THE DESERTED VILLAGE
Jack's cries were growing fainter and fainter. Peering in through the
branches of the dead tree the professor could see the whip-like limbs
winding closer and closer about the boy.
"I am afraid we will be too late!" he said.
Andy had twisted some paper into a rude torch. He set fire to it with
his pocket lighter, and, when Bill and Mark brought him some little
pieces of dead wood the old hunter added them to his bundle, which was
now blazing brightly.
"How are you going to do it?" asked the professor.
"I'll show you," replied Andy. He bound the sticks and paper together
with wisps of grass and then, when it was so hot he could hardly hold it
longer, he ran as close as he dared to the snake-tree and tossed the
torch at the foot of it.
The blazing bundle fell among some damp leaves and grass, as Andy had
intended it should, and soon a dense smoke arose, pouring straight up
through the branches of the animal-tree, the limbs of which were
gathered in a knot about the half-unconscious form of the boy.
For a few minutes they all waited anxiously. Would Andy's trick succeed?
Had the terrible tree not already squeezed the life from Jack?
But, while they watched, there seemed to come a change over the tree.
The snake-like arms waved less and less. They seemed to straighten out,
as though deprived of power by the smoke which was now so dense as to
hide Jack from sight. Then the arms suddenly relaxed and something
rolled from them and fell to the ground. With a quick movement Andy
darted in, crawling on his hands and knees beneath the limbs, and
brought Jack out. The boy was white and his eyes were closed.
"Get some water!" cried the old hunter.
Mark ran toward a stream a little distance away. He brought some of the
curiously thick liquid in his hat, and while Andy held the boy the
professor sprinkled some of the drops on his face, and forced some
between his lips. In a little while Jack's eyes slowly opened.
"Don't let it eat me!" he begged.
"You're all right now," said Andy heartily. "Not a bit harmed, Jack.
But," he added in a low tone, "it was a close call."
A few whiffs from a bottle of ammonia the professor carried soon brought
Jack's color back.
"Do you feel better now?" asked Mark.
"I guess so. Yes, I'm all right," replied Jack, struggling to his feet.
"What happened? Feels as if I had been tied up with a lot of rope."
"That's about what you were," Andy replied, "only it was the worst kind
of rope I ever saw. Those snake-trees are terrible things. I've read of
'em, but I never saw one before. The book that told of them says they
squeeze their victims to death just as a snake does. The only way to do
is to make some smoke and fire at the bottom. This sort of kills the
branches or makes them stupid and they let go. The trees are half
animal, and awful things. I hope we don't meet with any more."
"Same here," added Jack fervently, as he grasped Andy's hand, and
thanked him for saving his life.
"Do you think you can go on, or shall we return to the ship?" the
professor asked.
"Oh I can trail along, if you move a little slowly," Jack replied. "I'm
a bit stiff, that's all."
So they resumed their journey. They had gone, perhaps, three miles when
Washington, who was in the lead, suddenly stopped and called:
"Sounds like thunder."
The others listened. Sure enough there was a dull rumble and roar
audible. It seemed off to the left, but they could see no clouds in the
sky, nor any signs of a storm.
"Let's take a walk over that way and see what it is," Mr. Henderson
suggested.
As they walked on the noise became louder, until in about half an hour
it was like the sound from a blast furnace.
"What do you suppose it can be?" asked Mark.
"Perhaps some new freak of nature," the professor replied. "We seem to
have a good many of them here."
They were all on their guard now, for there was no telling into what
danger they might run. As they went up a little hill the noise became
much louder. The professor and Andy, who had taken the lead, kept a
sharp lookout ahead, that they might not unexpectedly fall into some
hidden stream or lake. As they topped the hill they saw before them a
deep valley, and in the midst of it was that which was causing the
roaring sound.
From the centre of an immense mound of rock and earth there spouted up a
great column of water, three hundred feet or more, as straight as a flag
staff. It was about ten feet in diameter, and at the top it broke into a
rosette of sparkling liquid, which as the vari-colored lights played on
it, resembled some wonderful flower.
"It's a great geyser!" the professor exclaimed. "We have come to a place
like Yellowstone Park. We must be very careful. The crust may be very
thin here, and let us down into some boiling spring."
The others gathered around the professor, and, from a safe distance
watched the ever rising and falling shaft of water.
It was not regular in motion. Sometimes it would shoot up to a great
distance, nearly a thousand feet, the professor estimated. Again it
would sink down, as the power sending it out lessened, until it was only
a few hundred feet above the rounded top of the mound from which it
spurted. But it never fell below this. All the while there was the
constant roaring sound, as though the forces of nature below the surface
were calling to be let out.
"I hope there are not many of those about," Mr. Henderson remarked after
a pause. "If the ship should hit one during the night it would be all up
with us. We must keep a careful lookout."
The spouting column had a fascination which held them to the spot for
some time. From the hill they had a good view of the surrounding
country, but did not see any more geysers.
"Do you think it is hot water?" asked Mark.
"There is no vapor," the professor answered, "but most of the geysers
are produced by the action of steam in the interior of the earth.
However we'll not take any chances by investigating. I fear it would not
be safe to go into that valley."
"Look there!" cried Andy. "I guess we're better off here!" He pointed a
little to the right of where the water spouted. The others looked, and
saw, coming from a hole in the ground, some shaggy black object.
"What is it?" asked Jack.
"It looks like a bear," replied the hunter, "but I never saw one like it
before."
Nor had any of the others, for the creature was a terrible one. It had
the body of a bear, but the feet and legs were those of an alligator,
while the tail trailed out behind like a snake, and the head had a long
snout, not unlike the trunk of an elephant. The creature was about ten
feet long and five feet in height.
"Let me try a shot at it!" exclaimed Andy. "That is something worth
shooting," and he cocked his rifle.
"Don't!" exclaimed the professor shortly. "You might only wound it, and
it would pursue us. We are not ready to fight such creatures as that,
and you are the only one armed."
"I never missed anything I aimed at yet," said Andy, a little hurt that
any one should doubt his ability to kill at the first shot.
"Perhaps not, but how do you know but what this creature has a bullet
proof armor under its hide. This is a strange world, Andy. It is better
to take no chances."
"I hate to see him get away," the hunter said.
But, as it happened, the beast was not to get away. As they watched they
saw the horrible animal approach the mound from which the water spurted.
Up the sides it climbed.
"I guess he's going to get a drink," said Mark.
That was evidently the beast's intention. It went close to the spouting
column of water, and thrust its head out so that its tongue could lap
from the side. It seemed to have been in the habit of doing this.
For once, and for the last time, however, it made a mistake. The water
seemed to veer to one side. In its eagerness to get a drink the animal
took another step forward. At that moment the direction of the column
changed again, and it tilted over toward the beast.
Suddenly, as the travelers watched, the full force of the big column
caught the beast just under the fore shoulders. Up into the air the
creature shot, propelled by thousands of pounds pressure. Right up to
the top of the column it went, and this time the water rose a thousand
feet into the air.
Up and up went the animal, struggling to get away from the remorseless
grip. Then, when the water had reached its height, it shot the beast off
to one side. Then the brute began to fall, twisting, turning, wiggling
and struggling. Down it came with a thud that could be heard above the
noise of the geyser.
"I reckon that finishes him," observed Andy. And it had, for there was
not a sign of life from the creature.
"I guess we have seen enough for one morning," the professor said.
"Let's go back to the airship. It must be nearly dinner time."
They started away. Mark gave a last look at the queer column of water
and the dead body of the strange animal. As he passed down the hill he
thought he saw the creature move, and stayed to see if this was so. But
a second glance convinced him he was mistaken.
The others had gone on and were some distance ahead. Mark hurried on to
join them. As he got a last glance at the top of the column, over the
brow of the hill, he happened to look off to the left. There was another
hill, about the size of the one they had been on.
[Illustration: UP IN THE AIR THE CREATURE SHOT]
And, as Mark looked he saw something move. At first he thought it was
another beast. But, to his terror he saw that the creature had only two
legs, and that it stood upright like a man, but such a man as Mark had
never seen before, for he was nearly twelve feet tall.
He was about to cry out and warn the others, when the thing, whatever it
was, sunk down, apparently behind some tall bushes, and disappeared as
if the earth had opened and swallowed it.
"I wonder if I had better tell them," thought Mark. "I can't show them
anything. I wonder if I really saw it, or if it was only a shadow. I
guess I'll say nothing. But it is very strange."
Then he hurried on to join the others.
"What makes you so pale?" asked Jack of his chum.
"Nothing," said Mark, somewhat confused. "I guess I'm a little tired,
that's all."
They reached the ship in safety, and, having dinner started the
machinery and took the _Mermaid_ up into the air.
"We'll travel on and see if we can't find some human beings," the
professor said.
All that afternoon they sailed, the country below them unfolding like a
panorama. They passed over big lakes, sailing on the surface of some,
and over rivers, and vast stretches of forest and dreary plains. But
they never saw a sign of human inhabitants.
It was getting on to five o'clock, the hour when the brilliant lights
usually disappeared, when Mark, who was steering in the conning tower,
gave a cry.
"What is it?" asked the professor, looking up from a rude map he was
making of the land they had just traversed.
"It looks like a town before us," said the boy.
Mr. Henderson and Jack looked to where Mark pointed. A few miles ahead
and below them were great mounds, not unlike that from which the geyser
had spouted. But they were arranged in regular form, like houses on a
street, row after row of them. And, as they approached nearer, they
could see that the mounds had doors and windows to them. Some of the
mounds were larger than others, and some were of double and triple
formation.
"It's a city! The first city of the new world!" cried Jack.
"It is a deserted village!" said the professor. "We have found where the
people live, but we have not found them." And he was right, for there
was not a sign of life about the place, over which the airship was now
suspended.