Erik must turn off the tap!

"Erik! Erik! That is water enough for the gunpowder! Turn off the
tap! Turn off the scorpion!"

But Erik did not reply. We heard nothing but the water rising: it was
half-way to our waists!

"Christine!" cried M. de Chagny. "Christine! The water is up to our
knees!"

But Christine did not reply ... We heard nothing but the water rising.

No one, no one in the next room, no one to turn the tap, no one to turn
the scorpion!

We were all alone, in the dark, with the dark water that seized us and
clasped us and froze us!

"Erik! Erik!"

"Christine! Christine!"

By this time, we had lost our foothold and were spinning round in the
water, carried away by an irresistible whirl, for the water turned with
us and dashed us against the dark mirror, which thrust us back again;
and our throats, raised above the whirlpool, roared aloud.

Were we to die here, drowned in the torture-chamber? I had never seen
that. Erik, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, had never
shown me that, through the little invisible window.

"Erik! Erik!" I cried. "I saved your life! Remember! ... You were
sentenced to death! But for me, you would be dead now! ... Erik!"

We whirled around in the water like so much wreckage. But, suddenly,
my straying hands seized the trunk of the iron tree! I called M. de
Chagny, and we both hung to the branch of the iron tree.

And the water rose still higher.

"Oh! Oh! Can you remember? How much space is there between the
branch of the tree and the dome-shaped ceiling? Do try to remember!
... After all, the water may stop, it must find its level! ... There,
I think it is stopping! ... No, no, oh, horrible! ... Swim! Swim for
your life!"

Our arms became entangled in the effort of swimming; we choked; we
fought in the dark water; already we could hardly breathe the dark air
above the dark water, the air which escaped, which we could hear
escaping through some vent-hole or other.

"Oh, let us turn and turn and turn until we find the air hole and then
glue our mouths to it!"

But I lost my strength; I tried to lay hold of the walls! Oh, how
those glass walls slipped from under my groping fingers! ... We whirled
round again! ... We began to sink! ... One last effort! ... A last
cry: "Erik! ... Christine! ..."

"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the
bottom of the dark water, our ears went, "Guggle! Guggle!"

A