"They're all set up," came the answer. "There's ladders and draglinesall over that end."

"You sure you want to do this?" asked the sunburnt little gink who washer publicity man, Anderson yclept.

He sat beside the Rook in a deckchair, sipping lemonade through astraw.

"It might be dangerous," he observed, sunken-mouthed. (His teeth werebeside him, in another glass.)

"That's right," she smiled. "It _will_ be dangerous. Not overly,though."

"Then why don't you let me get some pictures? We'd have them back toLifeline in an hour. They'd be in New York by tonight. Good copy."

"No," she said, and turned away from both of us.

"Here, keep these for me."

She passed him a box full of her unseeing, and when she turned back tome they were the same brown that I remembered.

"Ready?"

"No," I said, tautly. "Listen carefully, Jean. If you're going to playthis game there are a few rules. First," I counted, "we're going to bedirectly beneath the hull, so we have to start low and keep moving. If webump the bottom, we could rupture an air tank..."

She began to protest that any moron knew that and I cut her down.

"Second," I went on, "there won't be much light, so we'll stay closetogether, and we will _both_ carry torches."

Her wet eyes flashed.

"I dragged you out of Govino without--"

Then she stopped and turned away. She picked up a lamp.

"Okay. Torches. Sorry."

"...And watch out for the drive-screws," I finished. "There'll bestrong currents for at least fifty meters behind them."

She wiped her eyes and adjusted the mask.

"All right, let's go."

We went.

She led the way, at my insistence. The surface layer was pleasantlywarm. At two fathoms the water was bracing; at five it was nice and cold. Ateight we let go the swinging stairway and struck out. Tensquare sped forward