CHAPTER II.

STANHOPE IS SATISFIED.

Frank Reade, Jr., led the way aboard the Dolphin without further delay. A portable platform extended along the side, which was provided with a handrail.

Frank explained this.

“You see this is provided with joints and hinges,” he said. “When the boat gets into motion this is easily folded up against the side of the boat, making the hull smooth, so that it offers no resistance to swift passage through the water.”

In the hull was cut a door, which opened by pressure upon an electric spring.

Its existence might never have been suspected at a cursory glance. The section of windows along each side were the same.

The body or hull of the Dolphin was composed of thin plates of steel closely riveted together. They were tough and capable of resisting a great pressure.

The hull was especially constructed for descending to great depths, where the pressure was liable to be very great.

The stern of the Dolphin was shaped like the broad tail of a fish. Beneath it was the rudder and screw propeller.

Lateral fins served to keep the boat’s equilibrium.

Forward were two huge bull’s-eye windows in which were set powerful searchlights.

In general this was a description of the exterior of the Dolphin. They now passed into the interior.

Passing through the door, which could be hermetically sealed in an instant, if necessary, they stood in a sort of vestibule.

A door led into the cabin. Here Frank paused and said:

“This is the vestibule. By its means one can leave the boat while it is under water.”

“Leave the boat while under water!” exclaimed Stanhope in surprise. “How on earth can you do that?”

“Easily enough,” replied Frank. “I have a diving suit with a storage tank and a generator connected with the helmet. By its means I can travel anywhere under water.”

“A diving suit!”

“Exactly.”

“That will do. But how can you open the door to leave the boat without flooding it?”

“By means of this vestibule.”

Frank placed his hands upon a stopcock; then he continued:

“If you wish to leave the boat, you enter the vestibule from the cabin, presuming that your diving suit is on. You close the cabin door behind you, open this valve, the vestibule fills with water. You open the outer door and walk out. When, you wish to return, simply enter the vestibule, close the outer door, then press this second valve. At once the water is pumped out of the vestibule by pneumatic pressure. When it is empty you may safely enter the cabin. See the idea?”

“Very simple,” agreed Stanhope; “but very ingenious. Lead on.”

They now passed into the cabin.

This was a literal revelation. The famous explorer gazed upon the scene with the deepest of admiration.

“I am captivated!” he declared. “It exceeds my most sanguine hopes. Frank, it is grand!”

The young inventor was much pleased with this rhapsody.

“I thought you would like it,” he said.

The cabin was furnished with the elegance of a fashionable salon. Expensive furnishing and draperies played their part.

Along the walls of the cabin extended the tubes of the generator which supplied the boat with pure air while under water.

These and the generator were examined curiously by Stanhope. Then they passed on into the living compartments of the boat, and thence to the engine-room.

Here was all the delicate electric machinery which furnished the motive power of the boat.

It was carefully inspected, as well as the mechanism of the reservoirs which regulated the descent and ascent of the Dolphin.

Then Frank led Stanhope to a neat little stateroom with a luxurious couch and said:

“These are your quarters, George. I trust they will suit you.”

“Well, I should say so!” cried the explorer. “You are too kind to me, Frank. This will be the greatest treat of my life.”

“Now,” said Frank, “I will demonstrate to you that the Dolphin is a submarine boat.”

“That is all that is left to be done,” said Stanhope: “You have verified everything else.”

“When I have proved to you the ability of the boat to travel under water, then will you be satisfied?”

“Perfectly.”

Frank shouted to Barney, who was forward in the pilot-house.

“Barney!”

“Ay, sor!” replied the Celt.

“Press valve No. ten, and switch off lever No. six.”

“All roight, sor.”

“Valve ten will hermetically seal every door and window,” explained Frank; “then lever six will open the sinking reservoir and we will go down.”

“Good!”

“If you are at all doubtful of the result, you shall witness the trial from the shore.”

“Never!” cried Stanhope, forcibly.

“All right, George.”

Suddenly the light in the cabin faded. There was a sinking sensation and all was deep gloom.

Then Frank shouted:

“Press key four, Barney.”

The Celt obeyed.

Instantly there was a flood of light in the cabin. Electric globes blazed in various quarters, and illumined the bottom of the tank as the boat reached it.

There was a gentle shock, and then the window shutters slid back. A fine view of the bed of the tank was had.

Stanhope gazed upon the spectacle with interest and wonderment.

He breathed as freely and regularly as ever, and the chemical air of the boat seemed fully as good as that of the upper part of the world.

For fully half an hour the boat remained at the bottom of the tank. The generators were a complete success.

Then Stanhope said:

“I am satisfied, Frank, that one could live indefinitely under water with your generator.”

“I am glad of that,” said Frank. “Now I will prove to you that the Dolphin can travel under water.”

This time Frank stepped into the pilot-house, and took the wheel. He pressed a key, which set the propellers in motion. Then the Dolphin glided forward.

Round and round the tank went the submarine boat.

Stanhope’s last doubt was removed. He caught Frank’s hands and wrung them.

“Enough!” he cried. “The submarine boat is a success. It will be the wonder of the world. Let us be off.”

“For the ocean?”

“Yes.”

“But,” said Frank, thoughtfully, “we ought to have some object in view.”

“I have one.”

“You have?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Come with me and I will tell you.”

The Dolphin had returned to the surface and lay along the side of the tank. Stanhope led the way from the boat and thence to the office.

Then he threw himself into a chair which was drawn up to a table.

Frank seated himself opposite.

Stanhope drew some papers from his pocket. He spread them out.

“You will see that this is a chart of the Pacific,” he said. “Here is a point westward from the Aleutian Isles which I have marked.”

Frank noted this.

“Now,” continued the great explorer, “I have a very strange story to tell you of this part of the sea.

“The story was given me by Captain Barclay, of the brig Helen, of San Francisco. It sounds like a fairy story.

“The Helen had left Calcutta six months previous and was in these waters through force of circumstances, having been blown thither by a terrific hurricane of a week’s duration.

“This had brought them into sealing waters. As the brig had run short of provisions, Captain Barclay decided to kill some seals for meat.

“Accordingly the boat was ordered out. The seals were quite plentiful, and it was easy to shoot them in the water, and by quick work secure them before they should sink.

“The boat’s crew were thus engaged when suddenly a thrilling thing occurred.

“It was a catastrophe wholly unlooked for and resulted most seriously for at least one member of the crew.

“This was Albert Tucker, the first mate, who was thrown far from the boat by a sudden shock. Some heavy body struck the boat and smashed it. In an instant the crew were struggling in the water.

“All but Tucker succeeded in getting upon the overturned long boat, and were rescued later by a relief party from the ship.

“Tucker’s fate was fearful. He was struggling in the water one hundred yards to leeward, and every man on the wrecked boat could see him, when an immense white body rose from the water.

“It was a tremendous whale of the very rare silver or white species. It rose close to the swimming man. We saw its huge mouth open, and then—Tucker disappeared from view.

“Now, the white or silver whale, so called, is really a tremendous species of shark.

“Of course all knew that Tucker had been swallowed by the monster. They feared for themselves, but the creature did not venture to attack them.”

Frank had listened to the narrative with interest, but he said:

“That is a thrilling story. But how can we do Tucker any good now?”

“We cannot, of course,” replied the explorer. “But I have not told you all yet. There is an under plot.”

“Indeed!”

“You see, Tucker was no ordinary man. A year previous he and his brother Valentine were prosperous in business in San Francisco. One day, Valentine had trouble with a bookkeeper in his employ and discharged him.

“Albert was a bachelor, but Valentine had a family, a happy wife and small children.

“The bookkeeper, Alden Vance, had threatened Valentine’s life, and the fact was well known that the feeling between them was not of the pleasantest.

“Vance was extremely dissipated, and had for a crony a low-browed ex-gambler, Duncan Crane. Thus matters stood when San Francisco one day was startled with a fearful horror.

“Valentine Tucker, going home from his business late one night, heard an awful cry of human agony from a narrow street near by.