Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1919 — The Deep Sea Peril [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Deep Sea Peril

By VICTOR ROUSSEAU

4 OOPTRIGHTBTW. G.CHAPMAH

CHAPTER lll—(Continued.) He could trace the movements, as of some invisible body. He saw the ripples glide forward along the surface. strike the glass wall opposite, and continue at a right angle, turning again and again as the creature continued on its steady course.' The sensation was uncanny. Captain Mastemian’s words came back to Donald: “rve brought my specimen home.” He was aware of an Impulse to bolt. Instead of which, however, he concentrated all his attention on the tank. The movements in the water subaided. Donald had the impression that the Invisible creature had stopped and was regarding him. He saw a gentle twirl as if a body stood upright within the tank. Then a sound from the second tank drew him toward it. It was a musical ringing, exactly like that produced by drawing the of a bowl’ of water —a long-drawn sound, sweet and Hear. Donald looked into this tank, which was open, at the top and not connected with the apparatus. But he could see nothing there, either. He turned back to the first tank, snd all at once he perceived two black specks, close together, halfway between the top of the water and the glass roof. Each was about the size of a small currant. Donald went nearer. He saw them move. Then he started backward, overcome with horror. The black specks were the pupils of ■ pair of eyes fixed on his and following them! Like all sailors. Donald Paget was not free from superstition. Any known danger he could have faced bravely, but this unknown thing was terrifying. He felt his knees give under him. His Impulse was to fly. He turned, and at that moment something descended upon his head md struck him, half conscious, to the - floor. “ .. :

Dimly, through the gathering mists, he made out the form of a middleaged bearded man. He saw the red face, the shrewd gray eyes that looked Into his. and recognized Macßeard. Beside him lay the sandbag with which the man had felled him. Unable to move, Donald felt MacBeard rifling his pockets one by one, until he came upon the envelope containing Masterman’s communication. Macßeard drew it forth with a grunt and stood up under the gas to examine IL A brief survey satisfied him that he had found what he was seeking. He grunted again and looked down at Donald. Apparently satisfied with his work, he turned toward the water tanks. He must have heard the splashing of the monster as it resumed its journeyings, for he started an instant, and then, as if curious, he drew nearer to the first of the tanks with the air-pipe attachment.! He stood quite still, looking at the thing in the water. Donald wondered whether he had discovered it, and whether he had perceived the eyes. He knew in a moment, for With a yell Macßeard started backward. He stumbled against one of the palms and sent it crashing to the floor. Macßeard, who had fallen with it, picked himself up and ran in terror. Donald heard his footsteps pattering along the flags outside. He heard the slam of the creaking gate. He knew that the professor, having obtained the document, was not likely to return. And he could not him for his nervousness, for he had almost done the same thing himself. Donald staggered to his feet-, clutched at the wall to steady himself, and remained thus, while the swimming room gradually grew still. The light from the gas-jet fell upon the water tanks. And. locking at the farther tank, Donald had a queer illusion.

He thought he saw the very misty (ratlines of the body of a beautiful woman, the merest shadowy shape, which swam before his eyes and was gone. and reappeared, veiled in a sort of prismatic blend of -coloring. But before he had time to convince himself that it was or was not the result of his injury, to his horroHhe perceived very clearly a cloudy form beginning to take shape within the nearer tank. The outlines grew clearer momentarily. He saw what seemed to be the body of a hairless monkey, supporting itself upon webbed feet, or flappers. Budding out from the sides were two similar arms, the webbed hands pressing against the sides of the tank. The outlines were at first so vague as to be almost imperceptible; then the crystalline body became opalescent and milky, resembling the white »f an egg. It hardened and, as it hardened, swelled. Donald saw the chest heave, the gaplike mouth contorted. . ■ > And suddenly he realized that tMs grotesque, pitiful thing was suffering! He saw Immediately that the professor’s fall had disarranged the tubes that led from the tank. That,

and the removal of the glass lid. which Macßeard’s tumble had knocked to the floor, had reduced’the air pressure to normal. The creature was suffering because there were only 16 pounds of air upon each square inch of its surface. It suffered just as a human being suffers on a high mountain. It squirmed and writhed, and the water was churned up by its flappers. The gill openings beneath the ears flapped convulsively. Donald cpuld do nothing. He knew that, it was growing visible because it was dying, as happens with the crystalline crabs and other invisible denizens of the deep sea. Soon the force of the internal pressure would disrupt it. , He turned off the gas and staggered out through the kitchen into the little garden. He knew’ now that Masterman’s story had some germ of truth: he had discovered some species of deep-water-seal. and his mind, strained by his privations, had imagined the rest. Why, he himself had almost imagined he had seen a woman in the second ‘tank I He reached the gate, opened it, slammed it, and ran down the road. He did not cease running till he pulled himself up under-a street light*- He realized then that he was hatless, people were staring after him. And, looking back, he imagined that he saw the shadowy outlines of ■ the girl’s body beneath the light of the lamp. “I’m going crazy!” he muttered. “It’s been a crazy night. I wonder I wonder how much of it happened and how much was the result of the blow’!” And he half believed Macßeard had never existed, and that a burglar had assaulted him. But, as he thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers, he pulled out the single page of Masterman’s manuscript, and then he knew that there was at least some basis for the remembrances that surged through his busv brain. Under the light of the next lamp he read the page. • “My dear friend Donald,” it began. Then followed the lines which Paget had begun in the Inventors’ club, but never finished. There was the warning against Macßeard. “the enemy of the human race.” Then Masterman had written:

So much I have learned, but I know little. He has the shrewdest brain of the century, and It is capable of infinite evil.. Not as a tale-bearer, Donald, but out of duty to humanity. I here set down what I have discovered about him. If he knew’ that his past was revealed, my life would be worth less than even the two months which my doctor gives me. He has been tracking me, spying on me. I learned only today that he has a fast motorboat in readiness off the coast to make the Journey to the Shetlands as soon as he has discovered all that I know. You must thwart him, and under no ctrcumstances let him get hold of this manuscript. His history is as follows:

Donald scanned the rest of the page hastily. Macßeard’s past, though it seemed shady and criminal, had little

interest for Donald then. He resolved to put Masterman out of his mind in attention to his duties. Of one thing only he was sure: he was not going back to the house to see whether there were any more specimens. Somehow —he never quite remembered how —Donald found a hotel, explained his appearance to the landlord, obtained fresh clothing, sent for his valise, drank three hot whisky toddies, and got to bed. I

CHAPTER IV. i - The Quest of the Sea Shark. Lieutenant Donald Paget stood' on the upper platform of the F 55, which ran awash in the waves of the North Atlantic, far , from the mother ship which had convoyed her and others of the flotilla almost to the north of Scotland.

The frail little craft hummed noisily as her petrol motors drove the twin screw’s through the w’ater. The F 55, one of the older type of submarine, was making ten knots through a difficult sea. Within her 250 feet by 15 she held an amazing potentiality for destruction. Above the conning tower rose the single periscope for the captain or lookout man—now’ almost useless, should the F 55 submerge herself, on account of the washing seas. Within the tower were the observation port, depth meter, and tubes connecting with the engine room and torpedo station. The platform quivered incessantly as the periscope motor underneath throbbed, and the vibration of the engines made the entire vessel shiver. In the few days that he had been at sea the sense of responsibility for his ship and the lives of his-men had weighed on Donald heavily. Now, entering the conning tower, and taking his stand beside the lookout man, he seemed to assume a dual personality. One part of him bent itself automatically to its task. The other was thinking over the events of the past few days, and pondering on their significance.

On the day following his visit to Baltimore, Donald had telegraphed repeatedly to New York, but no news had been received of the Beotia, and he had been unable to obtain any information concerning her from any of the port officials. He had finally gone aboard at Newport New’S in a very disappointed frame of mind, hopeless of meeting Ida Kennedy until after the war. The chances of his surviving it did not appear to him to be brilliant ones. A last message from the mother ship Informed him to keep his course toward the Shetlands. He w’as instructed that a battle cruiser had slipped out of the Kiel canal and was lurking somewhere among the Norwegian fjords, with' a view to evading the blockade, making for the Atlantic, and harassing shipping there. The inference from this statement was an obvious one, for the American fleet’s patrol joined the British in this longitude. “Smoke to starboard, sir!” Sam Clouts, the lookout, was speaking, and instantly the two parts of Donald’s personality fused. Ida Kennedy was forgotten. Upon the horizon, through his glasses, Donald could see a tiny spiral of curling smoke. He flung over the surface steering wheel and headed the F 55 straight for the stranger. From that distance he knew that, while he could see the funnels of the ship, the submarine was invisible, owing to the curvature of the earth. Relinquishing the wheel to Clouts, he watched the stranger. Gradually the smoke thickened; then there came into view two funnels, and a hull half invisible among the chopping waves. It was impossible to mistake the oncoming ship. She was a battle cruiser of the Bluecher class, and she could only be escaping westward to tarry commerce along the Atlantic tuhde route. With her fast heels and 12inch guns, she could match any unit afloat except those of the home squadron. Donald’s luck was with him after all. She was proceeding west-nor’-west, evidently purposing to round the Shetlands and so gain the shelter of the open seas. It was a daring maneuver, and she would certainly be sighted by the British destroyer flotilla. Still, though she could hardly outsteam these fast little craft, she might beat them off and escape before either the British or the American blockading vessels could come upon the scene. Donald spoke a sharp command into the tube of the diving station. The hatch was jammed down. The horizontal rudders at the bow were deflected. the water* rushed into the diving tanks, and the F 55 began to dip. The surface running light slanted seaward as the bow went under, and slowly regained poise as the stern followed; bringing the F 55 back to an even keel. The hum of the petrol motors ceased, the hull was filled with the roar of the inrushing water; then the electric motors took up their steady throbbing. “Five meters!” announced the man at the depth indicator. “Six meters! Seven—half

Paget sinks a "German cruiser and Ida Kennedy enters the story. '

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

He Stumbled Against One of the Palms and Sent It Crashing to the Floor.