"When do you sail?" asked Truax, quickly.
"That you would have to ask Mr. Farnum, too," smiled Jack.
"But, see here, Mr. Pollard engaged me to work aboard one of your submarines."
"It looks that way, doesn't it?" laughed the young skipper.
"And you're the captain?"
"Yes; but I can't undertake to handle Mr. Farnum's business for him."
"You'll let me go aboard the craft to sleep for to-night, anyway?" coaxed Truax.
"Why, that's just what I'm not at liberty to do," replied the young submarine captain. "No; I couldn't think of that, in the absence of Mr. Farnum's order."
"But that doesn't seem hardly fair," protested Truax. "See here, I have spent all my money getting here. I haven't even the price of a lodging with me, and this isn't a summer night."
"Why, I'll tell you what I'll do," Benson went on, feeling in one of his pockets. "Here's a dollar. That'll buy you a bed and a breakfast at the hotel up the street. If you want to get aboard with us in time, you'd better show up by eight in the morning."