The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-01

fully condensed in light steel cyli1
ders, this form Of illumination serv'
our purposes very well !"
! How deep are we now, doctor
: Dolly asked.
The doctor pointed to thing like
. steam gauge with the dial mayke = !:
!, fathoms The index on ~
touched "a.
sa,I10(B still falling "We've a LOT
to 60 yet before we fetch up, -
he answered.
"The air feels queer" remarked
Guthrie.
| "That." replied the doctor, 'is be-
cause it is becoming gradually COM
pressed. As the water ballast flows into
our tanks so the air which filled them
before is pushed out and sends up the
pressure throughout the rest Of the yes
sell might have let it escape over
board, but breathable oxygen is valu-
able, and preferred to store it. There
are eight Of us on board, and. reckon
ing the consumption per head at 10
gallons per hour, we shall have enough
to last us for "a hours easily, and more
at a pinch.
"What about the carbouic acid2
asked Guthrie
"Those fat tins which you helped
me to lay about the hold, are meant to
deal with that" replied the doctor
"Carbon dioxide is heavy. You know.
and will naturally seek the lowest levels
of the vessel. The tins are filled with
strong caustic potash solution, and will
require nothing more than an occasion.
al shaking up to make them mop up the
excess Of carbon dioxide."
"But won't the oxygen in the air be-
come unduly Diluted, and consequently
difficult to breathe. before long, even il
the carbonic acid is removed9"
"I've provided for that too. shall
let out fresh supply of oxygen from
the cylinders But oxygen Is expensive.
and the number Of cylinders is limited;
go, as soon as breathing becomes at all
difficult, shall take the Eureka up to
the surface again and get my supply Of
wind fresh from there"
But" put in Dolly, "wouldn't it
be better 10 stay down as long as we
possibly can and finish the thing in one
diver Surely you would be able to get
as many pillar dollars on board in "a
hours as we shall want"
II dare say it would be possible, Dol
ly," replied the doctor. with leathery
smile, 'if we could only pitch upon the !
exact spot where they lie. The awk.
ward part Of it is we don't precisely
know where they are. You see the
galleon may not have foundered per-
pendicularly. She may have been car.
ried along ever SO far by submarine
current"
"Then the Eureka would be treated
in the same way" suggested Dolly,
eagerly, land 80 il the pair started
from the same place on the surface up
above, they should arrive at the same
place on the sea floor below"
'That's very neat piece of argu-
ment, " replied the doctor; $50 neat, in
fact, that won't spoil it by pointing
out all the several ways in which it
would fall through But III just pre-
sent you with one point gratis. The sea
isn't like grassfield You can 4 stick
post in it to mark any particular spot
You have to fix positions which are out
of sight Of land by observations, and
observations at sea are usually more ap-
proximate than accurate We improve
as years go on, however, and have ev-
cry reason to think that the galleon's
position was known as nearly as modern
science could work it. But you must
Remember that Nicholas laass H Hired lii ia much
more rough and ready days. and though
he made landfall directly after sinking
the Santa Catarina, and could check his
observations, they cant be expected to
be within mile or mile and a half of
the truth. What we shall have to do is
to quarter the sea floor systematically,
showing the craft along as fast as the
screw will make her move, and search
ing the waters on either side of our
course as far as this oxyhydrogen light
will show through them. i
"Ha, close to bottom nowl Look at
the manometerl Only ten fathoms
more, If the soundings are correctl
Colepepper, will you and Guthrie go
off and bear hand at the crank2 Min
utes are precious. want her under
weigh as soon as the bottom is in sight
Dolly, you stay with me- Your eyes are
better than mine, and we must have
sharp lookout.
Captain Colepepper hurried off to the
part Of the hold in which the crank ap-
paratus was situated, and Guthrie with
him, and before minute had passed
the hand driven screw was revolving
and the Eureka had begun her search.
But this search, which Miss Colepep-
per had thought would be matter Of
a few hours, dragged itself on through
many weary days Of the most irksomo
toll, and there was yet no sign Of the
foundered galleon.
For the steersman and the lookout in
he coming tower there was always the
excitement which came from the posi-
oility that the next sweep of the search !
light might reveal the longed for heap l
# wreckage, but for the workers down {
n the stuffy hold there was nothing but $
he dullest Of monotony-push and pull, . .
'ush and pull, day after day, at the il
Of cranks and levers which t
urned the screw. Those same cranks
nd levers no doubt reflected credit on v
Dr. Tring's inventive ingenuity, but +
fter the first hour of acquaintance y
With them the members of the Eureka's II
rev began to lose interest in them and =
D the end came almost to hate them. e
1t is said that the strangest thing CT
liver finds when he first takes TO max IL IL
1g descents below the sea s surface is
DO absolute silence amid which he a
loves The workers in the Eureka were a.
sved from this experience. Speech was 7
ermitted to them. and for the first few D.
ays at least they chatted a good deal Q,
) they worked, but in time the numb. OF
lg grip of deadly monotony took hold &C G..
them and seemed'to choke their in W
fleets, SO that it became their habit to II
} through with the loathed toll in ~
lence. of