Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-01-19

hopeless, but he was determined to
leave no chance untried. Diaz had gone
down into the fore-hold with some of
his men, to overhaul the last cases for
Agana and Moreno was below at
breakfast; so that no me but the helms
man noticed our again heading about,
and he was dreaming of Nisaya girls in
Manila too deeply to do more than obey
orders in a purely mechanical way.
Ittook less than half an hour 10 reach
the position. Then Halstead himself
climbed out upon the sounding perch
with hand lead and 30 fathoms of line
He had stationed me al the telephones
on the bridge, hastily arranging a
series of signals, and. after watching
the waters surface closely for awhile,
waved his hand for 'half speed"
In about two minutes | saw him
swing the lead forward, paying out
the line rapidly as ii tautened under
his feet Five times more he east it,
hauling In the entire length after each
one. then signaled: Full speed.
ahead" After which, mounting the
bridge, lie ordered the helmsman to
put her about and steer north by east,
quarter east. noticed great beads of
perspiration upon his forehead, and
was wondering if heaving a lead were
really violent exercise, when, beckon-
ing me TO the end of the bridge as if to
point out the position of Guajan, he
whispered:
Get below, quick, and pay out that
patent log; took the box down myself
al four bells. Then eat your breakfast
as if nothing had happened, and chat
with the senorita for awhile, but be
back here by six bells at the latest;
we've got a heap 10 talk about"
The change in feeling from despon-
dency to well grounded hope almost
made me lose my head, especially as
saw that we now had the game largely
in our own hands watched my op-
portunity, and was paying out the log
line astern. through the bitt port, in
about ten minutes. Then | spent a
good half hour over my meal, discuss
ing with the padre, who remained to
keep me company, the probability of
Santa Rosa reef having sunk to the
bottom, but advising him not to state
this as fact in his forthcoming book
until he had persuaded the govern
ment to make n more exhaustive
search with one of the cruisers. Then,
after a delightful tete-a-tete with the
senorita, l returned TO Halstead, whom
found removing the fastenings from
a large bundle which one Of the men
had just brought up from the lazareet.
There was also sea chest. marked
with my name, upon one of the tran
SONS. He nodded toward this and
said:
81 suppose you don't remember
bringing that on board, do you?"
"Well. 10 tell the truth, don't. And
think was pretty sober, too. Where
did | get it? What's inside?"
Nothing at present. This diving
suit is going in if can make it. Now
draw the curtains and strip TO your
shirt and drawers
What for?"
"To try the thing on, of course.
Hustle, now; We'll be in by two O. clock.
I've read the directions over until
know them by heart, but l want you
to be boxed up in it once while I'm by
to help you. It's pretty risky bust
ness, no matter how often a man does
it, and | don't want your death on
my hands. You see, it viii be simply
out of the question to depend upon
pumper above water-you can't trust
anyone-and it's going to take all the
nerve you've got to go down without"
l put the suit on, piece by piece,
obeying the printed instructions to
the letter and fastening every clamp
myself; for l knew assistance would
be unobtainable when i came to actual
ly use ii. The screws at the back of the
helmet collar were the most difficult
to tighten, but finally adjusted them
to even Halstead's satisfaction. For
tunately, l had not screwed on the
front lens of the helmet until the last,
else / think l should have been suf-
focated before the compressed air IN
the reservoir began to work. The sick
ening nervousness / felt at being shut
up in such a rig made me dread the at
tempt to go under water with IL, but
the captain assured me that, having
had the thing on, it wouldn't trouble
me as much next time. Then we
packed 1t carefully away in the chest,
together with several dynamite cart
ridges, two light but powerful steel
bars, n couple of strong hatchets, and
some saws and knives.
rro BE CONTINUED
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