"I tell you we can't sink to the bottom in this depth of water," interrupted the professor.
"We don't need to," put in Andy. "All I want is a diving suit and a chance to stand out in the diving chamber. I guess I can fix Mr. Whale, if I have one of those electric guns."
"Quick! Get a diving suit, Washington!" cried Mr. Henderson. He saw what the old hunter planned to do.
In a few minutes Andy was dressed in the suit. The attacks of the monster had redoubled in frequency, and the ship rocked as in a storm.
Andy stepped into the diving chamber, clasping the electric gun. The inner door was tightly closed and then the sea cocks that admitted water from the outside were opened. When the pressure inside the chamber was equal to that of the ocean outside some one pulled the lever that opened the outer door.
Andy knew better than to step outside. He remained in the chamber, like a sentinel hid in the embrasure of a wall, for the chamber was a sort of big dent in the side of the Porpoise.
Once more the ship rocked from a terrific blow, and the old hunter was nearly thrown out and into the fathomless depths below.
He clung to the door lever and peered out. Through the big glass eyes of his copper helmet he saw headed straight at him a whale that seemed larger than the submarine.