“Our orders were to dive ‘at discretion.’ Hence, they don’t know when or where we dived. We won’t be missed for another twenty-four or even forty-eight hours, for they’ll naturally assume, if they don’t hear from us, that our radio set is out of commission again. Fortunately we got through our eight A. M. position-report. Even so, they don’t know how soon afterward we dived. Our oscillator was put out of commission by the crash, so it looks as if our chance of being located before our air gives out is too slim to bank on. However, we shall try to devise some means of getting word to the surface, in the hope that some stray vessel may pick up our message; but we can’t rely on any such long chance. “If we expect to come out of this alive, it looks as if we are thrown absolutely on our own resources. “Since we can’t get rid of that water forward, we will have to take that handicap and make it work to our advantage.” * * * * * “Go on, Skipper,” said Bud, who could not keep quiet any longer, the strain being too much for him. “I think I’ve got the same idea you have.” “Yes, old man, I guess we all have. But can we do it? Can we make this old boat stand on her head, so that the stern will stick out of the water far enough to cut a hole in the hull and get out, or at least assure us of an indefinite supply of fresh air? “It’s a big gamble! To accomplish it, we’ll have to use up a lot of our previous supply of air in the air-tanks, because to get her at a big enough angle, it will be necessary to use up a lot of that air to blow overboard all our fuel, fresh water and lubricating oil, all of which is carried far enough aft so that when blown overboard it will tend to raise the stern. “I don’t think the electric pumps will last long, because when we begin to get her at a little greater angle, the electrolyte will probably run out of the batteries, or the water will get to them, and even if this doesn’t cause a fire from short-circuits, or an explosion of the hydrogen gas, it will put our electrical power-plant out of commission. And the hand pumps are too slow for the enormous amount of water we have to handle, so it looks as if we will have to use a lot of our air. I think standing her on end is our one and only chance. Our lives depend upon the decision we are about to make. If any of you have any other ideas, let’s hear them.” “I have some plans for getting messages to the surface,” replied the ‘Exec,’ “but I think we had better go ahead with the stern plan without losing any time. We want to get our hole in the hull before nightfall, if possible, as we may be able to flag a passing ship. We can go ahead with my plan after we get the other job started.” The engineering officer said he had some plans about the oil slick that would be made on the surface by our fuel and lubricating oil, but that also could wait. * * * * *