Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 04.djvu/22

310 me. The one seemed fighting the other, but the second voice was gaining. Then there was suddenly something like darkness, and a sharp command from the first voice. I seemed to be struck a violent blow on the buck of my head. The next thing I knew was finding myself on board this ship."

"That is absolutely all you know about it?" questioned Captain Evered.

"That is all, sir."

"Try and forget it for to-night," said the doctor. "Get to sleep as fast as you can, and to-morrow get up and have a turn on deck."

They wished him "good-night," and left the cabin. For hours the two men talked in the privacy of Captain Evered's cabin, but they ended as they began. Each knew that he was half carried away by the story Macrae had told, both from the internal evidence of the report itself, and his evident sincerity. At the same time each saw its extraordinary nature too clearly to admit yielding an entire belief in it, even to himself, much less to any one else.

"He seems perfectly sane to you?" questioned Captain Evered.

"Quite so; as rational as you or I," was the response.

"Well, I shall follow your advice respecting Professor Rudge," said Captain Evered. "There should be no difficulty in his seeing Macrae. We shall land him to-morrow, and from Hong-Kong he will be invalided home, accompanied by my report, and, of course, these writings of his. I shall report him as not, in my opinion, suited to this kind of service. You will be able to endorse that."

"I can," said Anderson. "Macrae is one of the subjective sort. Did you notice how full his diary is of himself?"

"Exactly. By the by, what did you make of two voices, and a blow on the head?"

"Well, I suppose two voices are not more mysterious than one," said Anderson. "If you can believe in one, why not two? According to him, there would appear to be disagreement sometimes, even among our friends the Venerians. There's a party, I suppose, who want to have nothing to do with us."

"Probably," smiled Captain Evered, adding, "I intend, in addition to suggesting that this account of his be submitted to Professor Rudge, to drop a private line or two to the Professor himself, letting him know there is something in the wind. A Government Department, my dear Anderson (being in this ease the Admiralty, I hope I am not speaking blasphemy), will go about as far as it is kicked. But I think Rudge will not let them shelve it."

O it came about that Macrae found himself on the homeward journey much before he had anticipated when leaving England. It did not exhilarate him, as he was oppressed with a feeling of failure, without being able to see how he could have done differently. He was afraid that what would be looked upon as a preposterous story would militate against him, and the Government might not find him even home employment. This feeling of depression lasted until entering the Bay of Biscay, when grey skies reminded him of his native hills. The wind of the Atlantic, with a tooth in it, blew on him, and his spirits rose.

A telegram advised May Treherne of her lover's unexpected return, and she was at Portsmouth to meet him. Hers was one of the first faces he saw, and her welcome completed the cure that northern skies had begun.

Macrae's keen eyes did not fail to see in hers the involuntary question that tact was keeping from her lips, and he wondered how he was going to answer it, seeing that he was bound to secrecy.

It was no secret that he had been at a "wireless" station, and there could not be any breach of trust in saying the position was somewhat isolated. There were plenty which that description would suit. So he told her how, during a short absence of his from the station-house, his fellow workers had been murdered, and he had returned to find their dead bodies, and himself the only survivor; how he had fallen unconscious; how, in consequence of the shock to his system, he had been relieved, and placed on sick leave and ultimately sent back for service at a home station. He added that there were some other details which, in view of the strictness of official secrecy he could not divulge.

She was horrified at the tale, and clung to him in her gratitude that he had escaped.

"Suppose, dear Alan, you had been at the station when those wretches murdered your companions. You would have been murdered too. Oh! I am glad you are back in England. When I got your telegram I was awfully surprised."

He saw his explanation had relieved her mind of something. It also seemed to have loosened her tongue, for now he had very little to do but be a patient listener, and hear a full account of her somewhat uneventful history during his absence, and discuss plans for the future as modified by this new development.

HAT evening May Treherne returned to Plymouth, and Macrae proceeded to report himself in London. The next morning he presented himself at the Admiralty, and was given an hour at which to attend the next day, "when the report respecting him would have been read." He then found himself put through a very searching examination, for there had been considerable nervousness that some scheme of a possible enemy was at the bottom of the business. It came as a surprise to the officials to find that after the most exhaustive questioning, nothing could be gleaned to lend color to this suspicion.

It was obviously a relief to his examiners to find that everything went to indicate that the deaths took place as officially reported, first by Macrae himself, and afterwards by the Captain of the Sagitta. For the rest, it had of course been a curious case of delusions while under the influence of nervous shock. His diary was confiscated. He was reprimanded for having written it, and especially for including expressions that would serve as indications of things that were Government secrets. He would for the future be retained at home stations so long as no further indiscretion was committed, and was further directed to present himself for duty at the end of a month, granted as leave of absence.

The next day found Macrae at Plymouth, and