Jacob Farnum now slipped away to countermand his orders for a diver and
wrecking apparatus, the newspaper people also seizing the chance to send
another wire to their home newspapers.

After that Captain Jack received one-third of the party aboard the
"Pollard." He gave them a short trip on the surface. Then, pressed to
do so, he submerged the boat for two minutes. After that the rest of
the correspondents were taken out and below the water. Most people are
not particularly eager, at first, for a trip under the water in submarine
boats, but with the newspaper fraternity it is different. They are
always on the lookout for any new experience, no matter how dangerous it
may seem to be. It is a part of their calling.

Yet not one in all this party of thirty trained, keen-minded people
managed to penetrate the secret of how Captain Jack had been able to
leave and return to the "Pollard" while that craft lay on the bottom of
the harbor.

When all had visited the boat, and had sunk with her, Jacob Farnum took
the party in carriages to his home, where luncheon was served. The
boatbuilder, by the use of all his tact, kept the party together until
it was time, to drive them to the railway station and see them aboard
the train.

In this way, he prevented any of his visitors from falling into the hands
of the Melville people. Consequently, when the next day's papers
appeared there was much in them about the wonderful work done by Captain
Jack Benson in a "Pollard" submarine, but there was not even as much as
a mention of the fact that any rival submarine boatyard existed in
Dunhaven.