Andy felt much refreshed the next morning and they decided to accompany Harry on his visit to the shipyard.
“It’s the finest tin fish I’ve ever seen,” said Bert, who had visited the Neptune the afternoon before. “They’ve got just about everything they need in it.”
“It is a wonderful boat,” admitted Harry proudly, “but I’ll have to confess that traveling in the Neptune won’t be able to compare with the Goliath. When we’re submerged the air isn’t any too good if we’re down three or four hours and we’re pretty cramped for space.”
“Let’s get under way,” said Andy. “I’m anxious to see this wonderful tin fish.”
They took a taxi across town, rolled over the Brooklyn bridge and fifteen minutes later were walking into the shipyard where the Neptune was being groomed for its polar trip.
The submarine was lying beside a stubby wharf with its main hatch open. Workmen were busy passing supplies down into its depths as Andy and his party arrived.
“My gosh,” exclaimed Andy. “I didn’t suppose you had a submarine of this type. It’s almost as big as one of the navy’s super-cruisers.”
“Just about,” agreed Harry. “As a matter-of-fact, this sub was built for naval purposes by the Seabright yards. They used it as a demonstrator in selling similar models to South American navies. It has just about every modern gadget on it that inventors could devise. As a result of this working model, the Seabright people landed contracts for about 25 million in work. The Neptune had served its purpose and they were willing to sell it to Gilbert Mathews at a very reasonable figure when he started looking for a ship in which to make the polar trip. The Seabright engineers have made all of the necessary changes for polar cruising and have just put their official approval on the Neptune, which means we’ll be starting north within a few days.”
“I’d like to see inside the Neptune,” said Blatz, adding, “I’ve never been in a submarine before.”
“All right,” agreed Harry, “but we’ll have to keep out of the way of the crew bringing in stores Let’s go.”