As he did not offer to
detain the boy longer, Benson hurried on along one of the walks. He took
as short a course as he could making straight for the Basin, where he made
out the "Hudson" and the two submarines.
"Hey! There's the captain!" shouted Eph, wonderingly, for Somers's eyes
were sharp at all times.
Out of the conning tower sprang Hal Hastings, looking eagerly in the
direction in which Eph Somers pointed:
"Eh?" muttered another person, lounging near the rail of the gunboat. Then
Lieutenant Commander Mayhew, after a keen, wholly disapproving look at the
hard-looking figure of a young man at the landing, started, as he
muttered:
"Benson, by all that's horrible! How did he come to be in that fearful
shape? He must have been in one of the worst resorts within miles of
Annapolis!"
"This isn't the first time the young man has come back the worse for
wear," the lieutenant commander continued, under his breath. "His friends
were loyal enough to him, that time. I wonder if they can be, to-day?"
One of the shore boats, waiting about in the Basin, put young Benson
aboard the "Farnum" as soon as he explained who he was.
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