He went below once more and came quickly back with the log-book and papers from the captain's room. He tied these in a tight wrapping of oilcloth from the galley and hung them at his belt. He took the wheel again and brought the cumbersome craft slowly into the wind. The bare mast of his own sloop was bobbing alongside as he went down the line and swam over to her. Fending off from the wallowing hulk, he cut the line, and his small craft slipped slowly astern as the big vessel fell off in the wind and drew lumberingly away on its unguided course. She vanished into the clear-cut horizon before the watching man ceased his staring and pricked a point upon his chart that he estimated was his position. And he watched vainly for some sign of life on the heaving waters as he set his sloop back on her easterly course. * * * * * It was a sun-tanned young man who walked with brisk strides into the office of Admiral Struthers. The gold-striped arm of the uniformed man was extended in quick greeting. "Made it, did you?" he exclaimed. "Congratulations!" "All O.K.," Thorpe agreed. "Ship and log are ready for your verification." "Talk sense," said the officer. "Have any trouble or excitement? Or perhaps you are more interested in collecting a certain bet than you are in discussing the trip." "Damn the bet!" said the young man fervently. "And that's just what I am here for--to talk about the trip. There were some little incidents that may interest you." He painted for the Admiral in brief, terse sentences the picture of that daybreak on the Pacific, the line of breakers, white in the vanishing night, the abandoned ship beyond, cracking her canvas to tatters in the freshening breeze. And he told of his boarding her and of what he had found. "Where was this?" asked the officer, and Thorpe gave his position as he had checked it. "I reported the derelict to a passing steamer that same day," he added, but the Admiral was calling for a chart. He spread it on the desk before him and placed the tip of a pencil in the center of an unbroken expanse. "Breakers, you said?" he questioned. "Why, there are hundreds of fathoms here, Mr. Thorpe." * * * * * "I know it," Thorpe agreed, "but I saw them--a stretch of white water for an eighth of a mile. I know it's impossible, but true. But forget that item for a time, Admiral. Look at this." He opened a brief case and took out a log-book and some other papers. "The log of the _Minnie R._," he explained briefly. "Nothing in it but routine entries up to that morning and then nothing at all." "Abandoned," mused the Admiral, "and they did not take to the boats. There have been other instances--never explained." "See if this helps any," suggested Thorpe and handed the other two sheets of paper. "They were in the captain's cabin," he added. Admiral Struthers glanced at them, then settled back in his chair.