STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
A SUBMARINE EXCURSION.
To those on deck the sight was curious in the extreme, for,foreshortened by the clear medium through which they gazed, the diverseemed like some hideous water-goblin, with an enormous head, creepingabout on the yellow sand.
But interesting as it was to those on deck, it was perhaps more so toDutch, who, as soon as he had assumed his helmet and began to descend,threw off all thought of his domestic troubles by a strong effort of hiswill, and, feeling that the success or ill-success of the expeditiondepended upon him, he set to work eagerly to solve the question of thetreasure. He had been down too many times to feel nervous, but, all thesame, an unwonted tremor, which he ascribed to disease, oppressed him ashe slowly went down from round to round; but as he reached the bottomthis also passed off, and finding that he was well supplied with air,and that all worked well, he began to consider how he should act. Thisconfidence arose in a great measure from the knowledge that both MrParkley and old Rasp were watching over his safety, and feeling that hisknife could be easily drawn from his belt, he began to look about him.
All was beautifully clear; and though the motion of his heavy bootsstirred up the sand, it sank down again directly without thickening thewater. A few yards away was the ladder, and above it, with the air-tubeand two ropes plainly seen running up, was the schooner, casting a darkshadow on to the bottom. Even his own shadow was cast behind him, andit seemed as if he were only walking in a medium of thickened air. Hecould even make out the faces of those gazing over the side, but in ablurred, distorted way, for the bright bubbles of air that ran up in astream made the water seem heavy overhead, though all around it wasclearness itself.
His first thoughts were naturally of the sharks, but he could seenothing to fear, though he had made up his mind if one should attack himto take advantage of its sluggish action, and, instead of trying toescape, thrust boldly at the monster with his knife.
As he was looking about there was a flash of many colours through thewater, and then it seemed as if the gold and silver ingots he had comein search of had become animated, for a shoal of fish, whose scales wereburnished metal in appearance, suddenly darted about him, coming closeup to his helmet as he remained stationary, as if in wonder at hisappearance; but on his raising his arm there was a rush, the waterquivered for a moment, and, like streaks of the rich metals he sought,they disappeared.
So beautiful was the scene around him--the soft sunshine, the delicioustint of the water, and the long vistas in the distance of wondrous seagrowths, which ran up six, twelve, and fourteen feet towards thesurface, all aglow with the most lovely tints--that the desire wasstrong upon him to walk on beyond the portion of the bottom that hadbeen swept by the dynamite, and gaze upon the various natural objectsaround. But he had sterner work on hand, and set himself to investigatethe appearance of the old hull, in whose interior he was.
For he found now that what had seemed short stumps of blackened woodwere some of them six or eight feet high; and that while the upperportions were encrusted with grey shelly matter, the lower were of anintense black, and these had evidently been forcibly denuded by thesweeping away of the sand.
As he moved forward, he gave a twitch or two at the life-line to signalall well; and then had to make the signal that he required more air. Anincreased supply of the life-giving stream was forced down directly,and, raising his spade, he began to investigate the place more closely.In an instant the bottom seemed to have become alive, for curiousflat-fish, whose sides assimilated so strangely to the sand, in whichthey lay half buried, rose at every step, making little clouds, andgoing off with a peculiar undulating motion to settle down again, flickthe sand and tiny stones over their sides by a peculiar motion of theirbroad fins, and the next minute they had become invisible.
As to the wreck, there was not much to see beyond the rows of ribtimbers on either hand, while where he stood was there nothing but sand,which covered the whole of the interior, though now, probably throughthe explosions, it was in hillocks, with their accompanying depressions.
Knowing that those above must be anxiously watching, he thrust the spadedown into the bottom and began to dig slowly and with great excitement,to find that the tool penetrated easily through; and as he raised thesand, and placed it on one side, it softly flowed back again.
"I ought to have brought an iron rod to probe with," he thought tohimself, as he gave the spade another thrust down, to find that nothingobstructed him, when he became aware of a dull shock, and he was throwndown, for the water seemed to rush by him with considerable violence.
The next moment there was a violent pull at the life-line, and he wasraised from his feet in a most uncomfortable position; and, but for asudden snatch at his signal-cord to signify "All right," one which herepeated again and again, he would have been drawn to the surface.
In obedience to his signals, the rope was slackened, but he had hardlyrecovered himself when it was tightened once more, and but for hisvigorous snatch to show that he wanted no assistance, those on theschooner's deck would have drawn him to the surface. He knew wellenough now what was the meaning of the shock, and felt how necessary itwas for a diver to be full of the calm nerve and courage of a man readyto battle with difficulties, for his safety depended entirely upon histaking the dangers he encountered in the coolest manner.
The conclusion was evidently due to the firing of a dynamite cartridge,but, in spite of this, here was the reason for their trying to drag himto the surface, in the shape of something dim and large approaching himslowly, and apparently without effort. As he saw it at first coming endon, it seemed to him like some very short, thick fish, but as it nearedhim, and grew more distinct, it swerved off to his right, and his heartbeat fast as he saw from its altered position that it was a shark sevenor eight feet long.
He signalled again, "More air--all right," and the tightening life-ropeslackened as he drew the long, keen-bladed knife from its wooden sheath.
It was a terrible weapon, with a fine point, and about eighteen incheslong beyond the handle, while its two edges were ground as sharp as arazor. Armed with this he awaited the coming of the shark, feeling thatto it he must prove as he looked, a monster as deadly in his power. ForDutch agreed that to leave the field on this first encounter with one ofthe creatures that infested these waters was to confess to himself thathe was beaten, and morally to consent to a defeat of their project,while could he nerve himself to boldly meet the attack, and so disablehis enemy by skilful tactics as to kill it, or compel its retreat, hewould give himself so much confidence, and Rasp as well, that they wouldin the future have little compunction in descending, and scarcely anyfear of their dangerous enemies.
"If I fail," he said to himself bitterly; "well, it is a horrible death,but why should I mind dying? I have nothing to live for now."
"Bah! Dying," he went on, mastering his trepidation, and feeling asavage energy of will. "I, a man with reasoning powers, with ingenuityenough to help to invent the apparatus by which I can stay down here andmeet this creature with arms in my hand in his own element. Pooh! it isabsurd. I shall--I will kill it."
He had plenty of time to think, and he had once more to impatientlysignal "All right," for he became aware of a tightening of thelife-line, while the shark, with its curious, crafty look, undulated byhim, its long, unequally-lobed tail waving softly as it nearly passedhim with the greatest apparent ease, turned, sailed back some littledistance, and then turned once more as if to pass him on the other side.
"That is where he has the advantage," thought Dutch, as he saw the easewith which the creature glided along, on about a level with the top ofhis helmet, and knew for his own part what an effort it needed for himto move through the water.
He felt very little alarm now in the excitement of these moments, and ashe watched the shark's manoeuvres he grew more and more determined tomake this the test of the future. He had often read of how the SouthSea Islanders made no scruple
about bathing where there were sharks, andhow ready they were to attack them in their own element, while protectedas he was on head, back, neck, and breast, by his copper armour andweights, he felt that it would be cowardly to retreat.
"Poor thing! I hope she cannot see me now," he muttered, as for afleeting moment his thoughts reverted to Hester. Then, with set teethand knit brows, he waited the coming of the shark, feeling that his onemost vulnerable point was the air-tube, and dreading lest the creatureshould make a snap at that in passing. For either that or thecontinuous stream of bright air bubbles had evidently excited itsattention, and for a few moments it swam up eight or ten feet, givingDutch a good view of its white under-portions, and the great gash of amouth that seemed as if formed by one cut of a large knife.
The creature came down again, though, directly, in the most leisurelyway gazing full now at the helmet, and, poising itself almost motionlessin the water, it remained gazing straight at him while Dutch awaited theattack.
This was not long in coming, for the shark, after altering its positiononce or twice, and descending to about the level of the young man'sshoulders, made a forward movement, but with no great rapidity, andDutch gave a sharp signal once more, to ensure liberty of action beforethe shark, as it came gliding through the clear water as if to seize hisleft arm, rolled softly over on its side, opened its great jaws, whichglistened with saw-like teeth, and was in the act of closing them, when,with a thrust like lightning, Dutch buried his knife to the haft betweenthe monster's pectoral fins, which offered a fair mark, dragged it out,and prepared to strike again.
As the blade entered its yielding body the shark gave a spasmodic jerkand shot straight up, with the water becoming tinged with a ruddy hue,but, turning, it darted down once more, leaving a red trail behind it,and again made to attack.
There was a sudden tightening of the life-line, but Dutch met it withthe signal, "All right," just before the shark once more approached,turned over to seize him, and again received the full length of theblade, while as the monster darted forward and dragged itself free itwas at the expense of so fearful a gash that a cloud of blood darkenedthe water, the shark struggled feebly for a few minutes, and thenfloated, belly up, to the surface.
Dutch gave his knife a wave or two through the water to remove theblood, replaced it in his belt, and stood gazing up at the ruddy cloudabove his head for a few moments, gave a signal or two with the ropesuch as would show them on deck that he was unhurt, and, stooping down,once more took his spade to try the sand.
It was with a strange feeling of elation that he resumed his task,knowing now, as he did, that by the exercise of ordinary courage a manmight readily defend himself from any of these monsters. In fact, sofar from feeling alarm now, he was ready to encounter another wheneverit might appear; but now the only one in sight was the creature floatingfar above his head, and more distinctly seen each moment, for the ruddycloud was becoming rapidly diffused, and the outline of the schooner'shull and the ladder, which had seemed misty and dull, were now welldefined and plain to see.
Dutch now began to feel that he must soon ascend once more, but notwishing to do so without making some discovery, he thrust down the spadehere and there, in all directions, but encountered nothing. It wasevident that if the treasure existed, it must be far below the sand thathad gone on accumulating for centuries.
There was one place, though, that he had not tried, and that was thedepression scooped out by the dynamite, a spot which he had reserved tothe last. Wading here, then, a task which necessitated his passingright under the schooner and farther from the ladder than he had yetbeen, he began to examine the surface, and detecting nothing, he thrustdown his spade, working it about so as to make it penetrate farther andfarther, but still there was no resistance, and, faint and weary, he wasabout to give up when he thought he would try once more.
This he did, thrusting in the spade and forcing it down till his handwas nearly on a level with the sand, and then--Yes! No! Yes! there wasa slight obstruction.
He forced it down again, his heart beating painfully the while, for herewas the test.
It might be only a copper bolt in the rotten old wood, or a stone; hemight have reached the rock below the sand, but a second thought toldhim that the keel must be eight or ten feet lower, and that the touchwas not that of stone or rock. Neither could it be wood. It was eithera metal bolt or that of which he was in search.
Dutch forgot now all about the necessity for ascending; his sole thoughtwas the sunken treasure, and, working as vigorously as he could in hiscumbersome garments, he shovelled out the sand, though it was a slow andlaborious task, as it kept running back into the hole he made.
Still he dug down more and more till he had made a fair-sizedexcavation, when, once more thrusting in the spade, he found it checkedagainst something, and his heart sank as he fancied that he might havestruck upon a bed of old shells. Still he persevered, not that heexpected to lift that which he touched, but in the hope that he mightreach it more easily, and satisfy himself that he was touching metal.
He was getting quite exhausted, and had already been down far too long.Nothing but the strong desire to have something definite to say kept himtoiling on, and at last he unwillingly gave up, when something darkamongst the sand he had thrown out took his attention, and reaching downhe picked up a lump of shells concreted together, and with an impatientgesture he was about to throw them down again, when it struck him thatthey were uncommonly heavy. To an inexperienced man this would havepassed unnoticed, for the difficulty of telling the difference of weightin so dense a medium as the water was not one easily mastered, but Dutchhad been down too many times not to have a good idea of such matters,and, checking himself just as he was about to throw the mass down, heraised it to the front of his helmet.
Shells, shells, nothing but shells of several kinds joined together bythe calcareous deposit of some kind of sea worm; but, all the same, itwas very heavy, and, wrong or right, determining to take the lump upwith him, he turned to go under the schooner and reach the ladder.
For, he argued, those little ingots the Cuban had shown them had shellyaccretion firmly attached, and it was probable that a good deal had beenknocked off. At all events, he must ascend now, and going slowly along,placing the piece of concrete in a net pouch at his back, he was in theshadow of the schooner with its keel nearly above his head, when apeculiar sensation that he knew too well suddenly attacked him. Hishead began to swim, blood seemed to gorge the vessels of his eyes, and ahorrible sensation of oppression to attack his chest.
Already exhausted by his too long stay and extra exertion, combined withthe nervous excitement of his fight with the shark, he was not master ofhimself, and in spite of his old experience he literally lost his head,becoming so unnerved that he sank down upon his knees, forgetting hissignal-line, and tugging at the helmet to get it from his head.
One drag at that thin cord should have been sufficient to secure help,but it was forgotten, even though he touched it with his hands as theywent to his helmet, and to make matters worse, he was kneeling now outof sight of those on deck; and for the moment all seemed over. He wasblind, for a thick darkness had, as it were, come over him, mentally andbodily, in the intense horror of the moment, but through that darknessflashed scene after scene of the past, and he saw Hester, looking youngand beautiful, gazing pityingly down at him, but without stretching outa hand to save, while, with a smile of triumph upon his countenance,there stood Laure, the bane of his existence. Then came pleasantthoughts of his old childish days, mingled with a dull sense ofdrowsiness that it was impossible to fight against, and then a reaction,as Dutch made a violent effort to reach his feet, but only to sink downprone upon his face.
For though, like some gigantic sea worm, the india-rubber tube meanderedover the sand, out of the shadow of the schooner into the sunshine, andthen straight up towards the surface, the supply of air had stopped!