Chapter 17
IN THE NAME OF THE LAW
What was to be the issue of this remarkable adventure? Could I bringit to any denouement whatever, either sooner or later? Did not Roburhold the results wholly in his own hands? Probably I would never havesuch an opportunity for escape as had occurred to Mr. Prudent and Mr.Evans amid the islands of the Pacific. I could only wait. And howlong might the waiting last!
To be sure, my curiosity had been partly satisfied. But even now Iknew only the answer to the problems of the Great Eyrie. Having atlength penetrated its circle, I comprehended all the phenomenaobserved by the people of the Blueridge Mountains. I was assured thatneither the country-folk throughout the region, nor the townfolk ofPleasant Garden and Morganton were in danger of volcanic eruptions orearthquakes. No subterranean forces whatever were battling within thebowels of the mountains. No crater had arisen in this corner of theAlleghanies. The Great Eyrie served merely as the retreat of Roburthe Conqueror. This impenetrable hiding-place where he stored hismaterials and provisions, had without doubt been discovered by himduring one of his aerial voyages in the "Albatross." It was a retreatprobably even more secure than that as yet undiscovered Island X inthe Pacific.
This much I knew of him; but of this marvelous machine of his, of thesecrets of its construction and propelling force, what did I reallyknow? Admitting that this multiple mechanism was driven byelectricity, and that this electricity was, as we knew it had been inthe "Albatross," extracted directly from the surrounding air by somenew process, what were the details of its mechanism? I had not beenpermitted to see the engine; doubtless I should never see it.
On the question of my liberty I argued thus: Robur evidently intendsto remain unknown. As to what he intends to do with his machine, Ifear, recalling his letter, that the world must expect from it moreof evil than of good. At any rate, the incognito which he has socarefully guarded in the past he must mean to preserve in the future.Now only one man can establish the identity of the Master of theWorld with Robur the Conqueror. This man is I his prisoner, I whohave the right to arrest him, I, who ought to put my hand on hisshoulder, saying, "In the Name of the Law--"
On the other hand, could I hope for a rescue from with out? Evidentlynot. The police authorities must know everything that had happened atBlack Rock Creek. Mr. Ward, advised of all the incidents, would havereasoned on the matter as follows: when the "Terror" quitted thecreek dragging me at the end of her hawser, I had either been drownedor, since my body had not been recovered, I had been taken on boardthe "Terror," and was in the hands of its commander.
In the first case, there was nothing more to do than to write"deceased" after the name of John Strock, chief inspector of thefederal police in Washington.
In the second case, could my confreres hope ever to see me again? Thetwo destroyers which had pursued the "Terror" into the Niagara Riverhad stopped, perforce, when the current threatened to drag them overthe falls. At that moment, night was closing in, and what could bethought on board the destroyers but that the "Terror" had beenengulfed in the abyss of the cataract? It was scarce possible thatour machine had been seen when, amid the shades of night, it roseabove the Horseshoe Falls, or when it winged its way high above themountains on its route to the Great Eyrie.
With regard to my own fate, should I resolve to question Robur? Wouldhe consent even to appear to hear me? Was he not content with havinghurled at me his name? Would not that name seem to him to answereverything?
That day wore away without bringing the least change to thesituation. Robur and his men continued actively at work upon themachine, which apparently needed considerable repair. I concludedthat they meant to start forth again very shortly, and to take mewith them. It would, however, have been quite possible to leave me atthe bottom of the Eyrie. There would have been no way by which Icould have escaped, and there were provisions at hand sufficient tokeep me alive for many days.
What I studied particularly during this period was the mental stateof Robur. He seemed to me under the dominance of a continuousexcitement. What was it that his ever-seething brain now meditated?What projects was he forming for the future? Toward what region wouldhe now turn? Would he put in execution the menaces expressed in hisletter--the menaces of a madman!
The night of that first day, I slept on a couch of dry grass in oneof the grottoes of the Great Eyrie. Food was set for me in thisgrotto each succeeding day. On the second and third of August, thethree men continued at their work scarcely once, however, exchangingany words, even in the midst of their labors. When the engines wereall repaired to Robur's satisfaction, the men began putting storesaboard their craft, as if expecting a long absence. Perhaps the"Terror" was about to traverse immense distances; perhaps even, thecaptain intended to regain his Island X, in the midst of the Pacific.
Sometimes I saw him wander about the Eyrie buried in thought, or hewould stop and raise his arm toward heaven as if in defiance of thatGod with Whom he assumed to divide the empire of the world. Was nothis overweening pride leading him toward insanity? An insanity whichhis two companions, hardly less excited than he, could do nothing tosubdue! Had he not come to regard himself as mightier than theelements which he had so audaciously defied even when he possessedonly an airship, the "Albatross?" And now, how much more powerful hadhe become, when earth, air and water combined to offer him aninfinite field where none might follow him!
Hence I had much to fear from the future, even the most dreadcatastrophes. It was impossible for me to escape from the GreatEyrie, before being dragged into a new voyage. After that, how couldI possibly get away while the "Terror" sped through the air or theocean? My only chance must be when she crossed the land, and did soat some moderate speed. Surely a distant and feeble hope to cling to!
It will be recalled that after our arrival at the Great Eyrie, I hadattempted to obtain some response from Robur, as to his purpose withme; but I had failed. On this last day I made another attempt.
In the afternoon I walked up and down before the large grotto wheremy captors were at work. Robur, standing at the entrance, followed mesteadily with his eyes. Did he mean to address me?
I went up to him. "Captain," said I, "I have already asked you aquestion, which you have not answered. I ask it again: What do youintend to do with me?"
We stood face to face scarce two steps apart. With arms folded, heglared at me, and I was terrified by his glance. Terrified, that isthe word! The glance was not that of a sane man. Indeed, it seemed toreflect nothing whatever of humanity within.
I repeated my question in a more challenging tone. For an instant Ithought that Robur would break his silence and burst forth.
"What do you intend to do with me? Will you set me free?"
Evidently my captor's mind was obsessed by some other thought, fromwhich I had only distracted him for a moment. He made again thatgesture which I had already observed; he raised one defiant armtoward the zenith. It seemed to me as if some irresistible force drewhim toward those upper zones of the sky, that he belonged no more tothe earth, that he was destined to live in space; a perpetual dwellerin the clouds.
Without answering me, without seeming to have understood me, Roburreentered the grotto.
How long this sojourn or rather relaxation of the "Terror" in theGreat Eyrie was to last, I did not know. I saw, however, on theafternoon of this third of August that the repairs and theembarkation of stores were completed. The hold and lockers of ourcraft must have been completely crowded with the provisions takenfrom the grottoes of the Eyrie.
Then the chief of the two assistants, a man whom I now recognized asthat John Turner who had been mate of the "Albatross," began anotherlabor. With the help of his companion, he dragged to the center ofthe hollow all that remained of their materials, empty cases,fragments of carpentry, peculiar pieces of wood which clearly musthave belonged to the "Albatross," which had been sacrificed to thisnew and mightier engine of locomotion. Beneath this mass there lay agreat quantity of dried grasses. The thoug
ht came to me that Roburwas preparing to leave this retreat forever!
In fact, he could not be ignorant that the attention of the publicwas now keenly fixed upon the Great Eyrie; and that some furtherattempt was likely to be made to penetrate it. Must he not fear thatsome day or other the effort would be successful, and that men wouldend by invading his hiding-place? Did he not wish that they shouldfind there no single evidence of his occupation?
The sun disappeared behind the crests of the Blueridge. His rays nowlighted only the very summit of Black Dome towering in the northwest.Probably the "Terror" awaited only the night in order to begin herflight. The world did not yet know that the automobile and boat couldalso transform itself into a flying machine. Until now, it had neverbeen seen in the air. And would not this fourth transformation becarefully concealed, until the day when the Master of the World choseto put into execution his insensate menaces?
Toward nine o'clock profound obscurity enwrapped the hollow. Not astar looked down on us. Heavy clouds driven by a keen eastern windcovered the entire sky. The passage of the "Terror" would beinvisible, not only in our immediate neighborhood, but probablyacross all the American territory and even the adjoining seas.
At this moment Turner, approaching the huge stack in the middle ofthe eyrie, set fire to the grass beneath.
The whole mass flared up at once. From the midst of a dense smoke,the roaring flames rose to a height which towered above the walls ofthe Great Eyrie. Once more the good folk of Morganton and PleasantGarden would believe that the crater had reopened. These flames wouldannounce to them another volcanic upheaval.
I watched the conflagration. I heard the roarings and cracklingswhich filled the air. From the deck of the "Terror," Robur watched italso.
Turner and his companion pushed back into the fire the fragmentswhich the violence of the flames cast forth. Little by little thehuge bonfire grew less. The flames sank down into a mere mass ofburnt-out ashes; and once more all was silence and blackest night.
Suddenly I felt myself seized by the arm. Turner drew me toward the"Terror." Resistance would have been useless. And moreover what couldbe worse than to be abandoned without resources in this prison whosewalls I could not climb!
As soon as I set foot on the deck, Turner also embarked. Hiscompanion went forward to the look-out; Turner climbed down into theengine-room, lighted by electric bulbs, from which not a gleamescaped outside.
Robur himself was at the helm, the regulator within reach of hishand, so that he could control both our speed and our direction. Asto me, I was forced to descend into my cabin, and the hatchway wasfastened above me. During that night, as on that of our departurefrom Niagara, I was not allowed to watch the movements of the"Terror."
Nevertheless, if I could see nothing of what was passing on board, Icould hear the noises of the machinery. I had first the feeling thatour craft, its bow slightly raised, lost contact with the earth. Someswerves and balancings in the air followed. Then the turbinesunderneath spun with prodigious rapidity, while the great wings beatwith steady regularity.
Thus the "Terror," probably forever, had left the Great Eyrie, andlaunched into the air as a ship launches into the waters. Our captainsoared above the double chain of the Alleghanies, and without doubthe would remain in the upper zones of the air until he had left allthe mountain region behind.
But in what direction would he turn? Would he pass in flight acrossthe plains of North Carolina, seeking the Atlantic Ocean? Or would hehead to the west to reach the Pacific? Perhaps he would seek, to thesouth, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. When day came how should Irecognize which sea we were upon, if the horizon of water and skyencircled us on every side?
Several hours passed; and how long they seemed to me! I made noeffort to find forgetfulness in sleep. Wild and incoherent thoughtsassailed me. I felt myself swept over worlds of imagination, as I wasswept through space, by an aerial monster. At the speed which the"Terror" possessed, whither might I not be carried during thisinterminable night? I recalled the unbelievable voyage of the"Albatross," of which the Weldon Institute had published an account,as described by Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans. What Robur, the Conqueror,had done with his first airship, he could do even more readily withthis quadruple machine.
At length the first rays of daylight brightened my cabin. Would I bepermitted to go out now, to take my place upon the deck, as I haddone upon Lake Erie?
I pushed upon the hatchway: it opened. I came half way out upon thedeck.
All about was sky and sea. We floated in the air above an ocean, at aheight which I judged to be about a thousand or twelve hundred feet.I could not see Robur, so he was probably in the engine room. Turnerwas at the helm, his companion on the look-out.
Now that I was upon the deck, I saw what I had not been able to seeduring our former nocturnal voyage, the action of those powerfulwings which beat upon either side at the same time that the screwsspun beneath the flanks of the machine.
By the position of the sun, as it slowly mounted from the horizon, Irealized that we were advancing toward the south. Hence if thisdirection had not been changed during the night this was the Gulf ofMexico which lay beneath us.
A hot day was announced by the heavy livid clouds which clung to thehorizon. These warnings of a coming storm did not escape the eye ofRobur when toward eight o'clock he came on deck and took Turner'splace at the helm. Perhaps the cloud-bank recalled to him thewaterspout in which the "Albatross" had so nearly been destroyed, orthe mighty cyclone from which he had escaped only as if by a miracleabove the Antarctic Sea.
It is true that the forces of Nature which had been too strong forthe "Albatross," might easily be evaded by this lighter and moreversatile machine. It could abandon the sky where the elements werein battle and descend to the surface of the sea; and if the wavesbeat against it there too heavily, it could always find calm in thetranquil depths.
Doubtless, however, there were some signs by which Robur, who must beexperienced in judging, decided that the storm would not burst untilthe next day.
He continued his flight; and in the afternoon, when we settled downupon the surface of the sea, there was not a sign of bad weather. The"Terror" is a sea bird, an albatross or frigate-bird, which can restat will upon the waves! Only we have this advantage, that fatigue hasnever any hold upon this metal organism, driven by the inexhaustibleelectricity!
The whole vast ocean around us was empty. Not a sail nor a trail ofsmoke was visible even on the limits of the horizon. Hence ourpassage through the clouds had not been seen and signaled ahead.
The afternoon was not marked by any incident. The "Terror" advancedat easy speed. What her captain intended to do, I could not guess. Ifhe continued in this direction, we should reach some one of the WestIndies, or beyond that, at the end of the Gulf, the shore ofVenezuela or Colombia. But when night came, perhaps we would againrise in the air to clear the mountainous barrier of Guatemala andNicaragua, and take flight toward Island X, somewhere in the unknownregions of the Pacific.
Evening came. The sun sank in an horizon red as blood. The seaglistened around the "Terror," which seemed to raise a shower ofsparks in its passage. There was a storm at hand. Evidently ourcaptain thought so. Instead of being allowed to remain on deck, I wascompelled to re-enter my cabin, and the hatchway was closed above me.
In a few moments from the noises that followed, I knew that themachine was about to be submerged. In fact, five minutes later, wewere moving peacefully forward through the ocean's depths.
Thoroughly worn out, less by fatigue than by excitement and anxiousthought, I fell into a profound sleep, natural this time and notprovoked by any soporific drug. When I awoke, after a length of timewhich I could not reckon, the "Terror" had not yet returned to thesurface of the sea.
This maneuver was executed a little later. The daylight pierced myporthole; and at the same moment I felt the pitching and tossing towhich we were subjected by a heavy sea.
I was allowed to take my place once more outsi
de the hatchway; wheremy first thought was for the weather. A storm was approaching fromthe northwest. Vivid lightning darted amid the dense, black clouds.Already we could hear the rumbling of thunder echoing continuouslythrough space. I was surprised--more than surprised, frightened!--bythe rapidity with which the storm rushed upward toward the zenith.Scarcely would a ship have had time to furl her sails to escape theshock of the blast, before it was upon her! The advance was as swiftas it was terrible.
Suddenly the wind was unchained with unheard of violence, as if ithad suddenly burst from this prison of cloud. In an instant afrightful sea uprose. The breaking waves, foaming along all theircrests, swept with their full weight over the "Terror." If I had notbeen wedged solidly against the rail, I should have been sweptoverboard!
There was but one thing to do--to change our machine again into asubmarine. It would find security and calm at a few dozen feetbeneath the surface. To continue to brave the fury of this outrageoussea was impossible.
Robur himself was on deck, and I awaited the order to return to mycabin--an order which was not given. There was not even anypreparation for the plunge. With an eye more burning than ever,impassive before this frightful storm, the captain looked it full inthe face, as if to defy it, knowing that he had nothing to fear.
It was imperative that the terror should plunge below without losinga moment. Yet Robur seemed to have no thought of doing so. No! Hepreserved his haughty attitude as of a man who in his immeasurablepride, believed himself above or beyond humanity.
Seeing him thus I asked myself with almost superstitious awe, if hewere not indeed a demoniac being, escaped from some supernaturalworld.
A cry leaped from his mouth, and was heard amid the shrieks of thetempest and the howlings of the thunder. "I, Robur! Robur!--Themaster of the world!"
He made a gesture which Turner and his companions understood. It wasa command; and without any hesitation these unhappy men, insane astheir master, obeyed it.
The great wings shot out, and the airship rose as it had risen abovethe falls of Niagara. But if on that day it had escaped the might ofthe cataract, this time it was amidst the might of the hurricane thatwe attempted our insensate flight.
The air-ship soared upward into the heart of the sky, amid a thousandlightning flashes, surrounded and shaken by the bursts of thunder. Itsteered amid the blinding, darting lights, courting destruction atevery instant.
Robur's position and attitude did not change. With one hand on thehelm, the other on the speed regulators while the great wings beatfuriously, he headed his machine toward the very center of the storm,where the electric flashes were leaping from cloud to cloud.
I must throw myself upon this madman to prevent him from driving hismachine into the very middle of this aerial furnace! I must compelhim to descend, to seek beneath the waters, a safety which was nolonger possible either upon the surface of the sea or in the sky!Beneath, we could wait until this frightful outburst of the elementswas at an end!
Then amid this wild excitement my own passion, all my instincts ofduty, arose within me! Yes, this was madness! Yet must I not arrestthis criminal whom my country had outlawed, who threatened the entireworld with his terrible invention? Must I not put my hand on hisshoulder and summon him to surrender to justice! Was I or was I notStrock, chief inspector of the federal police? Forgetting where Iwas, one against three, uplifted in mid-sky above a howling ocean, Ileaped toward the stern, and in a voice which rose above the tempest,I cried as I hurled myself upon Robur:
"In the name of the law, I--"
Suddenly the "Terror" trembled as if from a violent shock. All herframe quivered, as the human frame quivers under the electric fluid.Struck by the lightning in the very middle of her powerful batteries,the air-ship spread out on all sides and went to pieces.
With her wings fallen, her screws broken, with bolt after bolt of thelightning darting amid her ruins, the "Terror" fell from the heightof more than a thousand feet into the ocean beneath.
Chapter 18
THE OLD HOUSEKEEPER'S LAST COMMENT
When I came to myself after having been unconscious for many hours, agroup of sailors whose care had restored me to life surrounded thedoor of a cabin in which I lay. By my pillow sat an officer whoquestioned me; and as my senses slowly returned, I answered to hisquestioning.
I told them everything. Yes, everything! And assuredly my listenersmust have thought that they had upon their hands an unfortunate whosereason had not returned with his consciousness.
I was on board the steamer Ottawa, in the Gulf of Mexico, headed forthe port of New Orleans. This ship, while flying before the sameterrific thunder-storm which destroyed the "Terror," had encounteredsome wreckage, among whose fragments was entangled my helpless body.Thus I found myself back among humankind once more, while Robur theConqueror and his two companions had ended their adventurous careersin the waters of the Gulf. The Master of the World had disappearedforever, struck down by those thunder-bolts which he had dared tobrave in the regions of their fullest power. He carried with him thesecret of his extraordinary machine.
Five days later the Ottawa sighted the shores of Louisiana; and onthe morning of the tenth of August she reached her port. After takinga warm leave of my rescuers, I set out at once by train forWashington, which more than once I had despaired of ever seeing again.
I went first of all to the bureau of police, meaning to make myearliest appearance before Mr. Ward.
What was the surprise, the stupefaction, and also the joy of mychief, when the door of his cabinet opened before me! Had he notevery reason to believe, from the report of my companions, that I hadperished in the waters of Lake Erie?
I informed him of all my experiences since I had disappeared, thepursuit of the destroyers on the lake, the soaring of the "Terror"from amid Niagara Falls, the halt within the crater of the GreatEyrie, and the catastrophe, during the storm, above the Gulf ofMexico.
He learned for the first time that the machine created by the geniusof this Robur, could traverse space, as it did the earth and the sea.
In truth, did not the possession of so complete and marvelous amachine justify the name of Master of the World, which Robur hadtaken to himself? Certain it is that the comfort and even the livesof the public must have been forever in danger from him; and that allmethods of defence must have been feeble and ineffective.
But the pride which I had seen rising bit by bit within the heart ofthis prodigious man had driven him to give equal battle to the mostterrible of all the elements. It was a miracle that I had escapedsafe and sound from that frightful catastrophe.
Mr. Ward could scarcely believe my story. "Well, my dear Strock,"said he at last, "you have come back; and that is the main thing.Next to this notorious Robur, you will be the man of the hour. I hopethat your head will not be turned with vanity, like that of thiscrazy inventor!"
"No, Mr. Ward," I responded, "but you will agree with me that neverwas inquisitive man put to greater straits to satisfy his curiosity."
"I agree, Strock; and the mysteries of the Great Eyrie, thetransformations of the "Terror," you have discovered them! Butunfortunately, the still greater secrets of this Master of the Worldhave perished with him."
The same evening the newspapers published an account of myadventures, the truthfulness of which could not be doubted. Then, asMr. Ward had prophesied, I was the man of the hour.
One of the papers said, "Thanks to Inspector Strock the Americanpolice still lead the world. While others have accomplished theirwork, with more or less success, by land and by sea, the Americanpolice hurl themselves in pursuit of criminals through the depths oflakes and oceans and even through the sky."
Yet, in following, as I have told, in pursuit of the "Terror," had Idone anything more than by the close of the present century will havebecome the regular duty of my successors?
It is easy to imagine what a welcome my old housekeeper gave me whenI entered my house in Long Street. When my apparition--does not theword seem
just--stood before her, I feared for a moment she woulddrop dead, poor woman! Then, after hearing my story, with eyesstreaming with tears, she thanked Providence for having saved me fromso many perils.
"Now, sir," said she, "now--was I wrong?"
"Wrong? About what?"
"In saying that the Great Eyrie was the home of the devil?"
"Nonsense; this Robur was not the devil!"
"Ah, well!" replied the old woman, "he was worthy of being so!"
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