THE ENDURANCE RUN.
The ensuing days, following the return to the island, were filled to
overflowing with activity. Exhaustive tests only made the _Peacemaker_
appear to be more and more the ideal type of boat for her particular
work. By means of the island wireless Ensign Hargreaves, using "code" of
course, sent glowing accounts to Washington of the progress of the
tests. In these despatches, too, the Boy Scouts were favorably mentioned
for their pluck and heroism in the pursuit of Berghoff and his rascally
companions.
One day, about two weeks after the return to the island, it was
determined by the ensign and Mr. Barr to make quite a run out to sea to
test to the full the endurance capacity of the _Peacemaker_. Rob and
Merritt were chosen to accompany them. The rest of the boys were left to
guard the island, which, among other valuable property, now housed the
precious ivory hoard recovered in such a strange manner.
The day dawned with a red, angry sky proclaiming nasty weather. But
this, instead of dampening the ardor of the inventor and his aides, only
increased it. It meant that the submarine was in for a real test in a
bad sea.
By the time they were ready to start, the wind had freshened into half a
gale and a high sea was running, heaping up big gray combers with white
tops which broke angrily.
Into this storm the _Peacemaker_ was headed without hesitation. On board
were the ensign, the inventor, Rob and Merritt. The two latter were to
serve watch and watch in the engine room, while the inventor and the
ensign placed themselves under a similar arrangement in the conning
tower.
Both Rob and Merritt were by this time fully conversant with the running
of the _Peacemaker's_ intricate machinery and were trusted to the full
by their superior officers.
"Gee! This feels like being afloat in an empty bottle!" exclaimed
Merritt as the _Peacemaker_ headed into the tumbling seas.
"It sure does," responded Rob, hanging on to a handhold while he oiled a
bearing. "I suppose they want to see how much she'll stand on the
surface."
"Wonder they wouldn't dive and give us a chance to get a little quiet,"
observed Merritt as the rolling, bucking _Peacemaker_ leaped, as it
seemed, skyward and then plunged dizzily down again.
"There must be a hummer of a sea outside. Guess, as I'm off duty, I'll
go up and see what's doing," said Rob presently.
He made his way with much difficulty toward the steel ladder leading
into the conning tower. The passage could only be made by fits and
starts, and the boy for the first time realized the necessity of the
handholds placed at frequent intervals on the cabin walls, to which
reference has already been made.
Reaching the ladder he scrambled up into the conning tower, and, once
inside, braced himself against the wild and erratic motions of the
_Peacemaker_. To see through the lenses was impossible. The seas that
swept over the little craft blurred the glass with green water and
obscured everything outside. But on the _Peacemaker_ this condition did
not matter. The contingency had been provided for.
The long arm of the periscope with its "eye" on top had been raised, and
it reached far above the biggest combers. In front of the helmsman, who
happened to be Mr. Barr, was a big plate of ground glass on which every
object outside was plainly shown, although of course in miniature.
Those of my readers who have ever seen a "camera obscura" will recognize
what I mean.
Upon the ground glass, as within a picture frame, was reproduced the
motion of the furious seas, the scurrying clouds and the angry storm
wrack. It was an inspiring marine painting, with the motion and sweep
that an actual painting could never possess. It thrilled Rob as he gazed
at it and realized that it was through this pandemonium of the storm
that the _Peacemaker_ was bravely fighting her way.
"Better slow down a bit, hadn't I?" asked Mr. Barr as the _Peacemaker_,
urged by her powerful engines, ploughed right through a mountainous sea.
As she bored her way through the mighty wall of green water, a roar like
that of a railroad train resounded and the craft pitched as if she were
going to plunge to the bottom of the sea. This latter, in fact, Rob
rather wished she would do. He knew that in the depths all would be
quiet and undisturbed.
In reply to Mr. Barr's question, the ensign nodded.
"The strain is already pretty strong," he said; "we don't want to force
her too hard."
Accordingly the inventor, utilizing the auto control device, cut down
the speed till, instead of ploughing through the waves, the _Peacemaker_
skimmed over them. Unlike most submarines, which cannot do otherwise
than plunge into heavy seas, the _Peacemaker's_ hull was so constructed
that she rode the waves like a duck.
After a while the sensation of heaving and falling began to get upon Mr.
Barr's nerves.
"I'm feeling a bit squeamish," he declared; "let's dive and get out of
this."
The ensign nodded and laughed.
"Our friend Rob here is getting a bit pale, too," he said; "and as we
don't want a sea-sick crew, maybe we had better seek the seclusion of
Davy Jones' locker."
An instant later the _Peacemaker_ was plunging downward. At a depth of
twenty feet the angry motion of the waves was unfelt. In those dim
depths all was as quiet and undisturbed as if the elements were at
perfect peace above.
Down, down dropped the submarine till her depth indicator showed that
she was submerged five hundred fathoms.
"The chart gives seven hundred hereabouts," commented Ensign Hargreaves,
glancing at it; "so I guess we are safe for forty miles more before the
floor of the ocean slopes upward. We must go up a bit higher then."
The inventor nodded.
"I understand," he said, and then, "we are now running at what speed?"
The ensign turned to the speed indicator.
"A trifle under twenty miles an hour," he said.
Mr. Barr glanced at the clock before him, which was illuminated by a
tiny shaded electric bulb.
"I'll keep on this course at this speed for about two hours then," he
determined.
"That will be all right, I imagine," was the rejoinder, "but don't keep
on too long. The bed of the sea, according to the chart, rises up very
rapidly further on. It must be almost cliff-like in its sudden
elevation."
"I'll be on the lookout," the inventor assured him.
Rob descended the ladder once more and reentered the engine room to find
out how Merritt was getting along. He found the young engineer seated on
the leather lounge alongside the engines watching them lovingly.
"Work smoothly, don't they?" he said.
"They sure do," was the other's response; "smoothly as a Geneva watch."
The boys sat chatting on various matters, and the time flew along
rapidly till Rob suddenly looked at his watch.
"Almost two hours. It's time we were rising," he said.
"What do we want to rise for? It's deep enough here, isn't it?"
"That's just it. The ensign says that the chart shows that a sort of
submarine cliff looms up right ahead of us somewhere hereabouts."
"Great ginger snaps! I thought the bottom of the sea was as level as a
floor."
"Not a bit of it. It's as full of mountainous regions and flat,
depressed plains and valleys as the Rockies themselves."
"Gee whiz! I'd hate to hit one of them. I----"
Merritt stopped short. A terrific crash shook the submarine from stem to
stern. Rob saved himself from falling into the machinery by seizing a
rail.
For an instant the vibration lasted, and then the diving craft came to a
dead stop.
The boys gazed at each other with blanched faces.
Did the crash mean that they had actually struck one of the submerged
ranges that make deep sea traveling full of dangers? Had Mr. Barr
delayed too long in rising?
On the answer to these questions both boys felt that their lives
depended.
They were still regarding each other with consternation when the ensign
burst into the cabin.
"Shut off the engines instantly!" he ordered.
"What have we struck? That submerged cliff that you feared?" Rob managed
to gasp out, while Merritt hastened to obey the officer's command.
"I--I don't know," was the reply, "but I fear that we are in serious
danger!"