"You could draw us a model of the boat you command. You could make drawings of all the important parts. You could supply us with explanations."
"Just what sort of explanations?" Jack asked, coolly.
M. Lemaire shot a swift, sidelong glance at the submarine boy.
"How?" demanded the Frenchman. "You do not understand yet?"
"You promised, Monsieur, to be very exact and explicit. What do you want?"
"Why, then, such drawings and such explanations that any skilled shipbuilder, from the plans you furnish us, could build another boat just like, and just as effective, as the boat you now command?"
"What do you want to do with such plans?" asked Benson.
"Why, would you care about that, if I pay you well enough?"
"Perhaps not," muttered Jack Benson. "Still, when I go into anything,
I like to know all about it."
"Well, then," cried M. Lemaire, gayly, "first of all, we will come to the question of a fee to be paid you for your trouble. Such drawings and such papers you could prepare for us in two or three days, could you not?"