In consequence he called for volunteers to man a boat. Half a dozen of the crew stepped forward and he went over the side with them.
Another half hour elapsed. Hampered by their cork jackets, their fingers numbed and slippery from the driving rain they tossed up and down beside the bathysphere striving to attach the rope guys to the steel eyelets, but at last the job was accomplished. Battered and breathless they scrambled back on to the deck, then came the tense moment when the crane and winches were brought into play.
The McKay stood with his left arm round a stanchion and his right raised in the air. He waited for a big wave to break and then, as the ship sank into the trough, gave the signal. The bathysphere was lifted almost entirely out of the water, the winches clanked, the ropes pulled taut and drew it suddenly towards the stern of the ship. There was a loud clang on the girders and when the ship rose again it had been landed.
The whole platform was awash waist high every other moment but the McKay and two other men were lowered to it with ropes round their bodies and succeeded in getting undone the bolts which held the sphere door in place, and ten minutes later the diving party had been hauled to safety.
They were a pitiable sight, bruised, ill, terrified. Count Axel alone among them was able to climb the ladder to the deck; the rest had to be carried up bodily. Vladimir was unconscious, having hit his head against the steel wall of the sphere when thrown violently sideways by a heavy wave. Nicky's face was chalk white and the Doctor's a bilious green. Oscar had fainted and both the girls were trembling and retching in desperate bouts of sea-sickness.
The sailors carried them to their cabins. Camilla's maid put her mistress and Sally to bed while Slinger sent the stewards to look after the others. Count Axel attended to a nasty cut on his face, changed into dry clothes and then staggered up the heaving companion-way to the lounge. He found the McKay there already changed, busy mixing himself a badly needed whisky.
'Drink?' said the McKay gruffly.
'Thank you Captain, that was an exceedingly unpleasant business.'
'That's putting it mildly—you're darn lucky to be alive in my opinion.'
'You're right, and we owe our lives to you so Slinger tells me. I can only hope for some opportunity to repay you.'
The McKay shrugged. 'Don't thank me—thank the men. Whatever the risk to themselves they never hesitated for a second to obey my orders. It is a pity though that you should have got off lightly. You deserve to be below retching up your heart with the women.'
'Really Captain!' Count Axel raised his eyebrows. 'Isn't that a little ungenerous. May one enquire in what way I, particularly, have incurred your displeasure?'
'Well—you encouraged them to go under in that blasted ball from the beginning—didn't you?'
'Yes, I did. I was anxious that none of my friends should miss such a remarkable experience. You would, I think, feel the same if you had been down yourself and knew the strange beauty which lies beneath our feet. I was wrong to persuade the others perhaps but it had not occurred to me that we might be caught so suddenly in a storm. Surely that was rather an exceptional occurrence and one usually has ample warning when bad weather is approaching?'
'True,' the McKay admitted a little reluctantly, 'you might do a full season's diving and not get caught again like that, but I've been scared of these descents from the first. Something else may happen. Say one of the windows was cracked against a jutting rock as you are lowered to the bottom. You'd all be dead in ten seconds.'
Count Axel smiled as he drained his whisky. 'Such a misfortune is most unlikely. Anyhow I shall not let today's unpleasant experience prevent me from going down again immediately the weather clears.'
"By the time that happens we may all be on our way to the Falklands,' said the McKay gloomily.
'True. For the moment I had forgotten our more serious trouble. I should be terribly distressed though if we are shanghaied before we can go down again, because I am certain now that we are about to succeed in proving the Atlantis theory.'
'You did find something on this last dive then?'
'Yes—not much. We were down for so little time. Our first landing was useless owing to the fact that the ship had drifted from its original position, but we tried moving a quarter of a mile to the east and found ourselves on the fringe of a group of enormous stones. They had been rounded by the centuries of friction from the currents on the ocean floor but they were quite unlike any natural formation. We only saw them for a moment and then we were pulled up. We asked the reason over the telephone and were told "Captain Ardow's orders". Having no knowledge of the approaching storm we were very annoyed, and puzzled. Then we got your message. The trouble began about half an hour afterwards and by the time we were up to five-hundred feet that infernal ball was being tossed about like a crazy thing. The telephonist was being violently ill already and one by one the others followed suit. Sally was the last to give way except for Vladimir and he, poor fellow, knocked himself out when the cable was slackened too suddenly and the sphere nearly turned turtle.'
'Well, I'm glad I was out of that party,' the McKay remarked grimly; 'but if you're right and you have actually found remains of the Atlantean city, I still don't see how the Doctor's going to prove it. Any hieroglyphics which may have been on these stones will have been erased by the currents long ago.'
'Above the sea floor yes, but remember that they are half buried in solid lava and, just as the lava from Vesuvius covered and preserved the contents of the houses in Pompeii so that by scraping it away even wall paintings, and the most fragile ornaments have been recovered—so it should be here.'
'Perhaps, but it is impossible for you to carry on any excavations while you are cooped up in the bathysphere, and equally impossible for you to get outside it,'
'The bathysphere will do our excavating for us,' smiled the Count. 'Rough and ready excavating I admit, so unfortunately there is little likelihood of our getting any but broken remains to the surface. However, it is a very remarkable piece of mechanism, and in its undercarriage it contains an electric drill capable of boring holes in the lava wherever we want them. Another attachment will insert dynamite charges in the holes then we shall be drawn up a few hundred feet and explode them.'
'I see. After that I suppose the sphere will go down again and collect the bits with its claws and shovels so that you can bring them up with you and sort out your catch at your leisure.'
'Exactly.'
The McKay nodded. 'Well, I certainly take off my hat to the little Doctor for having thought it all out so thoroughly. But I doubt if you will be able to go down tomorrow.'
The ship had covered about fifteen knots and was now coming under the lee of Pico island but she still rolled and shuddered each time the great waves buffeted her beam and clouds of spray mingled with the rain that lashed her decks.
That evening Count Axel and the McKay dined alone. The others were far too ill to join them and Vladimir, they feared, had sustained slight concussion. He had received the blow on his head while endeavouring to hold Camilla steady and, sick as she was, she sent hour by hour to enquire after him.
When Slinger arrived on his nightly visit to enforce the curfew he smiled at the McKay.
'Great stuff today, Captain. The show you put up getting in the bathysphere enables me to give the waiting world a real thrill tomorrow.'
The McKay only grunted.
'EX NAVAL CAPTAIN, ZEEBRUGGE V.C. SAVES MILLIONAIRE DUCHESS AND HER PARTY.' Slinger went on with an amiable grin, 'That's the headline twenty million people will be goggling over at their breakfast tables. I've radioed a great description of your epic battle with the elements and started a rumour that the lovely Duchess is thinking of marrying her brave rescuer. I'm beginning to think I ought to have been a journalist and not a lawyer after all.'
'You're a bloody crook!' said the McKay sullenly.
'So it seems,' agreed the imperturbable Slinger. 'I am that greatest of all tragedies. A gifted and conscientious prof
essional man who has failed to make an honest living. Now drink up and think that over between the sheets.'
On the Friday conditions were slightly better but, although the storm had blown itself out, the sky was still leaden and high seas put any descent in the bathysphere out of the question. The ship still rolled and pitched with a beastly lurching motion and every rivet in it strained when an unusually large wave lifted its screw out of the water.
The Doctor spent the morning with four members of the crew straigtening out the fantastic tangle in which the last half mile of communication hose had had to be abandoned on the previous day. Then, when it had been coiled down again, although the bathysphere platform was still awash, he was helped into his ball so that he might test the telephone and lighting wires. To his intense relief their inch thick rubber coating had saved them and, when he came for'ard to lunch he was able to state that they still carried the current to the instruments.
For want of something better to do, apparently, Count Axel offered to lend his assistance in straightening up the contents of the sphere and getting it all in order so that they could descend again without delay when the sea was calmer. Slinger's permission was obtained for the Count to go aft and so, when the meal was over, he disappeared for the afternoon with the Doctor.
Nicky had put in an appearance for lunch and although his bout of sea sickness seemed to have done him little harm he was peevish and irritable. His mind was obsessed once more with the question of whether he would get back to Hollywood 'this year—next year—now—or never' and the cherry stones on his plate having declared 'Never' he had gone off in a fit of black depression to mope alone in a corner of the lounge. The McKay sought out Camilla's maid and sent a message by her to the two girls.
'Captain McKay presents his compliments to the ladies and if they are capable of getting up they will feel far better out in the air on deck.'
This resulted in both Sally and Camilla staggering up the hatchway about an hour later and, having selected a corner sheltered from the wind, the McKay soon had them tucked up warm and comfortable in a couple of deck chairs.
Both of them looked pale and shaky. They had not been actually sick since the previous afternoon but their experience had been extremely frightening and the bout had been a bad one while it lasted. They were now more sorry for themselves than really ill and the salt air soon got a little colour back into their cheeks once the McKay's chatter had taken their thoughts off their condition.
He did not attempt to reproach them, as he had Count Axel for being fools to go down in the sphere at all, but fussed over them without ostentation, in a nice comforting sort of way which caused Camilla to say that she had never quite appreciated what a frightfully nice person he was until that moment, and made Sally somewhat secretly thrilled to have him like her. She almost regarded him as her personal property now and preened herself that Camilla should see him in such a good light when he laid himself out to entertain them.
He was recounting an episode of his earlier years when he had tried, and failed miserably, to get off with an extremely good looking young woman in Malta. Then, having the horrifying experience of meeting her at dinner two nights later and learning that she was his Admiral's wife just out of England.
'Was she a sport or did she tell?' asked Sally.
The McKay's eyes twinkled. 'She never told—then, or about the fun we had together later.'
'You wicked old man!'
'No, m'dear it was the Admiral who was old—in that case.'
'Ship!' Camilla exclaimed suddenly.
The McKay had been sitting on a small stool at their feet with his back to the sea. He jumped up and stared at the long low craft that had just come into view round the corner of the deck house.
'She's an oil tanker,' he cried, 'driven out of her course by the storm last night I expect. Where the devil are the others.'
He dived through the door of the lounge and saw Nicky poring gloomily over a scribbled sheet of figures which showed roughly what his broken contracts were going to cost him.
'Hi! he called. 'Ship—only a quarter of a mile away on our port beam. Come on m'lad and keep your eye on the gunmen by the wireless house while I flag her.'
Nicky needed no second bidding. He rammed his sheet of calculations in his pocket and tumbled out on deck.
'Let me know the moment you see them coming,' cried the McKay and he produced a couple of large white handkerchiefs that he had kept ready on him for the purpose of signalling.
Sally and Camilla had already cast aside their rugs and were watching the long barge-like craft with its single funnel at the stern. Now they glanced anxiously at the bridge fearing that the McKay would be spotted at any moment.
He had ensconced himself in an angle made by the deck house which was not visible from above however, and was waving the two handkerchiefs at the full extent of his arms in an endeavour to attract the attention of the people on the tanker.
Nicky had hardly installed himself beside the rope barrier and endeavoured to assume his most innocent expression when Slinger came dashing out of the deck house.
'In you go,' he shouted. 'And the rest—where are they?'
Slinger, for once, was not accompanied by any of the gunmen so Nicky stood his ground hoping to give the McKay another few moments.
'Get inside,' cried Slinger. 'Get inside d'you hear me.'
At the sound of raised voices Sally and Camilla appeared and the former stared at Slinger with well assumed surprise.
'What's all the excitement about!' she enquired innocently.
'Get inside,' repeated Slinger savagely. 'See that damn ship—think I'm going to give you any chance to signal it— Where's the McKay got to?'
The McKay was just round the corner waving his arms frantically up and down but Slinger did not wait for an answer. His arm shot out and caught Nicky on the shoulder giving him a violent shove towards the entrance of the lounge.
Nicky thought again of the total figure on that horrible 158
piece of paper in his pocket and decided to risk it. He lashed out with sudden vicious savagery and caught Slinger full on his beak-like nose.
'Well done,' cried Camilla. 'Oh well done, Nicky darling.'
Her encouragement was all he needed to get him really going and he began to hit out right and left. For a moment Slinger was blinded by tears and could see nothing, then he too began to drive and hammer, while he bellowed with all his might for assistance.
Neither of the two were trained boxers or had ever struck a blow in anger since they had left their schools so their scrap was more humorous than dangerous except for the first solid punch that Nicky had landed.
A moment later two of Slinger's men came running up with drawn pistols. Nicky now felt that discretion was far the better part of valour and holding his hands above his head backed into the deck house.
Meanwhile, Captain Ardow and two more men had hurried round from the starboard side and surprised the McKay in his violent endeavours to flag the tanker with his handkerchiefs. He too felt that a day was a day and thrusting one of them into his pocket began to blow his nose violently with the other.
'Inside please, Captain,' snapped the Russian with a stony glare. 'Else you will catch something more dangerous than influenza.'
'Certainly,' said the McKay laconically, 'but so will you, Captain, unless you see reason before you're much older.'
'Get in—also stay in until further order,' Captain Ardow waved his gun with a significant gesture and so the McKay joined the others in the lounge.
'Any luck?'asked Sally.
'No m'dear,' he shook his head. 'The tanker probably only had a cabin boy on the bridge. In any case they never saw me.'
'You should have seen me hit him,' said Nicky excitedly. 'I got him—didn't I Camilla—right on the nose.'
'Yes darling,' she cooed. 'You were a perfect hero. I shall never forget the way you stood up to him—never.'
Certainly nobody was allowed to forget Nic
ky's bravery in the hours that followed. Much as he disliked Prince Vladimir he could not resist paying the invalid a visit to give him a personal description of how he had hit Slinger— 'right on the nose'—and of course Count Axel and the Doctor were treated to every detail of the scrap when they returned from getting the bathysphere in order for its next descent.
After dinner that night this one abortive attempt to secure assistance was the sole topic of conversation and they only came down to earth when Sally said irritably:
'Oh, Nicky was splendid we all agree but that doesn't alter the fact that we are in just as hopeless a mess as ever, and— this is our last night here—tomorrow's Saturday.'
The McKay glanced at Camilla. 'I suppose if we could arrange something you'd be prepared to pay pretty handsomely for it?'
She nodded. 'Yes, Sally suggested that the other day. There's a quarter of a million dollars for anyone who'll see us landed safe in a United States port.
'All right—I doubt if anything will come of it but I'll have a talk with Slinger. There's just a chance that he might be prepared to double cross his boss for a whacking great sum like that.'
'We'll leave you to it then.' Sally stood up. 'There's more likelihood of his listening if he finds you on your own and the sight of Nicky is pretty certain to infuriate him.'
The others followed her example and when Slinger arrived at ten o'clock the McKay was the sole occupant of the lounge.
A big strip of plaster decorated the lawyer's beak testifying to Nicky's prowess, and he displayed none of his usual good humour.
'Down you go,' he said abruptly.
The McKay glanced towards the two gunmen who remained standing quietly in the doorway, then at Slinger.
'Can I talk to you alone for a minute?'
'No,' said Slinger, 'go below.'
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