that, as the sand was sucked up, it would be deposited in 

 a location far removed from the wrecked ship. 



The air lift worked like a charm. For the next few days 

 Ed, Art and Pete took turns guiding its greedy mouth into 

 the white sand which almost covered the four cannon. As 

 one diver held the long tube, the other two placed them- 

 selves where they could remove the hunks of coral, ballast 

 stones, and the occasional pieces of wreckage which were 

 revealed by the air lift. 



Every now and then, just often enough to keep every- 

 one's interest stimulated, a prize of worth would appear 

 — a pewter plate or goblet; a bronze mortar; a bent, black- 

 ened silver table fork or spoon; an occasional moldered 

 piece of eight clinging to a cannon ball or to a bit of the 

 ship's metal rigging. 



No man would ever have worked as hard as those three 

 for the mere purpose of making a living. They toiled hap- 

 pily, without ceasing, disappearing below as soon as it 

 was possible to make out their surroundings in the morn- 

 ing, continuing until the low slanting rays of the late-after- 

 noon sun forced them to quit. 



While they concentrated on the area around the can- 

 non, Clayton and I placed ourselves on another section of 

 the ocean floor, where the debris which emerged from the 

 upper end of the pipe showered back into the water and 

 sank to the bottom. In addition to the sand, there was a 

 continuous rain of bits of pottery and glass, an occasional 

 coin or silver button, shells and bits of wood and stone. 



By the end of the second day a huge hole had been 

 dredged about the base of the four cannon, which lay 

 cemented together with more than two hundred years' en- 

 crustation of coral sand. They would have to be dynamited 

 apart before they could be moved. It would be a delicate 

 operation to set just the right charge that would loosen 

 them from one another, yet not damage their metal, which 



98 Sea Diver 



