To shorten detail, it required two hours more to make another hundred feet; and then the Nautilus, after taking ten minutes to crawl an inch further, came to a perfect stand still.

The pressure of the water had evidently now become too enormous to allow further descent.
The Clubmen's distress was very great; Marston's, in particular, was indescribable.

In vain, catching at straws, he signalled "eastwards!" "westwards!" "northwards!" or "southwards!" the Nautilus moved readily every way but downwards.
"Oh! what shall we do ?" he cried in despair; "Barbican, must we really give you up though separated from us by the short distance of only a few miles ?" At last, nothing better being to be done, the unwilling signal "heave upwards!" was given, and the hauling up commenced.

It was done very slowly, and with the greatest care.

A sudden jerk might snap the chains; an incautious twist might put a kink on the air tube; besides, it was well known that the sudden removal of heavy pressure resulting from rapid ascent, is attended by very disagreeable sensations, which have sometimes even proved fatal.
It was near midnight when the Clubmen were lifted out of the manhole.
Their faces were pale, their eyes bloodshot, their figures stooped.