"No, thank you," replied the submarine pedestrian. "All I want is to get a taxi, and make myself scarce. The attentions of so large a crowd are really embarrassing, and I am a man of a very retiring disposition. Had I expected this reception I should have vastly preferred to have landed in a more secluded spot." With that he ignored his questioners and began to roll his diving suit into as small a compass as possible. The coastguards were on the horns of a dilemma. They feared to make an unlawful arrest, while they might be severely brought to book for allowing the stranger to slip through their fingers, but there was nothing in the King’s Regulations to prevent a man landing on a public beach, whether from a boat, hydro-aeroplane, or otherwise. Just at that instant a policeman strolled leisurely up, and scenting a charge, produced his notebook and pencil. "Hi! What’s this you’re up to?" he demanded, but the unknown totally ignored him. "Can’t he speak English?" asked the policeman of the coastguard officer. "Rather," asserted the other emphatically; then in a lower tone he added, "Look here, we want to detain the man, but we cannot name a charge." "I’ll see about that," retorted the policeman. "Now, sir, your name and address, please." "Allow me to inform you, constable, that my name is not ’Hi.’ Since you addressed me as such you must not be surprised that your question was ignored." A titter went up from the crowd, which had the effect of rousing the ire of the representative of the Law. "Now, sir, your name and address, please." "What for, constable?" "For bathing off a public beach in prohibited hours." "Don’t talk rot!" exclaimed the unknown indignantly. "Very good; since you refuse I have no option--I arrest you. Any statement you make may be used as evidence against you. Come along with me." Attended by the surging crowd the policeman escorted his charge to the road, where a cab was hailed. The chief officer of coastguards was requested to accompany the prisoner as a witness, and the three entered the vehicle and were driven to the police-station. Here, in order to gain time, the prisoner was formally charged with unlawful bathing, and as the Court was still sitting at the Town Hall he was ordered to be taken there at once. The chief officer meanwhile communicated with the naval authorities by telephone, expressing his opinion that the diver was a member of the mysterious Captain Restronguet’s submarine. But the prisoner never arrived at the Town Hall. When the cab stopped outside the court a policeman was found insensible on the seat. The floor had been violently ripped up, and unknown to the driver and the constable on the box the suspect had got clean away. By some inexplicable agency the unknown had deprived his captor of his senses, and the mystery of Captain Restronguet had entered into another phase. CHAPTER IV. THE SIGNAL FROM THE DEPTHS.