quite share the shipbuilder's confidence in the
submarine boy's innocence. Mr. Mayhew had known of too many cases of
naval apprentices ruined through weak indulgence in liquor. Indeed, he
had even known of rare instances in which cadets had been dismissed from
the Naval Academy for the same offense. The lieutenant commander's
present doubt of Jack Benson was likely to work to that young man's
disadvantage later on.

Others of the party left the auto. Hal and Mr. Farnum got into the
tonneau, supporting Jack there between them. Thus they carried him to
Mr. Farnum's office at the yard, Grant Andrews then going in the car
after a doctor, while the others stretched Jack on the office sofa.
The naval officers returned to the "Hudson," at anchor in the little
harbor below.

"The young man acts as though he had been struck on the head," was the
physician's verdict. "No bones of the skull are broken. The odor of
liquor is on his coat, but I can't seem to detect any on the breath."

"Of course you can't," commented Jacob Farnum, crisply. "Will Benson
be fit to sail in the morning?"

"I think so," nodded the doctor. "But there ought to be a nurse with
him to-night."

"Take my car, Andrews, and get a man nurse at once," directed Mr.
Farnum. "Doctor, can the young man be moved to his berth on the
'Farnum'?"

"Safely enough," nodded the medical man. They waited until the nurse
arrived, when Jack was put to bed on the newer submarine craft.

Jack slept through the night, moaning once in a while. Mr. Farnum
and the Dunhaven doctor were aboard early to look at him. The surgeon
from the "Hudson" also came over.

Under the effects of medicine Jack Benson was asleep when, at ten
o'clock that morning, the two submarine torpedo boats slipped their
moorings, following the "parent boat," the "Hudson," out of the harbor.

Ten minutes later the motion of the sea awoke the young skipper.

CHAPTER V

TRUAX SHOWS THE SULKS

"Hullo!" muttered the young submarine skipper, staring curiously about
the little stateroom aft. He had it to himself, the nurse having been
put on shore. "Under way, eh? This is the queerest start I ever made
on a voyage."

Nor was it many moments later when Jack Benson stood on his feet. His
clothes were hung neatly on nails against the wall. One after another
Jack secured the garments, slowly donning them.

"How my head throbs and buzzes!" he muttered, his voice sounding
unsteady.