"Etoyle," says I, "is not English, though!"
"Neither," replies he, "is it Spanish. And," with his fierce lion look
upon his face, he went on, "belong it either to English, French, or
Spanish colonist or to pirate, they shall not have our treasure while
we are above water."
So, all being done, we went back to rejoin the tender.
Now, when we got to her we heard that the Blackamoor had directed that
she should proceed to a spot immediately on the other, or eastern
side, of the reef, from which we had previously fished, since there it
was that the old man, Geronimo, had laid down that we should find the
wreck. So Ayscough had taken her to this spot, namely, half a league
away from the Boylers, and we found all preparations made for a
descent, Juan, the Buzo, being particularly keen to go down at once.
But now we summoned our own diver--a straightforward, honest
Englishman, whose name was Woods--to come and confer with us, and
asked him what he thought. Then he told us that the soundings were
good enough for a descent, since the bottom was not more than twenty
fathoms below where we were anchored, and that the tallow brought up
soft sand and limestone, which showed a good bed.
"Therefore," says Phips, "you can reach the bottom, can you not?"
"If not, sir," says he, "I can at least descend so far as to see the
bottom, and if then I find the wreck it shall go hard but that I will
get down to her. My diving chest can sink easily to forty feet, and
with Mister Halley's[3] new dress I am confident I can touch the
bottom here."
"So be it," says Phips, "and now about the Black. Here you, sir," then
he calls out to Juan, who was even now leaning over the gunwale,
peering down into the hot sea, "come here and tell us how you propose
to reach the bottom."
"That very easy, sir," answered he; "I have new dress Massa Woods lend
me, which I am sure I manage very nicely. I go down if the Signor
Capitan wish me."
"No," says Phips, "Woods shall go down first. And since 'tis a calm
morning, get you ready now, Woods."
At once the man did this, going forward to where he berthed in the
ship, and returning presently a strange figure to behold, since now he
was all enveloped in Mr. Halley's new improved dress, all over cords
for lowering and pipes for a-taking in the air.
"For," says he, "I will try this, sir, now, and see how far I can go
down."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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