They watched as the water settled and the interior of the cabin grew clearer. Evidently it had been a very small cabin. There was a rotted frame that might once have been a single bunk, and a few broken, almost disintegrated boards that might have been a table. Mattress and bedding had long since vanished. Then Rick spotted a squarish shape under the ruin of the bunk and motioned to Scotty. They went in after it.
The top crumbled under their touch and silt rose into the water around them. But Rick persisted and felt fabric under his hands. He pulled it out and recognized a seaman's jacket, brass buttons corroded and fabric nearly rotted through. Apparently they had found a sea chest, but their exploring hands discovered nothing but rotted fabrics.
Rick felt the warning constriction that told him he had only minutes left. He pulled down the reserve lever of his tank and touched Scotty's arm. He hooted twice for the ascent.
Back in the Water Witch, they connected their tanks to the compressor, put the regulators on charged tanks, then tested their underwater flashlights.
Rick said, "Do you realize I haven't taken a single picture?"
"Why not take some on the next dive?"
"Good idea." Rick went into the cabin and brought out his camera.
The camera was the same one he had adapted for night movies, during their adventure known as Smugglers' Reef. He had built an underwater case for it from stainless steel and Lucite. An intricate gear arrangement allowed him to focus or change aperture underwater, and a light meter in the rear of the case told him what setting to use. There was an ordinary inner-tube valve projecting from one side by which the case could be charged with compressed air to compensate for the pressure of the water. The unit was battery-powered and had a bracket for mounting the infrared light used for night photography.
He unscrewed the front of the case and took the camera from its mount. He hesitated. "Suppose there's enough light down there for color film?"
"There might be," Scotty replied, "but you wouldn't gain much by using color. Everything would photograph in shades of green. Might as well have it in shades of gray."