Chapter X: Little Big-Heads

Next day Johnny took Samatan for a ride in the steel ball. He had supposed it would be difficult, if not impossible, to induce the dignified old native to accompany him, but he was due for a surprise.

"Samatan," he said pleasantly, "you know we have been making trips far beneath the surface of the sea in that steel ball."

"Yes!" Suddenly Samatan was alert.

"Dave and I--we--well we thought you might like to go down."

"In the big ball?" The native's eyes shone, eagerly.

"Yes, that's right." Johnny answered.

"Today?" asked Samatan.

"If you wish."

"In one hour," said Samatan.

An hour later, Samatan took his place beside Johnny in the steel ball, watched the massive, steel cap being screwed into place, felt the bump of the ball on the deck, then sensed their drop into the sea. All this--in stoical silence.

Down they went, a hundred feet--two hundred--five hundred--a thousand. By the small light at his side, Johnny watched the native's face. The expression never changed.

"He seems to be expecting something interesting and exciting," the boy told himself. "Wonder what it could be. If he's afraid, he sure doesn't show it."

As they sank lower and lower, the darkness increased. At last, as Johnny threw off the electric light and all about them was inky black, from the native's lips came a hiss of surprise. That was all.

When Johnny threw on a powerful light, the look of expectation on Samatan's face returned.

"Strange sort of person," the boy thought. "What can he be expecting to see?"

They were now standing still. The professor on deck, had decided their descent had gone far enough.

As Johnny sat staring into the inky blackness before them, he gave a sudden start, then snatched his camera. There, plainly in view, was one of the strangest monsters he ever had seen.

Scarcely had he adjusted his camera for a picture, than a second creature appeared.

"Must be a school of them." His hand trembled a little.

Just as the camera clicked there began the most amazing and terrifying experience of Johnny's eventful life. As though pushed by a giant hand, as a child pushes a playmate in a rope swing, the steel ball moved rapidly outward and upward--although Johnny had given no signal!

Outward and upward--one hundred--two hundred--three hundred feet. Who could say how far? What mysterious power motivated this wild ride, and where would it end? Would the cable snap?

Johnny made no effort to conceal the horror reflected in his face by this thought. Sealed in a steel ball, resting on the bottom of the sea, half a mile or more below surface. What chance? The boy's lips moved, but no sound came. Then, by sheer will power, he adopted a calmer mood and waited the turn of events.

Samatan neither moved nor spoke. Strange Samatan! Did he think this was part of the show? And what had he been waiting so patiently to see?

There was even greater consternation on board the _Sea Nymph_.

Dave had gone ashore for a bit of dry-land exploring but, with Doris at his side, the professor stood watching the pumps that sent air to the occupants of the steel ball. His gaze, reflecting serious concern, was focused intently on the gauge registering strain on the steel ball's cables.

"Doris!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Look, Doris! _Look! The strain has doubled!_ The cable is perilously near the breaking point!"

"Poor Johnny!" Doris cried, distractedly. "Down there with old Samatan! If the cable breaks--"

"If the cable breaks--no power on earth can save them!" The professor's voice dropped. "The bottom must be a full mile down and I doubt whether the ball could withstand the terrific pressure. Nor is there any way we could bring it to the surface!"

"What can be done?" Doris was wringing her hands.

"Pray!" was the professor's simple reply. "Strange things are accomplished by prayer, and faith."

Doris _did_ pray. Then they waited in silence. Ten seconds ticked their way into eternity. Twenty--thirty--sixty. The arrow of the gauge moved nearer the "maximum strain" point at the top of the dial--and stood still. Then, for a brief second, it moved forward again.

"The cable! It can never stand the torsion!" the professor groaned.

Just as all seemed lost, the arrow quivered--and began, slowly, to move the other way.

"Thank God!" exclaimed the professor, fervently. "It--it's going down, Doris, child."

Staring at the dial, Doris opened her lips in silent thanksgiving. She could only stand and stare.

What had happened?

That was a question that remained unanswered for weeks. Some tremendous power behind the steel ball had pushed it away and up, until its certain doom seemed inevitable.

Then, with a sudden, rolling lurch, the ball had been freed and at once began sinking to its original position. Fortunately, the resistance of the water was so great, there was no danger that the stopping of the descent would snap the cable.

As they reached bottom position, Johnny grabbed Samatan's hand and gripped it, impulsively.

Then it was that the native said a strange thing:

"You go bottom now?" he asked, hopefully.

"No," said Johnny, happily. "But we are _safe_, man! I'm signalling them to draw us up!"

"No go bottom?" There was a suggestion of disappointment in Samatan's voice.

Suddenly Johnny thought he understood. Samatan had expected to see bottom. That was what he had wanted, and it explained his strange eagerness to go down. But _why_? What did he expect to see there?

Johnny, however, was far too eagerly awaiting the first, faint gleam of light as they rose, to think much more about Samatan's behavior.

The strange "dawn beneath the sea" came to him once again. Such a glorious dawn! He was to live on! What a privilege it became, suddenly, just to live! The ball rose free of the water, to swing about and bump gently down to the deck. A few moments later, the professor and Doris were gripping his hands and demanding to know what had happened.

"What in the world went wrong?" they asked, in chorus.

"We ran into a school of monsters." Johnny was now able to laugh at his predicament. "They must have taken us for a ride, I guess!"

"What kind of monsters?" The professor was so serious his voice trembled.

"You won't believe me if I tell you," the boy replied, soberly, "but here goes. They had heads twice as large as their bodies! And those heads! If only their mouths had been a little larger, they might have swallowed our steel ball at one gulp!"

"Did they have a small lower jaw and a large upper one? Were their eyes set well back on the side of their heads? Did their tails wave like those of some tropical fish?" The professor was growing excited.

"Yes, yes, and yes," Johnny laughed again. "But say--I tried to take pictures of them! Wonder if they could have been good! Wait till I get my camera." He made a dive into the steel ball to reappear at once with the camera.

"But Johnny!" Doris insisted, "you haven't told us what really happened?"

"I don't know, and that's a fact!" replied Johnny, quietly, soberly. "I was just taking pictures of those beasts when--"

"They're known as little big-heads," the professor broke in, "and they are rare, indeed! You are the first person ever to see them alive. Two specimens have been found washed up on coral beaches, dead. You are a truly great explorer, Johnny! You may now take a bow."

"Aw, say!" Johnny fairly blushed.

"Anyway," he insisted, "one of them must have become tangled in our cable, and in his wild efforts to free himself, took us for an underseas joyride!"

"That doesn't seem possible," mused the professor, slowly. "I should like to know what really happened."

"So should I!" Johnny agreed. "All I have to say is--I'd like them to stay clear of our cable, in the future! Please look at my hair! Do you think it will turn white?"

"In thirty or forty years," Doris laughed. "But Johnny--we're dying to see those pictures."

"Yes, yes!--by all means!" the professor agreed. "Let us see them at once." So they crowded into Johnny's small darkroom to watch the enthralling "coming out" of one more set of plates.

* * * * * * * *

"Little big-heads," the professor whispered solemnly, as the pictures began to appear. "Johnny, you are a wonder! Once again we have registered a real triumph!"

"I'm glad of that," Johnny said, sincerely. "I like being a success. But even better--I enjoy living!

"I'm sure I'll not be able to sleep in the dark for months to come," he said, more lightly. "I'll be imagining I'm still in that steel ball, swinging wide in utter darkness!"

"Johnny," Doris whispered some time later, "What _really_ took you for that ride?"

"I could only guess--and it would be a wild guess, at that!" There was a suggestion of mystery in his voice. "I'm sure of one thing, though. It wasn't any little big-head!"