“Why didn't you tell me that before?”
The question came sharply, almost raspingly.
“Beg your pardon, sir, but you didn't ask me,” Jack replied.
[pg 036] “Come up here, Benson,” ordered the lieutenant commander, in a loud voice intended to drown out the subdued titter of some of the sailors forward.
Jack ascended to the bridge, to find himself facing a six-footer in his early thirties. There was a younger officer at the far end of the bridge.
“Does Mr. Farnum consider you capable of showing us the way into the harbor?” demanded the commanding officer of the “Hudson.”
“I think so, sir. He trusts me with his own boats.”
“Then you are—”
“Benson, Mr. Farnum's captain of the submarine boats.”
Lieutenant Commander Mayhew gazed in astonishment for a moment, then held out his hand as he introduced himself, remarking: