CHAPTER II.
THE “WHITE SHARK.”
“Who hasn’t heard of Daniel Dancer?” cried Tom enthusiastically. “Why, as dad used to say, your name is almost a household word in the field of invention.”
The gray-haired man regarded him quizzically.
“Possibly it is,” he rejoined, “but at the present moment I am as much at sea regarding a mechanical problem as any tyro.”
He nodded his head in the direction of the model-bestrewn table.
“What I meant to make the crowning achievement of my career, my diving torpedo boat, the White Shark, is at present at a dead standstill.”
The two boys regarded him wonderingly.
“You mean that work on it is at a standstill?” inquired Jack presently.
“Precisely so. I have to face certain mechanical problems that have—I am free to admit it—fairly stumped me.”
“You see,” he continued briefly, “the White Shark is to be a combination diving and ‘skimming’ boat.”
The boys merely nodded and waited for Mr. Dancer to continue. Plainly, developments of possibly startling interest were at hand.
“But it is impossible for me to explain to you just what the White Shark is, and what I hope to accomplish with her, without affording you a view of the craft,” resumed Mr. Dancer; “if you feel strong enough I will show her to you.”
“But it seems to me that I read in a Boston paper some time ago that your work here was of the most secret sort,” said Jack.
“So far as the outside public is concerned such is the case,” was the reply, “but to my fellow laborers in the same field, as it were, I am glad to be of service and to provide them with an interesting sight; for I am vain enough to believe that the White Shark is one of the most remarkable craft in the world at the present time.”
“I should like to see it above all things,” cried Jack eagerly.
“The same here,” responded Tom, with expectant eyes, “I feel quite recovered from my shaking up.”
“That is good. Now if you will get up and follow me, I think I can show you something that will surprise you.”
So saying the inventor crossed the room to another door than the one by which he had entered. The boys, following him, found themselves in a big shed from which “ways” sloped down to the water’s edge. An extended view of the ocean was not possible, for two doors of stout construction barred the gaze of any curious person who might have tried to obtain a view of the White Shark from the sea.
But for these details the boys had no eyes. Their gaze was riveted on what, in outside appearance, at any rate, fully justified its designer’s appellation: “One of the most remarkable craft in the world.”
The White Shark was secured at the top of the ways, presumably ready to take a plunge into the element for which she was designed. She was about seventy feet in length, and shaped like a rather stout barrel with pointed, conical ends.
At one end was a propeller of bronze, and at the other a long tube, like a snout, or nose. This puzzled the boys greatly, but for the time they refrained from asking questions. The material of which the White Shark was constructed was a mystery also. It glistened like polished nickel and was as smooth and bright as a mirror.
“The White Shark is built throughout of Monel metal, a material that will not tarnish or corrode, but always remains bright,” explained Mr. Dancer.
Jack nodded his head.
“It’s something quite new, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s the invention of a friend of mine in New Jersey. It is almost as light and far stronger than aluminum.”
There was a ladder leaning against the side of the odd craft and Mr. Dancer, beckoning to the boys, signed them to follow him. He ascended the rungs with remarkable agility for a man of his apparent age and reached the top of the cylindrical craft long before the boys did.
The rounded top of the diving craft was as smooth and bright as its sides. A low rail ran round the “upper deck,” if such it could be called, and at first sight it appeared that there was no way of penetrating to the interior of the White Shark.
Mr. Dancer bent, however, and pressed a button, at first hardly discernible. A panel slid back noiselessly, revealing the first steps of a flight of steep stairs.
“One moment till I light your way,” said the inventor, “I don’t want you to fall down stairs and get into trouble twice in one day.”
He gave an odd, dry little laugh as he said this and reaching within, he pressed another button. There came a sharp click, and below them the fascinated boys saw the interior of the unique vessel illuminated by a soft white light of intense radiance.
“I invite you on board the White Shark,” said Mr. Dancer with a bow and a wave of his hand toward the entrance; “you will be the first outsiders to visit it.”
With hearts that beat a little faster than usual at the idea of the novel experience before them the two lads stepped within the opening and began the descent of the stairs.