The three chums regarded him with the greatest interest.
"Just now," he continued, "I"ve been loaned to the Secret Service. Left San Pedro harbor only yesterday morning to report to Inspector Burton at Santa Barbara. Evidently he had boarded the Bear at that port, however, and then changed his mind about going north, for he radioed me to take him off."
A rap on the door interrupted and Ensign Warwick called an order to enter. A sailor stood in the doorway, coming smartly to salute.
"Fog"s not lifting, sir," he said. "And no sound to indicate the trawler. Your orders to report in an hour, sir."
"Right, Farrell," answered Ensign Warwick. "You may go."
The young sailor withdrew.
"How far down the coast are we now, Ensign?" asked Frank. "Murphy gave me our bearings aboard the trawler, so I could radio them to you. But I have no idea where that is on the map. We had been trying to compute the distance we traveled from San Francisco, but when we awoke this morning the trawler"s engines were still, and I don"t know how long she had lain there. You spoke of Santa Barbara. Are we near that point?"
"About fifty or sixty miles west-north-west," said the naval officer. He rose. "Shall we go on deck? In this weather I ought to be there."
They followed him from the cabin.
"Say, Bob," said Frank, as the pair dropped behind, "wouldn"t it be fun to take a cruise aboard this Sub Chaser in pursuit of "Black George"s"
gang?"
"Great."
"I mean not just after the trawler. Probably we"ll lose her in this fog.
But to go on a regular expedition, maybe to nose out the smugglers"
rendezvous, maybe clear down into Mexican waters?"
"Great," agreed Bob again.
"Well, we"ve already had considerable fun out of this," declared Jack, joining them and leaving Mr. Temple and Doctor Marley to continue with the naval officer.
"Haven"t we, though," agreed Frank. "Why, when we get back to Harrington Hall in the fall, and tell the fellows about this--"
"And about our Mexican border adventures, too," supplemented Jack.
"Huh. They"ll think we"re awful liars," said Bob.
All three laughed.
Mr. Temple turned and beckoned to them to approach.
"We are going to turn about and make a run for the Bear," he said.
"Ensign Warwick believes this fog will not lift for some time, and that the trawler has pretty well given us the slip."
"Well, he"s in command," said Frank, ruefully, "but I did hope we"d capture the trawler. I don"t care so much about capturing "Black George," although it"s a pity to let him slip through our fingers. But, do you realize that we"re not very presentable for polite society? I"d like to recover our wardrobes."
For the first time it was borne in upon them that Mr. Temple, Bob and Frank were, indeed, scantily clad, and that most of their possessions were aboard the trawler. In their haste to act quickly in seizing the radio room, all but Jack had set forth clad only in shirt and trousers.
They were even without shoes. In their excitement theretofore, none had thought of this.
"Fortunately, they did not take my wallet," said Mr. Temple, pulling it from a pocket, and examining the contents. "I have plenty of money here, so that as soon as we reach port somewhere we can send Jack ash.o.r.e to buy us some clothing."
"We"re a fine-looking bunch of thugs, now, though, Dad," said big Bob.
"You and I both need a shave badly. Frank and Jack have such light whiskers, you can"t tell whether they"ve shaved or not."
This was a cruel thrust at which Bob"s two chums bridled. Bob"s whiskers were heavy, and he had been shaving for years. Frank and Jack, however, only recently had taken on man"s estate in this respect.
"Some folks are proud of being hairy as an ape," said Frank cuttingly.
Big Bob merely laughed good-naturedly, and ruffled his smaller chum"s hair.
Ensign Warwick with difficulty suppressed a grin.
"I can let you have razors," he said, "and probably we can find shoes for all of you of some sort. But I have no civilian clothes, and it would be against regulations for you to wear uniforms."
"Good thing the weather"s warm," said Bob.
"Say, I have an idea," cried Frank. "Suppose I call Inspector Burton on your radio, Ensign, and ask him to see if he can"t dig us up some clothes aboard the Bear. He knows us well enough to estimate our size, and, of course, I can give him further specifications."
"Go ahead," said the naval officer. "I planned to call him, anyhow, to report why we were delayed."
"Good idea, Frank," approved Mr. Temple, who did not relish the prospect of going any longer than necessary clad as he was. "Tell him I"ll pay any price within reason for good outer clothing."
"You see," said Frank, starting away, "he may not want to put into any port for some time, and then we"d be out of luck."
"But you will be going aboard the Bear, won"t you?" said Ensign Warwick.
"I hadn"t thought of that before, but, of course, that will be the thing for you to do. Then you can return to San Francisco."
The three boys glanced at each other in dismay.
CHAPTER XVIII
CLOSING IN
"Dad, we have got to see this thing through," declared Bob, turning toward Mr. Temple and voicing the desires of himself and his chums.
"Surely, you won"t put us aboard the Bear and return to San Francisco now!"
Mr. Temple smiled.
"Boys, I sympathize with you," he said. "But you will have to look at this matter reasonably. We have been drawn into this plot by force of circ.u.mstances, and so far have been unable to keep out of it. But we came to the coast for a week"s business trip on my part, with you boys accompanying me to see the sights. I have got to return to San Francisco. Business demands my presence. And things have turned out providentially to enable me to do so."
"But, Uncle George--"
It was Frank who spoke. Mr. Temple shook his head.
"No, Frank," he said. "I"m sorry for your sakes. I know how all this adventuring must appeal to you young fellows. But do be reasonable. It isn"t our business to run these crooks to ground. And besides, you have had plenty of adventure out of the situation already. I know I have had enough to last me a lifetime. When you get to be my age--"