The mate went below forward, and shortly came on deck with a complete rubber diving-suit, helmet, and weighted shoes.
"I don't go in much fer dis kind ob divin'," said he, "but I dun paid a fellow a hundred dollars fer de whole suit. Show me how to work it, an' show me how dat pump works. Ef yo' do, we'll go halves—break even—on what I think is below in dis hear wrack. I knowed yo' must know something erbout divin'—dat is, erbout rubber divin', which ain't divin' at all, but dat's what I want ter know."
"I thought you said the wreck was finished with?" Smart commented.
"All de money, all de coin was got out ob her, yas, suh, dat's all straight, but dishar wrack ain't been under water more'n a few months, an' I been thinkin' dat maybe some hard work would tell on some cases of ammunition left in her."
"What did she have?"
"Rifles, money, and provisions for Vensuela—some ob dem revolutionists had de charter. Dey took up de rifles, and dey took up de money, but dey left a lot ob ammunition in her, sayin' it ain't no good. Well, suh, I got a hole in mah shoulder where one ob dem bullets came troo—yo mind de little fracas at Stormalong's. I dun sold a feller a dozen boxes ob dem ca'tridges, de onliest .45's in Key West. Dat's de reason I cum to know somethin' about dem. Ef dey kin mak' a hole in me, dey kin mak' a hole in mos' enny one, I reckon—hey, what?"
"I see," said Smart. "And that's the reason you wanted me to help you out? You want me to help dive for the goods. How much is there—and how were they put up? They won't stay for ever any good under water, you know."
"Dey were put up in tins too big to handle, goin' naked like I dives. De cases were mighty big, an' I don't care much erbout smashin' 'em up wid de 'tarnal things ready to go off. I knows where dey is—way back in de lazarette 'way back aft, an' I knows dat dere's erbout a millun ob dem."
Smart had been overhauling the suit and found it to be in fair condition. Evidently some hard-up diver had sold out to Bahama Bill, who always went naked as deep as three or four fathoms, and could stay long enough under to do the ordinary work required of divers upon vessels on the reef. He could make two or three minutes' work at short intervals, and being a mighty man, the strain told upon him very little indeed.