Then he smiled lightly, shrugging his shoulders as though he had heard something absurd....

The Germans, perhaps, had submarines in the Mediterranean?
It was likely, was it, that one of these navigating machines would be able to make the long crossing from the North Sea to the Strait of Gibraltar ?...
He knew all about the great atrocities that the submarines were causing in the vicinity of England, but in a greatly reduced zone in the limited radius of action of which they were capable.

The Mediterranean, fortunately for the merchant vessels, was quite beyond the range of their treacherous lying-in-wait.
Ferragut interrupted with his meridional vehemence.

Beside himself with passion, he was already beginning to express himself as though the doctor were speaking through his mouth.
"You are referring to the submarines, Toni, to the little submarines that were in existence at the beginning of the war--little grasshoppers of fragile steel that moved with great difficulty when on a level with the water and might be overwhelmed at the slightest shock....

But to-day there is something more: there is a submersible that is like a submarine protected by a ship's hull which is able to go hidden between the two waters and, at the same time, can navigate over the surface better than a torpedo-boat....