'
Another order echoed from aft. Strang's voice had a curious hollow sound,
like a shout in a tunnel. Ken felt the vessel rising beneath him.
Men sprang up the steel ladder leading to the conning tower. A moment
later the hatch flew open with a hollow clang, and the sea air gushed in,
freshening delightfully the thick oily atmosphere below.
At the same moment power was switched off the electric engines, and the
petrol motor broke into life with an appalling racket. The long,
cigar-like vessel trembled under the increased power.
'Can't we go up on deck?' muttered Roy who had joined Ken.
Ken shook his head. He knew that this was impossible, yet all the same it
was intolerably irksome to remain below without being able to see or take
a hand in what was going on.
More orders, and presently the submarine came to rest, and lay, with
hardly a movement, on the surface.
Williams turned and beckoned to Ken, and next moment Ken had his eyes
glued to the binoculars. In the circle of sea thrown on the mirror, the
first thing he saw was an untidy looking tramp, her rusty plates showing
as she rolled slowly to the slight sea.
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