"Rene! Get over here!" He yelled. Belloq waded over to Indy and passed his torch to Robert.
"Give me a leg up!" Indy yelled, pointing at the granite block which was almost covered in water. Rene cupped his hands, locking his fingers together and heaved upwards when Indy put his foot in his palms. Indy almost sailed over the block completely, such was the force with which Belloq propelled him.
"Thanks!" He yelled, dryly, scrambling to his feet on top of the stone. "Pass me a torch!" A torch was thrown up to him and he caught it by the base. Quickly, he turned and jammed the narrow wooden pole into a crack in the masonry above the door, near to the ceiling above his head..
"Indy! Do something!" Marion yelled as the water crept up around her chin. She was already standing on tip toes and Marcus was now also having difficulty keeping his head above the rapidly rising water.
"Er, Yes, Indiana. Now would be a good time to do something." He said in his usual understated way.
"Tread water!" Indy yelled. "Great!" Marion shouted back. "And what happens when our heads hit the roof? Deep breaths?" She shouted sarcastically. Indy pointed up at the ceiling. "Look!" He yelled above the churning noise of the water. "The holes in the roof. They must be the air vents. If we block them, the water might stop coming in!"
"MIGHT?" Marion shouted. "Is that it? MIGHT?"
"YOU GOT ANY BETTER IDEAS?" Indy yelled back.
"What about the block? Could we all stand on it?" She shouted.
"Too low." Indy replied. "When the waters up to the roof, it won't be high enough."
"What do we fill the holes with?" Rene shouted, going back to Indy's idea. They were all now treading water or swimming for their lives and the roof was only feet above their heads. The top of the stairwell arch was completely submerged.
"Use your clothes!" Indy shouted, struggling out of his shirt. "If we block the vents, we might cause an air trap up here. At least it will buy us some time! Now do it!"
Frantically they all wriggled out of their shirts, a task made doubly difficult as it made swimming or treading the water almost impossible and they kept going under, only to have to kick off the bottom to raise to the surface again to gasp more of the valuable disappearing air.
"YOU STRIP OFF, JONES!" Marion yelled. "I'VE GOT NOTHING ON UNDER THIS SHIRT!"
"Indy gulped in a mouthful of water and spat it out. "THEN DROWN!" He shouted, ripping his shirt in half and cramming a piece into two separate holes. He drove the wet material into the three inch diameter holes with his fist, splitting his knuckles but wedging the hole tight. The others did the same and Marcus yelled,
"I THINK IT'S WORKING. THE WATER HAS SLOWED DOWN. I CAN FEEL THE INCREASED PRESSURE IN MY EARS." Indy struggled round and looked over to Marion who was still clothed beneath the last two open air vents.
"MARION! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE GET YOU CLOTHES OFF!" He yelled. Marion cursed and shouted, "WELL DON'T ANY OF YOU CREEPS PEEK!" Indy closed his eyes as his head touched the roof but he was closing them in frustration. He heard someone behind him cough and choke. He wasn't sure if it was Robert or Marcus.
"MARION!" He yelled one more time. The water was up to his mouth and he had to tilt his head back to get any air. The torch wedged in the wall was beginning to spit and grow dark.
Marion pulled her shirt over her head and ripped it up the middle. She was gasping and choking for air now which made her movements doubly difficult. Slowly, she crammed the first piece of fabric into one of the two remaining holes. As she did so, the final hole became the only outlet for the remaining air and the pressure of the water turned it into a suction pipe.
The last piece of Marion's shirt was jammed into the hole and almost instantly disappeared into the pipe as if it was sucked up by a giant vacuum cleaner.
"IT'S NOT WORKING!" She cried. "THE PIPES TOO BIG!"
"USE YOUR SKIRT!" Indy yelled and before Marion could object, he added, "DO IT, NOW!"
Again, Marion wriggled out of her clothing and jammed the wet fabric into the hole. It worked but even the skirt was slowly being drawn into the hole.
"IT'S GOING UP THE PIPE!" She yelled, gasping and gurgling, struggling to stay afloat on her back. All around her were the sounds of the others choking, spluttering, drowning.
Then, as before, Indy had a strange sensation of having been there before, as if time were somehow echoing passed events.
"PUT YOU HAND IN THE HOLE. DO IT NOW" He heard himself say angrily. Marion put her hand into the wet, slimy hole. A piece of dripping material flapped and touched her outstretched fingers and she instinctively pulled back.
"YOU DO IT, BUSTER!" She screamed.
In the gloom, Indy clenched a fist and through gritted teeth he enunciated slowly the words,
"WE - ARE - GOING - TO - DIE!!!"
Marion put her hand slowly in the hole and grabbed the skirt, pulling it back, partly out of the hole. Then her own senses took over and in a flash of inspiration she pulled off a shoe and jammed into the hole, trapping the wet skirt against the outer rim of the vent.
Silence fell. The water was not moving. Then Marcus mumbled, "Indy, now what?" Indy was paddling on his back as were the others but he knew they wouldn't be able to keep it up for long.
"Everyone OK?" He asked, trying to sound as calm as possible. Various grunts and murmurs told him all was well. At the moment.
"We've got to take deep breaths. We've got some swimming to do." He said.
"Are you crazy!" Marion cried. "You said someone's up there with a gun! It'll be like...like...."
"Like shooting fish in a barrel?" Robert finished.
"Thanks!" Indy grumbled. "But I wasn't planning on being a dead 'Sole' in a lonely 'Plaice'." Marcus groaned at the puns.
"I'm sure we've just about 'Haddock'". Robert said quietly. Indy chuckled. "Oh, my 'Cod'". He replied, gaining a laugh from the others. Even in their current predicament, they could still all find a sense of humour. Marion, however, could see nothing to laugh about.
"We're all going to drown and you make stupid jokes?!" She said, angrily. Rene spoke up.
"She is right. I must admit I can't see the 'Porpoise' of it." They all burst out into fits of laughter, mingled with gasps and choking sounds. Even Marion finally succumbed to the absurdity of the situation and laughed.
"Oh 'whale'. Now what?" She said, gaining another round of laughter. "OK, OK, No more," Indy cried. "Look. We take a breath and swim up the stairs, but down into the small chamber on the right that we first found."
"But that will be flooded as well, surely." Robert gasped. He was growing weak and knew he wouldn't last much longer.
"No, No!" Marcus hissed, floundering in the gloom. "That chamber had a high ceiling. The air trap should be quite large." "Right!" Indy answered. "And we can stand in the empty alcoves which will keep our heads above water. All we do then is wait. The guys with the guns won't stand guard for ever. They must think we've drowned by now anyway. We give it an hour or so, then I'll swim up and take a look."
"But if the guards are still there, you'll get shot!" Robert exclaimed.
"If I don't, we'll suffocate anyway." Indy replied grimly.
They all mumbled agreement and practised taking deep breaths, forcing as much air into their bodies as they could. Then Indy said, "OK, Follow me!" And he disappeared beneath the water. One at a time, the others followed.
It was not a long swim underwater and going up the stairwell was made easier by the buoyancy of their bodies carrying them upwards but they were all exhausted by their efforts in the lower chamber and as each of them finally broke the surface in the alcove room, they were gasping, with lungs exploding from the exertion.
Marcus did not appear.
After calling all their names repeatedly to check they were present both Rene and Indy took deep breaths and dove beneath the surface once again to find him.
Some moments later they were both back in the lower chamber at the roof level, gasping for air.
"Did you see him?" Indy cried desperately. "No. Nowhere!" Rene gasped. Instantly, they both dived again and searched the chamber. Again and again they came up for air until finally, broken and exhausted, they made their way once more back to the alcove chamber to break the news to their friends.
Marcus had drowned in the dark.
