THE BOY SCOUTS ON A SUBMARINE

CHAPTER I

THE UNEXPECTED VISITOR

A great barking of dogs broke the silence of the sleepy summer
afternoon. Elinor Pomeroy laid down her knitting and slowly
walked around the house. The barking of the three big dogs had
been on a joyous tone. A young man was racing up the long front
drive, the dogs leaping and bounding around him.

"Three rousing cheers, old dear," he cried. "Three cheers! I
have won out!"

"Do you really mean it, Lester?" she cried. "Do you really mean
that your invention is a success?"

"It certainly is, Elinor," he answered, a certain gravity coming
into his face and manner. "I know now that it is all right. We
have even tried it out, and I am sure of it."

Elinor took her excited brother by the arm and led him to the
wide, swinging hammock.

"Begin at the beginning," she ordered gently. "I want to hear
the whole thing."

"Well, then," he commenced obediently, "this morning, as soon as
I got to the plant, I asked for a meeting with the bureau of
management. Well, I went in and told them what I had done; how I
happened on a partial combination when I was analyzing something
for the office. I told them that I had worked it out further and
further, and that finally I found what I was hunting for--a gas
that was powerful enough to affect a large number of men and put
them out temporarily, without injuring them after the effects
wore off.