CHAPTER XXIX
BACK HOME--CONCLUSION
On and on sped the _Mermaid_. Now that the travelers felt their journeyaccomplished they were anxious to begin the homeward trip. They made astraight course for the village where they had so nearly met withdisaster, and where the king of the giants had saved them. They went ina direct line, and did not travel here and there, as they had after theyleft the town. Consequently they shortened the route by a greatdistance. Yet it was long enough, and when they finally came in sight ofthe place the dial registered a trip of five thousand miles underground.
It was one evening when they landed almost at the spot whence they hadtaken flight eventually to reach the temple of the treasure. Most of thegiants had betaken themselves to their mound houses, but Hankos waswalking in the fields, and, when he caught sight of the airship hoveringabove him he waved his great sword in welcome.
He rushed up to shake hands with the travelers when they came out of theship, though to greet him it was only possible for the adventurers tograsp one of his immense fingers.
As soon as the greetings were over Hankos began to speak rapidly to theprofessor, at the same time going through many strange motions.
"It is as I feared!" suddenly exclaimed the scientist.
"What is the matter?" asked Mark.
"The worst has happened!" went on Mr. Henderson. "The great hole bywhich we came into this place has been closed by an earthquake shock!"
"The hole closed?" repeated Jack.
"An earthquake shock!" murmured Mark.
"Then how are we going to get back to earth?" asked old Andy.
A terrible fear entered the hearts of the travelers. The closing of theopening by which they had come to the strange world meant, in allprobability that they would have to spend the rest of their lives inthis underground place.
"What good did it do us to get all those diamonds and that gold?" askedMark in a sorrowful tone.
Hankos began to speak again, using his gestures which were almost aseloquent as words. The professor watched and listened intently. Thenthere seemed to come a more hopeful look to his face. He noddedvigorously as Hankos went on with what seemed to be an explanation.
"It's worth trying, at all events!" the scientist exclaimed. "It is ouronly hope!"
"What is?" asked Jack.
"Friends," began the professor in solemn tones. "I must admit our plightis desperate. At the same time there is a bare chance of our gettingback to our own earth. As you remember, Hankos went from this place tothe upper regions through the upward spouting column of water."
"If we had our submarine we might also," interrupted Jack. "But the_Mermaid_ isn't built to sail in that fashion."
"Nor would the _Porpoise_ have served us in this emergency," said theprofessor. "It would prove too heavy. But, nevertheless, I think I havea plan. Now, Mark, you are about to learn the secret of the storeroom.The real one, not the hiding of Hankos in there, which you imagined tobe the cause of my desire to keep something hidden. When we planned atrip to this underground world I had a dim idea that we might meet withtrouble. So I planned and made a cylinder lifeboat."
"A cylinder lifeboat?" repeated Mark.
"Yes," replied Mr. Henderson. "I have it in the storeroom. I did notwant any of you to see it for fear you would have faint hearts. Ithought there might be no necessity of using it. But, since there is, wemust do our best. I will admit it may be a fearful ordeal, but we willhave to risk something in order to escape.
"I have in the storeroom a large cylinder, capable of holding us all. Itwill also contain food and drink for a month, but we will all have togo, packed almost like sardines in a box. My plan is to take the_Mermaid_ to the place where the column of water shoots up. There wewill get into the cylinder, close it, and trust ourselves to theterrible force that may bring us back to the upper world. What do yousay? Shall we attempt it?"
For a few seconds no one spoke. Then Jack said slowly:
"I don't see that we can do anything else. I don't want to stay here allmy life."
"I wants a chance t' wear some of them sparklers," put in Washington.
"Then we will make the attempt," the professor added. "Now all aboardfor the place where the water shoots up!"
Questioning Hankos, the professor learned how to reach the strangeplace. It was in the midst of a desolate country where none of thegiants ever went, so afraid were they of the strange phenomenon.
It was a week's journey. Sometimes the _Mermaid_ flew through the air,and again it sailed on vast lakes or inland seas. On the trip they metwith big waterfalls and terrible geysers that spouted a mile or moreinto the air. They traveled by night as well as day, though it wasnecessary to keep a sharp watch.
Sometimes the ship passed through great flocks of birds that surroundedher and sought to pierce the aluminum hull with their sharp beaks andtalons. Over the mountains and valleys the ship sailed until, oneevening, there sounded through the air a strange rumbling sound.
"It is thunder," said Old Andy.
"It is the water column," replied the scientist. "We are at the end ofour trip. May the remainder be as successful!"
The ship was lowered to the surface, as it was deemed best to approachthe column when the lights were shining. No one slept much that night,for the roaring and rumbling never ceased.
In the morning the ship was sent forward slowly. Ever and ever theterrific sound increased, until it was almost deafening. They had tocall to each other to be heard.
Then, as the _Mermaid_ passed over a mountain, the adventurers saw, in avalley below them, the up-shooting water.
It was a vast column, nearly three hundred feet in thickness, and assolid and white as a shaft _of_ marble. Up, up, up, it went, until itwas lost to sight, but there were no falling drops, and not even a spraycame from the watery shafts.
"There is a terrible power to it," the professor said. "May it prove oursalvation!"
The ship was lowered about a hundred feet away from the waterspout. Allaround them the ground was vibrating with the force of the fluid.
"To think that connects with the world above!" exclaimed Jack.
"It's a good thing for us that it does," Mark answered.
"We must lose no time," the professor put in. "If the earthquakedestroyed the downward shaft, it may effect this one in time. We mustescape while we can."
Then, for the first time, he opened the storeroom and the big cylinderwas disclosed to view. It was made of aluminum, and shaped like animmense cigar. The hull was double, and it was strongly braced. Insidewere padded berths for the occupants, and there was just room enough forthe seven adventurers. Once they had entered they could not move about,but must stay in their little compartment.
Compressed air in strong cylinders furnished a means of breathing, andthere were tiny electric lights operated by a storage battery. There wasalso a chamber to be filled with the lifting gas. The cylinder was soarranged that it would float on it's long axis if thrown into the water.A trap door hermetically sealed gave access to the interior. A smallpropellor, worked by compressed air, furnished motive power.
The food supply consisted of compressed capsules on which a man couldsubsist for several days. There was also some water, but not much, sincethat can not be compressed and would, therefore, take considerable room.
"The only thing for us to do," said the professor, "is to get into thecylinder, seal it up, and trust to Providence. This is what I intendedto use when we were caught in the draught."
"How can we get into the column of water after we shut ourselves intothe cylinder?" asked Mark.
"The cylinder fits into a sort of improvised cannon," said Mr.Henderson. "It is fired by electricity and compressed air. We will aimit at the column, press the button and be projected into the midst ofthe water. Then----" He did not finish the sentence, but the others knewwhat he meant.
"When are we to start?" asked Mark.
"As soon as p
ossible," replied the professor. "I must arrange thecylinder, compress the air and lay out the food supply."
It took the rest of the day to do this, as the inventor found it wouldbe advisable to attach a weight to the end of the cylinder, to hold itupright in the column of water. The weight could be detachedautomatically when they were shot up into the midst of the ocean, where,as Hankos had told them, the column spurted forth.
Then some food was stored in the tiny ship that was destined to be theirlast hope, and some tanks of water were placed in it.
"I think we are almost ready," Mr. Henderson said about noon the nextday.
"What about our gold and diamonds?" asked Jack suddenly. "Can we takethem with us in the cylinder?"
"That's so!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. "I forgot about them. I'm afraidwe'll have to leave the riches behind. We will not be able to carry themand the food we need, for it may be a week or more before we can leavethe cylinder. Gold and diamonds will be a poor substitute for somethingto eat."
"I'm goin' t' take mine!" said Washington with much conviction. "I mightas well starve rich as starve poor!"
"We may be able to take a few diamonds," the professor answered. "Thegold will be too heavy. Let each one select the largest of the diamondshe has and put them in his pockets."
Then began a sorting of the wealth. It was strange, as they recalledafterward, throwing away riches that would have made millionairesenvious, but it had to be done. All the wealth in the world would notequal a beef capsule when they were starving, and they realized it. Sothey only saved a few pieces of gold as souvenirs, and took the best ofthe diamonds. But even then they had a vast fortune with them.
At last all was in readiness. The cylinder had been placed in the tubefrom which it was to be shot gently forth by compressed air, so that itwould fall into the upward spouting column of water. The charge ofcompressed air was put in and the electric wires arranged.
"Are we all ready?" asked Mr. Henderson.
"I think so," said Jack, in what sounded like a whisper, but which wasloud, only the noise of the water muffled it.
"Then we had better enter the cylinder," spoke the inventor. "Take alast look at the _Flying Mermaid_, boys, for you will never see againthe ship that has borne us many thousand miles. She served us well, andmight again, but for the freak of nature that has placed us in thisposition."
For the first time the adventurers realized that they must abandon thecraft in which they had reached the new world. So it was with no littlefeeling of sadness that they climbed up the ladder that had beenarranged and slid down into the cylinder. One by one they took theirplaces in the padded berths arranged for them. It was a snug fit, forthe professor knew if there was too much room he and the others might beso tossed about as to be killed.
Mr. Henderson was the last to enter. Standing at the manhole he took afinal look at his pet creation, the _Mermaid_. Through the openedwindows the colored lights came, shifting here and there. Outside theterrible column of water was roaring as if anxious to devour them.
"Good-bye, _Mermaid_!" said the professor softly.
Then he closed down the manhole cover and tightened the screws that heldit in place. He touched a button that turned on the electric lights andthe interior of the cylinder was illuminated with a soft glow.
"Are you all ready?" he asked.
"Jest as much as I ever will be," replied Washington, who, as the crisisapproached, seemed more light-hearted than any of the others.
"Then here we go!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson.
His fingers touched the button that connected with the electric machine,which operated the compressed air.
There sounded a muffled report. Then it seemed to those in the cylinderthat the end of the world had come. They shot upward and outward,through the top of the conning tower which had been removed. Thecylinder, launched straight at the column of water struck it squarelyand, an instant later was caught in the grasp of the giant force andhurled toward the upper world.
Up and up and up the mass of metal with its human freight went. Now itwas spinning like a top, again it shot toward the earth's crust like anarrow from the archer's bow.
It was moving with the velocity of a meteor, yet because of beingsurrounded with water, and traveling with the same velocity as thecolumn, there was no friction. Had there been, the heat generated wouldhave melted the case in an instant.
For the first few seconds those in the cylinder were dazed by the suddenrush. Then as it became greater and greater there came a curious dullfeeling, and, one after another lost consciousness. The terror of thewater column, and the frightful speed, had made them senseless.
* * * * *
It seemed like a month later, though, of course, it could have been onlya few hours or a day at most when Jack opened his eyes. He saw hiscompanions, white and senseless all around him, and at first thoughtthey were dead. Then he saw Mark looking at him, and Washington asked:
"Is any one livin' 'sides me?"
"I am," replied Jack decidedly.
Then, one after another they regained their senses. But they were in astrange daze, for they were being carried along like a shooting star,only, as they went at the same rate as did the element carrying them,they did not _realize_ this.
"I think I'm hungry," said Bill, who had the best appetite of any of thetravelers.
"You'll find a beef capsule in the little compartment over your head,"spoke the professor.
Bill was about to reach for it, when they were all startled by a suddenside motion of the cylinder. Then came a violent shock, and a sound asof splashing water. Next the cylinder seemed to be falling, and, a fewminutes later to be shooting upward. Following this there was anothersplash and the cylinder began to bob about like a cork on a mill pond.
"We have reached the sea! We are afloat on the ocean!" cried theprofessor.
Hurriedly he disengaged himself from the straps that held him to hisbunk. He pushed back the lever that opened the manhole. Into the openingglowed the glorious sunlight, while to the occupants came the breath ofsalt air.
"Hurrah!" cried Jack. "We are safe at last!"
"Safe at last!" the professor answered, and then they all gave a cheer.
For their cylinder, which might now be termed a boat, was floating onthe great Atlantic. The blue sky was overhead and the air of the seafanned their cheeks.
They had shot up from the underground earth, in the column of water, hadbeen tossed high into the air, had fallen back when the liquid shaftbroke into spray, had descended into the ocean, gone down a hundred feetor more, and then had shot up like a cork to bob about the surface.
For a week they were afloat, and then they were picked up by a passingvessel, rather weak and very much cramped, but otherwise in good shape.They said nothing of their adventures, save to explain that they wereexperimenting in a new kind of boat. About a month later, for the shipthat had rescued them was a slow sailer, they were back on the islandwhence that wonderful voyage was begun.
* * * * *
"Well, we solved the mystery of the center of the earth," remarked Jack,one evening, when they were gathered in the old shack where so manywonderful adventures had been planned.
"Yes, we did," said Mr. Henderson. "And no one else is ever likely to gothere."
"Why?"
"Because the only way of getting there was destroyed by the earthquake,and no one could ever force his way down through that upward-shootingcolumn of water."
"That's so. Well, we have the diamonds, anyway," spoke Mark. "They oughtto make us rich."
And the jewels did, for the stones proved to be of great value, eventhough the adventurers had saved only a few of the many they found inthe ruined temple.
But there was money enough so that they all could live in comfort therest of their lives. As the professor was getting quite old, andincapable of making any more wonderful inventions, he closed up hisworkshop and settled down t
o a quiet life. As for Washington, Andy, andBill and Tom, they invested their money received from the sale of thediamonds in different business ventures, and each one did well.
"I am going in for a good education," said Jack to Mark.
"Just what I am going to do," answered his chum. "And after we've gotthat----" He paused suggestively.
"We'll go in for inventing airships, or something like that, eh?"
"Yes. We've learned a great deal from Mr. Henderson, and in the courseof time we ought to be able to turn out something even more wonderfulthan the _Electric Monarch_, the _Porpoise_, or the _Flying Mermaid_."
"Yes, and when we've invented something better----"
"We'll take another trip."
"Right you are!"
And then the two chums shook hands warmly; and here we will saygood-bye.
THE END.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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