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diff --git a/3809-h/3809-h.htm b/3809-h/3809-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..557a80d --- /dev/null +++ b/3809-h/3809-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7362 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Master of the World, by Jules Verne</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Master of the World, by Jules Verne</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Master of the World</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Jules Verne</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 19, 2001 [eBook #3809]<br /> +[Most recently updated: November 12, 2020]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Norm Wolcott. HTML version by Al Haines.</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER OF THE WORLD ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>The Master of the World</h1> + +<h2>by Jules Verne</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">I. What Happened in the Mountains</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">II. I Reach Morganton</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">III. The Great Eyrie</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">IV. A Meeting of the Automobile Club</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">V. Along the Shores of New England</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">VI. The First Letter</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">VII. A Third Machine</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">VIII. At Any Cost</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">IX. The Second Letter</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">X. Outside the Law</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">XI. The Campaign</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">XII. Black Rock Creek</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">XIII. On Board the Terror</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">XIV. Niagara</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">XV. The Eagle’s Nest</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">XVI. Robur, the Conqueror</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">XVII. In the Name of the Law</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">XVIII. The Old Housekeeper’s Last Comment</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>I.<br /> +WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MOUNTAINS</h2> + +<p> +If I speak of myself in this story, it is because I have been deeply involved +in its startling events, events doubtless among the most extraordinary which +this twentieth century will witness. Sometimes I even ask myself if all this +has really happened, if its pictures dwell in truth in my memory, and not +merely in my imagination. In my position as head inspector in the federal +police department at Washington, urged on moreover by the desire, which has +always been very strong in me, to investigate and understand everything which +is mysterious, I naturally became much interested in these remarkable +occurrences. And as I have been employed by the government in various important +affairs and secret missions since I was a mere lad, it also happened very +naturally that the head of my department placed in my charge this astonishing +investigation, wherein I found myself wrestling with so many impenetrable +mysteries. +</p> + +<p> +In the remarkable passages of the recital, it is important that you should +believe my word. For some of the facts I can bring no other testimony than my +own. If you do not wish to believe me, so be it. I can scarce believe it all +myself. +</p> + +<p> +The strange occurrences began in the western part of our great American State +of North Carolina. There, deep amid the Blueridge Mountains rises the crest +called the Great Eyrie. Its huge rounded form is distinctly seen from the +little town of Morganton on the Catawba River, and still more clearly as one +approaches the mountains by way of the village of Pleasant Garden. +</p> + +<p> +Why the name of Great Eyrie was originally given this mountain by the people of +the surrounding region, I am not quite sure. It rises rocky and grim and +inaccessible, and under certain atmospheric conditions has a peculiarly blue +and distant effect. But the idea one would naturally get from the name is of a +refuge for birds of prey, eagles, condors, vultures; the home of vast numbers +of the feathered tribes, wheeling and screaming above peaks beyond the reach of +man. Now, the Great Eyrie did not seem particularly attractive to birds; on the +contrary, the people of the neighborhood began to remark that on some days when +birds approached its summit they mounted still further, circled high above the +crest, and then flew swiftly away, troubling the air with harsh cries. +</p> + +<p> +Why then the name Great Eyrie? Perhaps the mount might better have been called +a crater, for in the center of those steep and rounded walls there might well +be a huge deep basin. Perhaps there might even lie within their circuit a +mountain lake, such as exists in other parts of the Appalachian mountain +system, a lagoon fed by the rain and the winter snows. +</p> + +<p> +In brief was not this the site of an ancient volcano, one which had slept +through ages, but whose inner fires might yet reawake? Might not the Great +Eyrie reproduce in its neighborhood the violence of Mount Krakatoa or the +terrible disaster of Mont Pelee? If there were indeed a central lake, was there +not danger that its waters, penetrating the strata beneath, would be turned to +steam by the volcanic fires and tear their way forth in a tremendous explosion, +deluging the fair plains of Carolina with an eruption such as that of 1902 in +Martinique? +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, with regard to this last possibility there had been certain symptoms +recently observed which might well be due to volcanic action. Smoke had floated +above the mountain and once the country folk passing near had heard +subterranean noises, unexplainable rumblings. A glow in the sky had crowned the +height at night. +</p> + +<p> +When the wind blew the smoky cloud eastward toward Pleasant Garden, a few +cinders and ashes drifted down from it. And finally one stormy night pale +flames, reflected from the clouds above the summit, cast upon the district +below a sinister, warning light. +</p> + +<p> +In presence of these strange phenomena, it is not astonishing that the people +of the surrounding district became seriously disquieted. And to the disquiet +was joined an imperious need of knowing the true condition of the mountain. The +Carolina newspapers had flaring headlines, “The Mystery of Great +Eyrie!” They asked if it was not dangerous to dwell in such a region. +Their articles aroused curiosity and fear—curiosity among those who being +in no danger themselves were interested in the disturbance merely as a strange +phenomenon of nature, fear in those who were likely to be the victims if a +catastrophe actually occurred. Those more immediately threatened were the +citizens of Morganton, and even more the good folk of Pleasant Garden and the +hamlets and farms yet closer to the mountain. +</p> + +<p> +Assuredly it was regrettable that mountain climbers had not previously +attempted to ascend to the summit of the Great Eyrie. The cliffs of rock which +surrounded it had never been scaled. Perhaps they might offer no path by which +even the most daring climber could penetrate to the interior. Yet, if a +volcanic eruption menaced all the western region of the Carolinas, then a +complete examination of the mountain was become absolutely necessary. +</p> + +<p> +Now before the actual ascent of the crater, with its many serious difficulties, +was attempted, there was one way which offered an opportunity of reconnoitering +the interior, without clambering up the precipices. In the first days of +September of that memorable year, a well-known aeronaut named Wilker came to +Morganton with his balloon. By waiting for a breeze from the east, he could +easily rise in his balloon and drift over the Great Eyrie. There from a safe +height above he could search with a powerful glass into its deeps. Thus he +would know if the mouth of a volcano really opened amid the mighty rocks. This +was the principal question. If this were settled, it would be known if the +surrounding country must fear an eruption at some period more or less distant. +</p> + +<p> +The ascension was begun according to the programme suggested. The wind was fair +and steady; the sky clear; the morning clouds were disappearing under the +vigorous rays of the sun. If the interior of the Great Eyrie was not filled +with smoke, the aeronaut would be able to search with his glass its entire +extent. If the vapors were rising, he, no doubt, could detect their source. +</p> + +<p> +The balloon rose at once to a height of fifteen hundred feet, and there rested +almost motionless for a quarter of an hour. Evidently the east wind, which was +brisk upon the Surface of the earth, did not make itself felt at that height. +Then, unlucky chance, the balloon was caught in an adverse current, and began +to drift toward the east. Its distance from the mountain chain rapidly +increased. Despite all the efforts of the aeronaut, the citizens of Morganton +saw the balloon disappear on the wrong horizon. Later, they learned that it had +landed in the neighborhood of Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. +</p> + +<p> +This attempt having failed, it was agreed that it should be tried again under +better conditions. Indeed, fresh rumblings were heard from the mountain, +accompanied by heavy clouds and wavering glimmerings of light at night. Folk +began to realize that the Great Eyrie was a serious and perhaps imminent source +of danger. Yes, the entire country lay under the threat of some seismic or +volcanic disaster. +</p> + +<p> +During the first days of April of that year, these more or less vague +apprehensions turned to actual panic. The newspapers gave prompt echo to the +public terror. The entire district between the mountains and Morganton was sure +that an eruption was at hand. +</p> + +<p> +The night of the fourth of April, the good folk of Pleasant Garden were +awakened by a sudden uproar. They thought that the mountains were falling upon +them. They rushed from their houses, ready for instant flight, fearing to see +open before them some immense abyss, engulfing the farms and villages for miles +around. +</p> + +<p> +The night was very dark. A weight of heavy clouds pressed down upon the plain. +Even had it been day the crest of the mountains would have been invisible. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of this impenetrable obscurity, there was no response to the cries +which arose from every side. Frightened groups of men, women, and children +groped their way along the black roads in wild confusion. From every quarter +came the screaming voices: “It is an earthquake!” “It is an +eruption!” “Whence comes it?” “From the Great +Eyrie!” +</p> + +<p> +Into Morganton sped the news that stones, lava, ashes, were raining down upon +the country. +</p> + +<p> +Shrewd citizens of the town, however, observed that if there were an eruption +the noise would have continued and increased, the flames would have appeared +above the crater; or at least their lurid reflections would have penetrated the +clouds. Now, even these reflections were no longer seen. If there had been an +earthquake, the terrified people saw that at least their houses had not +crumbled beneath the shock. It was possible that the uproar had been caused by +an avalanche, the fall of some mighty rock from the summit of the mountains. +</p> + +<p> +An hour passed without other incident. A wind from the west sweeping over the +long chain of the Blueridge, set the pines and hemlocks wailing on the higher +slopes. There seemed no new cause for panic; and folk began to return to their +houses. All, however, awaited impatiently the return of day. +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly, toward three o’clock in the morning, another alarm! Flames +leaped up above the rocky wall of the Great Eyrie. Reflected from the clouds, +they illuminated the atmosphere for a great distance. A crackling, as if of +many burning trees, was heard. +</p> + +<p> +Had a fire spontaneously broken out? And to what cause was it due? Lightning +could not have started the conflagration; for no thunder had been heard. True, +there was plenty of material for fire; at this height the chain of the +Blueridge is well wooded. But these flames were too sudden for any ordinary +cause. +</p> + +<p> +“An eruption! An eruption!” +</p> + +<p> +The cry resounded from all sides. An eruption! The Great Eyrie was then indeed +the crater of a volcano buried in the bowels of the mountains. And after so +many years, so many ages even, had it reawakened? Added to the flames, was a +rain of stones and ashes about to follow? Were the lavas going to pour down +torrents of molten fire, destroying everything in their passage, annihilating +the towns, the villages, the farms, all this beautiful world of meadows, fields +and forests, even as far as Pleasant Garden and Morganton? +</p> + +<p> +This time the panic was overwhelming; nothing could stop it. Women carrying +their infants, crazed with terror, rushed along the eastward roads. Men, +deserting their homes, made hurried bundles of their most precious belongings +and set free their livestock, cows, sheep, pigs, which fled in all directions. +What disorder resulted from this agglomeration, human and animal, under darkest +night, amid forests, threatened by the fires of the volcano, along the border +of marshes whose waters might be upheaved and overflow! With the earth itself +threatening to disappear from under the feet of the fugitives! Would they be in +time to save themselves, if a cascade of glowing lava came rolling down the +slope of the mountain across their route? +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, some of the chief and shrewder farm owners were not swept away in +this mad flight, which they did their best to restrain. Venturing within a mile +of the mountain, they saw that the glare of the flames was decreasing. In truth +it hardly seemed that the region was immediately menaced by any further +upheaval. No stones were being hurled into space; no torrent of lava was +visible upon the slopes; no rumblings rose from the ground. There was no +further manifestation of any seismic disturbance capable of overwhelming the +land. +</p> + +<p> +At length, the flight of the fugitives ceased at a distance where they seemed +secure from all danger. Then a few ventured back toward the mountain. Some +farms were reoccupied before the break of day. +</p> + +<p> +By morning the crests of the Great Eyrie showed scarcely the least remnant of +its cloud of smoke. The fires were certainly at an end; and if it were +impossible to determine their cause, one might at least hope that they would +not break out again. +</p> + +<p> +It appeared possible that the Great Eyrie had not really been the theater of +volcanic phenomena at all. There was no further evidence that the neighborhood +was at the mercy either of eruptions or of earthquakes. +</p> + +<p> +Yet once more about five o’clock, from beneath the ridge of the mountain, +where the shadows of night still lingered, a strange noise swept across the +air, a sort of whirring, accompanied by the beating of mighty wings. And had it +been a clear day, perhaps the farmers would have seen the passage of a mighty +bird of prey, some monster of the skies, which having risen from the Great +Eyrie sped away toward the east. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>II.<br /> +I REACH MORGANTON</h2> + +<p> +The twenty-seventh of April, having left Washington the night before, I arrived +at Raleigh, the capital of the State of North Carolina. +</p> + +<p> +Two days before, the head of the federal police had called me to his room. He +was awaiting me with some impatience. “John Strock,” said he, +“are you still the man who on so many occasions has proven to me both his +devotion and his ability?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Ward,” I answered, with a bow, “I cannot promise success +or even ability, but as to devotion, I assure you, it is yours.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not doubt it,” responded the chief. “And I will ask you +instead this more exact question: Are you as fond of riddles as ever? As eager +to penetrate into mysteries, as I have known you before?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am, Mr. Ward.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good, Strock; then listen.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward, a man of about fifty years, of great power and intellect, was fully +master of the important position he filled. He had several times entrusted to +me difficult missions which I had accomplished successfully, and which had won +me his confidence. For several months past, however, he had found no occasion +for my services. Therefore I awaited with impatience what he had to say. I did +not doubt that his questioning implied a serious and important task for me. +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless you know,” said he, “what has happened down in the +Blueridge Mountains near Morganton.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, Mr. Ward, the phenomena reported from there have been singular +enough to arouse anyone’s curiosity.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are singular, even remarkable, Strock. No doubt about that. But +there is also reason to ask, if these phenomena about the Great Eyrie are not a +source of continued danger to the people there, if they are not forerunners of +some disaster as terrible as it is mysterious.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is to be feared, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“So we must know, Strock, what is inside of that mountain. If we are +helpless in the face of some great force of nature, people must be warned in +time of the danger which threatens them.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is clearly the duty of the authorities, Mr. Ward,” responded I, +“to learn what is going on within there.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, Strock; but that presents great difficulties. Everyone reports +that it is impossible to scale the precipices of the Great Eyrie and reach its +interior. But has anyone ever attempted it with scientific appliances and under +the best conditions? I doubt it, and believe a resolute attempt may bring +success.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing is impossible, Mr. Ward; what we face here is merely a question +of expense.” +</p> + +<p> +“We must not regard expense when we are seeking to reassure an entire +population, or to preserve it from a catastrophe. There is another suggestion I +would make to you. Perhaps this Great Eyrie is not so inaccessible as is +supposed. Perhaps a band of malefactors have secreted themselves there, gaining +access by ways known only to themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! You suspect that robbers—” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps I am wrong, Strock; and these strange sights and sounds have all +had natural causes. Well, that is what we have to settle, and as quickly as +possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have one question to ask.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go ahead, Strock.” +</p> + +<p> +“When the Great Eyrie has been visited, when we know the source of these +phenomena, if there really is a crater there and an eruption is imminent, can +we avert it?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Strock; but we can estimate the extent of the danger. If some +volcano in the Alleghanies threatens North Carolina with a disaster similar to +that of Martinique, buried beneath the outpourings of Mont Pelee, then these +people must leave their homes.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope, sir, there is no such widespread danger.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not, Strock; it seems to me highly improbable that an active +volcano exists in the Blueridge mountain chain. Our Appalachian mountain system +is nowhere volcanic in its origin. But all these events cannot be without +basis. In short, Strock, we have decided to make a strict inquiry into the +phenomena of the Great Eyrie, to gather all the testimony, to question the +people of the towns and farms. To do this, I have made choice of an agent in +whom we have full confidence; and this agent is you, Strock.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good! I am ready, Mr. Ward,” cried I, “and be sure that I +shall neglect nothing to bring you full information.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know it, Strock, and I will add that I regard you as specially fitted +for the work. You will have a splendid opportunity to exercise, and I hope to +satisfy, your favorite passion of curiosity.” +</p> + +<p> +“As you say, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will be free to act according to circumstances. As to expenses, if +there seems reason to organize an ascension party, which will be costly, you +have carte blanche.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will act as seems best, Mr. Ward.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let me caution you to act with all possible discretion. The people in +the vicinity are already over-excited. It will be well to move secretly. Do not +mention the suspicions I have suggested to you. And above all, avoid arousing +any fresh panic.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is understood.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will be accredited to the Mayor of Morganton, who will assist you. +Once more, be prudent, Strock, and acquaint no one with your mission, unless it +is absolutely necessary. You have often given proofs of your intelligence and +address; and this time I feel assured you will succeed.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked him only “When shall I start?” +</p> + +<p> +“Tomorrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tomorrow, I shall leave Washington; and the day after, I shall be at +Morganton.” +</p> + +<p> +How little suspicion had I of what the future had in store for me! +</p> + +<p> +I returned immediately to my house where I made my preparations for departure; +and the next evening found me in Raleigh. There I passed the night, and in the +course of the next afternoon arrived at the railroad station of Morganton. +</p> + +<p> +Morganton is but a small town, built upon strata of the jurassic period, +particularly rich in coal. Its mines give it some prosperity. It also has +numerous unpleasant mineral waters, so that the season there attracts many +visitors. Around Morganton is a rich farming country, with broad fields of +grain. It lies in the midst of swamps, covered with mosses and reeds. Evergreen +forests rise high up the mountain slopes. All that the region lacks is the +wells of natural gas, that invaluable natural source of power, light, and +warmth, so abundant in most of the Alleghany valleys. Villages and farms are +numerous up to the very borders of the mountain forests. Thus there were many +thousands of people threatened, if the Great Eyrie proved indeed a volcano, if +the convulsions of nature extended to Pleasant Garden and to Morganton. +</p> + +<p> +The mayor of Morganton, Mr. Elias Smith, was a tall man, vigorous and +enterprising, forty years old or more, and of a health to defy all the doctors +of the two Americas. He was a great hunter of bears and panthers, beasts which +may still be found in the wild gorges and mighty forests of the Alleghanies. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Smith was himself a rich land-owner, possessing several farms in the +neighborhood. Even his most distant tenants received frequent visits from him. +Indeed, whenever his official duties did not keep him in his so-called home at +Morganton, he was exploring the surrounding country, irresistibly drawn by the +instincts of the hunter. +</p> + +<p> +I went at once to the house of Mr. Smith. He was expecting me, having been +warned by telegram. He received me very frankly, without any formality, his +pipe in his mouth, a glass of brandy on the table. A second glass was brought +in by a servant, and I had to drink to my host before beginning our interview. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Ward sent you,” said he to me in a jovial tone. “Good; +let us drink to Mr. Ward’s health.” +</p> + +<p> +I clinked glasses with him, and drank in honor of the chief of police. +</p> + +<p> +“And now,” demanded Elias Smith, “what is worrying +him?” +</p> + +<p> +At this I made known to the mayor of Morganton the cause and the purpose of my +mission in North Carolina. I assured him that my chief had given me full power, +and would render me every assistance, financial and otherwise, to solve the +riddle and relieve the neighborhood of its anxiety relative to the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +Elias Smith listened to me without uttering a word, but not without several +times refilling his glass and mine. While he puffed steadily at his pipe, the +close attention which he gave me was beyond question. I saw his cheeks flush at +times, and his eyes gleam under their bushy brows. Evidently the chief +magistrate of Morganton was uneasy about Great Eyrie, and would be as eager as +I to discover the cause of these phenomena. +</p> + +<p> +When I had finished my communication, Elias Smith gazed at me for some moments +in silence. Then he said, softly, “So at Washington they wish to know +what the Great Eyrie hides within its circuit?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Mr. Smith.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you, also?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do.” +</p> + +<p> +“So do I, Mr. Strock.” +</p> + +<p> +He and I were as one in our curiosity. +</p> + +<p> +“You will understand,” added he, knocking the cinders from his +pipe, “that as a land-owner, I am much interested in these stories of the +Great Eyrie, and as mayor, I wish to protect my constituents.” +</p> + +<p> +“A double reason,” I commented, “to stimulate you to discover +the cause of these extraordinary occurrences! Without doubt, my dear Mr. Smith, +they have appeared to you as inexplicable and as threatening as to your +people.” +</p> + +<p> +“Inexplicable, certainly, Mr. Strock. For on my part, I do not believe it +possible that the Great Eyrie can be a volcano; the Alleghanies are nowhere of +volcanic origins. I, myself, in our immediate district, have never found any +geological traces of scoria, or lava, or any eruptive rock whatever. I do not +think, therefore, that Morganton can possibly be threatened from such a +source.” +</p> + +<p> +“You really think not, Mr. Smith?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly.” +</p> + +<p> +“But these tremblings of the earth that have been felt in the +neighborhood!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes these tremblings! These tremblings!” repeated Mr. Smith, +shaking his head; “but in the first place, is it certain that there have +been tremblings? At the moment when the flames showed most sharply, I was on my +farm of Wildon, less than a mile from the Great Eyrie. There was certainly a +tumult in the air, but I felt no quivering of the earth.” +</p> + +<p> +“But in the reports sent to Mr. Ward—” +</p> + +<p> +“Reports made under the impulse of the panic,” interrupted the +mayor of Morganton. “I said nothing of any earth tremors in mine.” +</p> + +<p> +“But as to the flames which rose clearly above the crest?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, as to those, Mr. Strock, that is different. I saw them; saw them +with my own eyes, and the clouds certainly reflected them for miles around. +Moreover noises certainly came from the crater of the Great Eyrie, hissings, as +if a great boiler were letting off steam.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have reliable testimony of this?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, the evidence of my own ears.” +</p> + +<p> +“And in the midst of this noise, Mr. Smith, did you believe that you +heard that most remarkable of all the phenomena, a sound like the flapping of +great wings?” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought so, Mr. Strock; but what mighty bird could this be, which sped +away after the flames had died down, and what wings could ever make such +tremendous sounds. I therefore seriously question, if this must not have been a +deception of my imagination. The Great Eyrie a refuge for unknown monsters of +the sky! Would they not have been seen long since, soaring above their immense +nest of stone? In short, there is in all this a mystery which has not yet been +solved.” +</p> + +<p> +“But we will solve it, Mr. Smith, if you will give me your aid.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, Mr. Strock; tomorrow we will start our campaign.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tomorrow.” And on that word the mayor and I separated. I went to a +hotel, and established myself for a stay which might be indefinitely prolonged. +Then having dined, and written to Mr. Ward, I saw Mr. Smith again in the +afternoon, and arranged to leave Morganton with him at daybreak. +</p> + +<p> +Our first purpose was to undertake the ascent of the mountain, with the aid of +two experienced guides. These men had ascended Mt. Mitchell and others of the +highest peaks of the Blueridge. They had never, however, attempted the Great +Eyrie, knowing that its walls of inaccessible cliffs defended it on every side. +Moreover, before the recent startling occurrences the Great Eyrie had not +particularly attracted the attention of tourists. Mr. Smith knew the two guides +personally as men daring, skillful and trustworthy. They would stop at no +obstacle; and we were resolved to follow them through everything. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover Mr. Smith remarked at the last that perhaps it was no longer as +difficult as formerly to penetrate within the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +“And why?” asked I. +</p> + +<p> +“Because a huge block has recently broken away from the mountain side and +perhaps it has left a practicable path or entrance.” +</p> + +<p> +“That would be a fortunate chance, Mr. Smith.” +</p> + +<p> +“We shall know all about it, Mr. Strock, no later than tomorrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Till tomorrow, then.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>III.<br /> +THE GREAT EYRIE</h2> + +<p> +The next day at dawn, Elias Smith and I left Morganton by a road which, winding +along the left bank of the Catawba River, led to the village of Pleasant +Garden. The guides accompanied us, Harry Horn, a man of thirty, and James +Bruck, aged twenty-five. They were both natives of the region, and in constant +demand among the tourists who climbed the peaks of the Blueridge and Cumberland +Mountains. +</p> + +<p> +A light wagon with two good horses was provided to carry us to the foot of the +range. It contained provisions for two or three days, beyond which our trip +surely would not be protracted. Mr. Smith had shown himself a generous provider +both in meats and in liquors. As to water the mountain springs would furnish it +in abundance, increased by the heavy rains, frequent in that region during +springtime. +</p> + +<p> +It is needless to add that the Mayor of Morganton in his role of hunter, had +brought along his gun and his dog, Nisko, who gamboled joyously about the +wagon. Nisko, however, was to remain behind at the farm at Wildon, when we +attempted our ascent. He could not possibly follow us to the Great Eyrie with +its cliffs to scale and its crevasses to cross. +</p> + +<p> +The day was beautiful, the fresh air in that climate is still cool of an April +morning. A few fleecy clouds sped rapidly overhead, driven by a light breeze +which swept across the long plains, from the distant Atlantic. The sun peeping +forth at intervals, illumined all the fresh young verdure of the countryside. +</p> + +<p> +An entire world animated the woods through which we passed. From before our +equipage fled squirrels, field-mice, parroquets of brilliant colors and +deafening loquacity. Opossums passed in hurried leaps, bearing their young in +their pouches. Myriads of birds were scattered amid the foliage of banyans, +palms, and masses of rhododendrons, so luxuriant that their thickets were +impenetrable. +</p> + +<p> +We arrived that evening at Pleasant Garden, where we were comfortably located +for the night with the mayor of the town, a particular friend of Mr. Smith. +Pleasant Garden proved little more than a village; but its mayor gave us a warm +and generous reception, and we supped pleasantly in his charming home, which +stood beneath the shades of some giant beech-trees. +</p> + +<p> +Naturally the conversation turned upon our attempt to explore the interior of +the Great Eyrie. “You are right,” said our host, “until we +all know what is hidden within there, our people will remain uneasy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Has nothing new occurred,” I asked, “since the last +appearance of flames above the Great Eyrie?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, Mr. Strock. From Pleasant Garden we can see the entire crest of +the mountain. Not a suspicious noise has come down to us. Not a spark has +risen. If a legion of devils is in hiding there, they must have finished their +infernal cookery, and soared away to some other haunt.” +</p> + +<p> +“Devils!” cried Mr. Smith. “Well, I hope they have not +decamped without leaving some traces of their occupation, some parings of hoofs +or horns or tails. We shall find them out.” +</p> + +<p> +On the morrow, the twenty-ninth of April, we started again at dawn. By the end +of this second day, we expected to reach the farm of Wildon at the foot of the +mountain. The country was much the same as before, except that our road led +more steeply upward. Woods and marshes alternated, though the latter grew +sparser, being drained by the sun as we approached the higher levels. The +country was also less populous. There were only a few little hamlets, almost +lost beneath the beech trees, a few lonely farms, abundantly watered by the +many streams that rushed downward toward the Catawba River. +</p> + +<p> +The smaller birds and beasts grew yet more numerous. “I am much tempted +to take my gun,” said Mr. Smith, “and to go off with Nisko. This +will be the first time that I have passed here without trying my luck with the +partridges and hares. The good beasts will not recognize me. But not only have +we plenty of provisions, but we have a bigger chase on hand today. The chase of +a mystery.” +</p> + +<p> +“And let us hope,” added I, “we do not come back disappointed +hunters.” +</p> + +<p> +In the afternoon the whole chain of the Blueridge stretched before us at a +distance of only six miles. The mountain crests were sharply outlined against +the clear sky. Well wooded at the base, they grew more bare and showed only +stunted evergreens toward the summit. There the scraggly trees, grotesquely +twisted, gave to the rocky heights a bleak and bizarre appearance. Here and +there the ridge rose in sharp peaks. On our right the Black Dome, nearly seven +thousand feet high, reared its gigantic head, sparkling at times above the +clouds. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you ever climbed that dome, Mr. Smith?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” answered he, “but I am told that it is a very difficult +ascent. A few mountaineers have climbed it; but they report that it has no +outlook commanding the crater of the Great Eyrie.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is so,” said the guide, Harry Horn. “I have tried it +myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” suggested I, “the weather was unfavorable.” +</p> + +<p> +“On the contrary, Mr. Strock, it was unusually clear. But the wall of the +Great Eyrie on that side rose so high, it completely hid the interior.” +</p> + +<p> +“Forward,” cried Mr. Smith. “I shall not be sorry to set foot +where no person has ever stepped, or even looked, before.” +</p> + +<p> +Certainly on this day the Great Eyrie looked tranquil enough. As we gazed upon +it, there rose from its heights neither smoke nor flame. +</p> + +<p> +Toward five o’clock our expedition halted at the Wildon farm, where the +tenants warmly welcomed their landlord. The farmer assured us that nothing +notable had happened about the Great Eyrie for some time. We supped at a common +table with all the people of the farm; and our sleep that night was sound and +wholly untroubled by premonitions of the future. +</p> + +<p> +On the morrow, before break of day, we set out for the ascent of the mountain. +The height of the Great Eyrie scarce exceeds five thousand feet. A modest +altitude, often surpassed in this section of the Alleghanies. As we were +already more than three thousand feet above sea level, the fatigue of the +ascent could not be great. A few hours should suffice to bring us to the crest +of the crater. Of course, difficulties might present themselves, precipices to +scale, clefts and breaks in the ridge might necessitate painful and even +dangerous detours. This was the unknown, the spur to our attempt. As I said, +our guides knew no more than we upon this point. What made me anxious, was, of +course, the common report that the Great Eyrie was wholly inaccessible. But +this remained unproven. And then there was the new chance that a fallen block +had left a breach in the rocky wall. +</p> + +<p> +“At last,” said Mr. Smith to me, after lighting the first pipe of +the twenty or more which he smoked each day, “we are well started. As to +whether the ascent will take more or less time—” +</p> + +<p> +“In any case, Mr. Smith,” interrupted I, “you and I are fully +resolved to pursue our quest to the end.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fully resolved, Mr. Strock.” +</p> + +<p> +“My chief has charged me to snatch the secret from this demon of the +Great Eyrie.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will snatch it from him, willing or unwilling,” vowed Mr. +Smith, calling Heaven to witness. “Even if we have to search the very +bowels of the mountain.” +</p> + +<p> +“As it may happen, then,” said I, “that our excursion will be +prolonged beyond today, it will be well to look to our provisions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be easy, Mr. Strock; our guides have food for two days in their +knapsacks, besides what we carry ourselves. Moreover, though I left my brave +Nisko at the farm, I have my gun. Game will be plentiful in the woods and +gorges of the lower part of the mountain, and perhaps at the top we shall find +a fire to cook it, already lighted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Already lighted, Mr. Smith?” +</p> + +<p> +“And why not, Mr. Strock? These flames! These superb flames, which have +so terrified our country folk! Is their fire absolutely cold, is no spark to be +found beneath their ashes? And then, if this is truly a crater, is the volcano +so wholly extinct that we cannot find there a single ember? Bah! This would be +but a poor volcano if it hasn’t enough fire even to cook an egg or roast +a potato. Come, I repeat, we shall see! We shall see!” +</p> + +<p> +At that point of the investigation I had, I confess, no opinion formed. I had +my orders to examine the Great Eyrie. If it proved harmless, I would announce +it, and people would be reassured. But at heart, I must admit, I had the very +natural desire of a man possessed by the demon of curiosity. I should be glad, +both for my own sake, and for the renown which would attach to my mission if +the Great Eyrie proved the center of the most remarkable phenomena—of +which I would discover the cause. +</p> + +<p> +Our ascent began in this order. The two guides went in front to seek out the +most practicable paths. Elias Smith and I followed more leisurely. We mounted +by a narrow and not very steep gorge amid rocks and trees. A tiny stream +trickled downward under our feet. During the rainy season or after a heavy +shower, the water doubtless bounded from rock to rock in tumultuous cascades. +But it evidently was fed only by the rain, for now we could scarcely trace its +course. It could not be the outlet of any lake within the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +After an hour of climbing, the slope became so steep that we had to turn, now +to the right, now to the left; and our progress was much delayed. Soon the +gorge became wholly impracticable; its cliff-like sides offered no sufficient +foothold. We had to cling by branches, to crawl upon our knees. At this rate +the top would not be reached before sundown. +</p> + +<p> +“Faith!” cried Mr. Smith, stopping for breath. “I realize why +the climbers of the Great Eyrie have been few, so few, that it has never been +ascended within my knowledge.” +</p> + +<p> +“The fact is,” I responded, “that it would be much toil for +very little profit. And if we had not special reasons to persist in our +attempt.” +</p> + +<p> +“You never said a truer word,” declared Harry Horn. “My +comrade and I have scaled the Black Dome several times, but we never met such +obstacles as these.” +</p> + +<p> +“The difficulties seem almost impassable,” added James Bruck. +</p> + +<p> +The question now was to determine to which side we should turn for a new route; +to right, as to left, arose impenetrable masses of trees and bushes. In truth +even the scaling of cliffs would have been more easy. Perhaps if we could get +above this wooded slope we could advance with surer foot. Now, we could only go +ahead blindly, and trust to the instincts of our two guides. James Bruck was +especially useful. I believe that that gallant lad would have equaled a monkey +in lightness and a wild goat in agility. Unfortunately, neither Elias Smith nor +I was able to climb where he could. +</p> + +<p> +However, when it is a matter of real need with me, I trust I shall never be +backward, being resolute by nature and well-trained in bodily exercise. Where +James Bruck went, I was determined to go, also; though it might cost me some +uncomfortable falls. But it was not the same with the first magistrate of +Morganton, less young, less vigorous, larger, stouter, and less persistent than +we others. Plainly he made every effort, not to retard our progress, but he +panted like a seal, and soon I insisted on his stopping to rest. +</p> + +<p> +In short, it was evident that the ascent of the Great Eyrie would require far +more time than we had estimated. We had expected to reach the foot of the rocky +wall before eleven o’clock, but we now saw that mid-day would still find +us several hundred feet below it. +</p> + +<p> +Toward ten o’clock, after repeated attempts to discover some more +practicable route, after numberless turnings and returnings, one of the guides +gave the signal to halt. We found ourselves at last on the upper border of the +heavy wood. The trees, more thinly spaced, permitted us a glimpse upward to the +base of the rocky wall which constituted the true Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +“Whew!” exclaimed Mr. Smith, leaning against a mighty pine tree, +“a little respite, a little repose, and even a little repast would not go +badly.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will rest an hour,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; after working our lungs and our legs, we will make our stomachs +work.” +</p> + +<p> +We were all agreed on this point. A rest would certainty freshen us. Our only +cause for inquietude was now the appearance of the precipitous slope above us. +We looked up toward one of those bare strips called in that region, slides. +Amid this loose earth, these yielding stones, and these abrupt rocks there was +no roadway. +</p> + +<p> +Harry Horn said to his comrade, “It will not be easy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps impossible,” responded Bruck. +</p> + +<p> +Their comments caused me secret uneasiness. If I returned without even having +scaled the mountain, my mission would be a complete failure, without speaking +of the torture to my curiosity. And when I stood again before Mr. Ward, shamed +and confused, I should cut but a sorry figure. +</p> + +<p> +We opened our knapsacks and lunched moderately on bread and cold meat. Our +repast finished, in less than half an hour, Mr. Smith sprang up eager to push +forward once more. James Bruck took the lead; and we had only to follow him as +best we could. +</p> + +<p> +We advanced slowly. Our guides did not attempt to conceal their doubt and +hesitation. Soon Horn left us and went far ahead to spy out which road promised +most chance of success. +</p> + +<p> +Twenty minutes later he returned and led us onward toward the northwest. It was +on this side that the Black Dome rose at a distance of three or four miles. Our +path was still difficult and painful, amid the sliding stones, held in place +only occasionally by wiry bushes. At length after a weary struggle, we gained +some two hundred feet further upward and found ourselves facing a great gash, +which broke the earth at this spot. Here and there were scattered roots +recently uptorn, branches broken off, huge stones reduced to powder, as if an +avalanche had rushed down this flank of the mountain. +</p> + +<p> +“That must be the path taken by the huge block which broke away from the +Great Eyrie,” commented James Bruck. +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt,” answered Mr. Smith, “and I think we had better +follow the road that it has made for us.” +</p> + +<p> +It was indeed this gash that Harry Horn had selected for our ascent. Our feet +found lodgment in the firmer earth which had resisted the passage of the +monster rock. Our task thus became much easier, and our progress was in a +straight line upward, so that toward half past eleven we reached the upper +border of the “slide.” +</p> + +<p> +Before us, less than a hundred feet away, but towering a hundred feet straight +upwards in the air rose the rocky wall which formed the final crest, the last +defence of the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +From this side, the summit of the wall showed capriciously irregular, rising in +rude towers and jagged needles. At one point the outline appeared to be an +enormous eagle silhouetted against the sky, just ready to take flight. Upon +this side, at least, the precipice was insurmountable. +</p> + +<p> +“Rest a minute,” said Mr. Smith, “and we will see if it is +possible to make our way around the base of this cliff.” +</p> + +<p> +“At any rate,” said Harry Horn, “the great block must have +fallen from this part of the cliff; and it has left no breach for +entering.” +</p> + +<p> +They were both right; we must seek entrance elsewhere. After a rest of ten +minutes, we clambered up close to the foot of the wall, and began to make a +circuit of its base. +</p> + +<p> +Assuredly the Great Eyrie now took on to my eyes an aspect absolutely +fantastic. Its heights seemed peopled by dragons and huge monsters. If +chimeras, griffins, and all the creations of mythology had appeared to guard +it, I should have been scarcely surprised. +</p> + +<p> +With great difficulty and not without danger we continued our tour of this +circumvallation, where it seemed that nature had worked as man does, with +careful regularity. Nowhere was there any break in the fortification; nowhere a +fault in the strata by which one might clamber up. Always this mighty wall, a +hundred feet in height! +</p> + +<p> +After an hour and a half of this laborious circuit, we regained our +starting-place. I could not conceal my disappointment, and Mr. Smith was not +less chagrined than I. +</p> + +<p> +“A thousand devils!” cried he, “we know no better than before +what is inside this confounded Great Eyrie, nor even if it is a crater.” +</p> + +<p> +“Volcano, or not,” said I, “there are no suspicious noises +now; neither smoke nor flame rises above it; nothing whatever threatens an +eruption.” +</p> + +<p> +This was true. A profound silence reigned around us; and a perfectly clear sky +shone overhead. We tasted the perfect calm of great altitudes. +</p> + +<p> +It was worth noting that the circumference of the huge wall was about twelve or +fifteen hundred feet. As to the space enclosed within, we could scarce reckon +that without knowing the thickness of the encompassing wall. The surroundings +were absolutely deserted. Probably not a living creature ever mounted to this +height, except the few birds of prey which soared high above us. +</p> + +<p> +Our watches showed three o’clock, and Mr. Smith cried in disgust, +“What is the use of stopping here all day! We shall learn nothing more. +We must make a start, Mr. Strock, if we want to get back to Pleasant Garden +to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +I made no answer, and did not move from where I was seated; so he called again, +“Come, Mr. Strock; you don’t answer.” +</p> + +<p> +In truth, it cut me deeply to abandon our effort, to descend the slope without +having achieved my mission. I felt an imperious need of persisting; my +curiosity had redoubled. But what could I do? Could I tear open this unyielding +earth? Overleap the mighty cliff? Throwing one last defiant glare at the Great +Eyrie, I followed my companions. +</p> + +<p> +The return was effected without great difficulty. We had only to slide down +where we had so laboriously scrambled up. Before five o’clock we +descended the last slopes of the mountain, and the farmer of Wildon welcomed us +to a much needed meal. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you didn’t get inside?” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” responded Mr. Smith, “and I believe that the inside +exists only in the imagination of our country folk.” +</p> + +<p> +At half past eight our carriage drew up before the house of the Mayor of +Pleasant Garden, where we passed the night. While I strove vainly to sleep, I +asked myself if I should not stop there in the village and organize a new +ascent. But what better chance had it of succeeding than the first? The wisest +course was, doubtless, to return to Washington and consult Mr. Ward. +</p> + +<p> +So, the next day, having rewarded our two guides, I took leave of Mr. Smith at +Morganton, and that same evening left by train for Washington. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>IV.<br /> +A MEETING OF THE AUTOMOBILE CLUB</h2> + +<p> +Was the mystery of the Great Eyrie to be solved some day by chances beyond our +imagining? That was known only to the future. And was the solution a matter of +the first importance? That was beyond doubt, since the safety of the people of +western Carolina perhaps depended upon it. +</p> + +<p> +Yet a fortnight after my return to Washington, public attention was wholly +distracted from this problem by another very different in nature, but equally +astonishing. +</p> + +<p> +Toward the middle of that month of May the newspapers of Pennsylvania informed +their readers of some strange occurrences in different parts of the state. On +the roads which radiated from Philadelphia, the chief city, there circulated an +extraordinary vehicle, of which no one could describe the form, or the nature, +or even the size, so rapidly did it rush past. It was an automobile; all were +agreed on that. But as to what motor drove it, only imagination could say; and +when the popular imagination is aroused, what limit is there to its hypotheses? +</p> + +<p> +At that period the most improved automobiles, whether driven by steam, +gasoline, or electricity, could not accomplish much more than sixty miles an +hour, a speed that the railroads, with their most rapid expresses, scarce +exceed on the best lines of America and Europe. Now, this new automobile which +was astonishing the world, traveled at more than double this speed. +</p> + +<p> +It is needless to add that such a rate constituted an extreme danger on the +highroads, as much so for vehicles, as for pedestrians. This rushing mass, +coming like a thunder-bolt, preceded by a formidable rumbling, caused a +whirlwind, which tore the branches from the trees along the road, terrified the +animals browsing in adjoining fields, and scattered and killed the birds, which +could not resist the suction of the tremendous air currents engendered by its +passage. +</p> + +<p> +And, a bizarre detail to which the newspapers drew particular attention, the +surface of the roads was scarcely even scratched by the wheels of the +apparition, which left behind it no such ruts as are usually made by heavy +vehicles. At most there was a light touch, a mere brushing of the dust. It was +only the tremendous speed which raised behind the vehicle such whirlwinds of +dust. +</p> + +<p> +“It is probable,” commented the New York Herald, “that the +extreme rapidity of motion destroys the weight.” +</p> + +<p> +Naturally there were protests from all sides. It was impossible to permit the +mad speed of this apparition which threatened to overthrow and destroy +everything in its passage, equipages and people. But how could it be stopped? +No one knew to whom the vehicle belonged, nor whence it came, nor whither it +went. It was seen but for an instant as it darted forward like a bullet in its +dizzy flight. How could one seize a cannon-ball in the air, as it leaped from +the mouth of the gun? +</p> + +<p> +I repeat, there was no evidence as to the character of the propelling engine. +It left behind it no smoke, no steam, no odor of gasoline, or any other oil. It +seemed probable, therefore, that the vehicle ran by electricity, and that its +accumulators were of an unknown model, using some unknown fluid. +</p> + +<p> +The public imagination, highly excited, readily accepted every sort of rumor +about this mysterious automobile. It was said to be a supernatural car. It was +driven by a specter, by one of the chauffeurs of hell, a goblin from another +world, a monster escaped from some mythological menagerie, in short, the devil +in person, who could defy all human intervention, having at his command +invisible and infinite satanic powers. +</p> + +<p> +But even Satan himself had no right to run at such speed over the roads of the +United States without a special permit, without a number on his car, and +without a regular license. And it was certain that not a single municipality +had given him permission to go two hundred miles an hour. Public security +demanded that some means be found to unmask the secret of this terrible +chauffeur. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, it was not only Pennsylvania that served as the theater of his +sportive eccentricities. The police reported his appearance in other states; in +Kentucky near Frankfort; in Ohio near Columbus; in Tennessee near Nashville; in +Missouri near Jefferson; and finally in Illinois in the neighborhood of +Chicago. +</p> + +<p> +The alarm having been given, it became the duty of the authorities to take +steps against this public danger. To arrest or even to halt an apparition +moving at such speed was scarcely practicable. A better way would be to erect +across the roads solid gateways with which the flying machine must come in +contact sooner or later, and be smashed into a thousand pieces. +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense!” declared the incredulous. “This madman would know +well how to circle around such obstructions.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if necessary,” added others, “the machine would leap +over the barriers.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if he is indeed the devil, he has, as a former angel, presumably +preserved his wings, and so he will take to flight.” +</p> + +<p> +But this last was but the suggestion of foolish old gossips who did not stop to +study the matter. For if the King of Hades possessed a pair of wings, why did +he obstinately persist in running around on the earth at the risk of crushing +his own subjects, when he might more easily have hurled himself through space +as free as a bird. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the situation when, in the last week of May, a fresh event occurred, +which seemed to show that the United States was indeed helpless in the hands of +some unapproachable monster. And after the New World, would not the Old in its +turn, be desecrated by the mad career of this remarkable automobilist? +</p> + +<p> +The following occurrence was reported in all the newspapers of the Union, and +with what comments and outcries it is easy to imagine. +</p> + +<p> +A race was to be held by the automobile Club of Wisconsin, over the roads of +that state of which Madison is the capital. The route laid out formed an +excellent track, about two hundred miles in length, starting from +Prairie-du-chien on the western frontier, passing by Madison and ending a +little above Milwaukee on the borders of Lake Michigan. Except for the Japanese +road between Nikko and Namode, bordered by giant cypresses, there is no better +track in the world than this of Wisconsin. It runs straight and level as an +arrow for sometimes fifty miles at a stretch. Many and noted were the machines +entered for this great race. Every kind of motor vehicle was permitted to +compete, even motorcycles, as well as automobiles. The machines were of all +makes and nationalities. The sum of the different prizes reached fifty thousand +dollars, so that the race was sure to be desperately contested. New records +were expected to be made. +</p> + +<p> +Calculating on the maximum speed hitherto attained, of perhaps eighty miles an +hour, this international contest covering two hundred miles would last about +three hours. And, to avoid all danger, the state authorities of Wisconsin had +forbidden all other traffic between Prairie-du-chien and Milwaukee during three +hours on the morning of the thirtieth of May. Thus, if there were any +accidents, those who suffered would be themselves to blame. +</p> + +<p> +There was an enormous crowd; and it was not composed only of the people of +Wisconsin. Many thousands gathered from the neighboring states of Illinois, +Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, and even from New York. Among the sportsmen assembled +were many foreigners, English, French, Germans and Austrians, each nationality, +of course, supporting the chauffeurs of its land. Moreover, as this was the +United States, the country of the greatest gamblers of the world, bets were +made of every sort and of enormous amounts. +</p> + +<p> +The start was to be made at eight o’clock in the morning; and to avoid +crowding and the accidents which must result from it, the automobiles were to +follow each other at two minute intervals, along the roads whose borders were +black with spectators. +</p> + +<p> +The first ten racers, numbered by lot, were dispatched between eight +o’clock and twenty minutes past. Unless there was some disastrous +accident, some of these machines would surely arrive at the goal by eleven +o’clock. The others followed in order. +</p> + +<p> +An hour and a half had passed. There remained but a single contestant at +Prairie-du-chien. Word was sent back and forth by telephone every five minutes +as to the order of the racers. Midway between Madison and Milwaukee, the lead +was held by a machine of Renault brothers, four cylindered, of twenty +horsepower, and with Michelin tires. It was closely followed by a +Harvard-Watson car and by a Dion-Bouton. Some accidents had already occurred, +other machines were hopelessly behind. Not more than a dozen would contest the +finish. Several chauffeurs had been injured, but not seriously. And even had +they been killed, the death of men is but a detail, not considered of great +importance in that astonishing country of America. +</p> + +<p> +Naturally the excitement became more intense as one approached the finishing +line near Milwaukee. There were assembled the most curious, the most +interested; and there the passions of the moment were unchained. By ten +o’clock it was evident, that the first prize, twenty thousand dollars, +lay between five machines, two American, two French, and one English. Imagine, +therefore, the fury with which bets were being made under the influence of +national pride. The regular book makers could scarcely meet the demands of +those who wished to wager. Offers and amounts were hurled from lip to lip with +feverish rapidity. “One to three on the Harvard-Watson!” +</p> + +<p> +“One to two on the Dion-Bouton!” +</p> + +<p> +“Even money on the Renault!” +</p> + +<p> +These cries rang along the line of spectators at each new announcement from the +telephones. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly at half-past nine by the town clock of Prairie-du-chien, two miles +beyond that town was heard a tremendous noise and rumbling which proceeded from +the midst of a flying cloud of dust accompanied by shrieks like those of a +naval siren. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had the crowds time to draw to one side, to escape a destruction which +would have included hundreds of victims. The cloud swept by like a hurricane. +No one could distinguish what it was that passed with such speed. There was no +exaggeration in saying that its rate was at least one hundred and fifty miles +an hour. +</p> + +<p> +The apparition passed and disappeared in an instant, leaving behind it a long +train of white dust, as an express locomotive leaves behind a train of smoke. +Evidently it was an automobile with a most extraordinary motor. If it +maintained this arrow-like speed, it would reach the contestants in the +fore-front of the race; it would pass them with this speed double their own; it +would arrive first at the goal. +</p> + +<p> +And then from all parts arose an uproar, as soon as the spectators had nothing +more to fear. +</p> + +<p> +“It is that infernal machine.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; the one the police cannot stop.” +</p> + +<p> +“But it has not been heard of for a fortnight.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was supposed to be done for, destroyed, gone forever.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a devil’s car, driven by hellfire, and with Satan +driving!” +</p> + +<p> +In truth, if he were not the devil, who could this mysterious chauffeur be, +driving with this unbelievable velocity, his no less mysterious machine? At +least it was beyond doubt that this was the same machine which had already +attracted so much attention. If the police believed that they had frightened it +away, that it was never to be heard of more, well, the police were mistaken +which happens in America as elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +The first stunned moment of surprise having passed, many people rushed to the +telephones to warn those further along the route of the danger which menaced, +not only the people, but also the automobiles scattered along the road. +</p> + +<p> +When this terrible madman arrived like an avalanche they would be smashed to +pieces, ground into powder, annihilated! +</p> + +<p> +And from the collision might not the destroyer himself emerge safe and sound? +He must be so adroit, this chauffeur of chauffeurs, he must handle his machine +with such perfection of eye and hand, that he knew, no doubt, how to escape +from every situation. Fortunately the Wisconsin authorities had taken such +precautions that the road would be clear except for contesting automobiles. But +what right had this machine among them! +</p> + +<p> +And what said the racers themselves, who, warned by telephone, had to sheer +aside from the road in their struggle for the grand prize? By their estimate, +this amazing vehicle was going at least one hundred and thirty miles an hour. +Fast as was their speed, it shot by them at such a rate that they could hardly +make out even the shape of the machine, a sort of lengthened spindle, probably +not over thirty feet long. Its wheels spun with such velocity that they could +scarce be seen. For the rest, the machine left behind it neither smoke nor +scent. +</p> + +<p> +As for the driver, hidden in the interior of his machine, he had been quite +invisible. He remained as unknown as when he had first appeared on the various +roads throughout the country. +</p> + +<p> +Milwaukee was promptly warned of the coming of this interloper. Fancy the +excitement the news caused! The immediate purpose agreed upon was to stop this +projectile, to erect across its route an obstacle against which it would smash +into a thousand pieces. But was there time? Would not the machine appear at any +moment? And what need was there, since the track ended on the edge of Lake +Michigan, and so the vehicle would be forced to stop there anyway, unless its +supernatural driver could ride the water as well as the land. +</p> + +<p> +Here, also, as all along the route, the most extravagant suggestions were +offered. Even those who would not admit that the mysterious chauffeur must be +Satan in person allowed that he might be some monster escaped from the +fantastic visions of the Apocalypse. +</p> + +<p> +And now there were no longer minutes to wait. Any second might bring the +expected apparition. +</p> + +<p> +It was not yet eleven o’clock when a rumbling was heard far down the +track, and the dust rose in violent whirlwinds. Harsh whistlings shrieked +through the air warning all to give passage to the monster. +</p> + +<p> +It did not slacken speed at the finish. Lake Michigan was not half a mile +beyond, and the machine must certainly be hurled into the water! Could it be +that the mechanician was no longer master of his mechanism? +</p> + +<p> +There could be little doubt of it. Like a shooting star, the vehicle flashed +through Milwaukee. When it had passed the city, would it plunge itself to +destruction in the waters of Lake Michigan? +</p> + +<p> +At any rate when it disappeared at a slight bend in the road no trace was to be +found of its passage. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>V.<br /> +ALONG THE SHORES OF NEW ENGLAND</h2> + +<p> +At the time when the newspapers were filled with these reports, I was again in +Washington. On my return I had presented myself at my chief’s office, but +had been unable to see him. Family affairs had suddenly called him away, to be +absent some weeks. Mr. Ward, however, undoubtedly knew of the failure of my +mission. The newspapers, especially those of North Carolina, had given full +details of our ascent of the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +Naturally, I was much annoyed by this delay which further fretted my restless +curiosity. I could turn to no other plans for the future. Could I give up the +hope of learning the secret of the Great Eyrie? No! I would return to the +attack a dozen times if necessary, and despite every failure. +</p> + +<p> +Surely, the winning of access within those walls was not a task beyond human +power. A scaffolding might be raised to the summit of the cliff; or a tunnel +might be pierced through its depth. Our engineers met problems more difficult +every day. But in this case it was necessary to consider the expense, which +might easily grow out of proportion to the advantages to be gained. A tunnel +would cost many thousand dollars, and what good would it accomplish beyond +satisfying the public curiosity and my own? +</p> + +<p> +My personal resources were wholly insufficient for the achievement. Mr. Ward, +who held the government’s funds, was away. I even thought of trying to +interest some millionaire. Oh, if I could but have promised one of them some +gold or silver mines within the mountain! But such an hypothesis was not +admissible. The chain of the Appalachians is not situated in a gold bearing +region like that of the Pacific mountains, the Transvaal, or Australia. +</p> + +<p> +It was not until the fifteenth of June that Mr. Ward returned to duty. Despite +my lack of success he received me warmly. “Here is our poor +Strock!” cried he, at my entrance. “Our poor Strock, who has +failed!” +</p> + +<p> +“No more, Mr. Ward, than if you had charged me to investigate the surface +of the moon,” answered I. “We found ourselves face to face with +purely natural obstacles insurmountable with the forces then at our +command.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not doubt that, Strock, I do not doubt that in the least. +Nevertheless, the fact remains that you have discovered nothing of what is +going on within the Great Eyrie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, Mr. Ward.” +</p> + +<p> +“You saw no sign of fire?” +</p> + +<p> +“None.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you heard no suspicious noises whatever?” +</p> + +<p> +“None.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it is still uncertain if there is really a volcano there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Still uncertain, Mr. Ward. But if it is there, we have good reason to +believe that it has sunk into a profound sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +“Still,” returned Mr. Ward, “there is nothing to show that it +will not wake up again any day, Strock. It is not enough that a volcano should +sleep, it must be absolutely extinguished unless indeed all these threatening +rumors have been born solely in the Carolinian imagination.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is not possible, sir,” I said. “Both Mr. Smith, the +mayor of Morganton and his friend the mayor of Pleasant Garden, are reliable +men. And they speak from their own knowledge in this matter. Flames have +certainly risen above the Great Eyrie. Strange noises have issued from it. +There can be no doubt whatever of the reality of these phenomena.” +</p> + +<p> +“Granted,” declared Mr. Ward. “I admit that the evidence is +unassailable. So the deduction to be drawn is that the Great Eyrie has not yet +given up its secret.” +</p> + +<p> +“If we are determined to know it, Mr. Ward, the solution is only a +solution of expense. Pickaxes and dynamite would soon conquer those +walls.” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt,” responded the chief, “but such an undertaking +hardly seems justified, since the mountain is now quiet. We will wait awhile +and perhaps nature herself will disclose her mystery.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Ward, believe me that I regret deeply that I have been unable to +solve the problem you entrusted to me,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense! Do not upset yourself, Strock. Take your defeat +philosophically. We cannot always be successful, even in the police. How many +criminals escape us! I believe we should never capture one of them, if they +were a little more intelligent and less imprudent, and if they did not +compromise themselves so stupidly. Nothing, it seems to me, would be easier +than to plan a crime, a theft or an assassination, and to execute it without +arousing any suspicions, or leaving any traces to be followed. You understand, +Strock, I do not want to give our criminals lessons; I much prefer to have them +remain as they are. Nevertheless there are many whom the police will never be +able to track down.” +</p> + +<p> +On this matter I shared absolutely the opinion of my chief. It is among rascals +that one finds the most fools. For this very reason I had been much surprised +that none of the authorities had been able to throw any light upon the recent +performances of the “demon automobile.” And when Mr. Ward brought +up this subject, I did not conceal from him my astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +He pointed out that the vehicle was practically unpursuable; that in its +earlier appearances, it had apparently vanished from all roads even before a +telephone message could be sent ahead. Active and numerous police agents had +been spread throughout the country, but no one of them had encountered the +delinquent. He did not move continuously from place to place, even at his +amazing speed, but seemed to appear only for a moment and then to vanish into +thin air. True, he had at length remained visible along the entire route from +Prairie-du-Chien to Milwaukee, and he had covered in less than an hour and a +half this track of two hundred miles. +</p> + +<p> +But since then, there had been no news whatever of the machine. Arrived at the +end of the route, driven onward by its own impetus, unable to stop, had it +indeed been engulfed within the waters of Lake Michigan? Must we conclude that +the machine and its driver had both perished, that there was no longer any +danger to be feared from either? The great majority of the public refused to +accept this conclusion. They fully expected the machine to reappear. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward frankly admitted that the whole matter seemed to him most +extraordinary; and I shared his view. Assuredly if this infernal chauffeur did +not return, his apparition would have to be placed among those superhuman +mysteries which it is not given to man to understand. +</p> + +<p> +We had fully discussed this affair, the chief and I; and I thought that our +interview was at an end, when, after pacing the room for a few moments, he said +abruptly, “Yes, what happened there at Milwaukee was very strange. But +here is something no less so!” +</p> + +<p> +With this he handed me a report which he had received from Boston, on a subject +of which the evening papers had just begun to apprise their readers. While I +read it, Mr. Ward was summoned from the room. I seated myself by the window and +studied with extreme attention the matter of the report. +</p> + +<p> +For some days the waters along the coast of Maine, Connecticut, and +Massachusetts had been the scene of an appearance which no one could exactly +describe. A moving body would appear amid the waters, some two or three miles +off shore, and go through rapid evolutions. It would flash for a while back and +forth among the waves and then dart out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +The body moved with such lightning speed that the best telescopes could hardly +follow it. Its length did not seem to exceed thirty feet. Its cigar-shaped form +and greenish color, made it difficult to distinguish against the background of +the ocean. It had been most frequently observed along the coast between Cape +Cod and Nova Scotia. From Providence, from Boston, from Portsmouth, and from +Portland motor boats and steam launches had repeatedly attempted to approach +this moving body and even to give it chase. They could not get anywhere near +it. Pursuit seemed useless. It darted like an arrow beyond the range of view. +</p> + +<p> +Naturally, widely differing opinions were held as to the nature of this object. +But no hypothesis rested on any secure basis. Seamen were as much at a loss as +others. At first sailors thought it must be some great fish, like a whale. But +it is well known that all these animals come to the surface with a certain +regularity to breathe, and spout up columns of mingled air and water. Now, this +strange animal, if it was an animal, had never “blown” as the +whalers say; nor had it ever made any noises of breathing. Yet if it were not +one of these huge marine mammals, how was this unknown monster to be classed? +Did it belong among the legendary dwellers in the deep, the krakens, the +octopuses, the leviathans, the famous sea-serpents? +</p> + +<p> +At any rate, since this monster, whatever it was, had appeared along the New +England shores, the little fishing-smacks and pleasure boats dared not venture +forth. Wherever it appeared the boats fled to the nearest harbor, as was but +prudent. If the animal was of a ferocious character, none cared to await its +attack. +</p> + +<p> +As to the large ships and coast steamers, they had nothing to fear from any +monster, whale or otherwise. Several of them had seen this creature at a +distance of some miles. But when they attempted to approach, it fled rapidly +away. One day, even, a fast United States gun boat went out from Boston, if not +to pursue the monster, at least to send after it a few cannon shot. Almost +instantly the animal disappeared, and the attempt was vain. As yet, however, +the monster had shown no intention of attacking either boats or people. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment Mr. Ward returned and I interrupted my reading to say, +“There seems as yet no reason to complain of this sea-serpent. It flees +before big ships. It does not pursue little ones. Feeling and intelligence are +not very strong in fishes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet their emotions exist, Strock, and if strongly aroused—” +</p> + +<p> +“But, Mr. Ward, the beast seems not at all dangerous. One of two things +will happen. Either it will presently quit these coasts, or finally it will be +captured and we shall be able to study it at our leisure here in the museum of +Washington.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if it is not a marine animal?” asked Mr. Ward. +</p> + +<p> +“What else can it be?” I protested in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Finish your reading,” said Mr. Ward. +</p> + +<p> +I did so; and found that in the second part of the report, my chief had +underlined some passages in red pencil. +</p> + +<p> +For some time no one had doubted that this was an animal; and that, if it were +vigorously pursued, it would at last be driven from our shores. But a change of +opinion had come about. People began to ask if, instead of a fish, this were +not some new and remarkable kind of boat. +</p> + +<p> +Certainly in that case its engine must be one of amazing power. Perhaps the +inventor before selling the secret of his invention, sought to attract public +attention and to astound the maritime world. Such surety in the movements of +his boat, grace in its every evolution, such ease in defying pursuit by its +arrow-like speed, surely, these were enough to arouse world-wide curiosity! +</p> + +<p> +At that time great progress had been made in the manufacture of marine engines. +Huge transatlantic steamers completed the ocean passage in five days. And the +engineers had not yet spoken their last word. Neither were the navies of the +world behind. The cruisers, the torpedo boats, the torpedo-destroyers, could +match the swiftest steamers of the Atlantic and Pacific, or of the Indian +trade. +</p> + +<p> +If, however, this were a boat of some new design, there had as yet been no +opportunity to observe its form. As to the engines which drove it, they must be +of a power far beyond the fastest known. By what force they worked, was equally +a problem. Since the boat had no sails, it was not driven by the wind; and +since it had no smoke-stack, it was not driven by steam. +</p> + +<p> +At this point in the report, I again paused in my reading and considered the +comment I wished to make. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you puzzling over, Strock?” demanded my chief. +</p> + +<p> +“It is this, Mr. Ward; the motive power of this so-called boat must be as +tremendous and as unknown as that of the remarkable automobile which has so +amazed us all.” +</p> + +<p> +“So that is your idea, is it, Strock?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Mr. Ward.” +</p> + +<p> +There was but one conclusion to be drawn. If the mysterious chauffeur had +disappeared, if he had perished with his machine in Lake Michigan, it was +equally important now to win the secret of this no less mysterious navigator. +And it must be won before he in his turn plunged into the abyss of the ocean. +Was it not the interest of the inventor to disclose his invention? Would not +the American government or any other give him any price he chose to ask? +</p> + +<p> +Yet unfortunately, since the inventor of the terrestrial apparition had +persisted in preserving his incognito, was it not to be feared that the +inventor of the marine apparition would equally preserve his? Even if the first +machine still existed, it was no longer heard from; and would not the second, +in the same way, after having disclosed its powers, disappear in its turn, +without a single trace? +</p> + +<p> +What gave weight to this probability was that since the arrival of this report +at Washington twenty-four hours before, the presence of the extraordinary boat +hadn’t been announced from anywhere along the shore. Neither had it been +seen on any other coast. Though, of course, the assertion that it would not +reappear at all would have been hazardous, to say the least. +</p> + +<p> +I noted another interesting and possibly important point. It was a singular +coincidence which indeed Mr. Ward suggested to me, at the same moment that I +was considering it. This was that only after the disappearance of the wonderful +automobile had the no less wonderful boat come into view. Moreover, their +engines both possessed a most dangerous power of locomotion. If both should go +rushing at the same time over the face of the world, the same danger would +threaten mankind everywhere, in boats, in vehicles, and on foot. Therefore it +was absolutely necessary that the police should in some manner interfere to +protect the public ways of travel. +</p> + +<p> +That is what Mr. Ward pointed out to me; and our duty was obvious. But how +could we accomplish this task? We discussed the matter for some time; and I was +just about to leave when Mr. Ward made one last suggestion. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you not observed, Strock,” said he, “that there is a +sort of fantastic resemblance between the general appearance of this boat and +this automobile?” +</p> + +<p> +“There is something of the sort, Mr. Ward.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, is it not possible that the two are one?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>VI.<br /> +THE FIRST LETTER</h2> + +<p> +After leaving Mr. Ward I returned to my home in Long Street. There I had plenty +of time to consider this strange case uninterrupted by either wife or children. +My household consisted solely of an ancient servant, who having been formerly +in the service of my mother, had now continued for fifteen years in mine. +</p> + +<p> +Two months before I had obtained a leave of absence. It had still two weeks to +run, unless indeed some unforeseen circumstance interrupted it, some mission +which could not be delayed. This leave, as I have shown, had already been +interrupted for four days by my exploration of the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +And now was it not my duty to abandon my vacation, and endeavor to throw light +upon the remarkable events of which the road to Milwaukee and the shore of New +England had been in turn the scene? I would have given much to solve the twin +mysteries, but how was it possible to follow the track of this automobile or +this boat? +</p> + +<p> +Seated in my easy chair after breakfast, with my pipe lighted, I opened my +newspaper. To what should I turn? Politics interested me but little, with its +eternal strife between the Republicans and the Democrats. Neither did I care +for the news of society, nor for the sporting page. You will not be surprised, +then, that my first idea was to see if there was any news from North Carolina +about the Great Eyrie. There was little hope of this, however, for Mr. Smith +had promised to telegraph me at once if anything occurred. I felt quite sure +that the mayor of Morganton was as eager for information and as watchful as +could have been myself. The paper told me nothing new. It dropped idly from my +hand; and I remained deep in thought. +</p> + +<p> +What most frequently recurred to me was the suggestion of Mr. Ward that perhaps +the automobile and the boat which had attracted our attention were in reality +one and the same. Very probably, at least, the two machines had been built by +the same hand. And beyond doubt, these were similar engines, which generated +this remarkable speed, more than doubling the previous records of earth and +sea. +</p> + +<p> +“The same inventor!” repeated I. +</p> + +<p> +Evidently this hypothesis had strong grounds. The fact that the two machines +had not yet appeared at the same time added weight to the idea. I murmured to +myself, “After the mystery of Great Eyrie, comes that of Milwaukee and +Boston. Will this new problem be as difficult to solve as was the other?” +</p> + +<p> +I noted idly that this new affair had a general resemblance to the other, since +both menaced the security of the general public. To be sure, only the +inhabitants of the Blueridge region had been in danger from an eruption or +possible earthquake at Great Eyrie. While now, on every road of the United +States, or along every league of its coasts and harbors, every inhabitant was +in danger from this vehicle or this boat, with its sudden appearance and insane +speed. +</p> + +<p> +I found that, as was to be expected, the newspapers not only suggested, but +enlarged upon the dangers of the case. Timid people everywhere were much +alarmed. My old servant, naturally credulous and superstitious, was +particularly upset. That same day after dinner, as she was clearing away the +things, she stopped before me, a water bottle in one hand, the serviette in the +other, and asked anxiously, “Is there no news, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“None,” I answered, knowing well to what she referred. +</p> + +<p> +“The automobile has not come back?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor the boat?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor the boat. There is no news even in the best informed papers.” +</p> + +<p> +“But—your secret police information?” +</p> + +<p> +“We are no wiser.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, sir, if you please, of what use are the police?” +</p> + +<p> +It is a question which has phased me more than once. +</p> + +<p> +“Now you see what will happen,” continued the old housekeeper, +complainingly. “Some fine morning, he will come without warning, this +terrible chauffeur, and rush down our street here, and kill us all!” +</p> + +<p> +“Good! When that happens, there will be some chance of catching +him.” +</p> + +<p> +“He will never be arrested, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because he is the devil himself, and you can’t arrest the +devil!” +</p> + +<p> +Decidedly, thought I, the devil has many uses; and if he did not exist we would +have to invent him, to give people some way of explaining the inexplicable. It +was he who lit the flames of the Great Eyrie. It was he who smashed the record +in the Wisconsin race. It is he who is scurrying along the shores of +Connecticut and Massachusetts. But putting to one side this evil spirit who is +so necessary, for the convenience of the ignorant, there was no doubt that we +were facing a most bewildering problem. Had both of these machines disappeared +forever? They had passed like a meteor, like a star shooting through space; and +in a hundred years the adventure would become a legend, much to the taste of +the gossips of the next century. +</p> + +<p> +For several days the newspapers of America and even those of Europe continued +to discuss these events. Editorials crowded upon editorials. Rumors were added +to rumors. Story tellers of every kind crowded to the front. The public of two +continents was interested. In some parts of Europe there was even jealousy that +America should have been chosen as the field of such an experience. If these +marvelous inventors were American, then their country, their army and navy, +would have a great advantage over others. The United States might acquire an +incontestable superiority. +</p> + +<p> +Under the date of the tenth of June, a New York paper published a carefully +studied article on this phase of the subject. Comparing the speed of the +swiftest known vessels with the smallest minimum of speed which could possibly +be assigned to the new boat, the article demonstrated that if the United States +secured this secret, Europe would be but three days away from her, while she +would still be five days from Europe. +</p> + +<p> +If our own police had searched diligently to discover the mystery of the Great +Eyrie, the secret service of every country in the world was now interested in +these new problems. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward referred to the matter each time I saw him. Our chat would begin by +his rallying me about my ill-success in Carolina, and I would respond by +reminding him that success there was only a question of expense. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind, my good Strock,” said he, “there will come a +chance for our clever inspector to regain his laurels. Take now this affair of +the automobile and the boat. If you could clear that up in advance of all the +detectives of the world, what an honor it would be to our department! What +glory for you!” +</p> + +<p> +“It certainly would, Mr. Ward. And if you put the matter in my +charge—” +</p> + +<p> +“Who knows, Strock? Let us wait a while! Let us wait!” +</p> + +<p> +Matters stood thus when, on the morning of June fifteenth, my old servant +brought me a letter from the letter-carrier, a registered letter for which I +had to sign. I looked at the address. I did not know the handwriting. The +postmark, dating from two days before, was stamped at the post office of +Morganton. +</p> + +<p> +Morganton! Here at last was, no doubt, news from Mr. Elias Smith. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes!” exclaimed I, speaking to my old servant, for lack of +another, “it must be from Mr. Smith at last. I know no one else in +Morganton. And if he writes he has news!” +</p> + +<p> +“Morganton?” said the old woman, “isn’t that the place +where the demons set fire to their mountain?” +</p> + +<p> +“Exactly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sir! I hope you don’t mean to go back there!” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because you will end by being burned up in that furnace of the Great +Eyrie. And I wouldn’t want you buried that way, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Cheer up, and let us see if it is not better news than that.” +</p> + +<p> +The envelope was sealed with red sealing wax, and stamped with a sort of coat +of arms, surmounted with three stars. The paper was thick and very strong. I +broke the envelope and drew out a letter. It was a single sheet, folded in +four, and written on one side only. My first glance was for the signature. +</p> + +<p> +There was no signature! Nothing but three initials at the end of the last line! +</p> + +<p> +“The letter is not from the Mayor of Morganton,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Then from whom?” asked the old servant, doubly curious in her +quality as a woman and as an old gossip. +</p> + +<p> +Looking again at the three initials of the signature, I said, “I know no +one for whom these letters would stand; neither at Morganton nor +elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +The hand-writing was bold. Both up strokes and down strokes very sharp, about +twenty lines in all. Here is the letter, of which I, with good reason, retained +an exact copy. It was dated, to my extreme stupefaction, from that mysterious +Great Eyrie: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Great Eyrie, Blueridge Mtns,<br /> +To Mr. Strock: North Carolina, June 13th.<br /> +Chief Inspector of Police,<br /> +34 Long St., Washington, D. C. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Sir,<br /> +Â Â Â Â You were charged with the mission of penetrating the Great Eyrie.<br /> +Â Â Â Â You came on April the twenty-eighth, accompanied by the Mayor of Morganton +and two guides.<br /> +Â Â Â Â You mounted to the foot of the wall, and you encircled it, finding it too +high and steep to climb.<br /> +Â Â Â Â You sought a breech and you found none. Know this: none enter the Great +Eyrie; or if one enters, he never returns.<br /> +Â Â Â Â “Do not try again, for the second attempt will not result as did the +first, but will have grave consequences for you.<br /> +Â Â Â Â “Heed this warning, or evil fortune will come to you. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“M. o. W.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>VII.<br /> +A THIRD MACHINE</h2> + +<p> +I confess that at first this letter dumfounded me. “Ohs!” and +“Ahs!” slipped from my open mouth. The old servant stared at me, +not knowing what to think. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sir! is it bad news?” +</p> + +<p> +I answered for I kept few secrets from this faithful soul by reading her the +letter from end to end. She listened with much anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +“A joke, without doubt,” said I, shrugging my shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” returned my superstitious handmaid, “if it +isn’t from the devil, it’s from the devil’s country, +anyway.” +</p> + +<p> +Left alone, I again went over this unexpected letter. Reflection inclined me +yet more strongly to believe that it was the work of a practical joker. My +adventure was well known. The newspapers had given it in full detail. Some +satirist, such as exists even in America, must have written this threatening +letter to mock me. +</p> + +<p> +To assume, on the other hand, that the Eyrie really served as the refuge of a +band of criminals, seemed absurd. If they feared that the police would discover +their retreat, surely they would not have been so foolish as thus to force +attention upon themselves. Their chief security would lie in keeping their +presence there unknown. They must have realized that such a challenge from them +would only arouse the police to renewed activity. Dynamite or melinite would +soon open an entrance to their fortress. Moreover, how could these men have, +themselves, gained entrance into the Eyrie unless there existed a passage which +we had failed to discover? Assuredly the letter came from a jester or a madman; +and I need not worry over it, nor even consider it. +</p> + +<p> +Hence, though for an instant I had thought of showing this letter to Mr. Ward, +I decided not to do so. Surely he would attach no importance to it. However, I +did not destroy it, but locked it in my desk for safe keeping. If more letters +came of the same kind, and with the same initials, I would attach as little +weight to them as to this. +</p> + +<p> +Several days passed quietly. There was nothing to lead me to expect that I +should soon quit Washington; though in my line of duty one is never certain of +the morrow. At any moment I might be sent speeding from Oregon to Florida, from +Maine to Texas. And this unpleasant thought haunted me frequently if my next +mission were no more successful than that to the Great Eyrie, I might as well +give up and hand in my resignation from the force. Of the mysterious chauffeur +or chauffeurs, nothing more was heard. I knew that our own government agents, +as well as foreign ones, were keeping keen watch over all the roads and rivers, +all the lakes and the coasts of America. Of course, the size of the country +made any close supervision impossible; but these twin inventors had not before +chosen secluded and unfrequented spots in which to appear. The main highway of +Wisconsin on a great race day, the harbor of Boston, incessantly crossed by +thousands of boats, these were hardly what would be called hiding-places! If +the daring driver had not perished of which there was always strong +probability; then he must have left America. Perhaps he was in the waters of +the Old World, or else resting in some retreat known only to himself, and in +that case— +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” I repeated to myself, many times, “for such a retreat, +as secret as inaccessible, this fantastic personage could not find one better +than the Great Eyrie!” But, of course, a boat could not get there, any +more than an automobile. Only high-flying birds of prey, eagles or condors, +could find refuge there. +</p> + +<p> +The nineteenth of June I was going to the police bureau, when, on leaving my +house, I noticed two men who looked at me with a certain keenness. Not knowing +them, I took no notice; and if my attention was drawn to the matter, it was +because my servant spoke of it when I returned. +</p> + +<p> +For some days, she said, she had noticed that two men seemed to be spying upon +me in the street. They stood constantly, perhaps a hundred steps from my house; +and she suspected that they followed me each time I went up the street. +</p> + +<p> +“You are sure?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, and no longer ago than yesterday, when you came into the +house, these men came slipping along in your footsteps, and then went away as +soon as the door was shut behind you.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must be mistaken!” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if you met these two men, you would know them?” +</p> + +<p> +“I would.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good;” I cried, laughing, “I see you have the very spirit +for a detective. I must engage you as a member of our force.” +</p> + +<p> +“Joke if you like, sir. But I have still two good eyes, and I don’t +need spectacles to recognize people. Someone is spying on you, that’s +certain; and you should put some of your men to track them in turn.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right; I promise to do so,” I said, to satisfy her. “And +when my men get after them, we shall soon know what these mysterious fellows +want of me.” +</p> + +<p> +In truth I did not take the good soul’s excited announcement very +seriously. I added, however, “When I go out, I will watch the people +around me with great care.” +</p> + +<p> +“That will be best, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +My poor old housekeeper was always frightening herself at nothing. “If I +see them again,” she added, “I will warn you before you set foot +out of doors.” +</p> + +<p> +“Agreed!” And I broke off the conversation, knowing well that if I +allowed her to run on, she would end by being sure that Beelzebub himself and +one of his chief attendants were at my heels. +</p> + +<p> +The two following days, there was certainly no one spying on me, either at my +exits or entrances. So I concluded my old servant had made much of nothing, as +usual. But on the morning of the twenty-second of June, after rushing upstairs +as rapidly as her age would permit, the devoted old soul burst into my room and +in a half whisper gasped “Sir! Sir!” +</p> + +<p> +“What is it?” +</p> + +<p> +“They are there!” +</p> + +<p> +“Who?” I queried, my mind on anything but the web she had been +spinning about me. +</p> + +<p> +“The two spies!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, those wonderful spies!” +</p> + +<p> +“Themselves! In the street! Right in front of our windows! Watching the +house, waiting for you to go out.” +</p> + +<p> +I went to the window and raising just an edge of the shade, so as not to give +any warning, I saw two men on the pavement. +</p> + +<p> +They were rather fine-looking men, broad-shouldered and vigorous, aged somewhat +under forty, dressed in the ordinary fashion of the day, with slouched hats, +heavy woolen suits, stout walking shoes and sticks in hand. Undoubtedly, they +were staring persistently at my apparently unwatchful house. Then, having +exchanged a few words, they strolled off a little way, and returned again. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you sure these are the same men you saw before?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +Evidently, I could no longer dismiss her warning as a hallucination; and I +promised myself to clear up the matter. As to following the men myself, I was +presumably too well known to them. To address them directly would probably be +of no use. But that very day, one of our best men should be put on watch, and +if the spies returned on the morrow, they should be tracked in their turn, and +watched until their identity was established. +</p> + +<p> +At the moment, were they waiting to follow me to police headquarters? For it +was there that I was bound, as usual. If they accompanied me I might be able to +offer them a hospitality for which they would scarce thank me. +</p> + +<p> +I took my hat; and while the housekeeper remained peeping from the window, I +went down stairs, opened the door, and stepped into the street. +</p> + +<p> +The two men were no longer there. +</p> + +<p> +Despite all my watchfulness, that day I saw no more of them as I passed along +the streets. From that time on, indeed, neither my old servant nor I saw them +again before the house, nor did I encounter them elsewhere. Their appearance, +however, was stamped upon my memory, I would not forget them. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps after all, admitting that I had been the object of their espionage, +they had been mistaken in my identity. Having obtained a good look at me, they +now followed me no more. So in the end, I came to regard this matter as of no +more importance than the letter with the initials, M. o. W. +</p> + +<p> +Then, on the twenty-fourth of June, there came a new event, to further +stimulate both my interest and that of the general public in the previous +mysteries of the automobile and the boat. The Washington Evening Star published +the following account, which was next morning copied by every paper in the +country. +</p> + +<p> +“Lake Kirdall in Kansas, forty miles west of Topeka, is little known. It +deserves wider knowledge, and doubtless will have it hereafter, for attention +is now drawn to it in a very remarkable way. +</p> + +<p> +“This lake, deep among the mountains, appears to have no outlet. What it +loses by evaporation, it regains from the little neighboring streamlets and the +heavy rains. +</p> + +<p> +“Lake Kirdall covers about seventy-five square miles, and its level is +but slightly below that of the heights which surround it. Shut in among the +mountains, it can be reached only by narrow and rocky gorges. Several villages, +however, have sprung up upon its banks. It is full of fish, and fishing-boats +cover its waters. +</p> + +<p> +“Lake Kirdall is in many places fifty feet deep close to shore. Sharp, +pointed rocks form the edges of this huge basin. Its surges, roused by high +winds, beat upon its banks with fury, and the houses near at hand are often +deluged with spray as if with the downpour of a hurricane. The lake, already +deep at the edge, becomes yet deeper toward the center, where in some places +soundings show over three hundred feet of water. +</p> + +<p> +“The fishing industry supports a population of several thousands, and +there are several hundred fishing boats in addition to the dozen or so of +little steamers which serve the traffic of the lake. Beyond the circle of the +mountains lie the railroads which transport the products of the fishing +industry throughout Kansas and the neighboring states. +</p> + +<p> +“This account of Lake Kirdall is necessary for the understanding of the +remarkable facts which we are about to report.” +</p> + +<p> +And this is what the Evening Star then reported in its startling article. +“For some time past, the fishermen have noticed a strange upheaval in the +waters of the lake. Sometimes it rises as if a wave surged up from its depths. +Even in perfectly calm weather, when there is no wind whatever, this upheaval +sometimes arises in a mass of foam. +</p> + +<p> +“Tossed about by violent waves and unaccountable currents, boats have +been swept beyond all control. Sometimes they have been dashed one against +another, and serious damage has resulted. +</p> + +<p> +“This confusion of the waters evidently has its origin somewhere in the +depths of the lake; and various explanations have been offered to account for +it. At first, it was suggested that the trouble was due to seismic forces, to +some volcanic action beneath the lake; but this hypothesis had to be rejected +when it was recognized that the disturbance was not confined to one locality, +but spread itself over the entire surface of the lake, either at one part or +another, in the center or along the edges, traveling along almost in a regular +line and in a way to exclude entirely all idea of earthquake or volcanic +action. +</p> + +<p> +“Another hypothesis suggested that it was a marine monster who thus +upheaved the waters. But unless the beast had been born in the lake and had +there grown to its gigantic proportions unsuspected, which was scarce possible, +he must have come there from outside. Lake Kirdall, however, has no connection +with any other waters. If this lake were situated near any of the oceans, there +might be subterranean canals; but in the center of America, and at the height +of some thousands of feet above sea-level, this is not possible. In short, here +is another riddle not easy to solve, and it is much easier to point out the +impossibility of false explanations, than to discover the true one. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it possible that a submarine boat is being experimented with beneath +the lake? Such boats are no longer impossible today. Some years ago, at +Bridgeport, Connecticut, there was launched a boat, The Protector, which could +go on the water, under the water, and also upon land. Built by an inventor +named Lake, supplied with two motors, an electric one of seventy-five horse +power, and a gasoline one of two hundred and fifty horse power, it was also +provided with wheels a yard in diameter, which enabled it to roll over the +roads, as well as swim the seas. +</p> + +<p> +“But even then, granting that the turmoil of Lake Kirdall might be +produced by a submarine, brought to a high degree of perfection, there remains +as before the question how could it have reached Lake Kirdall? The lake, shut +in on all sides by a circle of mountains, is no more accessible to a submarine +than to a sea-monster. +</p> + +<p> +“In whatever way this last puzzling question may be solved, the nature of +this strange appearance can no longer be disputed since the twentieth of June. +On that day, in the afternoon, the schooner ‘Markel’ while speeding +with all sails set, came into violent collision with something just below the +water level. There was no shoal nor rock near; for the lake in this part is +eighty or ninety feet deep. The schooner with both her bow and her side badly +broken, ran great danger of sinking. She managed, however, to reach the shore +before her decks were completely submerged. +</p> + +<p> +“When the ‘Markel’ had been pumped out and hauled up on +shore, an examination showed that she had received a blow near the bow as if +from a powerful ram. +</p> + +<p> +“From this it seems evident that there is actually a submarine boat which +darts about beneath the surface of Lake Kirdall with most remarkable rapidity. +</p> + +<p> +“The thing is difficult to explain. Not only is there a question as to +how did the submarine get there? But why is it there? Why does it never come to +the surface? What reason has its owner for remaining unknown? Are other +disasters to be expected from its reckless course?” +</p> + +<p> +The article in the Evening Star closed with this truly striking suggestion: +“After the mysterious automobile, came the mysterious boat. Now comes the +mysterious submarine. +</p> + +<p> +“Must we conclude that the three engines are due to the genius of the +same inventor, and that the three vehicles are in truth but one?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>VIII.<br /> +AT ANY COST</h2> + +<p> +The suggestion of the Star came like a revelation. It was accepted everywhere. +Not only were these three vehicles the work of the same inventor; they were the +same machine! +</p> + +<p> +It was not easy to see how the remarkable transformation could be practically +accomplished from one means of locomotion to the other. How could an automobile +become a boat, and yet more, a submarine? All the machine seemed to lack was +the power of flying through the air. Nevertheless, everything that was known of +the three different machines, as to their size, their shape, their lack of odor +or of steam, and above all their remarkable speed, seemed to imply their +identity. The public, grown blase with so many excitements, found in this new +marvel a stimulus to reawaken their curiosity. +</p> + +<p> +The newspapers dwelt now chiefly on the importance of the invention. This new +engine, whether in one vehicle or three, had given proofs of its power. What +amazing proofs! The invention must be bought at any price. The United States +government must purchase it at once for the use of the nation. Assuredly, the +great European powers would stop at nothing to be beforehand with America, and +gain possession of an engine so invaluable for military and naval use. What +incalculable advantages would it give to any nation, both on land and sea! Its +destructive powers could not even be estimated, until its qualities and +limitations were better known. No amount of money would be too great to pay for +the secret; America could not put her millions to better use. +</p> + +<p> +But to buy the machine, it was necessary to find the inventor; and there seemed +the chief difficulty. In vain was Lake Kirdall searched from end to end. Even +its depths were explored with a sounding-line without result. Must it be +concluded that the submarine no longer lurked beneath its waters? But in that +case, how had the boat gotten away? For that matter, how had it come? An +insoluble problem! +</p> + +<p> +The submarine was heard from no more, neither in Lake Kirdall nor elsewhere. It +had disappeared like the automobile from the roads, and like the boat from the +shores of America. Several times in my interviews with Mr. Ward, we discussed +this matter, which still filled his mind. Our men continued everywhere on the +lookout, but as unsuccessfully as other agents. +</p> + +<p> +On the morning of the twenty-seventh of June, I was summoned into the presence +of Mr. Ward. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Strock,” said he, “here is a splendid chance for you +to get your revenge.” +</p> + +<p> +“Revenge for the Great Eyrie disappointment?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“What chance?” asked I, not knowing if he spoke seriously, or in +jest. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, here,” he answered. “Would not you like to discover the +inventor of this three-fold machine?” +</p> + +<p> +“I certainly should, Mr. Ward. Give me the order to take charge of the +matter, and I will accomplish the impossible, in order to succeed. It is true, +I believe it will be difficult.” +</p> + +<p> +“Undoubtedly, Strock. Perhaps even more difficult than to penetrate into +the Great Eyrie.” +</p> + +<p> +It was evident that Mr. Ward was intent on rallying me about my unsuccess. He +would not do that, I felt assured, out of mere unkindness. Perhaps then he +meant to rouse my resolution. He knew me well; and realized that I would have +given anything in the world to recoup my defeat. I waited quietly for new +instructions. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward dropped his jesting and said to me very generously, “I know, +Strock, that you accomplished everything that depended on human powers; and +that no blame attaches to you. But we face now a matter very different from +that of the Great Eyrie. The day the government decides to force that secret, +everything is ready. We have only to spend some thousands of dollars, and the +road will be open.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is what I would urge.” +</p> + +<p> +“But at present,” said Mr. Ward, shaking his head, “it is +much more important to place our hands on this fantastic inventor, who so +constantly escapes us. That is work for a detective, indeed; a master +detective!” +</p> + +<p> +“He has not been heard from again?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; and though there is every reason to believe that he has been, and +still continues, beneath the waters of Lake Kirdall, it has been impossible to +find any trace of him anywhere around there. One would almost fancy he had the +power of making himself invisible, this Proteus of a mechanic!” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems likely,” said I, “that he will never be seen until +he wishes to be.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, Strock. And to my mind there is only one way of dealing with him, +and that is to offer him such an enormous price that he cannot refuse to sell +his invention.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward was right. Indeed, the government had already made the effort to +secure speech with this hero of the day, than whom surely no human being has +ever better merited the title. The press had widely spread the news, and this +extraordinary individual must assuredly know what the government desired of +him, and how completely he could name the terms he wished. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely,” added Mr. Ward, “this invention can be of no +personal use to the man, that he should hide it from the rest of us. There is +every reason why he should sell it. Can this unknown be already some dangerous +criminal who, thanks to his machine, hopes to defy all pursuit?” +</p> + +<p> +My chief then went on to explain that it had been decided to employ other means +in search of the inventor. It was possible after all that he had perished with +his machine in some dangerous maneuver. If so, the ruined vehicle might prove +almost as valuable and instructive to the mechanical world as the man himself. +But since the accident to the schooner “Markel” on Lake Kirdall, no +news of him whatever had reached the police. +</p> + +<p> +On this point Mr. Ward did not attempt to hide his disappointment and his +anxiety. Anxiety, yes, for it was manifestly becoming more and more difficult +for him to fulfill his duty of protecting the public. How could we arrest +criminals, if they could flee from justice at such speed over both land and +sea? How could we pursue them under the oceans? And when dirigible balloons +should also have reached their full perfection, we would even have to chase men +through the air! I asked myself if my colleagues and I would not find ourselves +some day reduced to utter helplessness? If police officials, become a useless +incumbrance, would be definitely discarded by society? +</p> + +<p> +Here, there recurred to me the jesting letter I had received a fortnight +before, the letter which threatened my liberty and even my life. I recalled, +also, the singular espionage of which I had been the subject. I asked myself if +I had better mention these things to Mr. Ward. But they seemed to have +absolutely no relation to the matter now in hand. The Great Eyrie affair had +been definitely put aside by the government, since an eruption was no longer +threatening. And they now wished to employ me upon this newer matter. I waited, +then, to mention this letter to my chief at some future time, when it would be +not so sore a joke to me. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward again took up our conversation. “We are resolved by some means +to establish communication with this inventor. He has disappeared, it is true; +but he may reappear at any moment, and in any part of the country. I have +chosen you, Strock, to follow him the instant he appears. You must hold +yourself ready to leave Washington on the moment. Do not quit your house, +except to come here to headquarters each day; notify me, each time by +telephone, when you start from home, and report to me personally the moment you +arrive here.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will follow orders exactly, Mr. Ward,” I answered. “But +permit me one question. Ought I to act alone, or will it not be better to join +with me?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is what I intend,” said the chief, interrupting me. +“You are to choose two of our men whom you think the best fitted.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will do so, Mr. Ward. And now, if some day or other I stand in the +presence of our man, what am I to do with him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Above all things, do not lose sight of him. If there is no other way, +arrest him. You shall have a warrant.” +</p> + +<p> +“A useful precaution, Mr. Ward. If he started to jump into his automobile +and to speed away at the rate we know of, I must stop him at any cost. One +cannot argue long with a man making two hundred miles an hour!” +</p> + +<p> +“You must prevent that, Strock. And the arrest made, telegraph me. After +that, the matter will be in my hands.” +</p> + +<p> +“Count on me, Mr. Ward; at any hour, day or night, I shall be ready to +start with my men. I thank you for having entrusted this mission to me. If it +succeeds, it will be a great honor—” +</p> + +<p> +“And of great profit,” added my chief, dismissing me. +</p> + +<p> +Returning home, I made all preparations for a trip of indefinite duration. +Perhaps my good housekeeper imagined that I planned a return to the Great +Eyrie, which she regarded as an ante-chamber of hell itself. She said nothing, +but went about her work with a most despairing face. Nevertheless, sure as I +was of her discretion, I told her nothing. In this great mission I would +confide in no one. +</p> + +<p> +My choice of the two men to accompany me was easily made. They both belonged to +my own department, and had many times under my direct command given proofs of +their vigor, courage and intelligence. One, John Hart, of Illinois, was a man +of thirty years; the other, aged thirty-two, was Nab Walker, of Massachusetts. +I could not have had better assistants. +</p> + +<p> +Several days passed, without news, either of the automobile, the boat, or the +submarine. There were rumors in plenty; but the police knew them to be false. +As to the reckless stories that appeared in the newspapers, they had most of +them, no foundation whatever. Even the best journals cannot be trusted to +refuse an exciting bit of news on the mere ground of its unreliability. +</p> + +<p> +Then, twice in quick succession, there came what seemed trustworthy reports of +the “man of the hour.” The first asserted that he had been seen on +the roads of Arkansas, near Little Rock. The second, that he was in the very +middle of Lake Superior. +</p> + +<p> +Unfortunately, these two notices were absolutely unreconcilable; for while the +first gave the afternoon of June twenty-sixth, as the time of appearance, the +second set it for the evening of the same day. Now, these two points of the +United States territory are not less than eight hundred miles apart. Even +granting the automobile this unthinkable speed, greater than any it had yet +shown, how could it have crossed all the intervening country unseen? How could +it traverse the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin, from end to +end without any one of our agents giving us warning, without any interested +person rushing to a telephone? +</p> + +<p> +After these two momentary appearances, if appearances they were, the machine +again dropped out of knowledge. Mr. Ward did not think it worth while to +dispatch me and my men to either point whence it had been reported. +</p> + +<p> +Yet since this marvelous machine seemed still in existence, something must be +done. The following official notice was published in every newspaper of the +United States under July 3d. It was couched in the most formal terms. +</p> + +<p> +“During the month of April, of the present year, an automobile traversed +the roads of Pennsylvania, of Kentucky, of Ohio, of Tennessee, of Missouri, of +Illinois; and on the twenty-seventh of May, during the race held by the +American Automobile Club, it covered the course in Wisconsin. Then it +disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“During the first week of June, a boat maneuvering at great speed +appeared off the coast of New England between Cape Cod and Cape Sable, and more +particularly around Boston. Then it disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“In the second fortnight of the same month, a submarine boat was run +beneath the waters of Lake Kirdall, in Kansas. Then it disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“Everything points to the belief that the same inventor must have built +these three machines, or perhaps that they are the same machine, constructed so +as to travel both on land and water. +</p> + +<p> +“A proposition is therefore addressed to the said inventor, whoever he +be, with the aim of acquiring the said machine. +</p> + +<p> +“He is requested to make himself known and to name the terms upon which +he will treat with the United States government. He is also requested to answer +as promptly as possible to the Department of Federal Police, Washington, D. C., +United States of America.” +</p> + +<p> +Such was the notice printed in large type on the front page of every newspaper. +Surely it could not fail to reach the eye of him for whom it was intended, +wherever he might be. He would read it. He could scarce fail to answer it in +some manner. And why should he refuse such an unlimited offer? We had only to +await his reply. +</p> + +<p> +One can easily imagine how high the public curiosity rose. From morning till +night, an eager and noisy crowd pressed about the bureau of police, awaiting +the arrival of a letter or a telegram. The best reporters were on the spot. +What honor, what profit would come to the paper which was first to publish the +famous news! To know at last the name and place of the undiscoverable unknown! +And to know if he would agree to some bargain with the government! It goes +without saying that America does things on a magnificent scale. Millions would +not be lacking for the inventor. If necessary all the millionaires in the +country would open their inexhaustible purses! +</p> + +<p> +The day passed. To how many excited and impatient people it seemed to contain +more than twenty-four hours! And each hour held far more than sixty minutes! +There came no answer, no letter, no telegram! The night following, there was +still no news. And it was the same the next day and the next. +</p> + +<p> +There came, however another result, which had been fully foreseen. The cables +informed Europe of what the United States government had done. The different +Powers of the Old World hoped also to obtain possession of the wonderful +invention. Why should they not struggle for an advantage so tremendous? Why +should they not enter the contest with their millions? +</p> + +<p> +In brief, every great Power took part in the affair, France, England, Russia, +Italy, Austria, Germany. Only the states of the second order refrained from +entering, with their smaller resources, upon a useless effort. The European +press published notices identical with that of the United States. The +extraordinary “chauffeur” had only to speak, to become a rival to +the Vanderbilts, the Astors, the Goulds, the Morgans, and the Rothschilds of +every country of Europe. +</p> + +<p> +And, when the mysterious inventor made no sign, what attractive offers were +held forth to tempt him to discard the secrecy in which he was enwrapped! The +whole world became a public market, an auction house whence arose the most +amazing bids. Twice a day the newspapers would add up the amounts, and these +kept rising from millions to millions. The end came when the United States +Congress, after a memorable session, voted to offer the sum of twenty million +dollars. And there was not a citizen of the States of whatever rank, who +objected to the amount, so much importance was attached to the possession of +this prodigious engine of locomotion. As for me, I said emphatically to my old +housekeeper: “The machine is worth even more than that.” +</p> + +<p> +Evidently the other nations of the world did not think so, for their bids +remained below the final sum. But how useless was this mighty struggle of the +great rivals! The inventor did not appear! He did not exist! He had never +existed! It was all a monstrous pretense of the American newspapers. That, at +least, became the announced view of the Old World. +</p> + +<p> +And so the time passed. There was no further news of our man, there was no +response from him. He appeared no more. For my part, not knowing what to think, +I commenced to lose all hope of reaching any solution to the strange affair. +</p> + +<p> +Then on the morning of the fifteenth of July, a letter without postmark was +found in the mailbox of the police bureau. After the authorities had studied +it, it was given out to the Washington journals, which published it in +facsimile, in special numbers. It was couched as follows: +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>IX.<br /> +THE SECOND LETTER</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +On Board the Terror<br /><br /> +July 15. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +To the Old and New World, +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +The propositions emanating from the different governments of Europe, as also +that which has finally been made by the United States of America, need expect +no other answer than this: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +I refuse absolutely and definitely the sums offered for my invention. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +My machine will be neither French nor German, nor Austrian nor Russian, nor +English nor American. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +The invention will remain my own, and I shall use it as pleases me. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +With it, I hold control of the entire world, and there lies no force within the +reach of humanity which is able to resist me, under any circumstances +whatsoever. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Let no one attempt to seize or stop me. It is, and will be, utterly impossible. +Whatever injury anyone attempts against me, I will return a hundredfold. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +As to the money which is offered me, I despise it! I have no need of it. +Moreover, on the day when it pleases me to have millions, or billions, I have +but to reach out my hand and take them. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Let both the Old and the New World realize this: They can accomplish nothing +against me; I can accomplish anything against them. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +I sign this letter:<br /> +The Master of the World. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>X.<br /> +OUTSIDE THE LAW</h2> + +<p> +Such was the letter addressed to the government of the United States. As to the +person who had placed it in the mail-box of the police, no one had seen him. +</p> + +<p> +The sidewalk in front of our offices had probably not been once vacant during +the entire night. From sunset to sunrise, there had always been people, busy, +anxious, or curious, passing before our door. It is true, however, that even +then, the bearer of the letter might easily have slipped by unseen and dropped +the letter in the box. The night had been so dark, you could scarcely see from +one side of the street to the other. +</p> + +<p> +I have said that this letter appeared in facsimile in all the newspapers to +which the government communicated it. Perhaps one would naturally imagine that +the first comment of the public would be, “This is the work of some +practical joker.” It was in that way that I had accepted my letter from +the Great Eyrie, five weeks before. +</p> + +<p> +But this was not the general attitude toward the present letter, neither in +Washington, nor in the rest of America. To the few who would have maintained +that the document should not be taken seriously, an immense majority would have +responded: “This letter has not the style nor the spirit of a jester. +Only one man could have written it; and that is the inventor of this +unapproachable machine.” +</p> + +<p> +To most people this conclusion seemed indisputable owing to a curious state of +mind easily explainable. For all the strange facts of which the key had +hitherto been lacking, this letter furnished an explanation. The theory now +almost universally accepted was as follows. The inventor had hidden himself for +a time, only in order to reappear more startlingly in some new light. Instead +of having perished in an accident, he had concealed himself in some retreat +where the police were unable to discover him. Then to assert positively his +attitude toward all governments he had written this letter. But instead of +dropping it in the post in any one locality, which might have resulted in its +being traced to him, he had come to Washington and deposited it himself in the +very spot suggested by the government’s official notice, the bureau of +police. +</p> + +<p> +Well! If this remarkable personage had reckoned that this new proof of his +existence would make some noise in two worlds, he certainly figured rightly. +That day, the millions of good folk who read and re-read their daily paper +could to employ a well-known phrase, scarcely believe their eyes. +</p> + +<p> +As for myself, I studied carefully every phrase of the defiant document. The +hand-writing was black and heavy. An expert at chirography would doubtless have +distinguished in the lines traces of a violent temperament, of a character +stern and unsocial. Suddenly, a cry escaped me—a cry that fortunately my +housekeeper did not hear. Why had I not noticed sooner the resemblance of the +handwriting to that of the letter I had received from Morganton? +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, a yet more significant coincidence, the initials with which my letter +had been signed, did they not stand for the words “Master of the +World?” +</p> + +<p> +And whence came the second letter? “On Board the +‘Terror.’” Doubtless this name was that of the triple machine +commanded by the mysterious captain. The initials in my letter were his own +signature; and it was he who had threatened me, if I dared to renew my attempt +on the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +I rose and took from my desk the letter of June thirteenth. I compared it with +the facsimile in the newspapers. There was no doubt about it. They were both in +the same peculiar hand-writing. +</p> + +<p> +My mind worked eagerly. I sought to trace the probable deductions from this +striking fact, known only to myself. The man who had threatened me was the +commander of this “Terror”—startling name, only too well +justified! I asked myself if our search could not now be prosecuted under less +vague conditions. Could we not now start our men upon a trail which would lead +definitely to success? In short, what relation existed between the +“Terror” and the Great Eyrie? What connection was there between the +phenomena of the Blueridge Mountains, arid the no less phenomenal performances +of the fantastic machine? +</p> + +<p> +I knew what my first step should be; and with the letter in my pocket, I +hastened to police headquarters. Inquiring if Mr. Ward was within and receiving +an affirmative reply, I hastened toward his door, and rapped upon it with +unusual and perhaps unnecessary vigor. Upon his call to enter, I stepped +eagerly into the room. +</p> + +<p> +The chief had spread before him the letter published in the papers, not a +facsimile, but the original itself which had been deposited in the letter-box +of the department. +</p> + +<p> +“You come as if you had important news, Strock?” +</p> + +<p> +“Judge for yourself, Mr. Ward;” and I drew from my pocket the +letter with the initials. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward took it, glanced at its face, and asked, “What is this?” +</p> + +<p> +“A letter signed only with initials, as you can see.” +</p> + +<p> +“And where was it posted?” +</p> + +<p> +“In Morganton, in North Carolina.” +</p> + +<p> +“When did you receive it?” +</p> + +<p> +“A month ago, the thirteenth of June.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did you think of it then?” +</p> + +<p> +“That it had been written as a joke.” +</p> + +<p> +“And now Strock?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think, what you will think, Mr. Ward, after you have studied +it.” +</p> + +<p> +My chief turned to the letter again and read it carefully. “It is signed +with three initials,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Mr. Ward, and those initials belong to the words, ‘Master of +the World,’ in this facsimile.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of which this is the original,” responded Mr. Ward, taking it up. +</p> + +<p> +“It is quite evident,” I urged, “that the two letters are by +the same hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems so.” +</p> + +<p> +“You see what threats are made against me, to protect the Great +Eyrie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, the threat of death! But Strock, you have had this letter for a +month. Why have you not shown it to me before?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because I attached no importance to it. Today, after the letter from the +‘Terror,’ it must be taken seriously.” +</p> + +<p> +“I agree with you. It appears to me most important. I even hope it may +prove the means of tracking this strange personage.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is what I also hope, Mr. Ward.” +</p> + +<p> +“Only what connection can possibly exist between the ‘Terror’ +and the Great Eyrie?” +</p> + +<p> +“That I do not know. I cannot even imagine.” +</p> + +<p> +“There can be but one explanation,” continued Mr. Ward, +“though it is almost inadmissible, even impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +“And that is?” +</p> + +<p> +“That the Great Eyrie was the spot selected by the inventor, where he +gathered his material.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is impossible!” cried I. “In what way would he get his +material in there? And how get his machine out? After what I have seen, Mr. +Ward, your suggestion is impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Unless, Strock—” +</p> + +<p> +“Unless what?” I demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“Unless the machine of this Master of the World has also wings, which +permit it to take refuge in the Great Eyrie.” +</p> + +<p> +At the suggestion that the “Terror,” which had searched the deeps +of the sea, might be capable also of rivaling the vultures and the eagles, I +could not restrain an expressive shrug of incredulity. Neither did Mr. Ward +himself dwell upon the extravagant hypothesis. +</p> + +<p> +He took the two letters and compared them afresh. He examined them under a +microscope, especially the signatures, and established their perfect identity. +Not only the same hand, but the same pen had written them. +</p> + +<p> +After some moments of further reflection, Mr. Ward said, “I will keep +your letter, Strock. Decidedly, I think, that you are fated to play an +important part in this strange affair or rather in these two affairs. What +thread attaches them, I cannot yet see; but I am sure the thread exists. You +have been connected with the first, and it will not be surprising if you have a +large part in the second.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope so, Mr. Ward. You know how inquisitive I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do, Strock. That is understood. Now, I can only repeat my former +order; hold yourself in readiness to leave Washington at a moment’s +warning.” +</p> + +<p> +All that day, the public excitement caused by the defiant letter mounted +steadily higher. It was felt both at the White House and at the Capitol that +public opinion absolutely demanded some action. Of course, it was difficult to +do anything. Where could one find this Master of the World? And even if he were +discovered, how could he be captured? He had at his disposal not only the +powers he had displayed, but apparently still greater resources as yet unknown. +How had he been able to reach Lake Kirdall over the rocks; and how had he +escaped from it? Then, if he had indeed appeared on Lake Superior, how had he +covered all the intervening territory unseen? +</p> + +<p> +What a bewildering affair it was altogether! This, of course, made it all the +more important to get to the bottom of it. Since the millions of dollars had +been refused, force must be employed. The inventor and his invention were not +to be bought. And in what haughty and menacing terms he had couched his +refusal! So be it! He must be treated as an enemy of society, against whom all +means became justified, that he might be deprived of his power to injure +others. The idea that he had perished was now entirely discarded. He was alive, +very much alive; and his existence constituted a perpetual public danger! +</p> + +<p> +Influenced by these ideas, the government issued the following proclamation: +</p> + +<p> +“Since the commander of the ‘Terror’ has refused to make +public his invention, at any price whatever, since the use which he makes of +his machine constitutes a public menace, against which it is impossible to +guard, the said commander of the ‘Terror’ is hereby placed beyond +the protection of the law. Any measures taken in the effort to capture or +destroy either him or his machine will be approved and rewarded.” +</p> + +<p> +It was a declaration of war, war to the death against this “Master of the +World” who thought to threaten and defy an entire nation, the American +nation! +</p> + +<p> +Before the day was over, various rewards of large amounts were promised to +anyone who revealed the hiding place of this dangerous inventor, to anyone who +could identify him, and to anyone who should rid the country of him. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the situation during the last fortnight of July. All was left to the +hazard of fortune. The moment the outlaw re-appeared he would be seen and +signaled, and when the chance came he would be arrested. This could not be +accomplished when he was in his automobile on land or in his boat on the water. +No; he must be seized suddenly, before he had any opportunity to escape by +means of that speed which no other machine could equal. +</p> + +<p> +I was therefore all alert, awaiting an order from Mr. Ward to start out with my +men. But the order did not arrive for the very good reason that the man whom it +concerned remained undiscovered. The end of July approached. The newspapers +continued the excitement. They published repeated rumors. New clues were +constantly being announced. But all this was mere idle talk. Telegrams reached +the police bureau from every part of America, each contradicting and nullifying +the others. The enormous rewards offered could not help but lead to +accusations, errors, and blunders, made, many of them, in good faith. One time +it would be a cloud of dust, which must have contained the automobile. At +another time, almost any wave on any of America’s thousand lakes +represented the submarine. In truth, in the excited state of the public +imagination, apparitions assailed us from every side. +</p> + +<p> +At last, on the twenty-ninth of July, I received a telephone message to come to +Mr. Ward on the instant. Twenty minutes later I was in his cabinet. +</p> + +<p> +“You leave in an hour, Strock,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +“Where for?” +</p> + +<p> +“For Toledo.” +</p> + +<p> +“It has been seen?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. At Toledo you will get your final orders.” +</p> + +<p> +“In an hour, my men and I will be on the way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good! And, Strock, I now give you a formal order.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is it, Mr. Ward?” +</p> + +<p> +“To succeed! This time to succeed!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>XI.<br /> +THE CAMPAIGN</h2> + +<p> +So the undiscoverable commander had reappeared upon the territory of the United +States! He had never shown himself in Europe either on the roads or in the +seas. He had not crossed the Atlantic, which apparently he could have traversed +in three days. Did he then intend to make only America the scene of his +exploits? Ought we to conclude from this that he was an American? +</p> + +<p> +Let me insist upon this point. It seemed clear that the submarine might easily +have crossed the vast sea which separates the New and the Old World. Not only +would its amazing speed have made its voyage short, in comparison to that of +the swiftest steamship, but also it would have escaped all the storms that make +the voyage dangerous. Tempests did not exist for it. It had but to abandon the +surface of the waves, and it could find absolute calm a few score feet beneath. +</p> + +<p> +But the inventor had not crossed the Atlantic, and if he were to be captured +now, it would probably be in Ohio, since Toledo is a city of that state. +</p> + +<p> +This time the fact of the machine’s appearance had been kept secret, +between the police and the agent who had warned them, and whom I was hurrying +to meet. No journal—and many would have paid high for the +chance—was printing this news. We had decided that nothing should be +revealed until our effort was at an end. No indiscretion would be committed by +either my comrades or myself. +</p> + +<p> +The man to whom I was sent with an order from Mr. Ward was named Arthur Wells. +He awaited us at Toledo. The city of Toledo stands at the western end of Lake +Erie. Our train sped during the night across West Virginia and Ohio. There was +no delay; and before noon the next day the locomotive stopped in the Toledo +depot. +</p> + +<p> +John Hart, Nab Walker and I stepped out with traveling bags in our hands, and +revolvers in our pockets. Perhaps we should need weapons for an attack, or even +to defend ourselves. Scarcely had I stepped from the train when I picked out +the man who awaited us. He was scanning the arriving passengers impatiently, +evidently as eager and full of haste as I. +</p> + +<p> +I approached him. “Mr. Wells?” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Strock?” asked he. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am at your command,” said Mr. Wells. +</p> + +<p> +“Are we to stop any time in Toledo?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No; with your permission, Mr. Strock. A carriage with two good horses is +waiting outside the station; and we must leave at once to reach our destination +as soon as possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will go at once,” I answered, signing to my two men to follow +us. “Is it far?” +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty miles.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the place is called?” +</p> + +<p> +“Black Rock Creek.” +</p> + +<p> +Having left our bags at a hotel, we started on our drive. Much to my surprise I +found there were provisions sufficient for several days packed beneath the seat +of the carriage. Mr. Wells told me that the region around Black Rock Creek was +among the wildest in the state. There was nothing there to attract either +farmers or fishermen. We would find not an inn for our meals nor a room in +which to sleep. Fortunately, during the July heat there would be no hardship +even if we had to lie one or two nights under the stars. +</p> + +<p> +More probably, however, if we were successful, the matter would not occupy us +many hours. Either the commander of the “Terror” would be surprised +before he had a chance to escape, or he would take to flight and we must give +up all hope of arresting him. +</p> + +<p> +I found Arthur Wells to be a man of about forty, large and powerful. I knew him +by reputation to be one of the best of our local police agents. Cool in danger +and enterprising always, he had proven his daring on more than one occasion at +the peril of his life. He had been in Toledo on a wholly different mission, +when chance had thrown him on the track of the “Terror.” +</p> + +<p> +We drove rapidly along the shore of Lake Erie, toward the southwest. This +inland sea of water is on the northern boundary of the United States, lying +between Canada on one side and the States of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York on +the other. If I stop to mention the geographical position of this lake, its +depth, its extent, and the waters nearest around, it is because the knowledge +is necessary for the understanding of the events which were about to happen. +</p> + +<p> +The surface of Lake Erie covers about ten thousand square miles. It is nearly +six hundred feet above sea level. It is joined on the northwest, by means of +the Detroit River, with the still greater lakes to the westward, and receives +their waters. It has also rivers of its own though of less importance, such as +the Rocky, the Cuyahoga, and the Black. The lake empties at its northeastern +end into Lake Ontario by means of Niagara River and its celebrated falls. +</p> + +<p> +The greatest known depth of Lake Erie is over one hundred and thirty feet. +Hence it will be seen that the mass of its waters is considerable. In short, +this is a region of most magnificent lakes. The land, though not situated far +northward, is exposed to the full sweep of the Arctic cold. The region to the +northward is low, and the winds of winter rush down with extreme violence. +Hence Lake Erie is sometimes frozen over from shore to shore. +</p> + +<p> +The principal cities on the borders of this great lake are Buffalo at the east, +which belongs to New York State, and Toledo in Ohio, at the west, with +Cleveland and Sandusky, both Ohio cities, at the south. Smaller towns and +villages are numerous along the shore. The traffic is naturally large, its +annual value being estimated at considerably over two million dollars. +</p> + +<p> +Our carriage followed a rough and little used road along the borders of the +lake; and as we toiled along, Arthur Wells told me, what he had learned. +</p> + +<p> +Less than two days before, on the afternoon of July twenty-seventh Wells had +been riding on horseback toward the town of Herly. Five miles outside the town, +he was riding through a little wood, when he saw, far up across the lake, a +submarine which rose suddenly above the waves. He stopped, tied his horse, and +stole on foot to the edge of the lake. There, from behind a tree he had seen +with his own eyes, seen this submarine advance toward him, and stop at the +mouth of Black Rock Creek. Was it the famous machine for which the whole world +was seeking, which thus came directly to his feet? +</p> + +<p> +When the submarine was close to the rocks, two men climbed out upon its deck +and stepped ashore. Was one of them this Master of the World, who had not been +seen since he was reported from Lake Superior? Was this the mysterious +“Terror” which had thus risen from the depths of Lake Erie? +</p> + +<p> +“I was alone,” said Wells. “Alone on the edge of the Creek. +If you and your assistants, Mr. Strock, had been there, we four against two, we +would have been able to reach these men and seize them before they could have +regained their boat and fled.” +</p> + +<p> +“Probably,” I answered. “But were there no others on the boat +with them? Still, if we had seized the two, we could at least have learned who +they were.” +</p> + +<p> +“And above all,” added Wells, “if one of them turned out to +be the captain of the ‘Terror!’” +</p> + +<p> +“I have only one fear, Wells; this submarine, whether it is the one we +seek or another, may have left the creek since your departure.” +</p> + +<p> +“We shall know about that in a few hours, now. Pray Heaven they are still +there! Then when night comes?” +</p> + +<p> +“But,” I asked, “did you remain watching in the wood until +night?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; I left after an hour’s watching, and rode straight for the +telegraph station at Toledo. I reached there late at night and sent immediate +word to Washington.” +</p> + +<p> +“That was night before last. Did you return yesterday to Black Rock +Creek?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“The submarine was still there?” +</p> + +<p> +“In the same spot.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the two men?” +</p> + +<p> +“The same two men. I judge that some accident had happened, and they came +to this lonely spot to repair it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Probably so,” said I. “Some damage which made it impossible +for them to regain their usual hiding-place. If only they are still +here!” +</p> + +<p> +“I have reason to believe they will be, for quite a lot of stuff was +taken out of the boat, and laid about upon the shore; and as well as I could +discern from a distance they seemed to be working on board.” +</p> + +<p> +“Only the two men?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only the two.” +</p> + +<p> +“But,” protested I, “can two be sufficient to handle an +apparatus of such speed, and of such intricacy, as to be at once automobile, +boat and submarine?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not, Mr. Strock; but I only saw the same two. Several times they +came to the edge of the little wood where I was hidden, and gathered sticks for +a fire which they made upon the beach. The region is so uninhabited and the +creek so hidden from the lake that they ran little danger of discovery. They +seemed to know this.” +</p> + +<p> +“You would recognize them both again?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perfectly. One was of middle size, vigorous, and quick of movement, +heavily bearded. The other was smaller, but stocky and strong. Yesterday, as +before, I left the wood about five o’clock and hurried back to Toledo. +There I found a telegram from Mr. Ward, notifying me of your coming; and I +awaited you at the station.” +</p> + +<p> +Summed up, then, the news amounted to this: For forty hours past a submarine, +presumably the one we sought, had been hidden in Black Rock Creek, engaged in +repairs. Probably these were absolutely necessary, and we should find the boat +still there. As to how the “Terror” came to be in Lake Erie, Arthur +Wells and I discussed that, and agreed that it was a very probable place for +her. The last time she had been seen was on Lake Superior. From there to Lake +Erie the machine could have come by the roads of Michigan, but since no one had +remarked its passage and as both the police and the people were specially +aroused and active in that portion of the country, it seemed more probable, +that the “Terror” had come by water. There was a clear route +through the chain of the Great Lakes and their rivers, by which in her +character of a submarine she could easily proceed undiscovered. +</p> + +<p> +And now, if the “Terror” had already left the creek, or if she +escaped when we attempted to seize her, in what direction would she turn? In +any case, there was little chance of following her. There were two +torpedo-destroyers at the port of Buffalo, at the other extremity of Lake Erie. +By treaty between the United States and Canada, there are no vessels of war +whatever on the Great Lakes. These might, however, have been little launches +belonging to the customs service. Before I left Washington Mr. Ward had +informed me of their presence; and a telegram to their commanders would, if +there were need, start them in pursuit of the “Terror.” But despite +their splendid speed, how could they vie with her! And if she plunged beneath +the waters, they would be helpless. Moreover Arthur Wells averred that in case +of a battle, the advantage would not be with the destroyers, despite their +large crews, and many guns. Hence, if we did not succeed this night, the +campaign would end in failure. +</p> + +<p> +Arthur Wells knew Black Rock Creek thoroughly, having hunted there more than +once. It was bordered in most places with sharp rocks against which the waters +of the lake beat heavily. Its channel was some thirty feet deep, so that the +“Terror” could take shelter either upon the surface or under water. +In two or three places the steep banks gave way to sand beaches which led to +little gorges reaching up toward the woods, two or three hundred feet. +</p> + +<p> +It was seven in the evening when our carriage reached these woods. There was +still daylight enough for us to see easily, even in the shade of the trees. To +have crossed openly to the edge of the creek would have exposed us to the view +of the men of the “Terror,” if she were still there, and thus give +her warning to escape. +</p> + +<p> +“Had we better stop here?” I asked Wells, as our rig drew up to the +edge of the woods. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Mr. Strock,” said he. “We had better leave the carriage +deeper in the woods, where there will be no chance whatever of our being +seen.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can the carriage drive under these trees?” +</p> + +<p> +“It can,” declared Wells. “I have already explored these +woods thoroughly. Five or six hundred feet from here, there is a little +clearing, where we will be completely hidden, and where our horses may find +pasture. Then, as soon as it is dark, we will go down to the beach, at the edge +of the rocks which shut in the mouth of the creek. Thus if the +‘Terror’ is still there, we shall stand between her and +escape.” +</p> + +<p> +Eager as we all were for action, it was evidently best to do as Wells suggested +and wait for night. The intervening time could well be occupied as he said. +Leading the horses by the bridle, while they dragged the empty carriage, we +proceeded through the heavy woods. The tall pines, the stalwart oaks, the +cypress scattered here and there, made the evening darker overhead. Beneath our +feet spread a carpet of scattered herbs, pine needles and dead leaves. Such was +the thickness of the upper foliage that the last rays of the setting sun could +no longer penetrate here. We had to feel our way; and it was not without some +knocks that the carriage reached the clearing ten minutes later. +</p> + +<p> +This clearing, surrounded by great trees, formed a sort of oval, covered with +rich grass. Here it was still daylight, and the darkness would scarcely deepen +for over an hour. There was thus time to arrange an encampment and to rest +awhile after our hard trip over the rough and rocky roads. +</p> + +<p> +Of course, we were intensely eager to approach the Creek and see if the +“Terror” was still there. But prudence restrained us. A little +patience, and the night would enable us to reach a commanding position +unsuspected. Wells urged this strongly; and despite my eagerness, I felt that +he was right. +</p> + +<p> +The horses were unharnessed, and left to browse under the care of the coachman +who had driven us. The provisions were unpacked, and John Hart and Nab Walker +spread out a meal on the grass at the foot of a superb cypress which recalled +to me the forest odors of Morganton and Pleasant Garden. We were hungry and +thirsty; and food and drink were not lacking. Then our pipes were lighted to +calm the anxious moments of waiting that remained. +</p> + +<p> +Silence reigned within the wood. The last song of the birds had ceased. With +the coming of night the breeze fell little by little, and the leaves scarcely +quivered even at the tops of the highest branches. The sky darkened rapidly +after sundown and twilight deepened into obscurity. +</p> + +<p> +I looked at my watch, it was half-past eight. “It is time, Wells.” +</p> + +<p> +“When you will, Mr. Strock.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let us start.” +</p> + +<p> +We cautioned the coachman not to let the horses stray beyond the clearing. Then +we started. Wells went in advance, I followed him, and John Hart and Nab Walker +came behind. In the darkness, we three would have been helpless without the +guidance of Wells. Soon we reached the farther border of the woods; and before +us stretched the banks of Black Rock Creek. +</p> + +<p> +All was silent; all seemed deserted. We could advance without risk. If the +“Terror” was there, she had cast anchor behind the rocks. But was +she there? That was the momentous question! As we approached the denouement of +this exciting affair, my heart was in my throat. +</p> + +<p> +Wells motioned to us to advance. The sand of the shore crunched beneath our +steps. The two hundred feet between us and the mouth of the Creek were crossed +softly, and a few minutes sufficed to bring us to the rocks at the edge of the +lake. +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing! Nothing! +</p> + +<p> +The spot where Wells had left the “Terror” twenty-four hours before +was empty. The “Master of the World” was no longer at Black Rock +Creek. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>XII.<br /> +BLACK ROCK CREEK</h2> + +<p> +Human nature is prone to illusions. Of course, there had been all along a +probability that the “Terror” had deserted the locality, even +admitting that it was she Wells had seen the previous day. If some damage to +her triple system of locomotion had prevented her from regaining either by land +or by water her usual hiding-place, and obliged her to seek refuge in Black +Rock Creek, what ought we to conclude now upon finding her here no longer? +Obviously, that, having finished her repairs, she had continued on her way, and +was already far beyond the waters of Lake Erie. +</p> + +<p> +But probable as this result had been from the first, we had more and more +ignored it as our trip proceeded. We had come to accept as a fact that we +should meet the “Terror,” that we should find her anchored at the +base of the rocks where Wells had seen her. +</p> + +<p> +And now what disappointment! I might even say, what despair! All our efforts +gone for nothing! Even if the “Terror” was still upon the lake, to +find her, reach her and capture her, was beyond our power, and it might as well +be fully recognized beyond all human power. +</p> + +<p> +We stood there, Wells and I, completely crushed, while John Hart and Nab +Walker, no less chagrined, went tramping along the banks of the Creek, seeking +any trace that had been left behind. +</p> + +<p> +Posted there, at the mouth of the Creek, Wells and I exchanged scarcely a word. +What need was there of words to enable us to understand each other! After our +eagerness and our despair, we were now exhausted. Defeated in our well-planned +attempt, we felt as unwilling to abandon our campaign, as we were unable to +continue it. +</p> + +<p> +Nearly an hour slipped by. We could not resolve to leave the place. Our eyes +still sought to pierce the night. Sometimes a glimmer, due to the sparkle of +the waters, trembled on the surface of the lake. Then it vanished, and with it +the foolish hope that it had roused. Sometimes again, we thought we saw a +shadow outlined against the dark, the silhouette of an approaching boat. Yet +again some eddies would swirl up at our feet, as if the Creek had been stirred +within its depths. These vain imaginings were dissipated one after the other. +They were but the illusions raised by our strained fancies. +</p> + +<p> +At length our companions rejoined us. My first question was, “Nothing +new?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing,” said John Hart. +</p> + +<p> +“You have explored both banks of the Creek?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” responded Nab Walker, “as far as the shallow water +above; and we have not seen even a vestige of the things which Mr. Wells saw +laid on the shore.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let us wait awhile,” said I, unable to resolve upon a return to +the woods. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment our attention was caught by a sudden agitation of the waters, +which swelled upward at the foot of the rocks. +</p> + +<p> +“It is like the swell from a vessel,” said Wells. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said I, instinctively lowering my voice. “What has +caused it? The wind has completely died out. Does it come from something on the +surface of the lake?” +</p> + +<p> +“Or from something underneath,” said Wells, bending forward, the +better to determine. +</p> + +<p> +The commotion certainly seemed as if caused by some boat, whether from beneath +the water, or approaching the creek from outside upon the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Silent, motionless, we strained eyes and ears to pierce the profound obscurity. +The faint noise of the waves of the lake lapping on the shore beyond the creek, +came to us distinctly through the night. John Hart and Nab Walker drew a little +aside upon a higher ridge of rocks. As for me, I leaned close to the water to +watch the agitation. It did not lessen. On the contrary it became momentarily +more evident, and I began to distinguish a sort of regular throbbing, like that +produced by a screw in motion. +</p> + +<p> +“There is no doubt,” declared Wells, leaning close to me, +“there is a boat coming toward us.” +</p> + +<p> +“There certainly is,” responded I, “unless they have whales +or sharks in Lake Erie.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, it is a boat,” repeated Wells. “Is she headed toward the +mouth of the creek, or is she going further up it?” +</p> + +<p> +“This is just where you saw the boat twice before?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, just here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then if this is the same one, and it can be no other, she will probably +return to the same spot.” +</p> + +<p> +“There!” whispered Wells, extending his hand toward the entrance of +the creek. +</p> + +<p> +Our companions rejoined us, and all four, crouching low upon the bank, peered +in the direction he pointed. +</p> + +<p> +We vaguely distinguished a black mass moving through the darkness. It advanced +very slowly and was still outside the creek, upon the lake, perhaps a +cable’s length to the northeast. We could scarcely hear even now the +faint throbbing of its engines. Perhaps they had stopped and the boat was only +gliding forward under their previous impulse. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed, then, that this was indeed the submarine which Wells had watched, +and it was returning to pass this night, like the last, within the shelter of +the creek. +</p> + +<p> +Why had it left the anchorage, if only to return? Had it suffered some new +disaster, which again impaired its power? Or had it been before compelled to +leave, with its repairs still unfinished? What cause constrained it to return +here? Was there some imperious reason why it could no longer be turned into an +automobile, and go darting away across the roads of Ohio? +</p> + +<p> +To all these questions which came crowding upon me, I could give no answer. +Furthermore both Wells and I kept reasoning under the assumption that this was +really the “Terror” commanded by the “Master of the +World” who had dated from it his letter of defiance to the government. +Yet this premise was still unproven, no matter how confident we might feel of +it. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever boat this was, that stole so softly through the night, it continued to +approach us. Assuredly its captain must know perfectly the channels and shores +of Black Rock Creek, since he ventured here in such darkness. Not a light +showed upon the deck. Not a single ray from within the cabin glimmered through +any crevice. +</p> + +<p> +A moment later, we heard some machinery moving very softly. The swell of the +eddies grew stronger, and in a few moments the boat touched the quay. +</p> + +<p> +This word “quay,” only used in that region, exactly describes the +spot. The rocks at our feet formed a level, five or six feet above the water, +and descending to it perpendicularly, exactly like a landing wharf. +</p> + +<p> +“We must not stop here,” whispered Wells, seizing me by the arm. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I answered, “they might see us. We must lie crouched +upon the beach! Or we might hide in some crevice of the rocks.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will follow you.” +</p> + +<p> +There was not a moment to lose. The dark mass was now close at hand, and on its +deck, but slightly raised above the surface of the water, we could trace the +silhouettes of two men. +</p> + +<p> +Were there, then, really only two on board? +</p> + +<p> +We stole softly back to where the ravines rose toward the woods above. Several +niches in the rocks were at hand. Wells and I crouched down in one, my two +assistants in another. If the men on the “Terror” landed, they +could not see us; but we could see them, and would be able to act as +opportunity offered. +</p> + +<p> +There were some slight noises from the boat, a few words exchanged in our own +language. It was evident that the vessel was preparing to anchor. Then almost +instantly, a rope was thrown out, exactly on the point of the quay where we had +stood. +</p> + +<p> +Leaning forward, Wells could discern that the rope was seized by one of the +mariners, who had leaped ashore. Then we heard a grappling-iron scrape along +the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Some moments later, steps crunched upon the sand. Two men came up the ravine, +and went onward toward the edge of the woods, guiding their steps by a ship +lantern. +</p> + +<p> +Where were they going? Was Black Rock Creek a regular hiding place of the +“Terror?” Had her commander a depot here for stores or provisions? +Did they come here to restock their craft, when the whim of their wild voyaging +brought them to this part of the continent? Did they know this deserted, +uninhabited spot so well, that they had no fear of ever being discovered here? +</p> + +<p> +“What shall we do?” whispered Wells. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait till they return, and then—” My words were cut short by +a surprise. The men were not thirty feet from us, when, one of them chancing to +turn suddenly, the light of their lantern fell full upon his face. +</p> + +<p> +He was one of the two men who had watched before my house in Long Street! I +could not be mistaken! I recognized him as positively as my old servant had +done. It was he; it was assuredly one of the spies of whom I had never been +able to find any further traces! There was no longer any doubt, my warning +letter had come from them. It was therefore from the “Master of the +World”; it had been written from the “Terror” and this was +the “Terror.” Once more I asked myself what could be the +connection between this machine and the Great Eyrie! +</p> + +<p> +In whispered words, I told Wells of my discovery. His only comment was, +“It is all incomprehensible!” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the two men had continued on their way to the woods, and were +gathering sticks beneath the trees. “What if they discover our +encampment?” murmured Wells. +</p> + +<p> +“No danger, if they do not go beyond the nearest trees.” +</p> + +<p> +“But if they do discover it?” +</p> + +<p> +“They will hurry back to their boat, and we shall be able to cut off +their retreat.” +</p> + +<p> +Toward the creek, where their craft lay, there was no further sound. I left my +hiding-place; I descended the ravine to the quay; I stood on the very spot +where the grappling-iron was fast among the rocks. +</p> + +<p> +The “Terror” lay there, quiet at the end of its cable. Not a light +was on board; not a person visible, either on the deck, or on the bank. Was not +this my opportunity? Should I leap on board and there await the return of the +two men? +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Strock!” It was Wells, who called to me softly from close at +hand. +</p> + +<p> +I drew back in all haste and crouched down beside him. Was it too late to take +possession of the boat? Or would the attempt perhaps result in disaster from +the presence of others watching on board? +</p> + +<p> +At any rate, the two men with the lantern were close at hand returning down the +ravine. Plainly they suspected nothing. Each carrying a bundle of wood, they +came forward and stopped upon the quay. +</p> + +<p> +Then one of them raised his voice, though not loudly. “Hullo! +Captain!” +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” answered a voice from the boat. +</p> + +<p> +Wells murmured in my ear, “There are three!” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps four,” I answered, “perhaps five or six!” +</p> + +<p> +The situation grew more complicated. Against a crew so numerous, what ought we +to do? The least imprudence might cost us dear! Now that the two men had +returned, would they re-embark with their faggots? Then would the boat leave +the creek, or would it remain anchored until day? If it withdrew, would it not +be lost to us? It could leave the waters of Lake Erie, and cross any of the +neighboring states by land; or it could retrace its road by the Detroit River +which would lead it to Lake Huron and the Great Lakes above. Would such an +opportunity as this, in the narrow waters of Black Rock Creek, ever occur +again! +</p> + +<p> +“At least,” said I to Wells, “we are four. They do not expect +attack; they will be surprised. The result is in the hands of +Providence.” +</p> + +<p> +I was about to call our two men, when Wells again seized my arm. +“Listen!” said he. +</p> + +<p> +One of the men hailed the boat, and it drew close up to the rocks. We heard the +Captain say to the two men ashore, “Everything is all right, up +there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Everything, Captain.” +</p> + +<p> +“There are still two bundles of wood left there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Two.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then one more trip will bring them all on board the +‘Terror.’” +</p> + +<p> +The “Terror!” It WAS she! +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; just one more trip,” answered one of the men. +</p> + +<p> +“Good; then we will start off again at daybreak.” +</p> + +<p> +Were there then but three of them on board? The Captain, this Master of the +World, and these two men? +</p> + +<p> +Evidently they planned to take aboard the last of their wood. Then they would +withdraw within their machine, and go to sleep. Would not that be the time to +surprise them, before they could defend themselves? +</p> + +<p> +Rather than to attempt to reach and capture the ship in face of this resolute +Captain who was guarding it, Wells and I agreed that it was better to let his +men return unassailed, and wait till they were all asleep. +</p> + +<p> +It was now half an hour after ten. Steps were once more heard upon the shore. +The man with a lantern and his companion, again remounted the ravine toward the +woods. When they were safely beyond hearing, Wells went to warn our men, while +I stole forward again to the very edge of the water. +</p> + +<p> +The “Terror” lay at the end of a short cable. As well as I could +judge, she was long and slim, shaped like a spindle, without chimney, without +masts, without rigging, such a shape as had been described when she was seen on +the coast of New England. +</p> + +<p> +I returned to my place, with my men in the shelter of the ravine; and we looked +to our revolvers, which might well prove of service. +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes had passed since the men reached the woods, and we expected their +return at any moment. After that, we must wait at least an hour before we made +our attack; so that both the Captain and his comrades might be deep in sleep. +It was important that they should have not a moment either to send their craft +darting out upon the waters of Lake Erie, or to plunge it beneath the waves +where we would have been entrapped with it. +</p> + +<p> +In all my career I have never felt such impatience. It seemed to me that the +two men must have been detained in the woods. Something had barred their +return. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a loud noise was heard, the tumult of run-away horses, galloping +furiously along the shore! +</p> + +<p> +They were our own, which, frightened, and perhaps neglected by the driver, had +broken away from the clearing, and now came rushing along the bank. +</p> + +<p> +At the same moment, the two men reappeared, and this time they were running +with all speed. Doubtless they had discovered our encampment, and had at once +suspected that there were police hidden in the woods. They realized that they +were watched, they were followed, they would be seized. So they dashed +recklessly down the ravine, and after loosening the cable, they would doubtless +endeavor to leap aboard. The “Terror” would disappear with the +speed of a meteor, and our attempt would be wholly defeated! +</p> + +<p> +“Forward,” I cried. And we scrambled down the sides of the ravine +to cut off the retreat of the two men. +</p> + +<p> +They saw us and, on the instant, throwing down their bundles, fired at us with +revolvers, hitting John Hart in the leg. +</p> + +<p> +We fired in our turn, but less successfully. The men neither fell nor faltered +in their course. Reaching the edge of the creek, without stopping to unloose +the cable, they plunged overboard, and in a moment were clinging to the deck of +the “Terror.” +</p> + +<p> +Their captain, springing forward, revolver in hand, fired. The ball grazed +Wells. +</p> + +<p> +Nab Walker and I seizing the cable, pulled the black mass of the boat toward +shore. Could they cut the rope in time to escape us? +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the grappling-iron was torn violently from the rocks. One of its hooks +caught in my belt, while Walker was knocked down by the flying cable. I was +entangled by the iron and the rope and dragged forward— +</p> + +<p> +The “Terror,” driven by all the power of her engines, made a single +bound and darted out across Black Rock Creek. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>XIII.<br /> +ON BOARD THE TERROR</h2> + +<p> +When I came to my senses it was daylight. A half light pierced the thick glass +port-hole of the narrow cabin wherein someone had placed me—how many +hours ago, I could not say! Yet it seemed to me by the slanting rays, that the +sun could not be very far above the horizon. +</p> + +<p> +I was resting in a narrow bunk with coverings over me. My clothes, hanging in a +corner, had been dried. My belt, torn in half by the hook of the iron, lay on +the floor. +</p> + +<p> +I felt no wound nor injury, only a little weakness. If I had lost +consciousness, I was sure it had not been from a blow. My head must have been +drawn beneath the water, when I was tangled in the cable. I should have been +suffocated, if someone had not dragged me from the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Now, was I on board the “Terror?” And was I alone with the Captain +and his two men? This seemed probable, almost certain. The whole scene of our +encounter rose before my eyes, Hart lying wounded upon the bank; Wells firing +shot after shot, Walker hurled down at the instant when the grappling hook +caught my belt! And my companions? On their side, must not they think that I +had perished in the waters of Lake Erie? +</p> + +<p> +Where was the “Terror” now, and how was it navigating? Was it +moving as an automobile? Speeding across the roads of some neighboring State? +If so, and if I had been unconscious for many hours, the machine with its +tremendous powers must be already far away. Or, on the other hand, were we, as +a submarine, following some course beneath the lake? +</p> + +<p> +No, the “Terror” was moving upon some broad liquid surface. The +sunlight, penetrating my cabin, showed that the window was not submerged. On +the other hand, I felt none of the jolting that the automobile must have +suffered even on the smoothest highway. Hence the “Terror” was not +traveling upon land. +</p> + +<p> +As to deciding whether she was still traversing Lake Erie, that was another +matter. Had not the Captain reascended the Detroit River, and entered Lake +Huron, or even Lake Superior beyond? It was difficult to say. +</p> + +<p> +At any rate I decided to go up on deck. From there I might be able to judge. +Dragging myself somewhat heavily from the bunk, I reached for my clothes and +dressed, though without much energy. Was I not probably locked within this +cabin? +</p> + +<p> +The only exit seemed by a ladder and hatchway above my head. The hatch rose +readily to my hand, and I ascended half way on deck. +</p> + +<p> +My first care was to look forward, backward, and on both sides of the speeding +“Terror.” Everywhere a vast expanse of waves! Not a shore in +sight! Nothing but the horizon formed by sea and sky! +</p> + +<p> +Whether it was a lake or the ocean I could easily settle. As we shot forward at +such speed the water cut by the bow, rose furiously upward on either side, and +the spray lashed savagely against me. +</p> + +<p> +I tasted it. It was fresh water, and very probably that of Lake Erie. The sun +was but midway toward the zenith so it could scarcely be more than seven or +eight hours since the moment when the “Terror” had darted from +Black Rock Creek. +</p> + +<p> +This must therefore be the following morning, that of the thirty-first of July. +</p> + +<p> +Considering that Lake Erie is two hundred and twenty miles long, and over fifty +wide, there was no reason to be surprised that I could see no land, neither +that of the United States to the southeast nor of Canada to the northwest. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment there were two men on the deck, one being at the bow on the +look-out, the other in the stern, keeping the course to the northeast, as I +judged by the position of the sun. The one at the bow was he whom I had +recognized as he ascended the ravine at Black Rock. The second was his +companion who had carried the lantern. I looked in vain for the one whom they +had called Captain. He was not in sight. +</p> + +<p> +It will be readily appreciated how eager was my desire to stand in the presence +of the creator of these prodigious machines of this fantastic personage who +occupied and preoccupied the attention of all the world, the daring inventor +who did not fear to engage in battle against the entire human race, and who +proclaimed himself “Master of the World.” +</p> + +<p> +I approached the man on the look-out, and after a minute of silence I asked +him, “Where is the Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +He looked at me through half-closed eyes. He seemed not to understand me. Yet I +knew, having heard him the night before, that he spoke English. Moreover, I +noticed that he did not appear surprised to see me out of my cabin. Turning his +back upon me, he continued to search the horizon. +</p> + +<p> +I stepped then toward the stern, determined to ask the same question about the +Captain. But when I approached the steersman, he waved me away with his hand, +and I obtained no other response. +</p> + +<p> +It only remained for me to study this craft, from which we had been repelled +with revolver shots, when we had seized upon its anchor rope. +</p> + +<p> +I therefore set leisurely to work to examine the construction of this machine, +which was carrying me—whither? The deck and the upper works were all made +of some metal which I did not recognize. In the center of the deck, a scuttle +half raised covered the room where the engines were working regularly and +almost silently. As I had seen before, neither masts, nor rigging! Not even a +flagstaff at the stern! Toward the bow there arose the top of a periscope by +which the “Terror” could be guided when beneath the water. +</p> + +<p> +On the sides were folded back two sort of outshoots resembling the gangways on +certain Dutch boats. Of these I could not understand the use. +</p> + +<p> +In the bow there rose a third hatch-way which presumably covered the quarters +occupied by the two men when the “Terror” was at rest. +</p> + +<p> +At the stern a similar hatch gave access probably to the cabin of the captain, +who remained unseen. When these different hatches were shut down, they had a +sort of rubber covering which closed them hermetically tight, so that the water +could not reach the interior when the boat plunged beneath the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +As to the motor, which imparted such prodigious speed to the machine, I could +see nothing of it, nor of the propeller. However, the fast speeding boat left +behind it only a long, smooth wake. The extreme fineness of the lines of the +craft, caused it to make scarcely any waves, and enabled it to ride lightly +over the crest of the billows even in a rough sea. +</p> + +<p> +As was already known, the power by which the machine was driven, was neither +steam nor gasoline, nor any of those similar liquids so well known by their +odor, which are usually employed for automobiles and submarines. No doubt the +power here used was electricity, generated on board, at some high power. +Naturally I asked myself whence comes this electricity, from piles, or from +accumulators? But how were these piles or accumulators charged? Unless, indeed, +the electricity was drawn directly from the surrounding air or from the water, +by processes hitherto unknown. And I asked myself with intense eagerness if in +the present situation, I might be able to discover these secrets. +</p> + +<p> +Then I thought of my companions, left behind on the shore of Black Rock Creek. +One of them, I knew, was wounded; perhaps the others were also. Having seen me +dragged overboard by the hawser, could they possibly suppose that I had been +rescued by the “Terror?” Surely not! Doubtless the news of my +death had already been telegraphed to Mr. Ward from Toledo. And now who would +dare to undertake a new campaign against this “Master of the +World”? +</p> + +<p> +These thoughts occupied my mind as I awaited the captain’s appearance on +the deck. He did not appear. +</p> + +<p> +I soon began to feel very hungry; for I must have fasted now nearly twenty-four +hours. I had eaten nothing since our hasty meal in the woods, even if that had +been the night before. And judging by the pangs which now assailed my stomach, +I began to wonder if I had not been snatched on board the “Terror” +two days before,—or even more. +</p> + +<p> +Happily the question if they meant to feed me, and how they meant to feed me, +was solved at once. The man at the bow left his post, descended, and +reappeared. Then, without saying a word, he placed some food before me and +returned to his place. Some potted meat, dried fish, sea-biscuit, and a pot of +ale so strong that I had to mix it with water, such was the meal to which I did +full justice. My fellow travelers had doubtless eaten before I came out of the +cabin, and they did not join me. +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing further to attract my eyes, and I sank again into thought. +How would this adventure finish? Would I see this invisible captain at length, +and would he restore me to liberty? Could I regain it in spite of him? That +would depend on circumstances! But if the “Terror” kept thus far +away from the shore, or if she traveled beneath the water, how could I escape +from her? Unless we landed, and the machine became an automobile, must I not +abandon all hope of escape? +</p> + +<p> +Moreover—why should I not admit it?—to escape without having +learned anything of the “Terror’s” secrets would not have +contented me at all. Although I could not thus far flatter myself upon the +success of my campaign, and though I had come within a hairbreadth of losing my +life and though the future promised far more of evil than of good, yet after +all, a step forward had been attained. To be sure, if I was never to be able to +re-enter into communication with the world, if, like this Master of the World +who had voluntarily placed himself outside the law, I was now placed outside +humanity, then the fact that I had reached the “Terror” would have +little value. +</p> + +<p> +The craft continued headed to the northeast, following the longer axis of Lake +Erie. She was advancing at only half speed; for, had she been doing her best, +she must some hours before have reached the northeastern extremity of the lake. +</p> + +<p> +At this end Lake Erie has no other outlet than the Niagara River, by which it +empties into Lake Ontario. Now, this river is barred by the famous cataract +some fifteen miles beyond the important city of Buffalo. Since the +“Terror” had not retreated by the Detroit River, down which she had +descended from the upper lakes, how was she to escape from these waters, unless +indeed she crossed by land? +</p> + +<p> +The sun passed the meridian. The day was beautiful; warm but not unpleasantly +so, thanks to the breeze made by our passage. The shores of the lake continued +invisible on both the Canadian and the American side. +</p> + +<p> +Was the captain determined not to show himself? Had he some reason for +remaining unknown? Such a precaution would indicate that he intended to set me +at liberty in the evening, when the “Terror” could approach the +shore unseen. +</p> + +<p> +Toward two o’clock, however, I heard a slight noise; the central hatchway +was raised. The man I had so impatiently awaited appeared on deck. +</p> + +<p> +I must admit he paid no more attention to me, than his men had done. Going to +the stern, he took the helm. The man whom he had relieved, after a few words in +a low tone, left the deck, descending by the forward hatchway. The captain, +having scanned the horizon, consulted the compass, and slightly altered our +course. The speed of the “Terror” increased. +</p> + +<p> +This man, so interesting both to me and to the world, must have been some years +over fifty. He was of middle height, with powerful shoulders still very erect; +a strong head, with thick hair rather gray than white, smooth shaven cheeks, +and a short, crisp beard. His chest was broad, his jaw prominent, and he had +that characteristic sign of tremendous energy, bushy eyebrows drawn sharply +together. Assuredly he possessed a constitution of iron, splendid health, and +warm red blood beneath his sun burned skin. +</p> + +<p> +Like his companions the captain was dressed in sea-clothes covered by an +oil-skin coat, and with a woolen cap which could be pulled down to cover his +head entirely, when he so desired. +</p> + +<p> +Need I add that the captain of the “Terror” was the other of the +two men, who had watched my house in Long street. Moreover, if I recognized +him, he also must recognize me as chief-inspector Strock, to whom had been +assigned the task of penetrating the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +I looked at him curiously. On his part, while he did not seek to avoid my eyes, +he showed at least a singular indifference to the fact that he had a stranger +on board. +</p> + +<p> +As I watched him, the idea came to me, a suggestion which I had not connected +with the first view of him in Washington, that I had already seen this +characteristic figure. Was it in one of the photographs held in the police +department, or was it merely a picture in some shop window? But the remembrance +was very vague. Perhaps I merely imagined it. +</p> + +<p> +Well, though his companions had not had the politeness to answer me, perhaps he +would be more courteous. He spoke the same language as I, although I could not +feel quite positive that he was of American birth. He might indeed have decided +to pretend not to understand me, so as to avoid all discussion while he held me +prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +In that case, what did he mean to do with me? Did he intend to dispose of me +without further ceremony? Was he only waiting for night to throw me overboard? +Did even the little which I knew of him, make me a danger of which he must rid +himself? But in that case, he might better have left me at the end of his +anchor line. That would have saved him the necessity of drowning me over again. +</p> + +<p> +I turned, I walked to the stern, I stopped full in front of him. Then, at +length, he fixed full upon me a glance that burned like a flame. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you the captain?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +He was silent. +</p> + +<p> +“This boat! Is it really the ‘Terror?’” +</p> + +<p> +To this question also there was no response. Then I reached toward him; I would +have taken hold of his arm. +</p> + +<p> +He repelled me without violence, but with a movement that suggested tremendous +restrained power. +</p> + +<p> +Planting myself again before him, I demanded in a louder tone, “What do +you mean to do with me?” +</p> + +<p> +Words seemed almost ready to burst from his lips, which he compressed with +visible irritation. As though to check his speech he turned his head aside. His +hand touched a regulator of some sort, and the machine rapidly increased its +speed. +</p> + +<p> +Anger almost mastered me. I wanted to cry out “So be it! Keep your +silence! I know who you are, just as I know your machine, recognized at +Madison, at Boston, at Lake Kirdall. Yes; it is you, who have rushed so +recklessly over our roads, our seas and our lakes! Your boat is the +‘Terror’ and you her commander, wrote that letter to the +government. It is you who fancy you can fight the entire world. You, who call +yourself the Master of the World!” +</p> + +<p> +And how could he have denied it! I saw at that moment the famous initials +inscribed upon the helm! +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately I restrained myself; and despairing of getting any response to my +questions, I returned to my seat near the hatchway of my cabin. +</p> + +<p> +For long hours, I patiently watched the horizon in the hope that land would +soon appear. Yes, I sat waiting! For I was reduced to that! Waiting! No doubt, +before the day closed, the “Terror” must reach the end of Lake +Erie, since she continued her course steadily to the northeast. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>XIV.<br /> +NIAGARA</h2> + +<p> +The hours passed, and the situation did not change. The steersman returned on +deck, and the captain, descending, watched the movement of the engines. Even +when our speed increased, these engines continued working without noise, and +with remarkable smoothness. There was never one of those inevitable breaks, +with which in most motors the pistons sometimes miss a stroke. I concluded that +the “Terror,” in each of its transformations must be worked by +rotary engines. But I could not assure myself of this. +</p> + +<p> +For the rest, our direction did not change. Always we headed toward the +northeast end of the lake, and hence toward Buffalo. +</p> + +<p> +Why, I wondered, did the captain persist in following this route? He could not +intend to stop at Buffalo, in the midst of a crowd of boats and shipping of +every kind. If he meant to leave the lake by water, there was only the Niagara +River to follow; and its Falls would be impassable, even to such a machine as +this. The only escape was by the Detroit River, and the “Terror” +was constantly leaving that farther behind. +</p> + +<p> +Then another idea occurred to me. Perhaps the captain was only waiting for +night to return to the shore of the lake. There, the boat, changed to an +automobile, would quickly cross the neighboring States. If I did not succeed in +making my escape, during this passage across the land, all hope of regaining my +liberty would be gone. +</p> + +<p> +True, I might learn where this Master of the World hid himself. I might learn +what no one had yet been able to discover, assuming always that he did not +dispose of me at one time or another—and what I expected his +“disposal” would be, is easily comprehended. +</p> + +<p> +I knew the northeast end of Lake Erie well, having often visited that section +of New York State which extends westward from Albany to Buffalo. Three years +before, a police mission had led me to explore carefully the shores of the +Niagara River, both above and below the cataract and its Suspension Bridge. I +had visited the two principal islands between Buffalo and the little city of +Niagara Falls, I had explored Navy Island and also Goat Island, which separates +the American falls from those of the Canadian side. +</p> + +<p> +Thus if an opportunity for flight presented itself, I should not find myself in +an unknown district. But would this chance offer? And at heart, did I desire +it, or would I seize upon it? What secrets still remained in this affair in +which good fortune or was it evil fortune—had so closely entangled me! +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, I saw no real reason to suppose that there was any chance of +my reaching the shores of the Niagara River. The “Terror” would +surely not venture into this trap which had no exit. Probably she would not +even go to the extremity of the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Such were the thoughts that spun through my excited brain, while my eyes +remained fixed upon the empty horizon. +</p> + +<p> +And always one persistent question remained insolvable. Why had the captain +written to me personally that threatening letter? Why had he spied upon me in +Washington? What bond attached him to the Great Eyrie? There might indeed be +subterranean canals which gave him passage to Lake Kirdall, but could he pierce +the impenetrable fortress of the Eyrie? No! That was beyond him! +</p> + +<p> +Toward four o’clock in the afternoon, reckoning by the speed of the +“Terror” and her direction, I knew we must be approaching Buffalo; +and indeed, its outlines began to show some fifteen miles ahead. During our +passage, a few boats had been seen, but we had passed them at a long distance, +a distance which our captain could easily keep as great as he pleased. +Moreover, the “Terror” lay so low upon the water, that at even a +mile away it would have been difficult to discover her. +</p> + +<p> +Now, however, the hills encircling the end of Lake Erie, came within vision, +beyond Buffalo, forming the sort of funnel by which Lake Erie pours its waters +into the channel of the Niagara river. Some dunes rose on the right, groups of +trees stood out here and there. In the distance, several freight steamers and +fishing smacks appeared. The sky became spotted with trails of smoke, which +were swept along by a light eastern breeze. +</p> + +<p> +What was our captain thinking of in still heading toward the port of Buffalo! +Did not prudence forbid him to venture further? At each moment, I expected that +he would give a sweep of the helm and turn away toward the western shore of the +lake. Or else, I thought, he would prepare to plunge beneath the surface. But +this persistence in holding our bow toward Buffalo was impossible to +understand! +</p> + +<p> +At length the helmsman, whose eyes were watching the northeastern shore, made a +sign to his companion. The latter, leaving the bow, went to the central +hatchway, and descended into the engine room. Almost immediately the captain +came on deck, and joining the helmsman, spoke with him in a low voice. +</p> + +<p> +The latter, extending his hand toward Buffalo, pointed out two black spots, +which showed five or six miles distant on the starboard side. The captain +studied them attentively. Then shrugging his shoulders, he seated himself at +the stern without altering the course of the “Terror.” +</p> + +<p> +A quarter of an hour later, I could see plainly that there were two smoke +clouds at the point they had studied so carefully. Little by little the black +spots beneath these became more defined. They were two long, low steamers, +which, coming from the port of Buffalo, were approaching rapidly. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly it struck me that these were the two torpedo destroyers of which Mr. +Ward had spoken, and which I had been told to summon in case of need. +</p> + +<p> +These destroyers were of the newest type, the swiftest boats yet constructed in +the country. Driven by powerful engines of the latest make, they had covered +almost thirty miles an hour. It is true, the “Terror” commanded an +even greater speed, and always, if she were surrounded so that flight was +impossible, she could submerge herself out of reach of all pursuit. In truth, +the destroyers would have had to be submarines to attack the +“Terror” with any chance of success. And I know not, if even in +that case, the contest would have been equal. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, it seemed to me evident that the commanders of the two ships had +been warned, perhaps by Mr. Wells who, returning swiftly to Toledo, might have +telegraphed to them the news of our defeat. It appeared, moreover, that they +had seen the “Terror,” for they were headed at full speed toward +her. Yet our captain, seemingly giving them no thought whatever, continued his +course toward the Niagara River. +</p> + +<p> +What would the torpedo destroyers do? Presumably, they would maneuver so as to +seek to shut the “Terror” within the narrowing end of the lake +where the Niagara offered her no passage. +</p> + +<p> +Our captain now took the helm. One of the men was at the bow, the other in the +engine room. Would the order be given for me to go down into the cabin? +</p> + +<p> +It was not, to my extreme satisfaction. To speak frankly, no one paid any +attention to me. It was as if I had not been on board. I watched, therefore, +not without mixed emotions, the approach of the destroyers. Less than two miles +distant now they separated in such a way as to hold the “Terror” +between their fires. +</p> + +<p> +As to the Master of the World, his manner indicated only the most profound +disdain. He seemed sure that these destroyers were powerless against him. With +a touch to his machinery he could distance them, no matter what their speed! +With a few turns of her engine, the “Terror” would dart beyond +their cannon shots! Or, in the depths of the lake, what projectiles could find +the submarine? +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes later, scarcely a mile separated us from the two powerful fighters +which pursued us. Our captain permitted them to approach still closer. Then he +pressed upon a handle. The “Terror,” doubling the action of her +propellers, leaped across the surface of the lake. She played with the +destroyers! Instead of turning in flight, she continued her forward course. Who +knew if she would not even have the audacity to pass between her two enemies, +to coax them after her, until the hour when, as night closed in, they would be +forced to abandon the useless pursuit! +</p> + +<p> +The city of Buffalo was now in plain view on the border of the lake. I saw its +huge buildings, its church towers, its grain elevators. Only four or five miles +ahead, Niagara river opened to the northward. +</p> + +<p> +Under these new conditions which way should I turn? When we passed in front of +the destroyers, or perhaps between them, should I not throw myself into the +waters? I was a good swimmer, and such a chance might never occur again. The +captain could not stop to recapture me. By diving could I not easily escape, +even from a bullet? I should surely be seen by one or other of the pursuers. +Perhaps, even, their commanders had been warned of my presence on board the +“Terror.” Would not a boat be sent to rescue me? +</p> + +<p> +Evidently my chance of success would be even greater, if the +“Terror” entered the narrow waters of Niagara River. At Navy Island +I would be able to set foot on territory that I knew well. But to suppose that +our captain would rush into this river where he might be swept over the great +cataract! That seemed impossible! I resolved to await the destroyers’ +closest approach and at the last moment I would decide. +</p> + +<p> +Yet my resolution to escape was but half-hearted. I could not resign myself +thus to lose all chance of following up this mystery. My instincts as a police +official revolted. I had but to reach out my hand in order to seize this man +who had been outlawed! Should I let him escape me! No! I would not save myself! +Yet, on the other hand, what fate awaited me, and where would I be carried by +the “Terror,” if I remained on board? +</p> + +<p> +It was a quarter past six. The destroyers, quivering and trembling under the +strain of their speed, gained on us perceptibly. They were now directly astern, +leaving between them a distance of twelve or fifteen cable lengths. The +“Terror,” without increasing her speed, saw one of them approach on +the port side, the other to starboard. +</p> + +<p> +I did not leave my place. The man at the bow was close by me. Immovable at the +helm, his eyes burning beneath his contracted brows, the captain waited. He +meant, perhaps, to finish the chase by one last maneuver. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, a puff of smoke rose from the destroyer on our left. A projectile, +brushing the surface of the water, passed in front of the “Terror,” +and sped beyond the destroyer on our right. +</p> + +<p> +I glanced around anxiously. Standing by my side, the lookout seemed to await a +sign from the captain. As for him, he did not even turn his head; and I shall +never forget the expression of disdain imprinted on his visage. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment, I was pushed suddenly toward the hatchway of my cabin, which +was fastened above me. At the same instant the other hatchways were closed; the +deck became watertight. I heard a single throb of the machinery, and the plunge +was made, the submarine disappeared beneath the waters of the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Cannon shot still boomed above us. Their heavy echo reached my ear; then +everything was peace. Only a faint light penetrated through the porthole into +my cabin. The submarine, without the least rolling or pitching, sped silently +through the deeps. +</p> + +<p> +I had seen with what rapidity, and also with what ease the transformation of +the “Terror” had been made. No less easy and rapid, perhaps, would +be her change to an automobile. +</p> + +<p> +And now what would this Master of the World do? Presumably he would change his +course, unless, indeed, he preferred to speed to land, and there continue his +route along the roads. It still seemed more probable, however, that he would +turn back toward the west, and after distancing the destroyers, regain the +Detroit River. Our submersion would probably only last long enough to escape +out of cannon range, or until night forbade pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +Fate, however, had decreed a different ending to this exciting chase. Scarce +ten minutes had passed when there seemed some confusion on board. I heard rapid +words exchanged in the engine room. The steadily moving machinery became noisy +and irregular. At once I suspected that some accident compelled the submarine +to reascend. +</p> + +<p> +I was not mistaken. In a moment, the semi-obscurity of my cabin was pierced by +sunshine. The “Terror” had risen above water. I heard steps on the +deck, and the hatchways were re-opened, including mine. I sprang up the ladder. +</p> + +<p> +The captain had resumed his place at the helm, while the two men were busy +below. I looked to see if the destroyers were still in view. Yes! Only a +quarter of a mile away! The “Terror” had already been seen, and the +powerful vessels which enforced the mandates of our government were swinging +into position to give chase. Once more the “Terror” sped in the +direction of Niagara River. +</p> + +<p> +I must confess, I could make nothing of this maneuver. Plunging into a +cul-de-sac, no longer able to seek the depths because of the accident, the +“Terror” might, indeed, temporarily distance her pursuers; but she +must find her path barred by them when she attempted to return. Did she intend +to land, and if so, could she hope to outrun the telegrams which would warn +every police agency of her approach? +</p> + +<p> +We were now not half a mile ahead. The destroyers pursued us at top speed, +though being now directly behind, they were in poor position for using their +guns. Our captain seemed content to keep this distance; though it would have +been easy for him to increase it, and then at nightfall, to dodge back behind +the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +Already Buffalo had disappeared on our right, and a little after seven +o’clock the opening of the Niagara River appeared ahead. If he entered +there, knowing that he could not return, our captain must have lost his mind! +And in truth was he not insane, this man who proclaimed himself, who believed +himself, Master of the World? +</p> + +<p> +I watched him there, calm, impassive not even turning his head to note the +progress of the destroyers and I wondered at him. +</p> + +<p> +This end of the lake was absolutely deserted. Freight steamers bound for the +towns on the banks of the upper Niagara are not numerous, as its navigation is +dangerous. Not one was in sight. Not even a fishing-boat crossed the path of +the “Terror.” Even the two destroyers would soon be obliged to +pause in their pursuit, if we continued our mad rush through these dangerous +waters. +</p> + +<p> +I have said that the Niagara River flows between New York and Canada. Its +width, of about three quarters of a mile, narrows as it approaches the falls. +Its length, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is about fifteen leagues. It flows +in a northerly direction, until it empties the waters of Lake Superior, +Michigan, Huron, and Erie into Ontario, the last lake of this mighty chain. The +celebrated falls, which occur in the midst of this great river have a height of +over a hundred and fifty feet. They are called sometimes the Horse-shoe Falls, +because they curve inward like the iron shoe. The Indians have given them the +name of “Thunder of Waters,” and in truth a mighty thunder roars +from them without cessation, and with a tumult which is heard for several miles +away. +</p> + +<p> +Between Lake Erie, and the little city of Niagara Falls, two islands divide the +current of the river, Navy Island, a league above the cataract, and Goat +Island, which separates the American and the Canadian Falls. Indeed, on the +lower point of this latter isle stood once that “Terrapin Tower” so +daringly built in the midst of the plunging waters on the very edge of the +abyss. It has been destroyed; for the constant wearing away of the stone +beneath the cataract makes the ledge move with the ages slowly up the river, +and the tower has been drawn into the gulf. +</p> + +<p> +The town of Fort Erie stands on the Canadian shore at the entrance of the +river. Two other towns are set along the banks above the falls, Schlosser on +the right bank, and Chippewa on the left, located on either side of Navy +Island. It is at this point that the current, bound within a narrower channel, +begins to move at tremendous speed, to become two miles further on, the +celebrated cataract. +</p> + +<p> +The “Terror” had already passed Fort Erie. The sun in the west +touched the edge of the Canadian horizon, and the moon, faintly seen, rose +above the mists of the south. Darkness would not envelop us for another hour. +</p> + +<p> +The destroyers, with huge clouds of smoke streaming from their funnels, +followed us a mile behind. They sped between banks green with shade trees and +dotted with cottages which lay among lovely gardens. +</p> + +<p> +Obviously the “Terror” could no longer turn back. The destroyers +shut her in completely. It is true their commanders did not know, as I did, +that an accident to her machinery had forced her to the surface, and that it +was impossible for her to escape them by another plunge. Nevertheless, they +continued to follow, and would assuredly maintain their pursuit to the very +last. +</p> + +<p> +I marveled at the intrepidity of their chase through these dangerous waters. I +marveled still more at the conduct of our captain. Within a half hour now, his +course would be barred by the cataract. No matter how perfect his machine, it +could not escape the power of the great falls. If the current once mastered our +engines, we should inevitably disappear in the gulf nearly two hundred feet +deep which the waters have dug at the base of the falls! Perhaps, however, our +captain had still power to turn to one of the shores and flee by the automobile +routes. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of this excitement, what action should I take personally? Should I +attempt to gain the shores of Navy Island, if we indeed advanced that far? If I +did not seize this chance, never, after what I had learned of his secrets, +never would the Master of the World restore me to liberty. +</p> + +<p> +I suspected, however, that my flight was no longer possible. If I was not +confined within my cabin, I no longer remained unwatched. While the captain +retained his place at the helm, his assistant by my side never removed his eyes +from me. At the first movement, I should be seized and locked within my room. +For the present, my fate was evidently bound up with that of the +“Terror.” +</p> + +<p> +The distance which separated us from the two destroyers was now growing rapidly +less. Soon they were but a few cable-lengths away. Could the motor of the +“Terror,” since the accident, no longer hold its speeds? Yet the +captain showed not the least anxiety, and made no effort to reach land! +</p> + +<p> +We could hear the hissing of the steam which escaped from the valves of the +destroyers, to mingle with the streamers of black smoke. But we heard, even +more plainly, the roar of the cataract, now less than three miles away. +</p> + +<p> +The “Terror” took the left branch of the river in passing Navy +Island. At this point, she was within easy reach of the shore, yet she shot +ahead. Five minutes later, we could see the first trees of Goat Island. The +current became more and more irresistible. If the “Terror” did not +stop, the destroyers could not much longer follow her. If it pleased our +accursed captain to plunge us into the vortex of the falls, surely they did not +mean to follow into the abyss! +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, at this moment they signaled each other, and stopped the pursuit. They +were scarce more than six hundred feet from the cataract. Then their thunders +burst on the air and several cannon shot swept over the “Terror” +without hitting its low-lying deck. +</p> + +<p> +The sun had set, and through the twilight the moon’s rays shone upon us +from the south. The speed of our craft, doubled by the speed of the current, +was prodigious! In another moment, we should plunge into that black hollow +which forms the very center of the Canadian Falls. +</p> + +<p> +With an eye of horror, I saw the shores of Goat Island flashed by, then came +the Isles of the Three Sisters, drowned in the spray from the abyss. +</p> + +<p> +I sprang up; I started to throw myself into the water, in the desperate hope of +gaining this last refuge. One of the men seized me from behind. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a sharp noise was heard from the mechanism which throbbed within our +craft. The long gangways folded back on the sides of the machine, spread out +like wings, and at the moment when the “Terror” reached the very +edge of the falls, she arose into space, escaping from the thundering cataract +in the center of a lunar rainbow. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>XV.<br /> +THE EAGLE’S NEST</h2> + +<p> +On the morrow, when I awoke after a sound sleep, our vehicle seemed motionless. +It seemed to me evident that we were not running upon land. Yet neither were we +rushing through or beneath the waters; nor yet soaring across the sky. Had the +inventor regained that mysterious hiding-place of his, where no human being had +ever set foot before him? +</p> + +<p> +And now, since he had not disembarrassed himself of my presence, was his secret +about to be revealed to me? +</p> + +<p> +It seemed astonishing that I had slept so profoundly during most of our voyage +through the air. It puzzled me and I asked if this sleep had not been caused by +some drug, mixed with my last meal, the captain of the “Terror” +having wished thus to prevent me from knowing the place where we landed. All +that I can recall of the previous night is the terrible impression made upon me +by that moment when the machine, instead of being caught in the vortex of the +cataract rose under the impulse of its machinery like a bird with its huge +wings beating with tremendous power! +</p> + +<p> +So this machine actually fulfilled a four-fold use! It was at the same time +automobile, boat, submarine, and airship. Earth, sea and air,—it could +move through all three elements! And with what power! With what speed! A few +instants sufficed to complete its marvelous transformations. The same engine +drove it along all its courses! And I had been a witness of its metamorphoses! +But that of which I was still ignorant, and which I could perhaps discover, was +the source of the energy which drove the machine, and above all, who was the +inspired inventor who, after having created it, in every detail, guided it with +so much ability and audacity! +</p> + +<p> +At the moment when the “Terror” rose above the Canadian Falls, I +was held down against the hatchway of my cabin. The clear, moonlit evening had +permitted me to note the direction taken by the air-ship. It followed the +course of the river and passed the Suspension Bridge three miles below the +falls. It is here that the irresistible rapids of the Niagara River begin, +where the river bends sharply to descend toward Lake Ontario. +</p> + +<p> +On leaving this point, I was sure that we had turned toward the east. The +captain continued at the helm. I had not addressed a word to him. What good +would it do? He would not have answered. I noted that the “Terror” +seemed to be guided in its course through the air with surprising ease. +Assuredly the roads of the air were as familiar to it as those of the seas and +of the lands! +</p> + +<p> +In the presence of such results, could one not understand the enormous pride of +this man who proclaimed himself Master of the World? Was he not in control of a +machine infinitely superior to any that had ever sprung from the hand of man, +and against which men were powerless? In truth, why should he sell this marvel? +Why should he accept the millions offered him? Yes, I comprehended now that +absolute confidence in himself which was expressed in his every attitude. And +where might not his ambition carry him, if by its own excess it mounted some +day into madness! +</p> + +<p> +A half hour after the “Terror” soared into the air, I had sunk into +complete unconsciousness, without realizing its approach. I repeat, it must +have been caused by some drug. Without doubt, our commander did not wish me to +know the road he followed. +</p> + +<p> +Hence I cannot say whether the aviator continued his flight through space, or +whether the mariner sailed the surface of some sea or lake, or the chauffeur +sped across the American roads. No recollection remains with me of what passed +during that night of July thirty-first. +</p> + +<p> +Now, what was to follow from this adventure? And especially concerning myself, +what would be its end? +</p> + +<p> +I have said that at the moment when I awoke from my strange sleep, the +“Terror” seemed to me completely motionless. I could hardly be +mistaken; whatever had been her method of progress, I should have felt some +movement, even in the air. I lay in my berth in the cabin, where I had been +shut in without knowing it, just as I had been on the preceding night which I +had passed on board the “Terror” on Lake Erie. +</p> + +<p> +My business now was to learn if I would be allowed to go on deck here where the +machine had landed. I attempted to raise the hatchway. It was fastened. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said I, “am I to be kept here until the +‘Terror’ recommences its travels?” Was not that, indeed, the +only time when escape was hopeless? +</p> + +<p> +My impatience and anxiety may be appreciated. I knew not how long this halt +might continue. +</p> + +<p> +I had not a quarter of an hour to wait. A noise of bars being removed came to +my ear. The hatchway was raised from above. A wave of light and air penetrated +my cabin. +</p> + +<p> +With one bound I reached the deck. My eyes in an instant swept round the +horizon. +</p> + +<p> +The “Terror,” as I had thought, rested quiet on the ground. She was +in the midst of a rocky hollow measuring from fifteen to eighteen hundred feet +in circumference. A floor of yellow gravel carpeted its entire extent, +unrelieved by a single tuft of herbage. +</p> + +<p> +This hollow formed an almost regular oval, with its longer diameter extending +north and south. As to the surrounding-wall, what was its height, what the +character of its crest, I could not judge. Above us was gathered a fog so +heavy, that the rays of the sun had not yet pierced it. Heavy trails of cloud +drifted across the sandy floor. Doubtless the morning was still young, and this +mist might later be dissolved. +</p> + +<p> +It was quite cold here, although this was the first day of August. I concluded +therefore that we must be far in the north, or else high above sea-level. We +must still be somewhere on the New Continent; though where, it was impossible +to surmise. Yet no matter how rapid our flight had been, the air-ship could not +have traversed either ocean in the dozen hours since our departure from +Niagara. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment, I saw the captain come from an opening in the rocks, probably a +grotto, at the base of this cliff hidden in the fog. Occasionally, in the mists +above, appeared the shadows of huge birds. Their raucous cries were the sole +interruption to the profound silence. Who knows if they were not affrighted by +the arrival of this formidable, winged monster, which they could not match +either in might or speed. +</p> + +<p> +Everything led me to believe that it was here that the Master of the World +withdrew in the intervals between his prodigious journeys. Here was the garage +of his automobile; the harbor of his boat; the hangar of his air-ship. +</p> + +<p> +And now the “Terror” stood motionless at the bottom of this hollow. +At last I could examine her; and it looked as if her owners had no intention of +preventing me. The truth is that the commander seemed to take no more notice of +my presence than before. His two companions joined him, and the three did not +hesitate to enter together into the grotto I had seen. What a chance to study +the machine, at least its exterior! As to its inner parts, probably I should +never get beyond conjecture. +</p> + +<p> +In fact, except for that of my cabin, the hatchways were closed; and it would +be vain for me to attempt to open them. At any rate, it might be more +interesting to find out what kind of propeller drove the “Terror” +in these many transformations. +</p> + +<p> +I jumped to the ground and found I was left at leisure, to proceed with this +first examination. +</p> + +<p> +The machine was as I have said spindle-shaped. The bow was sharper than the +stern. The body was of aluminium, the wings of a substance whose nature I could +not determine. The body rested on four wheels, about two feet in diameter. +These had pneumatic tires so thick as to assure ease of movement at any speed. +Their spokes spread out like paddles or battledores; and when the +“Terror” moved either on or under the water, they must have +increased her pace. +</p> + +<p> +These wheels were not however, the principal propeller. This consisted of two +“Parsons” turbines placed on either side of the keel. Driven with +extreme rapidity by the engine, they urged the boat onward in the water by twin +screws, and I even questioned if they were not powerful enough to propel the +machine through the air. +</p> + +<p> +The chief aerial support, however, was that of the great wings, now again in +repose, and folded back along the sides. Thus the theory of the “heavier +than air” flying machine was employed by the inventor, a system which +enabled him to dart through space with a speed probably superior to that of the +largest birds. +</p> + +<p> +As to the agent which set in action these various mechanisms, I repeat, it was, +it could be, no other than electricity. But from what source did his batteries +get their power? Had he somewhere an electric factory, to which he must return? +Were the dynamos, perhaps working in one of the caverns of this hollow? +</p> + +<p> +The result of my examination was that, while I could see that the machine used +wheels and turbine screws and wings, I knew nothing of either its engine, nor +of the force which drove it. To be sure, the discovery of this secret would be +of little value to me. To employ it I must first be free. And after what I +knew—little as that really was—the Master of the World would never +release me. +</p> + +<p> +There remained, it is true, the chance of escape. But would an opportunity ever +present itself? If there could be none during the voyages of the +“Terror,” might there possibly be, while we remained in this +retreat? +</p> + +<p> +The first question to be solved was the location of this hollow. What +communication did it have with the surrounding region? Could one only depart +from it by a flying-machine? And in what part of the United States were we? Was +it not reasonable to estimate, that our flight through the darkness had covered +several hundred leagues? +</p> + +<p> +There was one very natural hypothesis which deserved to be considered, if not +actually accepted. What more natural harbor could there be for the +“Terror” than the Great Eyrie? Was it too difficult a flight for +our aviator to reach the summit? Could he not soar anywhere that the vultures +and the eagles could? Did not that inaccessible Eyrie offer to the Master of +the World just such a retreat as our police had been unable to discover, one in +which he might well believe himself safe from all attacks? Moreover, the +distance between Niagara Falls and this part of the Blueridge Mountains, did +not exceed four hundred and fifty miles, a flight which would have been easy +for the “Terror.” +</p> + +<p> +Yes, this idea more and more took possession of me. It crowded out a hundred +other unsupported suggestions. Did not this explain the nature of the bond +which existed between the Great Eyrie and the letter which I had received with +our commander’s initials? And the threats against me if I renewed the +ascent! And the espionage to which I had been subjected! And all the phenomena +of which the Great Eyrie had been the theater, were they not to be attributed +to this same cause—though what lay behind the phenomena was not yet +clear? Yes, the Great Eyrie! The Great Eyrie! +</p> + +<p> +But since it had been impossible for me to penetrate here, would it not be +equally impossible for me to get out again, except upon the +“Terror?” Ah, if the mists would but lift! Perhaps I should +recognize the place. What was as yet a mere hypothesis, would become a starting +point to act upon. +</p> + +<p> +However, since I had freedom to move about, since neither the captain nor his +men paid any heed to me, I resolved to explore the hollow. The three of them +were all in the grotto toward the north end of the oval. Therefore I would +commence my inspection at the southern end. +</p> + +<p> +Reaching the rocky wall, I skirted along its base and found it broken by many +crevices; above, arose more solid rocks of that feldspar of which the chain of +the Alleghanies largely consists. To what height the rock wall rose, or what +was the character of its summit, was still impossible to see. I must wait until +the sun had scattered the mists. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime, I continued to follow along the base of the cliff. None of its +cavities seemed to extend inward to any distance. Several of them contained +debris from the hand of man, bits of broken wood, heaps of dried grasses. On +the ground were still to be seen the footprints that the captain and his men +must have left, perhaps months before, upon the sand. +</p> + +<p> +My jailers, being doubtless very busy in their cabin, did not show themselves +until they had arranged and packed several large bundles. Did they purpose to +carry those on board the “Terror?” And were they packing up with +the intention of permanently leaving their retreat? +</p> + +<p> +In half an hour my explorations were completed and I returned toward the +center. Here and there were heaped up piles of ashes, bleached by weather. +There were fragments of burned planks and beams; posts to which clung rusted +iron-work; armatures of metal twisted by fire; all the remnants of some +intricate mechanism destroyed by the flames. +</p> + +<p> +Clearly at some period not very remote the hollow had been the scene of a +conflagration, accidental or intentional. Naturally I connected this with the +phenomena observed at the Great Eyrie, the flames which rose above the crest, +the noises which had so frightened the people of Pleasant Garden and Morganton. +But of what mechanisms were these the fragments, and what reason had our +captain for destroying them? +</p> + +<p> +At this moment I felt a breath of air; a breeze came from the east. The sky +swiftly cleared. The hollow was filled with light from the rays of the sun +which appeared midway between the horizon and the zenith. +</p> + +<p> +A cry escaped me! The crest of the rocky wall rose a hundred feet above me. And +on the eastern side was revealed that easily recognizable pinnacle, the rock +like a mounting eagle. It was the same that had held the attention of Mr. Elias +Smith and myself, when we had looked up at it from the outer side of the Great +Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +Thus there was no further doubt. In its flight during the night the airship had +covered the distance between Lake Erie and North Carolina. It was in the depth +of this Eyrie that the machine had found shelter! This was the nest, worthy of +the gigantic and powerful bird created by the genius of our captain! The +fortress whose mighty walls none but he could scale! Perhaps even, he had +discovered in the depths of some cavern, some subterranean passage by which he +himself could quit the Great Eyrie, leaving the “Terror” safely +sheltered within. +</p> + +<p> +At last I saw it all! This explained the first letter sent me from the Great +Eyrie itself with the threat of death. If we had been able to penetrate into +this hollow, who knows if the secrets of the Master of the World might not have +been discovered before he had been able to set them beyond our reach? +</p> + +<p> +I stood there, motionless; my eyes fixed on that mounting eagle of stone, prey +to a sudden, violent emotion. Whatsoever might be the consequences to myself, +was it not my duty to destroy this machine, here and now, before it could +resume its menacing flight of mastery across the world! +</p> + +<p> +Steps approached behind me. I turned. The inventor stood by my side, and +pausing looked me in the face. +</p> + +<p> +I was unable to restrain myself; the words burst forth—“The Great +Eyrie! The Great Eyrie!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Inspector Strock.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you! You are the Master of the World?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of that world to which I have already proved myself to be the most +powerful of men.” +</p> + +<p> +“You!” I reiterated, stupefied with amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“I,” responded he, drawing himself up in all his pride, “I, +Robur—Robur, the Conqueror!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>XVI.<br /> +ROBUR, THE CONQUEROR</h2> + +<p> +Robur, the Conqueror! This then was the likeness I had vaguely recalled. Some +years before the portrait of this extraordinary man had been printed in all the +American newspapers, under date of the thirteenth of June, the day after this +personage had made his sensational appearance at the meeting of the Weldon +Institute at Philadelphia. +</p> + +<p> +I had noted the striking character of the portrait at the time; the square +shoulders; the back like a regular trapezoid, its longer side formed by that +geometrical shoulder line; the robust neck; the enormous spheroidal head. The +eyes at the least emotion, burned with fire, while above them were the heavy, +permanently contracted brows, which signified such energy. The hair was short +and crisp, with a glitter as of metal in its lights. The huge breast rose and +fell like a blacksmith’s forge; and the thighs, the arms and hands, were +worthy of the mighty body. The narrow beard was the same also, with the smooth +shaven cheeks which showed the powerful muscles of the jaw. +</p> + +<p> +And this was Robur the Conqueror, who now stood before me, who revealed himself +to me, hurling forth his name like a threat, within his own impenetrable +fortress! +</p> + +<p> +Let me recall briefly the facts which had previously drawn upon Robur the +Conqueror the attention of the entire world. The Weldon Institute was a club +devoted to aeronautics under the presidency of one of the chief personages of +Philadelphia, commonly called Uncle Prudent. Its secretary was Mr. Phillip +Evans. The members of the Institute were devoted to the theory of the +“lighter than air” machine; and under their two leaders were +constructing an enormous dirigible balloon, the “Go-Ahead.” +</p> + +<p> +At a meeting in which they were discussing the details of the construction of +their balloon, this unknown Robur had suddenly appeared and, ridiculing all +their plans, had insisted that the only true solution of flight lay with the +heavier than air machines, and that he had proven this by constructing one. +</p> + +<p> +He was in this turn doubted and ridiculed by the members of the club, who +called him in mockery Robur the Conqueror. In the tumult that followed, +revolver shots were fired; and the intruder disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +That same night he had by force abducted the president and the secretary of the +club, and had taken them, much against their will upon a voyage in the +wonderful air-ship, the “Albatross,” which he had constructed. He +meant thus to prove to them beyond argument the correctness of his assertions. +This ship, a hundred feet long, was upheld in the air by a large number of +horizontal screws and was driven forward by vertical screws at its bow and +stern. It was managed by a crew of at least half a dozen men, who seemed +absolutely devoted to their leader, Robur. +</p> + +<p> +After a voyage almost completely around the world, Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans +managed to escape from the “Albatross” after a desperate struggle. +They even managed to cause an explosion on the airship, destroying it, and +involving the inventor and all his crew in a terrific fall from the sky into +the Pacific ocean. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans then returned to Philadelphia. They had learned that +the “Albatross” had been constructed on an unknown isle of the +Pacific called Island X; but since the location of this hiding-place was wholly +unknown, its discovery lay scarcely within the bounds of possibility. Moreover, +the search seemed entirely unnecessary, as the vengeful prisoners were quite +certain that they had destroyed their jailers. +</p> + +<p> +Hence the two millionaires, restored to their homes, went calmly on with the +construction of their own machine, the “Go-Ahead.” They hoped by +means of it to soar once more into the regions they had traversed with Robur, +and to prove to themselves that their lighter than air machine was at least the +equal of the heavy “Albatross.” If they had not persisted, they +would not have been true Americans. +</p> + +<p> +On the twentieth of April in the following year the “Go-Ahead” was +finished and the ascent was made, from Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. I myself +was there with thousands of other spectators. We saw the huge balloon rise +gracefully; and, thanks to its powerful screws, it maneuvered in every +direction with surprising ease. Suddenly a cry was heard, a cry repeated from a +thousand throats. Another airship had appeared in the distant skies and it now +approached with marvelous rapidity. It was another “Albatross,” +perhaps even superior to the first. Robur and his men had escaped death in the +Pacific; and, burning for revenge, they had constructed a second airship in +their secret Island X. +</p> + +<p> +Like a gigantic bird of prey, the “Albatross” hurled itself upon +the “Go-Ahead.” Doubtless, Robur, while avenging himself wished +also to prove the immeasurable superiority of the heavier than air machines. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans defended themselves as best they could. Knowing that +their balloon had nothing like the horizontal speed of the +“Albatross,” they attempted to take advantage of their superior +lightness and rise above her. The “Go-Ahead,” throwing out all her +ballast, soared to a height of over twenty thousand feet. Yet even there the +“Albatross” rose above her, and circled round her with ease. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly an explosion was heard. The enormous gas-bag of the +“Go-Ahead,” expanding under the dilation of its contents at this +great height, had finally burst. +</p> + +<p> +Half-emptied, the balloon fell rapidly. +</p> + +<p> +Then to our universal astonishment, the “Albatross” shot down after +her rival, not to finish the work of destruction but to bring rescue. Yes! +Robur, forgetting his vengeance, rejoined the sinking “Go-Ahead,” +and his men lifted Mr. Prudent, Mr. Evans, and the aeronaut who accompanied +them, onto the platform of his craft. Then the balloon, being at length +entirely empty, fell to its destruction among the trees of Fairmount Park. +</p> + +<p> +The public was overwhelmed with astonishment, with fear! Now that Robur had +recaptured his prisoners, how would he avenge himself? Would they be carried +away, this time, forever? +</p> + +<p> +The “Albatross” continued to descend, as if to land in the clearing +at Fairmount Park. But if it came within reach, would not the infuriated crowd +throw themselves upon the airship, tearing both it and its inventor to pieces? +</p> + +<p> +The “Albatross” descended within six feet of the ground. I remember +well the general movement forward with which the crowd threatened to attack it. +Then Robur’s voice rang out in words which even now I can repeat almost +as he said them: +</p> + +<p> +“Citizens of the United States, the president and the secretary of the +Weldon Institute are again in my power. In holding them prisoners I would but +be exercising my natural right of reprisal for the injuries they have done me. +But the passion and resentment which have been roused both in them and you by +the success of the ‘Albatross,’ show that the souls of men are not +yet ready for the vast increase of power which the conquest of the air will +bring to them. Uncle Prudent, Phillip Evans, you are free.” +</p> + +<p> +The three men rescued from the balloon leaped to the ground. The airship rose +some thirty feet out of reach, and Robur recommenced: +</p> + +<p> +“Citizens of the United States, the conquest of the air is made; but it +shall not be given into your hands until the proper time. I leave, and I carry +my secret with me. It will not be lost to humanity, but shall be entrusted to +them when they have learned not to abuse it. Farewell, Citizens of the United +States!” +</p> + +<p> +Then the “Albatross” rose under the impulse of its mighty screws, +and sped away amidst the hurrahs of the multitude. +</p> + +<p> +I have ventured to remind my readers of this last scene somewhat in detail, +because it seemed to reveal the state of mind of the remarkable personage who +now stood before me. Apparently he had not then been animated by sentiments +hostile to humanity. He was content to await the future; though his attitude +undeniably revealed the immeasurable confidence which he had in his own genius, +the immense pride which his almost superhuman powers had aroused within him. +</p> + +<p> +It was not astonishing, moreover, that this haughtiness had little by little +been aggravated to such a degree that he now presumed to enslave the entire +world, as his public letter had suggested by its significant threats. His +vehement mind had with time been roused to such over-excitement that he might +easily be driven into the most violent excesses. +</p> + +<p> +As to what had happened in the years since the last departure of the +“Albatross,” I could only partly reconstruct this even with my +present knowledge. It had not sufficed the prodigious inventor to create a +flying machine, perfect as that was! He had planned to construct a machine +which could conquer all the elements at once. Probably in the workshops of +Island X, a selected body of devoted workmen had constructed, one by one, the +pieces of this marvelous machine, with its quadruple transformation. Then the +second “Albatross” must have carried these pieces to the Great +Eyrie, where they had been put together, within easier access of the world of +men than the far-off island had permitted. The “Albatross” itself +had apparently been destroyed, whether by accident or design, within the eyrie. +The “Terror” had then made its appearance on the roads of the +United States and in the neighboring waters. And I have told under what +conditions, after having been vainly pursued across Lake Erie, this remarkable +masterpiece had risen through the air carrying me a prisoner on board. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>XVII.<br /> +IN THE NAME OF THE LAW</h2> + +<p> +What was to be the issue of this remarkable adventure? Could I bring it to any +denouement whatever, either sooner or later? Did not Robur hold the results +wholly in his own hands? Probably I would never have such an opportunity for +escape as had occurred to Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans amid the islands of the +Pacific. I could only wait. And how long might the waiting last! +</p> + +<p> +To be sure, my curiosity had been partly satisfied. But even now I knew only +the answer to the problems of the Great Eyrie. Having at length penetrated its +circle, I comprehended all the phenomena observed by the people of the +Blueridge Mountains. I was assured that neither the country-folk throughout the +region, nor the townfolk of Pleasant Garden and Morganton were in danger of +volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. No subterranean forces whatever were +battling within the bowels of the mountains. No crater had arisen in this +corner of the Alleghanies. The Great Eyrie served merely as the retreat of +Robur the Conqueror. This impenetrable hiding-place where he stored his +materials and provisions, had without doubt been discovered by him during one +of his aerial voyages in the “Albatross.” It was a retreat +probably even more secure than that as yet undiscovered Island X in the +Pacific. +</p> + +<p> +This much I knew of him; but of this marvelous machine of his, of the secrets +of its construction and propelling force, what did I really know? Admitting +that this multiple mechanism was driven by electricity, and that this +electricity was, as we knew it had been in the “Albatross,” +extracted directly from the surrounding air by some new process, what were the +details of its mechanism? I had not been permitted to see the engine; doubtless +I should never see it. +</p> + +<p> +On the question of my liberty I argued thus: Robur evidently intends to remain +unknown. As to what he intends to do with his machine, I fear, recalling his +letter, that the world must expect from it more of evil than of good. At any +rate, the incognito which he has so carefully guarded in the past he must mean +to preserve in the future. Now only one man can establish the identity of the +Master of the World with Robur the Conqueror. This man is I his prisoner, I who +have the right to arrest him, I, who ought to put my hand on his shoulder, +saying, “In the Name of the Law—” +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, could I hope for a rescue from without? Evidently not. The +police authorities must know everything that had happened at Black Rock Creek. +Mr. Ward, advised of all the incidents, would have reasoned on the matter as +follows: when the “Terror” quitted the creek dragging me at the end +of her hawser, I had either been drowned or, since my body had not been +recovered, I had been taken on board the “Terror,” and was in the +hands of its commander. +</p> + +<p> +In the first case, there was nothing more to do than to write +“deceased” after the name of John Strock, chief inspector of the +federal police in Washington. +</p> + +<p> +In the second case, could my confreres hope ever to see me again? The two +destroyers which had pursued the “Terror” into the Niagara River +had stopped, perforce, when the current threatened to drag them over the falls. +At that moment, night was closing in, and what could be thought on board the +destroyers but that the “Terror” had been engulfed in the abyss of +the cataract? It was scarce possible that our machine had been seen when, amid +the shades of night, it rose above the Horseshoe Falls, or when it winged its +way high above the mountains on its route to the Great Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +With regard to my own fate, should I resolve to question Robur? Would he +consent even to appear to hear me? Was he not content with having hurled at me +his name? Would not that name seem to him to answer everything? +</p> + +<p> +That day wore away without bringing the least change to the situation. Robur +and his men continued actively at work upon the machine, which apparently +needed considerable repair. I concluded that they meant to start forth again +very shortly, and to take me with them. It would, however, have been quite +possible to leave me at the bottom of the Eyrie. There would have been no way +by which I could have escaped, and there were provisions at hand sufficient to +keep me alive for many days. +</p> + +<p> +What I studied particularly during this period was the mental state of Robur. +He seemed to me under the dominance of a continuous excitement. What was it +that his ever-seething brain now meditated? What projects was he forming for +the future? Toward what region would he now turn? Would he put in execution the +menaces expressed in his letter—the menaces of a madman! +</p> + +<p> +The night of that first day, I slept on a couch of dry grass in one of the +grottoes of the Great Eyrie. Food was set for me in this grotto each succeeding +day. On the second and third of August, the three men continued at their work +scarcely once, however, exchanging any words, even in the midst of their +labors. When the engines were all repaired to Robur’s satisfaction, the +men began putting stores aboard their craft, as if expecting a long absence. +Perhaps the “Terror” was about to traverse immense distances; +perhaps even, the captain intended to regain his Island X, in the midst of the +Pacific. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes I saw him wander about the Eyrie buried in thought, or he would stop +and raise his arm toward heaven as if in defiance of that God with Whom he +assumed to divide the empire of the world. Was not his overweening pride +leading him toward insanity? An insanity which his two companions, hardly less +excited than he, could do nothing to subdue! Had he not come to regard himself +as mightier than the elements which he had so audaciously defied even when he +possessed only an airship, the “Albatross?” And now, how much more +powerful had he become, when earth, air and water combined to offer him an +infinite field where none might follow him! +</p> + +<p> +Hence I had much to fear from the future, even the most dread catastrophes. It +was impossible for me to escape from the Great Eyrie, before being dragged into +a new voyage. After that, how could I possibly get away while the +“Terror” sped through the air or the ocean? My only chance must be +when she crossed the land, and did so at some moderate speed. Surely a distant +and feeble hope to cling to! +</p> + +<p> +It will be recalled that after our arrival at the Great Eyrie, I had attempted +to obtain some response from Robur, as to his purpose with me; but I had +failed. On this last day I made another attempt. +</p> + +<p> +In the afternoon I walked up and down before the large grotto where my captors +were at work. Robur, standing at the entrance, followed me steadily with his +eyes. Did he mean to address me? +</p> + +<p> +I went up to him. “Captain,” said I, “I have already asked +you a question, which you have not answered. I ask it again: What do you intend +to do with me?” +</p> + +<p> +We stood face to face scarce two steps apart. With arms folded, he glared at +me, and I was terrified by his glance. Terrified, that is the word! The glance +was not that of a sane man. Indeed, it seemed to reflect nothing whatever of +humanity within. +</p> + +<p> +I repeated my question in a more challenging tone. For an instant I thought +that Robur would break his silence and burst forth. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you intend to do with me? Will you set me free?” +</p> + +<p> +Evidently my captor’s mind was obsessed by some other thought, from which +I had only distracted him for a moment. He made again that gesture which I had +already observed; he raised one defiant arm toward the zenith. It seemed to me +as if some irresistible force drew him toward those upper zones of the sky, +that he belonged no more to the earth, that he was destined to live in space; a +perpetual dweller in the clouds. +</p> + +<p> +Without answering me, without seeming to have understood me, Robur reentered +the grotto. +</p> + +<p> +How long this sojourn or rather relaxation of the “Terror” in the +Great Eyrie was to last, I did not know. I saw, however, on the afternoon of +this third of August that the repairs and the embarkation of stores were +completed. The hold and lockers of our craft must have been completely crowded +with the provisions taken from the grottoes of the Eyrie. +</p> + +<p> +Then the chief of the two assistants, a man whom I now recognized as that John +Turner who had been mate of the “Albatross,” began another labor. +With the help of his companion, he dragged to the center of the hollow all that +remained of their materials, empty cases, fragments of carpentry, peculiar +pieces of wood which clearly must have belonged to the “Albatross,” +which had been sacrificed to this new and mightier engine of locomotion. +Beneath this mass there lay a great quantity of dried grasses. The thought came +to me that Robur was preparing to leave this retreat forever! +</p> + +<p> +In fact, he could not be ignorant that the attention of the public was now +keenly fixed upon the Great Eyrie; and that some further attempt was likely to +be made to penetrate it. Must he not fear that some day or other the effort +would be successful, and that men would end by invading his hiding-place? Did +he not wish that they should find there no single evidence of his occupation? +</p> + +<p> +The sun disappeared behind the crests of the Blueridge. His rays now lighted +only the very summit of Black Dome towering in the northwest. Probably the +“Terror” awaited only the night in order to begin her flight. The +world did not yet know that the automobile and boat could also transform itself +into a flying machine. Until now, it had never been seen in the air. And would +not this fourth transformation be carefully concealed, until the day when the +Master of the World chose to put into execution his insensate menaces? +</p> + +<p> +Toward nine o’clock profound obscurity enwrapped the hollow. Not a star +looked down on us. Heavy clouds driven by a keen eastern wind covered the +entire sky. The passage of the “Terror” would be invisible, not +only in our immediate neighborhood, but probably across all the American +territory and even the adjoining seas. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment Turner, approaching the huge stack in the middle of the eyrie, +set fire to the grass beneath. +</p> + +<p> +The whole mass flared up at once. From the midst of a dense smoke, the roaring +flames rose to a height which towered above the walls of the Great Eyrie. Once +more the good folk of Morganton and Pleasant Garden would believe that the +crater had reopened. These flames would announce to them another volcanic +upheaval. +</p> + +<p> +I watched the conflagration. I heard the roarings and cracklings which filled +the air. From the deck of the “Terror,” Robur watched it also. +</p> + +<p> +Turner and his companion pushed back into the fire the fragments which the +violence of the flames cast forth. Little by little the huge bonfire grew less. +The flames sank down into a mere mass of burnt-out ashes; and once more all was +silence and blackest night. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly I felt myself seized by the arm. Turner drew me toward the +“Terror.” Resistance would have been useless. And moreover what +could be worse than to be abandoned without resources in this prison whose +walls I could not climb! +</p> + +<p> +As soon as I set foot on the deck, Turner also embarked. His companion went +forward to the look-out; Turner climbed down into the engine-room, lighted by +electric bulbs, from which not a gleam escaped outside. +</p> + +<p> +Robur himself was at the helm, the regulator within reach of his hand, so that +he could control both our speed and our direction. As to me, I was forced to +descend into my cabin, and the hatchway was fastened above me. During that +night, as on that of our departure from Niagara, I was not allowed to watch the +movements of the “Terror.” +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, if I could see nothing of what was passing on board, I could hear +the noises of the machinery. I had first the feeling that our craft, its bow +slightly raised, lost contact with the earth. Some swerves and balancings in +the air followed. Then the turbines underneath spun with prodigious rapidity, +while the great wings beat with steady regularity. +</p> + +<p> +Thus the “Terror,” probably forever, had left the Great Eyrie, and +launched into the air as a ship launches into the waters. Our captain soared +above the double chain of the Alleghanies, and without doubt he would remain in +the upper zones of the air until he had left all the mountain region behind. +</p> + +<p> +But in what direction would he turn? Would he pass in flight across the plains +of North Carolina, seeking the Atlantic Ocean? Or would he head to the west to +reach the Pacific? Perhaps he would seek, to the south, the waters of the Gulf +of Mexico. When day came how should I recognize which sea we were upon, if the +horizon of water and sky encircled us on every side? +</p> + +<p> +Several hours passed; and how long they seemed to me! I made no effort to find +forgetfulness in sleep. Wild and incoherent thoughts assailed me. I felt myself +swept over worlds of imagination, as I was swept through space, by an aerial +monster. At the speed which the “Terror” possessed, whither might I +not be carried during this interminable night? I recalled the unbelievable +voyage of the “Albatross,” of which the Weldon Institute had +published an account, as described by Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans. What Robur, +the Conqueror, had done with his first airship, he could do even more readily +with this quadruple machine. +</p> + +<p> +At length the first rays of daylight brightened my cabin. Would I be permitted +to go out now, to take my place upon the deck, as I had done upon Lake Erie? +</p> + +<p> +I pushed upon the hatchway: it opened. I came half way out upon the deck. +</p> + +<p> +All about was sky and sea. We floated in the air above an ocean, at a height +which I judged to be about a thousand or twelve hundred feet. I could not see +Robur, so he was probably in the engine room. Turner was at the helm, his +companion on the look-out. +</p> + +<p> +Now that I was upon the deck, I saw what I had not been able to see during our +former nocturnal voyage, the action of those powerful wings which beat upon +either side at the same time that the screws spun beneath the flanks of the +machine. +</p> + +<p> +By the position of the sun, as it slowly mounted from the horizon, I realized +that we were advancing toward the south. Hence if this direction had not been +changed during the night this was the Gulf of Mexico which lay beneath us. +</p> + +<p> +A hot day was announced by the heavy livid clouds which clung to the horizon. +These warnings of a coming storm did not escape the eye of Robur when toward +eight o’clock he came on deck and took Turner’s place at the helm. +Perhaps the cloud-bank recalled to him the waterspout in which the +“Albatross” had so nearly been destroyed, or the mighty cyclone +from which he had escaped only as if by a miracle above the Antarctic Sea. +</p> + +<p> +It is true that the forces of Nature which had been too strong for the +“Albatross,” might easily be evaded by this lighter and more +versatile machine. It could abandon the sky where the elements were in battle +and descend to the surface of the sea; and if the waves beat against it there +too heavily, it could always find calm in the tranquil depths. +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless, however, there were some signs by which Robur, who must be +experienced in judging, decided that the storm would not burst until the next +day. +</p> + +<p> +He continued his flight; and in the afternoon, when we settled down upon the +surface of the sea, there was not a sign of bad weather. The +“Terror” is a sea bird, an albatross or frigate-bird, which can +rest at will upon the waves! Only we have this advantage, that fatigue has +never any hold upon this metal organism, driven by the inexhaustible +electricity! +</p> + +<p> +The whole vast ocean around us was empty. Not a sail nor a trail of smoke was +visible even on the limits of the horizon. Hence our passage through the clouds +had not been seen and signaled ahead. +</p> + +<p> +The afternoon was not marked by any incident. The “Terror” advanced +at easy speed. What her captain intended to do, I could not guess. If he +continued in this direction, we should reach some one of the West Indies, or +beyond that, at the end of the Gulf, the shore of Venezuela or Colombia. But +when night came, perhaps we would again rise in the air to clear the +mountainous barrier of Guatemala and Nicaragua, and take flight toward Island +X, somewhere in the unknown regions of the Pacific. +</p> + +<p> +Evening came. The sun sank in a horizon red as blood. The sea glistened around +the “Terror,” which seemed to raise a shower of sparks in its +passage. There was a storm at hand. Evidently our captain thought so. Instead +of being allowed to remain on deck, I was compelled to re-enter my cabin, and +the hatchway was closed above me. +</p> + +<p> +In a few moments from the noises that followed, I knew that the machine was +about to be submerged. In fact, five minutes later, we were moving peacefully +forward through the ocean’s depths. +</p> + +<p> +Thoroughly worn out, less by fatigue than by excitement and anxious thought, I +fell into a profound sleep, natural this time and not provoked by any soporific +drug. When I awoke, after a length of time which I could not reckon, the +“Terror” had not yet returned to the surface of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +This maneuver was executed a little later. The daylight pierced my porthole; +and at the same moment I felt the pitching and tossing to which we were +subjected by a heavy sea. +</p> + +<p> +I was allowed to take my place once more outside the hatchway; where my first +thought was for the weather. A storm was approaching from the northwest. Vivid +lightning darted amid the dense, black clouds. Already we could hear the +rumbling of thunder echoing continuously through space. I was +surprised—more than surprised, frightened!—by the rapidity with +which the storm rushed upward toward the zenith. Scarcely would a ship have had +time to furl her sails to escape the shock of the blast, before it was upon +her! The advance was as swift as it was terrible. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the wind was unchained with unheard of violence, as if it had suddenly +burst from this prison of cloud. In an instant a frightful sea uprose. The +breaking waves, foaming along all their crests, swept with their full weight +over the “Terror.” If I had not been wedged solidly against the +rail, I should have been swept overboard! +</p> + +<p> +There was but one thing to do—to change our machine again into a +submarine. It would find security and calm at a few dozen feet beneath the +surface. To continue to brave the fury of this outrageous sea was impossible. +</p> + +<p> +Robur himself was on deck, and I awaited the order to return to my +cabin—an order which was not given. There was not even any preparation +for the plunge. With an eye more burning than ever, impassive before this +frightful storm, the captain looked it full in the face, as if to defy it, +knowing that he had nothing to fear. +</p> + +<p> +It was imperative that the “Terror” should plunge below without +losing a moment. Yet Robur seemed to have no thought of doing so. No! He +preserved his haughty attitude as of a man who in his immeasurable pride, +believed himself above or beyond humanity. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing him thus I asked myself with almost superstitious awe, if he were not +indeed a demoniac being, escaped from some supernatural world. +</p> + +<p> +A cry leaped from his mouth, and was heard amid the shrieks of the tempest and +the howlings of the thunder. “I, Robur! Robur!—The master of the +world!” +</p> + +<p> +He made a gesture which Turner and his companions understood. It was a command; +and without any hesitation these unhappy men, insane as their master, obeyed +it. +</p> + +<p> +The great wings shot out, and the airship rose as it had risen above the falls +of Niagara. But if on that day it had escaped the might of the cataract, this +time it was amidst the might of the hurricane that we attempted our insensate +flight. +</p> + +<p> +The air-ship soared upward into the heart of the sky, amid a thousand lightning +flashes, surrounded and shaken by the bursts of thunder. It steered amid the +blinding, darting lights, courting destruction at every instant. +</p> + +<p> +Robur’s position and attitude did not change. With one hand on the helm, +the other on the speed regulators while the great wings beat furiously, he +headed his machine toward the very center of the storm, where the electric +flashes were leaping from cloud to cloud. +</p> + +<p> +I must throw myself upon this madman to prevent him from driving his machine +into the very middle of this aerial furnace! I must compel him to descend, to +seek beneath the waters, a safety which was no longer possible either upon the +surface of the sea or in the sky! Beneath, we could wait until this frightful +outburst of the elements was at an end! +</p> + +<p> +Then amid this wild excitement my own passion, all my instincts of duty, arose +within me! Yes, this was madness! Yet must I not arrest this criminal whom my +country had outlawed, who threatened the entire world with his terrible +invention? Must I not put my hand on his shoulder and summon him to surrender +to justice! Was I or was I not Strock, chief inspector of the federal police? +Forgetting where I was, one against three, uplifted in mid-sky above a howling +ocean, I leaped toward the stern, and in a voice which rose above the tempest, +I cried as I hurled myself upon Robur: +</p> + +<p> +“In the name of the law, I—” +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the “Terror” trembled as if from a violent shock. All her +frame quivered, as the human frame quivers under the electric fluid. Struck by +the lightning in the very middle of her powerful batteries, the air-ship spread +out on all sides and went to pieces. +</p> + +<p> +With her wings fallen, her screws broken, with bolt after bolt of the lightning +darting amid her ruins, the “Terror” fell from the height of more +than a thousand feet into the ocean beneath. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>XVIII.<br /> +THE OLD HOUSEKEEPER’S LAST COMMENT</h2> + +<p> +When I came to myself after having been unconscious for many hours, a group of +sailors whose care had restored me to life surrounded the door of a cabin in +which I lay. By my pillow sat an officer who questioned me; and as my senses +slowly returned, I answered to his questioning. +</p> + +<p> +I told them everything. Yes, everything! And assuredly my listeners must have +thought that they had upon their hands an unfortunate whose reason had not +returned with his consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +I was on board the steamer Ottawa, in the Gulf of Mexico, headed for the port +of New Orleans. This ship, while flying before the same terrific thunder-storm +which destroyed the “Terror,” had encountered some wreckage, among +whose fragments was entangled my helpless body. Thus I found myself back among +humankind once more, while Robur the Conqueror and his two companions had ended +their adventurous careers in the waters of the Gulf. The Master of the World +had disappeared forever, struck down by those thunder-bolts which he had dared +to brave in the regions of their fullest power. He carried with him the secret +of his extraordinary machine. +</p> + +<p> +Five days later the Ottawa sighted the shores of Louisiana; and on the morning +of the tenth of August she reached her port. After taking a warm leave of my +rescuers, I set out at once by train for Washington, which more than once I had +despaired of ever seeing again. +</p> + +<p> +I went first of all to the bureau of police, meaning to make my earliest +appearance before Mr. Ward. +</p> + +<p> +What was the surprise, the stupefaction, and also the joy of my chief, when the +door of his cabinet opened before me! Had he not every reason to believe, from +the report of my companions, that I had perished in the waters of Lake Erie? +</p> + +<p> +I informed him of all my experiences since I had disappeared, the pursuit of +the destroyers on the lake, the soaring of the “Terror” from amid +Niagara Falls, the halt within the crater of the Great Eyrie, and the +catastrophe, during the storm, above the Gulf of Mexico. +</p> + +<p> +He learned for the first time that the machine created by the genius of this +Robur, could traverse space, as it did the earth and the sea. +</p> + +<p> +In truth, did not the possession of so complete and marvelous a machine justify +the name of Master of the World, which Robur had taken to himself? Certain it +is that the comfort and even the lives of the public must have been forever in +danger from him; and that all methods of defence must have been feeble and +ineffective. +</p> + +<p> +But the pride which I had seen rising bit by bit within the heart of this +prodigious man had driven him to give equal battle to the most terrible of all +the elements. It was a miracle that I had escaped safe and sound from that +frightful catastrophe. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ward could scarcely believe my story. “Well, my dear Strock,” +said he at last, “you have come back; and that is the main thing. Next to +this notorious Robur, you will be the man of the hour. I hope that your head +will not be turned with vanity, like that of this crazy inventor!” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Mr. Ward,” I responded, “but you will agree with me that +never was inquisitive man put to greater straits to satisfy his +curiosity.” +</p> + +<p> +“I agree, Strock; and the mysteries of the Great Eyrie, the +transformations of the “Terror,” you have discovered them! But +unfortunately, the still greater secrets of this Master of the World have +perished with him.” +</p> + +<p> +The same evening the newspapers published an account of my adventures, the +truthfulness of which could not be doubted. Then, as Mr. Ward had prophesied, I +was the man of the hour. +</p> + +<p> +One of the papers said, “Thanks to Inspector Strock the American police +still lead the world. While others have accomplished their work, with more or +less success, by land and by sea, the American police hurl themselves in +pursuit of criminals through the depths of lakes and oceans and even through +the sky.” +</p> + +<p> +Yet, in following, as I have told, in pursuit of the “Terror,” had +I done anything more than by the close of the present century will have become +the regular duty of my successors? +</p> + +<p> +It is easy to imagine what a welcome my old housekeeper gave me when I entered +my house in Long Street. When my apparition—does not the word seem +just—stood before her, I feared for a moment she would drop dead, poor +woman! Then, after hearing my story, with eyes streaming with tears, she +thanked Providence for having saved me from so many perils. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, sir,” said she, “now—was I wrong?” +</p> + +<p> +“Wrong? About what?” +</p> + +<p> +“In saying that the Great Eyrie was the home of the devil?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense; this Robur was not the devil!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, well!” replied the old woman, “he was worthy of being +so!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER OF THE WORLD ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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