“Yes.”
“How is that?”
“In the salt water there swims a fish called the bream, or sunfish. He is at once the most buoyant and generally agile of fish. He will furnish my model.”
“So you propose to model your boat after a fish?”
“Why not? All the necessary points may be obtained from the fish. For instance, I shall have in my boat a system of air reservoirs akin to the bladders of the fish, for the purpose of arising or descending, as necessity may require. Fins shall preserve the equilibrium, and a screw shall furnish the motive power. What more do I want?”
“How will you live without oxygen?”
“I shall have plenty of oxygen. I have already devised a system of electric and chemical generators which destroy the poisonous gases as readily as they create pure air. This will enable a perfect circulation to be kept up aboard the craft.”
Stanhope drew a deep breath and knocked the ashes from his cigar.
“You are too deep for me, Frank,” he said, sententiously. “To use a slang phrase—I am not in it. I wish you success in your emulation of Captain Nemo.”
“It is possible that I may fail,” said the young inventor, consulting his watch, “but I shall endeavor to win success.”