to drain them off-if he could have made the Frias basin dry down stream, from the bar up to the influx of the Rio Negro, the case hidden in Torres' clothes would already have been in his han

beneath him. He was in some ten or fifteen feet of water, at the base of the cl

ring the researches of the previous day no pole could have penetrated. It was consequently possible that

ning out into the stream, the current was absolutely nil. Benito guided his movemen

checked. Under ordinary conditions, at a depth of some twenty feet in water, the view becomes exceedingly blurred, but here the waters s

h, if we can use such an expression, escaped on all sides from the dense thickets like flocks of birds. It seemed as though the thousand pieces of a

rolled beyond the eddy toward the center of the stream. If so, he would probably still recover the body, for the current could hardly touch it at the depth, which was already great, and seemed sensibly to increase. Benito then resolve

the river necessitated it, he had had to descend about thirty feet. He had thus to support a pressure almost equal to an atmosphere, with the result of the physical fatigue and mental agitation which attack those who are not used to this kind of wor

the metallic sphere of the diving-dress was rais

de. Manoel, Fragoso, and Araujo came c

asked

othing!

not seen

t o

I go do

ito; "I have begun; I know

f, floating between the two streams, it had in the least degree been affected by the current. But first he wanted to skirt the bank and carefully explore a sort of hole fo

may be fifty or sixty feet, and you will have to support a pressure of quite two atmospheres. Only venture with extreme caution, or you may lose your presence of mind, or no longer know where you are or what to do. If your head fee

e importance. He was particularly struck with the fact that his pre

dress was again screwed to his neck, the pump began to wo

he center of the river the current increased in strength, the ubas were moored, and th

ground it could be seen, by the length of the haulage cord, that he was at a depth of some sixty-fi

for Benito to distinguish the objects scattered on the bed of the river, and to approach them with some safety. Besides, the sand,

vance very slowly; the communication cord was paid out, and as the pipes which served for the in

d then he could see nothing, so feeble was the light; but this was a purely passing phenomenon, and due to the raft, which, floating above his head, intercepted the

ith as much ease as in the midst of an atmosphere more conveniently adapted for them. And so he found himself under the action of physiological effects to which he was unaccustomed. The rumbling grew louder in hi

tement seized him. He stepped toward the mass; with his spear he felt it. It was the carcass of a huge cayman, already reduced to a skeleton, and which the current of the Rio Negro had swept into th

ntinued his progress, so as to r

onsequently was experiencing a pressure of three atmospheres. If, then, t

and thirty feet, and that below this there is great danger, the human organism not only being hindered from performing his f

corpse was very likely to have rolled to the bottom of the hole, and that Torres, if he had any heavy things about him, such as a belt containing either money or arms, would have sunk t

und it difficult to see; but it was a human body that lay

ed to beat. He thought he was going to lose consciousness. By a s

ibrate! A long whip seemed to twine round his body, and in spite

otus!"

y word that pa

n by the Brazilians to the gymnotus, or el

acted on by nerves of considerable power. This apparatus is endowed with singular electrical properties, and is apt to produce very formidable results. Some of these gymnotuses are ab

ries; and it was one of these living coils, about ten feet long, w

otect him. The discharges of the gymnotus, at first somewhat weak, become more and more viole

e electric influences of the gymnotus, which lightly touched his body as it wrapped him in its folds. His arms even he coul

orrible combat which was going on beneath them between the formidable puraque and t

ody-the body of Torres without

to uttered a cry. His voice was lost in the met

k, which made Benito writhe on the sand like the sections of a divided wo

s over; his eyes grew dim,

eason he became the witness of a phenomenon, unex

rolled along the river bed, then violently agitated by the electrical discharges of the gymnotus. Benito felt

m, for fearful was the vision

ations of the water lifted up the arms, and they swayed about as if with some pecul

he liquid mass, and Benito recognized the bloated, ashy features of the scoundre

he had been nailed to the sand, the corpse straightened itself up, the head swayed to and fro, and disentangling itsel