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diff --git a/old/66187-0.txt b/old/66187-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d84d10a..0000000 --- a/old/66187-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8530 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Beyond the Great South Wall, by Frank -Savile - -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 -www.gutenberg.org. 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. - -Title: Beyond the Great South Wall - The Secret of the Antarctic - -Author: Frank Savile - -Illustrator: Robert L. Mason - -Release Date: August 31, 2021 [eBook #66187] - -Language: English - -Produced by: D A Alexander, Richard Tonsing, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE GREAT SOUTH -WALL *** - - - - - - Beyond the Great South Wall - - -[Illustration: - - THERE WAS A HUM AND A FLICK AS THE ROPE PARTED. - - _Page 220._ -] - - - - - Beyond The Great South Wall: - The Secret of the Antarctic - - - BY FRANK SAVILE - - Author of “The Blessing of Esau,” “John Ship, Mariner,” Etc. - - - WITH SUNDRY GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS PAINTED BY ONE ROBERT L. MASON - -[Illustration: FAREWELL TO THE SOUTH] - - NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY - _156 Fifth Avenue_ : NEW YORK CITY : MCMI - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1901, - BY - NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. A GREAT DEPRESSION, 1 - - II. THE TALE OF A COINCIDENCE, 18 - - III. THE TESTIMONY OF SIR JOHN DORINECOURTE, KNT., 30 - - IV. WHAT BAINES KNEW, 44 - - V. PROFESSOR LESSAUTION’S OPINION, 59 - - VI. WE SAIL SOUTH, 78 - - VII. A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS, 93 - - VIII. BEFORE THE GALE, 109 - - IX. THE LEAPING OF THE WALL, 128 - - X. BEHIND THE BARRIER, 150 - - XI. A GLACIER CAVE AND WHAT LAY THEREIN, 166 - - XII. THE GREAT GOD CAY, 184 - - XIII. A CLOSED DOOR, 198 - - XIV. IN THE NINTH CIRCLE, 215 - - XV. THE MOUNTAIN WAKES, 236 - - XVI. THE TEMPLE AND THE LAIR OF CAY, 252 - - XVII. A LITTLE DOG’S STUMBLE, 267 - - XVIII. A DESPERATE BETROTHAL, 284 - - XIX. A WONDROUS BREACHING OF THE WALL, 304 - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - ——OUT ... OF THAT YEASTY WHIRLPOOL CAME MY LOVE, 103 - - IT WAS THE FACE OF ONE ALONE WITH DEATH, 177 - - THERE WAS A HUM AND A FLICK AS THE ROPE PARTED, 220 - - IT WAS THE LAST WORSHIP OF THE PRIESTS OF CAY, 253 - - “IT’LL SOON BE OVER,” I SAID, 296 - - A RED STORM OF LAVA DASHED IN A CLOUD OF STEAM TO THE FAR END OF - THE LAKE 305 - - - - - BEYOND THE GREAT SOUTH WALL - - - - - CHAPTER I - A GREAT DEPRESSION - - -The purr and throb of London was quivering in stuffily through the open -windows. The squeals of the “special” newsboys and the hansom-whistles -of the early diners-out splashed across the blur and din, standing out -against the immeasurable roar as against a silence. The heat of a London -summer lay heavily over us; the undying rattle of wheels beat up to us -wearily, the mid-season blare and hurry of town echoing irritatingly in -their jingle and clatter as they streamed ceaselessly by. The stew and -hubbub of the afternoon enclosed us as with a pall of depression. - -By us I mean Gerry and myself. Flung back listlessly was I in my club -chair, and watching him as he strolled monotonously up and down before -the great bow-window that gave upon Pall Mall. His hands were scabbarded -hilt high in his pockets. His brows and the corners of his eyes were -hard and wrinkled. His gaze was cast steadfastly before his toes. He did -a very sentry-go of moody vexation. - -Each time he paused, as he turned against the light, every wrinkle and -line was silhouetted mercilessly. Wretchedness covered his face as with -a mask. My heart began to go out to him, bursting through its own crust -of dejection. Wretched we both were, but I was seven years his senior. I -began to commune with myself, seeking comfort for him out of my own -hard-won store of disappointment, and trying to forget that our sorrows -sat upon an even base. - -Suddenly he turned towards me and broke the silence that had lasted -between us the greater part of the afternoon. - -“Well,” he said harshly, “that’s the end of most things for me.” - -“Possibly,” answered I, “but probably not. The future’s very spacious -yet, my dear boy. I don’t say it in any patronizing spirit, but you’re -only twenty-four. Try to forget the ‘might-have-been,’ and buck yourself -up into imagining the ‘maybe.’ It’s not all over yet.” - -He grunted contemptuously, tramping off again upon his beat. A waiter -who chanced in with the evening papers coughed ostentatiously, and with -obvious intention towards the cloud of dust that followed hard upon his -track. Gerry stared him down, and as the door closed behind him, brought -himself to anchor before me again. - -“That’s all rot, and you know it, Jack,” he said dogmatically. “Do you -think I’m going to stay here and see Vi come back another man’s wife? -I’m sick of it all—sick of the work, sick of the play. Deathly sick of -the utter sameness of what we call life. I’m going to chuck it, I tell -you. Hausa Police, Egyptian Army, Hong Kong Regiment—something of the -kind I’m going to try. There’s nothing most assuredly to keep me any -longer in her Majesty’s Foot Guards. I’m dipped, and I’ve lost the one -thing that might have kept me to the collar. Great Heavens! what in the -name of goodness _should_ I stay for?” - -I stared back at him answerless. I knew he was talking a cheap sentiment -which a month or two later he would be the first to despise. I too was -feeling in a modified form all he felt. To me had also come the animal -desire for action that follows hard upon mental stress. But that seven -years made the difference. Though that day had brought me the supreme -discontent of my life, I was still aware that the world continued to -wag, and that we should swing along with it. Yet how could I comfort -without offending? - -Now the reason of all this affliction was simple enough and old as time. -To each of us had come the desire of his life, and to each had it been -denied. That morning we had spent at the Albert Docks, and had seen a -tall ship sail out for foreign lands, bearing upon her decks two maidens -who were taking with them our hearts to the world’s end. - -I never was much of a chap for lover’s rhapsodies, so I will make no -effort to explain to you how sweet a girl was Gwen Delahay, nor why she -held my heart in the hollow of her hand. She was one of the many good -and beautiful women—God bless them—who walk this earth, and are to their -lovers peerless. And as I worshipped her, so did Gerry worship Vi, her -sister—a thing perhaps inexplicable, in that he had seen Gwen, but one -to be truly thankful for, seeing that we were friends beyond the -ordinary sympathies of life. And now were we left hopeless. - -Plain Captain Dorinecourte was I, with a slender six hundred pounds -beyond my pay, and Gerry, poor lad, had less. You will not exhaust -yourself with wonder then, when I relate the fact that Lady Delahay -declined on behalf of her daughters our attentions, contemned our -eligibility, and hated poisonously the sight of our ingenuous faces. For -all these things, I take it, a Society mother is bound by her allegiance -to Society to do. Yet though we felt that she played the game as we -understood it, none the less did we cry out upon our luck in being the -losers. And now it seemed that we might well throw down our cards. - -The fond mother’s fears of the blight which our undivided attentions -might throw upon her daughters’ careers had culminated that morning. A -month before an announcement in the _Morning Post_ had spurred her to an -action which her fear alone would never have conceived. It ran as -follows— - -“Among the passengers by the s.s. _Madagascar_, which sails on August 4 -for her winter’s cruise around the world, will be the Earl of Denvarre. -His lordship will be accompanied by his brother the Hon. Stephen -Garlicke.” - -This item of intelligence had caught the dutiful mother’s eye, and taken -vigorous root in her somewhat languid intelligence. Two eligible young -men were to be shut up for eight or nine months in a space not more than -one hundred yards long by twenty wide. Walking lawlessly in London were -two extremely ineligible youths, unchained, ready and willing to wreck -her daughters’ happiness. Why not extract the victims from this -hazardous propinquity, placing them at the same time in the financially -commendable vicinitude of a live earl and his brother. Action was born -only too rapidly from reflection. We had seen them off that very -morning. - -So there sat we in the desolation of a mere club, disconsolate amid the -roar of the city, while the sunset became the twilight, the shadows of -the lamp-posts lengthened, and darkness fell upon the town even as upon -our hearts. And out of the plenitude of my regret I failed to find the -word of sympathetic comfort for Gerry. - -Lost in our heavy-hearted musings, it was past eight when we realized -that food was yet a distasteful necessity of existence, and sought the -club dinner. Silently we entered the dining-room, Gerry with the air of -one who approached poisoned dishes, and chose a table apart. Though the -soup and sherry warmed my companion to conversation, it had a bias of -marked contempt. - -Clubs, he showed beyond dispute, were traps for the unwary, committees -were things of naught, secretaries insolent and overpaid. Waiters were -plucked from the gutter to be trained in pot-houses, and cooks cherished -the idea that to evolve a savoury it was but necessary to taint an olive -with a decayed anchovy. Women who were guests of brother members—it was -Wednesday night—were all dressed in seventeen tints of garish atrocity, -and were of a mediocrity of feature which he plainly condemned. He -mentioned the names of no less than six social resorts off which he -purposed to take his name in the morning. This, of course, preparatory -to stirring activities which would remove him beyond their sphere of -usefulness. Still soured, but evidently relieved, he then retired behind -the sheets of the _Westminster_, with which he screened himself from -further intercourse with his fellows. Apathetically I proceeded with my -repast. - -Suddenly the decorum of the room received a shock. A sound burst from -Gerry’s throat which I can only term a crow. He endeavored frantically -and indecently to masticate the portion which he had placed between his -teeth, beating the paper at me furiously. The sounds which continued to -issue from his lips were such as no one could approve. He mouthed -unutterable things. - -Hastily I rose and thumped him on the back, and noticed that his finger -continued to tap viciously upon a headline which he thrust into my face. -As the distressing symptoms modified themselves he gradually found his -breath, but ceased not to bulge his eyes upon me. - -“Look, old man, look,” he insisted faintly, and I took the paper from -his hand. - -“We regret to announce the death of Viscount Heatherslie at Greytown, -Central America. His lordship had lately been travelling in the -vicinity, and his death is ascribed to malarial fever. As yet no details -can be ascertained.”—_Reuter._ - -The words turned red before my eyes as they danced up and down the green -columns. Uncle Leonard was dead—was dead. And I—well, I had to think it -very hard indeed before I dared repeat it silently even to myself—I was -Lord Heatherslie. Only one thought had possession of my mind. Not a -regret did I spare for the dead, not a single reflection as to what this -thing meant to me or my prospects did I give beyond the fact that my -luck—my cursed Irish luck—had been too late. That one idea had hold of -me. A week earlier—a few hours earlier, and what might have been?—what -might have been? A curse snarled from between my teeth as I sat down -again to stare white-faced across at Gerry. - -The excitement had died from his face. His sympathy was quicker than -mine had been. He stretched his hand across the table and gripped mine -hard. - -“Frightful luck, old chap,” he murmured; “I know what you’re thinking. -But—but it needn’t be too late yet, Jack.” - -I shook my head. Things had become blurred in my brain, but one fact -stood out bright as a searchlight to my mind’s eye. Gwen was going out -of my life, going away from me as fast as breeze and steam would take -her. And the thing that might have stayed our separation—have given her -to me—was a week—nay, only a day—too late. I could have smitten my head -against the wall in my agony of disappointment. - -And yet I had resigned Gwen as fatalistically as any son of Islam. I had -schooled myself to think of her as already belonging to another. I had -bidden her good-bye without a quiver. Even the look she had given me at -the last—a tender, questioning look it was too, and straight from her -heart through her dear eyes—I had met with a smile that told of nothing. -To me the hopelessness of it all had come home long days before, and I -simply wouldn’t sadden the poor child and prolong the pain of parting. I -meant that parting to be the absolute separation of our lives—one that -should leave no dropped threads to be gathered up in future days of -further hopelessness. - -And now—now I had the right to win her, and honourably. Only a soldier I -might be, but I had a place of my own to take a wife to. Nor would she -come to me to sink into a nobody. Half a county would welcome Lady -Heatherslie, though half that county might be in rags. Poor we should -always have been, but not desperately. Modestly we should have had to -live, but we could have kept our rank befittingly. And now the chance -was gone. Away beyond the seas she would set herself to forget me, and -Denvarre would show her how. The black curses fell over each other in -their haste to reach my tongue, and the salt tears nigh fled out along -with them. I made an effort and pulled myself together. - -“Come along,” said I hoarsely to Gerry in a voice that I hardly knew -myself, and blundered out of the room. Without another word I crept into -the hansom the commissionaire called, and together we drove down the -glaring streets to my rooms, Gerry offering no sympathy but a silence -which I understood and was grateful for. - -You know the heavy, choking pain that lies leaden in your throat when -one you love has gone out into the emptiness—the desperate unbelief in -your torture—the mad hope that insists that this thing is too horrible -to bear. My suffering came home to me like that. I could only think of -Gwen as of one dead and gone from me, but with the added agony of -knowing that to me she might have been life and love itself. I felt that -I could beat the air, wrestling with my fate for my desire. I gasped, -unmanned with wretchedness. - -Then Gerry rose and put his hand upon my shoulder. Here again his -selfishness was seven years younger than mine. He could lose his sorrow -in sympathy. - -“God be good to you, dear old chap,” he said; “it’s desperate, desperate -luck, but after all _is_ it too late? You’ve the place, the title, and -all that—and after all, you know, the old boy might have come home and -married any day—why can’t you follow them? Surely you might drop in with -them somewhere.” - -“Too late? Of course it’s too late,” said I bitterly. “Is a girl to wait -for ever? Besides, they can’t hear of it for weeks—very likely not at -all. By then Denvarre will have settled matters, if he isn’t the most -consummate idiot on earth.” - -“That may be all very well about Denvarre,” quoth Gerry wisely, “though -I don’t see that it is for certain, all the same. But what about Gwen? -You don’t allow her much independence of thought. Why should he happen -to meet her fancy? Do you think she doesn’t _know_ you worship the -ground she walks on?” - -I stared at him, gnawing uneasily at my moustache, and with the sense -that he spoke the truth. Gwen knew it—must know it, but she must have -seen, as did I, the hopelessness of the business—must have known that -the farewell of that morning was to be the end. And yet—and yet that -look she gave me. Was it merely questioning, or did it tell me -something? I fell into that moody, unhealthy mind when one forbids -oneself to hope for very hope of being mistaken—assuring myself that I -knew there could be nothing but despair for me in the future, trusting -all the same that wanton fate would prove me wrong. Which is a phase of -unreason, I take it, more wearing than an utter yielding to desperation. - -“Now, old chap,” went on Gerry soberly, “if you begin to muse and wonder -you’ll never sleep to-night. I believe this thing comes in the light of -luck for both of us. I feel twice the man I did half-an-hour ago, and -I’m going to whine no more. However matters go you’re very much better -off than you were this morning, and, as I said before, what’s to prove -that either Gwen or Vi may not come back to us again? Heaps of things -may happen in a year. Why,” he went on smiling, “with the influence of -the Heatherslies at my back I mean to get an _attachéship_ and marry Vi -myself. At any rate I believe now that the game’s _not_ over. I’ll be -your best man yet, unless we’re both married together, and I won’t say -that’s not possible.” - -It was good to hear him say it, but all the time I was telling myself -frantically that it was rot—that I mustn’t listen to him, and I backed -my inward despondency with the spoken word. - -“But even now,” I demurred, “what am I but a pauper peer? Fifty thousand -acres of bog are mine, and a few English farms. What’s that to -Denvarre’s forty thousand pounds a year and Gleivdon? I’d take an offer -of five thousand pounds a year for all I possess.” - -He rose and slapped me on the back cheerily, smiling as he reached for -his hat. - -“There, there,” said he, “that’s quite enough, Jack. I’m off, and you’re -going to tumble in. You’ll be twice the man in the morning. You’re upset -with it all, and to-morrow when you’re a bit steadied you’ll see it all -in another light. We’ll have a long collogue about it then, and you’ll -know what you’re going to do. Night-night, old man, and don’t dream if -you can help it,” and he passed across to his rooms whistling, though I -could but notice it was a very reedy, quivering attempt. - -In spite of Gerry’s veto I did dream that night, seeing Denvarre in many -a heroic attitude save Gwen from desperate perils by flood and -field—masterful deeds which I could only watch in restless helplessness. -I rode a nightmare which trampled my every aspiration in the mud of -desolation, leaving me to awake heavy-eyed and low-spirited, but yet, as -Gerry predicted, with some of the hope that each new day brings. And -after my bath—and what a mental as well as bodily tonic a cold bath is—I -was chastened, maybe, but myself again. I filled my clothes without -feeling three sizes too small for them, and ate my breakfast with -appetite. As I was at it, Barker brought in a telegram. I ripped the -dirty orange-colored paper and read, “Please call at your earliest -convenience. Meadows and Crum.” - -They are our lawyers—have been for generations. My former meetings with -them had been, for the most part, embarrassing. Hunted by some -pertinacious dun, I had occasionally fled to their chambers in Lincoln’s -Inn Fields as to a sanctuary, and they had always responded nobly to my -appeals. I smiled to think how continually and tactfully they had warned -me against backing other men’s bills and such-like futilities. Well, at -any rate that sort of thing was over. As a bachelor—I still assured -myself that I should live and die celibate, with an eye to the possible -fate which might be listening—I should not be so badly off. I could look -forward to commanding the regiment some day without beggaring myself. -Little rifts of sunlight like this began to break through the fog of my -depression, and when I strolled forth to call upon my solicitors, I had -pretty well regained the self-possession which that sudden announcement -of a tardy good luck had knocked completely out of my system. - -Crum received me. Meadows is an anachronistic figment of the imagination -long deposited in a Hampstead vault. His partner continues the business -with other partners, who are considered to be sufficiently dignified by -the title of Co. He is a benignant old man, with an unblemished bald -head and character. I believe a warm heart beats under his deliberation, -and he has shown good faith and personal service to my family for more -years than I dare say he cares to count. He welcomed me with a quaint -subdued tolerance hovering on the outskirts of the chastened air he -thought befitting the mournful occasion. For myself I will say frankly -and at once that I could pretend no regret for the accident which led to -my being Crum’s future client. I had never even seen my uncle since I -was at Eton. In point of fact I felt the matter to be, personally, only -one for self-gratulation. - -“Desperately sudden, my lord,” quoth the old gentleman, making me twitch -in my chair as I heard myself addressed by my title for the first time, -“desperately sudden. We received advises from his late lordship on -financial matters only a week ago, and now—it’s come like a thunderclap, -I assure you.” - -“These are matters of fate, my dear Mr. Crum,” said I piously. “I -suppose there’s no doubt about the report?” - -“None whatever, as I learn this morning. We cabled his lordship’s valet -last night and got the press message confirmed. Death took place -up-country, it seems. Baines, his man, talks of bringing the body to the -coast and sailing next week by the Pacific Mail Steamer.” - -“That of course is the only decent and orderly thing to do,” said I, -“and no doubt you’ll kindly see to all these matters—arranging for the -funeral and so forth. But what about funds now? I expect this horrible -succession duty will make me as poor as a rat for the first year or two, -won’t it?” - -He lifted his pince-nez, regarding me with a curious expression. I -immediately divined by a sort of intuition that he purposed giving -himself the pleasure of surprising me. There was a decorously cunning -light in the corner of his eye that made him appear not unlike a -respectable and intelligent magpie. - -“I think you and your uncle were comparatively strangers to each other, -were you not? Ah, I thought so. You have the impression, doubtless, that -he was restless by choice and temperament alone? I can assure you, in -that case, that you are mistaken. Your uncle, for the last few years of -his life at any rate, has been dominated by a very determined purpose.” - -“Philanthropic or personal?” I queried. “Not the former I sincerely -trust, or the pickings will be even less than I hope for. I know he’s -been roaming the wide world mysteriously ever since I can remember, but -I thought it was the inherited taint of travel. We’ve had a lot of -sailors in the family, Mr. Crum.” - -“That is very true,” answered the man of law impressively, “and in a -certain indirect sense I won’t say you are altogether wrong. But the -simplest way will be to put the whole matter before you as I learned it -from your uncle. Excuse me a moment.” - -He turned to where a row of tin boxes, shiny and white-lettered, lined -the walls along a broad shelf. Taking down one labelled “Viscount -Heatherslie,” he took up a key that had been lying handy upon the desk -and opened it. He extracted a bundle of papers tied in red tape, and -began sorting them with neat precision. I occupied myself in wondering -with unaffected curiosity what on earth was coming next. - -Of course Uncle Leonard had been a wanderer on the wide earth, but he -had always been to me not so much a man as an impression. My poor dear -mother used to remark occasionally, “I see your uncle’s wintering in -Egypt,” or “Leonard’s in Japan again,” wondering always, as women do, -what could induce him to leave the comforts of his native isle for such -outlandish realms. But I had paid but slight attention. Uncle Leonard -was nothing to me—I was his heir-at-law, of course, but then he had -always been expected to marry late in life, as most of his ancestors had -done, and I had never troubled about him. I remember his coming down one -Fourth at Eton and stumbling across me, more by accident than intention, -and tipping me a fiver. But that was a feat he had never followed up and -improved upon in later life, so I had let him drop out of my -calculations, and he—well, he never spent three weeks of the year in -England, I suppose. Some men have the regular gypsy taint in the blood. -They must move in aimless joy of moving, or they absolutely shrivel up -for want of occupation. The mania in his case was more or less -inherited, I knew. Half-a-dozen of our forebears have been -adventurers—not to say buccaneers—in the past. They pop up in various -capacities all across the pages of Elizabethan and eighteenth century -history. So the fact that in my late uncle’s case there was more behind -this activity than was his by birth and ancestry came to me truly as a -surprise. I awaited developments pondering many possibilities. - -Old Crum found what he wanted at last. Replacing all the papers but -one—rather a musty-looking document—he kennelled his legs comfortably -beneath his writing-table and began his revelation, tapping his fingers -upon the dusty law books before him to emphasize his remarks. - -I’ll give you the tale as he gave it to me. Then judge me if I was a -consummate fool or not, in that I followed in the footsteps of my uncle. - - - - - CHAPTER II - THE TALE OF A COINCIDENCE - - -“The late Viscount Heatherslie,” said Mr. Crum, tapping the desk before -him like a schoolmaster demanding silence for a lecture, “was a -collector, and at the same time an economist. These you will probably -think are walks in life entirely incompatible one with the other. I will -explain further. Though he lived far within his income, he had the mania -for collection and gratified it. But he did this by making it a rule -never to buy what had a merely temporary or sentimental value, but only -what was likely to be intrinsically marketable. I never knew a man with -a sounder sense of finance or one who, without professional knowledge, -made such use of unprofessional experience. I doubt if he ever struck a -bad bargain in his life. You will to-day reap the benefit of his -judgment. I do not think I exaggerate when I say that you may safely -count on his treasures fetching a sum of not less than one hundred -thousand pounds.” - -I gasped in amazement, nearly bouncing from my chair. My excited -shuffling upset a blob of ink from the inkstand before me. With an air -of respectful deprecation Crum began to mop it up methodically, before -answering the questions I fired at him like bullets. - -“Great Heavens!” I exclaimed, “the leery old dog! You mean to tell me in -sober earnest that he has amassed all that money by simple grubbing -after curios, when we thought he just roamed around for mere amusement -and love of travel. Where has he stuck them all? Not at Kilberran, I -sincerely hope, or they’re all rotten with mildew by now. And what are -they? Pictures, bronzes, china? Why, neither my mother nor my poor old -dad had an inkling of it. Great Scott! One hundred thousand pounds. Now -really, don’t you think you may be exaggerating, my dear Mr. Crum?” - -“I may say that it is not a habit to which I am given, my lord,” he -answered dryly, “but it will not be hard to convince you. The collection -has been valued by more than one expert, and the lowest figure rendered -by these gentlemen was a hundred and thirty thousand pounds, and the -collection has been added to since then.” - -“But what in the name of goodness can be worth all that money? Why, it -would take a large gallery to house pictures up to that figure.” - -“Certainly. But I may as well explain at once that the whole collection -is within these walls. It is in a large safe in my cellars. It consists -wholly of coins.” - -“Coins!” I bawled delightedly, “then I hope the half of them have her -Majesty’s face on them, God bless her. I see what you’re getting at. You -mean the old boy was a miser.” - -He drew himself back into his chair with an air of offence. - -“I am not given to jest on business matters,” he said in his stateliest -manner. “No; your uncle was simply one of the first numismatists of the -century. His is the finest harvest of ancient coins ever made by any -private individual. If you see fit to turn it to its marketable worth, -you will create an excitement among collectors unparalleled for the last -five decades. And till the catalogues are published, not one of them -will have an idea of the treasures they will find listed there.” - -“Well, as far as I am concerned, I don’t mind how soon they’re gratified -and surprised,” said I; “but I should like to have a look at the lot -now, if it’s not seriously inconveniencing you. Can we descend to visit -them?” for I itched to view this astounding hoard with my very own eyes. - -“Of course, my lord. It would be only natural that you should wish to -inspect such an important part of your inheritance. But I have something -more to say. It was not in mere zeal for collecting that your uncle had -lately travelled so widely. I have another astonishment in store for -you—not so entirely agreeable, no doubt, but out of the common, I think -I may say absolutely out of the common.” - -“Well, as we’re out of the range of coins this time then, I trust it’s -nothing less than banknotes,” I answered. “But for goodness sake what is -it?” I added impatiently, for his self-important deliberation began to -get on my nerves. - -He did not suffer himself to be in the slightest degree flurried by my -impatience. His sentences, in fact, seemed to gather a yet more -leisurely accent as he unfolded his tale. - -“You must let me tell the thing in my own way, my lord. It will be far -more conclusive than jerking it out at you in scraps. The facts in -sequence were as follows— - -“Among the family treasures which have come down the centuries—and I -sincerely wish there had been more of them—was a certain amount of old -coins which have been in the custody of my firm for at least five -generations. They comprised for the most part specimens of the gold and -silver coinage of most European countries during the fifteenth and -sixteenth centuries. Some were of great value. Some were by no means -rare. Evidently one of your ancestors—probably, I should say, Sir John -Dorinecourte, the famous Elizabethan admiral—had the craze of -collection, which has since broken out in your late uncle’s case. At any -rate the box contained moidores, zecchins, pesos, crowns, and every sort -of currency of every known land—known to our ancestors of that time, at -least—to a very considerable amount. The mere bullion, I should say, -would be worth a considerable sum. Among them were, however, a couple of -gold pieces placed apart, and these had no signification placed opposite -them in the catalogue, and bore no sign either on the face or the -reverse in any language known at the present day.” - -“It sounds charmingly mysterious, my dear Mr. Crum,” I interrupted. -“Now, you aren’t going to tell me that the secret still remains -unfathomed?” - -“My lord, my lord,” said the old fellow entreatingly, “you must allow me -to tell you the thing methodically, or not at all. If I’m hurried I -shall forget some detail, and I have given time and effort to memorize -the matter completely.” - -I apologized humbly, settling myself back in my chair resignedly to hear -the thing out with no further interruption. Crum continued in his slow, -modulated tones. - -“I think that it was the sight of that hoard, when your uncle saw it at -his accession to the title, which first woke in him the craze for -collecting. He no doubt reflected that here was the nucleus of an -exceedingly fine numismatic museum, and from that day he set himself -steadily to add to it, with an increasing knowledge of his subject, of -which you are now reaping the benefit. But those two unknown coins were -always a sore mystery to him. Many a time have I seen him take them -up—he used to visit me two or three times every year to place what he -had possessed himself of in that time with the rest—and turn them over -and over in his fingers wistfully, studying every line and figure as if -there must be some concealed clue which he had missed. But it was only -last year that he gained the trace which put him on the road to success, -and also, as it has unfortunately turned out, to death as well.” - -“What!” I shouted, nearly jumping out of my chair. “Do you mean to -say——” - -He held up his hand deprecatingly. - -“Please, my lord, please restrain your impatience. You shall have every -detail in good time, I assure you. I only mean to say that it was in -pursuit of his intense desire to solve the origin of those coins that he -was travelling in Central America, where he caught the fever which has -been fatal to him. The rest I will tell you as shortly as possible. - -“It was last year, as I was saying, that the first trace came to his -hand by the merest accident. His lordship was in Portugal. From there I -got a letter from him on business matters, and at the end—his lordship -was aware that, of course in a modified form, I was interested in his -quest—he remarked, ‘A most extraordinary thing has happened. I have -found a dozen more of the unknown coins, and what is more an ancient -document—no less than a letter written by Sir John Dorinecourte, my -ancestor. I will tell you more on my return.’ It was some three weeks -after that that his lordship came to see me. - -“Nearly his first words to me were, ‘Well, Mr. Crum, the mystery of the -coins is pretty well solved, but a greater mystery has arisen on the -ashes of the first. The gold pieces are Mayan.’ The word Mayan, I must -confess, conveyed nothing to me at the time, but he very soon explained -it. The Mayans inhabit—though perhaps your lordship knows as much—the -land of Yucatan to the south of Mexico. They are a wild and savage race, -but there is every reason to believe that centuries ago theirs was a -mighty empire. The coins dated from this extinct civilization of long -ago. And now for the method by which your uncle ascertained as much. - -“He was wandering along the side-streets of Lisbon one afternoon, when -he espied a small curio shop. Outside the window were displayed various -articles of furniture, china, etc., for sale, and among these was a -curious cameo brooch which rather took his fancy. He entered to make a -bid for it, and managed to secure it for what he considered a fair -price. He wandered listlessly about the shop, as the woman in charge was -placing it in a box for him, and suddenly came upon a glass-covered box -full of coins. You may imagine his surprise when, among the rows of -copper and silver pieces, he saw staring up at him no less than twelve -gold replicas of these mysterious coins of his own. His astonishment was -great, but he managed to conceal it from the shop-keeper when he asked -her the price she demanded for these ‘medals,’ as he prudently called -them. - -“She named one very little higher than their simple worth as bullion, -intimating at the same time that as they did not seem to commemorate any -special event, customers for them had been few. She went on to relate -how she came to possess them. A strange story indeed. With some pride -she told your uncle that her husband was really of noble blood, but sunk -to a narrow pittance beyond the keeping up of his title. Ruined by the -failure of vintage after vintage, he had at last compounded with his -creditors by giving up his landed possessions, and she and he were now -living by the sale of art curios, a good proportion of which she sadly -explained was from their own dwindling inheritance. - -“Further inquiry elicited the fact that the ‘medals’ had been discovered -in an ancient box of cedar wood, which had been left to rot and moulder -in an attic of their former mansion, where, wrapped in papers covered -with writing in a foreign tongue, nigh fifty of them had been found -strung together on a slender chain. She pointed out that all of them had -a small hole beside the rim, and your uncle remembered that the same -thing was noticeable in those he possessed himself. - -“The first and most natural thing was to inquire for the paper -wrappings, but for some time these could not be discovered, and it was -feared they were lost. However, the next day his lordship received a -message from the woman to the effect that she had found them thrust away -among a heap of similar refuse and that they were at his service if he -chose to purchase them for a small sum. Your uncle did not dally in -returning to the shop, as you may suppose. You may also imagine his -surprise when he found that one of the documents was not only in -English, but absolutely signed by his own ancestor. You shall see the -original, so I will not stop to describe it. It is of the other document -that I wish particularly to speak. - -“It was inscribed on a peculiar yellow-looking fabric, more of the -nature of linen than of paper or parchment, and experts have since -decided that the coloring matter used as ink is the fluid emitted by the -octopus. But the most curious part was the writing, if writing it can -properly be called. It consisted of squares, oblongs, parallels, and -other geometric figures ranged in a sequence which was not easy to -understand, but the chief point of interest was that these figures -resembled in every particular the figures on the coins. His lordship -immediately and willingly paid what was asked for them, took his passage -straightway home to England, and armed with his document paid a visit to -the British Museum to get what expert help he could in translating them. - -“It is an extraordinary thing how circumstances dovetail into one -another. No sooner had he entered the department, where he had so often -been before to get light on his coins, than he was greeted with the -following question by Professor Barstock, the head, before he had even -mentioned his errand. - -“‘I am particularly pleased to see you, Lord Heatherslie,’ said the -Professor, ‘because information has lately come to hand which I think -will settle the origin of your coins, which we have so often pored over. -Monsieur Lessaution of Paris, the well-known Egyptologist, has -discovered that there is a connecting link between the ancient Egyptian -script and that on the monuments of Yucatan. It seems absurd, -considering that they are divided by five thousand miles of sea, but he -puts his points very plausibly, and I think you should see him.’ - -“When you have seen the other paper which your uncle discovered—the one -in English—I think you will understand that these words came as a most -astounding confirmation of his suspicion that he was on the right track -at last. He simply opened his bag and spread the mysterious scroll -before Professor Barstock, laying one of the coins beside it. - -“You may imagine the astonishment of the latter on seeing not only the -coin with which he was familiar, but the scroll covered with similar -symbols. Nor did he fail to astonish your uncle in his turn. Taking him -to another part of the building he showed him some grey, fibrous-looking -slabs of dried pulp, and they too were covered with the oblong, square, -and parallel figures of the document, only that instead of being raised -they were indented. They were, as Mr. Barstock explained, squeezings, -taken from the temple _facade_ at Chichitza, where M. Lessaution was now -conducting his investigations. - -“The Frenchman’s theory was that by comparing the Egyptian symbol with -that in Yucatan, and using the grammar and accidence of the former -language as a guide to the latter, these inscriptions, which have as yet -been undecipherable, would be made clear, and much would be learned -about the Mayan civilization of long ago. - -“This was quite enough for your uncle. He decided that he would not wait -for M. Lessaution’s return, which was not expected for another six -months, but would cross the Atlantic and interview him on the spot where -he was conducting his experiments. After reading the letter left by your -ancestor, I can quite understand that to a man of leisure like his -lordship, and a man with a taste for wandering to boot, the fascination -of such a quest would be great. At any rate he sailed for Greytown about -five months ago, and with the exception of a single letter purely on -business matters I have heard no word from him since. You can imagine -that his death has come as a shock.” - -“Well,” said I, “I am certainly astonished, but I cannot say I am -greatly moved by your tale, Mr. Crum. It would certainly never have -occurred to _me_ to cross three or four thousand miles of ocean to -interview a foreign _savant_ about a coin or a document. But then, you -see, I am not made that way.” - -“Very likely, my lord,” submitted the lawyer, “but you will pardon me if -I say that you have not seen the letter by Admiral Sir John. That sheds -a very curious light on the question, and certainly adds vastly to the -interest one of your family must take in it. But I will show it to you -at your leisure.” - -“I am as leisured now as I am likely to be for the rest of time,” said -I, “but before I see the letter I should just like to squint at the -coins, if you are not particularly occupied for the next hour.” - -He rose at once and preceded me to the outer office, where a door opened -on to a flight of stone steps. Down these he guided me, ushering me at -last into a broad, whitewashed cellar, wherein not less than -half-a-dozen great safes faced each other from wall to wall. He clicked -a key in the lock of one, and turned a handle. The great door swung back -and showed row upon row of numbered sliding drawers, lined with velvet, -and covered—every square inch of them—with coins of every degree of -dirt, ancientry, and denomination. One drawer alone was nearly empty, -and this held two gold pieces, and placed beside them on the velvet a -sheet of ancient paper, covered with crabbed writing and faint with the -dust of ages. The lawyer took it up and unfolded it carefully, and then -I saw for the first time the screed that sent my uncle speeding across -the ocean at its behest, and which was to leave its mark on my life -also. - - - - - CHAPTER III - THE TESTIMONY OF SIR JOHN DORINECOURTE, KNT. - - -The lawyer pushed back the drawers methodically, clanged to the safe -door, and turned to me as I laboured toilsomely to decipher the faint -scratchy handwriting. He held the two coins in his hand. - -“I think,” he said slowly, “if you will permit me to read this document -out to you, you will find it much easier to interpret if you desire to -read it yourself a second time. I may say that I have conned it pretty -thoroughly—it took time to master it, I confess—and faint and yellow as -it is, I can decipher it at sight.” - -I was only too glad to accept this benevolent offer, and we returned to -the upper office again. Here I settled myself back in my chair, old Crum -found and very deliberately donned his spectacles, unfolded and smoothed -the sheets of dirty parchment, and then began to expound the writing as -follows— - - “I, John Dorinecourte, of the parish of Sellwood, in the county of - Somerset, here make oath and declare that the writing hereto, to which - I have set my hand and seal, is the very truth, so help me God. - - “On the seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord one - thousand five hundred and seventy-eight, being in command of the ship - _Pride of Barnstaple_, and Captain Fowler of that port and Dom Pedro - da Suhares of Maceira being my fellow adventurers, we were in - mid-ocean, having passed the straits discovered by the Admiral - Magellan about two days, and were bearing north along the coasts of - the Indies. It happened then that one of the ship’s company at - mast-head hailed the deck, declaring a ship to approach; whereat we, - as was but reasonable, supposed the same to be some Spanish craft, and - beat to quarters, tricing up boarding nettings and getting powder on - deck. But as we approached nearer to the strange sail, we perceived it - to be a lateen and under no control of steering, for she yawed and - came about, and then of a sudden fell away upon the other tack, being - water-logged, and as it seemed deserted. So, calling to me the crew of - the pinnace, I set to board her, which, the day being calm, we - accomplished easily enough. Then were we horribly astonished to find - upon her decks no living man save one, and him at the point of death. - Six bodies there were, and one living soul, and the men were a fair - and noble company, but like to no other men whom I have seen. Now Da - Suhares, who hath been in Mexico—for being renegade he joined our - vessel at La Guayra after slaying the nephew of the governor in - duello—protested that in most respects these unfortunates resembled - the inhabitants of that ill-fated empire, now ravished and enslaved by - the devil-serving Spaniards. Which might be like enough, for the men - were covered with gold ornaments, and bedecked with the plumage of - bright tropic birds, such as is the custom of these tribes as I have - always understood. ’Twas evidently thirst that had brought them all to - their death, for no drop of sweet water could we find upon the craft, - and the tongue of the living man swelled forth from his lips, forcing - his jaws asunder, and his sweatless skin cracked as tense parchment. - We hasted therefore to bring our surgeon, and water with a little - wine. With difficulty he swallowed it and revived, though but - slightly. He gazed upon us as one affrighted, and shuddered, placing - his hand upon his breast as if holding there what he would fain - conceal. By which, I take it, he imagined us Spaniards, and expected - their deviltries, as well he might. But we spoke to him gently, and - tended him, taking sails to make him a couch to lie upon. Yet he - rallied but little, murmuring we knew not what, nor could Da Suhares - understand him, though he had knowledge of some few words of Mexican. - - “Then the poor wretch raised his finger slowly and pointed towards us, - and afterward held up his open hand many times, which we took to mean - that he had been of a numerous company; making gesture also to our - ship which swung, heaved to, some quarter of a mile away, he swept his - hands abroad wildly towards the waste of waters, implying doubtless - that his was one of a great fleet of vessels. - - “As in a flash came to me then the tale which was at that time a - by-word in the South Seas, of the great expedition of the natives - which had set sail from the coasts of Southern Mexico, the which was - witnessed by the Spanish forces advancing from the north, yet could in - no way be prevented of them. Mayax is the name of the land whence they - sailed, and the fiendish warfare of the Spaniards—ravishers of women - and slaughterers of babes as they be—had so prevailed by terror upon - these simple folk, that they had committed themselves to the deep to - escape their villainies, and had vanished, forty sail or more, no man - knew whither. - - “The memory of this tale came back to me, as I say, vividly—and indeed - it had been the common talk of every port along the coasts of the - Southern Indies this two months past—and I pointed inquiringly to the - poor fellow as he languished and lay dying at my feet, and then swept - my finger northward as if determining that to be the direction whence - he came. Whereat he nodded, and then swung his hand southward again, - as if to say that now he sailed from the opposite direction. Then - reluctantly, as it were, he drew from his breast the scroll which I - have here set aside for your care and consideration, and I beheld for - the first time those symbols and the presentation of that wondrous - beast which are to me now as the alphabet for familiarity. As he gave - me the relic, he feebly took from his wrist the golden bracelet which - hung haggard thereon, and from his neck a string of gold pieces. The - armlet he gave to me, and the necklet to Da Suhares, as if in thanks - for our consideration which came thus too late. Then with the last - throb of strength left in his withered frame he raised himself from - the loins, and turning, faced the sun which sank cloud-free and ruddy - into the open main. Bowing himself towards its fading glories, he - spread abroad his hands with a single word and fell back and died, - unconquered remnant of a conquered race. And for a space we stared - silently at the dumb dead, wondering, half afraid, but full of pity - for his sad case, and of admiration for his uncomplaining end. - - “Then did Da Suhares, Master Fowler, and I take counsel together upon - the matter to imagine what this might mean. For I called to their - memory the tale of the escaping Mayans, and Da Suhares vouched for the - truth of the same. For his own brother had been of the company of - conquistadores that had advanced south from Mexico, had seen the men - of the escaping fleet fare out into the deep, and had with others made - strenuous effort to overtake and capture them before they launched - forth to sea. For report went that they carried with them the ancient - treasures of that hapless race for centuries back. Adding that within - a month an expedition of adventurers had set forth to track them along - the southern coasts, but had returned empty and rewardless. And common - talk held that he who should find that company would also find wealth - beyond desire or conception. Here he doubted not that we had one of - them. For when we came to examine their barque there was great store - of gold upon her, not as treasure indeed for the most part, but put to - plain uses; for though the ornaments upon each corpse were of gold, - yet were the very baling vessels made of wood shod with golden bands - and held with strips of golden metal. Upon each man’s breast also was - a medal, or some such decoration, bearing upon it the similitude of - the same wondrous beast that appears upon the mystic scroll which you - have herewith. So we reasoned upon the matter, and in much thought the - solution thereof came to us. - - “The expedition had sailed, and had come to some secure sanctuary as - they had desired. Now they sent back this small company to advise - their fellows left in bondage of the same, that they too might leave - their own land, over-run by the Spaniards, and come also to safety and - a sure dwelling-place. And the more we thought on this, the more the - truth of it came home to our minds. - - “Now this I write in the glorious year of our Lord, one thousand five - hundred and eighty-eight, when the Lord hath, by the destruction of - the Spanish oppressor, so signally shown His favour to His children - who hope in Him. The news of which final deliverance hath come to us - long months after by chance of our meeting Captain Bostock of Bristol, - who saileth in the Guinea and West India Trade. Ten years have I and - my comrades, Da Suhares and Captain Fowler, sought wearily for this - people, and naught hath come to us in reward. Yet have we gotten to - ourselves sufficient of this world’s goods, in that we have taken more - than one of his Catholic Majesty’s treasure galleons, and three years - agone five of his pearling fleet which we fell upon when they were - storm-sundered from their fellows. Rich are we therefore in - possessions, but not yet in knowledge, and the madness of the quest - hath bitten into the souls of all of us. Not an island, not a bay, not - a single river’s mouth, have we missed for nigh two thousand weary - miles, but unavailingly. And now I draw into years, but I cannot rest - from it. - - “Thus have I put down the matter plainly for my children to wot of, - and if I come not back to them, a charge do I lay upon them. Ten years - have I sought, and wrought, and toiled, sparing none of mine and least - of all myself, and it may well be that from this last adventure I come - not back. Ten years, therefore, do I lay upon you that come after me, - ten years each of you unto the tenth generation, and the blessing of - the Almighty be with you in your search. Do the matter diligently, but - in secret, lest it come to the ears of the Spanish folk, and they - triumph at the last. If ye find this people (and of a verity I know in - my soul that they still walk God’s earth) be to them a safeguard from - their enemies, using the might of England to bulwark them from their - foes, and get to your race and family great honour. So do, and my - blessing be upon you. Forego this quest, any one of you, and my curse - rest with you unceasingly. To which charge I put my hand and seal this - nineteenth day of December in the Annus Mirabilis, one thousand five - hundred and eighty-eight. - - “JOHN DORINECOURTE, KNT.” - -Crum placed the musty sheets of lettering on the table before him, -solemnly took off his spectacles and wiped them, and then stared across -quietly at me without a word, as if he would let this astonishing -balderdash sink deeply into my all too shallow soul. There was a silence -in the office, unbroken save by the buzzing of the blue-bottles at the -windows and the distant roar of the Strand, filtered by intervening -acres of brickwork. For my part I found no words to express my emotions. -For really it came upon me as a shock to think what crack-brained -enthusiasts our fathers were. Here was a sound, apparently intelligent, -old British seaman, who had knocked about the world more than a little, -worrying himself to set curses on the heads of his unborn descendants if -they should fail to be just such fools as himself. He meets a half-dozen -of forlorn savages in mid-ocean, by purely circumstantial evidence -connects them with another band of niggers of whom he has only got word -by hearsay, and proceeds to spend ten years of his life in tracking the -latter to a lair which probably never existed. And not satisfied, as I -say, with this astounding waste of time and energy, but he expects ten -other fools to do the same. I stared, therefore, at the good Crum with -these unvoiced musings extremely vivid in my brain, the while I thanked -God softly below my breath for civilization and common sense. - -It was the lawyer who broke the silence before it got strained. - -“I may say, my lord,” he remarked, “that we have compared this writing -with the signature of your ancestor’s marriage record in Sellwood -church. It is identical, and there seems to be no doubt that it is -authentic. I would remind you that it is beyond question that he spent -many years in what was called ‘The Indies’ at that date—the Southern -Seas of America, in point of fact—where he left the reputation of a -valiant sailor—I’m afraid I must say buccaneer. But you must remember -that times were different,” he added hastily, feeling that as a -supporter of the law he must not seem to favour equivocal methods. - -“That I believe is entirely true,” I conceded. “Tradition has it that he -was one of the most energetic old pirates of his day. But may I ask how -you propose to explain his document getting to Lisbon into the shop of -the local rubbish dealer, or whatever he may have been? Why did it not -come home to those for whom it was intended? My unfortunate forefathers -for twelve generations have had these curses hanging over them, and have -lived in comfortable ignorance.” - -“I don’t think there is much difficulty in finding explanation,” he -replied deliberately. “You know that Sir John _did_ perish out there, -and to this day no news has been heard of his ultimate fate. My own -suspicions are that Da Suhares—by the way, the people from whom your -uncle purchased these documents bore the name of Soares—very possibly -brought him treacherously to his death to possess the wealth that they -had reaped in company. It is a very possible solution of the mystery, -and we are not likely at this time of day to find a better one. But I -must say, my lord, that to my mind the authenticity of the document is -absolutely determined, and I have had experience of similar matters, I -may say, for over half-a-century.” - -“It’s plausible enough,” said I, shifting my ground, “but not good -enough in my discretion to send a man fussing over to Yucatan for -further explanations. Supposing the thing is absolutely correct, both in -itself and in its deductions, what good is to be made of it at this time -of day? Surely my uncle did not expect to find this unknown race after -they have been lost three centuries or more? At any rate I shouldn’t -have thought it of him. He showed no signs of brain softening ten years -ago—or twelve, was it?—when I last interviewed him.” - -He leant his elbows on the table, and drew the tips of his fingers -together in a judicial attitude before he made answer in his intolerably -cautious accent. Then he delivered himself of his opinions weightily. - -“I think you are forgetting the other scroll—the one in symbol which was -purchased with the one now before you. Recollect that if this could be -interpreted, the mystery in all probability was one no longer. Your -uncle was a man of leisure, fond of travel, and with the collecting -mania. I am bound to say that under these circumstances I can understand -his attitude. He knew that in Central America was the one man who could -translate—if anybody could—this extremely recondite document. He also -knew that in any case at his journey’s end he would find a vast field of -interest in the lately discovered monuments of Yucatan. I must say that -considering these things I should have been surprised if he had _not_ -gone. If you think of the astounding possibilities opened up to him in -discovery if he _did_ find a meaning to this scroll, and remember the -enthusiastic nature of his temperament on matters of this kind, no room -for wonder is left—at any rate not to my mind.” - -I was fairly dumfounded. To think that a little cut-and-dried old -solicitor could absolutely find, not only excuses for this absurd -conduct, but a positive encouragement, was more than I could have -believed possible. I gaped upon him. - -“My dear Mr. Crum,” said I pityingly, “we are not in the sixteenth -century. I can conceive a rampant adventurer like Sir Walter Raleigh, -let us say—a man with the heart of a lion and the brains of a -four-year-old child—setting out on some such wild-goose chase, but that -a British peer, of good health and wealth, nigh threescore years of -age——” - -He interrupted. His spectacles were tilted rakishly on the bridge of his -nose, and his eyes positively glinted behind them. He absolutely barked -an exclamation at me. - -“Yes, my lord; he was all you say. And I am not ashamed to add, that in -his case, and with his opportunity, I should have done the same!” - -“You!” I shouted—yelled, in fact, so taken aback was I. “You would have -gone to this unspeakable climate, to seek out a forsaken French -adventurer, to get a clue to a fudged-up cryptogram three musty -centuries old! Mr. Crum, Mr. Crum, I should have as soon believed it of -the Lord Chancellor.” - -He had regained his _aplomb_ by now, and arranged his papers -methodically in front of him before he ventured another word. Then he -looked up again, his calm and judicial air entirely regained. - -“I have no wish to pose as a sentimentalist, or to have it thought that -the mere glamour of a mystery would carry me outside the realms of -common sense. But I must say, my lord, with all due deference, that it -seems to me that your uncle was simply guided by weight of evidence in -what he did. From the facts connected with its finding and those since -elicited, I should say there can be no doubt that the document before -you was written by Sir John Dorinecourte, and that the matters detailed -in it were true. The good knight’s supposition about the identity of the -persons he encountered seems to me extremely reasonable. Your uncle had -nothing in his life to check his desires for adventure and discovery. It -would have been marvellous to me if he had let such an opportunity -escape him. I can see too,” he went on with a smile, “that our -temperaments differ, my lord, and that though you are the soldier and I -the lawyer, our blood flows with an irregularity that is not in sympathy -with our professions.” - -It is not pleasant to be called a coward by your own lawyer, I confess, -and I will own that I flew into a rage. I rose and took my hat. - -“Thanks, Mr. Crum,” I said coldly, “it is more than probable that I am -in every particular the absolute inferior of my late uncle. However, I -fear I am using your valuable time for reflections and deductions which -are not professional” (put him back in his place there, thinks I). “Is -there any other business you wish to see me about this morning?” - -The old chap flushed as he rose in his turn. - -“I—I’m sure I trust I have not been offensive or indiscreet, my lord,” -he stammered. “I only wished to prove that in my poor opinion your uncle -was justified in the course he took. There is naturally much I should -like to talk over with your lordship in connection with the estate, but -it can wait till the will is proved. But perhaps you will not consider -it necessary to employ me further.” - -I saw I had hurt the worthy old chap badly, and could do no less than -make immediate amends. - -“Is thy servant a dog,” said I, holding out my hand, “that he should do -this thing? No, my dear Mr. Crum, though I may be of a slow-blooded, not -to say poltroon-like spirit, and you are still in the midst of the -middle ages, if you will excuse my saying so, as far as the -practicalities of life go, I’m sure we shall get on together as well as -two thorough opposites always do, and I can’t say more than that.” Then -I wrung his hand heartily, and fled, but for the life of me I couldn’t -say for certain that I was right and he was wrong. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - WHAT BAINES KNEW - - -It was three weeks after my first interview with Crum that I found -myself travelling down to Liverpool to meet Baines, my uncle’s man, who -was bringing home his body. It was a dull, rainy, depressing day as I -stood upon the dock-side above the landing-stage, and watched the tender -come sidling up with the crowd of umbrellaed passengers upon her deck, -and my errand was not of a kind to elevate the spirits. Beyond the -mournful circumstances that had brought me there, I had a sense of -foreboding as if undefined evil was coming to me with the dead, though, -considering my very slender acquaintanceship with my uncle, it seemed -extremely unreasonable. But there it was all the same. I put it down to -the weather and the worry of the last three weeks. For really I had had -a very trying time. Gerry was more or less at the bottom of it, and Crum -and my own conscience helped largely. The fact was that in a moment of -weakness I had detailed to Gerry the story of the screed and the two -mysterious coins left by my old buccaneer ancestor. He had fastened upon -the thing like a dog chewing a meaty bone, and rested not day nor night -dinning into me his opinion that my bounden duty was to investigate the -affair “up to the hilt,” as he inappositely remarked. And in another -astoundingly weak phase of absent-mindedness I had taken him with me on -one of my visits to Crum. The two had managed somehow to get on the -subject of the mystery, and then had started in full cry together to -browbeat me for my lack of enthusiasm, proving—Gerry with terse -vulgarity and the lawyer with deliberate decorum—that I was throwing -away the chance of a lifetime, failing in my duty to myself, my honor, -and my nation, and showing forth a pusillanimity and poverty of -imagination which was a disgrace to the name of Dorinecourte. And out of -their badgerings a wild and hasty promise had grown—wrung from me by -pure bullying—that should any further news of the ancient scroll of -hieroglyphics come to hand, or perchance the scroll itself, I would not -fail to do my utmost to obtain translation for the same, even to the -extent of crossing the Atlantic myself and interviewing Professor -Lessaution. Pondering, therefore, this rash mortgaging of my future -happiness and freedom of movement, I stared down upon the snapping -little steamboat with melancholy eyes, reflecting that she possibly bore -to me a cargo of worry and unrest which would shadow my life with -unmerited discontent. - -There was the usual fuss when the dripping passengers landed, the usual -rush for the customs, the grating of the rolling-luggage stage, the -interchange of impudence between the dock porters and the crowd, in fact -the everyday hurly-burly of a liner’s incoming, and it was not till -after an hour’s patient toil and the signing of various detestable -documents, that Baines and I were permitted to load our burden upon the -hearse that waited, and get it to the railway-station. I had no chance -in the crowded train of conversing with the man in any sort of privacy, -so arranged that he should call at my rooms that evening, and that there -he should tell me all there was to tell. Fortunately Crum had notified a -firm of undertakers to meet us at Euston, and there take charge of the -coffin, and finally I was at liberty to make my way home, change, and -eat with what appetite I could. Then lighting my pipe I set myself to -await Baines and his revelations with all the apathy I could command. - -And then Gerry saw fit to drop in. He was brimful of inquiry and -investigation regarding the day’s doings, and showed unbounded -disappointment that as yet no further developments had ensued. He -hinted, in fact, that I was burking all further knowledge of the -subject, and sat arguing and discussing like an embodied British -Association. It was in vain that I tacitly agreed to all his premises, -and passed over his insults. He sat and sat, and there he was when -Baines arrived, and then I knew that the game was fairly up. Under -Gerry’s encouraging cross-examination I felt sure that the worthy valet -would have seen and heard marvels which no man could gainsay, and would -be guided into revelations of my uncle’s last words and messages which -might bear any sort of meaning that Gerry chose to apply to them. I -groaned as the smooth-faced, dapper little chap was ushered in by -Barker, and Gerry’s face of enthusiastic delight was a picture. - -Baines stood in an uncertain sort of attitude near the door, fingering -his hat, and waiting, after the first good-evening had passed between -us, for me to speak. I motioned him to sit down, and as he deposited -himself gingerly on the edge of a chair I rose, and straddling across -the hearthrug, began my interrogation. - -“Well, Baines,” said I, “it has been a sad time for you. Can you give us -any details of your master’s illness?” - -“It was very short and sudden, my lord,” said Baines, with a terseness -for which I blessed him. “It came on at ’Uanac, where we were camped; -’is lordship went about much as usual for the first day; the second he -was very bad, and we sent on down to Greytown for a doctor, but by the -next day ’is lordship was delirious, and died the day after. The doctor -came too late. I nursed him all the time, my lord,” and Baines’s eyes -shone mistily for a moment in the candle-light, “and I think all was -done that could be done, but there was no help for it. They tell me -these malarial fevers always are like that, but ’is lordship was never -what I should call robust, my lord.” - -“Do you think he knew that he was dying?” I queried, as he paused. “At -least, was he delirious all the time, or was there an interval of -consciousness?” I added hopefully. - -“Oh yes, my lord. He was quite calm at the last, and knew he was going. -I think what vexed him most was that he hadn’t finished the business -he’d come for.” - -“And what was that?” demanded Gerry and I as with a single voice. - -Baines looked at Gerry a little uncertainly, shuffling his hat between -his hands, and glanced at me interrogatively before he made answer. I -understood what he meant, and hastened to put him at his ease. - -“You can speak freely before Mr. Carver,” said I. “I have no secrets -from him.” - -“Well, my lord,” said Baines, with a sort of apologetic hesitation, “I -cannot think that ’is lordship was altogether himself these last two or -three months. He had possessed himself of a piece of paper covered with -what you’d call ‘jommetry’—at least that’s what I believe it’s called, -my lord—when we were in Lisbon, and for hours together he would pore -over this when we were going out to Greytown, and mutter away to himself -in a really most extraordinary manner. Then when we got to Greytown he -wouldn’t stop there a day—and they say you should always take a day or -two to get acclimatized before you go up-country—but got mules together -and started at once for Chichitza——” - -“Chichitza?” I exclaimed, remembering Crum’s story, “are you quite sure -that was the name?” - -“I know it only too well, my lord, considering we spent nigh a month -there. A horrible place too. Uncanny, I called it.” - -“Uncanny. Why?” - -“Oh, it was all shut in with trees, my lord, and there was nothing but -great ruins all covered with figures and carving that looked diabolical -I thought, even in the day-time, and as for night—well, I never dared -stir from my tent. There was moans and rustlings going on in them all -the time. ’Is lordship used to say that it was only the monkeys and -sloths that lodged among them, but I didn’t care to go and find out. I -kept pretty close in camp after dark, I can tell you.” - -“And what did my uncle do all the time?” - -“His company and conversation was reserved pretty much all the time for -the French gentleman we found there,” said Baines, with an air of some -contempt. “He seemed to find a good deal to say to him, my lord. Then -when they weren’t examining and digging among the temples and things, -they used to press lumps of squashy stuff on the carvings, and pick them -off when they dried. Really, my lord, without meaning any offence, I -think I should have had to give notice if we’d stayed there much longer. -The dulness and the bad food, and one thing and another, was too much -for any ordinary Christian as wasn’t concerned in carvings and such -like.” - -“When did they give up?” - -“Just about six days before ’is lordship was taken ill. They’d packed up -and were going down-country to camp a little way—about two days’ -journey, I think they said—outside Greytown. There they wanted to stay -another three weeks or month, I understood, to see something of the -natives. And what there was to see, I can’t say at all, my lord. A -dirtier, horrider set of ruffians I never come across, and I’ve been -with ’is late lordship in a good many countries before now.” - -“What was the cause of the illness, d’you think?” I queried. “Bad food? -Bad water? Anything of that kind?” - -“Just the pure reek and stink of the places, I consider,” said Baines -impressively. “There was a white mist that rose at night which fairly -got one in the chest, my lord. And up at the ruins it was worse than -anywhere. I only wonder I didn’t go down with it too. Only I was more -careful at night than ’is lordship.” - -“Well, Baines, what did his lordship say when he was conscious? Did he -send any message to any one, or give any directions?” - -“Yes, my lord,” replied Baines with a promptitude that made Gerry heave -in his chair with unrestrained excitement, “he sent your lordship a -message which perhaps you’ll understand, for I must confess I didn’t.” - -It is not advisable to wear your emotions upon your sleeve before a -servant, and it was a stonily indifferent face I turned to Baines and an -unquivering voice in which I bade him deliver his word from the dead, -but I will own that discomfort and nervous expectancy had me by the -throat. Gerry’s face expressed nothing but unstinted and tremulous glee -and triumph. - -“‘Go and see Captain Dorinecourte,’ he said, ‘when you get home, Baines. -Mr. Crum will have told him why I’m out here. Then say to him from me -that if he’s worthy of the name he bears’—I’m only repeating it as he -said it, my lord,” interposed Baines apologetically—“‘that he’ll -continue with Monsieur Lessaution what I’ve begun, and what’s nearly -done too,’ he added. He was getting weaker all the time, my lord, and I -don’t think I caught all he said, but there was a lot about the -alphabet, and the ruins at Chichitza, and that the French gentleman had -nearly got it all—all of _what_ I don’t know, my lord—and things of that -kind, when I think he must have been wandering, but just at the last he -sat up on his cot and spoke quite loud and clear. ‘After all these -generations, when I had it in my grasp, it’s gone to Jack. It’s the -cursedest luck in the world, Baines,’ he said, turning to me very -wild-like and passionate, ‘the cursedest luck, and if Jack throws away -his chance, I’ll—I’ll——’ and then a sort of cough or sob took him sudden -in the throat, and he fell back gasping. I held his head, my lord,” went -on Baines, his voice getting perceptibly unsteadier, “but it was no use. -He turned his eyes to me, and I’m sure he took me for some one else, for -he smiled so beautiful and glad that it made him look quite different -and like some other person. His lips moved again, but I couldn’t hear -any sound. He just breathed deep and quiet-like two or three times, and -then was still, and I’m sure he had no pain,” and as he concluded his -simple tragedy a large tear rolled over the brim of the faithful valet’s -eye and fell with quite a sparkle on the carpet. - -The silence held complete possession of the room for a good minute after -Baines had finished speaking. I ruminated sadly over the confirmation -and support that would be given to the wild theories of Crum and Gerry -by this unfortunate testimony from the dead. Baines was lost in pathetic -reminiscence of the end of a master whom in his way he had loved, and to -whom he had given nigh a score of years of faithful service; while Gerry -a single glance showed to be indulging in fantastic dreams of triumph -which only a certain feeble sense of decency prevented him divulging to -us on the moment. - -“What about Monsieur Lessaution, Baines?” I queried to break a silence -which was getting heavy with foreboding. “Did he stay in Greytown, as he -didn’t cross with you?” - -Baines flushed suddenly and looked yet unhappier. - -“No, my lord, he went back to Chichitza—at least so I understood.” - -“Why?” - -Baines stammered, and fumbled his hat diffidently before he answered, -striving evidently to use chosen words in describing a disagreeable -incident. At last he burst forth incontinent, forbearing -circumlocutions. - -“He was very impudent to me, my lord—I can’t describe it in any other -way. He wanted to possess himself of one or two of his lordship’s -papers—particularly the one with the signs on it, that I’ve spoken -of—and was quite passionate to me about it. Of course I knew my duty, -and wouldn’t let him have it, and he used dreadful language to me in -French—at least I’m not a scholar, my lord, but it sounded almost -devilish. At the end he rounded on me. ‘Well, pig of pigs,’ he said, -‘take it to England then. It but remains for you to bring it back when -you get there. Tell the new Lord Heatherslie that I await him at -Chichitza till Christmas. After that I shall work on my own account,’ -and that was all I got out of him after that, my lord.” - -There was a gurgle of unrepressed delight from Gerry’s corner, followed -by a murmur of “No getting out of it, my boy.” I quelled him with a -glance, and proceeded with my interrogation. - -“And that was the last word you had with him, Baines?” - -“That was the last word he spoke to me, my lord,” answered Baines -guiltily. - -I understood. “You should not have answered a gentleman back,” said I -severely. “What did _you_ say to _him_, Baines?” - -He grew perceptibly hotter, but answered honestly. - -“Well, my lord, I didn’t expect ever to see the gentleman again, and he -was very outrageous about the papers. I only said that you came of an -obliging family, my lord, and if he meant to wait all that time in -America, your lordship was just the man to do as much in England. He -didn’t make any answer, my lord, but just bit at his knuckles, and went -away dancing.” - -Gerry walked to the window and looked gravely into the night. I assumed -a sphinxlike expression, answering with sedateness. - -“It was an unpardonable reply, Baines,” said I sadly, “but it cannot be -helped now. I must write and apologize to M. Lessaution for it. I think -that will do for the present. Of course I shall continue to pay your -wages till affairs are settled, and shall probably want to see you again -more than once. Lodge as near as you can. My man will give you a glass -of wine,” and I rang the bell and delivered him into Barker’s hands, the -latter’s usual impassivity being marred by a bubbling excitement as he -received this travelled _confrère_, who might be expected to entertain -him with astounding histories of adventure by flood and field. - -“A peculiarly pleasant gentleman, Mr. Baines,” said Gerry, turning -pink-complexioned from the window as the door closed. “So versatile and -gifted in the lighter arts of conversation and repartee. Now, old chap, -do you realize that you’ve got to go through with this thing? Not only -is it proved beyond a doubt that there is something to be looked into, -but it appears more than likely that the investigation thereof may -become amusing. What more could any reasonable person desire? We’re both -of us down in the mouth, and require relaxation and a tonic for diseased -minds. Here is an unexampled chance ready to our hands. Apply, -therefore, for leave; run over to Chichitza, and interview the good -Lessaution before he is tired of waiting. And I tell you what I’ll -do—I’ll come and look after you.” - -“You overwhelm me with your consideration,” I sneered, “I can’t possibly -permit myself to trespass on your kindness.” - -“Don’t trouble yourself to be sarcastic, old man,” said Gerry -composedly. “If you desire it, I’ll openly avow that I’m crazy to go and -forget all the brooding and whining of the last month, and therefore I -mean to make your life a burden till you consent. That’s all for -to-night; but to-morrow we’ll go and see Crum again, and hear what he -has to say. So goodnight, old man.” - -I suffered myself to be led an unwilling captive to Crum’s office the -next day, and the old man heard our version of Baines’s story patiently. -And thus he made answer, speaking didactically. - -“I must say,” said he, leaning forward and tapping the points of his -fingers ceaselessly together, “that what Baines has to tell us seems to -me to be most conclusive that your uncle, in conjunction with M. -Lessaution, has lighted on some further clue to this mysterious -document. Though apparently they have not solved it in its entirety, -they have satisfied themselves that it is Mayan in character, and has -some bearing on the adventure described by Sir John Dorinecourte. The -French gentleman evidently has accumulated knowledge which makes him the -only authority on this subject, and it is to him you must address -yourself if you would go further in the matter. I think, my lord, that -you would very possibly find it interesting so to do, but it rests with -you. It is regrettable that M. Lessaution is not returning to Europe at -once, and that he remains at Chichitza. It is also evident that he -has—or thinks he has—information which may make him independent of you -in this question, or, on the other hand, his threat of working without -you may be merely a piece of bluff to induce you to go and interview -him. In conclusion, I must say, that all things considered, it is the -only course I see open to you, my lord, if, as I say, you think the -matter of sufficient interest to be inquired into.” - -“And of that there is no possible, probable doubt, no shadow of doubt -whatever,” interposed Gerry. “But don’t you think we should have a look -at the thing which has been at the bottom of all the excitement? It’s -among the boxes which have been deposited here, Mr. Crum.” - -Crum smiled. “I have so far expected this visit, that I made bold—in my -character of executor—to open your late uncle’s dispatch-box, which was -deposited here last night. I have found the thing in question, and, -speaking for myself, am of the opinion that there can be no question but -that the coins and the document are in the same symbol,” and opening his -writing-table drawer he produced a tin case. Out of it he took a sheet -of yellow, rough-looking material wrapped in tissue paper. He spread it -out before us. - -It was mouldering and musty, and emitted a faint, incense-like odour of -perfumed wax. It was covered, as Baines had described, with “geometry” -of sorts, namely squares, and oblongs twisted and welded together with -intricacy, but with apparent method. The long lines of them ran across -it in ordered rows from top to bottom, though which was the beginning, -it would have been hard to say, except that at the end appeared a -drawing—the presentment of as diabolical a looking monster as I have -ever seen. It was of the nature of a huge lizard, with a long, sinuous -neck doubled into terrifying contortions and flung back upon its thick -and lumpish body. The lines which radiated from its eye evidently -represented the baleful glare which was supposed to proceed from that -organ. But it was portrayed with a rough skill which was more or less -admirable. - -“Well,” said I after a pause, when we had ceased to gape upon this -absurdity, “I think you are driving me into an escapade worthy of the -worst kind of lunatic, but as you are all against me I give in. We sail -for Chichitza, but while I say it, I am calling myself fool, fool, and -again fool, and there is no other word to characterize every one of us.” - -And so amid Gerry’s shouts of acclamation was set on foot that -outrageous adventure which brought us to the Great South Wall. - - - - - CHAPTER V - PROFESSOR LESSAUTION’S OPINION - - -It was a hot, damp, oppressive October evening when our little coasting -steamer deposited us at Greytown, whither we had come after being landed -by the Pacific Mail at Colon. Gerry and I fought our way ashore amid the -crowd of niggers and half-castes of varying degree, while the melancholy -Baines brought up the rear, eyeing doubtfully the all too easy porterage -afforded our baggage by the longshore loafers who had annexed it -tumultuously. - -Baines had accompanied us under strong compulsion, and only by the -promise of a stipend that many a weary curate would have deemed beyond -the dreams of avarice. When the point was mooted—and we felt that his -experience was a thing worth struggling for—he had met our proposals -with a flat refusal. He had explained emphatically that he had already -had sufficient, for one life at least, of irruptions into the tangle of -primeval forests where the dark green abyss of jungle made twilight -eternally. Where, as he forcibly expressed it, the crawling beasts of -peculiar noisomeness were thick as flies upon a butcher’s stall; where -the water was soup and the soup water; where the grey mists of malaria -enveloped one as with a blanket of ague germs. All these things, as I -say, were contrary to him. But the financial allurements held out to -him, and the magic of Gerry’s silver tongue had prevailed, and now he -conducted us personally, though lugubriously. He it was who hustled a -way eventually for us to the wretched inn, and set himself to prepare -our morrow’s transport. - -Nothing, we ascertained, had been seen or heard of M. Lessaution, and it -was therefore to be supposed that he was still encamped amid the ruins -of Chichitza. By noon the next day we had accumulated our carriers, and -set forth a half-day’s stage in that direction before evening, full of -excitement in our quest, and of hopes of adventure in the attaining of -it. For now that we found ourselves in these tropic wilds, visions of -encounters with savage man and beast loomed largely before our mind’s -eye. - -A greater disappointment than the reality I have seldom, if ever, had to -undergo. Instead of varied and delightful travel, enlivened by brilliant -experiences of peril at the hands of the aborigines, or the claws of the -forest denizens, the advance was simply one long, perpetual grind. -Eternally we hewed our devious way through the thickest brush which -exists, as I believe, on this earth. Every moment of the day and night -were we devoured by mosquitoes and other noxious beasts, including -“jiggers,” which lamed us both for the best part of a week. Nothing did -we eat save cassava bread and the perpetual monkey and porcupine steak, -and over every portion of our bodies were we covered with enormous -tropical boils, by reason of which we rested not day nor night. So in -stupendous misery did we proceed to Chichitza, seeing neither man nor -beast of the slightest import during the whole ten days we spent in the -transit. - -Well do I remember our arrival at the ruins. The last few miles we had -stumbled on a faint track among the creeping lianas and spiky aloes, and -Gerry and I, hearing that the end of our quest was only a matter of an -hour or two, had begun to head the party with some small show of _élan_. -Thus as we strode hopefully through the endless gloom, we saw a ray of -blessed sunlight flicker down between the masses of dense foliage about -a quarter of a mile ahead, and yelled with pure delight at the sight, -the monkeys and parrots answering back defiantly. Then we took to our -heels and ran like lamplighters down the aisles of rotting logs that lay -between us and the gladsome shaft of brightness, shouting uproariously. - -Still sprinting we emerged suddenly into an encampment where white -civilized tents gleamed in the noon-day sun—oh, the loveliness of open -skies—and tripped with startled outcry upon their pegs, rolling at the -feet of a little wan, wizened, black-bearded man, who stared down upon -us with timorous amazement. - -It did not take his invocation of the sacred name of a pig to convince -me that we had in very truth stumbled upon our man. I rose and bowed to -him with dignity. - -“I believe,” said I in French, “that I have the honour to address M. le -Professeur Lessaution? Allow me to introduce myself as Lord Heatherslie, -and this gentleman as Mr. Gerald Carver, of her Majesty’s Regiment of -Foot Guards.” - -He flung up his arms ecstatically. “But what a joy!” he shrieked in his -native tongue. “Monsieur has not failed me. But I convinced myself that -a gentleman of monsieur’s blood would not. I said no, it is not possible -that any Englishman with his native love of adventure will forsake this -so great quest. Monsieur, I have the honor to embrace you with all my -heart,” and he’d have done it too, not only with his heart, but with his -lean little arms, if I had not dexterously caught his tempestuous hands -and wrung them with an effusion that left him too exhausted for more -familiar demonstrations. - -When Gerry had also evaded the luscious raptures that the good little -man in the fulness of his soul would have inflicted on him also, and the -ingenuous _abandon_ had somewhat subsided, we proceeded to explain -ourselves, detailing under what circumstances we had received his -message, how we had been affected thereby, and how our purpose to visit -him had grown into fulfilment. Then tremblingly he demanded if we had -with us the original document, and satisfied about this by its -exhibition beneath his sparkling eyes, turned to evolve an entertainment -worthy of the occasion. Meanwhile we sought changes of raiment—by this -time our carriers had overtaken us—baths, and such-like luxuries which -we had been without for ten long and weary days. - -As we emerged again into the sunlight—and how we revelled in it, hot as -it was—we found our host in the full ardour of hospitality. He was -dashing about from tent to tent, cuffing relentlessly those of his -servants who failed exactly to meet his behests, personally -superintending the cook, and flitting from saucepan to saucepan with -strange bottles and jars of piquancies like a very _cordon-bleu_. The -result, when we sat ourselves down before it half-an-hour later, was in -every way a success. - -Finally, as the coffee circulated in choice little cups, and pipes and -cigars were lit, and contentment sat upon every brow, the little chap -proceeded to open the conference, speaking as one who conducted a very -rite, rather than a mere discussion. - -“In the first place,” said the little man, speaking in French, “I have -to ask your pardon, M. de Heatherslie, for the attempt I made to deprive -your uncle’s servant, the good Baines, of the contents of the -dispatch-box with which he charged himself so rigorously. My action was -inexcusable, I admit. But, on the other hand, put yourself in my place. -Look you that your uncle and I together had toiled months—weeks, at the -least—to elucidate the symbol of this document—this so ancient document -in which many things of the most curious may be recorded. And understand -also that we are very near the conclusion of the matter. At this precise -moment Monsieur Baines takes from beneath my eyes the prize for which I -have toiled so laboriously. Do you not imagine, therefore, that I feel a -distress that is cruel—that I bemoan his obstinacy—that I endeavour by -any means to alter his decision? Tell me this, and at the same time -accord me your forgiveness for my hastiness.” - -“I think,” said I, beaming upon him benignantly, “that you must have -exercised great restraint, my dear Monsieur Lessaution, in refraining -from destroying him and rifling his body. Let us forget this absurd -incident. Happily we have returned to you the means of doing so. Here is -the paper, and here are we, boiling over with curiosity to get a -translation. Are you now in a position to give it?” - -He bowed impressively, his soft little brown eyes gleaming gratefully at -me from behind his spectacles. Then he continued his discourse. - -“It may have come to your ears, my friends, that I have for some time -convinced myself that the interpretation of the Mayan cabalistics, which -you see here graven upon these mighty ruins”—and he waved his arms -solemnly towards the grey walls that showed dimly through the -foliage—“is to be found by comparing them with the ancient Egyptian -symbol. This I have now proved beyond a doubt to be correct. But this -being so, only half the battle is won. I arrive at the language spoken -some centuries ago by the inhabitants of the Mayan Empire. To translate -this language I must find its connecting link with the Mayan of the -present day—and this is but a bastard _patois_ of the original, being -corrupted with Indian. But by familiarizing myself with Mayan, as the -people of the country speak it to-day, I have made long strides in -solving the twisted carvings of these ancient monuments. It was at the -point where your late uncle and I had decided that some knowledge of -colloquial Mayan was necessary to further our plans that he -unfortunately contracted the illness which proved fatal to him. During -the last two months I have familiarized myself with this language. I say -it with due humility, but I believe with some certainty that in the -course of a short time I shall decipher the document. But supposing this -done, shall you be guided by the result?” - -“That’s just a little too previous a question,” said I. “Don’t you think -you had better get the answer to the Mayan conundrum before you -embarrass us with plans which have as yet no basis to start from?” - -“But surely you have seen the letter of your great ancestor, who was the -original discoverer of this document? Naturally the translation will -show us where to seek this lost people.” - -He was so serious about it, not to say so cock-sure, that I nearly -imperilled our friendship by laughing in his face. To my stolid British -mind, the conclusive way in which he took my romancing old ancestor’s -yarn as gospel truth struck me as humorous. But I preserved a staid -demeanor as I answered. - -“Let me assure you, monsieur,” said I, “that I shall feel it my duty to -be guided in this matter by your advice. But before we discuss -hypothetical questions, let us endeavour to deal with facts. Take then -this paper and apply to it your knowledge. I have great pleasure in -handing it over to your care.” - -It might have been an insignia of knighthood at the least, judging by -the reverence with which he received the musty relic. In a very fury of -grateful protestation he bore it to his tent and surrounded himself with -a mass of papers, books, and references. And there through the live-long -day he continued to sit amid his piled accumulations of literary matter. -The door of his tent was ever open, and our view of his actions -unimpeded. Fatigued by the stress of ten days’ marching, Gerry and I -were only too glad to rest beneath the shade of a great granadillo tree -and smoke the pipe of peace, and the sight of the little man’s energy -was a restful tonic to our jaded constitutions. He flung himself upon -his task like a navvy. From book to book he flew, and from note to note. -He dodged about from one heap of manuscript to another like a little -robin picking crumbs in the snow. He jerked his little head from side to -side as he annotated and compared with the eager, intelligent air of a -fox-terrier before a rabbit-hole. He sweated, he tore his hair, he -seized his head between his hands in a very travail of mental effort. -The sheets of foolscap flew beneath the touch of his practised fingers. -Symbol after symbol gave up its secret as he travelled down the lines of -interwoven cabalistics. The copper-plate of his translation grew in -volume steadily; the pace increased rapidly as he neared the end. Not a -word did we offer, not a suggestion did we make. Apathetically we -listened to his curses or smiled at his squeals of triumph as the -figures alternately obstructed or fell before him. Finally, as the -tropic night closed in with the swiftness of a curtain’s dropping, he -gave a yell of frantic joy and bounded out of his lair, waving the -completed copy with terrific gesticulation. He thrust it into my hand, -still shouting. - -“Aha, aha! it is done, it is complete. I have them, the great race of -Maya. Before the world we shall present them. We shall say, Behold the -glories of so long ago, and to us will be the honour—the so great honor -of the discovery. Read, then, read, and say if I have not succeeded,” -and with his eyes aflame he hovered round me, waving his ten fingers -ecstatically. - -Here is what I found writ down in artistic French, and render into my -own bald native tongue: - - “From Huanhac, leader of the migration of the people of Cay, greeting - to Camazmag, priest of Cay and overlord of the people who remain in - the land of Mayax. - -“This to inform you that to the people of the migration is come -prosperity and great honour, for indeed we have found the habitation of -the god Cay himself. For having put out into the deep after our -departure, behold a great tempest arose swiftly bearing us south, and -for the space of fifteen days we saw naught but water and a sky of doom. -On the sixteenth day, when both water and victual were vanished from -among us, we came to regions of much ice—ice in comparison with which -that upon the mountains of the Northland is as naught, at the which were -we dismayed, expecting death by cold and hunger, but the purpose of the -god was upon us. For as we drifted through the lanes of ice, a great -wall rose before us, high and implacable, nor could we anywhere perceive -a break therein. So for some hours we were tossed by changing currents, -fearing instant destruction against the frowning crags. Then of a sudden -Carfag, of the tribe of Xibalab, being in the leading ship, called -aloud, saying that round a jutting peak of rock before him a bay was -opening, which passage was exceeding intricate, and might pass -unnoticed. So following Carfag we rounded the cape and found still water -and a sandy sloping beach. There we landed amidst a crowd of sitting -sea-birds and sea-beasts of surprising magnitude, the which were not -scaled as fish, but furred as foxes. Yet all was rock and pebbles, nor -had we means to light a fire, save with such lumber from the ships as we -could spare. - -“But as we wandered further up the foreshore, there ran ridge-like -across the face of rock a line of black stone having the similitude of -wood, and with the marks of ferns therein. This some of us knew would -burn, having seen the like in the Northland. - -“Then lit we fires, and smote over unresisting some of the great birds -which without fear sat upon the sand, and roasted them to make a meal -therefrom. As the fume of their roasting went up savorily upon the air, -and all prepared to satisfy their hunger, behold one lifted up his eyes -towards the land and cried aloud in awe and great terror, for thence -came down towards us the god Cay himself in flesh apparent, his mouth -agape as if demanding sacrifice. Then consulted we hurriedly upon the -honor which had thus befallen us of the migration—shown now of a surety -to be in direct favor of the god—and selecting Alfa, daughter of Halmac, -as fairest, bound her for sacrifice. Her we thrust forth into the path -of the god, though Hardal, to whom the maid was promised, would have -stayed us. Then came Cay in his bodily shape, and did take the maid, and -did eat her in token of blessing and acceptance to us his faithful -people, and Hardal, seeing his bride rent and dismembered, ran forth to -the feet of the god, and was himself devoured also. After which did Cay -withdraw himself from our reverent and astonished eyes, and we gave -thanks that he in his mercy had guided us to his own abode, though -verily the land is passing savage and barren of every growing thing. - -“So we hasted and collected of our stores and put them on our best ship, -and have sent unto you Migdal and six of our bravest youth, that you too -may come to the land which Cay himself hath deigned to bless. In witness -whereof hereunto I subscribe the sign of the god, fervently desiring -that to you may be given his protection until you also come to his own -seat. - - “HUANHAC, priest of Cay, and chief - of the migration.” - -I handed the paper on to Gerry without a word of comment, and then -turned to Lessaution with questioning eyes. He was sitting opposite me -chuckling and bubbling away in an indescribable manner. He beat his -little hands together, digging at the soft earth with his restless heels -while Gerry also digested this astounding rigmarole, evidently bursting -with the desire to speak, but restraining himself till he could spring -his fatuous surprises upon us both together. For the next five minutes -he made the most hideous and unconscious faces at me, winking and -smirking meaningly as he caught the emotions flitting swiftly across -Gerry’s features, and finally, as the latter laid down the paper with a -low whistle of astonishment and incredulity, he poured forth his -abounding triumph boisterously. - -“You see, my friends, you see?” he shouted. “It is as plain—but yes—as -plain as the great temple behind you. You have heard, you have read of -the great wall of the unknown lands of the Antarctic? You have -remembered what M. Borchgrevink has told? Of the great cliff that stands -up unclimbable from the ocean? There they have gone. It is there they -have founded their new empire in the land that no man has discovered. It -is all in one with the letter of the good Sir Dorinecourte of long ago. -Where but there could it be? Where is the ice? Where else the great -cliffs? We will go to them. We will discover them again. To the world we -will present this ancient race, and to us will be a glory that we cannot -as yet dream of. We shall be the great ones of the century. The -discoverers of the peoples of yesterday. What do you say? Hein? Hein? -Hein?” and he grunted like an inquiring pig. - -“My dear Professor,” said I patiently, “you don’t really mean to imply -that you believe that this race exists to the present day? Why, they’ve -perished long ago by cold and hunger; or been eaten by their god. I must -say that I think I may safely take this document to be—let us say—an -allegory, written by some mendacious old priest for wicked purposes of -his own. The story of the god Cay is quite sufficient to show the -absurdity of it. How on earth could such a monstrous impossibility have -ever walked the earth either in the Antarctic or anywhere else?” - -“My friend, my friend,” he babbled, his words nearly tripping over each -other in his hurry, “it is not so; I assure you of it. Let us even allow -that the race is dead. But the remains of the wonderful people exist. We -can go, we can dig, we can find the traces. And remember the gold. We go -not for honor alone—though for me, I am French, and it is enough—but -there will be the gold. Think of the very baling-vessels made of gold in -the letter of the great Sir Dorinecourte. There will be wealth, and the -fame—oh, the very great, magnificent fame.” - -I tried to be tolerant with the enthusiastic little ass, but I will own -that his credulity was altogether too much for me. - -“You have not yet answered my question about the god Cay,” I replied. -“How do you propose to explain that very obvious falsehood?” - -“And you think all this is a lie,” he bawled, “just because this priest -wove a little religion into his message? And who are we to say that it -is not true? Have we been behind that wall of rock where these people -remain either alive or dead? How then can we decide what is there or has -been there? It will be time enough to say what exists or does not exist -when we have made examination.” - -Now did one ever hear such nonsense? There may be a queer thing or two -loose about the earth, but to ask one to believe that a terror such as -that depicted at the foot of the Mayan scroll was alive and being -worshipped not much more than three centuries ago was a trifle too much. -I said so with no uncertain sound. - -“M. de Heatherslie,” answered the little man gravely, “you speak of what -you do not know. What is that your poet says? There are more things in -heaven and earth than your poor little philosophy thinks of. Why, tell -me, are you convinced that such a monster cannot have existed? You but -repeat what the ignorant said to M. de Chaillu about the gorilla.” - -“Humbug,” said I, getting warm. “Monkeys there always have been, and -monkeys there always will be. If this monster was like anything that -nature ever invented there might possibly be something in it. But it’s a -thing utterly outrageous. Who ever saw a hippopotamus with the neck of a -giraffe and the legs of a lizard? and that is practically what the -mythological god Cay is, both on the scroll and on the ruins here,” for -we had found more representations of the loathsome divinity studded into -the twisted inscriptions on the _facades_ and walls of the temples. - -As the discussion grew he began to light up as well. “Monsieur,” he -squealed, with glowing eyes, “I endeavor to say it with courtesy, but -you are ignorant and obstinate. You have slept away your life in the -fogs of England; you think that there is nothing worth considering in -the world that has not the _cachet_ of Piccadilly. I tell you—I affirm -to you—that I believe that far away in the unknown South much may have -happened—much may still be happening. We are ignorant, you and I, but -there is no reason that we should not learn. I have translated to you -this document. I give to you my opinions on it. I say that it should be -investigated, and to your family is due the first chance of -investigation, if only out of respect to the honour of your uncle, who -is unfortunately dead. But if you throw away this chance, then I claim -the right to give this honor to France—my country. But I beg you to -remember that I beseech you to make use of your knowledge first, that -afterwards there may be no recriminations.” - -I bowed sneeringly. “You do me too much honor,” I replied sarcastically, -“for I can imagine that every _savant_ in France is yearning to stand in -my shoes. Why, heavens, man! do you think there’s a fool big enough to -back you anywhere between Dunkirk and Marseilles?” - -He glowered at me malignantly, flapping his hands against the turf. -“Monsieur wishes me to infer then that I am a fool?” he queried coldly. -“I accept monsieur’s compliment in the spirit in which it is dealt to -me. But let me tell monsieur this. He may have the wealth, he may have -the courage, he may think he has the wisdom of the century at his back, -but he has no spirituality, and, I say it with assurance, but little -intellectuality. He is crusted in conservative unbelief like an oyster -in his shell. With all his practical qualities I pity him,” and he swept -his hands abroad with a wave of disdain that was dramatic in its -haughtiness. - -You will perceive that the makings of a good quarrel were here, however -absurd the subject. A sentence or two more and I and the little ass -would have been, figuratively, at each other’s throats. Here Gerry -stepped into the breach. - -“Jack, you’re in the wrong; and what’s more, when you’re cool, you’ll -own it. What’s the good of looking black at another gentleman simply -because he differs from you in a matter of opinion? The remedy lies in -your own hands. M. Lessaution tells you that if you sail in a certain -direction he has good reason to believe that you will find certain -things, or the remains of certain things, which he judges to be of -importance. Well, _sail_ there. We’ve a very great desire for something -exciting to do just at present, and here you have an ancient family -quest ready to your hand. I can’t imagine anything that could possibly -improve upon such a providentially given chance. You’ve got the money -for it, and the health, and last, but not least, you’ve got two -companions ready to accompany you. If you’ve any spirit left in you, -_go_,” and as he concluded his lecture he smote me resoundingly on the -back. - -I failed to see sense in this any more than in the Frenchman’s -hare-brained purposes, but a sudden thought had come with glowing -swiftness into my mind. I turned hastily to Lessaution, who was -regarding me with anxious inquiry, and asked him a question. - -“Supposing,” said I, “only supposing, we were to sail due south to the -land which you believe to exist beyond Cape Horn, how should we -proceed?” - -“We should of course make the Falkland Islands our base, and steer a -directly southern course from there. They would be the nearest inhabited -land.” - -I pondered this information silently, ruminating various matters in my -mind. Finally I turned benignantly towards the Professor, and seized his -hand. - -“Monsieur Lessaution,” said I, “I will say frankly that I do not believe -that we shall find a vestige of this extinct race, and I am inclined to -think that both the English letter and the Mayan document are frauds. -But I want relaxation and excitement, and I believe the cruise may -possibly do me all the good in the world. We will return to England and -find out the cost of equipping a yacht for sailing in these latitudes. -If my man of business advises me that I am in a position to undertake -it, I shall do so. And I request the pleasure of your company if this -proposal becomes an accomplished fact.” - -His sallow little cheeks flushed up with pleasure, and he shook my -proffered hand violently. - -“I was not mistaken in you, Monsieur de Heatherslie,” he said, with -dignity. “I felt that no man of your adventurous race would fail at a -chance like this. Receive my congratulations on your decision, and my -regrets that I used unpardonable adjectives to goad you into it. You -will find me, I trust, not unworthy of the honour you have done me.” - -Gerry used less set terms in his address. “Thanks, old man,” he remarked -complacently; “I should like to come, though you haven’t asked me. And -now all’s settled peacefully, let’s have a drink,” and he headed the -procession which advanced with much unanimity upon the dining tent. - -But I felt a hypocrite and a pretender. For what had influenced my -decision was simply a sentence culled from the published itinerary of -the s.s. _Madagascar’s_ winter’s cruise. And it ran thus— - -“On or about February 6, Port Lewis in the Falkland Isles, previous to -her return home.” - - - - - CHAPTER VI - WE SAIL SOUTH - - -It was the end of October before we were back in London again, and had -begun our preparations for the expedition to which I had pledged myself. -Crum gave me no financial excuse for departing from my promise. In his -management things had looked up during my uncle’s tenure of the title, -and I was a deal better off than I had believed possible. Farms were in -good condition and well let. Bog and heather in Ireland had found -tenants for shooting, if not for grazing. Investments of accumulations -had prospered marvellously. And above all was the wonderful collection -of coins which was to be sold as soon as it could be accurately -catalogued. I was well to do, it seemed, when all I had expected was a -bare escape from penury. - -“Your lordship need have no fear of lack of funds,” said the old man, as -he finished listening to the tale which I had to tell on our return from -America. “The twentieth part of what the collection will fetch in the -open market will be ample to meet every expense. And if your lordship -will permit me, I should be glad to help you in your choice of a ship. -This is no case for a mere yacht.” - -“You, Mr. Crum!” I questioned amazedly, “pardon my surprise; but the -practice of the law does not as usual induce experience in ship-rigging -or building.” - -“No,” said the old fellow meekly, “not as a rule. But in this particular -instance it has been one old lawyer’s hobby. My pleasure all my life has -been yachting, my lord, and I have many friends who go down to the sea -in ships.” - -This was a bolt from the blue and no mistake, and a blessing which I was -not slow to avail myself of. I gave Crum a free hand with the greatest -delight, and the result was in every way admirable. Not only did he -bring to his task a wealth of finicky little details such as are dear to -the yachtsman’s heart, but took to him retired master mariners and other -sea-going veterans of his acquaintance, who possessed more than his -amateur capacity for judging good lines and fittings. And thus did they -bring their kindly toil to a conclusion. - -The _Racoon_, formerly of the American whaling trade, barque built, and -with stout timbers and bulkheads to resist ice, was for sale. With -cautious advances Crum became her purchaser. She was of five hundred -tons burden, had an auxiliary screw with one hundred and eighty -indicated horse-power, and was reputed a first-class sea-boat. We had -the greasy try-works swept from her decks, and a skylight fixed therein, -which gave light to a spacious saloon partitioned out of the barrel deck -below. Aft this we fashioned a cosy smoke-room, round which were four -cabins for ourselves and the captain. Other cabins below the main-deck -housed the mates and the engineer, while forward the crew and stokers -had the best of quarters. We took aboard much provision, supplied us by -a famous firm of caterers, together with liquid in due proportion. Coal -we took a large stock of; not that we expected to steam more than we -could help, but we wished to be independent of coaling stations. Mr. -Waller of the R.N.R. and the merchant marine came with many certificates -of various sorts to be our captain, and Mr. Janson of the same service -to be his second in command. Mr. Rafferty, sometime of Cork City, was -boatswain, and the engineer, stokers, and deck-hands were all British; -the first whole-colored, single-tongued crew that Waller had ever -commanded, as he feelingly remarked. - -Under these favorable auspices we sailed from Southampton on November -22nd, and thus the adventure to the Great South Wall was fairly started. - -I am not going to give you the wearisome repetitions which my log shows -as indications of what monotonous things we did during the next six -weeks. We had the usual toss as we threshed our way across the Bay, we -took the usual pleasure in sighting the Canaries and Madeira, and we -shipped the usual turtle at Ascension. After the fogs we had left in -England, we found the eternal heat of the line bearable for about six -hours, and then cursed it with the usual malevolence after experiencing -it for six hours more. We got very much bored with each other’s company, -and found conversation languish after the first week. We got huffy with -one another more than once, and finally settled down to the voyage, -shaking, each of us, into his allotted place automatically. And we grew -fat and bilious. - -Lessaution was by far the most energetic. His curiosity was abnormal, -and he left no inquiry unmade that would tend to satisfy it. He was as -sick as it is possible for a full-bodied Frenchman _to_ be sick for the -first three or four days, and after that seemed to renew his youth. Not -that he was by any means daunted during the period named. He crawled -about the deck in paroxysms of the most terrible description, -interrupting the crew with queries on every and any conceivable subject; -he attempted to mount the bridge, and was hurled back disconsolate as a -green sea thundered aboard; he ventured into the cook’s department and -endeavored to complete that worthy’s education during the height of a -gale; finally he was rescued from imminent death on the bed-plates of -the engine-room, where he was explaining the superiority of French -boilers to the contemptuous chief, Eccles. When the winds and the sea -had calmed down, he proceeded to bring out his gear which he had -accumulated for the adventure, and overhaul it with pardonable pride. - -He had certainly not forgotten anything that was likely to be of any -possible use. Ice-axes there were in profusion. Climbing-irons, portable -ladders, ropes, chisels. These to be used in the attack upon the -precipice of rock or ice which he convinced himself would lie between us -and our desire. He had also provided for further feats when the first -difficulties had been surmounted. Toboggans or sleds he had two or three -of; no less than six pairs of snow-shoes, and, wonder of wonders, a pair -of skates! - -He explained when taken to task on the subject that he belonged to that -gathering of the elect the _Cercle des Patineurs_, though as yet he had -not attained the style which he desired to affect, and was in -consequence unable to cut the figure he would like in the _beau monde_. -Now he thought an opportunity of instructing himself in this -health-giving and aristocratic pursuit would be afforded him. He would -be able to win the plaudits of all on his return, for, let us mark, he -had brought with him a book of self-instruction on the subject, and -would perfect himself in intricacies unbelievable. Yes, it would not do -to spend the whole of the time on industry; we must not let our search -deprive us of all thoughts of relaxation. At times he would unbend—he -would sport. As an exercise this skating, let us remember, was without a -peer. - -Careless of our rude pleasantries, he proceeded to unveil further -treasures. He had a perfect armory of offensive and defensive weapons. -Bowie-knives were sown throughout his baggage like plums in a pudding. -Revolvers decorated his cabin walls in pairs. A rifle flanked a shot-gun -on each side of his cot. A tomahawk was precariously affixed to the deck -above, whence it fell perilously every time we broached to between the -great Atlantic surges. It was evident he was prepared for the worst that -the future might have in store. - -We rallied him gently on his warlike preparations, but he met us with -logical arguments. It was understood, was it not, that we went to -discover a new people. Let the memory of the old conquistadores be in -our hearts. By the magic of their perfected weapons they had prevailed -upon the ancestors of this very people we went to seek, and from them we -might learn a lesson. It was not to be expected that we should be -greeted peacefully at first. A display of force—only a display, let us -certainly hope—would be necessary. He, Emil Saiger Lessaution, would -give that display, and inaugurate a reconstruction of their mediæval -empire. Met by a dispute of his data, in that we refused to acknowledge -the possibility of any such race surviving in the desolation of the -Antarctic, he turned our flank by remarking happily, that at any rate -animals of a ferocious disposition would abound, and would need to be -captured or quelled. He promised himself many trophies of fur and -feather, which would make the eyes of members of the shooting club he -patronized bulge out with envy. - -Gerry had brought a pair of guns and a rifle, with some vague idea of -sealing, and found encouragement therein from Mr. Rafferty, who had -sailed in whalers. I gave it to be understood, however, that I did not -purpose wasting time in the chase, and should not allow us to stay our -course short of our destination. One circumstance, however, came to -light, which turned the laugh strongly against the Frenchman. It was -while he was examining with a depreciatory air Gerry’s guns, that it -suddenly occurred to him that with all his store of weapons, he had no -means of loading them. In the excitement of departure he had left all -such practicalities as cartridges to the last, being filled with the -loftiest ideas for using them. The consequence was that he was -absolutely dependent on Gerry’s slender store, and Gerry, with all the -good nature in the world, found that the barrels were of different bore, -his being twelve and the Professor’s sixteen. After which discovery we -had a morning’s unavailing gnashing of teeth, and then the little man -forgot his troubles in a new excitement. - -This was the first ice. We had sighted Bovet’s Island a few days before, -when we saw it—a solemn, stately ice-hill, floating along island-like on -a calm and unrippled sea. There’s something rather overpowering and -awesome about a big berg. The deathly blue-whiteness of it, the silence -that broods about it, the great grottoes that pierce its sides like -tombs of the lost, the glassy radiance that does not cheer but repels -one—these things have a very depressing effect on me. I realized for the -first time the sort of business we were going in for, and confessed to -myself that a very little of this sort of thing would go a very long -way. But it acted on the Professor’s spirits in quite another manner. - -We had rigged the crow’s-nest the day before, and he was up in it before -you could wink an eye. He leaned out over the edge of this eyrie, -waggling his hands ecstatically, and singing songs of victory, welcoming -this indication that we were approaching our goal with a hubbub that -resounded indecently among the echoes of the bergs. - -That was the only one we saw that evening, but next morning there were -rows and rows of them, great pyramids of sheeny white, coming along in -stately columns and companies, overhanging the blue sea, crashing now -and again against each other, and hustling and grinding the floe-ice -that dotted the wide sea-lanes between. - -We steamed cautiously down the aisles, dodging from one sheet of open -water to another. Now and again some unsteady pinnacle, loosening from -the side of its parent berg in the heat of the sun, would plunge -thunderously down the smooth slopes, and roar into the sea, sending -great waves of curling foam to right and left, the rainbow rays dancing -in the flying spray. The cascades poured continually from basin to basin -in the laps of the ice-hills, tinkling and plashing as they fell. Here -and there, on the bare, smooth base of some mighty piece of glacier, -rows of seals lay and basked in the sun, staring at us as we slid by -them with stupid, curious, brown eyes. Every now and again a sea-lion -rose with a snort from some pool beneath the shadow of the shining -crags, and played and tossed happily among the ripples. The birds, tame -as chickens, unaccustomed to the sight of men, flew and swung and -whirled and circled above us in clouds, tern wailing to tern, and gull -to gull in plaintive outcry. And over all the sun shone with the -strength of the Antarctic summer, now just beginning in its full vigor -and brightness. - -It certainly was an uplifting day, and quite swept out of my head the -despondent horrors of the evening before. I climbed to the crow’s-nest -with Lessaution, and stayed beside him there hour after hour, drinking -in all the glories of the scene, and listening lazily to his babble, -taking pleasure in the mere joy of living. - -We rolled slowly down the lessening passages all that day, and at sunset -lay to with springs on our cables, for the floe-ice surged upon us -ceaselessly, making it too dangerous to charge in among the pack without -the help of daylight. In fact, we had to keep watch and watch about and -fend off with poles, as the great splinters tangled round us, and ride -out and back more than once as a berg moved upon us ponderously. - -With the dawn we were under steam again, and wound our way in and out -and about till, at mid-day, a shout from aloft proclaimed land in sight. -And then we saw it. Far away, gray and shadowy through the haze it ran -across the horizon, a long wall of rock or ice-faced cliff, reaching -from east to west and dying into the dimness of the ice-strewn sea. - -As we drew nearer, down the long corridors between the floes, it seemed -to grow higher and more implacable at every mile. Sheer, ledgeless, and -ice-smooth it was, never an approach or opening to its summit visible. - -The shadows beneath hung duskly over the ripples, making the blue of the -outer ocean seem to have an edge of mourning on its brightness. Here and -there a berg clanged and butted against it restlessly, grinding away -huge masses of its flanks in showers of twinkling splinters. - -Along its sea-level the pack-ice heaved, eternally smoothing and planing -its surface. About its face the sea-birds swirled, dipping and shrilling -in their clouds. From many a little channel on its summit the rivulets -from the melting glaciers fell in sparkling cascades, like the swishing -tails of a stabled squadron. And far beyond it, smiting up haughtily -into the empty blue, a giant range of mountains reared their heads, -grim, white, and glancing in the sunlight. - -We slowed when we were within a mile of it, and then began to wear a way -slowly along parallel to the land, waiting till we should see some sign -of a break or cranny in the relentless cliff. But never a sign of one -was there. Early in the afternoon we raised islands to the northeast, -and threw the lead, finding fifteen fathoms. We crept into the channel -which ran between this archipelago and the mainland, and found a larger -space of open water. Here, then, at Lessaution’s earnest request I -anchored, and dropped a boat down for him; with a crew of six we put -off, and rowed down the narrow, changing passages towards the crags. - -The little Frenchman was sanguine that a nearer investigation would show -a means of scaling the heights, but try as we would, and strain our -eyes, as we did, to the uttermost, no vestige of a split or crevice in -those endless walls of rock could we see. We rowed and rowed, but the -result was ever the same. The sea-lanes between the floating lumps of -floe stretched endlessly across the sea like the meshes of a spider’s -web. We seemed to grope in an eternal maze, which had no appointed -outlet. Only now and again could we approach the wall of ice and stone -that overhung us. We had to be on guard continuously. The pack would -spring and close like the jaws of a trap, and we had to back and row, -and row and back, without cessation, to avoid its ever-waiting grip. One -very sharp escape we had. We were lying on our oars, while the Professor -examined some of the lichen which covered the cliff in patches, when we -were suddenly aware, that what a moment before had been a sheet of -water, clear for an acre around, was a fast thinning streak of sea. -There was a yell from Rafferty, who steered, and then by backing -furiously we managed to crawl into a pool between two sturdy bergs, and -wind our way out into the less crowded channels. But as we saw the floe -surge down upon the rock, and grate and grind upon it lingeringly, -scoring away its own edges by the ton, we shuddered to think what an -eggshell our boat would have been between that mighty hammer and that -granite anvil. - -That day was but the precursor of many. The yacht, with banked fires, -perpetually corkscrewed her way along about a mile from shore, and day -by day we took our boat and wandered continually in the shadow of the -frowning wall. In Lessaution’s breast hope burnt eternally, but only to -be quenched at night. His plans were numerous, and some of them -ludicrously ingenious. He suggested that a kite should be flown with a -knotted rope attached, which might perchance catch in some crevice on -the top, and permit him to give us a gymnastic display. He wondered if -the carpenter could not manufacture a hundred-foot ladder, and then -anchoring the good ship _Racoon_ below the precipice, enable us to place -the highest rung against the top. He even proposed that Gerry should -throw his cartridges into the common stock—this I am convinced was -partly from jealousy at Gerry’s owning these useful articles, which he -had forgotten—that they should be opened, and that the resulting powder -should be used to blast a way from point to point, and thus a path be -won over these disgraceful rocks at which he shook his fist perpetually. - -These futile proposals meeting the contempt they deserved, he became -gloomy and morose, hinting strongly that our hearts were not really in -this quest, and affirming that he, with his unquenchable French valor, -was perfectly prepared to be left upon an iceberg with such provision as -we could spare, if we thought it advisable to give up the adventure -through our want of spirit. - -After about three weeks of this sort of thing I ventured to interpose. I -explained to him carefully that I did not purpose giving up the -expedition altogether, but that I must plead for an interval in it. I -affirmed mendaciously that I had arranged with the worthy Crum to call -at the Falkland Isles in case there should be matters of importance to -be telegraphed or otherwise sent—I had not the least idea if there _was_ -a telegraph station, and had a notion the post went once a year—and I -must beg to be allowed to proceed there for this purpose, to re-coal, -and to get further store of provision. - -The unfortunate little man lamented desperately. Once let us get away -when we were thus on the spot, and it was inevitable that we should -never return. Might we not have one more week—nay, a day? That very -evening as we knocked off work he had viewed a break in the top-line of -these unbending crags, of which he had the brightest hopes. How could we -find the spot again? He must implore—he must entreat. - -For once I was adamant. I explained that if we were to be detained here -by any accident with our slender supply of fuel and provision, things -might be very awkward. I showed how necessary it was for a man in my -position to be in touch with his lawyer every few months. I reiterated -my assurance that we should return, using every oath and affirmation -that I thought convincing. But it was a sorrow-stricken face that the -poor little man hung over the stern the next morning as we turned our -prow northwards, and the cliffs drew down into the veil of the haze. - -Gerry had at first shown unbounded astonishment at this sudden change of -plan, but during my discussion with the Professor a light seemed to -strike him. He retired to the saloon, and through the skylight I saw him -consulting a manuscript note or two which I could have sworn were in a -feminine hand. He came on deck with an unclouded brow. - -“To-day’s the 29th, isn’t it?” he queried cheerily. Then turning to -Waller he demanded, “How long shall we take to steam to Port Lewis, -captain?” - -“About a week, sir,” responded that functionary readily, and my young -friend faced me with a grin splitting his ingenuous countenance. - -“You old humbug,” he chuckled. “Coal indeed; provisions running short, -are they? _Go_ on,” and on we went. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS - - -I received Gerry’s more explicit congratulations in private. The poor -little Professor continued to bemoan our desertion of the quest with -such heart-breaking insistence, that the merest suspicion that it was no -stern necessity that bade us sail north would, we felt sure, induce -paroxysms of fury. We cheered him to the best of our ability, by -picturing our early return refreshed for deeds of high emprise in rock -climbing, and with perfected means for their accomplishment. But he -continued to bewail himself. - -It was about six days after we had turned our backs upon the great rock -wall, that the wind began to get up strongly from the north, and we had -to thrust our way slowly enough through the great surges that rolled -down upon us mercilessly from the Atlantic, with four thousand miles of -gathered impact at their back. - -Our good little boat cleft her way through their white manes with a -sturdy shove and shake of her prow, sending the spray swinging in jets -before her cutwater, and flooding her decks as she dipped to the rollers -and sent them roaring down beneath the bridge. - -Two men had to be lashed to the wheel, and the crew took their stations -between watch and watch, only by the activity with which they dodged the -incoming billows. Two of our boats were swept from the davits, and half -the deck-house windows were smashed before we got them battened over. -The cook kept a fire in the galley by the display of the most -extraordinary agility, and our meals were snappy and disconnected. Nor -did we take much pleasure in them. Gerry and I had found our sealegs to -a certain extent, but poor little Lessaution was a terrible sufferer, -and we found it hard to take a neighborly interest in his behavior—he -would insist in coming on deck, though he had to be lashed there—and -afterwards find appetite for the cook’s hastily improvised dainties. - -We had twenty-four hours of this sort of thing, and then it began to get -monotonous. The wind dropped little by little, but the sea was nearly as -high as ever, and the evening closed down upon us with our wretchedness -still supreme, and the waves pervading everything from the cabins to the -stoke-hole. We joined Eccles in the engine-room, where, if not dry, we -were at least warm, and toasted our steaming clothes before the red glow -of the furnaces, while we took exercise by bracing ourselves to avoid -being dashed into the heart of the machinery by the great heaves and -struggles of the fighting ship. It was a way of passing an evening which -came with some originality and freshness to both Gerry and myself, and -we stayed there late confabulating over our prospects, and wondering -whether our attempt at an interview with our young women would be -successful, and what sort of greeting we should receive. - -“It’s all very well for you now,” said Gerry despondently, “you’re all -right. You’ve got your title and an income, which might be worse by a -long way, but where do I come in? I’m as badly off as ever. You’ll have -to work your new-found influence pretty vigorously to get me any sort of -billet to satisfy my ma-in-law.” - -“That sort of thing’ll have to come later,” I answered. “Probably we -shan’t get more than an hour with them, if that. Port Lewis isn’t such -an enticing sort of place, from what I’ve heard, that the _Madagascar’s_ -likely to stay there long. They’ll just coal and that’s about all. But -_if_ Denvarre and his brother haven’t settled matters by now—which the -Lord forbid!—I think it won’t do us any harm to remind our young women -that we’re alive and still taking an interest in them. But with Denvarre -for competitor I don’t see that you’re worse off than I am. Don’t let’s -brood, though, old chap, but let what will betide. If our chances are -gone from us completely, then we’ve got the best possible -counter-irritant to depression handy. We can turn back and find our -excitement still waiting for us at the foot of that stupendous wall.” - -Gerry smiled hopefully, bending forward for a light for his pipe. A -dreamy look crossed his face as he swayed apathetically to the roll of -the ship, and as he rose and braced himself with his arm around a -stanchion I could see that he was musing mistily over the future. I felt -a little that way myself, and there was a silence between us for a time, -broken only by the regular beat and clang as the great piston rods -thrust themselves backwards and forwards, and the eccentrics jolted -round clamorously. - -Suddenly from the deck above came a hail, and Janson thrust his face, -glistening with salt-foam flecks, into the disc of light where the -man-hole gave upon the darkness. - -“Light on the starboard bow, my lord,” he bellowed, to make himself -heard above the jar of the machinery and the shriek of the storm. “The -skipper thinks there must be a whaler afire.” - -Gerry and I snatched at our oilskins, which we had doffed when we had -descended from the sousings of the deck, and climbed the little iron -ladder unsteadily. We were still ploughing our way into the trough of -the head-sea, we found, when we gained the deck, but the great rollers -did not come shooting over the bow and down the slippery planks as they -had done an hour or two before. The sea was evidently going down, but -was heavy enough yet to make us pity from the bottom of our hearts any -poor wretches who had to battle with it in open boats. - -Far away, very dimly and intermittently as we rose on the crest of wave -after wave, a light flickered now and again away to starboard, shooting -up occasionally into brightness as we and the burning craft stood out on -the top of a sea together, lost utterly when both of us sank back into -the trough between the seas, and evidently drifting towards us rapidly -before the force of the northern gale. - -I clambered up on to the bridge beside Waller, and bawled into his ear. - -“Shall we be able to help,” I questioned stentoriously, “or is it too -late?” - -“Too late to do anything for her,” he shrieked back, shaking his -dripping head, “but we ought to stand by for her boats, if they can live -with them, poor wretches.” - -The stress of conversation was too great to indulge in further. I -grasped the rail before me and stood at Waller’s right hand, straining -my eyes into the night. We needed all our strength, really, for the -screw, but at Janson’s suggestion, the dynamo was set going, and our -little searchlight streamed out in a thin shaft of light into the -darkness. It tinged the frothy breakers with a dead white glow as of -hoarfrost. - -So we rode forward into the storm, the wind shrieking through our -strained cordage, the spray fell like the lash of whips on our -glistening decks, and the thud and swish of the surges against our bows -answering the regular thump and rattle of the anchor-chains in the -hawse-pipe, and the racket of the groaning machinery that echoed up from -below. - -Far ahead the little zone of golden light flashed before us, dancing and -winking amid the tossing of the seas, darting here and there, pulsing -quiveringly down the shaft of brightness that fed it from our top, -flitting like some brilliant petrel of the night from crest to crest, -spurning the foam, glittering through the veils of hissing spray that -fell behind it like cascades of radiant jewels. And after it we waddled -along steadily, fighting the rollers, flinching before the sting of the -flipping drift, nosing into the depths of the green combs of angry -water, rolling, pitching, jarring and quivering, but ever following like -some trustworthy and attentive duck trailing after an evasive -hummingbird. - -The sheen of the furnace upon the sea was gleaming nearer. At times the -glimmer of its flames was hid from us, as some mountain-like wall of -water flung itself in between, but the glow of it was never lost to us. -We could see the sparks stream up like puny rockets, as the gale planed -them off the edge of the blaze, flinging them in clouds to leeward, as -the ungoverned hulk swung heavily between the seas. The masts were -pillars of living flame, that streamed into the night in bannerets of -fire. Out of the main hatchway a solid white-hot glow of light was -projected, shot with red streaks as burning splinters floated up in the -strong sea-draught. From stem to stern the unfortunate bark was wrapped -in a fiery sheet as the conflagration leaped and roared about it, -devouring the seas that broke aboard into clouds of rosy steam. - -“God help the poor wretches,” I shouted to Waller; “there’s no one left -alive on that.” - -“No, my lord, not this half-hour back. It’s their boats I’m watching -for,” he answered, as, with the peak of his cap pressed over his eyes, -he strained his gaze into the night. “It’s a ten to one chance against -any boat living in this sea, but—well, there’s always a but, my lord.” - -Janson was flirting the searchlight about and about the blazing hulk, -like a very will-o’-the-wisp. It fled round it questioningly, picking at -and dipping to every floating piece of wreckage, but never a one showed -the sign of boat or human being. With our steam to help us, there was no -danger in approaching the floating furnace as near as we thought well, -and we slid up towards it as it lurched past us, till the heat of it -blistered across the red seas on to our salt-cracked faces smartingly. -The sparks skipped by us, and hissed like little adders on our streaming -planks, but gaze as we would, nothing but charred timbers and leaping -breakers met our eyes. We plunged forward into the darkness again, as -she lumbered by before the wind. - -“We ought to hang about in the direction she came from,” explained -Waller thunderously. “The boats, if they lived, wouldn’t keep her pace. -They aren’t so much exposed to the gale.” - -I nodded, still gripping the rail before me, not wishing to waste breath -that was twisted from one’s very lips by the wind, before it could frame -a single intelligent word. - -So we plodded on for a quarter of an hour or more, seeing nothing. I -could but remember what agonies the unfortunate victims of this -mischance must be suffering, if by any terrible hap they were swinging -near us on those hungry seas, seeing help and safety at hand, and yet -without a hope of rescue save by utter chance. And I thanked God for the -wet deck below me that I had been cursing but a short hour back. - -“I suppose the oil caught fire?” I asked Waller, as a slight lull gave -one a chance to make oneself heard. “I shouldn’t have thought any ship -could have flared like that in this sea.” - -“She’s no whaler, my lord,” returned the skipper decidedly; “I can’t -quite make out her build. More like a liner, only no liner would be down -this far south. She had big engines, judging by her funnels. Looked for -all the world like one of the old Black Cross Line.” - -“The Black Cross Line!” I repeated wondering; “why, that’s a funny -thing. Some friends of mine have gone cruising in one of their steamers -round ——” and then the frightful horror of it took me by the throat, and -I could have shrieked aloud. The Black Cross Line! The _Madagascar_ was -one of their boats, yacht-fitted for cruising. Oh! the thing was -impossible. It was some coincidence that fate had raised up to frighten -me. Waller just spoke in the haphazard way men do when they make -comparisons. Of course, he had served on some vessel of the fleet, and -his thoughts strayed back to it. And yet—and yet—no ordinary liner would -be sailing these seas. And the _Madagascar_ was expected in these -latitudes. My God! it was a thing too wanton for even my luck to have -conceived and brought about. No fate could be so devilish as to drag me -out these weary thousands of miles to see my love’s agony of death in -these desolate southern seas. No; no God that ruled the universe could -allow it. I wrestled with the cold reason that insisted that these -things could be, and that it was stretching the limits of mere -coincidence to say they were not. - -Into my tortures of despair a hail from Janson broke, and he swung the -leaping flash-light from before our bow like a lightning streak. It -streamed, a path of light across the billows, to port, and centered -there on a tumbling, reeling object, buffeted by the bluster of the -breakers, half hidden by the curtain of the spin-drift. Together Waller -and I tore at the wheel, and slewed the ship towards it. Slowly, ever so -languidly, the bows came round, and began to edge across to where the -disc of light hovered unblinkingly. The dark object leaped up ever and -anon, poised upon the dancing surge, only to drop back as if engulfed -absolutely in the dark abyss behind the roll of the breaker. A white -object fluttered, as we could see between these intermittent eclipses, -streaming out against the yellow light glaringly. Round this, as we drew -near, we could distinguish a huddle of misty outlines, animate or -inanimate we could not tell. - -We circled heavily to windward, and Waller roared his orders to the -crew. The oil-bags were hung outboard, and as they dribbled lingeringly -across the surface of the foam, the tossing died down as by magic. -Half-a-dozen seamen clustered at the side, and with uplifted hands, -swayed coils of rope above their heads. The engines slowed as the -engine-room bells clanged, and we half stayed. Then with the blow of a -great roller upon our lifting keel we staggered on again. - -Still nearer we floundered, drifting broadside on, to the round yellow -patch wherein the dim mass still danced uncertainly. Nearer still, and -we hovered over it, reeling under the thunderous blows that the windward -waves hammered upon us, and rolling nigh bulwarks under into the oily -calm to leeward. Nearer again, and the ropes lashed out like whip-cords -across the interval from the waiting crew, and were caught and hauled at -desperately by the eager wretches aboard the pitching boat. Nearer now, -almost under the churn of our wash, and the searchlight stared down -unquivering into every crevice of its wild confusion, swathing each face -in its glare. And white and set, silhouetted haggardly against the -blackness of the outer night, the face of my love—my own dear -love—looked up into my unbelieving eyes. - -[Illustration: - - OUT ... OF THAT BLACK YEASTY WHIRLPOOL CAME MY LOVE. - - _Page 103._ -] - -I heard an exclamation from Waller as I flung myself from the wheel, and -heard him grip his breath as he braced himself to meet the plunge of the -ship alone. I was but human, and who was I to stand unmoved beside him -there when the light of my eyes was swayed in the grasp of death before -me? I took a leap on to the wet and slanting deck, and fell upon my -hands, but rose beside the bulwark unhurt and panting. Then a hail from -the boat reached across to us above the raving of the wind, and I saw -our men tug frantically at a rope that tautened suddenly. A dark body -came swiftly flying up to the bulwarks as the men hauled, and with eager -hands we seized it, fending it from the jumping list of the timbers. A -single glance showed me Lady Delahay’s face, sunken and shriveled with -fifty new lines of haunting fear. Another hail, another strenuous pull, -and Violet fell into the arms that Gerry held out to receive her. And -then—ay, then, and till I go out into the eternal beyond, the memory of -it will be vivid in my inmost soul—out of the swirl and uproar of that -black, yeasty whirlpool came my love into my embrace, and lay upon my -breast. - -We bore them into the cabin, and poured cordials between their white -lips. We chafed their frozen hands and fetched hot bricks from the -engine-room to place beneath their feet. We tore off their outer -garments—for ceremony flies through the porthole when death is knocking -at the door and wrapped blankets round them and rubbed their limbs -furiously. We did everything that men can do, of a good purpose but -unhandily, to bring them back from the edge of the eternal sleep whereon -they hovered, and soon—in the younger women’s case at least—with -success. Then as their eyes opened, and the color began to creep back -languidly into their cheeks, and they sat up in utter wonder at their -surroundings, we left them, with every appliance we could furnish forth, -to revive in her turn their mother, giving them but little explanation -of their whereabouts, and being eyed by them with a surprise that we -could but hope had pleasure at its back. But this was no time for -sentimental musings, and we hurried on deck to see what had betided to -the others. - -Eight men had been hauled by main force from the tumbling boat, which -had reeled more and more tempestuously as her living ballast lightened, -and the last poor fellow, with no restraining hand on the far end of the -line, had been bumped fearfully against the bulge of the hull as we -rolled back. But bruises were the worst that any man had received, and -we hustled them into the smoke-room unceremoniously. - -Janson was still flinging the searchlight rays across the tumbling waste -of water, but a word from one of the half-drowned mariners made us stay -him. - -“Not another two spars are afloat together of the other boats,” he -gasped, as the blood began to flow again in his frozen veins. “Every one -was matchwooded against the side as they left. Ours was carried off, -half full by a wave that broke the painter, or I shouldn’t be here, and -thank God for it.” - -“How many aboard you?” I asked, shuddering to think what a toll the -night had taken; “you’re the _Madagascar_, aren’t you?” - -“Yes, we’re the _Madagascar_,” he answered slowly and with surprise, -“though I don’t know how you know it, seeing you’ve let the boat drift. -An hour ago she was the finest pleasure craft afloat, with a hundred and -twenty passengers and fifty crew as jolly as could be. And now there’s -_us_,” and he flung his hands out towards his fellows with a gesture of -weak despair. - -“An hour ago!” I demurred, “more than that, my man, surely. She could -never have blazed up to a bon-fire like that in the time.” - -“I tell you, sir,” he answered obstinately, “that less than an hour ago -six score of happy men and women were feeding theirselves as contented -as could be in her saloon. And now,” he added grimly, “they’re feeding -the fishes. And in that boat for three-quarters of an hour we’ve been -tossing over their dead, drowned carcasses, reckoning that every minute -would see us join them. And Captain—my captain, what I’ve sailed with -this ten years past—he’s down there among them, and I’m here, and ought -to be thankin’ God, and I keep cursin’ every time I give myself leave to -think. And that’s what comes of followin’ the sea, sir,” and he laid his -rough, damp, grizzled head upon the table, and burst into a storm of -hysterical tears. - -The others were coming back to consciousness one by one. Baines touched -me on the shoulder. - -“There’s one here that won’t last long, my lord, I fear,” he said, -leading me towards the other end of the saloon, where another limp body -was stretched across the table. “We can’t bring him round at all.” - -It came as no shock of surprise to recognize Denvarre’s face and -drooping yellow moustache. His eyes were closed; his cheeks fell in -limply against his jaws; the breath came in a thin wheezy hiss from -between his white lips. He was in the last stages of cold and -exhaustion. They tried in vain to force brandy between his set teeth. He -had not the muscular power of swallowing left. It did indeed look as if -Baines was right. - -I won’t stop to tell you the thoughts that seethed and ran riot in my -brain as I saw him fighting for his life with the cold that had nigh -mastered his pulses. They belong to the category of devilish -inspirations that come to a man when some wild battle with nature -furnishes forth a throw back to pure animalism; when self is uttermost -and honor unborn. They are monstrous phantasms of the brain too dark to -materialize into wholesome words, and best forgotten save when the -system needs a purge of shame. God forgive me my desires at that single -moment—for a space of mere seconds saw me myself again. - -Suffice it to say that with every aid we could devise we joined him in -his wrestle with the death that was gripping him for the final throw. We -fetched spirits, and rasped every part of his body with rough towels -soaked in whisky. We smote with our palms upon his rigid limbs, and bent -and kneaded his unyielding joints; we thrust heated bricks against his -feet and hands; finally, at Janson’s suggestion, we collected handfuls -of the sleet that was falling on the decks, and grated them furiously -upon his skin. And at last the life began to flicker in him. - -A tinge—faint and barely perceptible at first, but growing in -strength—began to filter into his cheeks. A sigh burst from his throat -and the tense lips parted. We tilted brandy drop by drop into his mouth, -and heard his spluttering cough with joy. And then of his own effort he -stirred and whispered faintly. - -“Gwen?” he queried in a faint, far-away voice, and it was for me to -answer him. - -“Safe, and on board,” said I cheerily, as my heart sledge-hammered at my -ribs, and my hands twitched to grasp his throat and tear the chords of -speech away from him eternally. “Quite safe, old man, and coming round -nicely.” - -He smiled a happy, drowsy smile that stayed and slept upon his face as -he wandered back into consciousness. And then I left him to his -brother—who was among the rescued—and to Baines, and went stolidly up on -deck, the fires of hell burning in my heart, and rage—the insane, -unreasoning rage of disappointment—astir in my blood. - -“Gwen, Gwen,” I repeated to myself, as I flung myself out into the gale -that still slashed cuttingly down the deck. “Gwen she is to him, and, -curse him, she’s Gwen no longer to me.” - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - BEFORE THE GALE - - -I stood beneath the bridge holding on to a friendly stanchion, and -gazing apathetically before me. I could see Waller’s brawny figure -outlined upon the bridge, every movement of his muscles showing up -against the moonlit sky. He wrestled strenuously with the bucking wheel -as it fought in his grasp, while above him the ragged clouds scudded -fiercely, giving him the effect of rushing violently backward into space -as they passed swiftly over him. The wind had increased with the rise of -the waning moon, and the lull, which mercifully allowed us to rescue the -derelict boat, was blotted out in a turmoil of foam and fury. The tumult -of the night found an echo in my heart. - -For, unlike my usual custom, I had allowed myself to hope. In my conceit -of my plan for gaining an interview with Gwen—in my hopes and fears of -our meeting coming off—I had not dwelt much on the fact that it might -end in failure—in despair. Gerry was partly responsible for this. For -the last week he had continually dinned his sanguine reassurances into -my ears till they had almost ousted my natural pessimism. I had -forgotten to deceive Fate with a pretense of despondency, and she had -turned to sneer wickedly in my face and to flout me for my inattention. -I gripped the stanchion savagely as I thought of these things, I turned -a silent face to the hubbub of the night, while every passion of my body -rioted in my brain. I took an infuriate comfort in the thunderous -grapple of the elements. - -For, look at it how I would, I was condemned to hours—if not days—of -smiling torture. Here was I cooped up in the same ship with the woman to -whom I had utterly given over my heart, and honor—bare courtesy, in -fact—forbade me to so much as hint to her my love. Mere common kindness -bade me further the wooing of my rival. And he—I gnashed my teeth as I -remembered it—if my luck had only allowed, might have been a thousand -fathoms deep in this shrieking whirlpool of a sea. If ever the -temptations of Cain filled a man’s heart, they crowded mine that -tempest-ridden night. - -I fought with my passion, thrusting these ideas back from me, conjuring -up to myself every thought of chivalry that my upbringing could give -birth to. I remembered my apathetic renunciation of Gwen when we parted -six months before—my calm and fatalistic determination to live down -dispassionately the desire of my life. None the more did it bring -comfort as I told myself that now I had the right and the means to win -her—that as before God, and not before a sordid, money-worshipping -world, we were just man and maid, and had looked upon each other in -natural love and liking. I cursed the narrow world of Society with an -insistence that gained power from the fact that I stood in the very -cradle of nature’s wrath, and Society was dimmed by the distance of -three thousand miles—veiled behind a curtain of storm and dancing spray. -Thus during the long hours of the night I battled with myself in -disjointed, hopeless argument, and the storm rattled round me with -growing clamor. - -It was about three in the morning when the climax of the tempest came. A -shock quivered up from our stern, vibrating through every timber of our -hull as if by electricity—a tremor such as no mere breaking wave could -have caused. It was as if we had been smitten by some Titan -sledge-hammer. Above the bellow of the storm I heard Waller’s cry of -dismay, and saw the wheel spin uselessly through his hands. He came -headlong down from the bridge. - -I sprang forward to steady him as he half stepped, half fell from the -ladder, and he lurched into my arms. As the unguided ship swung round -before the impact of the rollers, the deck stood up at an angle that -shed our footing from it. We gripped each other unhandily. The bow -leaped, and shook itself as if in pain. A ponderous surge charged into -it. The ship gave before the shock, throbbing through every timber. It -swayed, hesitated, and then, defeated in the unequal struggle, broached -to, and lay in the trough of the sea. A great flood roared down the -deck, snatching up the captain and myself in its green mane and dashing -us stunningly against the deck-house. We spluttered and choked, gasping -for breath. - -“The rudder-chains are broken,” exclaimed Waller hoarsely, as he gulped -and crowed, and he made a dash for the foc’sle, roaring aloud for the -watch below. They never heard him till he thrust his face into the very -door. Unsteadily they came tumbling out to scramble along the listed -deck, and find and splice the sundered links. The rattle of their -intermitting hammering and dragging could only be heard if you stood -within a foot of them. - -The seas boiled over us eternally while this was doing, and for -half-an-hour we were practically beneath the waves, the ship settling -under the weight of water as she rolled broadside into the seas. The -engine still thrashed wearily round, but ungoverned as we were, our -leeway was twice our speed of steam. We only butted our prow more and -more under the combs of the great rollers. Finally six men were -stationed with ropes spliced to the broken chains, and Waller mounted -the bridge again. By strenuous tugs they hauled upon the tiller as his -hand motioned to them, and slowly we came round to face the gale again. -As we did there was a clang and a jar. The white wake faded from behind -us, and came flying up past the sides. We were sidling back with -gathering speed into our sternway. The cover was flung off the -engine-room man-hole, and Eccles’s grizzled head appeared. - -“The propeller-shaft, my lord,” he bawled, his voice rising screamingly -in his excitement, “the propeller-shaft’s split. I daren’t give her -another turn in this sea.” - -As our way lost itself in the force of the contending waters, and died -down into nothingness, we slowed, stopped, and a huge mass of ocean -roared against our prow. It lifted, lifted, lifted, soaring towards the -very heavens. I saw it eclipse a red, angry planet that I had noticed -high above the bowsprit-stays a moment before. It hovered a single tense -instant, and then with a swirl and heave came flying round, reeling and -staggering. There was a rush of the crew to gain some hold or to brace -themselves against some shelter. Then with a frightful roll we swung -over, and lay on our beam ends, the hungry waves licking along our -submerged decks like wolves ravening for their quarry. - -Out of this hopelessness Waller led us like the brave man he was. After -infinite research the carpenter produced a storm-sail, which had not -been buried beneath the weight of superincumbent wreckage. Under the -captain’s skilful supervision this was bent as a jib. Slowly, as the -wind gained force upon it, we dragged from under the weight of the waves -that were thrusting us deeper and deeper under their piled thronging, -and drew round to show our stern to the wind. As we ploughed our way out -of the trough of the sea, the waters rushed more and more from off our -streaming decks. We rose; the ship shaking itself like a dog. We gained -speed. The men took up the rudder ropes they had flung aside, and in -another two minutes we were riding—racing, before the gale, -back—straight back—to the regions of the Great South Wall. - -As we gained way the ship steadied herself. The ponderous lurch and roll -grew less. The keel sat more evenly in the hollow between the seas, -cutting through their crests like a knife as the sail bellied out and -tautened. We managed to get another piece of canvas spread, and then -like a thing endowed with sudden life the _Racoon_ began to tear before -the wind, bursting aside the surges as she overtook them, as if she -would revenge haughtily the shame they had put upon her helplessness. -There was an exhilaration about the fury of our rushing. It was like -riding a mettled and tireless steed. - -I left the crew to their work of re-connecting the broken rudder-chain -and went below. The saloon was a desolation. Every movable thing had -been swept to port by the list of our sudden broach to. The table was -leaning with its top against the side. A litter of glass and crockery -filled the port corners. A mass of pantry gear had been shot across the -floor. Smears of various sauces from the same locality stained the -carpets. Water had forced itself down through the hatchway—though this -had been battened—and sparkled in puddles beneath the electric light. -The knives and forks and splinters of glass jingled as they clustered -and broke apart again at each heave of the ship. And in the midst of -this conglomerate desolation sat poor Lady Delahay and her daughters. - -The former rose hastily as I swung myself off the stairs into the -doorway. She staggered towards me, her face white with anxiety. Her hand -trembled as she dropped it unsteadily on my arm. - -“Lord Denvarre?” she questioned, tugging insistently at my sleeve. “He’s -recovering?” - -“Right as the mail,” answered I; “he was a bit knocked out of time at -first, but we’ve brought him round famously between us. And you?” I -queried, “I hope you have been ministered to properly?” - -“I could think of nothing—absolutely nothing,” she answered, “while we -were without news of him. Oh, Lord Heatherslie, supposing my darling had -been practically widowed before my eyes?” - -“It’s been a terrible night for you,” said I, “but I’m glad you were -spared that crowning sorrow. Then I suppose I’m to congratulate Miss -Gwendoline on her engagement?” I went on, looking across to where the -two girls were trying to tidy up some of the worst of the jumbled -disorder of the floor. “I’m sure she has the best wishes for luck and -happiness from me.” - -“It’s not announced at all yet,” said the good lady hurriedly, “in fact, -you see there was no one to announce it to. There were no people of any -position on board, and it has only really been seriously taken into -consideration the last few days. A little awkward, you know, under the -circumstances, our being fellow-travellers for so long. So we have -decided that it shall not be recognized just yet. Just an understanding, -you see, not a formal betrothal till we return to England, if we ever -do,” added the poor old thing doubtfully. “Oh, my dear Lord Heatherslie, -shall we ever reach any port alive?” and she sank back on to the -cushions of the locker seats with a groan. - -“Well, at present,” said I, “I must confess that we’re flying away from -the nearest port at the rate of about twenty miles an hour. Our engine’s -broken down, and we have to run before the gale. But it’ll only be the -case of an hour or two, I hope, and then we shall be able to beat up for -the Falklands. But it’ll be a long business at the best. You will have -to put up with our bachelor quarters and our rough accommodation.” - -“Lord Heatherslie,” she said brokenly, “when I think what might have -happened, I should be less than Christian if I didn’t give thanks with a -full heart. Even though we have lost everything in the way of clothes -and property, I have my darlings safe, and their happiness is secured. -That is sufficient for me.” - -“Oh,” I said, “then I have to congratulate Miss Violet also. Mr. -Garlicke, I presume?” I inquired with an air of savage festivity. Poor -Gerry, his optimism was to get felled to earth along with mine. Well, I -felt there was something in both being in the same boat. We could make -our moans in company. - -“Quite on a par with Gwendoline’s affair,” answered Lady Delahay, -holding up a warning finger. “Nothing to be said about it yet, please. -Is it possible I recognized Mr. Carver on the deck?” - -“Quite possible,” I replied dryly, “you did. He and I and the Professor -Lessaution—who is helping him tend the rescued men—are the only -passengers aboard,” and as the girls gave over their useless competition -with the litter of the crockery, and came and sat beside their mother, I -began to give them the whole story. - -For a girl who had just been dragged by main force out of the blackest -shadow of death, I never saw anything to equal Gwen. Her eyes were -bright, her complexion was pink and shining, the sparkle of the salt -spray was on her hair. She looked as smiling and content as if she had -found the desire of her heart, instead of having just seen fivescore of -fellow-beings consigned to a frightful end. Her gaze dwelt upon my face -as she listened intently to my story. She looked as complacent as if we -were at anchor off Monaco, instead of driving Lord knows where into an -uncharted sea, before one of the fiercest gales that ever started a -ringbolt. I reflected with internal wretchedness that a girl’s horizon -is bounded very narrowly when she is in love, and envied Denvarre under -my breath furiously. - -In their turn they told me of their adventure, and what had befallen -them on that night of horror. How in the midst of light and life, and -the friendly converse of the yacht’s saloon, a dishevelled lampman had -appeared, grimy, hot, and with fear of death writ largely on his face, -and beckoned out the captain from amidst the throng. How, restless in -his continued absence, one or two unquiet passengers had followed him, -and returned with vague reports of a fire in the lamp-room forward, and -how on the word the whole mob of passengers had surged on deck. That -then the iron sea discipline of a well-ordered British merchant vessel -had been closed around them instantly, and they had been marshalled in -parties to the boats to which they had been assigned. But the fire -continuing to gain, and the sea to rise, they had been confronted by an -awful death on either hand. When the captain had been obliged to abandon -hope, he had lowered away the first boat, and within seconds they had -seen it dashed to pieces like an eggshell on their bulwarks. The second -and third boats had shared the same fate, and two more had been swamped -in sight of the vessel. Then as a last chance the captain had had a boat -swung from the bow with a long tether, and they had been transferred to -it one by one as the seas swung it backward and forward between their -passing and repassing, but when but a dozen of them were aboard, the -painter had parted—worn with the constant to and fro against the -timbers—and they had been swept to leeward as in a flash. Five minutes -later the flames had covered the ship from stem to stern, and they -shuddered when they told what they had seen, as dark forms began to drop -from her red-hot decks into the merciful cold of the sea. And they ended -the tale with the tears that are the due of utter terror and long -despair, and I made no effort to stay this gracious relief of nature’s -pity. - -As the ship began to steady her plunging, we made efforts to find -accommodation for the ladies, to whom, of course, we gave up our cabins. -They were absolutely destitute of everything beyond what they stood up -in, and were robed as it was in such rugs and blankets as had been -collected while their outer garments were dried in the stoke-hole. We -got them at last to retire and find a much-needed repose, a thing that -their terror had forbidden so far, for the rolling of the masterless -ship had been enough to make any one believe that she would only find a -resting-place on the bottom of the furious sea. - -I left them with good wishes for sleep and for forgetfulness of the -horrors they had experienced. I sought the smoke-room to make inquiry -for the rescued men, and found that they had all lapsed into -unconsciousness, tucked up in the blankets which the crew had -surrendered to their use. Lessaution and Gerry were stretched upon the -floor, sleeping heavily after their strenuous attendance on the -half-frozen folk, and I left them to their slumbers; amid my own misery -I had a heartache to spare for Gerry’s awakening of sorrow. - -I climbed up upon the bridge again and stood beside Waller. White-faced -and haggard with the anxieties of the night, he was still at his post. -He watched with hopeful eyes the coming of the dawn, which was already -tingeing the east with an angry, lurid crimson. Still racing before the -billows that hunted us we were plunging ever southward, returning -swiftly down the track up which we had fought so ploddingly the last six -days. The captain’s clothes hung about him in limp sodden clingings; he -leaned wearily upon the wheel, guiding it delicately in the strong grip -of Rafferty, who shared the toil of restraining it. There was weariness -and exhaustion in his every pose, but his eye was still bright and his -face set steadfastly upon his duty. I watched him with admiration—the -strong, confident sailor who held our lives resourcefully in his -unshaken grip. A glow of pride pulsed through my veins as I recognized -that this was the type of commander who was lifting England’s honor high -across the seas of two hemispheres, that what this staunch self-reliant -man was doing would have been done in like case by unreckoned hundreds -of his fellows. I thanked God again for the mercies of the night, with -special acknowledgment for the fact that we were manned by a wholesome -British crew. - -I laid my hand lightly upon his shoulder. - -“Take a rest, captain,” said I; “let Janson come and have his spell. -You’ve been at it twelve long hours already. Surely there’s nothing left -but to let her drive.” - -“Thanks, my lord,” he answered, smiling back cheerily into my inquiring -eyes. “Janson’s only been two hours below. I’ll give him an hour longer -at least.” - -“But Rafferty’s here, and I can hold the wheel, if that’s all,” said I -reproachfully; “what’s the good of killing yourself, man?” - -“I’ve had many a longer bout in weather no better,” and he shifted the -spokes a point in his deft, unhesitating hands. - -“But what’s the trouble?” I answered, almost irritated by his unswerving -determination. “Why can’t we take her from you? We’ve got the sense not -to let her broach to, at any rate.” - -“Ice is the matter, my lord. Ice—and acres of it. You forget we’re -racing back into the South at fifteen knots an hour. If the gale doesn’t -drop before evening, we shall be among the bergs again. We may meet -outlying floes at any moment.” - -“Then we’d call you,” said I argumentatively; “so just you skip along -and take a snooze with a clear conscience.” - -“Thanks, my lord, I shouldn’t sleep,” he said dryly, wiping the spray -from his beard, and there was nothing further to be said. I shrugged my -shoulders and left him there, vigilant, alert, eternally craning his -eyes into the veil of the spin-drift, a valiant warrior of the deep. - -The presage of the lurid sunrise was fulfilled. All day long the gale -shrieked and raved behind us, screaming through our taut rigging like -some inarticulate storm-spirit’s agony. The sullen waves still thundered -after us, lifting our stern, and burying our bows now and again in the -crest of some laggard comber. They broke thunderously across our -bulwarks, dashing themselves into a very dust of spray. It glistened -snow-like in the sun-rifts, as they broke now and again through the -leaden haze that hid the sky. The scud of the clouds kept pace above us, -wreathing and twisting into a thousand fantastic shapes. The gulls -screamed and hovered, and the petrels dipped and scurried from crest to -crest. The roar of the surges and the shiver of the laboring timbers -followed one upon the other monotonously. One got stupefied by their -ceaseless, recurrent boom and thud. - -About mid-day the stress of the night began to tell upon me. I -remembered that during four-and-twenty hours of physical and mental -excitement I had had no sleep. I staggered wearily down into the -smoke-room, curled myself up beside Gerry’s still motionless form, and -before I had closed eye a minute, sank off into dreamless -unconsciousness. - -The dark was falling again as I woke. Both Gerry and Lessaution had -disappeared, but I could hear the bellow of the tempest strong as ever. - -I scrambled to my feet, and made my way uncertainly to the saloon. The -remains of a meal stood uncleared upon the table, and I began to satisfy -a hunger which had got stupendous. Then back up the pitching -companion-steps I tottered, and strode out upon the deck. - -The seas were still leaping along our sides, but not quite so strongly. -Up on the bridge I recognized Janson’s burly figure, and perceived with -thankfulness that Waller had at last surrendered his post. In the bow -Gerry and Lessaution were clutching the foremost stays, and pointing -excitedly before them. I wormed my way along the deck and joined them. - -Standing out blue-white above the froth of the boiling sea a great -iceberg was rearing its head. It hung there haughtily and unmoved, -despising the rage that made the breakers raven at its feet. The wind -shrieked about its pinnacles, thrusting one now and again from its seat -upon the ice buttresses, and sending it crashing into the deep. But the -main mass of the white mountain stayed motionless, a mighty breakwater -sheltering the leeward surface into a rippling pool. - -Janson raised his hand to his mouth, and roared some indistinguishable -order to the watch on deck. The men came racing forward, and hauled at -the sheets. The sails came lumbering down, and as we lost the steadiness -of their grip upon the wind we began to pitch and tumble again. - -Not for long. The wheel spun in the mate’s hands, and with our way still -swift upon us we began to turn. We nosed in towards the white pyramid. -We swung past its leeward edge. Our cutwater broke a burnished line -across the stillness of the sheltered pool. In a very instant the -travail of our storm-hunted vessel ceased. We swung, heaved to, upon the -calm, gently swaying to the ripples, while outside the storm still -bellowed for our lives. - -Behind this sudden refuge we lay almost motionless, looking up -wonderingly at the shining peaks above. Baines and the cook accepted the -altered conditions with surprise and thankfulness, making immediate -preparations for a meal which should obliterate the discomforts of the -past eight-and-forty hours. The smoke began to curl anew from the -galley, and various tinned victuals were disinterred from the pantry -wreckage. - -Within five minutes of our finding this unexpected harbor the door of -the captain’s cabin opened, and Waller strode forth, gaping upon our -changed surroundings. The sixth sense that lies in the seaman’s brain -had warned him, sleeping as he was, that we no longer dipped and tossed -amid the breakers. A glance to starboard, and he understood, giving -Janson a quick nod as the other pointed to the ice. He stayed still a -moment, watching the edge of the berg curiously, and then climbed up and -joined the mate. - -I could not hear the words they exchanged, but I saw a shake of Waller’s -head as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. They strode together to -one end of the bridge, and the captain gesticulated toward the berg -again. A half-smile crossed Janson’s face. He was evidently meeting his -chief’s arguments with a polite incredulity. Following the line of -Waller’s pointing finger, I was in time to see a strange thing happen. - -The edge of the ice rose slowly, but perceptibly, mounting from the -water-level with a heavy swish. I looked up in amazement, and saw the -topmost pinnacles bow slantingly across the drifting clouds. There was a -suck and a wash as the water rolled in toward the ice to fill the -vacuum. The berg lurched slowly back again, and a big breaker gathered -itself up, and crested out toward us. There was a line of foam across -the pool. - -An order roared from between Waller’s lips, and Janson came at a bound -from the bridge to wake the watch below. His face was white with terror. -He shrieked into the foc’sle in a shrill, unnatural voice. - -The men came leaping up, and at the captain’s shout dropped the two port -boats over the side. A rope was passed to them, and with furious tugs -they passed ahead, towing desperately. The men left on deck set the -sails again, waiting for the first breath of the gale to catch them. -They stared wide-eyed over their shoulders, watching, staring, gluing -their gaze to the mighty ice-cliffs astern. - -I scrambled up to Waller, full of unquiet surprise. I felt that -something was imminent—some possible disaster that I could not fathom. I -demanded explanations. - -“Mr. Janson has committed a very serious error of judgment, my lord,” -said the sailor shortly. “A few minutes will see it repaired, I hope.” - -“But, good gracious!” said I with some annoyance, “you’re taking us out -into that whirlpool again just when we were comfortable. What on earth’s -the matter?” - -Before he could answer me the first breath of the gale began to catch -upon the sails. The sailors hauled upon the sheets to tauten them as he -bawled his orders down, and the boats’ crews were beckoned back. As they -slipped alongside, and the davit-hooks caught again upon the pulleys, -Waller gave a great sigh of relief and turned to me again. - -“That iceberg——” he began, and at the words no explanation became -necessary. - -We were both staring at it when again the edge of it began to lift. But -this time there was no return. Up, up, it soared, lifting its dripping -flanks into the air, and the seas poured back from it in torrents. The -waters boiled behind our stern, heaving as if in the bath of some -gigantic geyser. For one single moment we danced haltingly upon the -turbulence, the wind fighting with all its strength upon our canvas -against the under-currents that tore at our keel. Then, thank God, the -gale was victor. We slid away from the grip of the backflow, out into -the riot of the storm again. And behind us one of nature’s dramas was -enacted awfully. With a roar and a thunderous crash the iceberg slanted, -swayed, poised itself one motionless instant, and then rolled completely -over, dashing its topmost summit into the heart of the deep, and, heaved -up by its mighty fall, a huge wave rose and almost engulfed it. The -great rollers came clamoring after our flying bark as if in vindictive -disappointment for the escape of their nearly won prey. But their fury -defeated them. Their crests thundered on our stern, and flung us with -growing force out into the ocean, while behind us the berg slowly -emerged among the tossing, to point new pinnacles toward the clouds. And -out in the storm again we continued our ceaseless race before the seas, -flying anew down the long trail south, buffeted, tempest driven, but -safe again by the favor of a brave sailor’s quick-witted knowledge. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - THE LEAPING OF THE WALL - - -Another night of tempest succeeded, diversified by stinging showers of -hail and sleet. I believe neither captain nor mate left the bridge the -whole night long, for the floe and berg began to grow around us, tack as -we would. But the deeper we got into the heart of the multitude of -island ice, the less grew the force of the wind. I rose the next morning -after a few hours’ restless slumber to find us floating gently in a -calm, untroubled sea, while around us, as far as eye could reach, the -white pack stretched in uneven masses to the horizon. - -We dawdled down the broad lanes of black water between, the little puffs -of wind coming fitfully from behind the sheltering masses. Our range of -vision got less and less as these increased in size, and about mid-day -the sun came out gloriously, and Waller was able to take an observation. - -He came toward me, smiling doubtfully, after he had worked out his -calculations in the little chart-room. - -“M. Lessaution will be enchanted, my lord,” said he. “We are within a -few miles of our original starting-place. It is an extraordinary thing -that we should have been driven back so exactly on the line we had come. -I have only steered by the stars and dead reckoning.” - -“He may be pleased enough,” I answered, “but he’ll be entirely alone in -his gratification. Do you mean to say we’ve got to wrestle back all -those weary miles? What desperate luck!—but just the usual kind that -dogs my footsteps. Why, it’ll take weeks to do it sailing.” - -“I’m afraid it would,” agreed the captain, “and that’s why I have -another proposal to make. Since we got among the ice, I have been -interviewing Mr. Eccles. He thinks that if we were in a dead calm, that -he could get the split of the propeller-shaft rivetted, and made tight -enough for half-steam. I would suggest, my lord, that we lie to and let -him have a try.” - -“But not in this ice,” I objected; “I don’t want a repetition of -yesterday’s performance with a different climax. Suppose one of these -great bergs turns turtle?” - -“I have thought of that,” replied Waller, “but I have a plan. If you -remember we were under the lee of some islands when we left on our -cruise north. I think I can find them again, my lord. We could probably -make them an ice-free harbor.” - -“Why, certainly, then,” said I at once, glad to snatch at half a chance -of curtailing a voyage that could be nothing but misery for me. “Search -them out, captain, and let Mr. Eccles do his utmost.” - -He went back to the wheel, and began to nose our bows to starboard, -taking advantage of every breath to slip delicately from pool to pool. - -About an hour later a thin column of smoke showed suddenly as we rounded -the flank of a mighty berg, and there, a short mile to port, the -familiar islands showed up, gray and haggard in the sunlight, as we had -left them eight or nine stormy days before. - -Lessaution had joined me by now, his little eyes agleam with pleasure. -As he recognized his surroundings, he turned and seized my hand. - -“This time we shall not fail,” he declaimed ecstatically. “Before -twenty-four hours are over, I shall have scaled the cliffs that keep the -mystery of the South. I—Emil Saiger Lessaution—I proclaim it.” - -“My good sir,” I said, “you’ll have to be quick about it. We only stay -here for repairs. You don’t mean to say you imagined we were still -pursuing our quest? You certainly are a pretty sanguine personage, if -you did.” - -“M. de Heatherslie,” replied the little man with dignity, “do you think -that I have such little consideration for the distressed ladies of this -party, that I would keep them a moment longer than necessary from -returning where they can obtain what is needful for their comfort? No. -But I have questioned the good Eccles, who assures me that not less than -forty-eight hours will be necessary to effect his work upon his engines. -By then I shall have accomplished my desire, and will be able to show -you such proofs that after we have landed the ladies at the Falklands, -you will retrace your course here and pursue this adventure with me. But -to think that I wish to inconvenience the ladies by a single instant!—I -who worship the sex from the bottom of my heart!” and he twirled his -little mustaches fiercely. - -I did not attempt to answer these chivalric sentiments, and we drifted -into other by-ways of conversation amicably enough. The _Racoon_ wound -along the irregular canals amid the pack, and finally swung under the -overhanging shadow of the summits. - -The isles were high and sugarloaf-like, with great hollows on the flank -that faced the shore cliffs not a mile away. We threw the lead in the -channel between them and the cliff wall, and about the centre found -fourteen fathoms. Here we dropped anchor. - -Great lean rocks ran up from the water’s edge in buttressing ribs, -crowning the gaunt summits. Here and there deep rifts showed in their -sides. Curious snake-like twistings wound about them. Scales of molten -stones lapped over and about each other wherever a resting-place was -found. It did not need the black column of smoke that pillared up into -the sky to inform me that these were volcanoes. - -That day was given up to tidying the ship, lashing up what had run -adrift of our various impedimenta about the saloon and smoke-room, and -making things ship-shape generally. - -About noon the ladies appeared, bright, smiling, and cheerful. Gwen met -me with the friendliest interest and unconcern. She was dressed in a -neat skirt of sail-cloth, supplied by the carpenter, or rather the -material for the same. She and her sister, I found, had been fashioning -these in the privacy of their cabins, the dresses in which they came -aboard being practically ragged pulp. They had wound thin strips of -blanket about their shoulders most becomingly, and now wore these -impromptu toilets before us by no means abashed, and with the certainty -of producing a good impression undisturbed upon their faces. - -We hastened to congratulate them upon their appearance. - -They bowed their thanks, and began to ply us with unceasing questions. -They were full of curiosity about their whereabouts, and their chances -of a speedy return to civilized regions. I assured them that no efforts -of mine should be wanting to swiftly bring them back to the known world -at the earliest opportunity, but explained the situation with regard to -the engine. - -Gwen flashed a look at me I hardly understood. - -“You seem anxious to get rid of us,” she said. “Is our dishevelled -appearance too much for you? We’ll endeavor not to obtrude our society -upon you more than necessary.” - -She looked so adorable as she said it, with the little curls just -leaning down her forehead to peep into her blue eyes, that I could have -seized her in my arms then and there, and dared Denvarre to so much as -think of her again. As things were, being at the end of the nineteenth -century, and not in the middle of the tenth, I smiled apathetically, and -answered with as much emotion in my voice as there is in a phonograph: - -“It must be very uncomfortable for you, I fear. No clothes, no luxuries, -no anything.” - -“Neither Vi nor I are made of Italian glass,” she answered quaintly, -“and mother’s tougher than she looks. Truth to tell, I was getting bored -on the yacht. This sort of thing suits me excellently—I adore adventure. -But I’m sorry, of course, if our coming has put you about,” and she -smiled again, happily. - -I suppose it is the nature of the sweetest of women to be merciless at -times. I reflected this in excuse as I gazed seawards without finding an -answer, and thrusting back the words that came bubbling to my lips. The -wretchedness must have been apparent in my face, for she suddenly -changed the conversation as we strolled forward. - -“So you’re no longer Captain Dorinecourte?” - -“Alas, no,” said I forgetfully. - -She turned quickly to look at me with surprise. - -“Good gracious! Lord Heatherslie, aren’t you glad to have the title?” - -“I only meant,” I stammered, “that there have been many responsibilities -and—er—disappointments accumulating for me since I succeeded.” - -“But surely that’ll soon be over,” she queried. “It’s only a matter of -lawyer’s business, is it?” - -“They’re terrible people when they get you in their hands,” said I -vaguely. “But tell me how you have enjoyed your trip so far.” - -She looked back at me very straight. “I told you when we left London I -shouldn’t enjoy it, and I can’t honestly say I have. The monotony got to -be terrible.” - -I had meant all references to what had happened in London to be -forgotten. I did not think it kind to refer to them again in this -outspoken way. - -“But—but surely Denvarre and—and Garlicke made it pleasant for you,” I -hazarded. “It must have made it awfully nice for you having them all the -time.” - -“Of course they have been attentive, if that’s what you mean,” she said, -with a slightly contemptuous inflection in her voice. “But one can get -tired of even undiluted attention. I’m sure I’ve done my best to quarrel -with Lord Denvarre several times, but he’s far too polite.” - -I didn’t know what to think. Did she openly mean to give me to -understand that she had accepted Denvarre for the position? Or were they -simply indulging in the luxury of their first quarrel? Or was it just -her off-hand way of speaking of him? I found no answer. - -“Now, if we’d only had the prophetic instinct and known that you were -going to start on this delightful trip, we should have waited and come -with you. You’d have invited us, wouldn’t you?” - -I smiled to myself as I reflected that Lady Delahay would have found an -extremely polite but explicit refusal to any such proposal. But I -answered courteously: - -“It would have been too great a privilege. But my luck never permits -arrant good fortune like that to be mine.” - -She looked at me curiously, and sighed a little restlessly, turning away -to watch the cloud of mollies that skipped about our stern. There was -silence between us for a minute. - -“I prefer captains to peers,” she said at last, with a little laugh. “I -don’t think you’re improved.” - -“It’s a prejudice you’ll have to overcome, won’t you?” said I. -“Denvarre——” but as I mentioned his name he came on deck, and spying us, -walked up and joined us. - -The two smiled into each other’s eyes pleasantly enough, but—but -something was wanting. Gwen never had been what one would call a -sentimental girl, though at times—but that was ages ago. I left them to -stroll off together, while I marched forward again, musing over the very -level-headed way in which she treated her engagement and her _fiancé_. -For I had imagined she would look at the matter differently. We had been -such old—well, comrades, that I’d expected to be told of her happiness, -and by her own lips too. It would have prevented all the sense of -strangeness that had somehow got between us. I shouldn’t have whined or -referred to old times—she must have known that. I could only repeat to -myself that women were beyond my finite understanding, and continued to -take a miserable and utterly useless pleasure in the fact that at any -rate she did not worship the ground that Denvarre trod. - -Gerry was smoking a gloomy pipe over the stern, and I joined him. He -kept his face studiously averted from mine, and I had to lay my hand -upon his shoulder before I spoke. - -“Poor old chap,” said I sympathetically. “Have they broken it to you?” - -“The old woman has,” he answered, adding a crisp execration which should -never be used in connection with a lady. - -“Well,” said I, trying to look into his eyes, “it’ll soon be over, old -man. If Eccles can get steam, we’ll be back at the Falklands in ten -days’ time. And we must buck each other up,” I added, trying to be -cheerful. - -“I didn’t think it of Vi,” burst out the poor lad with an air of -desperate aggrievement. “Not that I believe she cares the flick of a -finger for him now. It’s that old hag of a mother that’s done it.” - -“My dear boy,” said I, “we mustn’t put _too_ stupendous a value on our -fascinations. Denvarre and his brother are good men all through. And you -and I are detrimentals—or at any rate I only shave it by a short head,” -I added, as I thought of the collection which was to bring in a tidy -trifle. - -Poor Gerry. He just let himself loose upon the word. He cursed wealth -and all that wealth brings with a sudden burst of passion that I had -never dreamed he was capable of. He railed at Lady Delahay; he condemned -the name of Garlicke to the lowest pit; he anathematized every usage of -polite Society and every useless luxury that we are bred to consider a -necessity, showing the aptest reasons for considering them the true -creators of every vice and cruelty that is perpetrated beneath the sun. -He swore in a very storm of passionate bitterness, leaving no object of -his hatred untouched. He went into comminatory details which were almost -superfluous. And I let him rave. - -For, mark me, there are masculine moods where oaths and curses are the -equivalent of feminine tears, and in neither case should you attempt to -restrain them if they are the culmination of some great tribulation. -They sweep out the bitterness in their stream, and though the ache be -left in the wound, it has no longer a poisoned smart. And that is why -Gerry shook my hand a few minutes later, and let less haggard lines -pervade his countenance, while he confessed himself a fool. And in this -worthier frame of mind I led him aft, and into the conversation of his -fellows. - -As the dusk drew down—and you must recollect it was nearly mid-summer in -those latitudes, and the nights were but an hour or two long—we managed -to get some sort of dinner. The cook evolved a meal which he would have -considered unbefitting his dignity at another time, but which we ate on -our cracked plates with great appreciation. For the first time for over -a week we fed at a steady table, and enjoyed the peaceable conversation -of our companions. Gerry, under the influence of coffee and chartreuse, -even rose to the lengths of chaffing poor little Lessaution. - -The latter had spent the afternoon in unavailing effort. Supplied with a -boat and crew he had set forth to fend along the great rock wall which -seemed to stretch unbroken to the horizon, seeking, but with an utter -want of success, for a means of ascending the same. And the poor little -chap was taking it most seriously. - -Gerry thought fit to twit him on his futile adventure, and he was -furious as a trapped rat. It was suggested to him that the quest was, -and ever would be, hopeless, and that we had better give it up before we -all got cricks in our necks staring up precipices we were never destined -to climb. We declared our conviction that we were in the wrong spot -altogether—the responsibility for our position rested in the first place -with the Professor, I should explain, who had worked out by some -intricate scheme of his own the probable route the storm-driven Mayans -must have taken—and that he must have entirely misjudged the wind, or -the currents, or something. Finally, that there could not possibly be -anything worth seeing if he did happen to claw up the barren crags. - -The little _savant_ fell upon his adversary, foot, horse, and artillery. -He demonstrated that he was a disgrace to the name of Englishman, and -had of imagination no single jot. That it did not matter, in effect, -what such an unsportsmanlike rascal did think, for fortunately our -destinies lay with me—the good earl, let it be understood—who would be -guided in this matter by the dictates of sense and practicality. He -himself would only give up the quest with his breath, and staked his -reputation on his success. Cowards might do and say what they pleased. -Finally, in an access of irritation he flung from us to go on deck and -compose his vehement mortification with a cigar, and to gaze hungrily at -the cliffs which mocked him with cold white serenity. - -Small talk and amiability were the order of the hour. Induced by our -fervent representation, Gwen even went to the piano and enlivened these -desolate solitudes with a song or two. We were settling into a -thoroughly pleasant evening, though amongst us two hearts were still -throbbing lonelily. - -Suddenly a shrill yell resounded from above. There was the sound of -hurried footsteps on the companion, and Lessaution burst back into our -midst. His eyes were agleam, his hair stuck up like quills in his -excitement. He bellowed at us. - -“The ice goes, the ice goes!” he hallooed. “It goes, it disappears, it -draws itself off. The sea runs away. There will be nothing—nothing at -all. You shall see. We sink to the bottom; no water shall remain at all. -Name of a pipe! what is to become of us?” - -Without exception we all jostled at his heels as he turned and fled up -on deck again, even old Lady Delahay being carried away by the -prevailing excitement, and when we all poured out of the companion-way, -it was a strange sight and no mistake that met our gaze. - -The moon shone bright as day, almost, and lit up a scene of cold -splendor, the like of which I have never seen equalled. But the -strangeness of the matter lay in this. There was not a breath stirring; -indeed, a close, dense stillness lay heavy over the sea, but the waters -were pouring past our bows like a river in spate. They seethed against -our sides like the rush of a mill-stream, purring and rippling oilily. - -On the bosom of the dark tide the floe-ice swirled along, crashing as it -charged our stem, and butting at our timbers thunderously. Berg thrust -at berg like the jostle round a street accident. The pack-ice split and -worked in masses one against the other, lump grinding on lump. The crash -of their striving was deafening. And at the tail of this turmoil came -open water unflecked by the slightest ripple, and pouring past our stern -in a steady, unfaltering swirl. Comparing great things with small, it -was exactly like the opening of a lock-sluice, and for a moment, in my -mind’s eye, the tangle of the bergs faded, and I thought of Cliveden -Woods and the gay parasols upon the river. - -Our hands shook upon the deck-rails as we gaped upon this icy chaos and -the hurtle of the floe. The roar of the jostling ice, the ceaseless -surge of the current against the bow, the black persistence of the tide -flow—all these things seen under the glare—the scorching glare, I may -almost call it—of this pitiless moonlight, had an appearance of horrible -unreality. I pinched myself as it occurred to me that I might be -dreaming, and felt the resultant pain with sorrow. - -The whole crew had mustered on deck, and were staring upon this wonder -with all their eyes. I strode to Waller’s side and fairly had to bawl -into his ear to make myself heard above the din of the fighting floes. - -“What is it?” I screamed. “What are we to do?” - -“Can’t say, my lord. Never saw the like before. Nothing we can do as -there’s no wind. Better get up anchor though,” and he beckoned to -Janson. - -The donkey-engine sent a white puff or two up into the still air, and -the capstan began to complain as the chains crept through the -hawse-pipes. Eccles’s head appeared to announce that _one_ rivet was on -the collar he had fixed to the riven shaft, and he could venture on -twenty turns of the screw to the minute if virtually necessary. His -offer was accepted by Waller with effusion, and the screw began to churn -a slow, creamy wake upon the blackness. The last of the ice swung by and -whirled seaward, the clamor of its striving melting into the sluggish -beat of our lame propeller as we got way upon the boat. And thus we ran -landward for a length or two to find speed before we turned with the -heeling tide. - -Suddenly—swift as the cap of a port-fire snaps—the white glare of the -moonbeams reddened, died, then leaped again to a flame glow. It wrapped -the whole expanse of rock and water in a flood of crimson. The sea -became blood. We spun round to face astern and see what this might be. -We saw—as it seemed—a preposterous, Titanic travesty of a Crystal Palace -firework exhibition. So near did the similitude run, that we listened -almost with confidence for the following yawn of applause. The islands -behind us were aflame with pyrotechnic devices. - -They were swathed in a cloak of fiery mist, wherein great streams of -falling fire darted headlong to the sea. On the summit of the central -peak rose a monstrous tower of spuming, flaring, heaven-smiting flame, -vomited forth as by convulsions from an inner furnace, and this roared -with thunderous echoes in the very heart of the hill—echoes that sprang -and smote themselves in deafening chorus from crag to crag, booming -across the smooth surface of the flood that bore down upon the isles -devouringly. - -Hell itself was spouting forth. On the crumbling heights the flames -danced in wanton, merciless hunger. They toyed in terrible mockery with -their own reflection in the swift-tided sea. They shook with their -fierce spasms the bursting rocks. Before them the granite dissolved into -a very paste. And over all crept slowly, gently, irresistibly, a fog of -rising steam, where the boiling lava met the ice-strewn ocean, wrapping -the torn wounds in the cliff-side as in a soft lint upon their -bleedings. Across this veil the shudders of the rending cliff played in -ruddy reflections, rippling across it like searchlight rays as the hot -molten matter gouted from the crags. - -For a second or two no one spoke, dwelling silently upon the grim wonder -of it. Then a sob of terror broke across the tension of the stillness, -and Lady Delahay sank to the deck. I raised her quickly, and placed her -in a deckchair. Then I looked round me. - -On my right Gerry, Denvarre, and Lessaution were clutching the rail -before them in stiff, constrained attitudes. The responsive emotions -worked across their faces as they watched the travail of the peak. As -some gaping fissure spued up a froth of vivid flame, their lips parted -in automatic unison to the sundering stone. Vi Delahay, stretching an -unconscious arm, groped for something tangible to rest upon, and found -Gerry’s hand. One could trace the train of thought by which she -buttressed her agitated soul in thus finding support for her body. Gerry -remained unconscious of the honor done him. Garlicke and Janson, -silhouetted against the red gleam of sea and fire, stood with mouths -agape, hands on hips, and eyes that stared unwinkingly—intentness -personified. Waller and Rafferty, their grasp still upon the wheel, -gazed over their shoulders into the crimson distance behind them, -heedless of their charge, rigid as men paralyzed. The crew, distributed -each at his post where surprise had found and stiffened him, looked like -so many mummies. Just in front of me, Lady Delahay, sunk upon her chair -in a disordered heap, covered her face with her palms. I was beginning -to peer round me uneasily for the one face I missed. - -A gentle pressure upon my shoulder showed me Gwen at my side. She was -facing the glare, one hand clenched upon her bosom, the other -unknowingly poised upon my arm. Her little nostrils were dilated, her -face was aglow, excitement was dancing in her eyes. She never turned or -stirred as I edged closer, sliding my hand dishonorably under her palm. -Thus stood we all, agape, waiting, staring, wondering. - -Suddenly the giant column swung sideways, rushed skyward again, and then -twisted itself into knots and coronals of ravening fire. As if in agony -it bowed and contorted itself seaward, and the roar of its anguish sped -across the ripples toward us with the shock of an Atlantic gust. It was -a bellow wrung from the tortured throat of the very earth. - -A sigh burst from Gwen’s lips, and her grasp tightened upon my thankful -fingers. She turned to face me, and I could read the new-born terror in -her eyes. Her other hand she thrust with a repellent gesture towards the -writhings of the crater, and rested her forehead ever so lightly upon -the lapels of my coat to shut out the hideous sight. Being only a man -and not a graven image my arm slipped into its appointed place. It -clasped her waist of its own accord, though the wicked thrill that ran -up it and settled very near my heart reminded me that I was exercising a -right that was another’s. But there was no getting it away by then. - -Denvarre I could see still stood hypnotized into stillness with the rest -of our company, who all kept to their rigid, constrained attitudes. -Lessaution’s lips were beginning to twitch with words for which he could -find no voice, and a low moan broke from Lady Delahay. Of those who -dared to look, not one could remove his concentrated gaze. - -Another crash, sharp and strident as the crack of a thunderbolt, smote -across the surface of the waters. It swelled with devilish crescendo -into a roar that threatened to burst our ear-drums. They throbbed and -palpitated to the limits of tension. A blare of yellow flame filled the -horizon. The island peak seemed to leap bodily heavenwards, and the -lower crags toppled and reeled swayingly. Streams of lava bubbled and -boiled from a thousand rifts and rendings of the rocks. The mass writhed -like a tormented monster. A yet greater cloud of steam arose, and -through it the fierce conflagration played and twined itself, till all -the sea and land seemed bathed in a fog of blood and fire. As the liquid -stone was vomited out in splashes, it rattled in a hissing patter round -us. The eternal turmoils of the lowest pit seemed loose. - -One more frightful shock and ear-splitting roar. Then a mountain seemed -to grow upon the bosom of the deep. Black and awesome it rose under that -flaming pall; silent, dark, and threatening it swung itself up from -ocean’s depths, screening from us by its awful stature the raging -destruction behind. High and yet higher it mounted and swelled and -rolled upon us, smooth and swart as midnight. Oily and crestless billows -rippled and webbed across it in festoons. The lurid reflections gleamed -upon it like the flicker of swords ashock. In a majesty of resistless -might it hung over us—a doom unavertable. - -As the first slope of the hill of waters slid beneath our keel I tore -myself from my trance of fascination. I dashed forward and raised Lady -Delahay. With a kick I burst open the door of the companion and thrust -her through, turning desperately for Gwen. With the lurch of the rising -deck I staggered, slipped, and fell backward. My shoulder caught the -door and slammed it to. With an oath I scrambled up to clutch her -fiercely. - -The whole scene was bright before me as I turned. Every soul on board -stood out in a clearness like the day. Against the mast stood Gerry, one -arm round it, one round Vi’s waist, while before the two of them -Garlicke and Lessaution had sprung, facing sternly the hill of death, -jealously valiant in their pride of race. To the left Janson and -Denvarre still held the rail, staring aft with wide, fascinated eyes. -Waller and Rafferty at the wheel stood expectant, their shoulders -squared to meet and give to the coming shock. The crew, distributed here -and there in two and threes, were bracing themselves against the -deck-house, mast, or funnel. In the utter quiet the last few wreaths of -steam from the engine died circling into the still air. - -Up, up we staggered, and little whirls and boils from the under-current -shot creamy and foam-flecked to the surface. Up—still rising fast, as -the billows broke suddenly from the calm, and chased each other over its -heaving bosom. Up yet again, and the red glow of the volcanoes beat no -longer upon the faces of the unconquered cliffs before us, but upon -their very summits, and upon the wide waste of emptiness behind. - -Then as the full surge of the reeling ridge of ocean swept us forward, -the crown of the topmost rollers broke aboard. With a crash it roared -white and foaming along our decks, and in a trice we were carried in a -huddle of men and splintered spars into the deep bay of the forward -bulwarks. There, bruised and speechless, breathless, with limbs entwined -in limbs, and ropes and timbers woven and splayed about our bodies, we -lay helpless as kittens drowning in a bucket, and the ship shot forward -upon the head of the great ridge-wave straight for the cruel precipice -of granite. Without a hope and stunned beyond struggling we waited for -the final crash and oblivion. - -As we charged along that wild race into eternity, the great crags that -five minutes before had hung mockingly above our heads sank below us, -and we rode high above their cringing heads. - -We realized as in a moment, that the growing bulk of billows would lift -us cleanly over them. A hundred yards more at speed, and the cliffs were -gone, and a broad wilderness of waters swarmed over their crannies, and -into the rocky void beyond. As by a miracle the skirting waves that ran -before us filled the dry plain, and with half the weight of the -sea-torrent still behind us we shot out on to the bosom of this sudden -lake. - -Like an arrow we swung across its turbid shallows, charging toward the -far side, where it was bounded by a second terrace of sheer stone. The -foremost waves smote the rock face full. Charging back, their defeated -fury met and foamed around us, catching us before we reached the cruel -reefs. The incoming and out-flowing surges sprang together almost -beneath our keel, and we tossed and reeled from one to the other in the -final throb of the great convulsion. Then the fighting breakers spread -abroad. Each spent its dying force upon its neighbor, and ere we could -extract ourselves from the mass of wreckage that wedged us in below the -bulwarks, the yacht was swinging masterless and idle upon a rippling, -white-flecked lagoon, showing less turmoil than a mid-June day can raise -on Windermere. - - - - - CHAPTER X - BEHIND THE BARRIER - - -Gwen was unconscious as I lifted her, and a bruise showed red and -staring on her white temple. I laid her gently against the bulwark and -made a dash for the saloon. Lady Delahay lay in a dead faint at the -stair-foot, slipping there, I supposed, after her unceremonious bundling -through the door. I snatched the whiskey from the sideboard, laid the -good lady on the sofa and raced on deck again. Gerry was on his feet, -and the rest gathered themselves out of the tangle one by one. -Lessaution was the first to break silence. - -“Behold,” he said triumphantly, “that we are on the top,” and he spread -abroad his little arms like a glorified cock a-crow, revelling in the -achievement of his hopes, and utterly ignoring the desperate result. - -I shoved him impatiently on one side to get back to Gwen again. She was -leaning white-faced and motionless against the bulwark, and my heart -gave a queer thump when I saw how still she lay. I put my arm around -her, and ever so gently tilted a few drops of spirit between her lips. A -sigh and a gasp broke from her, and the color began to pass back into -her cheeks. She opened her eyes, and looked at me dreamily. A satisfied -little smile edged her mouth, and she settled back against my shoulder -with a murmur of content, nestling into the encirclement of my arm as -happily as if I was Denvarre’s self. - -A blow fell upon my back, and I found Gerry standing over me. - -“Give it me,” said he shortly, and I handed over the flask. He dashed -across to Vi again and began to dose her energetically, not desisting -till she coughed desperately and motioned him away with a weak gesture -of her hand. The whiskey began to circulate among the others rapidly. - -“What’s happened?” said Gwen’s low voice from my shoulder, and she -opened her eyes again wearily. “Ah, I remember—the wave—and the rocks -and—and all that.” Her voice died away indistinctly as her eyes closed. - -“It’s all right,” I whispered into the little ear that shone so rosy -pink against the dark sodden cloth of my smoking suit, “we’re all here. -Nothing’s amiss with anybody.” - -Her hand fluttered out to me, and caught and felt my arm as if to -satisfy herself that one at least was there with whole body. - -“Mother and Vi?” she questioned. - -“Right as the mail,” quoth I cheerfully, “and Denvarre too,” I added -circumspectly, though I don’t know why she should have been shy to ask -for him. - -“Ah, Lord Denvarre, and Mr. Garlicke, and the Professor, and Mr. Carver, -and everybody?” - -“Everybody,” I agreed, “though we haven’t exactly called names yet. -Nothing but bruises, as far as I can tell.” - -“I’m—I’m keeping you from doing things,” she said suddenly, scrambling -to her feet, “and I ought to look after mother.” She tottered as she -leaned against me, and I—well, of course I had to hold her up. Then I -heard Denvarre’s deep voice at my elbow. - -“Can I be of any use?” he asked, with extraordinary politeness, and I -got a look between the eyes which told me I was taking more than mere -courtesy demanded. - -She smiled sweetly at him, took his arm, and began to step uncertainly -toward the saloon. Then she stopped suddenly and turned toward me again. - -“Thank you,” she said, looking over her shoulder, and went on. But I -never heard the words said quite like that, I think, for I could have -kissed her feet for them, as well as have cursed her for a heartless -coquette. - -As they disappeared I began to look up the others. Rafferty and Waller -were blinking like owls, and slapping themselves, inquiringly. They had -been tumbled off the bridge like shot pheasants, and had been flung down -upon us as we spluttered and squirmed among the splinters. What with the -fall and hitting hard wood they were pretty considerably knocked out of -time. Lessaution was gesticulating wildly, asserting that he had -swallowed salt-water by the hectolitre. Forgetting to close his -astonished mouth when the wave struck us, he had engulfed it to the full -extent of his capacity, and he condemned it as the most poisonously cold -draught that had ever been forced upon him. But even this had failed to -subdue his jubilation at having attained to the heights of his desire. -Garlicke, who had been stunned and over-dosed with neat whiskey, was -coughing like a sick sheep, and the sympathetic Janson was slapping him -on the back. Poor Eccles was being slowly extracted from below the -bowsprit with a broken collar-bone, but was bearing lip against his -affliction with a Scotch impassiveness and a fat spirit-flask. He, it -appeared, was the only item in the list of casualties. - -He and his underlings crept back to the stoke-hole and reported it three -feet deep in water, but the fires not wholly drowned. The shaft was -still workable, and by a little stirring of the clinker they gave us -enough steam to stay our vague circlings on our lake. We backed, as we -drifted shoreward, and swung the lead. We found twenty fathoms. So there -in the centre of that new-formed sea-pond we anchored, amidst an arid -expanse of rockbound desolation, and left discussion of our unpleasant -situation for drier circumstances. All hands slipped below to find such -changes of raiment as had been left unsoaked, and to rectify if possible -some of the more desperate confusion of saloon and cabin. And thus ended -that wondrous half-hour of terror and upheaval. - -The dawn was breaking when we reassembled on deck to look round us. Over -the cliff-top behind us we could still see the island volcano belching -smoke and steam, but it was half the height it had stood the night -before. The lake on which we floated was about a mile long and -half-a-mile broad. It was bounded on the landward side by huge basaltic -crags that shot up ragged and desolate against a steel-blue sky. - -To the right a rocky plain spread flat and unbroken for a mile or so, -terminating in uneven, boulder-strewn slopes. These were gashed and -riven in all directions by the clefts that ran black and shadowy into -the depths of the hill. To the left was a giant mountain, and down its -flanks crept river-like a stupendous glacier, our lake lapping its blue -crevasses at the nearer end. The water completely hid any moraine there -might have been before the irruption of the whelming wave. Between us -and the tops of the sea-cliffs was a narrow strand of rock, covered with -the silt of the retreating waters. Among the litter the bodies of one or -two sea-lions and seals were visible, their fur shining wet and glossy -in the light of the rising sun. On the shore beneath the far cliff a -whale was stranded, thwacking his huge tail resoundingly upon the -boulders as he vainly tried to thrust himself back into his native -element. Around us on every side great masses of sea-fowl swung and -wreathed themselves in white circles, filling the air with their cries -and their droppings, pouncing ever and again on the dead fish and -garbage that covered the surface, fighting and howking clamorously at -each other for the spoil. - -It did not need a critical examination to show that we were in a trap. -The wave had borne us over the cliffs a hundred feet at least above -tide-level, and now they stood implacable between us and any chance of -an escape seaward. Here we were in a six hundred ton ship afloat in less -than six hundred acres of water. It was not an exhilarating prospect. - -Naturally I turned to Waller in this seeming _impasse_. Of all the good -men who walk this uncertain earth of ours, I know none who inspire -confidence to the same extent as do those who go down to the sea in -ships. Their profession demands that they should briskly and at uneven -intervals extract themselves—or, more often others—from the tightest of -tight places. They fight the outrageous tactics of the wind and sea with -happy confidence. They defeat these eternal adversaries with no sort of -pride in their victories, but with painstaking completeness. And when -occasionally to them comes the overthrow, they meet it with a cheer. To -us of the land-lubbing profession they are, in their supreme -cocksureness, as little gods. - -“Well, my lord,” said the captain succinctly, “it’s evident that before -this southern summer’s over we must send word to the Falklands. The ice -will close down on us in March. We can’t move the ship. We must send a -boat. It is a question of finding a place to launch it. As far as one’s -eye goes there’s nothing but a precipice for miles. We could perhaps -arrange pulleys to let the cutter down, but it would be difficult. It -would be easier to take her a few miles on rollers. I submit that the -crying necessity at the present moment is an outlet to the sea.” - -“Well, then, of course we must find one,” said I cheerily, “and to find -one we must get ashore. Let’s have the launch out as soon as possible,” -and I walked away to announce his views to the others. - -We breakfasted before we set out, while they were setting the boat -afloat and getting up steam in her tiny boiler. The ladies had not yet -reappeared, so we were all able to voice our emotions and hazard our -opinions without fear of making them uneasy. Lessaution as usual led the -conversational _mêlée_. - -His knowledge of seismic effects and huge waves produced thereby seemed -intimate. He demonstrated that it was an honor to have been associated -in this astounding upheaval, whence few had formerly returned alive. He -cited instances from Portugal to Polynesia of similar disasters, giving -gruesome categories of the demolished. He went into details that turned -us from our food. It was only by the show of a universal unbelief in his -theories, and a consequent rise of his sentiments to higher planes of -passion, that we finally found quiet. He departed on deck furious with -our want of intelligence, which he designated as of the most hog-like. -We found him all agog for adventure, though still contemptuous, when we -rejoined him. - -The little oil dinghy was snapping and fussing away by this time, and -Gerry, Denvarre, and I tumbled into her with the Frenchman, and were set -ashore in five minutes. First of all we ran up the slope between us and -the cliff to look seawards. - -But for the steam-cloud that hung heavily over the ruined islands six -miles away, and for the floating bodies of a few seals and smaller -whales, there was no sign of the upheaval of the night before. The sea -was lapping sleepily against the ice-smoothed rocks below, gurgling in -the crannies, and the sun glittered on a still and radiant surface. - -A northwest wind was just beginning to touch the glassy surface, and the -floe was swinging back almost imperceptibly toward the cliffs, returning -from the distance to which it had been carried by the out-suck. Terns -and kittywakes were dipping backward and forward with shrill cries, -hovering and quarrelling over the lumps of dead fish and other remnants -of the turmoil. Here and there a sea-lion rose out of the depths to roll -and play with soft splashings in the sunshine, or to stop and stare up -the cliffs at us with stupid, innocent eyes. - -The atmosphere was keen and clear as a winter’s day in the Engadine, and -we could follow the circling unbroken line of cliffs to the far horizon. -There was an exhilarating nip in the air, though the sunlight that -poured back from rock and sea made it quiver hazily. It was a glorious -day, and would have been an uplifting one if things had not gone so -perversely and entirely wrong. For instead of enjoying this heavenly -sunshine on the yacht’s deck in lazy contentment, we had to tramp weary -miles in search of what might be unattainable. - -There was no sort of doubt but that we were in a serious fix. The -continuous and implacable wall of rock stretched, for all we could tell, -to the world’s end. There was no escape for us except by sea, and we had -no proper means of launching out into the deep. We were as surely held, -perched up as we were on these desolate summits, as if we had been -behind the bars and bolts of a prison. - -We walked about four miles along that remorseless line of crags. Never a -break did we find, never a vestige of a shallow at its foot. Look where -we would was green water unplumbable, and not so much as the suspicion -of any shoal that could give us launching room for a boat. - -We returned silent and depressed, the full significance of our plight -just working into our minds. Even Lessaution, though he really concerned -himself little about a departure, which he would have willingly deferred -a month at least, was affected by the general dejection, and gave up -attempting to instruct us further on our surroundings. Gerry and I added -this new weight to our desperation phlegmatically, feeling that the cup -of our misery had been full before, and might, for all we cared, run -over unstayed. The four of us had much the effect of hounds slinking -home out of covert, having been left therein during the run of the -season. - -We slouched down the shores of our little lake, and somehow the ship -seemed to have come nearer since we started. How or why Waller had -considered it necessary to move her, I could not conceive. Nor could we -find the great boulder by which we had landed, though we felt sure that -we had followed the same direction to it from the cliff-top. - -We waved listlessly with our handkerchiefs for the launch to be sent to -us, waiting at the water’s edge therewhile. Denvarre was still grubbing -about among the rocks farther up the stones. Suddenly he gave a yell. - -“Why, the water’s sunk,” he bawled. “Here’s the rock we landed on. The -absurd lake’s running away.” - -He was standing forty or fifty yards above us and we ran and joined him. -As we looked higher up the sloping shore, we recognized what had been -the water’s edge when we landed. There was no sort of doubt that the -new-formed lake was leaking out again rapidly, and that our ship would -very shortly be in a regular dry dock. We went on to consider that if -the yacht took ground on that flat, rocky bottom she would careen over, -and probably smash in her sides. We should be left homeless amid that -desolation—a pretty kettle of fish. - -As soon as the dinghy had snorted across and taken us aboard, we sought -Waller and explained to him our discovery. Occupied with other matters -he had never noticed the shrinkage, and had the lead hove at once. It -gave six fathoms less than before, but—what was more satisfactory—showed -fourteen still remaining. We knew the sea-level could not be more than -fifty feet below us, so unless the water was draining away into some -unimaginable gulf, there would remain thirty feet or more for our good -ship to float in. - -This was cheering in some ways, though it detracted in no wise from the -hopelessness of our situation from the point of view of a possible -rescue. - -We resolved therefore that at earliest dawn a select expedition should -set forth to carry inquiry further into the land, taking with it arms, -food, and the necessary accoutrement for two days at least, that every -portion of the seaward face of the cliffs might be examined for the -greatest distance to which we could transport a boat. The party was to -consist of Denvarre, Gerry, one sailor—name of Parsons—and myself. -Lessaution we judged it best to leave, as we felt sure that his build -did not fit him for prolonged exercise across the boulder-strewn -confusion of this land of desolation. We felt, too, that he could amuse -himself in delving around the foreshore of the lake, where antiquities -were just as probable as further west; we said nothing to him of our -project. Garlicke preferred to stay and “protect the ladies,” as he put -it, and Waller’s business was on his ship. We four therefore spent the -afternoon in dozing, to make up for the exertions of the night, and to -prepare for the toils of the morrow. We rose for dinner, and endeavored -to pass a cheerful evening, but Gerry took his cigar on deck at an early -opportunity, unable to sustain the conflict with his natural passions -which the sight of Garlicke’s attentions to Vi provoked, and I fought -down my overmastering desire to throttle Denvarre, with a stolid -determination that made me extremely unsociable, and a most apathetic -conversationalist. So uneasily the after-dinner period passed, and we -turned in to dream of the undying fires of Erebus in collusion with the -outbursting of an uncontrolled and ever-growing Niagara. - -Now behold us next morning setting forth into the unknown, with a great -waving of handkerchiefs from the good folk on deck. We crossed the -moat—as I christened it—scrambled ashore, and started along the incline -of bare rock that led toward the cliff-tops. The going after the first -half-mile was desperately rough. Great slab-like boulders, round and -smooth-faced, lay about in gigantic masses, and the clefts between them -were wide and deep. Laboriously we hopped from one to the other, getting -many a bruise and thump as we slid upon their glassy surfaces. The slope -that led up from the lake edge to the western hills was like a great -moraine. It ran to the foot of ranged rocks that buttressed the lower -shoulders of the peak. The quantities of pebbles were arranged in -irregular ridge and furrow formation, growing in size and smoothness as -we approached the cliff face. We proceeded excessively slowly; -half-an-hour’s toil took us a bare mile. - -As we paused and looked round, wiping our brows, a yell came sharply -through the still air, and an extraordinary object staggered into our -vision. Round the corner of basalt which hid the ship from us emerged a -thing like a monstrous beetle. With frantic gesticulation it beckoned us -to stop. It was with some difficulty we recognized the familiar form of -Lessaution, for he had done his best to disguise it. His peaceful person -had assumed the fantastic presentment of a mediæval buccaneer. According -to his lights, I suppose, it was the strictly correct habiliment of the -explorer. - -A blue cap, something like that assigned to statues of Liberty, dangled -from his poll, flopping with studied _abandon_ over his left ear. He -wore a baggy Norfolk jacket, with pockets erupting all over it like -sartorial warts; huge gray worsted stockings came over his knees and -half-way up his thighs, and immense brown boots were laced over his -skinny little calves. In his hand was an axe; round his waist was a -belt; from this dangled a sheath-knife, flanked by an enormous Colt’s -revolver; above his left shoulder flaunted the muzzle of a shot-gun, the -butt of which seriously incommoded the play of his right elbow. He stood -forth the pirate of cheap fiction confessed. - -He was scrambling over the boulders frantically. Before he had traversed -twenty yards of the uncertain footing of the moraine he fell upon his -face. He found the position so much to his liking that he remained on -hands and knees, squirming clatteringly over the glassy pebbles. We felt -that Gerry was by no means inapt in likening him to a caterpillar on -eggs. We sat down to smile, take our breath, and let him overtake us. -This he did in the space of about ten minutes, grunting like an -overdriven cab-horse, glowing with perspiration, and begrimed with -unutterable dirt. He sank with a bump of exhaustion upon a handy slab of -granite and began his reproaches. - -“You would leave behind your little Lessaution?” he queried accusingly. -“Me, who pant, do you see, to gaze upon the wonders of the land. Where -had you the heart to treat him so?” and his brown eyes directed an -upbraiding glance upon us that might have melted the very stones. - -We explained that it was his comfort that had been our first thought, -and that we had deemed the way too long and the work too arduous for -him. We hinted that the ladies would experience a vivid desolation -deprived of his company. We had believed that he would have found ample -room and opportunity for research in the immediate vicinity of the -vessel. He was not to be appeased. - -“No,” he replied; “when they told me that you had set forth, and unknown -to me, I asked myself how I had offended you. Is it, I said, that there -can be jealousy between two nations who share the responsibilities of -civilization? Do they wish that France shall not have her part in this -adventure? I could not believe it. I call for the boat. I accoutre -myself”—and he pointed with pride to the armory that swayed about him, -“and I follow with great speed. Let me offer my comradeship in this -expedition. Give me my part in your perils,” and he flung out his arms -entreatingly. - -How could one refuse a request so touchingly put forth? We welcomed him -to our company with effusion, though with inward annoyance. We felt that -our progress would of necessity be a great deal tardier in consequence, -but in mere charity and courtesy nothing else was to be done. - -He further imparted the information that he was not so young as when he -was of the foremost runners of the Lycée, and that his little heart was -going pit-a-pat. In effect, with this so great racing it quivered like -an _automobile_. But of what consideration was this when he was once -again amongst his dear rascals, and accompanying them in their valiant -purpose of research? One minute to regain the even tenor of his pulses, -and then, forward! Let us press on to victories. - -We counselled him bluntly to keep his breath for pure purposes of -locomotion, and after a slight rest set forward again to our monotonous -stumblings among the endless reaches of heaped stone. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - A GLACIER CAVE AND WHAT LAY THEREIN - - -An hour’s labor saw us well over the moraine, and beginning to worm our -way into the deep clefts that gaped in the flanks of the hillside. -Heretofore we had kept rigidly to the neighborhood of the shore, but now -we had to shift our course inland. The mountain breasted up to the -water’s edge sheer and inaccessible. We could see no possible chance of -a break in its surface for miles. - -There was nothing to do but cross the ridge before us, and take up our -quest on the far side. If we found the way rough and dangerous, and -deemed it impossible to carry over the sections of our cutter, we should -have to return and recommence our quest along the eastern shores. But as -far as we had gone there was nothing impracticable for men taking fair -precautions and proceeding slowly, though at times the ground was steep -and broken. - -Before us a long, deep, shadowy gorge cut into the heart of the -mountain. It led upward toward a narrow pass that dented into the crown -of the ridge. This gave hope of a moderately easy passage to the other -side. About half-a-mile in front of us the cañon narrowed, and the -cliffs grew together, nearly overhanging in parts. - -The going, however, was better. At times the path was as smooth as a -paved street. Here and there enormous blocks of granite were ranged -alongside it. They were curiously square, having almost the finished -look of building material. - -Gerry was the first to remark upon these things. - -“There never was a better imitation of an Edinburgh street,” said he -wearily. “These cobbles are as hard and even as can be.” - -They certainly were set together in regular fashion, and we examined -them inquisitively, wondering what geological freak had brought about -their ordered formation. Lessaution clapped his hands and shouted. - -“Aha, my friends, aha! What have you to say now? A boulevard, is it not? -Who made this road, my little Iscariots? Did it make itself out of -nothing? Did the stones roll themselves together? Tell me that, my -braves,” and he grunted triumphantly, waggling his hands at the rows of -measured blocks. - -“I think,” said I irritably, “that any people who put them here with a -set purpose must have been of a race of engineering idiots. What in the -name of wonder could a road be doing here, leading to nowhere in -particular out of this chaos? It’s simply a geological freak. Some -stratum has slipped.” - -“It is a road, I tell you,” shrieked the _savant_, “a road, a road, a -road! It has been begun to fetch stones upon—this stone that we see -ready cut for moving. Is it that you are blind? Can you not see?” - -I had no wish to delay the expedition further while he lectured us on -this supposititious discovery. I answered him patiently. - -“My dear Professor,” said I, “let us agree that it is a grand staircase, -or anything else you like to think it. But for goodness’ sake let us get -on. What we are looking for is not a highway, but a beach—unless you -would like to stay and investigate the matter by yourself,” I added -hopefully. - -He came along muttering many things. He was understood to say that some -people had no more enthusiasm than a slug; that the British nation at -large was utterly wanting in verve and spirituality; that in our poor -company his intellect roamed desolate and companionless. But we regarded -him not, striding upward till we reached the point where the cañon -narrowed and darkened over us. - -This defile continued for about a quarter of a mile, and along it still -ran the curious effect as of a cobbled road. At the end of the neck we -could see that the valley divided, one half continuing up the pass, the -other striking away sharply to the right. - -We reached the sharp spur of the mountain that hid the second valley -from our sight. We rounded the corner, all five of us abreast. As a -single man we stopped in our surprise. - -Almost to our feet a mighty glacier rolled, clear, clean, and blue as -the firmament, still and cold as the shadow of death. A gasp went up -simultaneously from each throat as we stepped so swiftly and unknowingly -into the presence of this mighty ice-river, standing out in such lonely -whiteness and solemnity; for an appreciable moment no one spoke. - -Then came a shrill yell from our irrepressible friend. He pointed up the -side of the new valley, his little eyes fairly blazing in their sockets. - -“There, there!” he howled, “as I told you, it is there. Name of all the -names, let us climb,” and he scrabbled at the smooth rock face that -fenced the entrance of the far cañon, plucking at it like a caged -squirrel. - -We followed the direction of his forefinger, and I will confess that my -first feeling was one of desperate annoyance, for on the edge of the -ice, standing out yellow-gray against the blue crevices, was something -uncommonly like the wall of a ruined or half-finished building. Nothing -could explain this away, and it seemed possible that Lessaution might -have some ground for his fancies. Any wonder or interest I might have -felt in this discovery was swallowed by the irritation I felt in -remembering what scorn I had always thrown upon Gerry’s and Lessaution’s -imaginings, which now might well prove to be borne out by facts. I gaped -upon the phenomenon therefore distrustfully, as if it might be, -perchance, a put-up hoax. - -The Frenchman was still extended upon the ice-planed rocks, wriggling -like a worm, but advancing not at all. Gerry seized one of his -outstretched legs and gave him a lusty shove. The ungrateful little -wretch never so much as offered him thanks or a tug in return. He -gathered himself up, and tore across the confusion of the ice-milled -stones like a lapwing. - -Parsons respectfully offered a back, as at leap-frog. We took advantage -of it to scale the tiny precipice, and follow in the _savant’s_ tracks. -The slow-blooded Mr. Parsons, after eyeing the unaided ascent that would -be his if he pursued us, sat himself down beside the baggage, and lit -his pipe with solemn content. The rest of us joined Lessaution beside -the building, or whatever it might be. - -It was supposedly the rear of a house, and ended with great abruptness -where the glacier began. There was no roof, merely three stone walls -built of excessively solid blocks—not natural, but evidently -quarried—and at the glacier side it broke off suddenly, as if beaten -down by some sudden shock. Inside the walls was nothing but a little -heap of dust. - -Lessaution ran round and round it and in and out of it like a monkey -exploring a new cage. He chattered and swore away to himself, paying no -sort of attention to our doings. It was left to Gerry to make the next -discovery. He was standing gaping down into the crevasses of the glacier -edge. - -“Great Heavens!” he ejaculated suddenly. “Look here, you chaps.” - -Ready for any further astonishment, we flocked to him greedily. He -pointed to the unsullied sides of the ice-wall, and therein we saw a -wonderful sight. Plain to the view, as if cased in a crystal casket, -were more huge blocks of stone, the ice arching over them transparently. -Most evidently they were the masonry that had formed the _facade_ of -this building, which the glacier must have in part destroyed. They had -been swept down into a sort of bay or basin in the rock. In this hollow -they were only covered by a shallow of the mighty river of ice, and it -had rolled its slow current over them for centuries. But lying, as they -did, beneath its sluggish current, they had remained flung up as in a -sort of backwater, and free from injury. And here lay the wonder of the -thing. For carved on these great monoliths were a hundred cabalistic -figures in myriad combinations, every one, as we could clearly trace, -formed of the same symbol that figured in my wonderful scroll. - -When you are beaten, the grace of a neat surrender will turn tongues -from your defeat. I went up to Lessaution with an outstretched hand and -an ingratiating smile. He greeted me triumphantly, and with many joyous -outcries, but I will say was handsome enough to forego all superior airs -of patronage. He made no allusion to my previous scepticism. - -I told myself that, in some ways, this discovery was a great misfortune -as matters had now turned out. True enough, we had come here to -investigate the possible remains of such a race as was now conclusively -proved to have existed. Had matters gone as we intended we should have -been gratified beyond measure at this result. But as circumstances were, -the discovery of a suitable shore for launching our boat was preferable -to all the antiquities south of the equator. I ventured on a modified -_résumé_ of these sentiments, but the Professor snapped at me like an -angry parrakeet. - -“What!” he exploded. “Shall we leave these fine and perfect palaces? Are -we to desert them to search for a beach—a muddy bank of sand? No, it is -not possible. Here we can delve into a buried past, and explore the -relics of a royal race. I plant myself here, and Beelzebub shall not -tear me from the spot. Under correction you must see as I do. A beach -now—but that is absurd,” and he turned to his investigations, waving -aside my suggestions superbly. - -Gerry and Denvarre were a bit flushed and excited over the matter. The -former opined that an hour or two’s pottering round these walls might be -interesting, and that discoveries worth making might be made. He -suggested that the mid-day halt for food should now take place, and that -if necessary Lessaution should remain afterward while we strolled -forward on our way. We could pick him up on our return. - -I agreed to this compromise sulkily, and marched down to where Parsons -still smoked patiently among the packs. He rose to his feet, and stood -at attention. - -“Put up the little cooking tent,” said I, “and light the little stove. -We’re going to camp and lunch.” - -He began to unfold the canvas and erect the shelter for our little oil -oven. I busied myself in getting out the meat pie that Baines had -provided, and extracting knives and forks from their various -receptacles. Then I sat down upon a boulder and watched Parsons’ further -operations with a dreamy content in mere idleness and in the sunshine. - -“Wonderful pretty, that, m’lord,” said Parsons confidentially, as he -looked up from his labors, crimson with much bending. He pointed with -his finger toward the farthest side of the glacier, whence a stream -rippled out patteringly. - -I followed the direction of his hand and saw, what, in the general -distraction of Lessaution’s first find, we had overlooked. - -A huge ice-grotto, blue and delicately shaded, ran deeply into the heart -of the glacier. The sun sparkled on the archway that spanned the -entrance, glowing through panes of clear ice in fifty azure shades and -glittering prisms. The stream that purred out, born of the friction on -the granite bed below the ice, looked heartsome and inviting in the -sunlight. It was in contrast to the stony immobility around, and I rose -and took a few steps forward to contemplate it. - -The cave ran straight back from its mouth into the ice-hollows, and the -reflections lit it up for some little way back into its dark recesses. -It looked mysteriously fascinating, as its blue shadows melted into the -impenetrable gloom. I stepped a few yards into it, admiring the -delicious tints that filtered through the roof. The thought struck me -that while our lunch was warming it might be amusing to investigate this -sub-glacial waterway. I returned to Mr. Parsons, who had watched my -motion with genuine but repressed interest. - -“Have we candles?” I inquired. - -“I did happen to put in a couple of dips, m’lord, thinking they might -come in useful if we camped the night. Not that we have what you’d call -much night here,” added the sailor, as if it was an additional grievance -of these outlandish realms. - -He produced his greasy little parcel, and we entered the cavern, getting -well dripped on by the way. The little cascades fell freely from the -roof in the increasing heat of the sun. - -As the gloom deepened we lit up, and I strode ahead holding my candle -high in the air. Parsons followed behind, gaping. In this order we -plunged into the icy mysteries before us. - -The stream was a shallow one—not above four or five inches deep for the -most part—and we splashed and slushed along with ease on its sandy bed. -But the cold was atrocious. It struck home the deeper for our sudden -withdrawal from the full sunlight. As we advanced the clear blue of the -ice above the entrance deepened to a sickly green; as we went on to a -lurid purple. Finally the rays ceased to percolate through the heavy -masses above us. We were in thick darkness—the gloom that has never -known the day. - -I heard Parsons shiver behind me as he crept closer. The roof-drippings -fell with a hollow splash in the pools and shallows. A fearsome -stillness filled and pervaded the cave between these patterings. Our -steps and splashings seemed to roar out with indecent echoes on the -awesome quiet. A scene of impertinence—of pushing forwardness—in thus -invading these awful recesses fell upon me. My steps began to slow; a -shudder swept my nerves, making me tremble creepily. - -As I slowed and halted I noticed that the drip and trickle from the roof -had ceased. The cave was widening and deepening into a space that the -feeble light of our candles refused to fill. We were in the midst of a -growing emptiness. - -I looked above me. The roof was lost in gloom. A thick, velvety -blackness was over us, and no answering flash from ice walls came as I -waved my light. We had strayed from under the glacier, and were overhung -by some huge escarpment of the mountain-side. On the one side of us was -the wall of ice; on the other the sullen gray cliff of granite. The -floor was smooth. The stream oozed along the foot of the ice-wall with a -silent, splashless flow. - -We walked half aimlessly forward, hesitating for a direction in this -uniform emptiness. Then the light passed uncertainly upon a yellowish -mass a few fathoms before us—a vague breaking of the dimness of the -void. We drew toward it, and the shadows danced and played upon -clean-cut blocks; there was no mistaking their nature. They were -quarried—the squared masonry of a buried city. - -Parsons crept closer again. - -“’Anged if it ain’t a ’ouse,” he whispered, and it seemed to me that I -could hear the throb of his pulses in the stillness. “A bloomin’ ’ouse,” -he repeated, with the evident desire to prove to himself that this was -no delusive dream. - -We both breathed hard as we continued staring at the yellow gable, -watching the waverings of the dip-light across its stones. Emotions that -varied only in degree filled our minds alike. We were, without any -doubt, horribly afraid. For half a minute we stood unstirring. Then by a -common and inquisitive impulse we advanced shoulder to shoulder to the -doorway. - -There was no door. A fungus-smelling pile of sodden pulp showed what -might have been wood long centuries before. Beside the postern lay a -metal bucket, dull and dirt-colored; opposite the doorway was an open -hearth. The floor was inches deep in a curious, strong-smelling, fungoid -litter. Among it lay half-a-dozen or more utensils, all of the same -dull-colored metal. In the ingle nook was a stone seat. - -[Illustration: - - IT WAS THE FACE OF ONE ALONE WITH DEATH. - - _Page 177._ -] - -Another entrance gave upon an inner room. To this we strode delicately. -At our entry we stayed our oncoming with a great gasp. I stepped back -upon Parsons—shuffling and mowing at him unseeingly. My eyes were glued -upon the far side of the room, while my feet with automatic intelligence -endeavored to carry me out of it. - -A stone slab filled the far side of this recess, and on it were heaped -various sad-hued fabrics—bed coverings of sorts. They were discolored -with age, but undecayed by reason of the undying frost. Above the tossed -and furrowed ends of these rags a face appeared—a face lined with a -thousand wrinkles, drawn and yellow as parchment. The features had been -old and agonized or ever the breath left the body. They had been of -noble outline in life, but terror had been laid like a thick mask upon -the dead lineaments. It was the face of one alone with death—a death -that crept to it slowly, while the soul waited in its desolation, -helpless, alone, despairing. - -Parsons found a cracked and reedy voice. - -“Gawd pity ’im,” he mumbled, closing up to me fearfully; “’e ’ad it -’eavy at the last.” - -The flicker of the wavering candle-light was chasing the gray shadows -across and about the fear-haunted face. If was as if the agonies of -centuries back had leaped to life. A drop from the roof fell upon the -wick of a dip, making it hiss and sputter raggedly; the to and fro of -the twittering rays made the dead lips twitch, as it seemed. The shade -that swept the rigid form, as we moved toward it, gave it the horrid -appearance of shuddering, and thereat I heard Parsons’ breath whistle -between his teeth. The black hair fell lank and straight from the -furrowed forehead, and as the thin light gleamed upon it, it seemed as -if it waved in an unfelt draught. - -We bent over the poor, distorted apology for a human form. The hands -were crossed upon the wasted chest, each twined within the other -convulsively. The eyes were half closed. The sheen of the dead pupils -seemed to watch us furtively between the wrinkled lids. The lips were -agape, and the teeth set stiffly upon each other. The muscles in the -worn throat stood out like the kinks in the parcelling of a worn hawser. -The whole face and figure gave the impression of despair personified—of -death awaited lingeringly, and the bitter cup thereof drained to the -last dregs. - -There was a plash and gurgle from the stream behind me, and the swish of -hasty stumblings through its pools. I was suddenly aware that I was -alone before this gruesomeness—that down the watery pathway we had come -Parsons was making for wholesome light and air at the top of his speed. -He ran staggeringly, holding out his candle before him, and as I saw the -outline of his body diminishingly black through the doorway, a cold -dread caught me by the throat. Horror gripped my pulses clammily. - -Somehow, within the next ten seconds, I found myself hunting Parsons -hard down that icy waterway, with fright—pure, unadulterated -funk—following desperately swift upon my footsteps. I stopped to -consider nothing, save that behind me was the shadow of death centuries -old in all its hoary malignancy, while in front was sunlight and -nervous, warm-blooded humanity as personified by the escaping Parsons. -With these considerations carven on my brain I splashed along like a -hunted otter. Reeling, white-faced, shamed, but full of gratitude for -the warm blessings of the sun and sea-borne air, we stumbled out into -the cañon, and squatted again beside our baggage. We looked not each -other in the eyes for the space of a full minute; then I gave a -half-hysteric chuckle. - -“It was only a mummy of sorts,” I explained apologetically to James -Parsons, seaman and coward. - -“That’s as mebbe, m’lord,” quoth Mr. Parsons with dogged deliberation, -“but it ’appens to be the first I’ve seen of whatever it ’appens to be, -an’ please the Lord I’ll never see another.” He capped this slightly -involved indication of his views with a mighty spit into the clearness -of the stream, the while he shifted his quid thankfully. - -“Nonsense,” said I, with a great show of spirit and discipline, “you -must come back with me at once. I dare say there are discoveries to be -made of lots of things. Gold, very likely, and other valuables,” and I -rolled my eyes at him. He only sniffed doubtfully. - -“With all due respeck, m’lord,” answered the seaman firmly, “I would not -go back if you dammed the brook with di’monds.” - -“You’re a coward, Parsons,” said I disgustedly. “What’s there to be -afraid of? It’s simply the body of a man who was caught by the glacier -when it overwhelmed this valley, as it evidently has done. It’s the cold -that’s kept him fresh.” - -“Yes, m’lord,” answered Parsons, without conviction. - -“So of course we ought to look into the matter further. Who knows what -there may be besides what we’ve seen? I shall call the others.” - -“Yes, m’lord,” quoth Mr. Parsons, with steadfast respect. “I should -certainly call the others.” - -I turned away, disgusted with his cowardice, scrambled up the side of -the ravine again, and strolled back to where they were still delving -away among the rubbish. They took no notice of me, and I lit a cigarette -with deliberation before I inquired if they had found anything. - -“Ouf! but you annoy me with your questions,” snapped Lessaution. “Is it -that you expect us to examine the whole of this affair in ten minutes? -This is the discovery of the century—the most magnificent one that has -been made about peoples of which we know nothing. And you say have you -found anything? We have found a house, and have been here the littlest -half-hour.” - -“Ah,” said I superciliously; “I think you’re wasting your time.” - -He boiled over at me, his face the color of beetroot. - -“Can you not search for your beach without disturbing the important -investigations of _savants_? What is your beach to me? Go you on and -look for it, and leave us to dig at our leisure.” He snorted with -indignation as he turned away. - -“Well,” said I apathetically, “of course you know best. If this roofless -hovel is enough for you, well and good. But when a few hundred yards -away a whole city awaits your inspection, I should have thought——” - -“What!” they all bawled, leaping up. “Where? Which?” and they stared -round them as if they expected to see it perched on the adjoining -precipices. - -“Anywhere but where you’re looking,” I returned dryly. “_There_, if -you’re so anxious to know,” and I pointed into the depths of the -glacier. - -“But how——” began Gerry. - -“By the front door,” said I, interrupting. “There’s a passage right into -the heart of it, and here have you all been idling about this one -outlying bothie, while Parsons and I with some show of energy have been -finding out——” It was no use continuing, for they had all forsaken me -and raced down the slope toward the baggage, bawling aloud to Parsons -for the candles. I followed at a more leisurely pace, and before I had -time to overtake them, they had disappeared into the cavern with the -only two lights. As I did not feel inclined to follow in the dark, I sat -myself down to inspect the meat pie, and await their return. - -They came staggering out in about half-an-hour, bearing something -between the three of them. What sense of decency or of the fitness of -things they possessed I don’t know, but it was the mummy they’d got, -arranged on a sort of hammock of their coats, which they carried by the -sleeves. The unfortunate corpse rolled and crumbled hideously as it came -thus immodestly out into the sunlight after its centuries of seclusion. -I could not restrain my indignation. Even Parsons was moved. - -“It ain’t ’ardly decent,” he observed, looking across at me. - -“I think you’re the most disreputable scoundrels I ever came across,” -said I warmly, advancing upon the party. “You’re worse than Burke or -Hare. Why couldn’t you let the wretched carcass sleep in peace?” - -“Humbug!” quoth Gerry discourteously. “D’you think we’re going to let -the only Mayan extant rot away in the bowels of a glacier for want of a -little embalming? The Professor’s going to stuff it.” - -“Oh, he is, is he?” said I, and smiled into my mustache. I had a good -idea of what would occur when this worn carrion had been out in the -sunlight for an hour or two. “I wish him joy,” I added politely. - -They set it down upon a smooth lump of granite, and the Professor -tripped round it ecstatically. Denvarre and Gerry listened to his -chatterings with the solemn attention of profound ignorance, and Parsons -eyed the whole proceeding with melancholy and distrust. The sun was -exceedingly powerful, and I lit another cigarette. After about ten -minutes I sniffed suspiciously. - -“Your beastly mummy’s waking up,” I hazarded. “There’s a confounded -smell of musk.” - -Lessaution opened his mouth to answer me. His eyes were agleam with -native fire, and his podgy little nostrils and upper lip were curled -into a sneer. I perceived that he proposed to wither me with a torrent -of sarcasm. - -As he stood opposite me his gaze took in the whole of the upper valley -over my shoulder. Instead of the volley of winged words that I expected, -the only sound that escaped between his teeth was a raucous croak. His -mouth stayed, gaping widely. The fire died from his eyes, and I saw -terror settle in them like a gray mist. His cap rose distinctly an inch -upon his head, and he splayed out his hands before him, thrusting away -from his white face as if to keep off a horror unimaginable. - -We four wheeled in our tracks. Then my throat dried up within me; my -lips twitched; my knees were stricken with sudden palsy. For if ever -nightmare walked abroad embodied on God’s earth, it was there confessed -before my eyes. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE GREAT GOD CAY - - -High up the slope of the mountain-side, lurching slowly across the bare, -bleak slabs of granite, was a Beast, and he was like unto nothing known -outside the frenzy of delirium. Swartly green was his huge lizard-like -body, and covered with filthy excrescences of a livid hue. His neck was -the lithe neck of a boa-constrictor, but glossy as with a sweat of oil. -A coarse, heavy, serrated tail dragged and lolloped along the rocks -behind him, leaving in its wake a glutinous, snail-like smear. Four -great feet or flippers paddled and slushed beside—rather than under—this -mass of living horror, urging it lingeringly and remorselessly toward -us. The great neck swayed and hovered before it, poising the little -malignant head. The horny eyelids winked languidly over the deep-set -wicked eyes. The lean, red tongue, slavering over the thin, hide-like -lips, wagged out at us as if in mockery. The teeth, and the nails in the -webbed, puddy feet, were yellow and tusklike, and a skinny dewlap -rustled as it crawled across the stones. - -Three hundred yards away the Thing stopped and shook and swung its -horrid neck at us almost derisively. The luminous eyes shone iridescent -beneath the slow winking lids. The poised head swayed uncertainly. - -Suddenly the long neck stiffened. It set stiff as a rope that warps a -ship from harbor. The eyes settled into a glassy stare. The swallowings -that had pulsed at the junctions of the neck and dewlap ceased. The -muscles became rigid. A hideous paralysis seemed to fall upon it as if -by magic. - -A sigh—almost a sob—shivered up into the stillness, and I looked at my -companions. All of them were staring, staring, staring—three of them -with eager, human, living faces, the fourth with the carven visage of -the dead. - -Parsons might have been graven from the rock. His hands were caught upon -the lapels of his jacket; his lips and teeth were slightly parted; his -eyes burnt their steadfast gaze upon the Beast unblinkingly. But for the -measured rise and fall of his chest, he was as unstirring as one of the -cañon boulders. - -Then I saw that the ghastly Thing was staring with concentration at -Parsons. As I watched, it gaped upon him. Parsons opened his jaws with -measured, automatic motion, and gaped back. The sinuous neck swayed. -Parsons stretched his throat with horrifying imitation. The thing -advanced three ponderous steps. Parsons lurched forward a like space -draggingly. The long serrated tail lashed to and fro once and again. -Parsons waggled his body monstrously. - -I glanced at the glacier cave which opened invitingly fifty yards away. -Then I turned to measure the Horror intently with my eye. Beyond a doubt -his gigantic limbs could never pass it. I rushed at Parsons, and seized -his coat-collar. He struck at me furiously and unseeingly, his eyes -gluing themselves to the fascination before him. I yelled to the others, -and then simultaneously we made a rush to the cleft in the glacier face, -bearing with us the struggling sailor. He hit out madly, his frozen -death-like eyes still rapt upon the Beast. Shrieking, fighting, but -still staring, we shoved him through the icy waterway, and heaved him -with great splashings round the corner that screened the entrance. - -As we lugged him back into the blue dimness of the cavern I pressed my -palms upon his eyelids, and bawled reassuringly into his ear. As if a -garment fell from him his body lost its rigidity; as I removed my hand -his eyes looked back into mine with the natural light soft within them. -The tense glare of a moment before was gone. He began to sob and cling -to me. - -“Oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord,” he yammered, gripping my arm till I could -have yelled with the pain; “the eyes of him—the blisterin’ eyes. They -dragged me like a puppy on a string. I ’ad to go an’ be thankful for -goin’. ’E’ll ’ave me yet, ’e’ll ’ave me yet. ’E’ll nip me up an’ break -my back as if I was a bilge rat, an’ no more. Oh, for the Lord’s sake -’old on to me, or I’ll be cracked like a nut in ’is ’orrid jaws, an’ I -didn’t sign for no dragons, m’lord, but only as deck ’and an’ not for no -wanderin’s in devils’ lands.” And so on and so forth did he incoherently -complain, covering his face from the sight of the approaching monster, -grovelling at my feet on the damp sandy floor, as we others watched the -gaunt Fearsomeness approach. - -As it waddled clumsily up to the entrance we shrank further back into -the gloom of the cavern. It stopped as it straddled across the -out-gushing stream, damming the waters with its ungainly bulk, and -forming a turbid pool. It lifted its pink, pointed snout curiously, and -sniffed the air with parted lips. Then the little triangular head swung -the full length of the neck into the cave, and the smell of noxious -breath and musk clouded down upon us, making us cough with its -disgusting effluvia. - -The teeth snapped asunder as the lithe tongue licked across them, and as -they closed again the breath hissed between them. The green light from -its eyes shone luminous in the twilight of the overhanging ice. There -was a swish and rush of released waters as it moved forward, and closed -in upon the cave mouth. The dimness grew to utter night save for the -faintest glow that filtered in from above, and the two pitiless eyes -shone poised in the darkness like living coals. - -I fumbled for the match-box, and tried to strike a vesta, but my -trembling fingers spilled the half of them. The few seconds of horror, -while I picked and fiddled at them in the darkness, and those two orbs -of searching horror swayed above me, is an experience I am not likely to -forget if I live to be a hundred. - -As the dips took flame, and we saw the nearness of the Thing, we gasped -with the freezing fear of it and backed still further into the recesses -of the glacier. The ice began to melt where the heat of the horny -excrescences pressed upon it, and for one unreasoning moment I seriously -considered if he meant to break in upon us by this slow means. But the -sight of the thick, curtain-like glacier, dark above us with its -hundreds of feet of virgin ice, reassured me. Little by little, as the -first shock of terror began to dull, I pulled myself together. - -The others too, I noticed, were beginning to bear themselves more like -men and less like whipped puppies. Lessaution actually donned a -triumphant expression, and his lips moved. For a moment or so, though, -his voice failed to respond to the call of his intelligence. Finally he -burst into words. - -“Well, my friends, well! What have you to say? Here you have the god -Cay—the great Beast of the document, the great absurdity that could not -possibly exist. Do we see him? Is he here, or is it possibly a dream, -and we shall all awake together?” and the little wretch laughed, -actually laughed exultingly, as he grinned round upon us. - -As for me, when I heard his words my heart gave a great leap. I had -utterly forgotten the horrible old story of the document. Looking on -this atrocity, I could but wonder if there was any truth in it, and in -the fearful tale of the devouring of Alfa, the sacrificial virgin. And -as I speculated on Hardal’s wild frenzy if he saw her set in the path of -this filthy monstrosity, I did not marvel that he had been hot to avenge -his love or to die with her, even if unavailingly. - -And then, as you may imagine, my thoughts wandered off swiftly to Gwen, -and my gorge rose and my pulses leaped outrageously at the bare idea of -seeing her or any other human being in the bestial Thing’s maw. The -remembrance that she and twoscore other souls were swinging on that open -pool, the easiest possible prey to this crawling Horror, made me curse -deeply below my breath, while behind the imprecation followed earnestly -a prayer. - -Parsons still babbled and chattered in the background with his face to -earth. Denvarre and Gerry stood silent, their faces as white as the -ice-splits beside them, but Lessaution’s color was returning, and his -show of bravado increased. He strode a pace or two nearer the swinging -head, and began to look up at it inquisitively, waving his hand and -strutting as if he stood before a class. - -“You see, my friends, you see,” he expatiated with a platform manner, -“this is of the supposedly extinct race of the Dinosauria. Of this -animal and others like him we have examples in the Secondary period and -the Jurassic formation. Of this class, but not of this order, is the -great Sea Serpent, at which imbeciles pretend to laugh, but it has been -seen—ah, yes, even as we see this monster before us. Since the days -before history he has been here—this great and wonderful beast, and to -us—to us who have toiled, comes the honor—the supreme honor to discover -him. He was old when the race of Maya came; he is older now. And yet we -stand familiarly before him. We look up at him, and there you see he -wags his head. So we say _belle chance de faire votre connaissance, -monsieur_, and we bow to introduce ourselves,” and the little man -smirked and bobbed to the hideous head as, shuttle-like, it weaved -restlessly from side to side of the cavern before his eyes. - -It was the most absurdly ghastly combination of the horrible and the -ridiculous that ever presented itself to a sane brain, to see that -self-important little ass parade himself and point before that loathsome -presence. His round little stomach was silhouetted black against the -glistening ice, his arms were spread abroad, his toes out-turned, and -swagger perspired from his every pore; while above him swung that living -climax of horror, arrant in its filthy gruesomeness, indecently manifest -in the face of nature. One might well be forgiven if one barely gave -credence to one’s own eyesight. - -As the Frenchman made obeisance forward, spreading his palms outward, -and shrugging his shoulders with this outrageous buffoonery and travesty -of courage, like a flash the gaping mouth dropped down upon him, and the -red, sinuous tongue lapped out at him. - -Uttering a shrill cry he stepped backward. His footsteps were hasty and -uncertain, and his feet slipped upon the smoothness of the roof drip -that swamped the rocky floor. His feet fled from under him, and he -rolled over, falling within reach of the eager, straining lips. - -The tip of the curling tongue fell upon his shoulder. The roughnesses of -it clung to his jacket, fastening themselves to the coarse texture. He -struck out at it wildly, and his palm brushed the red, rasping surface. -His hand fell back bleeding and flayed, torn by the ragged point as it -scored across it. He shrieked aloud, squirming and dragging desperately -at the hold upon his arm, wriggling frantically. Above him the green -eyes flamed scornfully, gloating upon him as a stoat might on a -struggling rabbit. Out of the open jaws the saliva poured upon him, -drenching him with noisomeness. - -For one stupefying second we were paralyzed, fascinated by abounding -horror. Then Denvarre’s rifle sprang to his shoulder, and as we leaped -forward a shot re-echoed clatteringly down the dark aisles of the icy -passages. A deep, livid gap showed angrily and red in the lapping, -sinuous tongue. With the swiftness of light it swept from its hold upon -the jacket, rending the stout cloth in the suddenness of the release. -Before the crack of the rifle had died into the silences we seized the -little man’s outstretched arms, and shot him back into safety. We heaved -him to his feet, gasping, panting, his teeth chattering with the black -terror of his escape. - -The light and the untainted air began to rush back into the cave, as -with a heavy lurch the beast withdrew its blocking body from the -entrance. The dark blood was dripping in gouts from its wounded tongue, -mixing with its saliva in pools upon the rocks, and sinking smearingly -into the sand. Even in that moment of horror I couldn’t help noticing -how the red stains shone upon the yellow nails in each webby foot, and -how the pulses in its wrinkled dewlap increased their throbbings with -the sudden pain of the wound. - -As it waddled sulkily away from the cave mouth, Denvarre slipped in -another cartridge, and aiming carefully for its head, fired again. The -merest shred of horny skin flicked away from above its eyelid as the -bullet thudded home, and not a vestige of blood showed upon the green -hide. Evidently those scales were bullet-proof. - -It turned with a puzzled air as it felt the rap of the ball, looking -back at us in an almost meditative manner, as if wondering if we had -anything to do with this thing. Then its eye caught and dwelt upon the -Mayan mummy, which still lay half divested of its coverings upon the -slab of stone beside the stream. It ambled forward a pace or two, nosing -at the carrion uncertainly. Then it swung its head toward the -ice-stream, and laved and slobbered its tongue in the water till the -bleeding had well-nigh ceased. There was a snap of his bony jaws and a -twist of the hard lips as the head shot back again. A single gulp -sufficed, and both coats and body were gone. Nothing remained but the -slowly-sinking swelling of the long thick throat, and a ragged shred or -two of cloth upon the gray stones at its feet. - -With heavy strides it moved off ponderously in the direction whence it -came, clambering up the rubble of the volcanic slope. For a quarter of -an hour we saw it dwindle into the distance of the mountain-side, till -finally it rounded a spur of the cañon and disappeared from our view. - -Then we left our staring, to which we had kept with an intentness which -only those who have experienced a like nerve-sapping fear can -understand. First we examined poor Lessaution’s palm and shoulder. They -were in a sorry case indeed. - -The surface of his flesh where the rasping tongue had swept it was -scored as if by some huge nutmeg-grater. The skin was hanging from it in -thin strips and filaments. Where the utmost tip had touched his cheek in -the swift withdrawal was a deep, livid scar like the brand of a hot -iron. His left palm was raw, not a vestige of skin remained upon it. - -We set the unfortunate little chap upon a boulder outside the cave, and -I tore a rag or two from my shirt, wrung them out in the stream, and -washed and cleansed the wound to the best of my ability. With the -remaining lint I bound up the quivering hand and shoulder, and -improvised a sling from a handkerchief. Then we set ourselves to -consider what should be done. - -“We ought to follow the brute and not rest till we’ve finally polished -him off,” said Denvarre emphatically. “Supposing he descended upon the -ship when we were away?” - -“I am supposing it,” said I, “and it makes me sick when I think of it, -and that’s why I say return to the ship at once to warn them in case he -pays them a visit. How are we to track him among all these rifts and -gorges of the mountain-side? and meanwhile he may be rolling down upon -that undefended ship in that open pool. No. Home first, hunting him down -afterward—if you like. As for me, I fail to see how we are going to do -it without losing our own lives over the job.” - -They all seemed to have a good deal to say upon this point. Lessaution, -in spite of the pain of his wounds, had not lost his voice, and offered -plan after plan of the most strategic order, being frantic for further -interviews with the monster, the discovery of which he regarded as the -culminating honor of the expedition. But by degrees Gerry and I managed -to instill a little sense into him. - -We pointed out that we were not prepared to cope with this -bullet-resisting abomination, our only chance of destroying him being -apparently to decoy him within range of our little six-pounder signal -gun, and see if _that_ would have any influence with him. We did not -know the recesses of the gorge as he did, and should be at a great -disadvantage, for he was liable at any moment, if disturbed, to suddenly -emerge from round a corner, and, as Mr. Parsons described it, “nip us -like bilge rats.” That while we were wasting time discovering a lair -which might well be empty, he might recover himself of his wound, and -bear down upon the unprepared ship’s company. That for the present he -had fed, his wound was smarting, and he was unlikely to follow and -overtake us in the open as the Frenchman suggested. And thus after much -talk our decision was taken for return. - -So down the cañon we retreated hastily, with many backward looks, as you -may well imagine, our hearts quaking at the thought of what might happen -if we were tracked to the shallowing lake and there trapped in our -helplessness. I must own that little Lessaution came out a trump. The -agony of his half-dressed wounds must have been great, but he made light -of them as veriest pin-pricks, actually laughing over his adventure as -the best of jokes against himself. For the pride of our achievement, in -finding not only a buried race but an extinct animal also, had lifted -him above all considerations of common sense. He revelled in a sort of -scientific ecstasy which obliterated all remembrance of the narrowest -squeak ever man had from a fate of unimaginable horror. And so he ceased -not his happy chatterings for so much as a single instant. - -Parsons moaned and groaned respectfully all along the way, referring in -dismal undertones to the land of his birth, and the extremely slender -probability of his ever seeing the same again, regretting fervently his -past treatment of his maternal progenitor, with many fanciful pictures -of her emotions could she see the hapless case of the son of her -constant sorrow. And he spent so much of his time looking jerkily over -his shoulder, as sudden spasms of fear convinced him that we were being -pursued, that his falls averaged not less than twenty per mile. Gerry -was silent, brooding, as I could understand, over the perils that might -be menacing the ship in our absence, and it was a phase of thought which -commanded my full sympathy and respect. Denvarre, who is a keen -sportsman, whenever Lessaution gave him a chance, discoursed learnedly -on rifles, displaying much technical knowledge of initial velocities and -expanding bullets, as bearing on the chance of penetrating the monster’s -hide. But I fear he lacked an audience. And as the hours slipped by we -reached the far end of the gorge, and stumbled out on to the roughnesses -of the farther moraine. Here we had to give all the assistance we could -to Lessaution, whose useless arm was a terrible handicap to him on such -going, and it was with great thankfulness we saw a few hundred yards -before us the point at which the boulders ceased, and the smooth going -stretched to the shores of our little lake. We reached the corner that -screened the ship and the pool from us, and turned it, rounding the -jutting rock with eager eyes. As one man we stopped to gape upon the -empty foreground. Both ship and lake were gone. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - A CLOSED DOOR - - -In the morning we had left a pool of clear, shining blue, still as a -Thames backwater, and the tall ship resting motionless on its pliant -bosom. Every spar and rope had been distinctly outlined and reflected on -the gleaming surface, which mirrored the very lines of the cutwater. -Now, instead of the soft glitter of the lake laving the foot of the -climbing glacier, an empty round of bleak and ice-worn rock confronted -us, standing out hard and barren in the red glow of the sunset. - -With a yell we raced over the flats of smooth stone to gaze into the -hollow shadows where the morning shine of the pool had been. With -wide-eyed wonder we gazed down the sloping bank. An extraordinary sight -was there displayed. - -A huge crack ran across the empty basin of the lake, seaming the granite -at its deepest part for a space of about fifty yards. Wedged in the grip -of it was the old _Racoon_, half supported by the nip of the rock, half -leaning on the little launch which lay beside her, buttressing her with -its funnel and bulwarks. Higher up the slope from us one of her great -anchors was caught in a crevice of the rocks, and a hawser was rove from -a pulley on the shank of it to the bows of the ship. A group of the crew -was hauling at this with chorused shoutings, while astern a like -arrangement had been tautened out. - -The ship was trembling and wobbling as the thrills of the hawser shook -her bows, and the granite edges scored and frayed her timbers as she -wrestled in the mouth of the cleft. In another group farther off, the -ladies stood upon the still dripping stones to watch the operations, -keeping cautiously their distance, in case the ship should lurch over -before the ropes had her fast. The bellowings of Waller and the -boatswain echoed thunderously across the amphitheatre of stone as they -urged the men to renewed efforts. - -The unexpected wonder of this sight held us silent for a score of -seconds; then Gerry gave expression to the sentiments of the company at -large. - -“Well, I _am_ damned,” quoth he emphatically. - -“I wish the lake had been,” I answered ruefully. “There goes the last of -the _Racoon_. If she topples over we’re done for.” - -“But look here,” went on Gerry, gazing at the empty basin with an air of -stupefied surprise, “the pool’s fallen below the level of the sea -outside. How in the name of wonder do you account for that?” - -Lessaution found his voice. “It is one of the many wonders of the -volcanic actions which we discover so plentifully in this country. The -water withdraws itself—is sucked, if you will—into the bowels of the -earth. Perhaps it will rise again. Who knows?” - -“In that case,” said I, “we shall live in perpetual dread of sudden -drowning, if she’s roped down to the bed of the lake like that. We shall -have to buttress her up some other fashion. We must build supports of -stone beneath her; then if she should suddenly be floated again she -won’t be swamped. But we’d better get down and hear the news.” - -The slope below us was short and steep. Lessaution looked down it -cautiously. He removed the shot-gun which swung from his back, seated -himself upon his cartridge-bag, and splayed out his legs before him. -Having thus ingeniously converted himself into a human sledge, he pushed -off, and in a moment was flying down the damp, smooth rocks, arriving -within a hundred yards of the ship with safety and despatch, and greeted -by the ladies with a shrill cheer. - -It was undignified, no doubt, but an eminently practical device. We were -by no means slow to follow his example, and straddling upon the shining -slope, fled down after him with much the effect of luggage being -transferred to the Dover boat, and reached the bottom with swiftness and -without mishap. - -The ladies met us with effusion. Since our departure, they seemed by -their own account to have lived on the edge of eternity, expecting -fearful disaster at any moment. We learned that the ship had continued -to sink all morning, to their great disquietude, though Waller -confidently assured them that there must certainly be fathoms of good -sea-water between them and the bottom when the fall ceased, as they -could not possibly drop lower than the tide-line. Resting on these -assurances, they had betaken themselves to lunch, and only discovered -the depths of his mistake when the keel took ground, and the ship began -to subside crabwise on to the launch, upsetting the table, and wrecking -the saloon for the second time in eight-and-forty hours. In great -affright they had then scrambled hastily on deck, and camping meanwhile -on the slope where we had found them, within half-an-hour had seen the -last of the water gurgle gently into the great fissure below. - -Waller’s presence of mind had not failed him under this inglorious -defeat of his prophetic powers, and he had immediately summoned the crew -to stay the reeling ship with windlass and hawser, before she broke down -the precarious support of the launch. We found this work being carried -to a successful conclusion when we arrived. - -After Lessaution’s warning, and as all immediate danger of the ship’s -toppling was overcome, I summoned Waller and Janson to me, and explained -to them my plan for more accurately bringing about the stability of the -ship, and at the same time avoiding the danger of her being swamped if -the waters rose again. They agreed as to the soundness of these -proposals, called to them the crew, and set forth immediately to the -cliff-top to collect boulders. - -We of the expedition, meanwhile, having gone without lunch, attacked the -meat pie which we had brought back unbroken in our haste, dining -heartily, with the bare rocks for table. The ladies waited upon us most -assiduously, hearing at the same time an edited account of the day’s -perils, for we judged it best to keep from Lady Delahay’s ears, at any -rate, the story of the great beast that roamed abroad so near her -resting-place. Then we joined the crew who had ascended by devious ways -the steep escarpment of the basin, and helped them collect the boulders -of the moraine upon the cliff-top in quantities. Here we cast them down -headlong till sufficient for my purpose were heaped beside the ship. - -As night came down upon us—or rather dusk, for in those latitudes -darkness was never complete—we descended in the manner first patented -and approved by Lessaution, a system of travel received with great -good-will and jocund outcry by the common sailor men, and then and there -resolved by them into a race meeting on first principles. In which -sporting event the heaviest weights in collusion with the smoothest -breeches were favorites. - -This combination appeared in its most perfected form in the person and -habit of Mr. Rafferty, boatswain, who out-distanced all competitors. But -unfortunately the rapidity of his descent was in inverse ratio to the -stoutness of his nether garments, and when he rose from his too facile -progress, the company turned from him with feigned unconsciousness and -ill-concealed smiles. Poor Mr. Rafferty, his victory thus shamefully -dulled, had to seek the shelter of the ship and his Sunday trousers, -reappearing after some few minutes clad in the latter, and with a -chastened air. Daring with fiery glances the titters of the crew, he -thereupon joined us in our work of rolling the great stones below the -ship’s timbers. - -A couple of hours’ hard work saw buttresses raised sufficiently strong -to avert all danger of the ship’s upsetting. From stem to stern we -wedged the great boulders firmly beneath her, and alongside the edges of -the cleft that gaped below her keel, and were enabled to release the -hawsers from the sustaining anchors without causing her so much as a -tremble. Then, thoroughly tired out, we sought supper and, finally, bed, -too weary to so much as dream of the wonders of this truly astounding -day. - -It was a lovely calm morning when I got on deck nine or ten hours later; -and the sun was pouring down into the rocky hollow, flooding us with -uplifting warmth and wholesomeness. Nor did the day lose its brightness -when I found Gwen pacing the deck forward, enjoying a bath of sunshine -before breakfast. - -“Good-morning,” said she brightly, as I stepped up. “Any the worse for -your striving with beasts yesterday?” - -“I suppose Gerry has let the cat out, then?” I returned. “Too bad of -him. There is no good in alarming you unnecessarily.” - -“But, my dear Lord Heatherslie, one doesn’t stumble over a Dinosaurus, -or a Plesiosaurus, or whatever egregious monster it was, every day of -one’s life. I should have been desperately annoyed if he hadn’t told me. -I think it’s most delightfully exciting.” - -“Do you?” said I dryly. “I think if you’d seen Lessaution squealing in -his jaws yesterday, like a rabbit in a snare, you would have agreed that -the pleasant excitement was rather discounted by the very unpleasant -terror of it. I sincerely hope your mother has heard nothing about it.” - -She smiled. “Of course not. Mother has no imagination, and a very -practical dislike of the out of place. Not that a Plesiosaurus, or for -the matter of that a unicorn, would be out of place in this astounding -land. After what we’ve gone through I’m by no means surprised.” - -“Please God he doesn’t come straggling down here,” said I devoutly. -“What should you have done if he had turned up yesterday when you were -all unprepared? I was nearly frantic at the thought.” - -“Done? Why, gone to ground like a badger,” she answered, pointing to the -cleft in the rent rock-bed. “If he’s half the size Mr. Carver makes out, -we could sit in there and make faces at him. He wouldn’t have a chance -to reach us.” - -“What a very practical imagination you have,” I declared admiringly, as -I peered over the bulwarks into the fissure. It sloped gently down from -our stern into the darkness, in width about five feet—infinitely too -small a space for the great brute to pass, as I could see. “That makes -me feel much more comfortable. Now if by any chance he does appear, I -shall know you have a refuge at hand. But we hope to kill him,” I added -reassuringly. - -“Kill the only Dinosaur extant!” she expostulated, “I’m convinced -Monsieur Lessaution will never allow it.” - -“I think after his experience of yesterday he is resigned to the -sacrifice. He’ll enjoy cutting him up dead quite as much as admiring him -from a distance living. Besides, according to him your sanctuary may at -any moment fail you. The water, he says, may rise again as suddenly as -it has disappeared.” - -“My goodness! that would be humiliating, wouldn’t it? Fancy if we were -safely ensconced in there, and the waters that are under the earth -vomited us out into his jaws. What an ignoble end to a yachting cruise.” - -“I’m afraid in any case you’ll have a rough time of it before we can get -away,” said I, a little sadly. “We are going to do our best to send word -to the Falklands, but it is bound to be a long business. I hope you -won’t mind—much.” - -She looked at me with a smile that I can only describe as distracting. -“My dear Lord Heatherslie,” she said quite earnestly, “I’m looking -forward to it as one of the most delightful periods of my life. I have -all I want to make me happy. If it wasn’t for mother I should be quite -prepared to stay here months.” - -“I shouldn’t,” said I, quite gruffly, as the sound of the breakfast gong -turned us toward the companion. “But then, you see, I haven’t all I want -to make me happy,” and my voice shook the tiniest bit as I said it. - -She half stopped at the head of the stairs, and looked at me half -inquiringly. She parted her lips as if she was going to speak, but -thought better of it, and ran lightly down into the cabin, where she -took her seat without a word, and it struck me that she was more silent -than usual during breakfast. As for me, I had no strength to waste on -mere conversation, my time being fully occupied in assimilating my -victuals, and in fighting down the black temper which had me in its -grip. - -For, truth to tell, my battle with my jealous self was wearing me sadly. -I still went on loving Gwen for all I was worth, and the hopeless weeks -that stretched before me wherein I must be in her constant company -loomed dark and desperate. Every time she spoke to me was a pang; her -very innocent friendliness an agony. No doubt physical weakness and the -stress of the last few days had something to do with it, but I could -have ended my existence at that time with much satisfaction to myself, -and I think it was only a sneaking sense of the utter cowardliness of -the thing that stayed me. You can understand that I did not linger over -breakfast. I took my cigar on deck at the earliest opportunity, and -wrestled there alone with the devils of despair that had me in their -grip, till I felt calmer and fit again for the toils of the coming day. - -I called Waller to me before the others came on deck, and we held -consultation on our future movements. Our observations of the previous -day had pretty well determined us that no means of launching a boat -along the shores of the western cliffs was to be found. The terrible -toil that would be involved in getting the sections of the launch across -the rocky crevices of the moraine had decided us that we must look -eastward if we wanted to find a beach to launch from before the winter -closed down upon us and shut the surrounding waters with closest -barriers of ice. Eastward we therefore would make our day’s quest. - -Before we left I made time to investigate the cavern that opened down -beneath our keel. I got a rope and fastened it to the bowsprit, and -taking a turn of it round my elbow, lit a dip and crawled carefully down -the sloping sides of the pit. The slant was steep, but there were -numerous ledges and footholds, and about six feet below the surface a -recess was hollowed out in the sides of the split, evidently caused by -some lump of granite shivering off during the upheaval, and dropping -further down into the fissure. - -In this the damp of the receding waters still glistened, and lay in -pools upon the floor. There was a bright, new riven appearance about the -walls, showing that the strata-slip was recent. Bits of mica and other -minerals, as yet undulled by exposure to the atmosphere, made this very -plain. The huge cleft continued down in a thin well from the larger rent -at the surface, losing itself in a darkness which might well be -unplumbable. I could see one or two lumps of stone still sticking in the -jaws of the gap—evidently remains of what had slipped down from the -cavern in which I stood. Beyond these was emptiness. Though my eyes -found nothing in this void, my nose was assailed by a smell of sulphur -as strong as the after-blow of a blasting fuse. - -I crept out again into the air, my throat very sore from the fumes that -kept rising from below. I called the carpenter and one or two of the -men, and set them to hack steps in the rock as far as the recess below, -and directed them to cover the continuance of the fissure with planks. -We unearthed a spare rudder-chain, and trailed it from a stanchion -driven into the rocks. Thus we had a moderately easy passage into the -chamber below, which could be used by the company at large if the Horror -of the cañon attempted to attack them. So, with minds comparatively at -ease, Garlicke, Gerry and I set forth to carry our exploration eastward -across the glacier, leaving poor little Lessaution behind us, a -melancholy object indeed, because his wounded shoulder prevented his -joining us in our researches. - -The eastern shore ran along the glacier edge for about a mile, gradually -narrowing and mounting upward with an easy gradient. Finally the rock -disappeared under the encroaching ice, and the glacier fronted on the -cliff head. The chance of a landing-place between us and this point was -plainly out of the question. Our plan was to surmount the glacier itself -and explore the country beyond. Provided the going was not too rough or -too broken by crevasses, it might be quite possible to convey the -sections of our launch across it to any landing-place we might discover -on the far side. - -So, armed with ice-axes, we three set out as a small advance party, -meaning only to go a day’s journey and then return with our report. For -if no chance of a beach was likely within a reasonable distance, we -should waste no more time in expeditions, but set ourselves to lower the -boat down the cliffs as best we could. - -All three of us have knocked about the Alps a bit. Therefore we managed -our crawlings about the blue crevasses with a certain amount of ease, -nor did the occasional dropping-in of an ice bridge occasion us great -excitement. We were roped of course, and moved with steadiness, but -after a bit found that our mountaineering muscles were not in the best -of condition. Nor had we reckoned on the heat of the mid-day sun or its -effect when reflected back from these glassy surfaces. - -After about two hours of heavy going and copious perspiration our skins -began to fray most painfully, and our faces were the hue of -rosy-fingered dawn. Gerry’s expressive features were literally hanging -in rags, and Garlicke and I, tougher-hided animals though we were, saw -the rocks that bordered the far side of the ice-field with no small -gratitude. - -We left the ice and stepped out on to the narrow margin of rock that -flanked it. A few paces forward we found that the crags sunk sheer from -our feet. Below us, some twenty fathoms or more, a still, black pool -laved their base, rippleless as a Lethean lake. At the seaward end it -was broken by rocks, piled and tumbled as if tossed there by some great -convulsion. It was not hard to understand how this inland sea-pool had -come into being. - -Originally it had been a bay or inlet with a narrow, land-locked -entrance. Some upheaval—volcanic, no doubt—had shut down the guarding -cliffs upon the opening as a curtain falls across a stage. The huge -splinters, piled as they were across the narrows of this fiord, could -scarcely be distinguished from the cliffs off which they had been rent. - -At the foot of the barrier an eddy rose now and again, creaming white -among the reefs that broke the sheen of the pool. This was where some -subterranean entrance must keep the waters to tide-level. Now and again -the shining poll of a sea-lion gleamed upon the surface, another proof -that a sea-cave communicated with the outside. Opposite, on the eastward -side of the bay, were cliffs as steep as those among whose pinnacles we -stood, and the lake swept away inland and was lost behind a spur of the -mountain-side. - -This was an unexpected obstruction to our travel, and put a final stop -to any idea of getting our launch to the sea from a beach. We turned to -the left along the glacier edge to see what was hid from us by the flank -of the hill, scrambling alternately from rock to ice. In about twenty -minutes we reached the corner and rounded it. Then we saw the far end of -the inlet. - -Half-a-mile further on, shining and yellow below us, was a beach of sand -wet with the receding tide. Streaked across it were many little -rivulets, draining either from the glacier, or from sea-pools that -filtered slowly through the ooze of the shore. Scarcely a ripple broke -the calm. It sank down the beach, drooping imperceptibly without any of -the roll that usually marks the defiant outgoing of the ebb. An oily -stillness lay upon the waters. - -Dotted on the strand were various black objects, some larger, some -smaller, but too far distant to be distinguishable. The smooth silt ran -upward between narrowing cliffs, merging into the rock rubble that -climbed the mountain-side. It lost itself among the crags of the summit. - -Clouds of terns and kittywakes were wheeling in the air, or strutting -and scratching on the beach; the larger birds—gulls, cormorants, and -such-like—were pecking and fighting over the black objects, while in -solemn battalions the penguins marched and countermarched along the -water’s edge. - -Under the circumstances the view took the nature of an ironical jest at -the hand of fate. Here at last was the very object of our search, but -mocking us in the very act of discovery. A beauteous, slow-sloping -shallow of lovely sand, and no outlet to the sea. The ideal place to -launch our cutter, and the barrier of the cliffs lay between us and the -outer ocean impenetrable. - -I swore softly to myself as I realized these things, cursing the luck -that dogged me maddeningly. Fate had evidently willed that I should not -escape from my jealous torments yet awhile. - -Gerry broke the silence. - -“This place means to keep us now it’s got us, you may depend upon it,” -said he. “That’s what I call a pretty strict blockade of their only -port,” and he pointed down the fiord to the barrier at the far end where -the rocks were piled across the entrance. - -“The earthquake may have done that,” said I. - -“_An_ earthquake may have done it,” said Garlicke, “but not the one of -three nights back. I can see great patches of lichen on the rocks. It’s -centuries old—that great shutting of the door. Look at the banks of -seaweed across it.” - -Gerry had turned to stare up the ravine that rose from high-water mark -to the mountain-side. Suddenly he stretched across to Garlicke for the -glass, and began examining the far crags. Nothing that moved was visible -to the naked eye, but as he put down the telescope he whistled softly. - -“It’s either an extraordinary coincidence or a blessed funny thing,” he -ejaculated. - -“What?” we demanded. - -“The black line that runs across the cliff up there,” he went on. “We -shall find that that’s coal, when we get nearer, I don’t mind betting. -Through the glass I can distinctly see the shine and gloss of it, and -it’s perished and crumbled away as coal would—in square lumps.” - -“Well,” said I irritably, “what if it is? Why shouldn’t there be coal? -Nothing would surprise me less than to find that those black things upon -the beach are patent stoves. Nothing would be too outrageous for this -land of sudden upheavals.” - -He looked at me with much contempt. - -“Lessaution’s estimate of your intelligence was not far out,” he -remarked. “Do you mean to say you have forgotten the coal the Mayans -found—the ‘stone with fern marks upon it’ that burnt—the stone, that is, -not the fern marks? Well, there’s your seam of stone or coal or whatever -you like to call it, and here’s the very spot on which the Mayans landed -three hundred years ago. That’s the place where the Beast munched up -poor Alfa and Hardal. The penguins which they knocked over and -roasted—or rather their descendants—are there, and this is the intricate -passage by which they found harbor, only the rocks have barred the -entrance. There isn’t a doubt about it.” - -I looked around me, and there seemed every possibility that he was -right. All these circumstances dovetailed into one another most -remarkably—the coal, the sandy shore, the penguins, and what not. The -only thing wanting to complete the picture was the “Great god Cay with -mouth agape,” and though for the time being he was not on view, we knew -only too well that he was a very unpleasant reality. So down the red-hot -cliffs we scrambled for a nearer examination of these possibilities, and -after half-an-hour’s toil by ways devious and hard to find dropped upon -the shining sands at the bottom. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - IN THE NINTH CIRCLE - - -As we arrived our noses were greeted with a most stupendous and -enwrapping stench. It took me just about the twentieth part of a second -to realize that the black objects that lay above the tide mark were the -half-dismembered bodies of sea-lions, the intestines protruding black -and decayed upon the smeared and oily sand. Round about them were -tramplings and churnings of the mud, and spreading away across the -landward rubble to the entrance of the ravine were great sloppy -paddings—the slow trudge of some ponderous and long-nailed quadruped. - -It was almost with gratified expectation that I recognized the trail of -the Horror of the cañon. Here doubtless was his feeding-ground, his -private _abattoir_, where he came down to prey upon the sleeping -sea-lion, even as centuries before he had lumbered down upon Alfa, -Hardal, and probably many another of those hapless immigrants besides. -Here as in a trap he found his prey. Often one could suppose the -sea-lions passed through the sea entrance at the far end of the bay, -failed to find exit, and, tired with wearily threshing round their -prison walls, landed to take their siesta in the sun. Here asleep they -fell unawares into his maw, or, surprised in the rock-ringed pool, gave -him many a jovial hunt in the clear depths between the cliffs.[1] - -Footnote 1: - - Lord Heatherslie makes a mistake here. Professor Lessaution’s - subsequent researches proved “the god Cay” to be without doubt - _Brontosaurus excelsus_, remains of which have been found in the - Jurassic formation of Colorado. It was purely a land animal.—F.S. - -At the far side of the beach were other lumps, embedded in the sand. To -them we strode and began to dig at them with our axes. It scarcely came -as a surprise when the powdery silt fell aside to disclose timbers -sticking up gauntly from below—the worn joists and ribs of some stranded -vessel. - -One or two of the great timbers—carven and decorated by hands long -dead—were now wind-planed and worn by the sand drift, and slanted deep -into the pebbles. We shovelled and scraped to trace them further. Below -the soil they rounded almost at right angles, and we uncovered one of -them at full length. It measured a good forty paces—the keel, as we -could but suppose, of some Mayan bark, sole remnant of what had been a -gallant ship in the squadron of that lost and hapless race. - -We scratched and delved, but nothing further than dried wood splinters -did we discover. Finally we decided to explore the ravine for traces of -the Mayans, or for the track of the great Beast. This latter was plain -as a cart trail on the softer ground, but soon faded and was lost among -the rubble. - -We felt no fear of consequences should we suddenly unlair the monster, -for though the walls of the cañon were steep, they were broken by -ledges. Up these we could skip swiftly enough, while he, with his -ungainly body, would be unable to follow. So up the loose, rattling -pebbles we toiled to draw near by degrees to the top, where the ravine -passed into a scar of the mountain ridge, and then sinking rapidly, -clove its way deep among the spurs and gullies of the far side. - -At this point the immensity of the glacier we had crossed that morning -was apparent. It stretched away westward in broad, horizon-touching -acres of snowfield. Through another cleft a branch of it sank into the -valley below us. Far down we could see a streamlet issue from its foot. -From the heights above, the tumble of crevasses converged in the narrows -like the handle of some huge fan. It smote into the gorge at its -straitest, the brook pools glinting away between the rocks. On the spur -between the valleys was broken rubble dotted with great boulders. Above -all, in sunlit, cloud-like purity the snow crest hung majestic. Out in -the distance, seen through the tunnel-like formation of the cliffs, the -sea glanced and gleamed, flecked with white bergs to the far horizon. - -It was the sight of this last that brought us up all standing. It seemed -a trifle astounding to be confronted with the sea again when we had thus -turned inland, and for some few moments we debated on the problem -unavailingly. Then as I gazed round me various things seemed familiar. - -In an instant the explanation came. We were standing in the very cañon -up which we had marched the previous day, only we were entering the -other end. No wonder that I had thought I had seen before that blue -glacier foot and that chain of broken pools down the stream. I had—not -twenty-four hours before, too—but from the other side. Our ship and the -sunk lake basin were on a great promontory. We had followed the circle -of the eastern shore and turned inland. Thus we had cut across the cape -as the great fissure did—almost at right angles. If we had followed the -cañon the previous day we should have attained to the very spot on which -we stood. - -It was evident that the glacier, into the recesses of which we had -penetrated, and on the edge of which the ruined temple hung, was a -branch of the one we had crossed an hour or two back. Amidst this -identical chaos of boulders we had watched the wounded beast disappear, -and from some unseen cave or cranny he might now be spying us with -gloating eyes. I stared round me apprehensively, but nothing moved to -break the long waste of gray rock and virgin ice. I turned to explain my -discovery to my companions. - -It did not take them long to recognize the familiar landmarks when I -pointed them out, and they at once agreed with me that it was useless to -carry further our quest for a beach. It was borne upon us with great -conviction that the cliff barrier here stood just as remorselessly -between us and the sea as it did on the western side of our lake. We -might, therefore, as well give up at once all thought of launching our -boat in the ordinary manner. With the endless line of crags stretching -for miles in either direction, it but remained to essay the lowering of -it by davits or windlasses down the precipice, to chance its escaping -uncrushed by the floating floe. For the present we set gloomily back -across the glacier to carry news of our discovery to our friends. - -We roped up as we left the cliffs, proceeding gingerly upon our way. The -crevasses honeycombed the ice at every step; some we bridged with our -poles; some we jumped unhandily; some, too broad for either leaping or -bridging, we rounded by circuitous ways which took us far out of our -dead point for home. At this height upon the glacier slopes we found the -passage far more difficult and broken than upon the lower levels we had -crossed in the earlier morning. - -It was after a couple of hours of hard work, that, with red and -glistening faces, we found ourselves within a few score feet of the -further side. We stopped to mop our streaming brows and to congratulate -ourselves on the conclusion of the hardest part of our labors. I -produced my flask, at which the others smiled approvingly. - -I took an inspiriting pull, handing it on to Garlicke, who was roped -between Gerry and myself. He took it with unfeigned gratitude, and -sucked at it sensuously, bestowing a wink at Gerry over the rim. The -latter observed him earnestly as the flask tipped gradually higher, and -then, dropping his axe upon the ice, strode towards his friend with a -very unbenignant air and an outstretched hand. The axe fell with its -point buried in the rough surface at Garlicke’s feet; the blade on the -opposite side of the handle was uppermost. - -“Kindly leave a saltspoonful,” said Gerry irritably. “I happen to be -just about as thirsty as you.” - -Garlicke turned slowly, the bottle still glued to his lips. He winked -again with an indescribably annoying slyness. Gerry—with a touch of -temper, it must be owned—snatched at his hand. Garlicke, with mock -ferocity, warded him off. - -There was a crackling sound as Gerry’s foot burst in an ice-bubble, and -he stumbled. He rocked forward to fall prone beside a crevasse edge. The -tense cord fell dead upon the keen blade of the axe set so rigidly -uppermost. - -There was a hum and a flick as the rope parted, the two released ends -springing apart like rent elastic. Gerry gave a wild scrabble at the -glass-like, elusive surface, and shot like a flash into the yawning gap. -There was a yell and a fierce rush from Garlicke, and I instinctively -dug my heels into a crevice, bracing myself starkly to meet his sudden -pull. I thrust my own axe-point into the ice, buttressing myself upon -it. But for this three bodies would have been racing into the womb of -the ice-hill instead of one. - -A dull thud came echoing up from the dark shadows beneath us; a few -glassy splinters crackled and pattered downward; then came a silence -broken only by the throb of our pulses as they sang dull and muffled in -our ears. - -Garlicke was as one possessed. “My God, my God,” he shrieked, “I’ve -murdered him—murdered him. What am I to do? What am I to do? Speak, you -fool,” he yammered, “tell me what I’m to do—to do,” and his voice rose -to a scream, while he shook at my coat tempestuously. “Don’t tell me -that we can’t reach him. My God, I shall go mad,” and he flung himself -down upon the ice, tearing at it with bruised and bleeding fingers as he -chattered hysterically. “For God’s sake, Heatherslie, say there’s -hope—that we can get him up. We must—we must. Lord, have mercy upon me; -what am I to do?” and he leaned desperately over the crumbling edge, -peering hopelessly into the depths. - -Do you know the horrible, leaden, choking pain that leaps up and takes -you by the throat, strangling you in a very fog of horror, when, -suddenly, swiftly, in the midst of light and laughter, the Great Shadow -falls between you and one at your very side? When your heart swells with -quivering pulses that shake your flesh? When your eyes burn and the -deafness of despair is in your ears; when your knees rock, and the -guides and thews within you string themselves like cords against your -tense nerves? - -Those of you who have been in like case to mine can realize what I felt, -when I saw the friend who had been to me as a brother, snatched into the -darkness of that cold pit. You of the majority, who have stood in no -such brain-wrenching mist of terror—to you no words can describe it. -Those two seconds stand out redly scarred against the map of my life. -They seemed ages untold of cruel anguish. - -The strain of Garlicke’s weight had nearly knocked all the breath out of -my body, but I managed to swing him to his feet. - -“Oh, you fool, you—you, what are you?” I gasped. “Pull yourself into the -semblance of a man. Race to the ship for help. Get ropes. Run, you fool, -run,” and I thrust him from me roughly as I sat down panting. - -He tottered across the few yards of ice between us and the rocks, and -began to reel unsteadily down the slopes toward the great basin and the -ship. As he disappeared, and the breath began to slide back into my -cramped lungs, I seized my axe and hewed myself a standing-place beside -the crevasse. Then I lay down upon my face, my head and shoulders -outstretching far above the blue gulf, and set myself to listen with -hopeless ears. - -The hard damp silence of a vault was over all. No vestige of a sound was -there, but the chill drip of the melting ice, and far away out of the -distance the half-heard break of waves upon the sea-cliffs. Now and -again the wail of a tern or the call of a gull broke jarringly across -the stillness, but from the grave below came nothing—no smallest sound -to poise a hope upon; only the hush of death and the ceaseless drip. - -Yet—was it the self-mesmerism of a hope that would not be denied?—so -faint that it left the merest echo of a tremor in my ears, a tiny sound -seemed to float up from the depths. I called aloud. I shrieked to a -fierce unnatural falsetto in my excitement. I struggled desperately to -pierce the dulling thicknesses of ice. I strained hazardously across the -gulf in my agony to listen, listen, listen for the ghost of a reply. -Still no answer came; only the pitiless drip pattered on monotonously. I -pictured it falling on Gerry’s cold, upturned face. - -I struck savagely at the opposite wall of the crevasse. I cut a cranny -and thrust the point of my axe-handle in it. Then leaning on the head I -hung out over the depths, my shoulders almost half-way across the cleft. - -There was a jerk as the sharp point snapped through the brittle support. -My head plunged forward, hitting with tremendous force the smooth, blue -surface beyond me. A thousand stars and planets flashed before my eyes, -spreading from a core of foaming light. Then swart and sudden as the -night closes over a tropical lightning flash followed darkness and -insensibility. - - * * * * * - -I blinked curiously, groping with owl-like eyes in the gray-green light -that swathed me. Before me rose a slope of ice—a gleaming hill blue with -the cold azure of undying frost. The smooth surface shone duskily; the -twilight fell upon it from above in uncertain patches. Behind and above -me was a curtain-like overshadowment of rock. - -To my right rose the columns and porticoes of a building, shaded and -deepening into blackness where the cloistered frontage retreated into -the background. Close to my head, rising with gentle gradient from the -pebbly floor, was a paved ascent to the main door of the building. To -the left was a dark emptiness, and bell-like out of the hollow distance -came the tinkle of running water. - -A few yards away lay a man’s form—face to earth and still. The forehead -leaned upon the fore-arm; the other hand was stretched abroad, as if -grasping an unseen hold. The whole body had the pose of death as we find -it when met with suddenness. In the tired apathy that follows a great -shock I stared upon it wearily—unthinking, unreasoning, seeing something -of familiarity, but with listless inability to follow the crude -remembrancing of my brain. - -As intelligence grew slowly back to me I struggled weakly and sat up. It -was as in a long-forgotten and half-remembered vision that I knew -Gerry’s brown shooting-jacket and his greasy field-boots. With further -recognition memory began to ooze back. - -Gerry had been upon the glacier with me. And Garlicke. And my flask. -Gerry had wanted the flask. Well, he couldn’t have it now. I’d lost it. -I tried wretchedly to remember how or where. Why, of course! that was -what Garlicke had taken. That ice-hill, now, over there—just like the -toboggan slide at Toronto two winters ago. I wondered if old Jim -Paleriste was still _aide_. No; seen him in town since. Then there was -that sweet little—— Oh, my God! Gerry had fallen in—fallen in—and I -listened—and the tern had shrieked just as I thought I heard something. -Well, that _was_ Gerry—must be—snoozing away over there on his face. And -that building? Well—Why, of course, this was a dream. There was that -absurd beast. That was part of a dream. Why on earth couldn’t I wake -myself? Baines would bring my hot water directly. Beastly unpleasant; -just as well to know it was a dream. I’d have another wink or two. -Confounded wet and cold—and, by Jove, cord breeches on. In bed, and -blood upon them. Ouf! how my shoulder hurt. And what a scratch upon my -palm! - -A huge drop splashed from the roof upon my forehead. - -At the touch of the cold water, suddenly as the sunbeams rend the -sea-mist, my senses leaped back to me, and dread—sickening dread—took -possession of my heart. - -I stared across intently at Gerry’s rigid limbs. So we had fallen -together into the depths—into the cold that kills. He was dead, no -doubt; a little struggle against the numbing cold, and I too should pass -into the land beyond forgetfulness. We had found the ninth circle of the -lost. - -I rose and touched and stretched myself warily. How my back and -shoulders ached, and what a sharp pang ran through my ankle as I dragged -myself across the floor. I knelt beside Gerry and turned his face to the -light. It was white and hollow-cheeked; his eyes were closed. I ran my -hand beneath his coat and laid it above his heart. Was it still?—or was -it my own anxious pulse that beat beneath my palm? - -No, there was a stirring—a fluttering, faint and scarce discernible, but -the life-light still burned. I placed my eyeball before his parted lips. -The out-draught of his breathing struck against it, though ever so -lightly. I moved his arms. They were limp, but with no unnatural droop. -Very, very gently, but perceptibly, his chest rose and fell again, and -something like a sigh fluttered out from between his lips. There was a -faint flicker of an eyelid, and his fingers twitched automatically at -the pebbles. - -The worst of the overpowering weight of dread slid away from me -hesitatingly. Perhaps after all Gerry was no more than knocked out of -time—not injured fatally at all. I shouted into his ear; a tiny movement -of the eyelid answered me. I raised his head, scraping the loose sand -into a pillow beneath it. I took his hand and began to rub it briskly, -clapping it against its fellow. A faint shade of color rose into his -cheek; he sighed perceptibly. Again his eyelids fluttered, half closed -again, and then opened wonderingly to their widest. He stared about him, -his gaze wandering with a drowsy air of astonishment from point to -point. His hand swept the floor, picking at the little stones, and his -breathing grew louder and more regular. - -I called aloud his name, smiting him on the shoulder. He jerked a look -at me from his drowsy eyes, frowned, made as if he would turn his head, -and then a sudden faint consciousness seemed to return to him. - -“W’as’r matter?” he whispered indistinctly. - -“Good man,” I bawled joyously. “Wake up, wake up, old chap. Are you -hurt? Feel yourself,” and I dragged him to a sitting posture. - -“W’as’r time?” he gurgled again sleepily. - -“Time! Hang the time. You’re not in bed. We’re in the glacier. Get up -and feel yourself.” - -He scrabbled weakly at the ground, caught at my sleeve, and leaned -against me. He stared at his surroundings, regarding the temple portico -with desperate astonishment. Then the ice-hill, sinking down to our very -feet, caught his eye. He turned to me with wild amazement in every -feature. - -“It’s a nightmare,” he declared. - -“No such luck,” quoth I, sadly. “We’re here right enough. The question -is how to get out before we’re frozen stiff. Can you stand?” - -He staggered to his feet, still lurching against me, and began gingerly -to press his limbs and ribs. He moaned eloquently as his fingers roamed -about his battered bones, making fearful grimaces. - -“Ribs nearly bashed in,” he remarked, “but no other damage that I can -discover, bar bruises.” - -“That’s all right. Now let’s hustle round and see if there’s any sort of -way out. That stream over there must go somewhere, if there’s room to -follow it. I can hear it tinkling away down some sort of channel.” - -In the direction in which I pointed the sides of overhanging rock and -glacier converged till they almost met, forming a low tunnel which -struck further into the blackness. It was from this burrow that the -sound of running water came. - -Gerry looked at the dark entrance with much distaste. - -“Ugh,” said he, “filthy and cold it’ll be. Don’t you think——” - -Click, click, click, and he stopped his argument to stare up to where -something clattered above our heads. Gently, invitingly, a flask -pattered into view, sliding down the slopes of the ice-hill at the end -of a string. It hopped and jigged away most suggestively. We both gave a -tumultuous yell of welcome, and dashed at it. I seized it, opened it, -and poured half its contents down Gerry’s throat before he could make -any demur. Then I took a good pull at it myself, smacking my lips with -intense enjoyment. We clutched the string and tugged at it lustily, and -those above tugged gladsomely and heartily back. Then I found an old -envelope and began to scribble on it, using a rifle-bullet for pencil. - -“All right. Get a rope!” was the terse message I attached to the string, -and we saw it flit upward when our pressure relaxed, watching it -disappear into the blue shadows of the ice-roof with indescribable -sensations of relief. - -In a few seconds the yell of voices was borne down to us, faint as the -chirp of a bird, but delightfully distinct, and we knew that our -bulletin was received. Within a minute the flask dropped down for the -second time—full too—and on it another bit of paper showed white and -welcome. The inscription was— - -“Have no rope long as this string. Parsons has gone down for another to -splice. Hope all well.”—S.G. - -We knew that this meant a wait of half-an-hour at the least, and we took -another pull at the spirit to fortify ourselves against the cold, which -was wrapping us creepily in its embrace. Then we stamped and tramped -violently round the cavern once or twice to enliven our circulations, -and this brought us face to face with the stone portico at the back of -the cave. We halted before it to stare at each other inquiringly. - -I nodded; then together we sauntered up the steps and stood in the -entrance. - -The temple was square fronted, with an oval doorway; along the _facade_ -ran pillared cloisters. It was built of carefully cut and morticed -stones, hewn—as we could plainly see by the gaps—from the cliff behind -us. Upon the twelve great pillars of the portico were decorated -pilasters, chiselled with a clean nicety in the hard stone. They gave -evidence of a patient skill and an artistic conception beyond the -average. Within their shadow was a pavement, whereon a mosaic of -graceful lines and figures entwined themselves. Centrally opened the -portal. - -The light filtered dimly through the entrance, and as we stood upon the -threshold the interior was black and mysterious before us. As our eyes -grew more accustomed to the gloom, and the shapes of things defined -themselves in the twilight, we discerned the grandeur and the horror of -the place. - -The interior was round—in shape something like the Roman Pantheon—and -along the circling walls ran long inscriptions in the Mayan symbol, -twisted in varying folds and weavings of devices. The floor was wide and -thick with dust. The disturbance of our footsteps made gaps in this, -showing the smooth, hard-blocked granite that paved it. It rang hollow -beneath our feet, when the nails of our shooting-boots reached it -through the carpet of powdery refuse. - -At the far end was a towering erection, dominating the emptiness, dimly -shadowing through the dusk. It was not till we approached within a yard -or two of it that we knew it for a graven similitude of the great Beast. -It stood in a sort of chancel of the building, looming high upon a rough -majestic mass of granite. This pedestal—a boulder without any mark of -hammer or chisel apparent upon it—filled one side of the sanctuary, and -the image—carved from virgin rock—reached to the domed roof. - -Every loathsome detail of the Thing was reproduced with a skill most -marvellous. The horrid foot-webs with claws aspread were there; the -long, lowering neck; the malignant head fiendishly erect; the saw-like, -serrated tail; the horrible dewlap; the filthy bloatings of the carcass; -the thick legs, with bunches of muscle staring harshly out of the stone -fore-arms. Below were inscriptions in the familiar symbol. - -Far up in the fiercely poised head were eyes that glinted evilly—eyes -that licked up into themselves all the poor light of the dim vault and -concentrated it into two glistening points of wickedness. They seemed to -follow us with such poignancy that we shuddered. - -But the greater wonder and the heavier horror lay not in this foul -image, terrible though it was in its life-like imitation. - -Circling round the throned idol—symbol of the loathliest worship, as I -suppose, and the cruellest that the world has ever seen—was a ring of -brown and shrivelled objects. They were cloaked with rotting garments, -and lean with the waste of centuries. They were mummified by time, but, -in the undying cold, undecayed. It was the last worship of the priests -of Cay, overwhelmed in the sanctuary, defying the long-drawn death of -numbing famine in the presence of their god. - -We two drew very near together, and I laid my hand upon Gerry’s shoulder -for mere support of a warm and sentient body. The fog of our startled -breathings went up steamingly in the air. It smoked like incense before -a yet sacred shrine of evil. We gasped as those who seek fresh air in a -stuffy atmosphere, and at the same time huddled to one another for -warmth. Never in any other condition of heat or cold do I remember to -have experienced a freezingly hot oppression. - -There were thirty of these poor hapless souls; all were face to earth, -with garments hanging about them by mere stillness of pose. Their hands -were yellow and claw-like, and were spread abroad upon the pavement. -Their faces were swathed in brown hoods that covered their features -utterly. Their bony, shrunken outlines showed haggard through the musty -rags that clothed them. - -We looked questioningly in each other’s eyes before we laid hands upon -the rigid kneeling form nearest us. We raised the low-laid face from the -floor and turned it towards the scanty light. - -The wrinkled features were drawn and crisp with the dryness of a hundred -frozen years; the deep-sunk eyes were blurred—the smoothness of the -pupils dulled to roughness by the shrinking of the temporal muscles and -nerves. As we moved the head, a tooth or two clattered on the floor from -the dried, fleshless gums, and gleamed white against the dust. The arms, -set stiffly in their parchmenty skin, flopped helplessly abroad as we -raised the body from its crouching position. The joints were tense as -the bones. The whole body moved as one solid piece, as if it had been -run into an invisible mould. Across the drawn forehead was a white band, -and on it was broadly sealed the similitude of the great Beast. On the -floor in patches remained a few rags of the texture of the rotten -clothing. - -Silently we gazed on this luckless remnant of a long-forgotten religion -and race; then the ghastliness of the thing crowded upon our nerves -fearsomely. Reverently we placed the poor gaunt body in its original -position, and turned hastily to the door. We shivered as we gained the -portico, and I passed the flask to Gerry. At the moment he gulped at the -spirit the rope came flapping and uncoiling down the ice-hill opposite, -and slipped up almost to our feet. - -I sprang forward to catch it up; and began briskly to knot a running -loop at the end of it. Gerry eyed me with approval. - -“That’s right, old chap,” he remarked. “Up you go.” - -I wasted no time or words in argument, being well aware that he would -defend for half-an-hour if necessary his proposition that I should have -the first chance of ascent. I merely smiled upon him compassionately, -reeving a deft hangman’s knot. This done I flung myself suddenly upon my -companion, threw the loop over his shoulders and drew it tight beneath -his arm-pits. Then I yelled lustily, dragging at the rope with hearty -tugs. - -Amid the faint echo of an answering shout from above, I had the pleasure -of seeing my friend fly swiftly toward the roof of the cavern, using -language which might well have melted the adjoining ice. In a very halo -of cursing his legs disappeared into the intricacies of the ice-dome, -his feet kicking extravagantly at space and dislodging an occasional -icicle upon me like a malediction. There was silence, and I was left -alone with the ceaseless drip and the dreamy tinkle of the underground -waterway. - -I will own that for the few moments I was left companionless in the near -presence of that musty ring of shrivelled corpses I felt as -uncomfortable as I remember to have felt in my life. - -You must not forget that I was physically weak from the shock of my -fall, and that my nerves had been wrung past tension point by my anxiety -for Gerry. Then you will understand that the drip, the purr of the -stream ripple, the gray-green light from above in the uncertainty of its -shadowing, the knowledge of the gruesomeness behind me, and the -vault-like atmosphere, combined to make me almost hysterical. I could -have screamed aloud, but didn’t for reasons only known to my English -birthright of prejudice and pride. - -I wrestled through these æon-long instants of mental breakdown, and then -there came the heartsome sound of a crack from above. I opened my eyes -to see the rope fall anew upon the pebbly floor. With eager fingers I -looped it over my shoulders, and with a mighty jerk gave the signal to -haul away. So I fled cherubim-like up out of the glassy solitudes into -the untainted air and the blessedness of the sun, and never have I -rejoiced with more whole-souled gratitude in the same. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - THE MOUNTAIN WAKES - - -As I shot beamingly out into the wholesome light of day a cheer rang -out, waking the cold echoes delightfully. More than half the ship’s -company was ringing the crevasse mouth, Mr. Rafferty and half-a-dozen -sailors hauling at the rope with a vigor that bespoke their entire -satisfaction in the job. It was with a mighty tug that they finally -yanked me on to the glacier, and I unwound myself and crawled on to the -flat ice most thankfully. - -Gwen was there with Denvarre, and Vi was standing talking to Gerry, who -leaned back luxuriously on a rug, enjoying the sunlight and the smiles -of the ladies. Waller, his usual apathetic calm broken by an obvious air -of relief, was the first to take my hand, and Lessaution, bandages and -all, was ready to weep with a joy that I really believe was unaffected. -He had already gleaned from Gerry a slight inkling of the wonders that -lay beneath his feet, and was demanding to be immediately lowered into -their presence. His gratitude at our marvellous escape had a strong -rival for the possession of his soul in the jealousy he felt that this -notable discovery should have fallen to any one but himself. - -I think Gwen, happy as she may have been in her new-found love for -Denvarre, could not altogether have forgotten that she and I, though we -had never acknowledged it definitely, had once been more than friends. -Her face—I could but note it as I sped up from the mouth of the pit—had -been white and anxious, and as I rolled unharmed from the edge to her -feet, had flushed rosy red with what I could but hope was joy. She -smiled at me as I rose to my feet, and shyly put her hand in mine, her -eyes humid and wistful as she felt my answering grasp. But her words -were few. “Thank God” was all she whispered, as she drew back to let -Lessaution fling himself upon me with a flood of gratulation and -inquiry. - -We reasoned fluently with the Professor as he escorted us back to the -ship, disclaiming any desire to compete with him in the realms of -research, and explaining to what simple and unsought chance our -discovery was due. No argument, however, would move him from his set -purpose. He demanded that he should be lowered without delay into the -Mayan hamlet, vociferating his determination with a volubility that -drowned all reason in mere noise. Finally we compromised. We put it -before him that the launching of the boat was the supreme need of the -whole party, and would take all the power and ropes at our disposal. No -one could be spared to attend to his gropings in the glacier. If he -agreed to postpone his desires till the launch was accomplished, we on -our parts solemnly promised that he, first of any, should descend into -the mystic solitudes below, solitudes, which we represented, were still -practically unexplored. He gave a grudging assent, and thereafter quiet -reigned. - -Gwen walked between Denvarre and me, and somehow a sense of discomfort -seemed to hang about my companions. Despite my thumped understanding I -thought that I was bearing myself not ingloriously in the conversational -_mêlée_, but the interest they manifested in my recital seemed to lag. -Denvarre was distinctly gloomy, and Gwen was so desperately vivacious -that I easily understood that she was not listening, but was occupied -with other and unpleasant thoughts. I caught my breath as I wondered if -by any possible chance they could have quarrelled, trying with all my -might not to dwell on the possibilities that such a matter might have -for myself. - -They seemed all right again at dinner, both of them, and Baines served a -special effort to signalize our great deliverance. A bottle or two of -Heidsieck made every one of a cheerful countenance, whatever feelings -their hearts may have held, and we speedily forgot the gray shadow of -borderland that had hung so heavily over two of us. - -After dinner we sat upon the deck in the starlight, and discussed -coffee, cigarettes, and the chances of getting away. That these depended -utterly on ourselves seemed entirely conclusive. A passing whaler was -the tiniest of probabilities, nor would she be likely to sight any -signal of ours on these desolate shores. True enough old Crum had a fair -idea of our destination, but it would be many months before he would -think it his duty to send to look for us. Nothing obviously remained but -to attempt the launch of the boat, and decide who should go in it. - -It was quite certain that the ladies could not face fifteen or twenty -days in an open boat. If they could not go, Garlicke and Denvarre -wouldn’t. Gerry was in no fit condition to face hardships after his -knocking about, no more was I. The man to take charge then was Waller or -Janson. - -Waller we felt was the man for the job, but on the other hand we had -also a strong feeling that bereft of his society and counsel we should -be like children without their nurse. We decided to put the case before -him, leaving the decision to his own good sense and knowledge. - -I did not think the men would refuse a chance to go if it was offered -them. I felt confident that a sufficiency of them would prefer a cruise -on open water, even in an open boat, to sitting longshore and hauling at -hawsers for the entirely unprofessional object (from a seaman’s point of -view) of bracing up what had become a land domicile. This especially -would be so if the former procedure brought about a hope of eventually -coming to a land of civilization, hard food, and good liquor—we had put -them on an allowance of both—and away from horrifying fears of unknown -and uncouth dragons. For Mr. Parsons had not been idle in his -conversational moments, and the details of our adventure in the cañon -had been painted by him with an unsparing wealth of imaginative -incident. - -Waller picked his men, reporting to me that any one of the ship’s -company would have jumped at the chance to go. This matter being -settled, it remained to arrange the practicalities of the launch. Not -only had we to drop our boat handsomely down a hundred feet of sheer -cliff, but we had first to transport her bodily up the steep slopes of -the basin before us. Looking at the job made it seem no more likeable; -but the next morning we rose betimes and flung ourselves upon the -business. - -First of all we cut down the yacht’s topmasts and sawed them into -rollers. We did this with a light heart, well knowing that we could -never want to test our ship’s sailing qualities again. Then with levers -we inserted them under the cutter’s keel. This done we began to roll her -proudly across the smooth rock floor—a transit we performed with -consummate ease—and pointed her bows up the steep slope cliffward. - -Over the unavailing wretchedness of the next two days I must draw a -veil. Shortly, we gave the business a very ample trial, and were -thoroughly beaten at the start. Tug as we would the task was entirely -beyond us—vanquished us hip and thigh. The angle, which at first was -moderate enough, increased to about forty-five degrees. The weight was -about ten tons. If you would like to try the experiment we did, and test -our physical inferiority, take to yourself a dozen other fools and try -to drag a wheelless railway truck up Arthur’s Seat, for instance, on -rollers. Then let me have a written statement of your experiences. If it -doesn’t give points to many of the foremost writers of the impressionist -school I shall be strenuously surprised. - -By the evening of the second day we had progressed about two hundred and -fifty yards, and the worst was still to come. We had expended enough -perspiration to float the boat, and had just paused to shove in the -wedges behind the rollers while we rested. We did this carelessly. They -slithered on the smooth stone, the rollers revolved smartly, and before -we could arrest her progress with levers, the wretched cutter was -half-way back to the bottom again, bumping and straining her timbers -viciously. - -Gerry sat down and voiced the sentiments of the whole company at this -point. He explained that to him it was obvious that no less period of -time than a century would suffice to see our labor approach completion. -As the span of human life was now ordered, we were unlikely, any of us, -to attain to this age. Why then waste time that might just as profitably -be spent in twiddling our thumbs? He added comprehensive anathemas on -any who should attempt to combat this opinion, and then relapsed into -surly silence, while the panting crew waited apathetically for further -developments. - -Then Waller suggested that our present attempt being a failure, the plan -for reducing the launch to sections should be tried. This we had -resolved to leave as a last resource, from haunting fears that once -dismembered, we might well fail to put her together again, the book of -explanations supplied by her makers having been lost. I lifted my head -wearily to meet his proposal, when my words were checked in the very -utterance. - -A dull boom, sullen and muffled at first, but swelling with grating -intensity to a thunderous crash, rolled and re-echoed down and around -the gray rock basin that surrounded us. The cutter swayed and danced, -hammering and splintering the rollers under her. We ourselves fell in -unstudied helplessness on the hard stone slabs. The earth quivered in -our sight as the heat haze quivers in the June sunlight. A current of -hot air swept over us, seeming to swamp us in murkiness. The little -loose pebbles sang and clattered as they rolled down the slope, running -together and leaping upon one another in little swirls and piles. A -giant crag fell from the glacier foot. The roar of it slammed across the -hollow ponderously, the splinters scattering on the hard flooring of the -lake bed, shooting out and across the smooth granite in a thousand chips -of glancing, flashing crystal. The sun glistened upon them gloriously in -many-hued, rainbow rays. Behind us a great pinnacle of basalt was flung -from the peak, falling on the glacier with the crash of an artillery -salute. A moan trembled out from the vitals of the riven glacier, as if -from a prisoned soul within. The impulse of the crushed ice billowed out -a dark spate of water at its foot. - -Awe-inspiring as were these manifestations, they did not affect us as -did one slighter, but close at hand. A grate and crack from below made -us turn swiftly. The fissure across which our ship was buttressed with -walls of boulder gaped widely. Into this sudden cleft the _Racoon_ -slipped to the level of her bulwarks; the hawsers strained, tightened, -thrummed tensely, and then snapped apart like the flick of returning -thongs. The masts whipped to and fro quivering, and the stays shook -uneasily. Then with a grinding of copper the ship sagged over and lay -still, propped by the ragged edge of the rock. - -As we raced back across the lake bed towards her, a round, middle-aged -shriek broke the stillness of the after-quiet. Lady Delahay was vomited -up from the saloon as Baines and the cook erupted from the galley. She -stumbled across the deck, and, with the aid of the valet’s deferential -hand, mounted upon the bulwarks. The rocks were now level with the -stanchions, and she stepped upon them to sink down thereon in desolate -helplessness, Baines hanging over her with well-bred but astonished -sympathy. - -Gwen and Vi had been upon the heights above us, trying to sketch the -line of needle-like pinnacles that crowned the ridge. Gwen, it appeared, -had been engaged upon the very one that had fallen upon the glacier, and -had been utterly stupefied, as it bowed toward her and then precipitated -itself into the depths below. Both of them were dismayed beyond measure -by the upheaval and the partial disappearance of the ship, and came -flying down the slope, frightened to death by the roar and thrilling of -the solid earth, confidently expecting further shocks and total -engulfment. We met around Lady Delahay’s prostrate form amid much -excitement. - -Nothing further occurred, but an oppressive silence seemed to have -fallen over the land. The cries of the sea-birds melted out seaward, and -not one of them showed far or near. The glacier stream had swept all its -volume into that one great spout of a few minutes back, and not a single -splash came from the empty opening in the ice. No sound was to be heard -from the cliffs, though a minute or two before the fall and return of -the surges had risen to us mellow and distinct. - -We climbed the slope to look abroad upon the sea. It was oily and glass -smooth as quicksilver, and far west the glow of the sunset was beginning -to show upon its bosom, but not clear and gleaming. It was lurid and -suffused as with vapor mist. The floe was clustered in strange herdings, -and ringed beside the larger bergs were floating splinters from their -summits. The dark lanes of water between the walls of ice were strangely -regular—almost like the parallel lines of irrigation works. The usual -motion of the unending swell had ceased utterly. - -Suddenly Rafferty gave a shout. - -“Saints in glory!” he exclaimed excitedly, “’tis the mountain that’s -afire.” - -We wheeled round to face the peak behind us. The torn scar left by the -unseated pinnacle showed hard and raw in the evening light. From the dip -between the snow caps a thin column of smoke was rising into the still -windless air, commencing straight as a lance, but mushrooming out over -our heads a few hundred feet up as if in weariness of its own weight. - -It poured out of some new-hewn chimney in the rock relentlessly slow -indeed, and lazily, but with a very business-like steadfastness. A few -smuts were wafted to us, falling upon our clothes and faces. - -From that moment a very large lump of despair began to settle upon my -heart and stayed there. I began to fully realize the nature of the trap -we were in. It must take days, work as we would, to get the boat up the -slopes, put it together again on the top—even provided we didn’t break -it in the process—and drop it in safety down the cliffs. Waller might -with very great luck get to the Falklands in three weeks. There might -possibly be a ship there which would come to our rescue; very probably -there might not. Giving everything the very best possible chance of -succeeding, we couldn’t get away from this horrible place under six or -eight weeks. On the other hand, Waller might never reach the Falklands -at all. Every hazard of sea and ice would be against him. If he got -there he might never get back, for the berg might close. Our provisions -might fail; the birds and the sea-lions would depart. The ship might -sink further into the cleft and take our home and stores with her, for -it was of course no more than likely that another earthquake shock would -ensue. And above all this, there was the Horror of the cañon prowling -around, ready to interrupt our proceedings at any moment. So beneath my -breath I cursed the race of Maya, my besotted old ancestor, Crum, Gerry, -Lessaution, and many other animate and inanimate influences that had -brought about this disastrous expedition, and had landed us in this -unspeakable plight. When I had thus softly vented my feelings upon the -smut-filled air, forbearing open complaint as a bad ensample for the -men, I turned to see what the others were thinking in the matter. - -There was a grim look on Gerry’s face. He too, I gathered, was beginning -to understand what was meant by that black cloud which now rolled -between us and the sun like some monstrous umbrella. Denvarre was -looking at Gwen, and she, I gathered from the sudden motion of her face -as I turned toward her, had but lately been staring at me, trying, I -suppose, to understand what I thought of it. Garlicke eyed the -phenomenon through his eye-glass, viewing it as if it was some -second-rate performance which had to be endured, but equally to be -depreciated. Lessaution gaped up at it open-mouthed; he nodded like a -mandarin, showing by his expression his complete satisfaction with these -arrangements for further volcanic demonstrations. Vi looked on with -placid astonishment, being by now used to vagaries in this strange land -of topsy-turvydom, and not wishing to appear unnecessarily surprised. -The members of the crew made unanimous use of the common adjective to -opine that the smoke was sanguinarily droll, and at that they left it. -Waller’s lips were compressed, though moving now and again in what I -took to be _sotto voce_ swearings. He shared no doubt with me a silent -uneasiness that he preferred not to express. - -An earthquake is no joke. One has absolute belief in the stability of -the ground beneath one’s feet—a belief which it takes much to destroy. -When therefore you see the land shake like an ill-made jelly, when it -grins and grimaces at you like a third-rate comedian, the traditions of -a lifetime are undermined. That upon which you have planked the whole of -your confidence deceives you. Faith is no longer a rock. Belief of every -kind is vain. Stability in leaving the earth leaves all else unstable, -and your spirit dies within you. Nothing is impregnable or unassailable -thereafter. You are, to put it tersely, most horribly afraid. - -At any rate I was. For at least six weeks and possibly for a year we -were to live under this shadow of death. The cave, that we had chosen as -a refuge should the Beast crawl down upon us, had now become a possible -death-trap more horrible than his maw itself. The mountain was obviously -volcanic, and as obviously was the cleft the result of volcanic action. -Suppose it to close when we were in it. Like worms beneath a cart-wheel -we should be crushed. Suppose it to suddenly widen. Like worms again -should we be dropped into the very bowels of earth to be hopelessly cast -away. - -So again I cursed my fate and those who had been its arbiters, and -assumed a cheerful countenance. - -“I think that’s all for the present,” I remarked courteously to the -company at large, “so if you have seen all you require perhaps you’ll -return to business.” - -They turned from their starings at the mountain, and Gerry chucked down -the lever he still held with a surly air. - -“So we’re to start all over again?” said he. - -“Have you anything else to suggest?” - -He found no answer but a grunt, and I explained that Captain Waller’s -proposition seemed the only feasible one. We must reduce the launch to -sections, and carry them one by one to the cliff-top. I invited -amendments, but none were forthcoming, and collecting spanners, we -turned wearily to work again. - -By good luck the lost plan of construction turned up. It was ingenious, -but fiendishly intricate, and it was hours before we properly mastered -it. Then with wrenches and screwdrivers we flung ourselves upon the -boat, covering ourselves with dirt and wretchedness. This, however, only -after stupendous wranglings over the writing and the interpretation -thereof; in which wordy _mêlée_ Gerry and Lessaution nearly came to -blows, sneering over every mortice, and displaying directly opposite -views concerning every nut and screw. - -Yet within the course of the next day, by superhuman exertions, we -managed to dismember the boat, and transport it in sections to the -cliff-top. Here we found that the undoing of her was but child’s-play to -the putting of her together again. During the next three days language, -temper, and filthiness of person bore hideous rule, and discomfort -enveloped us like a fog. - -Across these things I draw a discreet veil. Suffice it to say that on -the evening of the third day, somehow or other, we had got the boat -patched together and ready for lowering. Then we transported one of the -ship’s windlasses up the rocks, and fixed it firmly with stanchions at -the edge of the crags. We made a sort of cradle of hawsers. With immense -care, with ropes thickly parcelled to avoid the frayings of the ledges, -and with fenders firmly fastened to her sides, we were enabled to lower -the cutter by slow degrees to the water, and to see her sit thereon -unharmed. - -Rafferty slid down to her, and there were lowered to him tow, chisels, -and a pot of pitch. With these he contrived to give her an inside calk -where her seams leaked worst from her unhandy rebuilding. We left her -floating for the night, with two men aboard to keep watch and watch lest -the sea rising should dash her against the cliffs, or the floe bear down -to nip her against the rocks. Upon the cliff-top two more camped to be -within rope’s reach of the boatmen if need arose. - -No misfortune happily occurred, and the next day found us toiling up the -cliff with stores for her provisioning, and water to fill her breakers. -All these we passed down the swinging rope to Rafferty, who bestowed -them in her lockers with nautical precision and neatness. Finally by -eventide Waller and his six chosen associates descended, and amid the -cheers of the assembled company took their places at the oars. - -Then with one last encouraging shout, and amid great wavings of -handkerchiefs and caps, they pulled away steadily up the channels -between the pack-ice. - -We watched them as they gradually faded to a black speck among the lanes -in the floe and berg, and then disappeared to come into view again on -the open water. There we saw their sail rise against the rays of the -setting sun, and slant away slowly toward the horizon. At last even this -vague dot upon the emptiness of ocean was not, and we turned away to -seek the ship in the growing darkness. - -There was sadness and an irresistible presentiment of coming evil in my -heart; undefined it was; but none the easier borne. It was a silent and -joyless meal we took before turning in, and I think every man of us sent -up a prayer that night for our comrades on the open main; whose lives -bore double burden, in that, if evil befell them, we should all likewise -perish. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - THE TEMPLE AND THE LAIR OF CAY - - -Though during the days of hard work, while the boat was being launched, -we continued to live in the ship, we did so by compulsion of necessity -alone, not having the time to seek another dwelling-place. Now the -strain was over, we felt that it behoved us to seek shelter elsewhere, -since another shock of earthquake might easily destroy the _Racoon_ and -leave us utterly without abode in this land of desolation. Therefore we -cast about for a refuge which should be stable enough to withstand -earthquakes, and also form a protection in case the Beast came down upon -us. - -Several moderate-sized peaks rose from the glacier foot. They were -precipitous in parts, but broken with ledges and crevices, making their -ascent arduous, but by no means difficult. One of these, a mass of -granite shaped something like a pyramid with a flattened top, seemed to -meet the case admirably. The breadth of its base made it unlikely that -it would topple however much it might be shaken, and its summit was -scarred with deep clefts. Any of these might be roofed over with a few -planks to make a famous shelter. - -[Illustration: - - IT WAS THE LAST WORSHIP OF THE PRIEST OF CAY. - - _Page 253._ -] - -Janson and I made the ascent with some of the crew and made examination -of the spot. We got up some timbers and a tarpaulin or two and soon -arranged an excellent series of little cabins, sufficient to house the -whole party if the need arose. We transported up to this eyrie a certain -proportion of our provisions and stores, arranged hammocks for ourselves -and cots for the ladies, and then felt that we had a satisfactory -alternative abode if the ship should fail us. - -This being accomplished, we had time and opportunity to turn to less -pressing matters. We set forth on the following morning therefore to -investigate the matter of the Mayan temple beneath the glacier, anent -which Lessaution had muttered many jealous words during the last six or -seven days. For he openly declared that Gerry and I wished to keep the -glory of this discovery intact, and were delaying his entrance into its -mysteries of malice prepense. - -We took our ropes, poles, and a ladder to the cliff-top, found the -crevasse, which we had marked with a cross hewn in the ice, and -according to promise lowered the Frenchman first therein. I followed -him, and in due order came Gerry, Denvarre, and Garlicke. - -I found the little Professor trotting round the temple, exclamations of -wonder and delight hurtling from between his teeth. His little arms -waved, his little lean face beamed with scientific glee. His self-made -dictionary and his grammar of the Mayan symbols was in his hands. In the -pauses of his ecstasy he was trying to divine the inscriptions. Now and -again he stopped to examine the prone figures of the shrivelled priests, -turning them about and picking at them with a minuteness that struck me -as both hard-hearted and indelicate. Finally he dragged himself out of -this haphazard _abandon_ of discovery, and settling down before the base -of the great pedestal, began to decipher the inscriptions with serious -attention. - -For some few minutes he sat silently between Gerry and myself, who held -candles by him. He conned the twisted devices, turning from them to his -note-book, and tracing out each symbol carefully. Suddenly signs of the -greatest excitement manifested themselves. He jumped up with an -exclamation, nearly upsetting both of us, and rushed round to the back -of the image. Here he began to butt at the solid stone in a manner that -seemed little short of imbecile. - -In the midst of these scrabblings a panel—as it seemed—gave beneath his -hand; we stared wonderingly as a door slid open at his very feet. - -Two steps were revealed, dropping down into a chamber in the stone. Into -the blackness of this vault our friend flung himself, chattering -furiously in French, without waiting to be offered a light. We only -stayed for an additional candle to be lit and then followed him smartly. - -It was a small dark room, and without exit to the air save by the way we -had entered. Round the sides of rock-hewn wall ran a slab. Upon it were -arranged various basons, salvers, spits, and other sacrificial -instruments to which we could give neither names nor use. But what made -our eyes sparkle and our breath come short and ecstatically, was the -fact that each and all of these outlandish vessels shone yellow and -lustrous in the candle-light. They were in no degree discolored by age -or by damp. At the which we knew that here indeed we had fallen upon the -Mayan booty of which my uncle had spoken—“the ancestral treasures of -that hapless race.” - -We stared with greedy eyes upon this hidden hoard. With awesome fingers -we touched and handled the beakers, the basons, and the curious -two-pronged forks and skewers. All bore traces of use, but we were at a -loss to account for the jagged notches in the handles of some of the -sword-like spits. They leaned against the rocky ledge, arranged in exact -order along the floor. At the upper part of each were wavering scars in -solid metal; we might have imagined them to be decorative patterns, but -for their scratchiness and irregularity. I took one in my hands and -examined it carefully. - -It had a hilt about half-a-foot long at the thickest end. It was just -below this that the dents eat into the metal. I caught hold of -Lessaution by the arm to demand his explanations of this matter. - -At first he contemned my curiosity, explaining that matters of much -greater interest demanded his attention. He ran his fingers over the -criss-cross work, and suddenly shuddered, handing the thing back to me -with a repellent gesture. - -“It is explained there,” he said, pointing to the device that ran above -the ledge. “Those are the rituals of sacrifice. It is necessary to slay -the victim according to the religion of Cay. So they stab the sword -through the shoulder and pierce the lung, and the victim dies -slowly—very slowly, and he calls for long. So they think the god is well -pleased. Then the poor people who die, they are in agonies—ah, so great -a pain, and they bite and snap at the handle with their teeth. So here -we see the marks. It is not nice—that, no it is of the most horrible. -But what would you? They were brutes, this people, but oh, so ancient,” -and he shrugged his shoulders as if much might be forgiven to a people -who had conducted their devilries from time immemorial. - -I dropped the thing with a shiver and a tingling of my fingers. Brutes -they were, indeed, these fearsome Mayans of the centuries of long ago. I -could only give fervent thanks that they were not alive to welcome us to -these savage shores. I could well imagine the delight that would be -theirs in spitting us on their horrible prongs, and leaving us to slow -agony, tickling, as they would doubtless believe, their god’s ears with -our delightful tortures. And if they had not left us to pant out our -lives before this bestial image, we should have been offered up alive to -the monster himself, to meet a swifter doom, perhaps, but one as -fearful. - -I asked him how he was so sure of the matter. He explained that the -whole of the devices that ran round the walls were the detailed dogma -and rubric of the worship of Cay. Not only did these give full -directions for sacrificial orgies, and prescribe particularly the -transfixing of the victims in the manner spoken of, but also alluded to -the keeping alive of these tormented wretches—I am only quoting from -what he translated—with various drugs, the names of which he was unable -to understand. The inscription laid stress on the fact that the cries of -these unfortunates were beloved of the god, and that, therefore, they -were to be prolonged as far as possible. - -It was only to be considered natural that the worship of such a filthy -monstrosity should breed degraded cruelties, but I puzzled my head to -think how Mayans in Central America could have possibly divined the -existence of anything resembling this antediluvian Horror in the -Antarctic Circle. I questioned Lessaution on this point also. - -He said that his researches had led him to think that the last home of -the Mastodon had been in Central America, and that before he became -extinct he might have become the holy beast of the Mayan religion, much -as the bull is to the Hindoos. He went on to explain his theory that as -by lapse of time the huge beast became a memory and a myth, he rose from -being a symbol of the godhead to being confounded with the god himself. -His proportions had probably been exaggerated by half-forgotten rumor, -and with his size had grown his sacredness. To make themselves strong -the priesthood had invented the human sacrifices, by which, doubtless, -they could remove their special antipathies or heretics. - -It was not surprising, he added, that the Mayans, born and nurtured in -the service of this superstitious horror, should conceive the Dinosaur, -when he thus descended upon them, to be their god in very deed. We must -also reckon the effect their miraculous bringing to this desolate coast -would have upon them. There was no doubt that they had frequently -striven to do their divinity honor by human sacrifices, and that one of -their first acts must have been the building of this temple under the -shadow of the overhanging rock. - -It was to be supposed that the glacier had been diverted from its former -channel by some earthquake shock, and had poured upon the building from -above, bringing to utter destruction the town that had stood round it, -the only exceptions being the house we had found upon the mountain-side, -and the one Parsons and I had discovered in the glacier. This last had -been saved by the shielding cliff above it, though walled in by -impenetrable thicknesses of ice. - -The priests of Cay, evidently fanatic to the last, had seen no chance of -escape. They had stored away their golden vessels, swept and garnished -their sanctuary, and then lain down in grim hopelessness to die at the -feet of their god. Swiftly numbed by the overpowering cold, without -provision or proper clothing, they had passed away in silent submission -to the decrees of fate, and probably without much feeling or pain. -Lessaution surmised that the lone corpse Parsons and I had stumbled upon -in the other dwelling was the remains of some unfortunate wretch who had -been longer fortified by food and raiment, and who had fought the cold -with full knowledge of the ultimate issue. So in solitude and great fear -he had met his death. - -I pondered these ideas of the Professor’s while we collected together -the vessels of the sanctuary. We roped them up in heaps, and transported -them to the foot of the ice-hill. Then we signalled to Rafferty, whom we -had left above in charge of half-a-dozen of the sailors, and had the -pleasure of seeing our trove whizz up into the sunshine, to be bestowed -finally in the lockers of the ship, there to await the possibilities of -our ultimate rescue. - -As the last sheaf of spits disappeared into the gloom of the roof, we -turned for further explorations. Lessaution held—and we felt that there -might be something in it—that by following the course of the ice-stream -that tinkled into the channel at the extreme end of the cave, we might -chance upon other remains of the Mayan village, or at any rate find more -relics of their community. Not wishing to leave any chance untried of -discovering all we could of this strange people’s habitation, we lit -dips, took one apiece, and crawled into the mouth of the waterway. - -It was low-roofed and narrow, and we groped and splashed along it like -rats in a sewer. The light played and spangled on the ice walls, and the -gurgle of the ripples and our splashings re-echoed hollow and gloomily. -A draught sang back into our faces, making the candles sputter noisily. -We thought that we must be approaching an outer entrance, though no -light came through the ice. We wondered if by any chance we were in any -communicating by-way of the cavern that Parsons and I had first -explored. - -Suddenly the ice faded from about us, and with the falling splash of a -small cascade the rivulet ran into an opening in a rock wall which faced -us. - -This we took to be without doubt the overhanging side of the mountain -which backed the basin in which lay our ship. We peered down the tunnel, -and seeing the fall to be but a foot or two ventured in. For the first -fifty yards the way was straight enough, but then began to turn and -twist deviously, narrowing, though it grew higher. We easily understood -that the water had worn a way through the granite by eating out a lode -of softer mineral. We were enabled to walk erect, though I heard -Lessaution grunt complainingly behind me as he squeezed through the -narrows, where the sides reached out to one another sharply. - -A couple of hundred yards more, and a turn—sharper than any we had yet -passed—whipped us round almost in our tracks. Before I could realize it -we were striding out into a great hall in the granite, and the stream -was almost lost in the sandy floor. - -With the disappearance of the reflecting walls the darkness seemed to -swallow the thin light of our candles utterly. A heavy effluvia-like -smell hung in the air. In the act of wheeling round to speak to my -companions I tripped. I plunged forward, grasping the elusive sand, and -ploughing a groove in it with my chin. - -My candle went out as I struck the ground, but before its light snapped -into nothingness I saw beside my face five long yellow objects spreading -out ghastlily distinct upon the dark floor. Looking back I saw the -obstruction over which I had stumbled begin to roll slowly from between -me and the lights of my companions. It was silhouetted in irregular -dents and jaggednesses against the dim illumination. I also saw the long -yellow gleams move lingeringly from beside me in the twilight. - -A yell went up from the others, and an odor still more pungent assailed -my nostrils. I heard the slow, lurching sound of a heavy body churning -the silt of the floor. But it needed not that to tell me in what plight -I was. We had penetrated to the very lair of the Monster. I had fallen -headlong across his tail as it stretched in my path. Beside me was his -webbed foot; my face nearly touched his clammy nails. - -He was turning—turning—turning; in another second his huge neck would -swing round upon me; I should be a mere swelling in that monstrous -throat. - -My knees were palsied by a terror that scarcely allowed me to rise. My -joints were as water within me. If ever man realized the terrors of -nightmare in the flesh, I did so during those two fearful seconds when I -scrambled to my feet, and raced across the ten yards that separated me -from the mouth of the tunnel in the rock. I leaped into it like a rabbit -before the greedy jaws of a terrier. - -The others were already jammed in its narrow recesses. As I joined them -the last light fell into the stream with a hiss. Kicking, reeling, -panting, snatching at each other and at the rocks, we fought along that -pipe-like passage, every nerve in our bodies tingling with expectant -terror. My hair bristled on my head as I heard the snap of those grim -jaws behind me, and for one awful moment I felt the horrible breath sing -past my cheek. I ducked to very earth, and at the same moment felt the -rasp of the eager tongue upon my heel. Calling aloud in abject terror I -plunged forward, bearing down Gerry and Lessaution with me. We struggled -together in the darkness, splashing up a little stream, and wallowing in -the turbid mud, while above our very heads, it seemed, we could hear the -hiss and pant of the straining lips. On hands and knees we jostled and -crawled in the darkness. - -As we drew away from the sounds behind us, I managed after a nervous -effort or two to strike a vesta. The match sputtered, flared, and then -burnt up steadily. Lessaution was still grasping his extinguished dip, -and thrust the wick into the flame. As it took fire he held it up, and -in its steady light we saw the nearness of our escape. - -Not ten yards away the long neck strained and weaved desperately, bowing -towards us with frantic efforts. The wicked green eyes flamed, and the -teeth snapped and chattered greedily. The murky breath from between them -flooded the cavern noisomely. The whole horrible scene stood out in -frightful distinctness against the background of dark rock. - -Then the dip-flame reached Lessaution’s fingers, and with a curse he -dropped it. The fall of the darkness upon that brief but all too vivid -glimpse of horror unmanned us all. With a gasp we turned and fled -recklessly into the darkness of the waterway without waiting for a -light, paddling and splashing through the pools, tripping each other up, -reeling, wrestling, smiting and bruising our limbs against the rocks. -Finally with bleeding fingers, and wet with perspiration and roof-drip -we stumbled out into the dimness of the temple cave, panting, -dishevelled, like whipped curs, coughing still with the vile stench of -that fearful kennel, shivering yet with the narrowness of our escape. - -With broken sentences and half-coherent words we arranged the order of -our ascent, and were hauled up one by one. With grateful lungs and -dazzled eyes we greeted the freshness of the glacier slopes, though it -was with dejected mien we slunk back to the ship. We sought victual, and -later, tobacco, discussing the same on deck for appreciable minutes -before any one ventured to refer to our adventure, even Lessaution’s -fund of conversation being dried up by his sense of defeat. - -It was Garlicke who opened the conversation, and from a sporting point -of view. He is a sort of _sans appel_ on the subject of weapons of the -chase, being a noted man at the running deer and such-like competitions, -as well as a keen game shot. He demonstrated that the sporting -Männlicher rifle was the instrument marked out for the destruction of -the Monster, giving his reasons for supposing that its bullet would -penetrate any hide, provided that the missile had a hollow point. He -regretted intensely that he had not had one of these useful implements -at hand during the late _rencontre_. - -Then the babble joined upon this issue and others flowing from it, and -we felt our nerves grow back to us with our words, each of us expressing -the opinion that to the determined man, armed with modern weapons, -Dinosaurs were not necessarily invulnerable, and each asking, on -reflection, no better than to beard the Beast again in his lair with -suitable arms. - -In which wordy tournament Lessaution, as was to be expected, rode -triumphant down the lists, being willing, so he assured us, to compete -with the Great Atrocity, equipped with no more than his native -intelligence and a squirt. - -This latter he proposed to fill with diluted prussic acid—of the -commodity in question we possessed not a molecule, which he regarded as -beside the question—and therewith advance down the passage up which two -hours before he had so ingloriously fled. Arriving within range of the -gaping mouth, he would fill it with the fatal fluid. But one frightful -writhe and M. le Dinosaure would lie dead at his feet. _V’là tout._ - -This versatile proposal was met with abounding laughter, the which -daunted him in no degree, but cheered us all immensely. For with -laughter returned self-respect, which had dropped from us in its -entirety during the disgraceful rout of the morning, and we shook our -fear from us as dogs shake their dripping coats. To each came great -resolves to personally seek out and destroy the Monster, and complacent -with the future renown thus inwardly promised, each turned patronizing -attention to the talk of his fellows, using their banal conversation to -cloak the deep and secret devices that seethed within his own brain. So -content grew beneath the cloud of tobacco smoke, and pleasant talk -expanded itself, and finally the ladies, under the persuasive tinkling -of Gerry’s banjo, consented to enliven the rocky solitudes with a song. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - A LITTLE DOG’S STUMBLE - - -It was as Gwen began to lift her voice sweetly in the opening notes of -“Just a little bit of string,” that with harassing appropriateness the -hawser, which had that morning again been tightened between the anchor -and the ship, snapped with a ringing crack. The deck quivered -villainously, and I, who had just risen to reach for more tobacco, fell -upon my chair and smashed it to matchwood. The doors of the companion -flapped to and fro, and the rigging quivered and thrummed. We could hear -the jar of the rattled machinery in the engine-room. - -At the same moment we were aware that the rocks were grinding upon the -ship with a scissor-like movement, though happily they did not close. -Had they done so we should have been nipped in their jaws with a very -remote chance of escape. We also realized that the smoke-cloud, which -had risen and grown thinner during the day, was expanding and -thickening, making the twilight of the short Antarctic night a very -business-like gloom. - -We slipped across the gangways hurriedly, and grouped ourselves upon the -rocks. A low rumble came creeping across the empty silences of the -glacier. It rolled up to us like the muffled groaning of a buried army. -We could fancy that the tombed city of long ago was sending out its -desperate call for succor. The rocks shook beneath us. The gravel danced -and pattered about our feet. We staggered, catching at one another -aimlessly. Gwen, who was next me, tripped comfortably into my arms, -where I held her with much content, both of us swaying absurdly. - -The dull roar became abruptly a sharp crash. The ground rippled and -worked horribly, and we were flung to earth, grasping at the rolling -boulders. The cleft beneath the ship yawned like some Titanic mouth. As -the remaining hawser parted, the keel sank further into the opening with -a thud, and the stones we had built up beneath it went clattering down -into the abyss. Not ten yards from where Gwen and I fell abroad, and not -two feet from where Lessaution grovelled, a fissure opened and shut with -a snap as of teeth. The Professor in fact declared that for one -hair-raising moment he looked into the very deepest fastnesses of death. - -As the gap closed, a puff of sulphurous steam was shot into the air. It -clouded over us, making us cough. A clatter of ice and falling water -came from the glacier; a splinter or two fell from the peak. Then, -suddenly as came the upheaval, quiet returned and fell upon the scene. - -From that moment, though, the darkness was riven. The mushroom-like pall -of smoke now hung over us rosy red from fires that burnt beneath it in -the lap of the hill. The crimson light flared down into the empty lake -basin, reflected back luridly from the rocks. A small, fine rain of -soot, gray and woolly, began to fall; it got into our eyes and nostrils, -and set us sneezing and winking prodigiously. Then in trembling and with -hopelessness in our hearts we climbed the slopes to the cliff-tops, -filled with desolation in that the earth having turned traitor, we had -but the sea to look to. How vainly we might look and how long we knew -but too well. - -The red glow wavered upon crestless surges that moved slowly upon the -crags. Far out to sea the islands of the first eruption showed black and -shattered, dim outlines in the cinder rain. This fell mercilessly on -floe and berg, blackening them to filthy patches upon the rosy sea. Far -away we could still see the gleam of moonlight upon the outer ocean, -peaceful and silvered against the blood-like hue of the landward waters. -From above us came the boom of irregular explosions, and gray tufts of -smoke shot up into the darkness. Here and there crimson splashes of -flame cut the smoke tower. They were spouts of molten stone, the slag of -that mighty furnace. The snap and hiss as these fell upon the glacier -was like the overboiling of some stupendous kettle. - -My eyes were seared with unrest in this hopelessness of sea and land. I -turned them upon Gwen, who stood beside me, to give them comfort. She -had a lace shawl about her head and arched over her face, shading it -from the steady drizzle of cinders. These lay upon the few unprotected -curls that flecked her forehead, giving her a _poudré_ effect that in -that deep twilight radiance was simply ravishing. The same scarlet -duskiness beat upon her complexion, giving it the tint of a moss-rose. -Her eyes shone anxiously, but like stars. - -I gnawed restlessly at my mustache. I was but human and desperately in -love. The desire to take her in my arms and swear that nothing on earth -should hurt her was just on the borders of being irresistible. - -“Magnificent sight, isn’t it?” I questioned, looking down at her -pleasantly. - -“Gorgeous,” she answered briefly, coming a step nearer. It was with a -curious catch in her voice she added: “But what if it overflows?” - -“Oh, it won’t,” I answered confidently. “Besides, the glacier’s between -us and it.” - -“Another earthquake might split the glacier.” - -“We’ll wait till it does,” said I cheerfully. “We shall be well away -before anything of that kind happens.” - -She stood silent for a minute or two, tapping her fingers idly on the -boulder beside her. Then she looked up at me with a quick smile. - -“After all, it would be very soon over, wouldn’t it?” - -“Quite soon,” said I, with assurance. “And—and we should be all -together.” - -She glanced up at me again with a queer little smile that tried to cover -the catch of her voice. - -“I don’t know that I was thinking of—all,” she said, and turned away to -join the others as they began to wander back towards the ship, and I -strode beside her, fighting my passionate impulses in silence. For no -doubt she had meant it for a reminder. Denvarre was the thought of her -heart now that possible disaster hung over us, and I, in my blundering -way, wanted to shove myself into an equality with him. I chewed the cud -of this reflection as we all strolled down the slope, and the bitter -hope that the end might come as she had pictured it almost crept into my -heart, so far outside the bounds of common sense does the fever of -jealousy carry one. But I’m thankful to say that my English birthright -of self-possession came back to me within a score of strides, leaving me -rational again. - -I explained—and the others found it remarkably easy to understand—that -it would be folly to think of sleeping aboard again that night. We must -take up our residence on the cliff where we had prepared our shelter. So -up the ledges of the rock pyramid we scrambled, and lodged ourselves in -the tarpaulined crevices at the top. We mostly slept, I believe, but I -was restless. For I had realized only too well that the great smoke pall -that overhung us and made long the night was Death’s Shadow indeed. - -As the dawn began to filter in under the fog of dust, I woke and strode -out to see how fared the world of fire and ice. A great hush had fallen -with the livid morning light. The thunderous boom of the crater had -ceased, and from above came only the distant purr and simmer of undying -fires. The boil and roar of active eruption had died down. The great -smoke curtain stretched away in a long wreath inland, carried before the -cool sea breeze. The heavy sulphur mist had lightened with the same -fresh draught, and the gulls had returned and were clamoring overhead in -their hundreds. The sea lay in purple splendor, save where it was broken -by the soot-begrimed floe. The swish of ripples on the cliff-foot was -peaceful as the drip of a well-bucket. - -I glanced down to where our ship lay. She seemed to have slipped over -yet further in the night. A soft mist clung about her, and I puzzled -myself to think how vapor could rise from barren and solid stone. It was -dissolving upward as I watched, but ever forming anew. Then I understood -that it was coming out of the fissure—the steam, no doubt, of some -underground geyser. The carcass of the great whale that had been -stranded by the volcanic wave had slidden down the incline of smooth -rock almost into the centre of the basin. I reflected with -dissatisfaction that the stench of this offal so close to our -headquarters would be by no means pleasant. - -My eyes wandered to the cliff-top where we had stood the night before, -dwelling upon it with half-painful, half-pleasurable reminiscence. How -sweet Gwen had looked, and how unattainable. I began the everlasting -fight with my inner self that was new and old every morning, thrusting -forward to my soul’s attention every possible argument why I should -think of her no more, and doing so naturally with the same pain and the -same enjoyment as much as ever. - -Into the midst of my musings came a sudden jar of unfamiliarity as I -stared at the edge of the crags. I blinked unbelievingly. A black -breadth of shadow intersected the rocks as if a knife had carved them -rigidly to the line. I rubbed my eyes. There was no doubt about it. A -clean-cut cleft was in the rocks, some twenty feet broad. How deep I -could not tell. - -I clambered down the ledges softly from hold to hold, avoiding noise -that the others might have their fill of healthful sleep. I crossed the -bare flat between me and the new-made fissure, and stood upon the edge. -I peered in. - -The gash was driven deep into the bosom of the cliff, reaching to within -twenty feet of the tide-line. A lump or two of granite had fallen from -the parting edges and lay in the nip of the angle below. As I looked, -one of them slipped in the vice-like hold, and settled nearer the -bottom. A few seconds later another did the same. Then I understood that -the gap was widening before me as clay cracks in the June sunshine. - -I hung over the pit, gazing into it with hopeful eyes. Would the cliff -be riven to its base, and the sea be let in upon us? Then, by Jove, we’d -have the old _Racoon_ afloat again. We should escape from this land of -desolation like rats from an opened trap. Into a slow opening like this -the sea would pour gently. It would not overwhelm the ship with a sudden -cascade. Such luck would be too stupendous—I assured myself of it most -determinedly. Yet—yet—what a joyous awakening it would be for my -companions if so outrageous a thing could come about. How -melodramatically we should sweep out into the free spread of waters -beyond! - -My chain of cheerful prophecy here got a sudden set back. As I looked at -the largest stone in the crack, it split across. In spiderlike -ramifications cracks multiplied upon it. It fell apart into rubble. -Finally only dust filled the crevice. The rocks were closing even as -they had opened. A stratum cleavage was here. It worked uneasily in the -travail of the mountain behind—yawning in weariness of the constant -convulsions. Now in the rest following the upheaval it was settling -together again. - -As I stood and pondered these things another eruption roared in the -crater mouth. The ground rocked uneasily beneath my feet; I stumbled to -my knees. With a snap the jaws of the cliff closed, nothing remaining -but the ragged dent where the edges had been riven. As I scrambled to my -feet a shrill yell re-echoed above the closing roar of the earthquake. I -turned hastily to see a funny sight. - -Down the lower slopes of the crag we had camped upon rolled a round -object; it emitted screams of the most piercing description, and -advanced with gathering speed. I recognized the gorgeous sleeping-suit -affected by Lessaution, and the eye-searing yellow tassel of his -nightcap. They made a vivid flash of meteoric color down the sombre -rocks. - -The little _savant_ was scrabbling at the stone stairway as he fled -along, tearing unavailingly at clumps of lichen, and snatching at the -loose boulders. These last he had managed to set moving in some -quantity, and they enveloped him in a clattering halo of pebbles that -grew in velocity and in volume. The clamor of his onset was prodigious. -He revolved like a catherine-wheel. His expressive countenance glared -witheringly out into space during the curt moments it was uppermost, -returning with a baffled air to face the earth as he flew swiftly round. -His little legs threshed desperately into emptiness. Finally with a -preposterous bounce he dropped over a ledge some four feet high, and -swept out from the crag foot amid his escort of boulders, squirming -fearfully. - -Choking back my laughter I ran to him with an expression of deepest -solicitude. Before I reached him he had risen, and groaning -pathetically, began to slap himself about the more outlying portions of -his person, slipping his hand from limb to limb delicately, and cursing -with fluency as bruise after bruise became manifest. Fortunately his -injured shoulder had been well swathed in lint, and showed no signs of -having broken out again. - -He explained that he was murdered in effect—yes, he had no whole bone in -his body. The horrible boulders had mangled him into a fricassee. He -would be tender eating for M. le Dinosaure, to whom his remains would be -welcome. He, Emil Saiger Lessaution, had for them no further use—no, in -their present unbelievable state they would be of no slightest good. He -was one large weal. I might figure to myself that, seeing me below, he -had started down to join me. After the disgusting sulphurous stenches of -the night before, he had had the intention to smell the freshness of the -sea. Thus, when he was half-way down, behold the earthquake had swept -him from his feet. Engulfed in tumultuous rubble he had been borne down -the cliff as in a torrent. His skin was obtused to the baring of the -flesh, and his joints—yes, his joints, let it be observed—strained as by -a rack. A thousand thunders! These tremblings of the earth were -affrighting. For him—he did not care when he left so unsafe a region. - -I armed him gently up the ascent to where the rest of our party—also -aroused by the eruption—were watching us. I surrendered him into the -hands of Rafferty, who, on the strength of the possession of a case of -sticking-plaster, had constituted himself surgeon to the ship’s company. -From his hands the Professor emerged a few minutes later, with an -intricate pattern decking his features, to receive the full sympathy of -us all. - -After this we proceeded to breakfast, with certain apprehensions of what -might happen in the way of further earthquakes, but still with moderate -appetite. There was one slight rocking of the ground, but it did not so -much as upset a tumbler, and we concluded that the worst was, for the -present, over. - -As the morning drew on we descended to the ship to examine her plight. -She was leaning over at an angle of forty-five degrees, propped by the -edge of the crevasse. Her keel was straining at the splinters jammed in -the narrows of the opening. She lay so that her bulge almost covered the -chamber in the rock. The hot fumes were still rising from below, -smelling, for all the world, like the baths at Aix. - -We got aboard and went down into the saloon. Everything was in the -wildest disorder. The table, being screwed to the floor, was still -unmoved, but everything else was piled in heaps between the floor and -the lockers. Hardly a bit of crockery but had its crack or two, and many -of the plates and glasses were broken outright. In the hold the bilge -was leaking through her strained sides, dripping down the rocks against -which she leaned. Not a rat squeaked or scampered in this—their usual -stronghold—and their damp footprints were visible leading away from the -ship. Evidently this dry dock was not to their liking. - -We set to work to get up some coal from the bunkers and some provisions -from the storeroom. All of us—even the ladies—carried a larger or a -smaller package, and in about an hour the procession set back to the -cliff abode. - -Gerry and Vi were alone on deck as I emerged last from the companion. -Gerry’s face was a study in scarlet and surprise. Something had most -certainly occurred within the last few minutes to move him greatly, and -as I appeared he strode toward me with an air of joyful importance. At -the same moment, Vi, who had turned away as I stepped out of the -doorway, swung quickly round again toward him. - -“Hush!” she ejaculated, frowning with a meaning look toward the -accommodation ladder, and Denvarre’s head rose into view as he ascended. - -Gerry stopped with a look of indecision. Then with a beneficent grin he -wheeled round and offered her his hand to step down off the deck. I saw -that below, the others were grouped upon the rocks, waiting for us to -begin the ascent again. I was at a loss to account for Gerry’s -extraordinary behavior, especially the fact that he was walking happily -enough with Vi, after avoiding her like the plague ever since he’d -learned of her engagement. - -I stepped down to join the party as Denvarre plunged hastily down the -companion to fetch, as he explained, another pipe. I began to saunter -along with Gwen and Lessaution, still watching with amazement Gerry’s -enthusiastic escort of Vi. In two or three minutes Denvarre overtook us. -I noticed that Gwen shot a look at him as he reached us, which I found -difficult to explain. He was wearing a stony expression, and avoided -meeting her gaze. He began to talk to Lessaution with great vivacity, -and the two gradually drew ahead of us, swinging between them the sack -of coal that the little Frenchman had been staggering under alone. We -were all more or less weighed down with stores, even the girls carrying -their share. Gwen bore in one hand a pound of candles, and in the other -a tin of mustard. - -As the other two drew out of earshot, the silence deepened uncomfortably -between Gwen and myself. I cannot explain it, but there seemed to be a -sense of strain between us. I looked up once to find her regarding me -with a fixed expression, and she reddened deeply as I caught the glance. -She turned her head away hurriedly. Then as if by an effort she faced me -again. I could see by the catch in her pretty throat that she was -gathering herself together to say something—something that she found it -difficult to express. There came a sudden interruption. - -Fidget, the fox-terrier, had been gambolling and ambling aimlessly -about. Suddenly, raising her nose, she sniffed the air curiously. She -barked sharply, pattering back toward the ship. She leaped the narrowest -end of the fissure, and trotted up the further slopes of the basin still -yapping angrily. Her nose was in the air defiantly; the bristles of her -withers stood up. - -She stopped with a quick jerk as she neared the top. Planting her -fore-legs stiffly before her, she began a series of shrill yelpings, -dancing in her excitement. - -Her bark leaped a couple of octaves into a shriek of fear, and out from -behind a boulder loomed the hideous triangular head we knew too well. -The Monster of the cañon lumbered into view, and the little dog turned -and flew for us frantically, not the merest indication of her tail in -evidence, so tightly was it tucked between her legs. - -In her unseeing terror she fled straight toward us, not avoiding the -cleft. Consequently she came slap upon it, and unable to stop, charged -straight into it. With a thump and a squeak she fell into the angle of -the bottom. Being so far above her, we could plainly see how she was -caught in the nip of the crevice, where she remained struggling -desperately upon her back, howling piercingly as she twisted and -wriggled between the cruel stones. - -We had commenced to run for our rock, which was fortunately only about -two hundred yards distant. The Beast was still about a quarter of a mile -from the ship and the fissure, out of which still came poor Fidget’s -heart-rending yells. - -“Poor little wretch,” I remarked to Gwen, as I turned back to face the -ascent. “But I expect it’ll be mercifully quick and soon over.” - -No answer came, and I was aware—and the blood within me seemed to freeze -with the knowledge—that Gwen was flying down the slope to where the -little dog lay howling, her eyes ablaze, her curls streaming in the -wind. She was calling Fidget desperately by name, while toward her with -steadfast, leisured tread rolled that great Horror, as three centuries -before he had swung down upon the hapless Mayan maiden. - -“Stop,” I screamed, “for God’s sake stop,” and I flung away my burden -and raced madly down the slope. She gave no heed, still calling loudly -to Fidget, whose whinings increased as we drew nearer. I ran as I have -never run before or since; I saw the eyes of the Beast glint -emerald-sheened in the sun; I saw his ungainly waddle break into a -cumbersome trot, and the desperation of my speed brought me to Gwen’s -side in a couple of seconds. - -“Stop! Are you mad?” I yelled. “What’s a dog’s life to yours?” and I -snatched at her shoulder to drag her back. - -A pebble shot from under my feet, glancing upon the water-smooth -granite; I feel heavily, while a thousand stars danced before my eyes. -As I scrambled dazedly to my feet, I saw Gwen thirty yards away lifting -Fidget from the cleft, and rushed to meet her as she turned to run -toward me. The Beast was a short furlong distant. - -I looked up the quarter-of-mile of steep rock escarpment that lay -between us and safety, and knew that I, at least, dizzy as I was, could -never mount it before he would be upon us. And Gwen might fall. Anything -might happen. No, the cavern beneath the ship was the only chance. I -staggered forward and caught her elbow as she ran. - -“It’s no good,” I said. “We’re done. The cave beneath the ship’s the -only possible place.” - -“Can’t we run for it?” she gasped. - -“I can’t, at any rate,” I answered sadly, “and I don’t think you’d -better try.” - -“Oh, you’re hurt—you’re hurt,” she whispered pantingly as we raced -toward the ship. “And it’s my fault. But I couldn’t stand the screams of -the poor little wretch—I couldn’t have seen her torn and mangled. Hadn’t -we better get into it?” and she pointed up the ship’s side above us. - -“No,” I answered, as I handed her swiftly on to the ledge, and helped -her down into the cave beyond, “he might manage to break in upon us. -Here we’re safe for the present, at any rate. He may try to starve us -out, but it isn’t likely. After a bit, when he finds he can’t get at us, -he’ll shuffle away as he came.” - -Fidget was barking furiously, and bristling up her hair, but at the -farthest end of the cavern. A sludgy, dragging movement became audible, -and the murky odor of the Horror clouded down to us. Looking out from -under the overhanging roof I saw a single shining claw project over the -edge of the cleft. Then the half of the pad came into view, the rock -dinting its podginess. - -The brute swung his head over me, and parted his thin, inquisitive lips -almost to a sneer. For one halting second the head was poised -motionless. Then, swift as a dropping stone, it smote down at me, and I -flung myself back, the evil eyes flashing past not five yards away. -There they hung and balanced, glinting evilly at us, while the long -pendant neck strained into the cleft from above. The huge body made -twilight in the cavern, swelling eagerly into the space between the rock -and the ship. The muscular fore-arms kneaded and crumbled the edges of -the fissure. So were we desperately prisoned, and such was our jailer. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - A DESPERATE BETROTHAL - - -At the farthest limit of the cave we leaned upon the rock, and looked at -that wicked, weaving head. Twice before had I seen it, but never in such -circumstances as this. On both occasions we had been men alone. The -peril had been distributed, so to speak, amongst us all. But with a -girl, and a beautiful girl moreover, with whom I happened to be -desperately in love—to have that outrageous atrocity mouthing upon her -and me alone, and to feel that any accident might send her into its -bestial maw—Good God! it might turn any brain. I stood between Gwen and -the entrance and tried to smile into her face. - -“I wouldn’t look that way, if I were you,” said I persuasively. “He’ll -take himself off directly, I hope.” - -Her lips were very white and they trembled unrestrainedly, but she -smiled back into my eyes—a ghostly, uncertain sort of smile, though, I -must confess. - -“I don’t mind. Not much at least.” Then with a strained attempt to look -at the humorous side of it she added, “What an opportunity for M. -Lessaution and his squirt.” - -I loved to see the pluck of her, and answered cheerfully. - -“Garlicke will be distracting the brute’s attention directly with that -Männlicher rifle,” said I. “I happen to know he took it up with him when -we moved camp, for use in just such a possibility as this. He’ll be -trying the effect of the bullet with the top bitten off,” I added to -keep the light side of the question uppermost, though it was a watery -sort of sprightliness at the best. - -From the edge above, where the weight of the great body was pressing, a -lump of granite fell, and splashed into splinters in the narrows of the -gulf. It widened the mouth of the fissure by a foot or more. The -horrible trunk surged forward a yard or two, and one of the huge legs, -dropping from between the belly and the rock, slid into the opening. The -five white claws waggled and gripped at empty space, and the gloom in -the cave increased. Fidget was beyond barking now, and backed against -the uttermost crevices with a sort of bleating gasp. I think that never -have I seen unadulterated terror more plainly expressed on an animal’s -features. - -With the increased room for the body, the long sinuous neck came forward -a like space. The thin snout was now fairly in the cavern. The nauseous -breath hissed at us in gusts—sickening as a plague wind. - -Suddenly the lithe neck stiffened. The evil eyes concentrated their gaze -upon Gwen. Their stare seemed to go past my cheek with the searing -directness of a flash-light. In an instant the memory of the power that -lay in that wicked glare came back to me. - -I dashed forward and clapped my palms upon Gwen’s face, calling to her -wildly to close her eyes. I gathered her to my bosom—and oh, the ecstasy -of it, even in that desperate stress—and stammered incoherently of the -fatal trap that lay in that unwinking gaze. She was content enough to -bury her face in the folds of my loose jacket, and thus for a moment we -stood shuddering. Fidget crept and fawned shiveringly about Gwen’s -skirts. - -I kicked my foot against an object on the floor. It was the tin of -mustard Gwen had been carrying when she started on that mad race down -the boulders. It was new and shining, just out of store. I held it -before my face to look at the reflection therein. - -Finding his efforts unavailing, the Monster was drawing his head back -into the outer part of the cave, relaxing his tense glare. We turned to -face him. He curved his neck into a half-circle, his great throat -muscles working with swallowings. Then with a sudden dart he flung it -out upon us, gaping wide his mouth. - -With a rasp and a roar his breath burst upon us, and upon the wall of -rock at our back, hissing stridently like a gale through taut rigging. -It beat us back almost irresistibly in the return draught, thrusting us -out from the back of the cave toward his waiting lips. For one desperate -moment we swayed in that noisome gust, and my free arm—for one still -encircled Gwen’s waist—whirled in the air frantically as I braced myself -to meet it. But as its first strength died down I flung myself with Gwen -upon the ground, and grasping at a ledge hung on with despair’s own -grip. - -In the case of Fidget the Monster’s wile defeated his object. The -back-swirl of his breath whisked the little dog like a leaf past the -lowering head and on into the outer cleft. With a sound half bark, half -squeal, she leaped upon the unwieldy body before the neck could coil -itself out of the inner cave. We heard her yapping pass swiftly out -among the boulders, and die away up the empty lake-side. - -There was the thud of a bullet on the thick hide, and the crack of a -rifle followed smartly on the shot. A flake or scale of parchmenty skin -floated past the cave mouth, and rustled slowly into the depths below; -not by so much as the flicker of an eyelid did the brute show that he -had felt anything. Another shot followed, with the same result. They -clattered on—above a score of them—but they worried him no more than the -buzzings of mosquitoes. Finally one must have hit a wart-like -excrescence on his shoulder. A lump about the size of my fist fell with -a flop upon the stones, glanced ruddily for a second, and bounced on -into the depths below. But it left a tell-tale smear upon the granite, -and scarlet drops trickled down the hanging neck, dripping in a small -pool at the threshold of the cave. Yet the Monster lay unheeding, and we -began to gasp with the unutterable murkiness of his breathing, which -filled the air. - -At Gwen’s request I passed her the tin of mustard, and she held it like -a smelling-bottle to her nostrils, to get relief from the disgusting -fog. We began to pass it backward and forward to one another, and it was -then that an inspiration—I think I may justly call it that—flashed into -my brain. - -With the tin in my hand I turned to face the great head again, waiting -till the thin lips parted in one of their deep-drawn breaths. Then I -tossed my missile accurately toward the open jaws, and like a flash of -crimson the gums gaped wide and the yellow teeth closed upon it. For a -single instant we saw it gleam brightly between them. - -There was a scrunch and a grinding sound among the great fangs, and then -the yellow powder sank bitingly into the saliva. The brute opened his -mouth, and a bellow pealed out of the strained throat, enveloping us in -a volume of merciless sound and hot, putrid air. The long pink tongue -slavered and twisted between the burning gums, showing ruddy streaks -where the metal had gashed it. In one such ragged wound a remnant of the -bright tin was still sticking; the flaming paste of powder and saliva -was filling the torn veins with agony. - -He dashed his head desperately from side to side, slamming it on the -hard rock sides of the cavern. His unearthly screams threatened to burst -our ear-drums. He beat the air with his great clumsy foot, and we could -hear the thunderous boom of his great tail against the timbers of the -ship. - -Finally with the swiftness of an escaping bird the tortured head fled -out of the cave mouth, and we heard his great carcass drag and rustle -from the cleft. The blessed sunlight began to flow down to us again, and -the filthy stench began to fade. - -I let go my grip upon the rock, and, more unwillingly, my encirclement -of Gwen’s waist. I looked inquiringly into her eyes as I helped her up. -She staggered as she rose, and for one delightful moment clung to me. I -felt that mere courtesy bade me tender again my support, and so for two -or three delicious seconds we stood. Then she found her voice and the -ghost of a smile. - -“I think you’re quite the cleverest person I ever met,” she said -gratefully. “How on earth did you come to think of the mustard?” - -“I really haven’t the least idea,” said I honestly. “His mouth was there -and I had the tin in my hand. It seemed the most natural thing in the -world to throw it in. The effect was more than I dared to hope for.” - -She drew herself unostentatiously away from my arm as she spoke, and -leaned against the rocks behind her. - -“Well,” she remarked, “we’ve saved poor little Fidget, at any rate. Even -if we’re doomed to be devoured we shall have the satisfaction of knowing -that.” - -“We!” said I rebukingly. “Should _I_ ever have been such a -sentimentalist as to risk a horrible death for a dog?” - -“I rank above Fidget in your opinion then, as you have chosen to -accompany me into this trap. You do me too much honor,” and she bowed to -me charmingly. - -I couldn’t quite command myself to answer this in any ordered phrase, -but I suppose the expression on my face must have spoken. At any rate -Gwen blushed delightfully, and continued rather hurriedly, “Don’t you -think we might make a run for it now?” - -“I’ll reconnoitre,” said I, “and see if he’s really taken himself off or -not.” - -I climbed gingerly out of the cleft, and very cautiously raised my head -above the edge. No, by no manner of means was he gone. He was lying -about fifty yards away, banging his head upon the ground and lashing the -boulders with his tail; some of them were smitten to splinters as I -watched. His mouth still dripped yellow saliva, and his teeth were -meeting with resounding cracks. His tongue still lapped itself about his -tortured lips, and in his agony he rolled over, writhing upon his back -and beating his four great limbs convulsively toward the sky. Lumps of -his scaly skin were scattered about on the granite as feathers scatter -from a shot bird. His nails clattered as they swept an overhanging mass -of granite in one of their aimless gyrations. Finally there was one last -angry flurry of legs and tail, and he rolled back upon his belly; his -horny eyelids closed; his head sank wearily upon his fore-arms. - -As I turned to tell Gwen I kicked a stone beside me. It fell with a -metallic clang, and in a moment the green eyes were open and staring at -me. He lifted his head, and his huge limbs began to shove his carcass -back toward me. There was a revengeful glare in those baleful eyes, and -I popped back into the cleft like a rabbit into his burrow. - -I heard him come dragging along above. Then, looking up, I saw the thin -snout just overlap the edge and lie still. Evidently he was settling -down to his sentinelship. Afraid of another dose of the biting pain we -had inflicted, he did not dare to venture his head again into our cave. -He meant to starve us out. - -Gwen looked up hopefully as I returned, but I had to shake my head at -her glance of inquiry. - -“No good just at present, I’m afraid. He’s like the hosts of Midian, -prowling and prowling around.” - -“Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. But I do wish we’d had something a -little more nutritious than mustard, useful as it’s been. I’m simply -starving. It’s more than lunch-time by half-an-hour.” - -“That can be arranged,” said I airily. “I’ll nip up the other side of -the ship and get aboard. I can get hold of plenty of stuff in the -pantry.” - -“As if I should allow it for a moment. I forbid it absolutely,” and she -brought her little foot with a stamp upon the rock floor. - -I still edged toward the cave mouth, explaining that the danger was -practically nil, though well did I know the contrary. Still a man can’t -sit still to watch a particularly sweet woman starve, even if he has to -risk a bit to bring her victual. - -“I cannot stand the ignominy of starvation,” I assured her, “not to -mention the discomfort.” - -She came toward me with her eyes so sweetly appealing that I felt sick -with temptation. “If you go,” she said almost tearfully—there really was -a humid look in her blue eyes—“I shall simply die of fright. I won’t be -left alone.” - -I hesitated and was lost. She put her hand upon my sleeve, and looked up -searchingly into my face. “Please, please, please, don’t go. I really am -very frightened.” - -Goodness knows what I should have done next. Probably taken her in my -arms and sworn neither to leave her then nor ever again, regardless of -Denvarre or any question of mere honor. But fate took matters out of my -hand. - -The brute above us gave a hiccough; I believe he meant it for a sneeze, -but as a minor explosion of sorts it might have held up its head with -cordite cartridges or an oil motor-car. Gwen, whose nerves were, as you -may imagine, a trifle beyond control by now, gave a cry and fled into my -arms, which opened of themselves to receive her. And so for a minute we -stood silent and listening, while my pulses rioted within me. - -After a moment or two we were aware that the fœtid odor of the great -Beast was being overpowered by a resistless smell of sulphur. This was -doubtless giving our friend a sore throat, and titillating his nostrils. -I hoped devoutly that the unpleasantness of it would be too much for -him. He snorted once or twice again, and then a faint steam began to -rise from the depths, as I had seen it do in the morning. Far below us I -could hear the faint lap of water upon the stones. - -Then a horrible fear took possession of me. The water was rising, hot -from some volcanic spring. Shortly it would gurgle out at our feet and -flood our refuge. Then we should have the necessity before us of -deciding whether we would drown—or perchance be parboiled—or step -resignedly into the jaws of the Monster outside. - -I looked fixedly at Gwen as these terrors hunted each other through my -brain, and I suppose my thoughts shadowed out upon my face. - -She turned her eyes to mine as I held her, looking questioningly at me, -as if she would read my very soul. A sob and gurgle from the rising -water sounded out bell-like and clear, moaning distinctly across the -silence. I knew by the shudder that ran through her that she was -realizing what must happen when it lapped up to us. Her face fell upon -my breast; her hands rose tremblingly to my shoulders; so for a few -moments we stood, and silence hung between us. - -The white clouds of steam began to weave and whirl fantastically across -the mouth of the cave. The warm, damp air played about us. The suck and -splash of the waters sounded ever nearer and clearer from below. Above -we could hear the wheeze and the occasional gasp of the watching -Monster, and his feet moved restlessly, sending down showers of little -stones into the abyss, where they no longer clattered into emptiness, -but fell with splashings into the growing flood. Then a thrill pulsed -through the rocks, and we could feel the sickening heave and roll of the -earth as a new eruption shook the crater. In a second or two the roar of -it came dully down to us, drowning the sound of the rifle shots which -still pattered at intervals on the rocks, or thudded on that -sensationless hide. - -Finally the water rose to view, creeping with slow, silent tide up the -rocks, gaining inch by inch upon the sides of the cleft. A wreath of -steam hung mistily upon its surface. I bent and touched it with my -finger. It was warm—about eighty degrees I should imagine—but not -unbearable. - -I stepped again to the cave mouth and peered up. The cruel snout still -projected over the edge above, waiting, waiting remorselessly. As I -watched the triangular head moved forward a space, and, turning -sideways, looked down at me with hot, revengeful eyes. I stepped back -into the shadow of the cave, and down flashed the head, hanging in -eager, swaying motion before us, gloating for the moment when we should -be thrust out to it by the rising flood. - -I slushed back to the end of the cave—the water was now at our knees—and -took Gwen in my arms, shielding the gruesome sight from her with my -breast. She drooped into my embrace again, trembling, but with a little -thankful sigh for companionship in this last desperate pang. - -“It’ll soon be over,” I said as steadily as I could, while my hand -brushed her hair smoothingly. “Just a little struggle, and then a dream -that carries you right across the border, and—and I shall be there to -meet you. Do you see, dear?” - -I had no right to call her dear, I know, she being Denvarre’s and not -mine, but it was the last time, and, poor little soul, she wanted -comfort for the last wrench. She looked up at me, and I could see that -her lips were parched and dry, though there was a curious light shining -in her eyes. - -“Is there no chance at all?—are you sure?” she whispered, and for all -the horror that was closing down upon us, a smile shone in her eyes. - -“None, I fear,” said I; “but—but I don’t think it’ll be bad—people who -have been nearly drowned say that——” - -“Ah, I don’t mean that. Only I wanted to tell you before the end—I meant -to tell you in any case, but it’s easier now. Vi only found out this -morning that mother had led you to think that we had accepted those -two—but—but it isn’t so. Lord Denvarre asked me, but I told him I didn’t -think I possibly could—only—he wanted me to wait six months and see—and -then we met again, and—I knew—then——” But my lips upon hers stayed her, -and my arms went fiercely about her again. - -“My darling, my darling,” I cried, “and I thought you’d forgotten me -utterly, and taken Denvarre for all he could bring you. And now, -sweetheart, now—oh, my God,” I groaned, “what can I do, what can I do?” - -Her voice was quite steady, and she leaned forward to put her face up to -mine. “Then you still want me, dear,” she whispered. “Well, I’m yours -till—till the end,” and a tiny sob shook her voice for a moment. “But I -want a gift from you before we part, my darling,” and she touched my -cheek with a little soft caress. - -“A gift?” I stared back into her eyes, devouring with hungry gaze the -sweet face that was mine, only to be lost to me again. - -“Yes, dear. You have your revolver.” - -[Illustration: - - “IT’LL SOON BE OVER,” I SAID.... - - _Page 296._ -] - -I thrust her back from me wildly. My God, how could she ask it? I, to -send the bullet into that dear heart that beat for me. I, to give her -death, who longed with every passionate impulse of my being to give her -life, who would have perilled not only my unworthy body but my very soul -to save her pain. The thought of it was more than could be borne; the -doing of it—Merciful God! it was impossible. - -“_Please_, my darling. I should only struggle when the last moment came, -and fight out into his jaws.” She pressed back close to me again, -looking up at me with a pleading that was terrible. “Just one embrace, -my own, and then——” and her hands rose round my neck, and for one -delicious instant her dear lips pressed passionately against mine. Then, -with a little triumphant smile she drew back, and repeated quietly, -“Now, dear.” - -The water was at my shoulders, and it was only by holding Gwen tightly -to me that I kept her face above the surface. There was but a bare three -inches between my pistol hand and the roof. I looked at the cartridges -with some faint hope that they might be wetted, and that this last -terrible duty might be yet taken from me. But the brass cases had held -only too well. I raised my revolver, pointing it downward, and looked -into those dear eyes. Her eyelids drooped as the steel barrel shone, and -I felt her fingers tighten upon my arm. The water was at my lips, but -with one supreme effort I raised her to me. One last look into the -dearest face in all the world—one last kiss—one touch of that golden -hair—then—— - -Crash—crash—crash—outside was a grating roar, and caught by the rising -tide the ship surged forward. The bulge of it swung against the cave -mouth, and in an instant caught and gripped the pendant neck, sawing and -grinding its flesh against the jagged edges. The prisoned head in its -agony beat frantically against the surface, and the water shot right and -left in angry ripples as the breath of the Monster’s scream burst upon -it. - -The revolver dropped from my hand. I snatched Gwen to me, and dived into -the hot, turbid flood—down beneath the struggling head, down beneath the -ship’s keel, out into the warm stillness of the cleft beyond. - -Gasping and choking from our sudden immersion I dragged my darling over -the edge, and half-led, half-carried her up the rocky slope, leaving a -long wet drip upon the granite. The enraged and baffled yelling of the -captured Beast rang out piercingly among the cliff echoes; the lashings -of his great tail smote upon the empty hold of the ship as upon a drum. -In his vain attempts to draw his neck from the trap he drove and spurred -at the boulders frantically, and the clatter of his long nails upon the -pebbles sounded like the scratchings of some monstrous cat. - -Our clothes were sodden and heavy, and our nerves unstrung from terror -and excitement. We were in no condition for a swift escape. My own state -of mind I can in nowise describe, such a confusion of fright and ecstasy -raged therein. Firstly, the horrors of a hideous death still hung over -us, though for the moment passed by. My pulses still tingled with the -sick despair of that last terrible moment. Death had been my betrothal -gift to my love—death to save her from agony. Another second, and she -would have received it at my hand. Thank God that there are few who can -realize the æons of torture that swelled into those few instants of -good-bye. Death was still at our backs, and might follow hard upon our -footsteps, but I was so uplifted in the knowledge of my darling’s love, -and in learning that no point of honor stood between us, that I scarce -gave a thought to remembering that we might yet stand together in the -Valley of the Shadow. - -Up the slope we toiled, and very like one of those terrible hills that -we climb in dreams did it appear. Gwen clung to me desperately, her dear -eyes hunted and shining with affright. Her knees trembled—she strove to -run, but her dripping skirts caught her limbs and made her stumble. - -Still up we reeled, the pebbles spinning from our unsteady feet, the -smooth rock silt churning to mud upon our shoes. From above came cries -of encouragement, and from the heights I seemed to see dark forms speed -down toward us. Another crash echoed from behind. I threw a quick glance -across my shoulder. The _Racoon_ was slanting back from the cave mouth, -and the Monster was free. I saw him turn and crawl slowly from the pool -in which the ship was beginning to right herself and sit swan-like. - -He lifted his head, and I saw the blood flow in streams from his gashed -throat. It steamed as it made puddles upon the cold rocks. He sniffed -the breeze. Then his evil eyes settled their stare in our direction. The -huge body began to waddle and slide toward us. - -I caught Gwen up in my arms and fled upward, terror thrusting me on. She -gave one gasp of protest; then she settled into my embrace with a little -sigh of relief as she nestled to me. So the race for life began. - -I ran almost unseeingly, the great pulses throbbing and thrumming in my -bosom. Now and again I stumbled; once I nearly fell. Gwen’s arm came -with a jolt against a boulder top. I cursed my awkwardness, hurrying on -and trying to pick my way amongst the great, loose lumps more carefully. -Some rubble gave beneath my feet. I rolled over sideways; somehow—though -how I can’t say myself—I managed to fall upon my elbows and save my -burden from harm. I rocked up to my feet, and saw as in a dream the -cliff-foot two hundred yards away, and upon it the forms of men who ran -toward me. - -I turned my face over my shoulder again. The Brute was a short -half-furlong away—his tongue lolling from his wide expectant jaws. He -strained his neck toward us, his eyes aglint; he seemed almost to trot -rather than waddle in his greedy haste. Determination and despair drove -me forward as with a goad; I panted with the horror of his oncoming. - -Above me sat Garlicke, rifle in hand, breaking the clean outline of the -ridge against the sky. The rifle was silhouetted thin and delicate as a -needle against the brightness. A spurt of blue smoke burst from the -muzzle, and the crack of it rang across the hollow. I heard a thud as -the bullet struck the mass of hungry desire behind me, and glanced again -quickly, hoping for effect. A red weal shone upon one of the horny -eyelids. He stopped, blinking stupidly, and half-stunned by the shock. -But the ball had not penetrated, and with a puzzled swinging of the -wounded neck he resumed his scrambling, ungainly gait. - -Still a hundred yards, and my eyes grew dizzy. A red mist seemed to -close upon them, which, lifting now and again, showed me surrounding -objects defined as on the slides of a magic lantern. My breath rasped -with such a wheezing whistle that I looked wonderingly to see whence the -sound could come. My arms were like wire ropes, strained to the -breaking. My legs shuffled painfully under me. I felt the strength going -out from me as water leaks from an unbunged cask. The sound of -Garlicke’s shots struck fainter and fainter upon my ears. I stumbled -again, and only saved myself from plunging forward by an instinctive -straightening of my shoulders. The sunlight was shadowing to a night—a -black darkness that could be felt. - -Then, dimly, a familiar voice broke upon my ears; I was conscious of a -hand seizing my arm; of some one struggling with me for Gwen. Yet, -thought I, we will die together. Then the friendly hand, leaving this -useless striving, dragged me forward; behind me some unseen power was -thrusting me with mad shoves up the Titan steps of the cliff face. -Suddenly came clearness of vision, and I knew Denvarre and Gerry, who -were hauling and jerking me up the crevices of our rock of defence. Gwen -was still in my arms, and below, the great monster scrabbled at the -cliff-foot, reaching up his neck in raging, ravenous disappointment. - -So, Denvarre dragging and Gerry butting like some benevolent goat, from -niche to niche I stumbled with my burden, the little stones rattling -down in their thousands upon the Beast below. Upon the top I staggered -forward into the shelter of the tarpaulin, and laid Gwen down upon the -rocky floor. Then, in the sudden impulse of her love, and in her -revulsion from that great dread, she flung her arms about me as I -stooped over her, and before them all kissed me on the lips. And who was -I that I should not kiss back once and again? - -So my love and I came to an understanding, and sealed our betrothal as -the shadow of death passed from us—passing as a cloud when the breeze is -strong and out leaps the sun; while above us the mountain still belched -fire and molten stone, and below the Beast prowled, and sought hungrily -for our blood. And I take it that never have man and maid plighted troth -in stranger circumstance. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - A WONDROUS BREACHING OF THE WALL - - -A good man all through is Denvarre, as I said before, and like a good -man he took the failure of his hopes. And they had never been anything -more. For as he explained to me, when we had changed our dripping -clothes and joined the others on the cliff-top, he had no knowledge of -Lady Delahay’s very distorted rendering of the situation. And he shook -my hand and looked me straight in the eyes, and then, like the gentleman -he was, went away to leave my sweetheart and me to say all we had to say -to each other behind a ledge of rock that screened us from the others. -And he took with him my unstinted admiration and esteem. - -My future mother-in-law was in no condition for the exchanging of ideas -or reproaches. The horrors of the situation crowded her understanding, -leaving no room for such trivialities as the arrangement of her -daughter’s welfare. Apathetically she took the plain statement I thought -it only my duty to render to her, making no remark thereon save that -“Nothing mattered when we should all be dead before the day was out.” -And to this pessimistic view of the situation we had perforce to leave -her, while we all waited for what should betide us at the hand of fate. - -[Illustration: - - A RED STORM OF LAVA DASHED IN A CLOUD OF STEAM TO THE FAR END OF THE - LAKE. - - _Page 305._ -] - -In the corner apart Gwen and I held each the other’s hand, and sought -each other’s eyes. And in the bliss that was mine I thanked God, nearly -sparing a blessing for the great Beast who still prowled below, for how -but for him should I have come into my kingdom of delight? So in -happiness that even the great smoke pall could not overshadow we sat to -watch the day die, and the blood-red glow of the mountain wax scarlet on -the dark cloud above us, while the pulse of the undying fires vibrated -across the heavens after each succeeding roar and shudder of the melting -rocks. - -As we watched the travail of the hills, across the edge of the crater -where it was lowest in the lap of the peak, a thin line showed. Faint it -was at first, then thickening to a broad scarlet, where the range of -ringing rocks dipped lowest. For seconds it hung there, a red bar of -palpitating, blood-like flame. Then with a roar it broke over the -barrier and swept on headlong down the spur of the hill, engulfing the -smaller rocks, and laving the bases of the larger ones that stemmed its -current island-like. - -After the first mad burst the roaring spate of fire slowed on a slighter -slope; then rolled massively, grimly down upon the glacier head through -the vale of granite. As the lava drained to the bottom level of the rent -in the crater the flow lessened. Finally it ceased. Ere half-a-mile of -the distance between the orifice and the glacier had been covered the -crimson glow began to fade. The surface of the flood dulled to a dark -crimson, then to a living blackness as of velvet. The crest of the -advancing flood sank down sluggishly and stayed, its bosom curving -menacingly, the advance guard of an army irresistible. - -A flaring pillar of flame-dyed, guttering stone shot skyward again, the -splashes of it thudding about us heavily. One molten lump, stiffening as -it fell, smote on our tarpaulin roof, slashing through it to the stone -floor. A shriek went up from Lady Delahay as she shrank back from its -still living glow, and the tarpaulin burst into sudden flame. A dozen -willing hands tore it down and wrapped it together, smothering the fire -in the folds. Poor little Fidget—utterly cowed by terror fast following -on terror—came slinking toward me, and nestling in between Gwen and -myself, hid her little nose deferentially in my sleeve. My darling gave -her a little friendly pat, and I cuddled the little dog gratefully -myself. But a shudder followed fast on the caress as I thought of what -might have been when she had been kicking and screaming in that -death-trap in the cleft. - -We peered down at the Beast. He was still rambling restlessly about, -snuffling now and again at the cliff-foot, aimlessly pawing and -snatching at the boulders that banked the rock face. Once just below us, -where the sheer crag melted into a more slanting angle, he rose clumsily -upon his hind limbs, leant forward, and stretched his head toward us, -pricking out his long tongue. As it licked across his lips the jag of -broken tin flashed redly in the glow, and we could hear it grate as his -teeth closed. - -His head reached up to within forty yards of us as he swarmed against -the cliff, and Garlicke aimed carefully for his eye. The bullet only -grazed the unscarred eyebrow, giving it a curious uniformity with the -other one. The brute merely blinked impatiently as the ball thudded on -the shell-like lid, but did not twitch a muscle. As it splayed out its -feet on the bank of loose stones, seeking purchase to strain higher, the -rubble gave way, and it rolled back with a thump upon its side. Its -green belly shone a loathsome pink in the glare from above, and for a -moment it lay prone, its great legs kicking convulsively. Then with an -effort it righted itself, and crawled sulkily away to resume its -sentinelship at the cliff-foot. It continued to ramble to and fro -unceasingly, casting ever greedy eyes at us, the hideous snout lifted to -the breeze, the long tongue lolling from between the yellow teeth. - -Down in the hollow a growing sheet of water spread. On it the ship -floated lopsided and aimlessly. Long widening ripples welled from where -the cleft was submerged, and a steam-cloud was hazy upon the surface. -The hull was all untrue upon its keel with the shifting of the ballast, -and as the ripples swung her, drifted in slow circles. With her lost -topmast she looked like nothing so much as a wounded wild duck. The fire -glow gave the increasing water the effect of blood issuing from a wound -in the bosom of earth. On it were reflected crimson throbs from the arch -of ruddy fog; they were as pulses across an opened vein. - -Another quiver rocked our pyramid of granite, and the glacier was riven -across. The following roar gushed down to us deafeningly. The lane -showed dark and mysterious across the ice-field, clean cut as by an axe -blow, and this new-made cañon ran with scarce an obstacle nearly to the -foot of our refuge. We seemed to get a vision, swift and fleeting as a -lightning flash, of the hidden mysteries of the ice. I could have -declared I saw the yellow _facade_ of the buried temple show up against -a black background of rock. Then as the flying lava sank back again into -the bath of fire, darkness closed over this half-seen apparition. - -Once again the red bar glowed across the dip in the crater brim. For one -tense moment it hovered, and then crashed down upon its dying -forerunner, covering it anew with living fire. Along this smoothed path -it rushed headlong, leaped down from the lava crest upon the stones, and -rolled with measured grandeur down the groove the earthquake had riven. -Blocks of ice, fallen from the glacier sides, lay in its course and were -swallowed in a moment. Like the roar of a bursting shell the steam -bubbles smashed to the surface, and floated up in white circling clouds -to lose themselves in the fog above. Unhalting the torrent ran, -engulfing all before it; stones, ice, and the rock itself disappeared. -Then in slow-growing blackness it stayed, sank and died, even as its -predecessor. But this time the wave reached to the end of the fissure, -and the heat of it beat up to us, lapping us in a bath of sultry, -stifling air. - -The Beast shifted his sentry walk uneasily, stretching out his neck -toward the lava wall, and snouting at the warm draught suspiciously. For -a moment he seemed to waver. His nostrils dilated curiously. Then he -glanced toward the rising lake, and we thought he would give over his -seeking for our lives. As he hesitated, now looking lakeward, now -peering up to us, another crash resounded from the mountain. Like the -tearing of a sheet of paper the glacier cañon split further shoreward, -and opened beneath his very feet. Half his bulk rolled into the cleft -thus riven; his tail and one hind limb disappeared. Slipping and -spurring frantically he managed to support himself on his huge elbows, -but lost ground with every rock of the shuddering earth. The cleft -yawned, then half closed again. Thus as in a vice he was held, his leg -and tail mangled in the nip of the fissure. He looked like some -stupendous stoat caught in a gigantic gin. - -The bellow of his agony pierced even above the thunderous roll of the -mountain. The blood spurted from his sides, bathing them in a darker -tinge than the flame glow. His fore-feet beat and thudded on the stones, -sweeping them into ridges with the convulsions of his agony. He swung -his neck across his shoulders, tearing rabidly at his wounds. - -The sight was almost too much for human eyes. Gwen had already buried -hers against my coat. The breathing of the sailors behind me grew -stertorous, as their chests rose and fell in unconscious sympathy. -Speech was taken from us by a very paralysis of horror. But worse was to -come. - -The fiery matter that fevered the volcano burst forth again. Again the -mountain shuddered, belching forth its flames. Down the dead waves -another living torrent rushed, roared in the deep channel through the -glacier, and foamed—yes, foamed—into the widening split. A scream, -anguish-born and like the crowded wails of ten thousand souls in -torment, rose from the prisoned Beast. A pungent, choking smell of -roasting flesh rose up to us. Then the red tide flowed on over the -charred carrion, and burst asunder again; a gout of steaming gas shot -up, sole remnant of the tissues of that enormous carcass. The stream -touched and laved lightly at our refuge. Then slowly it dimmed, and the -velvet surface grew up on it again. The current halted and grew still. -Its force was spent. - -The heat beat up to us scorchingly. We felt, but saw it not. Our faces -were averted, and nausea had us by the throat. As the great Beast had -died, so might we come to die, and that right soon. The realization of -the matter was more than we could see and not blench. For some -half-minute no one spoke, and dread hung over us thick as the cloud of -cinder dust that filled the sky. - -As I raised my eyes again to look on the things of earth, a broad line -showed across the seaward cliffs that hedged us in. It increased visibly -as I stared at it, and I knew that again the cliffs were rending between -the sea and the growing pool. I leaned across and touched Janson on the -shoulder, pointing silently. As he too caught sight of the rift the -light of hope grew across his haggard face. - -“If it cuts down to the sea——” he muttered, glancing to where our ship -and the little launch wandered masterlessly about among the steam -wreaths. He turned to me and pointed to them. - -“Let’s get aboard, my lord. It’s only a hundred to one chance, but it -might widen and give channel. Here’s only quick roasting, at any rate.” - -“How about the propeller-shaft?” I queried sadly. “We shan’t be able to -get steam on her.” - -“That’s no matter,” he said, shaking his head impatiently. “We can get -steam in the launch for a tow, or if that takes too long, ten oars in -one of the boats would shift her, lopsided as she is.” - -“Who’s to board her, Mr. Janson? It means swimming.” - -“I can if nobody else will, but I’ll give Rafferty the job. He’s a fine -swimmer,” and he beckoned to the boatswain. - -“Board the launch,” quoth Janson to him curtly, “and bring her ashore.” - -Rafferty made no remark on this terse order, but slipped quickly down -the ledges that led to the rocks below. He kicked off his boots, dropped -his jacket upon the stones, and poising his hands above his head, sprang -like a dart into the still pool. There was scarcely a splash as he -struck the surface, but he rose almost instantly in a circle of foam, -while a shrill yell of agony burst from his lips. He threshed -desperately back to the shore, still screaming horribly. - -Howling and cursing, he flung himself upon the stones, and, oblivious of -all considerations of modesty, tore off his clothes. He apostrophized -every saint in the Catholic calendar. He squirmed, he bellowed, and -believing him struck with sudden madness we raced toward him, utterly at -fault to find explanation of this sudden explosion. But as we drew near -our eyes soon found a cause. - -The unfortunate seaman was red as any lobster. His skin was blistered -and parboiled. It hung, as he himself explained in no uncertain voice, -“in tathers and shtrips.” The waters of the rising lake had scalded him -horribly. - -We caught the unfortunate seaman as he wriggled upon the cool stones, -and wrapped him in our coats. One of the men ran back for our blankets, -nothing, as I well knew, being so dangerous for him as exposure to the -air. What he needed most was thick coverings and oil. But, -unfortunately, the whole stock of the latter was aboard the ship. - -In this extremity the long black bulk of the stranded whale beneath the -cliff caught my eye. It was no time for discussion. Gerry and I snatched -up the kicking mariner, and bore him loudly complaining toward the -carcass. We hacked great greasy lumps from its reeking sides, and then, -as the blankets arrived, packed the victim tightly in this carrion, -twisting the folds of blanket round the layers of blubber. So, muttering -condemnation on all and sundry, and sniffing most melancholiously as the -stench of the putrid wrapping filled his nostrils, we set him down, -while we devised other means of reaching the ship across the steaming -lake. - -The launch was now only about sixty yards away, turning slowly as the -ripples rose from the centre of the pool. One of the sailors produced a -ball of string. To one end of this we tied a sizable pebble, and Gerry, -who is a noted man at throwing the cricket ball, managed after some -half-dozen attempts to land the stone in the bottom of the boat. Careful -tugs brought her ashore, and in less than a minute we were aboard the -ship. - -I ran forward and knotted a loose rope to the foremast. Then, taking the -slack, we jumped back into the boat, and bent our backs to the oars. -Ever so slowly the ship got way and followed us, till the grating of the -keel against the shallows told us she could come no further. We looked -at the cleavage of the rocks. We saw with gladness that it had widened -yet more, for the blue horizon line of ocean shone distinct across it, -and the peaks of the nearer bergs jutted up into the vista. The others -who had watched us from the heights now began to descend the granite -stairway. - -In straggling procession, the sailors weighed down with our surplus -stores, they joined us as we strained upon the rope. The ladies were -quickly ferried across the few yards between the rocks and the ship, and -some of us tossed the various impedimenta aboard, while half-a-dozen ran -back up the rocks to collect all leavings. Then, dumping everything -anyhow upon the deck, we got a strong crew of six in one of the boats, -hoisted the launch aboard, and gradually got the bows turned cliffward. - -The waters were still gushing up and widening upon the basin, the -circling eddies helping our towers as they dragged us tediously toward -the cleft. The shocks from the mountain came with greater frequency, -making the pool shiver into tiny surges that fled across it, to break in -ripples on the further shore. Another of the peaks toppled and fell with -a resounding crash. - -The fissure began to disappear amid the cloud of low-hung steam, and it -was with difficulty we steered our course for it. A sudden outcry from -the boat that strained ahead made us aware that we were forging with all -the powers of six stout oars straight at an opening that was yet a dozen -feet above tide-level. It was only by the smartness of the boat’s crew, -who doubled sharply in their tracks and snatched a rope flung to them -from our stern, that we escaped inglorious shipwreck. They tugged -lustily in the contrary direction and managed to stop the ship’s way. -Then, having us more or less motionless, they rested on their oars, and -we floated aimlessly, waiting further developments, for the fissure -still widened. - -We were silent, for the awe and anxiety of our position kept us -tongue-tied, and every one was on deck. The sailors fidgeted up and -down, now and again shifting perfunctorily some of the heaped confusion -of the decks, but stopping every minute to gaze inquiringly at the peak, -as roar after roar and shock after shock swept down from it. We were -like malefactors awaiting execution, but hoping desperately against hope -for a reprieve. - -Then a thunderous boom, fifty times louder than any that had preceded -it, broke from the bosom of the hill. The pinnacles swayed, tottered, -and bowed earthward; not one but was swept from its base. A red storm of -lava surged boiling over the crater brim, swelled in a torrent down the -channel through the heart of the glacier, and dashed in a cloud of steam -into the far end of the lake. A vapor mist, impenetrable as a desert -sandstorm, closed over the waters, but ere it fell we saw a huge -threatening wave uprise and swing across at us in fury irresistible. -Behind it was all the impact force of the fiery mass, but long ere it -reached us the fog rolled down and shut us in in its warm gray veil. - -A rending crash broke from the cliff in front, and the cold, hungry -ocean came clamoring through, beating upon the outcharging tide. For -some furious seconds our ship plunged and reared among the fighting -billows like a restive horse. Then from the boat came a cry as the -pursuing wave reached her and flung boiling spray upon the men. Like a -toy she was raised and flung toward us. The wall of water struck with a -thud below our stern, and thrust us, bow forward, at the gap. Swifter -than paddle or screw could have borne us we sped upon the crest, driving -straight into the new reft opening. - -A gasp went up from every throat, and not one of us but breathed a -prayer. Two seconds more and the dark walls were flashing by on each -side. Then with a dying effort the great wave flung us far out into the -ice-bestrewed main, diffusing itself up the long lanes of floating berg, -roaring and clanging amid the splinters of the floe. - -Spinning on yet before that mighty impulse, lopsided, with ballast -adrift, with fore-topmast gone and propeller-shaft broken, we fled forth -from our prison, dragging the boat astern with her bows out of the -water, and from boat and ship alike went up a mighty cheer of -deliverance as the great crags faded into the steam-cloud behind us. And -so did we accomplish our marvellous escape. - -As the great surge sank to ripples, we sprang to work, full of the -energy of relief and gratitude. Some set to right our littered decks, -some descended into the hold to replace the shifted ballast, while -Eccles, debarred from work by his broken collar-bone, stood over his -subordinates and admonished them with many a good Glasgow expletive to -seek drills to rivet a collar on the split propeller. Rafferty from -between his oily compresses roared curses and commands at the -deck-hands, and all, crew and passengers, were busy as best they knew -how. And behind the deck-house my love and I found time to seal with a -kiss the promise of new life that had had its birth under the very -Shadow of Death. - -The red glow of the fire-pillar was beginning to pale into the tints of -dawn before we had cleared our deck into any similitude of tidiness. All -night long we toiled, relieving each other in crews of eight at the -towing. For the heat ashore made the breeze beat landward with -aggravating steadiness, and but for persistent effort we should have -drifted back on to the sheer cliffs of the wall, and pounded our timbers -into matchwood on its iron face. - -So wearily the oarsmen toiled and drew the unwilling ship by slow -by-ways amid the herding pack-ice. And down in the engine-room Eccles -sat to swing his sound arm upon the gearing and spit imperious blasphemy -at his underlings, who drilled and drilled again with stiffening -fingers, while forward the carpenter wrestled with a spare spar to raise -anew a topmast. Both on deck and below Rafferty’s nimble tongue reached -and drove the lagging crew. - -Finally with morning came a fair breeze off the land, and getting sail -upon the mizzen we lurched easily along, and the weary towers came -aboard, full of thankfulness and dropping with sleep. Then leaving two -volunteers to steer—Janson and Parsons to wit—we one and all sank down -upon our berths and slept as only those sleep who have labored through -four-and-twenty hours of surpassing terror and excitement. - -It was late in the afternoon ere I reached the deck again, washed, -changed, and looking rather less like a sweep’s apprentice than I had -done twelve hours before. Gwen was pacing to and fro forward, and -delicious it was to watch her from the companion, and to note, with all -the inward glow of love’s proprietorship, the golden curls flutter -against her white forehead. - -She turned as I stepped out into the sunlight, and came and gave me -good-morning with such happy shyness that I entirely lost my head in the -exuberance of my feelings, and took thrice as much as I was offered. -Which sweet felony I might have continued in spite of my lady love’s -admonishings, but for the audible titterings of Gerry and Vi, who were -conducting a similar function on the other side of the deck-house. - -It was not an altogether cordial interview I had with Lady Delahay, but -on my part it was a very determined one. And she was in no condition to -face me boldly. The stress of the last few days had worn her down, and -she made but half-hearted defence of her devious dealings with me, and -after my explanation that the dignity of the Heatherslies was not to be -kept up on an Irish rent-roll alone, was almost kind. At any rate she -saw that further opposition was useless, and wisely considering that it -was well to agree with her son-in-law while she was in the way with him, -gave a consent that was not entirely a grudging one. As yet the -desperate proposals of Vi and Gerry remained untold, and her temper had -not been strained beyond its furthest limits. So I retreated with the -honors of victory thick upon me, and in great peace my love and I went -back to sit together behind the deck-house, and what we said to each -other is no one’s concern but our own. - -For three days the flap of a two-knot breeze was upon our canvas, and we -met occasional berg. But on the fourth morning we woke to an ice-free -horizon, and to the hissing of steam in the boilers; this welcome sound -being soon followed by the sight of a pale wake of screw-churned foam. -Neither Eccles, nor any man who called him master, had had four -consecutive hours of sleep in the last eighty, but thanks to this and to -his Scotch determination, we thenceforward swept our way regardless of -resisting winds. Ten days of half-speed, lest we should strain our -new-spliced shaft, brought us through constant sunshine to within sight -of the Falklands. - -With the R. Y. S. pennant afloat, and black smoke curling from our -funnel we breasted the billows into Port Lewis. As we drew near the land -we were aware of a gallant ship standing out toward us; she too had -fires new-stoked, and her cutwater spurned the foam. At her peak the -white ensign floated, and we knew her for a man-of-war. Suddenly upon -her decks commotion was visible, and the jangle of her engine-room bells -came distinctly across the stillness. As she slowed, a stentorian hail -came from a gesticulating figure on her bridge. - -“_Racoon_, ahoy! Is it yourself then, or a new _Flying Dutchman_? In the -name of heaven, m’lord, how did you get away?” - -It was poor old Waller, and across the intervening sea-lane his face -showed white as the lashed hammocks he stared across. His eyes were -starting from his head. - -A cheer went up in answer from our assembled crew, and joyously I bade -him come aboard to hear our news. In three minutes he was on our decks, -exchanging heartiest of handshakings with us all as we pressed round -him, and pouring out question on question as he surveyed the ship again -unbelievingly. I left him to the care of Gerry and Denvarre, while I -attended to the blue uniformed naval captain who had accompanied him. -This individual I could see was under the impression that Waller had -grossly and impertinently deceived him with a cock-and-bull story of our -sad plight in the desolate regions of the South. - -I gave a hasty _résumé_ of our adventures, leaving detail till the -evening, which we spent with the man-of-war’s men in much jollification. -Waller had been fortunate enough to arrive two days before us, and to -find H. M. S. _Bluebell_ paying her annual visit of inspection. Her -gallant captain had promised to start directly Government stores were -landed, and this promise we had found in the early stages of fulfilment. - -We pledged this good purpose in champagne, and gave him thanks worthy of -the accomplished deed. In the morning we coaled anew, and from the -warship received help of engineers and artificers, who strengthened our -patched propeller and battened down more firmly our ballast. - -In the evening we parted with much esteem and desire for future -foregatherings—we to turn northward and home by the south seas, the -_Bluebell_ setting her course for Buenos Ayres. - -As the day died in the crimson of the sunset, my darling and I stood -beside the taffrail and watched the ruby glories fade. We had just -interviewed Lady Delahay on behalf of Vi and Gerry. With artful devices -had I pictured the latter’s probable career in his profession with my -influence at his back, and desperately had I exaggerated the possible -worth of his share of the Mayan treasure. Denvarre, too, had -magnanimously promised that the whole patronage of the family should be -exerted to gain him _attachéships_ and like lucrative posts. The result -had been a tardy and unwilling, but official, benison of Gerry’s -aspirations, and in the stern the young couple sat hand-in-hand with the -more or less complacent assent of the lady’s mother. - -So in perfected content my love and I stood together in the bow, and saw -the sun sink into the main and the stars rush out into soft splendors -above us. A thousand miles behind us were the terrors of the land of -fire—terrors forgiven, in that they had knit our lives and now loomed -shadowy through a mist of happiness. Our prow was pointing to the -islands of eternal summer; and in our hearts love’s endless summer -reigned. - - - THE END - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - A TENDER LOVE STORY - - BY THE AUTHOR OF - - “ALICE OF OLD VINCENNES” - - - MILLY: - - AT LOVE’S EXTREMES - - - By MAURICE THOMPSON - - Illustrated and Beautifully Bound in Silk Cloth and Gold, $1.50 - -This glowing romance of the South possesses all the fine qualities of -“Alice of Old Vincennes,” with the additional merit of a higher polish -and finish. Indeed, the whole story is full of varied and stirring -individuality and reflects the very highest credit upon its gifted -author. - - - - - A REGULAR DICKENS STORY - - - SAMUEL BOYD - - OF CATCHPOLE SQUARE - - - A Mystery - - - _By_ B. L. FARJEON - - _Illustrated by Edith L. Lang_ - -The Dickens pathos, the Dickens sympathy with the poor and oppressed, -the Dickens hatred of misers, the Dickens love of children, are all -present in the book before us.—_Glasgow Herald._ - - _Bound in silk cloth, $1.25; paper covers, 50c._ - - - - - THE ONE TOO MANY - - _A LOVE STORY_ - - - _By_ MRS. E. LYNN LINTON - - _Illustrated by Edith L. Lang_ - - - TO THE - SWEET GIRLS STILL LEFT AMONG US WHO HAVE NO PART IN THE NEW REVOLT BUT - ARE CONTENT TO BE DUTIFUL, INNOCENT AND SHELTERED - -This is the charming dedication Mrs. Linton gives to her delightful love -story, an illustrated edition of which has just been published by us. -The charm and daintiness of the story is carried out in Miss Lang’s -pictures. 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Cloth, │ - │net, 75c.│ - │ │ - │ │ - │ HASTY PUDDING POEMS │ - │A Collection of Impulsive and Impromptu Verses, including │ - │Repartée in Verse, Envelope Poetry, Rhyming Wills, etc. Cloth, 75c.│ - │ │ - ╞═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╡ - │ NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY │ - │ 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK │ - └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in - spelling. - 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. - 3. 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