The Submarine Boys and the Spies

The Submarine Boys and the
Spies, by Victor

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Submarine Boys and the Spies, by
Victor G. Durham
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Submarine Boys and the Spies Dodging the Sharks of the
Deep
Author: Victor G. Durham

Release Date: November 13, 2005 [eBook #17057]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES***
E-text prepared by Jim Ludwig

Note: This is book four of eight of the Submarine Boys Series.

THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES
Dodging the Sharks of the Deep
by
VICTOR G. DURHAM
1910

CONTENTS
CHAPTERS
I. "Guess Day" at Spruce Beach II. Trouble in the Making Stage III. On
the Edge of the Spider's Web IV. Kamanako Appears on the Scene V.
Eph Learns Something New VI. The Little Russian has His Way VII. A
Pointer Jolts the Submarine Captain VIII. Even Up for Mr. Kamanako
IX. "Dog, Who is Your Master?" X. M. Lemaire Proves His Training
XI. Jack's Friends Do Some Fast Guessing XII. In the Power of the
Spies XIII. The Fellow Who Showed the White Flag XIV. A
Remembrance From Shore XV. Captain Jack Becomes Suspicious XVI.
The Government Takes a Hand XVII. Drummond's Little Surprise--For
Himself XVIII. "Remember What Happened to the 'Maine'!" XIX. A
Joke on the Secret Service! XX. A Bright Look and a Deadly Warning
XXI. A French Rat in the Corner XXII. Gallant Even to the Foe XXIII.
"Good-Bye, My Captain!" XXIV. Conclusion
CHAPTER I
"GUESS DAY" AT SPRUCE BEACH
"Has anyone sighted them yet?"

"No."
"What can be the matter?"
"You know, their specialty is going to the bottom. Possibly they've
gone there once too often."
"Don't!" shuddered a young woman. "Try not to be gruesome always,
George."
The young man laughed as he turned aside.
Everyone and his friend at Spruce Beach was asking similar questions.
None of the answers were satisfactory, because nobody knew just what
reply to make.
Everyone in the North who has the money and leisure to get away from
home during a portion of the winter knows Spruce Beach. It is one of
nature's most beautiful spots on the eastern coast of Florida, and man
has made it one of the most expensive places in the world.
In other words, Spruce Beach is a paradise to look at. The climate, in
the winter months, is mild and balmy. Health grows rapidly at this
favored spot, and so fashion has seized upon it as her own. True, there
are yet a few cottages and boarding houses left where travelers of
moderate means may find board.
The whole air of Spruce Beach is one of holiday expectancy. The
winter visitors go there to enjoy themselves; they expect it and demand
it. They are gratified. From the first of December to the middle of
March, life at Spruce Beach makes you think of a great, jolly, unending
picnic. The greatest cause for regret is that more people of ordinary
means cannot go there and reap some of the plentiful harvest of fun and
frolic.
The thousands of tourists, hotel guests and cottagers at Spruce Beach
had been promised that by the middle of December they would have a
treat the like of which few of them had ever enjoyed before. The

Pollard Submarine Boat Company, so named after David Pollard the
inventor--the company of which Jacob Farnum, the shipbuilder, was
president--had promised that by that date their newest, fastest and most
formidable submarine torpedo boat, the "Benson," should arrive at
Spruce Beach, there to begin a series of demonstrations and trials.
Still more extraordinary, the captain of this marvelous new submarine
craft of war was known to be a boy of sixteen--Jack Benson, after
whom the new navy-destroyer had been named.
Newspaper readers were beginning to be familiar with the name of
Captain Jack Benson. Though so young he had, after a stern
apprenticeship, actually succeeded in making himself a world-known
expert in the handling of submarine torpedo boats.
Those lighter readers of newspapers, who scoffed at the very idea of a
sixteen-year-old boy handling a costly submarine boat, were sometimes
reminded that the same thing happens at the United States Naval
Academy at Annapolis, where the young midshipmen are given
instruction and often are qualified as young experts along similar lines.
More remarkable still, as faithful readers of newspapers knew, Captain
Jack Benson had associated with him, on the new torpedo boat, two
other sixteen-year-old boys, by name Hal Hastings and Eph Somers. It