"It looks that way, doesn"t it?" laughed the young skipper.
"And you"re the captain?"
"Yes; but I can"t undertake to handle Mr. Farnum"s business for him."
"You"ll let me go aboard the craft to sleep for to-night, anyway?" coaxed Truax.
"Why, that"s just what I"m not at liberty to do," replied the young submarine captain. "No; I couldn"t think of that, in the absence of Mr.
Farnum"s order."
"But that doesn"t seem hardly fair," protested Truax. "See here, I have spent all my money getting here. I haven"t even the price of a lodging with me, and this isn"t a summer night."
"Why, I"ll tell you what I"ll do," Benson went on, feeling in one of his pockets. "Here"s a dollar. That"ll buy you a bed and a breakfast at the hotel up the street. If you want to get aboard with us in time, you"d better show up by eight in the morning."
"But-"
"That"s really all I can do," Jack Benson hastily a.s.sured the fellow. "I"m not the owner of the boat, and I can"t take any liberties. Oh, wait just a moment. I"ll see if there"s any chance of Mr. Farnum coming back to-night."
Jack knew well enough that there wasn"t any chance of Mr. Farnum returning, unless possibly at a very late hour with the naval officers, but the boy had seen the night watchman peering out through the gateway.
Retracing his steps, Jack drew the night watchman inside, whispering:
"Just a pointer for you. You"ve seen that man on the street with us? He has a letter from Mr. Pollard to Mr. Farnum, but I wouldn"t let him in the yard to-night, unless Mr. Farnum appears and gives the order."
"I understand," said the night watchman, nodding.
"That"s all, then, and thank you."
Jack Benson hastily rejoined the others on the sidewalk.
"I don"t believe, Mr. Truax, it will be worth your while to come here earlier than eight in the morning. Better go to the hotel and tie up to a good sleep. Good night."
"Say, why did you take such a dislike to the fellow?" queried Eph, as the three submarine boys strolled on up the street, Truax following slowly at some distance in the rear.
"I didn"t take a dislike to him," Jack replied, opening his eyes wide.
"You choked him off mighty short, then."
"If it looked that way, then I"m sorry," Benson protested, in a tone of genuine regret. "All I wanted to make plain was that I couldn"t pa.s.s him on to our precious old boat without Mr. Farnum"s order."
Truax plodded slowly along behind the submarine boys, a cunning look in the man"s eyes as he stared after Jack Benson.
"You"re a slick young man, or else a wise one," muttered Truax. "But I think I"m smart enough to take it out of you!"
Nor did Sam Truax go to the hotel. He had his own plans for this evening-plans that boded the submarine boys no good.
The three boys strolled easily about town, getting a hot soda or two, and, finally, drifting into a moving picture show that had opened recently in Dunhaven. This place they did not leave until the show was over. They were half-way home when Captain Jack remembered that he had left behind him a book that he had bought earlier in the evening.
"You fellows keep right on down to the yard. I"ll hurry back, get the book and overtake you," he proposed.
Jack ran back, but already the little theatre was closed.
"I"m out that book, then, if we sail in the morning," he muttered, as he trudged along after his friends.
On the way toward the water front Benson had to pa.s.s a vacant lot surrounded by a high board fence on a deserted street. He had pa.s.sed about half way along the length of the fence, when a head appeared over the top followed by a pair of arms holding a small bag of sand. Down dropped the bag, striking Jack Benson on the top of the head, sending him unconscious to the ground.
CHAPTER IV: MR. FARNUM OFFERS ANOTHER GUESS
Close at hand there was a loose board in the fence. Through this Sam Truax thrust his head, peering up and down the street. Not another soul was in sight.
With a chuckle Truax stepped through the hole in the fence. Swiftly he gathered up the young submarine captain, bearing him through the aperture and dropping him on the ground behind the fence. At the same time he took with him the small bag of sand.
"Knocked you out, but I don"t believe you"ll be unconscious long," mused Truax, standing over his young victim, regarding him critically. "There wasn"t steam enough in the blow to hurt you for long. You"re st.u.r.dy, following the sea all the time, as you do."
With a thoughtful air Sam Truax drew a small bottle from his pocket, sprinkling some of the contents over Jack"s uniform coat. Immediately the nauseating smell of liquor rose on the air.
"Now, if someone finds you before you come to, you"ll look like a fellow that has been drinking and fighting," muttered Truax under his breath. "If you come to and get back to the yard without help, you"ll walk unsteadily and have that smell about your clothes. Usually, it needs only a breath of suspicion to turn folks against a boy!"
[Ill.u.s.tration: Down Dropped the Bag.]
Down Dropped the Bag.
Pausing only long enough to learn that Jack"s pulses were beating, and that the submarine boy was breathing, Truax stole off into the night, carrying the bag of sand under his overcoat. At one point he paused long enough to empty the sand from the bag over a fence. The bag itself he afterwards burned in the open fireplace in the room a.s.signed to him at Holt"s Hotel.
For twenty minutes Jack Benson lay as he had been left. Then he began to stir, and groan. Then he opened his eyes; after a while he managed to sit up.
"Ugh!" he grunted. "What"s the odor? Liquor! How does that happen? Oh, my head!"
He got slowly to his feet, using the board fence as a means to help steady himself. Then, though he found himself weak and tormented by the pain in his head, Benson managed to feel his way along the fence until he came to the opening made by the loose board. Holding himself here, he thrust his head beyond.
Now, Hal and Eph, having waited for some time at the sh.o.r.e boat, before going out on board the "Farnum," had at last made up their minds to go back and look for their missing leader. They came along just at the moment that the young captain"s head appeared through the opening in the fence.
"There he is," muttered Hal, stopping short. "Gracious! He acts queerly. I wonder if anything can have happened to him? Come along, Eph!"
The two raced across the street.
"Jack, old fellow! What on earth"s the matter?" demanded Hal Hastings, anxiously.
"I wish you could tell me," responded Jack Benson, speaking rather thickly, for he was still somewhat dazed. "Oh, my head!"
"There has been some queer work here," muttered Hal in Eph"s ear. "Don"t torment him with questions. Just help me to get him down to the yard."