"Dick! Dick! Open your eyes. Speak to me," pleaded Jay.
And presently the eyes opened. Just for an instant and then closed again. Slowly but surely respiration became normal again. The splendid physique of the boy who had always taken good care of himself and lived a normal outdoor life was standing him good in the pinch. Where a weakling would have succumbed to such an ordeal the athletic Brighton student who had served his country so faithfully and efficiently in the Navy was pulling through.
After what seemed an eternity to Jay consciousness came back at last to his chum. Opening his eyes Dick gazed first into the face of his old "bunkie."
"It's you, Jay," he mumbled feebly.
"Yes, Dick, old boy, it's Jay," sobbed the latter. The strain had told on Jay. He was about ready to collapse but held himself together by sheer grit. And now he was rewarded, for Dick had been saved. Jay could only throw his arms around Fismes and hug the dog in his delight.
Jay told them all and in turn asked what had happened on the mother ship that had put the air pumps and the engines out of commission. Engineers were still working on repairs, and by now had succeeded in getting the engines working again. But it was some time before the air pumps were working.
In the meantime Dick responded wonderfully to treatment. For a time he was completely bewildered, knowing not what had happened to him, where he was and how he had been brought back again safe on the Jules Verne. But slowly it all came back to him and he was able to tell what had happened to him.
It developed that just as he had lowered away through the trap of the Nautilus to follow Jay in a desperate effort to escape to the surface from the depths the bomb in the coal barge had exploded. Just as he had dipped his head into the water it had gone off. Caught off balance in an awkward position before he had had a chance to dive from the deck of the barge, he had been flung against the steel side of the Nautilus. He had felt the impact, and then he knew nothing more, for the blow had rendered him unconscious.
And then, in turn, Dick heard the story of how his body had been discovered floating in the water, and how Fismes had dived overboard to the rescue, and held his friend safely until a rescue boat picked them both up. Dick's eyes gleamed as he heard of the splendid part played in the rescue by the war dog.
"Where is he?" asked the Brighton boy.