The next day the Swallow reached a section of the Pacific where the strange fish described by Amos Fearless was supposed to exist, upon the bottom of the ocean bed, half a mile below the surface.
Diving suits were brought forth, and Mr. Fearless and Dave were not long in preparing to descend.
Then the diving bell was adjusted to a long wire rope and let over the side, and they entered this.
The word was given, and slowly but surely they descended into the cold and dark depths of the mighty Pacific.
At a distance of two hundred feet the bright sunshine overhead began to fade away, and at five hundred feet it was as black as night, that is, some distance away from the diving bell. But around the bell several electric lights in the apparatus made all as bright as day.
Down and down they went, the pressure on the diving bell becoming each second more powerful.
At such a depth no human being could have lived without something to protect him from a weight which was ever ready to crush anything from the outside world.
At last the diving bell rested on the bottom of the ocean, and Amos Fearless sent up the signal to stop lowering.
Then father and son inspected the ocean's bottom with much curiosity.
Here were numerous fish of curious shapes, but none of large size. There were also sea crabs, with sharp claws and protruding reddish eyes.