04 Volcano Adventure

by Willard Price

  ‘That must have made the Tongans pretty sore.’

  ‘It did. They held a scolding party and they all scolded the sea god. That didn’t bring back their island. So they made a doll to look like the sea god and they poked it with spears and burned its fingers and toes. They thought if they tortured the sea god enough he would give them back their island. It didn’t work. Then they decided to be nice to the sea god and perhaps he would be nice to them. They went to the shore and sang songs telling the sea god what a good fellow he was. They threw their best food into the sea for the god.

  ‘Perhaps the way to a god’s heart is through his stomach. Anyway in 1928 the submarine volcano began to spout and up came the island again. Once more the Queen claimed it and the Tongans celebrated. The sea god was generous this time and kept piling up the island until it was six hundred feet high.

  ‘But ten years later in spite of all the food they could throw into the sea and all their prayers and songs, the island disappeared.

  ‘So you can see why ship captains call it Jack-in-the-Box.’ ‘Do you think it’s going to pop up again?’ asked Hal. That’s what I want to find out. Ships have been reporting disturbances in the sea at that point. Tomorrow we’ll go down and take a look.’

  The prospect of exploring a submarine volcano was enough to get the boys^up early the next morning. When they came on deck they found the ship had already heaved to. She lay softly rising and falling on a quiet sea.

  ‘Jack-in-the-Box should be directly under us,’ said Dr Dan. ‘Listen.’

  A deep rumbling sound could be heard. Then a geyser of steam shot up from the sea not far from the ship.

  An unnaturally bright look always came into Dr Dan’s eyes when he was close to danger and he was in the habit of pressing his hand against his left temple, as if in sudden pain. Hal saw these signs now, and they worried him.

  At some time in the past something had happened that had been a severe blow to this man’s nervous system. For anyone m such a condition, diving was dangerous. Even for a normal person it was hard on the nerves.

  Hal thought back to his own exciting experiences underwater. How much did the doctor really know about diving?

  ‘Have you done much diving, Dr Dan?’ Hal asked.

  ‘Some.’

  It wasn’t a very satisfactory answer. Hal tried again. ‘Have you used the aqualung?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How often?’

  Dr Dan showed some annoyance. ‘What is this - a cross-examination?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Hal said. ‘I meant no offence. You see, we had some pretty stiff times when we were diving for the Oceanographic. I think it scared me a little.’

  ‘You don’t need to go down if you don’t want to”

  ‘It’s not that,’ Hal said. ‘I just wondered - about you.’

  ‘Well, for your information,’ Dr Dan said with some heat, ‘I’ve used an aqualung just once and that was in a swimming pool. My business has taken me up volcanoes, not down into the sea. But I understand that diving with an aqualung is very simple and I’m quite willing to try it. If you and Roger want to stay on deck, that’s up to you.’

  The taunt made Hal flush. He struggled to keep his temper.

  ‘I was hoping,’ he said, ‘you would let us go down and you stay on deck. You could tell us just what to look for. We would bring back a report.’

  ‘And just why should you go down and not I?’ Dr Dan was becoming more and more angry.

  ‘It’s only that - that -‘ Hal stumbled. ‘Well - it takes a good deal out of you. It’s hard on the nerves.’

  ‘But why should it be any harder on me than on you?

  What are you getting at?’

  Hal had gone too far to be able to go back. ‘When we were at Asama,’ he said, talking along the edge of the crater - you didn’t seem quite well. I mean - you stopped and stood for a couple of minutes as if you didn’t know what was going on.’

  Dr Dan laughed. ‘Your imagination is running away with you. I’m not surprised - a volcano often has that effect upon a person who has never seen one before. The sight of it and the sound of it are enough to make you think crazy things. That’s what happened to you.’

  ‘Then,’ persisted Hal, ‘that night in the inn when the earthquake came you jumped up screaming, and beat on the wall like a madman.’

  Dr Dan stared and his breathing came quick and hard. ‘I don’t know what’s got into you, Hunt. Why you should make up these wild stories is beyond me. Next you’ll be reporting to the American Museum that I’m not in my right mind and you’ll try to take over my job. You have a lot of conceit. You’ve seen six volcanoes and already you think you know more about volcanoes than I do.’

  ‘Not about volcanoes,’ Hal said. ‘But about diving. Have you ever heard of drunkenness of the deeps?’

  ‘No, I have not, and I don’t see what that has to do with it.’

  ‘Divers sometimes get it. The pressure of the water packs too much nitrogen into the body tissues. I believe carbon dioxide has something to do with it, too. Anyhow, you get dreamy and woozy. You feel drunk. You forget where you are, you think you’re in heaven, or walking on a cloud. You’re apt to drop the air intake from your mouth and without any air you’re done for.’

  ‘But thousands of aqualungers go down without getting this - drunkenness of the deeps.’

  ‘Yes, but it’s always possible. It has a good deal to do with the nervous system. It’s more likely to happen to a person if his nerves are - well - a bit on edge.’

  The angry doctor forced himself to smile. ‘Hal, the very fact that I haven’t punched you on the nose for all this stuff and nonsense is sufficient evidence that my nerves are not on edge. Now, let’s not waste any more time. Fetch up the aqualungs and let’s get moving.’

  Hal shrugged his shoulders and went below. The doctor looked after him with a puzzled frown on his face.

  The gear was brought up from the hold. Hal and Dr Dan checked the equipment. The aqualung tanks were tested to make sure that they were full of compressed air.

  Hal, Roger, and the doctor got into their swimming trunks. They slipped their feet into rubber fins that flapped like a duck’s feet as they walked over the deck. They put on belts loaded with one-pound chunks of lead. These weights were to counteract the lift of the water. Without them they would not be able to sink. Each of the two older men belted himself with five pounds of lead, but Roger took only four - since, strangely enough, the lighter a man is the less it takes to make him sink.

  Then each man spat into his mask, rubbed the spittle over the glass, and rinsed it off in sea water. This would prevent the glass from fogging. Then the mask was strapped to the head. It covered the eyes and nose. From now on all breathing would have to be done through the mouth.

  Each aqualung was put in place on a man’s back and strapped tight. Now they looked like men from Mars. The short air-hose was looped over the head and the mouthpiece placed in the mouth.

  They practised breathing. The air came hard at first and the doctor’s face grew a bit purple. A few sharp breaths, and the air began to flow easily.

  The young doctor led the way to the gunwale and climbed over. The three let themselves down into the sea. They sank a few feet, then hung suspended.

  They were in a pale green world. The surface of the water above them looked like a silken veil being waved gently by the breeze. Down through it came dancing, wavering shafts of sunlight. At one side was the dark shape of the Lively Lady’s hull.

  Small fish swam up and looked them over curiously, opening and closing their mouths. They seemed to be saying, ‘Oh, Mabel, look at these funny things! This is something to write home about!’

  One of them came close enough to nibble Roger’s toe. He kicked and they all fled - but soon came back, ohing and ahing as before.

  The water was quite warm. That would be because of the fires beneath. There was a constant rumbling and every once in a while came a sharp jolt that shook
the sea and started queer currents coming and going.

  The doctor seemed content to stay put for a moment, practising his breathing. Hal stayed near by. He was determined not to let the doctor out of his sight. Roger had already started swimming downwards. He was used to diving but, being adventurous, he was apt to take chances that might get him into trouble. Hal wondered how he was going to keep watch over both of his companions, the one too inexperienced, the other too venturesome.

  At last Dr Dan began to swim down and Hal followed. Bubbles rose in streams from the exhaust valves of their aqualungs. Small fish rushed at the bubbles, thinking they were something to eat.

  Hal began to feel the pressure on his eardrums. He remembered learning that water pressure is doubled at a depth of thirty-three feet. The mask began to press too tightly against his face. He exhaled a little through his nose into the mask. That was the way you increased the air pressure inside the mask against the water pressure outside. On the other hand, if the mask was a bit loose and began to leak, you inhaled through the nose in order to bring it more tightly against the face.

  He wished that he had thought to tell Dr Dan about these tricks. But then the doctor might have thought he was just trying to show off his superior knowledge. It was hard to give advice to your boss.

  Now it was possible to see the bottom. But it was the strangest sea bottom that Hal had ever looked upon.

  It was a crater, very much like the craters he had seen on land, though smaller. He could not see clear to the other side of. it but, from the curve, he judged it to be about five hundred yards in diameter. The inside slopes were very steep and descended to mysterious depths where the water became almost black, shot through with rays of firelight.

  At every explosion the blackness would suddenly disappear in a blaze of lights that hurt the eyes and underwater billows would be set up that beat the bodies of the divers back and forth.

  Hal, floating over the crater, felt like an aviator in a balloon or helicopter looking down into a live volcano. No burning breath came up from this volcano, but the water was quite hot. Large bubbles of gas rose. These did not bother the divers for they were breathing the pure air from their aqualungs. Yellow streaks in the water were probably sulphur.

  Dr Dan deliberately swam down into the crater. Hal came close behind. He could not see Roger anywhere. Where was that young fool?

  This was a new sensation, actually inside a crater, but floating just out of reach of its fiery claws. The only trouble was the heat - it was getting hard to bear. A little more of this and the fish would have boiled humans for supper.

  Now the bottom of the crater could be seen. It was a bubbling pond of red lava, burning fiercely in spite of the chilling ocean, tumbling and leaping and sometimes exploding to throw up fountains of fire and rocks. This vision of a submarine volcano would remain with Hal all his life.

  It was too hot for comfort. Hal was relieved to see Dr Dan turn and swim upwards. They reached the edge of the crater and stopped to rest. Still there was nothing to

  be seen of Roger, and Hal grew more anxious.

  Suddenly a major explosion shook the volcano and up came a geyser of lava and stones, tearing along at great speed with a ripping, sizzling sound, and finally bursting into the air above and falling in a heavy shower. Hal was thankful that they had not been in its path. Down came the rocks and chunks of lava through the water to settle on the slopes of the volcano. They had lost their red heat but were still hot to the touch.

  If this sort of thing continued - if more and more material were thrown up and deposited on the slopes of the volcano, the island of Jack-in-the-Box would rise again from the sea. Then the Tongans could have another party; and the hydrographers would have to put the island back on their charts.

  There was that young rascal at last. Hal could see Roger coming through the blue. Roger caught sight of him at the same instant and finned his way towards him, excitedly waving his hands and pointing down the outside slope of the volcano.

  He landed between Hal and Dr Dan and tugged at their arms, then swam away, looking back to see if they were following.

  Evidently the kid had found something. Hal and the doctor swam after him. The sea grew darker as they went deeper. Presently they made out through the gloom a mysterious form. It was not rock and it was not waving kelp.

  It was a house. Near it were other houses. In fact, here was a whole village beneath the sea.

  Dr Dan was delighted. Roger had put his time to good use and discovered something very interesting. The doctor walked about, each springy step taking him ten feet or more because of the buoyancy of the water.

  The houses were built of lava blocks with wooden rafters so firmly embedded in the blocks that they had not floated away. The thatch that had once covered the rafters had disappeared.

  Dr Dan was quite excited by this discovery and went from house to house examining the method of construction and picking up small articles that had been left by the people who had once lived here. He began to go into one house but leaped back when the arm of a large octopus licked out towards him.

  He turned towards Hal and laughed excitedly, almost dropping the air intake from his mouth. Hal could see his eyes bright and hard within the mask. The doctor began to wave his hands about in happy fashion, like a child.

  Hal’s worst fears were realized. The doctor had that strange underwater malady that was variously called ‘drunkenness of the deeps’, ‘sea intoxication’, ‘rapture of the depths’, ‘nitrogen narcosis’, or ‘diver’s sleep’.

  Whatever you chose to call it, it was bad. He must get the doctor to the surface at once.

  Hal pointed upwards and began to swim. But the doctor did not follow. Hal went back and took his arm and tried to swim up with him. Dr Dan fought him off and his eyes blazed with indignation.

  Hal beckoned to Roger. The boy was quick to realize that something was wrong with the doctor. He took one arm and Hal the other and they started up.

  Dr Dan furiously wrenched himself loose. Then he went dancing away among the houses. Each push on the ground sent him bounding up several feet high. This delighted him. He made higher and higher jumps.

  A house barred his path. He made a mighty leap, soared twenty feet up into space and came down upon the ridge-pole. He laughed again but the air intake luckily remained in his mouth. He walked along the ridge-pole as if it were a tightrope. Reaching the end of it, he leaped to the roof of another house.

  Hal signalled to Roger and they swam up to the depths-crazed doctor. Hal again pointed upwards, smiled at the doctor, tried to quieten him.

  But when he ventured to put his hand on Dr Dan’s arm a wild look came over the doctor’s face and he swung out with both fists. Hal got one in the face and Roger one in the stomach. Fortunately the water cushioned the blows.

  When they recovered from their surprise the doctor was gone. He went prancing off over the rooftops, as happy as a colt in a field of clover. Hal and Roger swam swiftly after him.

  If the doctor should slip on a rafter and fall into a house he might very well drop into the arms of a hungry octopus. It was just such black holes as these that the octopus loved.

  A shadow passed above and Hal looked up to see a lazy shark watching with great interest the antics of these strange humans. Then another shark moved in. Hal felt that he and his companions were becoming too popular.

  Dr Dan came slowly walking towards Hal. He stopped and cupped his hand behind his ear as if he were listening. A dreamy smile lay on his face. It is common for one suffering from rapture of the depths to think that he hears lovely music, a great orchestra, or a heavenly choir.

  Dr Dan raised his eyes and saw the sharks. They appeared to interest him but he did not seem to realize what they were. He swam up towards them and Hal was not quick enough to stop him.

  The doctor came close under the bigger shark. Then with all his force he punched its white belly.

  If he had done this to a tiger shark or a white
shark he would not have lived to regret it Luckily this was a sand shark and although he was huge he was also a bit timid. He contented himself with switching his tail and swimming off.

  The swing of the big tail caught the doctor on the side of the head, knocked off his mask and dislodged the air intake from his mouth. He began to sink slowly like a limp rag. Evidently the blow had knocked him unconscious. Without air, he would very quickly drown. Blood trickled from his forehead.

  Hal and Roger already had him in their grip and were forcing him up towards the surface.

  The other shark came nearer, attracted by the smell of blood. Hal could see it more clearly now and realized with a shock that this one was no sand shark. It was a mako, often called the man-eater because it does not hesitate to attack divers. Hal and Roger thrashed the water in a vain attempt to

  frighten it away. At last they broke the surface and looked about for the ship. It lay a good five hundred yards distant. They could easily lose a leg or two to the mako if they tried to swim that far.

  Hal dropped the intake from his mouth and shouted. The quick ear of Omo heard him and the Polynesian boy came running to the forepeak.

  ‘Bring the boat,’ shouted Hal. ‘Shark!’

  Omo flung off the painter of the boat that lay on the water alongside the ship, jumped in and rowed with all his might. Hal and Roger faced the shark and beat the water with the palms of their hands. They knew it was hard to scare a man-eater, but they could only try.

  The shark edged closer. Its ugly face appeared above the surface, then sank again. The boys shouted and slapped and were glad that Omo’s arms were strong.

  The small boat came zipping over the water with the speed of a flying-fish. It seemed to worry the man-eater, and he hesitated to strike. He had just about made up his mind to it when the boat arrived and stopped with a savage back-churning of the oars.