The Submarine Boys and the Middies | Page 3

wire to you," shouted the boy, panting a bit.
"Said it might be big news for Farnum. So I ran all the way."
Jacob Farnum took the yellow envelope, opening it and glancing
hastily through the contents.
"It is pretty good news," assented the shipbuilder, a smile wreathing his
face. "This is for you, messenger."

"This" proved to be a folded dollar bill. The messenger took the money
eagerly, then demanded, more respectfully:
"Any answer, sir?"
"Not at this moment, thank you," replied Mr. Farnum. "That is all; you
may go, boy."
Plainly the boy who had brought the telegram was disappointed over
not getting some inkling of the secret. All Dunhaven, in fact, was
wildly agog over any news that affected the Farnum yard. For, though
the torpedo boat building industry was now known under the Pollard
name, after the inventor of these boats, the yard itself still went under
the Farnum name that young Farnum had inherited from his father.
While Jacob Farnum is reading the despatch carefully, for a better
understanding, let us speak for a moment of Captain Jack Benson and
his youthful comrades and chums.
Readers of the first volume in this series, "The Submarine Boys on
Duty," remember how Jack Benson and Hal Hastings strayed into the
little seaport town of Dunhaven one hot summer day, and how they
learned that it was here that the then unknown but much-talked-about
Pollard submarine was being built. Both Jack and Hal had been well
trained in machine shops; they had spent much time aboard salt water
power craft, and so felt a wild desire to work at the Farnum yard, and to
make a study of submarine craft in general.
How they succeeded in getting their start in the Farnum yard, every
reader of the preceding volumes knows; how, too, Eph Somers, a native
of Dunhaven, managed to "cheek" his way aboard the craft after she
had been launched, and how he had always since managed to remain
there.
Our same older readers will remember the thrilling experiences of this
boyish trio during the early trials of the new submarine torpedo boat,
both above and below the surface. These readers will remember, also,
for instance, the great prank played by the boys on the watch officer of

one of the stateliest battleships of the Navy.
Readers of the second volume, "The Submarine Boys' Trial Trip," will
recall, among other things, the desperate efforts made by George
Melville, the capitalist, aided by the latter's disagreeable son, Don, to
acquire stealthy control of the submarine building company, and their
efforts to oust Jack, Hal and Eph from their much-prized employment.
These readers will remember how Jack and his comrades spoiled the
Melville plans, and how Captain Jack and his friends handled the
"Pollard" so splendidly, in the presence of a board of Navy officers,
that the United States Government was induced to buy that first
submarine craft.
After that sale, each of the three boys received, in addition to his
regular pay, a bank account of a thousand dollars and ten shares of
stock in the new company. Moreover, Messrs. Farnum and Pollard had
felt wholly justified in promising these talented, daring, hustling
submarine boys an assured and successful future.
Jacob Farnum at last looked up from the final reading of the telegram
in his hands. Captain Jack Benson's gaze was fixed on his employer's
face. Hal Hastings was looking out of a window, with almost a bored
look in his eyes.
"You young men wanted action," announced Mr. Farnum, quietly. "I
think you'll get it."
"Soon?" questioned Jack, eagerly.
"Immediately, or a minute or two later," laughed the shipbuilder.
"I'm ready," declared Captain Jack, rising.
"It'll take you a little time to hear about it all and digest it, so you may
as well be seated again," declared Farnum.
Hal, too, wandered back to his chair.

"You've been wondering how much longer the Government would
leave the 'Pollard' here," went on Mr. Farnum. "I am informed that the
gunboat 'Hudson' is on her way here, to take over the 'Pollard.'"
"What are the Navy folks going to do?" demanded Captain Jack, all but
wrathfully. "Do they propose to tow that splendid little craft away?"
"Hardly that, I imagine," replied Farnum. "It's the custom of the United
States Navy, you know, to send a gunboat along with every two or
three submarines. They call the larger craft the 'parent boat.' The parent
boat looks out for any submarine craft that may become disabled."
"The cheek of it," vented Jack, disgustedly. "Why, sir, I'd volunteer to
take the 'Pollard,' unassisted, around the world, if she could carry fuel
enough for such a trip."
"But the Navy hasn't been accustomed to such capable submarine boats
as ours, you know," replied Mr. Farnum. "Hence