'"
"I hope you're both right," said Captain Jack, gravely.
"Why, what leads you to think that we may not be?" asked Farnum,
curiously.
"Nothing in the way of facts," Jack admitted. "Yet there may be others
of this infernal spy gang who have not yet shown their hands, of whose
existence the Secret Service knows nothing."
"Well, what can they do, if you don't allow any strangers on board the
boat?" asked Mr. Farnum, point blank.
"Nothing much," muttered Benson, "unless--"
"Well, unless what?"
"See here," asked the submarine boy, "what is usually done to such spies
by the United States Government?"
"Why, the law provides that, in war time, such spies can be shot in
mighty quick order," replied Mr. Farnum. "In peace times the law doesn't
allow anything but sending spies to prison."
"But what does the Government usually do?" pursued Captain Jack. "It
seems to me I've read of suspected spies being caught around American
fortifications, trying to make notes, or take photographs."
"Yes," nodded the shipbuilder.
"And I think I've read, also, that such spies are generally warned and
then let go."
"That's the usual procedure, I believe," admitted Farnum.
"Then, after the spies who have been bothering us have all been rounded
up and scolded, they'll be given railroad tickets and allowed go on
their way?" asked Jack.
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