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The Secret of the Earth

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Title: The Secret of the Earth

Creator: Charles Willing Beale


        
Release date: December 28, 2013 [eBook #44535]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44535

Credits: Produced by Al Haines


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET OF THE EARTH ***




Produced by Al Haines.




                               THE SECRET
                             OF THE EARTH.


                                   BY

                         CHARLES WILLING BEALE.

                 _Author of "The Ghost of Guir House."_



                           F. TENNYSON NEELY,
                               PUBLISHER,
                           LONDON, NEW YORK.




                           Copyrighted, 1899,
                                 in the
                             United States
                                  and
                             Great Britain,
                                   by
                           F. TENNYSON NEELY.

                         (All Rights Reserved.)




                       *THE SECRET OF THE EARTH.*



                              *PROLOGUE.*


When Dirk Waaijen, master of the Voorne, was five days out from the
island of Celebes, a strange thing happened.

For nearly a week the Dutchman had idled along with a cargo of cocoa,
jaggaree, trepang, some Manado coffee, a few bags of nutmegs and other
products of the Archipelago, but without an incident worth logging; when
suddenly, an odd looking cask, with mast and streamer, was seen floating
in the waters ahead, and all hands became alive with excitement.  A
couple of burly fellows hauled the barrel upon the deck, with the
expectation of a prize, but were discomfited on finding that it
contained only some cotton cloth, carefully wrapped about a dirty
water-stained document, written in a language which no one could
understand.  Even Captain Waaijen himself was unable to read a word of
it, despite his wise look, and the volumes of smoke which he blew from
time to time over the packet.  Had he confided in me, his only English
speaking passenger, I might at least have made him comprehend the
importance of the paper, even if unable to render a literal translation;
but the captain was surly, and took the bundle to his room.  It is even
possible that he was ignorant of the fact that it was written in the
English language.  However this may have been, I was surprised on
reaching Gravenhage, the end of our voyage, to have the paper thrust
into my hands by Waaijen himself, and without a word of explanation.
Believing it to be merely the record of some unfortunate craft foundered
in the South Sea, I laid the packet aside, not even unrolling it for
weeks.  When I did so, I was amazed at the contents, and immediately
sought the master of the Voorne; but he had left upon another of those
endless voyages, the length of which even the company was unable to
decide.  Assured that no claim will ever be made upon the document, and
overwhelmed with the profundity of its contents, I offer it to the
public, convinced that in the history of our planet, there is nothing
half so astounding as the revelation it contains.

It is to be regretted that the paper cannot be given in its entirety;
the omissions, indicated by asterisks, being the result of damage caused
by salt water to the MS., which has made it undecipherable in those
places; the total thus lost amounting to more than a hundred pages.

The following is an exact rendering of the decipherable parts of the
Attlebridge papers, handed me by the captain of the Voorne.




                                  *I.*


I am to write roughly of the past--more carefully of the present.  Of
the past that our identity may be established by reference to certain
events which many will remember, should we be lost.  Of the present, for
reasons that will be obvious as I proceed.

On the morning of the 16th of November, 1894, I awoke to find myself the
occupant of a narrow iron bedstead, in a small, poorly furnished room.
The wall paper was mildewed, and the ceiling discolored with smoke.  I
was unable to remember where I was, and called aloud:

"Torrence!"

A sleepy answer recalled the situation, and assured me that all was
well.  Torrence, who was my twin brother, occupied the mate to my bed,
on the opposite side of the room.  Not wishing to disturb him, I lay
quietly watching the approach of dawn through a small window with
Venetian blinds, crank-sided and broken.  Later, I was myself aroused by
a curse coming from the other bed. The curse was launched broadly
against the town, and concentrated into a deeper venom as it reached its
objective climax--the room.  I smiled and turned over.

"Glad you're awake at last," I ventured, observing that he was looking
around the place with a disgust equal to my own.  It was our first
experience of London. We were Americans, and had just landed.  Torrence
yawned and declared that he had been awake all night, despite my
assurance that he had been snoring shamefully.

"I wonder when the old lady will want her pay for all this finery," he
said, feeling the quality of the sheets, and looking up at the ceiling
dismally.  Indeed we had a right to feel blue, having but little money,
and no friends, in a strange land.

"She wants it as soon as she can get it," I replied, having consulted
our landlady on the subject the previous evening.  "In fact, she told me
on our way up the stairs last night, that she generally required her
lodgings to be paid for in advance; but that as we were Americans she
would not insist, although she trusted that we would be able to settle
in a day or two."

"She's too trustful by a jugful.  We may not be able to pay her at all!"
yawned Torrence.

"Don't talk that way; you scare me!" I exclaimed.

The truth is, I was never so daring as Torrence, who resembled me only
in looks, and when he alluded to our impoverished condition, and its
possible consequences, I shuddered.  Instinctively I glanced at the two
modest trunks against the wall, and reflected that they contained the
bulk of our possessions.  I knew there was not enough value in both to
pay our passage back to New York, when the little money we had brought
with us should be spent.  Moreover we had burned the bridges, and must
look ahead.

We had come to England for the same reason that Englishmen sometimes go
to America, to ply our crafts, and earn a living, and now that we were
there, I heartily wished we were back.  My eyes rested in a kind of
reverie on the ends of the trunks where our names were painted in large,
white letters--Torrence and Gurthrie Attlebridge, respectively.  Then I
began to wonder if the Attlebridges would ever distinguish themselves,
and if either of us would ever carve a fortune out of the Babylon we had
adopted as a home.  Torrence was an inventor, while I was a writer; and
strangely enough, with proclivities so widely divergent, we had managed
with twin-like harmony to quarrel with our patrons, and our bread and
butter simultaneously and irrevocably. Torrence decided at once to
accept the rather dubious offer of an Englishman, with whom he had
corresponded, to aid him in the development of his air ship, and I--well
I decided to go with Torrence.  Accordingly we scraped together what
little cash we could, and bade farewell to Gotham.  We took passage in a
cattle boat, and were nearly three weeks upon the water, having reached
London on the afternoon previous to the opening of this record.  A
search for cheap lodgings in a moderately respectable part of town, had
landed us in the cheerless apartment described.

Torrence was again stretching himself, preparatory to rising; but this
time his invectives were hurled against the ship that had brought us
over, and the bellowing beasts that had loaded it.  Not heeding my
brother's unhappy reminiscences of the Galtic, and being anxious for the
future, I inquired how much money he had left. His answer was not
cheering.

"About twenty pounds in those white paper things; three of those little
gold pieces, and a couple of dollars' worth of silver.  That is from my
recollection of last night; but I must get up and count it."

We jumped out of bed at the same instant, and began emptying our
pockets.  We were not expert in estimating English money, but concluded
that we had a little over two hundred dollars between us, and that being
in a strange land, with no positive assurance of work, it behooved us to
be up and stirring.  We determined to part with nothing we could help
until one or the other of us had found employment.  At Torry's
suggestion I had requested our landlady to remit her usual rule of
advance payment, but reflection now made us doubt the wisdom of such a
course.

"She may think we have less than we really have," I remarked.

"How much time did you say she would give us?" asked Torrence in reply.

I saw that he was anxious, and when my brother was anxious, I was
generally more so.  In fact, although twins, I had always leaned upon
him, due, I suppose, to a tacit acknowledgment of his superior powers,
and the fellow had powers superior to most men.  Answering his question,
I said:

"She didn't mention any particular day, but only remarked that gentlemen
usually paid in advance, but that as we were Americans----"

"I see, as we were not gentlemen, but Americans, she'd wait till she got
it.  What do you think under the circumstances we'd better do?  Remember
that a couple of hundred dollars for two men to live upon until they
find work in a city like this, isn't exactly wealth. Remember also the
saying about a fool and his money. Now what shall we do about the
landlady?"

"Pay her," I said without hesitation.

"But when?"

"Now!  Give her a couple of weeks in advance, and then if we want a
couple more on credit, it will be easier to get it."

We decided that Torrence should take what funds we had, and in his
off-hand, plausible manner, make the payment agreed upon.  He had a
wonderful way of impressing people with the idea that money was of no
importance to him.  When the settlement was made, I was glad he had done
it, it being evident that Mrs. Twiteham was impressed.  I make a note of
these trivial circumstances to show our actual condition, as well as for
future reference should it ever be needed.

This little transaction disposed of, we sauntered out into the street to
look after breakfast, which we found in a neighboring restaurant.  The
voyage had sharpened our appetites, and we ate a dollar's worth of food
in an alarmingly short space of time, an extravagance we agreed should
not be repeated.  After breakfast, however, we felt that having started
the day so liberally, it would hardly be fair to "clip off the corners
of a square meal," as Torry declared, by slighting its proper ending,
and so we bought a couple of large cigars, and then climbed on top of
one of those great omnibuses with three horses, to seek our fortunes.

It is singular how indifferent men will sometimes be to expenses with
the narrowest margin separating them from starvation, and yet how
parsimonious they often become with untold wealth at their disposal; and
in each instance their better judgment will condemn the course pursued.

My brother's air ship had been for years upon the verge of success.  A
fortune had been already spent upon it, and his friends had grown
distrustful.  It was always a trifle that was needed to perfect the
mechanism, which was doubtless a triumph of inventive genius.  It is not
my purpose to describe the machine, in fact it would be impossible for
me to do so, being neither a mechanic nor a scientist, but I will simply
say that it was built of aluminum; shaped like an exaggerated cartridge
sharpened at both ends and supported in the air by the application of an
extraordinary discovery which neutralized the attraction of gravitation,
and propelled by a horizontal screw beneath, which could be made to
revolve at such enormous speed that the effect of the most violent
hurricane was practically inoperative.  As yet, only models had been
made of the machine, the design being too intricate and costly to admit
of a full sized apparatus until every detail had been mastered; but his
last model had flown, and come so near perfection, that an English
gentleman had written to him about it, offering assistance under certain
conditions.  This offer might never have been considered, were it not
for the disaffection of his patrons about that time, but as it was, we
left America at once.

The business firm that we were seeking was that of Wetherbee & Hart, No.
3 Kirby Street.  As the omnibus carried us through the crowded
thoroughfares, it was plain that Torrence was growing uneasy.  Things
had looked promising in the distance, but as the time approached for an
interview, we began to realize the consequences of a failure to elicit
Wetherbee's interest. Should he refuse to aid us we could see nothing
but the poorhouse ahead.

On leaving the 'bus, we had a short distance to walk, and it is safe to
say that we were lost in less than five minutes.  The multiplicity of
ways and their labyrinthic character, was confusing to our rectangular
conception of a town, and after a number of fruitless efforts we found
ourselves back at the corner from which we had started.  But
perseverance finally conquered, and we stood facing a doorplate which
read: "Wetherbee & Hart, Inventors and Solicitors of Patents."  At that
moment I was so oppressed by the thought of the pending interview that I
wished we were lost again.

Walking up a narrow flight of stairs, we stood before a glass door with
a blue paper shade screening the interior.  There was no mistake; we
were there at last, for the firm's name was painted in sprawling letters
over the panel.  The outward appearance was not indicative of wealth,
and our hearts sank.  There was an old-fashioned bell pull, in the
absence of electricity, and I rang.  A boy came to the door with many
brass buttons sewed on to a dirty coat, and Torrence inquired if Mr.
Wetherbee was in.

"No, sir, but Mr. Hart is here," answered the boy.

It was a disappointment, no letters having ever passed between my
brother and the gentleman named.  We decided to go in, however, and
having given our cards to the boy, passed in to an ante-room.

The place was scant of furniture, and had a poverty-stricken look.  Two
large tables were covered with models, while the walls were whitewashed
and hung with mechanical drawings.  As there were no chairs, we stood,
and as we had not finished our cigars, continued to smoke.  The sound of
a deep, pompous voice proceeded from an inner chamber, presumably the
sanctum of the proprietors.  Presently the owner of the voice entered.
He was a man with bushy eyebrows and a square chin.

"Well, gentlemen, what can I do for you?" he asked magnificently.

We were so taken aback that neither of us knew exactly what he could do.
I believe Torry thought of asking him if he could turn a handspring in a
half-bushel measure, a feat he had once seen performed at a circus, but
something in my manner must have stopped him.  I waited for Torrence to
answer respectfully, the man evidently being accustomed to inspire not
only respect but awe.  My brother, however, took his time, and after a
couple of pulls on his cigar, he said, without moving from the place
where he stood:

"Mr. Hart, I presume!"

"Yes, I am Mr. Hart.  Do you wish to see me?"

"Well, rather!" answered Torrence.  "I've come all the way from America
to see you: or I should say your partner, Mr. Wetherbee."

Hart coughed, and waved his hand a couple of times at an imaginary cloud
of smoke.

"I must ask you to stop smoking.  It is contrary to our rules," he
observed querulously.

"Certainly!" answered Torrence, throwing his cigar stump upon the tiled
floor and stepping on it.  There was no receptacle provided for such
things, and the floor looking as dirty as the street, I followed his
example.

Hart called for the buttons, and directed him to pick up the stumps and
throw them in the grate in the next room.  The boy did as he was bid,
and passed back into the sanctum.

"It was a matter of business," I began, observing that things looked
squally, and dreading the consequences of an unfavorable impression, at
the very beginning of our interview.  "It was in relation to my
brother's air ship that we came, and----"

"And what, pray, do you mean by an air ship?" demanded Hart, with a look
of supercilious superiority that was more exasperating than withering.

"I supposed you must have heard of it," I ventured to observe.

"Heard of an air ship!  The idea is preposterous!" he exclaimed.

"And yet," said Torrence, "I have one, which your partner, Mr.
Wetherbee, is anxious to investigate, and perhaps to purchase, as I have
been led to believe."

"That is impossible!" cried Hart, holding his chin higher, and adding to
his general offensiveness. "Wetherbee is a man of sense--and--the thing
is absurd!"

He turned half around on his heel as if about to leave us, but my
brother's quiet, well-possessed manner deterred him.

"I beg your pardon.  I have Mr. Wetherbee's letters, which are
sufficient evidence.  We need capital to put the scheme into practical
shape, and give it commercial value, and I have come to London to seek
it."

"The old story.  The one desideratum with you fellows always.  You have
nothing to risk yourselves, and everything to gain.  If you can delude
some fool into pushing your crazy schemes you are satisfied.  But this,
of all the absurdities, is the most preposterous--the most utter----"

"And has Mr. Wetherbee never spoken to you of my invention?" demanded
Torrence, growing pale.

"Never! nor is he likely to do so.  Mr. Wetherbee is a sensible and
practical man."

"Perhaps it may have been his good sense and practicability that led him
to take so much interest in my patent, and I can only express surprise
that he has never mentioned it to you.  But I do not wish to intrude,
Mr. Hart, and as you are doubtless a busy man, I am merely going to ask
you to tell me where I can find your partner, my business being with
him."

"Mr. Wetherbee has neither the time nor the inclination to talk about
such balderdash as you propose, and as my time is valuable, I must bid
you good-morning."

"Stop!" cried Torrence, as the man was about to go, "when I came here I
expected to find a gentleman, but now acknowledge my mistake, and yet I
am going to honor you with a bet, if you have the nerve to take it,
which I doubt; but I now and here offer to wager you a thousand pounds
against a hundred that I will carry you to Paris in my air ship within a
month!"

It was an absurd boast considering we had not fifty pounds in the world,
and that the ship was not built, and that we depended on Wetherbee &
Hart for the money to build it.  But the speech had its effect, for Hart
relaxed a trifle from his haughty bearing, and said, with a manner
approaching civility:

"No, gentlemen, you will never carry me in your air ship anywhere, nor
will I bet with you; but if you are determined to find Mr. Wetherbee,
his address is The Bungalow, Gravesend.  He seldom comes to this office,
and you can reach him by either boat or train."

Torrence took down the address and we bid Hart good-morning; thoroughly
disappointed, but rather pleased that the interview had not terminated
in a fight.

In the street I observed that my brother looked more anxious than I had
yet seen him.  What was to become of us if we failed to interest
Wetherbee?




                                 *II.*


The Bungalow was a quaint, old-fashioned place in neither town nor
country.  The house stood in a garden, and beyond the garden were some
fields belonging to the premises; and in the distance scattered groups
of buildings like an abortive effort to start a village.  There was a
barn in one of the fields, and from the look of his surroundings, we
should have said that Mr. Wetherbee had been a farmer whose domain had
been encroached upon by the vanguard of suburban residences.

We went through an iron gate with the words "The Bungalow" blocked in
brass letters between the bars, and walked down a cemented path bordered
with boxwood, to a green door opening directly into the house. There was
no porch, and the entrance was only a step above the path.  We were
shown into a musty parlor, which felt damp and cold, although a small
fire was burning in the grate.  The windows were low and opened upon the
garden, but the trees were bare and the flowers dead. There were
pictures on the walls, and jars upon the tables and mantel, where
bunches of withered grasses were displayed as relics of the summer.  The
carpet and furniture were old and faded.  It did not look like the abode
of wealth, and we saw no ground for hope.  Observing the dejected look
on Torry's face, I tried to comfort him with the reflection that some of
the wealthiest of the English live with the least ostentation.

"I know it," he answered looking up.  "The man may be worth a million,
but I doubt it."

There was a cough in the ball, and the sound of some one approaching
with a walking stick.  In a minute the door was opened, and an old man
bent nearly double, and supporting himself with a cane, entered the
room.

"Two of you!  I didn't expect to see but one," he muttered, hobbling
across the carpet without further salute, and then, as he hooked the
handle of his stick into the leg of a chair, and pulled it up to the
fire for himself, added:

"Have seats."

"My brother came with me, as we have always lived together," said
Torrence, by way of explanation, "although I only sent my individual
card, as it is you and I who have corresponded.  I hope we find you
well, Mr. Wetherbee, and that this damp weather doesn't disagree with
you."

Wetherbee grunted, and poked the fire.

"Nothing disagrees with me," he said after a minute. "I've been hardened
to this climate for eighty years.  It has done its best to kill me, and
failed."  Then with a grim smile, he added:

"My figure isn't quite as good as it used to be; but I'm not vain, Mr.
Attlebridge; I'm not vain."

"I suppose you've been a sufferer from rheumatism?" I suggested, by way
of talk.

Evidently he did not hear me, as he was raking cinders from the bottom
of the grate.  When he had finished, he said:

"Did you come over from America in your air ship?"

Torrence laughed.

"Not this time, Mr. Wetherbee, but I expect to go back in it," he
answered.

"Great confidence!  Great confidence!" exclaimed Wetherbee; "Well, I'm
glad of it; nothing is ever accomplished without it."

The old man leaned his head upon his hands, while his elbows rested on
his knees.  It was impossible for him to sit upright.  His hair was
white, and his face wrinkled; he looked his age.  Certainly he was a
different person from what Torrence had expected.

"I suppose you have brought a model with you," continued Wetherbee; "you
Yankees are so handy with such things."  This was evidently intended as
a compliment.

"No," said Torrence, "I did not suppose it was necessary.  The
transportation would have been costly, and I knew that if you insisted,
it could be shipped after me.  My last effort was deficient in some
minor details, which would have necessitated a thorough overhauling of
the parts, with readjustment.  My position now is that of absolute
mastery of the subject, and I thought, with your assistance, that I
might build a full-sized vessel at once. There is no longer any need to
waste money on models, as the next machine will fly, full size."

Mr. Wetherbee lifted his head a little.

"How can you be sure of it?" he asked.

"Because my last model did," answered Torrence.

"And yet you admit there was an error."

"There was a slight error of calculation, which impaired the power I
hoped to evolve; but I know where the mistake lay and can remedy it.
All my plans and formulas are with me.  There is no vital principle at
stake.  The thing is assured beyond a doubt."

"And what would be the size of the vessel you propose to build?" asked
Wetherbee.

"My idea is to construct a ship for practical aerial navigation, capable
of carrying half a dozen passengers, with their luggage.  Such a vessel
would be about sixty feet long, with ten feet beam; while her greatest
depth would be about eleven feet."

"And how long a time would it take to construct such a craft?"

"With everything at our hand, and all necessary funds forthcoming, I
should say it would require about six weeks."

The old man's figure was growing wonderfully erect. His eyes shone with
vivid intensity.  I could see that my brother was making an impression,
and hoped for a successful turn in affairs.

"And what did you say would be the probable cost of such a machine?"
inquired Wetherbee, his back still unrelaxed.

"I did not say," answered Torrence; "but from the best of my
knowledge--provided labor and material are no dearer over here than at
home--I should estimate that the thing could be turned out ready for
service, at an expense of--say, twenty thousand dollars."

Wetherbee's eyes were fixed intently upon the fire. He looked even more
interested than our most sanguine expectations could have pictured.

"That is--let me see!" he muttered.

"About four thousand pounds," I answered.

"And you will guarantee the result?"

"Mr. Wetherbee," said Torrence, drawing his chair a little nearer the
invalid's, "I have not the means to make a legal guaranty; but this much
I will say--so absolutely certain am I of success, that I will expend
the few pounds I have with me, in a working model, provided I have your
promise, in the event of my demonstrating satisfactorily the principle,
to place the necessary means at my disposal for building and equipping a
ship of the dimensions named.  But let me repeat my assurance that such
a model would be a waste of time and money.  I have a large batch of
evidence to prove all that I say."

Here Wetherbee left his chair and hobbled about the room without his
cane.  He seemed to have forgotten it. Suddenly he stopped, and
supporting himself by the table, while he trembled visibly, said:

"What if it should fail?"

"Why, in that event I should be the only loser!" answered Torrence.
"But it cannot fail.  I have not the slightest fear of it."

The old man's excitement was contagious.  Here at last was an outcome
for our difficulties; a balm for every disappointment.  I pictured the
airship soaring over land and sea, the wonder of the age, and my brother
eulogized as the genius of the century.  I could hear his name upon the
lips of future generations, and I imagined the skies already filled with
glittering fleets from horizon to horizon.  Beyond all this I saw untold
wealth, and a new era of prosperity for all men.  My flight of
imagination was interrupted by a long drawn sigh from Wetherbee, as he
murmured:

"Four thousand pounds!  Ah! if I could only get it!"

The dream of bliss was cut short by a rude awakening. I was dismayed.
What did the man mean?

"If I could only get it!" he repeated with a sigh which seemed to come
from the bottom of his soul.  Then he hobbled back to the fire and
resumed his seat.  I watched Torrence, from whose face all joy had fled.
He was more solemn than ever before.

Again Wetherbee stared into the coals.  He had forgotten his
surroundings.  Neither Torrence nor I spoke, in the hope that he was
considering the best manner of raising the money.  The silence was
ominous.  A clock in a corner was forever ticking out the
words--"_Four--thous--and--pounds_."  I listened until it sounded as if
gifted with human intelligence.  Each minute was like an hour while
waiting for our host to speak, feeling that our doom hung irrevocably
upon his words.  Suddenly we were startled by a sharp voice in the hall:

"_Mr. Wetherbee, your soup is ready!_"

The old man pulled himself together, as if aroused from a dream; picked
up his cane and tottered toward the door.  At its portal he stopped, and
turning half around, said:

"Gentlemen, I will consider your proposition, and if I can see my way to
the investment--well, I have your address--and will communicate with
you.  Meanwhile there is a barn in one of my fields, which is sound and
roomy.  It is at your disposal, and I heartily hope you will be able to
raise the money for your enterprise. The barn you shall have at a
nominal rent, and you will find the swamps about here to be the best
locality anywhere near London for your experiments.  I wish you well.
Should you conclude to use the barn, let me know, and I will turn the
key over to you immediately. Meanwhile I wish you luck!"

He went out without another word, leaving us alone with the talkative
clock, and the dead grasses of the previous summer.  I glanced at
Torrence, who was pale, but with an indomitable look of courage in his
eyes.  I had seen it before.

It was impossible to say from Wetherbee's manner of departure, whether
he intended to return or not.  We could scarcely consider the interview
ended, when we had made no movement toward going ourselves, and while
deliberating what was best to do, there was a light step in the hall,
and the door again opened, admitting a middle aged woman who approached
us with a frown.  We bowed.

"May I inquire the nature of your errand?" she began, without addressing
either one of us in particular; but Torrence, stepping forward,
answered:

"Our visit is hardly in the way of an errand, madam. We are here upon an
important business engagement with Mr. Wetherbee, who I trust will soon
return to give us an opportunity to continue our conversation."

"I was afraid so!" she replied with a look of regret. She sat down in
the same chair that Wetherbee had occupied, and asked us to resume our
seats.  There was something odd in her manner, which betrayed deep
concern in our visit.  Putting her hand in her pocket she drew out a
spectacle case, and placed the glasses upon her nose.  Then she looked
at us each in turn with growing interest.

"You need not conceal your business from me, gentlemen," she continued,
"Mr. Wetherbee is my father.  As you are aware, he is a very old man,
and I am acting in the double capacity of nurse and guardian for him.
He does nothing without my knowledge."

Her manner was thoroughly earnest, and the expression of her face that
of deep concern.  Torrence replied after a moment's hesitation as
follows:

"While not for a moment doubting your statement, madam, would it not be
a little more regular to ask Mr. Wetherbee's consent before speaking of
a matter in which he is equally interested with ourselves?  If he says
so, I shall be more than willing to explain to you all that we have been
talking about.  Meanwhile I can only say that our business was upon a
matter of great importance, which I should hardly feel at liberty to
divulge without the agreement of all parties concerned."

She did not answer for several minutes, during which time the hard look
in her eyes softened; I even thought they were dimmed with tears.  For a
moment she averted her face and taking off her glasses polished them
thoroughly, returning them to her pocket.  Then she stared into the fire
as if thinking how to proceed, and then without removing her eyes, said:

"I shall not ask your business, gentlemen, but I will tell you something
of mine.  Mr. Wetherbee, my father, is, I am pained to confess, a
monomaniac on the subject of inventions.  His fortune, which once was
ample, has been squandered in all manner of mechanical foolery, for I
can call it by no other name.  An inventor who could once gain his eye
through the medium of print, or his ear, through that of speech, could
wring whatever money out of him he chose.  Finding that our means were
becoming scattered, and our credit going, and my good father unable to
see that he was imposed upon, I applied to the courts for his
guardianship, on the ground of mental disability.  He has no money
whatever that he can call his own; the little that is left between us
being at my disposal.  Should you have plans requiring pecuniary aid, I
must tell you frankly now, that it will be impossible to obtain it
here."

She stopped, and Torrence and I stared at each other aghast.

"But, madam!" I exclaimed, unable to contain myself, "We have come all
the way from America, and at great personal inconvenience and expense,
in response to your father's letters, and should he refuse to aid us now
we are ruined."

"It is impossible--quite impossible, I assure you, my dear sirs, to keep
track of my father's correspondence. He answers everything he finds in
the papers relating to patents.  It is unfortunate, deeply unfortunate,
but cannot be helped.  The public has repeatedly been warned against him
through the newspapers, and we can do no more."

"It is indeed most unfortunate," said Torrence; "but let me ask you,
madam, if in the event of my being able to demonstrate, to your entire
satisfaction, the inestimable value of my air ship, you could be induced
to aid in its construction?"

"Alas, my dear sir, I have not the means!"

There was a painful silence, in which, to me, the end of all things was
in sight.  Mentally I ran over the account of our cash, and roughly
estimated how long it would last.  Much as we had abused Mrs. Twitcham's
lodging, I foresaw that we should have to leave it for a worse one.

"Is there, then, nothing that could induce you to take an interest in
our scheme?  Remember it is the invention of the century.  All the
railways, all the telegraphs in existence will be counted trifling by
comparison when it shall be built and given commercial value.  Remember
also, that the insignificant sum required, will be repaid ten times over
within sixty days.  Remember, my dear madam, that in refusing to aid us,
you are throwing away the greatest material blessing that man can
possibly acquire.  It is the dream of the ages--the culmination of every
hope.  Think well before you refuse!"

I was so wrought up that I spoke more earnestly than ever before,
realizing that if we failed with Wetherbee & Hart, we were outcasts.
But all my enthusiasm, and all my brother's eloquence were futile.

"It is not that I will not, it is that I cannot," repeated the lady, who
really did not appear lacking in sympathy. or a due comprehension of the
situation.

"Then have you no friends," I persisted, "who might be induced to take a
share in the invention, I should say discovery, for it is indeed more of
a discovery than otherwise?"

"Most of our friends have already lost money through my father's
infatuation, or weakness, and I dare not mention the subject to any of
them."

We got up to go, thanking the lady for her explanation, and the interest
she had shown.  At the door, Torrence stopped.

"I was about to forget," he said; "your father told us of a barn which
he would place at our disposal, should we need it for a workshop.  Is
the offer still open?"

The lady smiled, and said she could not refuse so simple a thing,
especially when we had come so far, and had a right to expect so much.
We thanked her, bade her farewell and departed.

We passed again down the cemented path between the boxwood bushes, and
through the iron gate.  When out once more upon the open highway,
Torrence turned toward me, and with an air of surprising indifference,
said:

"It looks as though we were checkmated, old man, but we're not.  These
people have only stirred up the mettle in me, and I shall build the air
ship despite all of them."

As I have said before, my brother was an extraordinary man; possessed of
a fertile mind, an indomitable will, and withal a secretiveness which
even showed itself occasionally to me.  We walked on in silence; the
future looked black and disheartening, I had not the courage to discuss
it.  It was dark when we reached the river, and the small Thames boat
wended its way through innumerable lights, reflected across the water in
long, trembling lines.  The minutest object claimed my attention, and I
fell to speculating on the mental condition of a fellow-passenger who
was whistling a familiar tune at my elbow. I looked over the taffrail
into the black water beneath, and wondered how it felt to drown, and how
many people had tried it in these waters.  I pictured their corpses
still lying at the bottom, and made a rough calculation of how many
years it would take to disintegrate a man's skeleton, after the fishes
had eaten all the flesh off his bones. Then in the dim light I saw
Torrence walking past the man who held the tiller.  He did not speak,
and I did not disturb him.  Possibly he did not see me, at all events we
walked on opposite sides of the deck, each absorbed in his own thoughts.
At last we met, as if by accident, although I had purposely wandered
over to his side.

"Well, old man!  What's the matter?" he cried with a heartiness that
startled me.

"Nothing," I answered; "I was only going to ask why you made that
inquiry about the barn."

"Because I thought it might be useful," he answered.

"And for what, pray?"

"Why, to build the air ship in, to be sure.  Did you think I wanted it
for a billiard room?"

"And how can you build the air ship without Wetherbee & Hart?" I
inquired.

"I am not quite prepared to answer your question. But I have overcome
difficulties before, and I shall overcome this one.  Don't fret, Gurt!
the air ship will be built."

His manner was confident, and showed such indifference to the gravity of
our situation, that I looked at him in amazement.  There was nothing
more to say, and we wandered apart again.

Once more I began an exhaustive study of my surroundings--the river--the
lights--the boat itself, and finally of my fellow-passengers.  Thus
occupied I allowed several landings to pass unheeded, when suddenly I
became interested in a low but animated conversation between two men who
were opposite me, the one standing, the other sitting.  It was nearly
dark in that part of the deck where we were, but presently the man who
was sitting, shifted his position slightly to make room for the other,
when they both came in range of a dimly burning lantern, and I was
surprised to see that one of the men was my brother.  The stranger was a
rough, dirty looking sailor, and the pair, as I say, were deeply
absorbed in conversation, in which they had evidently been engaged for
some time.

"Yes, stranger," said the sailor, "you may believe me or not as you
please, but I have proof enough of what I tell you; and three times I've
been locked up with lunatics for stickin' to the truth, and not lyin'."

"And you say you can prove this?" inquired my brother in a low tone.

"Ay, and _will do it_!"

"It is too marvelous.  You astound me!  I cannot comprehend it!" said
Torrence in a voice that was scarcely audible, and which I observed was
purposely subdued.

"And indeed you may well be all o' that, an' more too.  I was good crazy
for a spell when I first found it out, leastways I was nigh it, but I
don't talk about it no more since they locked me up, but when I heerd
you fellers a gassin' about a air ship, I 'lowed you was the kind, if
ever there was any, as it wouldn't hurt to tell.  For my part, it don't
matter--I can't live long no way--and I hate to have _that secret_ die
with me.  I'm a stoppin' down the river on the Kangaroo, she's a boat as
is fitted up as a 'orspital for crippled seamen and the like.  I'm
tullable comfortable thar, and doubt as I'll ever anchor to any other
craft for a home this side o' Davy Jones'."

"But surely you'll let me see you again," said Torrence, as the man made
a move to leave the boat at the landing we were approaching.

"Course'n I will.  I won't forgit ye," tapping his breast as if
referring to a memorandum which I supposed Torrence had given him.  "And
I'll keep my word, too, and prove every breath I've done breathed to you
to-night. Ta-ta!"

The man left the boat hurriedly, and the next landing was our own.




                                 *III.*


It was snowing, and the ground was already white when we reached our
humble lodgings.  All the way from Gravesend I had been struck with my
brother's capricious manner, at one moment buoyant, the next meditative
and despondent.  Upon my inquiring after the singular acquaintance he
had made upon the boat, he simply laughed, and said, "crank," entirely
ignoring the scraps of conversation I had overheard between them.  This
being his mood, I decided to let him alone, feeling sure that if there
were anything worth hearing, I should hear it.

We made a hasty inspection of our property, to take care that nothing
was disturbed in our absence, and then, with renewed confidence in the
landlady, walked again into the storm in search of food.  We had eaten
nothing since early morning, and were nearly famished.  Our restaurant
was not hard to find, and the light and warmth within cheered even my
dismal soul into hopefulness.

Seating ourselves in an alcove by an appetizing table, Torrence pushed
the bill of fare toward me, but I begged him to choose the dinner
himself, and to select the cheapest and bulkiest dishes.

"Rubbish!" he answered; "I'm hungry and am going to have another square
feed.  If we are to go to the devil, what difference can it possibly
make whether we get there on Monday or Saturday?"

I could never argue with Torrence; he had his own way in everything, and
yet we never quarreled.

An elaborate meal was placed before us, with a large jug of beer; the
dinner costing more than the breakfast.

"I don't know how it is," said Torrence in the midst of a huge chop,
"but something tells me that I was never born to be starved!"

After dinner we lighted cigars, and continued to sit smoking over our
coffee, having drawn the curtains of our alcove.  We had been puffing
away for some minutes when Torrence, putting his hand in his pocket drew
out the money I had given him in the morning, together with his own, and
placing the pile upon the table, said:

"Now listen!  We will divide this money into two equal parts, and each
take our part.  There is no telling what may become of us, and it is
better to seek our fortunes separately than together.  If we travel the
same path, we will meet the some difficulties, but if we divide, there
will be double the chance for luck, and whoever hits it first can help
the other.  It will cost no more than to live under the same roof, with
the exception of having paid in advance for our beds, but other
considerations will more than compensate for that loss, which may not be
a loss after all.  We may see a very tough time before we get through,
but we will get through in the end, never fear.  Now don't starve
yourself, old man, and don't get down in the mouth, but dig--dig--dig.
Push your manuscript--push a hand car--jump into anything you see, but
don't be discouraged, and above all things, write regularly and keep me
posted."

My heart was in my mouth, for I could not bear the thought of leaving
Torrence.  He had been the leading spirit in everything, and from my
early childhood I had always believed that what Torrence could not do,
could not be done.  I had brought some manuscripts with me for which I
hoped to find a publisher, but now the thought of it was abhorrent.  I
could not answer, and so Torrence continued:

"To-morrow morning, after breakfast, I shall leave you. Don't ask what I
am going to do, because I don't know; but I am off in search of luck,
and shall rely largely on my Yankee brains to bring me out on top of the
game. Don't expect me 'till you see me, but I shall either write or
return when there is anything to tell."

"Are you going back to Gravesend?" I asked.

"Probably; but don't hamper me with questions.  In the first place it
won't help you to know what I am doing; and in the second place, it
won't help me to have you know.  You can picture me as building the air
ship, or running a haberdashery, or anything you please; but remember
that whenever I run my nose up against luck you'll be sure to know it;
and I only ask that you will do the same by me."

I gave him my hand, and then we ordered two portions of brandy and a
bottle of Apollinaris.

While we were disposing of this, and still smoking our cigars, the
_portieres_ of our alcove were pulled suddenly apart, and a rough,
unshaved face thrust in at the aperture, and as quickly withdrawn.
Although it was for only an instant, I recognized the face as that of
the sailor I had seen on the Thames boat.  Torrence frowned, but did not
look surprised.

When we got up to go, Torrence insisted on paying the bill out of his
portion, which he did; and then, just as we were about to pass out into
the stormy street, the same rough, dirty looking sailor approached us
from one of the alcoves.

"Another word with you, stranger," said the man, advancing and touching
his hat to Torrence.

"Certainly," as if he had never seen the fellow before, and then turning
to me, Torrence added:

"Would you mind waiting a minute, Gurt, while I speak to this man?" and
without another word, the twain entered one of the alcoves.  I amused
myself looking at some fish in an aquarium that stood near the entrance,
and in watching the great flakes of snow falling against the glass panel
of the door.  How long I remained thus occupied is difficult to guess,
but it seemed interminable.  The sailor had taken the precaution to draw
the curtains after him, so it was impossible to hear anything they said,
and even the sound of their voices was drowned by the clatter of dishes,
the tramping of waiters, and the noise of arriving and departing guests.
At last the interview was ended, and my brother came out with rather a
singular expression, as I thought, and we started for home.

"And what does he want?" I asked as we trudged along the sidewalk.

Torrence laughed; and then, as if thinking of how to reply, said:

"Oh, he's a lunatic!  Wants the loan of twenty pounds on a house and lot
he says he owns down in Deptford. Sailors are generally cranky, you
know, and I thought I would talk with him a little just to get his
ideas, and see if it would be worth our while to risk the venture, with
the possibility of becoming the owner of his property. But I'm convinced
the fellow's a fraud."

"If he's a lunatic I think you must be a greater one!" I exclaimed, and
then feeling sure that he was putting me off with nonsense to avoid
questioning, I turned the subject, and commenced talking about the
weather.  We did not allude to the sailor again, and I concluded that
Torrence had simply run across some poor fellow who he thought might be
useful to him, although how, I could not imagine.

The next morning we separated, and I waved Torrence a farewell as he
took his seat on an omnibus, with Gladstone bag and umbrella.  I stood
watching him until the 'bus had turned a corner, and then directed my
steps toward Paternoster row, with a bundle of MSS. under my arm.

I do not propose to harrow myself with a recital of the bitter
disappointments I underwent in that quarter of the city, nor is it
important for the identification of the Attlebridges as the real
participants in the marvels about to be recounted, that I should do more
than allude to the fact that the firm of Crumb & Crumpet, after much
haggling as to terms, long and tedious discussion regarding merit and
character, finally refused my book, as well as all shorter papers
submitted to them; a fact which those gentlemen will doubtless remember,
should their attention be called to it.

Our lodgings were dreary enough at best, but now that I was alone they
seemed unbearable.  Beyond my own gloomy feelings, I was made to
participate in those of my landlady, who constantly annoyed me with
accounts of her financial difficulties; her inability to pay her rent,
and the dread that she would be evicted.  Greatly against my better
judgment, she succeeded in coaxing me into the loan of a pound, a thing
I could not afford, but which I did, partly out of sympathy, and partly
to get rid of her importunities.

I now occupied myself in preparing a paper on the psychological
evolution of the ape, which I hoped to be able to place with another
publisher, and which, had it ever been finished, I cannot doubt would
have succeeded; but circumstances intervened before the completion of
the last pages, which compelled me to relinquish my work, and so the
world must suffer.  I continued my labor steadily for more than a week,
and then began looking anxiously for my brother's return, and took
several long walks in the direction from which I believed he would be
coming; but I did not meet him, and returned home, each time a little
disheartened.  During these evenings I retired early, having no one for
company, and not being able to afford outside amusement.  At the end of
ten days I had been so economical that I was quite satisfied with the
standing of my finances, and felt lighter-hearted than at any time since
arriving.  Still I had found nothing to do but write, and the future was
uncertain.

Sunday morning was dark and gloomy, and it having been nearly two weeks
since Torrence had left, I began to wonder with increased anxiety what
had become of him.  I had a right to expect him by now, but had neither
seen nor heard a word from him since his departure.  Could anything have
happened?  I did not believe it, and knowing how averse he was to letter
writing, set it down to the fact that he was busy; and I sincerely hoped
profitably so.  Still I passed the day in gloomy forebodings, and
resolved to go to Gravesend the following morning.  That night, however,
as I was going to my room, the servant handed me a letter, and I did not
realize until I had read it, how anxious I was becoming. The letter ran
as follows:


"20 NARROW LANE, GRAVESEND.

Sunday Morning.

"DEAR GURT: Sorry, but can't get over to-day as I expected.  Will try
and come before next Lord's day. How's the book?  Keep your mouth
straight, and don't get discouraged,

Yours, "TORRY."


It wasn't much of a letter, but it was better than nothing, and I was
thankful for it.  I put it in my pocket, and gave up all thought of
Gravesend for the present. Evidently Torrence had found something to
occupy him, and I didn't believe he was a man to work long for nothing,
but felt provoked that he had not told me what it was.  True, I had
never written to him, which he had told me to do in Wetherbee's care,
should there be anything to write about; but as there wasn't I felt
justified in my silence.  However, I should now see him soon, and
comforted myself with the thought that all was well.

During the ensuing week, I answered several advertisements, in the hope
of finding employment, for despite the satisfaction felt in my ability
to economize, there were moments when the reflection that I was making
absolutely nothing would come upon me with such force, that I grew
despondent, and would gladly have welcomed anything offering even the
smallest return.  But every effort to find work was unavailing;
evidently London was overcrowded.

Another week passed without Torrence, and when the following Sunday came
and went without bringing him, I became not only impatient but provoked.
Why could he not run up to see me?  It certainly seemed strange. Had he
not been so emphatic in requesting me to let him alone, I should have
gone to Gravesend long before.  But here was I scarcely daring to leave
the house, fearing that he would come and go in my absence.

A few days after this an incident occurred which placed me in a most
unfortunate predicament.  My landlady came to me with tears in her eyes,
saying she would be dispossessed immediately if unable to raise ten
pounds.  She assured me that if I would advance her a part of the money
she would--but why go into details--I was swindled out of much more than
I could afford to lose; I had lost a friend, and injured my chances of
success, and not only was the landlady dispossessed, but all her lodgers
as well.  I was obliged at once to find new quarters, and with greatly
reduced means.  Things now looked very squally, and I firmly believed
the poorhouse was in the next block, and that I might stumble upon it
any day, without warning.  I wrote at once to Torrence to tell him of
the change in my situation and circumstances, and urging him to come
immediately for a consultation.  By return mail, I got the following
answer:


"20 NARROW LANE, GRAVESEND.

"DEAR GURT: Sorry to hear of your bad luck, but don't fret about a
trifle.  A handful of gold more or less isn't worth a thought.  A begger
can pick it up on London Bridge without being much the better for it,
and as I told you before, a day or two sooner or later at his majesty's
hothouse won't count much in eternity.  I shall be with you in a day or
two, and hunt you up in your new quarters.  Now be thankful you got off
so cheap, and don't worry.  I have been awfully busy.

"Hastily Yours, T."


My brother always took things easily, but in this letter he had quite
eclipsed himself.  I could not doubt that he had found some employment.

Again I had been obliged to pay in advance for my new lodgings, and my
stock of cash had dwindled alarmingly. If Torrence did not come soon, I
should be arrested as a vagrant.

About three days after this, just as I was about to start for Gravesend,
having seen nothing of my brother since his letter, a hansom was driven
to the door and Torrence alighted.

"Well, old boy!" he said as cheery as possible; "glad to find you at
last.  But what made you move to such a place as this?"

He looked with disfavor upon the dirty, sad-visaged house I had chosen
for a residence.  I explained everything as we went up the steps, even
telling him to a penny the amount of money I had left.  Instead of being
dismayed, he only laughed, and turning to the cabby, tossed him his
fare, with a liberal surplus, and then we went on into the house.  My
brother's extravagance had always surprised me, but in our present
circumstances, his indifference to money seemed unpardonable.

Torrence looked around my little room with disgust.

"I don't like this place," he said.  "We must move out of it."

"When?" I asked in amazement.

"Now!" he answered.

"It's the cheapest I could find."

"I should think so!" he replied.

"But even if you are making a little money, wouldn't it be unwise to
spend it?  Remember I am doing nothing."

Torrence smiled and said:

"Now, Gurt, don't undertake to lecture me, but order a four wheeler
instead--perhaps we had better say a couple--for I want to carry all our
traps at once, before they become too strongly impregnated with these
quarters, and--  Do you owe anything?"

I explained that I had already paid in advance, that we had lost money
once in that way, and that I hoped he would not consent to a further
frittering of our funds; but Torrence was determined; and in less than
an hour we found ourselves seated in a comfortable cab, with our luggage
on top.  As the driver was about to close the door, he stood for a
moment to receive the order, I heard my brother say, quite distinctly;

"_Hotel Mustapha!_"




                                 *IV.*


Now, the Mustapha is among the very swellest hotels of London; indeed I
doubt if there is any place of public entertainment in the whole of
Europe, which is more magnificent, or whose rates are more exorbitant;
and when I found myself standing in one of its superb corridors, I
naturally wondered why we had come.

In a few moments we were shown an apartment consisting of three large
communicating rooms; two bed-chambers with a _salon_ between and all
furnished palatially.

"Do you think it will do?" inquired Torrence, looking around with a
critical air of indifference.

"For what?" I inquired.

"For us."

"The devil!" I exclaimed.

"No, not for the devil but for you and me."

I looked at him in dumb amazement, and then without another word, my
brother dismissed the attendant, saying that he thought the rooms would
answer the purpose, and ordered our luggage sent up immediately.  Was
the fellow losing his head?  I feared he had already lost it.

When left alone, we stood for a moment taking in the grandeur that
surrounded us, from the gorgeous frescoes on the ceiling, to the
sumptuous carpets beneath our feet; and then unable to contain myself, I
asked Torrence if he were really going mad.  The earnestness of my
manner, and the dead serious look upon my face, made him laugh until he
rolled over upon one of the Turkish divans.

"Yes! can't you see it?" he cried, "why don't you send for a doctor?
But no, you couldn't afford the expense, find this is better than any
asylum I'm sure.  Don't fret, old boy; if I am mad there's a method in
it, and a devilish good one too.  Now you make yourself at ease, for
your brother's madness will never hurt you.  But it is rather neat,
isn't it?" he added, getting up and looking around the room.  "You know
I searched all over London before I could find apartments to suit me
exactly; and I'm glad you admire my taste!"

"Well!" I answered, drawing a long breath, "you certainly must be making
a fortune, and rapidly, too; but all the same I don't approve of your
extravagance.  But tell me, have you paid for all this? and how much is
it to cost us?"

"_Us_!  I admire _that_, when you are my guest.  Why it is to cost you
nothing, of course!   But wait here a few minutes, as it seems to worry
you, I will satisfy your mind on the money question.  I am going to the
office, and will be back immediately."

While he was gone I interested myself in a further inspection of the
rooms.  The more thoroughly I went into their equipment, the more amazed
I became at the lavish disregard for money displayed upon every hand.
The beds were regal; the chairs and other furniture of the most costly
type imaginable, and even the walls were adorned with paintings, which I
saw at once were of a very high order of merit.  The bathrooms, of which
there were two, were on a scale of princely magnificence, and everywhere
were mirrors, bronzes, and decorations which appeared to me quite too
costly for a public house; indeed there could be few palaces more
splendid.

Presently I heard Torrence returning, and as he entered the room he held
a paper toward me.

"There now read this, and make yourself easy!" he cried.

It was a receipt in full for the rent of the rooms for two entire months
in advance, three hundred pounds.

"Well!" I exclaimed, looking first at the paper, then at my brother,
"wherever you got this money, I can't guess, but I will say, that
although my fears for the immediate future are relieved, I consider it a
wicked waste for people in our circumstances to throw away their means
as you have done."

I was provoked and showed it.

"Wait, old man, until you know what you're talking about," was his only
rejoinder.

"I suppose you've sold some interest in your air ship," I suggested
doggedly.

"How absurd!  I haven't even thought of such a thing."

He seemed to enjoy my perplexity, and walked about the room whistling.

"You have sold the invention out and out, then?" I persisted.

"Guess again, dear boy, for I shall never part with the air ship to any
human being!"

"And will it ever be built?"

"Rather!  I am working on it now.  What did you suppose I'd been doing
at Gravesend all this time? Courting old man Wetherbee's daughter, eh?
Well, you're mistaken, for I've been doing nothing of the kind; but the
air ship is begun."

I might as well have pumped the clerk in the office for information, and
so decided to ask no more questions. But my resolution was short-lived,
for in the next breath I inquired how long it would probably take to
complete it; to which Torrence answered that he thought six weeks would
probably suffice, and had therefore only taken our rooms for two months,
but that the time required for such delicate workmanship as would be
necessary on the air ship, was difficult to estimate, and he had
therefore stipulated for the refusal of our apartments, should we need
them longer, at the expiration of the term, as he did not wish to go in
search of lodgings again.  He rattled on about contracts he had signed
for work upon the air ship, involving such large sums of money that I
could only stand with my mouth open and gasp.

At 8 o'clock we sat down in our _salon_ to such a dinner as could hardly
be surpassed by the royal board itself. The table was loaded with
flowers and silver, and lighted with candles.  Two men were in
attendance; one behind each of us.  The wines were of the choicest; each
course being accompanied by its appropriate beverage.  Such Burgundies
and Tokays, such champagnes and liquers, and all dispensed with the
utmost prodigality, bottles being opened, merely tasted and set aside
for a better vintage.  I sat and ate and drank like one in a dream, and
earnestly prayed that the money would not give out before we had settled
this bill.  For our credit, I will say that neither of us drank too
much.  Indeed the glory undermined my appetite, and I perceived that
although there was quite an array of bottles and decanters, mere wasted
material, Torrence was also extremely moderate.

After dinner the attendants were dismissed, while we continued to sit
around the table, smoking and talking. Our cigars were of the finest,
and our conversation consisted mainly of questions upon my part; some
answers, and many evasions on Torrence's.

"And where have you located your workshop?" I inquired.

"The air ship is building in Wetherbee's barn; at least the parts, when
completed, will be put together there under my supervision," answered
Torrence.

"Do you expect to go to Gravesend every day to superintend the work?  It
strikes me as rather a long journey. Won't it take up a lot of your
time?"

"It would under ordinary circumstances," he answered; "but you see I
shall travel by private conveyance. In fact I have purchased a steam
launch; she is very fast, so that I can run up and down without
trouble."

"Oh!" I ejaculated, unable entirely to conceal my surprise even at this
minor, and perhaps more reasonable extravagance.

"I suppose you will keep a crew on board then?"

"Oh, yes."

"And the thing will always be waiting for you?"

"Exactly!"

"Couldn't we have saved a lot of money by sleeping on her?" I asked.

"Probably; but I don't think it would have been so comfortable.  Surely,
Gurt, you're not dissatisfied with our quarters already?"

"Dissatisfied!  Heaven forbid!  I was only thinking of your purse."

"That, my dear boy, can take care of itself.  By the by, do you know we
ought to have more clothes, and a couple of men--_valets_, I mean; for
whoever heard of people in our position, dressing themselves?  I think I
shall put an 'ad' in the _Times_ to-morrow."

"I hope not," I answered; "for my part I should feel like a fool to have
a fellow tinkering about me, holding my trousers while I stepped into
them, and washing my face--why I understand that even the Prince of
Wales puts on his own clothes!"

"That ought to settle it then," said Torrence; "but a greater variety of
wearing apparel is necessary; for the servants that wait on us are
better clad than we are."

I didn't offer any objection to the clothes, feeling that they were a
tangible asset, which in the event of failure might be turned to some
account.  But the _valets_ were quite superfluous, a money sink, as well
as an affectation which I swore to eschew.

The transition from poverty to opulence had been so sudden, that it
might have been unnerving were it not for my brother's extraordinary
influence.  I had always regarded him with unswerving confidence, and
even now the relief from monetary anxiety quite outweighed any misgiving
I might have felt concerning the manner of this suddenly acquired
wealth.  As it was, while my wonder was stimulated, my curiosity partook
more of the nature of a child's toward a parent's resources, and my
efforts to unravel the mystery being so successfully thwarted, I soon
became, in a measure, satisfied to receive and ask no questions.  I say,
in a measure, for of course it was impossible at times to help thinking
how this sudden change in our circumstances had been achieved.

After dinner I went down into the lower corridor of the hotel, and
admired its superb finish, and elegant appointments, as well as the gay
throng that constantly gathered there.  Thence wandering into the
reading room, I indited a number of letters to friends at home, feeling
a peculiar satisfaction in using the gorgeous note paper with the words,
Hotel Mustapha, engraved upon the top of each sheet.  While I was
writing Torrence amused himself in the billiard room, where he had
already made acquaintances.  When through with my letters, I joined the
party, a bevy of fashionable men, who evidently looked up to Torrence as
their leader.  They were playing pool for stakes, and when the game was
over, my brother, putting his hand in his pocket, pulled out a huge
bundle of bank bills, and settled the score.  The amount lost could not
have been large, as he received several gold pieces and some silver back
in change, out of a single bill.  I marked this fact with interest, as
it tended to show that Torrence was not gambling to any excess.  He
introduced me to the men as his twin brother; and then we went into the
smoking room and drank some hot Scotches, and smoked very expensive
cigars, my brother again paying the bill.

We soon became looked upon as the Yankee millionaires, no distinction
being made between us, and being well supplied with funds myself, I was
always able to appear as a gentleman.

A few days after our arrival, I was informed that one of the best boxes
at a neighboring theater was reserved for us.  Torrence had taken it for
the season.  "Not that I expect to go there every night," he said, "but
it is pleasant to have one's own corner to drop in upon, when one
happens in the mood.  To-night, for instance, I think it would be nice
to take a peep at the ballet; don't you?"

I agreed that it would, and after our usual sumptuous dinner, we entered
a very handsome closed carriage, and were driven away.  There were two
men upon the box in livery, and as we rolled noiselessly on upon rubber
tires, I remarked that it was quite the swellest public rig I had ever
seen.  My observation was received with scorn.

"Public rig be blowed!" said Torrence; "surely you know better than to
take this for a hackney coach!"

"What then?" I inquired.

"Private, of course.  I bought the entire outfit, horses and all this
morning.  This is my maiden trip with them; and they--I mean the
animals--are a pair of spankers, I can tell you!"

"And how much did the whole outfit cost?" I inquired, unable to restrain
my curiosity on the money question.

"Eight fifty!" said Torrence, in an easy off-hand way, as if four
thousand two hundred and fifty dollars were the merest bagatelle.  I
would have been stunned had I not been growing gradually accustomed to
that sort of thing.  As it was, I simply remarked that I couldn't see
how he was going to find time to exercise his purchase.

"Oh, I'll leave that to you," he answered, "I don't want you to go about
town in a manner unbefitting the role; savey?"

We were ushered into the theater with all the deference that could have
been heaped upon her majesty, so I thought; and I half expected the
audience to rise as we entered our box.

The play was one of those dazzling effects of lights and legs, as
Torrence expressed it, with little or nothing beside, and I soon
observed that a pretty little soubrette was the principal attraction.
Before the second act was over, an attendant was summoned and despatched
with a five pound bill, and an order for the prettiest basket of flowers
to be bought, which at the first opportunity found its way upon the
stage.  At times it made me sick to see the money my brother wasted, but
I was a more puppet in his keeping, and could do nothing to deter him.
I fully expected he would be going to the green room after the
performance for an introduction, but to my amazement he did nothing of
the kind, and instead we got into our carriage, and driving to a
fashionable restaurant, had supper.

"And why did you throw away your money on those flowers?" I asked him,
lingering over a bottle of Pomard.

"Do you call that throwing money away?  Why the poor little thing looked
as if she needed all the encouragement she could get.  I think of
leaving an order with the florist to-morrow to send her half a dozen
every night. Take them in from different parts of the auditorium, you
know, so that she will never suspect they came from the same person."

"And you won't send your card?"

"Decidedly not!"

"And you don't want her to know it is you?"

"Decidedly not!"

"Have you taken leave of your senses?"

"Decidedly not!  Why, Gurt, don't you know it would give her a lot more
pleasure to think she was a general favorite than a special one?"

"Decidedly not!" I answered, taking up his cue, "any girl would
rather--but no, on further consideration, I believe you're right."  And
it seemed to me that Torrence was always right.

Later we got into our carriage and were driven to the hotel.  The night
was wet and cold, and I was glad to find myself once more in the
cheerful Mustapha.  We had a game of billiards, followed by some hot
Scotch and a cigar, and then went to our rooms, and to bed.

Once in the dark and alone I kept revolving in my mind the events of the
day, and of the time since our change of fortune; and naturally fell to
speculating as to the most probable manner in which all this wealth had
been acquired.  Nothing I could think of was satisfactory, and one idea
after another was set aside as equally improbable.  I suppose I must
have fallen asleep when I began to wonder if the receipt he had shown me
were genuine.  It was an unreasonable doubt, and at variance with my
faith in Torrence, and yet it took hold of me as sleeping thoughts some
times will.  Had I not seen his money?  Why should he not have used it
for hotels as well as anything else?  And yet the thought annoyed me, so
that I could not dismiss it; and finally I found myself sitting up in
bed, brooding over it.  Lighting my candle I walked quietly across the
room and entered the _salon_.  Listening at my brother's door for a
moment, and making sure that he was asleep, I returned to my own room
and dressed.  The lights were still burning brightly all over the house,
and looking at my watch, I saw that it was only a little past midnight.
There could be nothing extraordinary in going to the hotel office and
inquiring in a casual way if the rooms had been paid for. It would set
my mind at rest to have the verbal assurance of the proprietor that they
were.  I could not help feeling that it was an underhanded advantage to
take of my sleeping relative; but I was driven by a great fear, and
after a moment's hesitation, I sped down the stairway into the lobby
below.  I sauntered into the billiard room, not so much to see if there
were any players left, as to assume an appearance of merely lounging
about the premises without definite purpose.  Half a dozen men were
still plying their cues, and I recognized the one to whom Torrence had
introduced me.  I was invited to join the game, but dread of being led
into a carouse deterred me, and after looking on for a few minutes, I
said good-night and wandered back toward the office.  I walked up and
down a couple of times with an unlighted cigarette between my teeth, as
if merely seeking diversion, and then going up to the desk, asked some
irrelevant questions about the arrivals during the day.  My question
answered, I turned carelessly as if about to depart, and then as though
the thought had suddenly presented itself, looked back, and said:

"Oh! by the by; did I understand correctly that my brother, Mr. Torrence
Attlebridge, had settled for our apartments?"

The clerk did not have to refer to his books, but answered promptly with
a pleased smile:

"Oh, yes, sir.  Everything is settled for in full.  Your brother has
paid in advance for two months.  He has our receipt for the
amount--three hundred pounds.  They are our very best apartments, sir;
decorated by LeBrune, and furnished by Haltzeimer entirely regardless--I
hope Mr. Attlebridge finds everything satisfactory!"

I assured him that everything was just as we desired and went away
comforted, with the exception of wishing that I had the money instead of
the rooms.  But such thoughts were idle; I was in Torrence's hands.

After loitering about the smoking room for a few minutes, I returned to
my room, and to bed.




                                  *V.*


When I got up in the morning Torrence had gone. He had left without
disturbing me, as he said he should, the journey to Gravesend requiring
an early start.

I determined to put in the day writing, having evolved some ideas which
I thought might suit a certain American journal; but it is astonishing
when the necessity for work has been removed, how indifferent we become
to it. Every effort seemed absolutely futile, and after an hour, I put
away my writing materials and went out for a drive in the park.  I could
see that my brother's new outfit was greatly admired, and I leaned back
upon the satin cushions, conscious that I was looked upon as an
important person--possibly a duke.  I lunched at a fashionable
restaurant near the marble arch, and then, after a drive along Edgeware
road, returned to the hotel.

The mail was just in, and there was a large batch of letters and papers
for Torrence.  Some of these were unsealed; presumably advertisements,
and as such I examined them.  But the examination was disappointing,
only serving to whet my interest, and enhance my wonder. For what was
here?  Unaccountable scribbling--such extraordinary charts and
figures--such attempts at drawing of birds and unknown animals--such
efforts at natural scenery--and withal such crude and childish
explanations, in such outlandish chirography, that it was quite
impossible to say whether the work was that of a madman or not.  Indeed
I was by no means sure what any one of the designs was really intended
to mean.  I pored over these papers for more than an hour, in the very
ecstasy of wonder, and then without having reached a single conclusion,
put them back in the envelopes to await the owner's arrival.

I tried to believe that the drawings referred to some of the more
intricate parts of the air ship; although it was impossible to help
feeling that this was absurd.

About an hour before dinner Torrence arrived, cheery as ever.  I gave
him his mail, and then seating myself near the window, watched him open
it.  It is not always easy to interpret the emotions by the expression
of the face, but on my brother's countenance I was sure that a
comprehensive wonder, a wonder that grasped the meaning of what he saw,
was clearly depicted.  At one moment he would smile with infatuation; a
paroxysm of delight; at the next he would frown, and look frightened at
the paper before him, and once he passed his arm roughly across his
eyes, as if wiping away a tear.  If the papers themselves were
mysterious, Torrence's behavior was even more so.  When through, he put
them carefully together and carried them into his own room.

"Anything important?" I inquired, with an assumed indifference, when he
returned to the _salon_.

"Nothing," he answered, glancing at me, as I thought, with a slight look
of suspicion, "nothing only a lot of detailed drawings about the work
going on at Gravesend."

I did not answer, but felt sure that he had not told me the truth.  Then
he went on to speak of various contracts, which he hoped would soon be
under way, and which were to be delivered at Gravesend within a month,
and of others that would take longer to complete, and all of which were
to be put together at Wetherbee's barn as soon as possible.  He was
afraid the vessel would be longer building than he had at first been led
to believe, but concluded that it would not matter very much after all,
as the season was not propitious for a trial.

"No," I answered, "I should imagine that warm weather would be better,
but then your expenses here would be running on fearfully!"

Torrence sneered at the suggestion.  Expense was always the thing he
seemed to think of last.

We dined sumptuously again, and after dinner drove to a music hall.
Here the usual extravagance was repeated, indeed it exceeded all bounds.
Not only did he buy flowers in vast heaps, which he distributed upon the
stage; but later went into the green room, and disbursed considerable
money among the actresses.  His prodigality was so absurd and unmeaning
that I finally left him in disgust, returning to the hotel alone.  It
was quite late when he came in, and I met him in rather angry mood:

"Well, you have made a fool of yourself!" I exclaimed, as he threw
himself upon a large Persian _musnud_ to finish his cigar before
retiring.

"How?" he asked, quite innocently.

"By throwing away your money among a lot of sharpies, who wouldn't lend
you a copper to save your soul!"

Torrence roared, as if he thought it the best joke imaginable.

"Now, look here, old boy," he said in another minute, "don't lose your
temper, because it doesn't pay.  What's the use of money if not to give
pleasure?  That's my way of enjoying myself, and I don't either ask or
expect any favors in return.  As you see, it takes a lot of money to buy
my pleasure, but I can afford it!"

"If you have such an income that you can't spend it," I replied,
"suppose you give a little of it to me.  You might be glad some day if
you found that I had saved a few pounds for you!"

The speech would have been contemptible, considering the amount of money
Torrence had already given me, were it not for the fact that I intended
it for his good as well as my own, hoping to save at least a part of a
fortune, which was being squandered so shamefully under my eyes.

"Why, certainly," he answered good naturedly, and half-rising from the
lounge, "how much do you want?"

"Anything you have to spare!"

Without another word he got up, and going to the writing table, signed a
blank check and handed it to me.

"There! fill it out for yourself!" he exclaimed.

"For how much?"

"Anything you please," he replied, with a look of utter indifference.

"But you must say," I persisted.

"Really, I don't care, Gurt," he answered, striking a match to relight
his cigar.  "My bankers will pay anything you put on it, I fancy."

"Have you as much as a thousand pounds with these people?"

He laughed outright.

"I should hope so!" he shouted; "but if that is all you want, I have
probably as much about me, for you must remember that I am a business
man now, and am conducting costly experiments in connection with the air
ship, which I intend shall be the most perfect thing on earth!"

"I suppose then it will cost you more than the twenty thousand dollars
you thought?"

"Well, rather!  If I get off with as many pounds I shall be lucky!"

I gasped but said nothing.

"Why don't you fill out your check?" he continued, observing that I was
standing idly by the table, my mouth open in astonishment.

"Shall I put down a thousand?" I asked, not knowing what to say.

"Yes, and two of them, if you wish.  I really don't care."

I filled out the cheek for an even thousand, not being able to overcome
my horror at the thought of a larger figure, for notwithstanding all the
evidence to the contrary, I was unable to overcome a certain fear that
the check might be refused.  I showed it to Torrence, whose only remark
was that he couldn't see why I had not doubled it.  I was determined to
save this much for a rainy day, and resolved to go at once to the
banker's when my brother had gone back to Gravesend and cash it.  I also
determined to find out, if possible something about his affairs, as the
mystery of all this sudden wealth was preying on my mind.  I had quite
relinquished the hope of learning anything from Torrence himself, and
should now apply to other sources.

That night we retired early, as my brother said he was fatigued with the
work of the day, and not knowing what else to do, I followed his
example, fully resolved to cash my check and investigate matters on the
morrow.

After a couple of hours of restlessness, and finding it impossible to
sleep, I got up to go into the adjoining room for a glass of water.  I
did not take a light, knowing exactly where to find it, but imagine my
surprise, when half-way across the floor of our _salon_, at seeing thet
the light in my brother's room was still burning brightly and shining
through the keyhole and under the bottom of the door.  Scarcely had I
observed this, when I caught the sound of low voices issuing from the
room, as of two people talking in an undertone.  I stepped noiselessly
up to the door and listened.

"There is no danger; he is asleep!" said one of the voices, which I
thought was Torry's; and then some whispering followed, impossible to
understand.  At this moment a horrid thought flashed upon me.  Had
Torrence embarked in any crime, which he was trying to conceal?  The
mere suspicion sickened me.  I could not believe it.

"It's for you to say," remarked the other; "for my part, I don't care a
damn who knows it, provided the news don't come from me.  Now look at
this."

I could hear the rustling of papers.

"And this; and this.  The society shan't never see one of 'em
again--I'll let 'em rot first."

Then came Torry's voice.

"Of course if it's so, my brother Gurthrie will know all about it before
long.  Only I don't want to tell him yet.  It isn't that I distrust you,
Merrick, but naturally you can see for yourself what a laughing stock I
should become if there should prove to be any mistake."

"Don't I know it? and without there bein' any mistake," answered the
other.

"Precisely; and that being the case, I prefer to wait until the thing is
proved to my own senses before announcing this most stupendous fact of
history to anyone."

I was relieved.  There was something in both the tone and words that
convinced me there could be nothing criminal under consideration.  And
yet the mystery was deeper than ever.  Here was no explanation of how
the money had come; which was an assured fact, but dark innuendoes of
problems yet unsolved.  I continued to listen, absorbed with interest.

"Now, as to the matter o' beasts and birds, bein' no scholar, I can't
prove nothin'.  Thim you'll hev to study for your own self, and make
your own deductions regardin' em.  Nayther can I explain the how and
wherefore of the light--but it's thar all the same, and you'll see it. I
could a' give my notions to the society, but the cussed fools wouldn't
listen to nothin', and they can go see for theirselves if they wants to,
afore I'll tell 'em another word.  Now, don't let that slip your mind,
'cause you're the only man, 'fore God a' mighty!"

"Now, about this belt," said Torrence, "how wide did you say it was?"

By the sound I imagined him to be tapping on the table with a pencil;
but the words that followed were impossible to hear; and then the men
had evidently got their heads together in poring over some document or
paper which I could not see.  Suddenly it occurred to me to stoop down
and peep through the keyhole. Undoubtedly it was contemptible, but was
it any more so than listening?  "An eavesdropper is bad enough, but a
peeper is worse," I thought, and yet my curiosity was so aroused it was
impossible to help it, and I excused myself partly on the ground that it
was right to be forearmed if I was not to be led blindly as an
accomplice into a possible crime.  And so I succumbed, and placing my
eye against the opening, obtained a circumscribed view of my brother's
apartment.  To my amazement I immediately recognized the stranger as the
man we had met upon the Thames boat, and afterward in the restaurant. He
was the same dirty, unshaved sailor; at least his appearance indicated
that he had followed the sea for a living, and I could not doubt that he
had.  The men were sitting on opposite sides of a table, upon which a
pile of papers was heaped in confusion; and so far as I could judge some
of these were the same that had come in the afternoon's mail.

"Give him as much time as he wants!" said the sailor, speaking again.
"He won't believe it at first, and it ain't reasonable as how he should;
but it 'ill come over him by degrees like.  He's bound to believe it ef
he studies on it--there ain't no other chance."

"No, not if it's so," answered Torrence, "and he won't be as hard to
convince as you might suppose; perhaps no harder than I was, for I've
half believed it myself, and talked about it before.  You found me an
apt scholar, didn't you?"

"The only one with any sense I ever had," snarled the man.  "But I don't
care now," he continued, "I haven't long to live nohow; but I did hate
to die with that secret, 'case another million years might pass afore it
was found out.  I'm satisfied so long as you 'uns knows it, 'case the
world's bound to get it.  But as for them cussed fools----!"

The man rapped on the table with his clinched fist.

"Hush!" said Torrence, "you might wake him up!"

The sailor grinned and scratched his head.

"No harm done, I reckon ef I did," he replied.

"No, but I told you my reasons for keeping mum!"

"Precisely; I mind your word.  And the proofs, you found them all
correct?"

"Quite so; but tell me don't you want any yourself?"

"Hell, no.  I'll send you up a trunk full to-morrow. I've got all the
swag I want--a good bed, plenty o' company, and a place to die in; for I
tell you I can't last long.  It's taken the stuffin' out o' me--but the
secret--the secret--Well, thank God, I shan't die with it, and that's
all I wanted."

Of course, this talk might almost as well have been in Hindoostanee, for
aught I could make out of it.  At one moment my fear of evil was aroused
to a terrible pitch, at the next, I felt nothing but idle curiosity.  I
was, however, surprised to find so little that was intelligible in what
I heard.  Presently the men began turning over bundles of papers, and
Torry having moved his chair, it was impossible to see what these were,
and this fact may have helped arouse the awful suspicion that suddenly
seized me; a thought which I am sure would never have presented itself
under any but the bewildering circumstances in which I had been so
blindly plunged.  Could it be possible that the money which my brother
had thrown about so freely, was counterfeit?  A moment's reflection
convinced me that it was not possible, and yet a terrible distrust had
taken hold of me.  For a moment I hesitated.  My first impulse was to
call out and ask what was the matter.  It would have been the frank and
natural thing to do, had my suspicions not been aroused, but as they
were, I felt that such a procedure would be silly and fruitless.  A
burning desire to know consumed me, and I walked about the room in an
agony of unrest. Again I looked through the keyhole, and was relieved to
see no plates, stamps, dies or machinery of any kind.  I drew a long
breath.  Then I recalled that there had been nothing in the conversation
to indicate any such business; and I drew another breath.  Finally,
unable to gain the slightest clew to the mystery, I returned to my room,
and went to bed in a very uncomfortable frame of mind.




                                 *VI.*


The next morning I awoke early, and resolved to go at once to Torrence's
room and ask him to lend me a five pound note.  It was my intention to
have it examined by a banker in the city for its genuineness, hoping to
relieve the anxiety which had so tortured me during the night.  While my
judgment was opposed to the counterfeiting theory as improbable, yet it
was difficult to overcome the thought that it might be the correct one.
The truth is, I was impelled to discover some plausible explanation of
the mystery.  I could not rest as the recipient of means which had no
visible source, and especially when there appeared to be so much ground
for doubting their legitimacy.

Torrence was already up, preparing for an early start, as I sauntered
into his room.

"By the by, old fellow," I said, "have you a fiver about you?  I think I
might use one to advantage until I can get down to the bank with your
check."

He took a roll of bills out of his pocket, and instead of one five,
tossed me a couple of tens.

"Let it go for luck!" he called, as he hurriedly left the room on the
way to his business.

We rarely breakfasted together, Torry being so full of enthusiasm about
his work, that he would brook no chance of delay, and so it was
understood that we should not meet until after his return from
Gravesend.  On this occasion, when he had left me, and after
breakfasting alone, I ordered the carriage, and drove into the city.
Taking my check at once to the banker upon whom it was drawn, I inquired
if it were all right.  The cashier smiled, and simply asked how I would
have it.  I told him I did not want it at all, but wished to place it to
my credit.

"Oh!" said the man looking up, "I thought you were Mr. Attlebridge."

"So I am," I answered, "but not Torrence.  I am his twin brother.  We
look very much alike."

"I see!" he exclaimed, somewhat surprised.  He then proceeded to take my
signature, and give me a book with credit on it for a thousand pounds.
There was no mistake about this.  Here was an actual transfer of credit
from Torrence to myself.  I wanted to ask the man some questions about
the amount Torrence held in the bank, but hesitated, fearing it might
create a suspicion that I doubted his methods.  Presently, while still
chatting in a careless way, I took out one of the tens my brother had
given me, and asked if it were all right, pretending to have received it
at a place I was not quite sure of.  The man looked at it carefully, and
pronounced it perfectly good, and my doubts were relieved.  I was about
to say "good-morning," when the teller observed:

"We should be greatly pleased, Mr. Attlebridge, if you and your brother
would keep your principal account with us, believing that we can offer
special facilities, and----"

It was what I wanted.  He had opened the subject.

"Oh!" I interrupted, "can you tell me which is my brother's principal
banking house at present?"

"Unfortunately," answered the man, "he has not favored us with the name;
although I believe it is one of the larger houses in the city.  Mr.
Attlebridge's deposits with us are all made through an American firm."

I was about to express surprise, but remembered myself in time, so
merely smiled and tried to look as if I had known as much before.

"And why do you suppose that my brother keeps another account in
London?" I asked.

"Oh!" said the man, shrugging his shoulders, "merely because I once
heard him mentioned as the purchaser of a very large foreign draft from
one of our city houses. Nothing else, I assure you."

"And you do not remember the name of the concern?" I asked, growing
interested.

"No," answered the teller, "I do not.  It is even quite possible that I
never heard it.  The remark was only one of those incidental scraps of
conversation that referred more particularly to business in general,
than to that of any special banker."

I had heard enough to give me a clew, although I confess, a slight one.
Torrence evidently had business with another bank, and also had funds in
America of which I had never heard, and could not understand.  A thought
had flashed upon me.  I would go into the different banking streets and
find out where this other account was kept, if possible, by passing
myself off for my brother.  Doubtless I should be taken for him as soon
as I entered the right establishment, as I had been here. Bidding the
teller "good-day," I passed out, fully bent upon my new enterprise.  It
was a bold scheme, but I was growing desperate to know something about
Torry's affairs; moreover, I was conscious of greater independence with
a credit of a thousand pounds in my pocket and a bank book, which I
pressed against my finger from time to time when needing encouragement.

As luck would have it, the first place I entered was the right one, and
as I had surmised, the clerks recognized me at once as Torrence.  I had
made up my mind how to act, and what to say while walking along the
street, having dismissed the carriage as unnecessary, and was fully
prepared on finding myself addressed as Mr. Attlebridge.

"By the by," I began quite carelessly.  "What was that last--er--that
last----"

I purposely halted to give the teller a chance to help me out.  This he
did, but I was utterly unprepared for the word.  I expected to hear
deposit, or check, but when the man came to my assistance with the word
cable, I was dumfounded.  Was Torrence trying to hang himself?  However,
my common sense returned, and I replied as if suddenly recalling my
errand:

"Oh, yes, that was it.  Will you let me see it again please, if you have
a copy of it?"

I had not the slightest idea what the cablegram was about, but knew that
copies of important messages were always preserved, and thought I might
as well see this one.  In a minute a clerk appeared with the copy in
question, and the teller glancing at it for a second to make sure it was
the right one, passed it over for my inspection, and I read as follows.


"LONDON, December --, 1894.

"To DEADWOOD AND BATES, BANKERS, New York City.

"Place to the credit of Torrence Attlebridge sixty three thousand eight
hundred and forty pounds sterling, and charge same to our account.

"WHITEHOUSE, MORSE & PLUNKET."


I almost choked with astonishment.  Here was a single deposit of
considerably more than three hundred thousand dollars.  No wonder he
could so easily afford to give me the check for a thousand pounds.  I
was provoked that I had not asked for ten times as much.  But where did
all this money come from in the first instance?  I continued to look at
the message in amazement, not knowing what to say; and then pulling
myself together, remarked, still as if trying to refresh my memory:

"And let me see--I gave you for this, a draft on----"

"You forget, Mr. Attlebridge," promptly responded the man, "you merely
drew upon your credit with us, reducing your account to that extent!"

"So I did," I answered, apparently quite satisfied. "My memory is so
fearfully faulty sometimes, I not only forget amounts, but the manner of
payment."  Then remembering that Torrence had no doubt a further balance
here, I thought I would make another effort to discover what it was
before leaving.  The question was not nearly so difficult as the others.

"By the by, be kind enough to tell me what my balance is to-day, here
with you."

The big books were turned over, and in a minute I was informed that my
brother had still more than one hundred thousand pounds with these
people, Whitehouse, Morse & Plunket.  I was astounded.  Instead of
solving a mystery I had only sunk deeper in the mire.  Here was a credit
that was practically boundless.  A bank account worthy of a king.  I
could not show my amazement, and so for a minute turned my back, trying
to collect my thoughts.  Could I leave the place without one more
question?  I resolved to risk it, and so added:

"Sorry to trouble you again, but be good enough to tell me how my last
deposit with you was made."

"By a large batch of your own drafts, Mr. Attlebridge, on prominent
bankers in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Constantinople,
Munich, Rome, Naples, New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and San
Francisco, besides others.  We have a list of the bankers here if you
would like to see it; and, by the by, I forgot to mention that several
of the drafts were upon London houses, which you doubtless remember.
Beyond this you have not forgotten that several thousand pounds were
paid to us in cash!"

"True!" I said, and turning hurriedly, left the place, only too glad to
get away.  Evidently my brother's drafts had all been honored, or the
balance would not be to his credit.

I wandered down the street like one in a dream.  I could see no earthly
chance of ever solving this problem, except through Torrence himself;
but I could not ask him, and if I did, had no reason to expect an
answer. No, I must wait for further developments.  Something was sure to
turn up.  To my certain knowledge, then, my brother had nearly a million
dollars to his credit in New York and London, and from what I had heard
it seemed probable that he had much more elsewhere.




                                 *VII.*


At the expiration of the six weeks the air ship was still far from
finished.  Contractors had disappointed; orders for material had failed
to be filled, and only two courses of the hull were laid.  As Torrence
took everything good-naturedly, he was not seriously disturbed, although
he considered it a duty to push the work forward as fast as possible,
hoping to make his trial trip early in the Spring. The plans were
difficult of execution, the more delicate parts of the mechanism
requiring the labor of the most skillful workmen and my brother's
constant supervision. He spent the whole of every day at Gravesend, and
sometimes the night; meanwhile our expenses at the Mustapha continued at
the same extravagant rate.  The apartments had been retaken
indefinitely, and the proprietor would have regretted losing us, as we
probably spent twice as much money as a score of his best guests. Of
course, I was the principal beneficiary of all this luxury, Torrence
being at home so little, but this fact did not disturb him in the least.

At the end of two months there was no prospect of completing the vessel
for a considerable time to come, as new complications and fresh
disappointments had arisen; nevertheless, things were getting well in
hand, and the first warm Spring days would probably see her ready for a
start.

It is not my purpose to recount our life during this Winter and the
following Spring in the great metropolis. It is sufficient for the
purposes hereinbefore named to say that it was a period of extravagance
beyond reason, and of somewhat equivocal pleasures when I considered the
vast sums these pleasures cost.  Wherever we went we were looked upon as
the great American millionaires; the men whose pockets had no bottom,
and whose bank accounts were exhaustless.  My efforts to discover the
goose that laid our golden eggs continued fruitless, and if I still
doubted the regularity of the methods, so far as I could see, no one
else did.  As the time wore on, Torrence would occasionally show some
irritability at the unavoidable delays; though what he intended to do
with the vessel when finished was a myth.  The time was when I had
looked upon it as a means of wealth, if not fame; but now with a vast
fortune at our command, he seemed even more anxious about the machine
than ever. More than once I thought seriously of leaving him, fearing
some dreadful climax to our affairs in which I might be implicated; but
when I alluded to the separation he seemed hurt, and so I remained.

During all this time we were in the swim of fashionable life, both
entertaining and being entertained constantly.  If Torrence gambled it
was never extensively, so that he never either won or lost any
considerable amount.  Every effort had been made to keep the intention
of the air ship a secret, and so thoroughly had the workmen been
mystified, that when Spring came it was exceedingly doubtful if any of
them knew what it was, and fortunately old Mr. Wetherbee was so laid up
with rheumatism that he never left the house.  I think the general
impression was that it was a new kind of torpedo boat, although some
believed it to be a submarine passenger craft.  The barn was kept
closely shut during working hours, and the outer world had little chance
of guessing what it contained.

By the middle of May the thing was nearly completed, and I saw by my
brother's increased anxiety that his hopes were soon to be either
realized or dashed to the ground.  It was an unfortunate remark when I
inquired, innocently enough, if he were sure the vessel would rise. He
answered with an oath in the affirmative, but became moody and out of
sorts immediately after.  Upon several different occasions I felt sure
that I heard him conversing with the sailor at a late hour, although I
never again looked through the keyhole.  Once when the conversation was
particularly lively, I confess to listening, though only for a few
minutes, and with poor result, as I could understand but little that was
said.  It was in reply to some remark of my brother's that the man
answered:

"Don't bother about me.  My pay comes in satisfaction! Revenge!  Sabe?
Now if you'll do as you're told, you'll do more for me than the five
continents full o' men, women, and children ever would do.  No, pardner,
I'm alone in this world, and that stuff's no good to me, as I done told
you; couldn't use it nohow; but I'll damn the society, and every one of
'em as turned a cold shoulder on me, through you.  Now, I don't expect
to live to see it, but I'll die happy, and that's worth more'n money can
buy.  Now, don't ever let your nerve give out; in fact there ain't no
occasion for it, seein' how much better you 'uns is fixed than I was.
Promise you won't never turn your back on it."

"I'll do my best; no man can do more!" answered Torrence.

"And you'll never regret it!"

"I've no doubt about my part of the contract," he added, "and can feel
but little doubt of all you've told me, after the proofs."

"That's right, you're my man--God bless you, and if ever you----"

Here there was a shuffling of feet, and fearing they might be coming
into the _salon_, I beat a hasty retreat to my own room.  Of course I
could form no conception of what they were talking about, and went to
bed trying to put meaning into the maze of words.

Some days after this, while brooding over our absurd and unfettered
prodigality, I resolved to ask Torrence for another and larger check.
My object was, as before, to save something out of the whirlwind of our
extravagances, fearing my brother's improvidence.  I pretended that
there was an investment which I was anxious to make, that would take
quite a large sum.  Without a word of inquiry he turned with alacrity
and said:

"Why, certainly!  How much?"

I began an explanation which partook of the nature of a sermon on the
expediency of putting by something for a rainy day, but he cut me short:

"Now, my dear fellow, I can't really stop for the lecture to-day; keep
that for to-morrow; but as to the money, why it's yours anyhow, and you
might as well take it now as at any other time.  How much did you say?"

"Well, I didn't say exactly, but a good deal would be necessary to do
what I thought of doing," I replied.

"Since you don't seem to know exactly how much, take this," he said,
"and if it isn't enough, let me know!"

Without another word he sat down and dashed off a check for twenty
thousand pounds, and handed it to me.

"Here, take it," he said, "it's only a small payment on account at best.
Let me know if you want more."

He was off in a second, and left me standing like one petrified with the
paper in my hand.  I placed the amount to my credit with Whitehouse,
Morse & Plunket, and got a friend to identify me as Gurthrie, instead of
Torrence, Attlebridge.

Shortly after this my brother came to me one day with a despatch box in
his hand.  Opening the box he showed me that it contained a canvas bag,
in which was a smaller one of oil silk.  These he opened and emptied the
contents upon the table.  To my amazement I saw that it was a batch of
conveyances, or deeds for houses and lands, real estate of great value
in America, all in my name.  By the values here mentioned alone I was
worth more than a million dollars.  According to the vouchers before me,
this property had all been paid for by myself within the past few
months.  I felt as if I must unknowingly have come into the possession
of Aladdin's lamp.  I was dumfounded, but before I could utter a word
Torrence went on to say:

"There now, all this is yours!--now, not a word--I have only a moment in
which to speak, and wish to say this.  Of course all this stuff is
properly registered, recorded, and witnessed, and all that sort of thing
as you can see; but for your future convenience and perhaps for mine, I
must remind you of the importance of keeping this packet in your
possession.  There are other papers in it which we have not time to
examine now, but if ever you should be hurried to move anywhere, don't
forget to throw away the box, and shove this wallet in your pocket. It
is of the utmost importance!"

I promised without asking a question; and when he was gone I went to a
tailor's and had the packet, minus the canvas bag, securely sewed inside
the coat I was wearing; seeing to it myself that the job was well done.

As the time wore on Torrence grew more impatient at the delay in
finishing the work.  Evidently there was something he was dreading;
which I thought might be the possible failure of the machine to rise.

"Suppose she fails," I said one day, "we have plenty to live on, and
what does it matter?"

He looked at me with an expression of horror, and walked away without a
word.

One day I walked suddenly into his room without knocking, thinking he
was away.  To my surprise I found him and the sailor, Merrick, talking
together.  As before they were sitting on opposite sides of the table,
upon which was spread a packet of papers; some of them I recognized as
having seen before.  Torrence immediately got up, and asked if I would
mind coming a little later, as he was just going over some important
business, and of course I went out immediately.  Although only in the
room a minute, the strange motley of papers was distinctly seen.  The
same extraordinary attempts at drawing and chirograph?--and among these
I observed what I had not seen before--a crude representation of a human
face, but with so peculiar an expression that I could not forget it.
There was also a lengthy, and very illiterate looking document, which
appeared as if the signatures at the bottom had been done by children.

I went immediately into the _salon_, where although not really intending
to listen, I overheard quite accidentally a remark of the sailor's,
which, as nearly as I can remember, was as follows:

"You'll find him thar, jest as I'se told ye, pard, without he's died
since; and you'll find the box, and them docyments inside of it, I
reckon, if you hunts for 'em whar I tell you.  There ain't nothin' to be
afeard of in him; he's just plumb gone, don't know nothin'.  You needn't
try to catch him, because you can't do it.  Now, I must be goin'.
Reckon I'd better be fixin' to die anyway!"

This was really all; at least all I could understand; and a few minutes
later the door was shut and the man evidently gone.

On the 25th of May Torrence came home rather later than usual, and the
moment he entered the room I saw that something had happened.  The look
upon his face was one of unequivocal delight.  Striking an attitude in
the middle of the floor, he shouted:

"Hooray!"

"Not so loud!" I cried, "you'll disturb people in the house."

"Let them be disturbed.  It's time they were disturbed," he replied,
pouring himself out a glass of wine at the sideboard.  Then holding the
bumper aloft, exclaimed:

"Here's to the air ship; God bless her.  But where's your glass?"

I joined him in the toast.  "Well, what's happened?" I inquired,
touching my glass to his.

"She rises; she floats; she steers.  She advances and reverses, just as
I please.  She cuts the teeth of the wind.  I tell you, Gurt, it is the
triumph of the century--of the ages.  A child can handle her.  We shall
be off in a couple of days!"

"The devil, you say!  Have you had a trial trip?"

"Well, rather! but no one knows it.  The truth is I took her out in the
dark, before day, all alone, and had her back in the barn before any one
guessed it.  Arranged it all beforehand.  Sent all the hands off.  She
responds like a leaf in a gale.  We can sit in her, solid as a rock, one
foot above the ground, or ten thousand, just as we please.  We can float
along four miles an hour, or a mile a minute.  We can stand before the
wind, or we can run in the teeth of a hurricane.  We can right about
face, or maneuver her with more ease than you could a wheelbarrow.  Her
power is exhaustless, and is evolved without steam, electricity or--but
what's the use of going into that?  You couldn't understand if I did.
It would take a course of mathematics to get into the first principles;
but some day, when you and I are floating away in the blue sky, above
the fogs of London town, I'll take time and explain it all to you."

"At all events she's a success," I answered, finishing my wine.

"She's more than that; she's perfect!" and Torrence drained his glass.
Then lighting a cigarette, he added:

"We'll be off in a couple of clays, old man, or near about it, as I just
now told you."

"And for where?" I asked.

Torrence pulled down the corner of his left eye.

"That's my secret!" he said.

I congratulated him on his success, and told him I was ready to go
anywhere away from the fog and gloom of the city.  We embraced each
other, and despite my warning, sent up three cheers for the air ship.  I
had never seen Torrence so elated about anything in my life; indeed it
was contagious, for I was almost as happy as he was.

"And you are sure there will be no hitch?" I said, fearing the news was
almost too good.

"Sure!  Haven't I tried her?  We have taken out the end of old
Wetherbee's barn, and I sailed out over the fields alone.  I ran her
myself the other night, through the darkness and fog when no one could
see.  There were then a few slight changes to make for absolute control
which have since been completed.  Last night I had her out again through
the river fogs when every one was asleep below, and, as I have just told
you, she is simply perfect!  Oh, Gurt, you don't know what it is to
float aloft out of reach of everyone.  Fortunately the fields were
deserted, and the air too thick for a man to see more than fifty yards,
even had it been day, otherwise I should have frightened some of those
Gravesender's to death.  And I had a nice time, too, in finding my way
back to the barn, despite the red and green lights I had hung out for
signals!"

Torrence danced around the room.

"Suppose she should drop with all aboard!" I suggested.

"Drop!  She can't.  The thing's impossible so long as the current
is--but what's the use of my explaining to you?  She can no more drop
than you can fly."

"But suppose she did," I persisted.

"Well, such a thing can't possibly happen, unless the current is turned
off too suddenly, and if it did, nobody would be hurt, because the
pneumatic buffers on her bottom would make the contact with earth
scarcely more than perceptible.  No, my dear fellow, she can't go up, or
she can't come down until I want her to, but when I do, up or down she
goes.  In short she is under absolute control.  When the current is at
the neutralizing point it is as natural for the air ship to float in the
upper atmosphere as for you to walk on dry land, or a fish to swim.
Don't be uneasy.  I tell you I have mastered the secret of aerial
navigation."

I had to be satisfied, and was really full of confidence in Terry's
ability.

"Do you propose to make a long journey to begin with?" I inquired.

"Yes," said Torrence, "a very extended one, as you will see for
yourself.  I have had her stocked with enough provisions to run this
hotel, figuratively speaking, for a year, and all manner of other
necessaries; in fact, we shall be supplied with all the luxuries of
life.  You won't mind going with me, old man, will you, and letting me
act as your pilot?"

"To be sure not; but when shall we be off?"

"Very soon.  But you must not say a word to any one. Remember our
movements are not to be known.  Have I your word?"

I promised; but why he demanded this I was at a loss to guess.

Before going to bed that night Torrence told me that he should probably
be absent a couple of days attending to the final equipment of the
machine; and when I bid him good-night it was with the understanding
that we should not meet for a day or two.  He would certainly return
before the end of the week; and I was to have everything ready for
leaving at a moment's notice, as he was anxious there should be no
delay.  That was on Tuesday.  Imagine, therefore, my surprise upon
seeing him enter my bedroom at a late hour Wednesday night. I had been
in bed long enough to fall asleep, and was aroused by a light shining in
my eyes.  There was a strange look in Torry's face, and I started up
alarmed.

"Hello!" I cried, jumping up.  "What's the matter? Has any thing
happened?"

Torrence put his finger to his lips and said:

"Hush!  Be quiet!  Don't be scared, but get up at once and do as I tell
you without losing a moment's time!"

I did as I was bid; and dressed as hurriedly as possible, not doubting
but the climax I had so long dreaded had come at last.

"We must be off immediately," said he, as I was putting the finishing
touches to my toilet.  There was something too dead earnest in his look
and manner to permit of a single question.

"The trunks are quite ready," I observed; my teeth chattering with
excitement.

"Damn the trunks!  We must leave them behind. Have you the package?"

I showed it to him, sewed in my pocket.

Torrence looked at his watch.

"What o'clock is it?" I inquired.

"Nearly one," he answered reflectively, and then turning to me, he added
with a look I shall never forget.

"Now, Gurt, if you have any nerve, I shall expect you to show it, No
flunking or crawling, mind!  Do exactly as I say, and without question
or hesitation."

I nodded assent, for I could not speak.  I saw something bulky under his
coat, and wondered what it could be; but it was no time for such an
inquiry.

Torrence then opened the door into the hall softly, and put out the
light.

"Follow me; but walk quietly and don't speak a word," he said, leading
the way.

We walked along the passage until reaching the grand stairway, when,
instead of descending, as we had been in the habit of doing, Torrence
led the way above.  We climbed several stories until we stood at the
foot of a narrow flight of steps, which ended in a scuttle above. From
time to time he looked around to see if we were observed, and then
stalked ahead, apparently satisfied. Reaching the scuttle, which was
bolted upon the inside, he slipped the iron tongue noiselessly back,
pushed open the hatch, and told me to follow.  I found myself upon the
roof of the hotel with my brother, who quietly closed the heavy door
behind us.  At that moment an awful thought flashed upon me.  Had the
fellow become in anyway connected with a gang of burglars?  Had all this
vast wealth come by theft?  I stood still, petrified.  It was not too
late to retreat.  I would not be led thus blindly as an accomplice to a
crime never even suspected by me!  It was too horrible.  I was paralyzed
with terror at the thought.  Seeing that I had stopped, Torrence turned
suddenly and exclaimed in a low excited tone:

"For God's sake! what's the matter?"

"I will not go another step," I answered; "I believe you are bent on
some damnable crime!"

Torrence positively laughed.  Nothing he could have done or said would
have been more reassuring.

"Why, you old fool, Gurt!  Have you taken leave of your senses?"

"Swear to me that there is nothing of the kind," I replied, still
without moving.

"Swear!  Why, of course, I'll swear.  Do you suppose with the money I've
already accumulated it would be necessary to risk my neck in
housebreaking, for the sake of a few paltry dollars more?  Really you
have less common sense than I imagined."

Something in the tone of his voice convinced me that I was mistaken.

"Torry," I answered, "I will believe you.  We have lived together all
our lives, and I have never yet found you doing a dishonorable act."

"And you never will!" he exclaimed with feeling. "You will soon know
everything.  Now don't make a fool of yourself, but follow me and look
where you step, too, for we are at least a hundred and fifty feet above
the pavement, and I don't want to be responsible for your scattered
remains!"

We approached the edge of the roof, and looked out over the city of
London.  It was a grand picture with great masses of shadow, and small
flickering lights through a sea of mist below.  Torrence stooped and
walked along the cornice as if looking for something. Presently he stood
still and looked down.  What was he about?  Did he intend committing
suicide?  I entreated him not to go so near the edge of the roof.

"We've got to go over it in a minute," he answered, without even looking
back at me.  Then he struck a match and examined his surroundings more
carefully.  I was completely unnerved and called:

"I'll be damned if I'll follow you another step.  I believe you've lost
your mind!" at the same minute I turned to go back.  Torrence ran after
me.

"You'll regret it all your life if you don't come with me now!" he
exclaimed excitedly.  "I swear to you that neither of us shall be hurt,
if you will only do as I say."

I hesitated and allowed myself to be persuaded.  Again he approached the
edge of the roof, and when I reached him I saw that we were standing
above another building at the back of our own, but which seemed about
two stories lower.  Torrence did not now stop long, but reaching under
his coat, drew out a coil of stout rope, with an iron hook fastened at
one end of it.  It was the bulky thing I had observed when he entered my
room.




                                *VIII.*


Without further hesitation Torrence hitched the hook onto the cornice,
and throw down the other end of the rope.  He then, having obtained my
promise to follow, commenced letting himself over to the building below.
I slipped after him as quickly as possible, until we found ourselves
standing side by side upon the lower level.  It was here that I again
demanded an explanation, though foolishly enough, when I had come so
far; retreat being now out of the question, as the hook had been
disengaged from above, by a dexterous twirl of the rope and caught
without striking.  He only answered by saying:

"If you value your life and liberty, you will follow me as quickly as
possible!"

I saw it was no time to hold back.  We slid from roof to roof, Torrence
always unloosing the hook above, and catching it before it struck.  At
last we found ourselves on the top of a low building, overlooking an
alley, at the head of which a solitary gas lamp was burning.  Here we
paused.

"I'd give a thousand pounds if that light was out!" said Torrence, not
seeming to know how to proceed. Then he added:

"Now, listen!  An officer will be due in about five minutes.  We must
stop where we are until he has gone; then we must get down into the
alley and cut for our lives!"

We crouched in the shadow of a chimney and waited. The alley and the
street beyond seemed equally deserted. There was no sound, save for that
of an occasional cab, or the shout of a passing reveler in the distance.
Fortunately there was a light fog and if the wall below was not too
closely windowed, I thought we had a fair chance of escape; though why
he had not come by the front door of the Mustapha was a riddle I saw no
prospect of guessing.

"Quiet!" said Torrence, suddenly pressing his hand against my shoulder,
"he is coming!"

There was the slow even step of a policeman.  I could hear him pause as
he reached the end of the alley, and imagined him looking up it to see
if all were well. Presumably he was satisfied, for the step gradually
receded into the distance, and the street became quiet again.  I was
intensely excited and resolved to elude the vigilance of the officer if
it were possible to do so.

"This way!" said Torrence, stepping softly along the edge of the gutter
in search of a suitable anchorage for the hook.  But the place looked
dangerous.  There was an attic window hard by, which we must avoid, and
the gutter flared too broadly for a holding.  Fortunately there was
plenty of rope, as the drop to the ground could not have been more than
twenty feet.

"Now don't make a sound for your life.  I am going to take a loop around
the chimney.  There is a blank wall where we must drop, but whole
families are asleep beneath us.  Follow me and hold your breath.  If we
can once gain the air ship we are safe!"

It was the first intimation he had given of where we were going, and I
was relieved to be assured that we were headed for our own property,
though why we should be afraid to go there openly was the mystery.

We passed the line around the chimney and made a loop with the hook, and
then Torrence, grasping the rope firmly, disappeared over the edge into
the alley below. I followed him as quickly as possible, but must have
made more noise than I intended, for scarcely had I touched the ground
than a window opened above me, and a man's head was thrust out.

"Hello, there!" he cried; and then seeing the rope, which was hanging in
full view of the gaslight, shouted at the top of his voice:

"Police!  Stop thief!  Police!"

"Run for your life!" cried Torrence, "but don't lose sight of me!"

He led the way down the alley at a lively pace; I followed, though
farther off than I liked.  It was only a short distance to where a
street crossed at right angles. Turning to the left we dashed down the
thoroughfare at full speed, and before I had gone fifty yards, ran
square into the arms of a policeman.

"No so fast, young man!" said the officer, holding me firmly, "what's
all this about?"

"What's it about," I answered indignantly; "I'm trying to catch the
thief, and there he is."  I pointed to Torrence, who at that minute
turned another corner, "and if you'd do your duty and help, instead of
standing here holding me like an idiot, we'd have him!" I added.

"And what's he done?" asked the man stupidly, evidently mortified at his
mistake.  "Has he robbed you?"

"I should say so.  He's grabbed my watch and chain and made away with
it; and we'll never get it back again either, if you keep me here much
longer."

The man released his hold.  Fortunately my coat was buttoned up so that
the chain was covered.  The policeman had only got a glimpse of
Torrence, who passed while he was on the opposite side of the street,
but he was now convinced that he was in error and had caught the wrong
man, and so joined me in the pursuit. Scarcely had we turned the corner
after Torrence than we met that gentleman walking very leisurely toward
us.

"Did you see a fellow running this way?" asked the officer excitedly.

"Yes," said my brother; "he's just ahead of you!  If you run I think you
may catch him!"

Having delivered himself of this information, the gentleman walked on
leisurely; not, however, without having given me the tip to meet him on
the lower corner.  And then to divest myself of all suspicion, should
any still be lurking in the officer's mind, I feigned considerable
feeling at the loss of my watch, and even went so far as to offer a
reward for it, paying the man ten shillings down on account.  Of course
I gave him a fictitious name and address.  It was a capital ruse, if I
do say it myself, and worked like a pair of charms.

As soon as I was free I hurried down the street to join Torrence, who
was waiting quietly for me on the corner.

"And now the sooner we get out of this neighborhood the better!" he
said, leading the way quickly down the thoroughfare; "but mind, we must
not run.  Not a step."

We then hastened along all manner of back streets, till I thought we
were lost, but suddenly emerged on the bank of the river, at a small
wharf, where, to my surprise, I found the launch already waiting, with
steam up.  In an instant we were aboard, and in a couple of minutes more
had shoved off, and were out in the channel of the river.

"Give her her head!" called Torrence to one of his men.  "We have lost
time, and must make it up!"

We were soon shoving down the stream at a tremendous pace; the ghostly
houses on either side rushing by, and giving me a happy sense of relief
after our scary adventure.

"I'm glad we're free at last!" I said, cuddling up to Torrence in the
stern of the boat.

"Don't crow before you're cut of the woods!" he answered. "We shan't be
safe until we're in the air ship, above the heads of all of them!"

"Not knowing who the _them_ are, I'm not in a position to disagree with
you!" I answered.

"Nor to agree with me, either," said he; "but wait 'till we're up in the
clouds; then I'll tell you all about it."

The launch trembled under the pressure of steam put upon her.  The grim
docks, just showing their heads through the darkness, and the black
swirling water beneath, made it seem as if we were rushing down some
giant millrace.  It was the stillest hour of night, and Torrence said we
must make Gravesend before dawn, which at that season of the year, would
not be long in coming.

As usual, a tremendous fog came piling in from the sea, as we swept down
the river; and before reaching our landing, we were enveloped in a dense
cloud-like vapor which wet us to the skin.  Luckily our pilot knew his
business, and I believe that with points of the compass given, and
revolutions of the screw, he could have landed us with his eyes shut.
However that may have been, we got there without an accident; and when
ready to go ashore, I saw Torrence put a pile of money into the hands of
each of the men; at the same time, he said:

"Boys, she's yours!  I shall never want her again!"

Then leading the way with his lantern, we hastened forward toward
Wetherbee's barn.

The air was thick, and the road difficult to find, but we stumbled along
without a word, until reaching an old fence, where Torrence suddenly
stopped.

"We are nearly there," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder, and
speaking impressively.  "The air ship is ready to carry us aloft at a
touch from my hand; but for certain reasons which I cannot now explain,
there is an obstacle in the way of our leaving which we must overcome
before the approach, of dawn.  It is this.  The barn is surrounded by a
force of armed men, whose object is to prevent our escape.  I will tell
you all about this as soon as we are out of their reach; meanwhile, if
you, Gurt, will stand by me, and do exactly as I say, we shall outwit
them.  No human being in this wide world understands the mechanism of
this thing but me.  At this hour we may reasonably expect those
lubberheads to be asleep.  We must crawl in among them stealthily, climb
up into the machine and be off before one of them suspects that anything
is wrong.  If by any accident they should be aroused and attempt to
detain us, why I intend to plow through them like a reaper in a wheat
field. There are, however, two points in this programme which must be
carefully observed, and adopted if necessary. The first is, if we are
suspected, drop immediately on the ground, and assume to be one of the
watchers by feigning sleep, and a due suspicion of the others.  Second,
if we find them awake and recognizing us, fight if necessary; but reach
the air ship under any circumstances, for once in it we can plow them
down like chaff.  Whatever you do, be sure and take your cue from me,
and follow close upon my heels."

Torrence blew out the light, and threw the lantern away as a useless
encumbrance, and we plodded along through the dark.  I confess that my
anticipation of trouble did not put me in the most cheerful frame of
mind, but I resolved to do my best and stand by my leader at all
hazards.  Presently we climbed a fence and I knew that I was in
Wetherbee's field; the one in which the barn stood.  We moved stealthily
on, over a grassy sod, and once, as I looked aloft, thought I saw the
faint flickering of a star, and called Torrence's attention to it as a
good omen.

"We don't want any stars to-night," he whispered; "the denser the fog
the better."

Suddenly he stopped.

"We are there!" he said; "now remember!"

We felt our way with utmost caution among the sleeping bodies around us,
examining the ground carefully with each foot before setting it down.
Our progress was naturally slow, but after awhile I saw the dark outline
of the barn looming up through the fog, in the first faint intimation of
approaching dawn.  We were getting along famously, and beginning to
congratulate ourselves upon our success, when Torrence reached for my
hand and then with his mouth against my ear, said:

"Now, be doubly careful; we are about to enter the building.  They are
thick as hail upon the floor!"

We crept slowly forward among legs and arms.  A dozen men were snoring
around us, and one fellow turned over, muttering something in his sleep,
as my boot brushed against his shoulder.  The ladder was gained. We
climbed up the side of the great machine without a sound, and took our
places within, as best we could in the darkness.  Again Torry's mouth
was at my ear.

"I must wait a minute," he said, "until my eyes become accustomed to the
light.  As soon as I can see the outlines a little better we are off!"

The silence was only broken by the breathing of the sleeping men around
us.  I was in an agony of suspense fearing there would be some hitch at
the last--something wrong about the machine which might prevent its
rising. The time seemed eternal.  But the great open end of the barn was
growing in clearness of outline.  The fog was friendly; but the dawn was
approaching.  Again my brother's hand was upon my shoulder.

"Now brace yourself!" he said; "we are going!"

The air ship trembled.  It was a sensation never experienced before.
The vibrations seemed to pass through the innermost fibers of my being.
I felt that we were being lifted in the air, and then that we were
slowly floating out at the open end of the barn.

There was a shout and a curse and a call to arms. Noiseless as our
movements had been, the men were aroused, and in an instant a score of
voices were calling and yelling in every direction:

"Stop thief!  Surround the barn!  Where are they?"

A hideous medley of curses, groans, and sounds of fighting rose through
the darkness from every quarter of the field; but the air ship was far
above, and hidden from eight in the dense gloom of the morning fog.

"Let them fight it out among themselves," said Torrence, drawing a long
sigh of relief; "we shall never see them again!"

We rose steadily and slowly for several minutes, Torrence saying it
would be necessary to be well above the houses, as we were going to pass
directly over London and must take no risk of a collision in the
darkness. Presently I could feel that we were sweeping ahead.  The
movement was perfect, and as we sped rapidly forward through the dense
atmosphere, catching an occasional glint of a street lamp below, all
sense of fear departed. The trembling had ceased; and I felt as though
we were floating rapidly away on the breast of a cloud, or upon, the
back of some monstrous bird; only here there was no effort.  It was the
only element comprehended.  I could imagine nothing more sublime, more
exhilarating.  It was the absolutely finished poetry of flight.  Beyond
this, there was a feeling of safety far surpassing that of earthly
locomotion, possibly due to the knowledge that we were lifted clear
above all obstacles; that no uncertain switch, or ill-timed train could
affect us.  On we swept, in an ecstasy of rapture, realizing neither our
speed nor place, engrossed only with the novelty of our situation, and
watching the coming dawn.

Suddenly a great, dazzling object not twenty yards away flashed past us.

"_Great God!_" exclaimed Torrence, rising, "I thought I was too high for
that."

"What was it?" I asked in amazement.

"The cross on top of St. Paul's!"

We had narrowly missed it, and caught sight of it, just as it reflected
the first rays of the rising sun, in a rift of the fog, and just as I
was congratulating myself upon being above every earthly object.  But it
was a clear miss and no harm done.

Presently the fog cleared and we looked down upon the great city of
London speeding away below.

"And where are we going, old man?" I inquired at last, hardly able to
contain myself with the strange delight of this new sensation of flying.

"To the North Pole!" said Torrence, holding fast to his levers, screws,
and steering apparatus.




                                 *IX.*


With the rising of the sun the fog cleared, and the great city of London
was spread out away beneath us. It was a sight I can never forget, and a
sensation unequalled by any previous experience.  Patches of smoke
blocked out large areas of the metropolis, but there was promise of a
day of rare, Spring-like beauty.  As we floated aloft, above the smoke
and grime, through an atmosphere of translucent purity, we watched with
interest the shifting masses beneath, and drank in with delight the
marvelous scene.  On and on we flew, at one moment unscreened from the
streets and houses of the city, at, the next catching only occasional
glimpses of a tower or steeple piercing an earthward cloud, like the
finger of a submarine monster pointing heavenward. But far to the north
the smoke had vanished, and the green fields of Spring would soon be
under us.  It was a dream of bliss, transcending the power of words to
picture, or the imagination of man to conceive.

"It makes me shudder," said Torrence, "to think of what a narrow escape
we had just now.  A few feet more to the left and we would have banged
into St. Paul's cross!"

I admitted that it would have been an ugly collision.

"The truth is," he continued, "I miscalculated our height; and in the
fog and darkness, we may have had some other close shaves, for all I
know."

"Hardly," I answered; "the houses in London are not high, as a rule."

"There are the Queen Anne flats at Victoria station," observed Torrence.

"True; but surely we did not go as far to the west as that?"

"Indeed we did.  I ran considerably out of our course intentionally.
You see I wanted to take in London by daylight; and wouldn't have missed
the sight for a barrel of money.  I ran slow, as well as indirectly, or
we would have been well out of Middlesex by now.  But I really thought
we were higher, and should have consulted the barometer; but in getting
away from those hounds I never thought of it.  But thank God we're all
right now. How do you like the air ship?"

"It's the grandest thing on the earth or off of it!" I answered; "but
you haven't told me why those fellows wanted us; and why we had to sneak
out of the hotel like thieves."

"There's lots of time for that," he answered; "but let us not miss this
sight while we have it."

And I did not want to miss it myself, but before we had quite passed the
suburbs Torrence explained as follows:

"You remember Hart?" he began.

"Perfectly; you mean Wetherbee's partner; the fellow we had our first
interview with."

"Yes.  Well, do you know that when the scoundrel discovered that we were
building the machine without his aid, and that we were becoming the talk
of London for our wealth, and manner of living, he was consumed with
envy, and fearing that he had lost a good thing, got out an injunction
against our moving the vessel, on the ground of being Wetherbee's
partner?  Of course he totally misrepresented the facts, and----"

"Then you did violate the law after all!" I exclaimed, feeling that I
had been deceived.

"Not in the least!" he answered; "the paper was never served; I took
care that it shouldn't be.  But there were men in waiting at the
entrance to the Mustapha, who confidently expected to catch me as I
passed in or out, and if I had not come by a private entrance and left
as we did, we should be down there now, and perhaps for a year to come,
waiting the settlement of a legal investigation. Now, I knew if I
stopped to explain matters to you, we might not get off.  You would
naturally argue the point, and the precious time be lost.  I was warned
of this pending injunction by one of the gentlemen I introduced you to
in the billiard room, who certainly did me a very decent turn in return
for my favors in the money line. The fellow found it out quite
accidentally, but he didn't forget me."

I was amazed, and greatly relieved to find so simple an explanation of
what, but a few hours before had a painfully criminal aspect.  If
Torrence could explain the mystery of his sudden wealth as
satisfactorily I should be more than gratified; and this I suggested to
him.

"My dear boy," he answered, "every penny I have spent will be as
satisfactorily accounted for as being my own legitimate money as what I
have just told you.  I have never committed an illegal or dishonorable
act in its acquirement, and when the time comes to explain, I will do
it; but not yet."

He touched a button on his left, and I was conscious of slightly
increased speed.

The green fields were now beneath us, and the few clouds that hovered
above only kept the sun from being too warm.  The motion of the most
perfect boat, gliding before an imperceptible breeze, would be barbarous
compared with ours.

Our vessel was loaded with every luxury, including such clothing as we
should need in the latitudes we proposed to visit.  And not only were
there suits for cold weather but for warm as well, we having left our
trunks at the Mustapha.  Furs and eider-downs were here galore, beside
every contrivance for Arctic comfort. Beyond these, we had abundance of
fire-arms, and ammunition.  Our sleeping apartments were luxurious.
They were situated forward, with a comfortable bed in each, and
separated by a curtain with rings which slid upon a brass rod, running
parallel with the length.  Our cooking arrangements were astern, and
immediately before them our dining room or saloon--a cosy little
apartment with sliding windows, which could be opened to admit the
purest air in the world.  Indeed the ventilation had been admirably
planned, and nowhere, or in any kind of weather need we suffer from a
fetid atmosphere.  In the center, but below the main deck, was the
motive power, controlled from a small table above, where Torrence
manipulated screws, levers, and springs, utterly beyond my
comprehension.  The machinery was entirely out of the way, and the space
utilized to admirable advantage.  Cushioned seats surrounded the wall of
the saloon, and above was an open deck which ran the entire length of
the boat. This was surrounded by an aluminum rail, filled in with a fine
net of the same material.  It required more nerve than I possessed at
first to mount the ladder and look out over the taffrail, although the
sense of security below was perfect, so that I could inspect the country
from the saloon windows with as much indifference as though I were on
the deck of an ocean steamer.  It was not long, however, before I could
go above and lean over the bulwarks with equal intrepidity.  Through the
hatch the sky was always visible, even in the saloon, which was never
closed except in cold or stormy weather.

In order to make the construction of our air ship perfectly clear, let
the reader imagine a gigantic cartridge or cigar, tapering at each end.
Now flatten the top of your cigar, and put a railing around it and it
would represent our upper deck.  Now, divide your cigar longitudinally
halfway between the upper deck and the bottom, and from end to end; and
you have our main deck; in the center of which is the saloon or dining
room, or general living room, to the rear of which is the kitchen, and
forward, our beds.  Beneath this deck is the machinery, entirely out of
sight, and operated from either the saloon or the upper deck.

Our larder was more than ample; comprising an endless variety of tinned
goods, as well as quantities of such vegetables as would keep in the
open.  We had large supplies of both fresh and salt meats, and all
arranged to handle conveniently.  In short, it was a camping outfit upon
an extended scale, including wines, fruits, medicines and implements
which might become necessary during the voyage.  Having to do our own
work, the equipment had been planned upon the most judicious and labor
saving lines, so that it was astonishing how little effort was required
to prepare a meal; and having no back yard to keep tidy, it was only
necessary to throw the scraps and refuse overboard.

At times when we hovered nearer the surface of the earth it was amusing
to see what excitement we caused the populace.  In passing over a
village the entire population would turn out into the streets, and shout
themselves hoarse before leaving them out of sight, and being unlike the
ordinary balloon, we were naturally looked upon with greater
astonishment.  Torrence having set his controlling apparatus, it no
longer required attention, until some change in speed, elevation, or
direction was desired; so that he was as free to move about the vessel
as I was.  The landscape was passing beneath us, with a steady flowing
motion, giving the impression that a considerable distance would be
covered during the day, although the rate of speed was deceptive.  It
was interesting to trace our course over the charts, with which we were
amply provided.  Maps of each of the counties were spread out upon the
table, and we were singularly well situated to test their accuracy.

I was wondering how fast we were going and inquired.

"About twenty-five miles an hour," said Torrence; "she is capable of
much greater speed; but there's no hurry, and I don't want to strain her
on her maiden trip."

"And how high are we?"

"About five hundred feet."

I was reflecting that it was no very great height, or extraordinary
speed, when I heard the sharp swinging sound of a bullet, and looked
down.  I saw a man passing through a field with a gun in his hand and
looking up.  Evidently he had fired at us, not knowing what we were;
possibly with the intention of finding out.

"He's going to shoot again!" I called to Torrence; but at that minute my
brother pressed a button and we were swung aloft with great velocity, as
if seized by some gigantic hand.

"I shan't give him a chance," he answered, as we plunged into a cloud,
and then darted forward with increased speed.  Again we were enveloped
in a dense wet blanket, but as there was no fear of a collision, did not
slacken our rate, but swept on like a hurricane unable to see a thing in
any direction beyond the vessel.

"Now," said Torrence, looking at a small instrument on the governing
board, "we are whirling along at the rate of fifty miles an hour.  Risky
business on land in a cloud like this, but here--thank Heaven--there is
nothing on the track!  When we lower ourselves out of the fog, and come
in view of the earth again, our sporting friend will be lost to sight."

In about ten minutes we dropped to our former level, and reduced our
speed.  Of course there was no reason why we should not remain above,
except that it was more interesting to have the earth for a companion.

"Suppose he had hit us?" I observed.

"There's not one chance in a hundred that he would hurt us if he had.  I
prepared for such enterprising fools by protecting her critical parts
with asbestos and rubber; but it isn't pleasant to be fired at, and when
one can move out of range so easily it seems the right thing to do."

Later in the day I went above and found it the pleasantest part of the
boat, and was surprised to find how all fear had left me.  I asked
Torrence if he intended to land anywhere in England; to which he gave a
negative answer, saying that it might not be safe, from the danger of
having papers served upon him.

"There is no necessity to halt," he added; "our course is probably
watched, and the news of our landing will be telegraphed to London, and
they might make it difficult for us to get away again.  We are safe out
of their reach now, and it would be better to lot well enough alone.
When I land it will be upon some uninhabited coast where they can't find
us."

"How long can you keep afloat?" I inquired.

Torrence laughed.

"Forever, if I want to.  There's no limit to our capacity in that line.
When the chemicals are exhausted, or have formed new combinations, I
have only to supply the proper proportions of air and water, and the
original conditions are restored.  So if for any reason it should prove
inconvenient to land, all we have to do is to drop a line with a bucket
over any river or sea, and pull up a pail of water, run the compressor
into the generator with the chemicals--and presto--all the power is
restored.  It is perpetual motion, with the very minimum of attention.
Rather it is gravitation neutralized; and so simple, it is a marvel men
never thought of it before."

I had made no inquiry about the North Pole, supposing it was only a
jest; not doubting, however, that he really meant to make an extended
trip northward; but now, on alluding to the subject, Torrence declared
that it was his serious intention to penetrate into the mysteries of the
Polar regions, farther than any navigator had ever gone.

"We may find it worth our while," he said, "and there is no reason why
we should not."

I told him that while I felt some doubt about the ice barriers, I was
ready to follow him anywhere; to which he answered with a good deal of
force that so long as the vessel depended only on the atmosphere for her
support, he could see no reason why we could not ride over icebergs,
frozen mountains and continents, to the ends of the earth.  All we had
to do was to keep above all obstructions, and to prevent ourselves from
freezing, against which possibility we were amply provided.  He showed
me how our saloon could be made perfectly snug, and heated to any
temperature desired; and that the motive apparatus was entirely
protected, and could likewise be kept warm.

"Should our upper deck become loaded with snow," he added, "we shall be
obliged to put on our extra feathers and go above to clean it off; not
such a very difficult matter when you consider that we are well provided
with the appliances."

Indeed, it seemed to me that nothing had been overlooked, and as
Torrence had all his life had a hankering for Arctic exploration, I was
not greatly astonished at his decision.  I reflected that the pole could
never be reached except by balloon, and that the difficulty of ordinary
ballooning was the impossibility of advancing against air currents, and
that since our ship had overcome that point, it did really appear as if
we might be in a fair way to accomplish something more than other
explorers.  I became greatly interested, and began to look for marvelous
results.

At noon I went into the galley and prepared dinner, while Torrence kept
watch above on the upper deck, where there was also a duplicate
controlling board.  We had eaten nothing since the previous night; the
excitement of getting off having kept the thought of food from entering
our heads, but now we were hungry.  It was undoubtedly the first time
since the creation that a meal had been cooked and eaten at that
elevation over Northhampton, but it was none the worse for that, and two
hungrier men could not have honored the occasion. From our seats in the
saloon we had a good outlook upon every side.  Forward we looked
directly ahead through the cuddy ports--aft--through our stern lights in
the galley, and upon either side were great sliding windows. The watch
was, of course, only to guard against any unexpected elevation in the
land, such as a hill, otherwise--or even had we been a little higher--we
might have drawn the blinds and run on with impunity.  After dinner we
threw the scraps overboard, and went on deck for a smoke, and watched
the country steadily slipping away beneath us.  We were fanned by a
gentle breeze, which might have been stiffer, but such wind as there
was, was blowing dead aft.

"This," said Torrence, looking about him with pride, "is what I call the
climax of living.  Above your enemies; above your friends; and out of
reach of all the petty annoyances of earth!"

I was as jubilant as he, and found it quite as difficult to conceal my
emotions, which were altogether natural; for has not flight been always
regarded as a prerogative of angels? and has not man aspired to it as
the most perfect form of migration?  The exhilaration was beyond
description; and as we swept on through that long summer day, there was
a sense of power and freedom which no other form of locomotion could
impart.

"I could never be content to live down there again!" I said, flipping
the ashes from my cigar overboard.

"Nor I," said Torrence; "not after this experience. The sky is good
enough for me!"

Toward evening we could hear the tinkling of bells and lowing of herds,
and catch an occasional shout of surprise from a frightened farmer, as
we dipped a little nearer earthward, and then skurried aloft and away,
before he had time to recover his equanimity.  At a small village in the
southern part of Lincolnshire we pounced suddenly upon a traveling
circus, and stampeded the entire crowd, not one of which will ever
forget us. It was the grandest game imaginable; to come swooping down to
within fifty or seventy-five feet of the ground, over an unsuspecting
congregation of countrymen, and then dart onward and upward amid their
shouts of consternation.  However, we did not indulge in this sort of
thing often, not wishing to incur the risk of being fired at.  It
showed, nevertheless, the absolute control we had over the machine, and
was interesting from a scientific, as well as a humorous point of view.

Toward sundown I smelled salt air, and knew we were approaching the sea.
Then we ran into a bank of mist, and the earth was lost to view.  I
asked Torrence where we were heading for, and he said:

"I am going to run around the city of Hull; leaving it a few miles upon
our right, so as not to attract attention, and then cross over to
Norway."

"You surely don't intend to try the North Sea to-night!" I exclaimed in
surprise.

"Why not?  There is no danger," he answered.

I did not argue the matter, feeling safe in his hands. The fog bank
continued for some minutes, and when we suddenly ran out of it, imagine
my astonishment to find ourselves hovering directly over a large city,
with the sea beyond.




                                  *X.*


Torrence jumped up in consternation, and looking overboard, exclaimed
with an oath that he thought we were at least five miles to the
southwest of that town.

"And what difference does it make?" I inquired.

"Look for yourself!" he cried; "they are expecting us.  I feared our
course would be telegraphed to all sea ports; but they shan't track me
out of the country," he added, looking aloft significantly, "that is,
not if I can help it."

"I should say we had decidedly the whip handle of them!" I replied.

"So we have.  Of course they can't stop us, but I think it will be just
as well to give them a false scent for their trouble.  It may be
interesting to use a little strategy with these people, Gurt, although
we are undoubtedly masters of the situation."

Looking down I saw that the streets were crowded with people gazing up
at us; and around the Wilberforce monument, on both sides of the bridge,
it looked as if a mob had gathered to intercept our progress.  In the
open square, probably not less than a hundred soldiers had been
assembled under arms, and had a very threatening aspect.

"Surely they won't fire on us!" I exclaimed.

"Not a bit of danger, they wouldn't dare; and if they did, they couldn't
hurt us.  No, the red coats are only for show; but if they got ugly, we
could clean out the crowd by simply dropping a lot of cartridges
overboard, without taking our guns out of the racks."

He pressed a button, turned a lever, and we slowed down.

"They want to speak to us, and perhaps it will be just as well to give
them a chance."

A man was waving a white flag, evidently intended to attract our
attention.  He appeared to be some high functionary of the town, judging
from his dress and general deportment.  He held a paper in his other
hand, which he indicated was for us.  Torrence waved his handkerchief in
reply, and pulled the air ship down to a dead halt, about two hundred
and fifty feet above the level of the street.

"It may be the injunction!" I suggested.

"Too late for that now," said Torrence; "they can't enjoin me after I've
left.  But I don't want them to know my course, and shall therefore
humbug them a little."

He looked earnestly above at a great white cloud that had crept up from
the southwest, and which had now nearly covered the sky.  He then took a
pencil, and with a writing pad resting on the rail, wrote:

"If you have any communication to make I will let down a line."

This he threw overboard.  It was picked up immediately, and handed to
the official who was standing quite separate from the others.  Shouts of
"lower your line!" were now heard distinctly, and in another minute we
had dropped a cord overboard, with a screw tied to the end for a weight.
It did not take long to draw up the line again, at the end of which was
an official looking document.  Torrence tore open the envelope hastily,
and began reading.  In a minute he thrust it into his pocket and said:

"Rot!"

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

"That blackguard, Hart, wants to get me back to London.  Pretends I've
committed a crime by moving the air ship without his consent.  Promises
forgiveness--the lunatic--if I'll return; and--of all the gall in
creation--says he will pay down a handsome sum, as he calls it, for a
half interest in the air ship, if I'll come back and make it over to
him; and then to cap the climax, has the effrontery to threaten me if I
don't do it.  The fellow must either be a dolt himself or take me for
one.  But I'll make it interesting for him, nevertheless!"

"They must take us for a brace of nincompoops," I replied; "but is it in
the form of a summons?"

"Seems to be a kind of _capias_ for my arrest, but how on earth can they
execute their orders while I'm up here?" said Torrence.

"You surely don't intend to return," I said, looking over his shoulder.

"Of course not; but I'm determined not to be tracked out of the country.
The man has done all he could to thwart me by foul means.  He has tried
to entrap me in a pretended form of law.  He endeavored to prevent my
sailing by procuring an injunction issued upon false representations,
and if he's fool enough to suppose that I'd return to London--why let
him suppose it, and wait, and sweat!"

He now headed the air ship toward London, and rising, sailed away from
the town.

"Let them think what they please!" he said.  Torrence got up on the top
deck and waved his hat, and then every one shouted.  I think there was
some doubt, however, as to whether we really intended to return, until
they saw us gradually head about, and point our prow toward London; then
there was an unmistakable yell of delight from every throat.

We were soon running against the wind, due south. The cloud bank which
had been steadily pushing up out of the southwest now nearly covered the
sky at an elevation of many thousand feet.  The city of Hull was fading
in the distance.  It would soon be lost to sight.  I looked at the earth
below, and saw that we were steadily ascending upon an inclined plane.

"When we are wrapt in the bosom of the clouds," said Torrence, "I intend
to put about, and run directly over their heads, out of sight, and be
far to seaward before the sun sets."

The clouds were still at a great altitude above us; and to prevent our
real intentions being discovered we made the ascent very gradually,
still steering south, but on an ascending plane, so that upon entering
the cloud bank it would be apparent to all that we were still headed for
London.  The elevation might be easily accounted for on the hypothesis
of air currents, so that no suspicion of insincerity would be aroused on
the part of those watching us.

"Now," said Torrence, "as we are going up to a great height, we might
find it more comfortable to slip on warmer clothing; or at all events to
get out some top coats."

This we did, and then seating ourselves on deck, watched the great
feathery mass into whose bosom we were gradually ascending.  All at once
the earth, the sky, and the greater part of the air ship vanished.  We
had plunged into the cloud, and I could not even see Torry, who was
sitting only a few feet away.  Luckily we had on tarpaulins, or we
should have been wet to the skin.  It was like unaided flight, not even
our support being visible.  Torrence's voice came out of the invisible,
producing a weird sensation, and I could feel that we were still being
borne rapidly upward.

"Still ascending?" I inquired, feeling as if I were addressing chaos.

"Still ascending!" came the answer.

"How much higher do we go?"

"Clear above this bank.  It will be pleasanter."

The words had a strange unnatural sound, as if coming from under the
water.  My body was the only objective reality in all creation, and even
the more distant parts of that showed a tendency to evade me.  Still
onward and upward, with nothing to prove our motion save the feeling
which the vessel imparted.  Suddenly a flood of sunlight enveloped us,
and we rose like a duck out of the water into another element.  A
milk-white sea was spread beneath; a dazzling sky above.  Again Torrence
was at his screws and levers.  We halted, and trembled for a moment in
midair, preparatory to changing our course; and then, with the rush of a
sudden gale, went swirling ahead in the opposite direction.  A minute
later he looked at the register and said:

"Altitude, eight thousand two hundred.  Speed, a mile a minute.  Course,
northeast by north!"

And now the Hullites could amuse themselves speculating how long it
would take us to reach London, while we swept on to the North Sea.

Our present altitude was unpleasantly cold, and the atmosphere
perceptibly rarefied, but it was not the intention to remain at such an
elevation longer than necessary, and when well beyond the English coast
we would descend to our former level.  It was here that a strange sight
attracted our attention.

As the sun worn down, our milky ocean became transfused with color.  At
first the change was slight, merely a rosy flush caught against the
higher points; but quickly the entire surface was emblazoned; flooded
with a million dyes of liquid fire, of a depth and splendor that was
dazzling.  Such purples, greens, and violets--vivid, intense, pale, and
shadowy.  It was as if we had suddenly discovered the polychromatic sea
of an unknown planet, but a sea whose waters were strangely lacking in
specific gravity and from whose surface a myriad eddies of violet and
other colored smokes arose like incense, curling, twisting, and falling,
and constantly changing tone, shape, and density over the entire mass.

We were bewildered--dazed.  While looking down upon this marvelous
panorama we were suddenly startled by a sight I shall never forget.  Far
down to the east another air ship was following at tremendous speed.
Black and forbidding it plunged along through the fiery waves, as if
bent on running us down.  It was the counterpart of our own vessel.  We
seized each other's hands in amazement, overcome with horror.  So
brilliant was the scene below that it was an instant before we realized
that the awful object was our own phantom, or shadow, cast upon the
clouds beneath; but during that instant it was a terrifying sight.

When the sun disappeared we were left in the dull gray of twilight, and
as the cold was increasing began at once descending to a lower level.
Again the cloud drift was about us, darker and denser than ever; but we
quickly passed through it, and I was surprised on emerging, to find the
North Sea beneath, and the bluffs of Scarborough fading in the distance.

"There is no danger of our being sighted from land now!" said Torrence,
checking our descent, and fixing the altitude at about five hundred feet
above the sea, He also reduced our speed to its former rate, twenty-five
miles an hour, which he said was fast enough.  The temperature here was
warm and pleasant, with light breeze from the southwest, which, by the
by, we did not catch, as we were moving faster, in the opposite
direction, making our own wind.  The sea was deserted, and the land
barely visible.  It would still be some time before dark, and we took
places on deck to watch out for vessels.  We had purposely taken a
course away from the track of the Wilson steamers, which ply between
Drontheim and Hull; not that it was a matter of any vital importance,
but Torrence wanted to keep our movements from the public if possible.
This was easily done, both by reason of an extended horizon and the
enormous speed we could develop if necessary.

As darkness came on we went below, closing the shutters to all lookouts,
so as not to reveal our position, and then lighted a swinging lamp,
deriving all necessary ventilation from above, whence no light was
visible. Having thus shut ourselves in from the observation of the
world, we set about getting supper.  Nothing could be more cosy;
suspended in midair, and surrounded with every luxury, while partaking
of our evening meal.  The consciousness of absolute independence of the
world; the sense of power, which our command of the situation imparted,
was, to say the least, extremely gratifying.  The feudal lord in his
castle might be harried and captured by an enemy; but our enemies could
be laughed at with impunity.  After supper we amused ourselves with an
experiment at dish washing, which proved very satisfactory. The plates
were simply piled into a net and lowered to the sea by a cord.  After
swishing about for a while, they were drawn up clean.  Of course we
dropped our level to within forty or fifty feet of the water, and
greatly slackened speed during the performance, but it saved a lot of
trouble.  On completing these housekeeping arrangements we climbed up on
deck, for a chat and smoke before retiring.

The night was dark, there being no moon, and the sky overcast, beside
which the air was misty.  We kept our position well above all
mast-heads, should there be any, and took extra precaution to prevent a
certain nimbus-like reflection against the mist by putting out the
lights as soon as supper was over.

Torrence touched his controller, and we rose to our former altitude,
remarking that our course only insured us against collision with
steamers; and that sailing ships were liable to be found wherever there
was water enough to float them.

"And there is no danger of dropping to a lower level unawares?" I asked.

"Such a thing is impossible!" he replied.  "The air ship has just such
an antipathy for earth as her vibrations impart.  It is like the
negative pole of a magnet, and unless my controllers move of their own
accord, which is an impossibility, the vessel must remain upon just such
a plane as I put her."

"How about our being discovered in the morning? Will you run up into the
clouds again?"

"No," he said, "let them discover us.  I was only anxious to delude
those Hullites into the belief that we had really gone back to London.
If we are seen to-morrow, they won't find it out until the next day, and
they are welcome to all the satisfaction it will give them. One thing is
certain; they will never follow where we are going!"

"No," I replied, "not if we succeed in reaching the Pole!"

"There is no _if_ in this matter," said Torrence, "for straight through
the Arctic regions we go, and without many stations either.  I know the
road.  We 've got the machine.  We're stocked with provisions and
clothing. The great mystery will be solved at last.  By the by, old man,
hadn't you better keep a record of our trip?"

"Decidedly!" I replied.

From that time, whenever possible, I wrote up the account of this
voyage, beginning with our landing in London; and the present voluminous
paper is the result.

At 11 o'clock Torrence insisted on my going below to bed, while he
continued the watch above.  It was a strange sensation, this crawling
into a bunk to sleep on an air ship, but I was exhausted with the
excitement of the day, and soon fell into a sound slumber, rocked by the
gentle swaying of the car.  Nothing could have been more soothing than
the situation; though why I should have felt no fear of falling was a
mystery, possibly induced by the negation of gravity which pervaded all
my surroundings, and perhaps, to a certain extent, even penetrated my
own body; though this is only a surmise.

If I dreamed, I do not know it, but was awakened while it was still dark
by the sound of music.  Sitting up, I listened in amazement.  Several
instruments were distinctly audible, and these were accompanied by half
a dozen voices.  Probably every one is familiar with the ravishing charm
of music while sleeping, and I awoke enraptured with this unearthly
fascination, believing at first that the sound had only been in my
dreams; but to my amazement it continued.  I recalled immediately where
I was, and my astonishment was only increased on remembering our
singular isolation.  There could be no doubt about it--there were
musical instruments, and there were human voices--but where out of
heaven or earth did they come from.  Slowly I crawled down from my bunk
and groped my way through the dividing curtains to Torrence's; but he
was not there.  I thought it must be nearly morning but evidently he had
not come to bed.  Had he crossed the North Sea and landed without my
knowledge?  I could not believe it; nor could I think that we had
returned to England.  I pinched myself and bit my finger to make sure
that I was awake, and then slowly felt the way into the saloon, and
having reached the ladder, commenced climbing above, with a horrid dread
of some awful catastrophe having befallen us.  I stepped out upon the
deck and looked around. The dull red glow of Torry's cigar caught my
eye; for there he was in the gloom, still sitting where I had left him,
his chair against the rail, and his arm hanging over.  Evidently he was
looking at something below, and leaning outward, did not see me.  Here
the music was even clearer than it had been below, and I paused for a
moment in dumb amazement to listen.  The instruments were well played,
and the voices strong and thrilling, with a wild pathos.  I glanced out
over the taffrail. The misty waters were still spread around us, and the
swish of the waves was distinctly heard.  Feeling as though suddenly
bewitched, I groped my way toward Torrence, who at that moment caught
sight of me.  He raised his hand, and said softly:

"Hush!  Do not speak a word!"

I moved cautiously along to his elbow.

"What is it?" I whispered; "where are we, and what does this music
mean?"

Taking me by the arm, he said in a low voice:

"We are floating just above the masthead of a Norwegian bark.  The men
are having a little frolic on board, and are playing and singing!"

He then went on to explain how he had overhauled the bark shortly after
I had gone below, and hearing the music had dropped a little and
slackened speed to enjoy it.

I looked over the rail and a weird sight it was.  Just below, through
the turgid atmosphere, was the huge silhouette of the ship, magnified in
the fog.  A few lights were visible along her deck, and near the center
was a reddish glow through which shadowy figures moved and danced.  No
detail was visible.  Nothing but the shifting shadows and the light, and
the great mass of the vessel. It was like a huge kinetoscope, with the
addition of music.

"The fellows are having a good time!" said Torrence; "sometimes in rifts
of the fog we can see them more distinctly.  Far from home, and with a
good-natured skipper, there is nothing to prevent their enjoying
themselves!"

At one moment the shadows would form a circle, when one would step into
the glowing center and perform some fantastic evolutions to the music.
The whole scene was wild and weird in the extreme.  A pink nebulosity
from out which dark mysterious figures were forever coming and going,
dancing, falling, and jumping.

We lingered quite awhile, looking and listening without their having a
suspicion of our proximity, and then Torrence, with a sudden burst of
enthusiasm over one of the performers, shouted "Hooray," at the top of
his voice.  Instantly the music stopped, and every man, seized with
panic, looked aloft; but we were dark and silent, and gave no token.
Slowly we rose again in the air, and in another minute had left the
Norwegian bark far behind.  It was a queer experience, and I have often
wondered how those people explained the mystery of the heavenward voice.




                                 *XI.*


The morning was radiant; not a cloud in the sky, nor a hatful of wind.
It was Torry's turn to rest, while I kept watch, and that he needed it
was shown by the fact that he slept until noon.  Meanwhile I got my own
breakfast, and set his aside; and then resumed the lookout above.  From
my lofty perch I caught the occasional glint of a sail, or the dark
trail of smoke from a southerly steamer, but these were quickly dropped
astern, no matter what their course.  Our rate of progress was
uninterrupted, and the fascination of flight grew with familiarity.
When Torrence came on deck he decided to increase our speed, wishing to
make the coast of Norway before night, on account of the intricacy of
the mountain channels to be encountered there.

"Once in sight of land," he said, "we can shape our course and elevation
accordingly."

I agreed with him, and the water was soon rushing beneath us at a
fearful rate.  Both sailing ships and steamers were now passed like
stationary objects, but the wonder with which we inspired the passengers
unfortunately escaped our observation.  The day was warm, and the speed
agreeable, allowing us to remain on deck in comfort.

While racing, we passed a fleet of schooners loaded with lumber.  The
consternation caused on board was made apparent by the blast of half a
dozen trumpets, which reached our ears in a chorus, although we left the
boats so rapidly that the sound was only heard for a minute, and in a
quarter of an hour the fleet was out of sight.

At 4 o'clock we caught the first glimpse of the island peaks, off the
coast of Norway, and knowing that it would not be dark until after ten,
we slackened speed.

Nearing the land the sight was singularly beautiful. The dark blues and
greens against the black rocks of those mountain islands, made an
intensely vivid picture. Between these lofty heights were revealed
far-stretching vistas of bluest sea, bounded again by other islands and
other mountains.

Torrence said he should not venture in any of these channels, but
proposed running entirely outside the cordon of islands, keeping the
coast well in hand upon the right.  Fortunately there would be but two
or three hours of darkness, or it might have been expedient to seek a
higher level to avoid the possibility of accident by collision; as it
was, a sharp lookout would be all that was necessary.

After sailing up the coast for a couple of hours, I went below to
prepare supper, which we decided to eat on deck, so as not to miss the
magnificent scenery.  This we did, and later I was instructed in the art
of aerial navigation, and after changing our course a few points to
seaward for safety, Torrence went below to sleep, leaving me in charge.
During this watch our speed was materially lowered, as we did not deem
it wise to run rapidly along this dangerous coast, while I was alone on
deck.

The feeling of power as I sat there with absolute control of the vessel
was exhilarating.  I had never had such a sensation before.  Like a
visitor from another planet I floated on above the sea, inspecting the
most exquisitely weird and beautiful scenery, made doubly entrancing by
the lingering twilight, which seemed as if it would never fade away.
The intensity of the coloring, the purity of the atmosphere, and the
marvelous shapes of these mountain islands, made impressions not easily
obliterated.  There was an endless variety of fiords and water vistas
opening between them, and each vista and each island showed something
new.

Torrence slept soundly until 10:30 o'clock when, as the twilight had
deepened into gloom, I thought it best to call him, and went below to
sleep myself.  The night was quickly passed, as there was little of it,
and in the watches we rounded the headlands of the Sogne, the Geiranger,
and the Romsdal fiords, and then steering a little more to the east with
the trend of the coast, made for the great bay of Trondhjem, which we
reached about the middle of the afternoon.  Skirting the opening of the
fiord, Torrence asked if I thought it worth while to pay a visit to this
historic city of the Norwegians--Trondhjem being one of their most
important and beautiful towns.  If we concluded to go, he said it would
be best, in order not to attract attention, to land upon one of the
lonely island hilltops near the town, and thence make our way by foot
and boat.  We talked the matter over, but finally decided to let all
towns alone, it being possible that the authorities held orders for our
detention, as they had in Hull.

"We are quite safe where we are," said Torrence, "and when we stop, let
it be away from people."

Having decided to stick to the air ship, we went directly on past the
mouth of the bay without entering it.  The town itself is a number of
miles further up the fiord.

We now headed straight for the North Cape, which we reached in about
five days from London.  We passed the Lofoten isles, the Vest fiord,
Tromsoe, Hammerfest, and other points of beauty and interest along this
marvelous coast, without stopping at any of them, and landed upon the
northernmost point of Europe without accident.  On this desolate
headland we decided to make our first landing, to overhaul the
machinery, stretch our legs, and have a general pow-wow on Mother Earth
before proceeding further.

An elevated plain, lopped off at one end by a wall of granite, hundreds
of feet high, and overlooking the sea, stood ready to receive us.  No
human habitation is visible, but thousands of pigeons living in the
crannies of the cliff were frightened at our approach, and flew about
wildly in all directions.  Above this plain we halted, and then slowly
began our descent.

At the water level on the east is a steamboat landing, where the Olaff
Kyrre stops once or twice during the summer for the benefit of tourists
who find their way to the top by a winding path cut in the face of the
wall. Thence to the northern cliff is a level walk of over a mile across
this plain, along which a wire is stretched to guide those who happen to
be caught in a fog, which at times is very dense and sudden.

This plain afforded the isolation we sought, and with a slow and steady
movement we descended upon it.  We touched the ground so lightly that I
was not aware of our landing until Torrence threw out the ladder and
stepped over.  I followed immediately, and then we sent up a shout of
triumph for the success that had so far attended our journey.  We walked
around the air ship, admiring her from every point of view, and then
went away to see how she looked at a distance.  She was perfect!  The
grandest thing ever constructed; the most powerful engine for the
advance of man's material welfare ever executed.  Torrence made a
careful examination of her working parts.  Not a screw or bearing was
out of place; and not withstanding the way we had speeded her on
occasions, she was none the worse for it.  She was carefully oiled, and
where necessary lubricated with graphite, and we had the satisfaction of
knowing that she was in quite as good condition as on leaving London.

"I am willing to trust my life in her across the frozen sea!" said
Torrence, observing her with intense admiration.

"Now is the time to decide if you're not," I answered; "though for my
part I believe she is safer than dry land!"

"That is exactly my idea," said he, "although, if you should feel
inclined to change your mind, there is another chance at Spitzbergen,
where we shall stop again before the final leap."

"I have not the slightest intention of doing so, old boy, in fact I am
quite as anxious to get to the pole as you are; and strange as it may
seem I feel safer in the air ship than standing here."

We were unanimous in our determination to go to the pole, and I will
guarantee that no expedition ever started for there with so good a
prospect of reaching it, or with greater comforts than we had.

We cooked our supper near the edge of the cliff overlooking the Arctic
Ocean, and we both felt that it was a solemn occasion, for we should
soon be placing an impassable gulf between ourselves and the land of
human habitations, and entering the great solitudes of the unexplored
North.

As there was no wood for fuel, we used an armful of our own kindling,
which we had brought for just such occasions, and while drinking hot
coffee we discussed the past, and the prospect of the future.

"I am absolutely certain of success," said Torrence; "nothing but an air
ship can reach the pole, and an air ship has never yet tried to get
there.  What's the use of an old water-tank endeavoring to screw her way
through a continent of ice.  She might as well run her nose against
Gibraltar, in the hope of coming out on the other side.  The mystery to
me is why no one has ever tried this before."

"You're not there yet, old man," I answered; "don't crow before you're
out of the woods."

"Ah!" said Torrence, smiling, "I believe the worst wood we had to get
out of was London; and having shot the rapids at Gravesend, I think we
can go the rest of the way."

I was quite as enthusiastic as he, but being without his knowledge, had
not the same convictions.

"And so Spitzbergen will be our next stopping place?" I observed,
between mouthfuls of coffee.

"Yes, when we shoot off this cliff to the northward we'll set neither
eye nor foot on land for five hundred miles.  So make the most of this
boggy sward while we have it.  Five hundred miles to the north of this
is pretty far north--and then----"

"And then our real journey begins," I interrupted.

"You may say so," he answered, broiling a piece of bacon with a fork
over the coals.  "Certainly the most interesting part begins after
leaving Spitzbergen.  I flatter myself that the entire voyage from that
point will be one of unusual interest."

I had every confidence in our ability to reach the pole, for without the
difficulty of ice to encounter, I could see no good reason why we should
not.  Moreover, the season of the year would insure pleasant weather in
high latitudes; there would probably be no detention, as in other
expeditions, and it seemed a reasonable presumption that we should reach
90 deg. north, while the summer was yet at its height.

Presently a dense fog came rolling in from the sea, and in a few minutes
the air ship was lost to view, although not more than forty or fifty
yards from where we were sitting.  We continued eating our lunch like a
couple of specters on each side of the fire, until, finding that we were
getting wet, I got up to go after some oilskins.  I thought I knew
exactly where the machine was, believing that I had sat down with my
back toward it, and at best did not suppose it possible to lose so large
an object so close at band.  I walked until quite sure that I had
covered the distance separating me from it, and then continued to walk
on farther.  Suddenly I stopped, convinced that I had mistaken the
direction.  I started upon another course, and after another
unsuccessful tramp stopped again.  Then I called for Torrence, and told
him that I was lost.  His voice sounded much farther than I thought it
should, and I tried to get back to him by following it.  Presently he
called out imperatively:

"Stop! don't try to find me.  Stand perfectly still until it clears!"

"Why not? if you'll keep on talking I'm sure to find you."

Then he shouted vehemently.

"Stop! for God's sake, stop!  You're risking your life with every step.
Have you forgotten that we're on the edge of a precipice?"

I had not forgotten it, but his words startled me into realizing the
danger of my position, and I stood perfectly still.  Strangely enough I
had not thought of the possibility of tumbling over the cliff, believing
all the while that I was walking in the opposite direction; but now the
murmur of the sea on the rocks below convinced me that I was nearer than
I had supposed.

"If you move at all," shouted Torrence, "go only one step at a time.  I
mean, look carefully at each step before you take it."

I could not imagine how I had come so far, for his voice sounded
strangely distant.

"Have you moved from where I left you?" I called.

"No," was the answer, "and don't intend to."

"That's right.  I think I can find you if you keep talking."

"All right; go ahead; but watch the ground carefully at every step!"

The truth is I could not see much above a yard at a time, and a misstep
would have been fatal.  Torrence continued to talk, and I slowly
advanced in the direction from which his voice seemed to come.  Suddenly
my way was blocked by a solid wall and in another instant I saw that it
was the air ship.  I now perceived why the voice had been so faint, for
I had wandered clear around the machine, which had intercepted it.

Feeling my way carefully to the ladder I called out that all was well.

"No matter about the skins," came the answer, "let us get off as soon as
possible.  Go into the saloon and fetch a ball of twine from the locker;
tie one end to the step, then make your way slowly!"

I found the twine; groped forward with the ball in my hand, and reached
camp without accident.  Then we commenced carrying our cook tools back
to the boat.

"There is no place like home!" yelled Torrence, returning with the last
load.  In another minute he had climbed over the side, and drawing a
breath of relief, added:

"It is fortunate we travel by air instead of land or water, because we
shan't have to wait for the fog!"

A few minutes more and the ladder was hauled in, the gangway closed, the
hatch to the upper deck shut down, and we were comfortably established
in our cosy cabin. Then Torrence going to his controlling board, pressed
a button, moved a lever, turned a screw, and we were swung gently up,
and resumed our journey north, 11 deg. west, headed for Spitzbergen,
which Torrence said we should reach within twenty-four hours.

I don't know why it was always such an indescribable pleasure to feel
clear of earth; and yet this was the fact. The first sensation of being
above the ground was a thrill of inexplicable delight.  It seemed as if
we were lifted into a higher plane of being, morally as well as bodily,
involving a certain arrogant sympathy for those left behind.  The poor
creatures knew so little about life, and it even amazed me to think that
I had been one of them for so many years without realizing the depravity
of my state.  Life without an air ship was not worth the living; but
with it, I could answer Mr. Mallock's question without thought or
hesitation.

When the fog cleared we were many miles to seaward, and the rock-bound
coast of Europe showed only as a dark line against the horizon.
Torrence said there was nothing to prevent our going into the cuddy for
a sleep, which we needed, that in our present position there was no
danger; that collision was impossible, and falling equally so.  That the
air ship was headed for Spitzbergen, and could take care of herself--in
short, that we should be just as safe as if sleeping in the Mustapha.  I
suggested the possibility of icebergs but he explained that we were
above the altitude of the highest ever known in this quarter, and that,
moreover, it was improbable that any would be passed at this season and
this locality.  And so, taking his word for it, we both turned in and
slept ten hours without waking.  At the end of that time we felt like
new men, and climbed up on deck to look out.

A dull gray sea, bounded only by the sky-line, was rushing away beneath,
and so far as I could tell, our speed and elevation had remained
unchanged.  Despite my brother's assurance, I could not help feeling
that we had taken an awful risk about the icebergs; but when he told me
that the ice masses formed off Spitzbergen were greatly inferior in size
to those coming down from Greenland, I was better satisfied.  Indeed, it
was very rare, he said, that an iceberg in this part of the ocean was
more than one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in height; they were
differently shaped, being flat on top, and covering considerable area,
but never high; while our own altitude was more than a thousand feet.
Torrence had made quite a study of the polar regions, and I had great
confidence in his judgment.

On we sped--I cannot say during the day, for there was no night,
although we kept a record of the time, and at regular intervals darkened
our sleeping apartments to delude ourselves into the belief that it was
night above. While on watch we sunk to a lower level, as being warmer,
although it was getting to be the time of year when the mercury seldom
falls below freezing even in this latitude.  Occasional masses of ice
were now passed, though none of any considerable size, and I can
truthfully say that, except when above the clouds, we had not, so far,
suffered from cold.

About thirty hours after leaving the North Cape of Norway the irregular,
saw-shaped outline of Spitzbergen peeped above the horizon.  Our passage
had been uneventful, and as we neared the barren shores of the west
island, there was nothing to invite us to linger.  We decided, however,
to land for a short time before pursuing our journey northward.

Proceeding with care we entered the channel to the east of Prince
Charles Foreland, known as Foreland Bay. Moving up this passage to its
upper terminal, and then crossing King's Bay, we effected a landing
opposite Cape Mitra, on the eastern shore of Cross Bay.  The whole
country was desolate beyond description, and we only halted for another
examination of our vessel before plunging into the great unknown beyond.

We touched earth on a shelly beach, and congratulated ourselves on
having reached this high latitude in safety.

Drift wood abounded, and we soon had a roaring fire, with the prospect
of a good meal ahead.  We took care this time to guard against fog by
carrying a line from the air ship to our encampment.

Torrence wanted to shoot a reindeer, an ice fox, or a polar bear before
leaving, although neither of us cared to make a sporting tour for fear
of getting lost; moreover, the time was valuable.  There were no
indications of life from our point of landing, although we knew the
islands abounded in Arctic game, and that the animals mentioned were
plentiful.  Torrence seemed particularly anxious to run across a herd of
deer, and when I suggested that a white bear would be a finer sight, he
shrugged his shoulders and said:

"Perhaps; but I have special reasons for wanting a deer, which I will
explain later; meanwhile let us get dinner."

And so we set to work upon the best our larder afforded, feeling that it
would probably be our last meal on land for a very indefinite time.
Indeed when I thought of the future and the unexplored regions ahead,
and the mysteries of the unknown awaiting us, I confess to some nervous
apprehension.

The realm we were about to penetrate had been from all time screened
from the eyes of man; was it not sacrilege to force the hand of
Providence and expose it now?

                     *      *      *      *      *




                                 *XII.*


We were in the midst of dinner when down the beach came a great, white,
swaggering bear, sniffing the air from side to side, for the fumes of
bacon, sausage, and fried potatoes which happened just then to be in the
pan. The suddenness of the apparition froze every drop of sporting blood
in my veins; but this perhaps, is not so much to be marveled at, when it
is remembered that we had left our arms and ammunition in the air ship,
full fifty yards away, though fortunately in the other direction.
Dropping the remains of dinner on the ground, we ran with one accord and
mortifying speed to the big machine, tumbled in over the side, and
hauled up the ladder with a dexterity never before equalled.  Here we
armed ourselves with a couple of Winchester rifles, and then crawled up
on deck to watch the enemy.  It was a painful sight to see our excellent
repast scattered right and left, nosed, pawed, and devoured before our
very eyes; but it was satisfactory to observe that the beast burned his
mouth and paws in his greediness.  When he got through licking his chops
and sucking his fingers he had time to look around, and catching sight
of the air ship, was surprised.  Evidently he was familiar with that
part of the coast and had never seen such a thing before. We decided to
wait until curiosity had brought him nearer, which it was not long in
doing.  Still sniffing, now probably for danger, the monster slowly
approached, and when two-thirds of the distance had been covered, he
stopped suddenly, overcome with astonishment.  It was our time to fire,
and crack went the rifles, almost at the same instant.  It had been
previously agreed that I was to aim for the head, while Torrence was to
shoot immediately behind the shoulder.  The animal started up with a
snort, surprised and wounded.  He showed his teeth and snapped as he
caught sight of us, and then turned and began licking his wound.  I was
surprised that he had not keeled over stone dead, for as the blood
trickled down over his long, dirty, white hair it looked to me as if it
issued from a vital point, but it was difficult to tell.  Presently the
sound of our voices renewed his anger, and he came at us, on a gallop.
We waited until he touched the vessel, when, just as we were about to
fire again, the bear raised himself upon his hind legs as if trying to
get a foothold to board us, and rolled over dead without a struggle.  We
discharged our rifles into the animal's skull as he lay there, and then
after a few minutes went to work upon him.  It was a great find, as he
was large and fat.  We soon had him bled, and cut up into convenient
sizes.  We left the skin for other explorers, not caring to bother with
it, but the principal part of the meat was carefully stowed on board.
After this adventure we went back and finished our dinner, or rather we
cooked another; this time being careful to carry the rifles with us.

As we sat smoking our pipes around the camp fire, after finishing our
repast, I asked Torrence why he had been so anxious to kill a reindeer.

"For marks!" he said, blowing a volume of smoke into the air.

"Marks!" I exclaimed in astonishment; "what marks? What are you talking
about?"

"Ear marks," he answered, still puffing away at his pipe.

"And why are the ear marks of a Spitzbergen reindeer especially
interesting?" I inquired.

Torrence looked at me thoughtfully as he answered:

"Because they have been made by the hand of man!"

"And why shouldn't they be?"

"For a very simple reason.  Because man does not inhabit these islands!"

"Then how is your theory supported?"

"By an enormous array of accumulated evidence that there are vast
continents to the north of us, which are inhabited both by man,
reindeer, and other animals!"

"You mean _continent_, not _continents_," I suggested.

"On the contrary; I believe there are continents fully equaling in size
Europe, Asia, Africa and the two Americas!"

Had the fellow lost his mind?  I looked carefully to see if he were
serious, and observing no indications of a joke, answered:

"Your theory might be all right if there was room enough around the pole
for all the land you speak of; but as there isn't, I am afraid you'll
have to be contented with one very moderate-sized continent, which I
will admit it is barely possible may exist.  As for its being inhabited,
I don't believe it."

"It's a pity, Gurthrie, for you'll have to believe a great deal more
than that before you get through with this journey.  But speaking of the
reindeer, do you know that immense herds of them roam over these
islands; and that the enormous numbers which have been killed in former
years--amounting to several thousand sometimes, in a single
season--tends to support the theory that they have migrated from another
land?  But that is not all; for these creatures carry with them stronger
evidences of a habitable region to the north--for they cannot have
migrated from the south."

"And what is that evidence?" I asked.

"The ear marks we were speaking of," continued Torrence, "thousands of
these reindeer are marked; that is, they have their ears cut in a way to
indicate that it was done by the hand of man.  It is the opinion of many
hunters in this region that these animals have emigrated from an unknown
country to the north; and that is my belief also!"

"But you spoke of _continents_!" I urged.

"And I still speak of continents.  But wait; I do not wish to startle
you, or shake your faith in my sanity. What I know, I know; and what I
know, you shall soon see for yourself.  But mind, we are going into a
warmer climate, and we shall find all that I have intimated.  But a
little at a time; do not strain your mind with thoughts you have never
yet learned to assimilate."

I admitted that if it were a fact about the ear marks it was certainly a
curious one; whereupon Torrence declared that it was only one out of
many reasons for the theory, which he would explain later.  Altogether
there was a conviction in his manner which was very impressive. I
listened to him talk for more than an hour, and must confess that he
produced an array of alleged facts that were startling.  He ended by
declaring that our discoveries would vastly exceed those of Columbus in
their magnitude, and that we should go down to history as the greatest
of all explorers!

When Torrence stopped talking, our pipes had gone out, and the fire was
reduced to a few glowing coals. We got up to make preparations for a
final departure into the great unknown, and I confess, with a good deal
more awe than I had previously thought possible.  If Torrence was
oppressed by the contemplation of what we were about to undertake, he
only showed it by a more earnest and serious demeanor than he had yet
exhibited.  For my part, I dreaded to leave the island, overcome with
the thought of what might be awaiting us.  Beyond this, I was seriously
puzzled by my brother's remark about continents, and their size, but
could not bring myself to insist on an explanation, which he seemed, for
the present, disinclined to give.  We had started together, and we must
pull together for the rest of the journey, come what might.

We now made a thorough and exhaustive examination of the machine, and
were gratified to find that everything was still in perfect order, as we
did not wish to land upon an unknown continent without the means of
returning. The vessel had been so thoroughly built, regardless of cost,
that she seemed as staunch as when she first came out of the hands of
the contractors at London.  We took aboard several casks of fresh water
for drinking, besides our bear meat; put everything to rights, and then
shutting ourselves inside, concluded to take a long sleep before
resuming our journey northward.  Nothing disturbed us; not even a polar
bear discovered our position, and when we arose at the end of twenty
hours' rest, we partook of another hearty meal, and were ready to move.

Taking our places on deck, Torrence touched the controllers, and in a
minute we were suspended a couple of hundred feet above the beach.  Then
slowly we commenced navigating the tortuous coast, first bearing
eastwardly across the bay, and then following up the shore line as far
as the Norwegian isles, a reef of rocky keys off the northwest coast.
Here we took careful bearings; made allowances for the rather singular
behavior of the compass, and then heading the ship due north, bore away
upon our course.

I felt as if I were about to sail over the face of an unknown planet,
and in a great measure, it was just this that we were destined to
accomplish.  I was fully alive to the terrors of that mysterious,
strangely isolated quarter of our globe, where it seemed as if the
Almighty had set his ban against man's advance, by encircling it with an
impenetrable barrier, to cross which, every effort, of which history
holds any record, was fruitless.

When the granite cliffs of Spitzbergen were fading from our view,
Torrence turned to me, and said with emphasis:

"Mark my word!  We are going to find a better climate ahead than we have
left behind.  We are going to find land, and a race of men who are
unknown to the world.  We are going to find many other things; but put
that much down as a record if you will;" and so I have entered it.

We were alone, and with a loneliness never felt before. The last
saw-like edge of Spitzbergen had sunk below the water line to the south.
Yes, even that terribly Northern foothold must now be looked upon as a
southern home, when compared with our present resting place. Should we
ever look forward to reaching it, as a tropical paradise--the bourne of
all our hopes and expectations? For Spitzbergen had known men; it was a
part of our own world, and as I watched it fade and sink away it seemed
close to all I had ever known and loved in my dear old earth, where
nothing could ever be so solemnly, so awfully foreign as where we were,
and where we were going.

Suddenly it became cold, and looking down we saw that the ocean had
grown strangely quiet, the sparkle and motion of the waves having left
it.  Descending to a lower level we saw that we were passing over a
field of pack ice, solid and impenetrable; and we slackened speed, and
sunk still lower to examine it.

As we slipped along close above its hummocky surface, at the rate of ten
or twelve miles an hour, we could appreciate some of the difficulties
with which Arctic explorers have had to contend.  What a herculean task
to forge ahead through such an obstacle, whether with ship or sled!  And
yet with what absolute ease we seemed about to solve the puzzle of the
ages.  However, we were still a long way from the pole, and there was no
telling what might happen before reaching it.  At times I would be
seized with a superstitious dread of some awful impending calamity, or
of some horrible condition of the earth's surface or atmosphere, which
would make it impossible for man to live where we were going.  But
Torrence was firm and resolute, and if such thoughts ever troubled him,
he did not speak of them.  I could scarcely believe that we should
continue to the end as easily as we had begun, and advance without
hindrance into the forbidden mysteries beyond.

It grew colder, although I can truly say, so well were we provided
ag

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