The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-08

cling now for two minutes. 1t
came into his head that the win
dow would crack through the con-
fiict of temperatures, for he knew the
bottom water Is very near freezing.
Then suddenly the floor of the sphere
seemed to press against his feet. the
rush of bubbles outside grew slower
and slower and the kissing diminished
The sphere rolled a little. The window
had not cracked nothing had given. and
he knew that the dangers of sinking, at
any rate, We're over. In another min
ute or SO he would be on the floor of the
abyss. He thought. he said, of Stevens
and Weybridge and the rest of them
five miles overhead, higher to him than
| the very highest clouds that ever floated
over land are to us, steaming slowly and
staring down and wondering what had
happened to him.
He peered out of the window. There
were no more bubbles now and the
Kissing had stopped. Outside there was
a heavy blackness, as black as black
velvet, except where the electric light
pierced the empty water and showed
the color Of 1t a yellow green. Then
three thing like shapes of fire swan
into sight, following each other through
the water. Whether they We're little
and near or big and far off he could not
tell. Each was outlined in a blush
light almost as bright as the lights of a
fishing smack, light which seemed to
be smoking family, and all along the
sides of them We're specks of this. like
the lighted portfolios Of ship. Their
phosphorescence seemed to go out as
they came into the radiance of his lamp.
and he saw then that they were little
fish OF some strange sort with huge
heads, vast eyes and dwindling bodies
and tails. Their eyes were turned to-
wards him, and he judged they were fol-
lowing him down. He supposed they
We're attracted by his glare. Presently
others of the same sort Joined them.
AS he went on down he noticed that the
water became of pallid color, and that
little specks twinkled in his ray like
notes in sunbeam. This was probab-
ly due to the clouds Of ooZe and mud
that the impact of his leaden sinllers
had disturbed.
BY the time he was drawn down to
the lead weights he was in a dense fog
Of white that his electric light failed
altos to pierce tor more than a few
yards. and many minutes elapsed be-
fore the hanging sheets of sediment
subsidized to any extent. Then, lit by
his light and the transient phosphor-
escence Of distant shoal Of fishes. he
was able to see under the huge black
hess of the superincumbent water an
undulating eXpanse Of grayish-White
Ooze, broken here ard there by tangled
thickets of a growth of sea lilies, wav-
ing hungry tentacles in the air. Fur
ther away We're the graceful, trans
lucent outlines of group of gigantic
sponges About this floor there We're
scattered a number Of bristling, flat
ish tufts of rich purple and black,
which he decided must be of some sort
of sea urchin, and small. large-eyed or
blind things, having u curious resem-
blanCe, some to woodlice and others to
Holsters, Crawled sluggishly across the
track of the light and vanished into
the obscurity again. leaving furrowed
trails behind them. Then suddenly the
lowering swarm of little fishes veered
about and came towards him as flight
of starlings might do. They passed
over him like phosphorescent snow.
and then he saw behind them some
larger creatures advancing towards the
sphere. At first he could see 1t only
dimly, family moving figure remotely
suggestive of walking man. and then
it came into the spray of ligh that the
lamp shot out AS the glare struck It,
it shut its eyes dazzled. He stared In
rigid astonishment.
TO BE CONCLUDED.