This the old fellow did after securing the extra life-line to his belt, but not before Dutch had had a few words with Mr Parkley as to the management of the dynamite and wires. The men on the look-out could see no sharks, all being apparently quite clear, and at last, when with hatchet and knife in his belt, and the wheel of the air-pump beginning to clank, Dutch moved towards the gangway, trailing after him the long india-rubber tube, there was a loud cheer, and everyone leaned forward in eager excitement. "Now to solve the problem, Studwick," said Mr Parkley, who was evidently excited, and who dabbed his face to get rid of the dripping perspiration. "Is it to be luck or ill-luck?" "That I'll tell you by-and-by," said the captain, smiling; and like Mr Wilson and the doctor, he stood up on the bulwarks to help to keep a good lookout for sharks. "Now look here, Mr Parkley," said Rasp, who had assumed the management, and dictated as if everything belonged to him, "just you place Mr Jones the mate, here with three men to let that there life-line run softly through their hands when it's pulled, and to heave in the slack when it isn't; but when I give the word they're to run it in with all their might--take hold of it, you know, and run along the deck." Hester Pugh's breath caught, as now, with dilating eyes, she watched her husband, who, as calmly as possible, stepped on to the ladder, and began to descend step by step, till his shoulders were immersed, when he paused for a moment to alter the way in which the tube hung from his helmet; then Rasp, passing it through his hands, and giving a word or two of advice to the men at the pump, the helmet disappeared beneath the surface, and in place of the hissing noise heard as the air escaped from the valve, there came foaming up a continuous stream of bubbles through the limpid water. The men gave another cheer, and the Cuban, who had crept round close to Hester, looked down over the bulwark, full of curiosity to see what would follow. Down, down, down went Dutch, armed with a small sharp shovel, made in the shape of the ordinary spade of a pack of cards, and so bright was the water that his every motion was perfectly plain to those on deck, as he stepped from the ladder to the bed of the old vessel, and, after taking care that the tube should be clear of the ladder, walked slowly between the black ribs of the old galleon towards what had evidently been the stern. STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. A SUBMARINE EXCURSION. To those on deck the sight was curious in the extreme, for, foreshortened by the clear medium through which they gazed, the diver seemed like some hideous water-goblin, with an enormous head, creeping about on the yellow sand.