CHAPTER XXIX
THE ESCAPE FROM THE DEMONS
It was a situation calculated to make the stoutest heart quail.
Amos Fearless and Dave were surrounded by the demons of the deep!
The horrible ocean monsters pressed close upon them, their big eyes fairly starting from their heads, their long arms working convulsively, and their sweeping tails working the brine up into a milk-white foam.
Evidently the battle-cry had gone forth, for more monsters were coming up each instant.
Father and son looked at each other mutely. Both felt that the end must be near.
The din increased, and being under water was so painful to the two divers that they almost fainted from the concussions.
In the midst of the uproar, however, there came a sudden and dead silence.
Other monsters were approaching, leading to the scene a monster larger than the rest. It was the king of the submarine demons.
At the approach of the king all the others fell back.
The king advanced, with eyes as staring as his followers, but with a tail that was motionless.
Ten feet from Amos Fearless and Dave he halted.
For a moment nothing was done upon either side.
Evidently the king of the demons was calculating the best manner of attacking the strange objects which had appeared in his realm.
He had seen the dead bodies of human beings, but never had he beheld live human beings, with skins of steel and rubber.
At last he came up cautiously and put out one long and bony hand towards Dave.
The movement was so slow that Dave was filled more with curiosity than with fear.
The king of the demons felt of Dave's legs, his body and his arms.
Then he took hold of the submarine gun and suddenly wrenched it from the young diver's grasp.
With the gun he went back to his followers.
In the meantime the demon that had been shot was slowly dying, surrounded by a number of his friends.
As soon as he was dead the others rent him limb from limb and began to eat him up!
They were cannibals!
The king of the demons handled the gun he had taken rather gingerly, nevertheless his hand, or paw, struck the trigger, and the submarine weapon was discharged full into the face of another demon sitting near.
A wild sound immediately arose, and as the shot demon fell back dead, several other demons closed in upon the king.
Soon the monsters were fighting wildly among themselves. The water was dyed half a dozen shades, shutting in the fighters as in a cloud.
Amos Fearless touched Dave on the arm and motioned his son to follow him.
The young diver understood, and in haste the pair withdrew from the circle of combat.
Then they literally ran for the diving bell.
It was a fearful strain upon each, for their diving suits weighed seventy-five pounds apiece.
They were still a score of feet from the bell when some of the demons saw them running and started in pursuit.
"We are lost now!" thought Dave, but continued to run, and urged his parent before him.
At last both gained the diving bell, all but exhausted.
Entering, they snapped the door shut and sent the signal up.
Soon the bell was rising. To assist, they began to pump the water out of the bell.
The demons swarmed all around the bell, but did not dare to touch the glass sides or the crab-like claws.
Soon the bell passed from the zone of submarine light and then the demons dropped back, for they could not breathe in the upper portions of the ocean.
The bell cleared of water, father and son took off their diving suits.
"Thank Heaven we are out of that!" came in the sign language from Amos Fearless.
"We were lucky to escape," answered Dave, earnestly. "But, father, the treasure—how will we ever get at it, with those demons around?"
At this the old diver shook his head slowly.
It was a problem difficult, if not impossible, to solve.
"I wouldn't like to meet those fellows again for a million dollars," went on Dave.
And his father agreed with him.
It seemed a long while before they emerged from the ocean, at the side of the Swallow.
Those on the ship lost no time in bringing them on board and questioning them regarding what they had discovered.
The story about the demons was listened to with keen interest by Doctor Barrell.
"Ah, they must belong to the lost order of chilusia damondaribytis!" cried the learned man. "They are supposed to have lived at one time upon the lost continent of Atlantis. But if so, how did they come here, in the middle of the Pacific? It is a great mystery. You must bring up one of them in the net."
"Thanks, but I don't want the job," replied Dave, quickly.
"But, my dear young man, think of the interest to science—the—the great fame it will bring you."
"Not if the chilu-what's-his-name chews me up, doctor. You just ought to see them. Why, they are enough to give you bad dreams for a month."
"Then I will go down myself in the diving bell. If it is light, as you say, perhaps I can get some snapshot photographs of them," went on the learned man.
"What if they take it into their heads to smash the diving bell to pieces?"
"Cannot you keep them at a distance with the submarine firearms?"
"Hardly; but I was thinking we might take down some submarine torpedoes," went on Dave, suddenly.
The matter was talked over for fully an hour, and at last it was decided that another trial should be made the next day, and the divers should take along two submarine torpedoes, with which to blow up the demons should the latter molest them.
In the meantime Captain Broadbeam had his glass trained upon the Raven, and presently he announced that the diving bell from that ship was coming up.
All watched eagerly for the reappearance of Vixen and Walton, the rival divers.
At last the men were hauled up on the deck of the Raven.
It was seen that Walton was injured and had to be carried to the cabin by some of the sailors.
The rival divers had met only two of the demons of the deep, but an awful conflict had occurred, and Walton had had his left arm nearly torn from the socket and was suffering from the effects of the water which had poured into his diving suit.
"I'll not go down again," announced Vixen. "Not for a thousand dollars a trip."
"What, you don't intend to give up the search already?" cried Lemuel Hankers, in horror.
"I do."
"But you agreed to find the Happy Hour," put in Bart. "You must stick to your agreement."
"It's wuss nor putting your head into a lion's mouth," persisted Cal Vixen. "If you don't believe it, go down yourself."
"I will go down—if you'll go with me," said Bart. He was so anxious to get the Washington fortune that his former timidity was overcome.
Vixen held out all day about going down again, but several drinks of liquor at last made him bolder, and he agreed to try once more, providing Bart would go with him, and providing the bell was stored with explosives with which to fight off the demons if they showed themselves again.
The day proved cloudy, and it looked as if a storm were brewing.
"But I don't reckon we'll get it right away," said Captain Broadbeam. "And if you want to get ahead of the Raven's crowd you had better go down. I see they are getting ready to put their bell over again."
At half-past nine the Swallow's diving bell was hoisted into the Pacific once more, and Dave and his father entered it.
"We may never see you again, captain," said the young diver. "If we don't, good-by!"
A minute later the diving bell disappeared beneath the surface of the mighty Pacific.