se that it was
impossible for the occupants of the pilot-house to discern each other;
whilst the silence which prevailed around them was first oppressive and
then awe-inspiring in its intensity.

Suddenly a light shuffling sound arose within the pilot-house, and in
another moment the inky depths through which they were descending became
brilliantly illuminated with a clear white penetrating light, in which
every detail of the ship's hull fore and aft stood out distinctly
visible, whilst here and there, above, below, and on either side of
them, a momentary gleam revealed the presence of some startled and
hastily retreating denizen of the deep. The professor had lighted up
the electric lanterns, the especial purpose of which was to illuminate
the sea around the ship, leaving the interior of the pilot-house still
in darkness, in order that its occupants might enjoy, to the fullest
extent, the novelty of the scene thus suddenly revealed to them, and
also that, on reaching the bottom, they might the better be able to
distinguish external objects.

Lower and lower sank the _Flying Fish_, and at length, after what seemed
to the travellers an almost interminable descent, she reached the
bottom.

"Now, gentlemen," exclaimed the professor, with some slight evidences of
excitement in the tones of his voice, "look around you, and see if you
can discover anything unusual in our neighbourhood."

The persons addressed did as they were requested, the professor himself
also peering eagerly out of each of the pilot-house windows in turn, but
without result; the electric lamps, though they brilliantly illuminated
the scene on all sides for fully fifty yards, and rendered objects
distinguishable for at least three times that distance, revealed nothing
but a plain completely covered with rocks and boulders, some of which
were of enormous size, and all thickly overgrown with sea-weed.

"What is it you expected to find down here, professor?" asked the
colonel, when it had become perfectly evident that nothing but rocks lay
within their range of vision.

"The hull of a ship," answered the professor. "She foundered on or near
the spot indicated by me, and cannot be far off; unless, indeed, we are
out in our reckoning. Have you worked out your calculations, Mildmay?"

"Not yet," answered the lieutenant, "but I soon will do so if you will
oblige us with a little light inside here."

"Ah, true! I had forgotten," murmured the professor