In frantic haste the youth pulled himself and his parent into the bell and shut the door.
Then he gave a quick signal to be raised to the surface.
There was no immediate answer, and a fresh alarm took possession of the young diver.
"What does this mean? Why don't they pull us up?" he asked himself.
Generally the life-line, as it is termed, is watched constantly, and every signal of a diver is acted upon on the instant.
Were this not so, many a man of the deep would go down never to come up.
A minute went by and still the signal remained unanswered.
To the boy the time seemed an age.
Feeling that his parent might die before being brought up, he began to empty the diving bell of water.
There was a fresh-air hose attached to the bell, and as the water was forced out the air came in, until at last the bell was as dry as a hogshead that has been emptied.