Boy Scouts in a Submarine | Page 9

tower of the
submarine, with the boys gathered about him, anxiety showing in their
speech and manner. It was too dark for him to see their faces.
"You're all right now," Jimmie said. "What got you down there?"
Then Ned remembered the sudden extinction of the lights as he moved
down the stairs, the stifling, choking odor below, and the deadly grip of
suffocation which had brought him to the floor.
"Go back into the boat," he said, gaining strength every moment. "I am

anxious about Lieutenant Scott."
"We've just come from there," Frank said. "We've done all that can be
done for him."
"What do you mean by that?" demanded Ned, moving toward the hatch
which sealed the submarine.
"The poison which keeled you over got him!" Jack said.
"Do you mean that he's dead?" asked Ned, a shiver running through his
body as he spoke.
"I'm afraid so," was the reply. "We got you out just in time. You would
have perished in a moment more."
"Dead!" said Ned. "Lieutenant Scott dead! And he was so gay and so
full of life a few moments ago!"
Jack, who had left the little group a moment before, now returned.
"The poison seems to have evaporated from the interior," he said, "so
we may as well go below. I'll go ahead and turn on the lights." The
body of the naval officer lay in a huddle at the foot of the stairs leading
to the conning tower, just far enough to the rear so that the free passage
was not obstructed. With all the lights turned on and every aperture
which might transmit a ray to the world outside closed, the boys, after
placing the body on a couch, began a close 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