Five Thousand Miles Underground Part 21

"I'm going to take back some slices of peaches with me, anyhow," Mark said, and he and Jack cut off enough to make several meals, while Bill, Tom and Washington took along all they could carry.

As they walked back toward the ship the strange lights seemed to be dying out. At first they hardly noticed this, but as they continued on it became quite gloomy, and an odd sort of gloom it was too, first green, then yellow, then red and then blue.

"I believe whatever serves as a sun down here is setting," the professor observed. "We must hurry. I don't want to be caught out here after dark."

They hurried on, the lights dying out more and more, until, as they came in sight of their ship, it was so black they could hardly see.

Mark who was in the rear turned around, glancing behind him. As he did so he caught sight of a gigantic shadow moving along on top of the nearest hill. The shadow was not unlike that of a man in shape, but of such gigantic stature that Mark knew it could be like no human being he had ever seen. At the same time it bore a curious resemblance to the weird shadow he had seen slip into the Mermaid that night before they sailed.

"I wonder if it can be the same--the same thing--grown larger, just as the peach grows larger than those in our world," Mark thought, while a shiver of fear seemed to go over him. "I wonder if that--that thing could have been on the ship----"

Then the last rays of light died away and there was total darkness.

CHAPTER XX

OVERHAULING THE SHIP

"KEEP together!" shouted the professor. "It will not do to become lost now. We are close to the ship, and will soon be there. Come after me."

It was more by following the sound of the scientist's voice, than by any sight which the others could get of him, that they managed to trail along behind. They reached the ship in safety, however, and entered. There was no sound as of beasts or insects within, and, though Mark felt a little apprehensive on account of what he had seen, he and the others as well, were glad to be again in something that seemed like home.

"I wish we had some candles, or some sort of a light to see by," the professor remarked. "We can do nothing in the dark, and there is no telling how long this night is going to last once it has set in. If I could have a little illumination, I might be able to fix the dynamo, and then we could turn on the incandescents. That portable light we had is broken.

"By cracky!" exclaimed Andy. "I believe I have the very thing!"

"You don't mean to say you have a torch or a candle with you, do you?"

asked Mr. Henderson.

"No, but I have my patent pipe lighting apparatus," the hunter said.

"I always carry it. It gives a little light, but not much, though it may be enough to work by."

Not until after several hours work, handicapped as they were by lack of light, were the repairs to the ship completed.

"Now we'll start the engine and see how we will come out," the inventor exclaimed, as he wiped his hands on some waste.

It did not take long to generate enough power to turn the dynamo. Soon the familiar hum and whirr was heard, and, a few seconds later the filaments in the lamps began to glow a dull red, which gradually brightened until they were shining in all their usual brilliancy.

"Hurrah!" cried the boys. "Now we can see!"

They all felt in better spirits with the restoration of the lights, and, washing off the grease and dirt of their labors in the engine room, they prepared to sit down to the meal which Washington prepared.

As soon as the dynamo was working well, care had to be taken not to speed it too much on account of a mended belt. The professor turned off part of the lights and switched some of the current into the storage batteries, to provide for emergencies. For there was no telling how long the night might last.

Jack was the first one to finish the meal--they did not know whether to call it dinner, supper or breakfast. He went into the conning tower, and, as soon as he reached it he called out:

"Come on up here, professor! There's something strange going on!"

Mr. Henderson, followed by Mark, hurried to the tower. As he reached it and looked out of the forward window, a beautiful white glow illuminated the whole scene, and then, from below the horizon, there arose seven luminous disks. One was in the centre, while about it circled the other six, like some immense pin-wheel.

"It's the moon!" cried Mark.

"It's seven moons!" Jack exclaimed. "Why it's almost as light as day!"

And so it was, for the seven moons, if that is what they were, gave an illumination not unlike the sun in brilliancy though it was like the beams from the pale moon of the earth.

"I guess we need not have worried about the darkness," the professor remarked. "Still it is a good thing I fixed the dynamo."

For some time he and the other adventurers watched the odd sight of the moons, as they rose higher and higher overhead. The scene was a beautiful, if weird one, for the whole plain was bathed in the soft light.

"I guess we can turn off the incandescents, and use all the power for the storage batteries," Mr. Henderson went on, as he descended into the ship, and opened the port shutters which had been closed when they started off on their exploring tour. The interior of the Mermaid was almost as light as when the odd colored beams had been playing over the new earth to which they had come.

"I think we had better continue with our work of making repairs," Mr.

Henderson said. "We can't count on these moons remaining here any length of time, and I want to take advantage of them. So though some of us perhaps need sleep, we will forego it and fix up the Mermaid. I want to take a trip and see what other wonders await us."

They all agreed that they would rather work than sleep, and soon the entire force was busy in the engine room. There was much to be done, and the most important things were attended to first. The motive power was overhauled and found to be in need of several new parts. These were put in and then the gas generator, and the negative gravity machine, were put in shape.

It would have taken something very substantial to have awakened any one on board the Mermaid that night. They all slept soundly and awoke to find the strange colored lights shining in through the gla.s.s covered port holes.

"Well, the sun, or what corresponds to it, is up," observed Jack, "and I guess we had better do as the little boy in the school reader did, and get up, too, Mark."

Soon all the travelers were aroused, and the sound of Washington bustling about in the kitchen, whence came the smell of coffee, bacon and eggs, told the hungry ones that breakfast was under way.

After the meal work was again started on repairing the ship, and by noon the professor remarked:

"I think we shall try a little flight after dinner. That is, if one thing doesn't prevent us."

"What is that?" asked Jack.

"We may be held down, as were those stones," was the grave answer.

CHAPTER XXI

THE FISH THAT WALKED

IT was with no little apprehension that the professor prepared to take his first flight aboard the ship in the realms of the new world. He knew little or nothing of the conditions he might meet with, the density of the atmosphere, or how the Mermaid would behave under another environment than that to which she was accustomed.

Yet he felt it was necessary to make a start. They would have to attempt a flight sooner or later, and Mr. Henderson was not the one to delay matters. So, the last adjustment having been made to the repaired machinery, they all took their places in the ship.

The boys and the professor went to the conning tower to direct matters, while Washington and the others were in the engine room to see that the machinery worked properly. Mark gave a last look outside as he closed the big steel cover over the hole through which admission was had to the craft. He thought he might catch a glimpse of the queer shadow, but nothing was in sight. It was like a beautiful summer's day, save for the strange lights, shifting and changing. But the travelers had become somewhat used to them by this time.