The news & observer., 1897-03-07

gagged TO marry by this time, and | must
say the way that he and the other
diver worked was a caution. OF course
| the water was warm, but it was fair
sh deep, and L never saw men stay
| down longer. They never SEEMED to
give in whilst they had strength left to
lift hand, and when they came to the
surface and had their gear taken or
they'd be almost fainting with WEAKNESS
from what they'd gone through. And
| it wasn't one-day occurrence either
| They were almost the same, and the
weeks slipped away till they had run
( into Il month, and still none Of the gold
had been brought to the Cleaner.
| The silt was the trouble it seemed.
| As fast ms they dug 1t out, just SO fast
did it slide down again into the steam
3er's bowels, and the strong room, which
/ not be come at. OF course, one under
stood that Cameron's reputation depend
ed upon his bringing off this salvge job
successfully, but don't see the force Of a
/ man killing himself, and | told him so
more than once. | fancied at the time
that Miss Bradbury was telling the same
I every day; but he didn't take any notice
if either of us and nor did Storey, the
other diver; and the pair OF them just
/ worked themselves 20 rags.
! A stopper was put on their game, how
ever, in way they did not expect. The
steward brought word one morning that
{ the captain wanted TO see me, and |
4 turned out of my bunk and went on
deck. He seemed in a bit of worry.
Mr. Storeys had n stroke" says he.
! I've told that man dozen times to
take drugs, sir, said J. "and he never
would"
Drugs are all very well for us, Mac, .
says he, that have ordinary stomachs,
but drugs wouldn't have saved Storey
what he's got, and that's paralysis"
MY certier said /.
Its true" said the old man. "It took
! him whilst he was in the boat Cameron
had just gone down and Storey was go
/ ing to follow when he was seized. They
| took off his helmet and brought him
l back here, and he's down in his room
now with half of him dead and no speech
/ left
Its complaint, I've heard, that often
does seize divers"
! 1T does if they stick to the trade too
long. Well, Mac, Tn wanting some one
to take his place, and 1 give you first
offer. It'll mean Is week above and
/ beyond your present pay, and there's
nothing to hinder your erning it."
/ Nothing that l see, sir; Storey and I
are just in a build and | can wear his
suit
Very well, then just give me your
/ hand for half a minutes and look me in
the eye"
| / did that.
Now said he, ''you're a servant of
the Corinth salvage association, and
I'm another. Your father was a gentle
man, wasn't he?"
He was that. sir, and one of the most
/ honOred Free Kirk ministers in Scot
land"
''Then you must be a gentleman, too,
| though / dare say you are not always
/ treated as such Now swear to me, Mac,
on your honor, as a gentleman, that
you'll be true to those that are employ
ing you"
l looked him in the face and did it
cheerfully. When man treats me prop
erly( and God knows few enough of
them have tried it, he's got a fellow to
work for him he ought to value highly.
/ got into the suit as the boat rowed
me out to the buoy, and when we picked
up the mooring the men screwed on the
/ helmet for me and started the air pump.
1t wasn't a new experience to me; I'd
been diving before in the Clyde to bore
holes into a sunken pier with ratchet
drill
/ went over the side, took the rope
and lowered myself hand over fist,
| through the gray water, till the leaden
soles on my feet touched ground. The
corky feeling was a bit new again at
first, but l soon got over that, and then
as my air valves were working all right,
and / could breathe quite easily, l set
about looking for Cameron. He was
somewhere out of sight, but his air tube
was lying on the mud amongst the sea
shrubs, like a thin white eel, and / follow
ed that easily enough.
1T led me to the Corinth, where she
lay with her decks straight up and down,
and / saw it passing away through the
watery blackness down her companion
hatch. There seemed something wrong
here. Where were all the great moving
| banks of slime the divers had told us
about? Where was the filthy o0ze which
slid back against the steamer as fast as
Uity Jug NJ AWAY oIlnle IueFe NdS III
plenty; / sank in it kneedeep in spite of
the buoyancy OF the suit; but it was
quite manageable, and the Corinth's s
companion lay far above its mark. A
rope lay against the upright deck beside
the white aid tube. / thought minute,
and then laid hold and swarmed up. In
side all was dark, but / switched on
light in the electric lamp had with me
and the glow 1t the place like a foggy
street
The first step landed me on something
that crunched. / looked down and saw
| it was "a suit of bones, SKINNED clean
! by the fishes. Some poor wretch had
been downed here when the steamer
foundered. Well, of course, had seen
a skeleton before, but somehow or other
those bones didn't seem to cheer me.
There was something wrong; the yarn
the divers had brought up and the real
thing as it lay were two entirely different
matters. 1t occurred to me that / had
stumbled Thy the accident of Storey's
| paralySiS) upon something intended to