CHAPTER XIV.
FACING DEATH.
"Ready?" came the cry from the conning tower.
"All ready!" shouted back the lads assembled in the cabin, waiting forthey knew not what.
"Then hold tight, we're going down quick."
S-w-ish-ish-ish! The roar of the water, as the powerful pumps sucked itinto the submerging tanks, filled the interior of the Barr submarine.Suddenly she gave a forward plunge, and the boys now learned for whatpurpose several handholds were attached to the cabin walls!
"Say, this is a queer sensation, isn't it?" gasped Merritt, lookingrather alarmed as the downward rush could be distinctly felt. In theengine room the electric motors had been connected, and in the conningtower the hatch which gave entrance and egress when on the surface hadbeen clamped tightly down.
"S-s-pose we don't come up again?" exclaimed Donald.
"We haven't got an awful lot to eat on board," murmured Tubby anxiously.
"Gracious, how far down are we going?" spoke Merritt, as five minutespassed and still the _Peacemaker_ continued her descent into the depthsof the sea.
All at once the tilting motion ceased, the _Peacemaker's_ stern tankswere filled, and she floated on an even keel. Leaving the care of thewheel to Ensign Hargreaves, who, as we know, was familiar with the usualtype of submarine, Mr. Barr came into the cabin.
"Well, boys, what do you think of it?" he asked with a smile.
"It's g-g-great," rejoined Tubby, with a notable lack of his usualassurance.
"And now I suppose you'd like to see what the bottom of the sea lookslike. We are down some two hundred fathoms and about fifty miles off thecoast. Should you care to see how things look down here?"
"How will that be possible?" asked Merritt.
By way of reply Mr. Barr went to the starboard wall of the cabin andpulled a lever connecting with a worm gear. As he did so, a greatsection of the _Peacemaker's_ steel side drew back and revealed a plateglass window set between the inner and outer "skins" of the craft.
The boys crowded round the window and peered out eagerly. But to theirdisappointment they could see no more of their surroundings than if theyhad been looking out of a train window on a dark night. It was as blackas a wolfs mouth at those unknown depths.
"Why, we can't see anything," came a disgruntled chorus.
"Wait a minute," smiled the inventor.
THE BOYS CROWDED ROUND THE WINDOW AND PEERED OUTEAGERLY.]
Pressing a button, he extinguished the cabin lights. Then he opened asort of closet in the wall alongside the window and swung out apowerful, though small, searchlight attached to an adaptable arm in thesame manner as a desk telephone.
There was a clicking sound, and a flood of white light pierced theblackness outside. The boys broke into delighted exclamations as thepowerful rays revealed all sorts of fish, many of odd shapes and colors,attracted by the light.
Suddenly a dark, shadowy form swung into view. Instantly the other fishvanished, and the boys saw that the newcomer was a large shark swimmingleisurely along.
No doubt he wondered who the strangers in his deep sea abode could be,for he swam up close to the window, causing the boys to shrink back.They quite forgot that between them and the tiger of the deep was asolid plate of glass as strong almost as steel.
The shark gazed at the window for an instant and then vanished. With itsdisappearance, the other fish reappeared and kept the submarine company,for all the world like sea gulls circling round a ship entering port.
"I wonder if they are hungry and want us to throw some food out tothem," said Tubby stolidly, as he gazed at the finny tribes darting hereand there in the searchlight's rays.
"Gracious, do you think that the fish have the same appetite as youhave?" laughed Merritt.
"Just the same, some of those fellows would taste all right broiled,"declared the stout youth, at which there was a general laugh.
After an hour spent in this manner the searchlight was switched off andthe panels slid back into place.
"I think we will rise now," said the inventor; "you boys had better holdon, for we may go up pretty quick."
"I hope we _do_ go up," muttered Tubby, rather nervously. The stoutyouth was not particularly in love with the dark depths in which theywere navigating. In fact, all the lads, though they did not admit it,experienced a longing for daylight. It was an awe-inspiring feeling--tooawe-inspiring to be comfortable--to be in the depths of the ocean whereno keel had ever before plowed.
Mr. Barr remounted to the conning tower. A minute later a renewal of theswishing sound told that the pumps were emptying the tanks at the rateof a thousand gallons a minute. The submarine could be felt to leapupward toward the surface. The boys held on for dear life, exchangingrather alarmed glances.
All at once the pace slackened, and the swishing sound ceased. Mr. Barrhad decided that the pace was too swift and had cut off the pumps.
"Well, thank goodness that's over!" gasped Donald. "At the rate we weregoing up we'd have bounced clean out of the sea."
"I guess we're all right now," remarked Merritt.
The words had hardly left his lips when there came a jar and a bump thatshook the submarine in her every frame and rivet.
The boys were thrown from their feet and hurled about the cabin. At thesame instant the engines stopped and the submarine began to back, butslowly, like a stricken animal.
"We've rammed something!"
"We're sinking!"
These and a hundred other exclamations came from the alarmed boys.
Mr. Barr poked his head down into the cabin.
"Are you all right below?" he asked.
"Yes; but what has happened?"
"Have we been badly damaged?"
"Are we sinking?"
The above questions were all shouted at once in the tense excitement.
Barton, his face white as ashes, came out of his engine room.
"What did we hit?" he demanded in a frightened voice.
"I don't know; but we struck something, possibly a sunken wreck, a hardblow," was the inventor's reply. Although his face was deadly pale, hisvoice was without a tremor as he spoke.
"We must make an examination at once," he went on. "Andrews, Higgins,and Ross," addressing the three sailors who had appeared from forward,"make an examination forward at once and see if any of the plates havestarted. If you find a suspicion of a leak report to me at once."
The sailors, trained in naval discipline, saluted, and hastened off ontheir errand.
"If we are leaking, what are we to do?" demanded Rob.
"Meet death as bravely as we can," was the reply in steady tones;"submarines carry no boats and we must go to the bottom unless we canfind some way to stop the leak."
Small wonder that the boys were stricken aghast. Barton, the machinist,flung himself face downward on a couch and began whimpering.
The inventor looked at the man with contempt.
"Stand by your engines, Barton," he commanded sternly; "the first man toshirk his duty in this emergency will have to settle with me."
Barton rose to his feet unsteadily. He was pasty yellow with terror. Inhis eyes was a wild look. But under the inventor's stern gaze hereentered the engine room, shaking like a leaf.
It was then that Rob noticed that a revolver was in the inventor's handas he stood at the top of the cabin ladder.