Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 04.djvu/79

Rh jiidge of the rapidity of motion by looking at the projecting masses of rock, which as soon as seen were again invisible. I believe we were going at a rate of not !ess than a hundred miles an hour. My uncle and I looked at one another with wild and haggard eyes; we clung convulsively to the stump of the mast, which, at the moment when the catastrophe took place, had snapped short off. We turned our hacks as much as possible to the wind, in order not to be stifled by a rapidity of motion which nothing human could face and live. And still the long monotonous hours went on. The situation did not change in the least, though a dis- covery I suddenly made seemed to complicate it very much. When we had slightly recovered our equili- brium, I proceeded to examine our cargo. I then made the unsatisfactory discovery that the greater part of it had utterly disappeared. I became alarmed, and determined to discover what were our resources. My heart beat at the idea, but it was absolutely necessary to know on what we had to depend. With this in view, I took the lantern and looked around. Of all our former collection of nautical and phil- osophical instruments there remained only the chronometer and the compass. The ladders and ropes were reduced to a small piece of rope fastened to the stump of the mast. Not a pickax, not a crow- bar, not a hammer, and, far worse than all, no food • — not enough for one day ! | This discovery was a prelude to a certain and horrible death. Seated gloomily on the raft, clasp- ing the stump of the mast mechanically, I thought of all I had read as to sufferings from starvation. I remembered everything that history had taught me on the subject, and I shuddered at the remem- brance of the agonies to be endured. Maddened at the prospect, I persuaded myself that I must be mis- taken. I examined the cracks in the raft; I poked between the joints and beams; I examined every possible hole and corner. The result was — simply nothing ! Our stock of provisions consisted of noth- ing but a piece of dry meat and some soaked and half -mouldy biscuits. I gazed around me scared and frightened. I could not understand the awful truth. And yet of what consequence was it in regard to any new danger? Supposing that we bad had provisions for months, and even for years, how could we ever get out of the awful abyss into which we were being hurled by the irresistible torrent we had let loose? Why should we trouble ourselves about the sufferings and tor- tures to be endured from hunger, when death stared us in the face under so many other swifter and perhaps even more horrid forms? An Alarming Ascent Through a Great ShaEt }HAD the greatest mind to reveal all to my uncle, to explain to him the extraordinary and wretched position to which we were re- duced, and in order that, between the two, we might make a calculation as to the exact space of time which remained for us to live. It was, it appeared to me, the only thing to be done. But I had the courage to hold my tongue, to gnaw at my entrails like the Spartan boy. I wished to leave him all bis coolness. At this moment, the light of the lantern slowly burnt to an end. The obscurity became absolute. It was no longer possible to see through the impene- trable darkness! There was one torch left, but it was impossible to keep it alight. Then, like a child, I shut my eyes, that I might not see the darkness. After a great lapse of time, the rapidity of our journey increased. I could feel it by the rush of air upon my face. The slope of the waters was ex- cessive. I began to feel that we were no longer go- ing down a slope; we were falling. I felt as one does in a dream, going down bodily— falling ; falling; falling I I felt that the hands of my uncle and Hans were vigorously clasping my arms. Suddenly, after a lapse of time scarcely appreciable, I felt something like a shock. The raft had not struck a bard body, but had suddenly been checked in its course. A water- spout, a liquid column of water, fell upon us. I was suffocating. I was being drowned. Still the sud- den inundation did not last. In a few seconds I felt myself once more able to breathe. My uncle and Hans pressed my arms, and the raft carried us all three away. CHAPTER XL The Ape Gigans T is difficult for me to determine what was the I the real time, but I should suppose, by after calculation, that it must have been ten at night. I lay in a stupor, a half dream, during which I saw visions of astounding character. Monsters of the deep were side by side with the mighty elephan- tine shepherd. Gigantic fish and animals formed strange conjunctions. It seemed in my vision that the raft took a sudden turn, whirled round; entered another tunnel; this time illumined in a most sing- ular manner. The roof was formed of porous stal- actite, through which a moon-lit vapor appeared to pass, casting its brilliant light upon our gaunt and haggard figures. The bght increased as we ad- vanced, while the roof ascended; until at last, we were once more in a kind of water cavern, the lofty dome of which disappeared in a luminous cloud! My uncle and the guide moved as men in a dream. I was afraid to waken them, knowing the danger of such a sudden start. I seated myself beside them to watch. As I did so, I became aware of something moving in the distance, which at once fascinated my eyes. It was floating, apparently, upon the surface of the water, advancing by means of what at first appeared paddles. I looked with glaring eyes. One glance told me that it was something monstrous. But what? It was the great Shark Crocodile of the early writers on geology. About the size of an, ordinary whale, with hideous jaws and two gigantic eyes, it advanced. Its eyes fixed on me with terrible sternness. Some indefinite warning told me that it had marked me for its own. I attempted to rise — to escape, no matter where, but my knees shook under me; my limbs-trembled violently; I almost lost my senses. And still the mighty monster advanced. My uncle and the guide made no effort to save themselves. With a strange noise, like none other I had ever heard, the beast ifel], and at last went out ! The wick had wholly, came on. His jaws were at least seven feet apart.