FOOLING THE NAVY, BUT ONLY ONCE
Commander Ennerling bent forward to read the submergence gauge.
"Jove, but you've really your nerve with you, Captain Benson," he
declared, simply.
"Confidence in the boat, sir," Jack answered coolly.
Up in the conning tower, where he could observe the duplicate gauge, Eph
Somers, though not easily frightened, was beginning to feel more than
curious.
"If we go much deeper, I'll sure let out a yell," Eph gritted, between
his teeth.
At last Jack's voice broke in, coolly:
"You see, gentlemen, the gauge now gives a constant reading. We can't
go any lower, for the water tanks are as full as they'll hold, and
there's still the buoyancy caused by all the air the interior of the
boat. So we're as far below the surface as we can go."
"Bully for you, Benson!" cried Lieutenant McCrea, slapping the young
skipper on the back. "You understand what you're doing, and no one
could do it with more coolness. You must have been born aboard a
submarine."
"He never saw a craft of this kind, until a few weeks ago," retorted
Jacob Farnum admiringly.
Taking out a notebook and pencil, Commander Ennerling recorded the
reading of the submergence gauge, which showed how many feet the craft
was below the surface of the water.
"Of course," hinted Mr. Farnum, smilingly, "don't know the gauge to be
correct."
"We've the means with us of testing and standardizing the gauge in the
harbor," replied the president of the board.
"If we ever see the harbor again," muttered Eph Somers, overhead in the
conning tower.
"How does this compare with the depths touched by submarine boats now
owned by the Navy?" asked David Pollard, a bit feverishly. He was not
afraid of their present rather dangerous position, but was frightfully
nervous over the thought of any good showing this craft born in his
brain might fail to make. "This is thirty feet lower than any
submarine record I've ever heard of."
"I--perhaps it would be wiser for me not to say," replied Commander
Ennerling. "It may be as well for me to wait and compare this record
with those on file at the Navy Department."
"Have you had all you want of this, gentlemen?" inquired the boatbuilder.
"Shall we show you anything else?"
"Yes; you might give us a run at full speed under water, at the lowest
depth that you deem it wise to try to run the craft," answered the
president of the board.
"Very good," nodded the builder. Hal took this as the signal to leap
back into the motor room.
"How far below the surface would _you_ dare run the 'Pollard,' Captain
Benson?" inquired Commander Ennerling.
"At the greatest depth we can go, the present depth," quietly answered
Jack, without bravado.
The president of the board glanced at the builder of the submarine.
"Does that appeal to you, Mr. Farnum?"
"I'll let Captain Benson have his own way, unless the members of the
board have other instructions," replied Jacob Farnum, promptly.
"Well, Captain Benson, if you deem it wise to work your propellers at
their best at the present level, go ahead and try it," laughed the
president of the board.
"Half speed ahead, Hal," called the young submarine captain. "Full
speed as soon as you get well started. Eph, swing around and go due
west."
"Aye, aye, sir," came the response, from both members of the crew.
Erelong the splendid little craft was making the best speed of which she
was capable. That there was a big chance of risk in it all knew. If
the hull of the boat was not of the most perfect construction there
would presently come an ear-splitting report through the bursting in of
steel plates on account of the tremendous pressure of the water all
around the boat. That would be followed by the inrush of the ocean
and prompt destruction.
There was another danger, not so great. Wrecks of ships often sink
below the surface, there to drift tediously about as long as the timbers
hold together. If the "Pollard," traveling under present conditions,
should collide with such a hull, there would be no future for anyone
aboard.
Yet, though all three of the submarine boys fully comprehended the
chances that now confronted them, all three did their work without
faltering.
In fact, none of the eight human beings aboard during this extremely
hazardous undertaking betrayed any cowardice, nor even alarm.
Lieutenant McCrea watched the gauge, the other two officers going
forward to make record of the number of revolutions per moment at which
the electric motor could drive the propeller shafts.
After ten minutes the president of the board approached Mr. Farnum
to say:
"We are satisfied with this part of the work. Let us return to the
surface for a welcome look at the sky."
"Will you hold your watches, gentlemen," inquired Captain Jack, "in
order to see how much time passes before we are running on the surface?"
One of the members of the board, watch in hand, climbed up the staircase
to stand beside Eph in the conning tower.
"Awash, sir," Eph soon called down.
The time was noted.
"Now, show us anything that you wish," suggested Commander Ennerling.
Captain Jack looked significantly at Messrs. Pollard and Farnum. Both
nodded.
"Then, sir," rejoined Captain Benson, "if don't mind, we'll run back to
Dunhaven, and show you a specialty of ours in the harbor at Dunhaven."
"Very good," agreed the president of the board.
Not until they were in sight of the little harbor was the manhole opened.
Now, some of the party stepped out onto the platform deck and remained
there a few minutes.
"I'll have to ask you to come inside, now, gentlemen," requested Jack
Benson, courteously, after making an unobserved signal to someone on
shore. "We're going down to the bottom of the harbor."
As soon as the "Pollard" had sunk, and rested on bottom, Jacob Farnum
invited the members of the board into one of the staterooms aft.
"For just a few minutes, gentlemen," he explained, "we want to keep
you from seeing something."
As soon as the visitors were out of the way, Captain Jack sprang forward
to the torpedo tube. Hal Hastings, stripping off his outer clothing,
stood forth in his bathing suit.
"Into the tube with you, now," whispered Jack. "Crawl well
forward--right up to the forward end of the tube--so. Get hold of the
crossbar of the cap. Hold on hard. Now, when we close the rear port,
and open the forward cap, with a little rush of compressed air, the cap
will open forward and up, dragging you out into the water. Now, then,
got a good hold?"
"A grip like death itself," laughed Hal.
"Be ready, then."
Captain Jack closed the rear port of the tube, and turned on some
compressed air, which also drove the forward port open and up. A moment
later the submarine boy tapped at the door of the state-room.
"Has anything happened?" smiled Mr. Farnum.
"Hal Hastings is missing, sir," reported Jack.
"Missing?" demanded the boatbuilder, leading his guests out into the
cabin.
Young Benson pointed to the pile of clothing, just as Hal had left it on
the floor.
"Get to the surface," commanded Mr. Farnum. "We shall have to look into
this."
Soon the conning tower of the "Pollard" reappeared above the waves.
"Hal is safe, gentlemen," reported Captain Benson, from the tower.
An instant later he opened the manhole of the tower, allowing all hands
to step out on deck.
Grinning delightedly, Hal stood in the bow of the small shore boat.
"How did he get there, from a submarine on the bottom?" asked Commander
Ennerling, in astonishment.
"That is one of the secret features of this boat," laughed Mr. Farnum.
"Now, gentlemen, if you will kindly come below again, we're going to
sink."
Hardly had the submarine touched bottom before Mr. Farnum again conducted
his guests back to the state-room. When Captain Jack summoned them
forth, they returned to find Hal Hastings, laughing in a way that showed
his white teeth, standing there in his dripping garments.
"From what you have seen, gentlemen," said the builder, seriously, "I am
sure you will understand that we have mastered a new feature, of great
value in submarine boating." The three Navy officers struggled to
conceal their wonder.
"Make for the surface, Captain Benson," directed the owner.
When the passengers aboard the submarine stood once more on the platform
deck, the yard's owner signaled for the shore boat to lay alongside.
Into this small boat he took his guests. The boat was rowed away two or
three lengths, immediately after which the "Pollard" again sank.
Two or three minutes passed. Then Captain Jack's head shot above the
surface. He made for the boat, hanging onto the gunwale.
"It would be bad judgment to call you young fellows mermaids," said
Commander Ennerling, dryly, "but you are surely _merboys_."
A moment later Hal Hastings's head came above the surface.
"Mr. Pollard and young Somers could as easily leave the boat and join
us," explained Mr. Farnum. "However, if the last man aboard leaves
the boat then there is no way provided for a return to the 'Pollard,'
and we would be placed at great expense in raising her. I think we
have, however, shown you enough to make you believe that we have mastered
some new wrinkles in submarine work."
"You have shown us more than we can quite digest," admitted Lieutenant
Commander Briscoe. "But how is this all done?"
"That," responded Mr. Farnum, gravely, "the Government will know when
the boat is purchased for the American Navy."
The anchor being again lowered, both Jack and Hal dived below. In five
minutes the "Pollard" was on the surface. Mr. Farnum asked:
"Have we shown you enough at one time?"
"Yes," admitted the officers. "This evening, after dark, we may ask you
to take us out and show us your boat's diving powers."
"Jack, my boy," whispered Jacob Farnum, when the young captain joined the
party on shore, "your trick of leaving and returning to the boat when it
lies on the bottom has gotten our friends of the Navy into a state of
hard guessing. Do you think we'd better show them some more of it at
another time?"
"If you want my opinion, sir, I think we'd better not. We've puzzled
them this time, but if we keep on doing the trick for them, I'm afraid
they'll soon guess how it's done. I don't believe, sir, you can fool the
American Navy more than once."