"What"s your draught?"
"Under present ballast, seventeen-eight," came the answer from the gunboat"s signal mast.
"Safe anchorage," Captain Jack signaled back.
"Can you meet us with a pilot?" questioned the on-coming gunboat.
"Yes," Captain Jack responded.
"Do so," came the laconic request.
"That"s all, Hal," the young skipper called, through the engine room speaking tube. "Want to row me out and put me aboard the gunboat?"
In another jiffy the two young chums had put off in the boat, Hal at the oars, Jack at the tiller ropes. The gunboat was now lying to, some seven hundred yards off the mouth of the little harbor. Hastings bent l.u.s.tily to the oars, sending the boat over the rocking water until he was within a hundred yards of the steam craft"s bridge.
"Gun boat ahoy!" roared Hal, between his hands. Then, by a slip of the tongue, and wholly innocent of any intentional offense, he bellowed:
"Is that the "Dad" boat?"
"What"s that?" came a sharp retort from the gunboat"s bridge. "Don"t try to be funny, young man!"
"Beg your pardon, sir. That was a slip of the tongue," Hal replied, meekly, as he colored. "Are you the gunboat "Hudson?""
"No; I"m her commanding officer, young man! Who in blazes are you?"
"I"m the goat, it seems," muttered Hastings, under his breath. But, aloud, he replied:
"I have the pilot you requested."
"Then why don"t you bring him on board?" came the sharp question. "Did you think I only wanted to look at a pilot?"
"All right, sir. Shall I make fast to your starboard side gangway?" Hal called.
"In a hurry, young man!"
"That"s the naval style, I guess," murmured Jack to his chum. "No fooling in the talk. I wonder if that fellow eats pie? Or is his temper due to coffee?"
Answering only with a quiet grin, Hal rowed alongside the starboard side gangway. Jack, waiting, sprang quickly to the steps, ascending, waving his hand to Hal as he went. Young Hastings quickly shoved off, then bent to his oars.
"Where"s the pilot?" came a stern voice, from the bridge, as Jack Benson"s head showed above the starboard rail.
"I am the pilot, sir," Jack replied.
"Why, you"re a boy."
"Guilty," Jack responded.
"What does this fooling mean? You"re not old enough to hold a pilot"s license."
By this time Benson was on the deck, immediately under the bridge. A half dozen sailors, forward, were eyeing him curiously.
"I have no license, sir," Jack admitted. "Neither has anyone else at Dunhaven. For that matter, the harbor"s a private one, belonging to the shipyard."
"Hasn"t Mr. Farnum a _man_ he can send out?"
"No one who knows the harbor better than I do, sir."
"Who are you? What are you?"
"Jack Benson, sir. Captain of the Pollard submarine boats."
"Why didn"t you tell me that before?"
The question came sharply, almost raspingly.
"Beg your pardon, sir, but you didn"t ask me," Jack replied.
"Come up here, Benson," ordered the lieutenant commander, in a loud voice intended to drown out the subdued t.i.tter of some of the sailors forward.
Jack ascended to the bridge, to find himself facing a six-footer in his early thirties. There was a younger officer at the far end of the bridge.
"Does Mr. Farnum consider you capable of showing us the way into the harbor?" demanded the commanding officer of the "Hudson."
"I think so, sir. He trusts me with his own boats."
"Then you are-"
"Benson, Mr. Farnum"s captain of the submarine boats."
Lieutenant Commander Mayhew gazed in astonishment for a moment, then held out his hand as he introduced himself, remarking:
"I was told that I would find a very young submarine commander here, but-"
"You didn"t expect to find one quite as young," Jack finished, smiling.
"No; I didn"t. Mr. Trahern, I want you to know Captain Jack Benson, of the Pollard submarines."
Ensign Trahern also shook hands with young Benson.
"And now," went on the commander of the "Hudson," "I think you may as well show us the way into the harbor."
"You"ll want to go at little more than headway, sir," Jack replied. "The harbor is small, though there"s enough deep water for you. In parts there are some sand ledges that the tide washes up."
"I can"t allow you to pilot us, exactly, but you"ll indicate the course to me, won"t you, Mr. Benson?"
The "mister" was noticeable, now. Naval officers are chary of their bestowal of the t.i.tle "captain" upon one who does not hold it in the Army or Navy service.
At Mr. Mayhew"s order the "Hudson" was started slowly forward, the searchlight playing about the entrance to the harbor.