A DIVING-BELL. 305 CHAPTER VI. A DIVING-BELL. 'hts sudden révélation that Mrs. Weldon was acquaîntcd rith the true state of things left Dick spccchlcss. Even ad he been capable of replying, she gave him no oppor- unity, but immcdiatcly rctired to thcsidc of hcrson. The arious incidents of the march had all gradually enlightened ler, and perhaps the exclamation of Cousin Benedict on he preceding evening had crowned them all ; anyhovv the )rave lady now knew the worst. Dick felt, however, that ►he did not despair ; neither would he. He lay and longed for the dawn, when he hopcd to explore the situation better, and pcrchance to find the /atercourse which he was convinced could not be far distant. toreover, he was extrémely anxious to be out of the reach f the natives whom, it was only too likely, Ncgoro and larris might be putting on Iheir track. But as yet no glimmer of daylight penetratcd the aperture f the cône, whilst the heavy rumblings, deadencd as they ^ere by the thickness of the walls, made it certain that the torm was still raging with undiminished fury. Attentively )îck listened, and he could distinctly hcar the rain bcating round the base of the ant-hill ; the heavy drops splashcd ^ain as they fell, in a way altogethcr différent to what they krould upon solid ground, so that he felt sure that the idjacent land was by this timc complctcly floodcd. He vas getting very drowsy when it suddenly occurred to him diat ît was not unlikely the aperture was getting blocked up with damp clay ; in that case he knew that the breath
