t.

Madge and Phyllis each wore a close fitting, warm woolen dress. Madge had
tucked up her red-brown curls into a tight knot. Her eyes were glowing,
but her face was white and her lips a little less red when Captain Jules
came forward to fasten her into her diving suit.

"Don't attempt it, Madge, if you are frightened," urged Miss Jenny Ann,
who was feeling dreadfully frightened herself. "I am sure Captain Jules
will forgive you if you back out."

Captain Jules looked at Madge searchingly. Her eyes smiled bravely into
his, although her heart was going pit-a-pat.

"Miss Madge is not afraid," answered Captain Jules curtly. "Robert
Morton's daughter has no right to know fear."

Madge first slipped her feet into a pair of heavy leather boots. She gave
a gay laugh as she slipped into her rubber cloth suit, which was made in
one piece. "I feel just like a walrus," she confided to Tom Curtis, who
was watching her with set lips.

Then Madge and Captain Jules, who was in exactly the same costume, got
into their boats and moved out a little distance from the shore.

Tom Curtis had asked Captain Jules's consent to sit in one of the boats
with Phil. At the last moment Philip Holt stepped calmly into the other.
No one stopped to argue with him, or to thrust him out; the whole party
was too much excited.

Not for all the pearls in all the seas would Captain Jules Fontaine have
allowed one hair of Madge's head to be injured. But he really did not
believe that she would be in any danger under the water with him. He had
arranged every detail of the diving perfectly. He would watch her every
movement at the bottom of the bay. To tell the truth, Captain Jules was
immensely proud of Madge's and Phil's bravery in desiring to accompany
him.

The final moment for the dive arrived. Madge waved her hand to the crowd
of her friends lining the shore. She flung back her head and looked
gayly, triumphantly, up at the blue sky above her, with its sweep of
white, sailing clouds. Below her the water looked even more deeply blue.

"Remember, Madge," whispered Captain Jules calmly, "the one quality a
diver needs more than anything else is presence of mind. Keep a clear
head under the water and nothing shall harm you, I swear. But above all,
don't forget your signals."

With his own hands Captain Jules fastened the brass corselet about
Madge's slender neck and set a big copper helmet which he screwed over
her head to her corselet. Madge the