ordinary stones. Every now
and then the young diver would stoop and drop one of them in her netted
bag with a thrill of excitement.

Again and again Captain Jules had assured Madge that she must not expect
to find any pearls of much value in Delaware Bay. There were few pearls
in edible oysters. The beds about Cape May were meant to supply the
family table, not the family jewels. Of course, it was true, the Captain
admitted, that a pearl did appear now and then in an ordinary oyster. Yet
this was an accident and most unlikely to occur.

Madge had really tried not to believe that she was going to find any kind
of prize in the new world under the water. In spite of all her efforts
she had been thinking and planning and hoping. Perhaps--perhaps she would
find a pearl of great price. Then her troubles would be at an end.

All this time Madge had been breathing naturally and comfortably inside
her helmet as she traveled along the bed of the bay. She was so
unconscious of any difficulty that she was beginning to believe that she
was, in truth, a mermaid, and that water, and not air, was her natural
element. Suddenly she felt a little uneasy, as though the windows of her
room had been closed for too long a time. It was nothing, she was sure.
The stifling sensation would pass in another second.

At this moment Captain Jules gazed hard at Madge. He had never forgotten
his charge for a moment. But all seemed well with her, and the captain
thought he saw ahead of him something that was well worth investigating.
He dropped on his knees in the soft mud. With him he had a small hammer
and a fork, not unlike a gardener's. Shining through some green sea moss
so soft and fine that it might have been the hair of a water-baby,
Captain Jules had espied some glittering shells. To his experienced eye
the glow was that of mother-of-pearl. It is the mother-of-pearl shell
that usually covers the precious pearl. The old sailor set to work. Madge
was eagerly watching him, when once again the faint stifling sensation
swept over her. Surely it was not possible to faint in a diving suit.
Besides, Madge's heart was beating so furiously with excitement that it
was small wonder she could not get her breath. She believed that Captain
Jules was about to discover a wonderful pearl. He had wrenched the shells
free and was trying to open them. Madge stood some feet away from him,
quivering with excitement.

"'And the sea shall give up its treasures',"