any other oil. It seemed probable, therefore, that the vehicle ran by
electricity, and that its accumulators were of an unknown model,
using some unknown fluid.
The public imagination, highly excited, readily accepted every sort
of rumor about this mysterious automobile. It was said to be a
supernatural car. It was driven by a specter, by one of the
chauffeurs of hell, a goblin from another world, a monster escaped
from some mythological menagerie, in short, the devil in person, who
could defy all human intervention, having at his command invisible
and infinite satanic powers.
But even Satan himself had no right to run at such speed over the
roads of the United States without a special permit, without a number
on his car, and without a regular license. And it was certain that
not a single municipality had given him permission to go two hundred
miles an hour. Public security demanded that some means be found to
unmask the secret of this terrible chauffeur.
Moreover, it was not only Pennsylvania that served as the theater of
his sportive eccentricities. The police reported his appearance in
other states; in Kentucky near Frankfort; in Ohio near Columbus; in
Tennessee near Nashville; in Missouri near Jefferson; and finally in
Illinois in the neighborhood of Chicago.
The alarm having been given, it became the duty of the authorities to
take steps against this public danger. To arrest or even to halt an
apparition moving at such speed was scarcely practicable. A better
way would be to erect across the roads solid gateways with which the
flying machine must come in contact sooner or later, and be smashed
into a thousand pieces.
"Nonsense!" declared the incredulous. "This madman would know well
how to circle around such obstructions."
"And if necessary," added others, "the machine would leap over the
barriers."
"And if he is indeed the devil, he has, as a former angel, presumably
preserved his wings, and so he will take to flight."
But this last was but the suggestion of foolish old gossips who did
not stop to study the matter. For if the King of Hades possessed a
pair of wings, why did he obstinately persist in running around on
the earth at the risk of crushing his own subjects, when he might
more easily have hurled himself through space as free as a bird.
Such was the situation when, in the last week of May, a fresh event
occurred, which seemed to show that the United States was indeed
helpless in the hands of some unapproachable monster. And after the
New World, would not the Old in its turn, be desecrated by the mad
career of this remarkable automobilist?
The following occurrence was reported in all the newspapers of the
Union, and with what comments and outcries it is easy to imagine.
A race was to be held by the automobile Club of Wisconsin, over the
roads of that state of which Madison is the capital. The route laid
out formed an excellent track, about two hundred miles in length,
starting from Prairie-du-chien on the western frontier, passing by
Madison and ending a little above Milwaukee on the borders of Lake
Michigan. Except for the Japanese road between Nikko and Namode,
bordered by giant cypresses, there is no better track in the world
than this of Wisconsin. It runs straight and level as an arrow for
sometimes fifty miles at a stretch. Many and noted were the machines
entered for this great race. Every kind of motor vehicle was
permitted to compete, even motorcycles, as well as automobiles. The
machines were of all makes and nationalities. The sum of the
different prizes reached fifty thousand dollars, so that the race was
sure to be desperately contested. New records were expected to be
made.
Calculating on the maximum speed hitherto attained, of perhaps eighty
miles an hour, this international contest covering two hundred miles
would last about three hours. And, to avoid all danger, the state
authorities of Wisconsin had forbidden all other traffic between
Prairie-du-chien and Milwaukee during three hours on the morning of
the thirtieth of May. Thus, if there were any accidents, those who
suffered would be themselves to blame.
There was an enormous crowd; and it was not composed only of the
people of Wisconsin. Many thousands gathered from the neighboring
states of Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, and even from New York.
Among the sportsmen assembled were many foreigners, English, French,
Germans and Austrians, each nationality, of course, supporting the
chauffeurs of its land. Moreover, as this was the United States, the
country of the greatest gamblers of the world, bets were made of
every sort and of enormous amounts.
The start was to be made at eight o'clock in the morning; and to
avoid crowding and the accidents which must result from it, the
automobiles were to follow each other at two minute intervals, along
the roads whose borders were black with spectators.
The first ten racers, numbered by lot, were dispatched between eight
o'clock and twenty minutes past. Unless there was some disastrous
accident, some of these machines would surely arrive at the goal by
eleven o'clock. The others followed in order.
An hour and a half had passed. There remained but a single contestant
at Prairie-du-chien. Word was sent back and forth by telephone every
five minutes as to the order of the racers. Midway between Madison
and Milwaukee, the lead was held by a machine of Renault brothers,
four cylindered, of twenty horsepower, and with Michelin tires. It
was closely followed by a Harvard-Watson car and by a Dion-Bouton.
Some accidents had already occurred, other machines were hopelessly
behind. Not more than a dozen would contest the finish. Several
chauffeurs had been injured, but not seriously. And even had they
been killed, the death of men is but a detail, not considered of
great importance in that astonishing country of America.
Naturally the excitement became more intense as one approached the
finishing line near Milwaukee. There were assembled the most curious,
the most interested; and there the passions of the moment were
unchained. By ten o'clock it was evident, that the first prize,
twenty thousand dollars, lay between five machines, two American, two
French, and one English. Imagine, therefore, the fury with which bets
were being made under the influence of national pride. The regular
book makers could scarcely meet the demands of those who wished to
wager. Offers and amounts were hurled from lip to lip with feverish
rapidity. "One to three on the Harvard-Watson!"
"One to two on the Dion-Bouton!"
"Even money on the Renault!"
These cries rang along the line of spectators at each new
announcement from the telephones.
Suddenly at half-past nine by the town clock of Prairie-du-chien, two
miles beyond that town was heard a tremendous noise and rumbling
which proceeded from the midst of a flying cloud of dust accompanied
by shrieks like those of a naval siren.
Scarcely had the crowds time to draw to one side, to escape a
destruction which would have included hundreds of victims. The cloud
swept by like a hurricane. No one could distinguish what it was that
passed with such speed. There was no exaggeration in saying that its
rate was at least one hundred and fifty miles an hour.
The apparition passed and disappeared in an instant, leaving behind
it a long train of white dust, as an express locomotive leaves behind
a train of smoke. Evidently it was an automobile with a most
extraordinary motor. If it maintained this arrow-like speed, it would
reach the contestants in the fore-front of the race; it would pass
them with this speed double their own; it would arrive first at the
goal.
And then from all parts arose an uproar, as soon as the spectators
had nothing more to fear.
"It is that infernal machine."
"Yes; the one the police cannot stop."
"But it has not been heard of for a fortnight."
"It was supposed to be done for, destroyed, gone forever."
"It is a devil's car, driven by hellfire, and with Satan driving!"
In truth, if he were not the devil, who could this mysterious
chauffeur be, driving with this unbelievable velocity, his no less
mysterious machine? At least it was beyond doubt that this was the
same machine which had already attracted so much attention. If the
police believed that they had frightened it away, that it was never
to be, heard of more, well, the police were mistaken which happens in
America as elsewhere.
The first stunned moment of surprise having passed,
many people rushed to the telephones to warn those further
along the route of the danger which menaced, not only the
people, but also the automobiles scattered along the road.
When this terrible madman arrived like an avalanche they would be
smashed to pieces, ground into powder, annihilated!
And from the collision might not the destroyer himself emerge safe
and sound? He must be so adroit, this chauffeur of chauffeurs, he
must handle his machine with such perfection of eye and hand, that he
knew, no doubt, how to escape from every situation. Fortunately the
Wisconsin authorities had taken such precautions that the road would
be clear except for contesting automobiles. But what right had this
machine among them!
And what said the racers themselves, who, warned by telephone, had to
sheer aside from the road in their struggle for the grand prize? By
their estimate, this amazing vehicle was going at least one hundred
and thirty miles an hour. Fast as was their speed, it shot by them at
such a rate that they could hardly make out even the shape of the
machine, a sort of lengthened spindle, probably not over thirty feet
long. Its wheels spun with such velocity that they could scarce be
seen. For the rest, the machine left behind it neither smoke nor
scent.
As for the driver, hidden in the interior of his machine, he had been
quite invisible. He remained as unknown as when he had first appeared
on the various roads throughout the country.
Milwaukee was promptly warned of the coming of this interloper. Fancy
the excitement the news caused! The immediate purpose agreed upon was
to stop this projectile, to erect across its route an obstacle
against which it would smash into a thousand pieces. But was there
time? Would not the machine appear at any moment? And what need was
there, since the track ended on the edge of Lake Michigan, and so the
vehicle would be forced to stop there anyway, unless its supernatural
driver could ride the water as well as the land.
Here, also, as all along the route, the most extravagant suggestions
were offered. Even those who would not admit that the mysterious
chauffeur must be Satan in person allowed that he might be some
monster escaped from the fantastic visions of the Apocalypse.
And now there were no longer minutes to wait. Any second might bring
the expected apparition.
It was not yet eleven o'clock when a rumbling was heard far down the
track, and the dust rose in violent whirlwinds. Harsh whistlings
shrieked through the air warning all to give passage to the monster.
It did not slacken speed at the finish. Lake Michigan was not half a
mile beyond, and the machine must certainly be hurled into the water!
Could it be that the mechanician was no longer master of his
mechanism?
There could be little doubt of it. Like a shooting star, the vehicle
flashed through Milwaukee. When it had passed the city, would it
plunge itself to destruction in the waters of Lake Michigan?
At any rate when it disappeared at a slight bend in the road no trace
was to be found of its passage.
Chapter 5
ALONG THE SHORES OF NEW ENGLAND
At the time when the newspapers were filled with these reports, I was
again in Washington. On my return I had presented myself at my
chief's office, but had been unable to see him. Family affairs had
suddenly called him away, to be absent some weeks. Mr. Ward, however,
undoubtedly knew of the failure of my mission. The newspapers,
especially those of North Carolina, had given full details of our
ascent of the Great Eyrie.
Naturally, I was much annoyed by this delay which further fretted my
restless curiosity. I could turn to no other plans for the future.
Could I give up the hope of learning the secret of the Great Eyrie?
No! I would return to the attack a dozen times if necessary, and
despite every failure.
Surely, the winning of access within those walls was not a task
beyond human power. A scaffolding might be raised to the summit of
the cliff; or a tunnel might be pierced through its depth. Our
engineers met problems more difficult every day. But in this case it
was necessary to consider the expense, which might easily grow out of
proportion to the advantages to be gained. A tunnel would cost many
thousand dollars, and what good would it accomplish beyond satisfying
the public curiosity and my own?
My personal resources were wholly insufficient for the achievement.
Mr. Ward, who held the government's funds, was away. I even thought
of trying to interest some millionaire. Oh, if I could but have
promised one of them some gold or silver mines within the mountain!
But such an hypothesis was not admissible. The chain of the
Appalachians is not situated in a gold bearing region like that of
the Pacific mountains, the Transvaal, or Australia.
It was not until the fifteenth of June that Mr. Ward returned to
duty. Despite my lack of success he received me warmly. "Here is our
poor Strock!" cried he, at my entrance. "Our poor Strock, who has
failed!"
"No more, Mr. Ward, than if you had charged me to investigate the
surface of the moon," answered I. "We found ourselves face to face
with purely natural obstacles insurmountable with the forces then at
our command."
"I do not doubt that, Strock, I do not doubt that in the least.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that you have discovered nothing of
what is going on within the Great Eyrie."
"Nothing, Mr. Ward."
"You saw no sign of fire?"
"None."
"And you heard no suspicious noises whatever?"
"None."
"Then it is still uncertain if there is really a volcano there?"
"Still uncertain, Mr. Ward. But if it is there, we have good reason
to believe that it has sunk into a profound sleep."
"Still," returned Mr. Ward, "there is nothing to show that it will
not wake up again any day, Strock. It is not enough that a volcano
should sleep, it must be absolutely extinguished unless indeed all
these threatening rumors have been born solely in the Carolinian
imagination."
"That is not possible, sir," I said. "Both Mr. Smith, the mayor of
Morganton and his friend the mayor of Pleasant Garden, are reliable
men. And they speak from their own knowledge in this matter. Flames
have certainly risen above the Great Eyrie. Strange noises have
issued from it. There can be no doubt whatever of the reality of
these phenomena."
"Granted," declared Mr. Ward. "I admit that the evidence is
unassailable. So the deduction to be drawn is that the Great Eyrie
has not yet given up its secret."
"If we are determined to know it, Mr. Ward, the solution is only a
solution of expense. Pickaxes and dynamite would soon conquer those
walls."
"No doubt," responded the chief, "but such an undertaking hardly
seems justified, since the mountain is now quiet. We will wait awhile
and perhaps nature herself will disclose her mystery."
"Mr. Ward, believe me that I regret deeply that I have been unable to
solve the problem you entrusted to me," I said.
"Nonsense! Do not upset yourself, Strock. Take your defeat
philosophically. We cannot always be successful, even in the police.
How many criminals escape us! I believe we should never capture one
of them, if they were a little more intelligent and less imprudent,
and if they did not compromise themselves so stupidly. Nothing, it
seems to me, would be easier than to plan a crime, a theft or an
assassination, and to execute it without arousing any suspicions, or
leaving any traces to be followed. You understand, Strock, I do not
want to give our criminals lessons; I much prefer to have them remain
as they are. Nevertheless there are many whom the police will never
be able to track down."
On this matter I shared absolutely the opinion of my chief. It is
among rascals that one finds the most fools. For this very reason I
had been much surprised that none of the authorities had been able to
throw any light upon the recent performances of the "demon
automobile." And when Mr. Ward brought up this subject, I did not
conceal from him my astonishment.
He pointed out that the vehicle was practically unpursuable; that in
its earlier appearances, it had apparently vanished from all roads
even before a telephone message could be sent ahead. Active and
numerous police agents had been spread throughout the country, but no
one of them had encountered the delinquent. He did not move
continuously from place to place, even at his amazing speed, but
seemed to appear only for a moment and then to vanish into thin air.
True, he had at length remained visible along the entire route from
Prairie-du-Chien to Milwaukee, and he had covered in less than an
hour and a half this track of two hundred miles.
But since then, there had been no news whatever of the machine.
Arrived at the end of the route, driven onward by its own impetus,
unable to stop, had it indeed been engulfed within the waters of Lake
Michigan? Must we conclude that the machine and its driver had both
perished, that there was no longer any danger to be feared from
either? The great majority of the public refused to accept this
conclusion. They fully expected the machine to reappear.
Mr. Ward frankly admitted that the whole matter seemed to him most
extraordinary; and I shared his view. Assuredly if this infernal
chauffeur did not return, his apparition would have to be placed
among those superhuman mysteries which it is not given to man to
understand.
We had fully discussed this affair, the chief and I; and I thought
that our interview was at an end, when, after pacing the room for a
few moments, he said abruptly, "Yes, what happened there at Milwaukee
was very strange. But here is something no less so!"
With this he handed me a report which he had received from Boston, on
a subject of which the evening papers had just begun to apprise their
readers. While I read it, Mr. Ward was summoned from the room. I
seated myself by the window and studied with extreme attention the
matter of the report.
For some days the waters along the coast of Maine, Connecticut, and
Massachusetts had been the scene of an appearance which no one could
exactly describe. A moving body would appear amid the waters, some
two or three miles off shore, and go through rapid evolutions. It
would flash for a while back and forth among the waves and then dart
out of sight.
The body moved with such lightning speed that the best telescopes
could hardly follow it. Its length did not seem to exceed thirty
feet. Its cigar-shaped form and greenish color, made it difficult to
distinguish against the background of the ocean. It had been most
frequently observed along the coast between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia.
From Providence, from Boston, from Portsmouth, and from Portland
motor boats and steam launches had repeatedly attempted to approach
this moving body and even to give it chase. They could not get
anywhere near it. Pursuit seemed useless. It darted like an arrow
beyond the range of view.
Naturally, widely differing opinions were held as to the nature of
this object. But no hypothesis rested on any secure basis. Seamen
were as much at a loss as others. At first sailors thought it must be
some great fish, like a whale. But it is well known that all these
animals come to the surface with a certain regularity to breathe, and
spout up columns of mingled air and water. Now, this strange animal,
if it was an animal, had never "blown" as the whalers say; nor, had
it ever made any noises of breathing. Yet if it were not one of these
huge marine mammals, how was this unknown monster to be classed? Did
it belong among the legendary dwellers in the deep, the krakens, the
octopuses, the leviathans, the famous sea-serpents?
At any rate, since this monster, whatever it was, had appeared along
the New England shores, the little fishing-smacks and pleasure boats
dared not venture forth. Wherever it appeared the boats fled to the
nearest harbor, as was but prudent. If the animal was of a ferocious
character, none cared to await its attack.
As to the large ships and coast steamers, they had nothing to fear
from any monster, whale or otherwise. Several of them had seen this
creature at a distance of some miles. But when they attempted to
approach, it fled rapidly away. One day, even, a fast United States
gun boat went out from Boston, if not to pursue the monster, at least
to send after it a few cannon shot. Almost instantly the animal
disappeared, and the attempt was vain. As yet, however, the monster
had shown no intention of attacking either boats or people.
At this moment Mr. Ward returned and I interrupted my reading to say,
"There seems as yet no reason to complain of this sea-serpent. It
flees before big ships. It does not pursue little ones. Feeling and
intelligence are not very strong in fishes."
"Yet their emotions exist, Strock, and if strongly aroused--"
"But, Mr. Ward, the beast seems not at all dangerous. One of two
things will happen. Either it will presently quit these coasts, or
finally it will be captured and we shall be able to study it at our
leisure here in the museum of Washington."
"And if it is not a marine animal?" asked Mr. Ward.
"What else can it be?" I protested in surprise.
"Finish your reading," said Mr. Ward.
I did so; and found that in the second part of the report, my chief
had underlined some passages in red pencil.
For some time no one had doubted that this was an animal; and that,
if it were vigorously pursued, it would at last be driven from our
shores. But a change of opinion had come about. People began to ask
if, instead of a fish, this were not some new and remarkable kind of
boat.
Certainly in that case its engine must be one of amazing power.
Perhaps the inventor before selling the secret of his invention,
sought to attract public attention and to astound the maritime world.
Such surety in the movements of his boat, grace in its every
evolution, such ease in defying pursuit by its arrow-like speed,
surely, these were enough to arouse world-wide curiosity!
At that time great progress had been made in the manufacture of
marine engines. Huge transatlantic steamers completed the ocean
passage in five days. And the engineers had not yet spoken their last
word. Neither were the navies of the world behind. The cruisers, the
torpedo boats, the torpedo-destroyers, could match the swiftest
steamers of the Atlantic and Pacific, or of the Indian trade.
If, however, this were a boat of some new design, there had as yet
been no opportunity to observe its form. As to the engines which
drove it, they must be of a power far beyond the fastest known. By
what force they worked, was equally a problem. Since the boat had no
sails, it was not driven by the wind; and since it had no
smoke-stack, it was not driven by steam.
At this point in the report, I again paused in my reading and
considered the comment I wished to make.
"What are you puzzling over, Strock?" demanded my chief.
"It is this, Mr. Ward; the motive power of this so-called boat must
be as tremendous and as unknown as that of the remarkable automobile
which has so amazed us all."
"So that is your idea, is it, Strock?"
"Yes, Mr. Ward."
There was but one conclusion to be drawn. If the mysterious chauffeur
had disappeared, if he had perished with his machine in Lake
Michigan, it was equally important now to win the secret of this no
less mysterious navigator. And it must be won before he in his turn
plunged into the abyss of the ocean. Was it not the interest of the
inventor to disclose his invention? Would not the American government
or any other give him any price he chose to ask?
Yet unfortunately, since the inventor of the terrestrial apparition
had persisted in preserving his incognito, was it not to be feared
that the inventor of the marine apparition would equally preserve
his? Even if the first machine still existed, it was no longer heard
from; and would not the second, in the same way, after having
disclosed its powers, disappear in its turn, without a single trace?
What gave weight to this probability was that since the arrival of
this report at Washington twenty-four hours before, the presence of
the extraordinary boat hadn't been announced from anywhere along the
shore. Neither had it been seen on any other coast. Though, of
course, the assertion that it would not reappear at all would have
been hazardous, to say the least.
I noted another interesting and possibly important point. It was a
singular coincidence which indeed Mr. Ward suggested to me, at the
same moment that I was considering it. This was that only after the
disappearance of the wonderful automobile had the no less wonderful
boat come into view. Moreover, their engines both possessed a most
dangerous power of locomotion. If both should go rushing at the same
time over the face of the world, the same danger would threaten
mankind everywhere, in boats, in vehicles, and on foot. Therefore it
was absolutely necessary that the police should in some manner
interfere to protect the public ways of travel.
That is what Mr. Ward pointed out to me; and our duty was obvious.
But how could we accomplish this task? We discussed the matter for
some time; and I was just about to leave when Mr. Ward made one last
suggestion.
"Have you not observed, Strock," said he, "that there is a sort of
fantastic resemblance between the general appearance of this boat and
this automobile?"
"There is something of the sort, Mr. Ward."
"Well, is it not possible that the two are one?"
Chapter 6
THE FIRST LETTER
After leaving Mr. Ward I returned to my home in Long Street. There I
had plenty of time to consider this strange case uninterrupted by
either wife or children. My household consisted solely of an ancient
servant, who having been formerly in the service of my mother, had
now continued for fifteen years in mine.
Two months before I had obtained a leave of absence. It had still two
weeks to run, unless indeed some unforeseen circumstance interrupted
it, some mission which could not be delayed. This leave, as I have
shown, had already been interrupted for four days by my exploration
of the Great Eyrie.
And now was it not my duty to abandon my vacation, and endeavor to
throw light upon the remarkable events of which the road to Milwaukee
and the shore of New England had been in turn the scene? I would have
given much to solve the twin mysteries, but how was it possible to
follow the track of this automobile or this boat?
Seated in my easy chair after breakfast, with my pipe lighted, I
opened my newspaper. To what should I turn? Politics interested me
but little, with its eternal strife between the Republicans and the
Democrats. Neither did I care for the news of society, nor for the
sporting page. You will not be surprised, then, that my first idea
was to see if there was any news from North Carolina about the Great
Eyrie. There was little hope of this, however, for Mr. Smith had
promised to telegraph me at once if anything occurred. I felt quite
sure that the mayor of Morganton was as eager for information and as
watchful as could have been myself. The paper told me nothing new. It
dropped idly from my hand; and I remained deep in thought.
What most frequently recurred to me was the suggestion of Mr. Ward
that perhaps the automobile and the boat which had attracted our
attention were in reality one and the same. Very probably, at least,
the two machines had been built by the same hand. And beyond doubt,
these were similar engines, which generated this remarkable speed,
more than doubling the previous records of earth and sea.
"The same inventor!" repeated I.
Evidently this hypothesis had strong grounds. The fact that the two
machines had not yet appeared at the same time added weight to the
idea. I murmured to myself, "After the mystery of Great Eyrie, comes
that of Milwaukee and Boston. Will this new problem be as difficult
to solve as was the other?"
I noted idly that this new affair had a general resemblance to the
other, since both menaced the security of the general public. To be
sure, only the inhabitants of the Blueridge region had been in danger
from an eruption or possible earthquake at Great Eyrie. While now, on
every road of the United States, or along every league of its coasts
and harbors, every inhabitant was in danger from this vehicle or this
boat, with its sudden appearance and insane speed.
I found that, as was to be expected, the newspapers not only
suggested, but enlarged upon the dangers of the case. Timid people
everywhere were much alarmed. My old servant, naturally credulous and
superstitious, was particularly upset. That same day after dinner, as
she was clearing away the things, she stopped before me, a water
bottle in one hand, the serviette in the other, and asked anxiously,
"Is there no news, sir?"
"None," I answered, knowing well to what she referred.
"The automobile has not come back?"
"No."
"Nor the boat?"
"Nor the boat There is no news even-in the best informed papers."
"But--your secret police information?"
"We are no wiser."
"Then, sir, if you please, of what use are the police?"
It is a question which has phased me more than once.
"Now you see what will happen," continued the old housekeeper,
complainingly, "Some fine morning, he will come without warning, this
terrible chauffeur, and rush down our street here, and kill us all!"
"Good! When that happens, there will be some chance of catching him."
"He will never be arrested, sir."
"Why not?"
"Because he is the devil himself, and you can't arrest the devil!"
Decidedly, thought I, the devil has many uses; and if he did not
exist we would have to invent him, to give people some way of
explaining the inexplicable. It was he who lit the flames of the
Great Eyrie. It was he who smashed the record in the Wisconsin race.
It is he who is scurrying along the shores of Connecticut and
Massachusetts. But putting to one side this evil spirit who is so
necessary, for the convenience of the ignorant, there was no doubt
that we were facing a most bewildering problem. Had both of these
machines disappeared forever? They had passed like a meteor, like a
star shooting through space; and in a hundred years the adventure
would become a legend, much to the taste of the gossips of the next
century.
For several days the newspapers of America and even those of Europe
continued to discuss these events. Editorials crowded upon
editorials. Rumors were added to rumors. Story tellers of every kind
crowded to the front. The public of two continents was interested. In
some parts of Europe there was even jealousy that America should have
been chosen as the field of such an experience. If these marvelous
inventors were American, then their country, their army and navy,
would have a great advantage over others. The United States might
acquire an incontestable superiority.
Under the date of the tenth of June, a New York paper published a
carefully studied article on this phase of the subject. Comparing the
speed of the swiftest known vessels with the smallest minimum of
speed which could possibly be assigned to the new boat, the article
demonstrated that if the United States secured this secret, Europe
would be but three days away from her, while she would still be five
days from Europe.
If our own police had searched diligently to discover the mystery of
the Great Eyrie, the secret service of every country in the world was
now interested in these new problems.
Mr. Ward referred to the matter each time I saw him. Our chat would
begin by his rallying me about my ill-success in Carolina, and I
would respond by reminding him that success there was only a question
of expense.
"Never mind, my good Strock," said he, "there will come a chance for
our clever inspector to regain his laurels. Take now this affair of
the automobile and the boat. If you could clear that up in advance of
all the detectives of the world, what an honor it would be to our
department! What glory for you!"
"It certainly would, Mr. Ward. And if you put the matter in my
charge--"
"Who knows, Strock? Let us wait a while! Let us wait!"
Matters stood thus when, on the morning of June fifteenth, my old
servant brought me a letter from the letter-carrier, a registered
letter for which I had to sign. I looked at the address. I did not
know the handwriting. The postmark, dating from two days before, was
stamped at the post office of Morganton.
Morganton! Here at last was, no doubt, news from Mr. Elias Smith.
"Yes!" exclaimed I, speaking to my old servant, for lack of another,
"it must be from Mr. Smith at last. I know no one else in Morganton.
And if he writes he has news!"
"Morganton?" said the old woman, "isn't that the place where the
demons set fire to their mountain?"
"Exactly."
"Oh, sir! I hope you don't mean to go back there!"
"Because you will end by being burned up in that furnace of the Great
Eyrie. And I wouldn't want you buried that way, sir."
"Cheer up, and let us see if it is not better news than that."
The envelope was sealed with red sealing wax, and stamped with a sort
of coat of arms, surmounted with three stars. The paper was thick and
very strong. I broke the envelope and drew out a letter. It was a
single sheet, folded in four, and written on one side only. My first
glance was for the signature.
There was no signature! Nothing but three initials at the end of the
last line!
"The letter is not from the Mayor of Morganton," said I.
"Then from whom?" asked the old servant, doubly curious in her
quality as a woman and as an old gossip.
Looking again at the three initials of the signature, I said, "I know
no one for whom these letters would stand; neither at Morganton nor
elsewhere."
The hand-writing was bold. Both up strokes and down strokes very
sharp, about twenty lines in all. Here is the letter, of which I,
with good reason, retained an exact copy. It was dated, to my extreme
stupefaction, from that mysterious Great Eyrie:
Great Eyrie, Blueridge Mtns,
To Mr. Strock: North Carolina, June 13th.
Chief Inspector of Police,
34 Long St., Washington, D. C.
Sir,
You were charged with the mission of penetrating the Great Eyrie.
You came on April the twenty-eighth, accompanied by the
Mayor of Morganton and two guides.
You mounted to the foot of the wall, and you encircled it,
finding it too high and steep to climb.
You sought a breech and you found none. Know this: none
enter the Great Eyrie; or if one enters, he never returns.
"Do not try again, for the second attempt will not result
as did the first, but will have grave consequences for you.
"Heed this warning, or evil fortune will come to you.
"M. o. W."
Chapter 7
A THIRD MACHINE
I confess that at first this letter dumfounded me. "Ohs!" and "Ahs!"
slipped from my open mouth. The old servant stared at me, not knowing
what to think.
"Oh, sir! is it bad news?"
I answered for I kept few secrets from this faithful soul by reading
her the letter from end to end. She listened with much anxiety.
"A joke, without doubt," said I, shrugging my shoulders.
"Well," returned my superstitious handmaid, "if it isn't from the
devil, it's from the devil's country, anyway."
Left alone, I again went over this unexpected letter. Reflection
inclined me yet more strongly to believe that it was the work of a
practical joker. My adventure was well known. The newspapers had
given it in full detail. Some satirist, such as exists even in
America, must have written this threatening letter to mock me.
To assume, on the other hand, that the Eyrie really served as the
refuge of a band of criminals, seemed absurd. If they feared that the
police would discover their retreat, surely they would not have been
so foolish as thus to force attention upon themselves. Their chief
security would lie in keeping their presence there unknown. They must
have realized that such a challenge from them would only arouse the
police to renewed activity. Dynamite or melinite would soon open an
entrance to their fortress. Moreover, how could these men have,
themselves, gained entrance into the Eyrie unless there existed a
passage which we had failed to discover? Assuredly the letter came
from a jester or a madman; and I need not worry over it, nor even
consider it.
Hence, though for an instant I had thought of showing this letter to
Mr. Ward, I decided not to do so. Surely he would attach no
importance to it. However, I did not destroy it, but locked it in my
desk for safe keeping. If more letters came of the same kind, and
with the same initials, I would attach as little weight to them as to
this.
Several days passed quietly. There was nothing to lead me to expect
that I should soon quit Washington; though in my line of duty one is
never certain of the morrow. At any moment I might be sent speeding
from Oregon to Florida, from Maine to Texas. And this unpleasant
thought haunted me frequently if my next mission were no more
successful than that to the Great Eyrie, I might as well give up and
hand in my resignation from the force. Of the mysterious chauffeur or
chauffeurs, nothing more was heard. I knew that our own government
agents, as well as foreign ones, were keeping keen watch over all the
roads and rivers, all the lakes and the coasts of America. Of course,
the size of the country made any close supervision impossible; but
these twin inventors had not before chosen secluded and unfrequented
spots in which to appear. The main highway of Wisconsin on a great
race day, the harbor of Boston, incessantly crossed by thousands of
boats, these were hardly what would be called hiding-places! If the
daring driver had not perished of which there was always strong
probability; then he must have left America. Perhaps he was in the
waters of the Old World, or else resting in some retreat known only
to himself, and in that case--
"Ah!" I repeated to myself, many times, "for such a retreat, as
secret as inaccessible, this fantastic personage could not find one
better than the Great Eyrie!" But, of course, a boat could not get
there, any more than an automobile. Only high-flying birds of prey,
eagles or condors, could find refuge there.
The nineteenth of June I was going to the police bureau, when, on
leaving my house, I noticed two men who looked at me with a certain
keenness. Not knowing them, I took no notice; and if my attention was
drawn to the matter, it was because my servant spoke of it when I
returned.
For some days, she said, she had noticed that two men seemed to be
spying upon me in the street. They stood constantly, perhaps a
hundred steps from my house; and she suspected that they followed me
each time I went up the street.
"You are sure?" I asked.
"Yes, sir and no longer ago than yesterday, when you came into the
house, these men came slipping along in your footsteps, and then went
away as soon as the door was shut behind you."
"You must be mistaken?"
"I am not, sir."
"And if you met these two men, you would know them?"
"I would."
"Good;" I cried, laughing, "I see you have the very spirit for a
detective. I must engage you as a member of our force."
"Joke if you like, sir. But I have still two good eyes, and I don't
need spectacles to recognize people. Someone is spying on you, that's
certain; and you should put some of your men to track them in turn."
"All right; I promise to do so," I said, to satisfy her. "And when my
men get after them, we shall soon know what these mysterious fellows
want of me."
In truth I did not take the good soul's excited announcement very
seriously. I added, however, "When I go out, I will watch the people
around me with great care."
"That will be best, sir."
My poor old housekeeper was always frightening herself at nothing.
"If I see them again," she added, "I will warn you before you set
foot out of doors."
"Agreed!" And I broke off the conversation, knowing well that if I
allowed her to run on, she would end by being sure that Beelzebub
himself and one of his chief attendants were at my heels.
The two following days, there was certainly no one spying on me,
either at my exits or entrances. So I concluded my old servant had
made much of nothing, as usual. But on the morning of the
twenty-second of June, after rushing upstairs as rapidly as her age
would permit, the devoted old soul burst into my room and in a half
whisper gasped "Sir! Sir!"
"What is it?"
"They are there!"
"Who?" I queried, my mind on anything but the web she had been
spinning about me.
"The two spies!"
"Ah, those wonderful spies!"
"Themselves! In the street! Right in front of our windows! Watching
the house, waiting for you to go out."
I went to the window and raising just an edge of the shade, so as not
to give any warning, I saw two men on the pavement.
They were rather fine-looking men, broad-shouldered and vigorous,
aged somewhat under forty, dressed in the ordinary fashion of the
day, with slouched hats, heavy woolen suits, stout walking shoes and
sticks in hand. Undoubtedly, they were staring persistently at my
apparently unwatchful house. Then, having exchanged a few words, they
strolled off a little way, and returned again.
"Are you sure these are the same men you saw before?"
"Yes, sir."
Evidently, I could no longer dismiss her warning as an hallucination;
and I promised myself to clear up the matter. As to following the men
myself, I was presumably too well known to them. To address them
directly would probably be of no use. But that very day, one of our
best men should be put on watch, and if the spies returned on the
morrow, they should be tracked in their turn, and watched until their
identity was established.
At the moment, they were waiting to follow me to police headquarters?
For it was there that I was bound, as usual. If they accompanied me I
might be able to offer them a hospitality for which they would scarce
thank me.
I took my hat; and while the housekeeper remained peeping from the
window, I went down stairs, opened the door, and stepped into the
street.
The two men were no longer there.
Despite all my watchfulness, that day I saw no more of them as I
passed along the streets. From that time on, indeed, neither my old
servant nor I saw them again before the house, nor did I encounter
them elsewhere. Their appearance, however, was stamped upon my
memory, I would not forget them.
Perhaps after all, admitting that I had been the object of their
espionage, they had been mistaken in my identity. Having obtained a
good look at me, they now followed me no more. So in the end, I came
to regard this matter as of no more importance than the letter with
the initials, M. o. W.
Then, on the twenty-fourth of June, there came a new event, to
further stimulate both my interest and that of the general public in
the previous mysteries of the automobile and the boat. The Washington
Evening Star published the following account, which was next morning
copied by every paper in the country.
"Lake Kirdall in Kansas, forty miles west of Topeka, is little known.
It deserves wider knowledge, and doubtless will have it hereafter,
for attention is now drawn to it in a very remarkable way.
"This lake, deep among the mountains, appears to have no outlet. What
it loses by evaporation, it regains from the little neighboring
streamlets and the heavy rains.
"Lake Kirdall covers about seventy-five square miles, and its level
is but slightly below that of the heights which surround it. Shut in
among the mountains, it can be reached only by narrow and rocky
gorges. Several villages, however, have sprung up upon its banks. It
is full of fish, and fishing-boats cover its waters.
"Lake Kirdall is in many places fifty feet deep close to shore.
Sharp, pointed rocks form the edges of this huge basin. Its surges,
roused by high winds, beat upon its banks with fury, and the houses
near at hand are often deluged with spray as if with the downpour of
a hurricane. The lake, already deep at the edge, becomes yet deeper
toward the center, where in some places soundings show over three
hundred feet of water.
"The fishing industry supports a population of several thousands, and
there are several hundred fishing boats in addition to the dozen or
so of little steamers which serve the traffic of the lake. Beyond the
circle of the mountains lie the railroads which transport the
products of the fishing industry throughout Kansas and the
neighboring states.
"This account of Lake Kirdall is necessary for the understanding of
the remarkable facts which we are about to report."
And this is what the Evening Star then reported in its startling
article. "For some time past, the fishermen have noticed a strange
upheaval in the waters of the lake. Sometimes it rises as if a wave
surged up from its depths. Even in perfectly calm weather, when there
is no wind whatever, this upheaval sometimes arises in a mass of foam.
"Tossed about by violent waves and unaccountable currents, boats have
been swept beyond all control. Sometimes they have been dashed one
against another, and serious damage has resulted.
"This confusion of the waters evidently has its origin somewhere in
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635
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