The Submarine Boys Trial Trip | Page 7

his lips grimly enough. Don flashed a sneering look at Jack, then
observed:
"You're pretty independent for a boy."
"Let Captain Jack alone," drawled Farnum, expelling some cigar smoke
between his lips. "He generally knows what he's doing."
Though there was nothing in the builder's tone at which offense could
be taken, this reply quieted both Melvilles for the time being.
"Come on. We'll all go down to the shore and see what it is," added the
yard's owner.
Captain Jack hurried ahead, entered the shore boat and was rowed out
alongside the "Pollard."
"It's all right, fellows," he called, as soon as he boarded. "Everything
ready?"
Receiving assurance that all was ready, Captain Jack turned to wave his
hand to the little group watching from the shore. Two or three minutes
later the "Pollard" slipped slowly away from her moorings, going out
where the little harbor was deeper. Then, the manhole being closed, the
submarine began to sink. Her conning tower was soon out of sight
beneath the surface.
"There's about seventy feet of water, where the boat is going down,"

observed Farnum, to his guests.
"What's the aim of all this mysterious work?" demanded Mr. Melville,
with some irritation.
"You know as much as I do," drawled Farnum, smilingly.
"It seems to me that you allow this young boat tender a good deal of
latitude, and tolerate a good deal of mystery in him," cried the capitalist,
impatiently.
"I have a good deal of confidence in my young captain," returned
Farnum, good-humoredly, though with considerable emphasis on the
title. "So far I have never had any need to regret giving Captain Benson
rather a free hand."
"Yet you--"
Mr. Melville stopped right there, for Jacob Farnum, his eyes turned in a
steady look out over the water, suddenly emitted an incredulous whoop.
Then, without explanation, the boatbuilder broke into a dead run that
carried him along the shore to the northern edge of the little harbor.
Nor was Mr. Farnum's astonishment to be wondered at, for he had just
caught sight of Jack Benson's head, above the water at the point where
the submarine had gone down. And now, Captain Jack, after blowing
out a mouthful of water, had started to swim ashore with long, easy
strokes.
Not quite catching the great significance of it all, the Melvilles and the
lawyer hurried after the builder.
Captain Jack Benson, clad only in a bathing suit, stepped out of the
water and stood laughing before his employer.
"Jack, how on earth did you--" began Farnum, then stopped,
overpowered by another wave of amazement.
"What's the meaning of all this?" demanded the elder Melville,

pantingly, as he reached the scene.
"Mr. Melville, and gentlemen," cried the boatbuilder, wheeling upon
his guests, "do you even begin to grasp the importance of the marvel
you have just witnessed? One of the great indictments found against the
submarine torpedo boat is that, when one sinks and cannot be brought
to the surface again, the crew must miserably perish. Very humane
people shudder at the very idea of ordering men into a craft that may go
to the bottom and become the hopeless grave of the crew. Yet the
'Pollard' lies at the bottom of this harbor, and Captain Benson has just
come to the surface, laughing and uninjured."
"I suppose he opened the manhole cover, and rose to the surface,"
hazarded Mr. Melville.
"In that case, sir," smiled Captain Jack, "wouldn't you expect the
'Pollard' to be filled with water, and my companions drowned? Besides,
sir, at a depth of seventy feet, the pressure of the water is such that it
would be sheer impossibility to raise the manhole cover."
"Then how did you get here?" demanded the capitalist.
"Pardon me, sir," replied Jack, courteously, though firmly.
"Do you refuse to answer my question, boy?"
Again the irritating, half-contemptuous use of "boy" made Jack's
cheeks flush, though he answered merely:
"I think, sir, Mr. Farnum has a right to the first information."
"Do you understand, boy, that I am about to take a large interest in this
business?"
"I have heard so, sir. But I hope you won't mind my saying that this
little surprise was thought out by my comrades and myself. It seems to
me, therefore, that we have some rights in the disclosing of the secret."
"Humph!" broke in Don Melville. "It's all some deception--some cheap

trick, anyway."
Captain Jack held up one hand to signal the shore boat, which, with two
workmen in it, was hovering near. As the boat came in, the submarine
boy announced:
"Now, I will show you the rest of the principle that my mates and I are
demonstrating. Mr. Farnum, by the way, has just spoken of the humane
side of this discovery, the making possible the rescue