As a result, Jack, Hal and Eph had hundreds of new friends among those who will officer the Navy of the morrow.
Not so bad, even just as a stroke of business!
CHAPTER XIII: READY FOR THE SEA CRUISE
For the next ten days things moved along without much excitement for the submarine boys.
During that time they had an average of four sections a day of cadet midshipmen to instruct in the workings of the Pollard type of submarine torpedo boat.
During the last few days short cruises were taken on the Severn River, in order that the middies might practise at running the motors and handling the craft. At such times one squad of midshipmen would be on duty in the engine room, another in the conning tower and on the platform deck.
Of course, when the midshipmen handled the "Farnum," under command of a Navy officer, the submarine boys had but little more to do than to be on board. Certainly they were not overworked. Yet all three were doing fine work for their employers in making the Navy officers of the future like the Pollard type of craft.
After waiting a few days Jack Benson reported to the Annapolis police his experience with the mulatto "guide." The police thought they recognized the fellow, from the description, and did their best to find him. The mulatto, however, seemed to have disappeared from that part of the country.
There came a Friday afternoon when, as the last detachment of middies filed over the side into the waiting cutter, Lieutenant Commander Mayhew announced:
"This, Mr. Benson, completes the instruction desired in the Basin and in the river. To-morrow and Sunday you will have for rest. On Monday, at 10 A.M., a section will report aboard for the first trip out to sea. Then you will show our young men how the boat dives, and how she is run under water. As none of our cadet midshipmen have ever been below in a submarine before, you will be sure of having eager students."
"And perhaps some nervous ones," smiled Skipper Jack.
"Possibly," a.s.sented Mr. Mayhew. "I doubt it, though. Nervousness is not a marked trait of any young man who has been long enrolled at the Naval Academy."
"Can we have a slight favor done us, Mr. Mayhew?" Jack asked.
"Any reasonable favor, of course."
"Then, sir, we"d like to spend a little time ash.o.r.e, as we"ve been confined so long aboard. If I lock up everything tight on the boat until Sunday night, may we know that the "Farnum" will be under the protection of the marine guard?"
"I feel that there will not be the slightest difficulty in promising you that," replied Mr. Mayhew. "I will telephone the proper authorities about it as soon as I go on sh.o.r.e."
All hands on board were pleased over the prospect of going ash.o.r.e, with the exception of Sam Truax.
"You don"t need any guard on the boat," he protested. "I don"t want to go ash.o.r.e. Leave me here and I"ll be all the guard necessary."
"We"re all going ash.o.r.e," Jack replied.
"But I haven"t any money to spend ash.o.r.e," objected Truax.
"I"ll let you have ten dollars on account, then," replied Jack, who was well supplied with money, thanks to a draft received from Jacob Farnum.
"I don"t want to go ash.o.r.e, anyway."
"I"m sorry, Truax, but it doesn"t really make any difference. The boat will be closed up tight, and there wouldn"t be any place for you to stay, except on the platform deck."
"You"re not treating me fairly," protested Sam Truax, indignantly.
"I"m sorry you think so. Still, if you"re not satisfied, all I can do is to pay you off to date. Then you can go where you please."
"I"m here by David Pollard"s order. Do you forget that?"
"He sent you along to us, true," admitted Jack, "but I have instructions from Mr. Farnum to dismiss anyone whose work on board I don"t like. Now, Truax, you"re a competent enough man in the engine room, and there"s no sense in having to let you go. You"re well paid, and can afford the time on sh.o.r.e. I wouldn"t make any more fuss about this, but do as the rest of us are going to do."
"Oh, I"ll have to, then, since you"re boss here," grumbled Truax, sulkily.
"I don"t want to make it felt too much that I _am_ boss here," Jack retorted, mildly. "At the same time, though, I"m held responsible, and so I suppose I"ll have to have things done the way that seems best to me."
Sam Truax turned to get his satchel. The instant his back was turned on the young commander Sam"s face was a study in ugliness.
"Oh, I"ll take this all out of you," muttered the fellow to himself. "I don"t believe, Jack Benson, you"ll go on the cruising next week. If you do, you won"t be much good, anyway!"
Ten minutes later a sh.o.r.e boat landed the entire party from the submarine craft.
"Going with the rest of us, Truax?" inquired Jack, pleasantly.
"No; I"m going to find a boarding-house. That will be cheaper than the hotel."
So the other four kept straight on to the Maryland House, giving very little more thought to the sulky one.
It was not until after supper that Eph turned the talk back to Sam Truax.
"I don"t like the fellow, at all," declared young Somers. "He always wants to be left alone in the engine room, for one thing."
"And I"ve made it my business, regular," added Williamson, the machinist, "to see that he doesn"t have his wish."
"He"s always sulky, and kicking about everything," added Eph. "I may be wrong, but I can"t get it out of my head that the fellow came aboard on purpose to be a trouble-maker."
"Why, what object could he have in that?" asked Captain Jack.
"Blessed if I know," replied Eph. "But that"s the way I size the fellow up. Now, take that time you were knocked senseless, back in Dunhaven. Who could have done that? The more I think about Sam Truax, the more I suspect him as the fellow who stretched you out."
"Again, what object could he have?" inquired Benson.
"Blessed if I know. What object could anyone have in such a trick against you? It was a state prison job, if the fellow had been caught at the time."
"Well, there"s one thing Truax was innocent of, anyway," laughed Captain Jack. "He didn"t have any hand in the way I was tricked and robbed by the mulatto."
"Blamed if I"m so sure he didn"t have a hand in that, too," contended Eph Somers, stubbornly.
"Yet Mr. Pollard recommended him," urged Jack.
"Yes, and a fine fellow Dave Pollard is-true as steel," put in Hal Hastings, quietly. "Yet you know what a dreamer he is. Always has his head in the air and his thoughts among the stars. He"d as like as not take a fellow like Truax on the fellow"s own say-so, and never think of looking him up."