in motion, send down, through the hose, a steady and continuous
stream of air, enabling the diver to breathe freely and fully."

"And can you go down into any depth of water?" Eric asked, with intense
interest.

"Not lower than one hundred feet, usually, the pressure of the water is so
great. I have been down one hundred and fifty-six feet below the surface;
but that was something very remarkable."

"And did you never have any hair-breadth escapes, or thrilling
adventures?" inquired Eric.

"No," answered the diver, with a slight laugh and shrug of the shoulders,
"I never did, and never knew any one who did, although I have read of many
such incidents, altogether too marvellous for belief. You see," he
continued, "we know that the least carelessness would probably cost us our
lives, and we are minutely accurate about all our equipments. And,"
lowering his voice and speaking reverentially, "I always commit myself to
the guidance and tender care of the good Shepherd.

"'They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great
waters,

"'These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.

"'They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of
their distress.'"

Eric listened, and his respect and esteem for the diver grew tenfold
more.

Mr. Lacelle continued:--

"It is a strange business. The danger fascinates some, but the peril is
never lost sight of. I put on the helmet, for the first time, more than
ten years ago; and yet I never resume it without a feeling that it may be
the last time I shall ever go down. Of course one has more confidence
after a while; but there is something in being shut up in an armor weighed
down with a hundred pounds, and knowing that a little leak in your
life-pipe is your death, that no diver can get rid of. And I do not know
that I should care to banish the feeling, for the sight of the clear blue
sky, the genial sun, and the face of a fellow-man after long hours among
the fishes, makes you feel like one who has suddenly been drawn away from
the grasp of death."

"Were you ever in great danger?" asked Eric.

"I think the most dangerous place I ever got into was going down to
examine the propeller Comet, sunk off Toledo. In working about her bottom,
I got my air-pipe coiled over a large sliver from the stoven hole, and
could not reach it with my hands. Every time I sprang up to remove the
hose, my tender would give me the 'slack' of the line, th