could not have told why he was so keenly
interested in that stranger. He could not see the man's face; he did not
presume it was anybody he had ever seen before; nor had he any reason to
be suspicious of the man.

Nevertheless he felt a little thrill as he first caught sight of the
stranger, and this feeling spurred his exclamation to Torry, which lead
the others' attention to him.

After they had all seen the man, Phil added: "Pull her down. Let's see
what he is up to."

Torrance stopped the automobile. His chum was their acknowledged leader
in most things, and all the other Navy boys were used to obeying Phil
Morgan's mandates without much question. As told in the former books of
this series, Morgan was an observant and level-headed youth, and his
friends might have followed a much more dangerous leader in both work
and play.

The four boys, at that time all under eighteen years of age, had begun
their first enlistment in the Navy several months before the United
States got into the war. They spent some months in the training camp at
Saugarack, on the New England coast.

The Government commissioned new craft of all kinds as rapidly as they
could be obtained, and was obliged to man some of them partly with
youths who had not yet finished their preliminary training ashore.

Phil Morgan and his friends had made rapid progress in their studies and
the drills, and they were lucky enough to be assigned to the same ship.
This was the destroyer _Colodia_, one of the newest of her class, a fast
ship of a thousand tons' burden. She made two cruises, both crammed full
of excitement and adventure; and the story of these cruises is related
in the first volume of the series, entitled "Navy Boys After the
Submarines; Or, Protecting the Giant Convoy."

In this first narrative of their adventures in the United States Navy,
Phil had a very thrilling experience. He fell overboard from his ship
and was picked up by the German U-boat No. 812.

After the conclusion of the destroyer's second cruise the four chums
from Seacove were enabled to spend a week at home. Returning to the
port in which they had been instructed to join the _Colodia_ the
evening before she again was to sail, the four chums were held up by a
burning railroad bridge, which had been set on fire by German agents.

It looked as though they would be unable to reach the _Colodia_ on time.
This event would be a very serious matter, for the naval authorities
frown