The Washington herald., 1906-11-11

A capital diving story is told in an
English school paper by a man signing
himself AN Amateur Diver"
believe. says he. by scme remarkable
process of nature every third male person
Is born a diver whitstable is the place
where most divers grow. and where 1
caught the temptation to go a-diving
myself
I mentioned my desire to one or two
old divers, but met with jeers and sus-
pici0n. But Whitstable never produced
a diver that could put me off. I bought q
diving dress. and got permission 70 go
down and amUSe myself on a sunken
coasting vessel lying of shore a little
distance.
1t was a noble diving suit, and the
new india rubber sQueaked mUsically
as I moved, and smelt very refresh
ing. There was shield-shaped plate.
rather like a label on a decanter, hang
ing on my chest, and a noble metal col
lar-abCut thirty-twO the size would have
been on the usual scale.
I had also a very fetching red night
cap while my helmet was terror TO all
behOlders. / don't mind confessing to a
certain amount of discomfort while they
were building me up in this dress-partly
due 10 vivid imagination. The helmet
made me think of the people in the story
who put hot pots on the heads of stran-
gers, and ] seemed sitting at once.
All Ready for the Descent.
There wasn't much comfort TO be got
out OF the leaden shoes-try a pair for
yourself and see-but when all was ready.
l made a shift to get overheard and TO
crawl slowly down the ladder.
1t was not "a great deal OF the outer
world that I could see through my win
dows. and I hung on 20 that ladder with
something of a desperate clutch When
at last the water stretched away level
around my windows, then. / confess. I
hesitated for moment. But I made the
next step with a certain involuntary
blink, and I was under water.
All the heaviness-oT most OF it-had
gone ont of my feet, and all my move
nIents partook of a cuTioUsly easy vet
slowish character after all At the ,op
OF my helmet the air escape valve bub-
bled merrily and I tried TO think of my
self as a plumed knight striding among
the fishes. You do think of the siIIiest
things on certain cheerful occasions.
1t was not as long as It seemed before
l was on the wreck. and down below in
the nearest hold. Regular professionals
had already been at work, and access
to different parts of the ship had been
made easy.
Now, in this big hold were an i'm
mense number Of barrels. stood on end
and packed tightly together-barrels Of
oil. TO judge from externals. / tried TO
move one, but plainly they were all
jammed tightly together, and not one
would bulge.
I took the light AK. with which 7
had provided myself, using It alternately
as wedge and lever, and at last felt tho
barrel move. ] had certainly Ioosened il.
and I pulled up the AK with the inten-
ton OF trying TO lift the barrel. when
suddenly I was ingulfed in an awful con-
vulsion, as of many earthquakes in d free
fight
The world was a mob of bouncing oil
barrels. which hit me everywhere. as I
houndered in intricate sOmersaults. and
finally found myself staggering at the
bottom Of the hold. and Staving at the
roof, whercunto all the barrels were
sticking Ike balloons. absolutely block
ms up the hatchway above me
What was this? Some demoniac prac-
teal joke Of ficnds inhabiting this awful
green sea about me? Were they grinning
at me from the corners of the hold? or.
had some vast revolution in the ways of