Bud grinned. “If there’s not too much gook above us, we might crash through.”
“Exactly.”
“I have an idea too,” Bud said. “If nothing else works, we could put on our escape suits and cut through the weeds until we reach the top.”
“Fair enough,” Tom replied. “But don’t forget, we’ll be awfully lonesome bobbing on the surface of the sea so many miles from shore. And what if Dansitt’s sub should spot us before a friendly vessel might?”
“I guess you’re right, Tom,” Bud agreed, making a wry face. “We’ll have to wait until enough sea water seeps into our tanks.”
Tom beckoned Bud to follow him and went forward. Near the nose of the jetmarine, Tom got down on all fours and wriggled through a narrow opening which led to the starboard intake port.
“Water is trickling through all right,” Tom shouted. “We shouldn’t have to wait much longer than an hour for the tanks to fill.”
To while away the time, Bud took out a deck of A DANGEROUS TANGLE 143
cards and did a few tricks. But Tom, restless, watched anxiously as the sea water gradually filled the steam chambers. Finally, after several inspections, he shouted:
“Okay, Bud, we’re set to go.”
The young inventor double-checked the tanks, seated himself before the control-room panel, and cried to Bud, “Use your headrest, pal. This will be a rapid acceleration.”
“Like an underseas rocket, eh?”
Tom flipped the lever and the atomic pile roared into operation. With a tremendous hissing sound the salt water generated into steam. The turbine blades spun and shot sea water out of the stern of the submarine. With a sudden lurch the submarine leaped forward.