In the alley-way they encountered a short, broad-shouldered man who had to set his back against the metal wall in order to allow his captain to pass. "All correct, sir," he said saluting. "Right, Mr. Devoran. Who’s in the conning-tower?" "Mylor, sir." "Good. I will take the ’Aphrodite’ up the river. You need not turn out till midnight. I shall want you then." "That is my chief mate, Mr. Devoran," remarked Captain Restronguet, after the man had gone to his cabin. "A truer-hearted comrade one could not possibly desire. He is the only man on board beside myself who thoroughly understands the whole of the complicated mechanism of my masterpiece. There are others who are capable of manoeuvring the ’Aphrodite,’ but they do not understand how to handle her for offensive purposes." Throwing back a watertight sliding-door in the port fore and aft bulkhead Captain Restronguet signed to the sub to enter. Hythe found himself in a small compartment on the walls of which were several articles and gear. No space was wasted on board the "Aphrodite." In the centre of the floor was an oval-shaped aperture, sealed with a rubber-lined lid, that by means of double levers could be opened from either above or below. As the hatch opened Hythe saw a portion of the well-lighted interior of the lower deck, access to which being gained by means of a vertical steel ladder. The for’ard compartment, extending the whole length and breadth of the foremost section of the submarine, with the exception of the space taken up by the diving-exit, was as far unlike the forehold of a ship as the sub could possibly imagine. The cement-cased walls were distempered a pale green; thick corticene--a kind of linoleum used in the Navy--covered the floors; alongside the after bulkhead were two arms-racks filled with automatic rifles and pistols, and other modern small-arms. Secured to the deck was an automatic one-pounder field-gun. Towards the bows were two long narrow tubes, the external diameter by less than seven inches, while a seemingly complicated arrangement of double-locking doors, electric wires, trippers and gauges suggested to the sub that these instruments were torpedo tubes. "Quite right," said Captain Restronguet in reply to Hythe’s question. "A pair of six-inch tubes firing electrically directed torpedoes. They will never miss their target, I can assure you, even at five miles range, if controlled from a lofty station. Here we are limited, but so long as we can see our target by means of our flexibly attached periscope, there is a million chances to one on the weapon striking the mark. But listen!" The hiss of a powerful water jet was just audible through the double plating of the submarine’s hull.