"Good enough," he told himself gleefully. "And now to get inside the U-boat before the sands shift back again."
Reluctantly he gave the signal to be raised away after lashing the air hose with which he had successfully accomplished the task fast to the conning tower of the U-boat.
By now he could feel his heart pounding fiercely while a fitful darkness obscured his sight. Well he knew these symptoms—he had stayed down longer than he should have. But with his signal for a lift he felt the cables tighten and then he was swept along through the water toward the surface. Soon they were hauling him over the side of the Nemo just when his senses were reeling.
"Boy, you stayed too long," he heard Captain Austin saying as the helmet was lifted and he breathed again the pure air of the surface.
He could only nod a reply. But within a few minutes he was himself again and able to talk.
"What success, lad?" Captain Austin was eager to know how he had gotten along.
Jay told him the story; how he had utilized the air hose in excavating the U-boat and how it now lay all exposed in its hastily improvised crater.
"Some one had better go down right away and see if they can pry into that conning tower," he counseled. "No telling when those sands will commence to shift back again with the undertow."
Immediately Dick Monaghan and Carl Weddigen stepped forward.
"Please, sir, I'd like to take a shot at it," offered Dick.