Show LEI ahe hu deep sea peril bu VICTOR ROUSSEAU copyright by W 0 chap CHAPTER XII continued 14 she went inside the cave I 1 think said eald dadles yes im sure of it answered donald ald and lie ho entered farther into its recesses calling idd ida I 1 idol ida I 1 they began to be alarmed they hurried from point to point the cave was wasa a ejde one but tapered some als tancel eback bak into the neck of a bottle it seemed evident that ida could not have gone farther than this point run back davies and see if she cant be outside said donald and while he called davies took up tip the search without donald waited in terror ile he did not dare go farther into the cave just then ten minutes later davies returned A glance at his face told that his mission had bad been entirely fruitless they looked looked nt at each other theres light ahead said davies they proceeded cautiously and suddenly they came upon a little entrance leading up from the sea close by was the point around which Mac Beard had disappeared in his motorboat davies saw donald shaking with mixed m axed terror and rage ile he stared out hopelessly toward the sea then brushing past davies without a word he almost ran into the bottle neck of the interior the middy followed him the ground grew damp the floor seemed to descend abruptly davies could hardly keep his feet all at once lie he heard donalds muffled voice calling to him he saw the spurt of a match flame ten paces farther donald pulled him back as his toot foot slipped on the edge of a precipice donald st another match and looked down under them was the level of the ocean bed they were upon the very verge of a precipitous descent a sheer wall having however natural footholds at regular intervals something white fluttering near drew their attention donald picked pich ed it up and held it out it was a wom ans handkerchief site she slipped here P began the little middy but donald took the words from ills his mouth nol lie he cried furlou furiously sly she was caught in the cave by that d d scoundrel Mac Beard he put his boat in at the tiny cove and came on her from behind and lies hes taken her my god hes taken her her message to me that handkerchief his voice grew incoherent and he broke down then he be raised it in furious declamation but ill follow that cur until I 1 die I 1 he be swore 1 I may not rescue her he r 1 I dont know davies and I 1 hardly dare to hope but ill stay here and give tny my life he broke oft off suddenly a spasm passed pas sed across his features and all at once he became completely calm once wore more no I 1 wont davies he said its my duty now to fly to england with all speed stay here and do what you can it may be very little old man but we think ot anything dut but our jobs no sir said davies there was nothing more to be done but prepare for the journey donald felt reasonably sure that the was safe against the herd the terrific upward pressure of the night had not started a rivet lying as she was upon the he beach she was unassailable they filled her oil tanks and carried the he stored store aboard then donald filled the gasoline tank of the hydroplane and entering made a short trial flight out to sea and back the machine was in perfect condition A grasp of the hand and donald was gone upon his journey from his post in the conning tower davies watched the hydroplane rise and fall to the wind and sweep into the distance to io dwindle and disappear CHAPTER XIII the swarming of the herd davies had correctly divined the secret of the air under the sea nature who does nothing in haste had prepared the sea monsters for their change of environment by bestowing upon them the property of condensing the hydrogen in the water in such a manner as to separate it from the other constituent of water oxygen buts but being too unstable to exist as a separate gas except under high h agh pressure su re the oxygen combined with the nitrogen that sustained the grinolds crl cri and other plant life nt at the bottom 0 of f the sea the resulting combination was oxygen and nitrogen tri tn place of oxygen and hydrogen or air in lieu of water I 1 masterman who overlooked nothing had explained all this in his letter to donald ile he had also told him of the m moans mans ans of controlling the sea monsters their auditory apparatus being still in its most rudimentary stage they heard sounds gounds only us as vibrations ma Master ster mari had discovered during those weeks of exploration and bent lent danger that G was the signal for glispe asal A on the contrary was the is ts call the sacrificial bone attao vibrated to the sound of A and it was this which had given the herd the key hey tone of their language unfortunately for Mac Beard he had been unable to learn much more than this the last page of the manuscript as well vi ell as the first was missing muc mae beard was sure that donald had kept possession of them had lie possessed them he would have learned that the power of uttering these calls rested with the queen of the swarm alone a human organism the type of the race irace toward which the monsters tended differentiating from them as the queen bee differs from the worker or the drone he had discovered that the search for food was the one purpose of the file creatures existence it had assumed a religious aspect their god their altar stone the sacrificial rite were all the souls instinctive groping upward based upon the dominating animal impulse the tune that clouts clonts had played with its discords had been the deep sea equivalent of an artillery salvo the terrified monsters had dispersed in all directions letting down the curtain of condensed hydrogen fortunately for tho the professor the main portion of the herd had kept together and this afforded him a medium in which he could with difficulty breathe but their rapid movement kept the hydrogen stirred up and he was nearly as before lie he reached ills refuge within the cave ile he did not like inhaling carbonated jelly seeing donald and davies dadles upon the island he had attempted to open negotiations tiati ons with them repulsed Repulse a lie he fled in terror and on rounding the point saw ida alone at the caves mouth at once his scheme was born in his mind pushing ashore he entered the cave by the narrow way toward the rear lie he came upon ida suddenly and gras grasping her in his arms he placed one hand over her mouth preventing iier ter from crying for old aid then dragging her to the top of the precipice lie he sounded the assembly call instantly the water beneath began to dissolve thick clouds of steaming hydrogen rolled up to the caves roof soon there was ivas a natural passage three hundred feet deep from the interior of the cave to the crater below ile he carried ida down the descent the girl who had contrived to drop her handkerchief was no match for the professor she screamed once or twice but the echoes of the cavern absorbed the sound of her voice and so she found herself again within the submarine temple Mac Beard released her and stood in front of her devouring her with his gaze gae he could not understand whence tills this novel emotion in ills his heart derived its power and now that she was his cap captive tive he did not know what to do geometry physics mathematics and the calculus all failed to help solve his problem overcome by the presence of the woman he loved the professor stammered like a youth with ills his first sweetheart why have you brought me here asked ida because because I 1 or cr I 1 love you answered Mac Beard ida burst into ironical laughter the situation was so impossible that there wits was room for no emotion but amusement and in that laugh the professor felt a thousand arrows of jealousy rend him ill listen sten to me mel I 1 he exclaimed passionately siona slona tely you dont know who I 1 am or what I 1 am trying to do I 1 am going to obliterate the earth as it is known to you vou I 1 command the man of the future the mon man who Is to come the new race of the sea which is to sweep away the puny monkey man and I 1 want you to share my power with me ida laughed hysterically she could not help herself Mac Beard glared at her he did not know what to do you shall seel he cried beside himself with anger you dont believe what I 1 tell you yon ill prove it i it make any dif difference feren ce professor I 1 am not a blackboard answered ida will you kindly taka tak ne me back to the place you brought i to 10 from nol no I 1 shouted you yon 1 stay here until you learn to ivion iu m why cant you love me idas look was touched with pity she did not answer him Ma elleard sounded his tuning fork and immediately the monsters gathered about thorn them the hydrogen linze haze rolled higher disclosing the entire in arlor of the cave nna and the idol mae mac beard sounded another fork folk and the creatures cren tures began edging ida toward tow aid tile the recesses loc esses of tit alio cave care it if I 1 sound the sacrificial note you die snorted Mac Beard ida perfectly passive waited tile monsters guarded the entrance slie site was alone outside Mac Beard paced up tip and down beneath the sea in fury lie ile had encountered a problem which seemed insoluble As ida waited nil all at once a most remarkable object broke upon her gaze advancing through the midst of the luminous vague monsters outside the entrance there came a perfectly human figure a man with a square square beard beaird no be passed through tho monsters crai without the slightest and ud ou tile the cave lie was walking et es acely as a boy walka when lie he drives a 0 flock of geese or a hard of pigs that la Is to say there was vas st ln in his step quite different from the rolling gait of a sailor and lie he had ills his arms extended with his lips lie he made a hissing sound which resembled shoo 1 and in front of him retiring backward ida thought site she saw it phantom womans comans form forin hut but it must have been it delusion because it was only by straining her ter eyes that hint site she could discern anything nt at fill all and now and again the figure seemed to vanish into the air the man ivym clouts clonts As lie he passed her ter ida called to him clouts clonts Juni jumped ped ile he looked at lier ter with a comical conil cal expression pre aslon of fear on ills face clouts clonts Cl outs I 1 where Is donald can you get tile me out of here take me to him ill at oncel clouts clonts looked terrified certainly he said but that nobody theres all sorts of an shapes pes tind and things here but it a real person im telling you this so understand marm rie he hastened past tier her and far ahead of him ida discerned the shadowy shape of the queen Clout Cl outs sl help mel you arent going gning to leave me cried ida pitifully she heard clouts clonts muttering tones tonea conic come back to her and he was lost lu in the hydrogen linze she was astounded at ills abandonment lie he ua der stood to do the sailor justice clouts clonts hod had one 0 of f those minds which are open to only a single impression at a time just then ills his mind was open to the necessity of keeping donalds elusive swe sweetheart ethen rt from idas knowledge ile he could see only the faintest luminosity now and lie ho stood with ill his s arms stretched out to prevent her slipping past him suddenly lie he heard a singularly melodious sound proceeding from lier her throat it was a note unknown even to mae mac beard it was in fact the denil semi tone between G sharp and A which la is e J f J I 1 you dont believe what itell you ill prove it unknown to the B bach ach scale though the bagpipes and oriental music in general are acquainted with these subdivisions it was the swarming note the queen was ready to lead the brood forth upon its adventures the spirit emanating from her made itself felt simultaneously throughout the herd instantly from all quarters of the crater the monsters rushed together the hydrogen haze rolled far away the ocean opened to its summit ida could see the sky above her and the daylight the air became surcharged surch argeI with oxygen Mac Beard amazed by this develop went rushed in he sounded the dispersal but the swarming note tools took precedence of the dispersal and the tha monsters gathering gat liering into a gigantic circle ignoring the professors coil call began to scurry wildly about the crater seeking their leader Mac Beard Beara saw that the creatures were beyond his control for the first time his tuning forks had failed him ile he was avas afraid of being torn in pieces and ana up in the cave sam clouts clonts found himself engaged in the most furious tussle that lie he had ever known TO BE CONTINUED |