io6 TO DAVY Jones's locker 



went to the yard-arm, then a half -score of the crew pulled 

 with all their might and swung us out over the side. This 

 all between two, big, heaving swells. We were dangling in 

 mid-air and slowly we revolved until I was facing in 

 toward the side of the Ready. And now our quartz win- 

 dows played a trick on us. Twice already, in an experi- 

 mental test submergence, we had not gauged correctly 

 the roll of the ship or the distance outboard and the sphere 

 haid crashed into the half-rotten bulwarks. Now as I 

 watched, I saw us begin to swing and my eyes told me 

 that we were much too close, and that a slightly heavier 

 roll would crash us, windows first, into the side of the 

 vessel. Barton could not see the imminent danger, and the 

 next message I got was "Gloria wants to know why the 

 Director is swearing so." By this time we had swung far 

 out, and I realized that every word which we spoke to 

 each other in our tiny hollow chamber was clearly audible 

 at the other end of the wire. I sent up word that any lan- 

 guage was justifiable at such gross neglect as to allow our 

 window to swing back and forth only a yard from the 

 boat. And very decisively the word came back that fifteen 

 feet was the nearest it had ever been, and we were now 

 twenty-five feet away. Barton looked out with me and 

 we could not believe our eyes. Fused quartz, as I have said, 

 is the clearest, the most transparent material in the world, 

 and the side of the Ready seemed only a yard away. My 

 apologies must have cost us several litres of good oxygen. 

 To avoid any further comment on our part, profane 



