"Soon!" questioned Jack, eagerly.

"Immediately, or a minute or two later," laughed the shipbuilder.

"I'm ready," declared Captain Jack, rising.

"It'll take you a little time to hear about it all and digest it, so you
may as well be seated again," declared Farnum.

Hal, too, wandered back to his chair.

"You've been wondering how much longer the Government would leave the
'Pollard' here," went on Mr. Farnum. "I am informed that the gunboat
'Hudson' is on her way here, to take over the 'Pollard.'"

"What are the Navy folks going to do!" demanded Captain Jack, all but
wrathfully. "Do they propose to _tow_ that splendid little craft away!"

"Hardly that, I imagine," replied Farnum. "It's the custom of the United
States Navy, you know, to send a gunboat along with every two or three
submarines. They call the larger craft the 'parent boat'. The parent
boat looks out for any submarine craft that may become disabled."

"The cheek of it," vented Jack, disgustedly. "Why, sir, I'd volunteer to
take the 'Pollard,' unassisted, around the world, if she could carry fuel
enough for such a trip."

"But the Navy hasn't been accustomed to such capable submarine boats as
ours, you know," replied Mr. Farnum. "Hence the parent boat."