y very much as a freelance. At
first he devoted himself to studying the subject, and ere long there was
not a method of raising a sunken vessel, of building a difficult
breakwater, of repairing a complicated damage to a pier, or a well, or
anything else subaqueous, with which he was not thoroughly acquainted,
and in regard to which he had not suggested or carried out bold and
novel plans and improvements, both in regard to the machinery employed
and the modes of action pursued.

After a time he became noted for his success in undertaking difficult
works, and at last employed a staff of divers to do the work, while he
chiefly superintended. Joe Baldwin became his right-hand man and
constant attendant. Rooney and Maxwell, preferring steadier and less
adventurous work, got permanent employment on the harbour improvements
of their own seaport town.

Thus engaged, Edgar and his man Joe visited nearly all the wild places
round the stormy shores of Great Britain and Ireland. They raised many
ships from the bottom of the sea that had been pronounced by other
engineers to be hopelessly lost. They laid foundations of piers and
breakwaters in places where old Ocean had strewn wrecks since the
foundation of the world. They cleared passages by blasting and
levelling rocks whose stern crests had bid defiance to winds and waves
for ages, and they recovered cargoes that had been given up for years to
Neptune's custody. In short, wherever a difficult submarine operation
had to be undertaken, Edgar Berrington and his man Joe, with, perhaps, a
gang of divers under them, were pretty sure to be asked to undertake it.

The risk, we need scarcely say, was often considerable; hence the
remuneration was good, and both Edgar and his man speedily acquired a
considerable sum of money.

At the end of two years, the former came to the conclusion that he had a
sufficient sum at his credit in the bank to warrant a visit to the
cottage by the sea; and it was when this idea had grown into a fixed
intention that he found himself, as we have mentioned, in rather
comfortable circumstances at the bottom of the sea.

The particular part of the bottom lay off the west coast of England.
Joe and a gang of men were hard at work on a pier when Edgar went down.
He carried a slate and piece of pencil with him. The bottom was not
very deep down. There was sufficient light to enable him to find his
man easily.

Joe was busy laying a large stone in its