The U-boat was close to the bobbing raft now. And just as a matter of precaution both Dave and Freddy made very sure that they kept their hands in full view of all those aboard the undersea craft. The two Japs behind the deck mounted machine gun leered at them over the bead sight, and it was easy to see they wouldn't mind at all an order to pull the trigger. No such order was given, however, and a couple of moments later one of the Jap sailors caught hold of the raft with a boat hook, pulled it close, and the two youths clambered up onto the wet deck of the U-boat. No sooner had they climbed up on deck than a couple of Jap Navy officers moved in on them quickly, and searched for weapons. They found none, and were obviously disappointed. Then a shrill order in sing-song Japanese snapped the look of disappointment from their slant-eyed faces. They grunted at the two boys and then nodded toward the conning tower bridge where the Nazi commander of the craft stood waiting. They went over and up the short companion ladder with a couple of Japs sticking conveniently at their heels. They halted in front of the bull-necked German, who eyed them as though he'd never seen a couple of white men in his life before. Which, of course, was quite possible, in view of the fact he was of German birth. Then, suddenly, he exploded in a booming voice that almost blew the boys over. "What's the name of your carrier?" he thundered. "And how long ago were you shot down?" Dawson hesitated a moment, and then let him have it. In a very meek and humble voice, too. "We weren't assigned to any special carrier, sir," he said. "We flew off any one of the five of them. And we've been in the water for about a week now. No, call it an even eight days." The Nazi's eyes widened and he blinked them hard. "What's this?" he cried. Before he could get his breath to say anything else, one of the Jap naval officers stepped forward. "He lies, _Kommandant_," he said in perfect German. "All American pigs lie. The United States have not five carriers left in all of their navy. Besides, we know these two were shot down by our plane yesterday."