Jack took the slip of paper, reading these printed words:
"You have been fairly warned. Are you going to be a fool? Obey, or—"
That was all. The meaning of the words was plain enough, but Jack, with as cool a smile as ever, folded the slip, dropping it in one of his pockets.
"This will interest Trotter," he remarked.
"There is no use whatever in advising you, suppose?" asked the shipbuilder.
"If these threats were directed against you, would you cringe from them?" demanded the young submarine captain.
"Of course I wouldn't," replied Farnum, a sudden flash lighting his eyes as he spoke.
"Then why should you expect to see me turn coward?"
"I won't say another word about it, Jack!" replied the shipbuilder, gripping his captain's hand. "I have dreaded to see you go down under the mysterious assaults of these scoundrels. I have hated to see a boy come to that harm while serving me. But I realize, now, that it would hurt you worse to run away than it would to stay and face any kind of punishment or even death itself."
"That's the talk, sir," nodded Hal. "And no one is going to harm him, either. There are too many of us—if we keep our eyes open."