ded another engagement. But
Rhinds and his lieutenant, Radwin, Messrs. Farnum and Pollard and all
three of the submarine boys were around the big table. Radwin had
succeeded in seating himself between Jack and Hal.

The dinner had been a fine one. Only one hitch had occurred; that was
when Mr. Rhinds, at the beginning of the meal, had tried to order several
bottles of wine.

"Just a moment, Mr. Rhinds," Farnum broke in. "None of the wine for us,
thank you."

"Oh, then, some lighter kind of wine," proposed Mr. Rhinds, anxiously.
"Something good, in which we can all pledge one another."

"None of that stuff, according to our way of thinking, is any good,"
replied Farnum, with a good-natured smile.

"Well, perhaps not for the boys," conceded the host of this dinner. "But
for the rest of us, as business men ready to cement a friendship."

"Alcohol isn't cement," replied Mr. Farnum, mildly. "At least, not with
our party. The time was, I admit, Mr. Rhinds, when business men often
tried to cement a business friendship with wine or liquor. But those
times have gone by. Drinking is out of date, nowadays. The keenest and
most dependable business men are those who do not drink. In fact, I may
go a little further, and say that, in our business at Dunhaven, we have
come to the point where we no longer have any dealings with business men
whom we know to drink. You will understand, of course, that this is said
without criticism of whatever views you yourself may entertain."

"Oh, well, then," grunted Rhinds, much taken back by the fairly spoken
words of his rival. "I dare say there was too much drinking in the old
days. Yes, Farnum, I am much inclined to agree with you, and we will do
without the wine."

None the less, it was plain that their host was much annoyed.

"I want to get at the members of the naval board," declared Mr. Farnum,
toward the end of the meal. "I want to find out what is planned in the
tests that are to take place here."

"The members of the board," replied Mr. Rhinds, "are the three men, in
citizen dress, who are at the sixth table down from here. They came into
their dinner about ten minutes ago. As to to-morrow, I can tell you
that, beginning at eleven o'clock, all the submarine boats entered are
to take a straight, out-to-sea speed sail for six hours. The gunboat,
'Chelsea' will start the fleet, and the 'Oakland' will go along with the
racers."

"That's short time for us," mutter