"Raise away, Larry; we're all set down here and anxious to get out of the way." In the small chamber of the _Nautilus_ both boys could hear the voice at the other end of the wire when the one holding the receiver kept it slightly removed from his ear. "Will take you up in two minutes," came the reply from Larry on the deck of the _Jules Verne_. The two minutes went by, but so far as the boys could tell the _Nautilus_ was not in motion. The depth dial still showed a submergence of eighty feet, the distance to the deck of the coal barge. "Must have forgotten us," mused Jay as he stepped again to the telephone. "Your two minutes are up and we are still waiting, Larry; better hurry it up." There was a pause, and then came the voice of Larry from the other end: "Cap wants to know whether you have set your time bomb and when it is to go off." "All set to go off at half-past one--in just a quarter of an hour," was Jay's rejoinder. Jay turned from the telephone with the statement to his chum that the air pump of the _Jules Verne_ was working none too well and that the chief engineer, with Cap Austin, was trying to find out what was the matter. "Well, all I've got to say is they better get it working before very long or you and I are in danger of being blown up when that bomb goes off in the coal barge directly underneath us," suggested Dick. He was not exactly an alarmist; but the situation had possibilities that did not appear at all inviting. "You forget there is another way for us to be raised," was Jay's come-back. Dick had forgotten for the moment. "You forget that when the air pump fails the _Nautilus_ is raised by steel cables. Deckmen wind us up with those huge winches that stand well forward on the _Jules Verne_ near the hatchway leading to the access tube." "Sure enough!" exclaimed Dick. This secondary method had quite escaped his memory for the present. Reassured, the boys put fear out of their minds and awaited developments. Five minutes sped by, and still nothing happened. Going to the telephone Jay asked again how they were getting along above. "Gee, pal, I'm sorry, but they don't seem to be making much headway as yet," came Larry's reply. As Jay listened he could tell that Captain Austin was talking to Larry. He could hear him mention the word "bomb." "Cap says it don't look like as though we could get the pump going in a hurry, so he is going to take no chances and will haul you up with the cables," sang out Larry in return. "All right, let 'er go, for the love of Mike!" yelled Jay.