And then it dawned upon Ted, who suddenly realized that the name of
his gallant chief had not been called in the lottery. "Little Mack"
had purposely withheld his own name and meant to be the last man in
the _Dewey_ after every other man had gone!
There was a commotion in the excited group as various members of the
crew sought to take exception to their captain's voluntary omission
of his own name. But the young lieutenant held up his hand for silence.
"I am the captain of this ship and take orders, from no man," he
announced bravely. "One man has to stay behind and I reserve that
honor for myself."
He paused for an instant and then added:
"The first man will go out at three o'clock to-morrow morning. We
shall have to get busy at that time before we have exhausted the
compressed air that yet remains in our tanks. It will require
considerable pound pressure for this job and we might as well be
at it while there is yet time. As near as I can estimate we are
not more than a mile off shore.
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