A moment later guns on both ships boomed loudly. It was a salute, carrying a cheery "Good luck" to the ears of the two lads. As they sailed out to sea they could perceive that the cruisers also were getting under way, and were heading in the same direction as the Lena. The Lena quickened her pace and sped off toward the north, heading for the open water. Night fell and still she steamed rapidly on, the cruisers following in her wake. Frank took the first watch, and Jack turned in. The sea was perfectly smooth and the Lena steamed on, rolling gently on the even swell of the waves. At 7 o'clock, the sun streaming high in the heavens, Jack appeared on deck. A moment later Frank who had been relieved by the second officer during the night, also emerged from his cabin. Both turned their eyes over the stern, where the night before the two British cruisers had been following, offering protection in whatever danger threatened. The cruisers were not in sight. There was not even a cloud of smoke to show their presence anywhere on the wide sea. They had turned off on another course during the darkness. "Well," said Jack, "it's up to us to get into port safely. We have been thrown upon our own resources." "Yes," Frank agreed. "Captain Marcus has put great confidence in us. It's up to us to make good." "Well," declared Jack slowly, "we'll do it." "Yes," said Frank, "we will!" CHAPTER XII QUELLING AN OUTBREAK Among the prisoners who were being sent home to England on the Lena was the German commander who had been captured at Duala, Colonel Von Roth. He had given his parole, and accordingly had not been put in irons with the other prisoners in the hold, but had been given a cabin to himself near the one which Frank and Jack shared jointly. Besides Jack and Frank and the two other officers, the crew of the Lena was made up of fifty sailors, a chief engineer and his assistant and a squad of stokers. In all, there were probably seventy-five British aboard. All the prisoners captured had not been put aboard the Lena for the reason that there were too many of them. Some were aboard the Cumberland, and the Dwarf was caring for the remainder. However, there were probably a hundred prisoners aboard the Lena besides the colonel. Colonel Von Roth made himself very agreeable, said, in spite of the fact that he was an enemy, the boys took quite a liking to him. He conversed fluently upon subjects pertaining to America, where he said he had visited more than once, and also spoke familiarly of that spot on the African coast where Jack had made his boyhood home. Having thus thrown the lads off their guard, Colonel Von Roth set about finding a way in which he could recapture the ship. Of his parole he thought nothing. "What's a parole worth when given to a couple of children?" he had muttered to himself.