an hour. Indeed, they had made their first descent
practically within hand-touch of her, but the water was full of a milky
clay and very opaque, and sight below the surface was consequently
limited.

They came up to the air for a quarter of an hour's spell and made their
announcement, and then the copper helmets were clapped into place again,
and once more like a pair of uncouth sea monsters they slowly and
clumsily faded away into the depths. A gabble of excited Italian kept
pace to the turning of the air-pumps, and of that language Kettle knew
barely a score of words. Practically these people might have weaved any
kind of plot noisily and under his very nose without his being any the
wiser, and this possibility did little to quell his suspicions.

But still Tazzuchi was all outward frankness. "It's as well we brought
out this little steamboat just to skim the wreck and survey her," he
said. "If they'd waited to fit out a big salvage expedition, to raise
her straight off, I reckon there wouldn't have been much left but iron
plates and coal bunkers. These Red Sea niggers are pretty useful at
looting, once they start. The beggars can dive pretty nearly as well and
as long in their naked skins as their betters can in a proper
diving suit."

Each time the divers came up from the opaque white water they brought
more reports. Binnacles, whistle, wheels, and all movable deck fittings
were gone already. The chart-house had been looted down to the bare
boards. Hatches were off, both forward and aft, and already the cargo
had begun to diminish. The black men of the district had been making
good use of their time; and as the probabilities were that they would
return in force to glean from this store which they considered legally
theirs, it was advisable to collect as much as possible into the salvage
steamer before any disturbances began.

News came from the cool mysterious water to the baking region of air
above, almost at the second hour of the search, that the _Grecian_ could
never be refloated. In addition to the holes already made in two of her
compartments, she had settled on a sharp jag of rock, which had pierced
her in a third place aft. But at the same time this one piece of rock
was the only solid spot in the neighborhood. All the rest of the sea
floor was paved with pulpy white clay, and in this the unfortunate wreck
had settled till already it was flush with her lower decks. There were
evidences, too, that the oo