John Henry Goldfrap

“ The inventor—an odd contrast to the daintily gowned girl and the smartly tailored old man, in his greasy overalls which he had donned for the launching—was at the side of the car in an instant, aiding the young woman to alight. This done, he extended a hand to the old man, but the latter spurned it.
“I can help myself, Lockyer,” he snapped out; “not too old for that yet. So to-day is the day that you are going to launch that insane myth of yours—the cruising submarine?” ”

“ Like a flash, the naval officer leaped forward, seized the fellow’s weapon, and before any of the schooner’s crew realized what had occurred, he had the weapon leveled.
Noiselessly as before, the submarine crept through the water, once more nearing the side of the sailing craft.
As they came for him in an angry, growling rush his voice rang out hard and sharp as tempered steel.
“Stop where you are. The first man who moves is going to get hurt.” ”

“ As they drew near and the white pencil of the searchlight shot out, bathing the yacht in its white brilliancy, the vessel began to slip through the water.
“Ha! Those scoundrels are trying to slip away, but they don’t know what they’re up against,” said Captain McGill, his lips compressing grimly. “More speed, please, Mr. Stark.”
The middy’s hand shot out and touched the telegraph lever. Instantly, down in the engine room, cranks began to revolve faster. A quiver ran through the Lockyer as, like an unleashed greyhound, she leaped forward. ”

“ It was business-like as a steam hammer.
“Looks soft as rubber,” mused Ferriss, “but he’s tough as Harveyized steel; and a blessed sight less workable.
“Well, Mr. Lockyer,” he went on, rising, “I must be going. But I am stopping in the village, recollect, so that if you change your mind, or Uncle Sam doesn’t appreciate the boat, we stand ready to negotiate for her.”
“I won’t forget,” laughed the inventor, “but really, Mr. Ferriss, you are wasting your time. Either the United States gets her, or, if she isn’t good enough for Uncle Sam, I’ll sink her to the bottom of Long Island Sound.” ”

“ The conversation of the occupants of the car was now perfectly audible, and Ned’s heart beat wildly as among them he recognized the tones of Channing Lockyer. The inventor had then recovered his senses, which, as the boy knew from what he had overheard, must have been lost following the blow from Gradbarr.
“Look here, Ferriss,” Ned from his hiding place could hear Mr. Lockyer saying, “what you are doing is not only dastardly, but senseless. I tell you now once and for all that whatever you may do to me, I shall never sign any paper or make any agreement with you concerning the submarine.” ”

“ Lockyer seized him eagerly.
“What is it, Gradbarr?” he demanded tremblingly. “What has happened?”
“’Splosion of some sort, sir,” was the hasty rejoinder. “Don’t go in there,” he exclaimed, as the inventor hastily darted forward once more. “It’s sure death.”
But what inventor would not dare death itself if there was the barest chance of saving his brain-child from harm? Shaking off the other’s detaining grip impatiently, Lockyer entered the shed, followed closely by Ned and his companions. ”

“ Lieutenant Parry’s foot tapped nervously, as they stood in silence. His eyes were fixed on a small incandescent [302] bulb, wired directly from the conning-tower. It would flash red when all was ready for him to pull the lever and release the instrument of destruction.
“We’re sinking, sir,” said Ned presently.
The officer merely nodded. The moment was a tense one. There is something to fire the dullest imagination in the idea, that by a mere twist of a wrist, one is presently to launch forth one of man’s most effective engines of devastation. ”

“ Somewhat mollified, Lieutenant-Commander Scott replied in kind and, after some more talk, chiefly of a jesting character, Ned dropped over the stern, and the lines which held the Lockyer fast to the Brooklyn were cast off.
“I wouldn’t care to be in that sentry’s place,” laughed Lieutenant Parry, as the bright mast-light of the Brooklyn grew dim in the distance. “Scott always was a stickler for discipline, even at Annapolis, and he has always maintained that no ship he was in command of would ever be surprised by anything afloat. ”

“ But it was Ned who told the story. The red-headed Herc was too explosive with indignation to relate it coherently. The officer listened attentively, but in silence. When Ned had quite finished he spoke:
“You have been of inestimable service to-night, boys,” he said; “there is no doubt in my mind, from what you have told me, that those ruffians have some scheme in mind. But what can it be? They cannot hope to harm the engines or any of the machinery, for it is all closely guarded while we are cruising.” ”

“ For all the rejoinder that came back the schooner might as well have been a ghostly craft manned by phantoms. Only the occasional creak of a block came from her.
“Lay alongside of her, Strong,” ordered the officer, in a sharp voice; “it begins to look as if there really were something wrong aboard her.”
Ned obeyed instructions, and soon there was not more than ten feet of water between the sailing craft and the submarine.
“Try them again, sir,” suggested Mr. Stark.
“Confound them,” grunted the officer; “they must be a crew of deaf mutes.” ”

“ Fitting the slot of the wrench over this projection, he gave a gentle twist. Instantly a swishing sound followed, not unlike the loud screaming hiss of escaping steam from the safety valve of a locomotive.
“The biggest air pumps we have are now at work driving out the water from all the tanks simultaneously,” he explained; “the water is being expelled at the rate of hundreds of gallons a minute.”
“Queer we don’t feel that we are rising,” commented the naval officer; “the balance in this boat seems to be better preserved than in the present type. ”

“ His threats proved effectual, coupled with his fierce looks, and the panic-stricken cowards subsided into whimperings and whinings like the lamentations of whipped curs. This duty attended to, Herc sprang up the ladder again, alert for orders.
“It’s a derelict, sir,” Ned was saying, as the Dreadnought Boy regained the conning-tower. “I can make out her masts and the outline of her hull.”
“That’s right,” approved Captain McGill; “you have sharp eyes, my lad. It is a derelict.” ”

“ The “finishing touches” he referred to might mean the last strokes of his own career as well as the end of the preliminary stages of the submarine’s construction. Ferriss’s eyes followed the tall, [10] slender young form as the youthful inventor strode up and down the tiny office, with its tumble-down, dust-covered desks, their pigeon-holes crammed full of blueprints and working drawings. No gilt and gingerbread about Channing Lockyer’s office. ”

“ Warfare and bloodshed are distasteful to me, odious—detestable!”
“Gee, he makes more disturbance about it than a whole battery of guns,” whispered Herc to Ned, as the boys and Tom Marlin fell in the rear of the party.
“Most of these peace agitators do,” was Ned’s [96] rejoinder. “They forget that the rivalry between nations is not a theory, but a condition. The first nation to fall behind in her defenses will be the first to fall a prey to the others.”
“Say,” whispered old Tom Marlin hoarsely, “I know that whiskered craft Pangloss. I’ve seed his picters in ther papers. He’s a crank of peace. ”

“ Now the ladder was kicked away from the steel side of the craft. It had been used for the last time. In obedience to a nod from Lieutenant Parry, Ned took his place at the deck wheel forward of the conning tower. The entire front of the shed had been removed for the launching, and they could see stretched before them the sparkling waters of the Sound. In the distance was the dim blue outline of the Connecticut shore.
“All ready!” hailed the foreman over the side.
A quiver of excitement ran through every man [100] on that steel deck. ”

“ But young Lockyer—a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale, by the way—had perseveringly overcome all difficulties, and now, in the long, narrow shed over in one corner of the enclosed yard, stood the realization of his dreams. Through some friends of his late father’s the young man had succeeded in “pulling the wires” at Washington. As a consequence, after many wearisome delays, Lieutenant Archer Parry and a picked crew were to be sent to Grayport to make an extended series of tests with the new craft. ”

“ I don’t admire Mr. Gradbarr, but he is certainly a fighter. He’s all beef and brawn, mixed with steel alloy.”
“What’ll we do now?” asked Herc, as they could hear from the other side of the door Gradbarr’s furious voice railing at them.
“Make tracks for the new foreman’s house. He lives close to here, and then we must summon Mr. Lockyer and Lieutenant Parry,” was the rejoinder.
“You don’t think they’ll do any harm in that torpedo room just out of rage at being captured?”
“Well, they can’t do much harm. We’ve got their tools,” rejoined Ned. ”

“ Mankind is better off without them.”
“But in case of war, sir,” put in Midshipman Stark. “If the Lockyer is as capable a submarine as we hope she will prove to be, the nation possessing her will be years ahead of any other, at least, so far as naval warfare is concerned.”
[95]
“Bah, sir! War ought to be abolished,” snapped the old man. “I’d like to shoot or hang everybody who talks about war, or is connected with it in any way.”
“Suppose we take a look over the boat before she is launched,” suggested the inventor, tactfully changing the subject. ”

“ I’d like to send you to the bottom, where you belong.”
“Come, Lockyer,” laughed Captain McGill; “instead of feeling revengeful, you ought to offer a vote of thanks. This derelict has not only shown to us that your boat is as staunch and tough as she is swift and handy, but she is going to give us another opportunity we were wishing for.”
“What is that, sir?” asked Lockyer, though he half-guessed the other’s meaning.
“Why,” responded the naval officer, “fate or luck, or whatever you like to call it, has thrown this derelict in our path. She is a serious menace to navigation. ”

“ In his hand he held a revolver. It was doubtless this weapon that had so far held the mutineers back.
“Blow the rascals to the sky!” he shouted angrily, shaking his fist at them menacingly.
As for the girl, she stood erect and apparently fearless. Channing Lockyer’s eyes dwelt admiringly on her brave, defiant form. But the old man’s words proved a reminder to the mutineers that they were neglecting their mission of loot and plunder. With a yell, they charged aft as he shouted his defiance. ”

“ You, at least, have always believed in me.”
“And so will dad when the Lockyer is afloat,” laughed the young woman gaily. “James,” she went on, turning to the chauffeur, “get that basket out of the tonneau. You see, Mr. Lockyer,” she smiled, “I have not forgotten that I am to christen the boat, and we have brought the baptismal font with us.”
“Hum,” remarked Lieutenant Parry, turning to Midshipman Stark, “there’s Lockyer’s romance. It’s easy to see that.”
“Well, I hope he wins out,” was the rejoinder. “He’s a good fellow and she is one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen. ”

“ You don’t think that we are such simpletons as not to have provided for that, do you? We have set the boat in which you were rowed ashore to-night adrift. She is bottom up, and any one finding her will imagine that she has capsized. Under one of her thwarts we have placed your hat, so that there will be no doubt as to your fate. Your friends will mourn you for a time as drowned, and then both you and the Lockyer boat will be forgotten.”
[215]
“Good heavens, Ferriss!” exclaimed the inventor, as the full purport of this cleverly concocted plot burst upon him. “Are you a man or a monster?” ”

“ Something like a sigh of relief had, in fact, escaped his lips when he saw that the Lockyer was not at her expected moorings as they had thought.
“Yes. I guess we had better turn back,” said the other. He gave the “automobile control” wheel, by which the motor craft was guided, a twist, and she spun round like a long, lithe snake. “We’ve got to get back and put Ferriss and Camberly ashore, anyhow.”
“They’ll be mad as hornets when they hear that we’ve done nothing,” came from Anderson, as the boat gathered way.
“Can’t be helped,” was the gruff rejoinder. ”

“ Have you ever seen a submarine before?”
“Yes, indeed,” replied Ned; “though I understand that your craft is far ahead of the ones we are at present using. On our return from Costaveza we were attached for a while to a ‘parent boat,’ and cruised around with the diving craft.”
“My type of submarine will do away with the parent boat,” declared Mr. Lockyer enthusiastically. “She has a cruising range of two thousand miles or more, if necessary. But there, you will think all that mere inventor’s enthusiasm. ”