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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Under the Waves, by R M Ballantyne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Under the Waves
+       Diving in Deep Waters
+
+Author: R M Ballantyne
+
+Illustrator: Pearson
+
+Release Date: November 15, 2007 [EBook #23493]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE WAVES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Under the Waves; or, Diving in Deep Waters, by R.M.Ballantyne.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+This was a very difficult book to obtain.  There was a copy in the
+British Library, and another one in a Library in Dartmouth, Devon.  For
+several years I tried at least weekly to find a copy via Abebooks or
+eBay, with no success.  The copy belonging to the Ballantyne family had
+disappeared, not to put too fine a point on it.  Eventually a kind
+family in Canada offered to scan the pages of their copy, and send the
+images to me, and this is the result.
+
+Ballantyne did indeed try out some diving equipment, so as to obtain a
+first-hand feel for diving. It is related that something went wrong, too
+much air was sent down, and he surfaced rapidly upside down.  A similar
+episode is related in the book.
+
+Ballantyne's style often gives rise to two or even three stories
+continuing simultaneously, and here we have the adventures of one Rooney
+Machowl, an Irishman who decides to move from his ship's carpenter trade
+to that of diving.  In fact divers should always have another trade, or
+they wouldn't be much use under the water.  In addition there is the
+aspiration of Edgar Berrington to win the hand of a fair young lady,
+there are the events happening to the young lady's father, and then
+again the events happening to the young lady's companion.  So it is all
+fairly convoluted.  But you'll certainly learn a lot about diving, as
+the art stood in 1876.  It is rather strange that Ballantyne, having
+written this book, which ran to several printings, did not much mention
+diving in any other of his books.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+UNDER THE WAVES; OR, DIVING IN DEEP WATERS, BY R.M.BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+This tale makes no claim to the character of an exhaustive illustration
+of all that belongs to the art of diving.  It merely deals with the most
+important points, and some of the most interesting incidents connected
+therewith.  In writing it I have sought carefully to exhibit the true
+and to ignore the false or improbable.
+
+I have to acknowledge myself indebted to the well-known submarine
+engineers Messrs. Siebe and Gorman, and Messrs. Heinke and Davis, of
+London, for much valuable information; and to Messrs. Denayrouze, of
+Paris, for permitting me to go under water in one of their
+diving-dresses.  Also--among many others--to Captain John Hewat,
+formerly Commander in the service of the Rajah of Sarawak, for much
+interesting material respecting the pirates of the Eastern Seas.
+
+R.M.B.  Edinburgh, 1876.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+INTRODUCES OUR HERO, ONE OF HIS ADVISERS, AND SOME OF HIS DIFFICULTIES.
+
+"So, sir, it seems that you've set your heart on learning something of
+everything?"
+
+The man who said this was a tall and rugged professional diver.  He to
+whom it was said was Edgar Berrington, our hero, a strapping youth of
+twenty-one.
+
+"Well--yes, I have set my heart upon something of that sort, Baldwin,"
+answered the youth.  "You see, I hold that an engineer ought to be
+practically acquainted, more or less, with everything that bears, even
+remotely, on his profession; therefore I have come to you for some
+instruction in the noble art of diving."
+
+"You've come to the right shop, Mister Edgar," replied Baldwin, with a
+gratified look.  "I taught you to swim when you wasn't much bigger than
+a marlinespike, an' to make boats a'most before you could handle a
+clasp-knife without cuttin' your fingers, an' now that you've come to
+man's estate nothin'll please me more than to make a diver of you.
+But," continued Baldwin, while a shade clouded his wrinkled and
+weatherbeaten visage, "I can't let you go down in the dress without
+leave.  I'm under authority, you know, and durstn't overstep--"
+
+"Don't let that trouble you," interrupted his companion, drawing a
+letter from his pocket; "I had anticipated that difficulty, and wrote to
+your employers.  Here is their answer, granting me permission to use
+their dresses."
+
+"All right, sir," said Baldwin, returning the letter without looking at
+it; "I'll take your word for it, sir, as it's not much in my line to
+make out the meanin' o' pot-hooks and hangers.--Now, then, when will you
+have your first lesson?"
+
+"The sooner the better."
+
+"Just so," said the diver, looking about him with a thoughtful air.
+
+The apartment in which the man and the youth conversed was a species of
+out-house or lumber-room which had been selected by Baldwin for the
+stowing away of his diving apparatus and stores while these were not in
+use at the new pier which was in process of erection in the neighbouring
+harbour.  Its floor was littered with snaky coils of india-rubber
+tubing; enormous boots with leaden soles upwards of an inch thick;
+several diving helmets, two of which were of brightly polished metal,
+while the others were more or less battered, dulled, and dinted by hard
+service in the deep.  The walls were adorned with large damp
+india-rubber dresses, which suggested the idea of baby-giants who had
+fallen into the water and been sent off to bed while their costumes were
+hung up to dry.  In one corner lay several of the massive breast and
+back weights by which divers manage to sink themselves to the bottom of
+the sea; in another stood the chest containing the air-pump by means of
+which they are enabled to maintain themselves alive in that
+uncomfortable position; while in a third and very dark corner, an old
+worn-out helmet, catching a gleam from the solitary window by which the
+place was insufficiently lighted, seemed to glare enviously out of its
+goggle-eyes at its glittering successors.  Altogether, what with the
+strange spectral objects and the dim light, there was something weird in
+the aspect of the place, that accorded well with the spirit of young
+Berrington, who, being a hero and twenty-one, was naturally romantic.
+
+But let us pause here to assert that he was also practical--eminently
+so.  Practicality is compatible with romance as well as with rascality.
+If we be right in holding that romance is gushing enthusiasm, then are
+we entitled to hold that many methodical and practical men have been,
+are, and ever will be, romantic.  Time sobers their enthusiasm a little,
+no doubt, but does by no means abate it, unless the object on which it
+is expended be unworthy.
+
+Recovering from his thoughtful air, and repeating "Just so," the diver
+added, "Well, I suppose we'd better begin wi' them 'ere odds an' ends
+about us."
+
+"Not so," returned the youth quickly; "I have often seen the apparatus,
+and am quite familiar with it.  Let us rather go to the pier at once.
+I'm anxious to go down."
+
+"Ah!  Mister Edgar--hasty as usual," said Baldwin, shaking his head
+slowly.  "It's two years since I last saw you, and I _had_ hoped to find
+that time had quieted you a bit, but--.  Well, well--now, look here: you
+think you've seen all my apparatus, an' know all about it?"
+
+"Not exactly all," returned the youth, with a smile; "but you know I've
+often been in this store of yours, and heard you enlarge on most if not
+all of the things in it."
+
+"Yes--most, but not _all_, that's where it lies, sir.  You've often seen
+Siebe and Gorman's dresses, but did you ever see this helmet made by
+Heinke and Davis?"
+
+"No, I don't think I ever did."
+
+"Or that noo helmet wi' the speakin'-toobe made by Denayrouze and
+Company, an' this dress made by the same?"
+
+"No, I've seen none of these things, and certainly this is the first
+time I have heard of a speaking-tube for divers."
+
+"Well then, you see, Mister Edgar, you have something to larn here after
+all; among other things, that Denayrouze's is _not_ the first
+speakin'-toobe," said Baldwin, who thereupon proceeded with the most
+impressive manner and earnest voice to explain minutely to his no less
+earnest pupil the various clever contrivances by which the several
+makers sought to render their apparatus perfect.
+
+With all this, however, we will not trouble the reader, but proceed at
+once to the port, where diving operations were being carried on in
+connection with repairs to the breakwater.
+
+On their way thither the diver and his young companion continued their
+conversation.
+
+"Which of the various dresses do you think the best?" asked Edgar.
+
+"I don't know," answered Baldwin.
+
+"Ah, then you are not bigotedly attached to that of your employer--like
+some of your fraternity with whom I have conversed?"
+
+"I _am_ attached to Siebe and Gorman's dress," returned Baldwin, "but I
+am no bigot.  I believe in every thing and every creature having good
+and bad points.  The dress I wear and the apparatus I work seem to me as
+near perfection as may be, but I've lived too long in this world to
+suppose nobody can improve on 'em.  I've heard men who go down in the
+dresses of other makers praise 'em just as much as I do mine, an' maybe
+with as good reason.  I believe 'em all to be serviceable.  When I've
+had more experience of 'em I'll be able to say which I think the best.--
+I've got a noo hand on to-day," continued Baldwin, "an' as he's goin'
+down this afternoon for the first time, so you've come at a good time.
+He's a smart young man, but I'm not very hopeful of him, for he's an
+Irishman."
+
+"Come, old fellow," said Edgar, with a laugh, "mind what you say about
+Irishmen.  I've got a dash of Irish blood in me through my mother, and
+won't hear her countrymen spoken of with disrespect.  Why should not an
+Irishman make a good diver?"
+
+"Because he's too excitable, as a rule," replied Baldwin.  "You see,
+Mister Edgar, it takes a cool, quiet, collected sort of man to make a
+good diver, and Irishmen ain't so cool as I should wish.  Englishmen are
+better, but the best of all are Scotchmen.  Give me a good, heavy,
+raw-boned lump of a Scotchman, who'll believe nothin' till he's
+convinced, and accept nothin' till it's proved, who'll argue with a
+stone wall, if he's got nobody else to dispute with, in that slow sedate
+humdrum way that drives everybody wild but himself, who's got an amazin'
+conscience, but no nerves whatever to speak of--ah, that's the man to go
+under water, an' crawl about by the hour among mud and wreckage without
+gittin' excited or makin' a fuss about it if he should get his life-line
+or air-toobe entangled among iron bolts, smashed-up timbers, twisted
+wire-ropes, or such like."
+
+"Scotchmen should feel complimented by your opinion of them," said
+Edgar.
+
+"So they should, for I mean it," replied Baldwin, "but I hope the
+Irishman will turn up a trump this time.--May I take the liberty of
+askin' how you're gittin' on wi' the engineering, Mister Edgar?"
+
+"Oh, famously.  That is to say, I've just finished my engagement with
+the firm of Steel, Bolt, Hardy, and Company, and am now on the point of
+going to sea."
+
+Baldwin looked at his companion in surprise.  "Going to sea!" he
+repeated, "why, I thought you didn't like the sea?"
+
+"You thought right, Baldwin, but men are sometimes under the necessity
+of submitting to what they don't like.  I have no love for the sea,
+except, indeed, as a beautiful object to be admired from the shore, but,
+you see, I want to finish my education by going a voyage as one of the
+subordinate engineers in an ocean-steamer, so as to get some practical
+acquaintance with marine engineering.  Besides, I have taken a fancy to
+see something of foreign parts before settling down vigorously to my
+profession, and--"
+
+"Well?" said Baldwin, as the youth made rather a long pause.
+
+"Can you keep a secret, Baldwin, and give advice to a fellow who stands
+sorely in need of it?"
+
+The youth said this so earnestly that the huge diver, who was a
+sympathetic soul, declared with much fervour that he could do both.
+
+"You must know, then," began Edgar with some hesitation, "the fact is--
+you're such an old friend, Baldwin, and took such care of me when I was
+a boy up to that sad time when I lost my father, and you lost an
+employer--"
+
+"Ay, the best master I ever had," interrupted the diver.
+
+"That--that I think I may trust you; in short, Baldwin, I'm over head
+and ears with a young girl, and--and--"
+
+"An' your love ain't requited--eh?" said Baldwin interrogatively, while
+his weatherbeaten face elongated.
+
+"No, not exactly that," rejoined Edgar, with a laugh.  "Aileen loves me
+almost, I believe, as well as I love her, but her father is dead against
+us.  He scorns me because I am not a man of wealth."
+
+"What is _he_?" demanded Baldwin.
+
+"A rich China merchant."
+
+"He's more than that," said Baldwin.
+
+"Indeed!" said Edgar, with a surprised look; "what more is he?"
+
+"He's a goose!" returned the diver stoutly.
+
+"Don't be too hard on him, Baldwin.  Remember, I hope some day to call
+him father-in-law.  But why do you hold so low an opinion of him?"
+
+"Why, because he forgets that riches may, and often do, take to
+themselves wings and fly away, whereas broad shoulders, and deep chest,
+and sound limbs, and a good brain, usually last the better part of a
+lifetime; and a brave heart will last for ever."
+
+"I am afraid that I have yet to prove, to myself as well as to the old
+gentleman, that the brave heart is mine," returned Edgar.  "As to the
+physique--you may be so far right, but he evidently undervalues that."
+
+"I said nothing about physic," returned Baldwin, who still frowned as he
+thought of the China merchant, "and the less that you and I have to do
+wi' that the better.  But what are you goin' to do, sir?"
+
+"That is just the point on which I want to have your advice.  What ought
+I to do?"
+
+"Don't run away with her, whatever you do," said Baldwin emphatically.
+
+The youth laughed slightly as he explained that there was no chance
+whatever of his doing that, because Aileen would never consent to run
+away or to disobey her father.
+
+"Good--good," said the diver, with still greater emphasis than before,
+"I like that.  The gal that would sacrifice herself and her lover sooner
+than disobey her father--even though he is a goose--is made o' the right
+stuff.  If it's not takin' too great a liberty, Mister Edgar, may I ask
+what she's like?"
+
+"What she's like--eh?" murmured the other, dropping his head as if in
+reverie, and stroking the dark shadow on his chin which was beginning to
+do duty for a beard.  "Why, she--she's like nothing that I ever saw on
+earth before."
+
+"No!" ejaculated Baldwin, elevating his eyebrows a little, as he said
+gravely, "what, not even like an angel?"
+
+"Well, yes; but even that does not sufficiently describe her.  She's
+fair,"--he waxed enthusiastic here,--"surpassingly fair, with wavy
+golden tresses and blue eyes, and a bright complexion and a winning
+voice, and a sylph-like figure and a thinnish but remarkably pretty
+face--"
+
+"Ah!" interrupted Baldwin, with a sigh, "I know: just like my missus."
+
+"Why, my good fellow," cried Edgar, unable to restrain a fit of
+laughter, "I do not wish to deny the good looks of Mrs Baldwin, but you
+know that she's uncommonly ruddy and fat and heavy, as well as fair."
+
+"Ay, an' forty, if you come to that," said the diver.  "She's fourteen
+stun if she's an ounce; but let me tell you, Mister Edgar, she wasn't
+always heavy.  There _was_ a time when my Susan was as trim and taut and
+clipper-built as any Aileen that ever was born."
+
+"I have no doubt of it whatever," returned the youth, "but I was going
+to say, when you interrupted me, it is her eyes that are her strong
+point--her deep, liquid, melting blue eyes, that look at you so
+earnestly, and seem to pierce--"
+
+"Ay, just so," interrupted the diver; "pierce into you like a gimblet,
+goin' slap agin the retina, turnin' short down the jugular, right into
+the heart, where they create an agreeable sort o' fermentation.  Oh!
+Don't I know?--my Susan all over!"
+
+Edgar's amusement was tinged slightly with disgust at the diver's
+persistent comparisons.  However, mastering his feelings, he again
+demanded advice as to what he should do in the circumstances.
+
+"You han't told me the circumstances yet," said the diver quietly.
+
+"Well, here they are.  Old Mr Hazlit--"
+
+"What!  Hazlit?  Miss Hazlit, is _that_ her name?" cried Baldwin, with a
+look of pleased surprise.
+
+"Yes, do you know her?"
+
+"Know her?  Of course I do.  Why, she visits the poor in my district o'
+the old town--you know I'm a local preacher among the Wesleyans--an'
+she's one o' the best an' sweetest--ha!  Angel indeed!  I'm glad she
+wasn't made an angel of, for it would have bin the spoilin' of a
+splendid woman.  Bless her!"
+
+The diver spoke with much enthusiasm, and the young man smiled as he
+said, "Of course I add Amen to your last words.--Well then," he
+continued, "Aileen's father has refused to allow me to pay my addresses
+to his daughter.  He has even forbidden me to enter his house, or to
+hold any intercourse whatever with her.  This unhappy state of things
+has induced me to hasten my departure from England.  My intention is to
+go abroad, make a fortune, and then return to claim my bride, for the
+want of money is all that the old gentleman objects to.  I cannot bear
+the thought of going away without saying good-bye, but that seems now
+unavoidable, for he has, as I have said, forbidden me the house."
+
+Edgar looked anxiously at his companion's face, but received no
+encouragement there, for Baldwin kept his eyes on the ground, and shook
+his head slowly.
+
+"If the old gentleman has forbid you his house, of course you mustn't go
+into it.  However, it seems to me that you might cruise about the house
+and watch till Sus--Aileen, I mean--comes out; but I don't myself quite
+like the notion of that either, it don't seem fair an' above-board
+like."
+
+"You are right," returned Edgar.  "I cannot consent to hang about a
+man's door, like a thief waiting to pounce on his treasure when it
+opens.  Besides, he has forbidden Aileen to hold any intercourse with
+me, and I know her dear nature too well to subject it to a useless
+struggle between duty and inclination.  She is certain to obey her
+father's orders at any cost."
+
+"Then, sir," said Baldwin decidedly, "you'll just have to go afloat
+without sayin' good-bye.  There's no help for it, but there's this
+comfort, that, bein' what she is, she'll like you all the better for
+it.--Now, here we are at the pier.  Boat a-hoy-oy!"
+
+In reply to the diver's hail a man in a punt waved his hand, and pulled
+for the landing-place.
+
+A few strokes of the oar soon placed them on the deck of a large clumsy
+vessel which lay anchored off the entrance to the harbour.  This was the
+diver's barge, which exhibited a ponderous crane with a pendulous hook
+and chain in the place where its fore-mast should have been.  Several
+men were busied about the deck, one of whom sat clothed in the full
+dress of a diver, with the exception of the helmet, which was unscrewed
+and lay on the deck near his heavily-weighted feet.  The dress was wet,
+and the man was enjoying a quiet pipe, from all which Edgar judged that
+he was resting after a dive.  Near to the plank on which the diver was
+seated there stood the chest containing the air-pumps.  It was open, the
+pumps were in working order, with two men standing by to work them.
+Coils of india-rubber tubing lay beside it.  Elsewhere were strewn about
+stones for repairing the pier, and various building tools.
+
+"Has Machowl come on board yet?" asked Baldwin, as he stepped on the
+deck.  "Ah, I see he has.--Well, Rooney lad, are you prepared to go
+down?"
+
+"Yis, sur, I am."
+
+Rooney Machowl, who stepped forward as he spoke, was a fine specimen of
+a man, and would have done credit to any nationality.  He was about the
+middle height, very broad and muscular, and apparently twenty-three
+years of age.  His countenance was open, good-humoured, and
+good-looking, though by no means classic--the nose being turned-up, the
+eyes small and twinkling, and the mouth large.
+
+"Have you ever seen anything of this sort before?" asked Baldwin, with a
+motion of his hand towards the diving apparatus scattered on the deck.
+
+"No sur, nothin'."
+
+"Was you bred to any trade?"
+
+"Yis, sur, I'm a ship-carpenter."
+
+"An' why don't you stick to that?"
+
+"Bekase, sur, it won't stick to me.  There's nothin' doin' apparently in
+this poort.  Annyhow I can't git work, an' I've a wife an' chick at
+home, who've bin so long used to praties and bacon that their stummicks
+don't take kindly to fresh air fried in nothin'.  So ye see, sur,
+findin' it difficult to make a livin' above ground, I'm disposed to try
+to make it under water."
+
+While Rooney Machowl was speaking Baldwin regarded him with a fixed and
+critical gaze.  What his opinion of the recruit was did not, however,
+appear on his countenance or in his reply, for he merely said, "Humph!
+Well, we'll see.  You'll begin your education in your noo profession by
+payin' partikler attention to all that is said an' done around you."
+
+"Yis, sur," returned Machowl, respectfully touching the peak of his cap
+and wrinkling his forehead very much, while he looked on at the further
+proceedings of the divers with that expression of deep earnest sincerity
+of attention which--whether assumed or genuine--is only possible to the
+countenance of an Irishman.
+
+During this colloquy the two men standing by the pump-case, and two
+other men who appeared to be supernumeraries, listened with much
+interest, but the diver seated on the plank, resting and calmly smoking
+his pipe, gazed with apparent indifference at the sea, from which he had
+recently emerged.
+
+This man was a very large fellow, with a dark surly countenance--not
+exactly bad in expression, but rather ill-tempered-looking.  His
+diving-dress being necessarily very wide and baggy, made him seem larger
+than he really was--indeed, quite gigantic.  The dress was made of very
+thick india-rubber cloth, and all--feet, legs, body, and arms--was of
+one piece, so perfectly secured at the seams as to be thoroughly
+impervious to air or water.  To get into it was a matter of some
+difficulty, the entrance being effected at the neck.  When this neck is
+properly attached to the helmet, the diver is thoroughly cut off from
+the external world, except through the air-tube communicating with his
+helmet and the pump afore mentioned.
+
+"Have ye got the hole finished, Maxwell?" said Baldwin, turning to the
+surly diver.
+
+"Yes," he replied shortly.
+
+"Well, then, go down and fix the charge.  Here it is," said Baldwin,
+taking from a wooden case an object about eighteen inches long, which
+resembled a large office-ruler that had been coated thickly with pitch.
+It was an elongated shell filled to the muzzle with gunpowder.  To one
+end of it was fastened the end of a coil of wire which was also coated
+with some protecting substance.
+
+As Baldwin spoke Maxwell slowly puffed the last "draw" from his lips and
+knocked the ashes out of his pipe on the plank, on which he still
+remained seated while the two supernumeraries busied themselves in
+completing his toilet for him; one screwing on his helmet, which
+appeared ridiculously large, the other loading his breast and back with
+two heavy leaden weights.  When fully equipped, the diver carried on his
+person a weight fully equal to that of his own bulky person.
+
+"Now look here, Mister Edgar, an' pay partikler attention, Rooney
+Machowl.  This here toobe, made of indyrubber, d'ee see?  (`Yis, sur,'
+from Rooney) I fix on, as you perceive, to the back of Maxwell's helmet.
+It communicates with that there pump, and when these two men work the
+pump, air will be forced into the helmet and into the dress down to his
+very toes.  We could bu'st him, if we were so disposed, if it wasn't for
+an escape-valve, here close beside the air-toobe, at the back of the
+helmet, which keeps lettin' off the surplus air.  Moreover, there is
+another valve, here in front of the breast-plate, which is under the
+control of the diver, so that he can let air escape by givin' it a
+half-turn when the men at the pumps are givin' him too much, or he can
+keep it in when they're givin' him enough."
+
+"An' what does he do," asked Rooney, with an anxious expression, "whin
+they give him too little?"
+
+"He pulls on the air-pipe,--as I'll explain to you in good time--the
+proper signal for `more air.'"
+
+"But what if he forgits, or misremimbers the signal?" asked the
+inquisitive recruit.
+
+"Why then," replied Baldwin, "he suffocates, and we pull him up dead,
+an' give him decent burial.  Keep yourself easy, my lad, an' you'll know
+all about it in good time.  I'll soon give 'ee the chance to suffocate
+or bu'st yourself accordin' to taste."
+
+"Come, cut it short and look alive," said Maxwell gruffly, as he stood
+up to permit of a stout rope being fastened to his waist.
+
+"You shut up!" retorted Baldwin.
+
+Having exchanged these little civilities the two divers moved to the
+side of the barge--Maxwell with a slow ponderous tread.
+
+A short iron ladder dipped from the gunwale of the barge a few feet down
+into the sea.  The diver stepped upon this, turning with his face
+inwards, descended knee-deep into the water, and then stopped.  Baldwin
+handed him the blasting-charge.  At the same moment one of the
+supernumeraries advanced with the front-glass or bull's-eye in his hand,
+and the men at the pumps gave a turn or two to see that all was working
+well.
+
+"All right?" demanded the supernumerary.
+
+"Right," responded Maxwell, in a voice which issued sepulchrally from
+the iron globe.
+
+There are three round windows fitted with thick plate-glass in the
+helmets to which we refer.  The front one is made to screw off and on,
+and the fixing of this is always the last operation in completing a
+diver's toilet.
+
+"Pump away," said the man, holding the round glass in front of Maxwell's
+nose, and looking over his shoulder to see that the order was obeyed.
+The glass was screwed on, and the man finished off by gravely patting
+Maxwell in an affectionate manner on the head.
+
+"Why does he pat him so?" asked Edgar, with a laugh at the apparent
+tenderness of the act.
+
+"It's a tinder farewell, I suppose," murmured Rooney, "in case he niver
+comes up again."
+
+"It is to let him know that he may now descend in safety," answered
+Baldwin.  "The pump there is kep' goin' from a few moments before the
+front-glass is screwed on till the diver shows his head above water
+again--which he'll do in quarter of an hour or so, for it don't take
+long to lay a charge; but our ordinary spell under water, when work is
+steady, is about four hours--more or less--with perhaps a breath of ten
+minutes once or twice at the surface when they're working deep."
+
+"But why a breath at the surface?" asked Edgar.  "Isn't the air sent
+down fresh enough?"
+
+"Quite fresh enough, Mister Edgar, but the pressure when we go deep--say
+ten or fifteen fathoms--is severe on a man if long continued, so that he
+needs a little relief now and then.  Some need more and some less
+relief, accordin' to their strength.  Maxwell has only gone down fifteen
+feet, so that he wouldn't need to come up at all durin' a spell of work.
+We're goin' to blast a big rock that has bin' troublesome to us at low
+water.  The hole was driven in it last week.  We moored a raft over it
+and kep' men at work with a long iron jumper that reached from the rock
+to the surface of the sea.  It was finished last night, and now he's
+gone to fix the charge."
+
+"But I don't understand about the pressure, sur, at all at all," said
+Machowl, with a complicated look of puzzlement; "sure whin I putt my
+hand in wather I don't feel no pressure whatsomediver."
+
+"Of course not," responded Baldwin, "because you don't put it deep
+enough.  You must know that our atmosphere presses on our bodies with a
+weight of about 20,000 pounds.  Well, if you go thirty-two feet deep in
+the sea you get the pressure of exactly another atmosphere, which means
+that you've got to stand a pressure all over your body of 40,000 when
+you've got down as deep as thirty-two feet."
+
+"But," objected Rooney, "I don't fed no pressure of the atmosphere on me
+body at all."
+
+"That's because you're squeezed by the air inside of you, man, as well
+as by the atmosphere outside, which takes off the _feelin'_ of it, an',
+moreover, you're used to it.  If the weight of our atmosphere was took
+off your outside and not took off your inside--your lungs an' the
+like,--you'd come to feel it pretty strong, for you'd swell like a
+balloon an' bu'st a'most, if not altogether."
+
+Baldwin paused a moment and regarded the puzzled countenance of his
+pupil with an air of pity.
+
+"Contrairywise," he continued, "if the air was all took out of your
+inside an' allowed to remain on your outside, you'd go squash together
+like a collapsed indyrubber ball.  Well then, if that be so with one
+atmosphere, what must it be with a pressure equal to two, which you have
+when you go down to thirty-two feet deep in the sea?  An' if you go down
+to twenty-five fathoms, or 150 feet, which is often done, what must the
+pressure be there?"
+
+"Tightish, no doubt," said Rooney.
+
+"True, lad," continued Joe.  "Of course, to counteract this we must
+force more air down to you the deeper you go, so that the pressure
+inside of you may be a little more than the pressure outside, in order
+to force the foul air out of the dress through the escape-valve; and
+what between the one an' the other your sensations are peculiar, you may
+be sure.--But come, young man, don't be alarmed.  We'll not send you
+down very deep at first.  If some divers go down as deep as twenty-five
+fathoms, surely you'll not be frightened to try two and a half."
+
+Whatever Rooney's feelings might have been, the judicious allusion to
+the possibility of his being frightened was sufficient to call forth the
+emphatic assertion that he was ready to go down two thousand fathoms if
+they had ropes long enough and weights heavy enough to sink him!
+
+While the recruit is preparing for his subaqueous experiments, you and
+I, reader, will go see what Maxwell is about at the bottom of the sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+DESCRIBES A FIRST VISIT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA.
+
+When the diver received the encouraging pat on the head, as already
+related, he descended the ladder to its lowest round.  Here, being a few
+feet below the surface, the buoyancy of the water relieved him of much
+of the oppression caused by the great weights with which he was loaded.
+He was in a semi-floating condition, hence the ladder, being no longer
+necessary, was made to terminate at that point.  He let go his hold of
+it and sank gently to the bottom, regulating his pace by a rope which
+descended from the foot of the ladder to the mud, on which in a few
+seconds his leaden soles softly rested.  A continuous stream of
+air-bubbles from the safety-valve behind the helmet indicated to those
+above that the pumps were doing their duty, and at the same time hid the
+diver entirely from their sight.
+
+Meanwhile the two men who acted as signalman and assistant stood near
+the head of the ladder, the first holding the life-line, the assistant
+the coil of air-tubing.  Their duty was to stand by and pay out or haul
+in tubing and line according as the diver's movements and necessities
+should require.  They were to attend also to his signals--some of which
+were transmitted by the line and some by the air-tube.  These signals
+vary among divers.  With Baldwin and his party one pull on the
+_life-line_ meant "All right;" four pulls, "I'm coming up."  One pull on
+the air-pipe signified "Sufficient air;" two pulls, "More air."  (pump
+faster.)  Four pulls was an alarm, and signified "Haul me up."  The
+aspect of Rooney Machowl's face when endeavouring to understand
+Baldwin's explanation of these signals was a sight worth seeing!
+
+But to return to our diver.  On reaching the bottom, Maxwell took a coil
+of small line which hung on his left arm, and attached one end of it to
+a stone or sinker which kept taut the ladder-line by which he had
+descended.  This was his clew to guide him back to the ladder.  Not only
+is the light under water very dim--varying of course, according to
+depth, until total darkness ensues--but a diver's vision is much
+weakened by the muddy state of the water at river-mouths and in
+harbours, so that he is usually obliged to depend more on feeling than
+on sight.  If he were to leave the foot of his ladder without the
+guiding-coil, it would be difficult if not impossible to find it again,
+and his only resource would be to signal "Haul me up," which would be
+undignified, to say the least of it!  By means of this coil he can
+wander about at will--within the limits of his air-tube tether of
+course,--and be certain to find his way back to the ladder-foot in the
+darkest or muddiest water.
+
+Having fastened the line, the diver walked in the direction of the rock
+on which he had to operate, dropping gradually the coils of the
+guiding-line as he proceeded.  His progress was very slow, for water is
+a dense medium, and man's form is not well adapted for walking in it--as
+every bather knows who has attempted to walk when up to his neck in it.
+He soon found the object of his search, and went down on his knees
+beside the hole already driven into the 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 glance of anger at Maxwell, the young
+Irishman crushed down his feelings and said--
+
+"Sure, I'm only jokin'.  Put on the dress Mister Baldwin av ye plaze."
+
+A diver, like a too high-bred lady, cannot well dress himself.  He
+requires two assistants.  Rooney Machowl sat down on the plank beside
+Maxwell, who was busy taking off his dress, and acted according to
+orders.
+
+First of all they brought him a thick guernsey shirt, a pair of drawers
+and pair of _inside_ stockings, which he put on and fastened securely.
+Sometimes a "crinoline" to afford protection to the stomach in deep
+water is put on, but on the present occasion it was omitted, the water
+being shallow.  Then Baldwin put on him a "shoulder-pad" to bear the
+weight of the helmet, etcetera, and prevent chafing.
+
+"If it was cold, Rooney," said his instructor, "I'd put two guernseys
+and pairs of drawers and stockin's on you, but, as it's warm, one set'll
+do.  Moreover, if you was goin' deep you'd have the option of stuffin'
+your ears with cotton soaked in oil, to relieve the pressure; some do
+an' some don't.  I never do myself.  It's said to relieve the pressure
+of air on the ears, but my ears are strong.  Anyway you won't want it in
+this water.--Now for the dress, boys."
+
+The two assistants--with mouths expanded from ear to ear--here advanced
+with the strong india-rubber garment whose legs, feet, body, and arms
+are, as we have already said, all in one piece.  Pushing his feet in at
+the upper opening, Rooney writhed, thrust, and wriggled himself into it,
+being ably assisted by his attendants, who held open the sleeves for him
+and expanded the tight elastic cuffs, and, catching the dress at the
+neck, hitched it upwards so powerfully as almost to lift their patient
+off his legs.  Next, came a pair of _outside_ stockings and canvas
+overalls or short trousers, both of which were meant to preserve the
+dress-proper from injury.  Having been got into all these things, Rooney
+was allowed to sit down while his attendants each put on and buckled a
+boot with leaden soles--each boot weighing about twenty pounds.
+
+"A purty pair of dancin' pumps!" remarked Rooney, turning out his toes,
+while Baldwin put on his breast-plate, after having drawn up the inner
+collar of the dress and tied it round his neck with a piece of spare
+yarn.
+
+The breast-plate was made of tinned copper.  It covered part of the
+back, breast, and shoulders of the diver, and had a circular neck, to
+which the helmet was to be ultimately screwed.  It rested on the _inner_
+collar of the dress, and the _outer_ collar--of stout india-rubber--was
+drawn over it.  In this outer collar were twelve holes, corresponding to
+twelve screws round the edge of the breast-plate.  When these holes had
+been fitted over their respective screws, a breast-plate-band, in four
+pieces, was placed over them and screwed tight by means of nuts--thus
+rendering the connection between the dress and the breast-plate
+perfectly water-tight.  It now only remained to screw the helmet to the
+circular neck of the breast-plate.  Previously, however, a woollen
+night-cap was drawn over the poor man's head, well down on his ears, and
+Rooney looked--as indeed he afterwards admitted that he felt--as if he
+were going to be hanged.  He thought, however, of the proverb, that a
+man who is born to be drowned never can be hanged, and somehow felt
+comforted.
+
+The diving helmet is made of tinned copper, and much too large for the
+largest human head, in order that the wearer may have room to move his
+head freely about inside of it.  It should not touch the head in any
+part, but is fixed rigidly to the breast-plate, resting on the
+shoulders, and does not partake of the motions of the head.  In it are
+three round openings filled with the thickest plate-glass and protected
+by brass bars or guards; also an outlet-valve to allow the foul air to
+escape; a short metal tube with an inlet-valve, to which the air-pump is
+screwed; and a regulating cock for getting rid of excess of air.  The
+arrangement is such, that the fresh air enters, and is spread over the
+front of the diver's face, while the foul escapes at the back of his
+head.  By a clever contrivance--a segmental screw--the helmet can be
+fixed to its neck with one-eighth of a turn, instead of having to be
+twisted round several times.  To various hooks and studs on the helmet
+and breast-plate are hung two leaden masses weighing about forty pounds
+each.
+
+These weights having been attached, and a waist-belt with a knife in it
+put round Rooney's waist, along with the life-line, the air-tube was
+affixed, and he was asked by Baldwin how he felt.
+
+"A trifle heavy," replied the pupil, through the front hole of the
+helmet, which was not yet closed.
+
+"That feeling will go off entirely when you're under water," said
+Baldwin.  "Now, remember, if you want more air, just give two pulls on
+the air-pipe--an' don't pull as if you was tryin' to haul down the
+barge; we'll be sure to feel you.  Be gentle and quiet, whatever ye do.
+Gettin' flurried never does any good whatever.  D'ee hear?"
+
+"Yis, sur," answered Rooney, and his voice sounded metallic and hollow,
+even to those outside--much more so to himself!
+
+"Well, then, if we give you too much air, you've only got to open the
+front-valve--so, and, when you're easy, shut it.  When you get down to
+the bottom, give one--only one--pull on the life-line, which means `All
+right,' and I'll give one pull in reply.  We must always reply to each
+other, d'ee see? because if you don't answer, of course we'll think
+you've been suffocated, or entangled at the bottom among wreckage and
+what-not, or been took with a fit, an' we'll haul you up, as hard as we
+can; so you'll have to be particular.  D'ee understand?"
+
+Again the learner replied "Yis, sur," but less confidently than before,
+for Baldwin's cautions, although meant to have an encouraging effect,
+proved rather to be alarming.
+
+"Now," continued the teacher, leading his pupil to the side of the
+barge, "be sure to go down slow, and come up slow.  Whatever you do, do
+it slow, for if you do it fast--especially in comin' up--you'll come to
+grief.  If a man comes up too fast from deep water, the condensed air
+inside of him is apt to swell him out, and the brain bein' relieved too
+suddenly from the pressure, there's a rush of blood to it, and a singin'
+in the ears, and a pain in the head, with other unpleasant symptoms.
+Why," continued Baldwin, growing energetic, "I've actually known a man
+killed outright by bein' pulled up too quick from a depth of twenty
+fathoms.  So mark my words, lad, and take it easy.  If you get nervous,
+just stop a bit an' amuse yourself with thinkin' over what I've told
+you, and then go on with your descent."
+
+At this point Rooney's heart almost failed him, but, catching sight of
+Maxwell's half-amused, half-contemptuous face, he stepped resolutely on
+the ladder, and began to descend in haste.
+
+"Hold on!" roared Baldwin, laying hold of the life-line.  "Why, man
+alive, you're off without the front-glass!"
+
+"Och!  Whirra!  So I am," said Rooney, pausing.
+
+"Pump away, lads," cried Baldwin, looking back at his assistants.
+
+"Whist!  What's that?" asked the pupil excitedly, as a hissing sound
+buzzed round his head.
+
+"Why, that's the air coming in.  Now then, I'll screw on the glass.  Are
+you all right?"
+
+"All right," replied Rooney, telling, as he said himself afterwards,
+"one of the biggist lies he iver towld in his life!"
+
+The glass was screwed on, and the learner was effectually cut off from
+all connection with the outer air, save through the slight medium of an
+india-rubber pipe.
+
+Having thus screwed him up--or in--Baldwin gave him the patronising pat
+on the helmet, as a signal for him to descend, but Rooney stood tightly
+fixed to the ladder, and motionless.
+
+Again Baldwin patted his head encouragingly, but still Rooney stood as
+motionless as one of the iron-clad warriors in the Tower of London.  The
+fact was, his courage had totally failed him.  He was ashamed to come
+up, and could not by any effort of will force himself to go down.
+
+"Why, what's wrong?" demanded Baldwin, looking in at the glass, which,
+however, was so clouded with the inmate's breath that he could only be
+seen dimly.  It was evident that Rooney was speaking in an excited
+voice, but no sound was audible through that impervious mass of metal
+and glass.  Baldwin was therefore about to unscrew the mouth-glass, when
+accident brought about what Rooney's will could not accomplish.  In
+attempting to move, the poor pupil missed his hold, or slipped somehow,
+and fell into the sea with a sounding splash.
+
+"Let him go, boys--gently, or he'll break everything.  A dip'll do him
+no harm," cried Baldwin to the alarmed assistants.
+
+The men let the life-line and air-tube slip, until the rushing descent
+was somewhat abated, and then, checking the involuntary diver, they
+hauled him slowly to the surface, where his arms and open palms went
+swaying wildly round until they came in contact with the ladder, on
+which they fastened with a grip that was sufficient to have squeezed the
+life out of a gorilla.
+
+In a few seconds he ascended a step, and his head emerged, then another
+step, and Baldwin was able to unscrew the glass.
+
+The first word that the poor man uttered through his porthole was "Och!"
+the next, "Musha!"
+
+A burst of laughter from his friends above somewhat reassured him, and
+again the tinge of contempt in Maxwell's voice reinfused courage and
+desperate resolve.
+
+"Why, man, what was your haste?" said Baldwin.
+
+"Sure the rounds o' yer ladder was slippy," answered Rooney, with some
+indignation.  "Didn't ye see, I lost me howld?  Come, putt on the glass
+an' I'll try again.  Never say die was a motto of me owld father, an' it
+was the only legacy he left me.--I'm ready, sur."
+
+It is right here to remark that something of the pupil's return of
+courage and resolution was due to his quick perception.  He had time to
+reflect that he really had been at, or near, the bottom of the sea--at
+all events over head and ears in water--for several minutes without
+being drowned, even without being moistened, and his faith in the
+diving-dress, though still weak, had dawned sufficiently to assert
+itself as a power.
+
+"Ha!  My lad, you'll do.  You'll make a diver yet," said Baldwin, when
+about to readjust the glass.  "I forgot to tell you that when your
+breath clouds the front-glass, you've only got to bend your head down,
+and wipe it off with your night-cap.  Now, then, down you go once more."
+
+This time the pat on the head was followed by a descending motion.  The
+mailed figure was feeling with its right foot for the next round of the
+ladder.  Then slowly--very slowly--the left foot was let down, while the
+two hands held on with a tenacity that caused all the muscles and sinews
+to stand out rigidly.  Then one hand was loosened, and caught nervously
+at a lower round--then the other hand followed, and thus by degrees the
+pupil went under the surface, when his helmet appeared like a large
+round ball of light enveloped in the milky-way of air-bubbles that rose
+from it.
+
+"You'd better give the signal to ask if all's right," said Edgar, who
+felt a little anxious.
+
+"Do so," said Baldwin, nodding to the assistant.
+
+The man obeyed, but no answering signal was returned.
+
+According to rule they should instantly have hauled the diver up, but
+Baldwin bade them delay a moment.
+
+"I'm quite sure there's nothing wrong," he said, stooping over the side
+of the barge, and gazing into the water, "it's only another touch of
+nervousness.--Ah!  I see him, holdin' on like a barnacle to the ladder,
+afraid to let go.  He'll soon tire of kickin' there--that's it: there he
+goes down the rope like the best of us."
+
+In another moment the life-line and air-pipe ceased to run out, and then
+the assistant gave one pull on the line.  Immediately there came back
+_one pull_--all right.
+
+"_That's_ all right," repeated Baldwin; "now the ice is fairly broken,
+and we'll soon see how he's going to get on."
+
+In order that we too may see that more comfortably, you and I, reader,
+will again go under water and watch him.  We will also listen to him,
+for Rooney has a convenient habit of talking to himself, and neither
+water nor helmet can prevent _us_ from overhearing.
+
+True to his instructions, the pupil proceeded to fasten his clew-line to
+the stone at the foot of the ladder-rope, and attempted to kneel.
+
+"Well, well," he said, "did ye iver!  What would me mother say if she
+heard I couldn't git on my knees whin I tried to?"
+
+Rooney began this remark aloud, but the sound of his own voice was so
+horribly loud and unnaturally near that he finished off in a whisper,
+and continued his observations in that confidential tone.
+
+"Och!  Is it dancin' yer goin' to do, Rooney?--in the day-time too!" he
+whispered, as his feet slowly left the bottom.  "Howld on, man!"
+
+He made a futile effort to stoop and grasp the mud, then, bethinking
+himself of Baldwin's instructions, he remembered that too much air had a
+tendency to bring him to the surface, and that opening the front-valve
+was the remedy.  He was not much too soon in recollecting this, for,
+besides rising, he was beginning to feel a singing in his head and a
+disagreeable pressure on the ears, caused by the ever-increasing density
+of the air.  The moment the valve was fully opened, a rush out of air
+occurred which immediately sank him again, and he had now no difficulty
+in getting on his knees.
+
+"There's little enough light down here, anyhow," he muttered, as he
+fumbled about the stone sinker in a vain attempt to fasten his line to
+it, "sure the windy must be dirty."
+
+The thought reminded him of Baldwin's teaching.  He bent forward his
+head and wiped the glass with his night-cap, but without much advantage,
+for the dimness was caused by the muddiness of the water.
+
+Just then he began to experience uncomfortable sensations; he felt a
+tendency to gasp for air, and became very hot, while his garments
+clasped his limbs very tightly.  He had, like Maxwell, forgotten to
+reclose the breast-valve, but, unlike the more experienced diver, he had
+failed to discover his omission.  He became flurried and anxious, and
+getting, more and more confused, fumbled nervously at his helmet to
+ascertain that all was right there.  In so doing he opened the little
+regulating cock, which served to form an additional outlet to foul air.
+This of course made matters worse.  The pressure of air in the dress was
+barely sufficient to prevent the water from entering by the breast-valve
+and regulating cock.  Perspiration burst out on his forehead.  He
+naturally raised his hand to wipe it away, but was prevented by the
+helmet.
+
+Rooney possessed an active mind.  His thoughts flew fast.  This check
+induced the following ideas--
+
+"What if I shud want to scratch me head or blow me nose?  Or what if an
+earwig shud chance to have got inside this iron pot, and take a fancy to
+go into my ear?"
+
+His right ear became itchy at the bare idea.  He made a desperate blow
+at it, and skinned his knuckles, while a hitherto unconceived intensity
+of desire to scratch his head and blow his nose took violent possession
+of him.
+
+Just then a dead cat, that had been flung into the harbour the night
+before, and had not been immersed long enough to rise to the surface,
+floated past with the tide, and its sightless eyeballs and ghastly row
+of teeth glared and glistened on him, as it surged against his
+front-glass.  A slight spirt of water came through the regulating cock
+at the same instant, as if the dead cat had spit in his face.
+
+"Hooroo!  Haul up!" shouted Rooney, following the order with a yell that
+sounded like the concentrated voice of infuriated Ireland.  At the same
+time he seized the life-line and air-tube, and tugged at both, not four
+times, but nigh forty times four, and never ceased to tug until he found
+himself gasping on the deck of the barge with his helmet off and his
+comrades laughing round him.
+
+"It's not a bad beginning," said Baldwin, as he assisted his pupil to
+unrobe; "you'll make a good diver in course o' time."
+
+Baldwin was right in this prophecy, for in a few months Rooney Machowl
+became one of the best and coolest divers on his staff.
+
+We need not try the reader's patience with an account of Edgar's
+descent, which immediately followed that of the Irishman.  Let it
+suffice to say that he too accomplished, with credit and with less
+demonstration, his first descent to the bottom of the sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+REFERS TO A SMALL TEA-PARTY, AND TOUCHES VERY MILDLY ON LOVE.
+
+Miss Pritty was a good soul, but weak.  She was Edgar Berrington's
+maiden aunt--of an uncertain age--on the mother's side.  Her chief
+characteristic was delicacy--delicacy of health, delicacy of sentiment,
+delicacy of intellect--general delicacy, in fact, all over.  She was
+slight too--slightly made, slightly educated, slightly pretty, and
+slightly cracked.  But there were a few things in regard to which Miss
+Laura Pritty was strong.  She was strong in her affections, strong in
+her reverence for all good things (including a few bad things which in
+her innocence she thought good), strong in her prejudices and impulses,
+and strong--remarkably strong--in parentheses.  Her speech was eminently
+parenthetical, insomuch that the range of her ideas was wholly
+untrammelled by the proprieties of subject or language.  Given a point
+to be aimed at in conversation, Miss Pritty _never_ aimed at it.  She
+invariably began with it, and, parting finally from it at the outset,
+diverged to any or every other point in nature.  Perplexity, as a matter
+of course, was the usual result both in speaker and hearer, but then
+that mattered little, for Miss Pritty was also strong in easy-going
+good-nature.
+
+On the evening in which we introduce her, Miss Pritty was going to have
+her dear and intimate friend Aileen Hazlit to tea, and she laid out her
+little tea-table with as much care as an engineer might have taken in
+drawing a mathematical problem.  The teapot was placed in the exact
+centre of the tray, with its spout and handle pointing so that a line
+drawn through them would have been parallel to the sides of her little
+"boudoir."  The urn stood exactly behind it.  The sugar-basin formed, on
+one side of the tray, a _pendant_ to the cream-jug on the other, and
+inasmuch as the cream-jug was small, a toast-rack was coupled with it to
+constitute the necessary balance.  So, too, with the cups: they were
+placed equidistant from the teapot, the sides of the tray, and each
+other, while a salver of cake on one side of the table was scrupulously
+balanced by a plate of buns on the other side.
+
+"There she is--the _darling_!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, with a little skip
+and (excuse the word) a giggle as the bell rang.
+
+"Miss Aileen Hazlit," announced Miss Pritty's small and only domestic,
+who flung wide open the door of the boudoir, as its owner was fond of
+styling it.
+
+Whereupon there entered "an angel in blue, with a straw hat and ostrich
+feather."
+
+We quote from the last, almost dying, speech of a hopeless youth in the
+town--a lawyer's clerk--whose heart was stamped over so completely with
+the word "Aileen" that it was unrecognisable, and practically useless
+for any purpose except beating--which it did, hard, at all times.
+
+Aileen was beautiful beyond compare, because, in her case, extreme
+beauty of face and feature was coupled with rare beauty of expression,
+indicating fine qualities of mind.  She was quiet in demeanour, grave in
+speech, serious and very earnest in thought, enthusiastic in action,
+unconscious and unselfish.
+
+"Pooh!  Perfection!"  I hear some lady reader ejaculate.
+
+No, fair one, not quite that, but as near it as was compatible with
+humanity.  Happily there are many such in the world--some with more and
+some with less of the external beauty--and man is blessed and the world
+upheld by them.
+
+The chief bond that bound Aileen and Miss Pritty together was a text of
+Scripture, "Consider the poor."  The latter had strong sympathy with the
+poor, being herself one of the number.  The former, being rich in faith
+as well as in means, "considered" them.  The two laid their heads
+together and concerted plans for the "raising of the masses," which
+might have been food for study to _some_ statesmen.  For instance, they
+fed the hungry and clothed the naked; they encouraged the well-disposed
+and reproved the evil; they "scattered seeds of kindness" wherever they
+went; they sowed the precious Word of God in all kinds of ground--good
+and bad; they comforted the sorrowing; they visited the sick and the
+prisoner; they refused to help, or, in any way to encourage, the idle;
+they handed the obstreperous and violent over to the police, with the
+hope--if not the recommendation--that the rod should not be spared; and
+in all cases they prayed for them.  The results were considerable, but,
+not being ostentatiously trumpeted, were not always recognised or traced
+to their true cause.
+
+"Come away, darling," exclaimed Miss Pritty, eagerly embracing and
+kissing her friend, who accepted, but did not return, the embrace,
+though she did the kiss.  "I thought you were not coming at all, and I
+have not seen you for a whole week!  What has kept you?  There, put off
+your hat.  I'm _so_ glad to see you, dear Aileen.  Isn't it strange that
+I'm so fond of you?  They say that people who are contrasts generally
+draw together--at least I've often heard Mrs Boxer, the wife of Captain
+Boxer, you know, of the navy, who used to swear so dreadfully before he
+was married, but, I am happy to say, has quite given it up now, which
+says a great deal for wedded life, though it's a state that I don't
+quite believe in myself, for if Adam had never married Eve he would not
+have been tempted to eat the forbidden fruit, and so there would have
+been no sin and no sorrow or poverty--no poor!  Only think of that."
+
+"So that our chief occupation would have been gone," said Aileen, with a
+slight twinkle of her lustrous blue eyes, "and perhaps you and I might
+never have met."
+
+Miss Pritty replied to this something very much to the effect that she
+would have preferred the entrance of sin and all its consequences--
+poverty included--into the world, rather than have missed making the
+friendship of Miss Hazlit.  At least her words might have borne that
+interpretation--or any other!
+
+"My father detained me," said Aileen, seating herself at the table,
+while her volatile friend put lumps of sugar into the cups, with a
+tender yet sprightly motion of the hand, as if she were doing the cups a
+special kindness--as indeed she was, when preparing one of them to touch
+the lips of Aileen.
+
+"Naughty man, why did he detain you?" said Miss Pritty.
+
+"Only to write one or two notes, his right hand being disabled at
+present by rheumatism."
+
+"A gentleman, Miss, in the dinin'-room," said the small domestic,
+suddenly opening a chink of the door for the admission of her somewhat
+dishevelled head.  "He won't send his name up--says he wants to see
+you."
+
+"How vexing!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, "but I'll go down.  I'm determined
+that he shan't interrupt our _tete-a-tete_."
+
+Miss Pritty uttered a little scream of surprise on entering the
+dining-room.
+
+"Well, aunt," said Edgar Berrington, with a hearty smile, as he extended
+his hand, "you are surprised to see me?"
+
+"Of course I am, dear Eddy," cried Miss Pritty, holding up her cheek for
+a kiss.  "Sit down.  Why, you were in London when I last heard of you."
+
+"True, but I'm not in London now, as you see.  I've been a week here."
+
+"A week, Eddy!  And you did not come to see me till now?"
+
+"Well, I ought to apologise," replied the youth, with a slight look of
+confusion, "but--the fact is, I came down partly on business, and--and--
+so you see I've been very busy."
+
+"Of course," laughed Miss Pritty; "people who have business to do are
+usually very busy!  Well, I forgive you, and am glad to see you--but--"
+
+"Well, aunt--but what?"
+
+"In short, Eddy, I happen to be particularly engaged this evening--on
+_business_, too, like yourself; but, after all, why should I not
+introduce you to my friend?  You might help us in our discussion--it is
+to be about the poor.  Do you know much about the poor and their
+miseries?"
+
+Edgar smiled sadly as he replied--
+
+"Yes, I have had some experimental knowledge of the poor--being one of
+them myself, and my poverty too has made me inconceivably miserable."
+
+"Come, Eddy, don't talk nonsense.  You know I mean the _very_ poor, the
+destitute.  But let us go up-stairs and have a cup of tea."
+
+The idea of discussing the condition of the poor over a cup of tea with
+two ladies was not attractive to our hero in his then state of mind, and
+he was beginning to excuse himself when his aunt stopped him:--
+
+"Now, don't say you can't, or won't, for you must.  And I shall
+introduce you to a very pretty girl--oh! _such_ a pretty one--you've no
+idea--and _so_ sweet!"
+
+Miss Pritty spoke impressively and with enthusiasm, but as the youth
+knew himself to be already acquainted with and beloved by the prettiest
+girl in the town he was not so much impressed as he might have been.
+However, being a good-natured fellow, he was easily persuaded.
+
+All the way up-stairs, and while they were entering the boudoir, little
+Miss Pritty's tongue never ceased to vibrate, but when she observed her
+nephew gazing in surprise at her friend, whose usually calm and
+self-possessed face was covered with confusion, she stopped suddenly.
+
+"Good-evening, Miss Hazlit," said Edgar, recovering himself, and holding
+out his hand as he advanced towards her; "I did not anticipate the
+pleasure of meeting _you_ here."
+
+"Then you are acquainted already!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, looking as
+much amazed as if the accident of two young people being acquainted
+without her knowledge were something tantamount to a miracle.
+
+"Yes, I have met Mr Berrington at my father's several times," said
+Aileen, resuming her seat, and bestowing a minute examination on the
+corner of her handkerchief.
+
+If Aileen had added that she had met Mr Berrington every evening for a
+week past at her father's, had there renewed the acquaintance begun in
+London a year before, and had been wooed and won by him before his stern
+repulse by her father, she would have said nothing beyond the bare
+truth; but she thought, no doubt, that it was not necessary to add all
+that.
+
+"Well, well, what strange things do happen!" said Miss Pritty, resuming
+her duties at the tea-table.  "Sugar, Eddy?  And cream?--Only to think
+that Aileen and I have known each other so well, and she did not know
+that you were my nephew; but after all it could not well be otherwise,
+for now I think of it, I never mentioned your name to her.  Out of
+sight, out of mind, Eddy, you know, and indeed you don't deserve to be
+remembered.  If we all had our deserts, some people that I know of would
+be in a very different position from what they are, and some people
+wouldn't _be_ at all."
+
+"Why, aunt," said Edgar, laughing.  "Would you--"
+
+"Some more cake, Eddy?"
+
+"No, thank you.  I was going to say--"
+
+"Have you enough cream?  Allow me to--"
+
+"_Quite_ enough, thanks.  I was about to remark--"
+
+"Some sugar, Aileen?--I beg your pardon--yes--you were about to say--"
+
+"Oh!  Nothing," replied Edgar, half exasperated by these frequent
+interruptions, but laughing in spite of himself, "only I'm surprised
+that sentence of annihilation should be passed on `some people' by one
+so amiable as you are."
+
+"Oh!  I didn't exactly mean annihilation," returned Miss Pritty, with a
+pitiful smile; "I only mean that I wouldn't have had them come into
+existence, they seem to be so utterly useless in the world, and _so_
+interfering, too, with those who _want_ to be useful."
+
+"Surely that quality, or capacity of interference, proves them to be not
+_utterly_ useless," said Edgar, "for does it not give occasion for the
+exercise of patience and forbearance?"
+
+"Ah!" replied Miss Pritty, with an arch smile, shaking her finger at her
+nephew, "you are a fallacious reasoner.  Do you know what that means?  I
+can't help laughing still at the trouble I used to have in trying to
+find out the meaning of that word fallacious, when I was at Miss
+Dullandoor's seminary for young ladies--hi!  Hi!  Some of us were
+excessively _young_ ladies, and we were taught everything by rote,
+explanations of meanings of anything being quite ignored by Miss
+Dullandoor.  Do you remember her sister?  Oh!  I'm so stupid to forget
+that it's exactly thirty years to-day since she died, and you can't be
+quite that age yet; besides, even if you were, it would require that you
+should have seen, and recognised, and remembered her on her deathbed
+about the time of your own birth.  Oh!  She _was_ so funny, both in face
+and figure.  One of the older girls made a portrait of her for me which
+I have yet.  I'll go fetch it; the expression is irresistible--it is
+killing.  Excuse me a minute."
+
+Miss Pritty rose and tripped--she never walked--from the room.  During
+much of the previous conversation our hero had been sorely perplexed in
+his mind as to his duty in present circumstances.  Having been forbidden
+to hold any intercourse with Aileen, he questioned the propriety of his
+remaining to spend the evening with her, and had made up his mind to
+rise and tear himself away when this unlooked-for opportunity for a
+_tete-a-tete_ occurred.  Being a man of quick wit and strong will, he
+did not neglect it.  Turning suddenly to the fair girl, he said, in a
+voice low and measured--
+
+"Aileen, your father commanded me to have no further intercourse with
+you, and he made me aware that he had laid a similar injunction on
+yourself.  I know full well your true-hearted loyalty to him, and do not
+intend to induce you to disobey.  I ask you to make no reply to what I
+say that is not consistent with your promise to your father.  For
+myself, common courtesy tells me that I may not leave your presence for
+a distant land without saying at least good-bye.  Nay, more, I feel that
+I break no command in making to you a simple deliberate statement."
+
+Edgar paused for a moment, for, in spite of the powerful restraint put
+on himself, and the intended sedateness of his words, his feelings were
+almost too strong for him.
+
+"Aileen," he resumed, "I may never see you again.  Your father intends
+that I shall not.  Your looks seem to say that you fear as much.  Now,
+my heart tells me that I _shall_; but, whatever betide, or wherever I
+go, let me assure you that I will continue to love you with unalterable
+fidelity.  More than this I shall not say, less I could not.  You said
+that these New Testaments"--pointing to a pile of four or five which lay
+on the table--"are meant to be given to poor men.  _I_ am a poor man:
+will you give me one?"
+
+"Willingly," said Aileen, taking one from the pile.
+
+She handed it to her lover without a single word, but with a tender
+anxious look that went straight to his heart, and took up its lodging
+there--to abide for ever!
+
+The youth grasped the book and the hand at once, and, stooping, pressed
+the latter fervently to his lips.
+
+At that moment Miss Pritty was heard tripping along the passage.
+
+Edgar sprang to intercept her, and closed the door of the boudoir behind
+him.
+
+"Why, Edgar, you seem in haste!"
+
+"I am, dear aunt; circumstances require that I should be.  Come
+down-stairs with me.  I have stayed too long already.  I am going
+abroad, and may not spend more time with you this evening."
+
+"Going abroad!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, in breathless surprise, "where?"
+
+"I don't know.  To China, Japan, New Zealand, the North Pole--anywhere.
+In fact, I've not quite fixed.  Good-bye, dear aunt.  Sorry to have seen
+so little of you.  Good-bye."
+
+He stooped, printed a gentle kiss between Miss Pritty's wondering eyes,
+and vanished.
+
+"A most remarkable boy," said the disconcerted lady, resuming her seat
+at the tea-table--"so impulsive and volatile.  But he's a dear good boy
+nevertheless--was so kind to his mother while she was alive, and ran
+away from school when quite young--and no wonder, for it was a dreadful
+school, where they used to torture the boys,--absolutely tortured them.
+The head-master and ushers were tried for it afterwards, I'm told.  At
+all events; Eddy ran away from it after pulling the master's nose and
+kicking the head usher--so it is said, though I cannot believe it, he is
+usually so gentle and courteous.--_Do_ have a little more tea.  No?  A
+piece of bun?  No?  Why, you seem quite flushed, my love.  Not unwell, I
+trust?  No?  Well, then, let us proceed to business."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+DIVERS MATTERS.
+
+Charles Hazlit, Esquire, was a merchant and a shipowner, a landed
+proprietor, a manager of banks, a member of numerous boards and
+committees, a guardian of the poor, a volunteer colonel, and a
+good-humoured man on the whole, but purse-proud and pompous.  He was
+also the father of Aileen.
+
+Behold him seated in an elegant drawing-room, in a splendid mansion at
+the "west end" (strange that all aristocratic ends would appear to be
+west ends!) of the seaport town which owned him.  His blooming daughter
+sat beside him at a table, on which lay a small, peculiar, box.  He
+doated on his daughter, and with good reason.  Their attention was so
+exclusively taken up with the peculiar box that they had failed to
+observe the entrance, unannounced, of a man of rough exterior, who stood
+at the door, hat in hand, bowing and coughing attractively, but without
+success.
+
+"My darling," said Mr Hazlit, stooping to kiss his child--his only
+child--who raised her pretty little three-cornered mouth to receive it,
+"this being your twenty-first birthday, I have at last brought myself to
+look once again on your sainted mother's jewel-case, in order that I may
+present it to you.  I have not opened it since the day she died.  It is
+now yours, my child."
+
+Aileen opened her eyes in mute amazement.  It would seem as though there
+had been some secret sympathy between her and the man at the door, for
+he did precisely the same thing.  He also crushed his hat somewhat
+convulsively with both hands, but without doing it any damage, as it was
+a very hard sailor-like hat.  He also did something to his lips with his
+tongue, which looked a little like licking them.
+
+"Oh papa!" exclaimed Aileen, seizing his hand, "how kind; how--"
+
+"Nay, love, no thanks are due to me.  It is your mother's gift.  On her
+deathbed she made me promise to give it you when you came of age, and to
+train you, up to that age, as far as possible, with a disregard for
+dress and show.  I think your dear mother was wrong," continued Mr
+Hazlit, with a mournful smile, "but, whether right or wrong, you can
+bear me witness that I have sought to fulfil the second part of her
+dying request, and I now accomplish the first."
+
+He proceeded to unlock, the fastenings of the little box, which was made
+of some dark metal resembling iron, and was deeply as well as richly
+embossed on the lid and sides with quaint figures and devices.
+
+Mr Hazlit had acquired a grand, free-handed way of manipulating
+treasure.  Instead of lifting the magnificent jewels carefully from the
+casket, he tumbled them out like a gorgeous cataract of light and
+colour, by the simple process of turning the box upside down.
+
+"Oh papa, take care!" exclaimed Aileen, spreading her little hands in
+front of the cataract to stem its progress to the floor, while her two
+eyes opened in surprise, and shone with a lustre that might have made
+the insensate gems envious.  "How exquisite!  How inexpressibly
+beautiful!--oh my dear, darling mother--!"
+
+She stopped abruptly, and tears fluttered from her eyes.  In a few
+seconds she continued, pushing the gems away, almost passionately--
+
+"But I cannot wear them, papa.  They are worthless to me."
+
+She was right.  She had no need of such gems.  Was not her hair golden
+and her skin alabaster?  Were not her lips coral and her teeth pearls?
+And were not diamonds of the purest water dropping at that moment from
+her down-cast eyes?
+
+"True, my child, and the sentiment does your heart credit; they are
+worthless, utterly worthless--mere paste"--at this point the face of the
+man at the door visibly changed for the worse--"mere paste, as regards
+their power to bring back to us the dear one who wore them.
+Nevertheless, in a commercial point of view"--here the ears of the man
+at the door cocked--"they are worth some eight or nine thousand pounds
+sterling, so they may as well be taken care of."
+
+The tongue and lips of the man at the door again became active.  He
+attempted--unsuccessfully, as before--to crush his hat, and
+inadvertently coughed.
+
+Mr Hazlit's usually pale countenance flushed, and he started up.
+
+"Hallo!  My man, how came _you_ here?"
+
+The man looked at the door and hesitated in his attempt to reply to so
+useless a question.
+
+"How comes it that you enter my house and drawing-room without being
+announced?" asked Mr Hazlit, drawing himself up.
+
+"'Cause I wanted to see you, an' I found the door open, an' there warn't
+nobody down stair to announce me," answered the man in a rather surly
+tone.
+
+"Oh, indeed?--ah," said Mr Hazlit, drawing out a large silk
+handkerchief with a flourish, blowing his nose therewith, and casting it
+carelessly on the table so as to cover the jewel-box.  "Well, as you are
+now ere, pray what have you got to say to me?"
+
+"Your ship the _Seagull_ has bin' wrecked, sir, on Toosday night on the
+coast of Wales."
+
+"I received that unpleasant piece of news on Wednesday morning.  What
+has _that_ to do with your visit?"
+
+"Only that I thought you might want divers for to go to the wreck, an'
+_I'm_ a diver--that's all."
+
+The man at the door said this in a very surly tone, for the slight
+tendency to politeness which had begun to manifest itself while the
+prospect of "a job" was hopeful, vanished before the haughty manner of
+the merchant.
+
+"Well, it is just possible that I may require the assistance of divers,"
+said Mr Hazlit, ringing the bell; "when I do, I can send for you.--
+John, show this person out."
+
+The hall-footman, who had been listening attentively at the key-hole,
+and allowed a second or two to elapse before opening the door, bowed
+with a guilty flush on his face and held the door wide open.
+
+David Maxwell--for it was he--passed out with an angry scowl, and as he
+strode with noisy tread across the hall, said something uncommonly pithy
+to the footman about "upstarts" and "puppies," and "people who thought
+they was made o' different dirt from others," accompanied with many
+other words and expressions which we may not repeat.
+
+To all of this John replied with bland smiles and polite bows, hoping
+that the effects of the interview might not render him feverish, and
+reminding him that if it did he was in a better position than most men
+for cooling himself at the bottom of the sea.
+
+"Farewell," said John earnestly; "and if you should take a fancy to
+honour us any day with your company to dinner, _do_ send a line to say
+you're coming."
+
+John did not indulge in this pleasantry until the exasperated diver was
+just outside of the house, and it was well that he was so prudent, for
+Maxwell turned round like a tiger and struck with tremendous force at
+his face.  His hard knuckles met the panel of the door, in which they
+left an indelible print, and at the same time sent a sound like a
+distant cannon shot into the library.
+
+"I'm afraid I have been a little too sharp with him," said Mr Hazlit,
+assisting his daughter to replace the jewels.
+
+Aileen agreed with him, but as nothing could induce her to condemn her
+father with her lips she made no reply.
+
+"But," continued the old gentleman, "the rascal had no right to enter my
+house without ringing.  He might have been a thief, you know.  He looked
+rough and coarse enough to be one."
+
+"Oh papa," said Aileen entreatingly, "don't be too hasty in judging
+those who are sometimes called rough and coarse.  I do assure you I've
+met many men in my district who are big and rough and coarse to look at,
+but who have the feelings and hearts of tender women."
+
+"I know it, simple one; you must not suppose that I judged him by his
+exterior; I judged him by his rude manner and conduct, and I do not
+extend my opinion of him to the whole class to which he belongs."
+
+It is strange--and illustrative of the occasional perversity of human
+reasoning--that Mr Hazlit did not perceive that he himself had given
+the diver cause to judge him, Mr Hazlit, very harshly, and the worst of
+it was that Maxwell _did_, in his wrath, extend his opinion of the
+merchant to the entire class to which he belonged, expressing a deep
+undertoned hope that the "whole bilin' of 'em" might end their days in a
+place where he spent many of his own, namely, at the bottom of the sea.
+It is to be presumed that he wished them to be there without the benefit
+of diving-dresses!
+
+"It is curious, however," continued Mr Hazlit, "that I had been
+thinking this very morning about making inquiries after a diver, one
+whom I have frequently heard spoken of as an exceedingly able and
+respectable man--Balding or Bolding or some such name, I think."
+
+"Oh!  Baldwin, Joe Baldwin, as his intimate friends call him," said
+Aileen eagerly.  "I know him well; he is in my district."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Mr Hazlit, "not one of your paupers?"
+
+Aileen burst into a merry laugh.  "No, papa, no; not a pauper certainly.
+He's a well-off diver, and a Wesleyan--a local preacher, I believe--but
+he lives in my district, and is one of the most zealous labourers in it.
+Oh!  If you saw him, papa, with his large burly frame and his rough
+bronzed kindly face, and broad shoulders, and deep bass voice and hearty
+laugh."
+
+The word suggested the act, for Aileen went off again at the bare idea
+of Joe Baldwin being a pauper--one at whose feet, she said, she
+delighted to sit and learn.
+
+"Well, I'm glad to have such a good account of him from one so well able
+to judge," rejoined her father, "and as I mean to go visit him without
+delay I'll be obliged if you'll give me his address."
+
+Having received it, the merchant sallied forth into those regions of the
+town where, albeit she was not a guardian of the poor, his daughter's
+light figure was a much more familiar object than his own.
+
+"Does a diver named Baldwin live here?" asked Mr Hazlit of a figure
+which he found standing in a doorway near the end of a narrow passage.
+
+The figure was hazy and indistinct by reason of the heavy wreaths of
+tobacco-smoke wherewith it was enveloped.
+
+"Yis, sur," replied the figure; "he lives in the door it the other ind
+o' the passage.  It's not over-light here, sur; mind yer feet as ye go,
+an' pay attintion to your head, for what betune holes in the floor an'
+beams in the ceilin', tall gintlemen like you, sur, come to grief
+sometimes."
+
+Thanking the figure for its civility, Mr Hazlit knocked at the door
+indicated, but there was no response.
+
+"Sure it's out they are!" cried the figure from the other end of the
+passage.  "Joe Baldwin's layin' a charge under the wreck off the jetty
+to-day--no doubt that's what's kep' 'im, and it's washin'-day with Mrs
+Joe, I belave; but I'm his pardner, sur, an' if ye'll step this way,
+Mrs Machowl'll be only too glad to see ye, sur, an' I can take yer
+orders."
+
+Not a little amused by this free-and-easy invitation, Mr Hazlit entered
+a small apartment, which surprised him by its clean and tidy appearance.
+A pretty little Irishwoman, with a pert little turned-up nose, auburn
+hair so luxuriant that it _could_ not be kept in order, and a set of
+teeth that glistened in their purity, invited him to sit down, and wiped
+a chair with her apron for his accommodation.
+
+"You've got a nice little place here," remarked the visitor, looking
+round him.
+
+"Troth, sur, ye wouldn't have said that if you'd seen it whin we first
+came to it.  Of all the dirty places I iver saw!  I belave an Irish pig
+would have scunnered at it, an' held his nose till he got out.  It's
+very well for England, but we was used to cleaner places in the owld
+country.  Hows'iver we've got it made respictable now, and we're not
+hard to plaze."
+
+This was a crushing reply.  It upset Mr Hazlit's preconceived ideas
+regarding the two countries so completely that he was perplexed.  Not
+being a man of rapid thought he changed the subject:--
+
+"You are a diver, you say?"
+
+"I am, sur."
+
+"And Mr Baldwin's partner--if I understand you correctly?"
+
+"Well, we work together--whin we're not workin' apart--pritty regular.
+He took in hand to train me some months gone by, an' as our two
+missusses has took a fancy to aich other, we're likely to hold on for
+some time--barrin' accidents, av coorse."
+
+"Well, then," said Mr Hazlit, "I came to see Mr Baldwin about a vessel
+of mine, which was wrecked a few days ago on the coast of Wales--"
+
+"Och!  The _Seagull_ it is," exclaimed Rooney.
+
+"The same; and as it is a matter of importance that I should have the
+wreck visited without delay, I shall be obliged by your sending your
+partner to my house this evening."
+
+Rooney promised to send Baldwin up, and took his wife Molly to witness,
+with much solemnity, that he would not lose a single minute.  Thereafter
+the conversation became general, and at last the merchant left the place
+much shaken in his previous opinion of Irish character, and deeply
+impressed with the sagacity of Rooney Machowl.
+
+The result of this visit was that Baldwin was engaged to dive for the
+cargo of the _Seagull_, and found himself, a few days later, busy at
+work on the Welsh coast with a staff of men under him, among whom were
+our friends Rooney Machowl and surly David Maxwell.  The latter had at
+first declined to have anything to do with the job, but, on
+consideration of the wages, he changed his mind.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+TREATS OF PLOTS AND PLANS, ENGINEERING AND OTHERWISE.
+
+The spot where the wreck of the _Seagull_ lay was a peaceful sequestered
+cove or bay on the coast of Anglesea.  The general aspect of the
+neighbouring land was bleak.  There were no trees, and few bushes.
+Indeed, the spire of a solitary little church on an adjoining hill was
+the most prominent object in the scene.  The parsonage belonging to it
+was concealed by a rise in the ground, and the very small hamlet
+connected with it was hid like a rabbit in the clefts of some rugged
+cliffs.  The little church was one of those temples which are meant to
+meet the wants of a rural district, and which cause a feeling of
+surprise in the minds of town visitors as to where the congregation can
+come from that fills them.
+
+But, bleak though the country was, the immediate shore was interesting
+and romantic in its form.  In one place perpendicular cliffs, cut up by
+ragged gorges, descended sheer down into deep water, and meeting the
+constant roll of the Irish Channel, even in calm weather, fringed
+themselves with lace-work of foam, as if in cool defiance of the ocean.
+In another place a mass of boulders and shattered rocks stretched out
+into the sea as if still resistant though for the time subdued.
+Elsewhere a half-moon of yellow sand received the ripples with a kiss,
+suggestive of utter conquest and the end of strife.
+
+As we have said, the spot was peaceful, for, at the time to which we
+refer, ocean and air were still, but ah!  Those who have not dwelt near
+the great deep and beheld its fury when roused can form but a faint
+conception of the scene that occurred there on the night in which the
+_Seagull_ went down!
+
+Mr Hazlit thought of the place as something like the region of a "bad
+debt,"--where a portion of his wealth had been wrecked.  Some knew it as
+the hated spot where they had suffered the loss of all their fortune;
+but others there were, who, untouched by the thought of material gain or
+loss, knew it as the scene of the wreck of all their earthly hopes--for
+the _Seagull_ had been a passenger-ship, and in that quiet bay God in
+His providence had dealt some of the most awful blows that human beings
+are capable of bearing.
+
+Close to a bald cliff on the northern shore the foretopmast of the wreck
+rose a few feet above the calm water.  In a cove of the cliff the
+remains of a mast or yard lay parallel with a deep and thick mass of
+wreckage, which had surged out and into that cove on the fatal night
+with such violence that it now lay in small pieces, like giant
+matchwood.  On a patch of gravel not far from that cliff a husband and
+father had wandered for many days, after being saved--he knew not how--
+gazing wistfully, hopelessly at the sea which had swallowed up wife and
+children and fortune.  He had been a "successful" gold-digger!  On that
+patch of gravel scenes of terrible suspense had been enacted.  Expectant
+ones had come to inquire whether those whom they sought had _really_
+embarked in that vessel, while grave and sympathetic but worn-out or
+weary men of the Coast-guard, stood ready to give information or to
+defend the wreck.
+
+In the church on the hill there were dreadful marks on the floor, where
+the recovered bodies had lain for a time, while frantic relations came
+and went day by day to search for and claim their dead.  Ah, reader, we
+are not mocking you with fiction.  What we refer to is fact.  We saw it
+with our eyes.  Peaceful though that spot looked--and often looks--it
+was once the scene of the wildest of storms, the most terrible of
+mercantile disasters, and the deepest of human woe.
+
+But we are mingling thoughts with memories.  The wreck which has crept
+into our mind is that of the _Royal Charter_.  The _Seagull_, although a
+passenger-ship, and wrecked near the same region, does not resemble
+_that_!
+
+At the time of which we write, Joe Baldwin and his men had already saved
+a considerable portion of the cargo, but during his submarine
+explorations and meditations Joe had conceived the idea that there was
+some possibility of saving the vessel itself, for, having recoiled from
+its first shock and sunk in deep water, the hull was comparatively
+uninjured.
+
+But Joe, although a good diver, was not a practical engineer.  He knew
+himself to be not a very good judge of such matters, and was too modest
+to suggest anything to competent submarine engineers.  He could not,
+however, help casting the thing about in his mind for some time.  At
+last, one evening while reading a newspaper that had been got from a
+passing boat, he observed the return of the ship in which his young
+friend Edgar Berrington had gone to India.  At once he wrote the
+following letter:--
+
+  "My dear Mister Edgar,--I'm in a fix here.  It's my opinion there's a
+  chance of savin' a wreck if only good brains was set to work to do it.
+  It would pay if we was to succeed.  If you happen to be on the loose
+  just now, as is likely, run over an' see what you think of it.--Yours
+  to command,
+
+  "J.B."
+
+Our hero received the letter, at once acted on it, and in a few days was
+on the spot.
+
+"What a change there is in you, my dear sir!" said Joe, looking with
+admiration at the browned, stalwart youth before him; "why, you've grown
+moustaches!"
+
+"I couldn't help it, Joe," replied Edgar; "they _would_ come, and I had
+no time to shave on board.--But now, tell me about this wreck."
+
+When Edgar heard that the vessel belonged to Mr Hazlit his first
+impulse was to have nothing to do with it.  He felt that any
+interference in regard to it would seem like a desire to thrust himself
+before the merchant's notice--and that, too, in a needy manner, as if he
+sought employment at his hands; but on consideration he came to the
+conclusion that he might act as a wire-puller, give Baldwin the benefit
+of his knowledge, and allow him to reap the credit and the emoluments.
+But for a long time the honest diver would not listen to such a
+suggestion, and was only constrained to give in at last when Edgar
+threatened to leave him altogether.
+
+"By the way, have you seen Miss Aileen since you came home?" asked
+Baldwin, while the two friends were seated in the cabin of the diver's
+vessel poring, pencil in hand, over several sheets of paper on which
+were sundry mysterious designs.
+
+"No; I was on the point of paying a visit to my good aunt Miss Pritty,
+with ulterior ends in view, when your letter reached me and brought me
+here.  To say truth, your note arrived very opportunely, for I was
+engaged at the time in rather a hard struggle between inclination and
+duty--not feeling quite sure whether it was right or wise to throw
+myself in her way just now, for, as you may easily believe, I have not,
+during my comparatively short absence, made a fortune that is at all
+likely to satisfy the requirements of her father."
+
+"I suppose not," returned the diver.  "No doubt, at gold-diggin's an'
+diamond-fields an' such-like one does hear of a man makin' a find that
+enables him to set up his carriage an' four, and ride, mayhap at a
+tremendous pace, straight on to ruin by means of it, but as a rule
+people don't pick up sovereigns like stones either at home or abroad.
+It's the experience of most men, that steady perseverance leads by the
+shortest road to competence, if not to wealth.--But that's beside the
+question.  I think you did right, Mister Eddy--excuse an old servant,
+sir, if it's taking too much liberty to use the old familiar name,--you
+did right in coming here instead of going there."
+
+"So thought I, Baldy--you see that I too can take liberties,--else I
+should not have come.  Your letter solved the difficulty, for, when I
+was at the very height of the struggle before mentioned--at equipoise so
+to speak,--and knew not whether to go to the right or to the left,
+_that_ decided me.  I regarded it as a leading of Providence."
+
+Baldwin turned a rather sudden look of surprise on his young companion.
+
+"A leading of Providence, Mr Eddy!  I never heard you use such an
+expression before."
+
+"True, but I have learned to use it since I went to sea," replied our
+hero quietly.
+
+"That's strange," rejoined the diver in a low voice, as if he feared to
+scare the young man from a subject that was very near his own heart,
+"very strange, for goin' to sea has not often the effect of makin'
+careless young fellows serious--though it sometimes has, no doubt.  How
+was it, if I--"
+
+"Yes, Baldy," interrupted Edgar, with a pleasant smile, laying his hand
+on the diver's huge shoulder, "I don't mind making a confidant of you in
+this as in other matters.  I'll tell you,--the story is short enough.
+When I parted from Aileen, she made me a present of a New Testament from
+a pile that she happened to have by her to give to the poor people.  To
+be more particular, I asked for one, and she consented to let me have
+it.  You see I wanted a keepsake!  Well, when at sea, I read the
+Testament regularly, night and morning, for Aileen's sake, but God in
+His great love led me at last to read it for the sake of Him whose
+blessed life and death it records."
+
+"Then you've fairly hauled down the enemy's colours and hoisted those of
+the Lord?" asked Baldwin.
+
+"I have been led to do so," replied the youth modestly but firmly.
+
+"Bless the Lord!" said the diver in a low tone as he grasped Edgar's
+hand, while he bowed his head for a moment.
+
+Presently he looked up, and seemed about to resume the subject of
+conversation when Edgar interrupted him--
+
+"Have you seen or heard anything of Aileen since I left?"
+
+"Nothing, except that she's been somewhat out of sorts, and her father
+has sent her up to London for a change."
+
+"Has he gone to London with her?"
+
+"No, I believe not; he's taken up a good deal wi' the cargo o' this
+ship, and comes down to see us now and then, but for the most part he
+remains at home attendin' to business."
+
+"Have you spoken to him about raising the hull of the ship?"
+
+"Not yet.  He evidently thinks the thing impossible--besides, I wanted
+to hear your opinion on the matter before sayin' anything about it."
+
+"Well, come, let us go into it at once," said the youth, turning to the
+sheets of paper before him and taking up a pencil.  "You see, Baldwin,
+this trip of mine as second engineer has been of good service to me in
+many ways, for, besides becoming practically acquainted with everything
+connected with marine engines, I have acquired considerable knowledge of
+things relating to ships in general, and am all the more able to afford
+you some help in this matter of raising the ship.  I've been studying a
+book written by a member of the firm whose dresses you patronise, [Note.
+`_The Conquest of the Sea_', by Henry Siebe.] which gives a thorough
+account in detail of everything connected with diving, and in it there
+is reference to the various modes that have hitherto been successful in
+the raising of sunken vessels."
+
+"I've heard of it, but not seen it," said Baldwin.  "Of course I know
+somewhat about raisin' ships, havin' once or twice lent a hand, but I've
+no head for engineerin'.  What are the various modes you speak of?
+_That's_ not one of 'em, is it?"
+
+He pointed, with a grave smile as he spoke, to the outline of a female
+head which Edgar had been absently tracing on the paper.
+
+"Well, no," replied the youth, scribbling out the head, "that's not one
+of Siebe and Gorman's appliances, and yet I venture to prophesy that
+that head will have a good deal to do with the raising of the _Seagull_!
+However, don't let's waste more time.  Here you are.  The first
+method,--that of putting empty casks in the hold so as to give the hull
+a floating tendency, and then mooring lighters over it and pushing
+chains under it,--we may dismiss at once, as being suitable only for
+small vessels; but the second method is worth considering, namely, that
+of fixing air-bags of india-rubber in the hold, attaching them to the
+sides, and then inflating them all at the same time by means of a
+powerful air-pump.  We could get your divers to pass chains under her,
+and, when she began to rise could haul on these chains by means of
+lighters moored above, and so move the wreck inshore till she grounded.
+What say you to that?"
+
+Baldwin shook his head.  "She's too big, I fear, for such treatment."
+
+"Good-sized vessels have been raised by these air-bags of late," said
+Edgar.  "Let me see: there were the brig _Ridesdale_, of 170 tons
+burthen, sunk off Calshot Castle, and Her Majesty's gun-brig
+_Partridge_, 180 tons, and the brig _Dauntless_, 179 tons, and last, but
+not least, the _Prince Consort_, at Aberdeen, an iron paddle-steamer of
+607 tons, and the dead weight lifted was 560 tons, including engines and
+boilers."
+
+Still Baldwin shook his head, remarking that the _Seagull_ was full 900
+tons.
+
+"Well, then," resumed the young engineer, "here is still another method.
+We might send down your men to make all the openings,--ports, windows,
+etcetera--water-tight, fix a shield over the hole she knocked in her
+bottom on the cliffs, and then, by means of several water-pumps reaching
+from above the surface to the hold, clear her of water.  When
+sufficiently floated by such means a steam-tug could haul her into port.
+The iron steamship _London_ was, not long ago, raised and saved at
+Dundee in that way.  She rose four feet after the pumps had been worked
+only two hours, and while she was being towed into dock the pumps were
+still kept going.  It was a great success--and so may it be in this
+case.  Then, you know, we might construct a pontoon by making a raft to
+float on a multitude of empty barrels, pass chains under the _Seagull_
+and fix them to this pontoon at low water, so that when the tide rose
+she would rise perforce along with the pontoon and tide, and could be
+moved inshore till she grounded; then, waiting for low tide, we could
+taughten the chains again, and repeat the process till we got her
+ashore.  Or, better still, we could hire Siebe and Gorman's patent
+pontoon, which, if I mistake not, is much the same thing that I now
+suggest carried out to perfection."
+
+"I'm not sure that the pontoon you speak of has been launched yet.  I'm
+afraid it's only in model," said Baldwin.
+
+"More's the pity," rejoined Edgar, "but I can go to London and
+ascertain.  In any case, I shall have to go to London to make inquiries,
+and secure the necessary apparatus."
+
+"Are you sure," said Baldwin, with a look of great solemnity, "that your
+going to London has nothing whatever to do with apparatus of _that_
+sort?"
+
+He placed a blunt forefinger, as he spoke on the obliterated sketch of
+the female head.
+
+"Oh you suspicious old fellow!" replied Edgar; "come, you _are_
+presuming now.--We will change the subject, and go on deck."
+
+"Human natur's the same everywhere," observed Baldwin, with a quiet
+laugh as he rose.  "Same with me exactly when I was after Susan.  For
+one glance of her black eye I'd have gone straight off to China or
+Timbuctoo at half-an-hour's notice.  Well, well!--Now, Mister Eddy,
+don't you think it would be as well for you to go down and have a look
+at the wreck?  You'll then be better able to judge as to what's best to
+be done, an' I've got a noo dress by the firm of Denayrouze, with a
+speakin'-apparatus, which'll fit you.  I got it for myself, and we're
+much about a size--barrin' the waist, in which I have the advantage of
+you as to girth.  Their noo pump and lamp, too, will interest you.  See,
+here is the pump."
+
+As he spoke, the diver pointed to a pump which commended itself at first
+sight by its extreme simplicity.  Whether or not it was better than the
+more complex, but well-tried, pumps of other makers, our hero was well
+aware could only be proved by time and experience.  Meanwhile he was
+favourably impressed with it.
+
+The peculiarities of the pump referred to were, first, and most obvious,
+that it had no outer wooden case or box, and the parts were exceedingly
+few and simple.  It was on the lever principle, the cylinders, instead
+of the pistons, being movable.  The pistons were fixed to a bed-plate
+and pointed upwards, so that the pump was, as it were, turned upside
+down, a position which, among other advantages, allowed of the plungers
+being covered with water, through which the air was forced and partially
+cooled.  Another and important peculiarity was an air-reservoir which
+received air from the pump direct, and then passed it on to the diver,
+so that even if the pumps should stop working there would still be a
+supply of air flowing down to the diver for several minutes.  The lamp
+referred to was also a novelty, inasmuch as it was supplied with air by
+a separate tube from the reservoir in the same way as if it were a
+separate human diver.  The Henkie and Davis lamp burns, on the other
+hand, entirely without air, by means of certain acids.  That of Siebe
+and Gorman is an electric-lamp.  Both are said to be effective and
+economical.
+
+Putting on the new dress, our hero was soon ready to descend, with the
+lamp burning in his hand.
+
+"There are three men down just now," said Baldwin as he was about to
+screw on the mouth-piece, "two of 'em bein' your old friends Maxwell and
+Rooney Machowl.  They've been down about three hours, and won't be up
+for an hour yet.  See that you don't foul them in your wanderings below.
+The other man, Jem Hogg--an' he's well named--is the laziest chap I
+ever had to do with.  I do believe he sometimes goes to sleep under
+water!"
+
+"Is that possible?" asked Edgar.
+
+"Possible?  Ay, I've caught 'em takin' a snooze before now.  Why, I've
+known a man _smoke_ under water.  There was one of our fellows once got
+a comrade to let him keep his pipe in his mouth while he screwed on the
+front-glass; you see he couldn't have put it in his mouth _after_ that
+was fixed; but he was well paid.  For a time he smoked away well enough,
+and the draught of air carried off the smoke through the escape-valve,
+but an extra strong puff sent a spark out o' the bowl, which went
+straight into his eye.  He spat out the pipe, and nearly drove in the
+glasses in his useless efforts to get at his eye, and then he tugged at
+the lines like fury, and, when we got him on deck he danced about like
+wildfire, as if he'd been shod with indyrubber instead of bein' weighted
+with lead.  We thought he had gone mad, and held him fast till we got
+his helmet off.  It cost him a month in hospital before that eye was
+cured."
+
+"That being the case, I won't smoke while below," said Edgar, laughing;
+"screw away."
+
+The glass was fastened, and our hero quickly disappeared under the sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+A SUNKEN WRECK INSPECTED, SUNDRY WONDERFUL DOINGS UNDER WATER RECORDED,
+AND VARIOUS PLANS SUCCESSFULLY CARRIED OUT.
+
+The vessel which Edgar Berrington had left his native element to inspect
+was a large barque.  It had gone to the bottom only a few months after
+having been launched.  The cargo, being intended for the Cape of Good
+Hope colony, was of a miscellaneous character, and some of it was of
+course ruined by water, but much remained almost uninjured, or only a
+little damaged.
+
+It was for the purpose of raising the latter portion of the cargo that
+Baldwin and his men had been engaged by Mr Hazlit.  Hitherto the divers
+had been extremely successful.  With the usual appliances of slings,
+chains, shears and windlasses, etcetera, they had already recovered a
+large quantity of goods, and were still busy in the hold when Edgar went
+down.
+
+As we have said, the wreck lay in comparatively deep water--about ten
+fathoms.  The ladder which descended from the side of the diver's vessel
+was not two fathoms in length, so that after reaching the lowest round,
+Edgar had to continue his descent by slipping down the rope which hung
+from the ladder and was weighted at the bottom with a stone.
+
+On reaching the ground he knelt, set down the lamp, and attached his
+guide-line to the stone.  While thus engaged he looked with much
+interest at his little lamp, which burned as brightly and steadily down
+in the depths of ocean as if on land, while, from its chimney the air
+which gave it life rose upwards in a constant stream of bubbles.  The
+water being dense and very dark its light did not penetrate far, but
+close to the bull's-eye it was sufficiently strong to enable our hero to
+see what he was about.  Having fixed the line, he was about to move in
+the direction of the wreck when he received one pull on his life-line.
+Replying to it with one pull--"all right"--he was again about to move,
+when a strange unearthly sound filled his ears, and he smiled to think
+that in his interest about the lamp and fastening his guide-line he had
+totally forgotten the speaking apparatus connected with his helmet.
+
+"How d'ee git on down there?" inquired the voice, which sounded
+strangely mysterious, not to say unpleasant, in his confined metal
+head-piece.
+
+"Splendidly," he replied, not applying his mouth to any orifice in his
+helmet--for there _was_ no opening into the speaking-tube--but simply
+giving utterance to the word in his usual manner.  "I've just fixed my
+line and am going to move on."
+
+"Go ahead, and luck go with 'ee," was the prompt reply from Joe Baldwin.
+
+We have said that there was no opening into the helmet in connection
+with the speaking apparatus, such not being necessary.  It was quite
+sufficient that the speaking-tube was fastened to the outside of the
+helmet, just over a sort of cavity formed inside by means of what we may
+style an interior patch of metal.  The sound passed _through_ the
+head-piece and up the tube--or _vice versa_--and thus even though the
+tube should get broken and filled with water, no evil result could
+follow to the diver.
+
+Suddenly Berrington was again arrested.
+
+"Hallo!" shouted Baldwin.
+
+"Hallo!  Well?" was sent up in reply, and the voice that came from below
+came out at the mouth-piece above, so soft and faint and
+far-far-away-like that it seemed to Joe to belong to another world, and
+had to be listened to attentively to be understood.
+
+"D'you think you could read by the light of your lamp?"
+
+"Yes, I'm sure I could."
+
+"Look out then; I'm sending you down a copy o' the _Times_."
+
+The youth looked up, and now perceived the advantage of the _fourth_
+hole or window, just over the forehead, which is peculiar to the
+Denayrouze helmet, most others having only three openings.  He could
+look up by merely raising his eyes, whereas with the other helmets it is
+necessary to bend well back in order to get the front-glass to face
+upwards.  Afterwards he found that there were some who objected to this
+glass on the ground that as divers when below, and in total or partial
+darkness, are constantly butting their heads against beams and other
+portions of wrecks, the upper glass would be in frequent danger of being
+broken, but to this it was replied that it might be well guarded by
+powerful cross-bars.  The point we believe is still an open question.
+At all events the upper glass was found useful on the occasion to which
+we refer, for, looking up through it, our amateur diver saw a stone
+coming down to him.  It was lowered by a piece of twine, and tied to it
+was an old _Times_ newspaper.  Detaching and unfolding it Berrington set
+his lamp on the sand, and, seating himself beside it, found that he
+could read with perfect ease!
+
+Intimating the fact to his friend above, he returned the paper and began
+his explorations.
+
+He had been lowered close beside the stern of the wreck, that he might
+be as far as possible from the divers who were at work in the hold, and
+had taken only half a dozen steps in the direction of it when its vast
+bulk appeared above him, looming through the dark water like a darker
+cloud.  For some time he went carefully round it, minutely examining the
+rudder and stern-post and the parts connected therewith, all of which he
+found to be uninjured.  Then, passing along the starboard side, he
+proceeded in his inspection until he reached a point which he judged to
+be nearly amidships.  Glancing upwards, he thought he could see the
+life-lines and air-pipes of the other divers.  To make sure he signalled
+for more air.  This he did by means of the air-pipe--two pulls--instead
+of using the speaking-tube, because the air-pipe and life-line are never
+for a single instant let go or neglected by the attendants above,
+whereas the speaking-tube, on that occasion, was merely tried for the
+first time by these divers as an experiment.  Immediately the puffing at
+the airhole showed that the men at the pumps were on the alert.  Edgar
+now closed his front-valve so that no air at all was suffered to escape
+through it; the dress began to inflate, and in a few seconds was swelled
+out pretty tightly.
+
+Up to that period he had felt no further inconvenience than a slight
+pressure on the drums of his ears, which was relieved by the usual
+method of swallowing the saliva, which action has the effect of opening
+a small, and not _easily_ opened, internal orifice or passage to the
+drum, and thus, by admitting the condensed air to the interior of the
+ear, enables it to resist the pressure on the outside.  Each inspiration
+of air has the same effect on the lungs, and the pressure, inside and
+outside, being _at once_ equalised, is in their case unfelt, although it
+remains and tests the strength of the animal tissues.  Hence it is a
+recognised rule that a man who has at any time spat blood is unsuited to
+a diver's work, as his weak blood-vessels are apt to burst.  But now,
+under the increased pressure, our hero felt his ears affected
+considerably, and other disagreeable sensations came on--such as singing
+in the head, etcetera; nevertheless, confident in his strength, he
+persevered.
+
+Presently the amount of air in his dress more than counterbalanced the
+weight of lead about him--great though it was--and he began to rise like
+a cork--slowly.  In a few seconds his head was close to the lines and
+air-pipes which he observed passing over the bulwarks of the wreck and
+down into the hold.  Afraid lest he should get entangled in them he
+caught hold of the end of a piece of iron which projected near him and
+checked his upward rise.  At the same time he opened his valves; the air
+rushed out, and he immediately descended.  On reaching the bottom he
+regulated the valves so as to give himself just enough of air to permit
+of his _keeping_ the ground, and moving about as before.
+
+He had observed, while up, that one set of lines diverged away from the
+wreck, but this did not strike him at the time as being noteworthy.
+After a few minutes he signalled his friends above, and shouted by means
+of the speaking-tube--
+
+"Pay out the air-pipe and life-lines and give me free play."
+
+This being done he could pass under the lines of the other divers, and
+examined the wreck as far as the bow, where he found an immense hole,
+partially filled by a mass of the rock which had originally driven it
+in.  This of itself was sufficient to have sunk the vessel.  In order to
+examine the port side of the wreck he returned towards the stern and
+signalled for more air.  As before, he rose to the bulwarks, over which
+he passed by a slight effort, and, opening the valves, dropt gently,
+like a bird, upon the deck.  Walking across it slowly, and with some
+difficulty, owing to the broken spars and cordage with which it was
+encumbered, he passed over the port bulwarks and lowered himself again
+to the bottom.  A careful examination showed him that no injury worth
+mentioning had been sustained on that side, and he finally came to the
+conclusion that the large hole in the starboard bow was the only serious
+damage done to the hull.
+
+To make sure of this he returned to it, and satisfied himself as to its
+exact nature and extent.  While thus engaged, his attention was again
+directed to the diverging line and air-pipe before referred to.
+Following these up he came to a mass of rocks, in a snug corner of which
+he found a diver fast asleep.  At first he could scarcely believe his
+eyes, but when he cautiously held the lantern close to the man's
+front-glass all doubt was removed, for not only were the eyes of the
+sleeper tightly closed, but the opening and shutting of his nostrils,
+coupled with certain regular motions about the lips, gave unquestionable
+evidence that the man was snoring vigorously, although, of course, no
+sound passed the metal covering that hermetically sealed his head.
+
+While Edgar gazed at the slumberer, around whose form a number of small
+fish were prying inquiringly, he observed that his life-line received a
+jerk, and came to the correct conclusion that the attendants above,
+alarmed at the absence of motion in the diver's life-line and air-pipe,
+had signalled to know if all was right.  Of course he expected that the
+sleeper would give no reply, and would, according to rule in such cases,
+be hauled up without delay.  What then was his astonishment to see the
+man slowly lay hold of his lifeline with his left hand, give it a single
+tug to indicate that all was right, and then settle himself more
+comfortably to continue his submarine slumbers!
+
+Our hero gave vent to an uncontrollable burst of laughter, which,
+however, resounded so horribly in his ears that he checked it suddenly
+and began to consider what he should do in order to punish the idler.
+
+Remembering to have heard it said that divers might communicate with
+each other with their voices by bringing their helmets into contact, so
+that the sound should vibrate through both, he resolved to test this and
+try an effect.  Hooking the lantern to his belt behind, in such a way
+that its light was concealed, he kneeled down beside the diver--who, he
+had no doubt, was the Jem Hogg mentioned to him by Baldwin--and rested
+his helmet on the rock, in such a way that the side of it was brought
+into contact with the back of Jem's head-piece.  No sooner did it touch
+than the snoring became audible.  Feeling assured, therefore, of
+success, our hero drew in a long breath and gave vent to a Red-Indian
+yell that rendered himself completely deaf.  Its effect on the sleeper
+was electric.  Edgar could just hear the beginning of a responsive yell
+of terror when Jem's springing up separated the helmets and produced
+silence.  At first the scared man stood up and stared right before him
+in a state of wild amazement, while Edgar took care to stand directly
+behind him, out of sight.  A man in a diving-dress cannot turn his head
+round so as to look over his shoulder.  When he wishes to see behind him
+he must needs turn round.  Seeing nothing in front to account for the
+alarming sound, Jem began to turn, but Edgar knew that this motion would
+have the effect of twisting their lines and pipes together.  He
+therefore seized Jem suddenly round the chest, and, being a much larger
+and stronger man, held him like a vice in the grasp of his left arm
+while he pommelled him heartily with his right all over the back and
+ribs.  At the same time he punished him considerably with his knees, and
+then, a sudden fancy striking him, he placed his helmet against that of
+Jem, and began to laugh, howl, and yell like a maniac, the laughter
+being rendered very real and particularly effective owing to the shrieks
+of terror which he then heard issuing from the horrified diver.  Not
+content with this he seized his lantern and passed it smartly in front
+of his victim's front-glass, in the hope that the unwonted and
+unaccountable glare might add to his consternation.  That he had not
+failed in his intention was made plain by the shock which he immediately
+felt thrilling Jem's frame from head to foot.
+
+Strong though he was, however, our hero was not powerful enough to
+prevent the struggle from agitating the air-pipes and lines to such an
+extent that those in charge above became alarmed, and signalled down to
+Jem to know if all was right.  Edgar observed the jerk, and felt the
+diver make a violent effort to disengage one hand, with the intention,
+no doubt, of replying; he therefore held him all the tighter, and
+seizing the line replied for him--"All right."  At the same moment his
+own line received one jerk, to which he quickly replied in the same
+manner, and then resumed his belabouring, which, being delivered under
+water, required to be done vigorously in order to have any satisfactory
+effect.  While thus engaged, and during a momentary pause in his
+howlings, he heard a faint voice come down his speaking-tube, and
+instantly removed his head from Jim's in order to prevent the latter
+hearing it.
+
+"What on earth are you about down there?"
+
+"Never mind; all right; attend to signals!" answered Edgar sharply;
+then, being pretty well fatigued with his exertions, he suddenly gave
+four pulls at Jem's line with such good-will as almost to haul the
+attendant at the other end into the sea.  At the same instant he relaxed
+his grip and Jem Hogg shot upwards like a submarine rocket!
+
+While this struggle was going on at the bottom, the attendants above
+were, as we have said, greatly perplexed, and it is certain that they
+would have hauled both divers up but for the reassuring signals of young
+Berrington.
+
+"I say, Bill," remarked one of the couple who held Jem Hogg's lines,
+"Jem seems to be doin' somethin' uncommon queer--he's either got hold of
+a conger-eel by the tail, or he's amoosin himself by dancin' a
+hornpipe."
+
+"Why, boys," answered Bill, who was one of the attendants on Edgar, "I
+do believe Mr Berrington has got hold o' somethin' o' the same sort.
+See here: his line is quiverin' as if a grampus was nibblin' at the end
+of it.  Hadn't we better haul 'im up, sir?"
+
+He addressed Joe Baldwin, who chanced to come on deck at the moment.
+
+"Haul 'im up--no, why?"
+
+"Why, sir, just look at the lines an' pipes."
+
+"Have you signalled down?" asked Joe.
+
+"Yes, sir, an' he's answered `all right.'"
+
+"So's Jem, sir, signalled the same," said one of the latter's
+attendants.
+
+Baldwin looked anxiously at the lines, and went quickly to the
+speaking-tube, to which he applied his ear.  A look of surprise mingled
+with the anxiety as he put his lips to the tube.
+
+It was at this moment that he sent down the message before referred to,
+and received Edgar's prompt reply.
+
+"All right," said Baldwin, turning gravely to his men, while a little
+gleam of intelligence and humour twinkled in his grey eyes.  "When a man
+signals `all right,' he _must_ be all right, you know.  Let 'em alone,
+but stand by and mind your signals."
+
+He had scarcely finished speaking when the man at Jem's life-line gave a
+shout, and held on, as if to an angry shark.
+
+"Hallo!  Hi!  Haul in.  Lend a hand!"
+
+He said no more, and did not require to, for willing hands came to the
+rescue.
+
+In a few seconds poor Jem Hogg was hauled inboard, and tumbled on the
+deck, where he lay rolling about for some time, and kicking as if in a
+fit.
+
+"Hold him fast, Bill!  Off with his mouth-piece," cried Baldwin,
+kneeling on the writhing diver; "why, what's wrong, Jem?"
+
+"Wrong?" gasped Jem, as soon as his glass was off; "wrong?  Hey!--haul
+me up!  Hi!--"
+
+These exclamations terminated in a fearful yell, and it was plain that
+Jem was about to relapse into hysterics or a fit, when Baldwin, lifting
+him in his arms, planted him sitting-wise, and with some violence, on a
+seat.
+
+"Come, none o' _that_" he said sternly.  "Off with his helmet, Bill.  If
+you don't quiet yourself, I'll chuck you overboard--d'ee hear?"
+
+Somewhat reassured by this remark, and having his helmet and weights
+removed, Jem Hogg looked about him with bloodshot eyes and a countenance
+that was almost sea-green with terror.
+
+"There's nothin' bu'st about your dress," said Baldwin, examining it,
+"nor broken about the helmet.  What on earth's wrong with you?"
+
+"Wrong?" shouted Jem again, while a horrible grin distorted his
+unhandsome visage; "wrong?  Hey!  Oh!  I've seen--seen the--ho!--"
+
+Another relapse seemed imminent, but Baldwin held up a warning finger,
+which restored him, and then the poor man went on by slow degrees, and
+with many gasping interruptions, to tell how, when busily engaged at
+work in the hold of the wreck, he had been suddenly seized by a
+"Zanthripologus," or some such hideous creature, with only one eye, like
+a glaring carbuncle in its stomach, and dragged right out o' the hold,
+overboard, taken to the bottom, and there bashed and battered among the
+rocks, until all his bones were smashed; squeezed by the monster's
+tentacles--sixteen feet long at the very least--until all his ribs were
+broke, and his heart nigh forced out of his mouth, and finally pitched
+right up to the surface with one tremendous swing of its mighty tail!
+
+All this and a great deal more was related by the unfortunate diver,
+while having his dress removed, his volubility increasing as his fears
+were allayed, but he was not fairly restored to his wonted state of mind
+until he had swallowed a stiff glass of grog, and been put into his
+hammock, where, in his sleep, he was heard to protest with great fervour
+that he wouldn't go under water again for any sum short of ten hundred
+thousand million pounds!
+
+Meanwhile our amateur diver continued his inspection of the wreck.
+Returning to the deck he went down into the hold.
+
+The idea occurred to him that the other divers might also be indulging
+in a siesta.  He therefore left his lamp on the deck behind him.  The
+hold was very dark, and at first he could see nothing.  As he could hear
+nothing, he fancied that the men could not be there, but he was somewhat
+rudely corrected in this error by receiving a severe blow on the helmet
+from a large box which, having just been attached to the slings, was
+being hauled up by the men at the windlass overhead.  The blow knocked
+him off a beam on which he stood, and he fell on the cargo below,
+fortunately, however, without evil result, owing to the medium in which
+he half-floated.  Presently his eyes became accustomed to the faint
+light that penetrated from above, and he saw an indistinct figure moving
+slowly towards him, with a sprawling motion.  As it drew near, the huge
+head and distended form proved it to be a diver.  He was guiding the box
+above mentioned, and had let it slip, when it came so violently against
+Edgar's helmet.  Not wishing to be recognised at first, our amateur drew
+back into a darker spot and watched.
+
+The diver bent his head close to the slings, apparently to see that all
+was secure, and gave a signal with his line on which the box moved
+slowly up.  A few minutes later it was deposited on the deck of the
+vessel overhead, and added to the heap of goods which had previously
+been recovered from the deep.
+
+The diver sprawled slowly back into darkness again.  As he disappeared,
+a similar figure became faintly visible, guiding another box of goods.
+The box was sent up as before, and now Edgar was convinced that Rooney
+Machowl and his comrade David Maxwell--unlike their sleepy-headed
+companion--were busy at work.
+
+Thousands of pounds' worth of property is saved in this manner by divers
+every year--not only on the coasts of England, but all over the world,
+where-ever human enterprise and commerce have touched, or costly ships
+gone down.
+
+As we have said, a large portion of the cargo of the _Seagull_ had
+already been recovered.  During the process a healthy spirit of
+emulation had arisen among the men as to which of them should send up
+most of the sunken property.  Rooney and Maxwell were confessedly the
+best divers among them, but the rivalry between these two had
+degenerated, on the part of Maxwell, into a spirit of jealousy.  Under
+the influence of this, even Rooney's good-nature had to some extent
+given way, and frequent disputes and semi-quarrels were the result.  But
+these quarrels were always made up, and the two were soon as good
+friends as ever.
+
+At this time, however, while Edgar Berrington stood watching them, these
+two men seemed to have found an apple of discord of unusual size--to
+judge from the energetic display of feeling which it occasioned.  Edgar
+never ascertained what the bale in dispute contained, but he saw them
+appear rather suddenly and simultaneously, dragging it between them.
+The violent gesticulations of the two showed that their spirits were
+greatly roused, both having evidently resolved to claim and keep
+possession of the bale.  At last one of them struck the other a severe
+blow on the chest, which, though it did not hurt him, caused him to
+stumble and fall.  From his smaller size Edgar judged the striker to be
+Rooney.  Before the other could recover, he had fastened his slings to
+the bale, and given the signal to hoist--intending to go up with it, but
+Maxwell caught him by the legs and attempted to drag him off, whereupon
+Rooney kicked as hard as his suspended position would admit of, and in
+his struggles kicked in one of the glasses of his comrade's helmet.  The
+water instantly began to rush in, and he would certainly have been
+suffocated had he not signalled quickly, and been hauled up to the
+surface without delay.  At the same time Rooney Machowl signalled to be
+hauled up in haste, and appeared on deck of the attendant vessel, in
+dreadful anxiety as to the consequence of his violent conduct under
+water.
+
+But Maxwell was not seriously injured.  He had indeed been
+half-suffocated, and had to be invalided for a few days, but soon he and
+Rooney were at work again, as good--or, if you will, as bad--friends as
+ever!
+
+After this incident Edgar received a pull on his life-line, to which he
+replied "All right."  Immediately after, and while he was in the act of
+rising from the hold of the wreck by the process of retaining his air
+until it floated him, he heard Baldwin's voice saying--
+
+"You've kicked up a pretty shindy among my men, Mister Edgar, since you
+went under.  Don't you think you'd better come up?"
+
+"Yes, I'm coming directly," he replied.
+
+"There's a letter here for you--just brought off by a boat."
+
+"All right; send me more air."
+
+While this order was being obeyed, Edgar made his way to the
+ladder-line, being guided thereto by his guide-line, and then, shutting
+his valves, he quickly inflated his dress which soon floated him, so
+that he used the rope depending from the ladder merely to guide him
+upwards.  As he ascended the light became gradually stronger, the
+pressure of water also decreased, obliging him to open his valves and
+let out air which was becoming superabundant.  At last he emerged from
+the sea, was assisted over the side, and two men began to divest him of
+his dress.
+
+While thus occupied he read his letter.  It was from the owners of the
+steamer in which he had made his recent voyage.  Not being aware of his
+distance from London they merely asked him to call, as they wished to
+talk with him on a matter of importance.
+
+"I wish they had mentioned what the matter was," said Edgar, with a
+troubled look, as he and Baldwin descended to the cabin.  "It may be
+important enough to justify my returning to London at once, and yet may
+not be worth more than a walk of half a mile."
+
+"True, Mister Edgar," said Baldwin.  "However, as you say you've
+examined the hull well, and feel sure it can be raised, there's no
+reason why you shouldn't go see about the apparatus required, and so
+kill two birds with one stone.  Meanwhile, I'll write to Mr Hazlit,
+recommending him to try to raise the wreck, and he's pretty sure to take
+my advice."
+
+In accordance with this plan Edgar returned to London.  We will not
+however trace his future steps in regard to the _Seagull_.  It is
+sufficient to say that his advice was acted on.  The divers tightly
+closed the hole in the bow of the wreck, they also stopped up every
+other orifice in her, and then pumped her out until at last she floated,
+was towed into dock, and finally repaired.
+
+Thus were several thousands of pounds saved to Mr Hazlit, and not only
+to him, but to the world, for a lost ship--unlike a dropt purse--is a
+_total_ loss to the human race.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+HISTORICAL BUT NOT HEAVY.
+
+There can be no question of the fact that authentic history sends its
+roots into the subsoil of fabulous antiquity.  In turning to the records
+of submarine exploration we are staggered on the very threshold of the
+question with obvious absurdity.  We are depressed.  We seek to dive
+into our subject, but find it too deep for us.  If we were to put on the
+latest "patent improved diving-dress," with all its accompaniments of
+double-extra pumps, pipes, powers, and purchases, and descend to a depth
+of antiquity that would suffice to collapse a whale, we should find
+nothing but idiotic speculation in the midst of chaotic darkness.
+
+In this chapter we shall give a mere outline, and even that somewhat
+disjointed, of the subject of diving.  We feel tempted to pass by the
+fabulous period altogether, but fear lest, in our effort to eschew the
+false, we do damage to the true.  Perhaps, therefore, it were well to
+walk humbly in the beaten path of our forefathers, and begin at the
+beginning.
+
+It is not certain whether Adam was a diver.  There is reason to believe
+that he wore no "dress" of any kind at first, so that, if he dived at
+all, he must have used his natural powers alone.  These powers, we learn
+from the best authorities, are barely sufficient to enable a man to stay
+under water for two minutes at the furthest.  Experience corroborates
+these "best authorities."  It has been asserted that pearl-divers can
+sometimes stay under water as long as three, four, and even five
+minutes, but we don't believe the assertion.  If the reader does, we
+have no hesitation in pronouncing him--or her--credulous.
+
+To return to Adam.  We have no doubt whatever that he--perhaps Eve
+also--could dive.  It is possible, though not probable, that they
+"guddled" small trout in the streams of Paradise, and dived for the big
+ones in the deeper pools.  We _may_ be wrong in supposing that they did,
+but he would certainly be bold who should assert that they did _not_.
+Unfortunately neither Adam nor Eve used the pen, therefore we have no
+authentic records as to the art of diving at that period of the world's
+history.
+
+The first writer who makes reference to diving is Homer, who is supposed
+to have lived somewhere about a thousand years before the Christian era,
+and he refers to it not as a novelty but in an off-hand way that proves
+it to have been at that time a well-known art, practised for the purpose
+of obtaining oysters.  Then we find Aeschylus comparing mental vision to
+the strong natural eye of the "deep diver."  But Thucydides speaks more
+definitely of divers having been employed at the siege of Syracuse to
+cut down barriers which had been constructed below water; to damage the
+Grecian vessels while attempting to enter the harbour, and, generally,
+to go under and injure the enemy's ships.  All this inclines us to think
+they must at that time have learned to supplement their natural powers
+with artificial.
+
+Livy mentions the fact that the ancients employed divers for the purpose
+of recovering property from the sea.  The Rhodians had a law fixing the
+share of the recovered treasure which was due to the divers who saved
+it.  According to this law the remuneration was in proportion to the
+depth from which it was brought up, and the risk incurred.  But as these
+divers considered four fathoms or thereabouts an extreme and dangerous
+depth, it is probable that they did their work in the natural way
+without the aid of apparatus.
+
+For the benefit of the credulous we may mention several statements which
+have been more or less received.  The Dutch were once celebrated divers,
+and it is reported that some of them have remained under water more than
+an hour!  From this report some have argued that these Dutchmen must
+have possessed artificial means of maintaining life below water.  To
+this we reply, if that were so, is it likely that the reporter who made
+reference to the length of time spent below water was ignorant as to the
+means--if any--by which this apparent miracle was accomplished?  And if
+he was not ignorant, would he have passed over such means in silence?
+The idea is absurd.  The probability is rather that the reporter had
+been gulled, or was fond of drawing the "long bow."
+
+Again, mention is made by one Mersennius of a man who could remain six
+hours under water!  If Mersennius were in a position to become
+acquainted with that diver's powers, how comes it that he failed to
+become acquainted with his apparatus?  Simply because there was no such
+apparatus, and the whole affair is a fable.
+
+But the most remarkable of these stories is recorded by a certain Father
+Kircher, who might appropriately be styled a father of lies!  Here is
+_his_ fabrication:--
+
+In the time of Frederick of Sicily there lived a man named Nicolo
+Pesce,--Nicholas the Fish.  This man's powers seem to have been
+decidedly superhuman.  He was evidently an amphibious animal.  He
+appears to have acted the part of ocean-postman in these old times, for
+it is related of him that he used to carry letters for the king far and
+wide about the Mediterranean.  On one occasion a vessel found him out of
+sight of land in the discharge of ocean-postal duty--bearing despatches
+of the king from Sicily to Calabria.  They took him on board and had a
+chat with him.  It is not said that they smoked a friendly pipe with him
+or gave him a glass of grog, but we think it probable that they did!
+After a little rest and refreshment Nicholas the Fish bade them
+good-bye, jumped overboard, and continued his voyage.  The end of this
+poor man was very sad.  The king, being seized with an insane desire to
+know something about the depths of the terrible gulf of Charybdis,
+offered Nicholas a golden cup if he would dive down and explore them.
+He dived accordingly, remained below nearly an hour, and brought back a
+glowing account of the wonders and horrors of the seething whirlpool.
+The king, far from being satisfied, became more than ever desirous of
+knowledge.  He asked Nicholas to dive again, and tempted him with the
+offer of another and larger cup, as well as a purse of gold.  The poor
+Fish, after some hesitation, again dived into the gulf and was never
+more heard of!
+
+We don't wonder at it.  The greatest wonder is, that Nicolo Pesce ever
+obtained a place in the encyclopaedias of the world.  From the fact,
+however, that he has been thus rescued from oblivion, we conclude, that
+although much that is said of him is false, the man himself was not a
+myth, but a fact; that he was a man of the Captain Webb type, who
+possessed extraordinary powers of swimming, perhaps of diving, to the
+extent, it may be, of nearly three minutes, and that he possibly lost
+his life by rashly venturing into the vortex of some dangerous
+whirlpool.  That he did not use diving apparatus of any kind is clear
+from the fact that nothing is said about such apparatus, which, had it
+really existed, would have claimed as much attention and caused as much
+talk as did the man himself.
+
+The earliest authentic records we have of the use of diving apparatus
+belong to the beginning of the sixteenth century.  In an edition of
+Vegetius on the _Art of War_, published in 1511, there is an engraving
+of a diver walking in the sea with a cap over his head and shoulders,
+from which a flexible tube rises to the surface.  This was, no doubt,
+the embryo of our "diving-dress."  John Taisner, in 1538, says that he
+saw two Greeks, at Toledo in Spain, make experiments with diving
+apparatus, in presence of the Emperor Charles the Fifth and ten thousand
+spectators.  Gaspar Schott of Numberg, in 1664, refers to this Greek
+machine as an "aquatic kettle;" but mentions, as preferable in his
+estimation, a species of "aquatic armour," which enabled those who wore
+it to walk under water.  The "aquatic kettle" was doubtless the embryo
+of the diving-bell.
+
+From that time onward inventive minds have been turned, with more or
+less success, towards the subject of submarine operations, and many are
+the contrivances--clever, queer, absurd, and useful--which have been the
+outcome.  Not content with "kettles" and "bells," by means of which they
+could descend into the deep and remain there for an hour or more at a
+time, and with "armour" and "dresses" with which they could walk about
+at the bottom of the sea, men have constructed several submarine boats
+and machines, in which, shut up like Jonah in the whale, they purposed
+to move about from place to place, sink to the bottom and rise to the
+surface, at will, or go under the bottoms of enemy's ships and fix
+torpedoes wherewith to blow them up, and otherwise do them damage.
+These latter machines have not attained to any noteworthy degree of
+success--at least they have not yet done either much good or much harm
+to the human race; but the former--the "kettles" and the "armour,"--in
+other words, the "diving-bells" and "dresses"--have attained to a high
+degree of perfection and efficiency, and have done incalculable good
+service.
+
+The diving-bell was so styled owing to the first machines being made in
+the shape of a gigantic bell.  An inverted wine-glass, thrust mouth
+downwards into water, will not fill with water, owing to the air which
+it contains keeping the water out.  It will partially fill, however,
+because air is compressible, and the deeper down it is thrust the more
+will the air be compressed.  At a depth of thirty-three feet the air
+will be compressed to half its bulk--in other words, the glass will be
+half-full of water.  It is clear that a fly or any small insect could
+live in the air thus confined although thrust to great depths under
+water.  But it could not live long, because air becomes unfit for use
+after being breathed a certain time, and cannot sustain life.  Hence, if
+we are to preserve the life of our fly, we must send fresh air down to
+it.
+
+The first diving-bells were made so large that the air contained in them
+sufficed for a considerable period--an hour or more.  When this air had
+lost its life-sustaining qualities, the bell had to be drawn up and the
+air renewed.  This was so inconvenient that ingenious men soon hit on
+various plans to renew the air without raising the bells.  One plan,
+that of Dr Halley, was to send air down in tight casks, which were
+emptied into the bell and then sent up, full of water, for a fresh
+supply of air, while the foul air was let out of the bell by a valve in
+the top.  Another plan was to have tubes from the bell to the surface by
+which air was made to circulate downwards, at first being forced down by
+a pair of bellows, and afterwards by means of air-pumps.
+
+Round the inside of the bell ran a seat for the divers.  One or more
+holes fitted with thick plate-glass, gave them light and enabled them to
+use the various tools and implements required in their vocation.  From
+some of these bells, a man could be sent out, when at or near the
+bottom, having on a water-tight head-piece connected by a tube with the
+air inside the bell.  He could thus move about with more freedom than
+his comrades inside, but of course could not travel further than the
+length of his tube, while, being wet, he could not endure the cold for
+any great length of time.
+
+As time went on the form of the bell was improved until that of a square
+or oblong box of iron came to be generally adopted.  The bell now in use
+is that which was made in 1788 by the celebrated engineer Smeaton, who
+applied the air forcing-pump to it, and otherwise brought the machine to
+a high degree of perfection.  He used it with great advantage in the
+works at Ramsgate harbour, and Smeaton's diving-bell, improved by
+Rennie, has continued in constant and general use on all submarine works
+until a very recent period.  It has now been almost entirely
+superseded--except in the case of some special kinds of work--by the
+diving-dress--the value and the use of which it is the province of our
+tale to illustrate and expound.
+
+In regard to the diving-dress, we may say that it has grown out of the
+"aquatic armour" of the olden time, but no great advance in its
+improvement was made until the end of the eighteenth and beginning of
+the present centuries, when the names of Rowe, Halley, Spalding,
+Bushwell, and Colt, appear in connection with various clever
+contrivances to facilitate diving operations.  Benjamin Martin, a London
+optician, made a dress of strong leather in 1778 which fitted his arms
+and legs as well as his trunk, and held half a hogshead of air.  With
+this he could enter the hold of a sunk vessel, and he is said to have
+been very successful in the use of it.  Mr Kleingert of Breslau, in
+1798, designed a dress somewhat like the above, part of which, however,
+was made of tin-plate.  The diving-dress was greatly improved by Mr
+Deane, and in the recovery of guns, etcetera, from the wreck of the
+_Royal George_, in 1834 to 1836, as well as in many other operations,
+this dress--much improved, and made by Mr Siebe, under Deane's
+directions--did signal service.
+
+It has now been brought to a high state of perfection by the well-known
+submarine engineers Siebe and Gorman, Heinke and Davis, and others, of
+London, and Denayrouze of Paris.  It encases the diver completely from
+head to foot, is perfectly water-tight, and is made of thick sheet
+india-rubber covered on both sides with tanned twill--the helmet and
+breast-plate being metal.
+
+For further information on this subject we refer the inquisitive reader
+to the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, to the descriptive pamphlets of the
+submarine engineers above named, and to an admirable little book styled
+_The Conquest of the Sea_, by Henry Siebe, which contains a full and
+graphic account in detail of almost everything connected with diving and
+submarine engineering.  [See Note 1.]
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  It may interest practical spirits to know that they can _see_
+the diving-dress and apparatus in operation, by going to Number 17 Mason
+Street, Westminster Bridge Road, London, where Messrs. Siebe and Gorman
+have erected a large Tank for the purpose of illustrating their
+apparatus.  At the Alexandra Palace, also, Messrs. Denayrouze and
+Company have a tank for the same purpose.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+THE GRINDING OF THE SCREW.
+
+It is proverbial that incidents in themselves trivial frequently form
+the hinges on which great events turn.  When Edgar Berrington went to
+London he learned that the owners of the fine ocean-steamer the
+_Warrior_ wished him to become their chief engineer for that voyage, the
+previous chief having been suddenly taken ill and obliged to leave them.
+Although flattered by the proposal, and the terms in which it was made,
+Edgar declined it, for, having acquired all the knowledge he desired
+about marine engines during the voyage out and home, he did not wish to
+waste more time at sea.  The owner, however, being aware of his worth,
+was not to be put off with a first refusal.  He took Edgar into his
+private room and reasoned with him.
+
+"Come now, Mr Berrington, consider my proposal again.  You'll go, won't
+you?"
+
+"Impossible," replied Edgar.  "You are very kind, and I assure you that
+I fully appreciate your offer, but--"
+
+He was interrupted by a clerk who entered at the moment and spoke a few
+words in an under tone to the owner.
+
+"Excuse me one minute, Mr Berrington," said the latter, rising quickly.
+"I shall return immediately.  There is a newspaper, to look--no--where
+is it?  Ah!  No matter: here is a list of the passengers going out to
+China in the _Warrior_.  It may amuse you.  Perhaps you may find a
+friend amongst them."
+
+Left alone, Edgar ran his eye carelessly over the names--thinking the
+while of the disagreeables of another long sea-voyage, and strengthening
+his resolves not to be tempted to go.
+
+Now, the careless glance at this passenger-list was the apparently
+trifling incident on which hinged the whole of our hero's future career;
+his careless glance became suddenly fixed and attentive; his eyebrows
+lifted to their utmost elevation and his face flushed crimson, for there
+he beheld the names of Charles Hazlit, Esquire, and his daughter, Miss
+Aileen Hazlit.
+
+Just at that moment the owner of the _Warrior_ returned.  This owner was
+an intelligent, shrewd man--quick to observe.  He noted the flush on
+Edgar's countenance, and Edgar immediately blew his nose with violence
+to account for the flush.
+
+"Well now, Mr Berrington, what say you?" he resumed.
+
+Poor Edgar knew not what to say.  A reply had to be given at once.  He
+had no time to think.  Aileen going to China!  An offer of a situation
+in the same vessel!
+
+"Well, sir," said our hero, with sudden decision, "I will go."
+
+Of course the owner expressed himself well pleased, and then there
+followed a deal of nautico-scientific talk, after which Edgar ventured
+to say--
+
+"I observe the name of Mr Charles Hazlit on your list.  He is an
+acquaintance of mine.  Do you happen to know what takes him so far from
+home?"
+
+"Can't say exactly," replied the other.  "I think some one told me his
+affairs in China require looking after, and his daughter's health
+necessitates a long sea-voyage."
+
+"Health!" exclaimed Edgar, striving to look and speak in a comparatively
+indifferent manner.  "She was quite well when I saw her last."
+
+"Very likely," said the owner, with a smile, "but it does not take long
+to make a young lady ill--especially when her heart is touched.  Some
+sort of rumour floats in my mind to the effect that Miss Hazlit is going
+out to China to be married, or requires to go out because she doesn't
+want to be married--I forget which.  But it comes pretty much to the
+same thing in the end!"
+
+"Hah!" said Edgar shortly.
+
+If he had said "Oh!" in tones of agony, it would have been more truly
+expressive of his feelings.
+
+The moment he got out of the office and felt the cool air of the street
+he repented of his decision and pronounced himself to be a consummate
+donkey!
+
+"There," thought he, "I've made a fool of myself.  I've engaged for a
+long voyage in a capacity which precludes the possibility of my
+associating with the passengers, for not only must nearly all my waking
+hours be spent down beside the engine, but when I come up to cool myself
+I must perforce do so in dirty costume, with oily hands and face, quite
+in an unfit state to be seen by Aileen, and without the slightest right
+to take any notice of her.  Oh!  Donkey--goose that you are, Eddy!  But
+you've done it now, and can't undo it, therefore you must go through
+with it."
+
+Thinking of himself in this lowly strain he went home to the solitude of
+his lodging, sat down before his tea-table, thrust both hands into his
+pockets, and, in a by no means unhappy frame of mind, brooded over his
+trials and sorrows.
+
+Let us change the scene now.  We are out upon the sea--in a floating
+palace.  And oh how that palace rushes onward, ever onward, without
+rest, without check, night and day, cleaving its way irresistibly
+through the mighty deep.  Mighty!  Ah! _how_ mighty no one on board can
+tell so well as that thin, gentle, evidently dying youth who leans over
+the stern watching the screws and the "wake" that seems to rush behind,
+marking off, as it were mile by mile, the vast and ever-increasing
+space--never to be re-traversed he knows full well--that separates him
+from home and all that is dear to him on earth.
+
+The palace is made of iron--hard, unyielding, unbeautiful,
+uncompromising iron,--but her cushions are soft, her gilding is
+gorgeous, her fittings are elegant, her food is sumptuous, her society--
+at least much of it--is refined.  Of course representatives of the
+unrefined are also there--in the after-cabin too--just as there are
+specimens of the refined in the fore-cabin.  But, taking them all in
+all, they are a remarkably harmonious band, the inhabitants of this iron
+palace, from the captain to the cabin-boy inclusive.  The latter is a
+sprightly imp; the former is--to use the expression of one of the
+unrefined--"a brick."  He is not tall--few sea-captains seem to be so--
+but he is very broad, and manly, and as strong as an elephant.  He is a
+pattern captain.  Gallant to the lady passengers, chatty with the
+gentlemen, polite to the unrefined, sedately grave among the officers
+and crew, and jocular to the children; in short, he is all things to all
+men--and much of the harmony on board is due to his unconscious
+influence.  He has a handsome face, glittering black eyes, an aquiline
+nose that commands respect, and a black beard and moustache that covered
+a firm mouth and chin.
+
+Grinding is one of the prominent ideas that are suggested on board the
+iron palace.  There are many other ideas, no doubt.  Among seventy or
+eighty educated and intelligent human beings of both sexes and all ages
+it could not be otherwise.  We allude, however, to the boat--not to the
+passengers.  The screw grinds and the engine grinds incessantly.  When
+one thinks of a thing, or things, going round and round, or up and down,
+regularly, uninterruptedly, vigorously, doggedly, obstinately, hour
+after hour, one is impressed, to say the least; and when one thinks of
+the said thing, or things, going on thus, night and day without rest,
+one is solemnised; but when one meditates on these motions being
+continued for many weeks together, one has a tendency to feel mentally
+overwhelmed.
+
+The great crank that grinds the screw, and is itself ground by the
+piston--not to mention the cylinder and boiler--works in a dark place
+deep down in the engine-room, like a giant hand constantly engaged on
+deeds of violence and evil.
+
+Here Edgar Berrington, clothed in white canvas and oil, finds genial
+companionship.  He dotes on the great crank.  It is a sympathetic thing.
+It represents his feelings wonderfully.  Returning from the deck after
+inhaling a little fresh air, he leans against the iron bulkhead in these
+clanking depths and gazes gloomily and for prolonged periods at the
+crank while it grinds with a sort of vicious energy that seems in
+strange harmony with his soul.  Sometimes he grinds his teeth as a sort
+of obbligato accompaniment--especially if he has while on deck, during a
+wistful gaze at the distant perspective of the aft-regions, beheld, (or
+fancied he has beheld) a familiar and adored form.
+
+At first the passengers were sick--very sick, most of them--insomuch
+that there were some who would gladly, if possible, have surrendered
+their lives with their dinners; but by degrees they began to improve,
+and to regard meals with anticipation instead of loathing.  When the
+sunny and calm latitudes near the line were reached, every one grew well
+and hearty, and at last there was not a sad soul on board except the
+poor sick lad who studied the screw and measured the ever-increasing
+distance from home.  One of the first evidences of the return of health
+was the sound of song.  When the nights were clear and calm, and naught
+was audible save the grinding of the screw, the passengers crystallised
+naturally into groups in the same way that ice-particles arrange
+themselves in sympathetic stars; and from several such constellations
+the music of the spheres was naturally evolved.
+
+One of these crystals was formed, usually in a tent on deck, by the
+attractive influence of smoke.  It was consequently not a bright
+crystal, and included particles both refined and otherwise.  Its music
+was gruff for the most part, sometimes growly.  There was another
+crystal which varied its position occasionally--according to the
+position of the moon, for it was a crystal formed of romantic elements.
+One of its parts was a Scottish maiden whose voice was melodious,
+flexible, and very sweet.  Her face and spirit had been made to match.
+She had many admirers, and a bosom-friend of kindly heart and aspect,
+with wealth of golden hair, in some respects like herself.
+
+Our heroine Aileen, being passionately fond of music, and herself a
+sweet singer, attached herself to this crystal, and became as it were
+another bosom-friend.
+
+Two bearded men were also much given to seek attachment to this crystal.
+They also seemed knit to each other in bosom-friendship--if we may
+venture to use such a term with reference to bearded men.  One was
+amateurly musical, the other powerfully sympathetic.  A pastor, of
+unusually stalwart proportions, with a gentle pretty wife and lovable
+family, also had a decided leaning to this crystal.
+
+One evening the group, finding its favourite part of the deck occupied,
+was driven to a position near the tent of the smoky crystal, and,
+sitting down not far from the engineer's quarters, began to indulge in
+song.  Grave and gay alternated.  Duets followed; trios ensued, and
+miscellaneous new forms of harmony sometimes intervened.
+
+"Do sing a solo, Miss Hazlit," said the Scottish maiden.  "I like your
+voice _so_ much, and want to hear it alone.  Will you sing?"
+
+Aileen had an obliging spirit.  She at once began, in a low contralto
+voice, "I cannot sing the old songs."
+
+Sometimes in private life one hears a voice so sweet, so thrilling, with
+a "something" so powerful in it, that one feels, amid other sensations
+of pleasure, great satisfaction to think that none of the public singers
+in the world could "bat that" if they were to try their best, and that
+few of them could equal it!
+
+Such a voice was that of our heroine.  It drew towards her the soul,
+body, and spirit of the music-lovers who listened.  Of course we do not
+deny that there were some who could not be drawn thus.  There were a
+few, among the smoky crystals, for whom a draw of the pipe or a mildly
+drawn pot of bitter beer had greater charms than sweet sounds, however
+melting.  With the exceptions of these, nearly all who chanced to be
+within hearing drew near to the musical group, and listened while that
+most, beautiful of songs was being warbled in tones not loud but
+inexpressibly pathetic.
+
+Among the listeners was our friend Edgar Berrington.  Seated, as usual,
+in front of the great crank, with bare muscular arms folded on his broad
+chest and a dark frown on his forehead, he riveted his eyes on the crank
+as if it were the author of all his anxieties.  Suddenly the terminating
+lines, "I cannot sing the old songs, they are too dear to me," rising
+above the din of machinery, floated gently down through iron
+lattice-work, beams, rods, cranks, and bars, and smote upon his ear.
+
+Like a galvanised man he sprang on his legs and stood erect.  Then, if
+we may say so, like a human rocket, he shot upwards and stood on the
+margin of the crowd.  Being head and shoulders over most of them he
+observed a clear space beside the singer.  The night was dark, features
+could not be discerned, even forms were not easily recognisable.  He
+glided into the open space, and silently but promptly sat down on the
+deck beside Aileen.  His elbow even touched one of the folds of her
+garment.  He went straight into paradise and remained there!
+
+As for Aileen, if she observed the action at all, she probably set it
+down to the enthusiasm of a more than usually musical member of the
+ship's crew.
+
+While she was still dwelling on the last note, a grinding sound was
+heard and a slight tremor felt that not only stopped the song abruptly
+but checked the applause that was ready to burst from every lip and
+hand.  Edgar vanished from the spot where he sat quite as quickly as he
+had appeared, and in a moment was at his station.  The captain's voice
+was heard on the bridge.  The signal was given to stop the engines--to
+back them--to stop again.  Eager inquiries followed--"What's that?  Did
+you feel it?  Hear it?  Could it be a rock?  Impossible, surely?"  No
+one could answer with knowledge or authority, save those who were too
+busy to be spoken to.  Accustomed as they all were for many weeks past
+to the ceaseless motion of the engines, the sudden stoppage had a
+strange and solemnising effect on most of the passengers.  Presently the
+order was given to steam ahead, and once more they breathed more freely
+on hearing again the familiar grinding of the screw.
+
+To the anxious inquiries afterwards made of him, the captain only smiled
+and said he could not tell what it was--perhaps it might have been a
+piece of wreck.  "But it did not feel like that, captain," objected one
+of the passengers, who, having frequently been to sea before, was
+regarded as being semi-nautical; "it was too like a touch on something
+solid.  You've heard, I suppose, of coral reefs growing in places where
+none are marked on our charts?"
+
+"I have," answered the captain drily.
+
+"Might it not be something of the kind?"
+
+"It might," replied the captain.
+
+"We are not far from the coast of China, are we?" asked the
+semi-nautical passenger.
+
+"Not very far."
+
+Seeing that the captain was not disposed to be communicative, the
+semi-nautical passenger retired to persecute and terrify some of the
+ladies with his surmises.  Meanwhile the well was sounded and a slight
+increase of water ascertained, but nothing worth speaking of, and the
+pumps were set to work.
+
+The anxiety of the passengers was soon allayed, everything going on as
+smoothly as before.  The evening merged into night.  The moon rose
+slowly and spread a path of rippling silver from the ship to the
+horizon.  The various groups began to un-crystallise.  Sleepy ones went
+below and melted away somehow.  Sleepless ones went to their great
+panacea, smoke.  Lights were put out everywhere save where the duties of
+the ship required them to burn continually.  At last the latest of the
+sleepless turned in, and none were wakeful through the iron palace
+except the poor youth who mentally measured the distance from home, and
+the officers and men on duty.  Among the latter was Edgar Berrington,
+who, standing at his accustomed post down in his own iron depths,
+pondered the events of the evening while he watched the motions of the
+great crank and listened to the grinding of the screw.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+TREATS OF A LEAK AND CONSEQUENT DIFFICULTIES.
+
+It turned out, on investigation, that, whatever the object by which the
+vessel had been touched, some degree of injury had been done to her
+iron-plating, for the pumps were found to be insufficient to prevent the
+rising of water in the hold.  This was a serious matter, because
+although the rise was very slow, it was steady, and if not checked would
+sooner or later sink the ship.  Everything that could be done was
+attempted in order to discover and stop the leak, but without success.
+
+Fortunately it happened that the _Warrior_ had among her other goods a
+quantity of diving apparatus on board, consigned to a firm in Hong-Kong
+that had lost valuable property in a wreck, and meant to attempt the
+recovery of it by means of divers.  The men had gone out by a previous
+vessel, but their dresses, having been accidentally delayed, had been
+sent after them in the _Warrior_.  Bethinking himself of these dresses,
+the captain conceived that he was justified, in the circumstances, in
+making temporary use of them; but he was disappointed to find, on
+inquiry, that not a man of his ordinary crew had ever seen a
+diving-dress put on, or its attendant air-pumps worked.  In these
+circumstances he sent for the chief engineer.
+
+Edgar Berrington was busy about some trifling repairs to the machinery
+when the message reached him.  The place being very hot, he was clad
+only in shirt and trousers, with a belt round his waist--a by no means
+unbecoming costume for a well-made figure!  His shirt-sleeves were
+rolled up to the shoulders, displaying a pair of very muscular and
+elegantly moulded arms--such as Hercules might have been pleased with,
+and Apollo would not have disdained.  His hands were black and oily, and
+his face was similarly affected.
+
+Expecting to meet the captain at the entrance to his domains, Edgar
+merely rolled down his sleeves, and seized a bundle of waste with which
+he hastily wiped his hands and face, thereby drawing on the latter,
+which had previously been spotty, a series of varied streaks and
+blotches that might have raised the envy of a Querikoboo savage.  But
+the captain was not where he expected to find him, and on looking aft he
+saw him on the quarter-deck in converse with one of the passengers.
+Edgar would rather not have appeared in public in such guise, but being
+in haste to return to the work from which he had been called, he pulled
+on a light linen jacket and forage-cap, and walked quickly aft.  To his
+horror he saw Aileen seated on a basket-work easy-chair close to the
+captain.  It was too late, however, to retreat, for the latter had
+already observed him.  Fortunately Aileen was deeply engaged with a
+book.  Edgar quickly advanced and took such a position that his back was
+turned to her.
+
+"Excuse my appearance, sir," he said in a low voice, touching his cap to
+the captain; "I am in the midst of a job that requires to be--"
+
+"No matter," interrupted the captain, with a laugh, "you look very well
+in your war-paint.  We'll excuse you."
+
+Attracted by the laugh, Aileen looked up at the tall form in front of
+her.
+
+"What a _very_ handsome figure!" she whispered to her bosom-friend, who
+sat beside her reading.
+
+The bosom-friend put her book in front of her mouth and whispered--
+
+"Yes, _very_.  I wish he would turn round and show his face."
+
+But her wish was not granted, for the captain walked slowly forward in
+conversation with the "_very_ handsome figure," which obstinately,--we
+might almost say carefully,--kept its back turned towards them.
+
+Great was the satisfaction of the captain when he found not only that
+one of the subordinate engineers understood a good deal about diving,
+but that the chief himself was a diver!  It was accordingly arranged
+that a descent should be made without delay.  The dresses were got up
+and unpacked, and one was found suitable for a large man.
+
+Soon the air-pumps were set up and rigged on deck.  One of the
+sub-engineers was set to work them, with one of the crew, while another
+sub and an officer, having been previously instructed by our hero, were
+detailed to the important duty of holding the life-line and air-pipe.
+Thereafter the engines were stopped, and the dead-calm that followed,--
+that feeling of unnatural quietude to which we have referred
+elsewhere,--did more perhaps to arouse all the sleepers, readers, and
+dreamers on board, than if a cannon had been fired.  Of course the
+descent of a diver over the side was a point of great interest to the
+passengers, coupled as it was with some anxiety as to the leak, of the
+existence of which all were fully aware, though only a select few had
+been informed of its serious nature--if not checked.  They crowded round
+the apparatus therefore, and regarded its arrangement with the deepest
+interest.
+
+When all was ready Edgar issued from the deck-cabin, in which he meant
+to dress, to take a final look at the air-pumps.  In the flutter of
+excitement he had for one moment, and for the first time since the
+beginning of the voyage, totally forgotten the existence of Aileen.
+Now, she and Lintie, the Scottish maiden who sang so well, chanced to be
+looking with much interest at the helmet which lay on the deck, when his
+eye fell on them.  At once he turned on his heel and retreated towards
+his cabin.
+
+"That's the man who is to go down, I believe," observed one of the
+passengers, pointing to him.
+
+Lintie looked up and saw his back.
+
+"Oh!" she whispered to Aileen, "it is the _very_ handsome man!"
+
+"Is it?" replied Aileen, with indifference, for she was engrossed with
+the helmet just then.
+
+Greatly perplexed as to how he should escape observation, poor Edgar
+began to dress--or, rather, to be dressed by his assistants,--delaying
+the operation as long as possible; but delay did not seem to increase
+his inventive powers, and could not prevent the completion of the
+process.
+
+The guernsey, drawers, and outside stockings were drawn on, and Edgar's
+brain worked the while like the great crank of his own engine; but no
+feasible plan of escape was evolved.  Then the "crinoline" was drawn on,
+but it added no feminine sharpness to his wits, though it seriously
+modified and damaged the shape of his person.  The crinoline, as we have
+said elsewhere, is seldom used except at great depths, where the
+pressure of water is excessive.  It was put on Edgar at this time partly
+because it formed a portion of the dress, and partly because, his mind
+being preoccupied, he did not observe with sufficient care what his
+attendants were about.
+
+After this came the shoulder-pad, and then the thick dress itself was
+drawn on, and the attendants hitched it up with difficulty over his
+spreading shoulders, but they could not hitch up an idea along with it.
+The forcing of his hands through the tight india-rubber wrists of the
+sleeves was done with tremendous power, but it was nothing compared with
+the energy he put forth to force himself through his mental difficulty--
+yet all in vain!  The outside stockings and the canvas "overalls"
+followed, and he finally put on the red night-cap, which seemed to
+extinguish all capacity for thought.
+
+"You seem to be a little nervous, sir," remarked one of the attendants,
+as he affixed the back and chest weights, while the other put on his
+ponderous boots.
+
+"Am I,--eh!" said Edgar, with a grim smile; then he added, as a sudden
+idea flashed on him; "go fetch me the dirtiest bundle of waste you can
+find below, and give it a good scrape on the blackest part of the boiler
+as you pass."
+
+"Sir!" exclaimed the attendant.
+
+"Go; do what I bid you." said Edgar, in a tone that did not brook delay.
+
+The attendant vanished and speedily returned with the desired piece of
+waste.
+
+Edgar at once rubbed it over his face and became so piebald and hideous
+that both the attendants laughed.
+
+Not heeding them, and only half sure of the completeness of the
+disguise, Edgar issued boldly from his cabin, and walked with heavy
+tread towards the place where he had to sit down to have the helmet
+screwed on.
+
+A loud roar of laughter greeted him.
+
+"Why, you've been kissing the funnel," exclaimed one of the mates.
+
+"That'll do me no harm," growled Edgar, stooping to catch hold of the
+air-tube, and making an excuse for sidling and backing towards his seat.
+
+"Oh!  What a fright!  And _such_ a figure!" exclaimed Lintie; "come
+round, let us try to get a nearer view of him."
+
+She dragged the laughing Aileen with her, for she was an impulsive
+little woman; but at whatever opening in the crowd she and her friend
+presented themselves, they were sure to find the diver's ridiculously
+broad and now inelegant back turned towards them.
+
+"Plague on him!" she exclaimed, for she was an impatient little woman,
+just then, "I don't believe he's got a front at all!  Come round again--
+quick."
+
+"Why, what are you turning about like that for?" exclaimed one of the
+exasperated attendants, who stood ready with the helmet.
+
+"His head's turned wi' fear, an' he's a-follerin' of it," growled the
+boatswain.
+
+"Why don't you sit down?" said the attendant.
+
+"Are you ready?" asked Edgar, in a low gruff voice.
+
+"Of course I am--don't you see me?"
+
+Another happy idea came into Edgar's head at that moment.  He pulled his
+red night-cap well down over his eyes, and sat down with a crash, while
+another hearty laugh greeted his supposed eccentricity.
+
+"Hallo, I say, you're not going to be hanged--no need to draw it down
+like that," said the first officer.
+
+"Drowning comes much to the same thing; let's do it decently--according
+to rule," retorted Edgar, with a grin that displayed a brilliant set of
+teeth.
+
+"H'm!  We shan't see him _now_," whispered Lintie, in disappointment,
+forcing her way once more to the front.
+
+This time there was no reply from Aileen, for a strange shock passed
+through her as she observed the momentary smile--and no wonder, for many
+a time had that same mouth smiled upon her with winning tenderness.
+
+Of course she did not for a moment suspect the truth, but she thought it
+strange, nevertheless, that the diver's mouth should have such a strong
+resemblance to--she knew not precisely what!  Afterwards she confided to
+Lintie that it had struck her as bearing a faint--very faint--
+resemblance to the mouth of a friend.
+
+"Of a very particular friend?" inquired Lintie, who was sharp-witted.
+
+Aileen blushed and hid her face on the neck of her friend, and suddenly
+poured out her soul, which the other drank up with avidity.
+
+That same night, lying in her berth, which was a top one, and looking
+languidly over the side at her friend, who lay in the berth below
+looking sympathetically up, she revealed her hopes and fears and
+sentiments, to the edification, (it is to be hoped) of a mean-spirited
+passenger in the saloon, who stood on the other side of the very thin
+partition, and tried to overhear.  If he succeeded it must have been a
+new sensation to him to listen to the gentle streams of hope and love
+that flowed through to him--for Aileen's thoughts were gems, as pure and
+beautiful as the casket which contained them.  We are not quite sure,
+but we more than half suspect that if his presence there had been
+discovered, and himself had been within easy reach, the casket's palm
+would have evoked something resembling a pistol-shot from his dirty
+cheek!
+
+But to return to our diver.  The moment his helmet was on he breathed
+freely, recovered his equanimity, and went down the rope-ladder that
+hung over the side, with an air of easy decision that checked the
+criticisms of the men and aroused the admiration--not to mention the
+alarm--of the women.
+
+"The puir felly'll be droon'd," pitifully observed a fore-cabin
+passenger from Edinburgh, as she gazed at the mass of air-bubbles that
+arose when Edgar's iron head had disappeared.
+
+"Nothink of the sort," responded a fore-cabin passenger from London, who
+had taken an immense liking to the fore-cabin passenger from Edinburgh,
+in virtue of their total mental, moral, and physical dissimilarity;
+"divers are never drownded."
+
+We need scarcely observe to the intelligent reader that both females
+were wrong--as such females, in regard to such matters, usually are.
+Edgar was _not_ "droon'd," and divers _are_ sometimes "drownded."
+
+So far from being drowned, he was remarkably successful in discovering
+the leak on his first descent.
+
+It was caused by one of the iron-plates near the keel having been badly
+torn by a coral rock.
+
+Thoroughly to repair this was a difficulty.  Our diver did indeed stuff
+it with oakum in a way that at once diminished the influx of water; but
+this was merely a makeshift.  It now became a question whether it were
+possible to effect the necessary repairs while at sea.  Our young
+engineer removed the difficulty.  He undertook to rivet an iron-plate
+over the hole--at least to make the attempt.
+
+In order to effect this, a rope-ladder was constructed long enough to
+pass entirely under the ship's bottom, to which it was tightly pressed
+by means of tackle at both ends.  The rounds of this ladder were made of
+wood, and all along its course were fastened rough balls or blocks of
+wood about four inches in diameter, which prevented it coming too close
+to the ship's bottom.  Thus there was secured space for the diver to
+place his feet on the rounds.  This ladder having been affixed, so as to
+pass close to the injured plate, a boat was lowered, and from this boat
+descended a small ladder, hung in such a way that the diver, when a few
+feet under water, could easily step from it to the fixed rope-ladder.
+In addition to this, a small plank suspended to a rope, somewhat after
+the fashion of a familiar style of bed-room bookshelf, was taken down by
+the diver and hung to the rope-ladder by a hook, so that he could sit on
+it while at work, and move it about at pleasure.
+
+All having been prepared, our engineer descended with the necessary
+tools, and, to make a long story short, riveted a new plate over the old
+one in such a way as effectually to close the leak, so that thereafter
+it gave no further trouble or anxiety.
+
+But for this the vessel would certainly have been lost, unless they had
+succeeded in beaching her before the final catastrophe, on some part of
+the neighbouring coast; in which case they would have run the chance of
+being taken by the pirates who at that time infested the China seas.
+
+Delivered from this threatened danger, the good ship sped merrily on her
+course; most of the crystallised groups grew closer together--in some
+instances, however, they burst asunder!  Musical tendencies also
+developed, though in some cases the sublime gave place to the
+ridiculous, and music actually, once or twice, became a nuisance.  As
+the end of the voyage drew near, the hearty captain grew heartier, the
+bosom-friends drew closer; the shy passengers opened up; the congenial
+passengers began to grieve over the thought of parting; charades were
+acted; concerts were given: the mean-spirited passenger became a little
+less vile; the fore-cabin passenger from Edinburgh observed to her
+friend that the "goin's on a'boord were wonderfu';" to which the
+fore-cabin passenger from London replied that "they certainly was;"
+flying-fish and porpoises, and sharks and albatrosses, and tropical
+heat, ceased to furnish topics of interest, and men and women were
+thrown back on their mental resources, which were, among other things,
+largely wid pleasantly--sometimes even hotly!--exercised on religious
+discussion.  In short the little community, thus temporarily thrown
+together, became an epitome of human life.  As calm and storm alternated
+outside the iron palace, so, inside, there was mingled joy and sorrow.
+Friendships were formed and cemented.  Love and folly, and hate and
+pride, and all the passions, were represented--ay, and Death was also
+there.
+
+In the silent night, when nothing was heard save that ceaseless music of
+the screw, the destroying angel came--so silently that only a few were
+aware of his dread presence--and took away the youth whose sole
+occupation seemed to have been the watching of the ever-increasing
+distance from that home which he was destined never again to see.  It
+was inexpressibly sad to those left behind when his coffin was committed
+to the deep amid the solemn silence that once again ensued on the
+stoppage of the engines, while the low voice of a pastor prayed for
+those who wept his departure; but it was not sad for him who had been
+taken--he had reached the "better home," and, sitting by the side of
+Jesus, could doubtless afford to think, at last without longing, of the
+old home beyond the sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+ANXIETIES; DISASTERS; HOPES.
+
+Standing in his accustomed place on the iron floor of the iron chamber,
+Edgar Berrington watched the grinding of the great crank, and pondered.
+
+He had now been many weeks at sea, and had not once spoken a word to
+Aileen--had not even seen her more than half-a-dozen times in the far
+vista of the quarter-deck.  Each Sabbath-day, indeed, dressed like his
+former self, he had worshipped with her in the same saloon, but on these
+occasions he had kept carefully in the background, had crept quietly
+down after the others had assembled, had kept in the shadow of the door,
+and had left before the worshippers had time to rise.
+
+An event, however, was now pending, which was destined to remove his
+present difficulties in a very unexpected manner, and to saddle on the
+shoulders of Charles Hazlit, Esquire, difficulties which he had never in
+all his previous business calculations taken into account.
+
+During most part of the voyage out to China Mr Hazlit's visage had
+presented a sea-green aspect, edged with yellow.  The great Demon of the
+sea had seized upon and held him with unwonted avidity and perseverance.
+It appeared to regard him as fair game--as one whose life had been
+largely devoted to ploughing up its peculiar domain--or rather, inducing
+others to plough there--and who was therefore worthy of special
+attention.  At all events, the wealthy merchant did not appear
+above-board until the lapse of two weeks after leaving his native land.
+At the end of that period something like the ghost of him crawled on
+deck one rather fine day, but a demoniac squall rudely sent him below,
+where he remained until those charming regions of the Equatorial calms
+were entered.  Here a bad likeness--a sort of spoiled photograph--of him
+again made its appearance, and lay down helplessly on a mattress, or
+smiled with pathetic sarcasm when food was offered.  But soon the calm
+regions were passed; the Cape of Storms was doubled, and the fierce
+"south-easters" of the Indian seas were encountered, during which period
+Mr Hazlit passed away, as one of the things that _had_ been, from the
+memory of all on board, with the exception of Aileen, the captain, the
+bed-room steward, and a Christian pastor, who, with his amiable wife,
+had done much during the voyage for their fellow-passengers.
+
+At last, when the shores of China were approached, and people began to
+talk earnestly about the end of the voyage, Mr Hazlit's shade once more
+made its appearance, with a spot of dark red on each cheek and on the
+point of his nose.  These spots were hopefully regarded as signs of
+returning health.  They did not appear too soon, for the shade would
+infallibly have vanished altogether if it had been subjected to further
+attenuation.
+
+"Oh, papa dear, you look so _much_ better to-day!" said Aileen,
+arranging his shawls as he lay on deck--"quite rosy."
+
+If she had said port-winy it would have been more in accordance with
+truth, but Aileen was rather apt to diverge from truth, unintentionally,
+in speaking of her father.
+
+"I am thankful, dear," replied the shade in a faint voice, and with a
+fainter smile.  "The captain says we shall be in port in a few days, and
+then we shall be all right, and--"
+
+"Ha!  Shall you?" exclaimed the Demon of the sea, giving the ship a
+little lurch to starboard, which cut short the merchant's remarks
+abruptly; "you think so, do you?  Ho!  We shall see!"
+
+Following up this inaudible speech with one of those audible howls for
+which demons are so justly celebrated, he went off in a gust of wind,
+and summoned to his aid one of those simooms, or monsoons, or typhoons
+which are in the habit of ravaging the southern seas.
+
+These spirits, quickly obeying the summons, sent not only Mr Hazlit but
+many of the other passengers to their berths, blew into ribbons the few
+sails that chanced to be hoisted, boiled up the sea as if in a huge
+caldron, caused the blackened sky to mingle with the world of waters,
+rent the firmament with gleaming fire and crashing thunder, and hissed
+or yelled everywhere in the spirit of wildest revelry.
+
+The _Warrior_ was a splendid steamer, and her commander an able seaman,
+but neither splendour of material nor power of mind can avert what is
+decreed.
+
+The storm was prolonged, and raged with unwonted fury, the captain did
+his best, the good ship behaved nobly, and things went well until the
+night of the third day.  It was at that time so very dark that nothing
+could be seen farther off than a few yards beyond the bulwarks, where
+the white-crested waves loomed high in air in a sort of ghostly fashion
+as if they meant to fall on the deck unawares and sink the ship.
+
+The passengers had by degrees got used to the mad plunging and rolling
+of their iron home, and even the timid among them began to feel hopeful
+that after all the gale would be weathered, and the harbour gained.
+
+What the captain thought no one could tell.  He remained on the bridge
+night and day, clad from head to foot in oil-skin garments, facing the
+furious blast as if it were his native air, watching every motion of his
+vessel, and gazing intently into the world of ebony ahead as if trying
+to read his fate there.
+
+The darkness around was almost palpable.  Sometimes it seemed as if the
+vessel were rushing against a mighty rock, that towered high above the
+masts, but this was only optical illusion, or, perhaps, a denser
+storm-cloud than usual passing by, for the steamer continued to plough
+her onward way unchecked, save, now and then, by the bursting on her
+bows of a monster billow, which caused her to quiver from stem to stern,
+and swept the decks with green seas fore and aft.  One such sea had
+carried away part of the bulwarks, and swept overboard all the loose
+material on the decks.  Presently, there was a slight diminution in the
+force of the seas.  The captain noted this, and gave orders to get the
+lead ready to heave.
+
+Deep in the iron chambers below, Edgar Berrington stood--not in his
+wonted dreamy mood, beside the great crank, but close to the
+steering-wheel of the engine,--alert, steady, with his hand on the
+wheel, his eye on the index.
+
+Suddenly the order came, "Half-speed,"--then abruptly followed, "Stop."
+
+These orders were obeyed instantly.
+
+The lead was hove--the result, "no bottom at thirty fathoms."
+
+Again Edgar was signalled--"Half-speed," then--as the captain looked
+into the darkness ahead, and saw, or thought he saw, it deepen
+horribly--came the sharp order, "Astern, full-speed!"
+
+Full well did Edgar know that this implied imminent danger.  Quick as
+lightning he reversed the engines.
+
+Next moment there was an appalling crash that overturned everything in
+the vessel.  Our hero was himself wrenched from his position, and hurled
+against the bulkhead of the boiler-room; the masts went over the sides
+as if they had been pipe-stems, and the wire-ropes snapt like
+pack-thread.  A moment of appalling silence followed, as if the very
+elements had suspended their strife, then there came shriek and cry from
+fore and aft as the passengers rushed frantically about, while above all
+yelled the escaping steam when Edgar opened the safety-valves.
+
+The spot where they had struck was partially protected by cliffs, that
+rose like a wall in front.  These cliffs turned off the direct force of
+the gale, but the general turmoil of the sea raised a surf around them
+which rendered the prospect of effecting a landing a very poor one, even
+if the vessel should hold together for any length of time.  They had not
+struck on the shore of the mainland, but on a solitary islet or rock,
+not far from the coast, which rose abruptly out of deep water.  Hence
+the silence of "the lead" as to its presence.
+
+It were vain to attempt a description of the confusion that followed.
+The few cool and collected men in the ship were powerless at first, but
+gradually they succeeded in restoring some degree of order.  Then the
+captain explained that being hard and fast on the rocks they could not
+sink, and that the vessel being strong was likely to hold together,
+perhaps, for several hours.
+
+"We're _not_ hard and fast, captain," said the semi-nautical passenger
+in an undertone, as he stood by the after-hatch, where most of the cabin
+passengers were assembled.
+
+He referred to a swinging motion of the wreck, which, however, was so
+very slight as to be almost imperceptible.
+
+"I know that," replied the captain, also in an undertone, but somewhat
+sternly, "we _may_ slip back into deep water, but we're hard and fast
+_just now_, and I shall do my best to keep her so.  Don't you go, sir,
+and raise needless alarm in the minds of the passengers.  See," he added
+aloud, pointing towards the east, "day is already breaking; we shall
+soon have light enough to commence landing.  Go below, ladies, and get
+your bonnet-boxes packed."
+
+The captain's mind was far enough from jesting at that moment, but he
+knew that a quiet joke, possessing a modicum of truth in it, would do
+more to calm the fears of the timid than solemn advice or reasoning.  He
+was right.  Many went to their cabins to look after their most precious
+treasures, while the officers and men commenced active preparations for
+escaping to the islet, whose towering cliffs now began to loom heavily
+through the driving mist and foam.
+
+From the first it was evident that only one mode of escape offered,
+namely, by means of a rope to the shore, and a running tackle.  This
+material was easily procured and arranged, but the connecting of the
+rope with the shore was another question.  As daylight increased, the
+island was recognised as a mere uninhabited rock, from which, therefore,
+no assistance could be expected, and the terrible turmoil of waters that
+leaped and seethed between the wreck and the cliffs, seemed to all on
+board, including the captain himself, to be impassable.
+
+At last it became necessary to make an effort, for it was soon
+discovered that the vessel hung on the edge of a ledge, outside of which
+the water deepened suddenly to twenty fathoms, and a slip back into that
+would have been equivalent to certain and immediate death to all on
+board.
+
+"My lads," said the captain to the crew, most of whom were assembled
+with the passengers near the port bow, where the preparations for
+escaping were going on, "we must have a man to go ashore with that line.
+I cannot swim myself, else I would not ask for a volunteer.  Come; who
+has got the heart to do a gallant deed, and save these women and
+children?"
+
+He turned as he spoke, and glanced at the female passengers and
+children, who crowded under the lee of the cook-house, wet, dishevelled,
+and terrified, Aileen and her musical friend being among them.
+
+There was no response at first.  The men turned with doubtful looks at
+the furious sea, in the midst of whose white surges black forbidding
+rocks seemed to rise and disappear, and the surface of which had by that
+time become much cumbered with portions of wreckage.
+
+"If I could only swim," growled the boatswain, "I'd try, but I can't
+float no more than a stone."
+
+Others, who looked stout and bold enough to make the venture, seemed to
+think it might be better to stick to the ship until the sea should go
+down.  Indeed one of them said as much, but the captain interrupted him,
+and was about to make another appeal, when there was a movement in the
+crowd, and one of the sub-engineers pushed towards him with the
+information that a volunteer was ready, and would appear immediately.
+
+"Who is it?" asked the captain.
+
+"Mr Berrington, sir; he's getting ready."
+
+"The chief engineer!" exclaimed the captain.  "Good; if there's a man in
+the ship can do it, he is the man."
+
+Aileen, standing somewhat back in the crowd, thought she had caught a
+familiar sound!
+
+"Who is going to make the venture?" she inquired of a man near her.
+
+"The chief engineer, Miss, I believe."
+
+At the moment the crowd opened and our hero came forward, clothed only
+in a shirt and duck trousers.  His face was not streaked with
+professional paint on _this_ occasion.  It beamed with the flush and the
+latent fire of one who feels that he has made up his mind deliberately
+to face death.
+
+"Oh!  It's the man with the handsome figure," gasped Lintie, with a wild
+look of surprise.
+
+Aileen did not now require to be told who it was.  Unlike heroines, she
+neither screamed nor fainted, but through the wonder which shone in her
+eyes she shot forth another look,--one of proud confidence,--which Edgar
+caught in passing, and it rendered his power and purpose irresistible.
+The stern work before him, however, was not compatible with soft
+emotions.  Seizing the end of the light line which was ready, he tied it
+firmly round his waist and leaped into the raging sea, while an
+enthusiastic cheer burst from the crew.
+
+At first it seemed as if the youth had been endowed with superhuman
+powers, so vigorously and with such ease did he push through the surf
+and spurn aside the pieces of wreck that came in his way; but as his
+distance from the vessel increased, and the surging foam bore him in
+among the rocks, he received several blows from a piece of the floating
+bulwarks.  Once also he was launched with terrible violence against a
+rock.  This checked him a little.  Still, however, he swam on,
+apparently unhurt, while the people on board the wreck gazed after him
+with inexpressible eagerness.  They not only thought of the imminent
+danger of the gallant youth, but fully realised the probability that his
+failure would be the sealing of their own doom.
+
+As he drew near to the rocks on shore, a mass of wreck was seen to rise
+on the crest of the surf close to the swimmer's side and fall on him.
+An irresistible cry of despair burst from those in the ship.  Some one
+shouted to haul on the line and pull him on board, and several seamen
+sprang to do so, but the captain checked them, for through his glass he
+could see Edgar struggling to free himself from the wreck.  In a few
+minutes he succeeded, and the next wave hurled him on the rocky shore,
+to which he clung until the retreating water had lost its power.  Then
+he rose, and struggling upwards, gained a ledge of rock where he was
+safe from the violence of the waves.
+
+It need scarcely be said that his success was hailed with three
+tremendous cheers, and not a few deep and fervent exclamations of "Thank
+God" from some who regarded the young engineer's safety as a foretaste
+of their own.  Some there were, however, who knew that the work which
+yet remained to be done was fraught with danger as well as difficulty.
+This work was commenced without delay.
+
+By means of the light line which he had carried ashore, Edgar hauled the
+two ends of a stouter line or small rope from the wreck.  These two ends
+he quickly spliced together, thus making the rope an endless one, or, as
+seamen have it, an endless fall.  The other loop, or bight, of this
+endless double-rope was retained on the wreck, having been previously
+rove through a block or pulley which was attached to the broken
+fore-mast about ten feet above the deck--in accordance with our "rocket
+apparatus" directions.  In fact, the whole contrivance, got up so
+hastily at this time, was just an extemporised rocket apparatus without
+the rocket--Edgar having already performed the duty of that projectile,
+which is to effect communication between wreck and shore.
+
+By means of the endless fall our hero now hauled a heavy rope or cable
+from the wreck, the end of which he fastened round a large boulder.
+This rope, being hauled taut, remained suspended between the wreck and
+the cliffs some feet above the sea.  Previous to fixing it a large block
+had been run upon it, and to this block was suspended one of those
+circular cork life-preservers which one usually sees attached to the
+bulwarks of ships.  It was made into a sort of bag by means of a piece
+of canvas.  The endless fall was then attached to this bag so that it
+could travel with its block backwards and forwards on the thick cable.
+
+The first who passed from the wreck to the shore by means of this
+contrivance was a stout seaman with two very small children in charge.
+The man was sent partly to give the passengers confidence in the safety
+of the mode of transit, and partly that he might aid Edgar in the
+working of the tackle.  The next who passed was the mother of the
+children.  Then followed Aileen, and after her the sweet singer.  Thus,
+one by one, all the females and children on board were borne in safety
+to land.
+
+After these the male passengers commenced to go ashore.  A few of the
+older men were sent first.  Among them was Mr Hazlit.
+
+The unfortunate merchant was so weak as to be scarcely equal to the
+exertion of getting over the side into the life-buoy or bag, and he was
+so tall that, despite the efforts he made to double himself together,
+there was so much of him above the machine that he had a tendency to
+topple over.  This would have mattered nothing if he had possessed even
+a moderate degree of power to hold on, but his hands were as weak as
+those of a child.  However, the case being desperate, he made the
+attempt, and was sent away from the wreck with many earnest cautions to
+"hold on tight and keep cool."
+
+You may be sure that his progress was watched with intense anxiety by
+Aileen, who stood close to Edgar as he hauled in the rope carefully.
+
+"Oh!  He will fall out," she cried in an agony as the rope dipped a
+little, and let him just touch the roaring surf, when he was somewhat
+more than half way over.
+
+Edgar saw that her fears were not unlikely to be realised.  He therefore
+gave the rope to the seaman who had first come ashore, with orders to
+haul steadily.
+
+Owing to its position and the dipping of the life-buoy with its burden,
+the cable formed a pretty steep slope from the shore.  Throwing himself
+on the cable, Edgar slid swiftly down this incline until stopped by the
+buoy.  The effect of course was to sink the machine deeper than ever,
+insomuch that poor Mr Hazlit, unable any longer to withstand the
+buffeting, threw up his arms with a cry of despair.  Edgar caught him as
+he was falling over.
+
+"Here, put your arms round my neck," he cried, struggling violently to
+fix himself firmly to the life-buoy.
+
+The merchant obeyed instantly, giving the youth an embrace such as he
+had never expected to receive at his hands!  Even in that moment of
+danger and anxiety, Edgar could not help smiling at the gaze of
+unutterable wonder which Mr Hazlit cast on him through the salt water--
+if not tears--that filled his eyes, for he had not seen the youth when
+he jumped overboard.
+
+"Haul away!" shouted our hero; but the words were stifled by a sea which
+at the moment overwhelmed them.
+
+The man at the line, however, knew what to do.  He and some of the
+passengers hauled steadily but swiftly on the line, and in a few seconds
+the buoy, with its double freight, was brought safe to land.  Mr Hazlit
+was carried at once by his rescuer to a recess in the cliffs which was
+partially protected from the storm, and Edgar, after doing what he could
+to place him comfortably on the ground, left him to the care of his
+daughter.
+
+On his return to the beach he found the passengers who had been saved in
+a state of great alarm because of the slipping backwards of the wreck,
+which strained the cable so much that it had become as rigid as a bar of
+iron.  He began, therefore, to ply the means of rescue with redoubled
+energy, for there were still some of the passengers and all the crew on
+board; but suddenly, while the buoy was being sent out for another
+freight, the cable snapt, the wreck slid off the shelf or ledge on which
+it had hung so long, and sank in deep water, leaving nothing save a
+momentary whirlpool in the surf to tell where the splendid ocean palace
+had gone down.
+
+The horror that filled the minds of those who witnessed the catastrophe
+cannot be described.  A feeling of dreary desolation and helplessness
+followed the sudden cessation of violent energy and hopeful toil in
+which most of them had been previously engaged.  This was in some degree
+changed, if not relieved, by the necessity which lay on all to lace the
+vicissitudes of their new position.
+
+That these were neither few nor light soon became apparent, for Edgar
+and the seaman, after an hour's investigation, returned to their friends
+with the information that they had been cast on a small rocky islet,
+which was uninhabited, and contained not a vestige of wood or of
+anything that could sustain the life of man.  Thus they were left
+without shelter or food, or the means of quitting the inhospitable
+spot--not, however, without hope, for one of the seamen said that he
+knew it to be an isle lying not very far from the mainland, and that it
+was almost certain to be passed ere long by ships or native boats.
+
+On further search, too, a spring of fresh water was discovered, with
+sufficient grass growing near it to make comfortable beds for the women
+and children.  The grass was spread under the shelter of an overhanging
+cliff, and as the weather was warm, though stormy, the feelings of
+despair that had at first overwhelmed young and old soon began to abate.
+During the day the gale decreased and a hot sun came out at intervals,
+enabling them to dry their soaking garments.
+
+That night, taking Edgar aside, Mr Hazlit thanked him warmly for
+preserving his life.
+
+"But," said he, seriously, "forgive me if I at once broach a painful
+subject, and point out that our positions are not changed by this
+disaster.  Much though I love my life I love my daughter's happiness
+more, and I would rather die than allow her to marry--excuse me, Mr
+Berrington--a penniless man.  Of course," continued the merchant, with a
+sad smile as he looked around him, "it would be ridiculous as well as
+ungrateful were I to forbid your holding ordinary converse with her
+_here_, but I trust to your honour that nothing more than _ordinary_
+converse shall pass between you."
+
+"My dear sir," replied the youth, "you greatly mistake my spirit if you
+imagine that I would for one moment take advantage of the position in
+which I am now placed.  I thank God for having permitted me to be the
+means of rendering aid to you and Ai--your daughter.  Depend upon it I
+will not give you reason to regret having trusted my honour.  But," (he
+hesitated here) "you have referred to my position.  If, in time and
+through God's goodness, I succeed in improving my position; in gaining
+by industry a sufficiency of this world's pelf to maintain Aileen in a
+condition of comfort approaching in some degree that in which she has
+been brought up, may I hope--may I--"
+
+Mr Hazlit took the young man's hand and said, "You may;" but he said it
+sadly, and with a look that seemed to imply that he had no expectation
+of Edgar ever attaining to the required position.
+
+Satisfied with the shake of the hand, our hero turned abruptly away, and
+went off to ruminate by the sea-shore.  At first he was filled with
+hope; then, as he thought of his being penniless and without influential
+friends, and of the immense amount of money that would have to be made
+in order to meet the wealthy merchant's idea of comfort, he began to
+despair.  Presently the words came to his mind--"Commit thy way unto the
+Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."  This revived
+him, and he began to run over in his mind all sorts of wild plans of
+making a huge fortune quickly!  Again a word came to him--"Make not
+haste to be rich."
+
+"But what _is_ making haste?" he thought, and his conscience at once
+replied, "Taking illegitimate courses--venturesome speculation without
+means--devotion of the soul and body to business in such a way as to
+demoralise the one and deteriorate the other--engaging in the pursuit of
+wealth hastily and with eager anxieties, which imply that you doubt
+God's promise to direct and prosper all works committed to Him."
+
+"My plan, then," thought Edgar, "is to maintain a calm and trusting
+mind; to be diligent in fulfilling _present_ duty, whatever that may be;
+to look about for the direction that is promised, and take prompt
+advantage of any clear opportunity that offers.  God helping me, I'll
+try."
+
+Strong in his resolves, but, happily, stronger in his trust, he returned
+to the cavern in which his companions in misfortune had already laid
+them down to rest, and throwing himself on a bed of grass near the
+entrance, quickly fell into that profound slumber which is the
+perquisite of those who unite a healthy mind to a sound body.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+TELLS OF BOLD PLANS, FOLLOWED BY BOLDER DEEDS.
+
+Months passed away, and Miss Pritty, sitting in her little boudoir
+sipping a cup of that which cheers, received a letter.
+
+"I know that hand, of course I do.  How strange it is there should be
+such a variety of hands--no two alike, just like faces; though for my
+part I think that some faces are quite alike, so much so that there are
+one or two people who are always mistaken for each other, so that people
+don't know which is which.  Dear me!  What an awful thing it would be if
+these people were so like that each should forget which was the other!
+Nobody else being able to put them right, there would be irretrievable
+confusion.  What do you want, eh?"
+
+The first part of Miss Pritty's mutterances was a soliloquy; the query
+was addressed to her small and only domestic with the dishevelled head,
+who lingered at the door from motives of curiosity.
+
+"Nothink, ma'am.  Do you wish me to wait, ma'am?"
+
+"No;--go."
+
+She went, and Miss Pritty, opening the letter, exclaimed, "From my
+nephew, Edgar!  I knew it.  Dear fellow!  I wonder why he writes to me."
+
+The letter ran as follows:--
+
+  "Dear Aunt,--You will doubtless be surprised to receive a letter from
+  me.  It must be brief; the post leaves in an hour.  Since I saw you we
+  have had a charming voyage out, but at the last we ran on a rocky
+  island off the coast of China, and became a total wreck in a few
+  minutes."
+
+At this point Miss Pritty gasped "oh!" and fainted--at least she went
+into a perfect semblance of the state of coma, but as she recovered
+suddenly, and appealed to the letter again with intense earnestness, it
+may have been something else that was the matter.  She resumed her
+perusal:--
+
+  "We succeeded in getting a hawser on shore, by means of which, through
+  God's mercy, nearly all the passengers were saved, including, of
+  course, your friend Miss Hazlit and her father.  It is mournful to
+  have to add, however, that before the work was finished the wreck
+  slipped into deep water and sank with all her crew on board.  We
+  remained only one day on the rock, when a passing ship observed our
+  signals, took us off, and carried us safely into Hong-Kong.
+
+  "Mr Hazlit and his daughter immediately left for--I know not where!
+  I remained here to make some inquiries about the wreck, which I am
+  told contains a large amount of gold coin.  Now, I want you to take
+  the enclosed letter to my father's old servant, Joe Baldwin; help him
+  to read it, if necessary, and to answer it by return of post.  It is
+  important; therefore, dear aunt, don't delay.  I think you know
+  Baldwin's address, as I've been told he lives in the district of the
+  town which you are wont to visit.  Excuse this shabby scrawl, and the
+  trouble I ask you to take, and believe me to be your loving nephew,
+  Edgar Berrington."
+
+Miss Pritty was a prompt little woman.  Instead of finishing her tea she
+postponed that meal to an indefinite season, threw on her bonnet and
+shawl, and left her humble abode abruptly.
+
+Joe Baldwin was enjoying a quiet pipe at his own fireside--in company
+with his buxom wife and his friends Mr and Mrs Rooney Machowl--when
+Miss Pritty tripped up to his door and knocked.
+
+She was received warmly, for Joe sympathised with her affectionate and
+self-denying spirit, and Mrs Joe believed in her.  Woe to the
+unfortunate in whom Mrs Joe--_alias_ Susan--did _not_ believe.
+
+"Come away, Miss,--glad to see you--always so," said Joe, wiping a chair
+with his cap and extinguishing his pipe out of deference; "sit down,
+Miss."
+
+Miss Pritty bowed all round, wished each of the party good-evening by
+name, and seating herself beside the little fire as easily and
+unceremoniously as though it had been her own, drew forth her letter.
+
+"This is for you, Mr Baldwin," she said; "it came enclosed in one to
+me, and is from my nephew, Edgar Berrington, who says it is important."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said Joe, taking the letter, opening it, and looking
+at it inquiringly.
+
+"Now Miss," said he, "it's of no manner o' use my tryin' to make it out.
+You mustn't suppose, Miss, that divers can't read.  There's many of 'em
+who have got a good education in the three R's, an' some who have gone
+further.  For the matter of that I can read print easy enough, as you
+know, but I never was good at pot-hooks and hangers, d'ee see; therefore
+I'll be obliged, Miss, if you'll read it to me."
+
+Miss Pritty graciously acceded to the request, and read:--
+
+  "Dear Baldwin,--My aunt, Miss Pritty, who will hand this letter to
+  you, will tell you about our being wrecked.  Now, in regard to that I
+  have a proposal to make.  First, let me explain.  The wreck of the
+  _Warrior_, after slipping off the ledge on which she struck, sank in
+  twenty fathoms water.  On our arrival at Hong-Kong, the agent of the
+  owners sent off to see what could be done in the way of recovering the
+  treasure on board--there being no less than fifty thousand pounds
+  sterling in gold in her treasure-room, besides valuables belonging to
+  passengers.  A Lloyds' agent also visited the place, and both came to
+  the conclusion that it was utterly impossible to recover anything from
+  such a depth by means of divers.  This being so, and I happening to be
+  on the spot, offered to purchase the right to recover and appropriate
+  all the gold I could fish up.  They laughed at me as a wild
+  enthusiast, but, regarding the thing as hopeless themselves, were
+  quite willing to let me have the wreck, etcetera, for what you would
+  call `an old song.'  Now, although nominally a `penniless man,' I do
+  happen to possess a small property, in the form of a block of old
+  houses in Newcastle, which were left to me by an uncle, and which I
+  have never seen.  On these I have raised sufficient money for my
+  purpose, and I intend to make the venture, being convinced that with
+  the new and almost perfect apparatus now turned out in London by our
+  submarine engineers, bold divers may reach even a greater depth than
+  twenty fathoms.  My proposal then is, that you should come to my aid.
+  I will divide all we bring up into three equal portions.  One of these
+  you shall have, one I'll keep to myself, and the third shall be shared
+  equally by such divers as you think it advisable to employ.  What say
+  you?  Do the prospects and terms suit, and will you come without
+  delay?  If so, reply at once, and send all the requisite material to
+  this place.  Be particular to bring dresses made by the first makers
+  in London.  I wish this to be a sort of semi-scientific experiment--to
+  recover property from a great depth, to test the powers and properties
+  of the various apparatus now in use and recently invented, and, while
+  so doing, to make my fortune as well as yours, and that of all
+  concerned!  Perhaps you think the idea a wild one.  Well, it may be
+  so, but wilder ideas than this have been realised.  Remember the noble
+  house of Mulgrave!--Yours truly,--
+
+  "Edgar Berrington."
+
+The last sentence in the letter referred to a fact in the history of
+diving which is worthy of mention.  In or about the year 1683 a man
+named Phipps, the son of an American blacksmith, was smitten with a
+mania, then prevalent, for recovering treasure from sunken wrecks by
+means of diving.  He succeeded in fishing up a small amount from the
+wreck of a Spanish galleon off the coast of Hispaniola, which, however,
+did not pay expenses.  Being a man of indomitable perseverance as well
+as enthusiasm, Phipps continued his experiments with varying success,
+and on one occasion--if not more--succeeded in reducing himself to
+poverty.  But the blacksmith's son was made of tough material--as though
+he had been carefully fashioned on his father's anvil.  He was a man of
+strong faith, and this, in material as well as spiritual affairs, can
+remove mountains.  He was invincibly convinced of the practicability of
+his schemes.  As is usual in such men, he had the power to impart his
+faith to others.  He had moved Charles the Second to assist him in his
+first efforts, which had failed, but was unable to similarly influence
+the cautious--not to say close-fisted--James the Second.  The Duke of
+Albemarle, however, proved more tractable.  Through his aid and
+influence, and with funds obtained from the public, Phipps was enabled
+in 1687 once more to try his fortune.  He set sail in a 200-ton vessel,
+and after many fruitless efforts succeeded in raising from a depth of
+between six and seven fathoms, (considered but a small depth now-a-days)
+property to the value of about 300,000 pounds.  Of this sum the usurious
+Earl obtained as his share 90,000 pounds while Phipps received 20,000
+pounds.  Although James the Second had refused to aid in the expedition,
+he had the wisdom to recognise the good service done to mankind in the
+saving of so much valuable property at so great personal risk.  He
+knighted Phipps, who thus became the founder of the house of Mulgrave--
+now represented by the Marquis of Normanby.
+
+When Miss Pritty had concluded the letter, Joe Baldwin turned to Rooney
+Machowl:--
+
+"What think you, lad," he said, "would you venture down to twenty
+fathom?"
+
+"To twenty thousand fathom, if you'll consint to watch the pumps and
+howld the life-line," replied the daring son of Erin.
+
+"Will you let me go, Susan?" said Baldwin, turning to his wife.
+
+"How could I hinder you, Joe?" answered Mrs Baldwin, with a face
+reddened by suppressed emotion at the bare idea.
+
+"And will you go with me, Susan?"
+
+"I'd sooner go to the--" she stopped, unable to decide as to what part
+of earth she would not sooner go to than China, but not being versed in
+geography she finished by asserting that she'd sooner go to the moon!
+
+Pretty little Mrs Machowl, on the contrary, vowed that no power on
+earth should separate between her and her Rooney, and that if he went
+she should go, and the baby too.
+
+"Well then, Miss," said Baldwin to his visitor, "if you'll be so kind as
+to write for me I'll be obliged.  Say to Mister Eddy--I can't forget the
+old name, you see--that I'm agreeable; that I'll undertake the job,
+along with Rooney Machowl here, and mayhap another man or two.  I'll get
+all the dresses and apparatus he requires, and will set sail as soon as
+I can; but, you see, I can't well start right off, because I've a job or
+two on hand.  I've a well to go down an' putt right, an' I've some dock
+repairs to finish.  However, to save time I'll send Rooney off at once
+with one dress and apparatus, so that they can be tryin' experiments
+till I arrive--which will be by the following steamer.  _Now_, Miss,
+d'you think you can tell him all that?"
+
+"I will try," said Miss Pritty, making rapid entries in a small
+note-book, after completing which and putting a few more questions she
+hurried home.
+
+Meanwhile Rooney's wife went off to make arrangements for a long voyage,
+and a probably prolonged residence in foreign parts, and Joe Baldwin
+went to visit the well he had engaged to descend, taking Rooney as his
+assistant.  During his visit to this well, Joe underwent some
+experiences, both physical and mental, which tried his nerve and courage
+more severely than any descent he had ever made in the open sea.
+
+It is a well-known fact among divers that various temperaments are
+suited to various works, and that, among other things, many men who are
+bold enough in open water lose courage in confined places such as wells.
+They say--so powerful is imagination!--that they "cannot breathe" down
+in a well, though, of course, the means of breathing is the same in all
+cases.  Joe Baldwin, being gifted with cool blood and strong nerves, and
+possessing very little imagination, was noted among his fellows for his
+readiness and ability to venture anywhere under water and do anything.
+
+The well in question was connected with the waterworks of a neighbouring
+town.  Having got himself and his apparatus conveyed thither he spent
+the night in the town and proceeded on the following morning at
+day-break to inspect the scene of his operations.
+
+The well was an old one and very deep--about fifteen fathoms.  That,
+however, was a matter of small importance to our diver.  What concerned
+him most was the narrowness of the manhole or entrance at the top, and
+the generally dilapidated state of the whole affair.
+
+The well, instead of being a circular hole in the ground lined with
+brick, like ordinary wells, was composed of huge iron cylinders four
+feet in diameter, fitted together and sunk ninety feet into the ground.
+This vast tube or circular iron well rested on a foundation of
+brick-work.  When sunk to its foundation its upper edge was just level
+with the ground.  Inside of this tube there were a variety of
+cross-beams, and a succession of iron ladders zigzagging from top to
+bottom, so that it could be descended when empty.  At the time of Joe's
+visit it was found nearly full of water.  Down the centre of the well
+ran two iron pipes, or pumps, each having a "rose" at its lower end,
+through which the water could be sucked and pumped up to a reservoir a
+hundred feet high for the supply of the town.  These two pumps were
+worked by an engine whose distinguishing features were noise and
+rickets.  It could, however, just do its work; but, recently, something
+had gone wrong with one of the pumps--no water was thrown up by it.  Two
+results followed.  On the one hand the water-supply to the town became
+insufficient, and, on the other, the surplus water in the well could not
+be pumped out so as to permit of a man descending to effect repairs.  In
+these circumstances a diver became absolutely necessary.  Hence the
+visit of Baldwin and Machowl.
+
+"Now then, diver," said the managing engineer of the works to Joe, after
+he had examined everything above ground with care, "you see it is
+impossible to pump the well dry, because of the defective pump and the
+strength of the spring which feeds it.  Water is admitted into the great
+cylinder through a number of holes in the bottom.  These holes therefore
+must be stopped.  In order to this, you will have to descend in the
+water with a bag of wooden pegs and a hammer--all of which are ready for
+you--and plug up these holes.  You see, the work to be done is simple
+enough."
+
+"Ay," asserted Baldwin, "but the way how to set about it ain't so simple
+or clear.  How, for instance, is a man of my size to squeeze through
+that hole at the top?"
+
+"You _are_ large," said the engineer, regarding the diver for a moment,
+"but not too large, I should think, to squeeze through."
+
+"What!  With a divin' dress on?"
+
+"Ah, true; I fear that is a puzzling difficulty at the outset, for you
+see the well is frail, and we dare not venture to enlarge the hole by
+cutting the beams that support the pumps."
+
+While he was speaking the diver put his head through the hole in
+question, and gazed down into darkness visible where water was dripping
+and gurgling, and hissing a sort of accompaniment to the discordant
+clanking and jarring of the pump-rods.  The rickety engine that worked
+them kept puffing close alongside--grinding out a horrible addition to
+the din.  As his eyes became more accustomed to the subdued light,
+Baldwin could see that there was an empty space between the surface of
+the water and the top of the well, great part of the first length of
+_zigzag_ ladder being visible, and also the cross-beams on which its
+foot rested.  He also observed various green slimy beams, which being
+perpetually moistened by droppings from the pumps, seemed alive like
+water snakes.
+
+"Well," said the diver, withdrawing his head, "I'll try it.  I'll dress
+inside there.  You're sure o' the old ingine, I fancy?"
+
+"It has not yet failed us," answered the engineer, with a smile.
+
+"What would happen if it broke or stopped working?" asked Joe.
+
+"The well would fill to the brim and overflow in a minute or two."
+
+"So that," rejoined the diver, "if it caught me in the middle o'
+dressin', me and my mate would be drownded."
+
+"You'd stand a good chance of coming to that end," replied the engineer,
+with a laugh.  "Your mate might get out in time, but as you say the
+dress would prevent you getting back through the hole, there would be no
+hope for _you_."
+
+"Well then, we'll begin," said Baldwin; "come, Rooney, get the gear in
+order."  So saying, the adventurous man went to work with his wonted
+energy.  The air-pumps were set up, and two men of the works instructed
+in the use of them.  Then Baldwin squeezed himself with difficulty
+through the manhole, and the dress was passed down to him.  Rooney then
+squeezed himself through, and both went a few steps down the iron ladder
+until they stood on the cross-beams behind and underneath it.  The
+position was exceedingly awkward, for the ladder obliged them to stoop,
+and they did not dare to move their feet except with caution, for fear
+of slipping off the beams into the water--in which, even as it was, they
+were ankle-deep while standing on the beams.  They were soon soaked to
+the skin by the drippings and spirtings from the pipes, and almost
+incapable of hearing each other speak, owing to the din.  If Rooney had
+dropped the lead-soled boots or the shoulder-weights, they would have
+sunk at once beyond recovery, and have rendered the descent of the diver
+very difficult if not impossible.
+
+Realising all this, the two comrades proceeded with great care and
+slowness.  Dressing a diver in the most favourable circumstances
+involves a considerable amount of physical exertion and violence of
+action.  It may therefore be well believed that in the case of which we
+write, a long time elapsed before Baldwin got the length of putting on
+his helmet.  At last it was screwed on.  Then a hammer and a bagful of
+wooden pins were placed in his hands.
+
+"Now, Joe, are ye aisy?" asked Rooney, holding the front-glass in his
+hand, preparatory to sealing his friend up.
+
+"All right," answered Baldwin.
+
+"Set a-goin' the air-pumps up there," shouted Rooney, from whose face
+the perspiration flowed freely, as much from anxiety about his friend as
+from prolonged exertion in a constrained attitude.
+
+In a few seconds the air came hissing into the helmet, showing that the
+two men who wrought it were equal to their duty, though inexperienced.
+
+"All right?" asked Rooney a second time.
+
+The reply was given, "Yes," and the bull's-eye was screwed on.
+
+Rooney then sprang up the ladder and through the manhole; took his
+station at the signal-line and air-pipe, while the engineer of the works
+watched the air-pump.  The rickety steam-engine was then stopped, and,
+as had been predicted, the water rose quickly.  It rose over Baldwin's
+knees, waist, and head, and, finally, rushed out at the manhole,
+deluging Rooney's legs.
+
+Our diver was now fairly imprisoned; an accident, however trifling in
+itself, that should stop the air-pump would have been his death-knell.
+Fully impressed with this uncomfortable assurance, he felt his way
+slowly down the second ladder, knocking his head slightly against
+cross-beams as he went, holding on tightly to his bag and hammer, and
+getting down into darkness so profound as to be "felt."  He soon reached
+the head of the third ladder, and then the fourth.
+
+But here, at a depth of about thirty feet, an unexpected difficulty
+occurred which had well-nigh caused a failure.  The head of the fourth
+ladder was covered with wood, through which a square manhole led to the
+bottom of the well.  Of course Joe Baldwin discovered this only by
+touch, and great was his anxiety when, passing his hand round it, he
+found the hole to be too small for his broad shoulders to pass.  At this
+point, he afterwards admitted, he "felt rather curious," the whole
+structure being very frail.  However, with characteristic determination
+he muttered to himself, "never mind, Joe, do it if you can," and down he
+went through the hole, putting one arm down with his body, and holding
+the other up and drawing it down after him, by which process he squeezed
+his shoulders through at an angle.  After reaching the bottom of the
+well, a feeling of alarm seized him lest he should be unable to force
+his way upwards through the hole.  To settle this question at once he
+ascended to it, forced himself through, and then, being easy in mind, he
+redescended to the bottom and went to work with the hammer and wooden
+pegs.
+
+At first he had some difficulty in finding the holes in the great
+cylinder, but after a dozen of them had been plugged it became easier,
+as the water rushed in through the remaining holes with greater force.
+While thus engaged his foot suddenly slipped.  To save himself from
+falling--he knew not whither--he let go the bag of pegs and the hammer--
+the first of which went upwards and the latter down.  To find the hammer
+in total darkness among the brick-work at the bottom was hopeless,
+therefore Joe signalled that he was coming up, and started for the top
+after the bag, but failed to find it.  In much perplexity he went to the
+upper manhole and put up one of his hands.
+
+To those who were inexperienced it was somewhat alarming to see the hand
+of an apparently drowning man with the fingers wriggling violently, but
+Rooney understood matters.
+
+"Arrah, now," said he, giving the hand a friendly shake, "it's somethin'
+you're wantin', sure.  What a pity it is wan can't spake wid his
+fingers!"
+
+Presently the hand shut itself as if grasping something, and moved in a
+distinct and steady manner.
+
+"Och!  It's a hammer he wants.  He's gone an' lost it.  Here you are,
+boy--there's another."
+
+The hand disappeared, transferred the implement to the left hand, and
+reappeared, evidently asking for more.
+
+"What now, boy?" muttered Rooney, with a perplexed look.
+
+"Doubtless he wants more pegs," said the engineer of the works, coming
+up at the moment.
+
+"Sure, sur, that can't be it, for if he'd lost his pegs wouldn't they
+have comed up an' floated?"
+
+"They've caught somewhere, no doubt, among the timbers on the way up.
+Anyhow, I had provided against such an accident," said the engineer,
+putting another bag of pegs into the impatient hand.
+
+It seemed satisfied, and disappeared at once.
+
+Joe returned to the bottom, and succeeded in plugging every hole, so
+that the water from the outside spring could not enter.  That done, he
+ascended, and signalled to the engineer to begin pumping.  The rickety
+engine was set to work, and soon reduced the water so much that Rooney
+was able to re-descend and undress his friend.  Thereafter, in about
+five hours, the well was pumped dry.  The engineer then went down, and
+soon discovered that one of the pump-rods had been broken near the foot,
+and that its bucket lay useless at the bottom of the pipe.  The repairs
+could now be easily made, and our divers, having finished their
+difficult and somewhat dangerous job, returned home.  [See Note 1.]
+
+Next day Joe Baldwin paid a visit to the neighbouring harbour, where a
+new part of the pier was being built by divers.  His object was to sound
+our surly friend David Maxwell about joining him in his intended trip to
+the antipodes, for Maxwell was a first-rate diver, though a somewhat
+cross-grained man.
+
+Maxwell was under water when he arrived.  It was Baldwin's duty to
+superintend part of the works.  He therefore went down, and met his man
+at the bottom of the sea.  Joe took a small school-slate with him, and a
+piece of pencil--for, the depth being not more than a couple of fathoms,
+it was possible to see to read and write there.
+
+The spot where Maxwell wrought was at the extreme end of the unfinished
+part of the breakwater.  He was busily engaged at the time in laying a
+large stone which hung suspended to a travelling-crane connected with
+the temporary works overhead.  Joe refrained from interrupting him.
+Another man assisted him.  In the diver fraternity, there are men who
+thoroughly understand all sorts of handicrafts--there are blacksmiths,
+carpenters, stone-masons, etcetera.  Maxwell was a skilled mechanic, and
+could do his work as well under water as many a man does above it--
+perhaps better than some!  The bed for the stone had been carefully
+prepared on a mass of solid masonry which had been already laid.  By
+means of the signal-line Maxwell directed the men in charge of the crane
+to move it forward, backward, to the right or to the left, as required.
+At last it hung precisely over the required spot, and was lowered into
+its final resting-place.
+
+Then Baldwin tapped Maxwell on the shoulder.  The latter looked
+earnestly in at the window--if we may so call it--of his visitor, and,
+recognising Joe, shook hands with him.  Joe pointed to a rock, and sat
+down.  Maxwell sat down beside him, and then ensued the following
+conversation.  Using the slate, Baldwin wrote in large printed
+letters:--
+
+"I've got a splendid offer to go out to dive in the China seas.  Are you
+game to go?"
+
+Taking the slate and pencil, Maxwell wrote--"Game for anything!"
+
+"We must finish this job first," wrote Joe, "and I shall send Rooney out
+before us with some of the gear--to be ready."
+
+"All right," was Maxwell's laconic answer.
+
+Baldwin nodded approval of this, but the nod was lost on his comrade
+owing to the fact that his helmet was immovably fixed to his shoulders.
+Maxwell evidently understood it, however, for he replied with a nod
+which was equally lost on his comrade.  They then shook hands on it, and
+Joe, touching his signal-line four times, spurned the ground with a
+light fantastic toe, and shot to the realms above like a colossal
+cherub.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  A "job" precisely similar to this was undertaken, and
+successfully accomplished by Corporal Falconer of the Royal Engineers,
+and assistant-instructor in diving, from whom we received the details.
+The gallant corporal was publicly thanked and promoted for his courage
+and daring in this and other diving operations.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+DIVING PRACTICE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE EAST.
+
+In a certain street of Hong-Kong there stands one of those temples in
+which men devote themselves to the consumption of opium, that terrible
+drug which is said to destroy the natives of the celestial empire more
+fatally than "strong drink" does the peoples of the west.  In various
+little compartments of this temple, many celestials lay in various
+conditions 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 noxious
+vapour is inhaled.  His fat and healthy visage proved that he had only
+commenced his downward career.
+
+He had scarce drawn a single whiff, however, when a burly sailor-like
+man in an English garb entered the temple, went straight to the
+compartment 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 was
+here, an' sure haven't I _found_ you here--you spalpeen!  You pig-faced
+bag o' fat!  What d'ee mane by it, Chok-foo?  Didn't I say I'd give you
+as much baccy as ye could chaw or smoke an ye'd only kape out o' this
+place?  Come along wid ye!"
+
+It is perhaps scarcely necessary to say that the man who spoke, and who
+immediately collared and dragged Chok-foo away, was none other than our
+friend Rooney Machowl.  That worthy had been sent to China in advance of
+the party of divers with his wife and baby--for in the event of success
+he said he'd be able to "affoord it," and in the event of failure he
+meant to try his luck in "furrin' parts," and would on no account leave
+either wife or chick behind him.
+
+On his arrival a double misfortune awaited him.  First he found that his
+employer, Edgar Berrington, was laid up with fever, in the house of an
+English 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 after
+his arrival, and was burnt to the ground, with all its contents,
+including nearly the whole of his diving apparatus.  Fortunately, the
+unlucky Irishman saved his wife and child and money, the last having
+been placed in a leathern belt made for the purpose, and worn night and
+day round his waist.  Being a resolute and hopeful man, Rooney
+determined to hunt up a diving apparatus of some sort, if such was to
+be found in China, and he succeeded.  He found, in an old
+iron-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 an
+out-house, had escaped the general conflagration.
+
+Rooney was a man of contrivance and resource.  He soon fitted the pump
+to the new dress and found that it worked well, though the helmet was
+destitute of the modern regulating valves under the diver's control, and
+he knew that it must needs therefore leave the diver who should use it
+very much at the mercy of the men who worked the pumps.
+
+After the fire, Rooney removed with his family to the house of a Chinese
+labourer named Chok-foo, whose brother, Ram-stam, dwelt with him.  They
+were both honest hard-working men, but Chok-foo was beginning, as we
+have seen, to fall under the baleful influence of opium-smoking.
+Ram-stam may be said to have been a teetotaler in this respect.  They
+were both men of humble spirit.
+
+Chok-foo took the destruction of his pipe and the rough collaring that
+followed in good part, protesting, in an extraordinary jargon, which is
+styled Pidgin-English, that he had only meant to have a "Very littee
+smokee," not being able, just then, to resist the temptation.
+
+"Blathers!" said Rooney, as they walked along in the direction of the
+lower part of the town, "you could resist the timptation aisy av you'd
+only 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 penitential
+expression on his fat visage.
+
+"Well, then, you try and be a first-chop boy too, Chok, an' it'll be
+better for you.  Now, you see, you've kep' us all waiting for full half
+an 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 half
+ruinous pagoda which was their habitation.  Here little Mrs Machowl was
+on 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 gentle
+smile of approbation on his lips, admired the progress of the operation.
+
+"Now then, Chok and Ram," said Rooney, sitting down on a stool and
+making the two men stand before him like a small awkward squad, "I'm
+goin' to taich you about pumps an' pumpin', so pay attintion av ye
+plaze.  Hids up an' ears on full cock!  Now then."
+
+Here the vigorous diver began an elaborate explanation which we will
+spare the reader, and which his pupils evidently did not comprehend,
+though they smiled with ineffable sweetness and listened with close
+attention.  When, however, the teacher descended from theory to
+practice, and took the pump to pieces, put it up again, and showed the
+manner of working, the Chinamen became more intelligent, and soon showed
+that they could turn the handles with great vigour.  They were
+hopelessly 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 to
+screw 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 ill
+continually.  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" they
+gave him more, until his dress nearly burst, and then, not having the
+breast-valve, he was obliged to unscrew his front-glass to prevent an
+explosion!  At last the perplexed man resolved to make his wife do duty
+as 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 verandah
+of 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' under
+water."
+
+Molly dimpled her cheeks with a smile as she held up the glass, and
+said, "Are ye ready?"
+
+"Not yet; putt your lips here first."
+
+He stooped; Molly inserted part of her face into the circular hole, and
+a 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 on
+the bull's-eye, and our diver was as much shut off from surrounding
+atmosphere as if he had been twenty fathoms under the sea.  Then she
+went to where the pumpers were at work, and taking the air-pipe in one
+hand and the life-line in the other, awaited signals.  These were soon
+sent from the verandah.  More air was demanded and given; less was asked
+and the pumpers wrought gently.  Molly gave one pull at the life-line,
+"All right?"  Rooney replied, "All right."  This was repeated several
+times.  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 the
+diver forcibly out of the verandah into the interior of the pagoda amid
+shouts of laughter, in which Rooney plainly joined though his voice
+could not be heard.
+
+"Capital, Molly," exclaimed the delighted husband when his glass was
+off; "I always belaved--an' I belave it now more than iver--that a purty
+woman is fit for anything.  After a few more experiments like that I'll
+go down in shallow wather wid an aisy mind."
+
+Rooney kept his word.  When he deemed his assistants perfect at their
+work, 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, dressing
+himself 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 sending
+them 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 affixing
+the glass.  For a few seconds the diver looked earnestly at the Chinamen
+and at his better half, who may have been said to hold his life in her
+hands.  Then he stepped boldly on the short ladder that had been let
+down outside the boat, and was soon lost to view in the multitude of
+air-bells that rose above him.
+
+Now, Rooney had neglected to take into his calculations the excitability
+of female nerves.  It was all very well for his wife to remember
+everything and proceed correctly when he was in the verandah of the
+pagoda, but when she knew that her best-beloved was at the bottom of the
+sea, and saw the air-bells rising, her courage vanished, and with her
+courage went her presence of mind.  A rush of alarm entered her soul as
+she saw the boiling of the water, and fancying she was giving too much
+air, she said hurriedly, "Pump slow, boys," but immediately conceiving
+she had done wrong, she said, "Pump harder, boys."
+
+The Chinamen pumped with a will, for they also had become excited, and
+were 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" that
+was 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 in
+desperate anxiety.
+
+Perspiration rolled down the cheeks of Chok-foo and Ram-stam as they
+gasped for breath and turned the handles with all the strength they
+possessed.
+
+"Pump--oh!  Pump--for pity's sake."
+
+She ended with a wild shriek, for at that moment the waves were cleft
+alongside, and Rooney Machowl came up from the bottom, feet foremost,
+with a bounce that covered the sea with foam.  He had literally been
+blown up from the bottom--his dress being filled with so much compressed
+air 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 up
+and his feet down.
+
+Of course his distracted wife hauled in on the life-line with all her
+might, and Chok-foo and Ram-stam, forsaking the pump, lent their aid and
+soon hauled the luckless diver into the boat, when his first act was to
+deal the Chinamen a cuff each that sent one into the stern-sheets on his
+nose, and the other into the bow on his back.  Immediately thereafter he
+fell down as if senseless, and Molly, with trembling hands, unscrewed
+the bull's-eye.
+
+Her horror may be imagined when she beheld the countenance of her
+husband 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 off
+my--"
+
+"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 completely
+restored; so severe had been the consequences of the enormous pressure
+to which his lungs and tissues had been subjected, by the powerful
+working of the pump on that memorable day by Ram-stam and Chok-foo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+TREASURE RECOVERED--ACCIDENTS ENCOUNTERED--AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY--
+ENEMIES MET AND CIRCUMVENTED.
+
+It is pleasant to loll in the sunshine on a calm day in the stern of a
+boat and gaze down into unfathomable depths, as one listens to the slow,
+regular beating of the oars, and the water rippling against the prow--
+and especially pleasant is this when one in such circumstances is
+convalescent after a prolonged and severe illness.
+
+So thought Edgar Berrington one lovely morning, some months after the
+events related in the last chapter, as he was being rowed gently over
+the fair bosom of the China sea.  The boat--a large one with a little
+one towing astern--was so far from the coast that no land could be seen.
+A few sea-gulls sported round them, dipping their wings in the wave, or
+putting a plaintive question now and then to the rowers.  Nothing else
+was visible except a rocky isle not far off that rose abruptly from the
+sea.
+
+"Well, we're nearing the spot at last," said Edgar, heaving that
+prolonged sigh which usually indicates one's waking up from a pleasant
+reverie.  "What a glorious world this is, Baldwin!  How impressively it
+speaks to us of its Maker!"
+
+"Ay, whether in the calm or in the storm," responded Joe.
+
+"Yes; it was under a very different aspect I saw this place last,"
+returned Edgar.  "Yonder is the cliff now coming into view, where the
+vessel we are in search of went down."
+
+"An ugly place," remarked Joe, who was steering the boat.  "Come boys,
+give way.  The morning's gittin' on, an' we must set to work as soon as
+ever we can.  Time an' tide, you know, etcetera."
+
+Rooney, Maxwell, Chok-foo, and Ram-stam, who were rowing, bent to their
+work with a will, but the heavy boat did not respond heartily, being
+weighted with a large amount of diving gear.  Just then a light breeze
+arose, and the boat, obedient to the higher power, bent over and rippled
+swiftly on.
+
+The only other individual on board was a Malay--the owner of the boat.
+He sat on the extreme end of the bow looking with a vacant gaze at the
+island.  He was a man of large size and forbidding, though well-formed,
+features, and was clothed in a costume, half European half Oriental,
+which gave little clew to the nature of his profession--except that it
+savoured a good deal of the sea.  His name, Dwarro, was, like his
+person, nondescript.  Probably it was a corruption of his eastern
+cognomen.  At all events it suffered further corruption from his
+companions in the boat, for Baldwin and Maxwell called him Dworro, while
+Rooney Machowl named him Dwarry.  This diversity of pronunciation,
+however, seemed a matter of no consequence to the stolid boatman, who,
+when directly addressed, answered to any name that people chose to give
+him.  He was taciturn--never spoke save when spoken to; and at such
+times used English so broken that it was difficult to put it together so
+as to make sense.  He was there only in capacity of owner and guardian
+of the boat.  Those who hired it would gladly have dispensed with his
+services, but he would not let them have it without taking himself into
+the bargain.
+
+Having reached the scene of the wreck of the _Warrior_, the party at
+once proceeded to sound and drag for it, and soon discovered its
+position, for it had not shifted much after slipping off the ledge,
+where it had met its doom on the night of the storm.  Its depth under
+the surface was exactly twenty-three fathoms, or 138 feet.
+
+"It will try our metal," observed Baldwin, "for the greatest depth that
+the Admiralty allow their divers to go down is twenty fathom."
+
+"What o' that?" growled Maxwell, "I've worked myself many a time in
+twenty-three fathom water, an'll do it again any day.  _We_ don't need
+to mind what the Admiralty says.  The submarine engineers of London tell
+us they limit a man to twenty-five fathom, an' they ought to know what's
+possible if any one should."
+
+"That's true, David," remarked Rooney, as he filled his pipe, "but I've
+heard of a man goin' down twinty-eight fathom, an' comin' up alive."
+
+"Oh, as to that," said Berrington, "_I_ have heard of one man who
+descended to thirty-four fathom, at which depth he must have sustained a
+pressure of 88 and a half pounds on every square inch of his body--and
+_he_ came up alive, but his case is an exception.  It was fool-hardy,
+and he could do no effective work at such a depth.  However, here we
+are, and here we must go to work with a will, whatever the depth be.
+You and I, Joe, shall descend first.  The others will look after us.
+I'll put on a Siebe and Gorman dress.  You will don one of Heinke and
+Davis, and we'll take down with us one of Denayrouze's lamps, reserving
+Siebe's electric light for a future occasion."
+
+In pursuance of these plans the boat was moored over the place where the
+wreck lay, a short ladder was hung over the side of a smaller boat they
+had in tow with its pendent line and weight, the pumps were set up and
+rigged, the dresses were put on, and, in a short time our hero found
+himself in his old quarters down beside the great crank!
+
+But ah!  What a change was there!  The grinding had ceased for ever; the
+great crank's labours were over, and its surface was covered with mud,
+sand, barnacles, and sea-weed, and involved in a maze of twisted iron
+and wrecked timbers--for the ship had broken her back in slipping into
+deep water, and wrenched her parts asunder into a state of violent
+confusion.  Thick darkness prevailed at that depth, but Denayrouze's
+lamp rendered the darkness visible, and sufficed to enable the divers to
+steer clear of bristling rods and twisted iron-bands that might
+otherwise have torn their dresses and endangered their lives.
+
+The work of inspection was necessarily slow as well as fraught with
+risk, for great difficulty was experienced while moving about, in
+preventing the entanglement of air-pipes and life-lines.  The two men
+kept together, partly for company and partly to benefit mutually by the
+lamp.  Presently they came on human bones tightly wedged between masses
+of timber.  Turning from the sad spectacle, they descended into the
+cabin and made their way towards the place where Berrington knew that
+the treasure had been stowed.  Here he found, with something like a
+shock of disappointment, that the stern of the vessel had been burst
+open, and the contents of the cabin swept out.
+
+On further inspection, however, the treasure-room was found to be
+uninjured.  Putting down the lamp on an adjacent beam, Edgar lifted a
+heavy mass of wreck from the ground, and dashed the door in.  The scene
+that presented itself was interesting.  On the floor lay a number of
+little barrels, which the divers knew contained the gold they were in
+search of.  Most of these were so riddled by worms that they were
+falling to pieces.  Some, indeed, had partially given way, so that the
+piles of coin could be seen through the staves, and two or three had
+been so completely eaten away as to have fallen off, leaving the masses
+of gold in unbroken piles.  There were also bags as well as kegs of
+coin, all more or less in a state of decay.
+
+The divers gazed at this sight for a few moments quite motionless.  Then
+Edgar with one hand turned the lamp full on his companion's front-glass
+so as to see his face, while with the other hand he pointed to the
+treasure.  Joe's eyes expressed surprise, and his mouth smiling
+satisfaction.  Turning the light full on his own face to show his
+comrade that he was similarly impressed, Edgar motioned to Joe to sit
+down on an iron chest that stood in a corner, and giving the requisite
+signal with his life-line, went up to the surface.  He did this very
+slowly in order to accustom his frame to the change of pressure both of
+air and water, for he was well aware of the danger of rapid ascent from
+such a depth.  Soon after, he redescended, bearing several canvas sacks,
+some cord, and a couple of small crowbars.  Placing the lamp in a
+convenient position, and throwing the bags on the floor of the
+treasure-room, Edgar and Baldwin set to work diligently with the
+crowbars, broke open the kegs, and emptied their golden contents into
+one of the bags, until it was quite full; tied up the mouth, fastened it
+to a rope which communicated with the boat above, and gave the signal to
+hoist away.  The bag quickly rose and vanished.
+
+Previous to redescending, our hero had arranged with Rooney to have
+pieces of sail-cloth in readiness to wrap the bags in the instant of
+their being got into the small boat, so that when being transferred to
+the large boat's locker, their form and contents might be concealed from
+the pilot, Dwarro.  The precaution, however, did not seem to be
+necessary, for Dwarro was afflicted with laziness, and devoted himself
+entirely to the occupations of alternately smoking, in a dreamy way, and
+sleeping.
+
+For three hours the divers wrought under great excitement, as well as
+pressure, and then, feeling much exhausted, returned to the surface,
+having sent up the contents of about twenty boxes and kegs of treasure.
+Rooney and Maxwell then took their turn under water, and were equally
+successful.
+
+That night, being very calm and clear, they ran the boat into a
+sheltered crevice among the cliffs, and slept on board of her.  Next
+morning at day-break they were again at work, but were not equally
+fortunate, for although plenty of treasure was sent up, several
+accidents occurred which were severe, though, happily, not fatal.
+
+In the first place, Baldwin tore his left hand badly while attempting to
+raise a heavy mass of ragged iron-plate that prevented his reaching some
+loose coin lying under it.  This, though painful, did not render him
+altogether incapable of working.  Then, while Edgar Berrington was
+passing from one part of the wreck to another, threading his way
+carefully, a mass of wire-ropes and other wreckage suddenly dropt from a
+position where it had been balanced, and felled him to the deck with
+such violence that for a few moments he was stunned.  On recovering, he
+found to his horror that he was pressed down by the mass, and had got
+inextricably entangled with it.  If his dress had been torn at that
+time, or his helmet damaged, it is certain that his adventures would
+have been finally cut short, and there can be no doubt that his
+preservation was largely owing to the excellence of the material of
+which his dress was made.
+
+But how to escape from his wire-cage was a difficulty he could not
+solve, for the lamp had been extinguished, and the entanglement of his
+line and air-pipe rendered signalling impossible.  He continued to
+struggle helplessly, therefore, in total darkness.  That the air-tube
+continued all right, was evident from the fact that air came down to him
+as before.
+
+In this dilemma he remained for a short time, occasionally managing to
+clear himself partially, and at other times becoming more and more
+involved.
+
+At last Rooney Machowl, who was attending to the lines above, bethought
+him that he had not received any signals for some time or observed any
+of those motions which usually indicate that a diver is busy below.  He
+therefore gave a pull to the lifeline.  Of course no answer was
+received.
+
+"Hallo!" exclaimed Rooney, with a start, for in diving operations Life
+and Death frequently stand elbowing each other.
+
+He gave another and still more decided pull, but no answer was returned.
+
+Jumping up in excitement, he attempted to haul on the line, so as to
+bring Edgar to the surface by force, but to his consternation he found
+it to be immovably fixed.
+
+"Hooroo!  Man alive," he yelled, rather than shouted, to Maxwell, who
+was attending the other line, "signal for Joe to come up--look sharp!"
+
+Maxwell obeyed with four strong quick pulls on Joe's line, and Joe
+appeared at the surface rather sooner than was consistent with safety.
+On learning the cause of his being called, he infixed his bull's-eye
+hastily; went down again with a heavy plunge, and discovering his
+companion, soon removed the wreck by which he was entangled, and set him
+free.
+
+Experience, it is said, teaches fools; much more does it instruct wise
+men.  After this event our hero became a little more careful in his
+movements below.
+
+When a considerable amount of treasure had been recovered, it was
+thought advisable to return to the shore and place it in security.
+
+"It won't be easy to manage this," said Edgar to Baldwin in a low tone,
+as they sailed away from the rocky islet, under a light breeze.  "I have
+an uncomfortable belief that that fellow Dwarro suspects the nature of
+the contents of these bags, despite our efforts at concealment."
+
+"I don't think he does," whispered Baldwin.  "He seems to me to be one
+o' these miserable opium-smokers whose brains get too much fuddled to
+understand or care for anything."
+
+"Whist now, don't spake so loud," said Rooney, advancing his head closer
+to his companions, and glancing doubtfully at the object of their
+suspicion; "sure he's got a sharp countenance, fuddled or not fuddled."
+
+The pilot had indeed an intelligent cast of countenance, but as he sat
+in a careless attitude in the bow of the boat smoking listlessly and
+gazing dreamily, almost stupidly, towards the shore, it did seem as
+though he had indulged too freely in the noxious drag which poisons so
+many inhabitants of these unhappy lands.
+
+As he was out of earshot, the four adventurers drew their heads still
+closer together, and talked eagerly about their prospects.
+
+"Sure our fortins is made already," said Rooney; "how much d'ee think
+we've fished up, Mr Berrington?"
+
+"I cannot say, but at a rough guess I should think not less than twenty
+thousand pounds."
+
+"Ye don't main it?  Och!  Molly astore!  Ye shall walk in silks an'
+satins from this day forward--to say nothin' of a carridge an' four, if
+not six."
+
+"But where'll we putt it, sir?" asked Baldwin.
+
+"I've been thinking of that," replied Edgar.  "You see I don't like the
+notion of running right into port with it, where this pilot has probably
+numerous friends who would aid him in making a dash for such a prize--
+supposing he has guessed what we are about.  Now, I happen to have a
+trusty friend here, a young Scotchman, who lives in a quiet
+out-o'-the-way part.  We'll run up to his place, land the gold quickly,
+and get him to carry it off to some place of security--"
+
+"Whist, not so loud!  I do belave," said Rooney, "that rascal is cocking
+his weather ear."
+
+"He don't understand a word of English," muttered Baldwin.
+
+Dwarro looked so intensely absent and sleepy as he sat lounging in the
+bow, that the divers felt relieved and continued, though in more
+cautious tones, to discuss their plans.
+
+Meanwhile the boat ran into the Hong-Kong river.  As it proceeded, a
+small light boat or skiff was observed approaching.  Baldwin, who
+steered, sheered out a little in the hope of avoiding her, but the man
+who sculled her conformed to the movement, and quickly shot past their
+bow--so closely that he could exchange salutations with the pilot.
+Nothing more appeared to pass between the two,--indeed there seemed no
+time for further communication--nevertheless Rooney Machowl declared
+that some telegraphic signals by means of hands and fingers had
+certainly been exchanged.
+
+In a short time the boat was turned sharp round by Baldwin, and run into
+a cove near a wall in which was a little wooden gate.  A flight of
+dilapidated steps led to this gate.
+
+"What if your friend should not be at home?" asked Joe, in a whisper.
+
+"I'll land the bags in any case and await him, while you return to the
+port with Dwarro," replied Edgar.
+
+If the pilot was interested in their proceedings, he must have been a
+consummate actor, for he took no notice whatever of the sudden change of
+the boat's course, but continued to smoke languidly, and to gaze
+abstractedly into the water as if trying to read his fortune there,
+while Edgar and Rooney landed the bags, and carried them through the
+little gate into the Scotchman's garden.  In a few minutes Edgar
+returned to the boat, stepped in, and pushed off, while the two
+Chinamen, in obedience to orders, rowed out into the river.
+
+"It's all right," whispered Edgar, sitting down beside Joe, "Wilson is
+at home, and has undertaken to have the bags carried to a place of
+safety long before any attempt to capture them could be organised, even
+if Dwarro knew our secret and were disposed to attempt such a thing.
+Besides, we will keep him under our eyes to-night as long as possible."
+
+That night, highly elated at the success of their labours, our four
+friends sat round their evening meal in the pagoda and related their
+various diving adventures and experiences to the admiring and
+sympathetic Molly Machowl.  They had previously entertained the pilot
+with unlimited hospitality and tobacco, and that suspected individual,
+so far from showing any restless anxiety to shorten his stay, had coolly
+enjoyed himself until they were at last glad when he rose to go away.
+
+On the following morning, too, he was ready with his boat before
+day-break, and the party returned to the scene of operations at the
+wreck in high spirits.
+
+It is certain that their enthusiasm would have been considerably damped
+had they known that exactly three hours after their gold was landed, a
+party of six stout nautical-looking Malays entered the residence of
+Wilson, the Scotchman, knocked down Wilson's servants, gagged Wilson's
+mouth, drank up the claret with which Wilson had been regaling himself,
+and carried off the bags of gold before his very eyes!  Fortunately for
+their peace of mind and the success of their labours, our adventurers
+did _not_ know all this, but, descending to the wreck with heavy soles
+and light hearts, they proceeded to recover and send up additional bags
+of gold.
+
+That day they were not quite so successful.  Unforeseen difficulties lay
+in their way.  Some of the gold had been washed out of the treasure-room
+in their absence, and was not easily recovered from the sand and
+sea-weed.  In order the better to find this, the electric-lamp was
+brought into requisition and found to be most effective, its light being
+very powerful--equal to that of fifteen thousand candles,--and so
+arranged as to direct the light in four directions, one of these being
+towards the bottom by means of a reflecting prism.  It burned without
+air, and when at the bottom, could be lighted or extinguished from the
+boat by means of electricity.
+
+Still, notwithstanding its aid, they had not collected treasure beyond
+the value of about eight thousand pounds when the time for rest and
+taking their mid-day meal arrived.  This amount was, however, quite
+sufficient to improve their appetites, and render them sanguine as to
+the work of the afternoon.
+
+"You'd better signal Mr Berrington to come up," said Joe, who with all
+the others of the party were assembled in the stern of the boat,
+anxiously waiting to begin their dinner.
+
+"Sure I've done it twice a'ready," replied Rooney, who was attending to
+our hero's life-line while Ram-stam and Chok-foo toiled at the
+air-pumps.
+
+"What does he reply?" asked Joe.
+
+"He replies, `all right,' but nothin' more.  If he knew the imptiness of
+my--och!  There he goes at last, four tugs.  Come along, my hearty,"
+said Rooney, coiling away the slack as Edgar rose slowly to the surface.
+
+Presently his helmet appeared like a huge round goblet ascending from
+the mighty deep.  Then the surface was broken with a gurgle, and the
+goggle-eyes appeared.  Rooney unscrewed the front-glass, and the
+Chinamen were free to cease their weary pumping.  When Edgar was
+assisted into the boat, it was observed that he had a small
+peculiarly-shaped box under his arm.  He made no reference to this until
+relieved of his helmet, when he took it up and examined it with much
+curiosity.
+
+"What have you got there, sir?" asked Joe Baldwin, coming forward.
+
+"That is just what I don't know," answered Edgar.  "It seems to me like
+an iron or steel box much encrusted with rust, and I shouldn't wonder if
+it contained something of value.  One thing is certain, that we have not
+got the key, and must therefore break it open."
+
+While he was speaking, David Maxwell gazed at the box intently.  He did
+not speak, but there was a peculiar motion about his lips as if he were
+licking them.  A fiend happened just then to stand at Maxwell's ear.  It
+whispered, "You know it."
+
+"Ay," said Maxwell, under his breath, in reply, "_I_ knows it--well."
+
+"I wonder if there are valuables in it," said Edgar.
+
+"Shouldn't wonder if there wor," said Rooney.
+
+"Eight or nine thousand pounds, more or less," whispered the fiend,
+quoting words used by Mr Hazlit on a former occasion.
+
+"Ah--jis' so," muttered Maxwell.
+
+"Don't you say a word more, David," said the fiend.
+
+"I wont," muttered Maxwell's heart; for the hearts of men are
+desperately wicked.
+
+"That's right," continued the fiend, "for if you keep quiet, you know,
+the contents will fall to be divided among you, and the loss won't be
+felt by a rich fellow like old Hazlit."
+
+Maxwell's heart approved and applauded the sentiment, but a stronger
+power moved in the rough man's heart, and softly whispered, "Shame!"
+
+"Why, Maxwell," said Edgar, smiling, "you look at the box as if it were
+a ghost!"
+
+"An' so it _is_," said Maxwell, with a sudden and unaccountable growl,
+at the sound of which the fiend sprang overboard, and, diving into the
+sea, disappeared from Maxwell's view for ever!
+
+"Why, what d'ee mean, David?" asked Baldwin, in surprise.
+
+"I mean, sir," said Maxwell, turning to Edgar with a look of unwonted
+honesty on his rugged face, "that that box is the ghost of one that
+belongs to Miss Hazlit, if it ain't the box itself."
+
+"To Miss Hazlit," exclaimed Edgar, in surprise; "explain yourself."
+
+In reply to this the diver told how he had originally become acquainted
+with the box and its contents, and said that he had more than once
+searched about the region of Miss Hazlit's cabin while down at the wreck
+in hope of finding it, but without success.
+
+"Strange," said Edgar, "I too have more than once searched in the same
+place in the hope of finding something, or anything that might have
+belonged to her, but everything had been washed away.  Of course,
+knowing nothing about this box, I did not look for _it_, and found it at
+last, by mere chance, some distance from the berth she occupied.  Why
+did you not mention it before?"
+
+Maxwell was silent, and at that moment the drift of thought and
+conversation was abruptly turned by Rooney Machowl shouting, "Dinner
+ahoy!" with impatient asperity.
+
+While engaged in the pleasant duty of appeasing hunger, our divers
+chatted on many subjects, chiefly professional.  Among other things,
+Rooney remarked that he had heard it said a diving-dress contained
+sufficient air in it to keep a man alive for more than five minutes.
+
+"I have heard the same," said Edgar.
+
+"Come, David," suggested Joe Baldwin, "let's test it on you."
+
+"Ready," said Maxwell, rising and wiping his huge mouth.
+
+The proposal which was made in jest was thereupon carried out in
+earnest!
+
+Dinner being over, Maxwell put on his diving-dress; the Chinamen set the
+pump going, and the front-glass was screwed on.  Air was forced into the
+dress until it was completely inflated and looked as if ready to burst,
+while Maxwell stood on the deck holding on to a back-stay.  At a given
+signal the pumpers ceased to work, and the adventurous man was thus cut
+off from all further communication with the outward air.
+
+At first the onlookers were amused; then they became interested, and as
+the minutes flew by, a little anxious, but Maxwell's grave countenance,
+as seen through the bull's-eye, gave no cause for alarm.  Thus he stood
+for full ten minutes, and then opening the escape-valve, signalled for
+more air.
+
+This was a sufficient evidence that a man might have ample time to
+return to the surface from great depths, even if the air-pumps should
+break down.
+
+"But, perhaps," said Edgar, as they conversed on the subject, "you might
+not be able to hold out so long under water where the pressure would be
+great."
+
+"Sure that's true.  What d'ee say to try, David?" said Rooney.
+
+Again Maxwell expressed willingness to risk the attempt.  The glass was
+once more screwed on, the pumps set agoing, and down the bold diver went
+to the bottom.  On receiving a pre-arranged signal, the pumps were
+stopped.
+
+This, let the reader fully understand, is a thing that is never done
+with the ordinary pumps, which are not permitted to cease working from
+the time the bull's-eye is fixed on until after it is taken off, on the
+diver's return to the surface.  It was therefore with much anxiety that
+the experimenters awaited the result--anxiety that was not allayed by
+Rooney Machowl's expression of countenance, and his occasional
+suggestion that "he must be dead by this time," or, "Och!  He's gone
+entirely now!"
+
+For full five minutes Maxwell stayed under water without a fresh supply
+of air--then he signalled for it, and the anxious pumpers sent it down
+with a will.  Thus it was found that there was still sufficient time for
+a man to return to the surface with the air contained in his dress, in
+the event of accident to the pumps.  [See Note 1.]
+
+While the divers were engaged with these experiments, Chok-foo was sent
+on shore in the small boat for a supply of fresh water from a spring
+near the top of the island.
+
+Having filled his keg, the Chinaman turned his fat good-humoured
+countenance toward the sea, for the purpose of taking an amiable view of
+Nature in general before commencing the descent.  As he afterwards gazed
+in the direction of the mainland, he observed what appeared to be a line
+of sea-gulls on the horizon.  He looked intently at these after
+shouldering his water-keg.  Chok-foo's visage was yellow by nature.  It
+suddenly became pale green.  He dropped his burden and bounded down the
+hillside as if he had gone mad.  The water-keg followed him.  Being
+small and heavy it overtook him, swept the legs from under him, and
+preceded him to the beach, where it was dashed to atoms.  Chok-foo
+recovered himself, continued his wild descent, sprang into the boat,
+rowed out to his companions in furious haste, and breathlessly gave the
+information that pirates were coming!
+
+Those to whom he said this knew too well what he meant to require
+explanation.  They were aware that many so-called "traders" in the
+Eastern seas become pirates on the shortest notice when it suits their
+convenience.
+
+Edgar Berrington immediately drew a revolver from his pocket, and
+stepping suddenly up to Dwarro, said sternly:--
+
+"Look here!"
+
+The pilot did look, and for the first time his calm, cool, imperturbable
+expression deserted him, for he saw that he had to deal with a resolute
+and powerful man.  At the same time his right hand moved towards his
+breast, but it was arrested from behind in the iron grip of Joe Baldwin.
+
+"Now, pilot," said Edgar, "submit, and no one shall harm you.  Resist,
+and you are a dead man.  Search him, Joe."
+
+The diver opened Dwarro's pilot-coat, and found beneath it a brace of
+pistols and a long sheath knife, which he quietly removed and
+transferred to his own person.  The other men in the boat looked on,
+meanwhile, in silence.
+
+"Dwarro," continued Edgar, "_you_ have planned this, I know, but I'll
+thwart you.  I won't tie or gag you.  I'll make you sit at the helm and
+steer, while we evade your friends.  I shall sit beside you, and you may
+rely on it that if you disobey an order in the slightest degree, or give
+a signal by word or look to any one, I'll blow out your brains.  D'you
+understand me?"
+
+The pilot made no reply save by a slight inclination of the head, while
+a dark frown settled on his features.
+
+It was obvious that fear found no place in the man's breast, for a deep
+flush of indignation covered his countenance.  He merely felt that he
+must obey or die, and wisely chose the former alternative.
+
+Meanwhile the fleet of boats which had appeared to the Chinaman on the
+hill-top was now seen by the party in the boat as they drew nearer under
+the influence of a land breeze--their high sails rendering them visible
+before the low boat of our divers could be seen by them.
+
+The wind had not yet reached the island, but, even if it had, the divers
+would not have hoisted sail, lest they should have been seen.
+
+"Ship your oars now, lads, and pull for life," cried Edgar, seizing the
+tiller with one hand, while with the other he held the revolver.  "You
+take _this_ oar, Dwarro, and pull with a will."
+
+In a few seconds the pilot boat was creeping pretty swiftly along the
+rugged shore of the island, in the direction of the open sea.  To
+lighten her, the little boat astern was cut adrift.  Continuing their
+course, they rowed quite past the island, and then, turning abruptly to
+the southward, they pulled steadily on until the first "cat's-paw" of
+the breeze ruffled the glassy sea.
+
+By this time the fleet of boats was distinctly visible, making straight
+for the island.  Edgar now ordered the sails to be set, and bade Dwarro
+take the helm.  The pilot obeyed with the air of a Stoic.  It was clear
+that his mind was made up.  This had the effect of calling up a look of
+settled resolution on Edgar's face.
+
+In a few minutes the sails filled, and then, to the surprise not only of
+Dwarro but all on board, Edgar ordered the pilot to steer straight for
+the line of advancing boats.
+
+Two of these had changed their course on first observing the divers'
+boat, but when they saw it steering straight down, as if to meet or join
+them, they resumed their course for the island.  Presently the breeze
+increased, and the pilot boat leaped over the waves as if it had
+received new life.
+
+"It's a bowld thing to try," muttered Rooney Machowl, "but I'm afeard,
+sir--"
+
+He was silenced by a peremptory "Hush" from Edgar.  "Get down so as to
+be out of sight," he continued, "all of you except the Chinamen.--You
+two come and sit by Dwarro."
+
+As he spoke, Edgar himself sat down on an oar, so as to be able to see
+over the gunwale without himself being seen.  To those in the fleet it
+would thus appear that their vessel was a pilot boat returning from
+seaward with its skipper and two Chinamen.  Whatever Dwarro's intentions
+had been, he was evidently somewhat disconcerted, and glanced more than
+once uneasily at the calm youth who sat pistol in hand at his side
+directing him how to steer.
+
+Although there was a considerable fleet of the piratical boats, they
+were spread out so that a space of several hundred yards intervened
+between each.  Edgar steered for the centre of the widest gap, and his
+bold venture was favoured by a sudden increase of wind, which caused the
+waves to gurgle from the bow.
+
+Just as they passed between two of the boats they were hailed by one of
+them.  Edgar kept his eyes fixed on Dwarro, who became slightly pale.
+The click of the pistol at the moment caused the pilot to start.
+
+"You may inform and we may be caught," said Edgar, sternly; "but
+whatever happens you shall die if you disobey.  Speak not, but wave your
+hand in reply."
+
+Dwarro obeyed.  Those who had hailed him apparently thought the distance
+too great for speech; they waved their hands in return, and the boat
+passed on.  A few minutes more and our divers were safely beyond the
+chance of capture, making for the mainland under a steady breeze.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  The pump used by Denayrouze of Paris, besides being very simple
+in its parts and action, possesses an air-reservoir which renders a
+cessation of the pump-action for a few minutes of no importance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+MISS PRITTY'S "WORST FEARS" ARE MORE THAN REALISED.
+
+Turn we now to Miss Pritty--and a pretty sight she is when we turn to
+her!  In her normal condition Miss Pritty is the pink of propriety and
+neatness.  At the present moment she lies with her mouth open, and her
+eyes shut, hair dishevelled, garments disordered, slippers off, and
+stockings not properly on.  Need we say that the sea is at the bottom of
+it?  One of the most modest, gentle, unassuming, amiable of women has
+been brought to the condition of calmly and deliberately asserting that
+she "doesn't care!"--doesn't care for appearances; doesn't care for
+character; doesn't care for past reminiscences or future prospects;
+doesn't care, in short, for anything--life and death included.  It is a
+sad state of mind and body--happily a transient!
+
+"Stewardess."
+
+"Yes, Miss?"
+
+"I shall die."
+
+"Oh no, Miss, don't say so.  You'll be quite well in a short time," (the
+stewardess has a pleasant motherly way of encouraging the
+faint-hearted).  "Don't give way to it, Miss.  You've no idea what a
+happytite you'll 'ave in a few days.  You'll be soon able to eat hoceans
+of soup and 'eaps of fat pork, and--"
+
+She stops abruptly, for Miss Pritty has gone into sudden convulsions, in
+the midst of which she begs the stewardess, quite fiercely, to "Go
+away."
+
+Let us draw a veil over the scene.
+
+Miss Pritty has been brought to this pass by Mr Charles Hazlit, whose
+daughter, Aileen, has been taken ill in China.  Being a man of unbounded
+wealth, and understanding that Miss Pritty is a sympathetic friend of
+his daughter and an admirable nurse, he has written home to that lady
+requesting her, in rather peremptory terms, to "come out to them."  Miss
+Pritty, resenting the tone of the request as much as it was in her
+nature to resent anything, went off instanter, in a gush of tender love
+and sympathy, and took passage in the first ship that presented itself
+as being bound for the China seas.  She did not know much about ships.
+Her maritime ideas were vague.  If a washing-tub had been advertised
+just then as being A1 at Lloyds' and about to put forth for that region
+of the earth with every possible convenience on board for the delight of
+human beings, she would have taken a berth in it at once.
+
+We do not intend to inflict Miss Pritty's voyage on our reader.  Suffice
+it to say that she survived it, reached China in robust health, and
+found her sick friend,--who had recovered,--in a somewhat similar
+condition.
+
+After an embrace such as women alone can bestow on each other, Miss
+Pritty, holding her friend's hand, sat down to talk.  After an hour of
+interjectional, exclamatory, disconnected, irrelevant, and largely
+idiotical converse--sustained chiefly by herself--Miss Pritty said:--
+
+"And oh!  The pirates!"
+
+She said this with an expression of such awful solemnity that Aileen
+could not forbear smiling as she asked--
+
+"Did you see any?"
+
+"Gracious!  No," exclaimed Miss Pritty, with a look of horror, "but we
+_heard_ of them.  Only think of that!  If I have one horror on earth
+which transcends all other horrors in horribleness, that horror is--
+pirates.  I once had the misfortune to read of them when quite a girl--
+they were called Buccaneers, I think, in the book--and I have never got
+over it.  Well, one day when we were sailing past the straits of
+Malacca,--I think it was,--our captain said they were swarming in these
+regions, and that he had actually seen them--more than that, had slain
+them with his own--oh!  It is too horrible to think of.  And our captain
+was _such_ a dear good man too.  Not fierce one bit, and _so_ kind to
+everybody on board, especially the ladies!  I really _cannot_ understand
+it.  There are such dreadfully strange mixtures of character in this
+world.  _No_, he did not say he had slain them, but he used nautical
+expressions which amount to the same thing, I believe; he said he had
+spiflicated lots of 'em and sent no end of 'em to somebody's locker.  It
+may be wrong in me even to quote such expressions, dear Aileen, but I
+cannot explain myself properly if I don't.  It is fearful to know there
+are so many of them, `swarming,' as our captain said."
+
+"The worst of it is that many of the boatmen and small traders on the
+coast," said Aileen, "are also pirates, or little better."
+
+"Dreadful!" exclaimed her friend.  "Why, oh _why_ do people go to sea at
+all?"
+
+"To transport merchandise, I suppose," said Aileen.  "We should be
+rather badly off without tea, and silk, and spices, and such things--
+shouldn't we?"
+
+"Tea and silk!  Aileen.  I would be content to wear cotton and drink
+coffee or cocoa--which latter I hate--if we only got rid of pirates."
+
+"Even cotton, coffee, and cocoa are imported, I fear," suggested Aileen.
+
+"Then I'd wear wool and drink water--anything for peace.  Oh _how_ I
+wish," said Miss Pritty, with as much solemn enthusiasm as if she were
+the first who had wished it, "that I were the Queen of England--_then_
+I'd let the world see something."
+
+"What would you do, dear?" asked Aileen.
+
+"Do!  Well, I'll tell you.  Being the head of the greatest nation of the
+earth--except, of course, the Americans, who assert their supremacy so
+constantly that they _must_ be right--being the head, I say, of the
+greatest earthly nation, with that exception, I would order out all my
+gun-ships and turret-boats, and build new ones, and send them all round
+to the eastern seas, attack the pirates in their strongholds, and--and--
+blow them all out o' the water, or send the whole concern to the bottom!
+You needn't laugh, Aileen.  Of course I do not use my own language.  I
+quote from our captain.  Really you have no idea what strong, and to me
+quite new expressions that dear man used.  So powerful too, but _never_
+naughty.  No, never.  I often felt as if I ought to have been shocked by
+them, but on consideration I never was, for it was more the manner than
+the matter that seemed shocking.  He was so gentle and kind, too, with
+it all.  I shall _never_ forget how he gave me his arm the first day I
+was able to come on deck, after being reduced to a mere shadow by
+sea-sickness, and how tenderly he led me up and down, preventing me, as
+he expressed it, from lurching into the lee-scuppers, or going slap
+through the quarter-rails into the sea."
+
+After a little more desultory converse, Aileen asked her friend if she
+were prepared to hear some bad news.
+
+Miss Pritty declared that she was, and evinced the truth of her
+declaration by looking prematurely horrified.
+
+Aileen, although by no means demonstrative, could not refrain from
+laying her head on her friend's shoulder as she said, "Well then, dear
+Laura, we are beggars!  Dear papa has failed in business, and we have
+not a penny in the world!"
+
+Miss Pritty was not nearly so horrified as she had anticipated being.
+Poor thing, she was so frequently in the condition of being without a
+penny that she had become accustomed to it.  Her face, however,
+expressed deep sympathy, and her words corresponded therewith.
+
+"How did it happen?" she asked, at the close of a torrent of condolence.
+
+"Indeed I don't know," replied Aileen, looking up with a smile as she
+brushed away the two tears which the mention of their distress had
+forced into her eyes.  "Papa says it was owing to the mismanagement of a
+head clerk and the dishonesty of a foreign agent, but whatever the
+cause, the fact is that we are ruined.  Of course that means, I suppose,
+that we shall have no more than enough to procure the bare necessaries
+of life, and shall now, alas!  Know experimentally what it is to be
+poor."
+
+Miss Pritty, when in possession of "enough to procure the bare
+necessaries of life," had been wont to consider herself rich, but her
+powers of sympathy were great.  She scorned petty details, and poured
+herself out on her _poor_ friend as a true comforter--counselled
+resignation as a matter of course, but suggested such a series of bright
+impossibilities for the future as caused Aileen to laugh, despite her
+grief.
+
+In the midst of one of these bursts of hilarity Mr Hazlit entered the
+room.  The sound seemed to grate on his feelings, for he frowned as he
+walked, in an absent mood, up to a glass case full of gaudy birds, and
+turned his back to it under the impression, apparently, that it was a
+fire.
+
+"Aileen," he said, jingling some loose coin in his pocket with one hand,
+while with the other he twisted the links of a massive gold chain, "your
+mirth is ill-timed.  I am sorry, Miss Pritty, to have to announce to
+you, so soon after your arrival, that I am a beggar."
+
+As he spoke he drew himself up to his full height, and looked, on the
+whole, like an over-fed, highly ornamented, and well-to-do beggar.
+
+"Yes," he said, repeating the word with emphasis as if he were rather
+proud of it, "a beggar.  I have not a possession in the world save the
+clothes on my back, which common decency demands that my creditors
+should allow to remain there.  Now, I have all my life been a man of
+action, promptitude, decision.  We return to England immediately--I do
+not mean before luncheon, but as soon as the vessel in which I have
+taken our passage is ready for sea, which will probably be in a few
+days.  I am sorry, Miss Pritty, that I have put you to so much
+unnecessary trouble, but of course I could not foresee what was
+impending.  All I can do now is to thank you, and pay your passage back
+in the same vessel with ourselves if you are disposed to go.  That
+vessel, I may tell you, has been selected by me with strict regard to my
+altered position.  It is a very small one, a mere schooner, in which
+there are no luxuries though enough of necessaries.  You will therefore,
+my child, prepare for departure without delay."
+
+In accordance with this decision Mr and Miss Hazlit and Miss Pritty
+found themselves not long afterwards on board the _Fairy Queen_ as the
+only passengers, and, in process of time, were conveyed by winds and
+currents to the neighbourhood of the island of Borneo, where we will
+leave them while we proceed onward to the island of Ceylon.  Time and
+distance are a hindrance to most people.  They are fortunately nothing
+whatever in the way of writers and readers!
+
+Here a strange scene presents itself; numerous pearl-divers are at
+work--most of them native, some European.  But with these we have
+nothing particular to do, except in so far as they engage the attention
+of a certain man in a small boat, whose movements we will watch.  The
+man had been rowed to the scene of action by two Malays from a large
+junk, or Chinese vessel, which lay in the offing.  He was himself a
+Malay--tall, dark, stern, handsome, and of very powerful build.  The
+rowers were perfectly silent and observant of his orders, which were
+more frequently conveyed by a glance or a nod than by words.
+
+Threading his way among the boats of the divers, the Malay skipper, for
+such he seemed, signed to the rowers to stop, and directed his attention
+specially to one boat.  In truth this boat seemed worthy of attention
+because of the energy of the men on board of it.  A diver had just
+leaped from its side into the sea.  He was a stalwart man of colour,
+quite naked, and aided his descent by means of a large stone attached to
+each of the sandals which he wore.  These sandals, on his desiring to
+return to the surface, could be thrown off, being recoverable by means
+of cords fastened to them.  Just as he went down another naked diver
+came up from the bottom, and was assisted into the boat.  A little blood
+trickled from his nose and ears, and he appeared altogether much
+exhausted.  No wonder.  He had not indeed remained down at any time more
+than a minute and a half, but he had dived nearly fifty times that day,
+and sent up a basket containing a hundred pearl oysters each time.
+
+Presently the man who had just descended reappeared.  He also looked
+fagged, but after a short rest prepared again to descend.  He had been
+under water about ninety seconds.  Few divers can remain longer.  The
+average time is one minute and a half, sometimes two minutes.  It is
+said that these men are short-lived, and we can well believe it, for
+their work, although performed only during a short period of each year,
+is in violent opposition to the laws of nature.
+
+Directing his men to row on, our skipper soon came to another boat,
+which not only arrested his attention but aroused his curiosity, for
+never before had he seen so strange a sight.  It was a large boat with
+novel apparatus on board of it, and white men--in very strange costume.
+In fact it was a party of European divers using the diving-dress among
+the pearl-fishers of Ceylon, and great was the interest they created, as
+well as the unbelief, scepticism, misgiving, and doubt which they drew
+forth--for, although not quite a novelty in those waters, the dress was
+new to many of the natives present on that occasion, and Easterns, not
+less than Westerns, are liable to prejudice!
+
+A large concourse of boats watched the costuming of the divers, and
+breathless interest was aroused as they went calmly over the side and
+remained down for more than an hour, sending up immense quantities of
+oysters.  Of course liberal-minded men were made converts on the spot,
+and, equally of course, the narrow-minded remained "of the same opinion
+still."  Nevertheless, that day's trial of Western ingenuity has borne
+much fruit, for we are now told, by the best authorities, that at the
+present time the diving-dress is very extensively used in sponge, pearl,
+and coral fisheries in many parts of the world where naked divers alone
+were employed not many years ago; and that in the Greek Archipelago and
+on the Turkish and Barbary coasts alone upwards of three hundred diving
+apparatuses are employed in the sponge fisheries, with immense advantage
+to all concerned and to the world at large.
+
+Leaving this interesting sight, our Malay skipper threaded his way
+through the fleet of boats and made for the shores of the Bay of
+Condatchy, which was crowded with eager men of many nations.
+
+This bay, on the west coast of Ceylon, is the busy scene of one of the
+world's great fisheries of the pearl oyster.  The fishing, being in the
+hands of Government, is kept under strict control.  It is farmed out.
+The beds of oysters are annually-surveyed and reported on.  They are
+divided into four equal portions, only one of which is worked each year.
+As the fishing produces vast wealth and affords scope for much
+speculation during the short period of its exercise, the bay during
+February, March, and April of each year presents a wondrous spectacle,
+for here Jews, Indians, merchants, jewellers, boatmen, conjurors to
+charm off the dreaded sharks, Brahmins, Roman Catholic priests, and many
+other professions and nationalities are represented, all in a state of
+speculation, hope, and excitement that fill their faces with animation
+and their frames with activity.
+
+The fleet of boats leaves the shore at 10 p.m. on the firing of a
+signal-gun, and returns at noon next day, when again the gun is fired,
+flags are hoisted, and Babel immediately ensues.
+
+It was noon when our Malay skipper landed.  The gun had just been fired.
+Many of the boats were in, others were arriving.  Leaving his boat in
+charge of his men, the skipper wended his way quickly through the
+excited crowd with the wandering yet earnest gaze of a man who searches
+for some one.  Being head and shoulders above most of the men around
+him, he could do this with ease.  For some time he was unsuccessful, but
+at last he espied an old grey-bearded Jew, and pushed his way towards
+him.
+
+"Ha!  Pungarin, my excellent friend," exclaimed the Jew, extending his
+hand, which the skipper merely condescended to touch, "how do you do?  I
+am _so_ overjoyed to see you; you have business to transact eh?"
+
+"You may be quite sure, Moses, that I did not come to this nest of
+sharpers merely for pleasure," replied Pungarin, brusquely.
+
+"Ah, my friend, you are really too severe.  No doubt we are sharp, but
+that is a proper business qualification.  Besides, _our_ trade is
+legitimate, while yours, my friend, is--"
+
+The Jew stopped and cast a twinkling glance at his tall companion.
+
+"Is _not_ legitimate, you would say," observed Pungarin, "but that is
+open to dispute.  In my opinion this is a world of robbers; the only
+difference among us is that some are sneaking robbers, others are open.
+Every man to his taste.  I have been doing a little of the world's work
+openly of late, and I come here with part of the result to give you a
+chance of robbing me in the other way."
+
+"Nay, nay, you are altogether too hard," returned the Jew, with a
+deprecating smile; "but come to my little office.  We shall have more
+privacy there.  How comes it, Pungarin, that you are so far from your
+own waters?  It is a longish way from Ceylon to Borneo."
+
+"How comes it," replied the Malay, "that the sea-mew flies far from
+home?  There is no limit to the flight of a sea-rover, save the
+sea-shore."
+
+"True, true," returned the Jew, with a nod of intelligence; "but here is
+my place of business.  Enter my humble abode, and pray be seated."
+
+Pungarin stooped to pass the low doorway, and seated himself beside a
+small deal table which, although destitute of a cloth, was thickly
+covered with ink-stains.  The Malay rover was clad in a thin loose red
+jacket, a short petticoat or kilt, and yellow trousers.  A red fez, with
+a kerchief wound round it turban fashion, covered his head.  He was a
+well-made stalwart man, with a handsome but fierce-looking countenance.
+
+From beneath the loose jacket Pungarin drew forth a small, richly
+chased, metal casket.  Placing it on the table he opened it, and,
+turning it upside down, poured from it a little cataract of glittering
+jewellery.
+
+"Ha!  My friend," exclaimed his companion, "you have got a prize.  Where
+did you find it?"
+
+"I might answer, `What is that to you?' but I won't, for I wish to keep
+you in good humour till our business is concluded.  Here, then, are the
+facts connected with the case.  Not long ago some Englishmen came out to
+Hong-Kong to dive to a vessel which had been wrecked on an island off
+the coast.  My worthy agent there, Dwarro, cast his eyes on them and
+soon found out all about their plans.  Dwarro is a very intelligent
+fellow.  Like yourself, he has a good deal of the sneaking robber about
+him.  He ascertained that the wreck had much gold coin in it, and so
+managed that they hired his boat to go off to it with their diving
+apparatus.  Somewhat against their will he accompanied them.  They were
+very successful.  The first time they went on shore, they took with them
+gold to the value of about twenty thousand pounds.  Dwarro cleverly
+managed to have this secured a few hours after it was landed.  He also
+made arrangements to have a fleet of my fellows ready, so that when more
+gold had been recovered from the wreck they might surround them on the
+spot and secure it.  But the young Englishman at the head of the party
+was more than a match for us.  He cowed Dwarro, and cleverly escaped to
+land.  There, however, another of my agents had the good fortune to
+discover the Englishmen while they were landing their gold.  He was too
+late, indeed, to secure the gold, which had been sent on inland in
+charge of two Chinamen, but he was lucky enough to discover this casket
+in the stern-sheets of their boat.  The Englishmen fought hard for it,
+especially the young fellow in command, who was more like a tiger than a
+man, and knocked down half a dozen of our men before he was overpowered.
+We would have cut his throat then and there, but a party of
+inhabitants, guided by one of the Chinamen, came to the rescue, and we
+were glad to push off with what we had got.  Now, Moses, this casket is
+worth a good round sum.  Dwarro wisely took the trouble to make
+inquiries about it through one of the Chinamen, who happened to be an
+honest man and fortunately also very stupid.  From this man, Chok-foo,
+who is easily imposed on, he learned that the casket belongs to a very
+rich English merchant, who would give anything to recover it, because it
+belonged to his wife, who is dead--"
+
+"A rich English merchant?" interrupted Moses, "we Jews are acquainted
+pretty well with all the _rich_ English merchants.  Do you know his
+name?"
+
+"Yes; Charles Hazlit," answered the Malay.
+
+"Indeed!  Well--go on."
+
+"Well," said Pungarin, abruptly, "I have nothing more to say, except,
+what will you give for these things?"
+
+"One thousand pounds would be a large sum to offer," said the Jew,
+slowly.
+
+"And a very small one to accept," returned Pungarin, as he slowly
+gathered the gems together and put them back into the casket.
+
+"Nay, my friend, be not so hasty," said Moses; "what do you ask for
+them?"
+
+"I shall ask nothing," replied the Malay; "the fact is, I think it
+probable that I may be able to screw _more_ than their value out of Mr
+Hazlit."
+
+"I am sorry to disappoint your expectations," returned the Jew, with
+something approaching to a sneer, as he rose; and, selecting one from a
+pile of English newspapers, slowly read out to his companion the
+announcement of the failure of the firm of Hazlit and Company.  "You
+see, my good friend, we Jews are very knowing as well as sharp.  It were
+better for you to transact your little business with me."
+
+Knowing and sharp as he was, the Jew was not sufficiently so to foresee
+the result of his line of conduct with the Malay rover.  Instead of
+giving in and making the best of circumstances, that freebooter, with
+characteristic impetuosity, shut the steel box with a loud snap, put it
+under his arm, rose, and walked out of the place without uttering a
+word.  He went down to the beach and rowed away, leaving Moses to
+moralise on the uncertainty of all human affairs.
+
+Favouring gales carried the Malay pirate-junk swiftly to the east.  The
+same gales checked, baffled, and retarded the schooner _Fairy Queen_ on
+her voyage to the west.
+
+"Darling Aileen," said Miss Pritty, recovering from a paroxysm, "did you
+ever hear of any one dying of sea-sickness?"
+
+"I never did," answered Aileen, with a languid smile.
+
+Both ladies lay in their berths, their pale cheeks resting on the
+woodwork thereof, and their eyes resting pitifully on each other.
+
+"It is awful--horrible!" sighed Miss Pritty at at the end of another
+paroxysm.
+
+Aileen, who was not so ill as her friend, smiled but said nothing.  Miss
+Pritty was past smiling, but not quite past speaking.
+
+"What dreadful noises occur on board ships," she said, after a long
+pause; "such rattling, and thumping, and creaking, and stamping.
+Perhaps the sailors get their feet wet and are so cold that they require
+to stamp constantly to warm them!"
+
+Aileen displayed all her teeth and said, "Perhaps."
+
+At that moment the stamping became so great, and was accompanied by so
+much shouting, that both ladies became attentive.
+
+A few moments later their door opened violently, and Mr Hazlit appeared
+with a very pale face.  He was obviously in a state of great
+perturbation.
+
+"My dears," he said, hurriedly, "excuse my intruding--we are--attacked--
+pirates--get up; put on your things!"
+
+His retreat and the closing of the door was followed by a crash overhead
+and a yell.  Immediately after the schooner quivered from stem to stern,
+under the shock of her only carronade, which was fired at the moment;
+the shot being accompanied by a loud cheer.
+
+"Oh horror!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, "my worst fears are realised!"
+
+Poor Miss Pritty was wrong.  Like many people whose "worst fears" have
+been engendered at a civilised fireside, she was only _beginning_ to
+realise a few of her fears.  She lived to learn that _her_ "worst fears"
+were mere child's play to the world's dread realities.
+
+Her sea-sickness, however, vanished as if by magic, and in a few minutes
+she and her companion were dressed.
+
+During those few minutes the noise on deck had increased, and the
+shouts, yells, and curses told them too plainly that men were engaged in
+doing what we might well believe is the work only of devils.  Then
+shrieks of despair followed.
+
+Presently all was silent.  In a few minutes the cabin door opened, and
+Pungarin entered.
+
+"Go on deck," he said, in a quiet tone.
+
+The poor ladies obeyed.  On reaching the deck the first sight that met
+them was Mr Hazlit standing by the binnacle.  A Malay pirate with a
+drawn sword stood beside him, but he was otherwise unfettered.  They
+evidently thought him harmless.  Near to him stood the skipper of the
+_Fairy Queen_ with the stern resolution of a true Briton on his
+countenance, yet with the sad thoughtful glance of one trained under
+Christian influences in his eye.  His hands were bound, and a Malay
+pirate stood on either side of him.  He was obviously _not_ deemed
+harmless!
+
+The decks were everywhere covered with blood, but not a man of the crew
+was to be seen.
+
+"You are the captain of this schooner?" asked Pungarin.
+
+"Yes," replied the prisoner, firmly.
+
+"Have you treasure on board?"
+
+"No."
+
+"We shall soon find out the truth as to that.  Meanwhile, who is this?"
+(pointing to Mr Hazlit.)
+
+The captain was silent and thoughtful for a few moments.  He was well
+aware of the nature of the men with whom he had to do.  He had seen his
+crew murdered in cold blood.  He knew that his own end drew near.
+
+"This gentleman," he said, slowly, "is a wealthy British merchant--
+well-known and respected in England.  He has rich friends.  It may be
+worth your while to spare him."
+
+"And this," added the pirate captain, pointing to Aileen.
+
+"Is his only child," answered the other.
+
+"Your name?" asked Pungarin.
+
+"Charles Hazlit," said the hapless merchant.
+
+A sudden flash of intelligence lit up for a moment the swarthy features
+of the pirate.  It passed quickly.  Then he spoke in an undertone to one
+of his men, who, with the assistance of another, led the captain of the
+schooner to the forward part of the ship.  A stifled groan, followed by
+a plunge, was heard by the horrified survivors.  That was all they ever
+knew of the fate of their late captain.  But for what some would term a
+mere accident, even that and their own fate would have remained unknown
+to the world--at least during the revolution of Time.  The romances of
+life are often enacted by commonplace people.  Many good ships with
+ordinary people on board, (like you and me, reader), leave port, and are
+"never again heard of."  Who can tell what tales may be revealed in
+regard to such, in Eternity?
+
+The _Fairy Queen_ was one of those vessels whose fate it was to have her
+"fate" revealed in Time.
+
+We cannot state with certainty what were the motives which induced
+Pungarin to spare the lives of Mr Hazlit and his family; all we know
+is, that he transferred them to his junk.  After taking everything of
+value out of the schooner, he scuttled her.
+
+Not many days after, he attacked a small hamlet on the coast of Borneo,
+massacred most of the men, saved a few of the young and powerful of
+them--to serve his purposes--also some of the younger women and
+children, and continued his voyage.
+
+The poor English victims whom he had thus got possession of lived,
+meanwhile, in a condition of what we may term unreality.  They could not
+absolutely credit their senses.  They felt strangely impelled to believe
+that a hideous nightmare had beset them--that they were dreaming; that
+they would unquestionably awake at last, and find that it was time to
+get up to a substantial and very commonplace English breakfast.  But,
+mingled with this feeling, or rather, underlying it, there was a
+terrible assurance that the dream was true.  So is it throughout life.
+What is fiction to you, reader, is fact to some one else, and that which
+is _your_ fact is some one else's fiction.  If any lesson is taught by
+this, surely it is the lesson of _sympathy_--that we should try more
+earnestly than we do to throw ourselves out of ourselves into the place
+of others.
+
+Poor Miss Pritty and Aileen learned this lesson.  From that date
+forward, instead of merely shaking their heads and sighing in a hopeless
+sort of way, and doing nothing--or nearly nothing--to check the evils
+they deplored, they became red-hot enthusiasts in condemning piracy and
+slavery, (which latter is the grossest form of piracy), and despotism of
+every kind, whether practised by a private pirate like Pungarin, or by a
+weak pirate like the Sultan of Zanzibar, or by comparatively strong
+pirates like the nations of Spain and Portugal.
+
+In course of time the pirate-junk anchored at the mouth of a river, and
+much of her freight, with all her captives, was transferred to native
+boats.  These were propelled by means of numerous oars, and the male
+captives were now set to work at these oars.
+
+Mr Hazlit and his daughter and Miss Pritty were allowed to sit idle in
+the stem of one of the boats, and for a time they felt their drooping
+spirits revive a little under the influence of the sweet sunshine while
+they rowed along shore, but as time passed these feelings were rudely
+put to flight.
+
+The captives were various in their character and nationality, as well as
+in their spirits and temperaments.  These had all to be brought into
+quick subjection and working order.  There were far more captives than
+the pirates knew what to do with.  One of those who sat on the thwart
+next to the Hazlits had been a policeman in one of the China ports.  He
+was a high-spirited young fellow.  It was obvious that his soul was
+seething into rebellion.  The pirate in charge of the boat noted the
+fact, and whispered to one of his men, who thereupon ordered the
+policeman to pull harder, and accompanied his order with a cut from a
+bamboo cane.
+
+Instantly the youth sprang up, and tried to burst his bonds.  He
+succeeded, but before he could do anything, he was overpowered by half a
+dozen men, and re-bound.  Then two men sat down beside him, each with a
+small stick, with which they beat the muscles of his arms and legs,
+until their power was completely taken away.  This done, they left him,
+a living heap of impotent flesh in the bottom of the boat, and a
+salutary warning to the rebellious.
+
+But it did not end here.  As soon as the poor fellow had recovered
+sufficiently to move, he was again set to the oar, and forced to row as
+best he could.
+
+The voyage along the coast, and up a river into which they finally
+turned, occupied several days.  At first, on starting, Aileen and her
+companions had looked with tender pity on the captives as they toiled at
+the heavy oars, but this deepened into earnest solicitude as they saw
+them, after hours of toil, gasping for want of water and apparently
+faint from want of food.  Next day, although they had lain down in the
+bottom of the boat supperless, the rest had refreshed most of them, and
+they pulled on with some degree of vigour.  But noon came, and with it
+culminated the heat of a burning sun.  Still no water was served out, no
+food distributed.  Mr Hazlit and his party had biscuit and water given
+them in the morning and at noon.  During the latter meal Aileen observed
+the native policeman regarding her food with such eager wolfish eyes
+that under an impulse of uncontrollable feeling she held out her can of
+water to him.  He seized and drank the half of it before one of the
+pirates had time to dash it from his lips.
+
+Presently a youth, who seemed less robust than his comrades, uttered a
+wild shriek, threw up his hands, and fell backwards.  At once the
+pirates detached him from his oar, threw him into the sea, and made
+another captive fill his place.  And now, to their inexpressible horror,
+the Hazlits discovered that the practice of these wretches--when they
+happened to have a super-abundance of captives--was to make them row on
+without meat or drink, until they dropt at the oar, and then throw them
+overboard!  Reader, we do not deal in fiction here, we describe what we
+have heard from the mouth of a trustworthy eye-witness.
+
+In these circumstances the harrowing scenes that were enacted before the
+English ladies were indeed fitted to arouse that "horror" which poor
+Miss Pritty, in her innocence, had imagined to have reached its worst.
+We will pass it over.  Many of the captives died.  A few of the
+strongest survived, and these, at last, were fed a little in order to
+enable them to complete the journey.  Among them was the native
+policeman, who had suddenly discovered that his wisest course of action,
+in the meantime, was submission.
+
+At last the boats reached a village in one of those rivers whose low and
+wooded shores afford shelter to too many nests of Malay pirates even at
+the present time--and no wonder!  When the rulers and grandees of some
+Eastern nations live by plunder, what can be expected of the people?
+
+The few captives who survived were sent ashore.  Among them were our
+English friends.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+SUDDEN AND BAD NEWS INDUCES SUDDEN AND GOOD ACTION.
+
+About this time there hung a dark cloud over the pagoda in Hong-Kong.
+Even the bright eyes of Molly Machowl could not pierce through this
+cloud.  Rooney himself had lost much of his hopeful disposition.  As for
+Edgar Berrington, Joe Baldwin, and David Maxwell, they were silently
+depressed, for adversity had crushed them very severely of late.
+
+Immediately after their losses, as already detailed or referred to,
+stormy weather had for several weeks prevented them from resuming
+operations at the wreck, and when at last they succeeded in reaching the
+old locality, they found themselves so closely watched by shore boats
+that the impossibility of their being able to keep anything they should
+bring up became obvious.  They were forced, therefore, to give up the
+idea of making further attempts.
+
+"It's too bad," growled Maxwell one morning at breakfast, "that all our
+trouble and expense should end in nothin'--or next to nothin'."
+
+"Come, Maxwell," said Edgar, "don't say `nothing.'  It is true we lost
+our first great find that luckless night when we left it with Wilson,
+but our second haul is safe, and though it amounts only to eight
+thousand pounds sterling, that after all is not to be sneezed at by men
+in our circumstances."
+
+"Make not haste to be rich," muttered Joe Baldwin in an undertone.
+
+"_Did_ we make haste to be rich?" asked Edgar, smiling.  "It seems to me
+that we set about it in a cool, quiet, business-like way."
+
+"Humph, that's true, but we got uncommon keen over it--somethin' like
+what gamblers do."
+
+"Our over-keenness," returned Edgar, "was not right, perhaps, but our
+course of action was quite legitimate--for it is a good turn done not
+only to ourselves but to the world when we save property; and the salvor
+of property--who necessarily risks so much--is surely worthy of a good
+reward in kind."
+
+"Troth, an' that's true," said Rooney, with a wry grin, "I had quite
+made up me mind to a carridge and four with Molly astore sittin' in
+silks an' satins inside."
+
+"Molly would much rather sit in cotton," said the lady referred to, as
+she presided at the breakfast-table; "have another cup, Rooney, an'
+don't be talking nonsense."
+
+"But it does seem hard," continued Maxwell in his growling voice, "after
+all our trouble in thin venture, to be obliged to take to divin' at mere
+harbour-works in Eastern waters, just to keep body and soul together."
+
+"Never mind, boy," exclaimed Rooney with a successful effort at
+heartiness, "it won't last long--it's only till we get a suitable chance
+of a ship to take us an' our small fortins back to ould Ireland--or
+England, if ye prefer it--though it's my own opinion that England is
+only an Irish colony.  Never say die.  Sure we've seen a dale of life,
+too, in them parts.  Come, I'll give ye a sintiment, an' we'll drink it
+in tay--"
+
+Before the hopeful Irishman could give the sentiment, he was interrupted
+by the sudden opening of the door and the abrupt entrance of a Chinaman,
+who looked at the breakfast party with keen interest and some anxiety.
+
+"If it's your grandmother you're lookin' for," said Rooney, "she don't
+live here, young man."
+
+Paying no attention to this pleasantry, the Chinaman closed the door
+with an air of mystery, and, going up to Edgar, looked him inquiringly
+in the face, as he said interrogatively:--
+
+"I's pleeceman.  You's Eggirbringting?"
+
+"Not a bad attempt," exclaimed Edgar, with a laugh.  "I suppose _that_
+is my name translated into Chinese."
+
+"Took me muchee--long--time for learn him from young missee," said the
+Chinaman with a hurt look.
+
+At the mention of a young lady Edgar's amused look changed into one of
+anxiety, for he had, through an English acquaintance in the port, become
+aware not only of Mr Hazlit's failure, but of his sudden departure for
+England with his daughter and Miss Pritty, and a vague suspicion of bad
+news flashed upon him.
+
+"You bring a message, I see?" he said, rising and speaking hurriedly.
+"Let me hear it.  Quick."
+
+Thus invoked, the Chinaman spoke so quickly and in such a miraculous
+jumble of bad English, that Edgar could not comprehend him at all;--only
+one thing he felt quite sure of, namely, that his anxiety was well
+found.
+
+"Ho!  Chok-foo!" he shouted.
+
+The domestic entered, and to him the Chinaman delivered his message,
+which was to the following effect:--
+
+He was a native policeman who had been captured on the coast when in
+discharge of his duties.  Many others had been taken by the same pirates
+at different times, and among them an English gentleman named Hazlit,
+with his daughter and a lady friend.  These latter had been spared,
+probably with a view to ransom, at the time the crew of their vessel was
+massacred, and were at that moment in one of the strongholds belonging
+to the pirates, up one of the intricate rivers on the coast of Borneo.
+He, the policeman, having resolved to make his escape, and being, in
+virtue of his wise, wily, and constabular nature, well able to do so,
+had mentioned the circumstance to the young lady, and, under promise of
+a handsome reward, had agreed to travel and voyage, night and day, by
+boat or vessel, as fortune should favour him, in order to convey
+immediate intelligence of these facts to a youth named "Eggirbringting,"
+whom the young lady described as being very tall and stout, and
+extremely handsome.
+
+It may easily be imagined with what mingled feelings of anxiety and
+impatience the "tall, stout, and extremely handsome young man" listened
+to this narrative as it was volubly delivered by the "pleeceman" and
+slowly translated by Chok-foo.
+
+When at last he was fairly in possession of all that the messenger had
+to relate, Edgar paced up and down the room for a few seconds with rapid
+strides.
+
+"We must go into action at once, sir," suggested Joe Baldwin.
+
+"Of course, of course, but _how_?  That's the point," exclaimed Edgar,
+with a look of impatient vexation.  "Borneo is a long way off.  There
+are no steamers running regularly to it that I know of.  However, it's
+of no use talking; let's go at once and make inquiry.  I'll go see our
+consul--perhaps--"
+
+"P'lhaps," interrupted the messenger, "p'lhaps the pleeceman can
+talkee."
+
+"If he can, let him speak," cried Edgar, with impatience.
+
+"Pleece he nevir too muchee quick," returned the man, coolly.  "We knows
+what we's can do.  Hai, yach!"
+
+Edgar sat down with a sharp sigh of discontent, and waited for more.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well," repeated the policeman, "there be steam-boat here now--go for
+Borneo quick."
+
+"At once!" cried Edgar, starting up and seizing his hat, "why did you
+not--"
+
+"Sh!  Keepee cool, you no 'casion makes so fashion," interrupted the
+policeman, who thereupon went on to explain that on his arrival in
+Hong-Kong he had gone at once to head-quarters, before delivering his
+message to Edgar, in order to make himself master of all the news about
+town that was worth knowing, or likely in any way to advance the
+interest of those whom he sought to serve.  Among other things he had
+learned the important fact that, two days before his arrival, a small
+gun-boat, belonging to a certain Rajah of Borneo, and commanded by a
+certain Scotchman, and employed for the express purpose of hunting up
+and rooting out the pirates of the China seas, had put in to the port
+for repairs.  He had hurried down to the gun-boat in time to prevent her
+departure, had told his story, and had just come from her to say that
+her captain would like much to see Mr Berrington.
+
+On hearing this, Edgar again started up and eagerly ordered the native
+policeman to guide him to the gun-boat in question without another
+moment's delay.  He was followed, of course, by his male companions, who
+were nearly as much interested in the matter as himself.  They were soon
+on the deck of the gun-boat.
+
+It was a neat trim screw-steamer of small size, 180 tons burthen, and
+manned by about sixty Malays and a few Englishmen.  Everything on board
+was as bright and orderly as if it had been a British man-of-war.  Her
+commander received the visitors on the quarter-deck.  He looked like one
+who was eminently well qualified to hunt up, run down, cut out, or in
+any other mode make away with pirates.  There was much of the
+bull-terrier in him--solid, broad, short, large-chested--no doubt also
+large-hearted--active, in the prime of life, with short black curly
+hair, a short black beard and moustache, a square chin, a pleasant
+smile, a prominent nose, and an eagle eye.  Indeed he might himself have
+made a splendid chief of the very race against which he waged "war to
+the knife."
+
+"Glad to make your acquaintance, Mr Berrington," said the captain,
+holding out his hand.  "The native policeman has told me all about your
+friends--I understand them to be such?"
+
+"Yes--intimate friends."
+
+"Well, this business is quite in my way.  I shall be glad to take you
+with me.  But who are these?" he added, looking at Edgar's companions.
+
+"They are comrades, and might do good service if you will allow them to
+volunteer."
+
+"My crew is complete," said the captain, doubtfully, "except, indeed,
+that my chief engineer is just dead, but none of your men look as if
+they could fill his shoes."
+
+"That is true, but I can fill them myself," said Edgar, eagerly.
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, I am an engineer by profession; my comrades are professional
+divers.  We have been engaged on a wreck here for some time past."
+
+"Good," said the captain; "are your dresses and apparatus at hand?"
+
+"Some of them are."
+
+"Then bring them aboard at once.  I leave in an hour.  Just bring what
+you have handy.  Lose no time.  I will take your men also.  They may be
+of use."
+
+Within an hour after the foregoing conversation Molly Machowl was left
+disconsolate in the pagoda under the care of Chok-foo, while the Rajah's
+gun-boat was steaming out to sea with Edgar, Baldwin, Rooney, Maxwell,
+and Ram-stam added to her warlike crew.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+BEARDING THE LION IN HIS DEN.
+
+Steam has pretty well subdued time.  Fifty years ago it was a mighty
+feat to "put a circle round the globe."  Now-a-days a "Cook"--by no
+means a captain--will take or send you round it in "a few weeks."
+
+Romantic reader, don't despair!  By such means romance has undoubtedly
+been affected in some degree, but let not that grieve thee!  Romance has
+by no means been taken out of the world; nor has it been, to use an
+unromantic phrase, reduced in quantity or quality.  Human inventions and
+appliances alter the aspects of romance, and transfer its influences,
+but they cannot destroy a Creator's gift to the human race.  They have,
+indeed, taken the romance out of some things which were once romantic,
+but that is simply because they have made such things familiar and
+commonplace.  They have not yet touched _other_ things which still
+remain in the hallowed region of romance.  Romance _is_ a region.
+Things crowd out of it, but other things crowd into it.  The romantic
+soul dwells perpetually in it, and while, perhaps with regret, it
+recognises the fact that many things depart from that region, it also
+observes, with pleasure, that many things enter into it, and that the
+entrances are more numerous than the exits.  The philosophico-romantic
+spirit will admit all this and be grateful.  The unphilosophico-romantic
+spirit will not quite see through it, and may, perchance, be perplexed.
+But be of good cheer.  Have faith!  Do not let the matter-of-fact
+"steam-engine," and the "telegraph," and the "post-office," rob thee of
+thy joys.  They have somewhat modified the flow of the river of Romance,
+but they have not touched its fountain-head,--and never can.
+
+Why, what is Romance?  Despite the teachings of the dictionaries--which
+often give us the original and obsolete meaning of words--we maintain
+that romance signifies the human soul's aspirations after the high, and
+the grand, and the good.  In its fallen condition the poor soul
+undoubtedly makes wondrous mistakes in its romantic strainings, but
+these mistakes are comparatively seldom on the side of exaggeration.
+Our dictionary says that romance is extravagance--a fiction which passes
+beyond the limits of real life.  Now, we maintain that no one--not even
+the most romantic of individuals--ever comes _up_ to real life.  We have
+been a child--at least we incline to that belief--and we have been, like
+other children, in the habit of romancing, as it is called, that is,
+according to dictionaries, passing "beyond the limits of real life" into
+"extravagance."  We are now a man--it is to be hoped--have travelled far
+and seen much and yet we can say conscientiously that the wildest
+fancies of our most romantic moods in childhood have been immeasurably
+surpassed by the grand realities of actual life!  What are the most
+brilliant fancies of a child or of a mere ignorant "romancer," compared
+to the amazing visions of the Arctic regions or the high Alps, which we
+have seen?  "Fictions" and "extravagance"!  All our wildest sallies are
+but _in_travagance and feeble fancy compared with the sublimity of fact.
+No doubt there are men and women gifted with the power of burlesquing
+reality, and thus, not going beyond its limits, but causing much dust
+and confusion within its limits by the exaggeration and falsification of
+individual facts.  This, however, is _not_ romance.  We stand up for
+romance as being the bright staircase that leads childhood to reality,
+and culminates at last in that vision which the eye of man hath not yet
+seen nor his mind conceived; a vision which transcends all romance is
+itself the greatest of all realities, and is "laid up for the people of
+God."
+
+We return from this divergence to the point which led to it--the power
+of steam to subdue time.  No doubt it was unromantic enough to be
+pushed, propelled, thrust, willing or not willing, against, or with,
+wind and tide, so that you could gauge your distance run--and to be
+run--almost to a foot; but it was very satisfactory, nevertheless,
+especially to those whose hearts were far in advance of their vessel,
+and it was more than satisfactory when at the end of their voyage of a
+few days they found themselves gliding swiftly, almost noiselessly, up
+the windings of a quiet river whose picturesque scenery, romantic
+vistas, and beautiful reflections might have marked it the entrance to a
+paradise instead of a human pandemonium.
+
+It was very early when the gun-boat entered the stream.  The mists of
+morning still prevailed, and rendered all nature fairy-like.
+Weird-looking mangrove bushes rose on their leg-like roots from the
+water, as if independent of soil.  Vigorous parasites and creepers
+strove to strangle the larger trees, but strove in vain.  Thick jungle
+concealed wealth of feathered, insect, and reptile life, including the
+reptile man, and sundry notes of warning told that these were awaking to
+their daily toil--the lower animals to fulfil the ends of their being,
+the higher animal to violate some of the most blessed laws of his
+Creator.  Gradually the sun rose and dispelled the mists, while it
+warmed everything into strong vitality.  As they passed up, clouds of
+water-fowl rose whirring from their lairs, and luxuriant growth of weeds
+threatened to obstruct the progress of the steamer.
+
+"Come here, policeman," said the captain to the native functionary; "how
+far above this, did you say, is the nest of the vipers?"
+
+"'Bout tree mile."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the captain, turning to Berrington, who had come on
+deck at the moment.  "I never went higher up the river than this point,
+for, just ahead, there are reeds enough to stop the screw of a three
+thousand ton ship, but if you'll get your diving-dresses ready I'll try
+it.  It would be much better to bring our big guns to bear on them than
+to attack in boats."
+
+"I'll have 'em ready directly," said Edgar.  "Perhaps we'd better stop
+the engines now."
+
+"Just so; stop them."
+
+The engines were stopped, and the gun-boat glided slowly over the still
+water until it came to rest on its own inverted image.
+
+Meanwhile the air-pump was rigged, and Joe Baldwin put on his dress, to
+the great interest and no little surprise of the Malay crew.
+
+"Ready, sir," said Edgar, when Joe sat costumed, with the helmet at his
+side and his friends Rooney and Maxwell at the pumps.
+
+"Go ahead, then--full steam," said the captain.
+
+Just in front of the vessel the river was impeded quite across by a
+dense growth of rank reeds and sedges; a little further on there was
+clear water.  Into this the gun-boat plunged under full steam.
+
+As was expected, the screw soon became choked, and finally stopped.  Had
+the pirates expected this they would probably have made a vigorous
+attack just then.  But the danger, being so obvious, had never before
+been incurred, and was therefore not prepared for or taken advantage of
+by the pirates.  Nevertheless the captain was ready for them if they had
+attacked.  Every man was at his station armed to the teeth.
+
+The moment the boat began to work heavily Joe's helmet was put on, and
+when she came to a stand he went over the stern by means of a
+rope-ladder prepared for the purpose.
+
+"Be as active as you can, Joe.  Got everything you want?" said Edgar,
+taking up the bull's-eye.
+
+"All right, sir," said Joe.
+
+"Pump away," cried Edgar, looking over his shoulder.
+
+Next moment Joe was under water, and the Malays, with glaring eyes and
+open mouths, were gazing at the confusion of air-bubbles that arose from
+him continually.  From their looks it seemed as though some of them
+fancied the whole affair to be a new species of torture invented by
+their captain.
+
+Joe carried a small hatchet in his girdle and a long sharp knife in his
+hand.  With these he attacked the reeds and weeds, and in ten minutes or
+less had set the screw free.  He soon reappeared on the rope-ladder, and
+Edgar, who had been attending to his lines, removed the bull's-eye.
+
+"What now, Joe?" he asked.
+
+"All clear," said Joe, coming inboard.
+
+"What!  Done it already?"
+
+"Ay; steam ahead when you like, sir."
+
+The order was given at once.  The assistant engineer put on full steam,
+and the gun-boat, crashing through the remaining obstruction, floated
+into the comparatively clear water beyond.  The screw had been again
+partially fouled, of course, but ten minutes more of our diver's knife
+and axe set it free, and the vessel proceeded on her way.
+
+Scouts from the pirate-camp had been watching the gun-boat, for they had
+counted on nothing worse than an attack by boats, which, strong in
+numbers, they could easily have repelled.  Great therefore was the
+consternation when these scouts ran in and reported that the vessel had
+cleared the obstructions by some miraculous power which they could not
+explain or understand, and was now advancing on them under full steam.
+
+While the operations we have described were being carried out on board
+the gun-boat, in the pirate village poor Mr Hazlit was seated on a
+stump outside a rude hut made chiefly of bamboos and palm leaves.  He
+wore only his trousers and shirt, both sadly torn--one of the pirates
+having taken a fancy to his coat and vest, the former of which he wore
+round his loins with his legs thrust through the sleeves.  The captive
+merchant sat with his face buried in his hands and bowed on his knees.
+
+Inside the hut sat Aileen with poor Miss Pritty resting on her bosom.
+Miss Pritty was of a tender confiding nature, and felt it absolutely
+necessary to rest on somebody's bosom.  She would rather have used a
+cat's or dog's than none.  Aileen, being affectionate and sympathetic,
+had no objection.  Nevertheless, not being altogether of angelic
+extraction, she was a little put out by the constant tremors of her
+friend.
+
+"Come, dear, don't shudder so fearfully," she said, in a half coaxing
+half remonstrative tone.
+
+"Is he gone?" asked Miss Pritty in a feeble voice, with her eyes tight
+shut.
+
+She referred to a half-naked warrior who had entered the hut, had half
+shut his great eyes, and had displayed a huge cavern of red gum and
+white teeth in an irresistible smile at the woe-begone aspect of Miss
+Pritty.  He had then silently taken his departure.
+
+"Gone," repeated Aileen, rather sharply; "of course he is, and if he
+were not, what then?  Sure his being dark and rather lightly clothed is
+not calculated to shock you so much."
+
+"Aileen!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, raising her head suddenly, and gazing
+with anxiety into the face of her friend; "has our short residence among
+these wretches begun to remove that delicacy of mind and sentiment for
+which I always admired you?"
+
+"_No_," returned Aileen, firmly, "but your excessive alarms may have
+done something towards that end.  Nay, forgive me, dear," she added,
+gently, as Miss Pritty's head sank again on her shoulder, with a sob, "I
+did not mean to hurt your feelings, but really, if you only think of it,
+our present position demands the utmost resolution, caution, and
+fortitude of which we are capable; and you know, love, that this
+shuddering at trifles and imagining of improbabilities will tend to
+unfit you for action when the time arrives, as it surely will sooner or
+later, for my father has taken the wisest steps for our deliverance,
+and, besides, a Greater than my father watches over us."
+
+"That is true, dear," assented Miss Pritty, with a tender look.  "Now
+you speak like your old self; but you must not blame me for being so
+foolish.  Indeed, I know that I am, but, then, have not my worst fears
+been realised?  Are we not in the hands--actually in the hands--of
+pirates--real pirates, buccaneers--ugh!"
+
+Again the poor lady drooped her head and shuddered.
+
+"_Your_ worst fears may have been realised," said Aileen; "but we have
+certainly not experienced the worst that might have happened.  On the
+contrary, we have been remarkably well treated--what do you say?  Fed on
+rats and roast puppies!  Well, the things they send us _may_ be such,
+for they resemble these creatures as much as anything else, but they are
+well cooked and very nice, you must allow, and--"
+
+At that moment Aileen's tongue was suddenly arrested, and, figuratively
+speaking, Miss Pritty's blood curdled in her veins and her heart ceased
+to beat, for, without an instant's warning, the woods resounded with a
+terrific salvo of artillery; grape and canister shot came tearing,
+hissing, and crashing through the trees, and fierce yells, mingled with
+fiend-like shrieks, rent the air.
+
+Both ladies sat as if transfixed--pale, mute, and motionless.  Next
+moment Mr Hazlit sprang into the hut, glaring with excitement, while a
+stream of blood trickled from a slight wound in his forehead.
+
+Uttering a yell, no whit inferior to that of the fiercest pirate near
+him, and following it up with a fit of savage laughter that was quite
+appalling, the once dignified and self-possessed merchant rolled his
+eyes round the hut as if in search of something.  Suddenly espying a
+heavy pole, or species of war-club, which lay in a corner, he seized it
+and whirled it round his head as if he had been trained to such arms
+from childhood.
+
+Just then a second salvo shook the very earth.  Mr Hazlit sprang out of
+the hut, shouted, "To the rescue!  Aileen, to the rescue!" in the voice
+of a Stentor, plunged wildly into a forest-path, and disappeared almost
+before the horrified ladies could form a guess as to his intentions.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+RECOUNTS THE WILD, FIERCE, AND IN SOME RESPECTS PECULIAR INCIDENTS OF A
+BUSH FIGHT.
+
+Although the pirates were taken aback by this unexpected advance of the
+Rajah's gun-boat to within pistol-shot of their very doors, they were by
+no means cowed.  Malays are brave as a race, and peculiarly regardless
+of their lives.  They manned their guns, and stood to them with
+unflinching courage, but they were opposed by men of the same mettle,
+who had the great advantage of being better armed, and led by a man of
+consummate coolness and skill, whose motto was--"Conquer or die!"
+
+We do not say that the captain of the gun-boat _professed_ to hold that
+motto, for he was not a boaster, but it was clearly written in the fire
+of his eye, and stamped upon the bridge of his nose!
+
+The pirate-guns were soon dismounted, their stockade was battered down,
+and when a party at last landed, with the captain at their head, and
+Edgar with his diving friends close at his heels, they were driven out
+of their fortification into the woods.
+
+Previously to this, however, all the women and children had been sent
+further into the bush, so that the attacking party met none but
+fighting-men.  Turning round a bend in a little path among the bushes,
+Edgar, who had become a little separated from his friends, came upon a
+half-naked Malay, who glared at him from behind a long shield.  The
+pirate's style of fighting was that of the Malay race in general, and
+had something ludicrous, as well as dangerous, about it.  He did not
+stand up and come on like a man, but, with his long legs wide apart and
+bent at the knees, he bounded hither and thither like a monkey, always
+keeping his body well under cover of the shield, and peering round its
+edges or over, or even under it, according to fancy, while his right
+hand held a light spear, ready to be launched at the first favourable
+moment into the unprotected body of his adversary.
+
+Edgar at once rushed upon him, snapping his revolver as he ran; but, all
+the chambers having been already emptied, no shot followed.  Brandishing
+his cutlass, he uttered an involuntary shout.
+
+The shout was unexpectedly replied to by another shout of "Aileen, to
+the rescue!" which not only arrested him in his career, but seemed to
+perplex the pirate greatly.
+
+At that moment the bushes behind the latter opened; a man in ragged
+shirt-sleeves and torn trousers sprang through, whirled a mighty club in
+the air, and smote the pirate's uplifted shield with such violence as to
+crush it down on its owner's head, and lay him flat and senseless on the
+ground.
+
+"Mr Hazlit!" gasped Edgar.
+
+The merchant bounded at our hero with the fury of a wild cat, and would
+have quickly laid him beside the pirate if he had not leaped actively
+aside.  A small tree received the blow meant for him, and the merchant
+passed on with another yell, "To the rescue!"
+
+Of course Edgar followed, but the bush paths were intricate.  He
+unfortunately turned into a wrong one, when the fugitive was for a
+moment hidden by a thicket, and immediately lost all trace of him.
+
+Meanwhile Rooney Machowl, hearing the merchant's shout, turned aside to
+respond to it.  He met Mr Hazlit right in the teeth, and, owing to his
+not expecting an assault, had, like Edgar, well-nigh fallen by the hand
+of his friend.  As it was, he evaded the huge club by a hair's-breadth,
+and immediately gave chase to the maniac--for such the poor gentleman
+had obviously become.  But although he kept the fugitive for some time
+in view, he failed to come up with him owing to a stumble over a root
+which precipitated him violently on his nose.  On recovering his feet
+Mr Hazlit was out of sight.
+
+Rooney, caressing with much tenderness his injured nose, now sought to
+return to his friends, but the more he tried to do so, the farther he
+appeared to wander away from them.
+
+"Sure it's a quare thing that I can't git howld of the road I comed by,"
+he muttered, as with a look of perplexity he paused and listened.
+
+Faint shouts were heard on his left, and he was about to proceed in that
+direction, when distinct cries arose on his right.  He went in _that_
+direction for a time, then vacillated, and, finally, came to a dead
+stand, as well as to the conclusion that he had missed his way; which
+belief he stated to himself in the following soliloquy:--
+
+"Rooney, me boy, you've gone an' lost yoursilf.  Ah, bad scran to 'ee.
+Isn't it the fulfilment of your grandmother's owld prophecy, that you'd
+come to a bad ind at last?  It's little I'd care for your misfortin
+myself, if it warn't that you ought to be helpin' poor Mr Hazlit, who's
+gone as mad as blazes, an' whose daughter can't be far off.  Och!  Man
+alive," he added, with sudden enthusiasm, "niver give in while there's a
+purty girl in the case!"
+
+Under the impulse of this latter sentiment, Rooney started off at a run
+in a new and totally unconsidered direction, which, strange to say,
+brought him into sudden and very violent contact with some of those
+individuals in whom he was interested.
+
+Here we must, in hunters' language, "hark back" on our course for a few
+minutes--if, indeed, that _be_ hunters' language!  We do not profess to
+know much thereof, but the amiable reader will understand our meaning.
+
+Just after the attack had begun, and Mr Hazlit had sallied from the hut
+with his war-club, as already related, Aileen became deeply impressed
+with the fact that all the women and children who had been wont to visit
+and gaze at her in wonder had vanished.  The rattling of shot over her
+head, too, and the frequent rush of pirates past her temporary abode,
+warned her that the place was too much exposed in every way to be safe.
+She therefore sought to rouse her companion to attempt flight.
+
+"Laura," she said, anxiously, as a round shot cut in half the left
+corner-post of the building, "come, we must fly.  We shall be killed if
+we remain here."
+
+"I care not," exclaimed Miss Pritty, clasping her friend closer than
+ever, and shuddering; "my worst fears have been realised.  Let me die!"
+
+"But _I_ don't want to die yet," remonstrated Aileen; "think of _me_,
+dear, if you can, and of my father."
+
+"Ah, true!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, with sudden calmness, as she
+unclasped her arms and arose.  "Forgive my selfishness.  Come; let us
+fly!"
+
+If the poor lady had owned a private pair of cherubic wings, she could
+not have prepared for flight with greater assurance or activity.  She
+tightened her waist-belt, wrapped her shawl firmly round her, fastened
+her bonnet strings in a Gordian knot, and finally, holding out her hand
+to her friend, as if they had suddenly changed characters, said, "Come,
+are you ready?" with a tremendous show of decision.  She even led the
+wondering Aileen along a winding path into the jungle for a considerable
+distance; then, as the path became more intricate, she stopped, burst
+into tears, laid her head again on its old resting-place, and said in a
+hollow voice:--"Yes; all is lost!"
+
+"Come, Laura, don't give way; there's a dear.  Just exert yourself a
+little and we shall soon be safe at--at--somewhere."
+
+Miss Pritty made a vigorous struggle.  She even smiled through her tears
+as she replied:--"Well, lead on, love; I will follow you--to death!"
+
+With her eyes tightly shut, lest she should see something hideous in the
+woods, she stumbled on, holding to her friend's arm.
+
+"Where are we going to?" she asked, feebly, after a few minutes, during
+which Aileen had pulled her swiftly along.
+
+"I don't know, dear, but a footpath _must_ lead to something or
+somewhere."
+
+Aileen was wrong.  The footpath led apparently to nothing and nowhere.
+At all events it soon became so indistinct that they lost it, and,
+finally, after an hour's wandering, found themselves hopelessly involved
+in the intricacies of a dense jungle, without the slightest clew as to
+how they should get out of it.
+
+Aileen stopped at last.
+
+"Laura," she said, anxiously, "we are lost!"
+
+"I told you so," returned Miss Pritty, in a tone that was not quite
+devoid of triumph.
+
+"True, dear; but when you told me so we were _not_ lost.  Now we _are_.
+I fear we shall have to spend the night here," she added, looking round.
+
+Miss Pritty opened her eyes and also looked round.  The sight that met
+her gaze was not encouraging.  Afternoon was drawing on.  Thick bushes
+and trees formed a sort of twilight there even at noon-day.  Nothing
+with life was visible.  Not a sound was to be heard, save such little
+rustlings of dry leaves and chirpings as were suggestive of snakes and
+centipedes.  The unhappy Laura was now too frightened to shudder.
+
+"What shall we do?" she asked; "shriek for help?"
+
+"That might bring pirates to us instead of friends," said Aileen.
+"Listen; do you hear no sound?"
+
+"Nothing," replied Miss Pritty, after a few moments of intense silence,
+"save the beating of my own heart.  Aileen," she continued, with sudden
+anxiety, "are there not serpents in these woods?"
+
+"Yes, I believe there are."
+
+"And tarantulas?"
+
+"Probably."
+
+"And tortoises?"
+
+"I--I'm not sure."
+
+"Darling, how _can_ we sleep among tortoises, tarantulas, and serpents?"
+
+Even Aileen was at a loss for a reply, though she smiled in spite of
+herself.
+
+"I'll tell you what," she said, cheerfully, "if we _must_ spend the
+night in the bush we shall get into a tree.  That will at least save us
+from all the venomous creatures as well as dangerous beasts that crawl
+upon the ground.  Can you climb?"
+
+"Climb!" repeated Miss Pritty, with a hysterical laugh, "you might as
+well ask me if I can dive."
+
+"Well, you must learn.  Come, I will teach you.  Here is a capital tree
+that seems easy to get into."
+
+Saying this, Aileen ran to a gnarled old tree whose trunk was divided
+into two parts, and from which spread out a series of stout branches
+that formed a sort of net-work of foliage about eight or ten feet from
+the ground.  Climbing actively up to these branches, she crept out upon
+them, and from that position, parting the twigs, she looked down
+laughingly at her friend.
+
+Her bright spirit was contagious.  Miss Pritty almost forgot her
+anxieties, smiled in return, and walked towards the tree, in doing which
+she trod on something that moved in the grass.  A piercing shriek was
+the result.  It was immediately replied to by a wild yell at no great
+distance.
+
+"It was only a frog; look, I see it now, hopping away.  Do be quick,
+Laura; I am sure that was the yell of a savage."
+
+No further spur was needed.  Miss Pritty scrambled up into the tree and
+crept towards her friend with such reckless haste that one of her feet
+slipped off the branch, and her leg passing through the foliage,
+appeared in the regions below.  Recovering herself, she reached what she
+deemed a place of security.
+
+"Now, dear, we are safe--at least for a time," said Aileen, arranging
+her friend's disordered dress.  "Take care, however; you must be careful
+to trust only to limbs of the tree; the foliage cannot bear you.  Look,
+you can see through it to the ground.  Lean your back against this fork
+here; sit on this place--so; put your foot on this branch, there--why,
+it is almost like a chair--hush!"
+
+It was quite unnecessary to impose silence.  They both sat among the
+branches as motionless as though they had been parts of the tree.  They
+scarce dared to breathe, while they peered through the foliage and
+beheld the dim form of a man advancing.
+
+Whoever he was, the man seemed to growl as though he had been allied to
+the beasts of the jungle.  He came forward slowly, looking from side to
+side with caution, and, stopping directly under the tree of refuge,
+said--
+
+"Musha!" with great emphasis, then placing both hands to his mouth he
+gave vent to a roar that would have done credit to a South African lion.
+
+As neither of the ladies understood the meaning of "Musha," they
+listened to the roar with a thrill of unutterable horror.  Miss Pritty,
+as if fascinated, leant forward, the better to observe her foe.
+Suddenly, like the lightning-flash, and without even a shriek of
+warning, she lost her balance and dived head-foremost into the bosom of
+Rooney Machowl!
+
+Well was it for the bold Irishman that Miss Pritty was a light weight,
+else had he that day ended his career in the jungles of Borneo.  As it
+was he went down like a shock of corn before the scythe, grasped Miss
+Pritty in an embrace such as she had never before even imagined, and
+proceeded to punch her poor head.
+
+Then, indeed, she made herself known by a powerful scream that caused
+the horrified man to loose his hold and spring up with a torrent of
+apologies and self-abuse.
+
+"Och! it's not possible.  Baste that I am!  Oh ma cushla astore, forgive
+me!  It's a gorilla I thought ye was, sure, for I hadn't time to look,
+d'ee see.  It's wishin' you had staved in my timbers intirely I am."
+
+Rooney's exclamations were here cut short, and turned on another theme
+by the sudden appearance of Aileen Hazlit, who soon found that her
+friend was more alarmed than hurt.
+
+"I _am_ so glad you have found us, and so surprised," said Aileen, who
+had met Rooney in England during one of her visits to Joe Baldwin's
+abode, "for we have quite lost ourselves."
+
+Rooney looked a little awkwardly at the fair girl.
+
+"Sure, it's glad I am myself that I've found you," he said, "but faix,
+I'm lost too!  I do belave, howiver, that somebody's goin' to find us."
+
+He turned his head aside and listened intently.  Presently a cry was
+heard at no great distance.  It was replied to by another.
+
+"Pirates," said Rooney, in a hoarse whisper, drawing a cutlass from his
+belt.
+
+As he spoke another cry was heard in an opposite direction.
+
+"Friends!" exclaimed Rooney.  "Sure we're surrounded by friends and
+foes!  Come, git into the tree, ladies.  I'll give a hail, an' if the
+varmin should come up first, I'll kape them in play.  Don't show yer
+purty faces dears, an' be as aisy as ye can."
+
+So saying, Rooney gave vent to a true British cheer, while the ladies
+ascended once more into the tree.
+
+The cheer was instantly replied to by counter-cheers and howls.  A
+minute more and two half-naked Malays, armed with spears and long
+shields, bounded into the clear space and attacked the Irishman, but
+Rooney had placed his back to the tree and was ready for them.  Although
+he was scarcely a match for two such men, whose peculiar and bounding
+mode of fighting he did not understand, Rooney nevertheless quickly
+disabled one by the sheer strength of a blow, which cut through the
+shield and wounded his enemy's head.  The other he sprang upon like a
+wild cat and grappled with him.  At that moment a third Malay glided on
+the scene, brandished his spear, and stood by the swaying combatants
+awaiting a favourable opportunity to thrust his weapon into the white
+man's back.  He stood right under the branch in which the ladies were
+concealed.  Miss Pritty saw his intention and felt convinced he would
+succeed.  In desperate alarm at the danger of her protector, and
+horrified at what she was about to do, she grasped the pirate by the
+hair and tore out a large handful, at the same time uttering shriek upon
+shriek mingled with appalling bursts of hysterical laughter.
+
+This saved Rooney, who turned just in time to protect himself, but as he
+did so six more pirates leaped upon the scene and overpowered him.  They
+also sprung up the tree, and quickly brought down the ladies.
+
+Poor Miss Pritty had gone fairly off into violent hysterics by that
+time.  She was carried down in the arms of a pirate, into whose hair she
+had permanently fastened her ten fingers, while she filled the woods
+with unearthly cries.
+
+Before any advantage, however, could be taken of this success, a cheer
+was heard close at hand.  Next moment, Edgar Berrington burst on the
+scene, followed by the captain of the gun-boat and a body of men.  The
+pirates did not await them, but fled instantly.
+
+"Fire a volley, lads," shouted the captain.
+
+The men obeyed, and one or two yells told that it had not been without
+effect, nevertheless, all the miscreants escaped with the exception of
+Miss Pritty's captive, who, unable to clear himself from her close
+embrace with sufficient speed, was collared and throttled into
+submission by Edgar.
+
+"We'll divide our force here," said the captain.  "I'll follow them up a
+while with some of the boys, and you, Mr Berrington, will return with
+the rest to the gun-boat, in charge of the ladies."
+
+Edgar was about to object, but the captain silenced him at once with:--
+
+"Come, sir, you're under my orders.  Do what I bid you."
+
+There was no resisting this, so Edgar turned, not unwillingly, and gave
+his arm to Aileen, who seized it with a grateful eagerness that sent a
+thrill of delight through all his frame.
+
+"Come along, my lads," he cried.  "Take care of Miss Pritty, poor
+thing!" he added, turning to Rooney.
+
+The Irishman obeyed.  He stooped and lifted her in his arms.  She had
+been lying in a state of semi-insensibility with her eyes tightly shut.
+The moment she felt herself being lifted, she clutched her protector by
+the hair, and held on, shrieking.
+
+"Ay, tug away, cushla!" said Rooney, as he moved after his friends,
+"it's not much of _that_ ye'll manage to root up."
+
+"Have you seen my father?" asked Aileen, anxiously, as they moved on
+together.
+
+"He is safe," answered Edgar; "I found him exhausted in the hut which he
+told me you had occupied, and had him conveyed on board the gun-boat."
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed Aileen, fervently, "but," she added, with a
+slight shudder, "it seemed to me as if his mind had been unhinged--and--
+and he was wounded."
+
+"A mere scratch on the temple," said Edgar, "yet sufficient, with
+surrounding circumstances, to account for the temporary madness that
+assailed him.  Fear not, Aileen, he is safe now, through God's mercy,
+and you shall soon be safe beside him."
+
+A feeling of deep gratitude and restfulness stole over the poor girl's
+spirit, and she almost wept for joy as they stepped into a small boat,
+and were rowed over the calm water to the gun-boat, which lay, black and
+still, under the deep shadow of a bank of luxuriant foliage.
+
+"My child," said Mr Hazlit, sadly, as they reclined together on the
+couches of the little cabin, while Edgar sat on a camp-stool near them,
+Miss Pritty having been consigned to the captain's berth, "they tell me
+that this fearful work is not yet over.  There is to be more fighting
+and bloodshed."
+
+"How?  What do you mean, papa?"
+
+"Tell her, Mr Berrington."
+
+"We have just had news sent us by a fast row-boat from a town about
+sixty miles along the coast that a large fleet of pirate-prows have been
+seen off the coast.  They have taken several trading prows, and captured
+many men belonging to the Sarawak territory, besides several Chinamen.
+When our captain completes his work on shore here, he intends to start
+at once in chase of these pirates, in the hope of destroying them and
+freeing their slaves."
+
+"God help us," said Aileen, "it seems as if men in this part of the
+world, gloried in pouring out blood like water."
+
+"Some of them undoubtedly do.  Perhaps it may reconcile your mind to the
+destruction of these miscreants to know that for every one killed there
+will probably be saved the lives of dozens--if not hundreds--of innocent
+men and women, whom he would have murdered, or doomed to hopeless
+slavery, in the course of his wicked career."
+
+As Edgar spoke, the sound of oars was heard.  Presently the captain and
+his men leaped on deck.  The moorings were cast loose, our hero took his
+station at the engine, and the gun-boat glided swiftly down the river,
+leaving the pirate stronghold in flames.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+LIFTS THE CURTAIN SLIGHTLY AS TO PIRATICAL DOINGS IN THE NINETEENTH
+CENTURY.
+
+Silently they glided on, until the shades of evening fell, and the
+brilliant stars came out.  Silently, for the gun-boat went at
+half-speed; silently, for her engines were good and new, and worked
+softly without the jarring of age or mal-construction; silently, because
+those on board were in a tranquil mood, and did not raise their voices
+above a low murmur.
+
+"How romantic," said Aileen, in a low tone, as she sat by the stern-rail
+and watched the gleaming track left by the screw; "how enjoyable, if we
+could only forget what has just passed, and the object we have in view.
+The world is a mystery!"
+
+"Is this the first time you have thought so?" asked Edgar, who leaned on
+the rail near her.
+
+"Well, I think it is," she replied, with a sad smile; "at least it is
+the first time I have been deeply impressed with the thought."
+
+"It is a very old thought," returned the youth, musingly.  "Philosophers
+from the earliest times have recorded it.  Thoughtful men and women of
+all ages have expressed it.  Young people of all generations fancy they
+have discovered it.  The Bible is a key which opens up much of it, and
+makes it plain; but much still remains in mystery, and I suppose will
+continue so to remain, till Time merges in Eternity."
+
+"Do you think such mystery undesirable?" asked Aileen.
+
+"No.  It is desirable, else God would not have left it there.  `Shall
+not the Judge of all the earth do right?'  There is a need be, I doubt
+not, for mystery, and there is no need for our being distressed by it,
+for what we know not now we shall know hereafter.  But there is much
+cause for anxiety lest we, either through wilful ignorance, or
+carelessness, or stupidity, should allow that to remain involved in
+mystery which is made plain by revelation.  The way of salvation was an
+insurmountable mystery to me once, but since you gave me that poor man's
+Testament, Aileen, it has become very plain and very dear to me, through
+Jesus Christ."
+
+Aileen thanked God in her heart, and a thrill of gladness filled her,
+but before she could utter a word in reply, the captain came forward and
+said in a low tone:--
+
+"Stop the engine, Mr Berrington.  We'll lie by in this creek till
+day-break."
+
+Edgar went below.  The vibrating of the boat ceased, and an awful
+stillness seemed to sink down upon her as she glided into a little creek
+or bay, which was deeply shaded by mangrove trees.
+
+But the silence did not last long.  It was still three hours from
+daylight, and the captain employed the time in preparations for the
+action which he anticipated on the following day.  The yards were sent
+down; the decks were cleared of all useless incumbrances; the guns were
+got ready; and an attempt was made, to some extent, to disguise the
+vessel, so that, in the event of the pirates being found, the gun-boat
+might get as near as possible without her true character being
+discovered.  The men, meanwhile, who were not engaged in such work,
+busied themselves in sharpening cutlasses and cleaning small arms, while
+they conversed in an undertone.  All was activity and order, without
+fuss or needless noise--the result of a man of the right stamp being in
+command.
+
+"It's a brush we'll be havin' soon," said Rooney Machowl, with a flash
+of the eye which told that he inherited a little of his nation's love of
+fighting.
+
+"Looks like it," replied Maxwell, who sat beside his friend in the midst
+of a group of the Malay crew, rubbing up his cutlass with much interest.
+
+"Does anybody know how many of a crew we have altogether?" asked Rooney.
+
+"I heard the captain say to Mr Berrington," answered Joe Baldwin, who
+was busy cleaning a rifle, "that we've got ninety men all told, which is
+quite enough for a 180-ton vessel.  With these and seven guns we should
+be more than a match for all the pirates of the eastern seas."
+
+"Ho!" exclaimed Ram-stam, looking up from the weapon he was engaged on
+with an amused expression, "you know noting of pirits of dem seas.  Hi!
+Hi!  Wait."
+
+Ram-stam said this with the air of one who held the decided opinion that
+when he _had_ waited Joe would have his views enlarged.
+
+"What, are they such bold fellows?"
+
+"Ho yis, vely muchee bold.  Ca'es for noting.  'Flaid of noting.  Doos
+a'most anyting--'cept what's good."
+
+"Swate cratures," murmured Rooney; "I hope we'll be introdooced to aich
+other soon."
+
+As it is desirable that the reader should have a little more extended
+knowledge of the miscreants referred to, we will retrace our steps in
+time a little, and change the scene.
+
+On one of those sweltering mornings in which the eastern seas appear to
+have a tendency to boil under the influence of the sun, three piratical
+junks might have been seen approaching a small island which lay on the
+sea as if on a mirror.  They were propelled by oars.  The largest of
+these junks was under command of our red-jacketed acquaintance,
+Pungarin.  It was what is termed double-banked, and the oars were pulled
+by "slaves," that is to say, the crews of trading vessels recently
+captured.
+
+Pungarin had more slaves than he knew what to do with on that occasion.
+He had been unusually successful in his captures.  All the white men
+taken had at once been slaughtered, also all who attempted to give the
+pirates trouble in any way, including those who chanced to be too weak,
+ill, or old to work.  In regard to the rest, each man was secured to his
+place at the oar by means of a strip of cane, called rattan, fastened
+round his neck, and a man was appointed to lash them when they showed
+symptoms of flagging.  This the unhappy wretches frequently did, for, as
+on a former occasion to which we have referred, they were made to pull
+continuously without food or water, and occasionally, after dropping
+their oars through exhaustion, it took severe application of the lash,
+and the discovery of some unusually sensitive spot of the body, to rouse
+some of them again to the point of labour.
+
+The junks were strange, uncouth vessels, of considerable size, capable,
+each, of containing a very large crew.  They might almost have been
+styled "life-boats," as they had hollow bamboos wrought into their
+structure in a manner which gave them great buoyancy, besides projecting
+beyond the hulls and forming a sort of outside platform.  On these
+platforms the slaves who rowed were fastened.  In each vessel there were
+at least forty or fifty rowers.
+
+Pungarin walked up and down his poop-deck as if in meditation, paying no
+regard to what was going on around him until a feeble cry was heard from
+one of the rowers,--a middle-aged and sickly man.  The pirate captain
+looked carelessly on, while the overseer flogged this man; but the lash
+failed to arouse him, and the captain ordered the man to desist--but not
+in mercy.
+
+"Over with him," he said, curtly, and then resumed his walk.
+
+The slave-driver drew his knife, and cut the rattan that bound the man,
+who turned his dying eyes on him with an imploring look.
+
+At that moment one of the pirates, who from his dress and bearing seemed
+to occupy a position of authority, stepped upon the platform and looked
+at him.  He gave a brief order to one of his comrades, who brought a
+large piece of cork and fastened it to the slave's neck.  He also
+brought a short spear, with a little flag at its handle.  This he thrust
+a few inches into the fleshy part of his shoulder, and then pushed him
+off the platform into the sea.  Thus the wretched creature was made to
+float, and, as he went astern, some of the pirates amused themselves by
+shooting at him with their muskets.
+
+Now, _gentle_ reader, don't shut your eyes and exclaim, "Oh!  Too
+horrible."  It is _very much_ because of that expression of yours, and
+the shutting of your "gentle," (we would rather say selfish) eyes that
+these accursed facts exist!  Yes, we charge it home on you so-called
+"soft ones" of the earth, that your action,--namely, shutting your
+eyes,--does probably as much, if not more, to perpetuate horrible evil
+as does the action of open godlessness,--that condition which is most
+aptly expressed by the world's maxim, "every man for himself and the
+devil for us all."
+
+Do not imagine that we presume to invent such things or to exaggerate
+for the sake of "sensation."  We relate well-authenticated facts.  We
+entertain strong doubts as to whether devils are, in any degree, worse
+than some among the unsaved human race.  There is great occasion for
+you, reader, whoever you are, to know and ponder such facts as we now
+relate.  We are too apt to regard as being applicable only to the past
+these words, "the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations
+of cruelty."  If we were to fill our book with horrors from beginning to
+end, we should only have scratched the surface of the great and terrible
+truth.  Assuredly now, not less than in days of old, there is urgent
+need of red-hot philanthropy.
+
+But we gladly pass from the cruel to the cunning phase of piratical
+life.  These villains had at that time been about six months on their
+cruise.  They had made the entire circuit of Borneo, murdering, and
+plundering, and striking terror and desolation wherever they went.  The
+scenes enacted by Norse pirates in the tenth century were repeated in
+the middle of the nineteenth by a people who, _unlike_ the Norsemen, had
+no regard whatever for law; and now they were returning home laden with
+booty.
+
+The pirate-chiefs usual mode of procedure on such occasions was to go to
+an unfrequented island in the neighbourhood of Singapore, land all his
+warlike stores and prisoners, and, leaving them under a strong guard,
+proceed with two of his prows loaded to the gunwale with merchandise, to
+the port.  The merchant-boats which he had previously sunk, and whose
+crews he had murdered, provided him with "port-clearances," which
+enabled him to personate the trader and regularly enter and clear the
+customs at Singapore, so as to cause no suspicion; then, returning to
+his place of rendezvous with a fresh supply of guns, ammunition,
+etcetera, he divided his ill-gotten gains and recommenced his piratical
+expeditions.
+
+On the present occasion, however, Pungarin had received intelligence
+which induced him to modify his plans.  Hearing that a gun-boat was in
+pursuit of him, he determined to change his rendezvous for the time.
+
+The weary slaves were therefore again set to work at the oars; but "kind
+Nature" took pity on them.  A breeze sprang up and increased into a
+gale, under the influence of which the prows sped out to sea and soon
+left the islands far behind them.
+
+It was while thus attempting to evade their enemy that the pirates had
+the misfortune to run at last into the very jaws of the lion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+A FIGHT WITH MALAY PIRATES.
+
+At six o'clock in the morning, the tide suiting, the gun-boat crept out
+to sea, and steamed slowly along the coast to the southward, keeping a
+good look-out.  They soon discovered sundry prows, but, after ordering
+them to come alongside, found that they were legitimate traders.  Thus
+the day was spent in a vain search, and at night they returned to their
+anchorage, as it was not possible to make any discoveries in the dark.
+
+Next morning, at the same hour, they steamed out to sea again, intending
+to keep about twelve miles off the coast, so as to be able to command a
+broad expanse of water in every direction; but before they had got two
+miles from the anchorage, three prows were observed about four or five
+miles to seaward.
+
+"That looks like the rascals," observed the captain, as he surveyed them
+through the glass.
+
+"Indeed," said Mr Hazlit, who, rather pale and weak from his recent
+unwonted experiences, leaned in a helpless manner on the quarter-rails.
+
+"Yes; they pull forty or fifty oars, double-banked," returned the
+captain, wiping his glass carefully.  "They've got heavy guns on board,
+no doubt.  We shall have to protect our boiler."
+
+The gun-boat was so small that a portion of her steam-case was
+unavoidably exposed above deck.  A shot into this would have been
+disastrous.  Orders were therefore given to surround it with bags of
+coal, which was promptly done.
+
+"And, one of you," said the captain, turning to the man who chanced to
+be nearest him, "go into the cabin and bring up the sofa cushions; we
+shall want them to protect the legs of the men stationed on the poop."
+
+Rooney Machowl happened to be the man who received this order.  He at
+once descended.
+
+"By your lave, Miss," he said, with a bashful air; "I'm sorry to ask a
+lady to git up, but it's the capting's orders--he wants the cushions."
+
+"By all means," said Aileen, with a smile; "why does he want them?"
+
+"Plaze, Miss, to protect our legs, savin' yer presence."
+
+Somewhat puzzled, and not a little amused by the reply, Aileen rose and
+allowed the cushion on which she sat to be removed.  These cushions were
+placed in the nettings on the poop, which was much exposed, to arrest
+the enemy's bullets.
+
+In a few minutes it was seen that the three prows were doing their best
+to get into shoal water, where the steamer could not have followed them.
+In this effort one of them was successful, for although the gun-boat's
+course was changed in order to cut her off, she managed to run on shore,
+whence the pirates immediately opened fire.  The other two, seeing there
+was no possibility of accomplishing the same feat, ceased rowing, and
+also opened fire, at a distance of about five or six hundred yards.
+
+"We shall attack from our port side," said the captain to his chief
+officer; "let the guns be laid accordingly."
+
+The armament of the gun-boat consisted of two nine-pounder guns, one on
+the forecastle, and one on the poop; one twelve-pounder, just before the
+bridge; and four six-pound brass carronades.  These were all soon ready,
+but the order was not given to fire till they had got to within a
+hundred yards of the pirates, who were now pelting them smartly with
+small arms.
+
+The captain stood on the bridge, the most commanding and, at the same
+time, the most exposed position in the vessel.  He wore a cap, from
+under which his black eyes seemed to twinkle with fire and mischief.
+
+He soon observed that the two prows, wincing under his fire, were edging
+for the shore.  With that reckless resolution, therefore, to which all
+true heroes give way at times--not excepting Nelson himself--he resolved
+to run them down.
+
+The recklessness of this consisted in the fact that his vessel was not a
+"ram," but built of comparatively thin plates.  The necessity for it lay
+in the certainty that a few minutes more would enable the prows to gain
+shallow water and escape.
+
+"Besides," thought the captain to himself, as he walked up and down the
+bridge with his hands in his pockets, while bullets whistled round his
+head, "even a _thin_ plate can stand a good strain when struck end-on.
+Never venture, never win!"
+
+Giving the order "full-speed" to the engineer, and "port your helm a
+little--steady" to the man at the wheel, the captain quietly awaited the
+result.
+
+The result was most effective.  The gun-boat went at the prow like a
+war-horse; her sharp bow struck one of the pirate vessels fair amidships
+and cut her in two pieces, launching her crew and captives into the sea!
+
+She then backed astern, and made for the other prow, but she, laying to
+heart the fate of her companion, made for the shore as fast as possible.
+It was in vain.  The gun-boat ran into her and sank her immediately,
+but so nearly had they succeeded in their intention, that there were
+only six inches of water under the steamer's keel when she backed out.
+
+"Lower the boats," shouted the captain, the instant his object had been
+accomplished; and it was not a moment too soon, for the sea all round
+was alive with human beings, some of whom evidently waited to be picked
+up, while others swam vigorously for the shore.  In a short time, about
+a hundred men were rescued, most of whom were slaves--only ten being
+pirates.  There was no difficulty in distinguishing between pirates and
+slaves, because the latter wore the "rattan" round their necks, in
+addition to which their spitting on the pirates, and furiously abusing
+them for past cruelty, and their falling down and kissing the feet of
+their deliverers, made the distinction abundantly clear.
+
+Most of the other pirates gained the shore, but we may here finally
+dismiss them, and relieve the reader's mind by stating that they were
+afterwards hunted down and slain to a man by the natives of that
+district, who entertained a deadly, and very natural hatred of them,
+having suffered much at their hands in time past.
+
+While the rescued captives were going about excitedly telling of the
+shocking barbarities that had been practised on them, the captain
+discovered among them a Singapore native who could speak a little
+English.  Taking this man aft, he questioned him closely.
+
+"Are there any more pirate-junks hereabouts?" he said.
+
+"Yis; tree more."
+
+"Whereaway?"
+
+"Hout seaward.  Not know how far.  Longish way off, me tink.  We was
+sent off from dem last night, after all de goods an' money was tooked
+out of us.  What for, no kin tell.  Where tothers go, no kin tell."
+
+"They've got lots of captives aboard, I suppose?" said the captain.
+
+"Ho!  Great lots," replied the Singapore man.
+
+"And lots of treasure too, no doubt."
+
+"Ho!  Very greater lots of dat."
+
+After obtaining all the information he could from this man and from the
+other passengers, the captain steamed out to sea in a westerly
+direction, keeping a man at the mast-head to look out.  The captives
+were in the meanwhile made as comfortable as circumstances would admit
+of, and the ten pirates were put in irons in the hold.
+
+As the morning advanced, the sun increased in power and splendour.  Not
+a breath of wind ruffled the sea, which shone like a mirror, reflecting
+perfectly the sea-birds that accompanied them.  Everything was so calm
+and peaceful that the captain sent a message to Mr Hazlit and his
+daughter to request them to come up and enjoy the fresh air.
+
+During the brief action described, they had been sent below to be out of
+danger.  They obeyed the summons, and even Miss Pritty was induced by
+Aileen to come on deck.
+
+Poor Miss Pritty!  Her hysterical fit was now quite over, but pale
+cheeks and a trembling exhausted frame told eloquently of her recent
+sufferings.  Mr Hazlit's limbs were also shaky, and his face
+cadaverous, showing that his temporary aberration of reason had told
+upon him.
+
+"Oh _how_ delicious!" exclaimed Miss Pritty, referring to the
+atmosphere, as she sank into an easy-chair which the captain placed for
+her.  "Are these the pirates?" she added, shuddering, as her eyes fell
+on some of the rescued people.
+
+"No, Miss Pritty," answered the captain, "these are the freed captives.
+The pirates are in irons in the hold."
+
+"You had to fight, I suppose?" continued Miss Pritty, shutting her eyes
+and pursing her mouth with the air of one who braces herself to face the
+inevitable.
+
+"Well, we could hardly call it fighting," answered the captain, with a
+smile, as he cleaned the glasses of his telescope and swept the horizon
+carefully; "we had a round or two of the guns, and a few bullets
+whistled about our ears for a little--that was all."
+
+"Was any one wounded--k-killed?" asked Miss Pritty, opening her eyes
+with an anxious look; "and oh!" she added, with a sudden expression of
+horror, as she drew up her feet and glanced downwards, "perhaps the
+decks are--no," she continued sinking back again with a sigh, "they are
+_not_ bloody!"
+
+At that moment the man at the mast-head reported three prows, just
+visible on the horizon ahead.
+
+"I suppose we must go below again," said Aileen, sadly, after the
+captain returned from the bridge, to which he had gone to examine the
+prows in question.
+
+"Not yet, Miss Hazlit.  It will probably be an hour ere we come up with
+them.  You'd better enjoy the morning air while you may.  I'll warn you
+in good time."
+
+Aileen therefore remained on deck for some time with her father, but
+poor Miss Pritty, on the first intimation that more pirates were in
+sight, got up hastily, staggered with a face expressive of the utmost
+horror into the cabin, flung herself into the captain's berth, thrust
+her head under the pillow, piled the clothes over that, and lay there--
+quaking!
+
+She quaked for full half an hour before anything happened.  Then she
+felt a hand trying to remove her superincumbent head-gear.  This induced
+her to hold on tight and shriek, but, recognising Aileen's voice, she
+presently put her face out.
+
+"Don't be so terrified, dear," said Aileen, scarce able to repress a
+smile.
+
+"I _can't_ help it," answered her friend, whimpering; "are the--the
+pirates--"
+
+"They are not far off now.  But don't give way to needless alarm, dear.
+Our captain sent me below because he is going to fight them, and you
+know he is sure to win, for he is a brave man.  He says he'll run them
+all down in a few minutes."
+
+"Oh!" groaned Miss Pritty, and with that, pulling her head in like a
+snail, she resumed quaking.
+
+Poor Aileen, although talking thus bravely to her friend, was by no
+means easy in her own mind, for apart from the fact that they were about
+to engage three pirate-junks, manned by hundreds of desperate men, she
+could not repress her shrinking horror at the bare idea of men talking
+coolly about shedding human blood.  To one of her imaginative nature,
+too, it was no small trial to have to sit alone and inactive in the
+cabin, while the bustle of preparation for war went on overhead; we say
+alone, because her father, although there, was too much exhausted to act
+the part of companion or comforter in any degree.
+
+Meanwhile the gun-boat approached close to the enemy, and it soon became
+apparent that they meant to fight--trusting, no doubt, to their very
+decided superiority in numbers.
+
+"They mean mischief," said the captain, as he shut up his telescope.
+
+"Faix, an' they'll git it too," replied Rooney Machowl, who chanced to
+be near at the time, though the remark was not addressed to him.
+
+To this the captain made no reply, save by a grim curl of his black
+moustache, as he once more ascended to his exposed position on the
+bridge.  From this outlook he could see plainly that the pirates were
+lashing their three prows together, and training all their guns on one
+side, where the attack was expected.  As each prow mounted twelve guns,
+they could thus fire a broadside of thirty-six heavy pieces, besides
+small arms.
+
+The men of the gun-boat were now all at their quarters, eagerly awaiting
+the order to begin.  The captain descended and went round among them, so
+as to inspect everything with his own eye.
+
+"Now, lads," he said, in passing, "remember, not a single shot till I
+give you positive orders."
+
+He returned to the bridge.  Although naturally disinclined to parley
+with scoundrels, he felt that he had a duty to perform, and resolved to
+go close up, and, if possible, induce them to surrender.  But he was
+saved the trouble of attempting a parley, for while yet six hundred
+yards off, a regular volley burst from the sides of the pirate vessels.
+
+Again the black moustache curled, but this time with a touch of
+ferocity, for the shot partly took effect, cutting the rigging to some
+extent, killing one man of the crew, and wounding several.  A
+musket-ball also struck his own cap and knocked it off his head.
+
+"Just hand that up," he said, pointing to the cap.
+
+One of the men obeyed, and the captain, taking a look at the hole,
+replaced it.  Still he gave no order to fire, although the pirates were
+seen to be busily re-loading.
+
+Hanging up to within a hundred yards, the captain looked quickly at his
+men.
+
+"Port, a little," said he to the man at the wheel.
+
+"Are you ready?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sur," from Rooney Machowl, in a deep bass undertone.
+
+"Fire!"
+
+As if but one piece had been fired the whole broadside burst from the
+side of the gun-boat, shaking the little vessel violently.  Miss
+Pritty's voice came up responsive with an unearthly yell!
+
+"Load!" was instantly ordered, and so quickly was it obeyed that before
+the enemy were ready with their second volley the gun-boat had charged
+and fired again, doing great damage.
+
+There being no wind, a dense cloud of smoke from the three volleys
+settled down on the water and completely hid them and their enemy from
+each other.
+
+"Steam ahead, full-speed," signalled the captain to Edgar Berrington.
+
+The screw instantly whirled, and under cover of the dense veil, the
+active little vessel moved away just in time to escape a murderous
+volley of shot, shrapnel, and ball, which was poured into the smoke she
+had left behind her!  The pirates followed this up with a wild cheer and
+a brisk fire of musketry, which only ceased when, discovering their
+mistake, they beheld the gun-boat emerge from the smoke, steer round the
+end of their line, and, slewing to port, deliver another volley of great
+guns and small arms, that raked them all from stem to stern, doing
+terrible execution both to the prows and their crews.
+
+Thus the gun-boat played round and round the enemy, always maintaining
+the distance of about a hundred yards, and keeping up the action as fast
+as they could load and fire.  The pirates, on their part, fought with
+the courage of trained men of war and with the ferocity of tigers at
+bay--who ask and expect no mercy.  And thus they fought for no less than
+three hours.
+
+One reason why the pirates were able to hold out so long lay in the fact
+that their prows were surrounded by a thick matting made from a certain
+palm-leaf, which, although it could not prevent shot from passing
+through, concealed the men who lay behind it, and so prevented the
+riflemen of the gun-boat crew from taking aim.  In order to get the
+better of this difficulty, the latter fell into the way of watching for
+the puffs of smoke that came through the matting, and firing at these
+puffs.
+
+Conspicuous among the pirates for his coolness, daring, and utter
+disregard of his life, was one tall, powerful fellow in a red jacket.
+Every one guessed him at once to be a chief among the pirates, and this
+question was soon settled by some of the recently freed captives, who
+recognised him as being the great chief of the fleet--Pungarin.
+
+He went about the deck of his prow, which occupied the centre of the
+line, encouraging his men to rapid action, and often pointing the guns
+with his own hands.
+
+Many rifle-shots were fired at him, but in vain.  He seemed to bear a
+charmed life.
+
+"Can none of you pick him off?" said the captain of the gun-boat.
+
+Twenty rifles replied to the words, and the man's red jacket was seen to
+be torn in many places, but himself remained unhurt!
+
+At last the pirate-guns were silenced in two of the prows, only the
+chief's maintaining an obstinate fire.  This vessel would have been much
+sooner silenced, no doubt, but for the ferocity of Pungarin.  When his
+men, driven at last by the deadly fire of the assailants, forsook a gun
+and sought refuge behind the matting, the pirate-chief would promptly
+step forward and serve the gun himself, until very shame sometimes
+forced his men to return.
+
+At last all the guns were disabled but one, and that one Pungarin
+continued to serve, uninjured, amid a perfect storm of shot.
+
+"The fellow has got the lives of twenty cats," growled the captain, as
+he turned to give directions to the steersman, which brought the
+gun-boat still closer to the enemy.  The effect of a well-delivered
+volley at this shorter range was to cut the fastenings of the three
+prows, thus permitting them to separate.
+
+This was precisely what was desired, the captain having resolved to run
+the pirates down one at a time, as he had done before.  He would not
+board them, because their superior numbers and desperate ferocity would
+have insured a hand-to-hand conflict, which, even at the best, might
+have cost the lives of many of his men.  The instant, therefore, that
+the prows were cut adrift, he gave the order to back astern.  At the
+same moment Pungarin was heard to give an order to his men, which
+resulted in the oars being got out and manned by the surviving pirates
+and slaves, who rowed for the land as fast as possible.  Their escape in
+this way, however, the captain knew to be impossible, for they were now
+fully twenty-five miles from shore.  He therefore went about his work
+leisurely.
+
+Backing a considerable distance, so as to enable his little war-horse to
+get up full-speed, he took careful aim as he charged.
+
+It was interesting to watch the swart faces and glaring eyeballs of
+those on board the first prow, as the gun-boat bore down on them.  Some
+glared from hate, others obviously from fear, and all seemed a little
+uncertain as to what was about to be done.  This uncertainty was only
+dispelled when the prow was struck amidships, and, with a tremendous
+crash, cut clean in two.  Simultaneous with the crash arose a yell of
+mingled anger and despair, as pirates and prisoners were all hurled into
+the sea.
+
+Again the order was given to go astern.  The steamer immediately backed
+out of the wreck.  After gaining a sufficient distance the engines were
+reversed, and the little vessel bore down on another prow.
+
+This one made violent efforts to evade the blow, but the captain had
+anticipated as much.  His orders were sharp; his steersman was prompt.
+The cut-water did its duty nobly, and in a few seconds another pirate
+vessel was sent to the bottom.
+
+The sea was now swarming with human beings in all directions, some
+clinging to any scrap of wreck they could lay hold of, some paddling
+about aimlessly and roaring for help, while others swam steadily in the
+direction of the land.  These last were chiefly pirates, who had
+evidently made up their minds to escape or drown rather than be
+captured.
+
+As it was evident that many of those struggling in the water would be
+drowned in a few minutes, the captain delayed his attack on the third
+prow, and ordered the boats to be lowered.  This was done promptly, and
+many of the poor victims captured by the pirates were rescued and
+brought on board.  A few of the pirates were also picked up.  These had
+jumped overboard with their "creases" and other weapons in their hands,
+and were so vindictive as to show fight furiously in the water when the
+sailors attempted to save them.  Many of the men suffered from this.
+Poor Rooney Machowl was among the number.
+
+He pulled the bow-oar of his boat, and hauled it in on drawing near to
+any one, so as to be ready to catch the hand of the swimmer, or make a
+grasp at him.  As they approached one of the swimmers, Rooney observed
+that he had a short twisted sword in his hand, and that he looked over
+his shoulder with a fierce scowl.  Nevertheless, as he leaned over to
+the rescue, it did not occur to the worthy man that the swimmer meant
+mischief, until he saw the twisted sword leap from the water, and felt
+the point of his nose almost severed from his face!
+
+"Och!  You spalpeen," cried Rooney, with a yell of intense indignation
+and pain.
+
+He was about to follow this up with a blow from his powerful fist that
+would have sent the pirate at least a fathom of the way down to the
+bottom, but the sword again leaped upwards, causing him to start back as
+it flashed close past his cheek, and went right over the boat into the
+sea.  At the same moment a Malay seized the pirate by an ear, another
+grasped him by an arm, and he was quickly hauled inboard and bound.
+"Here, Joe Baldwin," cried Rooney to his comrade, who pulled an oar near
+the stern of the boat, "for anny favour lind a hand to fix on the pint
+o' my poor nose.  It was niver purty, but och!  It's ruinated now past
+redimption."
+
+"Not a bit, man," said Joe, as he bound up the injured member by the
+simple process of tying a kerchief right round his friend's face and
+head; "it'll be handsomer than ever.  There was always too much of it.
+You can afford to have it reduced."
+
+Rooney did not quite seem to appreciate this comforting remark; however,
+after his nose was bound he and the rest of the boat's crew continued
+their work, and soon returned on board the gun-boat with a mixed lot of
+pirates and captives.  Of course the rescuers were more careful in
+approaching the swimmers after Rooney's misfortune, but in spite of this
+many of them were wounded by the pirates slashing at them with their
+swords and knives, or flinging these weapons violently into the boats.
+
+In a short time all were saved who yet remained above water.  Then the
+boats were hauled up and the steamer gave chase to the prow in charge of
+the pirate captain, which was by that time far away on the horizon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+THE FIGHT CONCLUDED.
+
+The nautical proverb saith that "A stern chase is a long one;" but that
+proverb, to make it perfect and universally applicable, should have been
+prefaced by the words "All things being equal."
+
+In the present case all things were not equal.  The gun-boat was a fast
+steamer; the chase was a slow row-boat, insufficiently manned by tired
+and wounded men.  But many of them were desperate men.  Their leader was
+an arch-fiend of resolution and ferocity.  He knew that escape, in the
+circumstances, was impossible.  He was well aware of the fate that
+awaited him if taken.  He therefore made up his mind to give his enemies
+as much trouble as possible, to delay their triumph and cause it to cost
+them dear, and, in every practicable way that might occur, to thwart and
+worry them to the end.
+
+Animated by such a spirit, he managed to encourage his men, and to
+terrify and lash his slaves to almost superhuman exertions, so that
+before being overtaken they approached considerably nearer to the shore
+than would otherwise have been the case.  This, as it afterwards turned
+out, resulted in a benefit to some of those in the gun-boat, which they
+did not think of at the time.  As they overtook the prow, Pungarin
+ordered the starboard rowers to cease.  Those on the port side continued
+to pull, and in a few seconds the prow's broadside was brought to bear
+on the approaching enemy.  Not till they were within a hundred yards did
+the pirate leader again speak.  Then his powerful voice resounded
+through his vessel:--
+
+"Fire!"
+
+At the word every piece on board the prow, great and small, belched
+forth a volume of smoke, flame, and metal, but the result was trifling.
+In his anxiety to do deadly execution, the pirate had overdone his work.
+He had allowed his foe to come too close, and most of the discharge
+from the heavy guns passed over her, while the men with small arms,
+rendered nervous by prolonged delay, fired hastily, and, therefore,
+badly.  A few wounds were suffered, and many narrow escapes were made,
+but in other respects the discharge passed by harmlessly.  The captain,
+in his exposed and elevated position on the bridge, felt, indeed, as if
+a thunder-shower of iron hail had passed, not only round, but through
+him!  He paid no regard to it, however, but held straight on.  Next
+moment there was a dire collision; the prow went under water, and the
+surface of the sea was covered with shouting and struggling men.
+
+The boats were quickly lowered, as on the previous occasion, and most of
+the people were rescued, though, of course, some who could not swim were
+drowned.
+
+The scene that now ensued was very exciting, and in some respects very
+terrible, for, besides the gurgling cries of the perishing, there were
+the defiant yells of the pirates, who, more fiercely than those in the
+other prows, resisted being taken alive, and used their creases and
+knives with deadly effect.
+
+This naturally filled the conquerors with such indignation that in many
+cases they killed the pirates who showed fight, instead of disarming and
+capturing them.
+
+At last every one in the water was either saved, killed, drowned, or
+captured, with the exception of one man, whose red jacket clearly
+pointed him out as the pirate-chief.  Being greatly superior to his
+fellows in mental and physical powers, it was natural that he should
+excel them in his efforts to escape.  Even after the whole affair was
+over, this man, who might have been a hero in other circumstances,
+continued to baffle his pursuers.
+
+In the boat which finally captured him was the Singapore man already
+mentioned.  This man, for reasons best known to himself, had a bitter
+hatred of Pungarin, and was the chief cause of the boat in which he
+pulled an oar being kept in close pursuit of the pirate-chief.
+
+"Dis way," he cried, when the general _melee_ was drawing to a close.
+"Yonder is de red-coat.  He make for de shore."
+
+The steersman at once turned in the direction indicated, which brought
+them close to the gun-boat.
+
+Pungarin's keen eye quickly observed that they were making towards him,
+although the water around him swarmed with other men.  He at once dived
+and came up close to the side of the vessel, under its quarter, and in
+dangerous proximity to its screw.  The boldness of the course might have
+diverted attention from him for a time, but his one touch of vanity--the
+red jacket--betrayed him.  He was soon observed.  A cry was given.  His
+sharp-eyed enemy the Singapore man saw him, and the boat was once more
+pulled towards its mark.  But Pungarin dived like an otter--not only
+under the boat, but under the steamer also; coming up on the other side,
+and resting while they sought for him.  Again they discovered him.
+Again he passed under the ship's bottom, and this time continued his
+dive onwards towards the shore.  When his power of remaining under water
+failed, he came gently to the surface, turning on his back, so that only
+his mouth and nose appeared.
+
+One full breath sufficed, and he dived again without having been
+observed.  If Pungarin had adopted this plan while the boats were busy
+capturing his comrades, it is possible that he might have escaped, for
+his swimming powers and endurance were very great; but it was now too
+late.  When he rose the second time to the surface, the affair was over,
+and men's minds were free to fix entirely on himself.  Just then, too,
+he thought it advisable to put his head fully out of the water in order
+to see that he had kept in the right direction.
+
+He was instantly observed by his Singapore enemy, and the chase was
+resumed.
+
+It is almost unnecessary to say that it terminated unfavourably for the
+pirate-chief.  For several minutes he continued to dive under the boat
+while they tried to seize him, and wounded some of the men nearest to
+him; but his Herculean powers began at last to fail, and he finally
+floated on the surface as if helpless.
+
+Even this was a ruse, for no sooner was the boat near enough, and the
+Singapore man within reach of his arm, than he raised himself, and made
+a cut at that individual with such good will that he split his skull
+across down nearly to the ears.
+
+Next moment he was hauled into the boat and bound hand and foot.
+
+The scene on board the gun-boat now was a very terrible one.  Every man
+there was more or less begrimed with powder and smoke, or bespattered
+with blood and soaked with water, while all round the decks the wounded
+were sitting or lying awaiting their turn of being attended to, and
+groaning more or less with pain.
+
+On calling the roll after the action was over, it was found that the
+loss suffered by the gun-boat crew was two men killed and eighteen
+wounded--a very small number considering the time during which the
+affair had lasted, and the vigour with which the pirates had fought.
+
+And now was beautifully exemplified the advantage of a man possessing a
+"little knowledge"--falsely styled "a dangerous thing"--over a man who
+possesses _no_ knowledge.  Now, also, was exhibited the power and
+courage that are latent in true womanhood.
+
+There was no surgeon on board of that gun-boat, and, with the exception
+of Edgar Berrington, there was not a man possessed of a single scrap of
+surgical knowledge deeper than that required for the binding up of a cut
+finger.
+
+As we have already shown, our hero had an inquiring mind.  While at
+college he had become intimately acquainted with, and interested in, one
+or two medical students, with whom he conversed so much and so
+frequently about their studies, that he became quite familiar with
+these, and with their medical and surgical phraseology, so that people
+frequently mistook him for a student of medicine.  Being gifted with a
+mechanical turn of mind, he talked with special interest on surgery;
+discussed difficulties, propounded theories, and visited the hospitals,
+the dissecting-rooms, and the operating-theatres frequently.  Thus he
+came, unintentionally, to possess a considerable amount of surgical
+knowledge, and when, at last, he was thrown providentially into a
+position where no trained man could be found, and urgent need for one
+existed, he came forward and did his best like a man.
+
+Aileen Hazlit also, on being told that there was need of a woman's
+tender hand in such work, at once overcame her natural repugnance to
+scenes of blood; she proceeded on deck, and, with a beating heart but
+steady hand, went to work like a trained disciple of Florence
+Nightingale.
+
+To the credit of the timid, and for the encouragement of the weak, we
+have to add that Miss Pritty likewise became a true heroine!
+
+No average individual, male or female, can by any effort of imagination
+attain to the faintest idea of poor Miss Pritty's horror at the sight of
+"_blood_!"--"_human gore_!" particularly.  Nevertheless Miss Pritty,
+encouraged by her friend's example, rose to the occasion.  With a face
+and lips so deadly pale that one might have been justified in believing
+that all the blood on the decks had flowed therefrom, she went about
+among the wounded, assisting Aileen in every possible way with her eyes
+shut.  She did indeed open them when it was absolutely necessary to do
+so, but shut them again instantly on the necessity for vision passing
+away.  She cut short bandages when directed so to do; she held threads
+or tapes; she tore up shirts, and slips, and other linen garments, with
+the most reckless disregard of propriety; she wiped away blood from
+wounds (under direction), and moistened many dry lips with a sponge, and
+brushed beads of perspiration from pale brows--like a heroine.
+
+Meanwhile Edgar went about actively, rejoicing in his new-found capacity
+to alleviate human suffering.  What the Faculty would have thought of
+him we know not.  All on board the gun-boat venerated him as a most
+perfect surgeon.  His natural neatness of hand stood him in good stead,
+for men were bleeding to death all round him, and in order to save some
+it was necessary that he should use despatch with others.  Of course he
+attended to the most critical cases first, except in the case of those
+who were so hopelessly injured as to be obviously beyond the reach of
+benefit from man.  From these he turned sadly away, after whispering to
+them an earnest word or two about the Saviour of mankind--to those of
+them at least who understood English.  To waste time with these he felt
+would be to rob hopeful cases of a chance.  All simple and easy cases of
+bandaging he left to the captain and his chief officer.  Joe Baldwin,
+being a cool steady man, was appointed to act as his own assistant.
+
+From one to another he passed unweariedly, cutting off portions of torn
+flesh, extracting bullets, setting broken bones, taking up and tying
+severed arteries, sewing together the edges of gaping wounds, and
+completing the amputation of limbs, in regard to which the operation had
+been begun--sometimes nearly finished--by cannon shot.
+
+"How terribly some of the poor wretches have been starved!" muttered
+Edgar as he bent over one of the captives, attempting to draw together
+the edges of a sword-cut in his arm; "why, there is not enough of flesh
+on him to cover his wound."
+
+"There an't much, sir," assented Joe Baldwin, in a sympathetic tone, as
+he stood close by holding the needle and thread in readiness.  "There's
+one man for'ard, sir, that I saw in passing to the chest for this
+thread, that has scarcely as much flesh on him as would bait a rat-trap.
+But he seems quite contented, poor fellow, at bein' freed from slavery,
+and don't seem to mind much the want o' flesh and blood.  Perhaps he
+counts on gettin' these back again."
+
+"Hm!  These are not so easily regained when lost as you seem to imagine,
+my friend," exclaimed a pompous but rather weak voice.  Joe looked up.
+It was Mr Hazlit, whose bloodless countenance and shrunken condition
+had become more apparent than ever after he had been enabled to reclothe
+himself in the garments of civilisation.
+
+"Why, sir," said Joe, gently, "you seem to have bin badly shaken.  Not
+bin wounded, I hope, sir?"
+
+"No,--at least not in body," replied the merchant, with a faint smile
+and shake of the head; "but I've been sadly bruised and broken in
+spirit."
+
+Joe, remembering somewhat of Mr Hazlit's former state of spirit, had
+almost congratulated him on the beneficial change before it occurred
+that his meaning in doing so might have been misunderstood.  He
+therefore coughed slightly and said, "Ah--indeed!"
+
+"Yes, indeed, my man," returned the merchant; "but I have reason to be
+supremely thankful that I am here now in _any_ condition of mind and
+body worthy of being recognised."
+
+As the amateur surgeon here desired Joe to assist him in moving his
+patient a little, Mr Hazlit turned away, in a stooping attitude because
+of weakness, and, with his vest flapping against the place where his
+chief development had once been, shuffled slowly towards the
+quarter-deck.
+
+It was at this time that the boat which captured Pungarin came
+alongside, and there was a general movement of curiosity towards the
+gangway as he was passed on board.
+
+The hands of the pirate-chief were tied behind his back, but otherwise
+he was free, the cords that had bound his legs having been cast loose.
+
+A howl of execration burst from the captives when they saw him, and
+several ran forward with the evident intention of spitting on him, but
+these were promptly checked by the sailors.
+
+Pungarin drew himself up and stood calmly, but not defiantly, as if
+waiting orders.  There was no expression on his bold countenance save
+that of stern indifference for the crowd around him, over whose heads he
+gazed quietly out to sea.  His brow remained as unflushed and his
+breathing as gentle as though his struggles for life had occurred weeks
+ago, though the wet garments and the ragged red jacket told eloquently
+of the share he had taken in the recent fight.
+
+"Take him below and put him in irons," said the captain.
+
+"Please, sir," remarked the man whose duty it was to secure the
+prisoners, "we've got no more irons on board.  We had only thirty pair,
+and there's now thirty-eight prisoners in the hold."
+
+"Secure him with ropes, then," returned the captain;--"where is Mr
+Berrington?" he added, looking round hurriedly.
+
+"For'ard, sir, lookin' after the wounded," answered a sailor.
+
+While the pirate-chief was led below, the captain walked quickly to the
+place where Edgar was busy.
+
+"Can you spare a minute?" he asked.
+
+"Not easily," said Edgar, who had just finished the dressing with which
+we left him engaged; "there are several here who require prompt
+attention; but of course if the case is urgent--"
+
+"It _is_ urgent: come and see."
+
+Without a word our amateur surgeon rose and walked after the captain,
+who led him to the companion-hatch, leaning against which he found the
+Singapore man, with his head split across and apparently cut down nearly
+from ear to ear.  From this awful wound two small spouts of blood, about
+the thickness of a coarse thread, rose a foot and a half into the air.
+We use no exaggeration, reader, in describing this.  We almost quote
+verbatim the words of a most trustworthy eye-witness from whose lips we
+received the account.
+
+The man looked anxiously at Edgar, who turned at once to the captain and
+said in an undertone, but hurriedly, "I can be of no use here.  It is
+quite impossible that he can live.  To attempt anything would really be
+taking up time that is of vast importance to more hopeful cases."
+
+"Sir, do try," faltered the poor man in English.
+
+"Ha!  You speak English?" said Edgar, turning quickly towards him;
+"forgive me, my poor fellow, I did not know that you understood--"
+
+"Yis, me speak Engleesh.  Me Singapore man.  Go for vist me friends
+here.  Cotch by pirits.  Do try, doctir."
+
+While he was speaking Edgar quickly took off the man's necktie and bound
+it round his head; then, using a little piece of wood as a lever, he
+passed it through the tie and twisted it until the two sides of the
+gaping gash were brought together, which operation stopped the bleeding
+at once.  This done he hastily left him; but it will interest the reader
+to know that this Singapore man actually recovered from his terrible
+wound after a month of hospital treatment.  He was afterwards taken over
+to Singapore as a natural curiosity, and exhibited there to several
+doctors who had refused to believe the story.  For aught we know to the
+contrary, the man may be alive and well at the present day.  Certain it
+is that his cure at that time was complete.  [Note.  We were told this
+fact by a trustworthy eye-witness.]
+
+It was evening before all the wounds were dressed, and it was dark night
+ere the disorder caused by the action and its consequences were removed,
+and the gun-boat restored to somewhat of its wonted tidiness and
+appearance of comfort.  But there was little comfort on board during the
+silence of that long night, which seemed to many as though it would
+never end; and which, in the case of a few, ended in Eternity.
+
+Although silence began to descend on all, sleep was not there.
+Excitement, fatigue, and the awful scenes they had witnessed, drove it
+from the pillows of Aileen and her friend.  Frequent calls for the aid
+of the surgeon put anything like refreshing rest--much though he
+required it--quite out of the question, and at whatever hour of the
+night or early morning he entered the temporary hospital where the
+sufferers lay, he was sure to be met by the white flash of the many eyes
+in haggard swart faces that turned eagerly and expectantly towards him--
+proving that sleep had little or no influence there.
+
+There was less of this want of repose, strange to say, in another part
+of the vessel.
+
+Down in the dark hold, where one feeble lamp cast a mere apology for
+light on the wretched surroundings, many of the pirates slept soundly.
+Their days were numbered--each one knew that full well--yet they slept.
+Their hearts ought to have been fall of dark forebodings, but they
+slumbered--some of them with the profound quietude of infants!  One
+might wonder at this were it not a familiar fact.  This condition of
+"the wicked" has been observed in every age, and is stated in holy writ.
+
+But _all_ were not asleep in that dismal prison-house.  There were among
+them, it seemed, a few who were troubled with fears--perhaps some who
+had consciences not yet utterly seared.  At all events, two or three of
+them moved uneasily as they sat huddled together, for there was little
+room for so many in such a confined space, and now and then a bursting
+sigh escaped.  But such evidences of weakness, if such it may be called,
+were few.  For the most part silence reigned.  In mercy the captain had
+ordered a chink of the hatch to be left open, and through this the stars
+shone down into the dark chamber.
+
+Looking up at these, in statue-like silence, sat the pirate-chief.  No
+one had spoken to him, and he had spoken to none since his entry there.
+Sleep did not visit _his_ eyes, nor rest his heart, yet he sat perfectly
+still, hour after hour.  Perchance he experienced the rest resulting
+from an iron will that abides its approaching time for action.
+
+The tending of the wounded, the cleansing of the ship, the feeding of
+survivors, the shutting up and arranging for the night, had passed
+away--even the groaning of sufferers had dwindled down to its lowest
+ebb--long before Pungarin moved with the intent to carry out his
+purpose.
+
+The night-watch had been set and changed; the guard over the prisoners
+had been relieved; the man in charge of them had gone his rounds and
+examined their fetters; the careful captain had himself inspected
+them,--all was perfectly quiet and deemed safe, when Pungarin at last
+moved, and gave vent to one deep prolonged sigh that seemed to be the
+opening of the escape-valve of his heart, and the out-rush of its
+long-pent-up emotions.
+
+Slowly, but persistently, he began to struggle, and in the darkness of
+the place it seemed to those of his comrades who observed him as if he
+were writhing like a snake.  But little did his fellow-pirates heed.
+Their hearts had long ago ceased to be impressible by horrid fancies.
+They could not help but see what went on before their eyes--it did not
+require an effort to help caring!
+
+We have already said that some of the prisoners had been bound with
+ropes for want of irons.  Pungarin was among the number, and his almost
+superhuman efforts were directed to freeing himself from his rope,
+either by tearing his limbs out of it, or by snapping it asunder.  In
+both attempts he failed.  Sailors are, of all men, least likely to tie a
+knot badly, or to select a rope too weak for its purpose.  The pirate at
+length made this discovery, and sank down exhausted.  But he rose again
+ere long.
+
+Those of the prisoners who had been secured by ropes were fastened to a
+beam overhead.  The place was very low.  None of them could have stood
+erect under this beam.  While endeavouring to free himself, Pungarin had
+struggled on his knees.  He now raised himself as high as possible on
+his knees.  His hands, although tied in front of him, could be raised to
+his head.  He quickly made a loop on the rope and passed it over his
+head.
+
+Just then the guard removed the hatchway, and descended to make the last
+inspection for the night.  Pungarin hastily removed the rope, sank down
+and lay quite still as if in slumber.
+
+Night passed slowly on.  The morning-star arose.  The sun soon chased
+away the shadows, and brought joy to the awaking world.  It even brought
+some degree of comfort to the comfortless on board the gun-boat.  The
+sleepers began to rouse themselves, the wounded to move and relieve
+themselves, if possible, by change of position.  The cook set about his
+preparations for the morning meal, and the captain, who, being
+dangerously close to shore, had taken no rest whatever during the night,
+gave up the charge of his vessel to the first officer, and went below to
+seek that repose which he had so well earned.
+
+Ere he had closed an eye, however, his attention, was arrested by a cry,
+and by a peculiar noise of voices on deck.  There are tones in the human
+voice which need no verbal explanation to tell us that they mean
+something serious.  He jumped up and sprang on deck.  As if by instinct
+he went towards the hatchway leading to the hold.
+
+"He's dead, sir!" were the first words that greeted him.
+
+A glance into the hold was enough to explain.
+
+The pirate-chief had hanged himself.  With difficulty, but with
+inflexible resolution, he had accomplished his purpose by fastening the
+rope round his neck and lifting his legs off the ground, so that he was
+actually found suspended in a sitting posture.
+
+His comrades in guilt, little impressed, apparently, by his fate, sat or
+reclined around his body in callous indifference.
+
+
+
+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 as
+they sat that morning at breakfast, "it is my intention to run to the
+nearest town on the coast--which happens to be Muku--have these pirates
+tried and shot, then proceed to Singapore, and perhaps run thence to the
+coast of China.  I will take you with me if you wish it, or if you
+prefer it, will put you on board the first homeward-bound passenger-ship
+that we can find.  What say you?"
+
+Now, reader, we possess the happy privilege of knowing what Mr Hazlit
+and Edgar thought as well as what they said, and will use that privilege
+for purposes of our own.
+
+In the first place, Edgar thought he should very much like to hear Mr
+Hazlit's views on that subject before speaking.  He therefore said
+nothing.
+
+The course being thus left clear to him, the merchant thought as
+follows:--
+
+"It's very awkward, excessively awkward and vexatious.  Here am I, ever
+so many thousands of miles away from home, without a single sovereign in
+my purse, and without even the right to borrow of the captain, for I
+have nothing certainly available even at home--_Some_!  Why, I _have_ no
+home!"
+
+At this point the poor man's thoughts took form in words.
+
+"Ahem!" he said, clearing his throat, "I am much obliged by your
+kindness (`Don't mention it, sir,' from the captain), and should prefer,
+if possible, to reach Hong-Kong and ship thence for England.  You see, I
+have some business friends there, and as I shall have to replenish my
+purse before--"
+
+"Oh, don't let that stand in the way," said the captain, promptly, "I
+shall be happy to lend what you may require, and--"
+
+"Excuse my interrupting you, captain, and thanks for your obliging
+offer," said Mr Hazlit, holding up his large hand as if to put the
+suggestion away; "but for reasons that it is not necessary to explain, I
+wish 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, who
+has left two very pretty little pieces of property there in the shape of
+a 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 the
+vessel?  I wish to get out of earshot of others."
+
+Mr Hazlit replied, "Certainly, Mr Berrington;" but he thought a good
+deal more than he said.  Among many other things he thought, "Ah!  Here
+it comes at last.  He thinks this a good time to renew his suit, having
+just 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 a
+penniless youth, and I _will_ not give my daughter to such.  It is true
+I am a more thoroughly penniless man than he, for these villains have
+robbed me and Aileen of our rings, chains, and watches, on which I
+counted a good deal,--alas!  But _that_ does not mend matters.  It makes
+them rather worse.  No, it must not be!  My child's interests must be
+considered even before gratitude.  I _must_ be firm."
+
+Thought is wondrously rapid.  Mr Hazlit thought all that and a great
+deal more during the brief passage from the companion-hatch to the
+stern-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 would
+be ungrateful in me to refuse you any favour that I can, _with
+propriety_, 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 not
+intrude on private matters--I would not dare to do so.  I only speak of
+what I saw in English newspapers in Hong-Kong just before I left, and
+therefore refer to what is generally known to all.  And while I
+sincerely deplore what I know, I would not presume to touch on it at all
+were I not certain that the pirates must have robbed you of all you
+possess, 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 fall
+off and fail him in the time of financial difficulty.  Now, the favour I
+ask is that you will consider me--as indeed I am--one of your true
+friends, 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 and
+hurt dignity.
+
+"Nay, but," pleaded Edgar, "I only offer you a loan.  Besides, I want to
+benefit myself," he added, with a smile.  "The fact is, I have made a
+little money in a diving venture, which I and some others undertook to
+these seas, and I receive no interest for it just now.  If you would
+accept of a few hundreds--what you require for present necessities--you
+may 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's
+pleasantry about interest with a smile, but would by no means accept of
+a 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 nothing
+daunted, he tried the second.
+
+"Captain," he said, pacing up and down by the side of that
+black-bearded, black-eyed, and powerful pirate-killer, "what say you to
+run back to the spot where you sank the pirates, and attempt to fish up
+some of the treasure with our diving apparatus?"
+
+"I've thought of that two or three times," replied the captain, shaking
+his head; "but they went down in deep waters,--forty fathoms, at
+least,--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 I
+have on board."
+
+"There is only one objection," said the captain, pausing in his walk; "I
+have learned from the prisoners that before we came up with them,
+Pungarin had had all the money and chief treasure transferred from his
+own prow to another, which was a faster boat, intending to change into
+it himself, but that after our appearing he deferred doing so until the
+fight should be over.  If this be true, then the treasure went down in
+deep 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 is
+probable that at least _some_ of the treasure may have been left in
+Pungarin'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 look
+after his engine, having, in passing, given Rooney Machowl instructions
+to overhaul the diving gear and get it into good working order.
+
+This Rooney did with much consequential display, for he dearly loved to
+bring about that condition of things which is styled "astonishing the
+natives."  As the Malays on board, seamen and captives, were easily
+astonished by the novelties of the western hemisphere, he had no
+difficulty in attracting and chaining their attention to the minutest
+details of his apparatus.  He more than astonished them!
+
+With the able assistance of Baldwin and Maxwell and Ram-stam, he drew
+out, uncoiled, rubbed, examined inch by inch, and re-coiled the
+life-line and the air-tube; unscrewed the various pieces--glasses, nuts,
+and valves--of the helmet, carefully examined them, oiled them, and
+re-fastened them, much to the interest and curiosity of "the natives."
+The helmet itself he polished up till it shone like a great globe of
+silver, to the intense admiration of "the natives."  The pump he took to
+pieces elaborately, much to the anxiety of "the natives," who evidently
+thought he had wantonly destroyed it, but who soon saw it gradually put
+together again, much to their satisfaction, and brought into good
+working order.  Rooney even went the length of horrifying one or two of
+"the natives" by letting one of the heavy shoulder-weights fall on their
+naked toes.  This had the effect of making them jump and howl, while it
+threw the others into ecstasies of delight, which they expressed by
+throwing 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 by
+falling into deep, dreamless, and untroubled slumber.
+
+Thus the gun-boat with its varied freight sped on until it reached
+Sarawak, where the pirates were sent ashore under a strong guard.
+
+With these our tale has now nothing more to do; but as this cutting
+short of their career is not fiction, it may interest the reader to know
+that they were afterwards tried by a jury composed half of native chiefs
+and half of Europeans, who unanimously found them guilty.  They were
+condemned to be shot, and the sentence was carried out immediately, in
+the jungle, two miles outside of the town.  They were buried where they
+fell, and thus ended one of the sharpest lessons that had ever been
+taught to a band of miscreants, who had long filled with terror the
+inhabitants of Borneo and the neighbouring archipelago.
+
+Some idea may be formed of the service done on this occasion--as
+estimated by those who were well able to judge--when we say that the
+captain of the gun-boat afterwards received, in recognition of his
+prowess, a handsome sword and letter of thanks from the Rajah, Sir James
+Brooke; a certificate, with a pocket chronometer, from the
+Netherlands-Indian Government; a commander's commission from the Sarawak
+Government; and letters of grateful thanks from the Resident Governor of
+the west coast of Borneo, the Council of Singapore for the Netherlands
+Government, and others--all expressive of his gallant conduct in utterly
+routing so large a body of pirates, liberating two hundred and fifty
+slaves--chiefly of the Dutch settlements--and clearing the Borneon coast
+of a curse that had infested it for many years.  [See Note 1.]
+
+Having disposed of the pirates, the gun-boat proceeded immediately to
+sea, and in a short time reached the scene of her recent victory.  It
+had previously been proposed to Mr Hazlit that he might remain in
+Sarawak, if he chose, during the short period of the gun-boat's intended
+absence, but the unfortunate man--owing to financial reasons!--decided
+to remain in the vessel.
+
+It happened to be a calm, lovely morning, not unlike that on which the
+action had been fought, when they reached the scene of their intended
+operations, 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 any
+service as a guide.  At last, however, it was discovered; the diving
+apparatus was got out; the anchor cast, and Maxwell, being esteemed the
+most enduring among the divers, prepared to go down.
+
+"It feels quite like old times, sir, don't it?" said Joe Baldwin to
+Edgar Berrington, as he assisted to dress the diver, and manipulated the
+various parts of the costume with a fondness that one might feel towards
+a favourite dog from which one had been for some time parted.
+
+"It does indeed, Joe," replied Edgar, smiling; "I almost envy Maxwell
+the pleasure of a dip--especially in such a clear cool sea in this hot
+weather."
+
+"How is he to breathe?" asked Miss Pritty, who with Aileen and her
+father, as well as the captain and crew of the gun-boat, watched the
+process of robing with as much interest as if they had never before seen
+it 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 even
+she could see that the Irishman was poking fun at her; "but how is air
+conveyed to him?"
+
+"It is sent down by means of an air-pump," said Edgar, who took on
+himself the duty of explaining.
+
+"Dear me!" returned Miss Pritty, elevating her eyebrows in surprise; "I
+always thought that pumps were used only for pumping up water."
+
+"Och!  No, Miss," said Rooney, "they're largely used for pumping up beer
+in London."
+
+"Now, David, are you all right?" asked Joe.
+
+"All right," said Maxwell, as he rose and shook himself to settle the
+weights 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 been
+prepared, and his two attendants assisted him to get over.
+
+"All right?" asked Joe again, after giving the order to pump, which
+Ram-stam commenced with the steady coolness and regularity of a veteran.
+
+"All right," replied Maxwell, who immediately afterwards slowly
+disappeared.
+
+After an hour's absence he signalled that he was coming up.  In a few
+minutes his helmet was seen far down in the depths.  Then it emerged
+from 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, "you
+might have said that without comin' up."
+
+"True, lad," growled Maxwell, "but not havin' on a helmet with a
+speakin'-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 though
+the water was, Maxwell's power of enduring pressure would enable him to
+remain below for at least two hours, if not longer.  After looking for
+some time inquiringly at the spot where he had disappeared, most of the
+Malays resumed their various duties about the vessel, though a few
+remained a little to regard Ram-stam with much interest, as being one
+who, 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 to
+those on deck as if the great sea-serpent had put his head out of the
+sea close alongside and sent a violent hiss into the air.
+
+Joe Baldwin was attending to the air-tube, while Rooney held the
+life-line.  He looked quickly down.
+
+"The air-pipe's burst!" he shouted, and both he and his comrade, without
+a moment's delay, began to haul up the diver as fast as they possibly
+could.
+
+That the reader may properly appreciate what had happened, it is
+necessary to remind him that at nineteen fathoms Maxwell's body was
+subjected to a pressure--from _water_, outside his dress--of about 50
+pounds to the square inch, and that to prevent such a tremendous
+pressure from crushing in and collapsing all the cavities of his body,
+an _equal_ pressure of air had to be _forced_ into his dress, so that
+the pressure of water outside the dress was met and counteracted by the
+pressure of air inside.  This highly condensed air of course tended to
+crush the diver, as did the water, but with this important difference,
+that the air entered his lungs, wind-pipe, ears, nose, etcetera, and
+thus prevented these organs from collapsing, and confined the absolute
+pressure to their walls of flesh so to speak, and to the solid muscular
+parts 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 than
+many men.  When, therefore, the air-tube burst--which it happened to do
+at a weak point just a foot or so above water--the diver's dress was
+instantaneously crushed tight round him in every part, the air was
+driven completely out of it, and also largely out of poor Maxwell's
+body!
+
+The moment he appeared at the surface it was seen that he was
+insensible, for he swung about by his life-line and tube in a helpless
+manner.
+
+Seeing this, Edgar, who had anxiously watched for him, got out on the
+ladder and passed the loop of a rope under his arms.  It was quickly
+done.  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 to
+unscrew the helmet.
+
+This was soon removed, and a frightful sight was revealed to the
+spectators.  Maxwell's face and neck were quite livid and swelled out to
+an almost bursting extent; blood was flowing profusely from his mouth
+and ears, and his eyes protruded horribly, as if they had been nearly
+forced out of their sockets.
+
+It is right to observe that the helmet worn by Maxwell on this occasion
+was an old-fashioned one which, in the haste of departure from
+Hong-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 in
+the event of the air-tube bursting, and prevents the air from being
+crushed out of the dress.  A dress full of air will, as we have already
+said, keep a man alive for at least five minutes.  He has time,
+therefore, to reach the surface, so that danger from this source is not
+nearly so great as it used to be.
+
+Such restoratives as suggested themselves to the chief onlookers were
+applied, and, to the surprise of every one, the diver began to show
+signs of returning life.  In a few minutes he began to retch, and soon
+vomited a large quantity of clotted blood.  After a time he began to
+whisper a few words.
+
+"Cheer up, my lad," said the captain in a kindly voice, as he went down
+on one knee beside the prostrate man; "don't attempt to speak or exert
+yourself in any way.  You'll be all right in a few days.  We'll have
+your dress taken off and send you below, where you shall be taken good
+care of."
+
+With returning vitality came back Maxwell's inbred obstinacy.  He would
+not hold his tongue, but insisted on explaining his sensations to his
+comrades as they busied themselves taking off his dress--a rather
+violent 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 a
+suddent that struck me motionless--as if Tom Sayers had hit me a
+double-handed cropper on the top o' my beak an' in the pit o' my
+bread-basket at one an' the same moment.  Then came an 'orrible pressure
+as if a two-thousand-ton ship 'ad bin let down a-top o' me, an' arter
+that I remembers nothin'."
+
+It is probable that the poor fellow would have gone on with his
+comments, though he spoke with difficulty and in a feeble voice, in
+which none of his characteristic gruffness remained, if he had not been
+cut short by Joe Baldwin and Rooney Machowl lifting him up and carrying
+him below.
+
+Rooney, who carried his shoulders, took occasion to say while on the way
+down:--
+
+"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 Edgar
+Berrington commencing to put on the diving-dress.
+
+"Goin' down, sir?" inquired Joe.
+
+"Yes.  We have fortunately another air-tube, and I want to complete the
+work we have begun."
+
+"Is there not a risk," whispered Aileen to her father, "that the same
+accident may happen again?"
+
+"Ah, true," answered Mr Hazlit aloud; "the water appears to be very
+deep, Mr Berrington.  Do you not think it probable that the air-tube
+may burst a second time?"
+
+"I think not," replied Edgar, as he sat down to have his helmet affixed
+to the dress.  "The best made articles are liable to possess flaws.
+Even the most perfect railway-wheel, in which the cleverest engineer
+alive might fail to detect a fault, may conceal a dangerous flaw.  There
+is no certainty in human affairs.  All we can say is that, when we
+consider the thousands of divers who are daily employed all over the
+world, 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, Mr
+Hazlit.  It was intended that we should.  Why were we gifted with the
+quality 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 a
+few seconds later our hero went over the side, while Ram-stam, smiling
+benignant 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 to
+the surface, the former repeated to himself, mentally, "Yes, we must
+risk something sometimes in our progress through life."  He went on
+repeating this until at last he followed it up with the sudden
+reflection:--"Well, perhaps I _must_ risk my daughter's happiness in
+this youth's hands, even though he _is_ penniless.  He seems an able
+fellow; will, doubtless, make his way anywhere.  At all events it is
+quite evident that he will risk his life anywhere!  Besides, now I think
+of 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.'  Very
+curious, 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 the
+bubbles on the surface of the sea, our hero was grubbing like a
+big-headed goblin among the wreckage at the bottom.
+
+He moved about from place to place in that slow leaning fashion which
+the resistance of water renders unavoidable, but he found nothing
+whatever to repay him for his trouble.  There were beams and twisted
+iron-work, and overturned guns, and a few bales, but nothing that bore
+the least resemblance to boxes or bags of money.
+
+One or two large cases he discovered, and forced them open with the
+crowbar, which Maxwell had dropped when he was struck insensible, but
+they contained nothing worth the labour of having them hoisted up.  At
+last 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 the
+pirate-chief's cabin.  He took it up and found it to be a small box of
+unusual weight for its size.  His sense of touch told him that it was
+ornamented with carving on its surface, but the light was not sufficient
+to 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, and
+then, to his joy he found that it was Aileen Hazlit's jewel-box!  How it
+came there he could not guess; but the reader partly knows the truth,
+and can easily imagine that when the pirate-chief sent his other
+valuables to the swift prow, as before mentioned, he kept this--the most
+precious of them all--close to his own person to the last, desiring, no
+doubt, to have it always under his own eye.
+
+Not troubling himself much, however, with such speculations, Edgar
+returned to the cabin, placed the box where he found it, and spent full
+half-an-hour more in plying his crowbar in the hope of discovering more
+of the pirate's horde.  While thus engaged he received two or three
+signals to "Come up" from Joe Baldwin, who held his life-line; but he
+signalled back "All right--let me alone," and went on with his work.
+
+At last there came the signal "Come up!" given with such a peremptory
+tug that he was fain, though unwilling, to comply.  Taking the box under
+his arm he began to ascend slowly.  On gaining the surface he was made
+at once aware of the reason of the repeated signalling, for a sudden
+squall had burst upon the eastern sea, which by that time, although
+perfectly calm below, was tumbling about in waves so large that the
+gun-boat was tossing like a cork at her anchor, and it was found to be
+almost impossible to work the air-pump.  In fact it was only by having
+two men stationed to keep Ram-stam on his legs that the thing could be
+done!
+
+With some difficulty Edgar was got on board, and the order was
+immediately 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 the
+box on the deck.  Then he unrobed, and drawing on his trousers and a
+canvas jacket he issued from behind the funnel--which had been his
+robing-room--and went aft, where he found Aileen seated between her
+friend Miss Pritty and her father.
+
+"Miss Hazlit," he said with a peculiar smile, "allow me to introduce you
+to an old friend."
+
+He held up before her the carved steel box.
+
+"My mother's jewel-case!" she exclaimed, with a look of intense
+surprise.
+
+"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 the
+second time, strange to say, that I have had the pleasure of fishing
+them up from that vast repository of riches where, I doubt not, many
+another jewel-case still lies, and will continue to lie, unclaimed for
+ever.  Meanwhile, I count myself peculiarly fortunate in being the means
+of 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 a
+peculiar curl about his black moustache, as well as a twinkle in his
+sharp black eye, uttered a short laugh, thrust his hands into his
+pockets, and walked away to give the order that the steamer's head
+should be laid precisely "sou', sou'-west, and by south, half-south,"
+with a slight--almost a shadowy--leaning in the direction of
+"southerly."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  We may as well state here that our information on this subject
+was obtained from Captain John Hewat, formerly in command of the steam
+gun-boat _Rainbow_,--belonging to Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., Rajah of
+Sarawak,--in which he had six years' experience of pirate-hunting in the
+eastern seas, and now captain of one of Donald Currie and Company's
+magnificent line of Cape steamers.  Perhaps we ought to apologise for
+thus dragging the gallant captain into fiction, but we trust he will
+find that, in regard to his own particular doings, we have stuck pretty
+closely to fact.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS, ENDING WITH A "SCRIMMAGE" UNDER WATER.
+
+We are back again in Hong-Kong--in the pagoda--with our old friends
+seated comfortably round their little table enjoying a good supper.
+
+Pretty little Mrs Machowl has prepared it, and is now assisting at the
+partaking of it.  Young Master Teddy Machowl is similarly engaged on his
+father's knee.  The child has grown appallingly during its father's
+absence!  Ram-stam and Chok-foo are in waiting--gazing at each other
+with the affection of Chinese lovers re-united.
+
+"What a sight you are, Rooney!" said Mrs Machowl, pausing between bites
+to look at her husband.
+
+"Sure it's the same may be said of yoursilf, cushla!" replied Rooney,
+stuffing his child's mouth with sweet potato.
+
+"Yes, but it's what a _fright_ you are, I mane," said Mrs Machowl.
+
+"An' it's what a purty cratur _you_ are that _I_ mane," replied Rooney,
+repeating the dose to Teddy, who regarded his father with looks of deep
+affection.
+
+"Ah!  Go 'long wid you.  Sure it's your nose is spoilt entirely," said
+Mrs Machowl.
+
+"An' it's your own that is swaiter than iver, which more than makes up
+the difference," retorted her lord.--"Howld it open as wide as ye can
+this time, Ted, me boy; there, that's your sort--but don't choke, ye
+spalpeen."
+
+There seemed indeed some occasion for the latter admonition, for Teddy,
+unused to such vigorous treatment, was beginning to look purple in the
+face and apoplectic about the eyes.  In short, there is every
+probability that an attack of croup, or something dreadful, would have
+ensued if the child's mother had not risen hastily and snatched it away
+from the would-be infanticide.
+
+"Now then, Ram-stam and Chok-foo," said Edgar Berrington, putting down
+his spoon, "clear away the rat's-tail soup, and bring on the roast
+puppy."
+
+Grinning from ear to ear, and with almost closed eyes, the Chinese
+servitors obeyed.
+
+While they cleared the table and laid the second course, the
+conversation became general.  Previously it had been particular,
+referring chiefly to the soup and the free circulation of the salt.
+
+"So, then," observed Joe Baldwin, leaning back in his chair, "we must
+make up our minds to be content with what we have got.  Well, it an't so
+bad after all!  Let me see.  How much did you say the total is, Mister
+Eddy?"
+
+"Close upon eight thousand five hundred pounds."
+
+"A tidy little sum," observed Rooney, with an air of satisfaction.
+
+"Eight thousand--eh?" repeated Joe; "hum, well, we'll cut off the five
+hundred for expenses and passage home, and that leaves eight thousand
+clear, which, according to agreement, gives each of us two thousand
+pounds."
+
+Maxwell, who still looked pale and thin from the effects of his late
+accident, nodded his head slowly, and growled, "Two thousand--jus' so."
+
+"An' that, Molly, my dear," said Rooney, "if properly invisted, gives
+you an' me a clair income--only think, an _income_, Molly--of wan
+hundred a year!  It's true, cushla!  That ye won't be able to rowl in
+yer carridge an' walk in silks an' satins on that income, but it'll pay
+the rint an' taxes, owld girl, an' help Teddy to a collidge eddication--
+to say nothin' o' pipes an' baccy.  Ochone!--if we'd only not lost the
+first haul, we'd have bin millerinaires be this time.  I wouldn't have
+called the Quane me grandmother."
+
+"Come, Rooney, be grateful for what you've got," said Edgar.  "Enough is
+as good as a feast."
+
+"Ah!  Sur, it'll be time to say that when we've finished the puppy,"
+replied the Irishman, as Chok-foo placed on the board a savoury roast
+which bore some resemblance to the animal named, though, having had its
+head and legs amputated, there could be no absolute certainty on the
+point.  Whatever it was, the party attacked it with relish, and silence
+reigned until it was finished, after which conversation flowed again--
+somewhat languidly at first.  When, however, pipes were got out by those
+who smoked, and chairs were placed in the verandah, and no sound was
+heard around save the yelling of Chinese children who were romping in
+the Chinese kennel that skirted the pagoda, and the champing of the jaws
+of Ram-stam and Chok-foo as they masticated inside--then came the feast
+of reason, not to mention the flow of soul.
+
+"I wonder what our friends at Whitstable will say to this ventur' of
+ours," said Maxwell.
+
+"Have you many friends there?" asked Edgar.
+
+"Many?--of course I has.  W'y, I suppose every English diver must have
+friends there."
+
+"Where is it?" asked Edgar.
+
+"Why, sir, don't you know Whitstable?" exclaimed Joe Baldwin, in
+surprise.
+
+"You forget, Joe," replied Edgar, with a smile, "that although I have
+learnt how to dive, and have read a good deal about the history of
+diving, I am only an amateur after all, and cannot be supposed to know
+everything connected with the profession.  All I know about Whitstable
+is that it is a port somewhere in the south of England."
+
+"Right, sir," said Joe, "but it's more than that; it lies on the coast
+of Kent, and is famous for its oyster-beds and its divers.  How it came
+to be a place of resort for divers _I_ don't know, but so it is, an' I
+_have_ heard say it was divin' for oysters in days of old that gave the
+natives a taste for the work.  Anyhow, they've got the taste very
+decided somehow, an' after every spell o' dirty weather they're sure to
+have telegrams from all parts of the coast, and you'll see Lloyds'
+agents huntin' up the divers in the public-houses an' packin' 'em off
+wi' their gear right and left by rail to look after salvage.
+
+"These men," continued Joe, "are most of 'em handicraftmen as well as
+divers, because you know, sir, it would be of no use to send down a mere
+labourer to repair the bottom of a ship, no matter how good he was at
+divin'; so, you'll find among 'em masons, and shipbuilders, and
+carpenters, and engineers--"
+
+"Ah!" interrupted Edgar, "I was just wondering how they would manage if
+it were found necessary to have the engines of a sunk steamer taken to
+pieces and sent up."
+
+"Well, sir," rejoined Joe, "they've got men there who can dive, and who
+know as much about marine engines as you do yourself.  And these men
+make lots of tin, for a good diver can earn a pound a day, an' be kept
+in pretty regular employment in deep water.  In shallow water he can
+earn from ten to fifteen shillings a day.  Besides this, they make
+special arrangements for runnin' extra risks.  Then the savin' they
+sometimes effect is amazin'.  Why, sir, although you do know somethin'
+of the advantages of diving, you can never know fully what good they do
+in the world at large.  Just take the case of the _Agamemnon_ at
+Sebastopol--"
+
+"Och!" interrupted Rooney, whose visage was perplexed by reason of his
+pipe refusing to draw well, "wasn't (puff) that a good job intirely
+(puff!  There; you're all right at last!)  He was a friend o' mine that
+managed that job.  Tarry, we called him--though that wasn't his right
+name.  This is how it was.  The fleet was blazin' away at the
+fortifications, an' of coorse the fortifications--out o' politeness if
+nothin' else--was blazin' away at the fleet, and smoke was curlin' up
+like a chimbley on fire, an' big balls was goin' about like pais in a
+rattle, an' small shot like hail was blowin' horizontal, an' men was
+bein' shot an' cut to pieces, an' them as warn't was cheerin' as if
+there was any glory in wholesale murther--bah!  I wouldn't give a day at
+Donnybrook wid a shillelah for all the sieges of Sebastopool as ever I
+heard tell of.  Well, suddintly, bang goes a round shot slap through the
+hull of the _Agamemnon_, below the water-line!  Here was a pretty to do!
+The ordinary coorse in this case would have bin to haul out of action,
+go right away to Malta, an' have the ship docked and repaired there.
+But what does they do?  Why, they gets from under fire for a bit, and
+sends down my friend Tarry to look at the hole.  He goes down, looks at
+it, then comes up an' looks at the Commodore,--bowld as brass.
+
+"`I can repair it,' says Tarry.
+
+"`Well, do,' says the Commodore.
+
+"So down he goes an' does it, an' very soon after that the _Agamemnon_
+went into action again, and blazed away at the walls o' the owld place
+harder than ever."
+
+"That _was_ a good case, an' a _true_ one," said Joe Baldwin, with an
+approving nod.
+
+"And these divers, Mr Edgar," continued Joe, "sometimes go on their own
+hook, like we have done this time, with more or less luck.  There was
+one chum of mine who took it into his head to try his chances at the
+wreck of the _Royal Charter_, long after all hope of further salvage had
+been abandoned, and in a short time he managed to recover between three
+and four hundred pounds sterling."
+
+"An immense amount of money, they do say, was recovered from the _Royal
+Charter_ by divers," observed Maxwell.
+
+"That is true, and it happens," said Edgar, sadly, "that I know a few
+interesting facts regarding that vessel.  I know of some people whose
+hearts were broken by the loss of relatives in that wreck.  There were
+many such--God comfort them!  But that is not what I meant to speak of.
+The facts I refer to are connected with the treasure lost in the vessel.
+Just before leaving London I had occasion to call on the gentleman who
+had the management of the recovered gold, and he told me several
+interesting things.  First of all, the whole of the gold that could be
+identified was handed at once over to its owners; but this matter of
+identification was not easy, for much of the gold was found quite loose
+in the form of sovereigns and nuggets and dust.  The dust was ordered to
+be sent up with the `dirt' that surrounded it, and a process of
+gold-washing was instituted, after the regular diggings fashion, with a
+bowl and water.  Tons of `dirt' were sent up and washed in this way, and
+a large quantity of gold saved.  The agent showed me the bowl that was
+used on this occasion.  He also showed me sovereigns that had been kept
+as curious specimens.  Some of them were partly destroyed, as if they
+had been caught between iron-plates and cut in half; others were more or
+less defaced and bent, and a few had been squeezed almost into an
+unrecognisable shape.  In one place, he told me, the divers saw a pile
+of sovereigns through a rent in an iron-plate.  The rent was too small
+to admit a man's arm, and the plates could not be dislodged.  The
+divers, therefore, made a pair of iron tongs, with which they picked out
+the sovereigns, and thus saved a large sum of money.  One very curious
+case of identification occurred.  A bag of sovereigns was found with no
+name on it.  A claimant appeared, but he could tell of no mark to prove
+that he was the rightful owner.  Of course it could not be given up, and
+it appeared as if the unfortunate man (who was indeed the owner) must
+relinquish his claim, when in a happy moment his wife remembered that
+she had put a brass `token' into the bag with the gold.  The bag was
+searched, the token was found, and the gold was immediately handed to
+them."
+
+"Molly, my dear," said Rooney Machowl at this point, "you make a note o'
+that; an' if ever you have to do with bags o' goold, just putt a brass
+token or two into 'em."
+
+"Ah!  Shut up, Rooney," said Mrs Machowl, in a voice so sweet that the
+contrast between it and her language caused Edgar and Joe to laugh.
+
+"Well, then," continued Edgar, "in many other curious ways gold was
+identified and delivered to its owners: thus, in one case, an incomplete
+seal, bearing part of the legs of a griffin, was found on a bag of two
+thousand sovereigns, and the owner, showing the seal with which he had
+stamped it, established his claim.  Of course in all cases where bars of
+gold were found with the owners' names stamped on them, the property was
+at once handed over; but after all was done that could be done by means
+of the most painstaking inquiry, an immense amount of gold necessarily
+remained unclaimed."
+
+"And I s'pose if it wasn't for us divers," said Maxwell, "the whole
+consarn would have remained a dead loss to mankind."
+
+"True for ye," responded Rooney; "it's not often ye come out wid such a
+blaze of wisdom as that, David!  It must be the puppy as has stirred ye
+up, boy, or, mayhap, the baccy!"
+
+"Take care _you_ don't stir me up, lad, else it may be worse for you,"
+growled Maxwell.
+
+"Och!  I'm safe," returned the Irishman, carelessly; "I'd putt Molly
+betwain us, an' sure ye'd have to come over her dead body before ye'd
+git at me.--It wasn't you, was it, David," continued Rooney, with sudden
+earnestness, "that got knocked over by a blast at the works in Ringwall
+harbour two or three years ago?"
+
+"No, it warn't me," responded Maxwell; "it was long Tom Skinclip.  He
+was too tall for a diver--he was.  They say he stood six futt four in
+his socks; moreover he was as thin as a shadow from a bad gas-lamp.  He
+was workin' one day down in the 'arbour, layin' stones at the
+foundations of the noo breakwater, when they set off a blast about a
+hundred yards off from where he was workin', an' so powerful was the
+blast that it knocked him clean on his back.  He got such a fright that
+he signalled violently to haul up, an' they did haul 'im up, expectin'
+to find one of his glasses broke, or his toobes bu'sted.  There was
+nothin' wotsomedever the matter with 'im, but he wouldn't go down again
+that day.  'Owsever, he got over it, an' after that went down to work at
+a wreck somewhere in the eastern seas--not far from Ceylon, I'm told.
+When there 'e got another fright that well-nigh finished him, an' from
+that day he gave up divin' an' tuck to gardening, for which he was much
+better suited."
+
+"What happened to him?" asked Edgar.
+
+"I'm not rightly sure," answered Maxwell, refilling his pipe, "but I've
+bin told he had to go down one day in shallow water among sea-weed.  It
+was a beautiful sort o' submarine garden, so to speak, an' long Tom
+Skinclip was so fond o' flowers an' gardens nat'rally, that he forgot
+hisself, an' went wanderin' about what he called the `submarine groves'
+till they thought he must have gone mad.  They could see him quite
+plain, you see, from the boat, an' they watched him while he wandered
+about.  The sea-weed was up'ard of six feet high, tufted on the top with
+a sort o' thing you might a'most fancy was flowers.  The colours, too,
+was bright.  Among the branches o' this submarine forest, or grove,
+small lobsters, an' shrimps, an' other sorts o' shell-fish, were doin'
+dooty as birds--hoppin' from one branch to another, an' creepin' about
+in all directions.
+
+"After a time long Tom Skinclip he sat down on a rock an' wiped the
+perspiration off his brow--at least he tried to do it, which set the men
+in the boat all off in roars of laughter, for, d'ee see, Skinclip was an
+absent sort of a feller, an' used to do strange things.  No doubt when
+he sat down on the rock he felt warm, an' bein' a narvish sort o' chap,
+I make no question but he was a-sweatin' pretty hard, so, without
+thinkin', he up with his arm, quite nat'ral like, an' drawed it across
+where his brow would have bin if the helmet hadn't been on.  It didn't
+seem to strike him as absurd, however, for he putt both hands on 'is
+knees, an' sat lookin' straight before 'im.
+
+"He hadn't sat long in this way when they see'd a huge fish--about two
+futt long--comin' slowly through the grove behind 'im.  It was one o'
+them creeters o' the deep as seems to have had its head born five or six
+sizes too big for its tail--with eyes an' mouth to match.  It had also
+two great horns above its eyes, an' a cravat or frill o' bristles round
+its neck.  Its round eyes and half-open mouth gave it the appearance o'
+bein' always more or less in a state of astonishment.  P'r'aps it was--
+at the fact of its havin' bin born at all!  Anyhow, it swum'd slowly
+along till it cotched sight o' Skinclip, when it went at him, an' looked
+at the back of his helmet in great astonishment, an' appeared to smell
+it, but evidently it could make nothin' of it.  Then it looked all down
+his back with an equal want of appreciation.  Arter that it came round
+to the front, and looked straight in at Skinclip's bull's-eye!  They do
+say it was a sight to see the start he gave!
+
+"He jump up as smart a'most as if he'd bin in the open air, an' they
+obsarved, when he turned round, that a huge lobster of some unbeknown
+species was holdin' on to his trousers with all its claws like a limpet!
+The fish--or ripslang, as one of the men called it, who said he knowed
+it well--turned out to be a pugnaceous creetur, for no sooner did it see
+Skinclip's great eyes lookin' at it in horror, than it set up its frill
+of spikes, threw for'ard the long horns, an' went slap at the bull's-eye
+fit to drive it in.  Skinclip he putt down his head, an' the ripslang
+made five or six charges at the helmet without much effect.  Then it
+changed its tactics, turned on its side, wriggled under the helmet, an'
+looked in at Skinclip with one of its glarin' eyes close to the glass.
+At the same time the lobster gave him a tree-mendious tug behind.  This
+was more than Skinclip could stand.  They see'd him jump round, seize
+the life-line, an' give it four deadly pulls, but his comrades paid no
+attention to it.  The lobster gave him another tug, an' the ripslang
+prepared for another charge.  It seemed to have got some extra spikes
+set up in its wrath, for its whole body was bristlin' more or less by
+this time.
+
+"Again Skinclip tugged like a maniac at the line.  The ripslang charged;
+the lobster tugged; the poor feller stepped back hastily, got his heels
+entangled in sea-weed, and went down head first into the grove!
+
+"The men got alarmed by this time, so they pulled him up as fast as they
+could, an' got him inboard in a few minutes; but they do say," added
+Maxwell, with emphasis, "that that ripslang leaped right out o' the
+water arter him, an' the lobster held on so that they had to chop its
+claws off with a hatchet to make it let go.  They supped off it the game
+night, and long Tom Skinclip, who owned an over strong appetite, had a
+bad fit of indisgestion in consikence."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+MORE ABOUT THE SEA.
+
+Once more we beg our reader to accompany us to sea--out into the thick
+darkness, over the wild waves, far from the abodes of man.
+
+There, one night in December, a powerful steamer did battle with a
+tempest.  The wind was against her, and, as a matter of course, also the
+sea.  The first howled among her rigging with what might have been
+styled vicious violence.  The seas hit her bows with a fury that caused
+her to stagger, and, bursting right over her bulwarks at times, swept
+the decks from stem to stern, but nothing could altogether stop her
+onward progress.  The sleepless monster in the hold, with a heart of
+fervent heat, and scalding breath of intense energy, and muscles of iron
+mould, and an indomitable--yet to man submissive--will, wrought on night
+and day unweariedly, driving the floating palace straight and steadily
+on her course--homeward-bound.
+
+Down in the cabin, in one of the side berths lay a female form.
+Opposite to it, in a similar berth, lay another female form.  Both forms
+were very limp.  The faces attached to the forms were pale yellow, edged
+here and there with green.
+
+"My dear," sighed one of the forms, "this _is_ dreadful!"
+
+After a long silence, as though much time were required for the
+inhalation of sufficient air for the purpose, the other form replied:--
+
+"Yes, Laura, dear, it _is_ dreadful."
+
+"'Ave a cup of tea, ladies?" said the stewardess, opening the door just
+then, and appearing at an acute angle with the doorway, holding a cup in
+each hand.
+
+Miss Pritty shuddered and covered her head with the bed-clothes.  Aileen
+made the form of "no, thanks," with her lips, and shut her eyes.
+
+"_Do_ 'ave a cup," said the stewardess, persuasively.
+
+The cups appeared at that moment inclined to "'ave" a little game of
+hide-and-seek, which the stewardess nimbly prevented by suddenly forming
+an obtuse angle with the floor, and following that action up with a
+plunge to starboard, and a heel to port, that was suggestive--at least
+to a landsman--of an intention to baptise Miss Pritty with hot tea, and
+thereafter take a "header" through the cabin window into the boiling
+sea!  She did neither, however, but, muttered something about "'ow she
+do roll, to be sure," and, seeing that her mission was hopeless, left
+the cabin with a balked stagger and a sudden rush, which was
+appropriately followed up by the door shutting itself with a terrific
+bang, as though it should say, "You might have known as much, goose!
+Why did you open me?"
+
+"Laura, dear," said Aileen, "did you hear what the captain said to some
+one just now in the cabin, when the door was open?"
+
+"N-no," replied Miss Pritty, faintly.
+
+"I distinctly heard some one ask how fast we were going, but I could not
+make out his reply."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the other, brightening for a brief moment; "yes, I _did_
+hear him.  He said we were going six knots.  Now I do _not_ understand
+what that means."
+
+"Did you mean that?" asked Aileen, turning her eyes languidly on her
+friend, while a faint smile flickered on her mouth.
+
+"Mean what?" said Miss Pritty, in evident surprise.
+
+"No, I see you didn't.  Well, a knot means, I believe, a nautical mile."
+
+"A notticle mile, Aileen; what is that?"
+
+"A _nau_tical mile; dear me, how stupid you are, Laura!"
+
+"Oh!  I understand.  But, really, the noise of that screw makes it
+difficult to hear distinctly.  And, after all, it is no wonder if I _am_
+stupid, for what between eating nothing but pickles for six weeks, and
+this dreadful--there!  Oh!  It comes ag--"
+
+Poor Miss Pritty stopped abruptly, and made a desperate effort to think
+of home.  Aileen, albeit full of sympathy, turned her face to the wall,
+and lay with closed eyes.
+
+After a time the latter looked slowly round.
+
+"Are you asleep, Laura?"
+
+Miss Pritty gave a sharp semi-hysterical laugh at the bare idea of such
+an impossible condition.
+
+"Well, I was going to say," resumed Aileen, "that we cannot be very far
+from land now, and when we do get there--"
+
+"Happy day!" murmured Miss Pritty.
+
+"We intend," continued Aileen, "to go straight home--I--I mean to our
+old home, sell everything at once, and go to live in a cottage--quite a
+tiny cottage--by the sea somewhere.  Now, I want you to come and visit
+us the very day we get into our cottage.  I know you would like it--
+would like being with me, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Like it?  I should delight in it of all things."
+
+"I knew you would.  Well, I was going to say that it would be such a
+kindness to dear papa too, for you know he will naturally be very
+low-spirited when we make the change--for it is a great change, Laura,
+greater perhaps than you, who have never been very rich, can imagine,
+and I doubt my capacity to be a good comforter to him though I have all
+the will."
+
+Two little spots of red appeared for the first time for many weeks on
+Miss Pritty's cheeks, as she said in a tone of enthusiasm:--
+
+"What!  _You_ not a good comforter?  I've a good mind to refuse your
+invitation, since you dare to insinuate that I could in any degree
+supplement _you_ in such a matter."
+
+"Well, then, we won't make any more insinuations," returned Aileen, with
+a sad smile; "but you'll come--that's settled.  You know, dear, that we
+had lost everything, but ever since our jewel-case was found by--by--"
+
+"By Edgar," said Miss Pritty; "why don't you go on?"
+
+"Yes, by Mr Berrington," continued Aileen, "ever since that, papa has
+been very hopeful.  I don't know exactly what his mind runs on, but I
+can see that he is making heaps of plans in regard to the future, and
+oh!  You can't think how glad and how thankful I am for the change.  The
+state of dull, heartbreaking, weary depression that he fell into just
+after getting the news of our failure was beginning to undermine his
+health.  I could see that plainly, and felt quite wretched about him.
+But now he is comparatively cheerful, and so gentle too.  Do you know, I
+have been thinking a good deal lately of the psalmist's saying, `it is
+good for me that I have been afflicted;' and, in the midst of it all,
+our Heavenly Father remembered mercy, for it was He who sent our
+jewel-box, as if to prevent the burden from being too heavy for papa."
+
+Miss Pritty's kind face beamed agreement with these sentiments.
+
+"Now," continued Aileen, "these jewels are, it seems, worth a great deal
+of money--much more than I had any idea of--for there are among them a
+number of very fine diamond rings and brooches.  In fact, papa told me
+that he believed the whole were worth between eight and nine thousand
+pounds.  This, you know, is a sum which will at least raise us above
+want, (poor Miss Pritty, well did _she_ know that!)--though of course it
+will not enable us to live very luxuriously.  How fortunate it was that
+these pirates--"
+
+"Oh!" screamed Miss Pritty, suddenly, as she drew the clothes over her
+head.
+
+"What's the matter?" exclaimed Aileen; "are you going to be--"
+
+"Oh!  No, no, no," said Miss Pritty, peeping out again; "how could you
+bring these dreadful creatures to my remembrance so abruptly?  I had
+quite forgotten them for the time.  Why, oh why did you banish from my
+mind that sweet idea of a charming cottage by the sea, and all its
+little unluxurious elegancies, and call up in its place the h-h-horrors
+of that village-nest--pig-sty--of the dreadful buccaneers?  But it can't
+be helped now," added Miss Pritty, with a resigned shudder, "and we have
+the greatest reason to be thankful that their hope of a good ransom made
+them treat us as well as they did;--but go on, dear, you were saying
+that it was fortunate that these p-pirates--"
+
+"That they did not sell the jewels or take any of them out of the box,
+or send them into the other prow which was sunk in deep water, where the
+divers could not have gone down to recover them."
+
+"Very true," assented Miss Pritty.
+
+At this point the cabin door again burst open, and the amiable
+stewardess appeared, bearing two cups of fresh tea, which she watched
+with the eyes of a tigress and the smile of an angel, while her body
+kept assuming sudden, and one would have thought impossible, attitudes.
+
+"Now, ladies, _do_ try some tea.  Really you must.  I insist on it.
+Why, you'll both die if you don't."
+
+Impressed with the force of this reasoning, both ladies made an effort,
+and got up on their respective elbows.  They smiled incredulously at
+each other, and then, becoming suddenly grave, fell flat down on their
+backs, and remained so for some time without speaking.
+
+"Now, try again; do try, it will do you so much good--really."
+
+Thus adjured they tried again and succeeded.  Aileen took one sip of
+tea, spilt much of the rest in thrusting it hurriedly into the ready
+hands of the all but ubiquitous stewardess, and fell over with her face
+to the wall.  Miss Pritty looked at her tea for a few seconds,
+earnestly.  The stewardess, not being quite ubiquitous, failed to catch
+the cup as it was wildly held towards her.  Miss Pritty therefore
+capsized the whole affair over her bed-clothes, and fell back with a
+deadly groan.
+
+The stewardess did not lose temper.  She was used to such things.  If
+Miss Pritty had capsized her intellect over the bed-clothes, the
+stewardess would only have smiled, and wiped it up with a napkin.
+
+"You'll be better soon, Miss," said the amiable woman, as she retired
+with the debris.
+
+The self-acting door shut her out with a bang of contemptuous mockery,
+and the poor ladies were once more left alone in their misery.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+TAKING THE TIDE AT THE EBB.
+
+When things in this world reach their lowest ebb, it is generally
+understood or expected that the tide will turn, somehow, and rise.  Not
+unfrequently the understanding and the expectation are disappointed.
+Still, there are sufficiently numerous instances of the fulfilment of
+both, to warrant the hope which is usually entertained by men and women
+whose tide has reached its lowest.
+
+Mr Hazlit was naturally of a sanguine temperament.  He entertained, we
+had almost said, majestic views on many points.  Esteeming himself "a
+beggar" on three hundred a year--the remains of the wreck of his vast
+fortune--he resolved to commence business again.  Being a man of strict
+probity and punctuality in all business matters, and being much
+respected and sympathised with by his numerous business friends, he
+experienced little difficulty in doing so.  Success attended his
+efforts; the tide began to rise.
+
+Seated in a miniature parlour, before a snug fire, in his cottage by the
+sea, with one of the prettiest girls in all England by his side,
+knitting him a pair of inimitable socks, the "beggar" opened his mouth
+slowly and spake.
+
+"Aileen," said he, "I've been a fool!"
+
+Had Mr Hazlit said so to some of his cynical male friends they might
+have tacitly admitted the fact, and softened the admission with a smile.
+As it was, his auditor replied:--
+
+"No, papa, you have _not_."
+
+"Yes, my love, I have.  But I do not intend to prove the point or
+dispute it.  There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the
+ebb, leads on to fortune."
+
+Aileen suspended her knitting and looked at her sire with some surprise,
+for, being a very matter-of-fact unpoetical man, this misquotation
+almost alarmed her.
+
+"`Taken at the _flood_,' is it not, papa?"
+
+"It may be so in Shakespeare's experience.  _I_ say the ebb.  When first
+I was reduced to beggary--"
+
+"You never were _that_, papa.  We have never yet had to beg."
+
+"Of course, of course," said Mr Hazlit, with a motion of his hand to
+forbid further interruption.  "When I say `beggary,' you know what I
+mean.  I certainly do _not_ mean that I carry a wallet and a staff, and
+wear ragged garments, and knock at backdoors.  Well, when I was reduced
+to beggary, I had reached the lowest ebb.  At that time I was led--mark
+me, I was led--to `take the tide.'  I took it, and have been rising with
+the flood to fortune ever since.  And yet, strange to say, though I am
+now rich in a way I never before dreamed of, I have still an insane
+thirst for earthly gold.  What was the passage, dear, that you quoted to
+me as being your text for the day?"
+
+"`Owe no man anything,'" replied Aileen.
+
+"Yes, it is curious.  I have never mentioned the subject to you, my
+child, but some months ago--when, as I have said, the tide was very
+low--I was led to consider that passage, and under the influence of it I
+went to my creditors and delivered up to them your box of jewels.  You
+are aware, no doubt, that having passed through the insolvency court,
+and given up all that I possessed, I became legally free.  This box was
+recovered from the deep, and restored to me after my effects had been
+given up to my creditors, so that I might have retained it.  But I felt
+that this would have been unjust.  I respect the law which, after a man
+has given up all he possesses, sets him free to begin life again with
+some degree of hope, but I cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that
+moral duties cannot be abrogated by human laws.  I take advantage of the
+law to prevent inhuman creditors from grinding me to death, but I refuse
+to take advantage of the law so as to escape from the clear duty that I
+ought to pay these creditors--gradually and according to my ability--to
+the uttermost farthing.  Having been led to act on this opinion, I gave
+up the box of jewels.  To my surprise, my creditors refused to take
+them.  They returned them to me as a gift.  I accepted the gift as a
+trust.  On the proceeds, as you see, we manage to live comfortably, and
+I am now conducting a fairly successful business in the old line--on a
+small scale."
+
+Mr Hazlit smiled sadly as he uttered the last words.
+
+"And the debts, papa, which you told me once were so heavy, do you mean
+to pay them all?" asked Aileen, anxiously.
+
+"I do," replied her father, earnestly; "by slow degrees it may be, but
+to the last farthing if I live.  I shall try to owe no man anything."
+
+A glad smile lit up Aileen's face as she was on the point of throwing
+her arms round her father's neck, when the door opened, and a small
+domestic--their only one besides the cook--put a letter into the hands
+of her young mistress.
+
+Aileen's countenance assumed a troubled look a she handed it to her
+father.
+
+"It is for you, papa."
+
+Mr Hazlit's visage also assumed an expression of anxiety as he opened
+and read the letter.  It ran thus:--
+
+  "Deer Sur,--i thinks it unkomon 'ard that a man shood 'ave is beed
+  sold under im wen anuther man oas im munny, speshally wen is wifes
+  ill--praps a-dyin--the Law has washt yoo sur, but it do seam 'ard on
+  me, if yoo cood spair ony a pownd or two id taik it kind.--Yoors to
+  komand, John Timms."
+
+"This is very much to the point," said Mr Hazlit, with a faint smile,
+handing the letter to Aileen.  "It is, as you see, from our old
+green-grocer, who must indeed be in great trouble when he, who used to
+be so particularly civil, could write in that strain to me.  Now,
+Aileen, I want your opinion on a certain point.  In consequence of your
+economical ways, my love, I find myself in a position to give fifty
+pounds this half-year towards the liquidation of my debts."
+
+The merchant paused, smiled, and absolutely looked a little confused.
+The idea of commencing to liquidate many thousands of pounds by means of
+fifty was so inexpressibly ridiculous, that he half expected to hear his
+own respectful child laugh at him.  But Aileen did not laugh.  With her
+large earnest eyes she looked at him, and the unuttered language of her
+pursed, grave, little mouth was "Well, go on."
+
+"The liquidation of my debts," repeated Mr Hazlit, firmly.  "The sum is
+indeed a small one--a paltry one--compared with the amount of these
+debts, but the passage which we have been considering appears to me to
+leave no option, save to begin at once, even on the smallest possible
+scale.  Now, my love, duty requires that I should at once begin to
+liquidate.  Observe, the law of the land requires nothing.  It has set
+me free, but the law of God requires that I should pay, at once, as I am
+able.  Conscience echoes the law, and says, `pay.'  What, therefore, am
+I to do?"
+
+Mr Hazlit propounded this question with such an abrupt gaze as well as
+tone of interrogation, that the little pursed mouth relaxed into a
+little smile as it said, "I suppose you must divide the sum
+proportionally among your creditors, or something of that sort."
+
+"Just so," said Mr Hazlit, nodding approval.  "Now," he continued, with
+much gravity, "if I were to make the necessary calculation--which, I may
+remark, would be a question in proportion running into what I may be
+allowed to style infinitesimal fractions--I would probably find out that
+the proportion payable to one would be a shilling, to another half a
+sovereign, to another a pound or so, while to many would accrue so small
+a fraction of a farthing that no suitable coin of this realm could be
+found wherewith to pay it.  If I were to go with, say two shillings, and
+offer them to my good friend Granby as part payment of my debt to him,
+the probability is that he would laugh in my face and invite me to
+dinner in order that we might celebrate the event over a bottle of very
+old port.  Don't you think so?"
+
+Aileen laughed, and said that she did think so.
+
+"Well, then," continued her father, "what, in these circumstances, says
+common sense?"
+
+Aileen's mouth became grave again, and her eyes very earnest as she said
+quickly--
+
+"Pay off the green-grocer!"
+
+Mr Hazlit nodded approval.  "You are right.  Mr Timms' account amounts
+to twenty pounds.  To offer twenty pounds to Mr Granby--to whom I owe
+some eight thousand, more or less--would be a poor practical joke.  To
+give it to Mr Timms will evidently be the saving of his business at a
+time when it appears to have reached a crisis.  Put on your bonnet and
+shawl, dear, and we will go about this matter without delay."
+
+Aileen was one of those girls who possessed the rare and delectable
+capacity to "throw on" her bonnet and shawl.  One glance in the mirror
+sufficed to convince her that these articles, although thrown on, had
+fallen into their appropriate places neatly.  It could scarcely have
+been otherwise.  Her bonnet and shawl took kindly to her, like all other
+things in nature--animate and otherwise.  She reappeared before her
+sedate father had quite finished drawing on his gloves.
+
+Mr John Timms dwelt in a back lane which wriggled out of a back street
+as if it were anxious to find something still further back into which to
+back itself.  He had been in better circumstances and in a better part
+of the town when Mr Hazlit had employed him.  At the time of the rich
+merchant's failure, the house of Timms had been in a shaky condition.
+That failure was the removal of its last prop; it fell, and Timms
+retired, as we have seen, into the commercial background.  Here,
+however, he did not find relief.  Being a trustful man he was cheated
+until he became untrustful.  His wife became ill owing to bad air and
+low diet.  His six children became unavoidably neglected and riotous,
+and his business, started on the wreck of the old one, again came to the
+brink of failure.  It was in these circumstances that he sat down, under
+the impulse of a fit of desperation, and penned the celebrated letter to
+his old customer.
+
+When Mr Hazlit and his daughter had, with great difficulty, discovered
+Mr Timms' residence and approached the door, they were checked on the
+threshold by the sound of men apparently in a state of violent
+altercation within.
+
+"Git out wid ye, an' look sharp, you spalpeen," cried one of the voices.
+
+"Oh, pray don't--don't fight!" cried a weak female voice.
+
+"No, I won't git out till I'm paid, or carry your bed away with me,"
+cried a man's voice, fiercely.
+
+"You won't, eh!  Arrah then--hup!"
+
+The last sound, which is not describable, was immediately followed by
+the sudden appearance of a man, who flew down the passage as if from a
+projectile, and went headlong into the kennel.  He was followed closely
+by Rooney Machowl, who dealt the man as he rose a sounding slap on the
+right cheek, which would certainly have tumbled him over again had it
+not been followed by an equally sounding slap on the left cheek, which
+"brought him up all standing."
+
+Catching sight at that moment of Mr Hazlit and Aileen, Rooney stopped
+short and stood confused.
+
+"Murder!" shrieked the injured man.
+
+"Hooray!  Here's a lark!" screamed a small street-boy.
+
+"Go it!  Plice!  A skrimmage!" yelled another street-boy in an ecstasy
+of delight, which immediately drew to the spot the nucleus of a crowd.
+
+Mr Hazlit was a man of promptitude.  He was also a large man, as we
+have elsewhere said, and by no means devoid of courage.  Dropping his
+daughter's arm he suddenly seized the ill-used and noisy man by the
+neck, and thrust him almost as violently back into the green-grocer's
+house as Rooney had kicked him out of it.  He then said, "Go in," to the
+amazed Rooney, and dragging his no less astonished child in along with
+him, shut and locked the door.
+
+"Now," said Mr Hazlit, sitting down on a broken chair in a very shabby
+little room, and wiping his heated brow, "what is the meaning of all
+this, Mr Timms?"
+
+"Well, sir," answered Timms, with a deprecatory air, "I'm sorry, sir, it
+should 'ave 'appened just w'en you was a-goin' to favour me with the
+unexpected honour of a wisit; but the truth is, sir, I couldn't 'elp it.
+This 'ere sc--man is my landlord, sir, an' 'e _wouldn't_ wait another
+day for 'is rent, sir, though I told 'im he was pretty sure o' 'avin it
+in a week or so, w'en I 'ad time to c'lect my outstandin' little
+bills--"
+
+"More nor that, sur," burst in the impatient and indignant Rooney, "he
+would 'ave gone into that there room, sur,--if I may miscall a dark
+closet by that name--an' 'ave pulled the bed out from under Mrs Timms,
+who's a-dyin', sur, if I 'adn't chanced to come in, sur, an' kick the
+spalpeen into the street, as you see'd."
+
+"For w'ich you'll smart yet," growled the landlord, who stood in a
+dishevelled heap like a bad boy in a corner.
+
+"How much rent does he owe you?" asked Mr Hazlit of the landlord.
+
+"That's no business o' yours," replied the man, sulkily.
+
+"If I were to offer to pay it, perhaps you'd allow that it _was_ my
+business."
+
+"So I will _w'en_ you offers."
+
+"Well, then, I offer now," said Mr Hazlit, taking out his purse, and
+pouring a little stream of sovereigns into his hand.  "Have you the
+receipt made out?"
+
+The landlord made no reply, but, with a look of wonder at his
+interrogator, drew a small piece of dirty paper from his pocket and held
+it out.  Mr Hazlit examined it carefully from beginning to end.
+
+"Is this right, Mr Timms?" he asked.
+
+The green-grocer examined the paper, and said it was--that five pounds
+was the exact amount.
+
+"You can put the receipt in your pocket," said Mr Hazlit, turning round
+and counting out five sovereigns on the table, which he pushed towards
+the landlord.  "Now, take yourself off, as quietly as you can, else I'll
+have you taken up and tried for entering a man's premises forcibly, and
+endeavouring to obtain money by intimidation.  Go!"
+
+This was a bold stroke on the part of the merchant, whose legal
+knowledge was not extensive, but it succeeded.  The landlord pocketed
+the money and moved towards the door.  Rooney Machowl followed him.
+
+"Rooney!" said Mr Hazlit, calling him back.
+
+"Mayn't I show him out, sur?" said Rooney, earnestly.
+
+"By no means."
+
+"Ah, sur, mayn't I give him a farewell kick?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+Mr Hazlit then expressed a desire to see Mrs Timms, and the
+green-grocer, thanking the merchant fervently for his timely aid,
+lighted a candle and led the way into the dark closet.
+
+Poor Mrs Timms, a delicate-looking woman, not yet forty, who had
+evidently been pretty once, lay on a miserable bed, apparently at the
+point of death.
+
+Aileen glided quickly to the bed, sat down on it, and took the woman's
+hand, while she bent over her and whispered:--
+
+"Don't be distressed.  The rent is paid.  He will disturb you no more.
+You shall be quiet now, and I will come to see you sometimes, if you'll
+let me."
+
+The woman gazed at the girl with surprise, then, as she felt the gentle
+warm pressure of her hand a sudden rush of faith seemed to fill her
+soul.  She drew Aileen towards her, and looked earnestly into her face.
+
+"Come here, Timms," said Mr Hazlit, abruptly, as he turned round and
+walked out of the closet, "I want to speak to you.  I am no doctor, but
+depend upon it your wife will _not_ die.  There is a very small
+building--quite a hut I may say--near my house--ahem!  Near my cottage
+close to the sea, which is at present to let.  I advise you strongly to
+take that hut and start a green-grocery there.  I'm not aware that there
+is one in the immediate neighbourhood, and there are many respectable
+families about whose custom you might doubtless count on; at all events,
+you would be sure of ours to begin with.  The sea-air would do your wife
+a world of good, and the sea-beach would be an agreeable and extensive
+playground for your children."
+
+The green-grocer stood almost aghast!  The energy with which Mr Hazlit
+poured out his words, and, as it seemed to Timms, the free and easy
+magnificence of his ideas were overpowering.
+
+"W'y, sir, I ain't got no money to do sitch a thing with," he said at
+last, with a broad grin.
+
+"Yes, you have," said Mr Hazlit, again pulling out his purse and
+emptying its golden contents on the table in a little heap, from which
+he counted fifteen sovereigns.  "My debt to you amounts, I believe, to
+twenty pounds; five I have just paid to your landlord, here is the
+balance.  You needn't mind a receipt.  Send me the discharged account at
+your leisure, and think over what I have suggested.  Aileen, my dear, we
+will go now."
+
+Aileen said good-night at once to the sick woman and followed her father
+as he went out, repeating--"Good-evening, Timms, think over my
+suggestion."
+
+They walked slowly home without speaking.  Soon they reached the cottage
+by the sea.  As they stood under the trellis-work porch the merchant
+turned round and gazed at the sun, which was just dipping into the
+horizon, flooding sea and sky with golden glory.
+
+"Aileen," he said in a low voice, "I have commenced life at last--life
+in earnest.  I was a poor fool once.  Through grace I am a rich man
+now."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+SHOWS HOW OUR HERO FORMED PLANS, HOW MISS PRITTY FORMED PLOTS, AND HOW
+THE SMALL DOMESTIC AMUSED HERSELF.
+
+On a certain cold, raw, bleak, biting, bitter day in November, our hero
+found himself comfortably situated at the bottom of the sea.
+
+We say `comfortably' advisedly and comparatively, for, as compared with
+the men whose duty it was to send air down to him, Edgar Berrington was
+in a state of decided comfort.  Above water nought was to be seen but a
+bleak, rocky, forbidding coast, a grey sky with sleet driving across it,
+and an angry indigo sea covered with white wavelets.  Nothing was to be
+felt but a stiff cutting breeze, icy particles in the air, and cold
+blood in the veins.  Below water all was calm and placid; groves of
+sea-weed delighted the eye; patches of yellow sand invited to a siesta;
+the curiously-twisted and smashed-up remains of a wreck formed a subject
+of interesting contemplation, while a few wandering crabs, and an
+erratic lobster or two, gave life and variety to the scene, while the
+temperature, if not warm, was at all events considerably milder than
+that overhead.  In short, strange though it may seem, Edgar was in
+rather an enviable position than otherwise, on that bleak November day.
+
+Some two years or so previous to the day to which we refer, Edgar, with
+his diving friends, had returned to England.  Mr Hazlit had preceded
+them by a month.  But Edgar did not seek him out.  He had set a purpose
+before him, and meant to stick to it.  He had made up his mind not to go
+near Aileen again until he had made for himself a position, and secured
+a steady income which would enable him to offer her a home at least
+equal to that in which she now dwelt.
+
+Mr Hazlit rather wondered that the young engineer never made his
+appearance at the cottage by the sea, but, coming to the conclusion that
+his passion had cooled, he consoled himself with the thought that, after
+all, he was nearly penniless, and that it was perhaps as well that he
+had sheered off.
+
+Aileen also wondered, but _she_ did not for a moment believe that his
+love had cooled, being well aware that that was an impossibility.  Still
+she was perplexed, for although the terms on which they stood to each
+other did not allow of correspondence, she thought, sometimes, that he
+_might_ have written to her father--if only to ask how they were after
+their adventures in the China seas.
+
+Miss Pritty--to whom Aileen confided her troubles--came nearer the mark
+than either of them.  She conceived, and stoutly maintained, that Edgar
+had gone abroad to seek his fortune, and meant to return and marry
+Aileen when he had made it.
+
+Edgar, however, had not gone abroad.  He had struck out a line of life
+for himself, and had prosecuted it during these two years with untiring
+energy.  He had devoted himself to submarine engineering, and, having an
+independent spirit, he carved his way very much as a freelance.  At
+first he devoted himself to studying the subject, and ere long there was
+not a method of raising a sunken vessel, of building a difficult
+breakwater, of repairing a complicated damage to a pier, or a well, or
+anything else subaqueous, with which he was not thoroughly acquainted,
+and in regard to which he had not suggested or carried out bold and
+novel plans and improvements, both in regard to the machinery employed
+and the modes of action pursued.
+
+After a time he became noted for his success in undertaking difficult
+works, and at last employed a staff of divers to do the work, while he
+chiefly superintended.  Joe Baldwin became his right-hand man and
+constant attendant.  Rooney and Maxwell, preferring steadier and less
+adventurous work, got permanent employment on the harbour improvements
+of their own seaport town.
+
+Thus engaged, Edgar and his man Joe visited nearly all the wild places
+round the stormy shores of Great Britain and Ireland.  They raised many
+ships from the bottom of the sea that had been pronounced by other
+engineers to be hopelessly lost.  They laid foundations of piers and
+breakwaters in places where old Ocean had strewn wrecks since the
+foundation of the world.  They cleared passages by blasting and
+levelling rocks whose stern crests had bid defiance to winds and waves
+for ages, and they recovered cargoes that had been given up for years to
+Neptune's custody.  In short, wherever a difficult submarine operation
+had to be undertaken, Edgar Berrington and his man Joe, with, perhaps, a
+gang of divers under them, were pretty sure to be asked to undertake it.
+
+The risk, we need scarcely say, was often considerable; hence the
+remuneration was good, and both Edgar and his man speedily acquired a
+considerable sum of money.
+
+At the end of two years, the former came to the conclusion that he had a
+sufficient sum at his credit in the bank to warrant a visit to the
+cottage by the sea; and it was when this idea had grown into a fixed
+intention that he found himself, as we have mentioned, in rather
+comfortable circumstances at the bottom of the sea.
+
+The particular part of the bottom lay off the west coast of England.
+Joe and a gang of men were hard at work on a pier when Edgar went down.
+He carried a slate and piece of pencil with him.  The bottom was not
+very deep down.  There was sufficient light to enable him to find his
+man easily.
+
+Joe was busy laying a large stone in its bed.  When he raised his burly
+form, after fixing the stone, Edgar stepped forward, and, touching him
+on the shoulder, held out the slate, whereon was written in a bold
+running hand:--
+
+"Joe, I'm going off to get engaged, and after that, as soon as possible,
+to be married."
+
+Through the window of his helmet, Joe looked at his employer with an
+expression of pleased surprise.  Then he took the slate, obliterated the
+information on it, and printed in an equally bold, but very sprawly
+hand:--
+
+"Indeed?  I wish you joy, sir."
+
+Thereupon Edgar took the slate and wrote:--
+
+"Thank you, Joe.  Now, I leave you in charge.  Keep a sharp eye on the
+men--especially on that lazy fellow who has a tendency to sleep and
+shirk duty.  If the rock in the fair-way is got ready before my return,
+blast it at once, without waiting for me.  You will find one of Siebe
+and Gorman's voltaic batteries in my lodging, also a frictional
+electrical machine, which you can use if you prefer it.  In the store
+there is a large supply of tin-cases for gunpowder and compressed
+gun-cotton charges.  There also you will find one of Heinke and Davis's
+magneto-electric exploders.  I leave it entirely to your own judgment
+which apparatus to use.  All sorts are admirable in their way; quite
+fresh, and in good working order.  Have you anything to say to me before
+I go?"
+
+"All right, sir," replied Joe, in his sprawly hand; "I'll attend to
+orders.  When do you start, and when do you expect to be back?"
+
+"I start immediately.  The day of my return is uncertain, but I'll write
+to you."
+
+Rubbing this out, Joe wrote:--
+
+"You'll p'r'aps see my old 'ooman, sir.  If you do, just give her my
+respects, an' say the last pair o' divin' drawers she knitted for me was
+fust-rate.  Tightish, if anything, round the waist, but a bit o'
+rope-yarn putt that all right--they're warm an' comfortable.  Good-bye,
+I wish you joy again, sir."
+
+"Good-bye," replied Edgar.
+
+It was impossible that our hero could follow his inclination, and nod
+with his stiff-necked iron head-piece at parting.  He therefore made the
+motion of kissing his hand to his trusty man, and giving the requisite
+signal, spread his arms like a pair of wings, and flew up to the realms
+of light!
+
+Joe grinned broadly, and made the motion of kissing his hand to the
+ponderous soles of his employer's leaden boots as they passed him, then,
+turning to the granite masonry at his side, he bent down and resumed his
+work.
+
+Arrived at the region of atmospheric air, Edgar Berrington clambered on
+board the attending vessel, took off his amphibious clothing, and
+arrayed himself in the ordinary habiliments of a gentleman, after which
+he went ashore, gave some instructions to the keeper of his lodgings,
+ordered his horse, galloped to the nearest railway station, flashed a
+telegraphic message to Miss Pritty to expect to see him that evening,
+and soon found himself rushing at forty miles an hour, away from the
+scene of his recent labours.
+
+Receiving a telegraph envelope half-an-hour later, Miss Pritty turned
+pale, laid it on the table, sank on the sofa, shut her eyes, and
+attempted to reduce the violent beating of her heart, by pressing her
+left side tightly with both hands.
+
+"It _must_ be death!--or accident!" she murmured faintly to herself, for
+she happened to be alone at the time.
+
+Poor Miss Pritty had no near relations in the world except Edgar, and
+therefore there was little or no probability that any one would
+telegraph to her in connection with accident or death, nevertheless she
+entertained such an unconquerable horror of a telegram, that the mere
+sight of the well-known envelope, with its large-type title, gave her a
+little shock; the reception of one was almost too much for her.
+
+After suffering tortures for about as long a time as the telegram had
+taken to reach her, she at last summoned courage to open the envelope.
+
+The first words, "Edgar Berrington," induced a little scream of alarm.
+The next, "to Miss Pritty," quieted her a little.  When, however, she
+learned that instead of being visited by news of death and disaster, she
+was merely to be visited by her nephew that same evening, all anxiety
+vanished from her speaking countenance, and was replaced by a mixture of
+surprise and amusement.  Then she sat down on the sofa--from which, in
+her agitation, she had risen--and fell into a state of perplexity.
+
+"Now I _do_ wish," she said, aloud, "that Eddy had had the sense to tell
+me whether I am to let his friends the Hazlits know of his impending
+visit.  Perhaps he telegraphed to me on purpose to give me time to call
+and prepare them for his arrival.  On the other hand, perhaps he wishes
+to take them by surprise.  It may be that he is not on good terms with
+Mr Hazlit, and intends to use me as a go-between.  What _shall_ I do?"
+
+As her conscience was not appealed to in the matter, it gave no reply to
+the question; having little or no common sense to speak of, she could
+scarcely expect much of an answer from that part of her being.  At last
+she made up her mind, and, according to a habit induced by a life of
+solitude, expressed it to the fireplace.
+
+"Yes, that's what I'll do.  I shall wait till near the time of the
+arrival of the last train, and then go straight off to Sea Cottage to
+spend the evening, leaving a message that if any one should call in my
+absence I am to be found there.  This will give him an excuse, if he
+wants one, for calling, and if he does not want an excuse he can remain
+here till my return.  I'll have the fire made up, and tell my domestic
+to offer tea to any one who should chance to call."
+
+Miss Pritty thought it best, on the whole, to give an ambiguous order
+about the tea to her small domestic, for she knew that lively creature
+to be a compound of inquisitiveness and impudence, and did not choose to
+tell her who it was that she expected to call.  She was very emphatic,
+however, in impressing on the small domestic the importance of being
+very civil and attentive, and of offering tea, insomuch that the child
+protested with much fervour that she would be _sure_ to attend to
+orders.
+
+This resulted in quite an evening's amusement to the small domestic.
+
+After Miss Pritty had gone out, the first person who chanced to call was
+the spouse of Mr Timms, the green-grocer, who had obviously recovered
+from her illness.
+
+"Is Miss Pritty at 'ome?" she asked.
+
+"No, ma'am, she ain't, she's hout," answered the small domestic.
+
+"Ah!  Well, it don't much matter.  I on'y called to leave this 'ere
+little present of cabbidges an' cawliflowers--with Mr Timms' kind
+compliments and mine.  She's been wery kind to us, 'as Miss Pritty, an'
+we wishes to acknowledge it."
+
+"Please, ma'am," said the domestic with a broad smile, as she took the
+basket of vegetables, "would you like a cup of tea?"
+
+"What d'you mean, girl?" asked the green-grocer's wife in surprise.
+
+"Please, ma'am, Miss Pritty told me to be sure to offer you a cup of
+tea."
+
+"Did she, indeed?  That's was wery kind of her, wery kind, though 'ow
+she come for to know I was a-goin' to call beats my comprehension.
+'Owever, tell her I'm greatly obleeged to her, but 'avin 'ad tea just
+afore comin' out, an' bein' chock-full as I can 'old, I'd rather not.
+Best thanks, all the same."
+
+Mrs Timms went away deeply impressed with Miss Pritty's thoughtful
+kindness, and the small domestic, shutting the door, indulged in a fit
+of that species of suppressed laughter which is usually indicated by a
+series of spurts through the top of the nose and the compressed lips.
+
+She was suddenly interrupted by a tap at the knocker.
+
+Allowing as many minutes to elapse as she thought would have sufficed
+for her ascent from the kitchen, she once more opened the door.  It was
+only a beggar--a ragged disreputable man--and she was about to shut the
+door in his face, with that summary politeness so well understood by
+servant girls, when a thought struck her.
+
+"Oh, sir," she said, "would you like a cup of tea?"
+
+The man evidently thought he was being made game of, for his face
+assumed such a threatening aspect that the small domestic incontinently
+shut the door with a sudden bang.  The beggar amused himself by
+battering it with his stick for five minutes and then went away.
+
+The next visitor was a lady.
+
+"Is Miss Pritty at home, child?" she asked, regarding the domestic with
+a half-patronising, half-pitying air.
+
+"No, ma'am, she's hout."
+
+"Oh!  That's a pity," said the lady, taking a book out of her pocket.
+"Will you tell her that I called for her subscription to the new
+hospital that is about to be built in the town?  Your mistress does not
+know me personally, but she knows all about the hospital, and this book,
+which I shall call for to-morrow, will speak for itself.  Be sure you
+give it to her, child."
+
+"Yes, ma'am.  And, please, ma'am, would you like a cup of tea?"
+
+The lady, who happened to possess a majestic pair of eyes, looked so
+astonished that the small domestic could scarcely contain herself.
+
+"Are you deranged, child?" asked the lady.
+
+"No, ma'am, if you please; but Miss Pritty told me to be sure to offer
+you a cup."
+
+"To offer _me_ a cup, child!"
+
+"Yes, ma'am.  At least to offer a cup to any one who should call."
+
+It need scarcely be added that the lady declined the tea, and went away,
+observing to herself in an undertone, that "she _must_ be deranged."
+
+The small domestic again shut the door and spurted.
+
+It was in her estimation quite a rare, delicious, and novel species of
+fun.  To one whose monotonous life was spent underground, with a
+prospect of bricks at two feet from her window, and in company with
+pots, pans, potato-peelings, and black-beetles, it was as good as a
+scene in a play.
+
+The next visitor was the butcher's boy, who came round to take "orders"
+for the following day.  This boy had a tendency to chaff.
+
+"Well, my lady, has your ladyship any orders?"
+
+"Nothink to-day," answered the domestic, curtly.
+
+"What!  Nothink at all?  Goin' to fast to-morrow, eh?  Or to live on
+stooed hatmospheric hair with your own sauce for gravey--hey?"
+
+"No, we doesn't want nothink," repeated the domestic, stoutly.  "Missus
+said so, an' she bid me ask you if you'd like a cup of tea?"
+
+The butcher's boy opened his mouth and eyes in amazement.  To have his
+own weapons thus turned, as he thought, against him by one who was
+usually rather soft and somewhat shy of him, took him quite aback.  He
+recovered, however, quickly, and made a rush at the girl, who, as
+before, attempted to shut the door with a bang, but the boy was too
+sharp for her.  His foot prevented her succeeding, and there is no doubt
+that in another moment he would have forcibly entered the house, if he
+had not been seized from behind by the collar in the powerful grasp of
+Edgar Berrington, who sent him staggering into the street.  The boy did
+not wait for more.  With a wild-Indian war-whoop he turned and fled.
+
+Excited, and, to some extent, exasperated by this last visit, the small
+domestic received Edgar with a one-third timid, one-third gleeful, and
+one-third reckless spirit.
+
+"What did the boy mean?" asked Edgar, as he turned towards her.
+
+"Please, sir, 'e wouldn't 'ave a cup of tea, sir," she replied meekly,
+then, with a gleam of hope in her eyes--"Will _you_ 'ave one, sir?"
+
+"You're a curious creature," answered Edgar, with a smile.  "Is Miss
+Pritty at home?"
+
+"No, sir, she ain't."
+
+This answer appeared to surprise and annoy him.
+
+"Very odd," he said, with a little frown.  "Did she not expect me?"
+
+"No, sir, I think she didn't.  Leastways she didn't say as she did, but
+she was very partikler in tellin' me to be sure to hoffer you a cup of
+tea."
+
+Edgar looked at the small domestic, and, as he looked, his mouth
+expanded.  _Her_ mouth followed suit, and they both burst into a fit of
+laughter.  After a moment or two the former recovered.
+
+"This is all very pleasant, no doubt," he said, "but it is uncommonly
+awkward.  Did she say when she would be home?"
+
+"No, sir, she didn't, but she bid me say if any one wanted her, that
+they'd find her at Sea Cottage."
+
+"At Sea Cottage--who lives there?"
+
+"I don't know, sir."
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"On the sea-shore, sir."
+
+"Which way--_this_ way or _that_ way?" asked Edgar, pointing right and
+left.
+
+"_That_ way," answered the girl, pointing left.
+
+The impatient youth turned hastily to leave.
+
+"Please, sir--" said the domestic.
+
+"Well," said Edgar, stopping.
+
+"You're sure, sir--" she stopped.
+
+"Well?--go on."
+
+"That you wouldn't like to 'ave a cup of tea?"
+
+"Child," said Edgar, as he turned finally away, "you're mad--as mad as a
+March hare."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+The small domestic shut the door and retired to the regions below,
+where, taking the pots and pans and black-beetles into her confidence,
+she shrieked with delight for full ten minutes, and hugged herself.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+A CLIMAX IS REACHED.
+
+When Edgar Berrington discovered the cottage by the sea, and ascertained
+that Miss Pritty was within, he gave his name, and was ushered into the
+snug little room under the name of Mr Briggington.  Aileen gave a
+particularly minute, but irrepressible and quite inaudible scream; Mr
+Hazlit sat bolt up in his chair, as if he had seen a ghost; and Miss
+Pritty--feeling, somehow, that her diplomacy had not become a brilliant
+success--shrank within herself, and wished it were to-morrow.
+
+Their various expressions, however, were as nothing compared with
+Edgar's blazing surprise.
+
+"Mr Hazlit," he stammered, "pray pardon my sudden intrusion at so
+unseasonable an hour; but, really, I was not aware that--did you not get
+my telegram, aunt?"
+
+He turned abruptly to Miss Pritty.
+
+"Why ye-es, but I thought that you--in fact--I could not imagine that--"
+
+"Never mind explanations just now," said Mr Hazlit, recovering himself,
+and rising with a bland smile, "you are welcome, Mr Berrington; no hour
+is unseasonable for one to whom we owe so much."
+
+They shook hands and laughed; then Edgar shook hands with Aileen and
+blushed, no doubt because _she_ blushed, then he saluted his aunt, and
+took refuge in being very particular about her receipt of the telegram.
+This threw Miss Pritty into a state of unutterable confusion, because of
+her efforts to tell the truth and conceal the truth at one and the same
+time.  After this they spent a very happy evening together, during the
+course of which Mr Hazlit took occasion to ask Edgar to accompany him
+into a little pigeon-hole of a room which, in deference to a few books
+that dwelt there, was styled the library.
+
+"Mr Berrington," he said, sitting down and pointing to a chair, "be
+seated.  I wish to have a little private conversation with you.  We are
+both practical men, and know the importance of thoroughly understanding
+each other.  When I saw you last--now about two years ago--you indicated
+some disposition to--to regard--in fact to pay your addresses to my
+daughter.  At that time I objected to you on the ground that you were
+penniless.  Whether right or wrong in that objection is now a matter of
+no importance, because it turns out that I was right on other grounds,
+as I now find that you did not know your own feelings, and did not care
+for her--"
+
+"Did not _care_ for her?" interrupted Edgar, in sudden amazement, not
+unmingled with indignation.
+
+"Of course," continued Mr Hazlit, with undisturbed calmness, "I mean
+that you did not care for her sufficiently; that you did not regard her
+with that unconquerable affection which is usually styled `love', and
+without which no union can be a happy one.  The proof to me that your
+feeling towards her was evanescent, lies in the fact that you have taken
+no notice either of her or of me for two years.  Had you gained my
+daughter's affections, this might have caused me deep regret, but as she
+has seldom mentioned your name since we last saw you, save when I
+happened to refer to you, I perceive that her heart has been untouched--
+for which I feel exceedingly thankful, knowing as I do, only too well,
+that we cannot command our affections."
+
+Mr Hazlit paused a moment, and Edgar was so thunderstruck by the
+unexpected nature of his host's discourse, that he could only stare at
+him in mute surprise and unbelief in the evidence of his own ears.
+
+"Now," resumed Mr Hazlit, "as things stand, I shall be very happy
+indeed that we should return to our old intimacy.  I can never forget
+the debt of obligation we owe to you as our rescuer from worse than
+death--from slavery among brutalised men, and I shall be very happy
+indeed that you should make my little cottage by the sea--as Aileen
+loves to style it--your abode whenever business or pleasure call you to
+this part of the country."
+
+The merchant extended his hand with a smile of genuine urbanity.  The
+youth took it, mechanically shook it, let it fall, and continued to
+stare in a manner that made Mr Hazlit feel quite uneasy.  Suddenly he
+recovered, and, looking the latter earnestly in the face, said:--
+
+"Mr Hazlit, did you not, two years ago, forbid me to enter your
+dwelling?"
+
+"True, true," replied the other somewhat disconcerted; "but the events
+which have occurred since that time warranted your considering that
+order as cancelled."
+
+"But you did not _say_ it was cancelled.  Moreover your first objection
+still remained, for I was nearly penniless then, although, in the good
+providence of God, I am comparatively rich now.  I therefore resolved to
+obey your injunctions, sir, and keep away from your house and from your
+daughter's distracting influence, until I could return with a few of
+those pence, which you appear to consider so vitally important."
+
+"Mr Berrington," exclaimed the old gentleman, who was roused by this
+hit, "you mistake me.  My opinions in regard to wealth have been
+considerably changed of late.  But my daughter does not love you, and if
+you were as rich as Croesus, sir, you should not have her hand without
+her heart."
+
+Mr Hazlit said this stoutly, and, just as stoutly, Edgar replied:--
+
+"If I were as rich as Croesus, sir, I would not _accept_ her hand
+without her heart; but, Mr Hazlit, I am richer than Croesus!"
+
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"I mean that I am rich in the possession of that which a world's wealth
+could not purchase--your daughter's affections."
+
+"Impossible!  Mr Berrington, your passion urges you to deceive
+yourself."
+
+"You will believe what she herself says, I suppose?" asked Edgar,
+plunging his hand into a breast-pocket.
+
+"Of course I will."
+
+"Well then, listen," said the youth, drawing out a small three-cornered
+note.  "A good many months ago, when I found my business to be in a
+somewhat flourishing condition, I ventured to write to Aileen, telling
+her of my circumstances, of my unalterable love, and expressing a wish
+that she would write me at least one letter to give me hope that the
+love, which she, allowed me to _understand_ was in her breast _before_
+you forbade our intercourse, still continued.  This," he added, handing
+the three-cornered note to the old gentleman, "is her reply."
+
+Mr Hazlit took the note, and, with a troubled countenance, read:--
+
+  "Dear Mr Berrington,--I am not sure that I am right in replying to
+  you without my father's knowledge, and only prevail on myself to do so
+  because I intend that our correspondence shall go no further, and what
+  I shall say will, I know, be in accordance with his sentiments.  My
+  feelings towards you remain unchanged.  We cannot command feelings,
+  but I consider the duty I owe to my dear father to be superior to my
+  feelings, and I am resolved to be guided by his expressed wishes as
+  long as I remain under his roof.  He has forbidden me to have any
+  intercourse with you: I will therefore obey until he sanctions a
+  change of conduct.  Even this brief note should not have been written
+  were it not that it would be worse than rude to take no notice of a
+  letter from one who has rendered us such signal service, and whom I
+  shall never forget.--Yours sincerely, Aileen Hazlit."
+
+The last sentence--"and whom I shall never forget"--had been carefully
+scribbled out, but Edgar had set himself to work, with the care and
+earnest application of an engineer and a lover, to decipher the words.
+
+"Dear child!" exclaimed Mr Hazlit, in a fit of abstraction, kissing the
+note; "this accounts for her never mentioning him;" then, recovering
+himself, and turning abruptly and sternly to Edgar, he said:--"How did
+you dare, sir, to write to her after my express prohibition?"
+
+"Well," replied Edgar, "some allowance ought to be made for a lover's
+anxiety to know how matters stood, and I fully intended to follow up my
+letter to her with one to you; but I confess that I did wrong--"
+
+"No, sir, no," cried Mr Hazlit, abruptly starting up and grasping
+Edgar's hand, which he shook violently, "you did _not_ do wrong.  You
+did quite right, sir.  I would have done the same myself in similar
+circumstances."
+
+So saying, Mr Hazlit, feeling that he was compromising his dignity,
+shook Edgar's hand again, and hastened from the room.  He met Aileen
+descending the staircase.  Brushing past her, he went into his bed-room,
+and shut and locked the door.
+
+Much alarmed by such an unwonted display of haste and feeling, Aileen
+ran into the library.
+
+"Oh!  Mr Berrington, what _is_ the matter with papa?"
+
+"If you will sit down beside me, Aileen," said Edgar, earnestly,
+tenderly, and firmly, taking her hand, "I will tell you."
+
+Aileen blushed, stammered, attempted to draw back, but was constrained
+to comply.  Edgar, on the contrary, was as cool as a cucumber.  He had
+evidently availed himself of his engineering knowledge, and fitted extra
+weights of at least seven thousand tons to the various safety-valves of
+his feelings.
+
+"Your father," he began, looking earnestly into the girl's down-cast
+face, "is--"
+
+But hold!  Reader; we must not go on.  If you are a boy, you won't mind
+what followed; if a girl, you have no right to pry into such matters.
+We therefore beg leave at this point to shut the lids of our dexter eye,
+and drop the curtain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+THE LAST.
+
+One day Joe Baldwin, assisted by his old friend, Rooney Machowl, was
+busily engaged down at the bottom of the sea, off the Irish coast,
+slinging a box of gold specie.  He had given the signal to haul up, and
+Rooney had moved away to put slings round another box, when the chain to
+which the gold was suspended snapt, and the box descended on Joe.  If it
+had hit him on the back in its descent it would certainly have killed
+him, but it only hit his collar-bone and broke it.
+
+Joe had just time to give four pulls on his lines, and then fainted.  He
+was instantly hauled up, carefully unrobed, and put to bed.
+
+This was a turning-point in our diver's career.  The collar-bone was all
+right in the course of a month or two, but Mrs Baldwin positively
+refused to allow her goodman to go under water again.
+
+"The little fortin' you made out in Chiny," she said one evening while
+seated with her husband at supper in company with Rooney and his wife,
+"pays for our rent, an' somethin' over.  You're a handy man, and can do
+a-many things to earn a penny, and I can wash enough myself to keep us
+both.  You've bin a 'ard workin' man, Joe, for many a year.  You've bin
+long enough under water.  You'll git rheumatiz, or somethin' o' that
+sort, if you go on longer, so I'm resolved that you shan't do it--
+there!"
+
+"Molly, cushla!" said Machowl, in a modest tone, "I hope you won't clap
+a stopper on my goin' under water for some time yit--plaze."
+
+Molly laughed.
+
+"Oh!  It's all very well for you to poke fun at me, Mister Machowl,"
+said Mrs Baldwin, "but you're young yet, an' my Joe's past his prime.
+When you've done as much work as he's done--there now, you've done it at
+last.  I told you so."
+
+This last remark had reference to the fact that young Teddy Machowl,
+having been over-fed by his father, had gone into a stiff
+blue-in-the-face condition that was alarming to say the least of it.
+Mrs Machowl dashed at her offspring, and, giving him an unmerciful
+thump on the back, effected the ejection of a mass of beef which had
+been the cause of the phenomena.
+
+"What a bu'ster it is--the spalpeen," observed Rooney, with a smile, as
+he resumed the feeding process, much to Teddy's delight; "you'll niver
+do for a diver if you give way to appleplectic tendencies o' that sort.
+Here--open your mouth wide and shut your eyes."
+
+"Well, well, it'll only be brought in manslaughter, so he won't swing
+for it," remarked Mrs Baldwin, with a shrug of her shoulders.  "Now,
+Joe," she continued, turning to her husband, "you'll begin at once to
+look out for a situation above water.  David Maxwell can finish the job
+you had in hand,--speakin' of that, does any one know where David is
+just now?"
+
+"He's down at the bottom of a gasometer," answered Joe; "leastwise he
+was there this afternoon--an' a dirty place it is."
+
+"A bad-smellin' job that, I should think," observed Rooney.
+
+"Well, it ain't a sweet-smellin' one," returned Joe.  "He's an
+adventurous man is David.  I don't believe there's any hole of dirty
+water or mud on the face o' this earth that he wouldn't go down to the
+bottom of if he was dared to it.  He's fond of speculatin' too, ever
+since that trip to the China seas.  You must know, Mrs Rooney, if your
+husband hasn't told you already, that we divers, many of us, have our
+pet schemes for makin' fortunes, and some of us have tried to come
+across the Spanish dubloons that are said to lie on the sea-bottom off
+many parts of our coast where the Armada was lost."
+
+"It's jokin' ye are," said Mrs Machowl, looking at Joe with a sly
+twinkle in her pretty eyes.
+
+"Jokin'!  No, indeed, I ain't," rejoined the diver.  "Did Rooney never
+tell ye about the Spanish Armada?"
+
+"Och!  He's bin sayin' somethin' about it now an' again, but he's such a
+man for blarney that I never belave more nor half he says."
+
+"Sure ain't that the very raison I tell ye always at laste twice as much
+as I know?" said Rooney, lighting his pipe.
+
+"Well, my dear," continued Joe, "the short an' the long of it is, that
+about the year 1588, the Spaniards sent off a huge fleet of big ships to
+take Great Britain and Ireland by storm--once for all--and have done
+with it, but Providence had work for Britain to do, and sent a series o'
+storms that wrecked nearly the whole Spanish fleet on our shores.  Many
+of these vessels had plenty of gold dubloons on board, so when divin'
+bells and dresses were invented, men began to try their hands at fishin'
+it up, and, sure enough, some of it was actually found and brought up--
+especially off the shores of the island of Mull, in Scotland.  They even
+went the length of forming companies in this country, and in Holland,
+for the purpose of recovering treasure from wrecks.  Well, ever since
+then, up to the present time, there have been speculative men among
+divers, who have kept on tryin' their hands at it.  Some have succeeded;
+others have failed.  David Maxwell is one of the lucky ones for the most
+part, and even when luck fails, he never comes by any loss, for he's a
+hard-workin' man, an' keeps a tight hold of whatever he makes, whether
+by luck or by labour."
+
+"But what about the bad-smellin' job he's got on hand just now?" asked
+Rooney.
+
+"Why, he's repairin' the bottom of a gas tank.  He got the job through
+recoverin' some gold watches that were thrown into the Thames by some
+thieves, as they were bein' chased over London Bridge.  David found ten
+of 'em--one bein' worth fifty pounds.  Well, just at that time an
+experienced and hardy fellow was wanted for the gas-work business, so
+David was recommended.  You know a gas tank, as to look an' smell, is
+horrible enough to frighten a hippopotamus, but David went up to the
+edge of this tank by a ladder, and jumped in as cool as if he'd bin
+jumpin' into a bed with clean sheets.  He stopped down five hours.  Of
+course, in such filthy water, a light would have been useless.  He had
+to do it all by feelin', nevertheless, they say, he made a splendid job
+of it,--the bed of clay and puddle, at the bottom, bein' smoothed as
+flat a'most as a billiard table,--besides fixin' sixteen iron-plates for
+the gas-holder to rest on.  He was to finish the job this afternoon, I
+believe."  [See Note 1.]
+
+"Ah, he's a cute feller is David," observed Rooney, reflectively, as he
+watched a ring of smoke that rose from his pipe towards the ceiling.
+"What d'ee intind to turn your hand to if you give up divin', Joe?"
+
+"If!" said Mrs Baldwin, with a peculiar intonation.
+
+"Well, _when_ you give it up," said Rooney, with a bland smile.
+
+"I'm not rightly sure," replied Joe.  "In the first place, I'll watch
+for the leadings of Providence, for without that, I cannot expect
+success.  Then I'll go and see Mr Berrington, who has just returned,
+they say, from his wedding trip.  My own wish is to become a sort of
+missionary among the poor people hereabouts."
+
+"Why, Joe," said his friend, "you've bin that, more or less, for years
+past."
+
+"Ay, at odd times," returned Joe, "but I should like to devote _all_ my
+time to it now."
+
+In pursuance of his plan the ex-diver went the following morning to the
+sea-shore, and walked in the direction of Sea Cottage, following the
+road that bordered the sands.
+
+Near to that cottage, about two hundred yards from it, stood a small but
+very pretty villa.  Joe knew its name to be Sea-beach Villa, and
+understood that it was the abode of his former master and friend, Edgar
+Berrington.  There was a lovely garden in front, full to overflowing
+with flowers of every name and hue, and trellis-work bowers here and
+there, covered with jessamine and honeysuckle.  A sea-shell walk led to
+the front door.  Up this walk the diver sauntered, and applied the
+knocker.
+
+The door was promptly opened by a very small, sharp-eyed domestic.
+
+"Is your master at home, my dear?" asked Joe, kindly.
+
+"I ain't got no master," replied the girl.
+
+"No!" returned Joe, in some surprise.  "Your missus then?"
+
+"My missus don't live 'ere.  I'm on'y loaned to this 'ouse," said the
+small domestic; "loaned by Miss Pritty for two days, till they find a
+servant gal for themselves."
+
+"Oh!" said Joe, with a smile, "is the gentleman who borrowed you
+within?"
+
+"No, 'e ain't," replied the small domestic.
+
+At that moment Mr Hazlit walked up the path, and accosted Joe.
+
+"Ah, you want to see my son-in-law?  He had not yet returned.  I expect
+him, however, to-day.  Perhaps, if you call in the afternoon, or
+to-morrow morning, you may--"
+
+He was interrupted by the sound of wheels.  Next moment a carriage
+dashed round the corner of the garden wall, and drew up in front of the
+house.  Before the old gentleman had clearly realised the fact, he found
+himself being smothered by one of the prettiest girls in all England,
+and Joe felt his hand seized in a grasp worthy of a diver.
+
+While Aileen dragged her father into the villa, in order to enable him
+to boast ever after that he had received the first kiss she ever gave
+under her own roof, Edgar led Joe to a trellis-work arbour, and, sitting
+down beside him there, said:--
+
+"Come, Joe, I know you want to see me about something.  While these two
+are having it out indoors, you and I can talk here."
+
+"First, Mister Eddy," said Joe, holding out his big horny hand, "let me
+congratulate you on comin' home.  May the Lord dwell in your house, and
+write His name in your two hearts."
+
+"Amen!" returned Edgar, again grasping the diver's hand.  "My dear wife
+and I expect to have that prayer answered in our new home, for we put up
+a similar one before entering it.  And now, Joe, what is it that you
+want?"
+
+"Well, sir, the fact is, that my old woman thinks since I smashed my
+shoulder, that it's high time for me to give up divin', and take to
+lighter work; but I didn't know you were comin' home to-day, sir.  I
+thought you'd been home some days already, else I wouldn't have come to
+you, but--"
+
+"Never mind, Joe.  There's no time like the present--go on."
+
+Thus encouraged, Joe explained his circumstances and desires.  When he
+had ended, Edgar remained silent for some minutes.
+
+"Joe," he said at length, "you used to be fond of gardening.  Have you
+forgotten all about it?"
+
+"Why, not quite, sir, but--"
+
+"Stay--I'll come back in a few minutes," said Edgar, rising hastily, and
+going into the house.
+
+In a few minutes he returned with his wife.
+
+"Joe," said he, "Mrs Berrington has something to say to you."
+
+"Mr Baldwin," said Aileen, with a peculiar smile, "I am greatly in want
+of a gardener.  Can you tell me where I am likely to find one, or can
+you recommend one?"
+
+Joe, who was a quick-witted fellow, replied with much gravity:--
+
+"No Miss--ma'am, I mean--I can't."
+
+"That's a pity," returned Aileen, with a little frown of perplexity; "I
+am also much in want of a cook--do you know of one?"
+
+"No, ma'am," said Joe, "I don't."
+
+"What a stupid, unobservant fellow you must be, Joe," said Edgar, "not
+to be able to recommend a cook or a gardener, and you living, as I may
+say, in the very midst of such useful personages.  Now, Aileen, _I_ can
+recommend both a cook and a gardener to you."
+
+"You see, ma'am," interrupted Joe, with profound gravity, and an
+earnestness of manner that quite threw his questioners off their guard,
+"this is an occasion when you may learn a valuable lesson at the outset
+of wedded life, so to speak--namely, that it is much safer an' wiser,
+when you chance to be in a difficulty, to apply to your husband for
+information than to the likes of me; you see, he's ready with what you
+want at a moment's notice."
+
+Aileen and Edgar were upset by this; they both laughed heartily, and
+then the former said:--
+
+"Now, Mr Baldwin, we won't beat any longer about the bush.  We have not
+succeeded in getting a cook, being in the meantime obliged to content
+ourselves with a temporary loan of the green-grocer's wife, and of Miss
+Pritty's small domestic; therefore I want to engage _your_ wife, who is
+at present, I believe, open to an engagement.  We are also unprovided
+with a man to tend our garden, look after our pony, and help me in the
+missionary work, in which I hope immediately to be engaged in this town.
+Do you accept that situation?"
+
+Aileen said this with such an earnest irresistible air, that Joe Baldwin
+struck his colours on the spot, and said, "I do!" with nearly as much
+fervour as Edgar had said these words six weeks before.
+
+The thing was settled then and there, for Joe felt well assured that his
+amiable Susan would have no objection to such an arrangement.
+
+Now, while this was going on in the bower, Mr Hazlit, observing that
+his children were occupied with something important, sauntered down the
+sea-shell road in the direction of his own cottage.  Here he met Miss
+Pritty.
+
+The sight of her mild innocent face called up a thought.  Dozens of
+other thoughts immediately seized hold of the first thought, and
+followed it.  Mr Hazlit was sometimes, though not often, impulsive.  He
+took Miss Pritty's hand without saying a word, drew her arm within his
+own, and led her into the cottage.
+
+"Miss Pritty," he said, sitting down and pointing to a chair, "you have
+always been very kind to my daughter."
+
+"She has always been very kind--_very_ kind--to me," answered Miss
+Pritty, with a slight look of surprise.
+
+"True--there is no doubt whatever about that," returned Mr Hazlit, "but
+just now I wish to refer to your kindness to her.  You came,
+unselfishly, at great personal inconvenience, to China, at my selfish
+request, and for her sake you endured horrors in connection with the
+sea, of which I had no conception until I witnessed your sufferings.  I
+am grateful for your self-sacrificing kindness, and am now about to take
+a somewhat doubtful mode of showing my gratitude, namely, by asking you
+to give up your residence in town, and come to be my housekeeper--my
+companion and friend."
+
+Mr Hazlit paused, and Miss Pritty, looking at him with her mild eyes
+excessively wide open, gave no audible expression to her feelings or
+sentiments, being, for the moment, bereft of the power of utterance.
+
+"You see," continued Mr Hazlit, in a sad voice, looking slowly round
+the snug parlour, "I shall be a very lonely man now that my darling has
+left my roof.  And you must not suppose, Miss Pritty, that I ask you to
+make any engagement that would tie you, even for a year, to a life that
+you might not relish.  I only ask you to come and try it.  If you find
+that you prefer a life of solitude, unhampered in any way, you will only
+have to say so at any time--a month, a week, after coming here--and I
+will cheerfully, and without remonstrance, reinstate you in your old
+home--or a similar one--exactly as I found you, even to your small
+domestic, who may come here and be your private maid if you choose."
+
+Miss Pritty could not find it in her heart to refuse an offer so kindly
+made.  The matter was therefore settled then and there, just as that of
+the diver and his wife had been arranged next door.
+
+Is it necessary to say that both arrangements were found, in course of
+time, to answer admirably?  Miss Pritty discovered that housekeeping was
+her forte, and that she possessed powers of comprehension, in regard to
+financial matters connected with the payment of debts and dividends,
+such as she had all her previous life believed to be unattainable
+anywhere, save in the Bank of England or on the Stock Exchange.
+
+Mrs Baldwin discovered that cooking was her calling--the end for which
+she had been born--although discovered rather late in life.  Joe made
+the discovery that gardening and stable-work were very easy employments
+in the Berrington household, and that his young mistress kept him
+uncommonly busy amongst the poor of the town, encouraging him to attend
+chiefly to their spiritual wants, though by no means neglectful of their
+physical.  In these matters he became also agent and assistant to Mr
+Hazlit--so that the gardening and stable-tending ultimately became a
+mere sham, and it was found necessary to provide a juvenile assistant,
+in the person of the green-grocer's eldest boy, to fill these
+responsible posts.
+
+The green-grocer himself, and his wife, discovered that Christian
+influence, good example, and kind words, were so attractive and powerful
+as to induce them, insensibly, to begin a process of imitation, which
+ended, quite naturally, in a flourishing business and a happy home.
+
+The small domestic also made a discovery or two.  She found that a
+kitchen with a view of the open sea from its window, and a reasonable as
+well as motherly companion to talk to, was, on the whole, superior to a
+kitchen with a window opening up a near prospect of bricks, and the
+companionship of black pots and beetles.
+
+At first, Aileen travelled a good deal with her husband in his various
+business expeditions, and thus visited many wild, romantic, and
+out-o'-the-way parts of our shores; but the advent of a juvenile
+Berrington put a sudden stop to that, and the flow of juvenile
+Berringtons that followed induced her to remain very much at home.  This
+influx of "little strangers" induced the building of so many wings to
+Sea-beach Villa, that its body at last became lost in its wings, and
+gave rise to a prophecy that it would one day rise into the air and fly
+away: up to the present time, however, this remains a portion of
+unfulfilled prophecy.
+
+Mr Hazlit became rich again, not indeed so rich as at first, but
+comfortably rich.  Nevertheless, he determined to remain comparatively
+poor, in order that he might pay his debts to the uttermost farthing.
+His cottage by the sea had comforts in it, but nothing that could fairly
+be styled a luxury, except, of course, a luxurious army of well-trained
+grandchildren, who invaded his premises every morning with terrific
+noise, and kept possession until fairly driven out by force of arms.
+
+Rooney Machowl and David Maxwell stuck to their colours manfully.  They
+went into partnership, and continued for years struggling together at
+the bottom of the sea.  Mrs Machowl tended the amiable Teddy during the
+early, or chokable period of infancy, but when he had safely passed that
+season, his father took him in hand, and taught him to dive.  He began
+by tumbling him into a washing-tub at odd times, in order to accustom
+him to water.  Then, when a little older, he amused himself by
+occasionally throwing him off the end of the pier, and jumping in to
+save him.  Afterwards he initiated him into the mysteries of the dress,
+the helmet, the life-line, the air-pipe, etcetera, and, finally, took
+him down bodily to the bottom of the sea.  At last, Teddy became as good
+and fearless a diver as his father.  He was also the pride of his
+mother.
+
+One afternoon--a bright glowing afternoon--in the autumn of the year,
+Mr Hazlit sat in a favourite bower in the garden of his cottage, with
+Aileen on one side of him, and Edgar on the other.  At the foot of the
+garden a miscellaneous group of boys, girls, and babies, of all ages,
+romped and rolled upon the turf.  In front lay the yellow sands, and,
+beyond, the glorious glittering sea rolled away to the horizon.
+
+Mr Hazlit had just been commenting on their happy condition as compared
+with the time when they "knew not God."  The children having just romped
+themselves into a state of exhaustion, were reasonably quiet, and the
+sun was setting in floods of amber and gold.
+
+"What a peaceful evening!" remarked Aileen.
+
+"How different," said Edgar, "from that of which it is the anniversary!
+Don't you remember that this is the evening of the day in which we
+attacked the Malay pirates long ago?"
+
+"So it is.  I had forgotten," said Mr Hazlit.
+
+"Dinner, sir," said a boy in buttons, who bore a marked resemblance to
+the green-grocer's wife.
+
+As he spoke a stout gentleman opened the garden gate and walked up the
+path leading to the bower.  At the same moment Miss Pritty issued from
+the house and echoed the green-grocer's boy's announcement.
+
+They were all silent as the stout gentleman approached.
+
+"What! _can_ it be?" cried Edgar, starting up in excitement.
+
+"The captain!" exclaimed Mr Hazlit.
+
+"Impossible!" murmured Aileen.
+
+"Pirates!" cried Miss Pritty, turning deadly white, and preparing to
+fall into Edgar's arms, but curiosity prevented her.
+
+There could be no mistake.  The bright glittering eyes, the black beard
+and moustache, the prominent nose, the kindly smile, the broad chest and
+shoulders, revealed unquestionably the captain of the Rajah's gun-boat.
+
+"Miraculous!" cried Edgar, as he wrung the captain's right hand.  "We
+were just talking of the great fight of which this is the anniversary."
+
+"Amazing coincidence!" exclaimed Mr Hazlit, seizing the other hand.
+
+"Not so much of a coincidence as it seems, however," said the captain
+with a laugh, as he shook hands with the ladies, "for I made
+arrangements on purpose to be here on the anniversary day, thinking that
+it might add to the interest of my visit."
+
+"And to come _just_ at dinner-time too," said Miss Pritty, who had
+recovered.
+
+"Another coincidence," observed Aileen, with an arch look.
+
+"Come--come in--here, this way, captain," cried Mr Hazlit, dragging his
+friend by the hand.  "Welcome--heartily welcome to Sea Cottage."
+
+The captain submitted to be dragged; to be placed by the side of Aileen;
+to be overwhelmed with kindness by the elder members of the family, and
+with questions by the younger members, who regarded him as a hero of
+romance quite equal, if not superior, to Jack the Giant-killer.
+
+But how can we describe what followed?  It is impossible.  We can only
+say that the evening was one of a thousand.  All the battles were fought
+over again.  The captain came out strong for the benefit of the
+youngsters, and described innumerable scenes of wild adventure in which
+he had been personally engaged.  And to cap it all, after dinner, when
+they went out into the garden, and were seated in floods of moonlight in
+the bower, two men opened the garden gate and made for the back kitchen,
+with the evident intention of calling on the cook.  These were
+discovered to be Rooney Machowl and David Maxwell.
+
+Of course they were made to come and shake hands with their old
+commander, the captain, and gradually got into a talk, and laughed a
+good deal at the recollection of old times, insomuch that the noise they
+made drew Joe Baldwin to the scene, and, as a natural result, this led
+the conversation into divers channels--among others to life and
+adventure at the bottom of the sea, and there is no saying how long they
+might have talked there if a cloud had not obliterated the moon, and
+admonished them that the night was at hand.
+
+And now, good reader, with regret we find that our tale has reached its
+close.  We may not have added much to your knowledge, but if we have, in
+any degree, interested you in the characters we have summoned to our
+little stage, or in the incidents that have been enacted thereon, we
+shall not have wrought in vain, for the subject into which you have
+consented to dive with us is not only an interesting, but a dangerous
+one--involving as it does the constant risking of manly lives, the
+well-being of large communities, the progress of important industries,
+and the salvation of much valuable property to the world at large.
+
+THE END.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  Something similar to the "job" above mentioned was accomplished
+by G. Smith, a diver on the staff of Messrs. Heinke and Davis, of
+London.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Under the Waves, by R M Ballantyne
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