r first lesson?"

"The sooner the better."

"Just so," said the diver, looking about him with a thoughtful air.

The apartment in which the man and the youth conversed was a species of
out-house or lumber-room which had been selected by Baldwin for the
stowing away of his diving apparatus and stores while these were not in
use at the new pier which was in process of erection in the neighbouring
harbour. Its floor was littered with snaky coils of india-rubber
tubing; enormous boots with leaden soles upwards of an inch thick;
several diving helmets, two of which were of brightly polished metal,
while the others were more or less battered, dulled, and dinted by hard
service in the deep. The walls were adorned with large damp
india-rubber dresses, which suggested the idea of baby-giants who had
fallen into the water and been sent off to bed while their costumes were
hung up to dry. In one corner lay several of the massive breast and
back weights by which divers manage to sink themselves to the bottom of
the sea; in another stood the chest containing the air-pump by means of
which they are enabled to maintain themselves alive in that
uncomfortable position; while in a third and very dark corner, an old
worn-out helmet, catching a gleam from the solitary window by which the
place was insufficiently lighted, seemed to glare enviously out of its
goggle-eyes at its glittering successors. Altogether, what with the
strange spectral objects and the dim light, there was something weird in
the aspect of the place, that accorded well with the spirit of young
Berrington, who, being a hero and twenty-one, was naturally romantic.

But let us pause here to assert that he was also practical--eminently
so. Practicality is compatible with romance as well as with rascality.
If we be right in holding that romance is gushing enthusiasm, then are
we entitled to hold that many methodical and practical men have been,
are, and ever will be, romantic. Time sobers their enthusiasm a little,
no doubt, but does by no means abate it, unless the object on which it
is expended be unworthy.

Recovering from his thoughtful air, and repeating "Just so," the diver
added, "Well, I suppose we'd better begin wi' them 'ere odds an' ends
about us."

"Not so," returned the youth quickly; "I have often seen the apparatus,
and am quite familiar with it. Let us rather go to the pier at once.
I'm anxious to go down."

"Ah! Mister Edgar--hasty as usual,"