242 FOR THE FLAG

Two men held my arms, and a third stood in front of me.
IT tried to cry out.

“Hush! Hush!” said the third man in English. “Are
you not Simon Hart ?”

“How do you know ?”

“T saw you leave your cell.”

‘* Then who are you?”

“ Lieutenant Davon of the British navy, officer on board
the Standard, stationed at the Bermudas.”

I could not speak, I was so overcome with emotion.

‘We have come to rescue you from the hands of Ker
Karraje, and to carry off Thomas Roch, the French.
inventor, with you,” added the lieutenant.

“ Thomas Roch ?” I stammered.

“Yes; the document signed by your name was picked
up on the strand at St. George.”

“In a keg, Lieutenant Davon; a keg that I threw into
the lagoon?”

“ Containing,” the Englishman continued, “a statement
by which we have learned that this island serves asa refuge
for Ker Karraje and his gang—Ker Karraje, the fictitious
Count d’Artigas, perpetrator of the double abduction from
Healthful House.”

“ Now there’s not a moment to lose. We must avail
ourselves of the darkness.”

“One word, Lieutenant. How did you get here?”

“ By means of our submarine boat, the Szord, which for
six months has been experimenting at St. George.”

“ A submarine boat ?”