clad in his suit and sucking in the incomparably fresher, though
artificial, air of the units. As he had hoped, that air was
revitalizing the worn-out bodies rapidly, giving them new strength and
clearing their brains. His plan required that--strength for the men to
move and act for themselves--sane heads!

The plan was basically simple. Bringing his best concentration to the
all-important details, Ken started to build the road to the world
above.

First he opened the inner door of the starboard port-lock, wherein lay
his torpoon. Opening the entrance panel of the steel shell, he quickly
transferred within the cans of compressed food retrieved from the
second compartment. When he had finished, there was left barely room
for the pilot's body.

And then the nitromite.

The explosive was carried by the _Peary_ for the blasting of such ice
floes as might trap her. It was contained for chemical stability in a
half dozen six-inch-square, water-proof boxes, strung one after
another on an interconnecting wired rope. Ken would need them all; he
wished he had five times as many. It would not matter if the whole of
the _Peary_ were shattered to slivers.

Ken tied the rope of boxes into a strong unit, as small as it could be
made. Firing and timing mechanisms were contained in each unit: he
would only have to set one of them. He wrapped the whole charge,
except for one small corner, in several pieces of the men's discarded
clothing--monkey jackets, thick sweaters, a dirty towel--and stuffed
it in an empty tin container for sea-biscuits.

* * * * *

All this had taken only minutes. But in those minutes the quarsteel of
the watertight door had been subjected to half a dozen smashing blows,
and already a flaw had appeared in the pane. Another grinding crunch,
and there would be the visible beginning of a crack. Three more,
perhaps, and the door would be down.

But the plan was laid, the counter move ready; and, as Sallorsen and
Lawson, last of them all, got into suits, Ken Torrance, in short,
gasping sentences, explained it.

"All the nitromite's in this," Ken said. "I hope it's enough. In a
moment I'll set the timing to explode it in one minute--then eject it
from the empty torpoon port-lock. It's a gamble, but I think the
explosion should kill every damned seal around the sub. Water carries
such shocks for miles, so it should stun, if not kill, all the others
within a long radius. See? We'