Show wi deep sea peril VICTOR ROUSSEAU 4 h On I 1 W r A 6 aelva CHAPTER IX continued 11 donald turned t ea and ad began the b bed d the th sex it devil had ad disappeared T the be water was waa like a thin unstable unatan 1 jelly As they made their way along the bottom ot of the he sea the fleshy lily illy a arms a to reached aad out toward the them like IHA children a plucking paves fingers at last t the he bed of crl ended they trod on an flemer firmer ground their par pace b became ma estimated accelerated he had bad lost loft all sense of time he did A not 1 I t know knew whether he be had j journeyed one hour bone or three r as he halted baited ch because there seem seemed d nothing to do then the he be brg began to lend land the we way heel back ivy between the mo fillieo beda with the intention of reaching the cles clear ground near at the entrance fr to the ca cave I 1 there there all might be a chance he ot of picking up devi davlos and cleats or at least it might be P possible this from there them to return to the abut submarine itte with ida to replenish their oxygen remor reservoirs alre I 1 ebest hem still seemed ample betit but it was impossible to dew determine idaho how much A remained T it ea threaded the mazes maces of the w ad path be between im sen the beds while fr from ither W bide it the fleshy arms areas bartich it out to STAPP grapple a them the met act if f the them I 1 we was like flery fiery velvet th jucson ebion of the branches made the them cling and ad D donald mild had to exercise all I 1 rotgut or to b renk awny away aloa some their a ankles allies became end entangled allied and 1 t would stumble always Y the ba A arm ia hal I 1 formed a network r k above 1 their i it ds before they could regain their feet and these had to be broken U tant e their feet th the ooze A saw aa white ith ill I 1 skeletons klet of f small mail floh h which I 1 i led lad rejected after B mw g en ee that at it r them I 1 goold U u ngi gi the I 1 a beds I 1 a ended BE abdur rhey hey re rested at ed on the bottom keatir A it b heu elves as aid side a b by side iti donall A effir indent th that a t b he re could I 1 find t the a 1 in B but lot th the A it delay it A was sweet b the di ment in store f TO an m night ight p prove a fia unbearable bearable de little litti life his would be the al 1 td t i ad tile the diff difference md we was hard ly epi P ibal ible do doni III id raised idas head band to his him glass fiad mask nod ad pressed the finger fengers against tt it she let her hand band fall fail caressingly upon fil at shoulders she rose to her feet feel and and he followed her they looked int inac eh ch others other s eyes eye and though the uld aid read nothing oot liing there some smile mesag blessing of at hope seemed to pm pass they the I 1 plunged together into the sea of if jelly again it clung to them as A it if jt it too sought bought to suck stick them down the light of the electric lamps was vas growl growing gob A obscure leCure they wandered blind lv iv struggling in a medium that was mas utmost almost impermeable donald belim began to real realize that the A action afi of the tensile alkali within the amt metallic 1111 chamber was 1 becoming A er ii austed mat e it a he HB was mas beginning to choke choice athi film bis b breath r came in deep sighs and lie he gulped in the thickening atmosphere their steps grew blower ida could hardly raise her feet once she bled and ad to tell pl picked herself up and started it beside donald again ze then Z she e mank aana down exhausted she could not ant go forth farther r de death a th horrible tn in form malted awaited th them in it was b becoming sc omIng imminent donald was growing delirious dahri us and it I 1 in za fancy y he was strolling with ida it t through jr KID meadows ad plucking plurad g dow flowers them they were to be married a on the mor row raw and he wass was going to get leave of blame absence e to take her away where should t they heir spend their off the beast coast of the Shet lands why he had been am there I 1 once nee long before all the while he in was aware t that b he baa we was war on the th a bed of the m sea but t his him ism personality ty seemed ad divided and ad while hile one me part of him walked in those these fields field beside his him sweetheart Bwee theart the other suffered and choked and ad pleaded impotently with a blind fate for far aid id not ot for far his life lifes sake but tor for ida idas A ade the girl s hand was ines unresponsive in fin his own A perhaps she ehe was wag dead at ready do donald III chafed chafee it it but we was bar hardly able to deau distinguish wm h it I 1 in that jellylike eaten environment ronI which wass was thickening perceptibly I 1 now the lingers fingers wen meme limp and ad ded cold they were w ere both numbed from the exposure A r and d ida we was dead he HA would follow her then them slowly and with deliberation he be UR ast ened the copper cylinder an fn bout about his body kt at once the little electric light went dent out it had bad grown BO an dim that at only then than did donald re A member that it had bad been base burning he un buckled kled the headpiece and took off the mask of glass he flung it from him bim A moment he held his bis b breath eth as he be felt the cool coal water jelly a upon A him hia face ace then very resolutely he drew in hla him breath CHAPTER X the cave of the idol A cry of amusement amazement burat bunt fro from hi the ifka he E was breathing blanching air air at the bottom of the sel al I 1 it wax was surcharged charged Bur with oxygen it torstad him but he felt the thrill of renewed hf ufa in hl ids body he felt hl is shrunken arteries tingle a as till his 1 henrt act pumped lail the rom new blood through them biern it seemed unbelievable at first he be thought that it he had died and unit that this a was the ul a awakening ihen blewitt with quick fingers he be unfastened id ida 8 body bodyl piece gren and tore the musk it fr from 1 its in ftc Jp he be heard beard her sigh might she sighed and ml attend rod mat up on the ocean bed donald I 1 ah he murmured murmur need pd 1 I thought I 1 thought you yon were dead where a are a wo we 1 I dont know knew he be answered in ab so solute ut bewilderment at that moment he heard the mel at me low doglike oud bound that they had bad aboard heard aboard the and slowly BB 3 if 1 in answer war to the call ill the jellylike medium that or eli rounded umed them began to drift meny away to in be hung up as A if it ft were 2 a curtain fate and before their astonished sWI hd lease gae there evolved cid the strongest strangest stage setting that could ever have been conceived first there them mine came into view the sub mail marine occupying as it were the cen ter of this stage her bow mark in the ooze a her stern ter adill lower they bad been lying within a hundred paces of her next nert appeared the sloping edges of the crater seen not through water but through throng cle clear air with a border of yellow e rino t ceaselessly stirring as aa though a breeze ruffled rallied t them hem then there began to be ba visible in the flanks ot of the th s me mountain am A structures apparently hardland drand 0 of f har hardened mud taking ida the shape hope of feet fantastic lie temples temple with pit lars lam and doorways doon door vaya mays with low linkels antel lint els a submerged city of cliff dwellers an and ye yet t each identical with it its neighbors so the that they seemed to have been tash fash t to boned mal with the same unchanging pro pre ell casion as the cells ill of the be bee and tz the a whole crater swarmed amounted with mith the sea monsters no longer invisible hot but outlined in phosphorescent phosphoresce abat fire and standing in front of donald and it ida his him features cleanly visible through the glass of his hia own ann diving milk surveying them with a m mot cool dispassionate to goal gaze was a ira Mac Beard I 1 A As they stared stand at t him ho be rinsed raised ids hi lived hand and ad AUDI struck something suspended fr from his neck back giving out ont the inel mellow lv sound which they had heard before immediately he be disappeared from ma view fathe in the midst of admere a swarm of the mon at aters surrounding donald and the girl began to push them toward th the I 1 cavern 1 in A the mountain side T the he push was wait gradual and apparently the result commit of some natural it icv ad not t on land there them was no sense ot of muscular movement it W 9 1 I M kookla exclaimed donald seemed to be momentum devoid of the accompanying factor of speed irre it Istl sati bly and yet quietly the he two were pushed blushed toward the ent entrant 1 ranc I in the dark ank of the island in vain min donald resisted 1 la vain AI he be tried to force a path towe toward led the sub marine it dashing shing his sam against the bodies of the de monsters austers ile he made not the least Impre impression aslon upon those halt be if spherical far forma A sea I 1 man under water and one in the air had very different po powers of resistance ile he might as w well ab have taught fought an army of animated fee teather fins bell beila slowly without air strain 1 or attack he felt himself being fo forced ced forward ire he me was held tightly 7 on every cry side aide except tor for the acer narrow w g gap up that a t opened in front ot of him 1 he was lor forced c decoto to devote himself to supporting ida on 0 A every ekle old the globular translucent IA cat phosphorescent forms forma seemed to crowd in on him leaving only a tiny way my f in the direction of one be of the mod entrances yet an even thus donald had bad the tee impression ot of ome A A aetna far force that at animated i the these monsters it seemed like the I 1 or ii i I ext expedition ditt lat of a coony colony of red it lv f returning ith its booty ile he could sene no A conscious claus impulse expulse in th efio Is monsters on aberm hir pace ps A q became decelerated accelerated and ad dealy swept apt oft their fool feet donald and laa ida tomal found themselves the ameele within a home cavern faintly illumined by pham ins and rooted roofed with the be bame cloudy ott one that hat they had seen thu ficat upon the ocean n bed without the mo naters left them the two stood there them together still in bewilderment dent nt but they were not atone alone for with a about adies emerged from the dim recess mean and ran toward them followed follow 4 by clonts clouts their cyl led andera and ad headgear had bad been removed th the imir four stand stared at one a another in incredulous joy they nabbed 0 As the moment eat vc am left the he air lock lack cried daviss grabbing the cleate lieutenant t by the blind baad mi it forgetting his far for far th the time and clout too th they y wrt met of if edged adans be in I 1 h here we we were r mar afraid add you wera dead they gave us a little longer A er res ree pite PICA answered donald darles bd aid I 1 mud mad or dreaming or are we braid breath th ing IDE under wate if you re dreaming dream fair then clout camme and ad I 1 are too said bald th we little midd helal them thare clonta borms I 1 ve tried to enesp him resigned but he gets go ft frantic tic oc huou luou ll 11 y eiith tt ath a didds bowl tb that t seemed to rise from the depths depth of me D outraged nature datum clauce lowering ill hla head bead rushed like a battering raw ram into tin ity doorway the watchers saw hl him re coll call as am if he be had bad butted a fee feather th er bed he looked up rubbed robbed his him head bead I 1 in per PI daily and then them mitring a few par repeated hla his experiment more mora furiously the than flat before again he we wax hurled back se as m a bell ball rebounds re bound fr from the cushion of idi billiard table the monsters bad badim 0 blocked the entrance as effect lvell us as if ft they were of rubber slowly sam clonts clouts withdrew look ing back with a euid puzzled puid express expression lom meanwhile the three glanced about they were in A huge natural cate ave in which the me sea monsters A ter had evi dent dently y been at w work ork for the interior was waa coated with ith in mud it hardened in some peculiar me mece manner ce to resist the water and yet donald had bad the same game impression of a beehive there wo waa something of sameness everywhere th the same sense dmn of automatism it was man quite t bare except at one end where a a nrose a mud mound decorated with bell and ad upon this me was what looked ilk like the upright skeleton ands ta of f a emall 11 mammal I 1 look exclaimed claimed donald dareld it came a from fro from behind the curtain ur taio I 1 said davies in awe don dan ald aid the air was thicker somo memo thing keeps keep rolling calling back ta they looked at each other still on an convinced that they were awake and alive then they went toward the ob eject at the end sam clouts clonts who had preceded them f 11 bar bacat with an exclamation of boror ym yes clonts clouts Cl outs said donald 1 I beg your pardon sir but dont y you u me see that at its meant to be a pec person sir air he spoke the truth the figure was a rough pile of bones bodies but high above them a grinning human face made of the same plastered mud mad looked down it was the fir first 8 t at sign of conscious process amo among ng the monsters and some me devil craftsman had contrived to catch not net A so much the form as the it huro anness I 1 it it was upon a larger scale precisely h a tiger figure us a child or a savage might heads have made 1 in it its first efforts to reproduce the human figure there thera were even the theda dafni aings gs of art I 1 in the shape ot of whales eleb ear bones strung string branle twi across As the breast L the mound beneath the figure consisted of innumerable bones bonea a sort of kitchen such as neolithic man lett left behind liliu him as a testimony to his oyster yet feasts device davies picked up one of the bones and ad looked at it intent lv D donald a amid Is he sold said softly not to attract the attention of ida who seated on the floal against the mound seemed on the polar point of falling asleep from weariness dearine a he held out the bone both looked at it it wag as the bone D of a flipper v heel the monsters were cannibal beyond any doubt Di diriell Dav vIell lM cried donald a moment later doat you see what that figure is its an idol and the bones are those of Crout creatures ures of their own species and others sacrificed to it by the monsters monster in their abominable feasts les if a the art of 0 self con cand ness I 1 the awakening of the rw r lighons perceptions ie t th there could o III be no other interpretation 0 tau th they looked at bah other in he horror r aud ad something of awe the thing bad hem been fashioned per jim hope haps after an ideal never seen been or per chance game acme forgotten ancestor cast up on an an 1 toddled inhabited shore here had bad act been man and returned to embody him in IB his him remembered guise gain so these theme half blind mail and voiceless elemes devils of the sea were groping slowly upward led as our mr anceli ancestors tars bad 1111 do done ham many a hundred in dred thousand yours years ago to toward tord rd hope and endeavor T the he sp spirit rt of god gad stirred in the it dull BU A souls 1 I of these cannibal monsters as everywhere donald felt somehow immensely elated at the thought even here they wal a not net cut off from the sheltering hand band of providence look bar J I 1 clout clonts exclaimed sud mud denly deedy TO BS BE CONTINUED |