"No; By Jove! and I'm hungry, too," said the young officer addressed as
Templeton. "Come along, Frank. We have been so busy talking here that
we had forgotten all about the demands of the inner man."

The two hurried after the officer who had accosted them; and while they
are attending to the wants of the inner man, as Templeton termed their
appetites, we will take the time to explain how these two lads came to
be aboard the giant battleship, steaming into the North Sea in search
of the enemies of Great Britain and her allies.

Frank Chadwick was an American youth of some eighteen years. Separated
from his father in Naples at the outbreak of the great war, he had been
shanghaied aboard a sailing vessel when he had gone to the aid of a man
apparently in distress. There he was made a prisoner.

Some days later he had been rescued by Jack Templeton, a young
Englishman, who had boarded the vessel off the coast of Africa, seeking
payment for goods he had sold to the mutinous crew. The two lads had
been instrumental in helping Lord Hastings, a British nobleman, put
through a coup that kept Italy out of the war on the side of Germany
and Austria. Lord Hastings had become greatly attached to the lads, and
when he had been put in command of a vessel, he had both boys assigned
to his ship.

Through gallant service Frank and Jack had won their lieutenancies.
Later Lord Hastings had assumed command of a submarine and had made
Jack his first officer and Frank his second officer.

Through many a tight place the lads had gone safely, though they had