y
give you up though separated from us by the short distance of only a few
miles?"

At last, nothing better being to be done, the unwilling signal "heave
upwards!" was given, and the hauling up commenced. It was done very
slowly, and with the greatest care. A sudden jerk might snap the chains;
an incautious twist might put a kink on the air tube; besides, it was
well known that the sudden removal of heavy pressure resulting from
rapid ascent, is attended by very disagreeable sensations, which have
sometimes even proved fatal.

It was near midnight when the Clubmen were lifted out of the manhole.
Their faces were pale, their eyes bloodshot, their figures stooped. Even
the _Herald_ Reporter seemed to have got enough of exploring. But
Marston was as confident as ever, and tried to be as brisk.

He had hardly swallowed the refreshment so positively enjoined in the
circumstances, when he abruptly addressed the Captain:

"What's the weight of your heaviest cannon balls?"

"Thirty pounds, Mr. Marston."

"Can't you attach thirty of them to the Nautilus and sink us again?"

"Certainly, Mr. Marston, if you wish it. It shall be the first thing
done to-morrow."

"To-night, Captain! At once! Barbican has not an instant to lose."

"At once then be it, Mr. Marston. Just as you say."

The new sinkers were soon attached to the Nautilus, which disappeared
once more with all its former occupants inside, except the _Herald_
Reporter, who had fallen asleep over his notes, or at least seemed to
be. He had probably made up his mind as to the likelihood of the
Nautilus ever getting back again.

The second descent was quicker than the first, but just as futile. At
1152 feet, the Nautilus positively refused to go a single inch further.
Marston looked like a man in a stupor. He made no objection to the
signal given by the others to return; he even helped to cut the ropes by
which the cannon balls had been attached. Not a single word was spoken
by the party, as they slowly rose to the surface. Marston seemed to be
struggling against despair. For the first time, the impossibility of the
great enterprise seemed to dawn upon him. He and his friends had
undertaken a great fight with the mighty Ocean, which now played with
them as a giant with a pigmy. To reach the bottom was evidently
completely out of their power; and what was infinitely worse, there was
nothing to be gained by reaching it. The Projectile was not on the
bottom; it could