"Hurry up and open the fore-hatch, Mr. Devoran, if you please. We're in for a run of bad luck, it seems."
Well might Captain Restronguet exclaim thus, for instead of the protective garb of light absorbing metal the submarine from stem to stern and from the top of the conning-tower to the keel was as black as a lump of coal.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE RESCUED ITALIANS.
As soon as the fore-hatch cover had been unshipped Captain Restronguet, accompanied by Devoran and Kenwyn, hastened on deck. Hythe, hearing the captain's exclamation, hurried after him.
The sky was now perfectly clear, the motion of the sea had almost subsided. But instead of the stinging, ozone-laden breeze a faint odour resembling that of rotten eggs seemed to pervade the air.
"H'm," ejaculated Captain Restronguet. "In spite of my faith in the high qualities of restronium the metal has played me false!"
"How so, sir?" asked the chief officer.
"It is not proof against the action of sulphur. Even now the air reeks of sulphur, and it was a sea highly charged with sulphur that the 'Aphrodite' passed through when she was in the immediate vicinity of the submarine volcano. Thus the silver in the alloy has been affected, and in place of a light-absorbing metal we have a dead-black surface."
"It is a serious look-out, sir," observed the sub.