Seeing there was no further use in running the engines in an effort to check the downward rush the machines were stopped. Then they waited for whatever might happen.
Now that they seemed in imminent peril Washington was as cool as any one. He went about putting his kitchen in order and getting ready for the next meal as if they were sailing comfortably along on the surface of the ocean. As for old Andy he was nervous and frightened, and plainly showed it. With his gun in readiness he paced back and forth as if on the lookout for strange beasts or birds.
Bill and Tom were so alarmed that they were of little use in doing anything, and they were not disturbed in their staterooms where they went when it became known that the ship was unmanageable.
The boys and the professor, while greatly frightened at the unexpected turn of events, decided there was no use in giving way to foolish alarm. They realized they could do nothing but await developments.
At the same time they took every precaution. They piled all the bedding on the floor of the living room, so that the pillows and mattresses might form a sort of pad in case the ship was dashed down on the bottom of the big hole.
“Not that it would save us much,” Jack observed with a grim smile, “but somehow it sort of makes your mind easier.”
All this while the ship was being sucked down at a swift pace. The pointer of the gage, indicating the depth, kept moving around and soon they were several hundreds of miles below the surface of the earth.
The professor tried, by means of several instruments, to discover in which direction they were headed, and whether they were going straight down or at an angle. But some strange influence seemed to affect the gages and other pieces of apparatus, for the pointers and hands would swing in all directions, at one time indicating that they were going down, and, again, upward.
“There must be a strong current of electricity here,” Mr. Henderson said, “or else there is, as many suspect, a powerful magnet at the center of the earth, which we are nearing.”
“What will you do if the ship is pulled apart, or falls and is smashed?” asked Mark with much anxiety.