For the first five hundred feet, the descent was accomplished with
little trouble. The Nautilus sank rather slowly, at a uniform rate of a
foot to the second. It had not been two minutes under water when the
light of day completely disappeared. But for this the occupants were
fully prepared, having provided themselves with powerful lamps, whose
brilliant light, radiating from polished reflectors, gave them an
opportunity of seeing clearly around it for a distance of eight or ten
feet in all directions. Owing to the superlatively excellent
construction of the Nautilus, also on account of the _scaphanders_, or
suits of diving armor, with which Marston and his friends had clothed
themselves, the disagreeable sensations to which divers are ordinarily
exposed, were hardly felt at all in the beginning of the descent.
Marston was about to congratulate his companions on the favorable
auspices inaugurating their trip, when Murphy, consulting the
instrument, discovered to his great surprise that the Nautilus was not
making its time. In reply to their signal "faster!" the downward
movement increased a little, but it soon relaxed again. Instead of less
than two minutes, as at the beginning, it now took twelve minutes to
make a hundred feet.
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