Boy Scouts in a Submarine | Page 9

examination of the boat.
There were no wounds on the body, so it seemed that he had died from suffocation. There was still a sickening odor in the boat, but the constant manufacture of fresh air was gradually doing away with this.
The door to the room where the dynamos and the gasoline engine were situated was found wide open, and Ned instructed the boys to leave it so and leave everything untouched.
"The first thing to do," he said, "is to discover any clues the assassin may have left here. It is an old theory that no person, however careful he or she may be, can enter and leave a room without leaving behind some evidence of his or her presence there. We'll soon know if this is true in this case."
"There was some one in here, all right," Jimmie said. "He passed us on the conning tower, skipping like to break the speed limit for the city. I tried to trip him as he passed me, an' got this."
The lad turned a bruised face toward his companions. In the confusion no one had observed the cut on his cheek.
"You did get something!" Jack exclaimed. "Why didn't you say something about it?"
"Nothin' doin'!" answered the boy. "Only a scratch!"
Notwithstanding the boy's claim that the wound was of small importance, Ned insisted on its being dressed at once.
"Now," Ned said, after the cut had been properly cared for, "what sort of a man was it that passed you boys on the conning tower? The circular platform is so small that he must have crowded you pretty closely when he stepped out."
"He did," Jimmie answered. "I thought it was you, and stepped aside to make room for him."
"And then?"
"I had a feeling that it wasn't you. Then, he was makin' for the wharf so fast that I thought it would do no harm to have a look at him, and so called out."
"Then's when you got the slash across the cheek?"
"Yes; he cut me then."
"What about the size of the fellow?" asked Ned.
"Oh, I should think he was slender and light, the way he bounded off the platform and made for the wharf."
"Do you think he went there to kill Lieutenant Scott?" asked Jack, a moment later.
"It is more probable that he came here to put the Sea Lion out of commission," Frank replied.
"I'll bet well find somethin' all busted up!" Jimmie predicted.
"Ned can soon determine that," Jack remarked.
"Yes," Ned went on, "but the first thing to do is to see if this murderer left any visiting cards here. After that, we must notify the Coroner and have the body removed."
Ned went into the dynamo room and looked about.
"Here is where any enemy would have to do his work," he said, "so we must look for clues here. Keep your hands off the machinery, for he may have left finger marks somewhere."
Ned searched long and carefully without reward. Finally he turned to the waiting boys.
"There's quite a lot of waste lying around," he said. "Secure every fiber of it and examine it under the microscope. You would better attend to that, Frank, as you are familiar with the instrument. If you discover anything foreign to a place like this, let me know."
While Ned continued his search about the interior of the submarine, Frank busied himself inspecting the bits of waste the other boys brought to him. At last an exclamation of astonishment brought Ned to his side.
"There's something funny about this," Frank said, as Ned bent over his shoulder. "That stuff is not oil, and I'd like to know how it got in here."
"What does it look like?" asked Ned.
"I can't say," was the hesitating reply.
Ned took the microscope and looked at the object to which his attention had been called.
"Rubber!" he said, in a moment.
"Rubber!" repeated Frank. "How could rubber be in the waste in that shape?"
"All the same," Ned replied, "this is some rubber composition, and it has been wiped into the waste. Now, what could any person want with rubber here?"
"It is used quite a lot around electric apparatus," suggested Frank Shaw.
"But not in this form," Ned replied.
Then, remembering certain smooth blurs on the polished machinery he had recently examined, he took the microscope and made another examination of the spots. Presently he called Frank to his side.
"Look through the glass," he said, handing the instrument to Frank, "and tell me what you see."
"Rubber!" cried the boy, after a short examination. "There are a few traces here of the same rubber composition I found on the waste. Can you tell me what it means?"
"Quite simple," Ned replied, as the boys gathered about him. "The use of rubber composition by men engaged in nefarious undertakings dates back to the time of the utilization of the whorls and lines of the human fingers