At the sound of Bob’s voice the man and girl at the table started to their feet, and gazed in the direction of our friends. But because the latter were in comparative darkness, while the light shone brightly in the cabin, the features of the boys and Professor Snodgrass could not be made out. As a matter of fact Mr. Sheldon would not have known anyone but Bob, anyhow, since he had never seen the two chums.
“Uncle Nelson—Uncle Nelson!” called Bob. “And Cousin Grace! Is it possible?”
“Who—who are you?” asked Mr. Sheldon, sharply.
“Your nephew, Bob Baker,” was the answer. “How in the world did you get here? We’ve been looking all over for you.”
“You looking for us?” asked Mr. Sheldon, while Grace gasped in astonishment.
“Yes; ever since we heard of the Hassen being wrecked. We were looking for you in our airship, the Comet, and we found the steamer—it didn’t sink after all. Then we found the small boat you had been in, but it was empty. We thought——”
“We were picked up by Dr. Klauss,” interrupted Mr. Sheldon, as he came forward to greet his nephew. “It was providential, as we had no means of progressing, and our food and water were about gone. But how did you get here, and who are your friends?”
“Our airship was struck by lightning a little while ago,” Bob explained briefly, “and we fell down, almost on top of this submarine. Dr. Klauss took us in.”
“He seems to be in the rescuing business,” said Grace, with a smile, but Jerry thought he detected a look of fear on her face as her eyes looked toward the German inventor.
“This is Professor Snodgrass,” went on Bob, motioning to the little scientist, “and these are my best chums—Jerry Hopkins and Ned Slade. You must have heard of them, Uncle Nelson.”
“Of course I have!” exclaimed the gentleman, cordially.
“And so have I,” added Grace, with a welcoming smile. “Oh, how good it is to meet you all this way—and in such a strange way!”
“Yes, it is quite a coincidence,” agreed Dr. Klauss, and though he smiled there was no warmth in it—rather it was cold and calculating. “You mentioned that you had a nephew of an inventive turn of mind,” he said to Mr. Sheldon, “and you spoke of his airship—the Comet. As soon as you boys named the craft,” he said to Jerry, “I realized that I had a surprise in store for you. But I decided to let you find it out for yourselves.”
“And now for more detailed explanations,” remarked Mr. Sheldon. “I expect all our friends think we are drowned, Bob?”
“I’m afraid so. But they’ll soon know differently. We can send them word.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Mr. Sheldon in a low voice, as Dr. Klauss stepped back a moment, evidently to communicate with one of his crew. “Bob,” went on his uncle in a low, tense voice, “we’re in a peculiar position here. We’re practically prisoners of a madman aboard this submarine. He won’t set us ashore, nor put us on some other vessel. I don’t know what to do. But I’m glad you and your friends are here. Perhaps we can find some way of escape.
“Hush! Don’t say anything now! Don’t show that I have told you anything. Here he comes back. Act naturally. Yes, as I was saying, Bob, I’m very glad to see you,” and Mr. Sheldon spoke the last in loud tones.
Poor Bob, not much used to plotting and planning, did not know what to do. Fortunately, however, he realized the necessity for acting as though he had not just heard startling news. Jerry and Ned had seen that something was wrong, but they gave no sign. As for Professor Snodgrass, he was busy looking around the main cabin, where they had all assembled, in search of any stray bugs. He took no part in the talk then.
“Dr. Klauss was very kind to take us off our lonely little boat,” went on Mr. Sheldon.
“How did it happen?” asked Jerry.
“It was a mere accident,” said the German. “I had come up to renew my supply of air, and one of my men saw the small boat. Out of curiosity I went up to it, and found your friends.”
“And we were almost in despair,” said Grace.
“Oh, those few days were awful! Awful!” and she covered her eyes with her hands as though to shut out the sight and memory of what she and her father had passed through.
“You would have done better had you stayed on the Hassen, Uncle Nelson,” said Bob. “We found her afloat, and in good condition. That sailor said he was going to stick to her.”
“Good old Jacob Denton!” cried Grace. “He was very kind to us. We wanted him to come in our boat, but he would not.”
“What happened after you took to the lifeboat?” asked Ned.
“We drifted about at the mercy of the storm for a long time,” replied Mr. Sheldon. “Then we lost our oars—one pair was tossed overboard by a sailor who became crazed, and who leaped into the sea himself. Then the two other sailors, seeing a larger boat, jumped over the side to swim to her, using the other pair of oars as buoys. They reached her, and that left Grace and me alone.
“Gradually we lost sight of the other boats, and, having no way of propelling our craft, we had to drift. We had some food and water, which we used as sparingly as we could. We took shelter under the canvas at night, and just drifted—drifted. Oh, it was terrible! I want to forget it! Sometimes we would sight a vessel, but we could not seem to make anyone aboard see us. They did not come near enough.
“Then, when we were giving up in despair, we saw what seemed to be a whale approaching. Grace was very much frightened, fearing it was going to attack us. I was alarmed, too, but it proved to be this submarine. We were glad, indeed, to be taken aboard,” and he smiled at Dr. Klauss, who was looking sternly at his visitors, his arms folded, and standing erect, like a man posing for his statue.
“And so here we are,” concluded Mr. Sheldon, “but as if our rescue was not enough, here you boys come and are saved in the same way.”
“And in the nick of time, too,” added Jerry, gratefully.
“It was most fortunate for me,” said Professor Snodgrass, who had not been successful in finding any specimens, “very fortunate, for I need a submarine to enable me to get some hermit crabs from the bottom of the sea.”
Mr. Sheldon looked at Bob inquiringly, as though to ask if the scientist was altogether right in his mind.
“Oh, he’s always getting specimens,” explained the stout lad in a low voice, as Mr. Snodgrass went off in a hurry to get a green fly he saw crawling on the wall. “He’d go to the moon for a rare bug—if he could get there.”
“I see,” exclaimed Mr. Sheldon, with a laugh. “We all have our peculiarities.”
Bob wanted very much to ask his uncle what it was he had brought over from Germany with him, but the presence of Dr. Klauss deterred him. The youth realized that perhaps it was a secret that it would not be well to share with the strange commander of the Sonderbaar. And, too, Bob wanted to hear more about what his uncle had said as to their being prisoners. If the Sheldons were detained on board the boys and Professor Snodgrass would probably be in the same plight.
“There’s something queer here,” mused Bob. “I’ll have to talk it over with Jerry and Ned.”
“If you will excuse me for a little while,” said Dr. Klauss, rather stiffly, “I will see if we have air enough. I will also send you some dry clothing,” he added to the boys, for they had been drenched by the rain.
“How did you know the open boat you found was the one we had been in?” asked Grace of her cousin.
“Because of this,” Bob answered, holding out her handkerchief. “It has your name on it. But when we saw that no one was in the boat we feared, for a time, that you might have been drowned.”
“I was sure you had been picked up,” put in Jerry, “and I was right.”
“In a way, yes,” admitted Mr. Sheldon. “Though, more properly speaking, we were ‘picked down,’ for we had to go down to get into this boat. And we’ve been under water several times since.”
“Have you really navigated under water?” asked Ned with interest.
“Of course,” replied Grace. “At first I was horribly afraid, but now I don’t mind it very much.”
There was a sudden click, at which they all started, and the light went out. At the same time there was a queer lunging to the vessel. She seemed to be trying to stand on her bow’s end. Then on either side of the cabin appeared a glow of light, and the boys could see steel shutters sliding back from heavy plate glass windows.
Then, as the light near these windows increased, the motor boys found themselves gazing out into the sea, illuminated in some strange manner by hidden electric lamps on the side of the submarine. They could see fishes swimming about.
“Look!” cried Grace, clutching Bob by the arm, “we are under water now! The Sonderbaar is going to the bottom of the sea!”