The Skylark of Space
CHAPTER XI
Through Space Into the Carboniferous
Seaton opened his eyes and gazed about him wonderingly. Only halfconscious, bruised and sore in every part of his body, he could not atfirst realize what had happened. Instinctively drawing a deep breath, hecoughed and choked as the undiluted oxygen filled his lungs, bringingwith it a complete understanding of the situation. Knowing from the lackof any apparent motion that the power had been sufficient to pull thecar away from that fatal globe, his first thought was for Dorothy, andhe tore off his helmet and turned toward her. The force of even thatslight movement, wafted him gently into the air where he hung suspendedseveral minutes before his struggles enabled him to clutch a post anddraw himself down to the floor. A quick glance around informed him thatDorothy, as well as the others, was still unconscious. Making his wayrapidly to her, he placed her face downward upon the floor and beganartificial respiration. Very soon he was rewarded by the coughing he hadlonged to hear. He tore off her helmet and clasped her to his breast inan agony of relief, while she sobbed convulsively upon his shoulder. Thefirst ecstasy of their greeting over, Dorothy started guiltily.
"Oh, Dick!" she exclaimed. "How about Peggy? You must see how she is!"
"Never mind," answered Crane's voice cheerily. "She is coming tonicely."
Glancing around quickly, they saw that Crane had already revived thestranger, and that DuQuesne was not in sight. Dorothy blushed, the vividwave of color rising to her glorious hair, and hastily disengaged herarms from around her lover's neck, drawing away from him. Seaton, alsoblushing, dropped his arms, and Dorothy floated away from him,frantically clutching at a brace just beyond reach.
"Pull me down, Dick!" she called, laughing gaily.
Seaton, seizing her instinctively, neglected his own anchorage and theyhung in the air together, while Crane and Margaret, each holding astrap, laughed with unrestrained merriment.
"Tweet, tweet--I'm a canary!" chuckled Seaton. "Throw us a rope!"
"A Dicky-bird, you mean," interposed Dorothy.
"I knew that you were a sleight-of-hand expert, Dick, but I did not knowthat levitation was one of your specialties," remarked Crane with mockgravity. "That is a peculiar pose you are holding now. What are youdoing--sitting on an imaginary pedestal?"
"I'll be sitting on your neck if you don't get a wiggle on with thatrope!" retorted Seaton, but before Crane had time to obey the commandthe floating couple had approached close enough to the ceiling so thatSeaton, with a slight pressure of his hand against the leather, sentthem floating back to the floor, within reach of one of the handrails.
Seaton made his way to the power-plant, lifted in one of the remainingbars, and applied a little power. The Skylark seemed to jump under them,then it seemed as though they were back on Earth--everything had itsnormal weight once more, as the amount of power applied was just enoughto equal the acceleration of gravity. After this fact had beenexplained, Dorothy turned to Margaret.
"Now that we are able to act intelligently, the party should beintroduced to each other. Peggy, this is Dr. Dick Seaton, and this isMr. Martin Crane. Boys, this is Miss Margaret Spencer, a dear friend ofmine. These are the boys I have told you so much about, Peggy. Dickknows all about atoms and things; he found out how to make the Skylarkgo. Martin, who is quite a wonderful inventor, made the engines andthings for it."
"I may have heard of Mr. Crane," replied Margaret eagerly. "My fatherwas an inventor, and I have heard him speak of a man named Crane whoinvented a lot of instruments for airplanes. He used to say that theCrane instruments revolutionized flying. I wonder if you are that Mr.Crane?"
"That is rather unjustifiably high praise, Miss Spencer," replied Crane,"but as I have been guilty of one or two things along that line, I maybe the man he meant."
"Pardon me if I seem to change the subject," put in Seaton, "but where'sDuQuesne?"
"We came to at the same time, and he went into the galley to fix upsomething to eat."
"Good for him!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I'm simply starved to death. I wouldhave been demanding food long ago, but I have so many aches and painsthat I didn't realize how hungry I was until you mentioned it. Come on,Peggy, I know where our room is. Let's go powder our noses while thesebewhiskered gentlemen reap their beards. Did you bring along any of myclothes, Dick, or did you forget them in the excitement?"
"I didn't think anything about clothes, but Martin did. You'll find yourwhole wardrobe in your room. I'm with you, Dot, on that eatingproposition--I'm hungry enough to eat the jamb off the door!"
* * * * *
After the girls had gone, Seaton and Crane went to their rooms, wherethey exercised vigorously to restore the circulation to their numbedbodies, shaved, bathed, and returned to the saloon feeling like new men.They found the girls already there, seated at one of the windows.
"Hail and greeting!" cried Dorothy at sight of them. "I hardlyrecognized you without your whiskers. Do hurry over here and look outthis perfectly wonderful window. Did you ever in your born days seeanything like this sight? Now that I'm not scared pea-green, I can enjoyit thoroughly!"
The two men joined the girls and peered out into space through thewindow, which was completely invisible, so clear was the glass. As thefour heads bent, so close together, an awed silence fell upon the littlegroup. For the blackness of the interstellar void was not the dark of anearthly night, but the absolute black of the absence of all light,beside which the black of platinum dust is pale and gray; and laid uponthis velvet were the jewel stars. They were not the twinkling,scintillating beauties of the earthly sky, but minute points, so smallas to seem dimensionless, yet of dazzling brilliance. Without theinterference of the air, their rays met the eye steadily and much of theeffect of comparative distance was lost. All seemed nearer and there wasno hint of familiarity in their arrangement. Like gems thrown upondarkness they shone in multi-colored beauty upon the daring wanderers,who stood in their car as easily as though they were upon their parentEarth, and gazed upon a sight never before seen by eye of man norpictured in his imaginings.
Through the daze of their wonder, a thought smote Seaton like a blowfrom a fist. His eyes leaped to the instrument board and he exclaimed:
"Look there, Mart! We're heading almost directly away from the Earth,and we must be making billions of miles per second. After we lostconsciousness, the attraction of that big dud back there would swing usaround, of course, but the bar should have stayed pointed somewhere nearthe Earth, as I left it. Do you suppose it could have shifted thegyroscopes?"
"It not only could have, it did," replied Crane, turning the bar untilit again pointed parallel with the object-compass which bore upon theEarth. "Look at the board. The angle has been changed through nearlyhalf a circumference. We couldn't carry gyroscopes heavy enough tocounteract that force."
"But they were heavier there--Oh, sure, you're right. It's mass, notweight, that counts. But we sure are in one fine, large jam now. Insteadof being half-way back to the Earth we're--where are we, anyway?"
They made a reading on an object-compass focused upon the Earth.Seaton's face lengthened as seconds passed. When it had come to rest,both men calculated the distance.
"What d'you make it, Mart? I'm afraid to tell you my result."
"Forty-six point twenty-seven light-centuries," replied Crane, calmly."Right?"
"Right, and the time was 11:32 P. M. of Thursday, by the chronometerthere. We'll time it again after a while and see how fast we'retraveling. It's a good thing you built the ship's chronometers to standany kind of stress. My watch is a total loss. Yours is, too?"
"All of our watches must be broken. We will have to repair them as soonas we get time."
"Well, let's eat next! No human being can stand my aching void muchlonger. How about you, Dot?"
"Yes, for Cat's sake, let's get busy!" she mimicked him gaily. "DoctorDuQuesne's had dinner ready for ages, and we're all dying by inches ofhunger."
* *
* * *
The wanderers, battered, bruised, and sore, seated themselves at afolding table, Seaton keeping a watchful eye upon the bar and upon thecourse, while enjoying Dorothy's presence to the full. Crane andMargaret talked easily, but at intervals. Save when directly addressed.DuQuesne maintained silence--not the silence of one who knows himself tobe an intruder, but the silence of perfect self-sufficiency. The mealover, the girls washed the dishes and busied themselves in the galley.Seaton and Crane made another observation upon the Earth, requestingDuQuesne to stay out of the "engine room" as they called thepartially-enclosed space surrounding the main instrument board, wherewere located the object-compasses and the mechanism controlling theattractor, about which DuQuesne knew nothing. As they rejoined DuQuesnein the main compartment, Seaton said:
"DuQuesne, we're nearly five thousand light-years away from the Earth,and are getting farther at the rate of about one light-year per minute."
"I suppose that it would be poor technique to ask how you know?"
"It would--very poor. Our figures are right. The difficulty is that wehave only four bars left--enough to stop us and a little to spare, butnot nearly enough to get back with, even if we could take a chance ondrifting straight that far without being swung off--which, of course, isimpossible."
"That means that we must land somewhere and dig some copper, then."
"Exactly.
"The first thing to do is to find a place to land."
Seaton picked out a distant star in their course and observed it throughthe spectroscope. Since it was found to contain copper in notableamounts, all agreed that its planets probably also contained copper.
"Don't know whether we can stop that soon or not," remarked Seaton as heset the levers, "but we may as well have something to shoot at. We'dbetter take our regular twelve-hour tricks, hadn't we, Mart? It's awonder we got as far as this without striking another snag. I'll takethe first trick at the board--beat it to bed."
"Not so fast, Dick," argued Crane, as Seaton turned toward theengine-room: "It's my turn."
"Flip a nickel," suggested Seaton. "Heads I get it."
Crane flipped a coin. Heads it was, and the worn-out party went to theirrooms, all save Dorothy, who lingered after the others to bid her lovera more intimate good-night.
Seated beside him, his arm around her and her head upon his shoulder,Dorothy exclaimed:
"Oh, Dicky, Dicky, it is wonderful to be with you again! I've lived asmany years in the last week as we have covered miles!"
Seaton kissed her with ardor, then turned her fair face up to his andgazed hungrily at every feature.
"It sure was awful until we found you, sweetheart girl. Those two daysat Wilson's were the worst and longest I ever put in. I could have wrungMartin's cautious old neck!
"But isn't he a wiz at preparing for trouble? We sure owe him a lot,little dimpled lady."
Dorothy was silent for a moment, then a smile quirked at one corner ofher mouth and a dimple appeared. Seaton promptly kissed it, whereupon itdeepened audaciously.
"What are you thinking about--mischief?" he asked.
"Only of how Martin is going to be paid what we owe him," she answeredteasingly. "Don't let the debt worry you any."
"Spill the news, Reddy," he commanded, as his arm tightened about her.
She stuck out a tiny tip of red tongue at him.
"Don't let Peggy find out he's a millionaire."
"Why not?" he asked wonderingly, then he saw her point and laughed:
"You little matchmaker!"
"I don't care, laugh if you want to. Martin's as nice a man as I know,and Peggy's a real darling. Don't you let slip a word about Martin'smoney, that's all!"
"She wouldn't think any less of him, would she?"
"Dick, sometimes you are absolutely dumb. It would spoil everything. Ifshe knew he was a millionaire she would be scared to death--not of him,of course, but because she would think that he would think that she waschasing him, and then of course he would think that she was, see? As itis, she acts perfectly natural, and so does he. Didn't you notice thatwhile we were eating they talked together for at least fifteen minutesabout her father's invention and the way they stole the plans and onething and another? I don't believe he has talked that much to any girlexcept me the last five years--and he wouldn't talk to me until he knewthat I couldn't see any man except you. Much as we like Martin, we'vegot to admit that about him. He's been chased so much that he's wild. Ifany other girl he knows had talked to him that long, he would have beenoff to the North Pole or somewhere the next morning, and the best partof it is that he didn't think anything of it."
* * * * *
"You think she is domesticating the wild man?"
"Now, Dick, don't be foolish. You know what I mean. Martin is a perfectdear, but if she knew that he is _the_ M. Reynolds Crane, everythingwould be ruined. You know yourself how horribly hard it is to getthrough his shell to the real Martin underneath. He is lonely andmiserable inside, I know, and the right kind of girl, one that wouldtreat him right, would make life Heaven for him, and herself too."
"Yes, and the wrong kind would make it...."
"She would," interrupted Dorothy hastily, "but Peggy's the right kind.Wouldn't it be fine to have Martin and Peggy as happy, almost, as youand I are?"
"All right, girlie, I'm with you," he answered, embracing her as thoughhe intended never to let her go, "but you'd better go get somesleep--you're all in."
Considerably later, when Dorothy had finally gone, Seaton settledhimself for the long vigil. Promptly at the end of the twelve hoursCrane appeared, alert of eye and of bearing.
"You look fresh as a daisy, Mart. Feeling fit?"
"Fit as the proverbial fiddle. I could not have slept any better orlonger if I had had a week off. Seven hours and a half is a luxury, youknow."
"All wrong, old top. I need eight every night, and I'm going to takeabout ten this time."
"Go to it, twelve if you like. You have earned it."
Seaton stumbled to his room and slept as though in a trance for tenhours. Rising, he took his regular morning exercises and went into thesaloon. All save Martin were there, but he had eyes only for hissweetheart, who was radiantly beautiful in a dress of deep bronze-brown.
"Good morning, Dick," she hailed him joyously. "You woke up just intime--we are all starving again, and were just going to eat withoutyou!"
"Good morning, everybody. I would like to eat with you, Dottie, but I'vegot to relieve Martin. How'd it be for you to bring breakfast into theengine room and cheer my solitude, and let Crane eat with the others?"
"Fine--that's once you had a good idea, if you never have another!"
After the meal DuQuesne, who abhorred idleness with all his vigorousnature, took the watches of the party and went upstairs to the "shop,"which was a completely-equipped mechanical laboratory, to repair them.Seaton stayed at the board, where Dorothy joined him as a matter ofcourse. Crane and Margaret sat down at one of the windows.
She told him her story, frankly and fully, shuddering with horror as sherecalled the awful, helpless fall, during which Perkins had met his end.
"Dick and I have a heavy score to settle with that Steel crowd and withDuQuesne," Crane said slowly. "We have no evidence that will hold inlaw, but some day DuQuesne will over-reach himself. We could convict himof abduction now, but the penalty for that is too mild for what he hasdone. Perkins' death was not murder, then?"
"Oh, no, it was purely self-defense. Perkins would have killed him if hecould. And he really deserved it--Perkins was a perfect fiend. TheDoctor, as they call him, is no better, although entirely different. Heis so utterly heartless and ruthless, so cold and scientific. Do youknow him very well?"
"We know all that about him, and more. And yet Dorothy said he saved herlife?"
"He did, from Perkins, but I still think it was because he didn't wantPerkins meddling in his affairs. He seems to me to be the veryincarnation of a fix
ed purpose--to advance himself in the world."
"That expresses my thoughts exactly. But he slips occasionally, as inthis instance, and he will again. He will have to walk very carefullywhile he is with us. Nothing would please Dick better than an excuse forkilling him, and I must admit that I feel very much the same way."
"Yes, all of us do, and the way he acts proves what a machine he is. Heknows just exactly how far to go, and never goes beyond it."
They felt the Skylark lurch slightly.
"Oh, Mart!" called Seaton. "Going to pass that star we were headedfor--too fast to stop. I'm giving it a wide berth and picking outanother one. There's a big planet a few million miles off in line withthe main door, and another one almost dead ahead--that is, straightdown. We sure are traveling. Look at that sun flit by!"
* * * * *
They saw the two planets, one like a small moon, the other like a largestar, and saw the strange sun increase rapidly in size as the Skylarkflew on at such a pace that any earthly distance would have been coveredas soon as it was begun. So appalling was their velocity that their shipwas bathed in the light of that sun for only a short time, then wasagain surrounded by the indescribable darkness. Their seventy-two-hourflight without a pilot had seemed a miracle, now it seemed entirelypossible that they might fly in a straight line for weeks withoutencountering any obstacle, so vast was the emptiness in comparison withthe points of light that punctuated it. Now and then they passed soclose to a star that it apparently moved rapidly, but for the most partthe silent sentinels stood, like distant mountain peaks to the travelersin an express train, in the same position for many minutes.
Awed by the immensity of the universe, the two at the window weresilent, not with the silence of embarrassment, but with that of twofriends in the presence of something beyond the reach of words. As theystared out into the infinity each felt as never before the pitifulsmallness of even our whole solar system and the utter insignificance ofhuman beings and their works. Silently their minds reached out to eachother in mutual understanding.
Unconsciously Margaret half shuddered and moved closer to hercompanion, the movement attracting his attention but not her own. Atender expression came into Crane's steady blue eyes as he looked downat the beautiful young woman by his side. For beautiful she undoubtedlywas. Untroubled rest and plentiful food had erased the marks of herimprisonment; Dorothy's deep, manifestly unassumed faith in the abilityof Seaton and Crane to bring them safely back to Earth had quieted herfears; and a complete costume of Dorothy's simple but well-cut clothes,which fitted her perfectly, and in which she looked her best and knewit, had completely restored her self-possession. He quickly glanced awayand again gazed at the stars, but now, in addition to the wonders ofspace, he saw masses of wavy black hair, high-piled upon a queenly head;deep down brown eyes half veiled by long, black lashes; sweet, sensitivelips; a firmly rounded but dimpled chin; and a perfectly-formed youngbody.
After a time she drew a deep, tremulous breath. As he turned, her eyesmet his. In their shadowy depths, still troubled by the mystery of theunknowable, he read her very soul--the soul of a real woman.
"I had hoped," said Margaret slowly, "to take a long flight above theclouds, but anything like this never entered my mind. How unbelievablygreat it is! So much vaster than any perception we could get upon earth!It seems strange that we were ever awed by the sea or the mountains ...and yet...."
She paused, with her lip caught under two white teeth, then went onhesitatingly:
"Doesn't it seem to you, Mr. Crane, that there is something in man asgreat as all this? Otherwise, Dorothy and I could not be sailing here ina wonder like the Lark, which you and Dick Seaton have made."
* * * * *
Since from the first, Dorothy had timed her waking hours with those ofSeaton--waiting upon him, preparing his meals, and lightening the longhours of his vigils at the board--Margaret took it upon herself to dothe same thing for Crane. But often they assembled in the engine-room,and there was much fun and laughter, as well as serious talk, among thefour. Margaret was quickly accepted as a friend, and proved a delightfulcompanion. Her wavy, jet-black hair, the only color in the world thatcould hold its own with Dorothy's auburn glory, framed featuresself-reliant and strong, yet of womanly softness; and in this genialatmosphere her quick tongue had a delicate wit and a facility ofexpression that delighted all three. Dorothy, after the manner ofSouthern women, became the hostess of this odd "party," as she styledit, and unconsciously adopted the attitude of a lady in her own home.
Early in their flight, Crane suggested that they should take notes uponthe systems of stars through which were passing.
"I know very little of astronomy," he said to Seaton, "but with ourtelescope, spectroscope, and other instruments, we should be able totake some data that will be of interest to astronomers. Possibly MissSpencer would be willing to help us?"
"Sure," Seaton returned readily. "We'd be idiots to let a chance likethis slide. Go to it!"
Margaret was delighted at the opportunity to help.
"Taking notes is the best thing I do!" she cried, and called for a padand pencil.
Stationed at the window, they fell to work in earnest. For several hoursCrane took observations, calculated distances, and dictated notes toMargaret.
"The stars are wonderfully different!" she exclaimed to him once. "Thatplanet, I'm sure, has strange and lovely life upon it. See how its colordiffers from most of the others we have seen so near? It is rosy andsoft like a home fire. I'm sure its people are happy."
They fell into a long discussion, laughing a little at their fancies.Were these multitudes of worlds peopled as the Earth? Could it be thatonly upon Earth had occurred the right combination for the generation oflife, so that the rest of the Universe was unpeopled?
"It is unthinkable that they are all uninhabited," mused Crane. "Theremust be life. The beings may not exist in any form with which we arefamiliar--they may well be fulfilling some purpose in ways so differentfrom ours that we should be unable to understand them at all."
Margaret's eyes widened in startled apprehension, but in a moment sheshook herself and laughed.
"But there's no reason to suppose they would be awful," she remarked,and turned with renewed interest to the window.
Thus days went by and the Skylark passed one solar system after another,with a velocity so great that it was impossible to land upon any planet.Margaret's association with Crane, begun as a duty, soon became anintense pleasure for them both. Taking notes or seated at the board incompanionable conversation or sympathetic silence, they compressed intoa few days more real companionship than is ordinarily enjoyed in months.Oftener and oftener, as time went on, Crane found the vision of hisdream home floating in his mind as he steered the Skylark in hermeteoric flight or as he strapped himself into his narrow bed. Now,however, the central figure of the vision, instead of being anindistinct blur, was clear and sharply defined. And for her part, moreand more was Margaret drawn to the quiet and unassuming, but utterlydependable and steadfast young inventor, with his wide knowledge and hiskeen, incisive mind.
* * * * *
Sometimes, when far from any star, the pilot would desert his post andjoin the others at meals. Upon one such occasion Seaton asked:
"How's the book on astronomy, oh, learned ones?"
"It will be as interesting as Egyptian hieroglyphics," Margaret replied,as she opened her notebook and showed him pages of figures and symbols.
"May I see it, Miss Spencer?" asked DuQuesne from across the smalltable, extending his hand.
She looked at him, hot hostility in her brown eyes, and he dropped hishand.
"I beg your pardon," he said, with amused irony.
After the meal Seaton and Crane held a short consultation, and theformer called to the girls, asking them to join in the "council of war."There was a moment's silence before Crane said diffidently:
"We
have been talking about DuQuesne, Miss Spencer, trying to decide avery important problem."
Seaton smiled in spite of himself as the color again deepened inMargaret's face, and Dorothy laughed outright.
"Talk about a red-headed temper! Your hair must be dyed, Peggy!"
"I know I acted like a naughty child," Margaret said ruefully, "but hemakes me perfectly furious and scares me at the same time. A few moreremarks like that 'I beg your pardon' of his and I wouldn't have athought left in my head!"
Seaton, who had opened his mouth, shut it again ludicrously, withoutsaying a word, and Margaret gave him a startled glance.
"Now I _have_ said it!" she exclaimed. "I'm not afraid of him, boys,really. What do you want me to do?"
Seaton plunged in.
"What we were trying to get up nerve enough to say is that he'd be agood man on the astronomy job," and Crane added quickly:
"He undoubtedly knows more about it than I do, and it would be a pity tolose the chance of using him. Besides, Dick and I think it ratherdangerous to leave him so much time to himself, in which to work up aplan against us."
"He's cooking one right now, I'll bet a hat," Seaton put in, and Craneadded:
"If you are sure that you have no objections, Miss Spencer, we might gobelow, where we can have it dark, and all three of us see what we canmake of the stargazing. We are really losing an unusual opportunity."
Margaret hid gallantly any reluctance she might have felt.
"I wouldn't deserve to be here if I can't work with the Doctor and hatehim at the same time."
"Good for you, Peg, you're a regular fellow!" Seaton exclaimed. "You'rea trump!"
* * * * *
Finally, the enormous velocity of the cruiser was sufficiently reducedto effect a landing, a copper-bearing sun was located, and a course waslaid toward its nearest planet.
As the vessel approached its goal a deep undercurrent of excitement keptall the passengers feverishly occupied. They watched the distant globegrow larger, glowing through its atmosphere more and more clearly as agreat disk of white light, its outline softened by the air about it. Twosatellites were close beside it. Its sun, a great, blazing orb, a littlenearer than the planet, looked so great and so hot that Margaret becameuneasy.
"Isn't it dangerous to get so close, Dick? We might burn up, mightn'twe?"
"Not without an atmosphere," he laughed.
"Oh," murmured the girl apologetically, "I might have known that."
Dropping rapidly into the atmosphere of the planet, they measured itsdensity and analyzed it in apparatus installed for that purpose, findingthat its composition was very similar to the Earth's air and that itspressure was not enough greater to be uncomfortable. When within onethousand feet of the surface, Seaton weighed a five-pound weight upon aspring-balance, finding that it weighed five and a half pounds, thusascertaining that the planet was either somewhat larger than the Earthor more dense. The ground was almost hidden by a rank growth ofvegetation, but here and there appeared glade-like openings.
Seaton glanced at the faces about him. Tense interest marked them all.Dorothy's cheeks were flushed, her eyes shone. She looked at him withawe and pride.
"A strange world, Dorothy," he said gravely. "You are not afraid?"
"Not with you," she answered. "I am only thrilled with wonder."
"Columbus at San Salvador," said Margaret, her dark eyes paying theirtribute of admiration.
A dark flush mounted swiftly into Seaton's brown face and he sought tothrow most of the burden upon Crane, but catching upon his face also alook of praise, almost of tenderness, he quickly turned to the controls.
"Man the boats!" he ordered an imaginary crew, and the Skylark descendedrapidly.
Landing upon one of the open spaces, they found the ground solid andstepped out. What had appeared to be a glade was in reality a rock, orrather, a ledge of apparently solid metal, with scarcely a loosefragment to be seen. At one end of the ledge rose a giant treewonderfully symmetrical, but of a peculiar form. Its branches werelonger at the top than at the bottom, and it possessed broad, dark-greenleaves, long thorns, and odd, flexible, shoot-like tendrils. It stood asan outpost of the dense vegetation beyond. Totally unlike the forests ofEarth were those fern-like trees, towering two hundred feet into theair. They were of an intensely vivid green and stood motionless in thestill, hot air of noonday. Not a sign of animal life was to be seen; thewhole landscape seemed asleep.
The five strangers stood near their vessel, conversing in low tones andenjoying the sensation of solid ground beneath their feet. After a fewminutes DuQuesne remarked:
"This is undoubtedly a newer planet than ours. I should say that it wasin the Carboniferous age. Aren't those trees like those in thecoal-measures, Seaton?"
"True as time, Blackie--there probably won't be a human race here forages, unless we bring out some colonists."
Seaton kicked at one of the loose lumps of metal questioningly with hisheavy shoe, finding that it was as immovable as though it were part ofthe ledge. Bending over, he found that it required all his greatstrength to lift it and he stared at it with an expression of surprise,which turned to amazement as he peered closer.
"DuQuesne! Look at this!"
* * * * *
DuQuesne studied the metal, and was shaken out of his habitualtaciturnity.
"Platinum, by all the little gods!"
"We'll grab some of this while the grabbing's good," announced Seaton,and the few visible lumps were rolled into the car. "If we had a pickaxewe could chop some more off one of those sharp ledges down there."
"There's an axe in the shop," replied DuQuesne. "I'll go get it. Goahead, I'll soon be with you."
"Keep close together," warned Crane as the four moved slowly down theslope. "This is none too safe, Dick."
"No, it isn't, Mart. But we've got to see whether we can't find somecopper, and I would like to get some more of this stuff, too. I don'tthink it's platinum, I believe that it's X."
As they reached the broken projections, Margaret glanced back over hershoulder and screamed. The others saw that her face was white and hereyes wide with horror, and Seaton instinctively drew his pistol as hewhirled about, only to check his finger on the trigger and lower hishand.
"Nothing but X-plosive bullets," he growled in disgust, and in helplesssilence the four watched an unspeakably hideous monster slowly appearfrom behind the Skylark. Its four huge, squat legs supported a body atleast a hundred feet long, pursy and ungainly; at the extremity of along and sinuous neck a comparatively small head seemed composedentirely of a cavernous mouth armed with row upon row of carnivorousteeth. Dorothy gasped with terror and both girls shrank closer to thetwo men, who maintained a baffled silence as the huge beast passed hisrevolting head along the hull of the vessel.
"I dare not shoot, Martin," Seaton whispered, "it would wreck the bus.Have you got any solid bullets?"
"No. We must hide behind these small ledges until it goes away,"answered Crane, his eyes upon Margaret's colorless face. "You two hidebehind that one, we will take this one."
"Oh, well, it's nothing to worry about, anyway. We can kill him as soonas he gets far enough away from the boat," said Seaton as, with Dorothyclinging to him, he dropped behind one of the ledges. Margaret, herstaring eyes fixed upon the monster, remained standing until Cranetouched her gently and drew her down beside him.
"He will go away soon," his even voice assured her. "We are in nodanger."
In spite of their predicament, a feeling of happiness flowed throughCrane's whole being as he crouched beside the wall of metal with one armprotectingly around Margaret, and he longed to protect her through lifeas he was protecting her then. Accustomed as he was to dangeroussituations, he felt no fear. He felt only a great tenderness for thegirl by his side, who had ceased trembling but was still staringwide-eyed at the monster through a crevice.
"Scared, Peggy?" he whispered.
"Not
now, Martin, but if you weren't here I would die of fright."
At this reply his arm tightened involuntarily, but he forced it torelax.
"It will not be long," he promised himself silently, "until she is backat home among her friends, and then...."
There came the crack of a rifle from the Skylark. There was an awfulroar from the dinosaur, which was quickly silenced by a stream ofmachine-gun bullets.
"Blackie's on the job--let's go!" cried Seaton, and they raced up theslope. Making a detour to avoid the writhing and mutilated mass theyplunged through the opening door. DuQuesne shut it behind them and inoverwhelming relief, the adventurers huddled together as from thewilderness without there arose an appalling tumult.
* * * * *
The scene, so quiet a few moments before, was instantly changed. Thetrees, the swamp, and the air seemed filled with monsters so hideous asto stagger the imagination. Winged lizards of prodigious size hurtledthrough the air, plunging to death against the armored hull.Indescribable flying monsters, with feathers like birds, but with thefangs of tigers, attacked viciously. Dorothy screamed and started backas a scorpion-like thing with a body ten feet in length leaped at thewindow in front of her, its terrible sting spraying the glass withvenom. As it fell to the ground, a huge spider--if an eight-leggedcreature with spines instead of hair, many-faceted eyes, and a bloated,globular body weighing hundreds of pounds, may be called aspider--leaped upon it and, mighty mandibles against poisonous sting,the furious battle raged. Several twelve-foot cockroaches climbed nimblyacross the fallen timber of the morass and began feeding voraciouslyupon the body of the dead dinosaur, only to be driven away by anotheranimal, which all three men recognized instantly as that king of allprehistoric creatures, the saber-toothed tiger. This newcomer, a tawnybeast towering fifteen feet high at the shoulder, had a mouthdisproportionate even to his great size--a mouth armed with four greattiger-teeth more than three feet in length. He had barely begun hismeal, however, when he was challenged by another nightmare, a somethingapparently half-way between a dinosaur and a crocodile. At the firstnote the tiger charged. Clawing, striking, rending each other with theirterrible teeth, a veritable avalanche of bloodthirsty rage, thecombatants stormed up and down the little island. But the fighters wererudely interrupted, and the earthly visitors discovered that in thisprimitive world it was not only animal life that was dangerous.
The great tree standing on the farther edge of the islandsuddenly bent over, lashing out like a snake and grasping both. Ittransfixed them with the terrible thorns, which were now seen to bearmed with needlepoints and to possess barbs like fish-hooks.]
The great tree standing on the farther edge of the island suddenly bentover, lashing out like a snake and grasping both. It transfixed themwith the terrible thorns, which were now seen to be armed withneedlepoints and to possess barbs like fish-hooks. It ripped at themwith the long branches, which were veritable spears. The broad leaves,armed with revolting sucking disks, closed about the two animals, whilethe long, slender twigs, each of which was now seen to have an eye atits extremity, waved about, watching each movement of the captives froma safe distance.
If the struggle between the two animals had been awful, this wasTitanic. The air was torn by the roars of the reptile, the screams ofthe great cat, and the shrieks of the tree. The very ground rocked withthe ferocity of the conflict. There could be but one result--soon thetree, having absorbed the two gladiators, resumed its upright positionin all its beauty.
The members of the little group stared at each other, sick at heart.
"This is NO place to start a copper-mine. I think we'd better beat it,"remarked Seaton presently, wiping drops of perspiration from hisforehead.
"I think so," acquiesced Crane. "We found air and Earth-like conditionshere; we probably will elsewhere."
"Are you all right, Dottie?" asked Seaton.
"All right, Dicky," she replied, the color flowing back into her cheeks."It scared me stiff, and I think I have a lot of white hairs right now,but I wouldn't have missed it for anything."
She paused an instant, and continued:
"Dick, there must be a queer streak of brutality in me, but would youmind blowing up that frightful tree? I wouldn't mind its nature if itwere ugly--but look at it! It's so deceptively beautiful! You wouldn'tthink it had the disposition of a fiend, would you?"
* * * * *
A general laugh relieved the nervous tension, and Seaton steppedimpulsively toward DuQuesne with his hand outstretched.
"You've squared your account, Blackie. Say the word and the war's alloff."
DuQuesne ignored the hand and glanced coldly at the group of eager,friendly faces.
"Don't be sentimental," he remarked evenly as he turned away to hisroom. "Emotional scenes pain me. I gave my word to act as one of theparty."
"Well, may I be kicked to death by little red spiders!" exclaimedSeaton, dumbfounded, as the other disappeared. "He ain't a man, he's afish!"
"He's a machine. I always thought so, and now I know it," statedMargaret, and the others nodded agreement.
"Well, we'll sure pull his cork as soon as we get back!" snapped Seaton."He asked for it, and we'll give him both barrels!"
"I know I acted the fool out there," Margaret apologized, flushing hotlyand looking at Crane. "I don't know what made me act so stupid. I usedto have a little nerve."
"You were a regular little brick, Peg," Seaton returned instantly. "Bothyou girls are all to the good--the right kind to have along in ticklishplaces."
Crane held out his steady hand and took Margaret's in a warm clasp.
"For a girl in your weakened condition you were wonderful. You have noreason to reproach yourself."
Tears filled the dark eyes, but were held back bravely as she held herhead erect and returned the pressure of his hand.
"Just so you don't leave me behind next time," she returned lightly, andthe last word concerning the incident had been said.
Seaton applied the power and soon they were approaching another planet,which was surrounded by a dense fog. Descending slowly, they found it tobe a mass of boiling-hot steam and rank vapors, under enormous pressure.
The next planet they found to have a clear atmosphere, but the groundhad a peculiar, barren look; and analysis of the gaseous envelope provedit to be composed almost entirely of chlorin. No life of an earthly typecould be possible upon such a world, and a search for copper, even withthe suits and helmets, would probably be fruitless if not impossible.
"Well," remarked Seaton as they were again in space, "we've got enoughcopper to visit several more worlds--several more solar systems, ifnecessary. But there's a nice, hopeful-looking planet right in front ofus. It may be the one we're looking for."
Arrived in the belt of atmosphere, they tested it as before, and foundit satisfactory.