Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1917-12-19
CHAPTER VI-Continued.

Donald heard him leap into the tor
pedO room below. A moment later his
voice came up the funnel. I'm ready
for the lady, sir!" he called.
Donald raised Ida in his arms and
lowered her through the tube.
after you, SIR" said Davies.
81 have assumed command, Davies,
Donald replied.
"Very well, sir" said the MILDLY quiz
etly, and descended. Donald followed
him. AS he jumped for the floor of
the torpedo room, he heard the scrap
Ing sound of fippers on the floor above.
But the creaking of the coming tower
door had ceased.
Were saved!" cried Donald. "Da-
yles, they can't force the coming
tower. OF course not. That sound is
one or two of the beasts who have
come down the matches. You closed
them?"
mo, sir. There wasn't time"
"Then they tried to get through the
coming tower, and hadn't reason
enough to know that they could get
through the matches ~ cried Donald
ioyfully.
Their reason won't get them down
the tube, sir, unless they've got bodies
as slim as ours" said Clouts. "And
they feel Iike-like barrels, sir" ne
added
Overhead, the scraping continued,
sometimes approaching the tube and
then receding. Presently there came
the sound of a commOtion. Donald
Inferred that the sea devils had found
the one that he had injured, and that
they were Satiating their horrible can
nibaliStic instincts. He heard a body
dragged this way and that, and a
dreadful rending.
After a while the swishing began
again, and a faint tapping of fiippers
against the walls, as if the creatures
were endeavOring to explore the in
terror of the ship. Occasionally q
faint, phosphorescent luminosity was
visible at the top of the tube. But the
monsters made no attempt to descend
into the torpedo room. An idea came
to Donald.
Davies! Listen to mel" he said.
'They don't know we're here"
mo, sir. l was thinking"
'That they have no sense Of smell"
"Yes, sir"
"And little hearing. At least, that
they distinguish sounds only as vibra-
TONS"
"Yes, sir. And of course their sense
Of sight must be extremely limited.
and so, roughly, that leaves them only
the use of taste and touch, but prob
ably developed far above our own"
We'll beat them, Davies"
If that's true as they can't hear
much, think, if I might, sir, I'll play
bit on my mouth organ" said Clouts.
Just low, humming, sir"
Right, Clouts," answered Donald.
But simultaneously with the first
notes there came from above a singu-
lar sound. It seemed to be very far
away; it was a single, mellow note, the
- HAOAAIIs anu SAN~' -
might have been a distant warning
Ouoy anchored amid the tides.
WHAT'S that, Davies" asked Don
aid.
1 don't know, sir. The lighthouse
stopped operating when the war broke
Out and the buoys were taken up"
Once more the sound was heard.
And suddenly Donald knew that he had
heard it before, the same note, though
mnnitely less powerful. 1t was the
sound of the finger on the bowl OF
water within the house in Baltimore.
Ihe Scraping in the passage ended
VI scurry and did not recur. All
through the night they crouched In
NE torpedo room, watching and sleep
Jug 0y turns, and the silence was bro
Aeh only by passing word and the oc-
SaSlonal tunefulness of Clouts' mouth
ley"