In Search of the Unknown

by Robert W. Chambers

  XIX

  "The sea was a sheet of silver tinged with pink. The tremendous archof the sky was all shimmering and glimmering with the promise of thesun. Already the mist above, flecked with clustered clouds, flushedwith rose color and dull gold. I heard the low splash of the wavesbreaking and curling across the beach. A wandering breeze, fresh andfragrant, blew the curtains of my window. There was the scent of sweetbay in the room, and everywhere the subtle, nameless perfume of thesea.

  "When at last I stood upon the shore, the air and sea were alla-glimmer in a rosy light, deepening to crimson in the zenith. Alongthe beach I saw a little cove, shelving and all a-shine, where shallowwaves washed with a mellow sound. Fine as dusted gold the shingleglowed, and the thin film of water rose, receded, crept up again alittle higher, and again flowed back, with the low hiss of snowy foamand gilded bubbles breaking.

  "I stood a little while quiet, my eyes upon the water, the invitationof the ocean in my ears, vague and sweet as the murmur of a shell.Then I looked at my bathing-suit and towels.

  "'In we go!' said I, aloud. A second later the prophecy wasfulfilled.

  "I swam far out to sea, and as I swam the waters all around me turnedto gold. The sun had risen.

  "There is a fragrance in the sea at dawn that none can name.Whitethorn a-bloom in May, sedges a-sway, and scented rushes rustlingin an inland wind recall the sea to me--I can't say why.

  "Far out at sea I raised myself, swung around, dived, and set outagain for shore, striking strong strokes until the necked foam flew.And when at last I shot through the breakers, I laughed aloud andsprang upon the beach, breathless and happy. Then from the ocean cameanother cry, clear, joyous, and a white arm rose in the air.

  "She came drifting in with the waves like a white sea-sprite, laughingat me, and I plunged into the breakers again to join her.

  "Side by side we swam along the coast, just outside the breakers,until in the next cove we saw the flutter of her maid's cap-strings.

  "'I will beat you to breakfast!' she cried, as I rested, watching herglide up along the beach.

  "'Done!' said I--'for a sea-shell!'

  "'Done!' she called, across the water.

  "I made good speed along the shore, and I was not long in dressing,but when I entered the dining-room she was there, demure, smiling,exquisite in her cool, white frock.

  "'The sea-shell is yours,' said I. 'I hope I can find one with a pearlin it.'

  "The professor hurried in before she could reply. He greeted me verycordially, but there was an abstracted air about him, and he called meDick until I recognized that remonstrance was useless. He was notlong over his coffee and rolls.

  "'McPeek and Frisby will return with the last load, including yourtrunk, by early afternoon,' he said, rising and picking up his bundleof drawings. 'I haven't time to explain to you what we are doing,Dick, but Daisy will take you about and instruct you. She will giveyou the rifle standing in my room--it's a good Winchester. I have sentfor an 'Express' for you, big enough to knock over any elephant inIndia. Daisy, take him through the sheds and tell him everything.Luncheon is at noon. Do you usually take luncheon, Dick?'

  "'When I am permitted,' I smiled.

  "'Well,' said the professor, doubtfully, 'you mustn't come back herefor it. Freda can take you what you want. Is your hand unsteady aftereating?'

  "'Why, papa!' said Daisy. 'Do you intend to starve him?'

  "We all laughed.

  "The professor tucked his drawings into a capacious pocket, pulled hissea-boots up to his hips, seized a spade, and left, nodding to us asthough he were thinking of something else.

  "We went to the door and watched him across the salt meadows until thedistant sand-dune hid him.

  "'Come,' said Daisy Holroyd, 'I am going to take you to the shop.'

  "She put on a broad-brimmed straw hat, a distractingly prettycombination of filmy cool stuffs, and led the way to the long, lowstructure that I had noticed the evening before.

  "The interior was lighted by the numberless little port-holes, and Icould see everything plainly. I acknowledge I was nonplussed by what Idid see.

  "In the centre of the shed, which must have been at least a hundredfeet long, stood what I thought at first was the skeleton of anenormous whale. After a moment's silent contemplation of the thing Isaw that it could not be a whale, for the frames of two gigantic,batlike wings rose from each shoulder. Also I noticed that the animalpossessed legs--four of them--with most unpleasant-looking webbedclaws fully eight feet long. The bony framework of the head, too,resembled something between a crocodile and a monstroussnapping-turtle. The walls of the shanty were hung with drawings andblue prints. A man dressed in white linen was tinkering with thevertebrae of the lizard-like tail.

  "'Where on earth did such a reptile come from?' I asked at length.

  "'Oh, it's not real!' said Daisy, scornfully; 'it's papier-mache.'

  "'I see,' said I; 'a stage prop.'

  "'A what?' asked Daisy, in hurt astonishment.

  "'Why, a--a sort of Siegfried dragon--a what's-his-name--er, Pfafner,or Peffer, or--'

  "'If my father heard you say such things he would dislike you,' saidDaisy. She looked grieved, and moved towards the door. Iapologized--for what, I knew not--and we became reconciled. She raninto her father's room and brought me the rifle, a very goodWinchester. She also gave me a cartridge-belt, full.

  "'Now,' she smiled, 'I shall take you to your observatory, and when wearrive you are to begin your duty at once.'

  "'And that duty?' I ventured, shouldering the rifle.

  "'That duty is to watch the ocean. I shall then explain the wholeaffair--but you mustn't look at me while I speak; you must watch thesea.'

  "'This,' said I, 'is hardship. I had rather go without the luncheon.'

  "I do not think she was offended at my speech; still she frowned foralmost three seconds.

  "We passed through acres of sweet bay and spear grass, sometimesskirting thickets of twisted cedars, sometimes walking in the fullglare of the morning sun, sinking into shifting sand wheresun-scorched shells crackled under our feet, and sun-browned sea-weedglistened, bronzed and iridescent. Then, as we climbed a little hill,the sea-wind freshened in our faces, and lo! the ocean lay below us,far-stretching as the eye could reach, glittering, magnificent.

  "Daisy sat down flat on the sand. It takes a clever girl to do thatand retain the respectful deference due her from men. It takes agraceful girl to accomplish it triumphantly when a man is looking.

  "'You must sit beside me,' she said--as though it would prove irksometo me.

  "'Now,' she continued, 'you must watch the water while I am talking.'

  "I nodded.

  "'Why don't you do it, then?' she asked.

  "I succeeded in wrenching my head towards the ocean, although I feltsure it would swing gradually round again in spite of me.

  "'To begin with,' said Daisy Holroyd, 'there's a thing in that oceanthat would astonish you if you saw it. Turn your head!'

  "'I am,' I said, meekly.

  "'Did you hear what I said?'

  "'Yes--er--a thing in the ocean that's going to astonish me.' Visionsof mermaids rose before me.

  "'The thing,' said Daisy, 'is a thermosaurus!'

  "I nodded vaguely, as though anticipating a delightful introduction toa nautical friend.

  "'You don't seem astonished,' she said, reproachfully.

  "'Why should I be?' I asked.

  "'Please turn your eyes towards the water. Suppose a thermosaurusshould look out of the waves!'

  "'Well,' said I, 'in that case the pleasure would be mutual.'

  "She frowned and bit her upper lip.

  "'Do you know what a thermosaurus is?' she asked.

  "'If I am to guess,' said I, 'I guess it's a jelly-fish.'

  "'It's that big, ugly, horrible creature that I showed you in theshed!' cried Daisy, impatiently.

  "'Eh!' I stammered.

  "'Not papier-mache, either,' she continued, excitedly; '
it's a realone.'

  "This was pleasant news. I glanced instinctively at my rifle and thenat the ocean.

  "'Well,' said I at last, 'it strikes me that you and I resemble a pairof Andromedas waiting to be swallowed. This rifle won't stop a beast,a live beast, like that Nibelungen dragon of yours.'

  "'Yes, it will,' she said; 'it's not an ordinary rifle.'

  "Then, for the first time, I noticed, just below the magazine, acylindrical attachment that was strange to me.

  "'Now, if you will watch the sea very carefully, and will promise notto look at me,' said Daisy, 'I will try to explain.'

  "She did not wait for me to promise, but went on eagerly, a sparkle ofexcitement in her blue eyes:

  "'You know, of all the fossil remains of the great batlike andlizard-like creatures that inhabited the earth ages and ages ago, thebones of the gigantic saurians are the most interesting. I think theyused to splash about the water and fly over the land during thecarboniferous period; anyway, it doesn't matter. Of course you haveseen pictures of reconstructed creatures such as the ichthyosaurus,the plesiosaurus, the anthracosaurus, and the thermosaurus?'

  "I nodded, trying to keep my eyes from hers.

  "'And you know that the remains of the thermosaurus were firstdiscovered and reconstructed by papa?'

  "'Yes,' said I. There was no use in saying no.

  "'I am glad you do. Now, papa has proved that this creature livedentirely in the Gulf Stream, emerging for occasional flights across anocean or two. Can you imagine how he proved it?'

  "'No,' said I, resolutely pointing my nose at the ocean.

  "'He proved it by a minute examination of the microscopical shellsfound among the ribs of the thermosaurus. These shells containedlittle creatures that live only in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.They were the food of the thermosaurus.'

  "'It was rather slender rations for a thing like that, wasn't it? Didhe ever swallow bigger food--er--men?'

  "'Oh yes. Tons of fossil bones from prehistoric men are also found inthe interior of the thermosaurus.'

  "'Then,' said I, 'you, at least, had better go back to CaptainMcPeek's--'

  "'Please turn around; don't be so foolish. I didn't say there was alive thermosaurus in the water, did I?'

  "'Isn't there?'

  "'Why, no!'

  "My relief was genuine, but I thought of the rifle and lookedsuspiciously out to sea.

  "'What's the Winchester for?' I asked.

  "'Listen, and I will explain. Papa has found out--how, I do notexactly understand--that there is in the waters of the Gulf Stream thebody of a thermosaurus. The creature must have been alive within ayear or so. The impenetrable scale-armor that covers its body has, asfar as papa knows, prevented its disintegration. We know that it isthere still, or was there within a few months. Papa has reports andsworn depositions from steamer captains and seamen from a dozendifferent vessels, all corroborating one another in essential details.These stories, of course, get into the newspapers--sea-serpentstories--but papa knows that they confirm his theory that the hugebody of this reptile is swinging along somewhere in the Gulf Stream.'

  "She opened her sunshade and held it over her. I noticed that shedeigned to give me the benefit of about one-eighth of it.

  "'Your duty with that rifle is this: if we are fortunate enough to seethe body of the thermosaurus come floating by, you are to take goodaim and fire--fire rapidly every bullet in the magazine; then reloadand fire again, and reload and fire as long as you have any cartridgesleft.'

  "'A self-feeding Maxim is what I should have,' I said, with gentlesarcasm. 'Well, and suppose I make a sieve of this big lizard?'

  "'Do you see these rings in the sand?' she asked.

  "Sure enough, somebody had driven heavy piles deep into the sand allaround us, and to the tops of these piles were attached steel rings,half buried under the spear-grass. We sat almost exactly in the centreof a circle of these rings.

  "'The reason is this,' said Daisy; 'every bullet in your cartridges issteel-tipped and armor-piercing. To the base of each bullet isattached a thin wire of pallium. Pallium is that new metal, a threadof which, drawn out into finest wire, will hold a ton of ironsuspended. Every bullet is fitted with minute coils of miles of thiswire. When the bullet leaves the rifle it spins out this wire as ashot from a life-saver's mortar spins out and carries the life-line toa wrecked ship. The end of each coil of wire is attached to thatcylinder under the magazine of your rifle. As soon as the shell isautomatically ejected this wire flies out also. A bit of scarlet tapeis fixed to the end, so that it will be easy to pick up. There is alsoa snap-clasp on the end, and this clasp fits those rings that you seein the sand. Now, when you begin firing, it is my duty to run and pickup the wire ends and attach them to the rings. Then, you see, we havethe body of the thermosaurus full of bullets, every bullet anchored tothe shore by tiny wires, each of which could easily hold a ton'sstrain.'

  "I looked at her in amazement.

  "'Then,' she added, calmly, 'we have captured the thermosaurus.'

  "'Your father,' said I, at length, 'must have spent years of laborover this preparation.'

  "'It is the work of a lifetime,' she said, simply.

  "My face, I suppose, showed my misgivings.

  "'It must not fail,' she added.

  "'But--but we are nowhere near the Gulf Stream,' I ventured.

  "Her face brightened, and she frankly held the sunshade over us both.

  "'Ah, you don't know,' she said, 'what else papa has discovered. Wouldyou believe that he has found a loop in the Gulf Stream--a genuineloop--that swings in here just outside of the breakers below? It istrue! Everybody on Long Island knows that there is a warm current offthe coast, but nobody imagined it was merely a sort of backwater fromthe Gulf Stream that formed a great circular mill-race around the coneof a subterranean volcano, and rejoined the Gulf Stream off CapeAlbatross. But it is! That is why papa bought a yacht three years agoand sailed about for two years so mysteriously. Oh, I did want to gowith him so much!'

  "'This,' said I, 'is most astonishing.'

  "She leaned enthusiastically towards me, her lovely face aglow.

  "'Isn't it?' she said; 'and to think that you and papa and I are theonly people in the whole world who know this!'

  "To be included in such a triology was very delightful.

  "'Papa is writing the whole thing--I mean about the currents. He alsohas in preparation sixteen volumes on the thermosaurus. He said thismorning that he was going to ask you to write the story first for somescientific magazine. He is certain that Professor Bruce Stoddard, ofColumbia, will write the pamphlets necessary. This will give papa timeto attend to the sixteen-volume work, which he expects to finish inthree years.'

  "'Let us first,' said I, laughing, 'catch our thermosaurus.'

  "'We must not fail,' she said, wistfully.

  "'We shall not fail,' I said, 'for I promise to sit on this sand-hillas long as I live--until a thermosaurus appears--if that is your wish,Miss Holroyd.'

  "Our eyes met for an instant. She did not chide me, either, for notlooking at the ocean. Her eyes were bluer, anyway.

  "'I suppose,' she said, bending her head and absently pouring sandbetween her fingers--'I suppose you think me a blue-stocking, orsomething odious?'

  "'Not exactly,' I said. There was an emphasis in my voice that madeher color. After a moment she laid the sunshade down, still open.

  "'May I hold it?' I asked.

  "She nodded almost imperceptibly.

  "The ocean had turned a deep marine blue, verging on purple, thatheralded a scorching afternoon. The wind died away; the odor of cedarand sweet-bay hung heavy in the air.

  "In the sand at our feet an iridescent flower-beetle crawled, itsmetallic green-and-blue wings burning like a spark. Great gnats, withfilmy, glittering wings, danced aimlessly above the young golden-rod;burnished crickets, inquisitive, timid, ran from under chips ofdriftwood, waved their antennae at us, and ran back again. One by onethe marbled tige
r-beetles tumbled at our feet, dazed from the exertionof an aerial flight, then scrambled and ran a little way, or dartedinto the wire grass, where great, brilliant spiders eyed them askancefrom their gossamer hammocks.

  "Far out at sea the white gulls floated and drifted on the water, orsailed up into the air to flap lazily for a moment and settle backamong the waves. Strings of black surf-ducks passed, their strongwings tipping the surface of the water; single wandering coots whirledfrom the breakers into lonely flight towards the horizon.

  "We lay and watched the little ring-necks running along the water'sedge, now backing away from the incoming tide, now boldly wading afterthe undertow. The harmony of silence, the deep perfume, the mystery ofwaiting for that something that all await--what is it? love? death? oronly the miracle of another morrow?--troubled me with vaguerestlessness. As sunlight casts shadows, happiness, too, throws ashadow, an the shadow is sadness.

  "And so the morning wore away until Freda came with a cool-lookinghamper. Then delicious cold fowl and lettuce sandwiches and champagnecup set our tongues wagging as only very young tongues can wag. Daisywent back with Freda after luncheon, leaving me a case of cigars, witha bantering smile. I dozed, half awake, keeping a partly closed eye onthe ocean, where a faint gray streak showed plainly amid the azurewater all around. That was the Gulf Stream loop.

  "About four o'clock Frisby appeared with a bamboo shelter-tent, forwhich I was unaffectedly grateful.

  "After he had erected it over me he stopped to chat a bit, but theconversation bored me, for he could talk of nothing but bill-posting.

  "'You wouldn't ruin the landscape here, would you?' I asked.

  "'Ruin it!' repeated Frisby, nervously. 'It's ruined now; there ain'ta place to stick a bill.'

  "'The snipe stick bills--in the sand,' I said, flippantly.

  "There was no humor about Frisby. 'Do they?' he asked.

  "I moved with a certain impatience.

  "'Bills,' said Frisby, 'give spice an' variety to nature. They breakthe monotony of the everlastin' green and what-you-may-call-its.'

  "I glared at him.

  "'Bills,' he continued, 'are not easy to stick, lemme tell you, sir.Sign-paintin's a soft snap when it comes to bill-stickin'. Now, Iguess I've stuck more bills onto New York State than ennybody.'

  "'Have you?' I said, angrily.

  "'Yes, siree! I always pick out the purtiest spots--kinder filledchuck full of woods and brooks and things; then I h'ist my paste-potonto a rock, and I slather that rock with gum, and whoop she goes!'

  "'Whoop what goes?'

  "'The bill. I paste her onto the rock, with one swipe of the brush forthe edges and a back-handed swipe for the finish--except when a billis folded in two halves.'

  "'And what do you do then?' I asked, disgusted.

  "'Swipe twice,' said Frisby, with enthusiasm.

  "'And you don't think it injures the landscape?'

  "'Injures it!' he exclaimed, convinced that I was attempting to joke.

  "I looked wearily out to sea. He also looked at the water and sighedsentimentally.

  "'Floatin' buoys with bills onto 'em is a idea of mine,' he observed.'That damn ocean is monotonous, ain't it?'

  "I don't know what I might have done to Frisby--the rifle was soconvenient--if his mean yellow dog had not waddled up at thisjuncture.

  "'Hi, Davy, sic 'em!' said Frisby, expectorating upon a clam-shell andhurling it seaward. The cur watched the flight of the shellapathetically, then squatted in the sand and looked at his master.

  "'Kinder lost his spirit,' said Frisby, 'ain't he? I once stuck a billonto Davy, an' it come off, an' the paste sorter sickened him. He washell on rats--once!'

  "After a moment or two Frisby took himself off, whistling cheerfullyto Davy, who followed him when he was ready. The rifle burned in myfingers.

  "It was nearly six o'clock when the professor appeared, spade onshoulder, boots smeared with mud.

  "'Well,' he said, 'nothing to report, Dick, my boy?'

  "'Nothing, professor.'

  "He wiped his shining face with his handkerchief and stared at thewater.

  "'My calculations lead me to believe,' he said, 'that our prize may bedue any day now. This theory I base upon the result of the report fromthe last sea-captain I saw. I cannot understand why some of thesecaptains did not take the carcass in tow. They all say that theytried, but that the body sank before they could come within half amile. The truth is, probably, that they did not stir a foot from theircourse to examine the thing.'

  "'Have you ever cruised about for it?' I ventured.

  "'For two years,' he said, grimly. 'It's no use; it's accident when aship falls in with it. One captain reports it a thousand miles fromwhere the last skipper spoke it, and always in the Gulf Stream. Theythink it is a different specimen every time, and the papers areteeming with sea-serpent fol-de-rol.'

  "'Are you sure,' I asked, 'that it will swing into the coast on thisGulf Stream loop?'

  "'I think I may say that it is certain to do so. I experimented with adead right-whale. You may have heard of its coming ashore here lastsummer.'

  "'I think I did,' said I, with a faint smile. The thing had poisonedthe air for miles around.

  "'But,' I continued, 'suppose it comes in the night?'

  "He laughed.

  "'There I am lucky. Every night this month, and every day, too, thecurrent of the loop runs inland so far that even a porpoise wouldstrand for at least twelve hours. Longer than that I have notexperimented with, but I know that the shore trend of the loop runsacross a long spur of the submerged volcanic mountain, and thatanything heavier than a porpoise would scrape the bottom and becarried so slowly that at least twelve hours must elapse before thecarcass could float again into deep water. There are chances of itsstranding indefinitely, too, but I don't care to take those chances.That is why I have stationed you here, Dick.'

  "He glanced again at the water, smiling to himself.

  "'There is another question I want to ask,' I said, 'if you don'tmind.'

  "'Of course not!' he said, warmly.

  "'What are you digging for?'

  "'Why, simply for exercise. The doctor told me I was killing myselfwith my sedentary habits, so I decided to dig. I don't know a betterexercise. Do you?'

  "'I suppose not,' I murmured, rather red in the face. I wonderedwhether he'd mention fossils.

  "'Did Daisy tell you why we are making our papier-mache thermosaurus?'he asked.

  "I shook my head.

  "'We constructed that from measurements I took from the fossil remainsof the thermosaurus in the Metropolitan Museum. Professor BruceStoddard made the drawings. We set it up here, all ready to receivethe skin of the carcass that I am expecting.'

  "We had started towards home, walking slowly across the darkeningdunes, shoulder to shoulder. The sand was deep, and walking was noteasy.

  "'I wish,' said I at last, 'that I knew why Miss Holroyd asked me notto walk on the beach. It's much less fatiguing.'

  "'That,' said the professor, 'is a matter that I intend to discusswith you to-night.' He spoke gravely, almost sadly. I felt thatsomething of unparalleled importance was soon to be revealed. So Ikept very quiet, watching the ocean out of the corners of my eyes.