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

E-text prepared by Jim Ludwig
Note: This is book five of eight of the Submarine Boys Series.
The Young Kings of the Deep
1910
CHAPTERS I. Why the Danger Sign Was Up II. Torpedo Practice at Last III. Struck by a Submerged Foe IV. A Submariner's Revenge V. The Mysterious Order Comes VI. Judas & Co. Introduce Themselves VII. Eph Sommers Plays Gallant VIII. One, Two, Three—A Full Bag IX. But Something Happened Next X. John C. Rhinds Advocates Fair Sport! XI. The Strain of Red-Hot Metal XII. Let a Sailor Stick to Her Deck XIII. The Trick is Easily Seen Through XIV. Radwin Doesn't See His Best Chance XV. The Goal of the Lightning Cruise XVI. Jack Gives the Order. Fire! XVII. The Message of Terror XVIII. The Findings on the Thor XIX. On the Other Side of the Forced Door XX. Captain Jack Pulls a New String XXI. Jack Meets a Human Fact, Face to Face XXII. A Cornered Submarine Captain XXIII. A Coward's Last Ditch XXIV. Conclusion
Danger!
That sign might have been over an air-hole in the ice; or it might have been near rapidly moving shafting and belting in a factory.
As a matter of fact, the letters, white against the red paint on the door of the shed, meant danger in the most terrible form. It was the sort of danger, which, defied too far, would send one traveling skyward.
The shed stood in a lonely corner of the big Farnum shipbuilding yards at Dunhaven. Now, it was the Farnum yard in which the Pollard submarine boats were built, and this shed contained some two dozen Whitehead submarine torpedoes, each with its fearful load of two hundred pounds of that dread high explosive, guncotton.
It was in the month of February, and the day, at this seacoast point, was cold and blustery, when two boys of seventeen, each in natty blue uniforms and caps resembling those worn by naval officers, crossed the yard toward the shed. Over their uniforms both boys wore heavy, padded blue ulsters, also of naval pattern.
Danger? laughed young Captain Jack Benson, stopping before the door and fumbling for the key. Well, I should say so!