"We are the last of a strong little crew and a good ship," volunteered the captain. "The other poor boys went down with the ship." "And what may you be doing here, when, as far as I can see, a captain is supposed to stick till the last?" "We were rowing about, trying to pick up this man who had fallen overboard," invented the captain, who had been caught in a peculiar position. In fact, as this instance shows, and as the boys well knew, it is both unwise and difficult to attempt deception, even in a good cause. "A likely thing to my way of thinking," said the soldier. "Captains do not generally go overboard after sailors when they fall over, do they?" "Not generally," said Tom. "But the captain and I had been good friends, and he was anxious to save me quickly." "Guess this must be a matter for the officers," said one of the men. "They will pretty soon find out whether these fellows are what they claim to be or not." Now, Tom had a great dislike for being seen by the officers, for his activities with Dick had often thrown him into the enemy's hands, and he was afraid that some of his former captors might be with this party. Therefore to gain a little time, he said, "Now, see here, boys, everything you will find to be all right and satisfactory, and before we go to see the general or whoever it is that has command, we would like to take a dip in the surf and get freshened up a bit. Rowing around all night in an open boat doesn't help your appearance any, and we'll just join you boys in a swim, if you don't mind. Then we'll all be ready to go up and straighten things out." "That's all right, young feller," said the spokesman of the troops, a corporal, "you can have your swim all right, but don't you be too sure it will be as easy to straighten things out as you think." "Good," said Tom. "That's fine. And we'll be able to explain everything later on." Meanwhile, Tom's mind had been working rapidly, and he saw that they would easily ferret out the truth of the story as long as there were four of them to question. He didn't see how Tim and he could be any worse off by facing the matter out. It was about time for Dick and Fritz to be along in that part of the country, too, for their trip overland would take them longer than Tom had taken, being driven rapidly up the coast by the storm. Therefore, it seemed to him that if he could manage to get the captain and the mate out of the way, it would be better all around. So, when the party prepared to remove their clothes, Tom whispered to the captain: