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“Yes, sir, I think he did–a larger submarine, without any conning-tower and the old-fashioned periscope. They have seven thousand miles’ cruising radius, enough to cross the Pacific.”

By asking questions of various craft, and by diligent use of a telescope, Metcalf found his quarry three days later–a log-like object on the horizon, with the slim white pole amidships and the excrescence near its base.

“Wait till I get his bearing by compass,” said Metcalf to his chief officer, “then we’ll smoke up our specs and run down on him. Signal him by the International Code to put out his light, and to heave to, or we’ll sink him.”

Mr. Smith bowed to his superior, found the numbers of these commands in the code book, and with a string of small flags at the signal-yard, and every man aboard viewing the world darkly through a smoky film, the torpedo-boat approached the stranger at thirty knots. But there was no blinding glare of light in their eyes, and when they were within a hundred yards of the submersible, Metcalf removed his glasses for a moment’s distinct vision. Head and shoulders out of a hatch near the tube was a man waving a white handkerchief. He rang the stopping bells.

“He surrenders, Mr. Smith,” he said, joyously, “and without firing a torpedo!”

He examined the man through the telescope and laughed.

“I know him,” he said. Then funneling his hands, he hailed:

“Do you surrender to the United States of America?”

“I 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.