"You don't expect them to tip the Washington government off in advance, do you?" asked Frank with a laugh.
"Hardly; but it would seem that if such a campaign had been planned it would have been started before this."
"It wouldn't surprise me," said Frank, "to get a flash any day that a ship had been submarined off the American coast."
Came a rap at the door.
"Come in," Frank called.
A bell boy entered. He held a tray in his hand and on the tray was a cablegram.
"From Lord Hastings, I suppose," said Frank, taking the message and passing it to Jack.
Jack broke the seal, spread out the paper. The message, in code, was this:
"Authentic information flotilla submarines headed for America. Warn Navy Department at once."
Jack sprang to the telephone and got the British embassy on the wire.