"
"Why, it's intended to show," replied Jack, "that a boat built and
equipped like the 'Pollard' isn't a death-trap for the crew, if it
should happen, through some accident, that the boat refuses to rise to
the surface."
"That's the trick," confirmed Mr. Farnum. "But, Jack, why did you wait
so long before coming up."
"So that you could all realize something of the anxiety of people over
such accidents to submarines, and the great dread over the fate of the
crew," laughed the boy. "I think our delay made you all realize
something of that."
"You _have_ something of the dramatic instinct, truly," murmured the
newspaper woman who had sobbed. "You had us all scared nearly to the
fainting point."
"Now," continued Captain Jack, "just to show you that the boat didn't get
disabled in any way, I'm going down again and then come up with the
boat."
"It won't take you as long as it did this last time, will it?" demanded
one of the reporters.
"Wait right where you are," promised Jack Benson, "and you'll see me once
more before you've really had time to realize it."
"No more dramatic business, eh, and needless tears on our part?" insisted
another.
"This time," laughed Jack, "the dramatic will be confined to speed of
operation."
He motioned to the men to row out. Jack calculated, finely, just where
he had come up, and there the heavy anchor was dropped, the end of the
cable being made fast in the boat.
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