Chapter 15 - Page 2

board a boat of some description and naturally concluded that
it was the tug; how I felt it sink; how I felt a shock that threw me
violently against the side, and how I felt myself suffocating and lost
consciousness, since I remember nothing further.

Engineer Serko listens with profound attention, a stern look in his
eyes and a frown on his brow; and yet he can have no reason that
authorizes him to doubt my word.

"You claim that three men threw themselves upon you?" he asks.

"Yes. I thought they were some of your people, for I did not see them
coming. Who were they?"

"Strangers, as you must have known from their language."

"They did not utter a word!"

"Have you no idea as to their nationality?"

"Not the remotest."

Do you know what were their intentions in entering the cavern?"

"I do not."

"What is your opinion about it?"

"My opinion, Mr. Serko? I repeat I thought they were two or three of
your pirates who had come to throw me into the lagoon by the Count
d'Artigas' orders, and that they were going to do the same thing to
Thomas Roch. I supposed that having obtained his secrets--as you
informed me was the case--you had no further use for him and were
about to get rid of us both."

"Is it possible, Mr. Hart, that you could have thought such a thing!"
continued Serko in his sarcastic way.

"I did, until having been able to remove the bandage from my eyes, I
perceived that I was in the tug."

"It was not the tug, but a boat of the same kind that had got through
the tunnel."

"A submarine boat?" I ejaculate.

"Yes, and manned by persons whose mission was to kidnap you and Thomas
Roch."

"Kidnap us?" I echo, continuing to feign surprise.

"And," adds Engineer Serko, "I want to know what you think about the
matter."

"What I think about it? Well, it appears to me that there is only one
plausible explanation possible. If the secret of your retreat has not
been betrayed--and I cannot conceive how you could have been betrayed
or what imprudence you or yours could have committed--my opinion is
that this submarine boat was exploring the bottom of the sea in this
neighborhood, that she must have found her way into the tunnel,
that she rose to the surface of the lagoon, that her crew, greatly
surprised to find themselves inside an inhabited cavern, seized hold
of the first persons they came across, Thomas Roch and myself, and
others as well perhaps, for of course I do not know----"

Engineer Serko has become serious again. Does