"Where are the revolvers?" asked the captain.
"I found a dandy place for them, and can get them in a minute, if wanted," said Ralph.
"Captain, I wanted to ask you some time ago what you meant by saying that the sub-lieutenant didn't know any more about submarining than he ought to. What did you mean by that?" asked Alfred.
"One of the things I had in mind was, when he was trying to start the propellers, that he could have found an easier way to learn whether they were in the water or not," was the answer.
"How so?" asked Ralph.
"The indicator board in the conning tower shows just how far the vessel is under water," replied the captain.
"But," said Alfred, "would that tell it correctly if one end of the vessel should be up and the other down, as this is?"
"Why not? It would indicate how far down in the water the hull would be amidship, and it would not require much involved calculating to figure out where the stern of the vessel would be if he knew the angle at which the hull was resting," answered the captain.
"I would just like to know how far we are down," said Ralph, looking up the stairway into the conning tower.
"Do you think you could spot the right dial face if you went up?" asked the captain.