of his mouth:

"Say, friend, for a stranger, you must have had a high old frolic in
the town last night."

Jack frowned. The sentry's grin broadened a bit. As he did not offer
to detain the boy longer, Benson hurried on along one of the walks.
He took as short a course as he could making straight for the Basin,
where he made out the "Hudson" and the two submarines.

"Hey! There's the captain!" shouted Eph, wonderingly, for Somers's
eyes were sharp at all times.

Out of the conning tower sprang Hal Hastings, looking eagerly in the
direction in which Eph Somers pointed:

"Eh?" muttered another person, lounging near the rail of the gunboat.
Then Lieutenant Commander Mayhew, after a keen, wholly disapproving
look at the hard-looking figure of a young man at the landing, started,
as he muttered:

"Benson, by all that's horrible! How did he come to be in that fearful
shape? He must have been in one of the worst resorts within miles
of Annapolis!"

"This isn't the first time the young man has come back the worse for
wear," the lieutenant commander continued, under his breath. "His
friends were loyal enough to him, that time. I wonder if they can be,
to-day?"

One of the shore boats, waiting about in the Basin, put young Benson
aboard the "Farnum" as soon as he explained who he was. Hal and Eph
stood awaiting the coming of their young commander, their faces full of
concern and anxiety. Both gripped Jack's hand as soon as he gained
the platform deck of the submarine.

"Come below," whispered Hal. "We'll talk there. You need a bath and
to get into a uniform as quickly as you can."

This need Jack Benson proceeded to realize without an instant's delay.
While he washed himself off, in one of the staterooms aft, he talked
through the door, which had been left ajar. He continued his story
while he dressed.

"We were fearfully anxious this morning," Hal confessed. "I went to
sleep last night, and didn't know of your absence until this morning.
Then Eph and I decided to come on down to the boat to see if you were
here. We were just planning to send quiet word to the Annapolis police
when Eph spotted you coming."

"And Truax?" inquired Captain Jack.

"He and Williamson are forward in the engine-room, now, at breakfast."

"Oh, well, Truax wouldn't know anything about the scrape, anyway,"
returned Jack. "His name was learned and used--that's all."

"Are you going to try to find that place, catch the mul