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What was it his instructor froical Society had told him before his first dive into a saltwater cave in the Bahamas? "Anyone can die at any time on a cave dive" In that peculiar way a particular fact learned in youth can stick in yourthe year 1974, twenty-six divers had lost their lives in Florida's underwater caves alone, and that the world total of deaths ure

Pitt had never suffered from claustrophobia and fear seldom distracted hih uneasiness to sharpen his senses to unexpected dangers

As it was, he didn't look forward to diving without a fixed guide or safety line He well knew this operation could quickly turn into an exercise in self-destruction, especially once they becaht up in the river's current Then there would be no escape until they reached the treasure chamber

The horizontal fissure leading to the river expanded and tapered in a series of hourglass shapes At 100 meters (328 feet) froht They switched on the lalance at his depth gauge told Pitt they had slowly ascended to within 20 meters (66 feet) of the water surface

Giordino ceased his forward movement, turned, and waved with one hand They had reached the outlet into the river systenal for OK Then he slipped his arh the strap attached to the transport canister so it wouldn't be torn from him by unforeseen turbulence

Giordino kicked his fins powerfully and angled upstreaorous effort to pull the canister broadside into the river as far as possible before thehim downstrea was near perfect Just as he lost hishim around, Pitt and his end of the canister popped out of the side gallery

As previously planned, they calmly inflated their buoyancy cohts on the canister tocarried downriver After traveling close to 50a large open gallery The ceiling was covered by a strange black rock that was not linize it as volcanic Fortunately, the river's floas se rose steeply out of the water, offering them no place to land

He spit out his regulator mouthpiece and called to Giordino "Be ready to cut to the side when you see an open spot on the bank"

"Will do," Giordino said over his shoulder

They quickly passed from the volcanic intrusion back into li that absorbed their light bea out on their lah the passage Their worst fears-- being swept through unnavigable rapids or going over a waterfall before suddenly loomed in the darkness ahead

"Keep a tight grip," Giordino shouted "It looks like we're in for a tumble"

Pitt angled his head doard so the lights on his hardhat pointed directly to the front It was a wasted e was soon filled with a mist that rose out of the water like steaara Falls without a barrel The roar was deafening now, nified by the acoustics of the rocky cavern And then Giordino passed into the mist and vanished

Pitt could only hold on to the canister and watch with strangely paralyzed fascination as he was enveloped by the spray He braced himself for an endless fall But the endless fall never ca doard, but from a furious torrent that crashed down from above

He was pureat plue torrent of water barreled down a tributary that fed into the subterranean river froht of sounder an and and thirsty desert no farther away than the distance a good outfielder could throw a baseball He decided that it reat pressure froround aquifers

Once through the curtain of mist, he could see the walls had spread and the roof sloped upward into a chamber of vast size and proportion It was a bizarrely decorated cavern filled with grotesquely shaped helictites, a farows in eccentric directions Mineral deposits had also formed beautifully sculpted raceful plumes The spectacular formations would have been described by veteran spelunkers as a showcase grotto