“One thing I hope is that you don’t happen to run across a man-eating shark while you’re down below,” Ballyhoo went on to say, with a shudder; for he could not forget the close call he himself had passed through. “We saw a whopping big pirate swimming around, you remember, when we were hunting for the wreck; besides that pair we watched scrapping.”
Apparently what he said did not deter Oscar in the least. He had learned just the course he must pursue in case a shark did come around, and act as though too curious regarding the unwieldy creature prowling about the wreck. And both divers had assured him there was little need of anxiety.
So presently he started over the side of the float. The sun was just about an hour above the western horizon, so that he would not have any great amount of time to do his looking about.
It was a queer feeling that assailed the boy when the sea waters closed over his head, and he continued to descend step by step, following the ladder down into the depths.
Presently he reached the terminus of the structure. When he lowered his foot again it encountered only empty space. Thereupon he gave the signal to those on the float that he was about to swing off, after which he lowered himself, making use of his hands upon each round until in the end he was being sustained simply by the life line.
Down he continued to go foot after foot, with more or less of a rotary motion. When it seemed as though he must have descended dozens of yards, all at once Oscar discovered by the aid of the faint light penetrating to those depths that he was hovering over a patch of the waving greenish white growth that could pass under the name of sea ferns.
Another few seconds and he felt his feet strike the ground. Here his first duty was to straighten out the lines, so that his pipe might not get foul, cutting off the flow of fresh air that was being pumped down to him from the raft. After that he commenced to look around, using the electric torch, which had been placed in his hand before the start.
Before him in one particular quarter he discovered a dim object rearing up, and which he realized must be [the long sought hulk] of the ancient galleon. Toward this he immediately proceeded, trying to remember the distinct directions given by the divers, by following which he would most likely save himself considerable trouble in gaining entrance to the old vessel.
Now he was clambering up the sloping deck, taking advantage of the several devices which those experienced campaigners had arranged to facilitate this entry, knowing how often it must be repeated in the course of their labors.
Then the yawning cavity lay before him, being what at one time had stood for the companionway, by means of which the cabin under the stern deck of the ship could be reached. Time and the action of the waters in these cycles of years had demolished parts of the original superstructure of the ship, so that it was difficult to tell just what parts of it still remained intact. But having been coached by the divers, Oscar felt sure of his ground.