Chapter 5
ALONG THE SHORES OF NEW ENGLAND
At the time when the newspapers were filled with these reports, I wasagain in Washington. On my return I had presented myself at mychief's office, but had been unable to see him. Family affairs hadsuddenly called him away, to be absent some weeks. Mr. Ward, however,undoubtedly knew of the failure of my mission. The newspapers,especially those of North Carolina, had given full details of ourascent of the Great Eyrie.
Naturally, I was much annoyed by this delay which further fretted myrestless curiosity. I could turn to no other plans for the future.Could I give up the hope of learning the secret of the Great Eyrie?No! I would return to the attack a dozen times if necessary, anddespite every failure.
Surely, the winning of access within those walls was not a taskbeyond human power. A scaffolding might be raised to the summit ofthe cliff; or a tunnel might be pierced through its depth. Ourengineers met problems more difficult every day. But in this case itwas necessary to consider the expense, which might easily grow out ofproportion to the advantages to be gained. A tunnel would cost manythousand dollars, and what good would it accomplish beyond satisfyingthe public curiosity and my own?
My personal resources were wholly insufficient for the achievement.Mr. Ward, who held the government's funds, was away. I even thoughtof trying to interest some millionaire. Oh, if I could but havepromised one of them some gold or silver mines within the mountain!But such an hypothesis was not admissible. The chain of theAppalachians is not situated in a gold bearing region like that ofthe Pacific mountains, the Transvaal, or Australia.
It was not until the fifteenth of June that Mr. Ward returned toduty. Despite my lack of success he received me warmly. "Here is ourpoor Strock!" cried he, at my entrance. "Our poor Strock, who hasfailed!"
"No more, Mr. Ward, than if you had charged me to investigate thesurface of the moon," answered I. "We found ourselves face to facewith purely natural obstacles insurmountable with the forces then atour command."
"I do not doubt that, Strock, I do not doubt that in the least.Nevertheless, the fact remains that you have discovered nothing ofwhat is going on within the Great Eyrie."
"Nothing, Mr. Ward."
"You saw no sign of fire?"
"None."
"And you heard no suspicious noises whatever?"
"None."
"Then it is still uncertain if there is really a volcano there?"
"Still uncertain, Mr. Ward. But if it is there, we have good reasonto believe that it has sunk into a profound sleep."
"Still," returned Mr. Ward, "there is nothing to show that it willnot wake up again any day, Strock. It is not enough that a volcanoshould sleep, it must be absolutely extinguished unless indeed allthese threatening rumors have been born solely in the Carolinianimagination."
"That is not possible, sir," I said. "Both Mr. Smith, the mayor ofMorganton and his friend the mayor of Pleasant Garden, are reliablemen. And they speak from their own knowledge in this matter. Flameshave certainly risen above the Great Eyrie. Strange noises haveissued from it. There can be no doubt whatever of the reality ofthese phenomena."
"Granted," declared Mr. Ward. "I admit that the evidence isunassailable. So the deduction to be drawn is that the Great Eyriehas not yet given up its secret."
"If we are determined to know it, Mr. Ward, the solution is only asolution of expense. Pickaxes and dynamite would soon conquer thosewalls."
"No doubt," responded the chief, "but such an undertaking hardlyseems justified, since the mountain is now quiet. We will wait awhileand perhaps nature herself will disclose her mystery."
"Mr. Ward, believe me that I regret deeply that I have been unable tosolve the problem you entrusted to me," I said.
"Nonsense! Do not upset yourself, Strock. Take your defeatphilosophically. We cannot always be successful, even in the police.How many criminals escape us! I believe we should never capture oneof them, if they were a little more intelligent and less imprudent,and if they did not compromise themselves so stupidly. Nothing, itseems to me, would be easier than to plan a crime, a theft or anassassination, and to execute it without arousing any suspicions, orleaving any traces to be followed. You understand, Strock, I do notwant to give our criminals lessons; I much prefer to have them remainas they are. Nevertheless there are many whom the police will neverbe able to track down."
On this matter I shared absolutely the opinion of my chief. It isamong rascals that one finds the most fools. For this very reason Ihad been much surprised that none of the authorities had been able tothrow any light upon the recent performances of the "demonautomobile." And when Mr. Ward brought up this subject, I did notconceal from him my astonishment.
He pointed out that the vehicle was practically unpursuable; that inits earlier appearances, it had apparently vanished from all roadseven before a telephone message could be sent ahead. Active andnumerous police agents had been spread throughout the country, but noone of them had encountered the delinquent. He did not movecontinuously from place to place, even at his amazing speed, butseemed to appear only for a moment and then to vanish into thin air.True, he had at length remained visible along the entire route fromPrairie-du-Chien to Milwaukee, and he had covered in less than anhour and a half this track of two hundred miles.
But since then, there had been no news whatever of the machine.Arrived at the end of the route, driven onward by its own impetus,unable to stop, had it indeed been engulfed within the waters of LakeMichigan? Must we conclude that the machine and its driver had bothperished, that there was no longer any danger to be feared fromeither? The great majority of the public refused to accept thisconclusion. They fully expected the machine to reappear.
Mr. Ward frankly admitted that the whole matter seemed to him mostextraordinary; and I shared his view. Assuredly if this infernalchauffeur did not return, his apparition would have to be placedamong those superhuman mysteries which it is not given to man tounderstand.
We had fully discussed this affair, the chief and I; and I thoughtthat our interview was at an end, when, after pacing the room for afew moments, he said abruptly, "Yes, what happened there at Milwaukeewas very strange. But here is something no less so!"
With this he handed me a report which he had received from Boston, ona subject of which the evening papers had just begun to apprise theirreaders. While I read it, Mr. Ward was summoned from the room. Iseated myself by the window and studied with extreme attention thematter of the report.
For some days the waters along the coast of Maine, Connecticut, andMassachusetts had been the scene of an appearance which no one couldexactly describe. A moving body would appear amid the waters, sometwo or three miles off shore, and go through rapid evolutions. Itwould flash for a while back and forth among the waves and then dartout of sight.
The body moved with such lightning speed that the best telescopescould hardly follow it. Its length did not seem to exceed thirtyfeet. Its cigar-shaped form and greenish color, made it difficult todistinguish against the background of the ocean. It had been mostfrequently observed along the coast between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia.From Providence, from Boston, from Portsmouth, and from Portlandmotor boats and steam launches had repeatedly attempted to approachthis moving body and even to give it chase. They could not getanywhere near it. Pursuit seemed useless. It darted like an arrowbeyond the range of view.
Naturally, widely differing opinions were held as to the nature ofthis object. But no hypothesis rested on any secure basis. Seamenwere as much at a loss as others. At first sailors thought it must besome great fish, like a whale. But it is well known that all theseanimals come to the surface with a certain regularity to breathe, andspout up columns of mingled air and water. Now, this strange animal,if it was an animal, had never "blown" as the whalers say; nor, hadit ever made any noises of breathing. Yet if it were not one of thesehuge marine mammals, how was this unknown monster to be classed? Didit belong among the legendary dwellers in the deep, the krakens, theoctopuses,
the leviathans, the famous sea-serpents?
At any rate, since this monster, whatever it was, had appeared alongthe New England shores, the little fishing-smacks and pleasure boatsdared not venture forth. Wherever it appeared the boats fled to thenearest harbor, as was but prudent. If the animal was of a ferociouscharacter, none cared to await its attack.
As to the large ships and coast steamers, they had nothing to fearfrom any monster, whale or otherwise. Several of them had seen thiscreature at a distance of some miles. But when they attempted toapproach, it fled rapidly away. One day, even, a fast United Statesgun boat went out from Boston, if not to pursue the monster, at leastto send after it a few cannon shot. Almost instantly the animaldisappeared, and the attempt was vain. As yet, however, the monsterhad shown no intention of attacking either boats or people.
At this moment Mr. Ward returned and I interrupted my reading to say,"There seems as yet no reason to complain of this sea-serpent. Itflees before big ships. It does not pursue little ones. Feeling andintelligence are not very strong in fishes."
"Yet their emotions exist, Strock, and if strongly aroused--"
"But, Mr. Ward, the beast seems not at all dangerous. One of twothings will happen. Either it will presently quit these coasts, orfinally it will be captured and we shall be able to study it at ourleisure here in the museum of Washington."
"And if it is not a marine animal?" asked Mr. Ward.
"What else can it be?" I protested in surprise.
"Finish your reading," said Mr. Ward.
I did so; and found that in the second part of the report, my chiefhad underlined some passages in red pencil.
For some time no one had doubted that this was an animal; and that,if it were vigorously pursued, it would at last be driven from ourshores. But a change of opinion had come about. People began to askif, instead of a fish, this were not some new and remarkable kind ofboat.
Certainly in that case its engine must be one of amazing power.Perhaps the inventor before selling the secret of his invention,sought to attract public attention and to astound the maritime world.Such surety in the movements of his boat, grace in its everyevolution, such ease in defying pursuit by its arrow-like speed,surely, these were enough to arouse world-wide curiosity!
At that time great progress had been made in the manufacture ofmarine engines. Huge transatlantic steamers completed the oceanpassage in five days. And the engineers had not yet spoken their lastword. Neither were the navies of the world behind. The cruisers, thetorpedo boats, the torpedo-destroyers, could match the swifteststeamers of the Atlantic and Pacific, or of the Indian trade.
If, however, this were a boat of some new design, there had as yetbeen no opportunity to observe its form. As to the engines whichdrove it, they must be of a power far beyond the fastest known. Bywhat force they worked, was equally a problem. Since the boat had nosails, it was not driven by the wind; and since it had nosmoke-stack, it was not driven by steam.
At this point in the report, I again paused in my reading andconsidered the comment I wished to make.
"What are you puzzling over, Strock?" demanded my chief.
"It is this, Mr. Ward; the motive power of this so-called boat mustbe as tremendous and as unknown as that of the remarkable automobilewhich has so amazed us all."
"So that is your idea, is it, Strock?"
"Yes, Mr. Ward."
There was but one conclusion to be drawn. If the mysterious chauffeurhad disappeared, if he had perished with his machine in LakeMichigan, it was equally important now to win the secret of this noless mysterious navigator. And it must be won before he in his turnplunged into the abyss of the ocean. Was it not the interest of theinventor to disclose his invention? Would not the American governmentor any other give him any price he chose to ask?
Yet unfortunately, since the inventor of the terrestrial apparitionhad persisted in preserving his incognito, was it not to be fearedthat the inventor of the marine apparition would equally preservehis? Even if the first machine still existed, it was no longer heardfrom; and would not the second, in the same way, after havingdisclosed its powers, disappear in its turn, without a single trace?
What gave weight to this probability was that since the arrival ofthis report at Washington twenty-four hours before, the presence ofthe extraordinary boat hadn't been announced from anywhere along theshore. Neither had it been seen on any other coast. Though, ofcourse, the assertion that it would not reappear at all would havebeen hazardous, to say the least.
I noted another interesting and possibly important point. It was asingular coincidence which indeed Mr. Ward suggested to me, at thesame moment that I was considering it. This was that only after thedisappearance of the wonderful automobile had the no less wonderfulboat come into view. Moreover, their engines both possessed a mostdangerous power of locomotion. If both should go rushing at the sametime over the face of the world, the same danger would threatenmankind everywhere, in boats, in vehicles, and on foot. Therefore itwas absolutely necessary that the police should in some mannerinterfere to protect the public ways of travel.
That is what Mr. Ward pointed out to me; and our duty was obvious.But how could we accomplish this task? We discussed the matter forsome time; and I was just about to leave when Mr. Ward made one lastsuggestion.
"Have you not observed, Strock," said he, "that there is a sort offantastic resemblance between the general appearance of this boat andthis automobile?"
"There is something of the sort, Mr. Ward."
"Well, is it not possible that the two are one?"