Chapter XII: In a Diving Suit

THE old sailor stared at Charley as though he feared the lad had taken leave of his senses.

"Why, you must be crazy," he exclaimed. "You don't know anything about that kind of diving."

"I fancy there is not much to learn about it," Charley replied. "I've been watching the divers closely and it appears very simple. The main thing seems to be to keep the air hose clear. I've been wanting to go down ever since the first day, and the strange way the crew have acted to-day has decided me to try it. I want to see what it is that has so excited them."

"It's a fool notion and I ain't going to let you do it," the captain stormed, but Charley only grinned, cheerfully.

"It's no use scolding, Captain, I've quite made up my mind to try it. I've been thinking it over the whole day."

"I say you sha'n't do it," roared the old sailor. "I'll put you in irons first, I'm captain of this schooner."

"But I'm captain of the diving boat," Charley reminded him with a grin, "If anyone interferes with my doings on my own ship it's mutiny, you know."

"Walt, say something to get him out of that fool notion," pleaded the old sailor, helplessly.

Walter turned to his chum with a twinkle in his eye, "If you go down, I'm going too," he said, decidedly.

"You're two young lunatics," the captain declared, wrathfully. "You're bound to always run yourselves into danger whenever you get a show. Neither one of you will ever live to see twenty."

But, although he fumed and threatened for a long time, the matter ended, as was always the case when the boys had determined upon a thing, in his, at last, giving a grudging consent to their plan.

Chris had followed his little friend Ben on deck as soon as he finished his supper, but soon after the discussion was ended he returned below grumbling.

"Dat white child ain't no fitten company to-night," he declared. "He acts plum scart to death an' won't talk none tall."

"You go up and stay around the wheel, 'till we come up," the captain ordered. "I thought you were there all the time or I'd been up myself, I don't want none of those fellows fooling around the compass."

When Chris had retired, still grumbling, Walter brought out a pad and pencil and handed them to the sailor who had been watching their faces closely during their animated debate.

The man seized them eagerly and bending over the pad began to draw slowly with awkward, clumsy fingers. When the sketch was finished he tore off the sheet of paper and handed it to Charley whom he seemed to recognize as the real leader of the little party.

The lad examined the sketch with eager interest. "He must be a very cheerful sort of fellow," he remarked, as he passed it to his chum. "First, he prophesies a fight with the crew, and, now, he has got us all shipwrecked. Can't say much for his skill with the pencil though; that hulk does not look much like our pretty 'Beauty'."

The rude sketch pictured a forlorn, dismasted wreck, covered with seaweed and with one side badly stove in.

The sailor had immediately commenced upon another picture which he soon passed over.

The boys looked it over but could not decide what it was intended to represent.

"It looks like a box full of crackers," Charley said with a grin. "Well, if he's decided to have us shipwrecked, it's thoughtful of him to provide us with something to eat."

But the sailor did not seem to regard it as any laughing matter. He watched their expressions with a face full of concern, and, when Walter shook his head to show that he did not understand the sketch, he laid aside the pad with a heavy sigh.

"He has given it up," Charley said. "We had better go to bed, I guess we have a hard day ahead of us to-morrow."

Chris was recalled from the deck and Walter took his place while the others turned into their bunks and were soon fast asleep. At midnight he awakened Charley and at four o'clock Charley was relieved by the captain. The watches passed away without any alarm, but one thing struck both of the lads as being curious. All during their watches three or four of the Greeks remained on deck instead of seeking their bunks as they usually did right after eating supper. They sat around up by the forecastle smoking and talking quietly together and the boys came to the conclusion that they were merely wakeful from the effects of the liquor they had drank the night before.

The boys looked longingly at the tempting breakfast served by the Greek cook, but as they had decided to make the descent to the bottom that morning they were obliged to be content with a cup of coffee.

The captain and Chris followed them aboard the diving boat. "We're going with you," the old sailor explained. "It's a risky thing you're planning to do an' I'd be too nervous and anxious about you to stay on the schooner. She will be all right without us for a little while."

Manuel seemed to note the presence of the captain and Chris with satisfaction. Before the boat was shoved off from the schooner, he called the cook to the rail and conversed with him a few minutes in low tones.

But his satisfaction changed to frowning anger when the boys began to don the diving suits.

"You are foolish to attempt to go down, young sirs," he said, angrily. "It is dangerous, very dangerous."

"We are the only ones at all likely to suffer," Charley replied shortly. "Tend strictly to your pumping, when we think we need advice, we will ask you for it."

Before his head-piece was adjusted, he found opportunity to whisper to Walter. "We won't be able to talk when we get below, so I want you to follow me and do just what you see me do."

"I will," promised his chum. "My, don't these things feel queer. I can hardly lift my feet, they are so heavy. They make me feel helpless as a little baby."

The divers adjusted the helmets to the lads' heads and, assisting them to the rail, helped them down the ladder, and lowered them gently to the bottom.

Charley laughed to himself as he caught sight of Walter in the clear water. His chum looked like some strange monster in the grotesque diving suit. He waved his hand to him and Walter placed one great paw over his helmet where his mouth was supposed to be, to show that he was endeavoring politely to stifle a laugh.

But the boys' merriment at each other's grotesque appearance was quickly lost in admiration of the strange scene about them.

It was as though they were standing in the midst of a beautiful garden. Here and there were patches of soft white bottom, like winding paths amongst the marine growth. On every side of the bare places rose lace-like sea fans of purple, yellow, and red, and feather-like sea plumes swaying gently to and fro to the motion of the water caused by the lads' descent. At their bases lay scattered multitudes of shells of every conceivable shape, size, and hue, while, towering far above the riot of color, rose mighty trees of snow-white coral among the branches of which hovered golden, silver, crimson, and every shade of fish, great and small, their fins flashing gracefully as they darted to and fro.

For some moments, the lads stood motionless drinking in the beauty of the wonderful garden, but they had not descended merely to admire and Charley, after a long look around, hauled gently on the life-line until he had some hundred feet coiled neatly at his feet. Walter, though not comprehending his chum's plan, followed his example. The ruse was to serve a two-fold purpose, first to lead those on the diving boat to think that the two were a considerable distance from the boat, and, second, to deceive them as to the real direction taken by those below.

As soon as Walter had got his life-line neatly coiled down, Charley turned at right angles from the spot and moved slowly forward for the place where he calculated lay the supposed bad place in the Gulf's bottom.

He was surprised to find that he could walk with perfect ease and comfort. The suit, which had been so heavy and cumbersome above the surface, now rested on him lightly as a feather. He could have walked with considerable speed had it not been for the care he had to take to keep his life-line free and clear from the numerous branches of coral. He watched Walter anxiously to see that he used the same care with the rope upon which their very lives depended and he was relieved to see that his chum used every possible precaution.

Although the water was clear as crystal, neither lad could see far ahead at that depth below the surface for it was too far for the sun's light to penetrate brightly. Charley was almost upon the rope with its floating buoy above before he perceived it. He moved forward now with the greatest caution for, if Manuel's statement was true, a hasty step might plunge him suddenly into a nasty hole or a dangerous patch of quicksand. But the bottom did not seem any different from that over which they had passed. The rope was fastened to a branch of coral where there was no indication of a hole or quicksand, but, a little beyond where the rope was fastened, the lad could see dimly a large black mass rising up from the bottom. Towards it he slowly made his way, followed by his chum.