Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 144, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1919 — THE DEEP SEA PERIL [ARTICLE]

THE DEEP SEA PERIL

(Copyright by W. G. Chapman)

CHAPTER XVll—rContihued. “There's no hurry now,” answered Donald. Suddenly Davies’ voice enme up in agitated tones. “Donald-” he cried. “It looks as if the monsters are following Maeßeard after all! Don’t you see. they are with him. not us?’ wouldn’t keep us in the center necessarily,” said Donald. “Yesterday ■we nearly lost them.” “But then —do you suppose they are leading us somewhere?” * “I don’t know,” Donald answered. “Full speed!” Donald, hazarding rocks, drove the F 55 hard between the mighty walls of granite. In front of him he saw an open body of water, ringed with faraway hills. He was in Skjold fjord. But not a vestige of the monsters was to be seen. Once through that gateway he lashed the wheel and went on deck. The quarry had disappeared. A glance assured* him of that. The limpid water of the fjord lay motionless before hi in. him the passageaeemed ICLhitye. closed; He rushed back into the conning tower. "Shut down!” he yelled to Davies. “Tell Clouts to let the anchor go. MacBeard has beaten us.” Davies, released from duty, rushed up, to find his chief standing at the entrance to the conning tower, a prey to abject despair. “It’s finished, Davies,” he said wearily. “We’re beaten. There’s a missing factor in—that—damned equation of yours.” And he toppled over into Davies’ arms, insensible from want of sleep. The tension of his nerves was broken. Davies and Clouts carried him-to his cabin and laid him down. They returned to the reck, almost equally despairing. “The herd has left us. Clouts,” said the middy. “I don’t know —I can’t understand it. Clouts,” he continued, with a sudden inspiration, “do you think that you could induce the queen to sound that call again?” “What, me, sir?” inquired Clouts, starting back. “Why.—she's not a woman, sir, she’s a devil incarnate! She won’t eat, sir.” His voice fell to a husky whisper. ‘‘And she won’t wear the captain’s blankets, sir.” "Perhaps she doesn’t like them. Clouts. However—what are we to do?” “I say, make for home, sir,” said Clouts. “I never took no stock in the whole thing, Mr. Davies.” "What are you talking about, Clouts?” “Why, sir, I never believed in it from the first, and I believe in it still less now. It’s all a dream, sir. There never was no monsters.’’ “But yop’ve seen them, Clouts. You’ve been under the sea with them !” “Ah, I know, Sir, that’s what we both think,” answered Clouts with a wise smile. “But it’s just a dream, sir. I expect that German cruiser torpedoed us, instead of us torpedoing her; or maybe she sank us with her guns, and we’re going to wake up in a German hospital in Hamburg in a moment. You haven’t pinched yourself, sir?” j Davies was shaken. He looked at Clouts, blandly smiling at him. open- j mouthed. He almost believed his- the- ! ory. Clouts, unequal to the strain j upon his limited mentality, had adopted a solution which seemed, under the circumstances, feasible. “I think we’d better pinch each other, sir,” said Clouts. “Mrs. Clouts always used to say, when in doubt —” But, breaking off at this juncture, he pulled his mouth organ from his pocket and blew the most discordant medley of dissonants that ever issued from the apertures of that muchabused instrument.

To their amazement, the water was j instantaneously churned into foam all round them. The F 55 tossed like a cork upon the waves. A fleeting mist began to rise from the surface of the fjord. “Hatches on!" gasped Davies, and they ran to save the F 55 from submersion. Hardly had they succeeded in this and reached the conning tower when Donald appeared at the head of the ladder below. His eyes were clear again; it seemed as if his half-hour of sleep had recreated him. “What's happened, Davies?” he asked. “The monsters! They’re all about us !” cried the middy. “Well, of course,” said Donald. “You don’t suppose I came here on a ■wild-.gooee chase, do Von?” “But you said we were beaten, sir, And—” “Nonsense!” said Donald angrily. “They’ve been with us all the time. [You don’t expect that they can keep An condensing hydrogen forever without taking a rest, do you? Muscular fatigue, Davies. Hello!" *, He pointed through the observation port, and, about a mile to pdrt of them, they saw the motorboat, bobbing upon the agitated waves. “We’ve got him, Davies,” said Donald. “I knew it I knew it all in my .sleep—the solution and— and —it’s going to be all fight."

I They were amazed at his resolution. Ha -uttered his orders .in a fixmWOiCJLL he “seemed now absolutely sure of his • success. Through the port they j watched the motorboat tossing toward |them over the waves. They could make out Macßeard’s figure beside the | engines. Ida was doubtless within the cabin. , “I’p anchor. Clouts,” said Donald, j “Davies* take the'engines again.” | presently the submarine began to -move so as to cut off Macßeard’s egress into the open sea. Then, at Donald’s command, they drew ..toward 1 the motorboat. j Maeßeard had seen them. He was ! working frantically at the engine. The inland sea still heaved, but it was beginning to subside as the_inonsters. forI getful of Clouts’ mouth organ, began to draw toward the submarine again. Then, for the third time, the imprisoned queen gave the swarming call. The sound, soft, yet incredibly voluminous. rolled from the interior of the j ship and seemed to fill the universe, j It was like a deep, soft note upon Lsmn^-titighty.organ.- And the response: was instant. For the third time the swarm, maddened by the call,. leaped toward its header. And, ns on Fail*island, a tidal . bore came on. a wall of water which struck the F 55 and rendered her helpless in an instant. It dashed her round i like a top. it drove her, uncontrollable, before it. In an instant the steering | gear was disabled, and the vessel skidded through the waves toward the j cliffs of the fjord, which grew larger I with unbelievable swiftness. It was the last voyage of the F 55. j The battered old submarine which had i rendered such yeoman service, drove ] hard on the rocks. A needle point rpierced her amidships, a seore of razor i edges rent her flanks. Slowly she sank, ! still spinning. Into the seething waters that whipped the desolate shore. I As soon as they realized that noth- ! ing could be done, the three had gathered upon the deck and waited for the disaster. As the F 55 struck they leaped into the sea. They escaped the hidden fangs of the rocks almost by a miracle. A few strokes, and Donald found himself upon the shore, which the waves were wildly lashing, and helping Davies to scramble out. They gasped a moment and recovered their breath. “Where's Clouts?” asked Donald anxiously. Then they saw the sailor’s head bobbing among the waves. lie was apparently clinging to a point of rock with one hand, while he' thrust the other down into the water. “Clouts! Are you drowning?” Donald called. A bubbling sound replied. Donald waded into the sea, clinging to the pro- j jecting reef to save himself against the pounding waves. As he neared Clouts, the latter straightened himself and sighed regretfully. “What is it. Clouts? Are you badly hurt?” asked Donald. “No. sir,” he gasped. “But I’ve — I’ve lost it, sir!” Donald grasped him and pulled him through the breakers to dry land ungently. At that moment Clouts had 1 strained his patience severely with his ; lost mouth organ. t “Look, sir!” said Davies, when the three stood together once more. Two hundred yards away MacBeard and Ida were standing beside the motorboat. Macßeard’s light craft, built upon scientific principles of his own devising, had once again established its worth. The waves —and luck —had driven it ashorb uninjured. And Maeßeard seemed to be inviting Ida to re-enter it.

The game seemed in Macßeard’s hands once more. “Come!” shouted Donald, starting forward. But before he had broken into a run Clouts stood barring his way. “I’ve found her, sir!” he shouted. “Look, sir!” Donald was on the point of knocking the sailor down. His mouth organ had become a justification for homicide.

But Clouts was not making reference to his mouth organ just then. A cry from Davies stopped Donald upon the verge of delivering his blow. ■Donald started and saw, close to his sjde, the evanescent, nebulous outlines of the queen of the swarm. And in that moment the memory of Ida faded from his mind. He stared at her like a man bewitched. Her face, which had always been the most conspicuous part, was strangely clouded. It was, indeed,, as if a veil of vapor had been drawn over it. It seemed to cover her, like a long bridal veil, giving her the aspect of a figure. Davies did not stay to watch that meeting.” Neither did Clouts. They started at full speed toward Macßeard, who, already having launched his motorboat upon the waves, was holding out his hand to Ida. * She hesitated and drew back. They were only fifty paces away." And. torn between her pledge and the desire to see Donald for one last moment on earth, the girl stood waiting. Donald, alone with the queen, looked

Into her face and was aware of noth- . log else, • — ... she raised her arms, slowly she threw off the draperies of clinging mist that covered her head. She stretched her arms out toward him. She fell upon,her knees. Her face was visible now, and Donald was aware of a startling change In it. The beauty that had dazzled him was gone. A milky pallor, spreading along the veins and arteries, suffused the flesh. The same change was passing over her that had passed over the dying monster in the house in Baltimore. With horror Donald realized that j she was dying. She crouched at his feet; she raised her eyes*to_his once more in that mute yearning. And her face was that of an aged woman. ■ For a few seconds longer the eyes | looked into Donald’s. Then, without j closing, they seemed to glaze. A film i passed over them, and, with a shudder, the queen fell at his feet —dead! She had given her life in payment for her disobedience to the racial law. TFis by such disobeifience that the race evolves into something higher than itself. By such man rose from his apelike ancestry. By such, some day, wars and all wrongs will cease. Donald tore the coat from his shoulders and covered the body of the aged woman-thing before him. CHAPTER XVIII. Maeßeard Finds His Destiny. He gazed at it still hypnotized; he was trying to fight his way back into consciousness. For a few moments he did not know where he was, or what was happening. Then, gradually, he began to be aware of his surroundings. He saw the body at his feet, and the high cliffs about him. And in the distance he saw Clouts and Davies running toward the motorboat. Ida stood watching Donald. *She was still hesitating. Maeßeard had found that he could start his engine. His hand was on hers. Davies and ; Clouts w’ere fifty paces away. “Come!” said Maeßeard. The girl shuddered, and snddemy | she leaped into the boat. Maeßeard threw 1 himself against the gunwale and pushed it into deep water. He sprang aboard. He was twenty paces from the shore when his pursuer? arrived at the water line. Davies whipped out his revolver. Maeßeard crouched behind Ida and raised her body before him for a shield. The girl knew nothing of this maneuver, for she had fainted. “Surrender, you blackguard,” shouted Davies, hoarse with passion. Maeßeard, trembling, cowered behind the girl. With his hand, stretched out behind her, hq guided the little craft. The distance was increasing swiftly. Davies let his revolver hand fall. He knew that at that distance it was impossible to hit Maeßeard with any certainty. And he could not run the risk of shooting Ida. Impetuously he plunged into the water. At first his desperate strokes seemed almost to carry him as fast as the motorboat, put soon this was shown to be delusive. The distance was increasing every instant. Davies clung to a ledge of rock and panted for breath. He shook his free fist at Maeßeard, who laughed scornfully. He had seen the F 55 settle beneath the waves, and knew that by no possible chance could Donald catch him. He turned to Ida, who was just opening her eyes. He took her hand. It lay limp and cold in his own. He saw her shudder, and a diabolical fury overcame him. He struck her across the face with his open hand. '(TO BE CONTINUED.)