“What is your opinion, boys?” he asked. “You heard what he said; what do you think?”
“I think as Grace does,” declared Bob. “We are in a submarine with a madman!”
Jerry nodded his head slowly.
“That is my view,” he stated, in a low voice. “Either his imaginary wrongs, or his labors over this craft have turned his brain. He is certainly insane.” Ned indicated his acquiescence.
“Then, since we are agreed on that—and I may say I came to this conclusion some time ago,” went on Mr. Sheldon, “the next question is—what can we do?”
“We’ve got to do something,” declared Jerry, firmly. “It is risking our lives to stay here.”
“But how can we get away?” asked Ned. “If we were on an ordinary ship we would have some chance. We could drop overboard, if worse came to worst, and swim. Or we might lower a boat some dark night, and get away in that.
“But here we are, five hundred feet, more or less, under water. We don’t even know how to get out of this boat, save by the hatchway, and to open that under water would mean the death of all of us.”
“Of course!” exclaimed Jerry. “That is not to be thought of. But there must be some other way of getting out of this boat while under water, if what Dr. Klauss told Professor Snodgrass is true. You remember he spoke of going out in diving suits on the bottom of the sea. There must be some arrangement of double doors, and a water chamber in the side of the boat.”
“But, even if we did get out, what good would that do?” asked Ned. “We couldn’t swim home, and we couldn’t all live in diving suits. There must be some other way.”