ndon."

"Now, David, are you all right?" asked Joe.

"All right," said Maxwell, as he rose and shook himself to settle the
weights comfortably on his back and breast.

"Come along then, me boy," said Rooney.

Maxwell went to the side of the vessel, where a rope-ladder had been
prepared, and his two attendants assisted him to get over.

"All right?" asked Joe again, after giving the order to pump, which
Ram-stam commenced with the steady coolness and regularity of a veteran.

"All right," replied Maxwell, who immediately afterwards slowly
disappeared.

After an hour's absence he signalled that he was coming up. In a few
minutes his helmet was seen far down in the depths. Then it emerged
from the surface.

"I want a crowbar," he said on the glass being removed.

"If you'd had on a helmet with a speakin'-tube," observed Rooney, "you
might have said that without comin' up."

"True, lad," growled Maxwell, "but not havin' on a helmet with a
speakin'-toobe, here I am, so please look alive."

"Any sign of treasure?" asked Edgar.

"Not as yet, sir."

The crowbar having been brought, the diver again went down.

For some time all went on quietly, for it was expected that, deep though
the water was, Maxwell's power of enduring pressure would enable him to
remain below for at least two hours, if not longer. After looking for
some time inquiringly at the spot where he had disappeared, most of the
Malays resumed their various duties about the vessel, though a few
remained a little to regard Ram-stam with much interest, as being one
who, in a measure, held the life of a fellow-being in his hands.

Suddenly a loud hissing noise was heard over the side. It sounded to
those on deck as if the great sea-serpent had put his head out of the
sea close alongside and sent a violent hiss into the air.

Joe Baldwin was attending to the air-tube, while Rooney held the
life-line. He looked quickly down.

"The air-pipe's burst!" he shouted, and both he and his comrade, without
a moment's delay, began to haul up the diver as fast as they possibly
could.

That the reader may properly appreciate what had happened, it is
necessary to remind him that at nineteen fathoms Maxwell's body was
subjected to a pressure--from _water_, outside his dress--of about 50
pounds to the square inch, and that to prevent such a tremendous
pressure from crushing in and collapsing all the cavities of his body,
an _equal_ pressure of air had to be