RUNNING DOWN A WARSHIP
"How do you like it?" asked the professor.
"Great!" exclaimed Jack.
"Fine!" cried Mark.
"It am simply coslostrousness!" exploded Washington. "'Nebber in all my
born days did I eber expansionate on such a sight!"
"Wish I had a fishing pole and line," remarked Andy Sudds. "There's some
pretty nice specimens out there."
"You'll see better ones than those before we finish our trip to the
pole," remarked the professor. "Now we will try moving forward. I am
going into the conning tower."
He turned on the lights once more, but the boys begged him to shut them
off, as they could see out into the ocean when the interior of the ship
was in darkness. So the professor obliged them.
In the tower he switched on the powerful searchlight that illuminated
the path in front of him. Then he started the engine, slowly at first,
and gradually increasing the speed. The _Porpoise_ forged ahead, riding
as evenly as an ordinary ship does on the surface.
The professor steered her about in a large circle, bringing her back to
the starting point. She worked as smoothly as if she had been used to
under-water service for years.
"Now," said the inventor, "we will see if we can go up to the surface
again," and there came a little note of anxiety into his voice. He
slowed down the engine and started the powerful pumps that were to empty
the tanks. For a moment there was a feeling of terror in the hearts of
all. Would the pumps work?
Then, slowly but surely, those aboard the _Porpoise_ felt her beginning
to rise. Up and up she went as the tanks were emptied and the ship
lightened.
Then, with a bounce like a rubber ball, the submarine shot upward to the
surface and lay undulating on the waves caused by her emergence from the
depths.
"Hurrah!" shouted Jack. "We're all right!"
"We shore am!" exclaimed Washington.
"It's a success!" Professor Henderson almost whispered. "The pumps
worked. The _Porpoise_ has fulfilled my greatest expectations!"
Then he steered the ship back to the dock, where she was moored, and the
adventurers disembarked.
"One or two little details to attend to, and we'll be ready for the
great trip," remarked the professor. "I want to give her a little harder
trial before I trust her, though she seems to be first-rate."
They all went back to the combined machine shop and cabin, where they
had lived during the building of the submarine. Dinner was prepared and,
after the meal the two machinists approached the professor.
"I don't suppose you need us any more," remarked Henry Watson. "The ship
is finished as far as we can do anything, and we may as well leave now.
We have an offer to go to work in an electrical shop."
"I haven't said much to you about my plans," the professor replied, "but
if you would like to remain in my employ, I can promise you an
interesting trip."
"Thank you, but I prefer to work above ground," said James Pensen. "You
have been very kind to us, and we would do anything we could for, but we
don't want to take any long under-ocean trips if we can help it."
"Very well," answered the professor, though he seemed disappointed. "I
will pay you what I owe you and you can go."
For some time after the departure of the two young machinists the
inventor seemed worried.
"Did you count on them staying with you?" asked Mark.
"I rather hoped they would," replied Mr. Henderson. "We need two more
hands if we are to make the trip. They need not be machinists, but we
will have to have someone, and I don't like to get strangers. They might
talk too much about the ship."
At that instant there came a rap on the door. Washington answered it.
"Yas sir, Perfesser Henderson done lib here," he replied, in answer to a
question from some one. "But he am bery busy jest at de present
occasioness an' he'll be most extremely discommodated if yo' obtrude yo'
presence on him at de conglomeration ob de statutory limitations, which
am to say right now. Come again!"
"It's the same old Washington!" said someone outside, laughing heartily.
"Just you tell the professor we want to see him most particular."
At the sound of the voice the professor started and Mark and Jack
wondered where they had heard it before.
"Show the gentlemen in, Washington," called the inventor.
"Dere's two ob 'em," objected the colored man.
"Show them both in, then."
Washington opened the door of the cabin, and in came two men, who
seemed much amused over something.
"What can I do for you?" asked the professor, in rather a sharp voice.
"He don't know us either, Tom," remarked the taller of the two.
"If it ain't Bill Jones and Tom Smith!" exclaimed Andy Sudds. "Wa'al
I'll be horn swoggled. Where'd ye come from?"
"Right from the farm," replied Bill. "And we've had a hard job locating
you. I guess Washington didn't know us since we raised beards," and Bill
stroked his wealth of brown whiskers.
"And I guess we sort of fooled the professor," went on Bill, "eh, Tom?"
"Right!" said Tom. "You see," he went on, "the farming business is
almost over, as its coming on fall now, so Bill and I thought it would
be a good time to hunt up the professor. We heard he was down in this
neighborhood so we come by easy stages. We didn't have any time to stop
and make our toilets, hence our beards."
"You've come at the right time," remarked the inventor, as he came
forward to welcome the two young men. "Do you remember the trip you made
with me to the north pole?"
"I guess we'll not forget it in a hurry," replied Bill.
"That's what made us hunt you up," put in Tom. "We hoped you might have
something similar on foot."
"I have," answered the inventor.
"What is it?"
"A trip under the ocean!"
For an instant the two young men hesitated. It was a new proposition to
them. Yet they recalled that they had come safely back from the journey
through the air.
"Do you want to go along as part of the crew?" asked the inventor, after
some further conversation.
"You can count on me!" cried Bill.
"And if Bill goes I'll go too!" exclaimed Tom.
"Under the seas or over the seas, it'll be all one to us if Professor
Henderson sails the ship!" went on Bill. "We'll go!"
"Good!" ejaculated the professor. "You certainly came at just the right
time."
As Tom Smith and Bill Jones were hungry a hasty meal was prepared for
them, during the eating of which they told of their experiences since
landing from the airship. They had been on a farm until fired with a
desire to go roving once more.
For the next few days the professor, the boys, and the other four were
busy making some improvements to the _Porpoise_. Tom and Bill were much
astonished at their first sight of the queer craft, but they soon became
accustomed to her, and said they preferred her to the airship.
"To-morrow we are going on a little longer trip than our first trial,"
announced the inventor one evening. "We will be gone all day if nothing
happens to make the stay more lengthy," he added grimly. "So,
Washington, put plenty to eat aboard."
A little later, when supplies had been put on the _Porpoise_, and the
machinery well overhauled, the professor explained that he intended
making a trip, entirely under water, from the dock in the cove to a
point off the Massachusetts coast and return.
Early the next morning all were aboard. To each one was assigned a
particular station. Washington, with Mark as an assistant, was in the
engine-room. Jack was to watch the various gages and registers to give
warning of any danger. The professor, of course, would be in the conning
tower and operate the craft. Andy was to be with him, to watch out, with
his sharp eyes, for any danger that might loom up in the path of the
searchlight. Tom and Bill were to be ready to help where needed.
With a hissing sound the water filled the tanks and the _Porpoise_ sunk
beneath the waves. The engine that worked the endless screw was
started, and the threads, working on the water cable, shot the boat
ahead.
"We're off!" yelled Washington.
About sixty feet below the surface the craft was sent along. Mile after
mile was covered as shown by the patent log. The lights were turned off,
and through the thick plate glass windows the strange inhabitants of the
sea were observed.
"I think I'll go a little nearer the surface," said the professor to
Andy. The inventor started the pumps that emptied the tanks. The craft
rose slightly.
"Quick! Stop her!" shouted the old hunter, grasping the captain's arm.
Something black, like a grim shadow, loomed up in the dull glare of the
searchlight.
"What is it?" cried the professor.
"We're goin' to hit somethin' hard!" yelled Andy.
"It's the hull of a ship!" exclaimed the inventor as he jammed the
reversing lever hard over.
It was too late. The next instant the _Porpoise_, with a shock that made
her shiver from stem to stern, collided with the steel side of a small
warship.