CAUGHT IN A WHIRLPOOL
The boy was joined a little later by the captain, who, coming close to him whispered:
"I am going to try to discover the ghost to-night. That is why I wanted you boys on hand to help me. This thing must be stopped if it is a joke, and, if it isn't—"
"Do you think it is some one playing tricks?" asked Jack.
"I don't know what to think," answered Mr. Henderson. "We will see what happens to-night."
Mark came on deck a little while, and the three talked of the strange appearances of the mysterious white object. The boys told of their experiences, and Jack related more fully his on the night the ship went up on the big rock upheaval.
"I don't believe in ghosts," said Mr. Henderson, "I'm going to lay this one," and he smiled grimly.
Night settled down. Jack, who had the first tour under the new arrangement, had made himself comfortable in the conning tower, and Mr. Henderson had hidden himself in the companionway. His idea was to thus guard both openings into the ship and ascertain whether the ghost came from within or without the craft.
Up to a short time before twelve o'clock nothing out of the ordinary happened. The only sound was the lapping of the waves on the steel sides of the Porpoise, and now and then a splash as a big fish leaped out of the water. There was only the slightest breeze.
Jack who, somehow or other, felt much sleepier than usual, caught himself nodding several times. Once he awoke with a start and realized that he had been dozing.
"Come, come," he remarked to himself, "this will not do at all. This is a fine way to watch for a ghost."
He remained wide awake for perhaps five minutes. Then he was off to the land of nod again. He was just dreaming that he was skating on a pond and was playing snap the whip with a lot of boys, when he awoke with a start.
He felt something pressing on his chest and to his horror, as he looked up, he saw a big towering white object standing over him. A second glance showed him it was a man, or the semblance of one, and the thing's foot was on his chest.
With a terrified scream Jack sprang up, upsetting the ghost, which, the boy thought at the time, seemed rather heavy for an unearthly spirit.
"Did you catch it?" cried the professor.
"No! Yes! I don't know!" yelled Jack, struggling to his feet in time to see the white object glide down the stairs that led from the conning tower into the forward cabin.
"Run after it! We must solve the mystery!" cried Mr. Henderson springing from the companionway up on deck.
But at that moment the ship began to whirl about in a circle slowly at first, but with increasing speed until Jack and the professor felt sick and dizzy. All about the water seemed to be bubbling and boiling, while, at the same time, there arose on the air a mournful howl.
The professor jumped to the rail and looked over the side. What he saw made him recoil with horror.
"Quick! Close the man-hole hatch!" he cried. "Shut the door of the conning tower!"
"What is it?" Jack managed to ask.
"We are caught in a whirlpool!" Mr. Henderson yelled as he leaped down the companionway and pulled the heavy steel cover after him.
Stricken with a nameless dread, Jack closed the water-tight door of the conning tower and made his way to the cabin. He could hardly get down the stairs, so swiftly was the ship whirling about.
He found the captain busy in the engine room and, in response to calls, Washington and Mark came hurrying in. They had been awakened by the commotion and the strange movements of the Porpoise.
"Turn on all the lights," ordered the inventor. "We must prepare for the worst."
The incandescents were soon glowing and in the glare the frightened adventurers gathered about Mr. Henderson, wondering what new terror had befallen them.
"See!" exclaimed the inventor. "We are going comparatively slow now, but we are on the outer edge. Wait until we reach the centre."
He pointed to a compass and, as the needle pointed steadily to the north the card seemed to be going around like the hands of a clock that has lost the balance and escapement wheels. The ship made three complete circles a minute.
Pale and frightened, Mrs. Johnson came from her cabin, whence the terrified cries of Nellie could be heard.
"Are we sinking?" she asked.
"Sinking will never harm the Porpoise," replied Mr. Henderson. "This is something decidedly worse."
"I know! It is a whirlpool!" exclaimed the lady.
"I'm dizzy; I'm so dizzy!" wailed Nellie. "Please stop the ship from going round, Mr. Henderson."
She came from her bed crying, and all her mother could do did not quiet her.
Meanwhile the submarine continued to whirl about faster and faster in the swirling waters. Five times each minute now it made the circuit, and, like the coils of a boa constrictor that is enfolding its victim, the circles continually grew smaller.
"We are being sucked down," said Jack in a low tone as he glanced at the depth gage, and noted that it showed them to be thirty feet under water.
"That is so," remarked Mr. Henderson quietly.
"What will be the result?" asked Mrs. Johnson.
"I do not know," was the answer, and the captain turned aside. He seemed to have lost all courage in the face of the new disaster.
"Can't we empty the tanks and rise to the surface?" asked Andy.
"The tanks are not filled," replied Mr. Henderson. "What is taking us down is the force of the whirlpool and not the weight of water."
"Then you fear for the worst?" asked Andy.
"I do," said the captain simply.
"Don't give up the ship!" exclaimed the old hunter suddenly. "Never say die! It's a long lane that has no turns! Hip! Hip! Hurrah!"
They all turned to stare at the old man.
"Never mind," said Mr. Henderson in a soothing tone, that one would use toward a baby, or a person not right in their head. "Never mind. We may be saved."
"Oh I'm not crazy!" exclaimed Andy. He tried to caper about but the motion of the ship made him dizzy and he had to sit down. "I'm all right! I just happened to think of something!"
"What is it?" asked the captain eagerly.
"Send the ship ahead!" exclaimed Andy. "Speed her as fast as she will go. Try her strength against the force of the whirlpool! We may win!"
"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. "I was too much depressed to think of that! The ship has powerful engines. Queer you should remember that instead of me. Come, Washington, start the screw going! We will try to beat the whirlpool!"
The submarine was now whirling around so rapidly that it was difficult for any one to stand without leaning against the sides or holding on to something. It was going lower and lower down, as the gage showed.
Soon a throb that was felt through the length of the craft told that the engine had started. The vibration increased until it seemed that the ship would be torn apart. Never had the big screw revolved at greater speed.
For a while the struggle between the force of man represented by the engine, and the power of nature, embodied in the whirlpool, seemed equal. Neither could gain the mastery. The ship continued to slide around in ever narrowing circles while the big cable of water, forced through the tunnel by the screw, was like a cataract.
"Which will win?" asked the professor softly to himself.
He crawled to the gages and watched them. Only by their needles could it be told when the battle had turned in favor of the adventurers.
The circular motion, that was now terrible in its speed and power, seemed to culminate in a rush that almost overturned the ship. In the engine room Washington was laboring to keep the machine at top speed. He put on the last ounce of power.
"Hurrah!" yelled the professor suddenly. "I think we shall win!"
He pointed to the depth gage. The needle, which had showed a constantly increasing record, until it was now at two hundred feet, had stopped. It showed they were going no lower.
Then Mr. Henderson looked at the indicator which showed the progress straight ahead. The needle was beginning to tremble. As he watched he saw it move, slowly at first, until, as the powerful screw won a victory over the terrible whirlpool. The gage marked one, two and then three miles an hour.
"We are leaving the swirling waters!" cried Mr. Henderson.
Then, all at once, as though it was an arrow shot from a gigantic bow, the Porpoise cleft the under-billows and shot ahead, free at last from the grip of the whirlpool.
Man had triumphed over nature!
On rushed the ship like a race horse, for the engine was working as it never had before, and it did not have the pool to contend against.
"Slow down," said Mr. Henderson, "and we will go to the surface."
Two minutes later, under the buoyancy of her empty tanks, the Porpoise lay floating on the top of the waves, under the shining stars.