Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWELVE.

  DIVING PRACTICE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE EAST.

  In a certain street of Hong-Kong there stands one of those temples inwhich men devote themselves to the consumption of opium, that terribledrug which is said to destroy the natives of the celestial empire morefatally than "strong drink" does the peoples of the west. In variouslittle compartments of this temple, many celestials lay in variousconditions of debauch. Among them was a stout youth of twenty or so.He was in the act of lighting the little pipe from which the noxiousvapour is inhaled. His fat and healthy visage proved that he had onlycommenced his downward career.

  He had scarce drawn a single whiff, however, when a burly sailor-likeman in an English garb entered the temple, went straight to thecompartment where our beginner reclined, plucked the pipe from his hand,and dashed it on the ground.

  "I _know'd_ ye was here," said the man, sternly, "an' I _said_ you washere, an' sure haven't I _found_ you here--you spalpeen! You pig-facedbag o' fat! What d'ee mane by it, Chok-foo? Didn't I say I'd give youas much baccy as ye could chaw or smoke an ye'd only kape out o' thisplace? Come along wid ye!"

  It is perhaps scarcely necessary to say that the man who spoke, and whoimmediately collared and dragged Chok-foo away, was none other than ourfriend Rooney Machowl. That worthy had been sent to China in advance ofthe party of divers with his wife and baby--for in the event of successhe said he'd be able to "affoord it," and in the event of failure hemeant to try his luck in "furrin' parts," and would on no account leaveeither wife or chick behind him.

  On his arrival a double misfortune awaited him. First he found that hisemployer, Edgar Berrington, was laid up with fever, in the house of anEnglish friend, and could not be spoken to, or even seen; and second,the lodging in which he had put up caught fire the second night afterhis arrival, and was burnt to the ground, with all its contents,including nearly the whole of his diving apparatus. Fortunately, theunlucky Irishman saved his wife and child and money, the last havingbeen placed in a leathern belt made for the purpose, and worn night andday round his waist. Being a resolute and hopeful man, Rooneydetermined to hunt up a diving apparatus of some sort, if such was tobe found in China, and he succeeded. He found, in an oldiron-and-rag-store sort of place, a very ancient head-piece and dress,which were in good repair though of primitive construction.Fortunately, his own pumps and air-pipes, having been deposited in anout-house, had escaped the general conflagration.

  Rooney was a man of contrivance and resource. He soon fitted the pumpto the new dress and found that it worked well, though the helmet wasdestitute of the modern regulating valves under the diver's control, andhe knew that it must needs therefore leave the diver who should use itvery much at the mercy of the men who worked the pumps.

  After the fire, Rooney removed with his family to the house of a Chineselabourer named Chok-foo, whose brother, Ram-stam, dwelt with him. Theywere both honest hard-working men, but Chok-foo was beginning, as wehave seen, to fall under the baleful influence of opium-smoking.Ram-stam may be said to have been a teetotaler in this respect. Theywere both men of humble spirit.

  Chok-foo took the destruction of his pipe and the rough collaring thatfollowed in good part, protesting, in an extraordinary jargon, which isstyled Pidgin-English, that he had only meant to have a "Very litteesmokee," not being able, just then, to resist the temptation.

  "Blathers!" said Rooney, as they walked along in the direction of thelower part of the town, "you could resist the timptation aisy av you'donly try, for you're only beginnin', an' it hasn't got howld of 'ee yit.Look at your brother Ram, now; why don't 'ee take example by him?"

  "Yis, Ram-stam's first-chop boy," said Chok-foo, with a penitentialexpression on his fat visage.

  "Well, then, you try and be a first-chop boy too, Chok, an' it'll bebetter for you. Now, you see, you've kep' us all waiting for full halfan hour, though we was so anxious to try how the dress answers."

  In a few minutes the son of Erin and the Chinaman entered the halfruinous pagoda which was their habitation. Here little Mrs Machowl wason her knees before an air-pump, oiling and rubbing up its parts.Ram-stam, with clasped hands, head a little on one side, and a gentlesmile of approbation on his lips, admired the progress of the operation.

  "Now then, Chok and Ram," said Rooney, sitting down on a stool andmaking the two men stand before him like a small awkward squad, "I'mgoin' to taich you about pumps an' pumpin', so pay attintion av yeplaze. Hids up an' ears on full cock! Now then."

  Here the vigorous diver began an elaborate explanation which we willspare the reader, and which his pupils evidently did not comprehend,though they smiled with ineffable sweetness and listened with closeattention. When, however, the teacher descended from theory topractice, and took the pump to pieces, put it up again, and showed themanner of working, the Chinamen became more intelligent, and soon showedthat they could turn the handles with great vigour. They werehopelessly stupid, however, in regard to the use of the signal-line--insomuch that Rooney began to despair.

  "Niver mind, boys," he cried, hopefully, "we'll try it."

  Accordingly he donned the diving-dress, and teaching his wife how toscrew on the bull's-eye, he gave the signal to "pump away."

  Of course Chok-foo and Ram-stam, though anxious to do well, did illcontinually. When Rooney, standing in the room and looking at them,signalled to give "more air," they became anxious and gave him less,until his dress was nearly empty. When he signalled for "less air" theygave him more, until his dress nearly burst, and then, not having thebreast-valve, he was obliged to unscrew his front-glass to prevent anexplosion! At last the perplexed man resolved to make his wife do dutyas attender to signals, and was fortunate in this arrangement at first,for Molly was quick of apprehension. She soon understood all about it,and, receiving her husband's signals, directed the Chinamen what to do.In order to test his assistants better, he then went out on the verandahof the pagoda, where the pumpers could not see him nor he them. He was,of course, fully dressed, only the bull's-eye was not fixed.

  "_Now_, Molly, dear," said he, "go to work just as if I was goin' underwater."

  Molly dimpled her cheeks with a smile as she held up the glass, andsaid, "Are ye ready?"

  "Not yet; putt your lips here first."

  He stooped; Molly inserted part of her face into the circular hole, anda smack resounded in the helmet.

  "Now, cushla, I'm ready."

  "Pump away, boys," shouted the energetic little woman.

  As soon as she heard the hiss of the air in the helmet, she screwed onthe bull's-eye, and our diver was as much shut off from surroundingatmosphere as if he had been twenty fathoms under the sea. Then shewent to where the pumpers were at work, and taking the air-pipe in onehand and the life-line in the other, awaited signals. These were soonsent from the verandah. More air was demanded and given; less was askedand the pumpers wrought gently. Molly gave one pull at the life-line,"All right?" Rooney replied, "All right." This was repeated severaltimes. Then came four sharp pulls at the line. Molly was on the alert;she bid Ram-stam continue to pump while Chok-foo helped her to pull thediver forcibly out of the verandah into the interior of the pagoda amidshouts of laughter, in which Rooney plainly joined though his voicecould not be heard.

  "Capital, Molly," exclaimed the delighted husband when his glass wasoff; "I always belaved--an' I belave it now more than iver--that a purtywoman is fit for anything. After a few more experiments like that I'llgo down in shallow wather wid an aisy mind."

  Rooney kept his word. When he deemed his assistants perfect at theirwork, he went one morning to the river with all his gear, hired a boat,pushed off till he had got into two fathoms water, and then, dressinghimself with the aid of the Chinamen, prepared to descend.

  "Are you ready?" asked his wife.

  "Yis, cushla, but you've forgot the kiss."

  "Am I to kiss _all_ the divers we shall have to do with before sendingthem down?" she asked.

 
"If you want _all_ the divers to be kicked you may," was the reply.

  Molly cut short further remark by giving the order to pump, and affixingthe glass. For a few seconds the diver looked earnestly at the Chinamenand at his better half, who may have been said to hold his life in herhands. Then he stepped boldly on the short ladder that had been letdown outside the boat, and was soon lost to view in the multitude ofair-bells that rose above him.

  Now, Rooney had neglected to take into his calculations the excitabilityof female nerves. It was all very well for his wife to remembereverything and proceed correctly when he was in the verandah of thepagoda, but when she knew that her best-beloved was at the bottom of thesea, and saw the air-bells rising, her courage vanished, and with hercourage went her presence of mind. A rush of alarm entered her soul asshe saw the boiling of the water, and fancying she was giving too muchair, she said hurriedly, "Pump slow, boys," but immediately conceivingshe had done wrong, she said, "Pump harder, boys."

  The Chinamen pumped with a will, for they also had become excited, andwere only too glad to obey orders.

  A signal-pull now came for "Less air," but Molly had taken up an idea,and it could not be dislodged. She thought it must be "More air" thatwas wanted.

  "Pump away, boys--pump," she cried, in rapidly increasing alarm.

  Chok-foo and Ram-stam obeyed.

  The signal was repeated somewhat impatiently.

  "Pump away, boys; for dear life--pump," cried the little woman indesperate anxiety.

  Perspiration rolled down the cheeks of Chok-foo and Ram-stam as theygasped for breath and turned the handles with all the strength theypossessed.

  "Pump--oh! Pump--for pity's sake."

  She ended with a wild shriek, for at that moment the waves were cleftalongside, and Rooney Machowl came up from the bottom, feet foremost,with a bounce that covered the sea with foam. He had literally beenblown up from the bottom--his dress being filled with so much compressedair that he had become like a huge bladder, and despite all his weights,he rolled helplessly on the surface in vain attempts to get his head upand his feet down.

  Of course his distracted wife hauled in on the life-line with all hermight, and Chok-foo and Ram-stam, forsaking the pump, lent their aid andsoon hauled the luckless diver into the boat, when his first act was todeal the Chinamen a cuff each that sent one into the stern-sheets on hisnose, and the other into the bow on his back. Immediately thereafter hefell down as if senseless, and Molly, with trembling hands, unscrewedthe bull's-eye.

  Her horror may be imagined when she beheld the countenance of herhusband as pale as death, while blood flowed copiously from his mouth,ears, and nostrils.

  "Niver mind, cushla!" he said, faintly, "I'll be all right in a minute.This couldn't have happened if I'd had one o' the noo helmets.--Git offmy--"

  "Ochone! He's fainted!" cried Mrs Machowl; "help me, boys."

  In a few minutes Rooney's helmet was removed and he began to recover,but it was not until several days had elapsed that he was completelyrestored; so severe had been the consequences of the enormous pressureto which his lungs and tissues had been subjected, by the powerfulworking of the pump on that memorable day by Ram-stam and Chok-foo.