A DESPERATE RISK.
“Did you know, Bob Steele,” asked the consul, by way of preface, “that
Captain Nemo, junior, right there in Belize, had been approached by an
agent of the Japanese government and offered two hundred thousand for
something he’s selling to our government for just half that?”
“No, sir,” answered Bob. “But I know the captain well enough to feel
sure that he wouldn’t sell the _Grampus_ to any other country but the
United States, not if he was offered a million. He has invented a
submarine that is better than any other craft of its kind that was ever
launched, and the captain is patriotic enough to want his own country
to reap the benefit.”
“Exactly. Captain Nemo, junior, is a man after my own heart, by gad!
Well, he refused the offer, and two days later he received a warning
signed simply, ‘The Sons of the Rising Sun,’ saying that if he did not
reconsider the _Grampus_ would be sunk in the bottom of the ocean. How
was that for audacity? But the captain thought it was all bluff--the
Japs have learned a lot from us, my lads, and bluff is not the least of
their acquirements.
“The captain said nothing to you, Bob Steele, about this warning
from the Sons of the Rising Sun. He treated it with silent contempt,
well knowing that you would do everything possible to safeguard the
submarine without any unnecessary talk from him.
“Now, from what you lads have told me, we must change our minds about
that warning being a bluff. If it was a bluff, then the Japs are
trying to make good. But the Japanese government knows nothing about
this. If the high boys among the Japs in Tokio knew, they would be the
first ones to send a warship after these precious Sons of the Rising
Sun. The Young Samurai are going it on their own hook; they’re going to
help their beloved country whether the country wants them to or not.
“The _Grampus_ is a good thing. The Japs are able to tell a good thing
when they see it, and that’s what makes the Sons of the Rising Sun so
hungry either to buy the submarine or send her to the bottom in such
a way that she can’t come up. They’re a lot of hotheads, that’s what
they are, and they don’t care a picayune what happens to them just so
they can get in some wild stroke that, in their overheated estimation,
may benefit Nippon.
“I don’t know as we can blame them. It hasn’t been so mighty long since
they broke through their chrysalis of heathendom, and they are drunk
with their success in their late unpleasantness with Russia--Russia, a
country that has been our firm friend ever since the Pilgrims landed on
Plymouth Rock.
“Well, you have faced desperate risks, and you may be compelled to
face more. I wish I could assure you that there were no more troubles
in sight, but the Japs are a persistent race, and whenever young
firebrands like these Sons of the Rising Sun get started at anything
they never know when to let go. But,” and here the consul brought his
fist emphatically down on the table, “I don’t think you can possibly
meet any greater dangers than you have already met and successfully
passed through. Bearing that in mind, I’d be willing to bet every
dollar I’ve got that Bob Steele will make good, and deliver this old
catamaran at Mare Island, right side up with care, and everybody
smiling--except, of course, the Sons of the Rising Sun. I’ll back Young
America against Young Japan any day. Catch my drift? That’s about all.
Come in and eat with me--we have to eat, you know, no matter how hot it
is. After dinner we’ll look after Mr. Tolo, and I’ll give Bob a letter
to an agent who will supply him with gasoline, or any other old thing
that happens to be necessary in order to make a submarine go. There
won’t be any water in the gasoline, either. Come on, now, and let’s try
and be cheerful. Heaven knows you boys have got enough ahead of you to
make your hair stand on end like quills on the fretful porcupine, but
what we’re not sure of hadn’t ought to trouble us.”
Bob and Glennie had a good dinner, and after it was over the consul
went with them to the _Grampus_ and gave the craft a sizing. He was
charmed with the boat, and all the useful odds and ends of machinery
with which she was packed.
Following that, he went to the prison chamber and surveyed Tolo as he
lay bound and helpless on the floor.
“You’re a nice young patriot, I must say!” exclaimed the consul, as he
looked down on the quiet, uncomplaining Japanese, “but you met more
than your match when you went up against Bob Steele. Where are the rest
of your rascally outfit?”
“I speak nothing, honorable sir,” replied Tolo, “not because of any
disrespect for you, but out of regard for my dear Nippon.”
The consul stared, and then he groaned.
“High-handed outrage stalks the seas,” he muttered, “and this poor
fool calls it love of country! Well, well! I wonder what Commodore
Perry would say if he could hear that? The Japs are our great and good
friends, all right, but we don’t count for much when there’s a little
thing like a patent boat on the program. I’ll take care of you, my
lad,” he added to Tolo. “You’ll stay in Para until the first United
States warship comes along, and then you’ll travel to the States and
give an account of yourself.”
A few minutes later the consul left the boat, and, an hour after he was
gone, police officers arrived and carried the misguided Tolo to the
municipal bastile.
That was the last Bob and his friends ever saw of him.
Bob and Glennie refused a pressing invitation to stay all night at the
consul’s palatial home. They explained to him that, in view of the
vague dangers threatening them and the _Grampus_, they felt as though
they ought to stay with the boat.
Mr. Brigham commended their zeal, repeated his encouraging auguries for
their ultimate success, and warned them again of dangers ahead.
“Desperate risks are what you’re to take,” said he. “It may be that
you have clipped the claws of the dragon, and that nothing more will
be heard of the Sons of the Rising Sun. That’s the bright side of the
picture, but please don’t look at it. In a case of this kind it is
better to expect the worst; then, if better things come to you, they
will be in the nature of a happy surprise.”
On the second day of their stay in Para, Dick went ashore and got their
supplies. It had been on the schedule that the _Grampus_ was to put in
at Rio, but Mr. Brigham advised the boys to give that port a wide berth.
“Your itinerary,” he explained, “is probably known to these hotheaded
Japs. The way to fool them is by dodging the itinerary and putting in
at the places where you are not expected.”
“We’ll have to stop somewhere before we round the Horn,” said Bob; “and
I believe we’ll call at----”
“Don’t tell me!” protested the consul. “Don’t tell any one in Para,
or even talk it over among yourselves until you are well away at sea.
Then, when you speak the name of your next port of call, go down to the
ocean bed and whisper it. Do you think I’m piling it on? Well, perhaps
so, but I am only trying to let you understand how necessary it is to
keep your own counsel. I’m mightily interested in you, and in your
ultimate success, and what advice I give I give earnestly, and trust
you will take it so. You’ll get around the Horn, all right, and you’ll
get to Mare Island, and the _Grampus_ will become part and parcel of
our country’s navy, perhaps with Ensign Glennie in command. That’s a
cinch, my lads; but what you’re to go through before you reach Frisco
is a horse of another color. Don’t be overconfident. Remember what I
say, and keep your eyes on the dark side of the picture. Good-by, and
luck go with you.”
On the morning of the third day after their arrival at Para the
_Grampus_ slipped down the river toward the open sea. She carried
confident hearts and determined wills--and, in spite of the fact
that all had their eyes on the “dark side of the picture,” there was
plenty of hope and also of good cheer in the stout steel hull of the
submarine. For Bob Steele was in command. He had brought the _Grampus_
through many perils, and all had faith to believe that he could bring
her through many more.
THE END.
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Transcriber’s Note:
The Contents at the beginning of this ebook has been added by the
transcriber. Punctuation has been standardised; hyphenation retained
as in the original publication. Changes have been made as follows:
Page 137
the noise reached Bob ears _changed to_
the noise reached Bob’s ears
Page 154
and render gallant sevice for _changed to_
and render gallant service for
Page 208
number of almiralty charts _changed to_
number of admiralty charts
Page 258
darted up the coning-tower ladder _changed to_
darted up the conning-tower ladder
Page 261
narrowly escaped runing the _changed to_
narrowly escaped running the
Page 287
they surmized that we would take _changed to_
they surmised that we would take
Page 300
before you read them, Mr. Bingham _changed to_
before you read them, Mr. Brigham
End of Project Gutenberg's Bob Steele In Strange Waters, by Donald Grayson