“Yes.”

“The Sidenham people are our nearest competitors in the submarine business,” muttered young Benson.

“Yes; and of course they wanted to get the business away from the Pollard crowd,” confessed Sam Truax.  “They told Tip Gaynor it would be worth ten thousand dollars to him for each Sidenham boat he could sell to the United States Government.  Tip wanted that money, and your Pollard people were the hardest ones he had to beat.  So Tip hired me—­”

“One moment,” interrupted Jack, quietly.  “Did the Sidenham people know that Gaynor intended to use any such methods?”

“I don’t believe they did,” replied Truax.  “In fact, Gaynor as good as told me the Sidenhams didn’t know anything about his proposed tricks.  He told me I must be very careful to keep the Sidenham name out of it all.”

“So Tip Gaynor hired you to do all you could to disgrace me in the eyes of the Navy people?” demanded Jack.

“Yes—­to hurt any of you, for that matter.”

“And to play tricks in the engine room of either submarine?”

“Yes; Tip Gaynor told me it was highly important to cause the boats to break down while under the eyes of all Annapolis.”

“I understand,” muttered Jack.  “That was clever, in a way.  It was intended to make the whole Navy think the Pollard boat one that couldn’t be depended upon?”

“That was the idea,” assented Sam Truax, weakly.

“What sort of a looking fellow is Tip Gaynor?” asked Jack.

“You’ve met him!”

“I?” demanded Jack, in astonishment.

“Yes.  From what I hear.  He was the blackbearded man who drugged you and shanghaied you in the white knockabout.  Only Tip doesn’t usually wear a beard.  He has grown it in the last three or four weeks, in order to hide himself from people who know him well.  Then he came down here to Blair’s Cove and rented a house so he could watch things.  He had a tip that the instruction cruise would center around this little bay.”

“So, acting for Tip Gaynor, you undertook to ruin us all, and the good name of our boats?” asked Jack.  “And you even met Dave Pollard, and got him to take you on as a machinist for our boats?”

“Yes; Tip knew a man who was willing to introduce me to Pollard.”

“It was just like simple, unsuspicious, bighearted Dave Pollard to be taken in by a rascal like that,” muttered Jack, to himself.  “But, oh, will Pollard ever forgive himself when he hears all this?”

Sam Truax added a few more details to his confession, but they were unimportant.

“I couldn’t die without telling you all this, Benson,” he added.  “I hope you forgive me.”

Ere Jack could reply Lieutenant Commander Mayhew stepped forward.

“Truax, I wish to ask you if every word you have uttered is the solemn truth?”

“It is; yes,” admitted the sick man.

“Why have you made this confession?”