"Who? Jack?" laughed Mr. Farnum. "Say, it's very plain you don't know
Jack Benson."
The shipbuilder, two of the submarine boys and the reporter were seated by themselves at one end of the Hotel Clayton's big front veranda.
"Aren't you at all uneasy?" asked Hennessy.
"If I am," proposed the shipbuilder, "I'm going to cure my mental unrest with luncheon. Won't you join us, Mr. Hennessy?"
If appetite were any guide, none of the submarine people felt the slightest uneasiness as to information that the sprightly Mlle. Nadiboff might be able to coax from Captain Jack while on that auto drive.
By the time that the quartette came out again, however, Farnum began to look bothered.
"After two," he declared, "and Jack not here. Now, at three o'clock,
I've agreed to take out a party of naval officers from the gunboat. We
want to show those Navy fellows some of our prettiest work in the
'Benson.'"
"It looks as though your young captain is finding his companion so pleasant that he forgets to look frequently at his watch," suggested the reporter, slyly.
"Jack Benson doesn't know anything about the three o'clock appointment," replied Mr. Farnum.
"If he isn't here in season," put in quiet Hal, "it won't cause us any real trouble, anyway. Those of us who will be on hand can manage the boat through any ordinary trial or trip."