n him again, catching him up into a wild whirlpool, butting the
shell and flashing round to get its flukes into position. With a wrench,
Ken jammed the rudder over, shoved his accelerator flat, and got free
just as the tail thrashed down. He was breathing hard and sweating as he
banked around--to see once more the whale, its wicked jaws wide open,
charging directly at him.

For a moment he was unable to move. Such a mode of attack was totally
unexpected, and the sight held him fascinated. He could see the very
wrinkles of the monster's skin as it rushed in, with shadowy flukes
thrusting behind; could see the lines of dagger-like teeth, the
cavernous maw and gullet. And then all vision was blotted out as the
jaws closed around the torpoon's nose.

Ken did not wait for those jaws to crunch shut. He gripped the
nitro-shell gun's trigger and squeezed it back.

The weapon hissed, flung its shell. He reversed his engines to try and
tear free. Seconds dragged by with no result. Then he felt a mighty
jolt; his harness broke; and he was pitched into the torp's engine
controls.

That was all he knew, save for a vague feeling of falling, falling over
and over, which was ended when a second bone-shaking shock brought
complete oblivion....

* * * * *

It was darkness that met his eyes when they opened, the eery darkness of
the floor of the Polar Sea.

Darkness! Half-conscious as he was, he started in surprise. He looked
for the torp's shaded control board-lights, but could not find them.
Bewildered, he wondered what had happened, and then remembered the
whale. In its flurry it had smashed him down.

Pain was thumping his forehead where he had struck the control levers;
with a groan he twisted his body around and felt for his hand-flash. At
any rate, there was no water inside the body compartment. The seams had
resisted the blow. But why were there no lights?

He found his hand-flash, and its beam showed him the reason. Playing it
on the small water-tight door which separated the main compartment from
that in which the machinery was contained, he looked through its fused
quartz peep-hole. He gaped in consternation.

There was, after all, a leak in the torpoon's shell, and a bad one. The
machinery compartment was full of water.

"Gosh!" he muttered. "That means no light, no radio--no power! Guess I'm
stranded!"

He considered the situation. It was not serious, for he had been in
touch with the