her old berth than Matt, Glennie, Captain Pons, the captain of the port, and the negroes were alongside in the boat.
"Great spark plugs," cried Matt, "but you fellows gave me a scare."
"Vell, bard," answered Carl, "ve vas a leedle schared ourselufs."
"Here's another scare for you, matey," called Dick. "The Sons of the Rising Sun have a submarine of their own, and are after us. They were here, off Lota, and just went north with that torpedo in tow."
"Jupiter!" exclaimed Glennie. "How did you fellows know that?"
"You act as though it wasn't any news to you."
"It isn't, but we thought you fellows were not informed and would fall a victim to the _Pom_."
"That's the name of the other submarine," went on Matt. "She's a French craft and was brought here by this man, Captain Pons, to be turned over to the Chilian government. Five Japs worked a trick and succeeded in getting hold of her."
"We'll tell you all about it later, Dick. Where were you when that torpedo went off?"
"Just diving to the bottom to go hunting for the other torpedo. That Whitehead they fired never touched us."
"It must have touched something," put in Speake, "or the firing pin wouldn't have got in its work."
"It hit a harbor buoy," said Matt. "At least, the captain of the port says there was a buoy at this point. As it isn't here now, it must have been demolished. It's a lucky thing for all of us that the buoy was between the _Grampus_ and the Whitehead. Glennie and I will go back to the shore, Dick, and get a barrel of gasoline. You get the hose rigged and have everything ready to discharge the gasoline in short order. We're northward bound, and are going to get away from these waters just as quick as the nation will let us."
There was something of a disappointment in this for the men on the submarine. They had hoped for a chance to stretch their legs ashore, but they appreciated the necessity of getting the _Grampus_ out of harm's way as quickly as possible.
"Won't the _Pom_ lay for us as we pull out of the bay, Matt?" asked Dick.
"She can't lay for us. You see, she had only two torpedoes. One of those was destroyed in the attack made on the _Grampus_ in the bay; the other one the _Pom_ is dragging off to some place where she can get it in shape for work. We need not fear any attack from the Sons of the Rising Sun until the other Whitehead is ready for use. If we act quickly, we can get well away from the _Pom_ before she becomes dangerous."