The coast line was distant some twenty miles from the village, and about
as far from the ruins of Ophir; it was therefore easily reached within
an hour from the moment of starting, and King Lobelalatutu then had the
mystifying experience of beholding the ladies of the party, accompanied
by Ida, Sir Reginald, Lethbridge, and Colonel Sziszkinski suddenly and
unaccountably appear on the beach below him--having left the ship in
some mysterious and unknown manner--while the professor and Mildmay
remained on board with him, to have the position of the wreck pointed
out to them, and afterwards convey him back to his village and people.
"Now, Lobelalatutu," said the professor, "show us, if you can,
whereabouts the wreck lay, when you last saw it."
The king looked out to seaward, and pointed toward a spot about half a
mile from the shore, where the sea was breaking heavily.
"It was there," he said, "quite close to that end of the white line on
the water."
"Ah!" exclaimed Mildmay. "There is evidently a reef there; and she
fetched up on the southern end of it. We will take a run out there,
Professor, and see whether we can discover any signs of her; after which
we will run our friend, here, back to the bosom of his anxious family."
And therewith, he retired to the pilot-house. The ship then rose to a
height of about five hundred feet into the air, and headed out toward
the southern extremity of the reef, over which she was hovering a few
minutes later, while the professor and Mildmay peered down into the
water below them. At their height above the water it was quite easy to
see down into the depths; and, although the foam of the breakers baffled
them somewhat, they had very little difficulty in tracing the extent and
direction of the reef. For some little time, however, they looked in
vain for any sign of the wreck; but at length Mildmay, pointing downward
at two dark shapeless blotches that could just be distinguished, one on
either side of the reef, remarked--
"That appears to me to be all that is left of her, Professor. And, if
so, she has evidently broken in two and gone down, the one half of her
inside and the other half outside the reef. Whether, however, I am
right in my supposition can only be determined by descending to the
bottom and getting into our diving-suits. And, very fortunately for us,
the water on both sides of the reef appears to be fairly deep, so that,
when we are down there on the sand, we shall not feel the power of the
surf very much. Had she remained on top of the reef I doubt whether it
would have been possible for us to have got near her."
"Quite right, my friend," answered the professor. "No man could keep
his feet among those breakers; we should be helplessly knocked about,
like ninepins. And now, do you wish to see any more, or shall we be off
back to the village?"
"One moment, please," said Mildmay, drawing out his pocket-book. "It
will do no harm to take a set of cross-bearings for the identification
of this spot, and they might be useful in the event of an off-shore wind
springing up, during which it is quite possible that the sea may cease
to break on the reef, in which case we could not very easily find the
wreck unless we happened to have the bearings of her."
He went into the pilot-house accordingly, and took the bearings, having
done which he set the engines in motion, and headed the ship back toward
the village, where she duly arrived about an hour later.
As the professor drew up and stowed away the accommodation ladder by
means of which Lobelalatutu had left the ship he said--
"It has just occurred to me that the present is an excellent opportunity
for us to test our wireless telephones by calling up our friends on the
beach."
And, entering the pilot-house, he went up to the instrument that was
there fixed, and, opening it, laid his finger on one of two small knobs
that it contained. The little bell that formed part of the instrument
at once started ringing--as did a similar bell in every room of the
ship--and so continued for about half a minute, when it ceased for about
two seconds, and then went on again.
"Good!" remarked the professor, removing his finger from the button, and
so stopping the ringing of the bell, as he drew out a small tube and
inserted it's end in one ear; "some one among our friends hears us."