rnum name that young Farnum had inherited from his father.

While Jacob Farnum is reading the despatch carefully, for a better
understanding, let us speak for a moment of Captain Jack Benson and his
youthful comrades and chums.

Readers of the first volume in this series, "_The Submarine Boys on
Duty_," remember how Jack Benson and Hal Hastings strayed into the
little seaport town of Dunhaven one hot summer day, and how they learned
that it was here that the then unknown but much-talked about Pollard
submarine was being built. Both Jack and Hal had been well trained in
machine shops; they had spent much time aboard salt water power craft,
and so felt a wild desire to work at the Farnum yard, and to make a study
of submarine craft in general.

How they succeeded in getting their start in the Farnum yard, every
reader of the preceding volumes knows; how, too, Eph Somers, a native of
Dunhaven, managed to "cheek" his way aboard the craft after she had been
launched, and how he had always since managed to remain there.

Our same older readers will remember the thrilling experiences of this
boyish trio during the early trials of the new submarine torpedo boat,
both above and below the surface. These readers will remember, also,
for instance, the great prank played by the boys on the watch officer of
one of the stateliest battleships of the Navy.

Readers of the second volume, "_The Submarine Boys' Trial Trip_," will
recall, among other things, the desperate efforts made by. George
Melville, the capitalist, aided by the latter's disagreeable son, Don, to
acquire stealthy control of the submarine building company, and their
efforts to oust Jack, Hal and Eph from their much-prized employment.
These readers will remember how Jack and his comrades spoiled the
Melville plans, and how Captain Jack and his friends handled the
"Pollard" so splendidly, in the presence of a board of Navy officers,
that the United States Government was induced to buy that first submarine
craft.

After that sale, each of the three boys received, in addition to his
regular pay, a bank account of a thousand dollars and ten shares of stock
in the new company. Moreover, Messrs. Farnum and Pollard had felt
wholly justified in promising these talented, daring, hustling submarine
boys an assured and successful future.

Jacob Farnum at last looked up from the final reading of the telegram in
his hands. Captain Jack Benson's gaze was fixed on his emplo