“Here come those boys!  Hey, young fellows, the officers are looking for you!” shouted someone.

“I guess so,” admitted Jack, dryly.  “However, they won’t want us.  Let us through this crowd, please.  We want to find Mr. Farnum without delay.”

The new watchman, at the gate, admitted them without question.  Eph Somers, being of the party, got into the yard also, without any difficulty.

It being, now, less than two hours before the time set for the launching of the “Pollard,” both the yard’s owner and the inventor were with the gang of workmen that was busy removing the water end of the submarine craft’s construction shed.

“Here come Benson and Hastings,” called Grant Andrews, catching sight of the boys.

Jacob Farnum turned to look at them, then came on the run.

“I hear you have put officers out, after us, and I don’t blame you,” smiled Jack, rather grimly.  “However, we didn’t run away with your money, and we would have been back last night had that been possible.”

“I could hardly bring myself to believe that you had absconded,” cried Mr. Farnum, ruefully.  “I sent officers out on the trail as much to learn what had happened to you as for any other reason.  The horse came in with the buggy last night, and I knew something was wrong.  But this fellow, Jaggers—­”

“He and Owen tricked us and got us last night,” explained Benson.  “I don’t, believe they knew anything about the money.  They just wanted to beat us to their heart’s content.  But they found the money, and—­but I’d better begin at the beginning.”

This Jack did, soon putting Mr. Farnum in possession of the whole story.

“I’ll send two men with Jaggers, to turn him over to the constable,” remarked Mr. Farnum.  “I’ll also send the alarm out so that Josh Owen may be caught.  Both these fellows must have their full deserts.”

“Perhaps, first of all, you’ll take this money,” urged Jack, producing the roll of banknotes.  “Count it over, will you please, sir?”

Mr. Farnum rapidly counted.  “Just eight hundred,” he nodded.  “But, according to your story, it ought to be five dollars short, on account of what this rascal, Jaggers, took out to spend.”

“We’ve made that good out of some of our own money that the pair took away from us, and which we got back with yours.”

“You won’t do anything of the sort,” retorted Mr. Farnum, thrusting the money down in one of his pockets.  “I owe you that five, besides your commission of forty dollars.  And I’ll settle with you just as soon as we get our rush off.  But now—­you haven’t had any breakfast.  Rush up to the hotel and get it at my expense.  Then be sure to be back here before ten o’clock.  And say, boys, you’re the right kind of material—­both of you.  I hope to keep you with us.”

Two men being dispatched to convey Dan Jaggers to the lock-up, Jack and Hal hurried away for some sort of a meal.  Eph Somers, being inside the yard, and no one paying him any heed, that young man concluded that he might as well remain where he could see the most.