Chapter Seventeen
The Race
Directed by Captain Weston, who glanced at the compass and told himwhich way to steer to clear the outer coral reef, Tom sent thesubmarine ahead, signaling for full speed to the engine-room, where hisfather and Mr. Sharp were. The big dynamos purred like great cats, asthey sent the electrical energy into the forward and aft plates,pulling and pushing the Advance forward. On and on she rushed underwater, but ever as she shot ahead the disturbance in the phosphorescentwater showed her position plainly. She would be easy to follow.
"Can't you get any more speed out of her?" asked the captain of the lad.
"Yes," was the quick reply; "by using the auxiliary screws I think wecan. I'll try it."
He signaled for the propellers, forward and aft, to be put inoperation, and the motor moving the twin screws was turned on. At oncethere was a perceptible increase to the speed of the Advance.
"Are we leaving them behind?" asked Tom anxiously, as he glanced at thespeed gage, and noted that the submarine was now about five hundredfeet below the surface.
"Hard to tell," replied the Captain. "You'd have to take an observationto make sure."
"I'll do it," cried the youth. "You steer, please, and I'll go in theconning tower. I can look forward and aft there, as well as straightup. Maybe I can see the Wonder."
Springing up the circular ladder leading into the tower, Tom glancedthrough the windows all about the small pilot house. He saw a curioussight. It was as if the submarine was in a sea of yellowish liquidfire. She was immersed in water which glowed with the flames thatcontained no heat. So light was it, in fact, that there was no need ofthe incandescents in the tower. The young inventor could have seen toread a paper by the illumination of the phosphorus. But he hadsomething else to do than observe this phenomenon. He wanted to see ifhe could catch sight of the rival submarine.
At first he could make out nothing save the swirl and boiling of thesea, caused by the progress of the Advance through it. But suddenly, ashe looked up, he was aware of some great, black body a little to therear and about ten feet above his craft.
"A shark!" he exclaimed aloud. "An immense one, too."
But the closer he looked the less it seemed like a shark. The positionof the black object changed. It appeared to settle down, to beapproaching the top of the conning tower. Then, with a suddenness thatunnerved him for the time being, Tom recognized what it was; it was theunderside of a ship. He could see the plates riveted together, andthen, as he noted the rounded, cylindrical shape, he knew that it was asubmarine. It was the Wonder. She was close at hand and was creeping upon the Advance. But, what was more dangerous, she seemed to be slowlysettling in the water. Another moment and her great screws might crashinto the Conning tower of the Swifts' boat and shave it off. Then thewater would rush in, drowning the treasure-seekers like rats in a trap.
With a quick motion Tom yanked over the lever that allowed more waterto flow into the ballast tanks. The effect was at once apparent. TheAdvance shot down toward the bottom of the sea. At the same time theyoung inventor signaled to Captain Weston to notify those in theengine-room to put on a little more speed. The Advance fairly leapedahead, and the lad, looking up through the bull's-eye in the roof ofthe conning tower, had the satisfaction of seeing the rival submarineleft behind.
The youth hurried down into the interior of the ship to tell what hehad seen, and explain the reason for opening the ballast tanks. Hefound his father and Mr. Sharp somewhat excited over the unexpectedmaneuver of the craft.
"So they're still following us," murmured Mr. Swift. "I don't see whywe can't shake them off."
"It's on account of this luminous water," explained Captain Weston."Once we are clear of that it will be easy, I think, to give them theslip. That is, if we can get out of their sight long enough. Of course,if they keep close after us, they can pick us up with theirsearchlight, for I suppose they carry one."
"Yes," admitted the aged inventor, "they have as strong a one as wehave. In fact, their ship is second only to this one in speed andpower. I know, for Bentley & Eagert showed me some of the plans beforethey started it, and asked my opinion. This was before I had the notionof building a submarine. Yes, I am afraid we'll have trouble gettingaway from them."
"I can't understand this phosphorescent glow keeping up so long,"remarked Captain Weston. "I've seen it in this locality several times,but it never covered such an extent of the ocean in my time. Theremust be changed conditions here now."
For an hour or more the race was kept up, and the two submarines forgedahead through the glowing sea. The Wonder remained slightly above andto the rear of the other, the better to keep sight of her, and thoughthe Advance was run to her limit of speed, her rival could not beshaken off. Clearly the Wonder was a speedy craft.
"It's too bad that we've got to fight them, as well as run the risk oflots of other troubles which are always present when sailing underwater," observed Mr Damon, who wandered about the submarine like thenervous person he was. "Bless my shirt-studs! Can't we blow them up, orcripple them in some way? They have no right to go after our treasure."
"Well, I guess they've got as much right as we have," declared Tom. "Itgoes to whoever reaches the wreck first. But what I don't like istheir mean, sneaking way of doing it. If they went off on their ownhook and looked for it I wouldn't say a word. But they expect us tolead them to the wreck, and then they'll rob us if they can. That's notfair."
"Indeed, it isn't," agreed Captain Weston, "if I may be allowed theexpression. We ought to find some way of stopping them. But, if I'm notmistaken," he added quickly, looking from one of the port bull's-eyes,"the phosphorescent glow is lessening. I believe we are running beyondthat part of the ocean."
There was no doubt of it, the glow was growing less and less, and tenminutes later the Advance was speeding along through a sea as black asnight. Then, to avoid running into some wreck, it was necessary to turnon the searchlight.
"Are they still after us?" asked Mr. Swift of his son, as he emergedfrom the engine-room, where he had gone to make some adjustments to themachinery, with the hope of increasing the speed.
"I'll go look," volunteered the lad. He climbed up into the conningtower again, and for a moment, as he gazed back into the black watersswirling all about, he hoped that they had lost the Wonder. But amoment later his heart sank as he caught sight, through the liquidelement, of the flickering gleams of another searchlight, the raysundulating through the sea.
"Still following," murmured the young inventor. "They're not going togive up. But we must make 'em--that's all."
He went down to report what he had seen, and a consultation was held.Captain Weston carefully studied the charts of that part of the ocean,and finding that there was a great depth of water at hand, proposed aseries of evolutions.
"We can go up and down, shoot first to one side and then to the other,"he explained. "We can even drop down to the bottom and rest there for awhile. Perhaps, in that way, we can shake them off."
They tried it. The Advance was sent up until her conning tower was outof the water, and then she was suddenly forced down until she was but afew feet from the bottom. She darted to the left, to the right, andeven doubled and went back over the course she had taken. But all to nopurpose. The Wonder proved fully as speedy, and those in her seemed toknow just how to handle the submarine, so that every evolution of theAdvance was duplicated. Her rival could not be shaken off.
All night this was kept up, and when morning came, though only theclocks told it, for eternal night was below the surface, the rivalgold-seekers were still on the trail.
"They won't give up," declared Mr. Swift hopelessly.
"No, we've got to race them for it, just as Berg proposed," admittedTom. "But if they want a straightaway race we'll give it to 'em. Let'srun her to the limit, dad."
"That's what we've been doing, Tom."
"No, not exactly, for we've been submerged a little too much to get thebest speed out o
f our craft. Let's go a little nearer the surface, andgive them the best race they'll ever have."
Then the race began; and such a contest of speed as it was! With herpropellers working to the limit, and every volt of electricity that wasavailable forced into the forward and aft plates, the Advance surgedthrough the water, about ten feet below the surface. But the Wonderkept after her, giving her knot for knot. The course of the leadingsubmarine was easy to trace now, in the morning light which penetratedten feet down.
"No use," remarked Tom again, when, after two hours, the Wonder wasstill close behind them. "Our only chance is that they may have abreakdown."
"Or run out of air, or something like that," added Captain Weston."They are crowding us pretty close. I had no idea they could keep upthis speed. If they don't look out," he went on as he looked from oneof the aft observation windows, "they'll foul us, and--"
His remarks were interrupted by a jar to the Advance. She seemed toshiver and careened to one side. Then came another bump.
"Slow down!" cried the captain, rushing toward the pilot house.
"What's the matter?" asked Tom, as he threw the engines and electricalmachines out of gear. "Have we hit anything?"
"No. Something has hit us," cried the captain. "Their submarine hasrammed us."
"Rammed us!" repeated Mr. Swift. "Tom, run out the electric cannon!They're trying to sink us! We'll have to fight them. Run out the sternelectric gun and we'll make them wish they'd not followed us."
Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat; Or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure Page 17
