the bay the "Chelsea" signaled to the submarine boats to slow up.
Then the gunboat moved over to temporary anchorage. A line between the
gunboat's bow and the lighthouse on Groton Point, to the northward, was
to furnish the imaginary starting line. This line the five competing
submarine torpedo boats must, at second gunfire, cross as nearly together
as possible. There were penalties, of course, for any one boat trying
to steal a lead over the rest.

By this time the fast gunboat "Oakland," which had a safe speed of
twenty-four knots an hour, under forced draught, lay to, some two miles
further out. The "Oakland's" task was to stick close to the leaders,
and, at the end, to decide which craft had won.

_Boom!_ The first gun sounded over the starboard side of the "Chelsea."
In five minutes' time the second gun would thunder out--and the racers
would be off!

Such a scurrying as there was then among these five little craft of war!

Captain Jack Benson had the wheel again. Henceforth, Lieutenant Danvers
was to be but a spectator--a judge, at need, and on his honor, as an
officer of the United States Navy, to show no partiality to those on
whose boat he found himself.

As Eph might be needed on deck, at any instant, he stood leaning against
the conning tower.

David Pollard was missing. He had gone below, had taken off his coat,
and was standing in shirt-sleeves, ready to render any possible aid to
Hal Hastings, the young chief engineer on whom so much depended in the
six hours to come.

Now that one of the supreme moments in his career had come, Jacob Farnum
hardly dared breathe. He said not a word to Eph, who, just as anxious,
stood at his elbow.

As the submarine craft scurried over the waves, each seeking its best
place for a start over the line, the "Zelda" came up within sixty yards,
running alongside for a moment or two.

John C. Rhinds, standing at the rail of his own craft, with what was
intended to be a smile his face, waved his hat wildly at Jacob Farnum.

"Good luck to you, Farnum--and to us!" bellowed Rhinds. "Of course,
I'd like to win today, but if you've the better boat, go ahead and
leave us at the finish. May the best craft win, no hard feelings!
Fair sport all the way through, Farnum, old and to you, Benson--may
you never be in fitter shape than to-day!"

"The old hypocrite!" gasped Jack, vengefully "I'm mighty sorry I can't
head this boat around and run it straight down his lying thr