As the time approached for opening the orders, there was an air of tenseness throughout the boat. The crew members who had been lying down weren’t sleepy or tired any more. They were up, walking back and forth in the narrow passageways, climbing up the forward hatch for a breath of fresh air, climbing down again to get another cup of coffee. Everyone but Larry Gray seemed a little nervous. He still stood calmly on the bridge, looking out over the long rollers in which _Kamongo_ now sailed. The last line of land had finally disappeared behind them. He glanced at his watch, and then slid down the conning tower hatch without a word. McFee and Corvin and March Anson, who were all on the bridge with him, looked at each other. “This is really my watch,” McFee said. “Go on down, you two, but for gosh sakes let me know as soon as you find out.” So March and Ray Corvin went below and sat down in the wardroom. They knew the Skipper was in his quarters next door. “He’ll be calling for the chart in a minute,” Corvin said. “The chart of where we’re going. Then we’ll know.” But Gray did not call for a chart. Instead, he sauntered into the wardroom sat down and smiled. “Sorry to disappoint you,” he said. “I feel a little let down myself, though it’s a perfectly natural destination.” “Not Iceland!” Corvin cried. “Don’t tell me that!” Gray laughed. “No, our present destination is just a way-station.” “Well, if it’s so all-fired disappointing,” Corvin exploded, “why are you trying to build it up into something dramatic by holding out on us? I think it’s just a gag. It’s probably that we’re going to blast Kiel harbor from inside or find some way of traveling up the sewers to Paris.” “Ray, you’ve been going to too many movies,” Larry said. “You know that life on a submarine is very prosaic, except for just once in a while. Gentlemen, we are going to San Francisco, California!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER TEN THROUGH THE CANAL It had been a bad anticlimax! Everybody in the crew felt badly let down. Corvin and March forgot all about telling McFee, up on the bridge, who was mentally trying to decide between the Marshall Islands and the Black Sea as probable destinations. Finally he phoned down and angrily asked why someone didn’t let the bridge know where they were supposed to be going. “How do you expect anybody to steer the ship in this big ocean,” he demanded, “if he doesn’t know where he’s going?” When he heard the words “San Francisco,” he groaned. “What’s the matter with San Francisco?” Stan asked. “I’ve always wanted to see it.” “Oh—San Francisco’s wonderful,” Ray Corvin said “As a matter of fact I live not far from there, and maybe I’ll get a chance to see my family for a day or two, so I’m very happy in some ways. It’s just that we got so keyed up expecting to head right into a pitched battle.”