“I didn't say that,” Jack replied, evasively. “But the construction of a submarine torpedo boat is a secret. It is a general rule with our owners that strangers shan't be allowed on board, unless they're very especially vouched for. Now, I hate to appear disobliging; yet, if you've ever been employed by anyone else, you will appreciate the need of obeying an owner's orders.”
“You're under the orders of the boss of that gunboat?” asked the stranger, pointing to the “Hudson.”
“On this cruise, yes, sir,” Jack nodded.
“Maybe, if I saw the fellow in command of the gunboat, then he'd give me an order allowing me to come on board.”
“I'm very certain the lieutenant commander wouldn't do anything of the sort,” Benson responded.
The stranger gave a comical sigh.
“Then I'm afraid I don't see a submarine boat to-night—that is, any more than I can see of it now.”
“That's about the way it looks to me, also,” [pg 170] Jack answered, smiling. “Yet, believe me, I hate awfully to seem discourteous about it.”
“Oh, all right,” muttered the stranger, nodding to the two boatmen, who had rowed him out alongside.
“Good!” grunted Eph. “I'm glad you didn't let him on board, Captain. On this cruise our luck doesn't seem to run with strangers.”