"Good enough, if you can calculate correctly the distance. The gunboat,
of course, has no searchlight aft."
For some minutes the "Pollard" ran under water.
"I'm sure we're a little astern, now," said Captain Jack. "I'll take a
lift up into the atmosphere."
With that the "Pollard," which had been running not more than five feet
below the surface of the water, rose gently.
"Jove!" murmured Commander Ennerling.
"Did you work by calculation, Benson, or guesswork?"
"I calculated the distance as nearly as I could," replied Jack Benson
quietly.
"Then you're a marvel, lad," cried Commander Ennerling, admiringly.
It was little wonder that the Naval officer was astounded. For the
"Pollard" had emerged barely a hundred feet to the starboard of the
gunboat's line of course, and barely two hundred feet astern.
"The rest is going to be easy," laughed Captain Jack, confidently. "The
trick is as good as played on the '_Massapequa_.'"
He gave the wheel a hard turn to bring the nose of the submarine about.
"There's your gleeful friend, Eph Somers," announced Commander Ennerling,
pointing ahead as the "Pollard" came about.
A bare eighth of a mile away, directly in the track of the gunboat, sat
Eph on his door. Those in the tower could not quite make him out in the
night, but they could see the circles described by the lighted lantern
that Eph was swinging.
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