9 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