Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

  DIFFICULTIES OF VARIOUS KINDS, ALSO TROUBLES, AND A DISCOVERY.

  "Gentlemen," said the captain of the gun-boat to Mr Hazlit and Edgar asthey sat that morning at breakfast, "it is my intention to run to thenearest town on the coast--which happens to be Muku--have these piratestried and shot, then proceed to Singapore, and perhaps run thence to thecoast of China. I will take you with me if you wish it, or if youprefer it, will put you on board the first homeward-bound passenger-shipthat we can find. What say you?"

  Now, reader, we possess the happy privilege of knowing what Mr Hazlitand Edgar thought as well as what they said, and will use that privilegefor purposes of our own.

  In the first place, Edgar thought he should very much like to hear MrHazlit's views on that subject before speaking. He therefore saidnothing.

  The course being thus left clear to him, the merchant thought asfollows:--

  "It's very awkward, excessively awkward and vexatious. Here am I, everso many thousands of miles away from home, without a single sovereign inmy purse, and without even the right to borrow of the captain, for Ihave nothing certainly available even at home--_Some_! Why, I _have_ nohome!"

  At this point the poor man's thoughts took form in words.

  "Ahem!" he said, clearing his throat, "I am much obliged by yourkindness (`Don't mention it, sir,' from the captain), and should prefer,if possible, to reach Hong-Kong and ship thence for England. You see, Ihave some business friends there, and as I shall have to replenish mypurse before--"

  "Oh, don't let that stand in the way," said the captain, promptly, "Ishall be happy to lend what you may require, and--"

  "Excuse my interrupting you, captain, and thanks for your obligingoffer," said Mr Hazlit, holding up his large hand as if to put thesuggestion away; "but for reasons that it is not necessary to explain, Iwish to recruit my finances at Hong-Kong."

  "And I," said Edgar, breaking in here, "wish to go to the same place,not so much on my own account as on that of one of my companions, whohas left two very pretty little pieces of property there in the shape ofa wife and a child, who might object to being left behind."

  This settled the question, and the breakfast party went on deck.

  "Mr Hazlit," said Edgar, "will you walk with me to the stern of thevessel? I wish to get out of earshot of others."

  Mr Hazlit replied, "Certainly, Mr Berrington;" but he thought a gooddeal more than he said. Among many other things he thought, "Ah! Hereit comes at last. He thinks this a good time to renew his suit, havingjust rendered us such signal assistance. I think he might have waited!Besides, his saving our lives does not alter the fact that he is still apenniless youth, and I _will_ not give my daughter to such. It is trueI am a more thoroughly penniless man than he, for these villains haverobbed me and Aileen of our rings, chains, and watches, on which Icounted a good deal,--alas! But _that_ does not mend matters. It makesthem rather worse. No, it must not be! My child's interests must beconsidered even before gratitude. I _must_ be firm."

  Thought is wondrously rapid. Mr Hazlit thought all that and a greatdeal more during the brief passage from the companion-hatch to thestern-rail.

  "I wish to ask you to do me a favour, Mr Hazlit," the young man began.

  The merchant looked at him with a troubled expression.

  "Mr Berrington, you have been the means of saving our lives. It wouldbe ungrateful in me to refuse you any favour that I can, _withpropriety_, grant."

  "I am aware," continued Edgar, "that you have--have--met with losses.That your circumstances are changed--"

  Mr Hazlit coloured and drew himself proudly up.

  "Be not offended, my dear sir," continued the youth earnestly; "I do notintrude on private matters--I would not dare to do so. I only speak ofwhat I saw in English newspapers in Hong-Kong just before I left, andtherefore refer to what is generally known to all. And while Isincerely deplore what I know, I would not presume to touch on it at allwere I not certain that the pirates must have robbed you of all youpossess, and that you must of necessity be in want of _present_ funds.I also know that _some_ of a man's so-called `friends' are apt to falloff and fail him in the time of financial difficulty. Now, the favour Iask is that you will consider me--as indeed I am--one of your truefriends, and accept of a loan of two or three hundred pounds--"

  "Impossible, sir,--im--it is very kind of you--very, Mr Berrington--but, impossible," said Mr Hazlit, struggling between kindly feeling andhurt dignity.

  "Nay, but," pleaded Edgar, "I only offer you a loan. Besides, I want tobenefit myself," he added, with a smile. "The fact is, I have made alittle money in a diving venture, which I and some others undertook tothese seas, and I receive no interest for it just now. If you wouldaccept of a few hundreds--what you require for present necessities--youmay have them at three or five per cent. I would ask more, but that,you know, would be usurious!"

  Still the fallen merchant remained immovable. He acknowledged Edgar'spleasantry about interest with a smile, but would by no means accept ofa single penny from him in any form.

  Edgar had set his heart upon two things that morning, and had prayed,not for success, but, for guidance in regard to them.

  In the first he had failed--apparently. Not much depressed, and nothingdaunted, he tried the second.

  "Captain," he said, pacing up and down by the side of thatblack-bearded, black-eyed, and powerful pirate-killer, "what say you torun back to the spot where you sank the pirates, and attempt to fish upsome of the treasure with our diving apparatus?"

  "I've thought of that two or three times," replied the captain, shakinghis head; "but they went down in deep waters,--forty fathoms, atleast,--which is far beyond your powers."

  "True," returned Edgar, "but the prow of the pirate-chief was, you know,run down in only nineteen fathoms, and _that_ is not beyond us."

  "Is it not?"

  "No, we have already been deeper than twenty fathoms with the dress Ihave on board."

  "There is only one objection," said the captain, pausing in his walk; "Ihave learned from the prisoners that before we came up with them,Pungarin had had all the money and chief treasure transferred from hisown prow to another, which was a faster boat, intending to change intoit himself, but that after our appearing he deferred doing so until thefight should be over. If this be true, then the treasure went down indeep water, and the chiefs prow has nothing in it worth diving for."

  "But we are not sure that this story is true; and at all events it isprobable that at least _some_ of the treasure may have been left inPungarin's boat," urged Edgar.

  "Well, I'll make the trial; but first I must dispose of my prisoners."

  So saying, the captain resumed his walk and Edgar went below to lookafter his engine, having, in passing, given Rooney Machowl instructionsto overhaul the diving gear and get it into good working order.

  This Rooney did with much consequential display, for he dearly loved tobring about that condition of things which is styled "astonishing thenatives." As the Malays on board, seamen and captives, were easilyastonished by the novelties of the western hemisphere, he had nodifficulty in attracting and chaining their attention to the minutestdetails of his apparatus. He more than astonished them!

  With the able assistance of Baldwin and Maxwell and Ram-stam, he drewout, uncoiled, rubbed, examined inch by inch, and re-coiled thelife-line and the air-tube; unscrewed the various pieces--glasses, nuts,and valves--of the helmet, carefully examined them, oiled them, andre-fastened them, much to the interest and curiosity of "the natives."The helmet itself he polished up till it shone like a great globe ofsilver, to the intense admiration of "the natives." The pump he took topieces elaborately, much to the anxiety of "the natives," who evidentlythought he had wantonly destroyed it, but who soon saw it gradually puttogether again, much to their satisfaction, and brought into goodworking order. Rooney even went the length of horrifying one or two of"the natives" by letting one of the heavy shoulder-we
ights fall on theirnaked toes. This had the effect of making them jump and howl, while itthrew the others into ecstasies of delight, which they expressed bythrowing back their heads, shutting their eyes, opening their mouths,and chuckling heartily.

  Aileen and Miss Pritty, in the meantime, lay on the sofas in the cabin,and at last obtained much-needed refreshment to their weary spirits byfalling into deep, dreamless, and untroubled slumber.

  Thus the gun-boat with its varied freight sped on until it reachedSarawak, where the pirates were sent ashore under a strong guard.

  With these our tale has now nothing more to do; but as this cuttingshort of their career is not fiction, it may interest the reader to knowthat they were afterwards tried by a jury composed half of native chiefsand half of Europeans, who unanimously found them guilty. They werecondemned to be shot, and the sentence was carried out immediately, inthe jungle, two miles outside of the town. They were buried where theyfell, and thus ended one of the sharpest lessons that had ever beentaught to a band of miscreants, who had long filled with terror theinhabitants of Borneo and the neighbouring archipelago.

  Some idea may be formed of the service done on this occasion--asestimated by those who were well able to judge--when we say that thecaptain of the gun-boat afterwards received, in recognition of hisprowess, a handsome sword and letter of thanks from the Rajah, Sir JamesBrooke; a certificate, with a pocket chronometer, from theNetherlands-Indian Government; a commander's commission from the SarawakGovernment; and letters of grateful thanks from the Resident Governor ofthe west coast of Borneo, the Council of Singapore for the NetherlandsGovernment, and others--all expressive of his gallant conduct in utterlyrouting so large a body of pirates, liberating two hundred and fiftyslaves--chiefly of the Dutch settlements--and clearing the Borneon coastof a curse that had infested it for many years. [See Note 1.]

  Having disposed of the pirates, the gun-boat proceeded immediately tosea, and in a short time reached the scene of her recent victory. Ithad previously been proposed to Mr Hazlit that he might remain inSarawak, if he chose, during the short period of the gun-boat's intendedabsence, but the unfortunate man--owing to financial reasons!--decidedto remain in the vessel.

  It happened to be a calm, lovely morning, not unlike that on which theaction had been fought, when they reached the scene of their intendedoperations, and began to drag for the sunken prow.

  The difficulty of finding it was much greater than had been anticipated,for the land, although visible, was much too far off to be of anyservice as a guide. At last, however, it was discovered; the divingapparatus was got out; the anchor cast, and Maxwell, being esteemed themost enduring among the divers, prepared to go down.

  "It feels quite like old times, sir, don't it?" said Joe Baldwin toEdgar Berrington, as he assisted to dress the diver, and manipulated thevarious parts of the costume with a fondness that one might feel towardsa favourite dog from which one had been for some time parted.

  "It does indeed, Joe," replied Edgar, smiling; "I almost envy Maxwellthe pleasure of a dip--especially in such a clear cool sea in this hotweather."

  "How is he to breathe?" asked Miss Pritty, who with Aileen and herfather, as well as the captain and crew of the gun-boat, watched theprocess of robing with as much interest as if they had never before seenit performed.

  "Sure, Miss," observed Rooney Machowl, with great simplicity of aspect,"he does it by drawin' in an' puffin' out the air through his mouth an'nose."

  "Very true," observed Miss Pritty, with a good-natured smile, for evenshe could see that the Irishman was poking fun at her; "but how is airconveyed to him?"

  "It is sent down by means of an air-pump," said Edgar, who took onhimself the duty of explaining.

  "Dear me!" returned Miss Pritty, elevating her eyebrows in surprise; "Ialways thought that pumps were used only for pumping up water."

  "Och! No, Miss," said Rooney, "they're largely used for pumping up beerin London."

  "Now, David, are you all right?" asked Joe.

  "All right," said Maxwell, as he rose and shook himself to settle theweights comfortably on his back and breast.

  "Come along then, me boy," said Rooney.

  Maxwell went to the side of the vessel, where a rope-ladder had beenprepared, and his two attendants assisted him to get over.

  "All right?" asked Joe again, after giving the order to pump, whichRam-stam commenced with the steady coolness and regularity of a veteran.

  "All right," replied Maxwell, who immediately afterwards slowlydisappeared.

  After an hour's absence he signalled that he was coming up. In a fewminutes his helmet was seen far down in the depths. Then it emergedfrom the surface.

  "I want a crowbar," he said on the glass being removed.

  "If you'd had on a helmet with a speakin'-tube," observed Rooney, "youmight have said that without comin' up."

  "True, lad," growled Maxwell, "but not havin' on a helmet with aspeakin'-toobe, here I am, so please look alive."

  "Any sign of treasure?" asked Edgar.

  "Not as yet, sir."

  The crowbar having been brought, the diver again went down.

  For some time all went on quietly, for it was expected that, deep thoughthe water was, Maxwell's power of enduring pressure would enable him toremain below for at least two hours, if not longer. After looking forsome time inquiringly at the spot where he had disappeared, most of theMalays resumed their various duties about the vessel, though a fewremained a little to regard Ram-stam with much interest, as being onewho, in a measure, held the life of a fellow-being in his hands.

  Suddenly a loud hissing noise was heard over the side. It sounded tothose on deck as if the great sea-serpent had put his head out of thesea close alongside and sent a violent hiss into the air.

  Joe Baldwin was attending to the air-tube, while Rooney held thelife-line. He looked quickly down.

  "The air-pipe's burst!" he shouted, and both he and his comrade, withouta moment's delay, began to haul up the diver as fast as they possiblycould.

  That the reader may properly appreciate what had happened, it isnecessary to remind him that at nineteen fathoms Maxwell's body wassubjected to a pressure--from _water_, outside his dress--of about 50pounds to the square inch, and that to prevent such a tremendouspressure from crushing in and collapsing all the cavities of his body,an _equal_ pressure of air had to be _forced_ into his dress, so thatthe pressure of water outside the dress was met and counteracted by thepressure of air inside. This highly condensed air of course tended tocrush the diver, as did the water, but with this important difference,that the air entered his lungs, wind-pipe, ears, nose, etcetera, andthus prevented these organs from collapsing, and confined the absolutepressure to their walls of flesh so to speak, and to the solid muscularparts of his frame. Maxwell, being a very muscular man and tough, was,as we have said, able to stand the pressure on these parts better thanmany men. When, therefore, the air-tube burst--which it happened to doat a weak point just a foot or so above water--the diver's dress wasinstantaneously crushed tight round him in every part, the air wasdriven completely out of it, and also largely out of poor Maxwell'sbody!

  The moment he appeared at the surface it was seen that he wasinsensible, for he swung about by his life-line and tube in a helplessmanner.

  Seeing this, Edgar, who had anxiously watched for him, got out on theladder and passed the loop of a rope under his arms. It was quicklydone. He was laid on deck and the bull's-eye was unscrewed by Rooney,who instantly exclaimed, "He's dead!"

  "No, he's not; I see his lips move," said Joe Baldwin, aiding Edgar tounscrew the helmet.

  This was soon removed, and a frightful sight was revealed to thespectators. Maxwell's face and neck were quite livid and swelled out toan almost bursting extent; blood was flowing profusely from his mouthand ears, and his eyes protruded horribly, as if they had been nearlyforced out of their sockets.

  It is right to observe that the helmet worn by Maxwell on this occasionwas an ol
d-fashioned one which, in the haste of departure fromHong-Kong, they had taken with them instead of one of their new ones.Most of the helmets now in use possess a valve which shuts of itself inthe event of the air-tube bursting, and prevents the air from beingcrushed out of the dress. A dress full of air will, as we have alreadysaid, keep a man alive for at least five minutes. He has time,therefore, to reach the surface, so that danger from this source is notnearly so great as it used to be.

  Such restoratives as suggested themselves to the chief onlookers wereapplied, and, to the surprise of every one, the diver began to showsigns of returning life. In a few minutes he began to retch, and soonvomited a large quantity of clotted blood. After a time he began towhisper a few words.

  "Cheer up, my lad," said the captain in a kindly voice, as he went downon one knee beside the prostrate man; "don't attempt to speak or exertyourself in any way. You'll be all right in a few days. We'll haveyour dress taken off and send you below, where you shall be taken goodcare of."

  With returning vitality came back Maxwell's inbred obstinacy. He wouldnot hold his tongue, but insisted on explaining his sensations to hiscomrades as they busied themselves taking off his dress--a ratherviolent operation at all times, and very difficult in the circumstances.

  "W'y messmates," he said, "I hadn't even time to guess wot 'ad 'appened.Got no warnin' wotsomedever. I just felt a tree-mendous shock all of asuddent that struck me motionless--as if Tom Sayers had hit me adouble-handed cropper on the top o' my beak an' in the pit o' mybread-basket at one an' the same moment. Then came an 'orrible pressureas if a two-thousand-ton ship 'ad bin let down a-top o' me, an' arterthat I remembers nothin'."

  It is probable that the poor fellow would have gone on with hiscomments, though he spoke with difficulty and in a feeble voice, inwhich none of his characteristic gruffness remained, if he had not beencut short by Joe Baldwin and Rooney Machowl lifting him up and carryinghim below.

  Rooney, who carried his shoulders, took occasion to say while on the waydown:--

  "David, boy, did ye find anny treasure?"

  "No;--see'd nothin'."

  "Ow, ow, worse luck!" sighed Rooney.

  Maxwell was made comfortable with a glass of weak brandy and water--hot--and his comrades returned on deck, where they found EdgarBerrington commencing to put on the diving-dress.

  "Goin' down, sir?" inquired Joe.

  "Yes. We have fortunately another air-tube, and I want to complete thework we have begun."

  "Is there not a risk," whispered Aileen to her father, "that the sameaccident may happen again?"

  "Ah, true," answered Mr Hazlit aloud; "the water appears to be verydeep, Mr Berrington. Do you not think it probable that the air-tubemay burst a second time?"

  "I think not," replied Edgar, as he sat down to have his helmet affixedto the dress. "The best made articles are liable to possess flaws.Even the most perfect railway-wheel, in which the cleverest engineeralive might fail to detect a fault, may conceal a dangerous flaw. Thereis no certainty in human affairs. All we can say is that, when weconsider the thousands of divers who are daily employed all over theworld, accidents of the kind you have just witnessed are not numerous.If I were to refrain from going down because this accident has occurred,I might as well refrain evermore from entering a railway-carriage. We_must_ risk something sometimes in our progress through life, MrHazlit. It was intended that we should. Why were we gifted with thequality of courage if risk and danger were never to be encountered?"

  The screwing on of the bull's-eye put a stop to further remark, and afew seconds later our hero went over the side, while Ram-stam, smilingbenignant indifference as to the event which had so recently happened,steadily performed his duty.

  As Mr Hazlit and Aileen watched the bubbles that rose in multitudes tothe surface, the former repeated to himself, mentally, "Yes, we mustrisk something sometimes in our progress through life." He went onrepeating this until at last he followed it up with the suddenreflection:--"Well, perhaps I _must_ risk my daughter's happiness inthis youth's hands, even though he _is_ penniless. He seems an ablefellow; will, doubtless, make his way anywhere. At all events it isquite evident that he will risk his life anywhere! Besides, now I thinkof it, he said something about lending me some hundred pounds or so.Perhaps he is not absolutely penniless. It is quite certain that I am.Curious sentiment that of his: `We must risk something sometimes.' Verycurious, and quite new--at least exhibited to me in quite a new light."

  While Mr Hazlit's mind ran on thus, and his eyes dreamily watched thebubbles on the surface of the sea, our hero was grubbing like abig-headed goblin among the wreckage at the bottom.

  He moved about from place to place in that slow leaning fashion whichthe resistance of water renders unavoidable, but he found nothingwhatever to repay him for his trouble. There were beams and twistediron-work, and overturned guns, and a few bales, but nothing that borethe least resemblance to boxes or bags of money.

  One or two large cases he discovered, and forced them open with thecrowbar, which Maxwell had dropped when he was struck insensible, butthey contained nothing worth the labour of having them hoisted up. Atlast he was about to leave, after a careful search of more than an hour,when he espied something shining in a corner of what had once been thepirate-chief's cabin. He took it up and found it to be a small box ofunusual weight for its size. His sense of touch told him that it wasornamented with carving on its surface, but the light was not sufficientto enable him to see it distinctly. His heart beat hopefully, however,as he hastened as fast as the water would permit out of the cabin, andthen, to his joy he found that it was Aileen Hazlit's jewel-box! How itcame there he could not guess; but the reader partly knows the truth,and can easily imagine that when the pirate-chief sent his othervaluables to the swift prow, as before mentioned, he kept this--the mostprecious of them all--close to his own person to the last, desiring, nodoubt, to have it always under his own eye.

  Not troubling himself much, however, with such speculations, Edgarreturned to the cabin, placed the box where he found it, and spent fullhalf-an-hour more in plying his crowbar in the hope of discovering moreof the pirate's horde. While thus engaged he received two or threesignals to "Come up" from Joe Baldwin, who held his life-line; but hesignalled back "All right--let me alone," and went on with his work.

  At last there came the signal "Come up!" given with such a peremptorytug that he was fain, though unwilling, to comply. Taking the box underhis arm he began to ascend slowly. On gaining the surface he was madeat once aware of the reason of the repeated signalling, for a suddensquall had burst upon the eastern sea, which by that time, althoughperfectly calm below, was tumbling about in waves so large that thegun-boat was tossing like a cork at her anchor, and it was found to bealmost impossible to work the air-pump. In fact it was only by havingtwo men stationed to keep Ram-stam on his legs that the thing could bedone!

  With some difficulty Edgar was got on board, and the order wasimmediately given to weigh anchor.

  Expressing great surprise at the state of things he found above water,and regret that he had not sooner attended to orders, Edgar placed thebox on the deck. Then he unrobed, and drawing on his trousers and acanvas jacket he issued from behind the funnel--which had been hisrobing-room--and went aft, where he found Aileen seated between herfriend Miss Pritty and her father.

  "Miss Hazlit," he said with a peculiar smile, "allow me to introduce youto an old friend."

  He held up before her the carved steel box.

  "My mother's jewel-case!" she exclaimed, with a look of intensesurprise.

  "My--my wife's jewels!" stammered Mr Hazlit, in equal surprise;"whereon earth--why--how--where--young man, did you find them?"

  "I found them at the bottom of the sea," replied Edgar. "It is thesecond time, strange to say, that I have had the pleasure of fishingthem up from that vast repository of riches where, I doubt not, manyanother jewel-case still lies, and will continue to lie, unclaimed forever. Meanwh
ile, I count myself peculiarly fortunate in being the meansof restoring _this_ case to its rightful owner."

  So saying he placed it in the hands of Aileen.

  The captain, who had watched the whole scene with quiet interest and apeculiar curl about his black moustache, as well as a twinkle in hissharp black eye, uttered a short laugh, thrust his hands into hispockets, and walked away to give the order that the steamer's headshould be laid precisely "sou', sou'-west, and by south, half-south,"with a slight--almost a shadowy--leaning in the direction of"southerly."

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  Note 1. We may as well state here that our information on this subjectwas obtained from Captain John Hewat, formerly in command of the steamgun-boat _Rainbow_,--belonging to Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., Rajah ofSarawak,--in which he had six years' experience of pirate-hunting in theeastern seas, and now captain of one of Donald Currie and Company'smagnificent line of Cape steamers. Perhaps we ought to apologise forthus dragging the gallant captain into fiction, but we trust he willfind that, in regard to his own particular doings, we have stuck prettyclosely to fact.