CHAPTER X.
"WE BELONG TO THE NAVY, TOO!" "You mean, sir," asked Midshipman Jetson, his voice hoarse in spite of his efforts to remain calm, "that we are doomed to remain here at the bottom of the bay unless divers reach us in time ?" "Yes," nodded Hal Hastings, his voice as quiet and even as ever.
"Unless we can find a duplicate plate---and that appears impossible---the 'Dodger' is wholly unable to help herself." "If the outlook is as black as it appears, gentlemen," spoke Jack Benson from behind their backs, "I'm extremely sorry that such a disaster should have happened when we had six such promising young Naval officers aboard." "Oh, hang us and our loss!" exploded Dave Darrin forgetting that he was addressing an officer.

"I guess the country won't miss us so very much.

But it surely will be a blow to the United States if the Navy's three best submarine experts have to be lost to the country to satisfy a discharged enlisted man's spite." Eph Somers had come down from the tower.

He, too, looked extremely grave, though he showed no demoralizing signs of fear.
As for the six midshipmen, they were brave.

Not a doubt but that every one of them showed all necessary grit in the face of this fearful disaster.