At that instant Dave’s window was opposite a dark cavern. As he threw on a more powerful light he caught the gleam of two, great eyes. How far apart they were!
Despite his efforts to remain calm, Johnny’s heart skipped a beat as, at Dave’s command, he touched his moving-picture camera and set it recording. What sort of creature was this? A whale? A blackfish? Or some strange, unknown denizen of the deep? Suppose at this instant it should become enraged, should rush out of its hiding place and drag the steel ball out into the deep—to send it crashing against the rocky wall? A broken window would mean instant death. And yet Johnny’s hand did not tremble as he adjusted his camera....
Just after the steel ball had gone over the side, Mildred Kennedy, in her dugout canoe, had arrived for a visit. It had called for real courage, this little journey. From a distance these Sea Nymph people had seemed so serious. All but Johnny. “But it’s not decent to stay away and not be properly sociable,” she had told her grandfather. So here she was.
There had been time only for a brief word of welcome from Doris. After that, whispering excitedly—“Dave and Johnny are below in the steel ball. It—it’s dreadfully thrilling, even here on deck,” Doris had clamped a pair of head-phones over her guest’s ears and had whispered tensely:
“Listen!”
So they were seated on the deck of the Sea Nymph, listening intently for reports from below. At the same time, they talked.
“I came to visit my grandfather,” Mildred said, “just as sort of a lark. I was storm bound indoors for two weeks, and when I saw how simple and kind the natives were, the happy, free life they lived, and yet how many things could be done for them, I wanted to stay. So I just did. And I am glad. Only—” A shadow passed over her face.
“Listen!” Doris held up a finger. “Thought I heard a whisper. It—it couldn’t be Dave! I—I hope nothing has gone wrong. It’s truly dangerous being down there, and yet one does learn so much—”
“Shish!” Mildred held up a finger. “I—listen—I hear a whisper! It—it’s numbers he’s saying. How strange!”
As the two girls sat in silence, pressing the phones to their ears, listening with their every sense, they caught—in a low whisper: