“Certainly.”

“Can you ever forgive me?” moaned the man.

“Why, what have you done?” asked Jack.

“That assault back in Dunhaven—”

“Was it you who knocked me out there?” demanded Benson sharply.

“Yes.” In a shaking voice Truax confessed the details of the affair and
from that passed to Jack’s trip to the suburbs of Annapolis.

“I found the mulatto in a low den. I told him you carried a lot of money
and that he could have it all if he’d decoy you somewhere, keep you all
night, and send you back to the Naval Academy looking like a tramp.” He
then added the name of the mulatto.

“But why have you done this?” demanded Jack. “What have you against me?”

“I didn’t do it on my own account. I did it for Tip Gaynor, a salesman for
Sidenham.”

“The Sidenham Submarine Company?” cried Jack, deeply interested. “The
Sidenham people are our nearest competitors in the submarine business!” he
exclaimed.

“Yes; and they wanted to get the business away from the Pollard Company.
They told Tip Gaynor it would be worth ten thousand dollars to him for