there is no attempt to respire, and he is consequently more likely to
promptly reappear. Manoel then was right in drawing the distinction
between the man who falls into the water living and the man who falls
into it dead. In the one case the return to the surface takes much
longer than in the other.
The reappearance of the body after an immersion more or less
prolonged is always determined by the decomposition, which causes the
gases to form. These bring about the expansion of the cellular
tissues, the volume augments and the weight decreases, and then,
weighing less than the water it displaces, the body attains the
proper conditions for floating.
“And thus,” continued Manoel, “supposing the conditions continue
favorable, and Torres did not live after he fell into the water, if
the decomposition is not modified by circumstances which we cannot
foresee, he will not reappear before three days.”
“We have not got three days,” answered Benito. “We cannot wait, you
know; we must try again, and in some new way.”
“What can you do?” answered Manoel.
“Plunge down myself beneath the waters,” replied Benito, “and search
with my eyes–with my hands.”
“Plunge in a hundred times–a thousand times!” exclaimed Manoel. “So
be it. I think, like you, that we ought to go straight at what we
want, and not struggle on with poles and drags like a blind man who
only works by touch. I also think that we cannot wait three days. But
to jump in, come up again, and go down again will give only a short
period for the exploration. No; it will never do, and we shall only
risk a second failure.”
“Have you no other plan to propose, Manoel?” asked Benito, looking
earnestly at his friend.
“Well, listen. There is what would seem to be a Providential
circumstance that may be of use to us.”
“What is that?”
“Yesterday, as we hurried through Manaos, I noticed that they were
repairing one of the quays on the bank of the Rio Negro. The
submarine works were being carried on with the aid of a diving-dress.
Let us borrow, or hire, or buy, at any price, this apparatus, and
then we may resume our researches under more favorable conditions.”
“Tell Araujo, Fragoso, and our men, and let us be off,” was the
instant reply of Benito.
The pilot and the barber were informed of the decision with regard to
Manoel’s project. Both were ordered to go with the four boats and the
Indians to the basin of Frias, and there to wait for the two young
men.
Manoel and Benito started off without losing a moment, and reached
the quay at Manaos. There they offered the contractor such a price
that he put the apparatus at their service for the whole day.
“Will you not have one of my men,” he asked, “to help you?”
“Give us your foreman and one of his mates to work the air-pump,”
replied Manoel.
“But who is going to wear the diving-dress?”
“I am,” answered Benito.
“You!” exclaimed Manoel.
“I intend to do so.”
It was useless to resist.
An hour afterward the raft and all the instruments necessary for the
enterprise had drifted down to the bank where the boats were waiting.
The diving-dress is well known. By its means men can descend beneath
the waters and remain there a certain time without the action of the
lungs being in any way injured. The diver is clothed in a waterproof
suit of India rubber, and his feet are attached to leaden shoes,
which allow him to retain his upright position beneath the surface.
At the collar of the dress, and about the height of the neck, there
is fitted a collar of copper, on which is screwed a metal globe with
a glass front. In this globe the diver places his head, which he can
move about at his ease. To the globe are attached two pipes; one used
for carrying off the air ejected from the lungs, and which is unfit
for respiration, and the other in communication with a pump worked on
the raft, and bringing in the fresh air. When the diver is at work