insensibility.

Feeling confident the sentinel would remain unconscious some time,
Dick left the form lying there, and entered the cabin in search of the
other soldier. A snore sounding from a stateroom at one side guided
the youth, so he entered the compartment, and seizing this redcoat by
the throat, as he had the other, Dick quickly choked him into limp
insensibility. This accomplished, he went out on deck, dragged the
other redcoat into the cabin, and into the stateroom. Closing the
door, he locked them in.

"I don't think they will be able to get out of there, even if they
regain consciousness before I get to the prisoners," thought Dick.

Then he went out on deck again and hunted around till he found the
hatchway. Removing the covering, he looked down into the hold, but
could see nothing, the darkness there being even greater than on the
deck.

"Hello, down there!" he called. "Are you there, Tom!"

"Dick! Oh, is it really you?" came the reply, in the excited voice of
Tom Dare.

"Yes, it is I," was the reply. "How many are there with you, Tom? Is
father there?"

"No, Dick, father isn't here. Come down and free us, quick!" eagerly.
"There are twelve of us here, it is a terrible place,-slimy and
foul-smelling, and there are rats, insects and worms, ugh!"