The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-02
CHAPTER VIII.


with will, and very soon the Eurek,
was leaping surfaceward again in rapii
bounds
OF what was occurring on her deck
those in the hold did not hear till aftel
the ballast tanks had been freed of wa
ter and the iron matches had beer
opened once more to the sea breeze.
But then they crowded up. and the
doctor told the tale.
"There is little in it, be said. "Di.
rectly turned the light off the beast
gave mp nuzzling the glass and started
driving its sharp nose against the panea
with all the force 1t could muster.
There was nothing for it but to make
for the surface as fast as possible II
the glass had gone, the pressure Of wa
ter from without would have been so
intense that nothing we could have
done would have prevented the thrush
And then-by the way, has anybody
got matchesf want cigarette
But. though the doctor thus made lit
tie of the encounter, the danger had
been really great. and more than one Of
the Eureka's crew began to wonder
whether they were destined ever to find
the gold which was to be the reward Of
their daring. For, do what they would,
no glimpse of the Santa Catarina came
to reward their patient search. They
had diligently quartered five square
miles Of the sea floor, and, unless they
had overlooked her, she was not there.
That evening. therefore, there was q
council held on deck. while the ketch
rode stationary at her sea anchor
ut is rather disappointing, the doc
tor owned. "but I don't consider the
case by any means hopeless as yet. You
see, that old galleon was a wooden ship
and so when she left the top Of the sea
she would not Of necessity go straight
to the bottom. She would sink d good
many fathoms and then would get to
layer Of water Of sufficient denseness to
prevent her going any farther for
awhile. But, though she would not re-
main suspended for long, for her tim
bers and cargo would soon get thor
oughly sodden. she might very well get
into some undercurrent which would
take her along goodness knows how
far"
But" objected Captain Colepepper,
"if there had been any such current
about, we should have noticed it.
"Not necessarily. 1t may be some
subsurface stream, running only few
inches an hour. With our rough obser-
vations we should never notice such
small disturbance as that. And yet,
given time, it might have shifted the
slowly sinking galleon on a good long
distance before she finally settled into
her bed upon the ooze. No, 1 shall not
abandon our search while we have a
single cylinder of oxygen left, and even
then shall not go away because con-
slider 1t hopeless.
And 30 it was decided that the search
should 90 on. The Eureka made descent
after descent and each day surveyed az
much Of the ooze bed below as her hand
driven screw wonld take her over.
Besides the two extraordinary perils
which have been mentioned, there were
other and more frequently repeated
times Of danger. These were the mo-
ments when she was returning to or
dropping from the surface. Then, if
there happened to be anything Of
heavy sea or swell running. the doctor
found himself in no small difficulty. OF
course the time of descent was in his
own hands. for, if the weather was bad
when the hour came for the dive, he
could simply wait and let the ketch
ride to her floating anchor till the sea
But if blow sprang up
while she was in the black depths below
she was pinned. She was bound to
come to the surface sooner or later. or
her crew would suffocate. But several
times. when they had begun to pump
water ont Of the ballast tanks and risen
almost the whole distance, they found
hat there was dangerous sea running
overhead and were compelled to stay
heir hands and let the Eureka balance
n middepth till the weather had i'm.
proved.
On all occasions but one this maneu-
Ter had succeeded, though at the cost Of
grievcus waste of the store of COM
PRESSED oxygen. But on that one day,
lfter using up three whole cylinders of
he precious gas and enduring the close
ir Of the hold till its surcharged heavi.
less nearly choked them, they took to
he pumps again in kind Of despera-
ion and crept slowly up to the bolster
us surface above.
Heavily waterlogged as she was, the
,ureka would not rise to the seas, but
oiled sluggishly in the trough and al.
owed the heavy waves to make clean
reach over her. The imprisoned treas.
re hunters could hear the cataracts Of
reen falling overhead like avalanches
stone Every nail and every rivet Of
he vessel was tried to its uttermost.
Tothing but her colossal strength
rought her through that fierce ordeal,
nd when the iron matches were taken
# and the crew got on to the deck the
igging and launching of the sea anchor
roved a task almost too great for
lem. But at last it was done, and the
etch was slewed round to ride bows on
, the wavss.
Then there was leisure to look around,
nd the sight which met the eyes was
'uel enough, for the pounding seas
I'D made sad havoc while the Eureka
I'D been rolling helpless in their trough.
Nine days after the adventure with
lie giant eel Dolly made mistake
hich was the cause of giving great
to the whole crew. This
how it happened;
The Eureka had sunk quietly down
within fathom or 20 Of the ooze,
I'd the doctor, who always directed
10 upward and downward movements
the vessel himself, left the coming
wer and went down to help the others
, the crank. Dolly remained in the
inning tower alone. The wheel worked
sily. She had the pinnacle in front Of
II and was well able to steer compass
urse, and as the pace which the hand
'iven screw gave along the sea floor
as slow, and Dolly's brown eyes were
ny keen, she was easily able to keep a
,nrt loctc-. .. t,,c 90 no time. {
{To Be continued.)