CHAPTER XIII.
THE OWNER OF THE SUBMARINE MONSTER.
Of the two who had entered one was a negro, with intelligent but flat face, and short, woolly hair.
The other was a tall, handsome white man, with keen, searching eyes that looked into the very soul.
He wore a thick mustache, whiskers, and beard, and appeared to be an American.
He regarded the prisoners with a fixed gaze and said something to the negro in an unknown language, which was so sweet and soft that it seemed to be all vowels and no consonants.
At length he fixed his eyes upon the doctor, who, as the eldest of the party, seemed to be the leader of it. The professor made a low bow.
"I presume," he said, "that I am in the presence of the proprietor of this singular machine, and as I am a man of science I respect one who could conceive and carry out the idea of a submarine ship."
There was no answer.