"I'm hitting something, and it is hardly a rock, either," declared young Benson. "Pull around about three points to starboard, Hal, then steal barely forward."
Again Benson played see-saw with his sounding-line over the boat's gunwale.
"If my lead isn't hitting the 'Farnum,'" declared the young skipper, positively, "then it's the 'Farnum's' ghost. Hold steady, now, Hal."
Immediately afterward, Benson caused the lead fairly to dance a jig on whatever it touched at bottom.
"What's the good of that, anyway?" demanded Jacob Farnum.
"You don't think I'm doing this just for fun, do you, sir?" asked
Captain Jack, with a smile.
"No; I know you generally have an object when you do anything unusual," responded the shipbuilder, good-humoredly.
"You know, of course, sir, that noises sound with a good deal of exaggeration when you hear them under water?"
"Yes; of course."
"You also know that all three of us have been practicing at telegraphy a good deal during the past few weeks, because every man who follows the sea ought to know how to send and receive wireless messages at need."