Marking his opportunity Hythe planted his crowbar fairly through the eel's back. To any creature but a member of the fish tribe such a blow would have proved instantly fatal, but the conger only fought the more, till O'Shaunessey and Carnon cut its body into four pieces with their axes. Even then the severed portions continued to writhe. But the victory had been won, and once again Captain Restronguet led the way towards the lost submarine.
Half an hour's steady walking--the pace being about two miles an hour--brought the explorers to the ledge on which the ill-fated "La Flamme" lay. Bending his knees Captain Restronguet gave a rapid upward spring that took him nearly ten feet from the level of the channel, and sufficient for his outstretched hand to obtain a grip upon the edge of the rocky shelf. The sub, the quartermaster, O'Shaunessey, and lastly Kenwyn followed and gained the upper part of the rock, the only accident being that O'Shaunessey incautiously grasped the bracket of the sunken vessel's propeller shafting, with the result that his bare hands were badly lacerated by the knife-like edges of the barnacles.
To all outward appearance "La Flamme" was intact, but by removing the coating of molluscs and seaweed Captain Restronguet was able to point out a fracture about two feet from the bows.
Carclew and the Irishman next attacked the hatch abaft the conning-tower. Constructed to resist enormous pressure from without it was nevertheless comparatively easy to wrench up the steel covering that was held only in position by a gun-metal securing-bolt. The hatch was swung back and the cavity, within which the tragedy of two years' standing had hitherto been carefully guarded, lay open to inspection. But somehow even those strong-minded men--nerved to face hourly dangers beneath the surface of the fickle sea--hesitated. They stood around the open hatchway, looking at the repellent aperture, and at each other, till overcoming his repugnance the captain switched on his electric lamp, turned his face to the rusted steel ladder and descended.
Although now thoroughly loathing the task he had taken in hand Hythe felt compelled to follow. Not so the others: they remained on the slippery, weed-garbed deck.
The sub had steeled himself to see a gruesome sight, but his anticipations were excelled. In the pale light of the electric lamps he saw a scene so ghastly that his cast-iron nerve wellnigh broke down.
Every portion of the metal work of the interior bore traces of the corrosive action of the sulphuric acid, which escaping from the batteries had spread from end to end of the doomed craft. Luckily for the two adventurers the acid had long since exhausted its energies, otherwise their metallic dresses would have been eaten through by the powerful corrosive.
Almost the first compartment Hythe examined was the air-lock--that vaunted contrivance by which it was stoutly asserted that the crew of a disabled and waterlogged submarine could escape. Here were the skeletons of two men both overpowered in the act of attempting to draw the life-saving helmets over their heads. By the contortions of their bones it was fairly evident that they had struggled hard. Of the fifteen helmets only three had been removed from their places; twelve of the crew had been unable even to reach the place where safety had been promised, but where the promise had utterly failed.
Lying across the crank case of one of the motors was another body, blackened by sea water and petrol. Apparently this was one of the mechanicians who had by the impact been thrown across the powerful machinery, for his vertebra had been completely fractured. Grasped in the grisly hand was an oil-can. The poor fellow had literally died at his post. A clock on the motor-room bulkhead had stopped at a quarter to five.
Aft, the scene was even more horrible. Huddled together, some locked in each other's arms, others still in the act of vainly trying to raise themselves from their steel tomb, were nine corpses. Apparently as "La Flamme" sank she plunged bows foremost. These men had contrived to make their way aft, where the imprisoned air, compressed to several atmospheres, had been sufficient to prolong life for several minutes--literally periods of physical and mental torture.