CHAPTER V.
THROUGH THE TORPEDO TUBE.
Motor Matt was conducted along a narrow steel corridor. Two or threeruffianly looking men were passed. They were all in greasy overclothesand paid the prisoners little attention. A door finally admitted Mattand the two with him into a chamber in the very bow of the boat. Herethere were a couple of torpedo tubes, although, so far as Matt couldsee, there were no torpedoes.
"We'll put him out of the starboard tube," said Jurgens. "Close the bowport, Whistler, and blow the water out of the tube. I'll take the gunwhile you're busy."
Whistler handed over the revolver and pulled a lever at the side of thechamber. Matt could hear a muffled sound as the port closed. ThereuponWhistler, by means of another lever, turned compressed air into thetube, and there came a stifled swishing sound as the water was ejected.Finally the sound ceased, and Whistler opened the breech door andstepped back.
The cavernous tube yawned blackly under Matt's eyes. He was a lad ofgrit and determination, but such an experience as he was about to passthrough would have shaken even stronger nerves than his.
"Take me to the surface," said Matt, "and let me out of the submarineby way of the deck!"
"And mebby get spotted and captured ourselves, eh?" answered Jurgens."Not much! Here's the way you're going to get out if you get out atall."
"What did you bring Holcomb and me into the submarine for? Why didn'tyou leave us on the wharf?"
"It would have been too easy for you to tip us off to the otherofficers. We needed a little time to get the _Grampus_ submerged. Idon't care how much you tip us off now. We'll not come to the surfaceagain until we're well off Cape May." Jurgens snapped his fingers."That for Townsend!" he added, defiantly; "let him catch me if he can."
"You seem to know as much about submarines as you do about movingpictures," remarked Matt, caustically.
"I know a good deal about a lot of things, and I've found theknowledge mighty handy a lot of times. If you're ready, squeeze intothe tube. We haven't much time to spare."
"But----"
"Get in, I tell you!" and Jurgens waved the revolver threateningly."There's not much danger, but you'd better put your fingers over yourears in order to save your ear drums. The pressure of the air thatshoots you out of the tube is rather heavy. But I'd advise you to takeoff your clothes."
Matt saw that it was useless to argue with Jurgens or Whistler. The twomen had some desperate scheme at the back of their heads and they werenot resorting to any halfway measures in carrying it out.
Pulling his cap well down on his head, Matt squeezed into the dark tube.
"Ready?" called Jurgens.
"Yes," answered Matt, almost stifled, pushing his hands against hisears.
"Take a long breath--we're going to close the breech door."
The young motorist breathed deeply, and the next moment there was aclang as the breech was closed.
Instantly there followed a grinding sound as the outer port was opened.The chilling water rushed in. For the space of a heart beat Matt feltthe water submerging his cramped body and filling the full length ofthe tube. Two or three ticks of a watch would have told the duration ofthe experience, but to Matt it seemed like an eternity.
Then there came a shock that nearly made him unconscious. He thought hewas being torn limb from limb by the rushing air. In a twinkling--soswiftly that he scarcely realized it--he was shot from the end of thetube and into the water.
He was a fraction of a second in getting control of his limbs; afterthat, he began kicking and using his hands to propel himself upward.
Half stunned he came to the surface, and the lights of the wharf swamin his watery eyes. He gasped for breath and then sent up a thrillingcry for help.
The difficulty of keeping himself afloat, with all his water-soakedclothing to hold him down, was a good deal greater than he had thoughtit would be.
To his great relief, above the roaring in his ears he heard sounds ofrunning feet on the wharf, and excited voices shouting something hecould not understand. There was a splash beside him. Instinctively hethrew out his hands and grasped a rope.
"All right?" cried a voice from the wharf.
"Yes," he answered.
Then those on the wharf began pulling him in and soon had him, drippingand spent, on the planks.
"Where's Holcomb?"
Matt made out McMillan's face bending over him. The question caused theyoung motorist suddenly to remember that there was something yet to bedone for Holcomb.
"Get out a boat," said Matt, "and lay to about a fathom off the end ofthe pier. Holcomb is coming up--and he can't swim."
"Coming up?" repeated McMillan, blankly.
"Yes; they're going to shoot him out of the torpedo tube, just as theydid me."
"Great guns! Can they do that? It ain't possible that----"
"Don't stand there talking, McMillan," put in another voice. "Matt hastold you what to do, so go ahead and do it. The scoundrels can use thetorpedo tube to get rid of Holcomb, and if Holcomb can't swim he'llbe in plenty of danger. Find your boat and get her off the end of thepier. Lively, now!"
The speaker, as McMillan dashed away, came closer to Matt. It wasArchibald Townsend.
"You've had a rough experience, my lad," said Townsend. "How do youfeel?"
"A little dizzy," replied Matt.
He peered around him. They were alone under the electric light, all theothers on the wharf having gone with McMillan to help in the rescue ofHolcomb.
"I don't wonder," rejoined Townsend. "Being slammed through a torpedotube isn't a very pleasant experience."
"Do you call yourself Captain Nemo, Jr., when you're afloat in thesubmarine, Mr. Townsend?" asked Matt.
"Jurgens has been talking with you, I see," went on Townsend. "Well,he's given it to you pretty straight, scoundrel though he is andwith small regard for the truth. Yes, I'm Captain Nemo, Jr., of thesubmarine _Grampus_. And Jurgens has stolen my boat and captured two ofmy men! Losing the boat and that paper makes this a hard-luck story forme."
"Can't you get back the boat in some way?" queried Matt, his excitementgrowing as his brain cleared and strength returned to him.
"If Jurgens would bring the _Grampus_ to the surface I might have somechance, but it's impossible if he keeps her below."
"She's lying right off the pier, just below the spot where she wasmoored."
"She might as well be a thousand miles away so far as my ability torecover her is concerned. My only hope just now is that the men workingfor me, who were captured when Jurgens stole the boat, may be able toturn on their captors and get the _Grampus_ back in their hands."
"Jurgens told me to tell you that he was off for the Bahamas, and thatyou'll have to get up in the morning if you beat him."
A frown crossed Townsend's face.
"I knew very well that was where he was going," said the owner of the_Grampus_.
"Had the paper he took from you," queried Matt, "anything to do withhis trip to the Bahamas?"
"Everything. I can hardly understand how the theft of that chart, andof the boat, happened to come in so pat for Jurgens. But I'm going totell you more about the chart later, Matt. Just now you're as wet as adrowned rat and must want to get back to your hotel and put on some dryclothes."
"I want to make sure, before I leave the Inlet," returned Matt, "thatMcMillan and the others succeed in rescuing Holcomb."
"This way, then," said Townsend, starting along the wharf; "I'll gowith you. After we see Holcomb landed, I'll go with you to the hoteland broach a subject that just popped into my mind."
On reaching the end of the pier it was evident to Matt and Townsendthat Holcomb had just come to the surface. A sharp cry of command camefrom some one in the rowboat and the craft could be seen moving swiftlyaway toward the right.
Matt's keen eyes detected a black spot on the water, but before theboat could reach it the spot had disappeared.
"He's gone down!" gasped Matt. "If Jurgens' scheme has cau
sed Holcombto lose his life, the prospect will look pretty dark for him."
"Jurgens is bound to come to some bad end," declared Townsend. "I'veknown him for two or three years, and he has always been crafty andunscrupulous. But I don't think he'll ever hang for the drowning ofHolcomb. If my eyes show the situation clearly, Holcomb has just cometo the surface again--and those in the boat have got hold of him."
This was the way it appeared to Matt, and that both he and Townsendwere correct was presently proved by the rowboat turning back in thedirection of the wharf.
"Did you get him, McMillan?" called Townsend, as the boat came close.
"Yes," was the officer's response. "He's full of water, andunconscious, but there's plenty of life in him. We'll have him allright in a brace of shakes."
Holcomb, in nothing but his underclothes, was lifted to the pier. Themen in the boat climbed after him, and he was rolled and prodded untilhe was able to open his eyes and speak.
"That's enough for us, Matt," said Townsend. "Let's go to your hotel.The idea that darted into my mind a little while ago is growing on me,and I'd like to put it up to you and hear what you think about it."
Matt, wet and uncomfortable, was also anxious to get to his hotel.Not only that, but he was curious to learn what it was that Townsend,otherwise Captain Nemo, Jr., had on his mind.