The Submarine Boys on Duty eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 188 pages of information about The Submarine Boys on Duty.

The Submarine Boys on Duty eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 188 pages of information about The Submarine Boys on Duty.

“Thank ye for warnin’ me that the time’s short,” chuckled the brute.  With that he lifted the boy, bore him back to a stanchion, and swiftly tied him to it in a standing position.

“That’s all but the last thing I’ve got to do,” pursued Josh Owen, drawing back.  “Boy, ye did yer worst for me, when ye had the chance.  And ye was the means of havin’ Danny locked up.  Mebbe Dan Jaggers did give me some sleepin’ stuff, an’ maybe he did worry my own share of the money from me; but, boy, ye never knew how much store I set by Danny in spite o’ some things.  And now, he’s locked up tight, thanks to you, an’ the constables are chasin’ me from cover to cover, lookin’ for me everywhere.  Howsomever, this settles the account!”

Jack Benson’s heart seemed to stop beating as he realized what the rage-crazed fellow was up to.

Josh Owen deftly handled the mechanism that opened the sea-valves to let water into the diving tanks.

“I’m turnin’ the water in slow,” he announced.  “That’ll give me time to git away.  This is a divin’ boat. Well, Dive in her!

CHAPTER XV

THE COURAGE THAT RANG TRUE

In that first awful moment after he was left alone, Jack Benson’s first feeling was that it must all be an unbelievable dream.

Yet he knew that it was not.  In his frenzy he tugged at the handcuffs, fought with the cords that bound him to the stanchion, but all in vain.

The sea-valves had been opened only enough to let the water in slowly.  Almost at the outset, however, the keel slanted downward, for most of the water was coming into the tanks the bow of the boat.

“Help!  Help, quick!” roared Benson at the top of his voice.  The side ports were not open, but the manhole was, and the ventilators were in place.  The submarine boy shouted in the hope that the night watchman might hear and reach the scene in time to effect a rescue.

The keel was still more slanting.  At the instant when the diving tanks held water enough to overbalance the buoyancy of the craft the “Pollard” was bound to take a sudden lurch and go below.

Still fighting uselessly though frantically at the bonds that held him helpless in this terrible crisis, Jack also kept up his yells.

The watchman did not hear.  He was not near enough.  Josh Owen, having gained the shore and hauled the rowboat up, fled a short distance, then crouched in hiding, waiting to see the effects of his terrible deed.

Only one other person was in the yard.  Grace Desmond, unknown to her employer, had come to the office in the evening, bent on posting up a set of books that were in her care.

She had finished her work, and was stepping out into the yard, adjusting her hat, when she heard one of those muffled appeals for help.

At the first sound she was not even sure of the word, but something in the faintly-heard accent claimed her attention.  She stopped short, listening intently.

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The Submarine Boys on Duty from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.