CHAPTER XI. THE EAVESDROPPER.

Ned, after the receipt of the message authorizing him to open his orders, lost no time in hastening below.

Herc, as his junior officer, went with him. Kenworth was ordered out of his cabin and told off to assume charge of the after-watch, an assignment on which Ned was sure the evilly disposed midshipman could not do any harm.

In the meantime, the ship was steaming slowly down the Sound in charge of one of the junior warrant officers.

"Now for the big secret," exclaimed Ned, as he opened his desk and took out the slender package. "We'll step into the wardroom to look it over, Herc."

"Look out, somebody may have put a bomb[Pg 92] in it while we were gone," warned Herc, leaning over Ned's shoulder, a look of intense interest on his freckled countenance.

"Hardly any danger of that, I think," laughed Ned.

He ripped open the envelope, glanced hastily at the first sheet of the numerous typewritten pages it contained, and gave vent to a low whistle.

"Well, what do you think of that?" gasped Herc. "I thought we were to——"

"Obey orders," said Ned quietly; "although I must admit this is a bit of a surprise. I suppose a change in plans came late so that we were not forewarned."

"Well, let's hear what it is all about," prompted Herc impatiently.

"Simple enough, apparently. The army folks are protecting the mouth of the harbor. There are important fortifications there, because in time of war the protecting fleet, or part of it, might gather there.

[Pg 93]

"The army folks have planted mines there. While watching for the Blue fleet to arrive, we are to test those mines."

"Phew!" gasped Herc. "There's only one way to test how much kick there is to a mine."

"And what's that?" asked Ned.

"To blow it up and—yourself with it," declared Herc sententiously. "Well, for a nice little holiday job, we have sure picked a dandy."

"Hold on a minute, will you?" interrupted Ned. "Let me finish this. The mines are wired up by a new system. What we have to find out is if we can sneak into the harbor mouth in our submarines and disconnect the firing wires of the mines without blowing ourselves up. If we can do this, the system is a failure."

"Humph! and so are we."

"So are we what?"

"Failures! If one of these mines blew up, what else would we be——"

Ned exploded in a loud laugh.

[Pg 94]

"Why, you chump," he exclaimed, "they are not loaded mines!"

"Then how can they tell if they've been exploded or not when we go submarining around them?"

"It's up to us to see if we can dodge the wires or contrive some way to disconnect them."

"That disconnecting idea doesn't appear very feasible."

"No, it does not," agreed Ned; "but I think I can find a way to evade them, for all that."

"Hum! So long as they're not loaded, I don't care even if we run bumpety-bang into one," declared Herc; "but a loaded mine—no, thank you!"

"Our orders after that are general. We are to use our own discretion entirely, acting as the eyes and ears of the Red fleet, and forwarding to the flagship, via wireless, every scrap of information we think might be valuable to the attacking party."

"That's one thing I don't like about this command," muttered Herc.

[Pg 95]

"What is that?"

"Why, we're supposed to be enemies to the flag."

"But only supposed to be, Herc, for the purposes of perfecting the strength of Uncle Sam's defenses, and playing a useful part in exposing any weakness in our nation's fortifications."

"Huh; well, that's all the kind of enemy I ever want to be—a supposed one."

"I'm going into my cabin to lay out our course," said Ned, after a few more words. "I want you on deck, Herc, to see how things are going on. It won't take me long and—— What on earth is the matter? Got a stroke?"

There was a large glass skylight over the wardroom and, owing to the warmth of the weather, the flaps of this had been raised. With the expression of one who has been suddenly hypnotized, Herc was staring with open eyes and mouth straight up at the wardroom roof.

"What do you see?" demanded Ned, springing[Pg 96] to his feet. "Shall I get you a glass of water? Shall I——"

"Umph! You might get me a gun," snorted Herc.

"A gun! What on earth do you want with a gun?"

"I want it to shoot a skunk!"

"A skunk! Do you think you're back on the farm?"

"No, but just the same I'd like to go gunning with grandpap's old scatter gun."

"I wish we had a doctor on board, Herc. Any fellow who can go around seeing skunks——"

"Ought to shoot 'em on sight," muttered Herc belligerently. "Well, Ned, this was a skunk I saw, all right, all right! And what do you think his name was?"

Without waiting for a reply, Herc rushed on, "Kenworth! He'd been listening to every word we were saying!"