t," said the engineer,
putting another bag of pegs into the impatient hand.

It seemed satisfied, and disappeared at once.

Joe returned to the bottom, and succeeded in plugging every hole, so
that the water from the outside spring could not enter. That done, he
ascended, and signalled to the engineer to begin pumping. The rickety
engine was set to work, and soon reduced the water so much that Rooney
was able to re-descend and undress his friend. Thereafter, in about
five hours, the well was pumped dry. The engineer then went down, and
soon discovered that one of the pump-rods had been broken near the foot,
and that its bucket lay useless at the bottom of the pipe. The repairs
could now be easily made, and our divers, having finished their
difficult and somewhat dangerous job, returned home. [See Note 1.]

Next day Joe Baldwin paid a visit to the neighbouring harbour, where a
new part of the pier was being built by divers. His object was to sound
our surly friend David Maxwell about joining him in his intended trip to
the antipodes, for Maxwell was a first-rate diver, though a somewhat
cross-grained man.

Maxwell was under water when he arrived. It was Baldwin's duty to
superintend part of the works. He therefore went down, and met his man
at the bottom of the sea. Joe took a small school-slate with him, and a
piece of pencil--for, the depth being not more than a couple of fathoms,
it was possible to see to read and write there.

The spot where Maxwell wrought was at the extreme end of the unfinished
part of the breakwater. He was busily engaged at the time in laying a
large stone which hung suspended to a travelling-crane connected with
the temporary works overhead. Joe refrained from interrupting him.
Another man assisted him. In the diver fraternity, there are men who
thoroughly understand all sorts of handicrafts--there are blacksmiths,
carpenters, stone-masons, etcetera. Maxwell was a skilled mechanic, and
could do his work as well under water as many a man does above it--
perhaps better than some! The bed for the stone had been carefully
prepared on a mass of solid masonry which had been already laid. By
means of the signal-line Maxwell directed the men in charge of the crane
to move it forward, backward, to the right or to the left, as required.
At last it hung precisely over the required spot, and was lowered into
its final resting-place.

Then Baldwin tapped Maxwell on the shoulder. The l