To-night! This was indeed a scoop! If he hurried, he could catch the late afternoon editions with it. "I--I certainly thank you, Miss Stevens!" he exclaimed. "That'll make the front page!" As he grasped the door-knob, he added, turning to her father: "And I want to thank you too, Professor--and wish you good luck!" Then, with a hasty handshake, and a last smile of gratitude for Diane, he flung open the door and departed, unconscious that two young blue eyes followed his broad shoulders wistfully till they disappeared from view. * * * * * But Larry was unaware that he had made a favorable impression on Diane. He felt it was the reverse. As he headed toward the subway, that vivid blond goddess of the chase was uppermost in his thoughts. Soon she'd be off in the _Nereid_, bound for the mysterious regions under the Sargasso Sea, while in a few moments he'd be in the subway, bound under the prosaic East River for New York. No--damned if he would! Suddenly, with a wild inspiration, the young reporter altered his course, dove into the nearest phone booth and got his city editor on the wire. Scoop? This was just the first installment. He'd get a scoop that would fill a book! And his city editor tacitly O. K.'d the idea. With the result that when the _Nereid_ drew away from her wharf that night, on the start of her unparalleled voyage, Larry Hunter was a stowaway. * * * * * The place where he had succeeded in secreting himself was a small storeroom far aft, on one of the lower decks. There he huddled in the darkness, while the slow hours wore away, hearing only the low hum of the craft's vacuo-turbine and the flux of water running through her. From the way she rolled and pitched, he judged she was still proceeding along on the surface. Having eaten before he came aboard, he felt no hunger, but the close air and the dark quarters brought drowsiness. He slept. When he awoke it was still dark, of course, but a glance at his luminous wrist-watch told him it was morning now. And the fact that the rolling and pitching had ceased made him believe they were now running submerged. The urge for breakfast asserting itself, Larry drew a bar of chocolate from his pocket and munched on it. But this was scanty fare for a healthy young six-footer, accustomed to a liberal portion of ham and eggs. Furthermore, the lack of coffee made him realize that he was getting decidedly thirsty. The air, moreover, was getting pretty bad. "All in all, this hole wasn't exactly intended for a bedroom!" he reflected with a wry smile. Taking a chance, he opened the door a crack and sat there impatiently, while the interminable minutes ticked off. The _Nereid's_ turbine was humming now with a high, vibrant note that indicated they must be knocking off the knots at a lively clip. He wondered how far out they were, and how far down.