Boy Scouts in a Submarine | Page 8

all moving about now, but Lieutenant Scott remained in
his chair, a smile on his face.
The Sea Lion rose steadily, and there was a slight tip to port. Ned sat
down with a shamed look on his face.
"I should have known," he said.
"Say," Jack exclaimed, "was the submarine put together on the float
that is going to carry her across?"
"Of course she was," laughed the Lieutenant. "The pieces brought on
from New York were assembled on the float. Some of the larger pieces,
the ones most difficult to handle, were made here from patterns sent on
from the east. Then, when all was ready, the float was dropped out of
sight so the submarine would lie on the surface, as we found her."
"And now they're lifting the float?" asked Jimmie.
"Exactly," was the reply. "Suppose you go outside, on the conning
tower, and look about."
"You bet," cried Jack, and then there was a rush for the stairway, or

half-ladder, rather, leading to the tower.
The Sea Lion was still lifting, though where the power came from no
one could determine. While Ned studied over the problem Lieutenant
Scott laid a hand on his shoulder.
"You want to know what makes the wheels go round?" laughed the
officer. "Well, I'll tell you. The bottom of the float forms a tank. Now
do you see?"
"And there's a large hose laid from the tank to the shore, and the water
is being pumped out! I see."
"That's it," replied the Lieutenant. "Now that we are getting up high and
dry, you boys can step down on the floor of the float and look about. I
don't think there was ever a contrivance exactly like this. Go and look it
over."
Night was falling, and a chill October wind was blowing in from the
Pacific. There were banks of clouds, too, and all signs portended rain. It
would be a dismal night.
Leaving Lieutenant Scott in the conning tower, the boys all clambered
down to the floor of the float to examine the blockings which kept the
submarine on a level keel. They were gone only a short time, but when
they climbed up the rope ladder to the conning tower again the light
was dim, and a slow, cold rain was falling. The Lieutenant was not on
the conning tower, and Ned at once descended to the general living
room of the submarine. Before he reached the middle of the stairs the
lights, which had been burning brightly a moment before, suddenly
went out, and the interior of the submarine yawned under his feet like a
deep, impenetrable pit.
Fearful that something was amiss, Ned dropped down and reached for
his electric searchlight, which he had left on a shelf not far from the
stairs. Something passed him in the darkness and he called out to the
Lieutenant, but there was no answer. Then, out of the darkness above,
came a mingled chorus of anger and alarm.


CHAPTER IV
A WOLF ON THE TRAIL

"That isn't Ned!" cried Jack's voice, in a moment.
"Don't let him get away! He's been up to some mischief!"
That was Frank Shaw's voice.
"Soak him!"
That could be no one but Jimmie!
Ned, groping about in the darkness, heard the voices faintly. He seemed
to be submerged in a sweep of pounding waves, the steady beating of
which shut out all individual sounds.
He knew that he staggered and stumbled as he walked. Moving across
the floor his feet came in contact with some soft obstruction lying on
the rug and he fell down.
There was a strange, choking odor in the place, and he groped on his
hands and knees in the direction of the shelf where his searchlight had
been left. His senses reeled, and for an instant he lay flat on the floor.
Then he heard the boys clambering down the stairs from the conning
tower and called out, feebly, yet with sufficient strength to make
himself heard above the sound of shuffling feet.
"Go back!" he cried. "Don't come in here! Leave the hatch open, and let
in air. Go back!"
Jimmie recognized a note of alarm, of suffering, in the voice of his
chum and dropped headlong into the black pit of the submarine. Ned
heard him snap the catch of a searchlight, and then, dimly, heard his
voice:
"Gee!" the voice said. "What's comin' off here?"
The round face of the electric searchlight showed at the end of a
cylindrical shaft of light which rested on Ned's face, but the boy did not
realize what was going on until he felt a gust of wind and a drizzle of
rain on his forehead.
Then he opened his eyes to find himself on the conning