At first nothing could be seen but the dark water with myriads of fish swarming about the bright light, which appeared to attract them as moths are attracted to an arc light.
"Swing the light," ordered Mr. Barr; "bring it to bear a little more forward."
Rob obeyed, and the ray of light swung in an arc through the obscurity outside of the Peacemaker. All at once, with a sharp exclamation, Rob stopped it.
"Look! look!" he cried, pointing from the window.
They looked and saw before them what appeared to be a steep acclivity, ribbed and rocky as a mountain side. It was against this submerged cliff that the Peacemaker had struck.
"That submarine cliff appears to be of a soft formation," declared the ensign after a brief scrutiny; "our bow has driven into it."
"Then we are doomed to remain here?" asked Merritt with a bit of a quiver in his voice.
"Not necessarily. It's up to us now to do all we can to extricate ourselves."
"But how?"
The question came from Rob, whose voice, try as he would, persisted in faltering. It was an awful feeling to experience, this of being penned scores of fathoms beneath the ocean's surface in a diving boat.