“I turn the ship over to you, sir,” said he, and collapsed on a stool, mopping the perspiration from his face.
“You’re a brick!” grunted Cassidy, picking up the course for Belize.
“Hooray for Bob!” came a thrilling shout from somewhere in the bowels of the craft. For an instant, the steel walls echoed with the jubilant yells of Carl, Dick, Gaines, Speake, and Clackett.
“It came near to taking the ginger all out of me, captain,” breathed Bob. “The novelty of the thing was mighty trying.”
Captain Nemo, junior, still strangely pale, was regarding the youth fixedly. For some moments after the cheering ceased he said nothing; then, leaning abruptly forward, he caught Bob’s hand. The captain’s own hand was as cold as ice.
“Captain!” the young fellow exclaimed, starting up, “there’s something wrong with you! Do you feel faint or——”
The captain waved his hand deprecatingly, and the calm, inscrutable smile hovered about his thin lips.
“Let that pass for a moment, my lad,” said he. “I was testing the Grampus, but, more than that, I was likewise testing you. Since we picked up Carl and Dick, off the Dolphin, and before that, while we were cruising about trying to find them, you have been serving your apprenticeship on the submarine. I have always had the utmost confidence in you, Bob Steele, and I have now, I think, tested your knowledge of the Grampus in a manner which leaves no room for doubt. You are able to run the boat, and to extricate her from any difficulties in which she might become entangled, as well, if not better, than I could do myself.”
Bob, from the captain’s manner, had suspected that the gray-haired inventor of the craft had tried to bring out all that was in him. Captain Nemo, junior, of course, had not been able to forecast the trouble that was to overtake the submarine in the bottom of the bay, but this dangerous experience had served only to show Bob’s resourcefulness to better advantage.
“You are cool-headed in time of danger,” proceeded the captain, “and, no matter what goes wrong, your ability is always on tap and can be brought to bear instantly upon anything you desire to accomplish.”