Part 17 (2/2)

This was one of the tricks he did to keep the audience amused while the seconds of his underwater endurance were ticked off. It would have been rather monotonous for the crowd merely to look at Joe staying in the tank. He must keep up some kind of action. Then, too, when he was busy, it kept his mind from thinking of the pa.s.sage of time, and the four minutes, or whatever part of them he remained under the surface, seemed to pa.s.s more quickly.

Finally he had done the last of his ”water stuff,” he had eaten the banana, had pretended to drain his cup of tea and then, yawning and stretching, he prepared for a ”nap” under water.

”Now comes the real test!” thought Joe grimly.

Already he was beginning to feel the strain. His temples were throbbing from the retained breath and the water pressure, and his head felt big and stuffy. It was aching, too. Joe had placed outside the tank an alarm clock with big figures so he could keep track of the time. Three minutes and a half had pa.s.sed, and Joe knew that every second, from now on, would be agony for him, agony that the watching crowd little suspected.

”Can I do it?” thought Joe. The hand was within ten seconds of the four-minute mark. Joe, who had opened his eyes for a brief glance at the clock, shut them again. His heart was beating like a hammer inside his chest, trying to make up for the lack of oxygenated blood.

To Joe it seemed as if fifteen seconds had pa.s.sed, He gave a swift glance at the clock.

”Only six,” he thought. ”I'm afraid I can't do it.”

To make a complete four minutes he must stay under water four seconds more, and seconds, now, were like hours to him.

There was a ringing in his ears. His head throbbed painfully, he began to yawn and stretch again, as though awakening from a sleep. He looked up and saw Jim Tracy peering anxiously down into the tank. The ring-master realized that this was longer than Joe had ever stayed under water before, and he thought perhaps something had gone wrong, as it had in the case of Benny. The ring-master was calling off the half minutes to the crowd, in which many were holding watches.

A few had tried to imitate Joe's feat, but had given it up as a hopeless task.

”The boy fish has now been under water, without breathing, four minutes, ladies and gentlemen!'” cried the ring-master. ”He has beaten his own record!”

It was indeed true. But still Joe did not come up. He was fighting for time now--fighting for fractions of a second. He felt as if he would burst, but he did not come up. He saw, by his clock, that he had stayed under four minutes. A second pa.s.sed--two--three--and still Joe was under water. Then he could not stand it longer. He had come close to the world's second best record at that.

Four seconds--five--and at the last tick of the five seconds over the four minutes, Joe shot up to the surface. He tried not to show his exhaustion as he climbed, dripping wet, out on to the platform and bowed to the plaudits of the enthusiastic crowd, but it was hard work for Joe to keep up. He did it, however.

”Good work, old man!” cried the ring-master as he helped put the bath robe about Joe. ”Great work! How'd you do it?”

”Oh--I--I just did it!” panted Joe, breathing in deeply of the life-giving air.

”You didn't tell me you were going to pull off a stunt like that.”

”I--I didn't know, myself, whether or not I could do it,” said Joe, as he started for his dressing room. ”And I didn't want a failure.”

”Good boy!” said Jim. ”I guess I didn't make any mistake raising your salary, Joe!”

”If you'll give me more money I'll try for a better record yet,” said the boy fish with a smile.

”Say, what are you trying to do--become a millionaire?” asked the ring-master, jokingly.

”Oh, I can always use more money,” replied Joe.

As he came down to the ground he saw Tonzo Lascalla looking at him. The trapeze performer had heard what Joe said last.

”We don't see much of your money,” he commented, with a sneer.

”Why should you?” asked Joe, pa.s.sing on.

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