both of them, and the crew as well, must have been agog with
questions, neither by word nor look did they express their feelings.
Mercer had paid for obedience without curiosity, and he got it.

We spent the first night on the bottom, for the simple reason that had
we come to the surface, we might have come down into territory
unfamiliar to our guide. As soon as the first faint light began to
filter down, however, we proceeded, and Mercer and I crowded together
into the conning tower.

"We're close," said Mercer. "See how excited they are, all three of
them."

The three strange creatures were holding onto the chains and staring
over the bulging side of the ship. Every few seconds the girl turned
and looked back at us, smiling, her eyes shining with excitement.
Suddenly she pointed straight down, and held out her arm in
unmistakable gesture. We were to stop.

* * * * *

Mercer conveyed the order instantly to Bonnett at the controls, and
all three of our guides dived gracefully off the ship and disappeared
into the depths below.

"Let her settle to the bottom, Bonnett," ordered Mercer. "Slowly ...
slowly...."

Bonnett handled the ship neatly, keeping her nicely trimmed. We came
to rest on the bottom in four or five seconds, and as Mercer and I
stared out eagerly through the round glass ports of the conning
tower, we could see, very dimly, a cluster of dark, rounded
projections cropping out from the bed of the ocean. We were only a few
yards from the edge of the girl's village.

The scene was exactly as we had pictured it, save that it was not
nearly as clear and well lighted. I realized that our eyes were not
accustomed to the gloom, as were those of the girl and her people, but
I could distinguish the vague outlines of the houses, and the slowly
swaying shapes of monstrous growths.

"Well, Taylor," said Mercer, his voice shaking with excitement, "here
we are! And here"--peering out through the glass-covered port
again--"are her people!"

* * * * *

The whole village was swarming around us. White bodies hovered around
us as moths around a light. Faces pressed against the ports and stared
in at us with great, amazed eyes.

Then, suddenly the crowd of curious creatures parted, and the girl
came darting up with the five ancients she had showed us before. They
were evidently the council responsible for the government of the
village, or something o