“I’ll speak to Mr. Farnum about this business,” muttered Foreman Owen, turning on his heel.  Three other workmen had arrived during this talk.  Now, at the order from Owen all climbed the ladder to the platform deck, thence disappearing through the manhole.  Electric light was turned on inside the hull by the time that Jack and Hal appeared at the manhole opening.

Owen looked upward, from the floor of the boat, to scowl at them, but, as Mr. Pollard was right behind them, the foreman said nothing at that moment.

Last of all came Dan Jaggers.  As he caught sight of the two newcomers he shot at them a look full of hate.

“I thought ye said those fellers couldn’t work here,” he muttered to his uncle.

“Keep quiet and watch out,” whispered Joshua Owen.  “They’re not going to work here.  I’ll fix that!”

CHAPTER III

JOSH OWEN STARTS TROUBLE

“Knock off!”

As the deafening din of hammers lessened David Pollard shouted that order through a megaphone.

Confined in a limited space, inside that bull of steel, the clatter, which outdoors would have been barely noticed, was something infernal in volume and sharpness.  Human ear-drums could not stand it for any very great length of time.

By this time Jack Benson and Hal Hastings had had a good chance to see exactly what the interior of a submarine torpedo boat was like.

A level floor extended throughout the entire length of the “Pollard.”  Below this floor, reached by hatchways, were various small compartments for storage.  Under the level of this floor, too, were the “water tanks.”  These were tanks that, when the craft lay or moved on the surface of the ocean, were to contain only air.  Whenever it was desired to sink the torpedo boat, valves operated from the central room of the boat could be opened so that the water tanks would fill, and the weight of the water would sink the boat.  In diving, the forward tanks could be filled first, and then, when the desired depth was reached, the other tanks could be filled entirely, or partly, in such a way as to control depth and position.

With the boat below the surface, and the commander wishing to return to the surface, compressed air could be forced into the water tanks, expelling all the water in them, or a part of the water, if preferred.  The valves would then operate to keep more water from entering.

On the surface the “Pollard” was intended to be run by a powerful six-cylinder gasoline engine.  When below the surface the boat was to be propelled by electric power supplied from storage batteries.  Below the waves the gasoline engine could not be used, as such an engine consumes air and also creates bad vapors.

On the morning when our two young friends went to work the electrical engine was fully installed, and had been tested.  The gasoline engine was in place, but the fittings had yet to be finished.  In the course of this latter work the necessary connections were to be made between gasoline engine and dynamo.