octor.

"Certainly, sir."

"I should say, then, that this peculiarly constructed monster is the
result of human hands and ingenuity."

"In that case, it is not a monster at all."

"By no means; I am very much in the dark at present, but I am positive
that there is some wonderful mystery about this thing, which to my mind
is a sort of submarine ship, ingeniously constructed to sail under the
water for a time, and to come to the surface for a supply of fresh air
from time to time. In short; an electric submarine boat."

CHAPTER XII.

INSIDE OF THE "SEARCHER."

All three of the boys were greatly astonished.

"It beats the Dutch!" cried Carl.

"If that is so," said Mont, "there must be some internal mechanism to
make it work about."

"Evidently."

"It gives no sign of life."

"Not at present," answered the man of science. "But we have seen it
move. It has appeared and disappeared. Consequently, it must have hidden
machinery."

"Of course."

"So that we come to the conclusion, which is inevitable, that there must
be a man or men inside to direct the ship."

"Hurrah!" cried our hero; "I didn't think of that. We are saved if that
is so, and it must be as you say."

"Hum!" muttered the professor; "I don't know so much about that. If,
when it makes a start, it glides along the surface of the water, we are
all right; but if it goes down, we are lost."

"I've got an idea," said Mont, after a pause. "We must knock at the
door, and see if we can find anyone at home."

His companions laughed.

"I have searched carefully," said Carl, "but I can't find even a
manhole."

There was nothing to do but to wait until morning.

Mont wanted to keep his feet warm, so he amused himself by kicking his
heels upon the body beneath him.

"I'll wake 'em up," he said. "They shan't sleep if they won't let me
in."

Their safety depended absolutely upon the caprice of the mysterious
steersman who inhabited the ironclad, fish-shaped machine.

It seemed to the professor that before those inside descended again they
would have to open some hole to obtain air.

All were now very tired, wet, and hungry, and soon a raging thirst began
to attack them.

Our hero fancied he heard vague sounds beneath him, but could not be
sure.

Who were the strange beings that lived in the floating iron shell?

Kicking angrily upon the iron surface, Mont said:

"You are very inhospitable inside. I am hungry and thirsty. Do you wan