"Just a second, folks! Let's find out what the show was intended for."
"Why, it's intended to show," replied Jack, "that a boat built and equipped like the 'Pollard' isn't a death-trap for the crew, if it should happen, through some accident, that the boat refuses to rise to the surface."
"That's the trick," confirmed Mr. Farnum. "But, Jack, why did you wait so long before coming up."
"So that you could all realize something of the anxiety of people over such accidents to submarines, and the great dread over the fate of the crew," laughed the boy. "I think our delay made you all realize something of that."
"You have something of the dramatic instinct, truly," murmured the newspaper woman who had sobbed. "You had us all scared nearly to the fainting point."
"Now," continued Captain Jack, "just to show you that the boat didn't get disabled in any way, I'm going down again and then come up with the boat."
"It won't take you as long as it did this last time, will it?" demanded one of the reporters.
"Wait right where you are," promised Jack Benson, "and you'll see me once more before you've really had time to realize it."
"No more dramatic business, eh, and needless tears on our part?" insisted another.
"This time," laughed Jack, "the dramatic will be confined to speed of operation."