As he felt himself going the unfortunate youth grabbed for his life lines for the purpose of signaling the "emergency"; but in the swirl of water he was pitched headlong, the added weight of his own diving accoutrements bearing him along like a leaf in a windstorm. Clear across the wide slanting deck of the _Dominion_ he was hurled until he brought up hard against the rotted deck rail. Like a drowning man grasping for a straw Jay reached out to clutch the iron post outlined directly in front of him; but as he grabbed its top knob he felt the whole structure rend and twist, its fastenings loosened by the rust of a prolonged submergence. The impact of the young diver's body wrenched it loose and in a moment Jay was hurtled overboard from the inclined deck of the _Dominion_ and enmeshed in a tangle of the collapsed deck railing. It had all happened so quickly the dazed youth was unable to figure out where he was and what really had happened. "What a pretty pickle I'm in," was all he could gasp, as he sought to tear himself free from his incumbrances. And then, to his utter consternation, he found that his air and signal lines had become all entangled in the demolished railing! Sprawling on his back in the soft sand that undulated in a wavy crest against the side of the _Dominion_ he struggled in vain to tear himself free and get to his feet. But, weighed down by his equipment, tired out by his long stay under water and imprisoned in the débris of the _Dominion_, he found his strength fast slipping. "I've got to get hold of that emergency line," he said to himself, gritting his teeth and thrashing the water above his head for a hold on the precious life line. Eventually he found it and tugged with all his might, awaiting the welcome pull that would lift him out of the depths. But no welcome pull came. The life lines were caught in the débris! And now he found himself breathing with difficulty. The air lines, too, had been fouled! The air supply was virtually cut off altogether, and the young diver breathing only the air contained within his diving armor! "Looks as though I was up against it unless I can work these lines free," the thought flashed through his brain with unrelenting reality. Now, indeed, was he fighting for life against the very fates! With the desperation born of madness Jay battled to free himself. Caught like a fly in a great spider's web, he knew every moment was precious. Unless those air lines were freed or he got a signal to the surface he was doomed. Seizing the life lines above his helmet he drew them tight in his hands and followed them along until he came to the first entanglement of iron piping. For a moment the impediment thwarted him, and then he tore it free of the hose lines. But still no relief. By now his brain was reeling and he could feel the blood vessels standing out on his forehead. A sense of suffocation pressed his heart and lungs and he found his breath coming in short wheezy gasps.