CHAPTER X Caught with the Goods
IT was morning. Captain Austin, won over by the arguments of Jay Thacker, one of his crack divers, had decided to postpone the return trip to Bridgeford twenty-four hours in order to give the Brighton lad a chance to work out a plan he had hatched while exploring the wreck of the submerged U-boat.
"You say you want us to anchor directly over the submarine and play you out a hundred feet of hydraulic hose?" asked the captain of the Nemo as he greeted Jay and Dick on deck after morning mess.
"Right you are," chirped Jay, "and I want the hose attached to the air pump just the same as you hitch up my own air lines—only I want all the pressure of air you can put behind this new hose line."
"You shall have it, my boy," replied the captain, and gave orders to various members of his crew to rig out the apparatus for which Jay had called.
"What's all this hose line?" chortled Larry Seymour as he watched Jay preparing again to go over the side of the Nemo. "Looks as though you are going down to spray the mermaids with a little hot air."
"Nothing doing, kiddo; it's a vacuum cleaner to scrub up Father Neptune's parlor," remarked Dick, who had been let in on Jay's plans.
Weddigen sauntered up like a pouter pigeon.