Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters Part 12

"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 pa.s.sengers, 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 pa.s.sengers, 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 a.s.sistants,--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. .h.i.tched 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 sc.r.a.pe on the blackest part of the boiler as you pa.s.s."

"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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.senger in the saloon, who stood on the other side of the very thin part.i.tion, 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 pa.s.senger from Edinburgh, as she gazed at the ma.s.s of air-bubbles that arose when Edgar's iron head had disappeared.

"Nothink of the sort," responded a fore-cabin pa.s.senger from London, who had taken an immense liking to the fore-cabin pa.s.senger 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 oak.u.m in a way that at once diminished the influx of water; but this was merely a makes.h.i.+ft. 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 pa.s.s entirely under the s.h.i.+p'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 b.a.l.l.s or blocks of wood about four inches in diameter, which prevented it coming too close to the s.h.i.+p's bottom. Thus there was secured s.p.a.ce for the diver to place his feet on the rounds. This ladder having been affixed, so as to pa.s.s 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 fas.h.i.+on 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.