The Captain, from his bridge, carefully
superintended every detail of the operation. All signals he insisted on
attending to himself personally, transmitting them instantly by his bell
to the engineer below. The whole power of the steam engine had been
brought to bear on the windlass; the chains could withstand an enormous
strain. The wheels had been carefully oiled and tested beforehand; the
signalling apparatus had been subjected to the rigidest examination; and
every portion of the machinery had been proved to be in admirable
working order.
The chances of immediate and unforeseen danger, it is true, had been
somewhat diminished by all these precautions. The risk, nevertheless,
was fearful. The slightest accident or even carelessness might easily
lead to the most disastrous consequence.
Five minutes after two o'clock, the manhole being closed, the lamps lit,
and everything pronounced all right, the signal for the descent was
given, and the Nautilus immediately disappeared beneath the waters. A
double anxiety now possessed all on board the _Susquehanna_: the
prisoners in the Nautilus were in danger as well as the prisoners in the
Projectile. Marston and his friends, however, were anything but
disquieted on their own account, and, pencil in hand and noses flattened
on the glass plates, they examined carefully everything they could see
in the liquid masses through which they were descending.
Pages:
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440