[Illustration: “OH, THERE’S ANOTHER SHARK--A HAMMER-HEAD.”]
THE MOTOR BOYS
UNDER THE SEA
Or
From Airship to Submarine
BY
CLARENCE YOUNG
AUTHOR OF “THE MOTOR BOYS,” “THE MOTOR BOYS ON
THE BORDER,” “THE RACER BOYS SERIES,” “THE
JACK RANGER SERIES,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
BOOKS BY CLARENCE YOUNG
=THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES=
12mo. Illustrated.
THE MOTOR BOYS
THE MOTOR BOYS OVERLAND
THE MOTOR BOYS IN MEXICO
THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC
THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE PACIFIC
THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE OCEAN
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE WING
THE MOTOR BOYS AFTER A FORTUNE
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE BORDER
THE MOTOR BOYS UNDER THE SEA
=THE JACK RANGER SERIES=
12mo. Finely Illustrated.
JACK RANGER’S SCHOOLDAYS
JACK RANGER’S WESTERN TRIP
JACK RANGER’S SCHOOL VICTORIES
JACK RANGER’S OCEAN CRUISE
JACK RANGER’S GUN CLUB
JACK RANGER’S TREASURE BOX
=THE RACER BOYS SERIES=
12mo. Illustrated.
THE RACER BOYS
THE RACER BOYS AT BOARDING SCHOOL
THE RACER BOYS TO THE RESCUE
THE RACER BOYS ON THE PRAIRIES
THE RACER BOYS ON GUARD
THE RACER BOYS FORGING AHEAD
Copyright, 1914, by
Cupples & Leon Company
The Motor Boys Under the Sea
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A STRANGE SIGHT 1
II. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 9
III. THROUGH THE STORM 19
IV. A NEW QUEST 28
V. A FEARFUL GALE 39
VI. BAD NEWS 46
VII. OFF ON A SEARCH 54
VIII. NODDY AND BILL 63
IX. THE WRECK 73
X. THE LONE SAILOR 80
XI. A QUEER STORY 87
XII. THE DRIFTING BOAT 97
XIII. THE SUBMARINE AGAIN 105
XIV. IN PURSUIT 113
XV. A BOLT FROM THE SKY 119
XVI. THE “SONDERBAAR” 130
XVII. A GLAD SURPRISE 139
XVIII. UNDER WATER 146
XIX. A MARVELOUS BOAT 154
XX. A CRAZED CAPTAIN 165
XXI. PLOTTING 173
XXII. IN DIVING DRESS 181
XXIII. THE DECISION 191
XXIV. THE ALLIES 200
XXV. IN CHAINS 206
XXVI. ENTANGLED 214
XXVII. THE ESCAPE 223
XXVIII. THE LONELY ISLAND 230
XXIX. THE END OF DR. KLAUSS 238
XXX. HOMEWARD BOUND 242
THE MOTOR BOYS UNDER THE SEA
CHAPTER I
A STRANGE SIGHT
“Look down there! What do you suppose that is?”
“Must be a whale. See how it’s plowing along through the waves!”
“And right on top of the water, too. But if it’s a whale why doesn’t it
spout?”
Three boys, who were sailing over the waters of Massachusetts Bay in a
large air craft, had seen a strange sight as they looked down through
the glass floor of the cabin of their motorship, and their comments and
questions followed rapidly. So engrossed were they with the appearance
of what seemed to be some marine monster that, for a few moments, they
paid no attention to the course of their boat, which was carrying them
along just below the clouds.
It was not until Jerry Hopkins, the oldest of the three lads, called
the attention of his companions to the need of giving heed to their
craft, that the other two--Ned Slade and Bob Baker--turned their eyes
from the strange creature below them--if creature it was.
“I say there, Ned!” exclaimed Jerry, “just throw in a little more gas,
will you? or we ourselves will be down in those same waves in a little
while. We’re sinking!”
“That’s so!” agreed Bob. “But still we wouldn’t be in much danger, for
the automatic air planes would set when we began to fall too fast.”
“Even at that,” went on Jerry, who was steering the _Comet_, as the
motorship was named, “even then I think it’s just as well not to take
too many chances. Turn on a little more gas, Ned.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” exclaimed the one addressed, and with a quick motion
of one of many shining levers and wheels in the pilot house he sent
some of the compressed gas into the lifting-bags of the _Comet_, thus
making her more buoyant.
“There it is again!” cried Bob, once more pointing below. They all
looked, Jerry turning his attention away from the wheel that guided
the craft. First, however, he looked ahead to make sure there was no
danger of a collision, for the boys had come to Boston to attend an
aviation meet, and at times there had been so many of the “birdmen” in
the sky-space that a collision was really not so unlikely as at first
it would seem.
“Yes, it’s there yet,” agreed Ned. “I’m sure it’s a whale!”
“But why doesn’t it spout?” demanded Bob, who had asked that question
before. “Then we’d be sure of it. I thought whales had to spout every
ten minutes or so, and that one’s been in sight about that time.”
“You’re off on your natural history, Bob,” said Jerry, with a smile.
“Whales don’t have to spout oftener than a half-hour. And besides,
that’s only when they’ve been swimming under water. This one is on the
surface, running awash, you might say, and so doesn’t have to send out
a long breath that it’s been holding in a long while. It can breathe
naturally.”
“That’s it! I’m never right,” grumbled Bob, whose stout form and
good-natured face did not fit well with the scowl with which he
regarded his chum. “I guess I know as much about whales as you do,
Jerry Hopkins!”
“That isn’t much,” admitted Jerry, frankly. “I don’t claim to be
an authority, but I’m sure a whale on the surface doesn’t have to
spout--at least, not very often.”
“Are you sure it _is_ a whale?” asked Ned quietly, and there was
something in the tone of his voice that caused his companions to look
quickly at him. “Why don’t we go lower down so we can have a better
look at it. Then we could make certain.”
“I guess that would be the best plan,” admitted Jerry. “We can drop to
within a few feet of the surface and----”
“Don’t go too close!” interrupted Bob. “It looks to me like a storm. We
may get a squall any minute, and if we go too low down we may not be
able to rise quickly enough. I don’t want to see the good old _Comet_
come to grief.”
“Neither do I,” responded Jerry. “But I guess we’ve done harder stunts
than that. Get ready to let her down, Ned. See if the rudder planes are
all clear.”
“Besides,” went on stout Bob, “we haven’t had lunch yet, and----”
“There he goes!” cried Ned with a laugh, as he left his comfortable
seat and prepared to go aft to the motor room. “It wouldn’t be Chunky
unless he mentioned the ‘eats’ every so often. I was just waiting to
hear you come out with that, Bob.”
“Huh! Well, then, you weren’t disappointed; were you?” demanded the
stout lad.
“That’s all right,” interposed Jerry, hastening to pour oil on troubled
waters. “Don’t get on your ear, Chunky. Ned didn’t mean anything. Come
on, we’ll take a little plane downward, and settle the identity of
this mysterious creature of the sea.”
“Listen to him!” exclaimed Ned. “He’s getting poetical!”
“Quit knocking,” advised Jerry. “If Professor Snodgrass were along now
he might be able to settle the question for us.”
“Yes, and he’d be sure to want to capture the beast for his private
collection,” said Bob, whose ill-humor had disappeared, leaving him
with a smile on his round countenance.
“All ready, Ned?” asked Jerry, who was giving his attention to various
gear-wheels and levers. “Shall I send her down now?”
“I guess so. Just a minute until I open the gas intake a little wider.
You’re going to navigate as a dirigible; aren’t you?”
“No, I was thinking of sailing as an aeroplane,” was the answer.
“Oh, then wait until I throw in the rudder gears.”
The _Comet_, about which I will tell you more presently (that is,
you boys who have had no previous acquaintance with her), could be
navigated as a dirigible balloon by means of a powerful lifting-gas
stored in reservoirs, or she could sail as a biplane, her powerful
propellers sending her along on the principle of all “heavier than air”
machines.
While waiting for Ned to adjust the machinery, so that the change from
one form to the other could be made, Jerry glanced down toward the
heaving waters above which the _Comet_ had been sailing, and amid the
waves of which had appeared the strange object that had excited the
curiosity of the boys. It was still there, plowing slowly through the
water, but the air craft was so high up that a good view could not be
had of it.
“All ready!” called Ned from the motor room.
Jerry was about to shut off the supply of gas, sending it into the
compressors where it could not exert a lifting force, and had stretched
his hand toward the lever of the deflecting rudder, when Bob cried:
“Say, I’ve got an idea! Why didn’t we think of it before, fellows?”
“What is it?” asked Jerry, pausing in his intended operations.
“The telescope,” replied Bob. “We can get a view of the mysterious
beast with that, and won’t have to go down at all. I’ll get it,” and he
started toward a locker.
“Oh, never mind,” said Jerry. “As long as we’re ready we might as well
go down anyhow. Besides, only one of us can use the glass at a time. If
we get the _Comet_ near enough we can all see. Let her go, Ned.”
“Going she is!” came from Ned.
There was a hissing as the automatic pumps began compressing the
lifting-gas, and a few seconds later Jerry yanked on the lever that
would tilt the big rudder to such a position that the ship would dive
downward. At the same time the propellers, which had been revolving
slowly, to keep the _Comet_ from drifting, were whirled with great
rapidity as more power was turned into the motor. While navigating
as a dirigible balloon the propellers were not needed to keep the
ship afloat, but once the lifting-gas was not used they were vitally
necessary, for only by keeping in motion can a “heavier than air”
machine be prevented from falling.
Bob, who was looking through the glass floor in the main cabin, tracing
the course of the object that had so excited the boys, suddenly looked
up at Jerry.
“Something’s wrong!” cried the fat lad, and by his tones it could
easily be told that he referred to the motorship, and not to the object
below him in the water.
“I should say there was!” gasped Jerry, for the _Comet_ had plunged
downward with such abruptness that the boys were fairly dizzy.
“What’s the matter?” yelled Ned, making his way from the motor room by
fairly pulling himself along. He had to do this as the ship was tilted
at such a sharp angle. “What happened?” Ned went on.
“It’s that deflecting rudder again!” answered Jerry. “I thought we had
it adjusted too fine. Now it’s jammed again.”
“Shut off the motors! Stop the propellers!” cried Bob.
“I’m doing it as fast as I can!” returned tall Jerry. He had reached
over and snapped off a switch that controlled the electric current
which fired the gasoline motor.
“We’re heading straight into the sea--bow down!” cried Ned, taking a
hasty observation.
“Turn on the gas again!” ordered Jerry. “That’s the only thing that
will stop us now! And do it quick, too! I’ll have a new rudder if we
ever get out of this alive!”
Ned, with desperate haste, was opening the gas valves. With an angry
hiss the vapor rushed from the condensers it had so recently entered,
and began filling the lifting-bags. Still the _Comet_ plunged down
toward the ocean, in which could still be seen that strange creature.
It was circling about now, as though waiting for the destruction of the
motorship.