Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-08
PART /.


The lieutenant stood in front of the steel
sphere and gnawed piece of pine splinter.
what do you think of it, Steevens?' he
asked.
Its an idea said Stevens. in the tone
of one who keeps open mind
81 believe 1t Will smash-flat," said the
lieutenant.
He seems tc have calculated it all out
pretty well" said Stevens. still impartial.
"Eut think of its pressure" said the lieu
tenant. AT the surface of the water it's
fourteen pounds to the inch; thirty feet
down it's double that; sixty, treble; ninety.
four times. nine hundred, forty times; five
thousand three hundred-that's mile-its
two hundred and forty times fourteen
pounds; tha,'s-leCs see-thirty hundred
we;ght-a ton and half. Stevens. ton
and a half to the square inch. And the
ocean where he's going is five miles deep
That's seven and half
Sounds lot said Stevens, but it's
jolly thick STEEL
The lieutenant made no answer, but re-
summed his pine splinter. The object of their
conversation was huge globe of steel,
having all exterior of perhaps twenty feet
l. looked Ike the shot for some Titanic
piece of artillery. 1t was deliberately nested
III a monstrot.S scalfolding built into the
framework The vessel anu the gigantic
SparS that were presently to sling it over
board gave the stern of the ship appear
ance that had raised the curiosity of every
decent sailor who had sighted it, from the
pool of London to the tropic of Capricorn
In two places. one above the other. the
steel gave place to couple of circular win
dows of enormously thick glass. and one of
these. set in a steel frame of great solidity,
vas now partially unsCrewed. Both the men
had seen the interior of this globe for the
first time that morning. 1t was deliberately
Iadded with air cushions, with little studs
sunk between bullying pillows. to work the
simple mechanism of the affair. Everything
was deliberately padded. even the Myers
apparatus which absorb carbonic
acid and replace the oxygen inspired by its
tenant when he had crept in by the glass
rnanhole and had been screwed in. 1t was
so deliberately padded that a man might
have been fired from a gun in it with per-
feet safety. And it had to be, for presently
man was to crawl in through that glass
rnanhole, to ne screwed up tightly and to
he flung overheard and to sink down down.
Gown for five miles. even as the lieutenant
said 1t had taken the strongest hold of his
Imagination: it made him bore at mess.
and he found Stevens. the new arrival on
heard. a gndsend to talk to about it over
and over again.
that that glass will simply bend in and
bulge and smash under a pressure of that
sort. Dauhree has made rocks run like
water under big pressures-and you mark
my words
IF the glass lid break in said Stevens.
what then?'
The water would shoot in like jet of
iron. Have you ever felt jet of high
pressure water? 1t would hit as hard as
bullet 1t would simply smash him and
flatten him 1t would down his
throat and into his lungs; it would blow in
his ears
What a detailed imagination you have"
protested Stevens. who saw things wildly.
Its simple statement of the newt
able. said the lieutenant.
And the siobe?"
Would just give out few little bub-
bes. and ii would settle down comfortably
against the day of judgment, among the
oozes and the bottom lay-with poor FL
stead spread over his own smashed cush-
Ions like butter over bread"
He repeated the sentence though he
liked 1t very much. Like butter over
bread" he said.
Having a lcok at the Jigger?'' said
voice behind them. and Elstead stood be-
nlrd them. spick and span, in white. with
a cigarette between his teeth, and his eyes