"She went like a flash."
"No, you caught her on the rudder," declared the captain.
"I think you've put her out of business. Yes, they're rising
to the surface."
The lad rapidly inserted another ball, and recharged the
cannon. Then he peered out into the water, illuminated by
the light of day overhead, as they were not far down. He
could see the Wonder rising to the surface. Clearly
something had happened.
"Maybe they're going to drop down on us from above, and
try to sink us," suggested the youth, while he stood ready
to fire again. "If they do--"
His words were interrupted by a slight jar throughout the
submarine.
"What was that?" cried the captain.
"Dad fired the bow gun at them, but I don't believe he hit
them," answered the young inventor.
"I wonder what damage I did? Guess we'll go to the surface
to find out."
Clearly the Wonder had given up the fight for the time
being. In fact, she had no weapon with which to respond to a
fusillade from her rival. Tom hastened forward and informed
his father of what had happened.
"If her steering gear is out of order, we may have a
chance to slip away," said Mr. Swift "We'll go up and see
what we can learn."
A few minutes later Tom, his father and Captain Weston
stepped from the conning tower, which was out of water, on
to the little flat deck a short distance away lay the
Wonder, and on her deck was Berg and a number of men,
evidently members of the crew.
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