EAGLES! EAGLES!
After bidding the President farewell, Raphael, guided by the sea horse,
returned toward the highlands which jutted up to form the island of the
Sorcerer. It was very dark. Phosphorus glowed about them in the ocean
so that they moved like comets through the night.
They had been traveling for some time when a host of small mackerel
darted by.
‘What’s the matter?’ asked the sea horse of one who paused a moment in
his flight to look at them.
‘A huge silver whale chased us, a whale larger than any we had ever
seen. It came out of those cliffs.’ And the mackerel turned and pointed
with his tail.
‘Come on,’ said Raphael. ‘I don’t like this.’
Together the sea horse and the boy rushed westward. After a time they
came to the cliffs themselves rising sheer and black.
Here they stumbled over a wire cable which ran along the ocean floor,
and stopped for a moment out of breath.
‘I’m afraid the Sorcerer may have gone,’ panted Raphael to his
companion.
The sea horse did not answer him, but stared intently into the gloom.
At first Raphael could see nothing, but at last he made out the outline
of a black doorway which gaped open in the cliff.
‘The door! The door!’ shouted Raphael.
He swam closer and felt one of the edges with his hand. It was made out
of metal. Again he tripped over the cable which led into the depths of
the chasm.
Raphael decided to follow it, and had started forward when the sea
horse warned him.
‘Be careful. That water is poisonous and foul.’
Raphael hesitated. A raw stagnant odor hung about the mouth of the
doorway which sickened him.
‘I shouldn’t go in there if I were you,’ warned the sea horse.
‘But,’ objected Raphael, ‘I must find Cassandra.’
The sea horse quivered. ‘Good-bye, then. I shall have to leave you
here. I hope you won’t think me a coward, but I couldn’t live a minute
in that water. Good luck.’
‘So long!’ said Raphael. He had become very fond of the sea horse. ‘See
you later, and thanks ever so much for showing me about.’
‘See you later,’ echoed the sea horse sadly, and turned away.
I shall never see him again, thought Raphael, and shut his eyes as he
stepped within the door.
It was cold and dead black inside. Raphael paddled blindly upward
feeling choked and uncomfortable.
Suddenly without warning his head popped above the surface, and he
could look around. He was in an immense cave hewn out of the solid
rock. At one end of it a cluster of brilliant yellow lights was
reflected in the oily black water that licked at the foot of a great
pier carved out of the rock wall.
[Illustration: ‘I SHOULDN’T GO IN THERE IF I WERE YOU,’ WARNED THE SEA
HORSE]
Raphael swam rapidly to a flight of landing stairs which ran down into
the water, and hauled himself out. Shivering he turned toward a few
concrete steps which led from the pier up to the door in the rock wall.
The black cable he had determined to follow also rose out of the water
and disappeared through this door.
This is the cable that the diver carried from the Council Chamber,
thought Raphael with sudden inspiration.
Not knowing exactly what to do, the boy mounted the steps and hurried
along a smooth concrete passageway which led directly into the castle
itself.
Forgetting the might and cunning of the enemy in his impatience, he
ran, his feet pattering along the corridor like rain upon a shingle
roof. Ahead of him lights blazed, but no one stopped him, no one
appeared. He climbed a long flight of marble stairs, and so came
through a door of brass into the great central hall of the castle. It
was a huge semi-circular room like a cathedral apse, lined with winking
elevator shafts that rose toward the distant ceiling in blazing piers
of metal.
Raphael hesitated for a moment and then followed the cable through an
open door. The room into which he came was lined with rich imitation
oak paneling, and contained a large mahogany-stained table. The cable
ended here. In the center of this table rested a steel box japanned in
black enamel. Halfway under the box lay a letter, thin and white, on
the outside of which was printed in large letters _RAPHAEL_, and below
this in writing, ‘_In the event of his discovering this dictaphone_.’
Raphael hastily tore open the letter, and read as follows:
CASTLE OF THE SEA
MY DEAR RAPHAEL:
Through my dictaphone I have discovered your plot to destroy me and
my castle. As I quite realize your ability to carry out your plans
so conveniently outlined, I have made mine in advance. Cassandra
and I leave in a moment by submarine for a safer retreat from your
unwished-for attentions.
I trust that this letter will relieve you of further search, my only
regret being that our destination must be kept a secret from you.
Give my respects to all your old-fashioned friends above and below.
I remain
Your humble
And devoted servant
MECHANUS
P.S. Cassandra sends her love.
Raphael stared at the letter a moment. Then he ran to the door, and
back into the great hallway. Here he stopped and looked desperately
about. It was almost impossible to go back. He thought of the roof, the
roof and the eagles.
All the elevator doors stood open. Raphael stepped into the nearest one
and grasped the starting lever. Up, up he shot with dizzy speed. He
wondered, as they passed floor after floor, how tall the castle was.
Where should he stop? Perhaps the elevator would shatter itself against
the roof and drop him down the long shaft.
The car jarred and came to a sudden stop. Raphael jerked back the
elevator door and stepped into a long corridor. Peering up between the
landing and the cage, he saw the roof itself just above him. He was on
the top floor.
The boy ran along the corridor, and so came to a room where he
discovered a huge aeroplane lying black and shining in its hangar.
Raphael did not even stop to look at the machine, but hurried toward
the great door which filled one end of the room. It was made of steel,
thick and impassive. This was the entrance he had noticed from the
outside. He pushed at it frantically, and beat his hands on the great
locks. He might as well have tried to overthrow the castle itself.
Raphael had nearly given up in despair when he noticed a small lever on
the wall. He reached over and pulled it down. With a click and whir the
door swung smoothly back, and the boy stepped out onto the roof.
‘Eagles! Eagles!’ he shouted.
In a moment Chief of All the Eagles in the Sky wheeled into sight.
‘Well, my boy,’ he said shortly, ‘you’ve been gone a long time.’
‘The Sorcerer,’ choked Raphael handing him the crumpled letter, ‘has
escaped by submarine with Cassie.’
‘I thought so,’ remarked Empyrean without surprise. ‘My lieutenants
reported earlier in the evening that they had seen a large fish swim
from underneath the castle. It is easy to see such things from the air.’
‘Then Cassie is lost for good?’
‘Nonsense,’ said the eagle. ‘The war has only begun. I commanded my
lieutenants to follow the submarine, and bring us news. Come, we must
join them.’
Raphael scrambled upon Empyrean’s back, and they winged their way into
the night. Behind them the empty castle of the Sorcerer rose in the
moonlight like a silver monument out of the black sea.