“No, I shall use the electric gun that I have rigged up for this very purpose. Watch and you shall see.”
They entered the cabin, outside the window of which the whale still held his place, swimming along with the submarine. Once again, as they watched, they saw the great animal draw back as though to come full tilt, head on against the side of the vessel.
“And if he hits that glass it will be all up with us!” exclaimed Ned.
“Oh, the glass is strong, but still I do not wish to have him hit it,” remarked Dr. Klauss. “Now, if you will watch you will see something.”
He went to a small cabinet set in the wall of the cabin, and when it was opened there was disclosed a dial, not unlike that of a clock, with a movable pointer in the centre. Around the edge of the dial were letters and figures.
“This is my under-water electric gun,” said Dr. Klauss. “By moving this pointer about the dial I can point the muzzle of the gun in any direction. There are three guns, one on either side, and one in the bow. I will use the one on the side nearest the whale. You cannot see the gun, but you will see what it does.”
The boys, Professor Snodgrass, who had come into the main cabin, and Grace and her father looked on with interested and anxious eyes. The submarine was still shooting along under water, and the whale was keeping pace, every now and then drawing back as if for an attack.
“Watch!” suddenly cried Dr. Klauss. He quickly glanced out at the whale, as if to judge of his aim, and then swung the pointer of the dial about. There was a slight click, and the whale seemed to disappear in a smother of red foam. The submarine rushed on, but the great animal was nowhere to be seen.
“Why—why!” gasped Bob. “It—it’s gone!”
“I thought it would,” remarked the doctor, calmly. “I fired an electric bomb into the whale, and it exploded inside, killing the brute instantly. What you saw was really a slight lightning stroke hitting the creature.”