Admirably manoeuvred, the destroyer came close enough to enable a line to be thrown to the prize's fore-deck. To the line was attached a stout wire hawser, the end of which was made fast to the torpedo-boat's for'ard bollard. Half a dozen sailors from the destroyer boarded and took possession of the capture, while Osborne and his men returned to the steamboat. The lashings securing the latter alongside the prize were then cast off, and in less than ten minutes the destroyer and her tow were swallowed up in the darkness.
"That's a load off my mind," soliloquized Osborne, as speed was increased to fifteen knots. By this time the leak had been temporarily plugged, the water that had made its way into the fore-cabin had been ejected, and there was every chance of the steamboat making a quick run back to her parent ship.
"Where be the dawg, sir?" enquired one of the steamboat's crew. "I can't see 'im nowheres aboard."
"Laddie!" exclaimed the Lieutenant. "Where are you? Come here, old boy."
There was no response. In ordinary circumstances Laddie would be within a paw's length of his master. Even though the animal might be sulking after the Lieutenant's admonition (and the dog was not given to sulking), the mere utterance of his name would bring him bounding to his master in an ecstasy of delight.
"Anyone seen Laddie recently?" sang out the Lieutenant, addressing the men up for'ard.
"I saw him a-followin' you when you got aboard that tawpeda-boat, sir," declared a young able-seaman. "He were close on your heels when you jumped, sir."
"Have a look down below," continued Osborne anxiously.
A search of the fore-cabin produced no desired result. In the diminutive engine-room, the leading stoker examined every nook and cranny of the compartment housing that box of tricks of intricate machinery. Reluctantly Osborne came to the conclusion that his pet was missing. The able-seaman, questioned further, was firm in his belief that he had seen Laddie following his master, but he could not say whether the animal actually boarded the prize. Nor could any of the other men express a definite opinion on that point.
It was just possible that the dog might have missed his footing, and have fallen between the steamboat and her capture. Failing being crushed between the two craft he might have fallen into the sea, and, unnoticed in the bustle, had been lost in the darkness.