He remembered well that first undersea dive back home in
an American port when he and Jack had discussed the possibilities
of ever being lost on the bottom of the sea with the ship's air
supply cut off. Now he was face to face with that very situation.
The thought chilled his blood and he found it very hard to be brave
under the circumstances.
Jean Cartier, his face blanched and his hair ruffled, appeared in the
torpedo compartment, the picture of dismay.
"It ees ze veery hard thing to breathe back there," he gasped, pointing
over his shoulder toward the engine room aft.
Almost immediately the boys forward could hear Commander Mcclure
giving orders to open the reserve oxygen tanks. Under the emergency
measures adopted living conditions were for the time greatly relieved;
but every man aboard knew this relief was but temporary and realized
that in twenty-four hours more at the most the supply of oxygen
would be entirely exhausted.
The morning wore on to noon and mess was served to a crew of men who
cared little to eat.
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