he
stern still held to the bottom. There were two other torpedoes, one
each side, amidships, and though the dragging to the tube of these heavy
weights was a job for all hands, Ross essayed it.

They were mounted on trucks, and with what mechanical aids and purchases
he could bring to bear, he and the subdued Foster labored at the task,
and in an hour had the starboard torpedo in the tube.

As he was expending weights, he did not take into the 'midship tank an
equal weight of water, as was usual to keep the boat in trim, and when
the torpedo, robbed of motive power and detonator, went out, the bow
lifted still higher, though the stern held, as was evidenced by the
grating sound from aft. The tide was drifting the boat along the bottom.

Another hour of hard, perspiring work rid them of the other torpedo, and
the boat now inclined at an angle of thirty degrees, down by the stern
because of the water in the engine room, but not yet at the critical
angle that caused the flooding of the after battery jars as the boat
sank.

Ross looked at the depth indicator, but found small comfort. It read off
a depth of about sixty feet, but this only meant the lift of the bow.
However, the propeller guard only occasionally struck the bottom now,
proving to Ross that, could he expend a very little more weight, the
boat would rise to the surface, where, even though he might not pump,
his periscope and conning-tower could be seen. He panted after his
labors until he had regained breath, then said to Foster:

"You next."

"I next? What do you mean?"

"You want to get to the surface, don't you?" said Ross, grimly. "You
expressed yourself as willing to do anything I might say, in order to
get to the surface. Well, strip off your coat, vest, and shoes, and
crawl into that tube."

"What? To drown? No, I will not."

"Yes, you will. Can you swim?"

"I can swim, but not when I am shot out of a gun."

"Then you'll drown. Peel off."

"I cannot. I cannot. Would you kill me?"

"Don't care much," answered Ross, quietly, "if I do. Only I don't want
your dead body in the boat. Come, now," he added, his voice rising. "I'm
giving you a chance for your life. I can swim, too, and would not
hesitate at going out that tube, if I were sure that the boat, deprived
of my weight, would rise. But I am not sure, so I send you, not only
because you are heavier than I, but because, as Miss Fleming must
remain, I prefer to remain, too, to live or die w