Hastings, quietly. “Yet you know what a dreamer he is. Always has his head
in the air and his thoughts among the stars. He’d as like as not take a
fellow like Truax on the fellow’s own say-so, and never think of looking
him up.”

“Oh, we’ve no reason to think Truax isn’t honest enough,” contended Jack
Benson. “He’s certainly a fine workman. As to his being sulky, you know
well enough that’s a common fault among men who spend their lives
listening to the noise of great engines. A man who can’t make himself
heard over the noise of a big engine hasn’t much encouragement to talk.
Now, a man who can’t find much chance to talk becomes sulky a good many
times out of ten.”

“We’ll have trouble with that fellow, Truax, yet,” muttered Eph.

“Oh, I hope not,” Jack answered, then added, significantly:

“If he _does_ start any trouble he may find that he has been trifling with
the wrong crowd!”

Very little more thought was given to the sulky one. The submarine boys
and their companion, Williamson, enjoyed Saturday and Sunday ashore.

All of them might have felt disturbed, however, had they known of one
thing that happened.

The naval machinists aboard the first submarine boat, the “Pollard,” now
owned by the United States Government, found something slightly out of
order with the “Pollard’s” engine that they did not know exactly how to
remedy.