The doors of the diving compartment clicked open and the chief diver disappeared.
Long minutes dragged by. There was no word from the man on whom they were pinning so much of their hopes.
Finally Charlie Gill staggered back into view. Tim knew from the sag of his shoulders that the mission had been useless.
Again the doors of the diving compartment were shut and he heard Gill’s voice coming over the wire into the receivers on Commander Ford’s head.
“We’re caught tight,” reported the diver. “There doesn’t seem to be a chance to escape.”
Tim looked down at the rusty treasure chests, piled in such a haphazard fashion on the floor of the outer diving compartment. All thought of the treasure had left their minds now. The one desire was to get back to the surface.
The S-18 quivered occasionally as new earth shocks rocked the bottom of the ocean.
Commander Ford put down the headset and turned back toward the control room.
“We’ll try it again,” he said.
The electrics hummed, the propellers threshing first one way and then another, but there was no upward movement of the submarine.