Jack closed his eyes again and murmured a prayer of thanks for his safe deliverance and for the life of his lieutenant. "Was the _Dewey_ damaged by the mine explosion?" he asked. Ted replied that so far as could be determined no serious damage had been inflicted, although Officer Cleary had expressed some apprehension as to the condition of the port seams forward on the under side of the hull. The examination was still in progress. For an hour Jack rested quietly in his bunk. The _Dewey_ had submerged after taking aboard the half-drowned commander and his rescuer, and at a safe depth gotten safely out of the zone of danger. Now she had come to the surface again for further examination of her hull. Jack and Ted were conversing in low tones, when Bill Witt stumbled along the passageway leading into the men's quarters and stopped beside Jack. His face was stern. "What's the matter, Bill---you seasick?" queried Ted. "Wish that's all it was," muttered Bill. "Tell us, what's up?" pressed Ted. "Isn't very cheery news for a fellow knocked out like Jack after making such a plucky fight for his life and saving his lieutenant," answered Bill with a shrug of his broad shoulders. Jack smiled. "If I survived that, I guess I can hear what's troubling you," was his reply. "Well, it's bad news, boys---mighty bad," went on Bill. "Chief Engineer Blaine reports a leak in the main oil reservoir to starboard. That mine explosion loosened up the seams and the fuel stuff is slowly but steadily streaming into the deep blue sea!" CHAPTER IX VIVE LA FRANCE! Ted ran aft to the engine room to get a fuller report on the new danger that confronted the _Dewey_. There he found that what Bill Witt had said was only too true. Either portions of the flying steel from the exploded mine had punctured the skin of the submarine, or else the plates had been loosened by the detonation. The oil was leaking away at an alarming rate and there was no way here in the open sea to get at the leak. The _Dewey_ would have to go into drydock before the repairs could be made. "But we can navigate with our batteries, can't we?" Ted inquired of Sammy Smith, who had come out of the wireless room to better acquaint himself with the _Dewey's_ newest tale of woe. Sammy was not at all comforting. "I understand the batteries, are pretty well exhausted," he said. "They were just going to recharge when we ran into that mine. Blaine says we have only enough juice to last us two hours, moderate running." He paused for a moment as Ted grasped the significance of the situation. "Furthermore," Sammy continued, "we cannot dive to any considerable depth." "With that leak in the reservoir plates Cleary and Blame say it would be foolhardy to go down very far for fear the _Dewey_ would spread wide open and we would be flooded."