At Acapulco Matt was confidently expecting to receive a message from Captain Nemo, Jr. In this, however, he was disappointed. There was no message for him. Matt could not understand the reason and was prone to think dire things.
"Captain Nemo, Jr., would surely have answered that message I sent him from Panama," said Matt, "providing he had received it."
"Sure he would," agreed Glennie; "and the fact that you did not get an answer is proof that the captain did not receive your message."
"Aber vy ditn't he receif id?" asked Carl.
"That's the point that alarms me, friends," went on Matt gloomily. "You know we left the captain sick at Belize; too ill, in fact, to come with us on the _Grampus_. We haven't heard a word from him since the cruise began, and it may be that his sickness terminated fatally."
This thought cast a depression over the motor boys. Captain Nemo, Jr., was a good friend of theirs, and all of them liked him. The _Grampus_ was the triumph of the captain's career, and if he was to be stricken down just as the boat, in charge of the motor boys, was to pass successfully through the Golden Gate, the elation Matt and his friends would otherwise feel must give way to dejection and sorrow.
The victory of this successful cruise was entirely theirs, but the loss of Captain Nemo, Jr., would rob the victory of all pleasure for them.
But the gloom that accompanied the submarine from Acapulco northward was lost in rejoicing at San Diego; for no sooner had the _Grampus_ anchored in the bay off the latter place than no less a person than Captain Nemo, Jr., himself, rowed out and came aboard.
The captain was well and hearty, and his delight in welcoming the boys was boundless.
He looked over the boat and complimented all hands on her efficiency after such a long cruise--the longest and hardest any submarine had ever made; and in the periscope room, until long into the night, the captain sat wide-eyed and absorbed, listening to the adventures of those whom he had commissioned to take the _Grampus_ from Belize to Mare Island.
When all had had their say, and the recital was done, there followed a period of silence. The captain was the first to speak.
"A hundred thousand dollars, my lads, is a great deal of money; but if I had been able to look ahead and learn what dangers were to beset you on your long journey, I would not have allowed you to start for a million. I had some inkling of this Japanese business, for I was offered two hundred thousand for the _Grampus_ by the Japanese government. I chose to deal with the navy department of my own country, even at a direct pecuniary loss to myself. My refusal to sell to the Japs brought a threatening letter from the Sons of the Rising Sun, but I treated it with contempt. I should have taken you into my confidence regarding this Japanese matter before you left Belize, but I thought it of no moment and hesitated to alarm you by even mentioning it."