Farnum, the owner of the yard, trusted these boys, after a while, to show off the fine points of the craft to our Navy officers and others." "But what has that to do with giving Benson a commission in the Navy ?" demanded Farley.
"I'm coming to that," Dave replied.

"As I've heard the yarn, Benson and his two boy friends attracted attention even from the European governments.

The Germans and some other powers even made them good offers to desert this country and go abroad as submarine experts.

Our Navy folks thought enough of Benson and his chums to want to save them for this country.

So the Secretary of the Navy offered all three the rank and command of officers without the actual commissions.