can run any Rhinds boat off the surface of the ocean!"

It was all very good to have such confidence in their boat. Yet was it
to be justified?

* * * * * * * * * *

Almost immediately came the first blow. A telegram came on board,
addressed to Williamson. The latter's brother was seriously ill at home,
and the machinist had to leave at once, going north by the next train.
As it happened, the brother speedily recovered, but this incident for
the time left the Farnum forces the losers of a highly useful man in the
engine room.




CHAPTER X

JOHN C. RHINDS ADVOCATES FAIR SPORT!


Boom! From over the port rail of the "Oakland" a dense cloud of grayish
white smoke belched out.

Through it flashed a streak of red.

As the "Oakland" was the temporary flagship of this fleet of two
gunboats, this gunfire was the signal for the submarines to move on out
of the bay.