“Somewhere under our feet,” laughed his father. “He went down to examine the hull. Wants to be sure this is the same boat.”
A few moments later the door to the air-lock was opened and Rawlins appeared.
“I’ll say it’s the same old sub!” he exclaimed. “There’s a dent in her skin near the stern on the port side. I noticed it before and it’s there all right. Found anything up here?”
“No, nothing of any value to us,” replied Mr. Pauling. “The boys say the radio’s been stripped
from her and we haven’t been able to find a chart or a map or a scrap of paper aboard. We found two of those carriers though—the cigar-shaped affairs you saw the divers towing through the water; but they’re both empty. If these fellows took anything from the garage they disposed of it before they left the submarine.”
“Were the boats on her when they found her?” asked Rawlins.
“No, no sign of them,” replied the officer who was with them. “I boarded her first thing, but there was no sign of life aboard and no boats.”
“It’s darned funny!” commented Rawlins. “If these lads took to the boats they did it deliberately and took mighty good care to clean the old sub out before they left. That disposes of the theory that they were compelled to leave. Do you know what the trouble was with her machinery, Commander?”
“Haven’t found out yet,” replied the officer. “We’ll have the engineers aboard as soon as Mr. Pauling is through inspection.”
“Didn’t see any signs of small boats near where you found her, did you?” inquired Rawlins.