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The Z99 was low roofed, damp, with an intricate system of rods, controls, engines, tanks, stop-cocks, compasses, gauges more things than it seemed the human mind, to say nothing of wireless, could possibly attend to at once.
About 11 o'clock it was necessary to get a fresh supply of air, when my companion cautiously turned one of the two stop-cocks to let out that which was no longer fit for respiration, requesting me, at the same time, to turn the other, to let in a fresh supply of condensed air; but being awkward in the first attempt to follow his directions, I was so affected by the exhaustion of the air through the vent now made for it, that I fainted; and having, at the same time, given freer passage to the condensed air than I ought, we must in a few seconds have lost our supply, and thus have inevitably perished, had not the watchful Hermit seen the mischief, and repaired it almost as soon as it occurred.
I would repeat the caution that it is very necessary to beware of complications in these water-fittings and appliances. Some of the more "fussy" contrivances as, for example, the elaborated needle bath as above described require so much regulating, and so many valves and stop-cocks, that it is quite an undertaking for the attendant to set them going.
Under the series of steps on both sides runs a system of sinuous iron pipes pierced with minute holes, and connected by stop-cocks with a boiler out of sight.
In old-fashioned ovens the heat is applied by means of external flues, in which hot air or steam is circulated, but this system is generally unsatisfactory, the supply of heat having to be controlled by dampers or stop-cocks, and this has given place to the gas apparatus.
The four burners are controlled by the stop-cocks e, and the oven and the broiler by the stop-cock f. The stove is also equipped with a simmering burner for the slow methods of cooking on top of the stove, gas to this burner being controlled by the stop-cock g. To catch anything that may be spilled in cooking, there is a removable metal or enamel sheet h.
You will then embark in the canoe which brought you hither; but, before leaving the Nautilus, go to the stern and there open two large stop-cocks which you will find upon the water-line. The water will penetrate into the reservoirs, and the Nautilus will gradually sink beneath the water to repose at the bottom of the abyss." And, comprehending a gesture of Cyrus Harding, the captain added
But the poorer people are and therefore usually, alas! the more ignorant the less water they get; and the less they care to have water; and the less they are inclined to pay for it; and the more, I am sorry to say, they waste what little they do get; and I am still more sorry to say, spoil, and even steal and sell in London at least the stop-cocks and lead-pipes which bring the water into their houses.
Portia meanwhile had discovered the naphtha engine, and, after experimenting several times with the various levers and stop-cocks, had finally managed to move one of them in such a way as to set the engine going, and the wheel began to revolve. "Are we going all right?" she cried, from below. "I am afraid not," said the gallant commander.
This accident, and the various agitations my mind had undergone in the course of the day, so overpowered me, that at an early hour in the afternoon I fell into a profound sleep, and did not awake again for eight hours. While I slept, the good Brahmin had contrived to manage both stop-cocks himself.
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