“No, sir,” answered Bob. “But I know the captain well enough to feel sure that he wouldn’t sell the Grampus to any other country but the United States, not if he was offered a million. He has invented a submarine that is better than any other craft of its kind that was ever launched, and the captain is patriotic2 enough to want his own country to reap the benefit.”
“Exactly. Captain Nemo, junior, is a man after my own heart, by gad4! Well, he refused the offer, and two days later he received a warning signed simply, ‘The Sons of the Rising Sun,’ saying that if he did not reconsider the Grampus would be sunk in the bottom of the ocean. How was that for audacity5? But the captain thought it was all bluff6—the Japs have learned a lot from us, my lads, and bluff is not the least of their acquirements.
“The captain said nothing to you, Bob Steele, about this warning from the Sons of the Rising Sun. He treated it with silent contempt, well knowing that you would do everything possible to safeguard the submarine without any unnecessary talk from him.
“Now, from what you lads have told me, we must change our minds about that warning being a bluff.302 If it was a bluff, then the Japs are trying to make good. But the Japanese government knows nothing about this. If the high boys among the Japs in Tokio knew, they would be the first ones to send a warship7 after these precious Sons of the Rising Sun. The Young Samurai are going it on their own hook; they’re going to help their beloved country whether the country wants them to or not.
“The Grampus is a good thing. The Japs are able to tell a good thing when they see it, and that’s what makes the Sons of the Rising Sun so hungry either to buy the submarine or send her to the bottom in such a way that she can’t come up. They’re a lot of hotheads, that’s what they are, and they don’t care a picayune what happens to them just so they can get in some wild stroke that, in their overheated estimation, may benefit Nippon.
“I don’t know as we can blame them. It hasn’t been so mighty8 long since they broke through their chrysalis of heathendom, and they are drunk with their success in their late unpleasantness with Russia—Russia, a country that has been our firm friend ever since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.
“Well, you have faced desperate risks, and you may be compelled to face more. I wish I could assure you that there were no more troubles in sight, but the Japs are a persistent9 race, and whenever young firebrands like these Sons of the Rising Sun get started at anything they never know when to let go. But,” and here the consul brought his fist emphatically down on the table, “I don’t think you can possibly meet any greater dangers than you have already met and successfully passed through. Bearing that in mind, I’d be willing to bet every dollar I’ve got that Bob Steele will make good, and deliver this old catamaran at Mare10 Island, right side up with care, and everybody303 smiling—except, of course, the Sons of the Rising Sun. I’ll back Young America against Young Japan any day. Catch my drift? That’s about all. Come in and eat with me—we have to eat, you know, no matter how hot it is. After dinner we’ll look after Mr. Tolo, and I’ll give Bob a letter to an agent who will supply him with gasoline, or any other old thing that happens to be necessary in order to make a submarine go. There won’t be any water in the gasoline, either. Come on, now, and let’s try and be cheerful. Heaven knows you boys have got enough ahead of you to make your hair stand on end like quills11 on the fretful porcupine12, but what we’re not sure of hadn’t ought to trouble us.”
Bob and Glennie had a good dinner, and after it was over the consul went with them to the Grampus and gave the craft a sizing. He was charmed with the boat, and all the useful odds13 and ends of machinery14 with which she was packed.
Following that, he went to the prison chamber15 and surveyed Tolo as he lay bound and helpless on the floor.
“You’re a nice young patriot3, I must say!” exclaimed the consul, as he looked down on the quiet, uncomplaining Japanese, “but you met more than your match when you went up against Bob Steele. Where are the rest of your rascally16 outfit17?”
“I speak nothing, honorable sir,” replied Tolo, “not because of any disrespect for you, but out of regard for my dear Nippon.”
“High-handed outrage19 stalks the seas,” he muttered, “and this poor fool calls it love of country! Well, well! I wonder what Commodore Perry would say if he could hear that? The Japs are our great and good friends, all right, but we don’t count for much when304 there’s a little thing like a patent boat on the program. I’ll take care of you, my lad,” he added to Tolo. “You’ll stay in Para until the first United States warship comes along, and then you’ll travel to the States and give an account of yourself.”
A few minutes later the consul left the boat, and, an hour after he was gone, police officers arrived and carried the misguided Tolo to the municipal bastile.
That was the last Bob and his friends ever saw of him.
Bob and Glennie refused a pressing invitation to stay all night at the consul’s palatial20 home. They explained to him that, in view of the vague dangers threatening them and the Grampus, they felt as though they ought to stay with the boat.
Mr. Brigham commended their zeal21, repeated his encouraging auguries22 for their ultimate success, and warned them again of dangers ahead.
“Desperate risks are what you’re to take,” said he. “It may be that you have clipped the claws of the dragon, and that nothing more will be heard of the Sons of the Rising Sun. That’s the bright side of the picture, but please don’t look at it. In a case of this kind it is better to expect the worst; then, if better things come to you, they will be in the nature of a happy surprise.”
On the second day of their stay in Para, Dick went ashore23 and got their supplies. It had been on the schedule that the Grampus was to put in at Rio, but Mr. Brigham advised the boys to give that port a wide berth24.
“Your itinerary25,” he explained, “is probably known to these hotheaded Japs. The way to fool them is by dodging26 the itinerary and putting in at the places where you are not expected.”
305
“We’ll have to stop somewhere before we round the Horn,” said Bob; “and I believe we’ll call at——”
“Don’t tell me!” protested the consul. “Don’t tell any one in Para, or even talk it over among yourselves until you are well away at sea. Then, when you speak the name of your next port of call, go down to the ocean bed and whisper it. Do you think I’m piling it on? Well, perhaps so, but I am only trying to let you understand how necessary it is to keep your own counsel. I’m mightily27 interested in you, and in your ultimate success, and what advice I give I give earnestly, and trust you will take it so. You’ll get around the Horn, all right, and you’ll get to Mare Island, and the Grampus will become part and parcel of our country’s navy, perhaps with Ensign Glennie in command. That’s a cinch, my lads; but what you’re to go through before you reach Frisco is a horse of another color. Don’t be overconfident. Remember what I say, and keep your eyes on the dark side of the picture. Good-by, and luck go with you.”
On the morning of the third day after their arrival at Para the Grampus slipped down the river toward the open sea. She carried confident hearts and determined28 wills—and, in spite of the fact that all had their eyes on the “dark side of the picture,” there was plenty of hope and also of good cheer in the stout29 steel hull30 of the submarine. For Bob Steele was in command. He had brought the Grampus through many perils31, and all had faith to believe that he could bring her through many more.
THE END.
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1
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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warship
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| n.军舰，战舰 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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quills
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| n.（刺猬或豪猪的）刺( quill的名词复数 )；羽毛管；翮；纡管 | |
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porcupine
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| n.豪猪， 箭猪 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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auguries
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| n.（古罗马）占卜术，占卜仪式( augury的名词复数 )；预兆 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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itinerary
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| n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划 | |
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dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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