Captain Jules was gone a long time, but Madge did not mind waiting for him. She loved the odd house with its roof shaped like three sails and its restful name, “The Anchorage.”
When Captain Jules came back with the great suit his face was pale, almost haggard, but he was smiling good-humoredly. “Come, stand over here by this window while I show you my old togs. I haven’t looked at this diving suit myself for several years.”
Madge was too much interested in the diving dress to glance in at the captain’s window to see if she could catch a glimpse of the inside of the snug little house that she had not yet been invited to enter.
The diving suit was much lighter than she had expected to find it. It weighed only about twenty pounds. It was made of water-proof material and had a large helmet of copper with great circular glasses in front that looked like goggle eyes.
Captain Jules explained that there were two lines with which the diver communicated with the outside world. The one was the air line, and it was used to pump air down to the man below in the water. The life line was usually hitched around the diver’s waist. This line was let out to any depth the diver required, and by pulling on it the diver could signal to the men who followed his course: one jerk, pull up; two, more air; three, lower the bag. Madge was utterly fascinated with the netted bag, made of rope, that Captain Jules showed her. He told her that the pearl-diver always carried a bag to hold the treasures that he finds at the bottom of the sea. To her vivid imagination, the empty bag was even now filled with shining pearls, the rarest treasures of the sea.
The young girl persuaded Captain Jules to let her dress up in his diver’s suit, when she stumbled about the veranda in it, her gay laughter mingling with the captain’s deep chuckles of delight.
“O Captain Jules!” she pleaded, “do take me down to the bottom of the sea with you. I have always wanted to be a mermaid, and this may be the only chance I shall ever have. ‘Only divers know of things below, of water’s green and fishes’ sheen,’” she chanted gayly.
The old sea captain gazed at Madge, breathing a deep sigh of satisfaction. “I believe you have the courage to do it if I were to let you try,” he murmured. “It comes nearer to convincing me than anything else.”
“Captain Jules,” continued the girl earnestly, “please, please let’s go down to the bottom of this bay. You could take me with you and then there wouldn’t be any danger. We have been down together without diving suits and here we are safe and sound on land again! You said you thought there might be pearls in the oyster beds of this bay. We could look, at any rate. I saw the most wonderful things when I was searching for Tania. It seemed as though her dress was caught on the broken spar of an old ship, though, of course, I couldn’t be sure. Have there been many wrecks in this bay? Do you suppose it was a ship’s spar?”
“There are always wrecks on the water, child. And you mustn’t be talking nonsense about diving down in this bay along with me,” answered Captain Jules severely. He kept his eyes fastened on his diving suit with an affectionate gleam in them. “Maybe, though, I will make a diving party of one and go down in the bay alone. I’d give you the pearls I found down there.”