MR. FARNUM OFFERS ANOTHER GUESS


Close at hand there was a loose board in the fence. Through this Sam
Truax thrust his head, peering up and down the street. Not another
soul was in sight.

With a chuckle Truax stepped through the hole in the fence. Swiftly
he gathered up the young submarine captain, bearing him through the
aperture and dropping him on the ground behind the fence. At the
same time he took with him the small bag of sand.

"Knocked you out, but I don't believe you'll be unconscious long,"
mused Truax, standing over his young victim, regarding him critically.
"There wasn't steam enough in the blow to hurt you for long. You're
sturdy, following the sea all the time, as you do."

With a thoughtful air Sam Truax drew a small bottle from his pocket,
sprinkling some of the contents over Jack's uniform coat. Immediately
the nauseating smell of liquor rose on the air.

"Now, if someone finds you before you come to, you'll look like a
fellow that has been drinking and fighting," muttered Truax under
his breath. "If you come to and get back to the yard without help,
you'll walk unsteadily and have that smell about your clothes. Usually,
it needs only a breath of suspicion to turn folks against a boy!"

Pausing only long enough to learn that Jack's pulses were beating, and
that the submarine boy was breathing, Truax stole off into the might,
carrying the bag of sand under his over coat. At one point he paused