"Humph!" grunted Jack, scanning the sea. "No sign of the boat anywhere.
Eph may be anywhere within twenty miles of here."

"Or within twenty feet, either," grinned Hal, looking down into the
waters that were lead colored under the dull autumn sky.

"What are we going to do, Captain?" inquired Jacob Farnum. "There are
Grant Andrews and three of his machinists coming down to the water."

"I reckon, sir, we'd better put them aboard the 'Pollard' first, sir,"
Benson suggested.

Mr. Farnum nodding, the boat was rowed in to the shore and Andrews and
his men were put aboard the "Pollard" at the platform deck. Captain
Jack Benson unlocking the door to the conning tower, was himself the
first to disappear down below. When he came back he carried a line to
which was attached a heavy sounding-lead.

"It won't take us long to sound the deep spots in this little harbor,"
said the young skipper, as he dropped down once more into the bow of the
shore boat. "Row about, Hal, over the places where the submarine could
go below out of sight."

As Hal rowed, Skipper Jack industriously used the sounding-lead.

For twenty minutes nothing resulted from this exploration. Then, all of
a sudden, Benson shouted:

"Back water, Hal! Easy; rest on your oars. Steady!"