of the smartest, too, his comrades think."

Thereupon one of the newspaper correspondents began tactfully to draw
out young Somers about the history and past performances of the young
submarine captain. On this subject Somers talked as freely as they
could want.

"It was Benson, too, who discovered the trick of leaving a submarine
boat on the bottom, and coming to the top by himself, wasn't it?"
slyly asked one of the visitors.

"That was his discovery," nodded Eph, promptly.

"What's the principle of the trick?"

Eph's jaws snapped with a slight noise. He remained silent, for a few
moments, before he replied:

"So far, that trick is known only to the Pollard people and a few
officers of the Navy. The fewer that know, the better the chance of
keeping it a secret. Don't you believe me?"

"That's one way of looking at it, perhaps," nodded a reporter. "But
there's another side to that, too, Somers. The United States now own
some of your boats, and the money of the people paid for those boats.
Now, don't you think the people of this country have a right to know
some of the secrets for which they pay good money, and a lot of it?"

On hearing the question put that way Eph looked tremendously thoughtful
for a few seconds.