ated the air. Gasping for
life, half the engine crew retreated forward, covering their eyes and
noses to escape the asphyxiating vapor. With bloodshot eyes Chief
Engineer Blaine stumbled into the control chamber.

"Impossible to stay back there longer!" he exclaimed brokenly, addressing
himself to Hammond.

"Any chance of putting a bilge pump on the water?" asked Jack.

"Not a chance in the world; no man can work back there," replied
the engineer.

By now the gas had increased in such volume that every man in the
conning tower base was choking and coughing. The only thing to do in
such an emergency was to roll shut the steel partition shutting off
the engine room from the remainder of the vessel. To make matters
worse the lights throughout the _Monitor_ went out, leaving the vessel
in utter darkness.

"Every man out of the engine room?" asked Jack.

"I'll find out," answered Blaine.

In the darkness the chief engineer called off the names of his men,
getting a response, one by one, from the electricians, oilers and
machinists who composed his crew. Not a man was missing, but many of
them were suffering from the effects of near-strangulation. Jack
ordered the opening of the reserve oxygen tanks, and this gave the
sufferers temporary relief.

"Come here, Ted!" called Jack out of the darkness.

Groping his way to where his chum sat propped against the side of the
conning tower, Ted bent over the prostrate form of the ship's executive
officer.

"I'm growing weak, chum," said Jack feebly. "My limbs are numb and I
feel so cold. In case I go under keep the _Monitor_ down here about
half an hour and then take your chances on going up. Better to be
taken prisoners than die here like a lot of rats in a trap. Do you
understand, Ted?"

His teeth chattering with mingled fear and cold---fear for the life
of his old Brighton roommate and cold because of the falling temperature
due to the cutting off of all electrical energy---Ted answered in the
affirmative.

"I guess that's about all we can do, chum," he added.

Ted and Navigating Officer Binns conferred together in the control
chamber.

"Better to go up and take our chances on the surface than to remain
here under these conditions," counseled Binns.

"I agree with you, Mr. Binns," replied Ted.

And so, after another ten minutes' wait, the two decided to empty
the ballast tanks.

In another moment the weight of water filling the ballast tanks was
be