“We will only pound on their door, sir. They will naturally imagine that the others have also been called.”
“Strong, it seems to me that your plan is a perfect one. In case there is nothing in the box we can say that it was a false alarm that roused us out.”
“And in case there is?” asked Ned solemnly.
“The United States Navy has a way of dealing with such men,” was the grim reply.
“Oh, Mr. Parry!” came a hail from the conning-tower at this moment.
“Yes, sir,” rejoined the officer, springing to the foot of the steel ladder, as he recognized Captain McGill’s voice.
“The hour on the surface is up. Will you have the necessary orders given for submersion?”
“Aye, aye, sir!” came the brisk response.
Instantly sharp commands rang out through the submarine. There was a clamor of metal and a hissing of intake valves as the salt water rushed into the submersion tanks. In the engine room, speed was reduced almost to the neutral point as the diving vessel sank. As her floors slanted and the downward, forward rush began, the dial hand on the wall of the cabin began to move.
Ten—twelve—twenty—forty—fifty—sixty, seventy—one hundred fathoms, and still it crawled round the gauge.