Then they stepped up into a chamber in the conning tower of the boat and, after a door slipped shut beneath them, water slowly commenced to pour into the compartment.
When it was full a sliding door that was in front of them slowly opened and they passed out onto the deck of the underwater craft.
Steinholt had been provided with some welding apparatus and, in a few minutes, the box which Dirk had carried was attached securely to the bottom of the craft of the Lodorians.
They then reentered the submarine by reversing the process which had attended their exit. Very soon they were in the cabin of the boat again.
“If everything goes well,” said Dirk, “those damned Lodorians will never know what struck them.”
“I only hope,” said Steinholt, “that we don’t destroy that leviathan altogether. We might solve the secret of it and then we, too, could ride out into the heart of the universe.”
“It is impossible to imagine what will happen,” Dirk replied, “until after we launch our attack.”
Both of the men were silent during the return trip of the small undersea craft, which emerged at its dock a little before three-thirty in the morning.
“We’ll have to hurry,” urged Dirk nervously, “because we will need a little time to make preparations after we get back to Fragoni’s.”