Under the Waves | Page 8

rock. Even this process of going
on his knees was not so simple as it sounds, for the men above were
sending down more air than could escape by the valve behind the
helmet, and thus were filling his dress to such an extent that he had a
tendency to rise off the ground despite his weights. To counteract this
he opened the valve in front, let out the superabundant air, got on his
knees, and was soon busy at work inserting the charge-tube into the
hole and tamping it well home, taking care that the fine wire with

which it communicated with the party in the barge should not be
injured.
While thus engaged he was watched, apparently with deep interest, by a
small crab, a shrimp, and several little fish of various kinds, all of
which we may add, seemed to have various degrees of curiosity. One
particular little fish, named a goby, and celebrated for its wide-awake
nature and impudence, actually came to the front-glass of the helmet
and looked in. But the diver was too busy to pay attention to it. Nothing
abashed, the goby went to each of the side-windows, but, receiving no
encouragement, it made for a convenient ledge of the rock, where,
resting its fore-fins on a barnacle, it turned its head a little on one side
and looked on in silence. Finding this rather tedious, after a time it
went, with much of the spirit of a London street-boy, and, passing close
to the shrimp, tweaked the end of one of its feelers, causing that
volatile creature to vanish. It then made a demonstration of attack on
the crab, but that crustaceous worthy, sitting up on its hind-legs and
expanding both claws with a very "come-on-if-you-dare" aspect, bid it
defiance.
Meanwhile the charge was laid, and Maxwell rose to return to the
world above. Feeling a certain uncomfortable hotness in the air he
breathed, and observing that his legs were remarkably thin, and that his
dress was clasped somewhat too lovingly about his person, he became
aware of the fact that, having neglected to reclose the front-valve, his
supply of air was now insufficient. He therefore shut the valve and
began to wend his way back to the ladder. By the time he reached it the
air in his dress had swelled him out to aldermanic dimensions, so that
he pulled himself up the ladder-rope, hand over hand, with the utmost
ease--having previously given four pulls on his life-line to signal
"coming up." A few seconds more and his head was seen to emerge
from the surface, like some goggle-eyed monster of the briny deep.
A comrade at once advanced and unscrewed his front-glass, and then,
but not till then, did the men at the pumps cease their labours.
"All right," said Maxwell, stepping over the side and seating himself on
his plank.

"Stand by," said Baldwin.
The two satellites did not require that order, for they were already
standing by with a small electrical machine. The wire before mentioned
as being connected with the charge of powder, now safely lodged in the
hole at the bottom of the sea, was connected with the electrical machine,
and a few vigorous turns of its handle were given, while every eye was
turned expectantly on the surface of the sea.
That magic spark which now circles round the world, annihilating time
and space, was evolved; it flashed down the wire; the ocean could not
put it out; the dry powder received it; the massive rock burst into
fragments; a decided shock was felt on board the barge, and a turmoil
of gas-bubbles and dead or dying fish came to the surface, in the midst
of which turmoil the shrimp, the crab, and the goby doubtless came to
an untimely end.
Thus was cleared out of the way an obstruction which had from time
immemorial been a serious inconvenience to that port; and thus every
year serious inconveniences and obstructions that most people know
very little about are cleared out of the way by our bold, steady, and
daring divers, through the wisdom and the wonderful appliances of our
submarine engineers.
"Now then, Rooney, come an' we'll dress you," said Baldwin. "As
you're goin' to be a professional diver it's right that you should have the
first chance and set a good example to Mister Berrington here, who's
only what we may call an amateur."
"Faix, I'd rather that Mister Berrington shud go first," said Rooney,
who, as he spoke, however, stripped himself of his coat, vest, and
trousers preparatory to putting on the costume.
"I'll be glad to go first, Rooney, if you're afraid," said Edgar.
Rooney's annoyance at being thought afraid was increased to
indignation by a contemptuous guffaw from Maxwell.

Flushing deeply and casting a