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As I ceased speaking and stepped back from the rail there was a roar of applause

from the deck such as I never before had heard aboard a ship of peace. It

recalled to my mind tales that I had read of the good old days when naval vessels

were built to fight, when ships of peace had been man-of-war, and guns had

flashed in other than futile target practice, and decks had run red with blood.

With the subsistence of the sea, we were able to go to work upon the damaged

engines to some effect, and I also set men to examining the gravitation-screen

generators with a view to putting them in working order should it prove not

beyond our resources.

For two weeks we labored at the engines, which indisputably showed evidence of

having been tampered with. I appointed a board to investigate and report upon

the disaster. But it accomplished nothing other than to convince me that there

were several officers upon it who were in full sympathy with Johnson, for, though

no charges had been preferred against him, the board went out of its way

specifically to exonerate him in its findings.

All this time we were drifting almost due east. The work upon the engines had

progressed to such an extent that within a few hours we might expect to be able

to proceed under our own power westward in the direction of Pan-American

waters.

To relieve the monotony I had taken to fishing, and early that morning I had

departed from the Coldwater in one of the boats on such an excursion. A gentle

west wind was blowing. The sea shimmered in the sunlight. A cloudless sky

canopied the west for our sport, as I had made it a point never voluntarily to

make an inch toward the east that I could avoid. At least, they should not be

able to charge me with a willful violation of the dead lines regulation.

I had with me only the boat's ordinary complement of men--three in all, and more

than enough to handle any small power boat. I had not asked any of my officers

to accompany me, as I wished to be alone, and very glad am I now that I had not.

My only regret is that, in view of what befell us, it had been necessary to bring the

three brave fellows who manned the boat.

Our fishing, which proved excellent, carried us so far to the west that we no

longer could see the Coldwater. The day wore on, until at last, about mid-

afternoon, I gave the order to return to the ship.

We had proceeded but a short distance toward the east when one of the men gave

an exclamation of excitement, at the same time pointing eastward. We all looked

on in the direction he had indicated, and there, a short distance above the

horizon, we saw the outlines of the Coldwater silhouetted against the sky.

The Lost Continent