“Very well--let him alone, Jeff. He probably isn’t interested.” Polly had joined us. “He is, father--I’ll get him.” I heard her voice when she got up the incline: “Arturo! Father is back--it’s successful--they’ve tried the hull under pressure! Boy, dear--” The door closed upon her; but she came down presently with Arturo. I had not seen him all day. “_Hola_, Jeff!” He smiled at me. “Good evening, father.” He kissed his father--I had not seen him do it for a year. “Polly says it is a success--I’m very glad, father, dear.” I did not miss Dr. Plantet’s gesture as Arturo kissed him; nor mistake it. His powerful hands on Arturo’s slim shoulders seemed involuntarily to tighten; a caress--and it seemed a gesture of possession, as though this son, drifting away in spirit, were suddenly restored to him. A stern, vigorous man, cruel sometimes in his sternness; but I could see at that instant the love that he bore for his son--could see it in his convulsive, clinging gesture, as if he feared that Arturo, who had come to him now, might soon be snatched away. It may have been a premonition. “Yes, lad, a success. Come into the library--I’ll tell you all about it.” We went in. I sat listening to Dr. Plantet. But for a time my gaze and half my thoughts were upon Arturo. He seemed this night abruptly older. He sat with what I fancied were wandering thoughts, striving to listen to his father, striving to nod, to smile, once or twice to question. But his mind was on something else--something eagerly frightening. I could not miss the tenseness of him, and the new, older aspect of affection with which he regarded his father and Polly. Something within his mind absorbed him--burning eagerness for something frightening. Polly saw it. She eyed me once significantly; she moved over and sat beside Arturo, with her arm around him. And he leaned down and kissed her. Strange adventure, which Dr. Plantet now proposed us! Awe-inspiring; to me, adventurous by nature and with the lure of the sea upon me, it nevertheless came as a shock. And a great thrill. I listened, and presently forgot Arturo, and had no eyes for anything but Dr. Plantet’s tired, intent face; I had no thought for anything but his words. He was brief, abrupt. The oceans were receding, but it might be months before they had fallen appreciably toward their greater hidden depths. Meanwhile, our governments were preparing to fight some unknown, unseen human enemy. No one knew the nature of this menace. If we were to be assailed, where would it be? In the Pacific, doubtless, but the Pacific is a wide-flung area. “I believe,” said Dr. Plantet, “that if we could locate them, we would find this enemy preparing to attack us. We will be months getting ready. In the meantime, what? Are we to wait without trying to find out what our assailants are doing? The floor of the great Pacific basin--suppose somewhere down there--”