CHAPTER XIV
IN STRANGE PERIL
"What is it, Tom? What is it?" cried Mr. Damon, not stopping in thismoment of excitement to bless anything. "What is going to attack Nedand Koku?"
"I don't know," answered the young inventor. "It's some big fishevidently. I must get to the diving chamber!"
He gave a quick glance through the observation windows. Ned and thegiant were moving as fast as they could toward the side of the craftwhere they could enter. The black, shadowy form was nearer now, but itsnature could not be made out.
Calling to his force of assistants, Tom stood ready to let his chum andKoku out of the diving chamber as soon as the water should have beenpumped from it.
A little later, as they all stood waiting in tense eagerness, therecame a signal that the two divers had entered the side chamber. QuicklyTom turned the lever that closed the outer door.
"They're safe!" he exclaimed, as he started the pumps to working. Buteven as he spoke they felt a jar, and the submarine rolled partly overas if she had collided with some object. Yet this could not be, as shewas stationary on the floor of the ocean.
"Bless my cake of soap, Tom!" cried Mr. Damon, "what in the world isthat?"
"If it's an accident!" exclaimed Mr. Hardley, "I think it ought to beprevented. There have been too many happenings on this trip already. Ithought you said your submarine was safe for underwater trips!" hefairly snapped at Tom.
The young inventor gave one look at the irate man who was coming out inhis true colors. But it was no time to rebuke him. Too much yetremained to be done. Ned and Koku were still in the chamber andprotected from some unknown sea monster by only a comparatively thindoor. They must be inside to be perfectly safe.
Tom speeded up the pumps that were forcing the water from the chamberso the inner door could be opened. Eagerly he and his men watched thegauges to note when the last gallon should have been forced out by thecompressed air. Not until then would it be safe to let Ned and Kokustep into the interior of the craft.
The submarine had not ceased rolling from the force of the blow she hadreceived when there came another, and this time on the opposite side.Once more she rolled to a dangerous angle.
"Bless my tea biscuit!" cried Mr. Damon, "what is it all about, TomSwift?"
"I don't know," was the low-voiced answer, "unless a pair of monstersare attacking us on both sides alternately. But we'll soon learn. Theregoes the last of the water!"
The gauge showed that the diving chamber was empty. Quickly the innerdoors were opened, and, with their suits still dripping from theirimmersion in the salty sea, Ned and Koku stepped forth. In anothermoment their helmets were loosed from the bayonet catches, and theycould speak.
"What was it, Ned?" cried Tom.
"Big fish!" answered Koku.
"Two monster whales!" gasped Ned. "We barely got away from them!They're ramming the sub, Tom!"
As he spoke there came a blow on the port side, greater than either ofthe two preceding ones. Those in the M. N. 1 staggered about, and hadto hold on to objects to preserve their footing.
"Both at the same time!" cried Ned. "The two whales are coming at usboth at once!"
This was evidently the case. Tom Swift quickly hurried to the engineroom.
"What are you going to do?" asked Mr. Hardley. "You ought to dosomething! I'm not going to be killed down here by a whale. You've gotto do something, Swift! I've had enough of this!"
Tom did not deign an answer, but hurried on. Mr. Damon followed him,having seen that some of the sailors were helping Ned and Koku out ofthe diving suits.
"Are we in any danger, Tom?" asked the eccentric man.
"Yes; but I think it is easily remedied," was the answer. "We'll go upto the surface. I don't believe the whales will follow us. Or, if theydo, they can't do much damage when we are in motion. It's because weare stationary and they are moving that the blows seem so violent.Unless they collide head on with us, in the opposite direction to ours,we ought to be able to get clear of them. If they persist in followingus--"
He paused as he pulled over the lever that would send the M. N. 1 tothe surface.
"Well, what then?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Then we'll have to use some weapon, and I have several," finished theyoung inventor.
A few moments later the craft was in motion, not before, however, shewas struck another blow, but only a glancing one.
"We're puzzling them!" cried Tom.
Having done all that was possible for the time being, Tom hurried tothe observation chamber, followed by the others. There Tom switched onthe powerful lights. For a moment nothing was to be seen but theswirling, green water. Then, suddenly, a great shape came into view ofthe glass windows, followed by another.
"Whales!" cried Tom Swift. "And the largest I've ever seen."
It was true. Two immense specimens of the cetacean species were infront of the submarine, one on either bow, evidently much puzzled overthe glaring lights. They were bow-heads, and immense creatures, and itwould not take many blows from them to disable even a stouter craftthan was the submarine.
But the motion of the undersea ship, the bright lights, and possiblythe feel of her steel skin was evidently not to the liking of the seamonsters. One, indeed, came so close to the glass that he seemed aboutto try to break it, but, to the relief of all, he veered off, evidentlynot liking the look of what he saw.
Just once again, before the craft reached the surface, was thereanother blow, this time at the stern. But it was a parting tap, andnone others followed.
"They've gone!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, as the whales vanished from thesight of those in the forward cabin.
"Have you any adequate protection against these monsters of the deep?"asked Mr. Hardley in a fault-finding voice. "I should think you wouldhave taken precautions, Swift!"
He had dropped the formal "Mr." and seemed to treat Tom as an inferior.
"We have other protection than running away," said the young inventorquietly. "There are guns we can use, and, if the whales had been farenough away, I could have sent a small torpedo at them. Close by itwould be dangerous to use that, as it would operate on us just as thedepth bombs operated on the German submarines. However, I fancy we havenothing more to fear."
And Tom was right. When the surface was reached and the main hatchopened, the sea was calm and there was no sight of the whales. Theyevidently had had enough of their encounter with a steel fish, largereven than themselves.
"But they surely were monsters," said Ned, as he told of how he andKoku had sighted the animals; for a whale is an animal, and not a fish,though often mistakenly called one.
"Koku was for attacking them with his axe," went on Ned, "but Imotioned to him to beat it. We wouldn't have stood a show against suchcreatures. They were on us before we noticed their coming, but Ipresume the big submarine attracted them away from us."
"It might have been the lights you carried that drew them," suggestedTom. "I am glad you came out of it so well."
Mr. Hardley seemed to recover some of his former manners, once theperil was passed, but his conduct had been a revelation to Mr. Damon.
"Tom," said the eccentric man in private to the young inventor, "I'mdisgusted with that fellow. I don't see how I was ever bamboozled intotaking up his offer."
"I don't, either," replied Tom frankly. "But we're in for it now. We'veagreed to do certain things, and I'll carry out my end of the bargain.However, I won't put up with any of his nonsense. He's got to obeyorders on this ship! I know more than he thinks I do!"
The next two days the M. N. 1 progressed along on the surface, andnothing of moment occurred. Then, as they neared southern waters, andTom desired to make some observations of the character of the bottom,it was decided to submerge. Accordingly, one day the order was given.
Not until the gauge showed a hundred fathoms, or six hundred feet, didthe craft cease descending, and then she came to rest on the bottom ofthe sea--a greater depth than she had yet attained on th
is voyage.
"How beautiful!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, when Tom turned on the lights andthey looked out of the forward cabin windows. "How wonderful andbeautiful!"
Well might he say that, for they were resting on pure white sand, andabout them, growing on the bottom of this warm, tropical sea were greatcorals, purple and white, of wondrous shapes, waving plants like fernsand palms, and, amid it all, swam fish of queer shapes and beautifulcolors.
"This is worth waiting for!" murmured Ned. "If only moving pictures ofthis could be taken in colors, it would create a sensation."
"Perhaps I may try that some day," said Tom with a smile. "But just nowI have something else to do. Ned, are you game for another try in thediving dress? I want to see how it operates with a new air tank I'vefitted on. Want to try?"
"Sure I'll go out," was the ready answer. "It's nicer walking around onthis white sand than on the black mud where we saw the whales. You cansee better, too."
A little later he and one of the sailors were outside the submarine,walking around in the diving dress, while Tom and the others watchedthrough the glass windows. The new air tank seemed to be working well,for Ned, coming close to the window, signaled that he was verycomfortable.
He walked around with the sailor, breaking off bits of odd-shaped coralto bring back to Tom. Suddenly, as those inside the craft looked out,they saw the sailor turn from Ned's side, and with a warning hand,point to something evidently approaching. The next instant a queershape seemed to envelope Ned Newton, coming out from behind a ledge ofweed-draped coral. And a cry went up from those in the submarine as Nedwas seen to be enveloped in long, waving arms.
"An octopus!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my soul, Tom, an octopus has Ned!"
"No, it isn't that!" cried the young inventor hoarsely. "It's someother monster. It has only five arms--an octopus has eight! I've gotto save Ned!"
And he hurried toward the diving chamber, while the others, infascinated horror, looked at the diver who was in such strange peril.
Tom Swift and His Undersea Search; Or, the Treasure on the Floor of the Atlantic Page 14