"What is it?" asked the professor quickly.
"Let me put a diving dress on," began the old hunter.
"I tell you we can"t sink to the bottom in this depth of water,"
interrupted the professor.
"We don"t need to," put in Andy. "All I want is a diving suit and a chance to stand out in the diving chamber. I guess I can fix Mr. Whale, if I have one of those electric guns."
"Quick! Get a diving suit, Washington!" cried Mr. Henderson. He saw what the old hunter planned to do.
In a few minutes Andy was dressed in the suit. The attacks of the monster had redoubled in frequency, and the ship rocked as in a storm.
Andy stepped into the diving chamber, clasping the electric gun. The inner door was tightly closed and then the sea c.o.c.ks that admitted water from the outside were opened. When the pressure inside the chamber was equal to that of the ocean outside some one pulled the lever that opened the outer door.
Andy knew better than to step outside. He remained in the chamber, like a sentinel hid in the embrasure of a wall, for the chamber was a sort of big dent in the side of the _Porpoise_.
Once more the ship rocked from a terrific blow, and the old hunter was nearly thrown out and into the fathomless depths below.
He clung to the door lever and peered out. Through the big gla.s.s eyes of his copper helmet he saw headed straight at him a whale that seemed larger than the submarine.
CHAPTER XI
CAUGHT IN A SEA OF GRa.s.s
"It"s all up with me and the ship, too," thought Andy as he stood in the small chamber and watched the oncoming of the monster.
However, he was not going to die without a fight, so he raised the electric gun. Yet he knew it was a most forlorn chance.
He aimed straight down the big open mouth and pulled the trigger. The next instant the water all about him was a ma.s.s of foam, through which he could dimly see that the whale had halted.
And, as the old hunter watched, in awe and fear at what he saw, he noted that instead of one monster there seemed to be a pair. Together they were threshing the sea into a b.l.o.o.d.y foam.
Then, turning on the searchlight in his helmet, Andy beheld a terrible sight. The whale had been attacked by a gigantic swordfish at the moment the hunter had fired the shot, and it was that, and not the electric bullet, that had stopped the infuriated animal"s rush at the ship.
Ancient enemies, the whale and swordfish, had met in mortal combat. The swordfish had engaged the whale just as it was about to strike what would probably have been a blow that would have disabled the submarine, for with the door of the diving chamber open, the onslaught might not have been withstood.
Rushing here and there, the whale seeking to destroy his enemy with a sweep of the enormous flukes, and the swordfish plunging his bony weapon again and again into the whale, the two monsters fought until the water about the ship was a ma.s.s of foam and blood.
Much as he wanted to see the end of the fight, Andy knew it was dangerous to remain longer with the door open.
He closed it, pressed the lever which started the pumps, forcing the water from the chamber and, in a few minutes, emerged into the interior of the ship.
Mr. Henderson, realizing that something out of the ordinary was going on, had opened the slides of the bull"s-eye windows, and those in the submarine saw part of the fight between the whale and swordfish.
As soon as Andy had removed his diving suit he advised that the ship be sent to the surface, as there might be danger should the monsters get too close in their struggles.
Accordingly the pumps, which had been stopped when it was found impossible to raise the ship, because of the weight of the whale, were started and the _Porpoise_ was soon on the surface.
The manhole cover was opened and Andy, with Jack and Mark, went out on deck. They had no sooner stepped out on the platform than there was a commotion in the water.
"They"re going to fight up here!" exclaimed Mark.
A big body shot upward and fell back with a splash, rocking the submarine.
"There"s the whale," observed Andy. "But I reckon he won"t fight any more. He"s dead."
It was so. The swordfish had conquered, and the lifeless body of the whale floated on top of the water, only to sink a little later.
"It was a great battle," said Jack. "I"m glad I was inside the ship."
The course was due south, and every minute it seemed to the boys that it was getting warmer, for they were approaching the equator. Every hour brought them nearer the south pole, though they were still several thousand miles from it.
After a while quite a wind sprang up, and as the sea roughened the professor decided to go down under the surface. The _Porpoise_ sunk as the tanks filled and, in a little while, the submarine was in calm water, and was forging ahead at three-quarter speed.
It was three days after the adventure with the whale when, as the ship was going along at a good rate, that there seemed to be a gradual slacking in the progress.
"I wonder what Washington is slowing down for," said the professor rising from the dinner table at which all save the colored man had been sitting. "I told him to keep right on. He must have seen something ahead. I"ll take a look."
The inventor went to the conning tower, where Washington was steering.
"What are you stopping for?" he asked.
"I"m not slowin" down," replied the colored man. "Guess another ob dem debil fishes has grabbed holt ob de ship. Dey suttinly am de most koslostrous conglomerations ob inconsequence dat I eber see."
"You must keep your big words for another time," remarked Mr. Henderson, who seemed worried. "Hurry to the engine-room and see if the machinery is all right. We certainly are slowing down, from some cause or other."
The _Porpoise_ was now scarcely moving, though from the vibration it was evident that the engines were working almost at top speed. Washington came back and reported that the big screw was revolving properly and that all the machinery was working well.
"Then we"re caught in something," said the professor. "Shut off the power, Washington, I don"t want to strain things."
The ship was now scarcely making a foot a minute, and, a little later, when the colored man had turned off the engine, the submarine became stationary, merely undulating with the roll and heave of the ocean.
Hurrying to the cabin, Captain Henderson opened the side window shutters, turned off the electric lights and peered out.
"I can"t see anything," he said. "Yet I should be able to, as we are not very deep."
The gage showed that the ship was submerged only thirty feet, and at that depth there should have been no difficulty in seeing, at least dimly, objects under water. But the windows showed as black as night.
"Bring me one of the portable searchlights," called Mr. Henderson.
Washington brought one, operated by a storage battery. Holding it so the reflector cast the beams out of the bull"s-eye and into the water on the opposite side, the inventor peered forth.
"I was afraid of this!" he murmured.
"What is it?" asked Jack.