Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters Part 16

Rooney then sprang up the ladder and through the manhole; took his station at the signal-line and air-pipe, while the engineer of the works watched the air-pump. The rickety steam-engine was then stopped, and, as had been predicted, the water rose quickly. It rose over Baldwin's knees, waist, and head, and, finally, rushed out at the manhole, deluging Rooney's legs.

Our diver was now fairly imprisoned; an accident, however trifling in itself, that should stop the air-pump would have been his death-knell.

Fully impressed with this uncomfortable a.s.surance, he felt his way slowly down the second ladder, knocking his head slightly against cross-beams as he went, holding on tightly to his bag and hammer, and getting down into darkness so profound as to be "felt." He soon reached the head of the third ladder, and then the fourth.

But here, at a depth of about thirty feet, an unexpected difficulty occurred which had well-nigh caused a failure. The head of the fourth ladder was covered with wood, through which a square manhole led to the bottom of the well. Of course Joe Baldwin discovered this only by touch, and great was his anxiety when, pa.s.sing his hand round it, he found the hole to be too small for his broad shoulders to pa.s.s. At this point, he afterwards admitted, he "felt rather curious," the whole structure being very frail. However, with characteristic determination he muttered to himself, "never mind, Joe, do it if you can," and down he went through the hole, putting one arm down with his body, and holding the other up and drawing it down after him, by which process he squeezed his shoulders through at an angle. After reaching the bottom of the well, a feeling of alarm seized him lest he should be unable to force his way upwards through the hole. To settle this question at once he ascended to it, forced himself through, and then, being easy in mind, he redescended to the bottom and went to work with the hammer and wooden pegs.

At first he had some difficulty in finding the holes in the great cylinder, but after a dozen of them had been plugged it became easier, as the water rushed in through the remaining holes with greater force.

While thus engaged his foot suddenly slipped. To save himself from falling--he knew not whither--he let go the bag of pegs and the hammer-- the first of which went upwards and the latter down. To find the hammer in total darkness among the brick-work at the bottom was hopeless, therefore Joe signalled that he was coming up, and started for the top after the bag, but failed to find it. In much perplexity he went to the upper manhole and put up one of his hands.

To those who were inexperienced it was somewhat alarming to see the hand of an apparently drowning man with the fingers wriggling violently, but Rooney understood matters.

"Arrah, now," said he, giving the hand a friendly shake, "it's somethin'

you're wantin', sure. What a pity it is wan can't spake wid his fingers!"

Presently the hand shut itself as if grasping something, and moved in a distinct and steady manner.

"Och! It's a hammer he wants. He's gone an' lost it. Here you are, boy--there's another."

The hand disappeared, transferred the implement to the left hand, and reappeared, evidently asking for more.

"What now, boy?" muttered Rooney, with a perplexed look.

"Doubtless he wants more pegs," said the engineer of the works, coming up at the moment.

"Sure, sur, that can't be it, for if he'd lost his pegs wouldn't they have comed up an' floated?"

"They've caught somewhere, no doubt, among the timbers on the way up.

Anyhow, I had provided against such an accident," 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 a.s.sisted 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 ma.s.s 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 latter looked earnestly in at the window--if we may so call it--of his visitor, and, recognising Joe, shook hands with him. Joe pointed to a rock, and sat down. Maxwell sat down beside him, and then ensued the following conversation. Using the slate, Baldwin wrote in large printed letters:--

"I've got a splendid offer to go out to dive in the China seas. Are you game to go?"

Taking the slate and pencil, Maxwell wrote--"Game for anything!"

"We must finish this job first," wrote Joe, "and I shall send Rooney out before us with some of the gear--to be ready."

"All right," was Maxwell's laconic answer.

Baldwin nodded approval of this, but the nod was lost on his comrade owing to the fact that his helmet was immovably fixed to his shoulders.

Maxwell evidently understood it, however, for he replied with a nod which was equally lost on his comrade. They then shook hands on it, and Joe, touching his signal-line four times, spurned the ground with a light fantastic toe, and shot to the realms above like a colossal cherub.

Note 1. A "job" precisely similar to this was undertaken, and successfully accomplished by Corporal Falconer of the Royal Engineers, and a.s.sistant-instructor in diving, from whom we received the details.

The gallant corporal was publicly thanked and promoted for his courage and daring in this and other diving operations.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

DIVING PRACTICE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE EAST.

In a certain street of Hong-Kong there stands one of those temples in which men devote themselves to the consumption of opium, that terrible drug which is said to destroy the natives of the celestial empire more fatally than "strong drink" does the peoples of the west. In various little compartments of this temple, many celestials lay in various conditions of debauch. Among them was a stout youth of twenty or so.

He was in the act of lighting the little pipe from which the noxious vapour is inhaled. His fat and healthy visage proved that he had only commenced his downward career.

He had scarce drawn a single whiff, however, when a burly sailor-like man in an English garb entered the temple, went straight to the compartment where our beginner reclined, plucked the pipe from his hand, and dashed it on the ground.

"I _know'd_ ye was here," said the man, sternly, "an' I _said_ you was here, an' sure haven't I _found_ you here--you spalpeen! You pig-faced bag o' fat! What d'ee mane by it, Chok-foo? Didn't I say I'd give you as much baccy as ye could chaw or smoke an ye'd only kape out o' this place? Come along wid ye!"

It is perhaps scarcely necessary to say that the man who spoke, and who immediately collared and dragged Chok-foo away, was none other than our friend Rooney Machowl. That worthy had been sent to China in advance of the party of divers with his wife and baby--for in the event of success he said he'd be able to "affoord it," and in the event of failure he meant to try his luck in "furrin' parts," and would on no account leave either wife or chick behind him.

On his arrival a double misfortune awaited him. First he found that his employer, Edgar Berrington, was laid up with fever, in the house of an English friend, and could not be spoken to, or even seen; and second, the lodging in which he had put up caught fire the second night after his arrival, and was burnt to the ground, with all its contents, including nearly the whole of his diving apparatus. Fortunately, the unlucky Irishman saved his wife and child and money, the last having been placed in a leathern belt made for the purpose, and worn night and day round his waist. Being a resolute and hopeful man, Rooney determined to hunt up a diving apparatus of some sort, if such was to be found in China, and he succeeded. He found, in an old iron-and-rag-store sort of place, a very ancient head-piece and dress, which were in good repair though of primitive construction.

Fortunately, his own pumps and air-pipes, having been deposited in an out-house, had escaped the general conflagration.

Rooney was a man of contrivance and resource. He soon fitted the pump to the new dress and found that it worked well, though the helmet was dest.i.tute of the modern regulating valves under the diver's control, and he knew that it must needs therefore leave the diver who should use it very much at the mercy of the men who worked the pumps.

After the fire, Rooney removed with his family to the house of a Chinese labourer named Chok-foo, whose brother, Ram-stam, dwelt with him. They were both honest hard-working men, but Chok-foo was beginning, as we have seen, to fall under the baleful influence of opium-smoking.

Ram-stam may be said to have been a teetotaler in this respect. They were both men of humble spirit.

Chok-foo took the destruction of his pipe and the rough collaring that followed in good part, protesting, in an extraordinary jargon, which is styled Pidgin-English, that he had only meant to have a "Very littee smokee," not being able, just then, to resist the temptation.

"Blathers!" said Rooney, as they walked along in the direction of the lower part of the town, "you could resist the timptation aisy av you'd only try, for you're only beginnin', an' it hasn't got howld of 'ee yit.

Look at your brother Ram, now; why don't 'ee take example by him?"

"Yis, Ram-stam's first-chop boy," said Chok-foo, with a penitential expression on his fat visage.

"Well, then, you try and be a first-chop boy too, Chok, an' it'll be better for you. Now, you see, you've kep' us all waiting for full half an hour, though we was so anxious to try how the dress answers."

In a few minutes the son of Erin and the Chinaman entered the half ruinous paG.o.da which was their habitation. Here little Mrs Machowl was on her knees before an air-pump, oiling and rubbing up its parts.

Ram-stam, with clasped hands, head a little on one side, and a gentle smile of approbation on his lips, admired the progress of the operation.

"Now then, Chok and Ram," said Rooney, sitting down on a stool and making the two men stand before him like a small awkward squad, "I'm goin' to taich you about pumps an' pumpin', so pay attintion av ye plaze. Hids up an' ears on full c.o.c.k! Now then."

Here the vigorous diver began an elaborate explanation which we will spare the reader, and which his pupils evidently did not comprehend, though they smiled with ineffable sweetness and listened with close attention. When, however, the teacher descended from theory to practice, and took the pump to pieces, put it up again, and showed the manner of working, the Chinamen became more intelligent, and soon showed that they could turn the handles with great vigour. They were hopelessly stupid, however, in regard to the use of the signal-line-- insomuch that Rooney began to despair.