"It was only a guess," murmured Mr. Mayhew, apologetically. "You know
your young man better than I do, Mr Farnum."

"There is liquor on his clothing," continued the shipbuilder. "It looks
as though someone had assaulted the lad, laid him out, and then
sprinkled him. It's a wasted trick, though. I know him too well to
be fooled by any such clumsy bit of nonsense."

"A stupid trick, indeed," agreed Lieutenant Commander Mayhew, but the
naval officer did not quite share the shipbuilder's confidence in the
submarine boy's innocence. Mr. Mayhew had known of too many cases of
naval apprentices ruined through weak indulgence in liquor. Indeed, he
had even known of rare instances in which cadets had been dismissed from
the Naval Academy for the same offense. The lieutenant commander's
present doubt of Jack Benson was likely to work to that young man's
disadvantage later on.

Others of the party left the auto. Hal and Mr. Farnum got into the
tonneau, supporting Jack there between them. Thus they carried him to
Mr. Farnum's office at the yard, Grant Andrews then going in the car
after a doctor, while the others stretched Jack on the office sofa.
The naval officers returned to the "Hudson," at anchor in the little
harbor below.

"The young man acts as though he had been struck on the head," was the
physician's verdict. "No bones of the skull are broken. The odor of
liquor is on his coat, but I can't seem to detect any on the breath."

"Of course you can't," commented Jacob Farnum, crisply. "Will Benson
be fit to sail in the morning?"