"Can one of the marines fire a shot to stop those fellows?" asked Eph Somers.
"In the air, do you mean, sir?" asked the midshipman. "Certainly."
"Then I wish he"d do it."
Bang! The discharge of the rifle sounded sharply on the night air.
"It ain"t stopping "em any," muttered Eph, after a few seconds had gone by.
"Nothing would, unless fired into them," volunteered Midshipman Terrell.
It did not take long, however, to run the submarine up alongside of the sloop, at a distance of about one hundred yards.
"Now, we want you men to stop," called Midshipman Terrell, between his hands. "We are United States naval forces, from the gunboat, and you will regard this as an order that you must obey. No!" thundered the midshipman, suddenly, as the bearded one started to step down into the cabin. "You will both keep on deck. Otherwise we shall be obliged to fire into you. We mean business, remember!"
"What do you want to board us for?" demanded Curtis, pausing.
"We will explain when we come aboard."
"How are you coming, aboard? You"ve no small boat."
"We can land this submarine right up beside you," responded the midshipman, "if you keep straight to your present course."
"And sc.r.a.pe all the paint off our side," objected Curtis.
"That has no bearing on my instructions, sir. I direct you to keep straight to your present course. We will come up alongside."
"What if we don"t do it?" demanded Curtis, with sudden bl.u.s.ter.
"Then your danger will be divided between being shot where you stand and having your craft cut in two by the bow of our craft," retorted Mr.
Terrell. "You will realize, I think, that there can be no parleying with our orders."
The bearded one swore, but the corporal and his two marines stood at the rail with their rifles ready, waiting only the midshipman"s order to aim and fire.
Eph allowed the "Farnum" to fall back a little way. Then he exerted himself to show his best in seamanship as he ran the submarine up to board the sloop by the starboard quarter. The two boats barely touched. Mr.
Terrell, his three marines and two seamen leaped to the standing room of the yacht. Eph, all aquiver, let the nose of the "Farnum" fall back slightly. Then he trailed along, under bare headway.
Then a shout came from the sloop, as the two seamen reappeared, bearing the forms of Jack and Hal.
"We"ve found them aboard, Mr. Somers," shouted Terrell. "Drugged, I think, sir. Will you come alongside, sir."
Eph quickly rang the signal, then did some careful manuvring. As he touched, one of the marines leaped back to the platform deck, then pa.s.sed a line to Mr. Terrell. The two craft were held together until Jack and Hal had been pa.s.sed, still unconscious, over the side. The naval party quickly followed, then cast loose from the sloop.
"This whole proceeding is high-handed," growled Curtis, as soon as he saw that he was not to be molested.
"Oh, you shut up, and keep your tongue padlocked," retorted Midshipman Terrell, in high disgust. "You"re lucky as it is. Now, Mr. Somers, are you going back to the bay, sir?"
"Aren"t you going to take those two-body-s.n.a.t.c.hers?" demanded Eph, glaring venomously at the pair on the sloop.
"My instructions don"t cover that, sir," replied the cadet midshipman.
"Then hang your orders!" muttered young Somers, but he kept the words behind his teeth. Eph veered off, next headed about, while the two seamen bore Jack and Hal below to their berths.
"Will you take the wheel, Mr. Terrell?" asked Eph, edging away, with one hand on the spokes.
"Yes, sir."
Eph hurried below to the port stateroom. Jack lay in the lower berth, Hal in the upper. The two seamen, after feeling for pulse, stood by looking at the unconscious submarine boys.
"What"s been done to them?" demanded Eph.
"The same old knockout drops, sir, that sailors in all parts of the world know so well, sir, I think," answered one of the men, with a quiet grin.
"Humph!" gritted Eph, bending over Jack"s face. "Smell his breath."
"Yes, sir," said the sailor, obeying.
"There"s no smell of liquor, there, is there?"
"No, sir," admitted the sailor, looking up, rather puzzled.
"There is some infernally mean trick in all this," growled Eph. "I am mighty sorry we didn"t bring those rascals back with us."
When he went on deck again the submarine boy relieved Mr. Terrell at the wheel, completing the run in to moorings.
"Did you find your comrades aboard the sloop, Mr. Somers?" hailed the lieutenant commander, from the gunboat.
"Yes, sir."
"Are they all right?"
"Drugged, sir."
"Hm! Mr. Terrell and his detachment will return to this vessel."
The boat took them away. It was five minutes later when the boat returned, bringing the lieutenant commander, Doctor McCrea, the surgeon, and a sailor belonging to the hospital detachment aboard the "Hudson." Eph conducted them below.
"Drugged," announced the medical officer, after a brief examination.
"Humph!" uttered Mr. Mayhew. "That sort of trick isn"t played on folks in any decent resort on sh.o.r.e. I don"t understand Mr. Benson"s conduct. I remember his mishap at Dunhaven. I remember the plight he got into at Annapolis; and now he and Mr. Hastings are found in this questionable shape. I am very much afraid these young men do not conduct themselves, on sh.o.r.e, in the careful manner that must be expected of civilian instructors to cadets."
Eph Somers felt something boiling up inside of him.
CHAPTER XIX: THE LIEUTENANT COMMANDER"S VERDICT