submarine.

CHAPTER XI

CAUGHT IN A SEA OF GRASS

"It's all up with me and the ship, too," thought Andy as he stood in the
small chamber and watched the oncoming of the monster.

However, he was not going to die without a fight, so he raised the
electric gun. Yet he knew it was a most forlorn chance.

He aimed straight down the big open mouth and pulled the trigger. The
next instant the water all about him was a mass of foam, through which
he could dimly see that the whale had halted.

And, as the old hunter watched, in awe and fear at what he saw, he noted
that instead of one monster there seemed to be a pair. Together they
were threshing the sea into a bloody foam.

Then, turning on the searchlight in his helmet, Andy beheld a terrible
sight. The whale had been attacked by a gigantic swordfish at the moment
the hunter had fired the shot, and it was that, and not the electric
bullet, that had stopped the infuriated animal's rush at the ship.

Ancient enemies, the whale and swordfish, had met in mortal combat. The
swordfish had engaged the whale just as it was about to strike what
would probably have been a blow that would have disabled the submarine,
for with the door of the diving chamber open, the onslaught might not
have been withstood.

Rushing here and there, the whale seeking to destroy his enemy with a
sweep of the enormous flukes, and the swordfish plunging his bony weapon
again and again into the whale, the two monsters fought until the water
about the ship was a mass of foam and blood.

Much as he wanted to see the end of the fight, Andy knew it was
dangerous to remain longer with the door open.

He closed it, pressed the lever which started the pumps, forcing the
water from the chamber and, in a few minutes, emerged into the interior
of the ship.

Mr. Henderson, realizing that something out of the ordinary was going
on, had opened the slides of the bull's-eye windows, and those in the
submarine saw part of the fight between the whale and swordfish.

As soon as Andy had removed his diving suit he advised that the ship be
sent to the surface, as there might be danger should the monsters get
too close in their struggles.

Accordingly the pumps, which had been stopped when it was found
impossible to raise the ship, because of the weight of the whale, were
started and the _Porpoise_ was soon on the surface.

The manhole cover was opened and Andy, with Jack and Mark, went out on
deck. Th