. So rapidly does this
pressure increase, that divers attired in an ordinary diving-dress are
only able to descend to a depth of about fifteen fathoms, or ninety
feet; there are a few cases where this depth has been exceeded, but they
are few and far between. Now I have always held the opinion that to
descend into the sea to merely such a trifling depth as this, for the
purpose of scientific investigation, is scarcely worth the trouble; so
when Sir Reginald was good enough to furnish me with the means to
materialise, as it were, in this ship, the fancies and longings that had
haunted me, day and night, for years, I determined that it should not be
my fault if we did not, all of us, completely eclipse all previous
achievements in diving. The great difficulty that I had to contend with
was the enormous water-pressure of which I had spoken. Could I but
contrive to encase our bodies in some garment that would receive and
successfully resist this terrible pressure, and yet be flexible enough
to permit of free movement to the wearer, the problem would be solved.
And these diving-suits are the outcome of my efforts; they sustain and
resist to perfection, without permitting them to be transmitted to the
body, the most severe pressures to which we have ever exposed them,
while at the same time they afford complete protection in other respects
to the wearers--as when, for example, we were attacked by the conger
eels."

Lady Olivia thanked the professor for his explanation, and murmured an
additional word or two of admiration for the wonderful armour; whereupon
von Schalckenberg--perceiving perhaps that her ladyship's interest in
what was really one of his masterpieces of ingenuity was not, after all,
particularly keen--opened a door opposite the one by which they had
entered the diving-room, disclosing a small vestibule from which sprang
a spiral staircase made of the same beautiful white metal that was
everywhere to be met with on board this marvellous ship.

Leading the way round past the foot of the staircase, the professor
halted before a door inscribed with the words "Engine-Room." This door
he threw open, and, as before, with a profound bow, motioned Lady
Elphinstone to enter. The first emotion of those who entered this
important compartment for the first time was invariably one of
disappointment; for the room, although full of machinery, was small--
disproportionately so, it appeared, compared with the bulk of the s