“Authority?  Then what’s the matter with the people at the Fort?” demanded Eph.

“Their authority runs only on the land.  Besides, by the time we got through the red tape, and got started, any smart smack, in a good wind, would be forty miles the other side of the horizon.”

“Are you going to take this long drive, then?” asked Hal Hastings, rather dubiously.

“Yes,” declared Jack Benson, promptly.  “Hal, old fellow, any trail is best where it’s freshest.”

“I reckon you can git in, now, gents, if ye want,” called the driver.

Seated in the cab the submarine boys set out to meet whatever might be before them in Cobtown.  Had they possessed the gift of prophecy—­

However, none of us possess that!

CHAPTER IX

JACK PLAYS WITH A VOLCANO

After something more than an hour’s drive the Jehu pulled his horses up, got down from the box and opened one of the doors.

“Here you are, young gents.  This is the spot where I put the last fare down.  An’ now you know as much about her whereabouts as I do.”

The district into which the submarine boys had come was well outside of the city, and in a different direction from Craven’s Bay and the Fort.

It was bleak and wild here.  Even the shanties of the three little villages, with their fish-sheds, their racks with nets spread, the rickety wharves—­all looked dismal.  It seemed as though here must be one of the spots where only a scanty living is earned and only by the hardest kind of work.

“Well, we’re much obliged to you, driver, and here’s the money promised to you.”

“Obliged to you, gents.  Will you want to be going back with me?”

“No,” Captain Jack answered.  “I reckon we’re going to be moored here for a while.”

“Now, whereaway?  What’s the course?” demanded Eph Somers.

Benson glanced at his watch, then up at the sun.

“It’ll be dark in about an hour and half,” he muttered.  “Why not wait until dark?  We can’t have been seen from any of the villages yet.  Looking out over the water you don’t see a craft of any sort headed away from here.  From this point, looking down, we can see if any of the boats in port get ready to put out.  So Millard, if he hasn’t already escaped, can’t get away by sea without our knowing it.  If he tries to get away by land, we’re right where we can see him coming.”

“Then you think we’d better wait here, keeping out of sight, until dark?” asked Hal.

“Most decidedly.  Don’t you?”

“Yes,” nodded Hal.

“But it’ll be a mighty tedious wait,” growled Eph, the impatient one.

“Well, youngster, we’re not here to consult our own comfort,” retorted Captain Jack.  “There’s something higher to consult—­the best interests of our country.”

“Oh, if you put it that way!” grumbled Eph, much mollified.