"Nor have you beaten the Pollard crowd at any point along the road, that I can remember."
"Wait!" retorted Radwin, mysteriously.
These two villains were just sipping from their last cups of coffee when, even in the dining room, there reached their ears the m.u.f.fled sound of gunfire from the bay.
"What"s that?" demanded Radwin. "I want to hear the rest of that!"
He hurried through the dining room to the front of the lobby.
"There it goes," he cried, as Rhinds, puffing somewhat, joined him.
"First, the gunfire, then seven long whistles, followed by--wait!"
As the whistling ceased another gun boomed forth.
"That"s the emergency signal, to call all hands back who belong on submarines," uttered Radwin, wheeling about. "We must get our hats and coats, and hustle down to the water front."
Radwin, had in truth, read the signal aright. It was the signal that the naval board had announced in case, at any time, there should be sudden, official news for the officers and crews of the rival submarines.
"What can it be, I wonder?" pondered John Rhinds, as they hurried through a street that led to the pier.
"Probably some test in which the board wants us to start without any preparation," replied Radwin.
"I wish I knew what it was," muttered Rhinds.
"That"s just the way every man-jack aboard the submarine boats is feeling about it," jeered Radwin. "Jove, I hope the test, to-day, is one in which we stand a chance to beat the Pollard crowd!"
Jacob Farnum had just started from the "Hastings," in a sh.o.r.e boat, when the first gun boomed forth. The shipbuilder had been on his way to see his friend, at the hospital, when he heard the first gun. Stopping the rowers, he quickly comprehended when the whistle blasts started. He accordingly directed that he be put back alongside the "Hastings."
Jack, Hal and Eph had come tumbling up on deck at the first realization of the signal. Grant Andrews and his men were no longer on board, having gone, at daylight, to their boarding house on sh.o.r.e.
"What do you suppose is in the air, Jack?" called Mr. Farnum.
"I don"t know, sir. But whatever it is, we"re ready. We can start, on anything, at the drop of a handkerchief. Gasoline tanks full, compressed air by the cubic yard, storage batteries charged."
"It would be hard to catch you youngsters unprepared," laughed the shipbuilder, appreciatively.
They were still on deck, waiting and wondering, when they saw the president and secretary of the Rhinds company put off from sh.o.r.e in haste.
"They don"t mean to be left," sneered Eph.
"They"re pretty badly left already," muttered Captain Jack, bitterly.
"They haven"t beaten us, so far, by a single point."
"I suppose they"re hoping they will to-day, whatever the test is to be," muttered Hal Hastings.
Fifteen minutes more pa.s.sed. Then a little flock of six-oared cutters left the side of the gunboat "Oakland." In the stern-sheets of each cutter sat a naval officer in uniform.
"There"s Lieutenant Danvers," cried Jack, eagerly. "He brings us our instructions, whatever they are."
In a few moments more Danvers was along side, making his way up to the platform deck. In his right hand Danvers carried an official looking sealed envelope.
In his eager curiosity Jacob Farnum extended a hand to take the envelope, but Danvers drew it back.
"Pardon me," murmured the shipbuilder, confusedly. "I should have known better. The communication is, of course, for the captain."
Danvers turned the envelope over to Captain Jack Benson, who broke the seal, drawing out the paper enclosed. This is a part of what the submarine boy read aloud:
_""The Navy Department has just reported, by wireless, that a semi-submerged derelict, evidently that of a three-master schooner, is drifting in the paths of navigation at a point 385 miles southwest by south of this present station. The Department suggests that it would afford an example of practical use for submarines, if those now on this station would accompany a gunboat, at full speed for cruising, and attempt to discover and blow up this derelict.""_
"Great!" glowed Eph. "I vote for it."
"So do those on the other boats, if the observable excitement is to be taken as an indication," laughed Mr. Farnum.
"This letter goes on to request," announced Benson, "that the commander of each submarine willing to enter this affair signal to the "Oakland"
by hoisting the signal "Ready." Do you hear that, Eph?"
Somers made a dash for the signal chest. In another moment the appropriate bit of bunting was fluttering on the halliard at the top of the signal mast.
"We are directed," Jack read on, "to be ready within thirty minutes. We must follow the "Oakland" down the bay at a cruising speed of sixteen miles an hour. Once out of the bay, the "Oakland" will signal our formation to us."
"Do you see the boat the Rhinds signal is going up on?" laughed Hal Hastings. "It is going up on the submarine "Thor." According to the old Nors.e.m.e.n tales Thor was The Thunderer--also the fellow who struck with the big hammer. It looks like a Rhinds boast that they are to do big things on this lightning cruise."
"Yes; Thor was an old Norse G.o.d," muttered Captain Jack. "And the early Nors.e.m.e.n were very largely pirates. Perhaps we are to take the signal on the "Thor" as an intimation that Rhinds is out to play pirate in earnest on this cruise."
As Benson uttered these words he felt an odd little shiver run over him.
Yet he gave it no more thought. Little idea had he, at that moment, how prophetic his words were likely to be!
In half an hour, as planned, the "Oakland," after firing a warning gun, steamed away from her moorings. Gradually the gunboat"s speed increased, until the full sixteen miles were being made--miles, instead of knots, since gasoline boats, like these submarines, are usually rated by miles instead of by the longer "knot."
It was a rattling rate of speed to exact from these little craft, when it was considered that the gait would have to be continued, without break, for at least twenty-four hours.
Eph was at the wheel, at the start, and Jack standing back by the conning tower. Mr. Farnum had gone below, for a nap, as he intended to relieve Hal in the engine room after a few hours.
"Benson," remarked Danvers, approaching the submarine boy, "I guess your remark of a few minutes ago exactly defines this trip."
"What remark?" asked Jack.
"You spoke of it as a lightning cruise. It is going to be one, indeed, for these little submarine craft."
"Our boat can stand it, I think," smiled the submarine skipper.
"And so can the Rhinds boat, probably. But some of the others will find themselves sorely put to to keep up the speed for twenty-four hours."
"And, if they don"t?" queried Jack.
Danvers shrugged his shoulders.
"Then I guess they"ll have to be satisfied with being left far behind, unless they signal that they"re in actual distress."