by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER X LITTLE BIG-HEADS
Next day Johnny took Samatan for a ride in the steel ball. He hadsupposed it would be difficult, if not impossible, to induce thedignified old native to accompany him, but he was due for a surprise.
"Samatan," he said pleasantly, "you know we have been making trips farbeneath the surface of the sea in that steel ball."
"Yes!" Suddenly Samatan was alert.
"Dave and I--we--well we thought you might like to go down."
"In the big ball?" The native's eyes shone, eagerly.
"Yes, that's right." Johnny answered.
"Today?" asked Samatan.
"If you wish."
"In one hour," said Samatan.
An hour later, Samatan took his place beside Johnny in the steel ball,watched the massive, steel cap being screwed into place, felt the bump ofthe ball on the deck, then sensed their drop into the sea. All this--instoical silence.
Down they went, a hundred feet--two hundred--five hundred--a thousand. Bythe small light at his side, Johnny watched the native's face. Theexpression never changed.
"He seems to be expecting something interesting and exciting," the boytold himself. "Wonder what it could be. If he's afraid, he sure doesn'tshow it."
As they sank lower and lower, the darkness increased. At last, as Johnnythrew off the electric light and all about them was inky black, from thenative's lips came a hiss of surprise. That was all.
When Johnny threw on a powerful light, the look of expectation onSamatan's face returned.
"Strange sort of person," the boy thought. "What can he be expecting tosee?"
They were now standing still. The professor on deck, had decided theirdescent had gone far enough.
As Johnny sat staring into the inky blackness before them, he gave asudden start, then snatched his camera. There, plainly in view, was oneof the strangest monsters he ever had seen.
Scarcely had he adjusted his camera for a picture, than a second creatureappeared.
"Must be a school of them." His hand trembled a little.
Just as the camera clicked there began the most amazing and terrifyingexperience of Johnny's eventful life. As though pushed by a giant hand,as a child pushes a playmate in a rope swing, the steel ball movedrapidly outward and upward--although Johnny had given no signal!
Outward and upward--one hundred--two hundred--three hundred feet. Whocould say how far? What mysterious power motivated this wild ride, andwhere would it end? Would the cable snap?
Johnny made no effort to conceal the horror reflected in his face by thisthought. Sealed in a steel ball, resting on the bottom of the sea, half amile or more below surface. What chance? The boy's lips moved, but nosound came. Then, by sheer will power, he adopted a calmer mood andwaited the turn of events.
Samatan neither moved nor spoke. Strange Samatan! Did he think this waspart of the show? And what had he been waiting so patiently to see?
There was even greater consternation on board the _Sea Nymph_.
Dave had gone ashore for a bit of dry-land exploring but, with Doris athis side, the professor stood watching the pumps that sent air to theoccupants of the steel ball. His gaze, reflecting serious concern, wasfocused intently on the gauge registering strain on the steel ball'scables.
"Doris!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Look, Doris! _Look! The strain hasdoubled!_ The cable is perilously near the breaking point!"
"Poor Johnny!" Doris cried, distractedly. "Down there with old Samatan!If the cable breaks--"
"If the cable breaks--no power on earth can save them!" The professor'svoice dropped. "The bottom must be a full mile down and I doubt whetherthe ball could withstand the terrific pressure. Nor is there any way wecould bring it to the surface!"
"What can be done?" Doris was wringing her hands.
"Pray!" was the professor's simple reply. "Strange things areaccomplished by prayer, and faith."
Doris _did_ pray. Then they waited in silence. Ten seconds ticked theirway into eternity. Twenty--thirty--sixty. The arrow of the gauge movednearer the "maximum strain" point at the top of the dial--and stoodstill. Then, for a brief second, it moved forward again.
"The cable! It can never stand the torsion!" the professor groaned.
Just as all seemed lost, the arrow quivered--and began, slowly, to movethe other way.
"Thank God!" exclaimed the professor, fervently. "It--it's going down,Doris, child."
Staring at the dial, Doris opened her lips in silent thanksgiving. Shecould only stand and stare.
What had happened?
That was a question that remained unanswered for weeks. Some tremendouspower behind the steel ball had pushed it away and up, until its certaindoom seemed inevitable.
Then, with a sudden, rolling lurch, the ball had been freed and at oncebegan sinking to its original position. Fortunately, the resistance ofthe water was so great, there was no danger that the stopping of thedescent would snap the cable.
As they reached bottom position, Johnny grabbed Samatan's hand andgripped it, impulsively.
Then it was that the native said a strange thing:
"You go bottom now?" he asked, hopefully.
"No," said Johnny, happily. "But we are _safe_, man! I'm signalling themto draw us up!"
"No go bottom?" There was a suggestion of disappointment in Samatan'svoice.
Suddenly Johnny thought he understood. Samatan had expected to seebottom. That was what he had wanted, and it explained his strangeeagerness to go down. But _why_? What did he expect to see there?
Johnny, however, was far too eagerly awaiting the first, faint gleam oflight as they rose, to think much more about Samatan's behavior.
The strange "dawn beneath the sea" came to him once again. Such aglorious dawn! He was to live on! What a privilege it became, suddenly,just to live! The ball rose free of the water, to swing about and bumpgently down to the deck. A few moments later, the professor and Doriswere gripping his hands and demanding to know what had happened.
"What in the world went wrong?" they asked, in chorus.
"We ran into a school of monsters." Johnny was now able to laugh at hispredicament. "They must have taken us for a ride, I guess!"
"What kind of monsters?" The professor was so serious his voice trembled.
"You won't believe me if I tell you," the boy replied, soberly, "but heregoes. They had heads twice as large as their bodies! And those heads! Ifonly their mouths had been a little larger, they might have swallowed oursteel ball at one gulp!"
"Did they have a small lower jaw and a large upper one? Were their eyesset well back on the side of their heads? Did their tails wave like thoseof some tropical fish?" The professor was growing excited.
"Yes, yes, and yes," Johnny laughed again. "But say--I tried to takepictures of them! Wonder if they could have been good! Wait till I get mycamera." He made a dive into the steel ball to reappear at once with thecamera.
"But Johnny!" Doris insisted, "you haven't told us what really happened?"
"I don't know, and that's a fact!" replied Johnny, quietly, soberly. "Iwas just taking pictures of those beasts when--"
"They're known as little big-heads," the professor broke in, "and theyare rare, indeed! You are the first person ever to see them alive. Twospecimens have been found washed up on coral beaches, dead. You are atruly great explorer, Johnny! You may now take a bow."
"Aw, say!" Johnny fairly blushed.
"Anyway," he insisted, "one of them must have become tangled in ourcable, and in his wild efforts to free himself, took us for an underseasjoyride!"
"That doesn't seem possible," mused the professor, slowly. "I should liketo know what really happened."
"So should I!" Johnny agreed. "All I have to say is--I'd like them tostay clear of our cable, in the future! Please look at my hair! Do youthink it will turn white?"
"In thirty or forty years," Doris laughed. "But Johnny--we're dying tosee those pictures."
* * * * * * * *
"Little big-heads," the professor whispered solemnly, as the picturesbegan to appear. "Johnny, you are a wonder! Once again we have registereda real triumph!"
"I'm glad of that," Johnny said, sincerely. "I like being a success. Buteven better--I enjoy living!
"I'm sure I'll not be able to sleep in the dark for months to come," hesaid, more lightly. "I'll be imagining I'm still in that steel ball,swinging wide in utter darkness!"
"Johnny," Doris whispered some time later, "What _really_ took you forthat ride?"
"I could only guess--and it would be a wild guess, at that!" There was asuggestion of mystery in his voice. "I'm sure of one thing, though. Itwasn't any little big-head!"