IN THE ABYSS
The lieutenant stood in front of the steel sphere and gnawed a piece of pine splinter. “What do you think of it, Steevens?” he asked.
“ It’s an idea,” said Steevens, in the tone of one who keeps an open mind.
“ I believe it will smash—flat,” said the lieutenant.
“ He seems to have calculated it all out pretty well,” said Steevens, still impartial.
“ But think of the pressure,” said the lieutenant. “At the surface of the water it’s fourteen pounds to the inch, thirty feet down it’s double that; sixty, treble; ninety, four times; nine hundred, forty times; five thousand three hundred—that’s a mile—it’s two hundred and forty times fourteen pounds; that’s—let’s see—thirty hundredweight—a ton and a half, Steevens; a ton and a half to the square inch. And the oc
