“We ought to get a name for that body of water up there,” said Mr.
Gibbs, as he was writing out his report of the day's adventures. “Shall
we call it 'Lake Clewe'?”
“Oh, don't do that!” exclaimed Sammy Block. “Mr. Clewe's too good a man
to have his name tacked on to that hole. If you want to name it, why
don't you call it 'Lake Shiver'?”
“That is a good name,” answered Mr. Gibbs; and so it was called.
CHAPTER XI. THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA
With no intention of ascending again into any accidental holes in the
ice above them, the voyagers on the Dipsey kept on their uneventful
way, until, upon the third day after their discovery of the lake, the
electric bell attached to the heavy lead which always hung suspended
below the vessel, rang violently, indicating that it had touched the
bottom. This sound startled everybody on board. In all their submarine
experiences they had not yet sunk down low enough to be anywhere near
the bottom of the sea.
Of course orders were given to ascend immediately, and at the same time
a minor search-light was directed upward through the deck skylight. To
the horror of the observers, ice could plainly be seen stretching above
them like an irregular, gray sky.
Here was a condition of things which had not been anticipated. The
bottom below and the ice above were approaching each other. Of course it
might have been some promontory of the rocks under the sea against which
their telltale lead had struck; but there was an instrument on board for
taking soundings by means of a lead suspended outside and a wire running
through a water-proof hole in the bottom of the vessel, and when the
Dipsey had risen a few fathoms, and was progressing very slowly, this
instrument was used at frequent intervals, and it was found that the
electric lead had not touched a rock projecting upward, and that the
bottom was almost level.
Mr. Gibbs's instrument gave him an approximate idea of the vessel's
depth in the water, and the dial connected with the sounding apparatus
told him hour by hour that the distance from the bottom, as the vessel
kept forward on the same plane, was becoming less and less. Consequently
he determined, so long as he was able to proceed, to keep the Dipsey as
near as possible at a median distance between the ice and the bottom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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