The Submarine Boys' Lightning Cruise / The Young Kings of the Deep

t having so much gun-cotton stored close t

However, they were not long to be kept in doubt, f

d the outer door open, for he recognized most of the fac

tep the leaders o

in yet, Mr. Farnum,"

en at regular intervals through the winter. She carried a Dun

. Farnum. The crowd had halted, now, and a

ng, sir," replie

rm has come to the 'Mary Bo

ut more'n some forty miles. With the winds we've been havi

of luck," suggested Mr. Farnum. "He

e sea are of big catches. The ocean has been swarming

s something you want me to do. W

id, Mr. Farnum, that the smack's canvas or sticks may have suffered in the big blow of yesterday. We're afraid, too, that the 'Mary Bond' may be drifting about helplessly

ke in his voice. As though in answe

biggest-hearted men living. "One of our boats is going out for practice. But, if you'll supply a good sea-g

ed with pleasure. Not above doing a kind

elief boat!" called o

ns

g his head. "Captain Benson must

crowd. Jack Benson was a young skipper on wh

'Benson,' and take Williamson along with me. Now, you folks find any

tart, sir?" aske

. If he'll go, he's as good a salt-water dog as I want on a cruise with me

rried back to his own party. Captain Allen, a retired master of coasti

f humanity is too big a one. I'm going to take Williamson with me. The rest of you go wit

that those people could hire?"

er captain would charge at least fifty dollars a day," re

le expect you to go o

nant D

an't be a crank, or a miser, when women are red-eyed and

own eyes as he snatched up a cap, bidding his own

atured man," laughed

n Jack Benson. "He's a man with a heart bigger than

rtily. "And that crowd, and also the poor seafarin

Farnum and his volunteers down to the little harbor. Jack, his c

A rousing cheer ascended when the grim little "Benson" sl

ft, didn't he!" asked the naval officer, as

hing at all to prevent our getting the 'Has

feed," proposed Lieutenant Danvers. "They've been on the rail, e

the hotel for luncheon!

ving torpedoes abo

ll you want for to-day, Mr.

the dummies, w

ent of the yard, and he'll have a foreman and a gang

o the hotel. By the time that they came back from the midday meal the two service torp

. Mr. Farnum had bought it a short time before and it now lay at anchor, near the beach, ready to be towed out to sea for its last service to mankind. The scow was heavily laden

w the party out to the "Hastings." Jack was soon able

sted Mr. Danvers, "and see if you can find any great differe

ade themselves wholly at home i

turned out by your company," explained the officer. "They

ed. "All that is new here is in the way of a few more up-to-date little mechanisms and

e lot. By this time the workmen in the small boat had made fast a towing hawse

Danvers. Jack therefore ordered Ewald and Biffens forward on the upper hull to cast loose from m

skly out of the harbor. The gasoline engines this little craft were of a "heav

ack, as the Navy lieutenant took a seat beside him in

ls," replied Danvers. "That's the main thing, you know. We can't

three o'clock before we get out w

ght," nodded Mr. Danvers. "Of course you know this

and hit the harbor without thought of an accident," spoke

e that, you're a genius at the work," muttered Da

ghed Jack. "Either of my friend

young kings of the de

s, hea

e seriously, "If we really do anything worth while, my friends and I

nough about it,"

. Jack, knowing that the boat was in fine professional hands, slipped unco

n, old fellow?" asked the young submarine skippe

h, if I told yo

ill again!" persi

Hal, "well, I have a

port side of his jaw. "Oh, pshaw! Call it a plain United Sta

ed again, tho

tion I have that something is goi

l. Something is going to happen to us. This afternoon we're going t

see ahead, or feel as though I see, is some kind of disaste

Two real torpedoes that hold, between them, four hundred pounds of gun-cotton-or danger-calico, as Williamson woul

to happen," laughed Hal. "It is just th

o sea, and far enough from any craft in those waters. Not a stick or a stack of another vess

again, as Eph and the two sailors

e the youthful submarine commander. "The sea is roughening, and I doubt if we could pick up that scow in tow again. We've g

y enough," spoke Jack, confidently. "You

can just as well come on deck and take the wheel, if you want him t

l a great idea," cried

w a torpedo is handled

naval officer. Then he passed the word for Ewald. When that it sailor had t

he dummy torpedoes, firs

Danv

on a truck, then forced on into the torpedo tube.

ngine in the after part of the torpedo, the engine being so constructed that it was set in operation at the moment the torpedo lef

iniature submarine, doesn't

, travels forward, in a straight line until the engine gives out. That is, the torpedo travels ahead if it doesn't hit something. So, in actual war conditions, we would always get nearer to the object than the distance for which the engine is set to run. The speed of a torp

leases the charge of compressed air and forces the torpedo out. At the same instant the forward port opens, so that the torpedo can be shot out into the water. The compressed air also s

t to memory," laughed

ed this over, all thr

" proposed Mr. Danvers, "perhaps you'd like to go forw

e submarine boy "And Eph ca

the platform deck, and then further forward on the upper

tower, while Biffens waited below,

s away from the scow. As the sea was roughening all the while, the two submarine boys ou

t three hundred yards of the scow, and at a position that pointed the nose of the "Hastin

, out there!" warne

reamed about! We'll see that dummy torpedo leap forth, like a real one.

ill bit the scow?" questioned

Jack Benson, scornfully, "wi

vers gave the

arine boys hanging over the nose of the bo

d Jack Benson, with all

urteen-foot Whitehead torpedo swept away from them, two or three feet below the surface of the waves. A line of bubbles came to the surface, showing that th

ng to his feet with all the glee an

e game had gotten into his blood, too. Both submar

the conning tower steering wheel, his watch i

fficer, coolly. "When I tell you, then look o

saw a slight commotion in the waters under the scow's rail. Then the

two hundred pounds of gun-cotton it would have shattered a

sped Jack Benson, feeling a