According to the story told by the prisoners--especially by one who was more talkative than his fellow--the huge submarine had a crew of sixty men, with a captain for commander, a full lieutenant and a sub-lieutenant. She was fully provisioned and carried plenty of shells. Her commander’s desire to save torpedoes, their supply of which could not be renewed nearer than Zeebrugge or Kiel, was the cause of the submarine being caught unaware by the destroyer. Had the _Western Star_ been sunk at once by the use of a torpedo, the underseas boat would have been far away from the scene when the American ship arrived. It was an oversight! “And it is an oversight her commander can worry about all through eternity,” Mr. MacMasters growled, in talking about it with the boys he took into his confidence now and then. “It is my idea that that big sub could get stores and oil without running home to her base; but she could not get torpedoes.” He did not explain further what Commander Lang and his officers suspected. But the German prisoners had been interrogated very carefully along certain lines, especially regarding that German raider called the Sea Pigeon for which the _Colodia_ had really been sent in search. The big submarine had taken considerable treasure and valuable goods from the vessels she had sunk. Then, for a time, she had disappeared from the steamship lanes. Where had she gone with the stolen goods? The prisoners hesitated to explain this. Indeed, one of them became immediately dumb when he saw what the questioning was leading to. From his companion, however, was obtained some further information. It was a fact that the submarine had left her base with the raider known as the _Sea Pigeon_. The underseas boat convoyed the bigger craft through the danger zone. It was not a difficult guess that when the two German boats had separated arrangements had been made for certain rendezvous at future dates--when and where? Besides, both boats were furnished with wireless. “I would make that Heinie tell the whole story,” Ensign MacMasters said. “He might not tell the truth, sir,” suggested Whistler Morgan. “Then I’d hang him,” declared the officer. “A threat of that kind will make these brave Heinies come to time. I know ’em!” Commander Lang had his own way of going about this matter. He used his own good judgment. Whether he believed he had obtained the full truth from the prisoners or not about the _Sea Pigeon_, he turned the destroyer’s prow toward the reaches of the western Atlantic, leaving the eastern steamship lanes behind. The crew only knew that the _Colodia_ must be following at least some faint trail of the raider. For the destroyer had been sent to get the German ship, and Commander Lang was not the man to neglect his work. The radio men picked plenty of chatter out of the air; but, as far as the Navy Boys knew, though they tried to find out, little of it referred to the German raider.