CHAPTER II SPOOKY WATERS
Johnny's questions regarding the steel ball were answered the followingafternoon. After his usual six hours of sleep, he was sitting on the deckwhen the young man they called Dave--his whole name was DaveDarnell--approached him.
"I saw you taking pictures yesterday," Dave said with a smile.
"Yes," Johnny answered. "Just a picture of that island. I hope you didn'tmind."
"Not at all", said Dave. "That looked like a rather good camera."
"It is!" Johnny exclaimed. "None better. Of course," he added, grinning,"it's not mine. It was loaned to me. And there's equipment, screens forinfra-red pictures, flash bulbs, flood-lights--about everything."
"Say--ee--" Dave exclaimed. "Looks like you're a real find! Want to godown and try your luck at taking pictures?" He nodded toward the bigsteel ball.
"Down?" Johnny asked, a little blankly.
"Yes--to the place of eternal night!"
"E--eternal night!"
"That's right! I can't describe it to you! But I can show you. Questionis--can you take pictures in complete darkness?"
"They don't come too dark for me!" Johnny flashed back. "Lee Martin and Itook a picture of a Voodoo witches' meeting--people hiding in the darkfrom the island police. You couldn't see your hand. But we got thepicture all right. And I nearly lost an ear! A burly black fellow swungat me with a machete!"
"Nothing like that down there," Dave chuckled. "All the same--you'll besurprised! Do you want to go?"
"Sure--I'll go," Johnny agreed. "Only," he hesitated, "I have a strangehorror of being completely out of touch with the rest of the world! Whatdo we do about that?"
"That's easy!" Dave laughed. "We have a short-wave set on the boat andanother in the steel ball. Doris or the professor is always listening in.How about it--do we go?"
"We sure do!" Johnny grinned.
"O.K.! Get your stuff together. We'll go down in an hour!"
"Wonder what I'm getting into now?" Johnny asked himself as he walked tohis stateroom.
An hour later he found himself passing through one of the strangestexperiences of his life. He was seated, doubled up. Had he wanted tostand, he could not have done so. His eyes were wide open, but he sawnever a thing!
"Inky black!" he whispered.
"Nowhere else will you see such darkness," came Dave's voice, close athis side.
"But look! There's something!" Johnny exclaimed in a low tone.
"Yes!" Dave's voice rose excitedly. "And it's something quite new!"
Johnny stared with all possible intensity. Before him--how far away hecould not tell--there moved a series of small, round spots of yellowlight. "It's like flying through the air at night," he murmured; "andseeing the lights of a huge Zeppelin passing."
"Quick! Get your camera ready!" said Dave.
"All right--it's all set!" Johnny's own voice sounded strange to him.
"I'll turn on the light," said Dave. "Now!"
"One, two, three--" Johnny counted to ten, and closed the camera shutterwith a click.
"Now! One more picture," urged Dave. Another click. "They're passing.They'll soon be gone. If only it works!" Dave's voice grew louder withexcitement.
"There", Johnny sighed. "That's two pictures--I hope!"
"No time for another," said Dave.
Johnny stared once more at the blue-black darkness before him, andmarveled afresh. Could anything be stranger than this? Queerest ofall--there had not been one ray of visible light. And Dave's voice at hisside had said, "I'll turn on the light!"
But Johnny knew what it was all about. He had taken pictures in the darkbefore. Still the strangeness of it all, baffled him.
As if brought on by the darkness and mystery, he suddenly thought ofsomething he must tell Dave.
"Samatan is stirring up trouble with the crew of the _Sea Nymph_!" hesaid.
"Our cook? Samatan?" Dave's voice registered surprise. "You must bemistaken."
"No" said Johnny. "I heard him last night".
"But why should he? He is well paid."
"That's what I don't know." There was a note of perplexity in Johnny'svoice. "It's what somebody must find out. What if he should persuade themen to hoist anchor and sail, _right now_?"
"Right now?"
"Yes."
"That would be practically fatal! It--
"But look!" Dave's voice changed. "There they are again! I never saw sucha sight! Get ready for another picture!"
Johnny quickly took another picture--two--three more pictures. Afterthat, the spots of yellow light disappeared as before, and--for whatseemed a very long time--there was nothing but inky blackness.
Johnny settled back for a few, fleeting thoughts. That he was due forsome unusual experiences he had never a doubt. Fancy, going far beneaththe surface of the sea in a thing like this steel ball! Suppose somethingwent wrong--even the least little thing! What then? Dave had told him itwas possible to go down half a mile, perhaps more. Would they ask him togo down that far to take pictures?
Sometimes, he thought, it's better not to know too much about what isahead.
He had been vastly interested in their manner of taking off in that steelball. They had crawled through a small entrance in the side, and takentheir places. Then had come the bang of a steel door, swung into place.This was followed by the clang of wrenches, bolting them inside!
Dave had seen him move, restlessly. "Don't let that bother you," he hadlaughed. "I've been down scores of times. It--it's just grand! ProfessorCasper got the thing up," Dave had explained. "Now his doctor won't lethim go down--on account of a bad heart. So it's up to me, on this trip.There are things we want to know. Your pictures should help."
There hadn't been time for any more talk. After the door had beensecurely bolted down, the hoist had lifted them over the rail and loweredthem gently into the inky depths.
With a suddenness that was startling, Johnny awoke from his revery. Likethe flash of electric bulbs, lights were appearing and disappearingbefore his eyes.
"Wha--what is it?" he exclaimed.
"Shrimp," was Dave's matter-of-fact reply. "Something is after them. Thesquid shoots out ink to make himself invisible, but in this darkness thatwould do no good. These shrimp shoot out little balls of fire. Look!"Suddenly Dave switched on a powerful electric light, and the little worldabout them was transformed.
Seeming to swim in air, a score of tiny, crab-like creatures movedrapidly across the spot of light. Viewed through the six-inch-thickwindow of fused quartz, they seemed fantastic indeed.
For a few seconds the space before them was a dark and empty void. Thenagain, it filled with darting creatures. Dave switched off the light, andonce again the shrimp disappeared. As soon as the more powerful lightfrom their strange, sub-sea visitor had been turned on, they had appearedas dark, darting creatures.
"What was following them?" Johnny asked.
"Who knows?" There was a suggestion of deep mystery in his companion'stone. "That's the thrill and charm that comes from exploring the sea'sdepths! Anything may put in an appearance. Creatures such as the worldnever has dreamed of, may pass before our eyes!"
"How strange! How sort of--"
Johnny broke off to stare, then to exclaim--"There--there's something_huge_!"
"Quick! The camera!" Dave's voice trembled. "No--it's too late!"
Moving with surprising swiftness, some great, dark bulk passed throughthe outer edge of their narrow beam of light.
"Wha--what was it?" Johnny felt a little giddy.
"Some huge creature of the deep. Perhaps a whale or a black fish," Davereplied quietly. "It is known that they penetrate to these depths. Thenagain--perhaps it was some huge, scaly creature that inhabits thesedepths alone."
"What if it had collided with us, or tangled in our cable?"
"Then," Dave's tone was dry and droll, "we might have taken a long, swiftride through space!"
"Swinging
like a pendulum?"
"That's it! On our thousands of feet of cable."
"I shouldn't like that," Johnny shuddered.
"Then why bring it up?" Dave chuckled.
"Why, indeed!" Johnny laughed--
After another half hour of waiting, for one more fascinating spectacle,Dave decided to signal for their return to the top. Johnny experienced areal sense of relief.
"To explore the depths of the sea--earth's last great frontier--this isour purpose," Dave said, as they began to rise. "For centuries men havebeen discovering strange creatures washed up on beaches. They could havecome from nowhere save the ocean depths. For many years they have beendragging these depths with nets, to discover, if they could, what livedin these 'spooky waters' of dense darkness."
And now, Johnny thought exultantly, I am having a part in an expeditionthat may reveal the secrets of these dark depths.
But once again his mind returned to Samatan. This strange person, withhis apparent hold on the native crew, was cook for the expedition. And amarvelous cook he was. Johnny had been interested in the strange old man,from the first. He had studied him carefully. And there could be nomistake about it--Samatan was endeavoring to stir the crew tosomething....
Now the blue-black world about him appeared to be changing color. Theblackness was less intense.
"It's like the coming of dawn," he said to Dave.
"Yes," Dave chuckled, "only here we may make our own dawn, slow or fast,as we choose!"
That this was to be rather a fast dawn, Johnny was not long indiscovering. But it was fascinating. To pass from inky blackness to dark,deep blue, on into colors that resembled a sunrise, and then to theeternal blue of a bright, tropical day, was an experience not soon to beforgotten. From time to time as they rose, strange denizens of the seaseemed to peer at them. Once a shark shot past, and just before theyreached the top, a great turtle swam awkwardly away.
Came the bump--bump of their steel ball as, lifted by the great crane, itlanded on the deck. Then, almost before he knew it, Johnny thrust hishead into bracing fresh air, to be greeted by a smiling face and to heara girl's voice saying:
"Hello, Johnny Thompson! How do you like being down in Davey Jones'locker?"
After assuring her of his enthusiasm, Johnny hurried to his stateroom. Hewas wondering whether Doris remembered their "secret" of the nightbefore.