come a greater and greater
danger to the battleship, very likely in the end driving the battleship
from the navies of the world.

"Humph!" muttered Lieutenant McCrea. "Lying here in the bay I am
willing to admit that a submarine can sail under the hull of the vessel
I'm stationed on. But I'd like to see the submarine that could creep
up alongside, showing ever so little of itself, even on the darkest
night, without being detected."

"You think, sir," interposed Captain Jack, quietly, "that, if you were
in command of the deck at the time, you'd detect any submarine boat
that showed any portion of itself above the water?"

"Think?" retorted Lieutenant McCrea, with warmth. "No; I don't think
anything of the sort. I'd detect any such trick in time to turn a
rapid fire gun loose on the venturesome submarine!"

"Every time, sir?" asked Jack, calmly.

"Every time!" retorted the lieutenant, with emphasis.

Young Benson was wise enough not to attempt to take too much of a part
in the conversation with so many experienced naval officers present.
Yet he remained, listening, for the talk was highly instructive.

"I'll have to go up and signal for my boat," declared Lieutenant McCrea,
rising, at last. "I want a bit of sleep, for I'm watch officer on the
'Luzon' to-night, from dog watch to midnight."

After the lieutenant had gone, Captain Jack suddenly rose, hastening to
the platform deck, where Hal Hastings stood on watch.

"What's the matter?" demanded Hal, looking keenly at his chum.

"Why?"

"Why, your face is nearly all one broad grin."

"Oh, I'm thinking a bit," Jack answered, evasively.

"Happy thoughts, then," mocked Hastings, amiably. "I can tell by the
grinful look of your face."

"Yes, it's something lively that I'm thinking about," laughed young
Benson.

Over the supper table, that evening, Captain Jack announced the scheme
that had entered his mind while listening to Lieutenant McCrea.

Jacob Farnum listened, at first, somewhat thunderstruck. Then, of a
sudden, he laid down his knife and fork, bursting into a roar of
laughter.

"It sounds like a fearfully cheeky thing to do, I know," confessed the
young captain.

"It surely is," confirmed David Pollard, nervously.

"Yet," pursued young Benson, "if the trick should succeed, how it
would take the conceit out of some people who don't believe in
submarines."

"Wouldn't it?" rejoined Mr. Farnum, his eyes twinkling with merriment.

"Yet you