unlike steam from some submarine boat.

"He looks to be heading this way," remarked Mr. Durban to Tom.

"He is," agreed the young inventor, "but I guess he'll dive before
he gets here. He only wants to get away from the killer. Look, the
other one is swimming this way, too!"

"Bless my harpoon, but he sure is!" called Mr. Damon. "They'll renew
the fight near here."

But he was mistaken, for the killer, after coming a little distance
after the whale, suddenly turned, hesitated for a moment, and then
disappeared in the depths of the ocean.

The whale, however, continued to come on, speeding through the water
with powerful strokes. There was an uneasy movement among some of
the passengers.

"Suppose he strikes the ship," suggested one woman.

"Nonsense! He couldn't," said her husband.

"The old man had better get under way, just the same," remarked a
sailor near Tom, as he looked up at the bridge where the captain was
standing.

The "old man," or commander, evidently thought the same thing, for,
after a glance at the oncoming leviathan, which was still headed
directly for the vessel, he shoved the lever of the telegraph signal