Into this storm the _Peacemaker_ was headed without hesitation. On board were the ensign, the inventor, Rob and Merritt. The two latter were to serve watch and watch in the engine room, while the inventor and the ensign placed themselves under a similar arrangement in the conning tower. Both Rob and Merritt were by this time fully conversant with the running of the _Peacemaker's_ intricate machinery and were trusted to the full by their superior officers. "Gee! This feels like being afloat in an empty bottle!" exclaimed Merritt as the _Peacemaker_ headed into the tumbling seas. "It sure does," responded Rob, hanging on to a handhold while he oiled a bearing. "I suppose they want to see how much she'll stand on the surface." "Wonder they wouldn't dive and give us a chance to get a little quiet," observed Merritt as the rolling, bucking _Peacemaker_ leaped, as it seemed, skyward and then plunged dizzily down again. "There must be a hummer of a sea outside. Guess, as I'm off duty, I'll go up and see what's doing," said Rob presently. He made his way with much difficulty toward the steel ladder leading into the conning tower. The passage could only be made by fits and starts, and the boy for the first time realized the necessity of the handholds placed at frequent intervals on the cabin walls, to which reference has already been made. Reaching the ladder he scrambled up into the conning tower, and, once inside, braced himself against the wild and erratic motions of the _Peacemaker_. To see through the lenses was impossible. The seas that swept over the little craft blurred the glass with green water and obscured everything outside. But on the _Peacemaker_ this condition did not matter. The contingency had been provided for. The long arm of the periscope with its "eye" on top had been raised, and it reached far above the biggest combers. In front of the helmsman, who happened to be Mr. Barr, was a big plate of ground glass on which every object outside was plainly shown, although of course in miniature. Those of my readers who have ever seen a "camera obscura" will recognize what I mean. Upon the ground glass, as within a picture frame, was reproduced the motion of the furious seas, the scurrying clouds and the angry storm wrack. It was an inspiring marine painting, with the motion and sweep that an actual painting could never possess. It thrilled Rob as he gazed at it and realized that it was through this pandemonium of the storm that the _Peacemaker_ was bravely fighting her way. "Better slow down a bit, hadn't I?" asked Mr. Barr as the _Peacemaker_, urged by her powerful engines, ploughed right through a mountainous sea. As she bored her way through the mighty wall of green water, a roar like that of a railroad train resounded and the craft pitched as if she were going to plunge to the bottom of the sea. This latter, in fact, Rob rather wished she would do. He knew that in the depths all would be quiet and undisturbed.