Page:The Great Secret.djvu/97

Rh "Slowly I dropped, for the water was dense, yet it seemed borne in upon me that I must find a shelter for these pieces before I was free; therefore I pressed upon them, and bore them down fathom by fathom, past strange and repulsive beasts that barred my road, far from the reach of the penetrating daylight, into reaches of mirky night.

At times I had intervals of inky blackness, which was all the more abhorrent as I knew that I was surrounded by appalling forms; but these intervals were short, for electric flashes broke almost continually from the scaly beasts and snakes, and lighted the ocean with lurid flashes like wildfire. The submarine monsters emitted these flashes when they were disturbed in their stagnation.

"At last I reached a mountain top and descended the sloping sides, picking my way through a forest of tree-like growth until I reached the valley, carrying the remnant of my bones with me. I had gathered them together now, and carried them in my arms as a woman might carry her dead child.

"In one part of this valley I came upon the wreck of a great ship solidly embedded in the sand and covered thickly with barnacles and seaweed until it looked more like a grotto than a ship, the broken masts and shrouds hung richly festooned with waving masses of hanging weeds.

"This was the sepulchre which I fixed on for my bones. I climbed up the sides and found a way into the cabin where other bones were lying, and here I deposited mine and then sat down to wait for my liberty.

"I did not feel free to leave this dead man's lair; why, I could not define to myself in my dream. I