CHAPTER V
EXPLORATION
Came now the evening, as they sat and talked together, talkedlong and earnestly, there within that ruined place. Too eager for someknowledge of the truth, they, to feel hunger or to think of their lackof clothing.
Chairs they had none, nor even so much as a broom to clean the floorwith. But Stern, first-off, had wrenched a marble slab from thestairway.
And with this plank of stone still strong enough to serve, he hadscraped all one corner of the office floor free of rubbish. This gavethem a preliminary camping-place wherein to take their bearings anddiscuss what must be done.
"So then," the engineer was saying as the dusk grew deeper, "so then,we'll apparently have to make this building our headquarters for awhile.
"As nearly as I can figure, this is about what must have happened.Some sudden, deadly, numbing plague or cataclysm must have struck theearth, long, long ago.
"It may have been an almost instantaneous onset of some new and highlyfatal micro-organism, propagating with such marvelous rapidity that itswept the world clean in a day--doing its work before any resistancecould be organized or thought of.
"Again, some poisonous gas may have developed, either from a fissurein the earth's crust, or otherwise. Other hypotheses are possible, butof what practical value are they now?
"We only know that here, in this uppermost office of the Tower, youand I have somehow escaped with only a long period of completelysuspended animation. How long? God alone knows! That's a query I can'teven guess the answer to as yet."
"Well, to judge by all the changes," Beatrice suggested thoughtfully,"it can't have been less than a hundred years. Great Heavens!" and sheburst into a little satiric laugh. "Am _I_ a hundred and twenty-fouryears old? Think of that!"
"You underestimate," Stern answered. "But no matter about the timequestion for the present; we can't solve it now.
"Neither can we solve the other problem about Europe and Asia and allthe rest of the world. Whether London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and everyother city, every other land, all have shared this fate, we simplydon't know.
"All we _can_ have is a feeling of strong probability that life, humanlife I mean, is everywhere extinct--save right here in this room!
"Otherwise, don't you see, men would have made their way back hereagain, back to New York, where all these incalculable treasures seemto have perished, and--"
He broke short off. Again, far off, they heard a faint re-echoing roar.For a moment they both sat speechless. What could it be? Some distantwall toppling down? A hungry beast scenting its prey? They could nottell. But Stern smiled.
"I guess," said he, "guns will be about the first thing I'll look for,after food. There ought to be good hunting down in the jungles ofFifth Avenue and Broadway!
"You shoot, of course? No? Well, I'll soon teach you. Lots of thingsboth of us have got to learn now. No end of them!"
He rose from his place on the floor, went over to the window and stoodfor a minute peering out into the gloom. Then suddenly he turned.
"What's the matter with me, anyhow?" he exclaimed with irritation."What right have I to be staying here, theorizing, when there's workto do? I ought to be busy this very minute!
"In some way or other I've got to find food, clothing, tools, arms--athousand things. And above all, water! And here I've been speculatingabout the past, fool that I am!"
"You--you aren't going to leave me--not to-night?" faltered the girl.
Stern seemed not to have heard her, so strong the imperative of actionlay upon him now. He began to pace the floor, sliding and stumblingthrough the rubbish, a singular figure in his tatters and with hispatriarchal hair and beard, a figure dimly seen by the faint lightthat still gloomed through the window:
"In all that wreckage down below," said he, as though half to himself,"in all that vast congeries of ruin which once was called New York,surely enough must still remain intact for our small needs. Enoughtill we can reach the land, the country, and raise food of our own!"
"Don't go _now!_" pleaded Beatrice. She, too, stood up, and out shestretched her hands to him. "Don't, please! We can get along some wayor other till morning. At least, _I_ can!"
"No, no, it isn't right! Down in the shops and stores, who knows butwe might find--"
"But you're unarmed! And in the streets--in the forest, rather--"
"Listen!" he commanded rather abruptly. "This is no time forhesitating or for weakness. I know you'll stand your share of all thatwe must suffer, dare and do together.
"Some way or other I've got to make you comfortable. I've got tolocate food and drink immediately. Got to get my bearings. Why, do youthink I'm going to let you, even for one night, go fasting andthirsty, sleep on bare cement, and all that sort of thing?
"If so, you're mistaken! No, you must spare me for an hour or two.Inside of that time I ought to make a beginning!"
"A whole hour?"
"Two would probably be nearer it. I promise to be back inside of thattime."
"But," and her voice quivered just a trifle, "but suppose some wolf orbear--"
"Oh, I'm not quite so foolhardy as all that!" he retorted. "I'm notgoing to venture outside till to-morrow. My idea is that I can find atleast a few essentials right here in this building.
"It's a city in itself--or was. Offices, stores, shops, everythingright here together in a lump. It can't possibly take me very long togo down and rummage out something for your comfort.
"Now that the first shock and surprise of our awakening are over, wecan't go on in this way, you know--h'm!--dressed in--well, suchexceedingly primitive garb!"
Silently she looked at his dim figure in the dusk. Then she stretchedout her hand.
"I'll go too," said she quite simply.
"You'd better stay. It's safer here."
"No, I'm going."
"But if we run into dangers?"
"Never mind. Take me with you."
Over to her he came. He took her hand. In silence he pressed it. Thusfor a moment they stood. Then, arousing himself to action, he said:"First of all, a light."
"A light? How can you make a light? Why, there isn't a match leftanywhere in this whole world."
"I know, but there are other things. Probably my chemical flasks andvials aren't injured. Glass is practically imperishable. And if I'mnot mistaken, the bottles must be lying somewhere in that rubbish heapover by the window."
He left her wondering, and knelt among the litter. For a while hesilently delved through the triturated bits of punky wood and rust-redmetal that now represented the remains of his chemical cabinet.
All at once he exclaimed: "Here's one! And here's another! Thiscertainly _is_ luck! H-m! I shouldn't wonder if I got almost all ofthem back."
One by one he found a score of thick, ground-glass vials. Some werebroken, probably by the shock when they and the cabinet had fallen,but a good many still remained intact.
Among these were the two essential ones. By the last dim ghost oflight through the window, and by the sense of touch, Stern was able tomake out the engraved symbols "P" and "S" on these bottles.
"Phosphorus and sulphur," he commented. "Well, what more could Ireasonably ask? Here's alcohol, too, hermetically sealed. Not too bad,eh?"
While the girl watched, with wondering admiration, Stern thought harda moment. Then he set to work.
First he took a piece of the corroded metal framework of the cabinet,a steel strip about eighteen inches long, frail in places, but stillsufficiently strong to serve his purpose.
Tearing off some rags from his coat-sleeve, he wadded them togetherinto a ball as big as his fist. Around this ball he twisted the metalstrip, so that it formed at once a holder and a handle for therag-mass.
With considerable difficulty he worked the glass stopper out of thealcohol bottle, and with the fluid saturated the rags. Then, on aclear bit of the floor, he spilled out a small quantity of thephosphorus and sulphur.
"This beats getting fire by friction al
l hollow," he cheerfullyremarked. "I've tried that, too, and I guess it's only in books awhite man ever succeeds at it. But this way you see, it's simplicityitself."
Very moderate friction, with a bit of wood from the wreckage of thedoor, sufficed to set the phosphorus ablaze. Stern heaped on a fewtiny lumps of sulphur. Then, coughing as the acrid fumes arose fromthe sputter of blue flame, he applied the alcohol-soaked torch.
Instantly a puff of fire shot up, colorless and clear, throwing novery satisfactory light, yet capable of dispelling the thickest of thegloom.
The blaze showed Stern's eager face, long-bearded and dusty, as hebent over this crucial experiment.
The girl, watching closely, felt a strange new thrill of confidenceand solace. Some realization of the engineer's resourcefulness came toher, and in her heart she had confidence that, though the whole wideworld had crumbled into ruin, yet _he_ would find a way to smooth herpath, to be a strength and refuge for her.
But Stern had no time for any but matters of intensest practicality.From the floor he arose, holding the flambeau in one hand, the bottleof alcohol in the other.
"Come now," bade he, and raised the torch on high to light her way,"You're still determined to go?"
For an answer she nodded. Her eyes gleamed by the uncanny light.
And so, together, he leading out of the room and along the wreckedhall, they started on their trip of exploration out into the unknown.