The Submarine Boys and the Middies / The Prize Detail at Annapolis

E-text prepared by Jim Ludwig
Note: This is book three of eight of the Submarine Boys Series.
The Prize Detail at Annapolis
1909
CHAPTERS I. The Prize Detail II. How Eph Flirted with Science III. You May as Well Leave the Bridge IV. Mr. Farnum Offers Another Guess V. Truax Shows the Sulks VI. Two Kinds of VooDoo VII. Jack Finds Something New, All Right VIII. A Young Captain in Tatters IX. Truax Gives a Hint X. A Squint at the Camelroorelephant XI. But Something Happened! XII. Jack Benson, Expert Explainer XIII. Ready for the Sea Cruise XIV. The Pollard Goes Lame XV. Another Turn at Hard Luck XVI. Braving Nothing But a Sneak XVII. The Evil Genius of the Water Front XVIII. Held Up by Marines XIX. The Lieutenant Commander's Verdict XX. Coming Up in a tight Place XXI. No More Men Go Overboard! XXII. Jack Signals the Sawbones XXIII. What Befell the Man in the Brig XXIV. Conclusion
The United States Government doesn't appear very anxious to claim its property, does it, sir? asked Captain Jack Benson.
The speaker was a boy of sixteen, attired in a uniform much after the pattern commonly worn by yacht captains. The insignia of naval rank were conspicuously absent.
Now, that I've had the good luck to sell the 'Pollard' to the Navy, responded Jacob Farnum, principal owner of the shipbuilding yard, I'm not disposed to grumble if the Government prefers to store its property here for a while.
Yet the young shipbuilder—he was a man in his early thirties, who had inherited this shipbuilding business from his father—allowed his eyes to twinkle in a way that suggested there was something else behind his words.
Jack Benson saw that twinkle, but he did not ask questions. If the shipbuilder knew more than he was prepared to tell, it was not for his young captain to ask for information that was not volunteered.
The second boy present, also in uniform, Hal Hastings by name, had not spoken in five minutes. That was like Hal. He was the engineer of the submarine torpedo boat, Pollard. Jack was captain of the same craft, and could do all the talking.