ould be increased.

Gradually, the ghastly lines on David Pollard's cheeks began to soften.
His eyes gleamed.

"There's nothing wrong! We can run anywhere!" he shouted.

Yet there was something of hysteria in his voice. Nor was it long
before the others began to feel themselves similarly affected.

It was an eerie feeling that all hands had, running along like this,
blind and guessing, in the depths. Pollard was the only one aboard who
had ever been below before in a submarine boat. Though the rest had
faced the chances coolly enough, they now began to feel the strain.

Even when it is broad daylight on the surface, with the sun shining
brightly, the submarine boat, when a few fathoms below, is simply a
blinded, groping monster. There is no way of illuming the depths of
the ocean. Naval officers have suggested the placing of a powerful
electric light at the bow of the submarine craft, but, when tried, it
has been found quite useless. The light will not project far enough
ahead, through the dense water, to do any more than make the surrounding
darkness all the more trying to brave men's nerves.

"Take the wheel, Dave; it will steady you to have something to do,"
spoke the builder to the inventor. "As soon as you get the wheel, turn
the course to due south. Follow it to the line."

Jack Benson slid out of the helmsman's seat, giving way to the inventor,
and stepped down the stairway.

At the foot he came upon Eph and Hal, standing there, their faces
presenting a strange look.

"How do you find it?" asked Benson.

"Startling," replied Hal Hastings.

"Yet nothing is happening to us," contended Eph Somers, somewhat shaky
in his tones. "It's just thinking what might happen--if we were to
strike a water-logged old hull of some vessel, say."

"Or collide with a blue-fish," suggested Hal, with a short, nervous
laugh.

"I suppose we'll be used to this, after a few more trips," laughed Jack,
with an effort.

"Are _you_ scared, too?" asked Eph, keenly.

"Well, I can't say I feel wholly comfortable," admitted Jack Benson,
candidly.

"Then you're sitting down on your fears pretty well," declared young
Hastings, with an admiring look at his chum.

"We've got to," returned Jack, stoutly. "If we're to go into the
submarine boat line we've got to learn to look as though we liked
_anything_ under water."

"Let's take a look-in and see how Andrews likes it," proposed Eph.

Peeping through the door of the