"So I told the pretended sailors," continued Captain Jack, "that I'd run
down to the hotel, and that I'd be right back."

"Did you tell anyone where you were going?" demanded Eph.

"No one was there that I knew. Instead, I slipped into the telephone
room, at the side of the lobby, and called up the chief of police.
I happened to get the chief himself on the wire. He thought I was a
drunken sailor, or else that I was out of my head. But he finally
agreed to have some detectives on hand to see the sailors take me away
in tow."

"Then--?" pursued Eph.

"Why, then I waited long enough to give the detectives a chance to reach
the scene. Then I went back and walked into the trap with the fake
sailors."

It was a story that was hugely enjoyed by the young submarine captain's
comrades.

"But who would put up such a queer job on us?" demanded Hal.

"It must be some one who didn't want us to man a Pollard boat in
to-morrow's speed test, of course," nodded Jack. "It seems like a mean
thing to say, and we ought to be sure, but I believe Rhinds and Radwin
are the offenders."

The more the submarine boys talked it over, the more they were inclined
to fall in line with the guess that Rhinds and Radwin had been behind