"Gee! He's a long time coming to the point," mumbled Tubby impatiently. "Have any of you boys ever heard of the 'Peacemaker submarine'?" "So called because the nation possessing it would be so formidable as to insure naval peace with other countries?" exclaimed Rob quickly. "Yes, sir, I've heard of it." "What has reached your ears about it?" "Why, a week ago the papers said that a submarine of that type had been sold to Russia and shipped for that country from the factory of the inventor at Bridgeport, Connecticut," said Rob, with growing wonder as to what all this could be leading. "Correct. But that submarine never reached Russia!" "Did the ship that was carrying it sink?" asked Tubby innocently. "No," smiled the ensign, amused at the fat boy's goggling eyes and intent expression; "the _Long Island_, the freighter conveying it, did not sink. Instead, it hung about the coast, and then, under cover of fog, slipped into the harbor of Snug Haven on the South Carolina coast. Snug Haven is a small place and a sleepy one. Under the blanket of fog the _Long Island_ slipped in, as I have said. Then the submarine was hoisted overboard by means of a derrick, and under her own power run to anchorage off a small island not far from Snug Haven. The captain and crew of the _Long Island_ were sworn to secrecy, and so far as we know not a soul, but those directly interested, is aware of the present location of the _Peacemaker_." "But why, if the submarine was sold to Russia, was she not sent there?" inquired the mystified Rob. "For the excellent reason that she was _not_ sold to Russia at all," was the naval officer's rejoinder; "that was simply announced for the benefit of inquisitive newspapers who have been trying for a long time to get at the details of the 'Peacemaker submarine.' But it is not alone the newspapers we have had trouble with. Foreign spies, anxious to secure the _Peacemaker_ for their governments, have harassed us at Bridgeport ever since the keel plates were laid." "Then the United States has bought the submarine?" asked Merritt Crawford. "Not yet. But the construction and principles of it are so efficient that Uncle Sam wishes to have first call on the craft." "And you are going to test it at this lonely island in South Carolina?" cried Rob, guessing the truth. "Perfectly right, my boy," was the response. "Off that little-frequented coast, beset with islands and shoals, we hope to carry out our tests unobserved. At Bridgeport this would have been an impossibility, and for that reason the story of the sale to Russia was concocted. Russia, I may add, was about the only country not represented by spy service at Bridgeport." "And you say that nobody but the officials directly connected with the craft has any knowledge of its whereabouts?" asked Rob with deep interest. "As far as it is humanly possible to be certain, such is our positive belief."