They passed lines around the hull of the _Sword_----" "The _Sword_ ?" I exclaim.
"That is the name we saw painted on the bow of the vessel when we raised her to the surface.

What satisfaction we experienced when we recovered you--unconscious, it is true, but still breathing--and were able to bring you back to life! Unfortunately all our attentions to the officer who commanded the _Sword_, and to his crew were useless.
The shock had torn open the after and middle compartments, and they paid with their lives the misfortune--due to chance, as you observe--of having discovered our mysterious retreat." On learning that Lieutenant Davon and his companions are dead, my heart is filled with anguish; but to keep up my role--as they were persons with whom, presumably, I was not acquainted, and had never seen--I am careful not to display any emotion.

I must, on no account, afford ground for the suspicion that there was any connivance between the commander of the _Sword_ and me.

For aught I know, Engineer Serko may have reason to be very skeptical about the discovery of the tunnel being accidental.
What, however, I am most concerned about is that the unlooked-for occasion to recover my liberty was lost.

Shall I ever be afforded another chance?
However this may be, my notice reached the English authorities of the archipelago, and they now know where Ker Karraje is to be found.