"Then--?" pursued Eph.
"Why, then I waited long enough to give the detectives a chance to reach the scene. Then I went back and walked into the trap with the fake sailors."
It was a story that was hugely enjoyed by the young submarine captain"s comrades.
"But who would put up such a queer job on us?" demanded Hal.
"It must be some one who didn"t want us to man a Pollard boat in to-morrow"s speed test, of course," nodded Jack. "It seems like a mean thing to say, and we ought to be sure, but I believe Rhinds and Radwin are the offenders."
The more the submarine boys talked it over, the more they were inclined to fall in line with the guess that Rhinds and Radwin had been behind their troubles.
"Some one has got to suffer for this business, before we get through!"
cried Captain Jack, his eyes flashing ominously. "But come, now, fellows, we must go to bed, for we must have enough sleep if we"re to be good and fit in to morrow"s race."
It was rather late, that evening when Messrs. Farnum and Pollard, still with John C. Rhinds, returned to the Somerset House.
"I don"t see our youngsters about, anywhere," muttered Jacob Farnum.
"But their room keys are gone from the clerk"s rack, so I guess they"ve turned in, like sensible fellows."
They did not know that Radwin himself had secretly removed the keys in order to create the impression that the boys were in bed.
Rhinds and Radwin talked in whispers, behind the locked door of another room. They chuckled a long while, then shook hands and went to bed.
The boys, however, as we know, were safely aboard the submarine.
Mr. Farnum had left a call for eight o"clock in the morning. It was about twenty minutes later that Farnum and Pollard knocked loudly on the door of the room occupied by Rhinds.
"Well?" demanded Mr. Rhinds, opening the door, and appearing, minus coat and vest. "Ah, good morning, gentlemen. Going down to breakfast? I"ll be ready in a few moments."
"Breakfast--nothing!" retorted Jacob Farnum, sharply. "Our young men are missing. We went to their rooms this morning, and could get no answer. We"ve had their doors opened with pa.s.s-keys--our three young submarine officers haven"t been in their beds all night long!"
John C. Rhinds allowed his face to express more surprise than concern over this news.
"Oh, well," he remarked, "boys will be boys, you know--especially when they"re sailors."
"Our boys are not that sort," retorted Mr. Farnum, sharply. "They are not hoodlums or racketers."
"Then of course you"ll find "em safe on one of your boats," proposed Mr.
Rhinds, innocently. "Just two minutes, and I"ll go down to breakfast with you."
Radwin, too, joined them. He also expressed surprise, artfully. All four went to the breakfast room together. Messrs. Farnum and Pollard ate well enough, though they seemed badly worried.
"There"s just one thing about it, of course," sighed Jacob Farnum, as the party left the table. "If our youngsters are not on one of our boats, then we"ve got to lose the speed race to-day. None of us can handle the boats the way they do."
"Oh, you"ll find the boys all right on one of the boats," a.s.serted Fred Radwin, confidently.
The rivals went down to the water front together. It was well after nine o"clock when they entered a sh.o.r.e boat.
"We"ll go out to your craft, first," proposed Mr. Rhinds, "You"ll feel so much better, gentlemen, when you find your crew all right. I"ll feel better, too, for I wouldn"t want to beat you unfairly to-day."
Grant Andrews and two of his workmen stood on the platform deck of the "Benson," leaning against the conning tower, when the sh.o.r.e boat came within hail.
"I am afraid to call out to Grant, and ask him," faltered the shipbuilder.
"Then don"t do it," returned Mr. Rhinds, sympathetically. "Just wait until we get alongside, and you"ll see your young men popping out of the conning tower, rested and as bright as new b.u.t.tons."
A moment later the sh.o.r.e boat rounded in alongside. Then, quite suddenly, the three submarine boys projected themselves through the manhole, and stood in full view on the platform deck.
"Eh? Hey?" gasped John C. Rhinds, utterly nonplussed.
Fred Radwin"s lower jaw seemed to drop several inches. He stared as though he were seeing ghosts, while a sickly, greenish pallor crept into his handsome face.
"By Jove, you were right, Rhinds!" gasped Jacob Farnum, turning. "Thank you, old man, for keeping our courage up."
"Good morning, Mr. Farnum! Good Morning Mr. Pollard!" chorused the three submarine boys. Then, favoring Rhinds and Radwin with brief glances:
"Good morning--_gentlemen!_"
"Gentlemen?" repeated Eph, disgustedly, under his breath. "I think not!"
Though Rhinds and his agent speedily managed to look pleasant, they hadn"t gotten their spirits back when the sh.o.r.e boat pulled away.
Farnum and Pollard went hurriedly below, where Jack and his comrades followed.
"Jack! Jack! Thank you a million times!" gasped Farnum, seizing the young captain"s hand, then giving the other boys the same hearty gripping handshake. "Your note that we got, this morning, gave us the information we needed and we knew just how to act."
"And, from the way Rhinds and his fellow acted, when they caught sight of you boys," added David Pollard, "we can form a pretty good idea of who tried to shanghai you three last night."
"The scoundrels!" glowered Farnum, in righteous rage.
"Now, sir," cried Jack, laughing savagely, "why did those fellows try such a trick on us? Because they hoped, thereby, to beat us in the distance speed race to-day."
"Of course," nodded the shipbuilder, still savage. "Rhinds builds fast submarines. I know that, from the reports I"ve had. Plainly, the Pollard boats are the only craft he feels much afraid of."
"He"ll be more than afraid, to-night," vaunted Jack Benson, proudly.
"More than afraid, sir. When the figures of to-day"s distance speed course are in John C. Rhinds will be frozen cold!"
"If we have to turn on gasoline and run the engines so hot we blow the whole deck off!" confirmed Hal Hastings, explosively.
"If I should be inclined to forget to-day," growled Eph Somers, "I have a pain in my head, from a crack I received last night, that will put me in mind of the whole outrage, and keep me strictly on the job of vengeance!"
"I guess you youngsters have the winning fire all right, for to-day,"
smiled Jacob Farnum, grimly.
"Are you going to enter both boats in to-day"s race?" asked Jack, more thoughtfully.
"We can"t," replied the shipbuilder. "Captain Magowan told me, last night, that, since the Rhinds people and ourselves are the only makers who have more than one boat here, today"s race will be confined to one craft representative of each make. So, which boat do you prefer to take out to-day, Jack?"