'The weather is all set fair. It is unlikely that we shall be caught in so, twice,' Vladimir sought to comfort her.
'And Atlantis is to be seen beneath us,' chipped in the Doctor cheerfully. 'For the ship can have drifted little in this glassy sea.'
That certainly was a thought of sufficient interest to intrigue most members of the party in spite of their first reluctance to go on this enforced descent, so without further protest they followed Slinger aft.
The McKay guessed the reason for Slinger's decision to order them all into the sphere and he was furious at it; for he knew that with the ship in its crippled condition Captain Ardow would have been compelled to wireless for assistance and had counted on being able to get his letter to the tender even if he had to go overboard and swim with it. However, he endeavoured to console himself with the thought that there were many fresh possibilities to talk over since the explosion; in the bathysphere they would at least be clear of their guards and so able to do so freely.
The same thought had occurred to Count Axel, but both were disappointed. Slinger announced that he had no intention of giving them the whole day to plot fresh trouble for him and in consequence Bozo had agreed to go down as a check on any scheming.
One by one they climbed into the sphere. The McKay was last and before he entered it he gave a long look at the sky. It was serene and cloudless but there was no unnatural stillness and as far as he could judge they had no need whatever to fear an unexpected return of bad weather. Actually he was not really afraid. He had often made trips in submarines without the least anxiety and the bathysphere had now been proved capable of withstanding pressure equally well even at the great depths to which it descended. He had only refused before from a natural caution and the feeling that some time or other the sphere would meet with a totally unexpected accident. However, it might well go down a hundred times before that happened and therefore the probabilities were all against this proving its unlucky day.
'Nelson Andy McKay, where are you?' called Sally from inside the big ball in sudden fear that he had remained outside with the intention of endeavouring to smash up Slinger after all.
'Coming m'dear,' he sang out with reassuring cheerfulness and began to wriggle through the small circular opening. The door was clamped on and at 8.45 the bathysphere went under water.
Slinger joined Captain Ardow on the bridge to wait for the tender to turn up and, at the same time, he began to keep a nervous eye on the sky towards the west to sight the approach of Oxford Kate's big plane.
They had their breakfast sent up to the chart-room and discussed Kate's possible reactions on his arrival, in a desultory, gloomy sort of way. Both knew that Mr. Kate was capable of being not only extremely unpleasant but definitely dangerous when his plans had gone awry. The Russian spoke little except to impress upon Slinger that the prisoners had not been committed to his care so that the lawyer was alone responsible and should be prepared for all the blame—which he would undoubtedly receive.
Ten o'clock came—eleven, and eleven-thirty. The bathysphere party had reached bottom and although they could not be towed in any direction, owing to the disablement of the ship, they had already asked once to be pulled up 300 feet, and then let down again, so obviously they had struck some portion of the sunken city and began blasting operations without delay. At eleven-forty a wisp of smoke was reported by the look out on the eastward horizon then, two minutes later Captain Ardow himself drew Slinger's attention to a speck in the sky to the west north westward. There could be little doubt that it was Kate's plane and, after circling overhead the big amphibian swooped down, cut the calm surface of the water, churning it into creamy foam and came to rest fifty yards from the ship.
Ardow had already given orders for a boat to be lowered and stood by the rail ready to receive his Chief. Slinger hovered near him, nervous and unhappy. He knew that his fears had not been without reason the moment Kate's head appeared over the side.
The plane being enclosed, the broad shouldered elegant Mr. Kate had no need of airmen's helmets or leather jackets. He was wearing a light grey lounge suit today and an experiment in violet shirting with socks to match. The 'old school tie' still adorned his neck but the face above it was as smooth and hard as the prow of a battleship.
Captain Ardow instinctively touched the peak of his uniform cap, and Slinger, forcing a pale smile to his lips, murmured, 'Well Chief—how's everything?'
Kate's cold eyes held him for a second. It was not his way to discuss business before the crew and he only asked quietly, 'Where are the passengers?'
'On the sea floor in the bathysphere. I thought it best to get them out of the way as we're expecting the tender from Punta Delgarda any moment. That's her you can see coming up in the distance.' Slinger pointed to the smoke stack, now grown larger, on the horizon.
'Right, we'll go up to the chart-room then.' Without another glance Kate led the way and the others followed.
As Slinger shut the door behind them his Chief swung round upon him. 'Now! What have you two been up to?'
'No responsibility for this rests on me,' declared Ardow boldly. 'For me the crew to discipline. For Slinger the passengers to guard. That was the arrangement.'
'Well, Slinger?' Kate's voice was quietly menacing.
'Damn it all I couldn't help it,' Slinger began to bluster. 'Count Axel—the Swede—you know, swung the lead yesterday. Pretended he was ill, pinched some dynamite from the Doctor's store, sneaked down into the hold while we thought he was in his cabin and blew the propeller shaft to blazes.'
'You think it a sound thing to leave dangerous explosives in the hands of your prisoners, eh?'
'Oh have a heart Chief, this stuff was intended for blasting operations under water.'
'Under water!' sneered Kate with icy contempt. 'Is that any reason to suppose that it would fail to explode in the air. The Count must be soft witted I think not to have blown the bridge up while he was at it and sent the two of you with half my men to Hell!'
'We didn't lose a man,' pleaded Slinger. 'Not even one of 178
the engine room hands received a scratch, and we had the whole party cold within thirty seconds of the explosion.'
'Why should you take credit for that? It was merely their own incompetence.'
'But Chief there's never been any question of their escaping or securing help. The whole bunch are every bit as much under your thumb as they were this time last week.'
'It's lucky for you they are, since I made this trip to see them. Ardow! get them pulled up at once.'
The Russian gave an order down the bridge telephone. Slinger felt just a shade easier in his mind. The implication was that Kate had not flown two thousand miles specially to berate him for his carelessness but had a more important reason for his return. After a moment he ventured:
'Did the New York papers play up on the radios we sent?'
'Oh the Press haven't had such a break in a generation,' the big square faced man in the grey suit stared moodily out of the chart-room window. He seemed to have forgotten Slinger's criminal negligence. 'The papers last night had headlines inches deep about the Duchess's death. It's a great human interest story of course—this poor little rich girl and her bunch of lovers. The Atlantis story alone would have made the editors' hearts rejoice when this crank of a Doctor started discovering mermaids, but with the Duchess in it as well even the marriage of King Karloff has been crowded out. But the innocent looking little devil tricked me and by God she's going to sweat for it. You just watch her eyes start out of her head when I tell her how.'
'Tricked,' exclaimed Slinger. He almost added, 'You,' but caught himself in time. 'Why are they contesting that will then—seriously?'