"I shouldn't want to go through that experience again," remarked Mr. Henderson, as he, with all of the ship's company except Mrs. Johnson and Nellie went on deck. "I thought we were lost, sure."
"Lucky our engine didn't go disproportionatin' herself at de mostess criticless moment," put in Washington. "Golly, but she suttinly did hum!"
"And you deserve credit for making her do the humming," went on the professor with a smile.
"Well, we didn't catch the ghost," remarked Jack, "though I certainly saw him, it or her, whatever the thing is. I felt it too."
"It's rather strange," spoke the professor. "Every time, or nearly every time the ghost, as I suppose we must call it for the present, makes its appearance, something terrible happens to the ship. I hope it doesn't show up too often."
It was three o'clock in the morning, and they had battled with the whirlpool over two hours.They talked of little else, and each one told how he or she felt.
"It was just like twisting yourself up tight in the swing, and then letting the rope unwind," said Nellie, and they all agreed that she had described the sensation perfectly. They laughed, also, a thing they had felt little like doing a short time previous.
The engine had run so hard, and some of the bearings had become so warm, that for the rest of the night the professor decided to let the machinery remain stationary. This would give it time to cool down he said, and they could make up the time lost the next day.
Tired out with the night's worry and labors they all slept late the next morning, and it was nearly ten o'clock before breakfast was over. The ship was started on her course once more, and Jack, who was steering, made the engine hum as the submarine scudded along, submerged about fifty feet.
"When you have time I would like to talk to you," said Mrs. Johnson to Captain Henderson.
"I'm at your service now," replied the inventor.
"What are you going to do with Nellie and me?" the lady went on.
"Take you to the south pole with us," was the answer, with a smile.
"It's very kind of you, and I don't want to put you to any trouble," went on Mrs. Johnson. "But I would like to go back north."
"I'd like to oblige you," returned the inventor, "but I hate to turn back now. We are well on our voyage, and I may never get another chance to locate the pole. Don't you want to accompany us? Think of the glorious achievement!"
"I'd rather go back north," persisted the lady. "But I wouldn't ask you to turn the ship around. What I was going to suggest was to sail along on the surface for a few days and see if you cannot sight a homeward bound steamer or sailing vessel. Then you could put me and Nellie aboard her."
"Of course!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. "I never thought of that. Though we will be sorry to lose your company, and that of your little girl, I will do anything to oblige you. We will at once go to the surface."
He called the necessary order to Jack through a speaking tube which led to the conning tower. In a few minutes the ship shot upward, and emerged from the ocean in a little shower of foam and spray.
She lay undulating on the surface, and was just beginning to move forward again, under the influence of the screw, when a dull boom echoed off to the left.
Jack looked from the observation windows in the conning tower and saw, about a mile away a big steamer. From her side a white cloud of smoke floated, and then the water splashed about fifty feet from the blunt nose of the submarine.
Once more came the boom, the white cloud of smoke and this time the water splashed only twenty-five feet away from the bow of thePorpoise. A third time came the sound, and the splash was even nearer.
"They're firing on us!" yelled Jack.
At his cry the professor ran on deck. He was just in time to see the fourth shot made, and this time the shell dropped into the water just astern of thePorpoiseand so close that when it exploded it sent a shower of spray all over the deck.
"Here! Stop that!" yelled Mr. Henderson, shaking his fist in the direction of the steamer. "You nearly hit us that time. Do your practicing in some other direction!"
"I don't think they can hear you," said Jack. "And besides, I don't believe they are practicing."
"Then what in the world are they doing?"
"Shooting at us I guess."
"Why do they want to shoot at us? We haven't done them any damage."
"Perhaps they think we are a torpedo boat," suggested Jack. "Maybe that vessel's nation is atwar with some other one and wants to sink us if it can."
"I believe you're right!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. "But this will never do. They must stop!"
Once more the big gun on the ship was fired and the shell came dangerously close. At the same time several other reports, less in volume were heard, and the water all about the submarine began to bubble as the missiles from the machine guns cut the waves.
"Maybe it's an English vessel sent to capture Mark and me because of that anarchist trouble at the hotel," Jack went on.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the captain. "But whatever it is, we must stop it, or they will sink my ship. Wave your handkerchief, Jack."
The boy sprang to the top of the conning tower, in order to permit those on the vessel to see him more plainly, and vigorously shook the white rag. That it was observed was evident when some one on the steamer wig-wagged back a reply. In a few minutes a boat was seen to put off from the ship, and soon a little launch, in command of a lieutenant in uniform, drew up alongside thePorpoise.
"Who is captain of this craft?" asked the lieutenant as he came aboard.
"I am," replied Mr. Henderson. "What do you mean by firing on me?"
"I am Lieutenant Muchmore," said the other, saluting. "Captain Wackford, of theSylph, in HisBritannicMajesty's service, presents his compliments, and asks you to pardon the occurrence. You see we took you for a derelict and were trying to sink you."
"I thought perhaps war had broken out between some country and the United States since we left port," went on Mr. Henderson, "and that you were trying to make a capture."
"No, it was only that we thought you a waterlogged craft, and a danger to navigation," repeated the lieutenant. "But what sort of a ship have you?"
"Come below and I'll show you the finest submarine that ever was built," answered the inventor with pardonable pride. "If you don't mind, give your launch orders to go back to the ship, and I'llshow somethingthat will make you open your eyes."
Anxious to see what the strange little craft could do Lieutenant Muchmore sent his launch back, and went below with Captain Henderson. He was astonished at what he saw, and unlike most Englishmen was willing to say so.
Mr. Henderson then went to the conning tower.He directed the man-hole cover to be clamped on, and then filled the tanks. The ship sank fifty feet below the surface and then shot forward.
Seated in the cabin the lieutenant was observing with wonder showing on his face at the accomplishment of sailing along under water. Suddenly the lights were shut off, and the shutters moved back from the bull's-eye windows. The sea, glowing in the beams of the search light, was alive with fish, large and small, beautiful and hideous.
"Wonderful!" exclaimed the Englishman.
The bull's-eyes were closed, the lights switched on, and then, speeding the engine almost to the top notch the captain steered the submarine straight for the war-ship.
He had carefully noted her direction before starting his own craft, and he resolved to do a little manœuvering that would still further astonish the visitor. By careful reading of the different gages Mr. Henderson was able to come to the surface right in front of theSylph, to the no small astonishment of the men on the deck of the vessel.
Then, just to show what thePorpoisecould do, the inventor darted around the war-ship in a circle. He sunk below the surface, went under the keel of theSylphand came up on the other side. Then he went the whole length of her, under water, starting at the stern and ending at the bow, wherehe brought the submarine to a rest in a smother of foam.
"Great! Wonderful! Surprising!" were some of the adjectives Lieutenant Muchmore used as he stepped from the conning tower, with Captain Henderson, onto the deck.
At the appearance of the officer and the inventor a group of those on theSylphgave three cheers for the little vessel.
"Is she for sale?" asked Captain Wackford.
"No, thank you," replied Mr. Henderson with a laugh.
"Because if she is I'll give you free passage to England with her, on my ship," went on the commander. "My government would give a fortune for a boat that can do what yours does."
"It is not for sale," repeated Mr. Henderson, "but I have some one on board who would appreciate a free passage to England, or any northern port."
"Who is it?" asked Captain Wackford.
"A Mrs. Johnson and her daughter."
Mr. Henderson soon explained the finding of the lady and the little girl, and Captain Wackford readily agreed to give them passage to New York, as theSylphwas to call at that port.
So Nellie and her mother were put aboard the warship, after bidding farewell to the captain and crew of the submarine. Mr. Henderson and the boys promised to write to them as soon as they got back from their voyage to the south pole, and, amid a chorus of good-byes thePorpoiseresumed her journey.
For several days the submarine forged to the south, and the weather became noticeably cooler. Some of the nights were chilly, and those on watch were glad of the heavy coats they had brought along.
One morning, after a week of travel, when no interruptions had occurred by reason of accidents, old Andy came up on deck, and sniffing the air, said:
"We'll sight ice before night, or I'm a Dutchman."
"What makes you think so?" asked Jack.
"I can smell it," replied the hunter, whereat Jack, and Mark who had joined him, laughed.
"That is no joke," put in Professor Henderson, who, coming up the companionway heard what was said. "Old sea captains will tell you they can smell an iceberg long before they can see it."
"I don't claim to be a sea captain," said Andy, "but I once was on a whaling voyage and I learned to sniff ice in the air. I saved the ship from collision with a berg once."
"Let me see," began the inventor as the adventurers sat about the supper table after the meal was finished, "who have the watches on deck to-night?"
"Washington first and Bill second," replied Jack looking at the chart.
"Keep a sharp watch for the icebergs," advised the captain. "If you feel a sudden chill in the air, and see something white, stop the engine at once and call for me."
When thePorpoisehad been put in shape for the night, and the company, tired out from their labors over a general "house cleaning" which Captain Henderson had insisted on, went to bed, Washington took his place in the conning tower.
It was quite cold, but as the temperature for several days past had been steadily falling, nothing was thought of it.
"I guess I'll git out my fur-lined sealskin coat," said the colored man to himself as he felt the chill night air, that seemed to increase in frigidity along about eleven o'clock. He went to the cabin to get his overcoat, and, returning on deck prepared to spend the rest of his hour of watch in ease and comfort. He stretched out on the bench in the conning tower, noted that the machinery was working right and that the proper course wasbeingsteered, and then he let his thoughts drift to the many adventures he and his employer had gone through of late, and also while on the trip "Through the Air to the North Pole."
Washington gave onefrightened, startled look, in a few minutes, so comfortable had he fixed himself, but happening to look forward through the glass-covered porthole of the tower, he saw something that made the cold chills run down his back.
There, right in front of thePorpoise, and not a cable-length away was a tall, mysterious, white thing which was shimmering in the pale light of the moon that had lately risen.
Washington gave one frightened, startled look, and then, with a tongue that could hardly move, he yelled out:
"De ghost! De ghost! He'll git me suah!"
Then the colored man made a dive for the stairway leading to the cabin, but missed it and brought up with a crash on the steel floor of the conning tower.
"What is it?" called Professor Henderson, springing out of his bunk.
"De ghost!" wailed Washington from the huddled up heap he was in.
"Catch him!" yelled the captain.
"I dasn't," moaned Washington.
The next instant the ship quivered from stem to stern. There was a terrible shock, followed by a grinding, crashing sound. Then the craft seemed to be pressed down by some great weight. It heeled over to one side, and the water began to pour down the open man-hole.
"Quick! Clamp on the covers!" shouted Mr. Henderson as he felt the sea dashing into the interior of the boat.
Jack and Mark sprang to obey. It took all their strength, for the water was running in like a mill-race.
"What has happened?" asked Andy, as he tried to climb up the companionway ladder, that was tilted backward.
"I guess we've hit your iceberg!" cried Mr. Henderson.
"I knew I smelled the frozen stuff," replied the old hunter.
They got the covers on the manhole only just in time and they all crowded into the cabin, while Jack switched on the electric lights.
"Is the ship damaged?" asked Mark.
"I think not," replied Mr. Henderson. "But we are sinking. Look at the depth gage."
The hand on the clock-face was moving slowly around. From ten it went to twenty feet, then to thirty and kept going until it stood at seventy.
"Look to the air tanks," ordered Mr. Henderson to Washington, who, by this time had recovered from his fright. "See if they are all right."
The colored man came back in a few minutes and reported that the supply of compressed atmosphere was safe and that there was plenty of it.
"That's good," remarked Mr. Henderson. "Whatever else happens we can breathe for a while."
"But what has happened?" asked Andy.
"I think the top part of an iceberg toppled down on us," was the reply. "You know about nine-tenths of a berg is under water. Sometimes there is a warm current of the ocean underneath the ice, and it melts. Then it becomes top-heavy and tilts over. One of that sort must have caught us, and has shoved us down into the sea."
"But why don't we rise again when the ice floe slips off us?" asked Mark.
"Because, in all probability the ice will not slip off us," answered the professor grimly. "It may be so large that it has caught us like a bug under a barn door."
"Then we are fast in the ice under water," spoke Andy after a pause.
"It looks like it," came from the inventor. "However we will not give up yet. We may be able to make our way out. Start the engine at full speed, Washington."
The machinery which the professor had shut down at the first cry of alarm was set going. Soon the throb and hum told that the big screw was revolving.
Meanwhile thePorpoisehad regained an even keel, and had stopped sinking, remaining at the depth of seventy feet below the surface.
"We will first try to go straight ahead," said the captain.
He turned on more power and they all waited in anxiety. The test would tell whether they could escape in that direction or not.
But, though the powerful screw churned the water to foam in the tunnel, thePorpoisenever budged. It was as if she was held in a vice.
"It's of no use," remarked Mr. Henderson witha shake of his head as he watched the speed gage and noted that it remained stationary. "We must now try the other way."
Once more the big screw was set going, this time in the opposite direction, so as to pull the ship out of the ice if it was possible. But this, too, was of no avail.
"It looks as if the ice had us," said Andy, trying to speak in a cheerful tone. "But there's one way more to try."
"What is that?" asked Mr. Henderson.
"If we were in the air ship we could go up," replied the old hunter. "But, as it is, we had better go down. Why don't you fill all the water tanks, and try to sink beneath the iceberg? It can't go down so very far into the water, and I reckon we could slip under it."
"The very thing!" exclaimed the professor, whose mind was too sorely troubled over the happening to enable him to think of plans of escape. "That's the best thing to do."
Under the inventor's direction Washington filled the tanks and then, ere the pumps had ceased working, the screw was started and the deflecting rudder inclined to cause the ship to dive.
One, two, three minutes passed, and still thePorpoisedid not move toward the bottom of the sea. She remained submerged and stationary.Anxious eyes gazed at the dials. The indicating hands trembled under the throbbing of the engines, but did not move.
"It will not work!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson in sorrowful tones.
"What does it mean?" asked Bill, who had come up to where the others stood.
"It means that we are prisoners in the ice; caught between the upper and lower parts of a gigantic berg, and held here under the water."
"Can't we ever get out?" asked Jack, a tremor coming into his voice. "Can't we escape when the ice melts?"
"The ice of the southern polar sea seldom melts in this latitude," replied the professor.
An ominous silencefollowedhis words.
Truly the adventurers were in a position that might well cause the stoutest heart to quail. With hundreds of tons of ice above, below, and on every side of them, their chances of escaping alive from this frozen tomb were very small.
"Can't we make an attempt to get out of this prison?" asked Jack.
"Indeed we will," said the professor. "We will try all the means at our command. If they all fail—"
He dared not finish the sentence, but they all knew what he meant. It was now about one o'clock in the morning. The ship had become stationary after the uneasy motion caused by theoscillationof the big berg.
"We may as well turn in and get a little sleep," remarked Mr. Henderson. "We can all work better if we get some rest."
It is doubtful whether any of them slept, for the horror of their position was too fresh in their minds. Still, lying down in the bunks rested them.
It was six o'clock when Washington awoke. In spite of the dangers of the icy grave, he had managed to get a little sleep. He prepared breakfast and called the others.
"Make a good meal," advised Mr. Henderson. "We have plenty of work ahead of us."
"Are you going to free the ship?" asked Mark.
"I am going to try," was the answer.
A little later the inventor was busy in one of the small store rooms aft when Jack came up. The professor was carefully taking out a box labelled:
DYNAMITE! DANGEROUS!
"What are you going to do?" asked the boy.
"I am going to try the same experiment we attempted on the volcanic island," was the reply. "Only, this time, I am afraid we shall have to complete it to the end. There is little likelihood of the ice falling apart."
"Then you are going to blow it up?" went on Jack.
"That's what I hope to do," the inventor went on. "I see no other way, and, though there is a risk, it is not so great a one as to wait to be crushed in the ice as it freezes more solidly."
Under the directions of Mr. Henderson they got out the diving suits. The professor, the two boysand Andy put them on. The dynamite, in speciallypreparedwater-proof packages, with long fuses was laid in readiness close to the door of the diving chamber.
Into the cell, the four who were to make the perilous journey under the ice, took their places. The water was slowly admitted, and then, with the electric lights in their helmets throwing out powerful gleams, they started forward as the outer door swung open.
It was well they had all taken the precautions to don thick undergarments and clothing, for, even through the heavy rubber diving suits, the terrible cold of the southern polar sea struck a chill to their very bones.
As the professor had said, the ship was caught between the upper and lower parts of the iceberg. On either side, ahead and to the rear there was open water. Beneath their feet there was a floor of ice. It was as if they and the ship had been placed between two great sheets of the frozen matter.
Their progress was slow, for the water hampered their movements and each one had some of the dynamite to carry. The footing, too, was insecure, for the icy bed of the ocean was slippery.
As they were huddled together, the professor in the lead, and their lamps making a faint illumination in the darkness, they suddenly became aware of a great shadow over them. They looked up, and their hearts nearly ceased beating as they saw a gigantic sperm whale right over them, and between the ice. The terrible animal had observed them also, and, food being scarce in those frigid regions, had evidently made up its mind to dine on some choice morsels.
The whale was nearly as large again as the submarine, and to the frightened voyagers seemed more immense than a house. With slow motions of the flukes the animal placed itself right over the boys and men, ready to rush at and take them into its terrible maw.
Old Andy, who alone seemed to retain his presence of mind, stepped to the front. The professor and the boys wondered what he was going to do. Then Andy held up one of the electric guns.
Always thinking of his chosen calling, the old hunter had picked up the weapon as he was leaving thePorpoise. He waited until the whale was within a short distance, so close in fact that the small eyes, out of all seeming proportion to the rest of the big body, could be seen. Then Andy fired one of the explosive bullets straight into the open mouth that was fringed with rows of the springy bone that is a part of a whale's eating apparatus.
The shot took effect, and made a vital wound. In its death struggles the beast lashed the ocean to foam, and, but for the fact that Andy as soon as he fired the shot crouched down, pulling the others toward the floor of ice, they might all have been killed.
The whale turned and made a rush in the opposite direction to that of the divers. This was a welcome sign to the professor, for he knew the animal was seeking open water and this told him it must be somewhere in the vicinity.
Their hearts still beating loudly from the closeness of death, the adventurers continued their way. On every side were fish, big and little, and, though some of the larger ones thrust themselves to the men and boys, as if wondering what strange creatures they were, none of them offered to attack.
Led by the professor they made a complete circuit of the ship that was held fast in the ice. As the inventor had surmised, thePorpoisewas nipped only above and below. If she could be freed at either of those points she could rise to the surface, or sink down under the ice.
After making a careful examination of the position of the craft, Mr. Henderson motioned to have the dynamite placed on the ice, in front of, and about two hundred feet away from the nose of the ship.
He connected the cartridges with the fuse and wires that were to explode them, and then, taking the free end, he started back toward the ship. Washington was on the watch for them, and operated the diving chamber. Soon the four were back in thePorpoise.
"Now to see if our plan will work," said Mr. Henderson. "I am relying on the well known downward force of dynamite to blow a hole in the bottom part of the ice, so that we can drop below."
"Why not make a hole above so we can rise and escape?" asked Bill.
"Because," replied the professor, "we are now in the region of perpetual ice. The ocean above us is one fast floe, or a number of smaller ones, so that, in any event our progress would be impossible. But we can sail far enough down under water to escape all the ice. That is the purpose of thePorpoise. That is why I built her. We will now begin on the last part of our voyage; that is if we can get free of the fearful grip of this sea of ice."
There was little they could do to protect themselves. They would either escape or be blown to pieces in case the explosive exerted too great a force. They all put on life preservers to guard against the contingency of thePorpoisebeing ripped apart and themselves cast into the water, yetthey realized that without their ship, they could live but a little while in the ice-filled water near the south pole.
The professor saw that everything was in readiness. He hesitated a moment and looked at the electric button in his hand, for this time the dynamite was to be detonated by a battery. How much might depend on one push of the finger!
THEY WERE IN THE MIDST OF A GRAVEYARD OF WRECKED SHIPS.—Page 200.THEY WERE IN THE MIDST OF A GRAVEYARD OF WRECKED SHIPS.—Page 200.
There was a slight movement to the muscles of the professor's hand. Then it seemed as if a thunderbolt had fallen into the midst of the ocean about them.
There was a dull rumble, but the confined space and the thick walls of the ship shut most of it out. It was followed by a sickening dizzy motion to the submarine. She seemed about to roll over and those in her grabbed frantically at the sides. The next instant the craft plunged down, down, down, into the water which was filled with broken cakes of ice, that rattled against the steel sides, like peas in a pan.
Down and down thePorpoisewent, for her tanks were full. More and more rapidly she continued to sink, until it seemed she would fetch up in the deepest cavern of the ocean.
"We's gwine t' Mars Davy Jones's locker, suah!" Washington exclaimed as he looked at the depth gages.
"Has the experiment succeeded?" asked Andy of Mr. Henderson.
"I think so," was the answer. "At any rate we are free from the ice, temporarily at least. We are sinking down through the hole the dynamite made, just as I hoped we would."
"Where will we end up?" asked Jack.
"No one knows," replied the captain. "But I would say—"
At that instant the ship stopped sinking and brought up with a bump.
"I should say we were at the end of this part of our journey," finished the inventor.
He turned off the cabin lights and lighted the search lamps that threw a gleam so the water could be looked at from the bull's-eyes windows. The sight that met their gaze was an astonishing one.
They were in the midst of a graveyard of wrecked ships, and, on every side, scattered over the ocean bed, were the broken hulks that had once been stately vessels.
"What sort of a place is this?" asked Andy, as he gazed at the last resting spot of the big ships.
"They have probably drifted here with the ocean currents, become caught in the ice and have remained here hundreds of years," said Mr. Henderson. "Some of the ships are very old, and, by their build must have sailed the waters centuries ago."
"Maybe some of them are treasure ships," suggested Jack.
"They might be," admitted the professor.
"Then we'll go aboard and get the gold," spoke Mark.
"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed," went on the inventor. "In the first place most treasure ships are looted before they sink. And it would be very dangerous for any of us to venture to explore those hulks."
"Why?" asked Jack.
"Because they are rotten, and liable to fall topieces any minute. If you happened to be in one at the time you would be caught in the wreckage and eventually drowned even though you had on a diving suit. Then, again, the ice here is constantly shifting about, and a sudden motion of the under-water floe might carry you hundreds of miles away. So we will not try to hunt for any fortunes on the sunken ships."
With this the boys were forced to be content. They stood at the small windows looking at the skeletons of ships that lay on every side of thePorpoise. Some of the craft were big steamers, and others were small sailing vessels. A few had jagged holes in the hulls, showing how they had been damaged. A few stood upright, with sails all set, as if disaster had suddenly come upon them.
"Well, what is the next move?" asked Andy after a pause. "Are we going to stay here?"
"We are going to find the South Pole," spoke Mr. Henderson suddenly. "That is what I set out to do, and I am going to accomplish it if possible. We have had many accidents and a harder time in some respects than when we made our trip to the north in the air ship. But I am sure we shall succeed. Start the ship to the south, Washington."
"But we may run into an iceberg," objected the old hunter, who was inclined to be cautious.
"I think not," answered Mr. Henderson. "I believe we are on a sort of level plane between two vast upper and lower fields of ice. We can go freely in any direction excepting up or down."
"How is that?" asked Mark. "I don't quite understand."
"Because there is, I believe, a big sheet of ice above us, one, say several hundred feet thick. The same thing is below us, between us and the real bed of the ocean."
"But suppose we have to go up to renew our air supply?" asked Jack.
"We can't go," replied the inventor.
"Then we will die."
"Not necessarily. We will steam along until we come to a place where there is no ice above us."
"But I thought you said there was nothing but ice above us now."
"So there is, but I intend to head due south and there, I believe, we will find an open polar sea. If we do my theory will be proved and we will have made a great discovery."
"Forward then!" exclaimed Jack. "Let us strike for the open sea."
ThePorpoisebegan to move ahead. She steamed slowly, for Mr. Henderson realized that he was in dangerous waters. He took his position in the conning tower, and had Jack with him toassist in looking for any obstructions that they might unexpectedly meet.
The big searchlight gave a fine illumination, for the ice above and below reflected back the beams, and what would otherwise have been a sea of darkness was made one of daylight.
The water swarmed with fish, but they were like none that the adventurers had ever seen or dreamed of before. There were monsters with hideous heads, and eyes so large that they occupied nearly half of the ugly bodies.
Then there were serpent-like forms, fish with long slender bodies and whip-fashioned tails, with jaws that extended before them for ten feet or more. Others there were, great lumbering monsters that crawled along on the ice, somewhat as seals do.
After several hours' travel the submarine ran into a school of fish that had shapes like those of polar bears, while their heads were like those of sharks. The creatures swarmed up to the side of the vessel, and some scratched with their claw-like fins on the glass windows of the conning tower and the side bull's-eyes.
A meal was prepared by Washington, and all the adventurers brought good appetites to the table. On and on rushed the ship, every hour coming nearer and nearer to the pole.
Professor Henderson had turned the steering of the craft over to Mark, who, with Jack as an assistant was sending her along at a good speed, when suddenly the submarine seemed to slacken in her progress.
"What's the matter now I wonder?" asked Mark.
"Maybe the engine bearings got hot, and Washington had to slow up to cool them," suggested Jack.
He looked through one of the side windows in the conning tower, a moment later, and uttered a cry of fear.
"What is it?" asked Mark.
Jack pointed with a hand that trembled from fright. Staring at them through the thick glass of the bull's-eye the boys beheld the most hideous sea monster they had yet encountered.
It seemed to be a vast circular mass of flesh, twenty feet in diameter, and, in the middle were two openings each three feet across. They were like big holes, and, at the farther end of them could be seen two unblinking eyes. In the centre was a horrible mouth, armed with a triple row of teeth.
Down below there was a short body, at the end of which was a smaller disk, armed with a sharp horny point.
"What is it?" asked Jack in a whisper.
"I don't know," replied Mark.
A moment later Mr. Henderson came up the companionway into the tower. He caught one glimpse of the monster.
"It is the great sucker of the polar seas!" he exclaimed. "Quick! Speed up the engine! If that one, and the mates of it, fasten on to us we will have trouble!"
He pressed the signal that connected with the engine room, and told Washington to start the engine at its greatest power. The next instant the ship throbbed and trembled under the vibrations of the big screw.
"We may escape!" cried the professor.
As he spoke the ship seemed to come to a sudden stop. The engine could still be felt moving, and the big screw still churned the water to foam in the tunnel, but the craft was stationary.
"We are caught!" exclaimed the professor.
"So we are!"
The windows in the conning tower were darkened. The big sucker had thrown itself forward and spread itself over the glass, clasping its horrible form half way about the submarine.
"Let's look at the other windows! There may be only one of the creatures!" Mr. Henderson exclaimed, as he hurried down the companion wayand into the main cabin. He threw back the slides covering the glass.
The sight that met his eyes caused him to recoil in horror. There, pressing their shapes against the steel sides, and over the bull's-eyes of the ship were two more of the gigantic suckers!
The ship had now ceased to move, and Washington, in the engine room, feeling that something was wrong, had shut off the power. The adventurers were caught in a trap more terrible than that of the ice, the volcanic mountain, or the Sargasso Sea. It was a trap from which they might never escape.
The suckers, thinking the submarine was perhaps a species of fish, like themselves, and one of their enemies, had fastened on it their fatal vice-like grip. To move through the water, with the weight of all that clinging flesh wasimpossible.
"What sort of creatures are they?" asked Jack, speaking in a whisper, so great was the terror inspired by the presence of the gigantic sea suckers.
"I never saw any of them before," replied the professor, "but I have read about them. They live only in the polar regions and are a species of octupus, only more terrible. Their powers of suction are enormous, and once they fasten on a fish or animal they never let go until they haveabsorbed it completely. They act in the same way that a star fish does on an oyster."
"But they can't eat the ship," said Jack.
"No, I fancy the steel and iron sides will prevent them from making a meal of us."
"Then where is the danger?"
"They will not let go until they discover that they cannot devour us, and it may take days. We can only remain under water a comparatively short time at the most. So you see where the danger is."
"But can't we go out and kill them? Then they would let go."
"It would be most risky to venture out, protected even with a diving suit, and carrying the electric guns," the professor went on. "No, I must think of some other plan to free ourselves from the creatures."
"Blow 'em up wif dynamite an' send 'em inter disproportionately contrastedable circumferences!" exclaimed Washington, who had been listening to the conversation.
"This isn't any time to joke," Mr. Henderson said sternly.
"I wasn't joking," replied the colored man. "Can't we squirt acid on 'em or chop 'em up, or—or—"
"We can do nothing for the time being," saidthe professor. "Come, we will have a consultation on the subject. Perhaps some one may be able to think of a plan of rescue."
"Let us hope so."
They all gathered in the cabin. The professor explained the nature of the creatures, as far as he knew them from what he had read or heard. He pointed out, through the glass windows, over which the suckers were still clinging, how they maintained their grip, by exhausting, through their big mouths, the air between their saucer-like surfaces and the ship to which they were clinging.
"Can't we go out and fight 'em?" asked Andy, who was always ready to use a gun.
"I doubt if we could get out," replied the professor. "Though we can not see them, I believe the creatures cover every part of the ship from stem to stern. We could never open the door of the diving chamber with that terrible sucker covering the iron portal."
"Maybe if we wait long enough a lot of sharks will come along and eat 'em up," put in Jack.
"I am afraid sharks will not come to these frozen waters," said the professor. "They like a warm climate."
"And you don't think it would be feasible to use dynamite," asked Mark.
"We can't get out to place it where it wouldblow up the fish and not us," answered Mr. Henderson. "If we could it might serve."
A silence fell on the group. They were in sore straits and there seemed no hope of rescue. The big disk-like bodies that covered the windows did not move, but remained there, staring with horrible persistency into the interior of the ship.
Suddenly the craft began to move. Slowly at first, then, with more speed it forged ahead through the water.
"Are we free?" asked Andy, starting up.
"Who started the machinery?" demanded the professor.
"No one," replied Jack. "We are all here. There is no one in the engine room."
"But we are moving," said Mark.
"It's dem sucker-fish!" exclaimed Washington. "Dey is takin' us off to der dens an' dere we'll all be eat up!"
"I'm afraid part of it is true," said Mr. Henderson. "The creatures are certainly making off with us. How powerful they must be!"
"Will dey take us to a cave?" faltered Washington. "Will dey eat us up?"
"I don't think they'll eat us up," spoke the inventor. "It would defy even their powerful sucking apparatus to bore through the steel sides of thePorpoise. What I am afraid of is thatthey may move us to some hidden depth where we will be caught under the rocks or in the ice, and so lose what little chance there is of getting free."
"And the worst of it is we can't do a thing to help ourselves!" exclaimed Andy. "This is the worst game I was ever up against!"
The adventurers were indeed helpless. They could not get out of their ship to attack the monsters, even had they dared to. Their engine, powerful as it was, had proved no match for the creatures, and now they were being carried away, ship and all, to some unknown place.
The ship did not go through the water fast. Though the suckers seemed to be working in union their bodies were too unwieldly, and the ship so large, that their pace was slow. Nevertheless they kept steadily on.
Several times, in their desperation, the adventurers tried the force of the big screw against that of the suckers. It was of no avail. Neither was the device of emptying the tanks, and trying to force the craft up as far as the roof of ice would permit it to go.
"It's of no use," announced Mr. Henderson with something that sounded like a groan. "We must prepare for the worst."
"How long can we live here without going tothe surface after a fresh supply of air?" asked Bill.
"About three days," was the answer. "I took the precaution to put a double supply into the tanks, in readiness for an emergency, but I never thought of such a terrible situation as this."
The submarine seemed to be moving more rapidly now. It was useless to try to see through either the windows in the side or in the conning tower, for all the glass was covered by the horrible bodies.
"What will they do with us when they get us where they want us?" asked Andy.
"What can they do except hold us prisoners until—until—" The professor broke off the sentence he dared not finish.
For an hour or more the craft was moved through the water at moderate speed. Then it came to a stop. Those on board were alert for what might happen next.
"I guess dey done got us in der cave," said Washington with chattering teeth. "Now dey'll begin to devour us wid dem terrible big mouths! Golly, I wish I was home!"
"Stop that nonsense!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. "Be a man! There is no danger yet. The sides of thePorpoisewill defy worse enemies than those attacking us!"
At that instant the ship began to move again. It was hauled slowly through the water.
"They are pulling us backward!" said Andy, as he watched the needle of the compass.
Once more the submarine was stopped. Then it moved forward at a more rapid pace than at any time since the suckers had seized it. An instant later it brought up against some solid object with such a jar that those inside were thrown off their feet.
"Something has hit us!" cried Jack.
"More likely we've struck something," said the professor.
Again the ship forged to the rear, and once again it was sent swiftly ahead. Then came the second shock, harder than the first, which sent some of the party headlong.
"They are banging us against a rock!" cried Mr. Henderson.
"Do you mean those sea suckers?"
"Yes. They have probably found that the shell of thePorpoiseis too hard even for their powerful jaws. So they have taken us to some place where the rocks show and are banging us against them in order to break the ship, so they can get at what is inside."
Once more the ship was drawn backward and again dashed against the stone. The shock was ahard one and toppled over all who were not clinging to something.
"They are ramming us bow on against the rocks," cried Andy. "It will break us apart if they hit us many more times!"
Washington hurried forward. He came back with his eyes showing terror.
"There's a lot of rocks right ahead ob us!" he exclaimed. "I see 'em through th' little window jest above th' screw. There's land under this here water!"
"Land under this ice do you mean?" asked the professor.
"That's what I mean, an' we's bein' rammed agin th' rocks!"
"There it goes again!" cried Jack, as the ship shivered from stem to stern against the impact of the blow.
"This can not last long," said Mr. Henderson. "If they strike us many more times some of the places will start, the water will come in, and we will drown!"
"But what can we do?" asked Jack.
"Let's go out now and see if we can't kill some of the beasts with the guns," suggested Andy.
"I cannot permit it," answered the inventor. "Our position is bad enough as it is, but to go out would be to lose our lives for a certainty. Thesuckers would swallow us up in a moment. I must find some other way."
There was a period of silence, while all waited anxiously for what was to happen next. It was not long in coming. The next impact of the ship against the rocks was the hardest yet, and it seemed that more of the suckers must have gripped the craft.
"She's leakin' a little!" exclaimed Washington coming back from an inspection forward. "De water am tricklin' in!"
"We must fight them!" exclaimed Andy. He ran to get a gun and his diving suit.
"Don't try to go out!" warned the professor. "You will surely be killed."
"I'd rather be killed out there than die shut up in the ship!" cried the old hunter. "I'm going out!"
"Wait!" exclaimed Jack suddenly. "I have a plan that may save us!"
"What is it? Speak quickly!" said Mr. Henderson. "We are in desperate straits!"
As he spoke there came another crash against the rocks.
"We must electrocute the suckers!" cried the boy.
"Electrocute them? What do you mean?"
"Take the wires from the electric light circuit,attach one to each end of the ship, and start the dynamo at full speed!" answered Jack.
"What good will that do?"
"The ship is steel," went on the boy. "It will become charged with a powerful current. We can insulate ourselves by putting on rubber boots, but the shock of the electricity will kill the creatures!"
"Good for you!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. "Quick boys, everybody lend a hand! Washington, detach the wires and run one to the bow and the other to the stern of the ship. Then get out the boots."
In a few minutes the dynamo was ready to send a death-dealing current through the entire ship. The professor and all the others put on the boots, that were a part of the diving equipment. The dynamo was started at full speed and the purring hum told that electricity of great power was being developed.
The professor stood with his hand on a switch, ready to close the circuit as soon as sufficient power had accumulated. Once more the suckers backed the ship in order to give it impetus for another impact on the stones.
Click! The professor snapped the switch shut. There was a burst of bluish-green flame, and the movement of the boat suddenly ceased.
"I guess that does for 'em!" shouted Andy.
"Wait a few minutes," advised the professor. "The suckers may not all be dead yet!"
He kept the current flowing throughout the length of the ship for several minutes, and then turned it off.
"Now to see if the plan worked," he said. The windows in the cabin were eagerly scanned.
"Hurrah!" cried Mark. "The suckers have gone!"
"I guess the electricity killed them," spoke Mr. Henderson. "We will venture out now in our diving suits and see what sort of a place we are in."
Soon the adventurers were arrayed in the heavy suits. Under them they wore thick clothing, and in each suit was placed a small flat heater, operated by a storage battery. The heaters were made of coils of fine wires, and the electric current, meeting with much resistance in passing through them, heated the coils, so there was considerable warmth.
It was all needed as they found when they felt the water entering the diving chamber, for the fluid was as cold as an ocean full of icebergs could make it. Protected however by the heavy suits, warm clothing and the heaters the divers were fairly comfortable.
The outer door was opened and they all startedback in amazement at the sight which met their eyes. Before them lay a forest of real trees, with bushes growing among them, while the ground, instead of being like the usual ocean bed was covered with grass.
As Washington had said, on getting a small view of the place from the little window, it was real land under water.
Their first surprise at the strange spectacle over, the adventurers glanced about for a sight of the terrible sea suckers. But they need not have feared. Lying in a huddled up mass toward the rear of thePorpoisewere the dead bodies of the ugly creatures. The electricity had finished them.
They walked some distance away from the ship, for the land under the water was easy to travel on. It looked exactly as if some beautiful valley had suddenly been submerged in the middle of summer, when everything was fresh and green.
They had gone perhaps a quarter of a mile from thePorpoisewhen Professor Henderson motioned to them that they had better return. On their way back they passed what looked to be a large cave in the side of a hill. Wondering what could be in it, Mark and Jack paused to peer into the black opening.
The next instant two long white things, like slender serpents shot out. With the rapidity of lightning they wrapped themselves, one about each boy, and, before the horrified companions of the lads could do anything the unfortunate youths were whisked out of sight into the cavern.
For a few seconds no one knew what to do. To rush in to the rescue of the boys would have been foolhardy, as the terrible octupus, which they knewhad grabbed the lads, would have been a match for all of the adventurers, unarmed as they were.
It would be necessary to return to the ship and come back with some of the electric guns, which they had neglected to bring with them. In the meanwhile the beast might, and probably would, kill Mark and Jack. But there was nothing else to do.
The professor motioned for Andy to remain on the watch at the mouth of the cavern, so as to be on hand in case he could help the boys, while the others were hurrying toward the ship. Then, leading the way, the Professor signalled for Tom and Bill to follow him.
They could not hurry much for the heavy suits and the resistance of the water impeded their progress. But they made all the speed they could, urged on by a terrible fear.
Meanwhile old Andy stood in front of the cave, hoping against hope that there might be some way of aiding the boys. If it had happened above water he would not have hesitated to rush in and give battle to the beast, even though he was unarmed. If he had his knife now he would venture in, at the risk of his life.
"Oh, why didn't I bring my gun along!" thought Andy regretfully.
His hand dropped to his side and his fingerscame in contact with a big knife in the belt of the diving suit. Here was a weapon he had forgotten all about.
He drew forth the blade. It seemed a small one with which to attack so large and terrible a creature as the octupus. Yet to remain there, knowing the boys were being killed was more than old Andy could stand. Grasping the handle with a firm grip he started toward the cave. His foot caught in something, and he nearly fell.
Looking down to see what had tripped him he saw a long thin pole, straight as a lance. It had once been a tree limb, but all the branches were stripped off.
"Now if I only had an iron point for that," Andy thought. Then he recollected the knife in his hand.
"The very thing," he remarked aloud, the words sounding startlingly loud in the confinement of the copper helmet. "If I only had something to fasten the knife on the pole I could make a spear to attack the octupus."
Then he saw long streamers of sea weed growing up from the ocean bed. They were very tough, a kind of wirey grass that was as strong as rope. Andy cut several streamers and, with a hunter's skill bound the knife to the end of the staff.
Now he had a weapon formidable enough to venture in and give battle to the monster. He hesitated no longer, fearing that even the short delay might have been too much and that the boys were dead. He entered the cave. At first he could perceive nothing for it was quite dark. Then, as his eyes became used to the gloom, which the lamp in his helmet faintly illuminated, he saw, far back in the rear, the horrible octupus.
Two dark objects, around which were wrapped several folds of the terrible arms, Andy guessed to be Mark and Jack, and when he was a faint glow coming from them he was sure they were the boys, the gleams coming from the lamps in their helmets.
Warily the hunter approached the creature. If he had hoped to take it unawares he was disappointed, for, when he had come within ten feet, holding his improvised lance outstretched ready for a deadly thrust, the creature shot out two long arms toward Andy.
Now the battle began. The snake-like feelers, armed with big saucer shaped suckers, lashed about in the water, seeking to clasp the hunter in their deadly embrace. But Andy, who had fought many kinds of wild animals on land, did not lose his presence of mind in confronting this beast of the sea.
Nimbly, in spite of the handicap of the heavy diving suit, Andy dodged the arms. Watching his chance he thrust at one, and the sharp knife severed the end. But another arm shot out, while the wounded one was drawn in, and the battle was as much against the old hunter as before.
Once more he thrust his lance, and this time he severed one of the arms close to the ugly body. The creature, in its rage and pain, redoubled its efforts to clasp Andy.
The hunter decided to try to get to closer quarters where he could use his spear on the body of the beast. He stooped down and wiggled along on the bottom of the cave. But the creature saw him, and darted an arm out to pull the old man in. Andy squirmed to one side, and then, being as close as he desired, he rose to his feet and, drawing back the pole thrust it with all his force straight at the centre of the whitish-yellow body that was like a horrible lump of soft fat directly in front of him.
At the first touch of the knife the creature squirted out an inky substance that made the water about it as black as night. Andy could not see, but he could feel that the lance was still in the body. He pulled it back a little and thrust again and again, turning it around to enlarge the wound he had made.
Then, what he had feared all along happened. Two of the creatures arms found him, and he felt the terrible pressure as they wound themselves about him, the sucker-plates clinging fast. Yet in it all he did not lose his presence of mind, nor did he let go of the pole.
Tighter and tighter the arms clasped him. He struggled with all his strength but he was in a grip more powerful than that of a boa constrictor. Suddenly the pole he was holding snapped off. He let go the useless end and pulled the shorter part, to which the knife was bound, toward him. Andy felt his senses beginning to leave him, but he determined to make one more effort.
One hand was free, that holding the knife. With his last remaining strength he cut and slashed at the arms of the creature that were clasped about him.
Again and again he stuck the blade into the gristle like substance. Could he win? Could he save his own life, to say nothing of that of the two boys?
The creature was lashing about now so that the water was a mass of black foam. The ink-color was beginning to fade away. Andy could dimly observe the horrible front of the octupus, and see the wound his lance had made. Then all seemed to grow dark again. He dimly remembered trying to thrust the knife into one of the saucer-shaped eyes, and then of a sudden his senses left him.
When Andy came to his senses he found himself lying on the ocean bed just outside the cave. About him stood the professor, Washington, Tom and Bill. His head buzzed and he felt weak, but he knew he was uninjured, and that his diving suit had not been punctured in the fight with the octupus, for he could feel the fresh air entering from the tank at the back of his helmet.
Were the boys killed, Andy wondered. Had his fight to save them been in vain? He managed to stand up, and then, to his relief he saw Mark and Jack standing behind Tom and Bill. The boys seemed weak but otherwise uninjured.
The professor motioned to know if Andy could walk and the old hunter soon demonstrated that he could by stepping forward. Then the party proceeded slowly to the ship.
Little time was lost by each one in divesting himself of his diving suit as soon as they had left the water chamber. The first thing Andy asked when hishelmetwas off, was:
"Did I kill the beast?"
"Indeed you did," replied the professor. "And just in time, too. You were about done for when we came back with the guns, but they werenot needed. My! But you must have had a terrible fight!"
"I did, while it lasted," said the hunter. "But were the boys hurt?"
"They can speak for themselves," replied Mr. Henderson. "I guess not, though."
"Having the wind almost squeezed out of us was the worst that happened," said Mark. "The octupus must have recently dined when it grabbed us, for it didn't offer to eat us. And it didn't grip us as tightly as it might have or I reckon we wouldn't have come out alive. I thought sure we were going to be killed, however."
"So did I," put in Jack.
"I don't want any more such fights this trip," said Andy with a weak smile.