I said nothing more. Somehow, I did not feel inclined to conversation. I could think only of the terrific weight of water so near, pressing so mercilessly upon the thin plates, think only of how cruelly it would crush and tear us when it found its way in! I gazed at the little needle with a sort of fascination. It crept slowly around the dial, counting up the pounds of the irresistible pressure that surrounded us. The minutes dragged by. The little needle showed a depth of fifteen thousand feet, almost three miles. The height of a good mountain, and still it crept up! And yet we were not a third of the way! Suddenly I heard a splintering crackle that grated roughly on my strained nerves. I looked down. The unconscious grip of my hand had splintered the top panel of the back of a chair by my side! Sam was looking at me, grinning. "I'm glad you didn't have your hand on me, Mel." I glanced back at the needle, and shouted in surprised relief. "It has stopped!" Truly, the pointer stood still! As we watched it, it hung still a moment under my riveted gaze, and then crept back! "It's a turning point! The pressure is getting less!" "It couldn't be!" Sam said. "Unless we are rising!" "No! See! The buoyancy tanks are still flooded!" "The duplicate pressure gauge?" "It turned back with the other!" "Look! Yes, we are still sinking." He pointed to the windows. "See! The fish are still flashing upward in the light!" In speechless wonder, we stood and watched. Still we were evidently sinking. Still the dark waters rushed up about us. And still the needles crept back! Suddenly Sam seized my shoulder in a hand of iron. "Look!" he whispered hoarsely, pointing out through the heavy lenses. "Can't you see? A light! A red gleam beyond our searchlights!" A switch clicked under the nervous fingers of his other hand, and our lights went out. In a moment, as soon as my eyes were accustomed to the darkness, I saw that he was right! The sea was not black! There was a pale, roseate glow suffused through it! Steadily it grew stronger. We were coming into a region of light, and of decreased pressure, at the bottom of the sea! Of all wonders! The red light grew stronger, until it seemed that we sank through a sea of molten ruby--through an ocean of blood. Intense red light poured in through the lenses until I had to hide my eyes. With shaded eyes, Sam bent over the manometer. "Only two hundred feet!" he cried. "Fifty! Ten!" Suddenly the floor fell away from beneath my feet. We seemed to have dropped from the sea into a lake of fire. A blindingly intense red glare poured in the windows. I was very sick. The ship reeled about me, the floor sank, dropped away! I grasped dizzily for the table, drew myself blindly toward it!