Chapter 30 Chapter 10 A Cannon Blast

Benito then descended into the torrential waters where the corpse of the adventurer was still hidden.ah!If he could divert, evaporate, and dry up the great river, if he could drain the entire bend of the Foria River, from the lower locks to the Negro tributaries, then the box hidden in Torres' clothes would be in his hands. Yet!Father's innocence can be exonerated!Joam.After Da Costa regains his freedom, he will continue to sail downstream with his family, so that he can avoid all kinds of hardships! Benito stopped at the bottom of the river.The heavy soles rattled on the gravel of the river bed.At the time, he was standing ten to fifteen feet vertically below the steep bank where Torres fell.

There are tangled clusters of reeds, tree stumps, and aquatic plants. When salvaging the day before, no long pole must be able to explore these tangled and coiled things.Therefore, the corpse is likely to be caught by the chaotic algae on the bottom of the sea, and still stay in the place where it fell into the water. In this place, the ledge of the bank extends to form an eddy, so that the water does not flow at all.In this way, Benito only needs to move with the raft that the Indians above head row with long poles. The river water is clear, the sun shines directly into the depths of the river water, the water surface is cloudless, and a round of red sun radiates thousands of rays of light as usual.Visibility in the water usually reaches its limit at a depth of twenty feet; but here the river seemed to be filled with a transparent and luminous liquid, and Benito could dive further and still see the bottom clearly.

Young people walk slowly along the river bank.The iron rod in his hand probed the clumps of aquatic plants and piles of sundries at the bottom of the river.The frightened schools of fish, if it can be described in this way, are like birds fleeing from dense bushes.Like thousands of shattered lenses shining in the water.At the same time, hundreds of shrimps and crabs are scurrying on the yellow sand, just like fat ants driven out of an ant nest. However, although Benito searched every corner of the river bank, he could not find what he was looking for.Observing the steep slope of the riverbed, he came to the conclusion that Torres' body might have rushed out of the whirlpool and into the center of the river.If so, the body might still be there, for the river was already deep, and evidently getting deeper, and the current would not carry it away.

Benito then decided to look for it there as soon as he had finished exploring the grass.So he continued in the direction agreed upon, and the raft sailed in this way for a quarter of an hour. A quarter of an hour passed, and Benito still found nothing.He felt compelled to return to the surface to ensure recovery under normal physiological conditions.In some places the water was deeper and he had to go down about thirty feet.Therefore, he is subjected to a pressure almost equal to that of the atmosphere, which causes physical fatigue and emotional disturbance to a person who is not used to diving.

So Benito pulled the bell rope, and the people on the raft began to pull him up; but they moved very slowly, only pulling up two or three feet a minute, so as not to damage his internal organs due to the drop in pressure. As soon as the young man stepped onto the raft, the metal helmet of the diving suit was removed, he took a deep breath, and sat down to rest for a while. The boat immediately approached.Manoel, Fragoso, and Aloro all leaned over and stood beside him, waiting for him to speak. How about it?asked Manoel. Still nothing!nothing! Haven't you found any clues? No. Would you like me to come and find you?

No, Manoel, replied Benito, I have already started, I know where to go, let me do it! So, Benito explained to the helmsman that he wanted to find the Feria Lock from the bottom of the river bank. It is to withstand the impact of the water flow, even if the effect is so slight; but before that, he wants to leave the river bank from the side, and carefully explore the depression formed by the slope of the river bed, until the long pole obviously can't reach it. deep. Arrow agrees with this plan and is ready to take corresponding measures. Manoel felt that he should make a few suggestions to Benito:

Since you will continue your search from that side, he said, the raft will go sideways in that direction, but be careful, Benito.Because it's going deeper than you've ever been; maybe five or sixty feet deep, so you're taking two atmospheres of pressure.You can only try to take it slow or you will lose consciousness.You don't know where you are or what you want to do.If your hair feels swollen, it seems to be hooped in a sleeve.If you have constant tinnitus.Don't hesitate, signal and we'll pull you up to the surface and you can start over if need be, but at least you'll be somewhat acclimatized to the depths of the river.

Benito promised that Manoel would remember his instructions, and he knew how important these instructions were.It was especially harrowing for him to lose consciousness when he probably needed it the most. Benito shook Manoel's hand; the helmet of the diving suit was put back on his neck, the air pump was turned on again, and the diver disappeared in the water. The raft was about forty feet away from the left bank; but as it approached the middle of the river, the impact of the current would cause the raft to travel faster than necessary, so the boat was tied to a cable, and the rower controlled the drift of the raft and let it sail. Very slowly very slowly.

Benito slowly dived to the ground.When the soles of his shoes were walking on the sandy ground of the river bed, we could judge from the length of the safety rope tied to his body that he was already at a depth of sixty-five to seventy feet underwater. An abyss much deeper than normal. The center of the river was even darker, but the water was clear and transparent, and enough light could still pass through that Benito could see the things scattered on the bottom of the river and move forward safely.In addition, mica is scattered on the sand, like a mirror, and even the grains of sand can be counted, like shiny dust shining.

Benito walked and watched, probing the smallest hole with the iron rod.He continued to dive slowly.The men on the raft kept feeding him the ropes as he needed them, and the breathing tube was kept up, so the air pump worked fine. Benito thus left the bank and went to the center of the Amazon bed, where the largest depression was. Sometimes it was pitch black around him and he couldn't see his fingers.But this phenomenon was only temporary: it was the raft moving over his head that completely blocked the sunlight, thus turning day into night.But after a moment, the thick black shadows dissipated, and the sand began to reflect light and shine again.

Benito kept diving, and he could feel it, especially the increasing pressure on his body from the water.He was breathing hard, and the constriction of his organs was no longer at his will, as in a normally balanced atmosphere.At this moment, he was under an unaccustomed physiological action.His tinnitus intensified; but his mind was always clear, and he felt that his brain's methodical reasoning was even a bit extraordinary, so he didn't want to send a signal to surface, so he continued to sink deeper. Suddenly, for a split second, in the haze, something indistinct caught his attention.It seemed to him that this pile of things was like a corpse soaked in water lying under a pile of water plants. Excited, he walked in that direction and moved the ball with a stick. Just the carcass of a giant caiman, long since rotted into a pile of skeletons, washed up by the Negro River onto the bed of the Amazon. Benito took a few steps back, and despite the helmsman's deduction, he couldn't help thinking that there might be live caimans swimming into the deep waters of the Folia bay! But he shook off the thought and continued on, reaching the bottom of the depression. It was about ninety to one hundred feet underwater, so he was under three atmospheres of pressure.If this pit is going to go deeper, then I'm afraid I have to stop searching immediately. Because experiments have shown that the depth of 120 to 30 feet is a limit for underwater operations, and it is very dangerous to go beyond this limit: not only the human organs cannot withstand such pressure, but the equipment can no longer supply breathable air normally. However, Benito was determined to continue diving as long as his sanity and strength remained.With an indescribable presentiment, he felt himself being drawn toward this abyss; he felt that Torres' body should probably have rolled straight to the bottom of this abyss, had he been carrying something heavy, such as gold and silver, or a weapon hanging from it. The belt and the like, the corpse is likely to stay in this abyss. Suddenly, in a dark pit, he saw a dead body!Yes!It was a dead body, still clothed, lying like a man in deep sleep, with his arms under his head. Is it Torres?The surroundings were dim and chaotic, and it was difficult to make out; but this was indeed a dead man's corpse lying here, nearly ten steps away, motionless! Suddenly, a violent and unexpected shock shook his whole body!A long whip lashed at him, and despite his thick wetsuit he felt the lash. An electric eel!he cried. It was the only sentence that came out of his mouth. Indeed, just now it was an electric eel, or electric water snake, which the Brazilians call a Brague, that had just leaped at him. As to the slippery black hide of the water eel, it is well known that on its back and tail there is an organ consisting of a thin vertical mesenchyme, controlled by powerful nerves.This organ has strange electrical properties and is capable of inflicting horrific shocks.Some of these electric eels are about the size of a water snake, and some are a dozen feet long; others are fifteen to twenty feet long and eight to ten inches wide. There are many electric eels in the Amazon River and its tributaries. The one that jumped at the diver just now was about ten feet long. Benito knew how hard it would be to be attacked by this terrible animal.His clothes couldn't protect him.The discharge of the electric eel started weakly and gradually became stronger until it became exhausted under the protection of the water waves. Benito couldn't stand the electric shock, and he had already half collapsed on the sand. His limbs were gradually numb from the electric eel's electric shock, and the electric eel slowly rubbed against his body, wrapping him tightly.I can't lift my arms anymore.After a while, the iron rod also fell out of his hand, and his hand no longer had the strength to pull the bell rope to signal. Benito felt himself finished.Neither Manoel nor his companions could imagine what a terrible battle was going on below them between a formidable Brague and a wretched, struggling, defenseless diver. And all this was happening just as a body, perhaps that of Torres, had just appeared before his eyes. Out of a last instinct of self-help, Benito wanted to shout!His voice is muffled in this metal helmet, and no sound can come out! At this moment, Brague's attack was more fierce; it kept discharging, and Benito jumped on the river floor like the severed body of a bug, muscles twitching and writhing under the electric eel's whip. Benito felt completely insane.My eyes gradually turned black, and my limbs gradually became stiff! However, before he lost his vision and thinking ability, an unexpected, indescribable, and unusual scene appeared in front of his eyes. A dull explosion sounded through the water layer, like a thunderclap, and the sound of thunder spread to the deep water layer disturbed by the electric eel.Benito felt that he was immersed in a great sound, which echoed in the deepest part of the river. Suddenly, he blurted out a scream!Because a horrible scene appeared in front of his eyes. The corpse of the drowned man who had been lying on the muddy ground just stood up!The waves shook his arms, as if he had been miraculously resurrected!Convulsions and tremors set the hideous corpse to life again! This is Torres' body!A ray of sunlight pierced through the water and hit the corpse, and Benito recognized the swollen and blue face, the bastard he had killed with his own hands, breathing his last breath in this river. Benito's limbs were numb and he couldn't move an inch. The heavy soles of the shoes fell on him, as if they had nailed him to the sand of the river bed. At this moment, the dead body stood up, shaking its head up and down. Drilling out of the clump of aquatic plants, he rose straight up, with a shocking appearance, rising towards the water surface of the Amazon River!