The raft sets sail
The voyage starts well. Hans has fashioned a sail for the raft and a rudder to steer by. Going with the wind, they make better speed than expected. Before long they can no longer see the shore they left behind them. Ahead are only clouds.
At noon they pass through massive beds of floating seaweed. Some of the specimens are several thousand feet long. It is hours before they clear the area as the voyage continues into the night.
The next day Hans prepares a baited hook and throws a line into the subterranean waters. Suddenly there is a tug and Hans calmly draws in what Harry identifies as a small sturgeon. The Professor, however, does not agree. After a good deal of observation, the Professor decides that Hans has caught a Ganoids Cephalaspides Pterychtis, supposedly extinct for many millions of years - and furthermore, it is blind. In the next few hours, Hans lands many Pterychtis as well as some other two-finned fish belonging to the also-supposedly extinct Dipterides family. All are blind, a peculiarity typical of fish which are native of subterranean waters, wells, lakes, caverns and such like hidden pools.
The Professor calculates they will soon sight the opposite shore but Harry is not so certain.
The next day is Saturday, August 17th and the sailing that day is uneventful. The Professor is annoyed to discover that the sea is much more vast than he expected. Young Harry finds it prudent to hold his tongue!
On Sunday the Professor tries deep sea sounding with two hundred fathoms of rope and their heaviest crowbar. They have the greatest difficulty pulling the rope back up. When they finally do, the crowbar looks like it has been crushed between two very hard surfaces.
"Tänder," says Hans - Teeth!
Harrys imagination runs riot as he tries to picture what monsters must be down below! He spends Monday morning trying to identify the bite marks and eventually decides they are closest in shape to those of a crocodile, but one larger than has ever been recorded. He stares at the sea for the rest of the day, as if expecting a monster of the deep to surface at any time. Needless to say, one does not.