The Submarine Boys for the Flag.
by Victor G. Durham.
CHAPTER I
"DO YOU SPEAK GERMAN?"
"Hey, there, Mister!" called out Jabez Holt, from one of the two office windows in the little hotel at Dunhaven.
As there was only one other man in the office, that other man guessed that he might be the one addressed.
With a slight German accent the stranger, who was well-dressed, and looked like a prosperous as well as an educated man, turned and demanded:
"You are calling me?"
"I reckon," nodded Jabez.
"Then my name is Herr Professor--"
"Hair professor?" repeated Jabez Holt, a bit of astonishment showing in his wrinkled old face. "Hair professor? Barber, eh? Why, I thought you was a traveler. But hurry up over here--do you hear me?"
"My good man," began the German, stiffly, drawing himself up to his full six-foot-one, "it is not often I am affronted by being addressed so--"
"There! He"ll be outer sight in another minute, while you are arguin"
about your dignity!" muttered Holt. "And that"s the feller you said you wanted to see--Jack Benson."
"Benson?" cried the German, forgetting his outraged dignity and springing forward. "Benson?"
"That"s him--almost up to the corner," nodded Landlord Jabez Holt.
"Run out and bring him back with you," directed Herr Professor Radberg.
"Be quick!"
"Waal, I guess you"re spryer"n I be," returned old Jabez, with a shrewd look at his guest. "Besides, it"s you that wants the boy."
Running back and s.n.a.t.c.hing up his hat, Professor Radberg made for the street without further argument.
Moving along hastily, the German soon came in sight of young Captain Jack Benson, of the Pollard Submarine Torpedo Boat Company.
"Ach, there! Herr Benson!" shouted the Professor.
Hearing the hail, Jack Benson turned, then halted.
"You are Herr Benson, are you not?" demanded Professor Radberg, as soon as he got close enough.
"Benson is my name," nodded Jack, pleasantly.
"Then come back to the hotel with me."
"You are a foreigner, aren"t you?" asked Jack, surveying the stranger coolly.
"I am German," replied Radberg, in a tone of surprise.
"I thought so," nodded the boy. "That is, I didn"t know from what country you came. But, in this country, when we ask a favor of a stranger, we usually say "please.""
"I am Herr Professor--"
"Oh, barbers are just as polite as other folks," Jack a.s.sured him, his laughing eyes resting on the somewhat bewildered-looking face of the German.
"Then please, Herr Benson, come back to the hotel with me."
"Yes; if it"s really necessary. But why do you want to go to the hotel?"
"Because, Herr Benson, when we are there, I shall have much of importance to say to you."
"Important to me, or to you?" asked Jack, thoughtfully.
He had no intention of answering a much older man disrespectfully. But there was about Herr Radberg the air of a man who expects his greatness to be recognized at a glance, and who demands obedience from common people as a right. This sort of thing didn"t fit well with the American boy.
"Oh, it is important to you, and very much so," urged the Professor, somewhat more anxiously. "Besides," added the German, with a now really engaging smile, "I have met your demand, Herr Benson, and have said "please.""
"Then I suppose I"ll have to meet your demand," nodded Jack, good-humoredly. "Lead the way, sir."
"Ach! You may walk at my side," permitted the German.
It all seemed a bit strange, but Captain Jack Benson had been through more strange experiences than had most Americans of twice or thrice his age. Besides, as he walked beside Herr Professor Radberg Jack imagined that he had guessed at least an inkling of the other"s business. The German had announced himself as a professor; probably, therefore, he was a scientist. Being a scientist, the Professor had very likely invented, or nearly invented something intended for use in connection with submarine torpedo boats, and wanted to interest the concern by which the young submarine skipper was employed. Though this guess was a reasonable one, it soon turned out to be the wrong one. The Professor"s real reason for seeking this interview was one that was bound to take the submarine boy almost off his feet.
Readers of the preceding volumes in this series need no introduction to Captain Jack Benson, nor to his chums, Hal Hastings and Eph Somers.
Such readers recall, as told in "_The Submarine Boys on Duty_," how Jack and Hal drifted into Dunhaven just at the right moment to fight for an opportunity to work themselves into the submarine boat building business. How the boys helped build the first of the now famous Pollard submarines, and afterwards learned how to man her, was all told, together with all their strange adventures in their new life.
In the "_The Submarine Boys" Trial Trip_" was related how Jack Benson solved the problem of leaving a submarine boat when it lay on the ocean"s bottom, and also the trick of entering that submerged boat again, after diving from the surface of the water. The attempt of shrewd business men to secure control of the new submarine boat company was also described, together with the manner in which the submarine boys outwitted them. Through a successful trial trip, and Captain Jack"s ingenious ways of arousing public interest, the government was forced to buy the "Pollard," as the first of the submarines was named.
In "_The Submarine Boys and the Middies_" was narrated how the submarine boys secured the prize detail of going to the Naval Academy at Annapolis as temporary instructors in submarine boating. Many startling adventures, and some humorous ones, were related in that volume.
Then in "_The Submarine Boys and the Spies_" was shown how the young men successfully foiled the efforts of spies of foreign governments to learn the secrets of the Pollard craft.
In "The Submarine Boys" Lightning Cruise" the adventures of these clever, enterprising boys were carried further. In this book, was told how the boys were trained in the handling of the actual torpedo of, warfare. The Pollard boats, "Benson" and "Hastings" were entered in official government tests in which the submarine craft of several other makes competed. The desperate lengths to which the nearest rival of the Pollards went in order to win were told with startling accuracy. The result of all these tests was that the Pollard company received from the Navy Department an order for eighteen submarine torpedo boats, the "Benson" and the "Hastings" being accepted as the first two boats on that order.
By the time the present narrative opens it was near the first of May.
Over at the shipyard, where facilities had been greatly increased, two of the submarines had lately been finished, and four more were under way in long construction sheds. Work on the government"s order was being rushed as fast as could be done while keeping up the Pollard standards, of high-cla.s.s work.
Of late Jack and his young friends, though their pay went on, had little work to do. Whenever a new boat was completed it was the task of the submarine boys to take her out to sea and put her through all manner of tests in order to determine her fitness. But there were days and days when the submarine boys had naught to do but enjoy themselves as their fancy dictated.
"Shall we sit down here?" asked Jack, as he and the tall German entered the hotel office.
Jabez Holt stood behind the desk, bent over the register, on which the Professor"s name had been the only new one in a week. The old landlord pretended to be busy, but he was covertly watching and listening.