The jingling of the telephone bell jarred the stiff silence and stirred the boys from their stupor. As though hypnotized, they had stood awaiting the finish, not thinking of any further movement calculated to free them from their predicament. They had figured everything that could be done for their rescue having been thought of, or tried out. But now the jangle of the telephone receiver, Jay moved to take it off the hook and as he did so his right foot struck the pin that held the aquascope in position. When the pin was removed the trapdoor, or aquascope as they called it, opened upward of its own accord on an air-cushion that worked on the principle of a door cushion. And that was what happened at this particular moment in the _Nautilus_. The aquascope opened upward, leaving the limpid waters of the Sound purling at the very feet of the two boys. Just for a second the boys recoiled in horror, thinking now they were in greater danger. With the door open there was more chance of the force of the explosion below being felt within the _Nautilus_. Dick sprang to close the aquascope in the few seconds that remained until the explosion. But imagine his surprise when Jay intercepted and hurled him away from the trap. "Quick, chum, follow me," cried Jay in wild acclaim. The opening of the aquascope had given the youth an inspiration. Yes, he would do it. It was a last desperate chance, but there was no reason why it would not work if carried out in time. Even as Dick started back in consternation when thrust from the aquascope Jay literally leaped feet first into the aquascope as though he were jumping into a miniature swimming pool. Down he went until his feet struck at last on the deck of the coal barge. In this position he stood in water up to his chest, with his head and shoulders still in the _Nautilus_. "What are you going to do?" gasped Dick. He had failed yet to grasp the significance of his chum's quick move. "Dive out of here and take my chances on shooting up to the surface," came the instantaneous reply. Then it dawned on Dick. What his chum intended doing was to let himself out of the _Nautilus_ through the trap door, dive free of the salvage chamber and shoot up to the surface. And why not? They were down about eighty-five feet, and they were accustomed to the pressure of that depth since the pressure in the _Nautilus_ had had to be equal that of the water outside in order to open the trap safely. A sickly grin spread across the Brighton youth's face. Why hadn't either he or Jay thought of that before? "Come on, Dick, follow me," urged Jay, and almost before the words escaped his lips he quickly took a full inhalation into his lungs, gave one last look at his chum and ducked down head first into the waters of Long Island Sound through the open trap of the _Nautilus_.