Presently the boys at the port holes could discover the bends of the sides, indicating that they were nearly to the ocean floor. In another moment a slight bump told them that the craft rested on bottom.
"I saw a flash of light just now!" stated Jimmie.
"Where did it come from?" asked Ned, stepping forward.
"Just ahead of us on this side of the ship. The shadow lies heavily there, so I can't make out what's located in that place!"
The boys had not long to wait, however, to discover the cause of the flash which Jimmie had seen. Almost following the boy's words came a dazzling beam of light, piercing the dark shadow like an arrow. For a moment the boys were blinded as the searchlight's flame played on the forward part of their vessel.
Presently the light shifted. It was turned against the side of the sunken Wanderer. Up and down the light traveled, revealing the rugged sides of the hull, with its covering of barnacles below what had been the water line. Outward the beam went, showing nothing but ocean floor. Fishes were illuminated and dazzled by the strong ray.
Finally the light returned to the false "U-13", where it settled for a moment. Directly the light was turned off.
Jimmie had been shading his eyes with a protecting hand. He was, therefore, not so much blinded by the glare as the others had been.
"There they go!" he cried, as the light was removed from the port hole through which it had been shining. "They're rising!"
"Who can it be, I wonder?" questioned Ned.
"I'll never tell you!" declared Jimmie. "Oh, yes, I will, too!" he amended his statement. "If you want to know, it's the 'U-13'!"
"The 'U-13'?" questioned the lads in chorus.
"The 'U-13'!" positively stated Jimmie. "Here," he cried, turning a switch leading to the searchlight. "Take a look!"
The powerful storage batteries on the vessel occupied by the boys generated a ray of light that pierced the darkness of the undersea world with ease. Sharply outlined in the circle of flame the lads clearly saw the form of a submarine vessel similar in many respects to their own. There was the same sharp prow, the same tapering stern with conning tower, keel, port lights, and every essential feature of the vessel upon which they were located.