rough a small hole in it,
which had been cut for ventilation.

Then Barton's voice came ringing out:

"Don't come a step closer unless you want to get a bullet in you."

"What's the matter, man, are you mad?" exclaimed Mr. Barr.

A shriek of demoniacal laughter was the sole response.

It sent a shudder through everyone who heard it. The man was mad,
violently insane. The seeds of lunacy, which had been germinating in his
brain for a long time, had burst forth into a terrible harvest.

"And on that man everyone of our lives depends," breathed the ensign.

Then in a louder tone, which rang with authority:

"Barton, did you take that ascending lever?"

"Yes; ha-ha-ha! It's a good joke on you! You thought you'd put me in
prison, but now we'll all die together."

"Barton," pleaded Mr. Barr, "be rational. Return that lever and you
shall have immunity."

"It's too late now!" screamed the demented wretch. "We'll all die
together in the depths of the sea, where dead men's bones rot and the
fish eat their eyes out."

A hasty consultation followed between the ensign and Mr. Barr. The man
was undoubtedly violently insane, and there didn't seem a chance in the
world of dislodging him from his position.

The situation was the more serious from the fact that the fresh air
devices were not working properly and the air inside the submarine was
already getting noticeably stale and foul.

"We must rush that door; it's our only chance," declared the officer in
a whispered voice.

"But he is liable to shoot," objected Mr. Barr, eying the blued-steel
muzzle of the revolver which was pointed threateningly at them.

"It cannot be helped. It means death in a fearful form if we do not
dislodge him from that position, and a man in his condition cannot
listen to reason."

"Well, what do you propose?"

"That you start talking to him to distract his attention, offer him
money or anything to give up the lever. Then I'll watch my chance and
rush in on him; thank goodness, that door has no lock on it."

"Barton!" said Mr. Barr, in a resonant voice.

"Well?" snarled the lunatic.

"Be calm now and listen to reason. Is it money you wish?"

"No, blood! Human lives!" shrieked the maniac.

At precisely that instant, like a projectile from a gun the ensign's
powerful body shot forward. Crash came his solid one hundred and
eighty-five pounds against the door.

At the same instant there was another crash, the sharp crack of a
revo