THE INVENTOR’S STORY.
“I RECKON it ’ud be powerful interesting to hear how you’ve been
pegging along since Wilson left you.”
Haverly’s voice was little more than a whisper as he spoke these
words. He was mending rapidly, but he had not yet got about again, and
the inventor, who had long since recovered from his injuries, was
taking a spell below to bear him company.
“Would you care to hear the yarn?” the inventor asked.
“I guess I would,” was the reply.
“Well, you see,” Garth began, “I was below when Wilson was
attacked, attending to the damages we had sustained in our fight with
the icthyosaurus. He will have told you of that?”
Silas nodded.
“Suddenly I heard the report of a revolver, and judging that
something was wrong, I raced upstairs. You can guess my feelings when
I saw Tom being carted away by some great flying creature. For a time
I think I almost went mad. I raved up and down the deck like a maniac,
cursing everything and everybody in this confounded underworld.
“As my frenzy lessened, I realised the futility of my blind rage,
and returned to my task, with a heart heavy for the loss of my chum.
For, you know, I did not doubt that Tom was as good as dead; I never
dreamed that he would be able to escape from the clutches of the
brute--whatever it was--which had carried him off. How I
finished those repairs I don’t know, but finish them I did at last,
and backing the old _Seal_ off the beach, pushed her along up the
coast. My movements were entirely aimless. I imagined that all of you
were lost; that I alone was left of our party in this ghostly hole of
a place, so I took little heed to my course, or perhaps I may have
been spared one of the most fearful experiences that’s ever tumbled my
way.
“For how long I steered on I cannot tell, but it must have been
for a considerable time. I had long since passed the river-mouth where
I was washed ashore when I escaped from the savages. Upon my right was
a line of towering cliffs, rising sheer from the water’s edge, for
perhaps three hundred feet or so. I was keeping well out from shore on
account of the presence of numerous sunken rocks, whose jagged crests
showed just a few inches below the surface of the water. Suddenly,
rounding a rocky headland, the _Seal_ swept into a sheltered bay,
a splendid natural harbour in the heart of the cliffs, and here I
determined to stay for a while. The cliffs precluded all chance of
attack from shore, and the narrow entrance of the bay was sufficient
guard against the visit of another saurian, though at the moment I
doubt if I should have cared much had one appeared, so apathetic had I
grown. But I paid clearly for my carelessness.
“As I brought the vessel to, I never noticed that the surface of
the water around was covered with great floating masses of a
jelly-like substance. This fact was only brought to my notice when I
saw the deck swarming with what I took to be jelly-fish. The presence
of the creatures did not trouble me, however, and feeling weary, I
securely locked the turret door, and went below for a time.
“I must have slept for about three hours then, on returning to
the wheelhouse, I discovered that the jelly-fish still swarmed the
deck, being if anything thicker than before. ‘I’ll soon get rid of
these things,’ I thought, and stepping down to the engine-room, set
the engines going at ten knots. Half a dozen revolutions they made,
then stopped, nor could I get them to go again. Evidently the
propellers were fouled by the slimy creatures.
“‘Beastly nuisance!’ I muttered, and picking up an axe, sallied
forth to get rid of the encumbrance. Two steps I took on the slippery
masses which covered the deck-plates, then slipped, only just saving
myself from falling. I must be more careful, I decided, and commenced
to pick my way as best I could amid the greasy things which squelched
beneath my feet at every step. A sickening odour filled the air,
indescribably offensive, and this, added to the sight of the things,
almost made me ill. I clambered out to the extreme point, just above
the screws, and from there I could see that the water for many feet
below the surface was alive with the jelly-fish. They hung in great
knotted masses from the stern of the vessel; the propellers were
completely smothered beneath a score or so of the things, and I saw at
once that to get rid of them by means of the axe was absolutely
impossible.
“‘What other way, then’? I thought. Almost as soon as I framed
the question, into my mind swept the answer. Electricity! Ay, that was
the way. I would connect a couple of wires with the dynamo of the
searchlight, and bury the ends in the mass of jelly which prevented
the _Seal_ from moving. Turning to retrace my steps to the
turret, I slipped again, and this time I fell full length.
“The sensation of feeling oneself sprawling on that mass of
corruption was a thing to be remembered, I can assure you, but when I
felt the ghastly things beginning to swarm over my body, I almost
squealed. Their suckers seemed to grip my flesh through the clothes,
and burnt like hot iron. I struggled hard to rise, but the creatures
sprawled over me in scores, fairly covering me beneath their flabby
masses, and holding me down to the deck by their suction. Yet I did
not feel alarmed; it was an unpleasant situation--nothing more.
No thought of possible peril to life, no fear of death came to me,
until the things began to cover my head and to swarm over my face.
Then, you may take it for granted, I began to feel a bit sick.
“All this time, mark you, I was struggling with all my might to
shake the brutes off, and to rise from my loathsome bed, but I could
not. Those slimy things held me more firmly than a vice. I was fairly
trapped, and it seemed to me as though I was to be slowly suffocated,
despite all my efforts, beneath that hideous mass of blubber. Then
suddenly, to my ears came the howl of the wolf-men, and never was
sound more welcome. The manner of their approach, of course, I could
not tell, neither did I care, so that they tore away the clinging
jelly masses which were smothering me. Better, I thought, to be
prisoner in the hands of savages than in my present position.
“So I redoubled my efforts, gaining little by little, however,
save that my struggles attracted the notice of the wolf-men.
Presently, I felt the slimy creatures upon my back torn from their
hold; I was dragged roughly to my feet. Rubbing the slime from my
eyes, I observed that the deck was simply swarming with savages, who
had evidently boarded from two skin boats which were floating
alongside. These were engaged in slashing up the jelly-fish,
wholesale, with their spears, and flinging them overboard. The twain
who had released me from my predicament I at once recognised as two of
my former captives, and by the evil grin which lit up their features I
conjectured that they knew me again.
“Between them they bundled me to the turret, making unmistakable
signs for me to start the boat. After some difficulty, I made them
understand that the jelly-fish were keeping the boat motionless, and
at once they dived over the stern, and hacked away the obstruction
with their spears; then returning, they once more bade me start the
boat, and this--recognising the hopelessness of resistance
against such odds--I did.
“The rest is soon told. The brutes remained aboard the
_Seal,_ using me as a sort of general factotum, not scrupling to
punctuate their orders--all of which, of course, were given in
signs--with a dig or two from their spears. I can tell you I was
pretty mad with the brutes. Now and again some of them would want to
be put ashore for a spell, and they never returned without game of
some sort, which they ate absolutely raw. That was what we were
running in for when you sighted us. I had steered the old boat as
close in as I dared, and had gone below to stop the engines, so I knew
nothing of the boarding of the priest. Just as I flung over the
levers, something caught me a crack on the head, then everything went
dark.”
“I guess that old devil, Nordhu, must have dropped you,” Silas
remarked, as the inventor concluded; “he was monkeyin’ around down
here somewhere when we got aboard. If he’d been on deck, Seymour and
the Ayuti would have had a tougher fight for their money. Say, are
they gettin’ ready to flit soon as I can hustle a bit?”
“Yes,” Garth replied, “you must hurry up and get well, Silas, so
that we can start before long. Though I shall be sorry to leave the
_Seal,_ yet I’ve had quite enough of this underworld, and would
sacrifice more than the vessel to get back home again.”
“I assume Chenobi ’ll have to leave his pets behind?” said the
Yankee.
“He proposes to take the hounds with him,” was the reply; “says
he can rig up a pulley to hoist ’em up the cliff, or whatever it is
we’ve got to climb. Of course he can’t take the elk; it would require
a steam-crane to lift the great brute. But now get off to sleep;
you’ve been awake quite long enough.”
With that Garth quitted the cabin, and ascended to the
wheelhouse, where his comrades were assembled.
“Ah!” Mervyn said as he entered, “we were just going to call you
up, Garth. We want to run the _Seal_ ashore again. Seymour and
Chenobi have decided to pay another visit to the city. You see, there
are thousands of pounds’ worth of jewels on the hilts of the weapons
in the armoury--wealth sufficient to make Chenobi a person of
some importance above-ground--and he wishes to take some of the
precious stones with him.”
“Quite right too,” returned Garth, grasping the wheel; “Tom, get
down to your engines, will you?”
Ten minutes later the _Seal’s_ nose was once more touching
the beach. Seymour had again donned his mail, and he and the Ayuti
were moving over the sand with the hounds at their heels. At intervals
Chenobi raised a cry to summon the great elk, for they had decided to
make the journey upon the broad back of Muswani, instead of proceeding
through the subterranean passage.
Ere long the giant ruminant loomed out of the twilight, and
mounting, the two men rode swiftly away across the plain.