"Your offer, Mr. Melville, would not, under any circ.u.mstances, be considered, or even tolerated," rejoined the boatbuilder, coolly.
George Melville leaped to his feet, his face flushing.
"Do you mean that?" he demanded, glaring at the man opposite him.
"I never meant anything more in all my life," smiled the boatbuilder.
"Mr. Melville, I thank you for suggesting that you are ready to advance money, but I a.s.sure you, on my word, that I shall never have any business dealings with any members of your family."
"Man, you are talking like an idiot! Throwing away chances like a fool!" stormed Mr. Melville, his look becoming blacker every instant.
"And I appreciate the fact that you are much too wise a man to talk with a fool," laughed the boatbuilder, walking over and throwing the office door open. "Good morning! This will be my busy week."
"You"ll want me when, it"s too late," cried the angry capitalist, striding through the doorway. "You will live to see the day, very soon--"
What that day was Mr. Farnum didn"t learn, for he closed the door on his departing caller, going, laughing, back to his desk, where he picked up a cigar and lighted it.
"How poison runs through the blood of some families," mused the boatbuilder, blowing out several rings of smoke.
On the morning appointed the three Naval officers arrived at Dunhaven.
Their appearance did not excite much interest among the natives, for all three were in ordinary civilian dress.
Commander Ennerling came as president of the board; the other two members were Lieutenant Commander Briscoe and Lieutenant McCrea, the latter serving as recorder of the board.
"I"ve had the pleasure of meeting you before, haven"t I, Lieutenant?"
murmured Mr. Farnum, in an aside.
"Yes, and the commander of your boat is the same who played that wonderfully funny trick by leaving the submarine"s card painted on the side hull of the battleship "Luzon" during the hours when I was watch officer," replied the Naval officer, in an equally low tone. "But please don"t refer to it before my comrades, They"ve stopped hazing me about it, and have almost forgotten the incident."
As Lieutenant McCrea spoke his face was very red. He had been tormented much by his brother officers over the laughable prank that Captain Jack had played upon him, as related in the first volume in this series.
Mr. Farnum took the Naval board first of all to his house, where the inventor was presented to them. Then, after an early lunch, the party went out to board the "Pollard."
Captain Jack Benson and his crew of two were on the platform deck to receive the visitors from Washington. As Jack"s hand met Lieutenant McCrea"s the submarine boy said only:
"I am very glad to see you again, sir. I hope we shall have something worth showing to you."
"Get away from moorings, Captain Benson," directed Mr. Farnum. "Then, when we get out on the broad ocean, we"ll be ready for any tests that these gentlemen want."
Within a very few minutes more the "Pollard" was a mile off sh.o.r.e, heading almost due east and traveling at nearly her full speed.
"We"ll see how fast you can log the knots off for an hour," proposed Commander Ennerling, picking up a satchel that he had brought with him.
With McCrea"s help he adjusted a patent log that he had brought along with him, casting the line over the rail into the water.
"Now, let me know how soon you are ready to have the record of your speed begin," he suggested.
"Take the log from this minute," requested Captain Jack, for, as soon as he saw the Naval officers adjusting the log, he had quietly pa.s.sed word by Eph to Hal Hastings, who was in the engine room, to crowd on every revolution of the twin shafts that the gasoline motor would stand.
For an hour there was nothing to do but to steer straight ahead. Part of the time some of the officers spent below smoking, though always at least one of them remained on deck, to make sure that the log record was not tampered with.
At exactly the end of the hour the indicator of the log was read off.
"Twenty-one and four tenths knots!" cried commander Ennerling, with an expression of amazement. "Whew! I knew we were traveling fast, but I didn"t imagine we were doing quite as well as this."
"You"re satisfied with your test, aren"t you?" inquired Mr. Farnum.
"Yes, for the log was carefully standardized for us before we came."
Hal Hastings was called on deck to be complimented for this performance.
"The motor can be improved so as to beat that speed," declared Hal, flushed and happy, for he had nursed that motor along during the hour!
"As it stands, the twenty-one-spot-four record beats anything of the kind with any other submarine boat in the United States, doesn"t it?"
inquired David Pollard.
"I--I--it may do. It"s a very excellent record for speed, anyway; very remarkable," admitted the president of the board, cautiously.
"Now, gentlemen, what test will you have next?" asked Mr. Farnum.
"Suppose," replied Commander Ennerling, after glancing at his a.s.sociates, "that you submerge the boat, on even keel, and let us see how many feet under water you dare to go with this craft?"
"It shall be done," nodded Mr. Farnum. Accordingly the ventilators were shipped, all hands went below, and the conning tower manhole was closed.
Everything was in readiness for the drop below the surface. The gasoline engine was shut off, the electric motor being started. At Captain Jack"s order Eph stepped up to take the conning tower wheel, while the young commander stood by the diving controls.
"Even keel, if you please," again requested Commander Ennerling.
Jack began to flood, slowly, the water tanks, the "Pollard" sinking gradually. With the young captain at one side of the gauge, Messrs.
Farnum and Pollard took their posts at the other side, to watch the readings.
"How many feet down do you want to go?" asked young Benson, coolly.
"How far down do you dare to take the boat?" asked Mr. Farnum, almost hesitatingly.
"As far as you dare to let me," replied Jack, with spirit. "Watch the gauge, and tell me when to stop."
"Jove, but you have a cool nerve, lad, if you back that up," laughed lieutenant McCrea.
"Perhaps our young skipper is relying upon the caution of his employer,"
suggested Commander Ennerling, smiling.
It is always a question of great importance just how far below the surface a submarine torpedo boat may go with safety. The greater the depth the more enormous the pressure of the water. At sufficient depth the water pressure is terrific enough to crush in the hull of the stoutest submarine. At even less depth the pressure may easily start the plates so that the inrush of water will destroy all on board.
Yet Jack Benson"s proposition was to send the "Pollard" further and further below the surface, until owner or inventor should order him to stop.
All three of the Navy officers shot a look of admiration at the doughty young skipper. Then, almost immediately, their faces resumed their usual expressions. To the Navy officers this experience carried with it no dread. The "Pollard" might prove, under severe test, wholly unfit to stand the pressure below surface. Their death might be but a minute or two away, but with these Naval officers it was all in the line of duty.
It was not, with the members of the board, so much a matter of actual grit as of constant a.s.sociation with all forms of danger.
"We"re going pretty low," muttered Mr. Farnum to himself, as he read the gauge.