A DIVING-BELL. 309
- Did the water get in at the opening, Mr. Dick ?" asked
Tom. " Yes, Tom, and consequently we are comîng to the end of our stock of fresh air," was Dîck's reply. " But why should we not make another openîng above the water level ?" Tom înquîred. " A thîng to be thought about/* saîd Dîck ; " but we hâve to remember that if we hâve five feet of water hère inside, there îs probably a depth of six or seven outsîde. In rîsing hère the flood has compressée! the air, and made ît an obstacle to further progress, but if we allow the air to escape, we may perhaps only be letting the water rîse too hîgh for our safety. We are just as if we were în a diving- bell." " Then what îs to be done ?" asked the old negro. "No doubt," replied Dick, "we must proceed very cautiously. An înconsîderate step will jeopardize our lîves." Dick Sands was quîte correct in comparîng the cône to an immersed diving-bell. In that mechanical cdn- trîvance, however, the air can always be renewed by means of pumps, so that ît can be occupied without inconvenience beyond what îs entailed by a somewhat confined atmos- phère ; but hère the înterior spàce had alrcady been reduced by a third part through the encroachment of the water, and there was no method of communicating with the outer air except by openîng a new aperture, an opération in which there was manifest danger. '. Dick did not entertain the slightest appréhension that the ant-hill would be carried away bodily by the inundatîbn ; he knew that ît would adhère to its base as firmly as a beaver-hut; what he really dreadcd was that the storm would last so long that the flood would rise high above the plsLiUf perhaps submerging the ant-hill entirely, so that ultimately ail air would be expellcd by the persistent pressure. The more he poridéred the more he felt hîmself drîven to the conviction that the inundation would be wide and deep. 1 1 could not be, he felt sure, entirely owîng to the down- pour from the clouds that the rapîd flood was risîng ; there
