ieved might contain priceless pearls down
into the soft sand in the bed of the bay.

It was at this moment that Tom Curtis and Phyllis Alden, as well as the
captain's boat tenders, caught his confusing signals from below. More
fresh air was pumped down the tube to Captain Jules, but not to Madge.

Phil's leap and quick work at Madge's air-pump must have taken place not
more than three minutes afterward, but they were horrible, agonizing
moments. Madge hardly knew how they passed. Captain Jules suffered the
regret of a lifetime. How could he have been so unwise as to entrust the
safety of this girl, whose life was so dear to him, to the perils of a
diver's experiences? In the few weeks of their acquaintance Madge Morton
had become all in all to Captain Jules Fontaine.

There was but one thing for Captain Jules to do for his companion. He
must signal to have her drawn up to the surface of the water again,
trusting that she would not suffocate for lack of air in her ascent.

Madge was near enough to lay her hand on Captain Jules's arm. Phil's
relief had come just in time. The life-giving fresh air from the world
above pressed into her copper helmet. It filled her nose and mouth, it
poured into her aching lungs. She received new life, new energy. Now she
was no longer afraid. She did not wish to go above the surface of the
water. Surely all above was now well. She yearned to continue her
adventures on the under side of the world.

She it was, not Captain Jules, who dropped down on her hands and knees to
grope for the captain's lost pearl shells.

But the sand had covered them up forever, or else the water had carried
them away!

Captain Jules wished to take Madge out of the water immediately, yet he
yielded for a minute to her disappointment. What treasures had they lost
when he threw the mother-of-pearl shells away? Neither of them would ever
know. The old diver looked about in the soft mud, while Madge raked
furiously near the spot where she thought the sailor had dropped the
shells. Captain Jules walked on for a little distance. He had seen beyond
them a tangled mass of other shells and seaweed and it occurred to him
that the water might have carried his shells into some hidden crevice
nearby.

But Madge never left her chosen spot. Deeper and deeper she dug. What a
swirl of mud arose and eddied about her, darkening the clear water in
which she stood! The little captain's hammer struck against something
hard. Was