"You'll let me go aboard the craft to sleep for to-night, anyway?"
coaxed Truax.

"Why, that's just what I'm not at liberty to do," replied the young
submarine captain. "No; I couldn't think of that, in the absence of
Mr. Farnum's order."

"But that doesn't seem hardly fair," protested Truax. "See here, I
have spent all my money getting here. I haven't even the price of a
lodging with me, and this isn't a summer night."

"Why, I'll tell you what I'll do," Benson went on, feeling in one of
his pockets. "Here's a dollar. That'll buy you a bed and a breakfast
at the hotel up the street. If you want to get aboard with us in time,
you'd better show up by eight in the morning."

"But--"

"That's really all I can do," Jack Benson hastily assured the fellow.
"I'm not the owner of the boat, and I can't take any liberties. Oh,
wait just a moment. I'll see if there's any chance of Mr. Farnum
coming back to night."

Jack knew well enough that there wasn't any chance of Mr. Farnum
returning, unless possibly at a very late hour with the naval officers,
but the boy had seen the night watchman peering out through the gateway.

Retracing his steps, Jack drew the night watchman inside, whispering:

"Just a pointer for you. You've seen that man on the street with us?