Never in all her life had she been so thrilled, and so frightened. Curled up inside the sturdy metal sphere, she went down—down—down, into the mysterious depths of the ocean. The light from the quartz window seemed bright blue, yet she experienced trouble in distinguishing small objects within the ball.
The creatures outside the window were strange beyond belief. Here a great school of blue fish shot past. There a six-foot monster with waving tail sped on in swift pursuit of smaller fry. And a group of small, dark, crab-like creatures wriggled their way across the scene. A little farther from the window loomed a dark wall. She shuddered at sight of this. All too vividly she recalled Johnny’s account of their harrowing experience on that other day.
At Johnny’s first suggestion that she accompany Dave on this sub-sea journey, her impulse had been to say quite definitely—“No! I won’t go!”
But she had not said it. She just must have Dave’s help in finding their schooner. So—she continued to shudder as they went down—down—down.
Dave was at her side, saying never a word. Staring at the passing scene, now throwing on a powerful light, now switching it off again, he appeared to have forgotten she was there.
It was to be a very short trip, perhaps only half an hour. They were to make an attempt to capture some fantastic sort of creature. Mildred was thinking of this now, wondering in a vague sort of way, how the capture was to be made. Then suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted. Her heart skipped a beat as Dave exclaimed:
“Man! Oh, man!”
The steel ball was now close to the wall. For the moment, at a command from Dave, it had ceased dropping. Suddenly from a crevice in the wall there glided a form resembling a great golden serpent from a fairy tale.
“Zowie!” Dave chuckled, “he sure looks dangerous—but he’s not. A golden-tailed serpent dragon,” he explained. “They’re quite rare.
“Now,” he spoke into his microphone, “slowly downward.”