TO DAVY JONES S LOCKER IO5 



I turned my attention to the windows, cleaned them 

 thoroughly and tested the visual angles which I could 

 attain by pressing my face close to the surface. I could 

 see a narrow sector of the deck with much scurrying about, 

 and as we rolled I caught sight of the ultramarine sea and 

 the Gladisfen dipping at the end of the slack tow rope. 

 Faint scuflQing sounds reached us now and then, and an 

 occasional hollow beating. Then it seemed as if the steel 

 walls fell away, and we were again free among our fel- 

 lows, for a voice came down the half mile of hose coiled 

 on the deck, and such is the human mind, that slender 

 vocal connection seemed to restore physical as well as 

 mental contact. While waiting for the take-off. Barton 

 readjusted the phone, tested the searchlight, and opened 

 the delicate oxygen valve. He turned it until we both 

 verified the flow as two litres a minute — that being the 

 amount suggested to us for two people. I remembered 

 what I had read of Houdini's method of remaining in a 

 closed coffin for a long time, and we both began con- 

 scientiously regulating our breathing, and conversing in 

 low tones. 



Another glance through my porthole showed Tee-Van 

 looking for a signal from old Captain Millet. I knew that 

 now it was actually a propitious wave or rather a pro- 

 pitious lack of one for which they waited. Soon Millet 

 waved his hand, and exactly at one o'clock the winch 

 grumbled, the wire on the deck tightened, and we felt our 

 circular home tremble, lean over, and lift clear. Up we 



