"It's only the pesky
little 'if' that's bothering me at all. I don't want any of you to
think me a coward--"
"We know, very well, you're not, sir," Captain Jack interposed, very
quietly.
"But if we make any slip in our calculations," continued Jacob Farnum,
"the first bad thing about it is that we'll smash a fine boat which,
otherwise, the United States Government is likely to want at a price
around two hundred thousand dollars. That, however, is not the greatest
risk that I have in mind. On board this craft are five people without
whom it would be rather hopeless for anyone to go on building the
Pollard type of boat. Therefore, besides risking a valuable craft and
our own rather inconsequential lives, we go further and put the United
States Navy in danger of having only a couple of our boats. Now, the
fact is, we want the Navy to have three or four dozen of our submarine
craft, for we ourselves believe implicitly in the great worth of the
Pollard boats."
"That's just the point, sir," cried Captain Jack Benson.
"Eh? What is?" inquired Mr. Farnum, looking at his young skipper in
some bewilderment.
"Why, sir," laughed Jack, "the point is that we believe our boats to be
infinitely ahead of anything owned in any other navy on earth.
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