by Robert Reed
immediately become known .
Wilbraham . How can they tell in which direction to follow us?
Easterly . They cannot tell, but they may very well conclude that
we shall make either for the west coast or for the wire, and they may
send after us both ways . I wonder if Leäfar knows which course we
have taken?
Wilbraham . Yes, he knows . I thought you were not attending
when I said it, but I spoke plainly enough . I said, “If we escape shall
we go eastward or westward? My purpose is to make for the wire .”
And he said in reply “Yes, that is the better course .” It was near the
end of his talk .
“Well, now,” said I, “suppose we get through safely, what shall
we do with the car?”
“I have thought that over, Bob,” he said, “and I have come to
rather an odd conclusion .”
Easterly . Do you mind telling a fellow what it is?
Wilbraham . Not at all . Suppose now that we should steer this car
to Melbourne or to Sydney and exhibit it . We should make a great
noise, no doubt, and perhaps a pot of money, but we should ruin
ourselves for all that . Even if we go to work like gentlemen, even if
we make no attempt to make money out of it, but simply hand over
the car to some public body with any statement we like to make, we
shall be ruined all the same .
Easterly . I dare say you are right .
Wilbraham. Yes, I am right. For in the first place suppose we
make a true statement, and neither of us would consent to do else,
what will follow? Either we shall be set down as impostors without
any more ado, or else an expedition will be organized to examine
the country we have been in . But if Leäfar is right, as no doubt he
is, nothing will be found to justify our story . Suppose we warn them
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 559
beforehand that they will find nothing, that will he accepted as only
one proof more that we are lying .
Suppose, now, for the sake of argument, that we do lie, and say
that we ourselves invented and constructed the car, then we shall be
expected and invited to make another . But we know next to nothing
about the manner of producing the gas which inflates the balloons
or about the constitution of the batteries . If we should attempt to
substitute larger balloons filled with hydrogen, and batteries of such
construction as we understand, the almost certain result would be
that our car would be added to the long list of discredited flying ma-
chines, and ourselves to the much longer list of exposed impostors .
How do you like the prospect?
Easterly . Not at all; and I believe you are right . But what do you
propose to do?
Wilbraham . If we discover the wire I propose to go back two or
three miles and abandon the car . I should like to break it up but we
have no tools . I can dismantle it, however, so that nobody will be
able to make anything of it if it is found .
Easterly . But if we escape we must give some account of our
escape; we are not going to tell lies .
Wilbraham . Not lies; we shall tell the whole truth about the
blacks, and for the rest we shall confine ourselves to generalities
which will be true as far as they go . They may think us a little bit
off our heads, “a shingle short,” as Tim Blundel would say, but that
won’t matter, it will be set down to our wanderings in the bush . For
the present at least we had better keep the whole matter as quiet as
we can . If we ever see a chance of doing any good by speaking out
we shall speak out . But now to more immediate business . Can we
try to estimate the rate at which we are travelling?
By this time it was much brighter, the clouds were quite cleared
away, and the moon, which was only two or three days past the full,
was fairly well up in the sky .
So I said to Jack, “Lower the car a little, then take the steer-
ing gear in hand and let me try to estimate our speed . He let the
car descend slowly until he could distinguish the trees and other
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 560
prominent features of the landscape . Then he took the steering gear
into his own hand and I looked over the side of the car . The forest
was thick in parts, but there were wide spaces of treeless plain; and
we were just passing over a range of hills which I think I am right
in identifying with a range that we had observed at a distance of
several miles when we were among the blacks .
I took particular notice of the larger trees, trying to guess their
distance each from the other and referring to my watch every few
seconds .
“What do you make of it?” said Jack at last, when he had raised
the car to its former height .
“It is hard to fix it,” said I, “but I cannot think that we are travel-
ling less than twenty-five miles an hour and I should say much more
probably thirty .”
Wilbraham . Ah! and how far do you suppose that we have to
travel from the start?
Easterly. Say fifteen days passed from our parting with Mr.
Fetherston until we reached the valley, and I am pretty sure we made
an average of thirty miles a day . But of course that was nearly all
westing . I don’t think that our furthest point could be quite as much
as three hundred miles from the wire . I don’t think that your own
estimate can be much out of the way, but we are perhaps a little
under the mark .
Wilbraham. Ah! if the figures are right the sum is easy; we ought
to cross the wire about six o’clock .
Easterly . Yes, but look here; thirty miles an hour is possibly an
overestimate of our speed; and three hundred miles is possibly an
underestimate of our distance . Besides, we shall not be able to keep
up our present speed . The wind is already falling, and may be against
us in an hour or two . That would knock, say, ten miles an hour off
the rate of speed at which we are now travelling .
Wilbraham . It might, but that is another over-estimate; we may
fairly reckon on travelling all night at within five miles of our pres-
ent rate of speed .
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 561
Easterly . I suppose so . Nevertheless, the chances are that if we
stop the car about sunrise we shall still be west of the wire . Then
we can lower the car, move north, and watch for the wire, then go
slowly, still eastward, keeping a sharp look-out as we go .
We were now both very tired, and as there were still some hours
to pass before we could expect to sight of the wire, we agreed to
divide the time till dawn into half-hour watches . Each of us wished
the other to take the first rest, and so we had to settle the dispute
by lot . I told Jack to hide some lozenges, and to let me guess odd
or even . Jack won, but our mode of settling the question was not
without important effects . For Jack said, when he was putting back
the lozenges into his pocket, “By-the-way, I may as well put these
with the others in the car pocket,” and he did so .
When my turn came I
lay down on the floor of the car, as Jack
had done, with my hat for a pillow . The lozenges in my pocket were
a little in my way; not much, but just enough to remind me of what
Jack had done . Still, I didn’t rise, only turned over . Then some of the
lozenges rolled out of my pocket . Then I jumped up, and said, “I my
as well put mine with yours .” I did so, and lay down again and slept .
So now we had all our eggs in one basket, and it never occurred
to us that we were incurring any risk at all .
It was eleven o’clock when Jack lay down for his first sleep, and
we took regular half-hour turns until five o’clock, when my sixth
half-hour was up . It was now dawn, and the light was increasing
rapidly . We had had enough rest, and it was getting near sunrise . It
was time to think of lowering the car and reconnoitring . The morn-
ing was very fine, but there was rather a heavy bank of clouds in
the east where the sun was rising . We lowered the car a little, and
slackened our speed . Presently we disconnected the battery, and
so stopped the car. Then we rested at about four to five hundred
feet from the ground. I swept the whole field of sight with the car’s
glasses in search of the wire, but could find no trace of it. Then I
looked westward long and anxiously, but could see nothing specially
worthy of notice . At last I fell to admiring the beauty of the clouds;
they were beginning to reflect the glory of the sun which was now
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 562
risen, but still hidden by them . There was in the air that sort of shim-
mering which portends a dry, hot day . I picked out a small bank of
clouds to the west, on the near side of which the shimmering which
I have mentioned appeared to be greater than elsewhere . I was qui-
etly speculating on the cause of this when the sun extricated himself
from the clouds to the eastward, and his rays fell straight and full
upon the clouds to westward . Then I saw strike upon the cloud upon
which I had been gazing two shadows which I recognised with hor-
ror . I cried out to Jack to look, and I lifted the glasses which were in
my hand and turned them to the shadows on the cloud, and I saw that
he did the same with his glasses . You will remember that we were
now at rest, excepting for the motion caused by the breeze which
had almost ceased to blow .
The sun was now shining brightly, and we could make out two
dark masses moving towards us . I suppose we ought to have got in
motion again as quickly as possible, although I doubt if it would
have made any difference at all . At any rate, we did not make the
slightest attempt to move, but watched in dead silence the shadows
of the contending cars . For that they were somehow contending
there could be no doubt at all . The one was trying to block the way
of the other, and the other was trying to dodge it . The former was
pursuing, and the latter was pursued . The two shadows passed right
over us, and as they did, the cars, considering the position of the
sun, must have been a little way to the eastward of us; and now
it seemed as if the pursuing car was underneath the other, and so
nearer to us, and as if the pursued car was being forced upward . Just
then, however, the pursued car made a very quick turn westward .
The movement was followed by the other ear, but it seemed, as it
followed, to lose just a little ground . Mind, we could see nothing
but shadows, but the shadows were wonderfully distinct . Then the
shadows passed over us again, and they were now much nearer, and
they quite darkened our car . And now it seemed as if the pursued car
had given the other the slip, for it was now the nearer of the two; and
then both were straight over our heads . It seemed as if something
clashed against us, and we perceived immediately that a missile of
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 563
some sort had been driven right through the side and floor of our
ear . It had passed between us, and if it were intended to kill either
of us, it had certainly missed its aim . We saw that our car remained
steady, and we were too much absorbed in the strife going on above
us to notice anything else . Then the same manoeuvre seemed to be
repeated, for the shadows passed over us again, but this time they
were much higher, and the pursuing car was again underneath .
A fourth time the shadows fell across us, but they were still
higher this time, and the pursuing car still held its place nearer to
us . And now tho pursued car seemed to give up the contest, for it
held its way westward until we lost all trace of it, and the pursuing
car stopped and turned, and came towards us until the shadow was
all but over us, and then out of the shadow, as it seemed, there fell a
long white streamer . It waved one moment backward and forward,
and then disappeared . We swung off our hats together, and gave a
lusty cheer .
Then the shadow of the car passed away westward and was lost
to sight .
So we had been pursued, and the pursuit was over and our lives
were saved . So it seemed, and our joy was great; but it was very
soon changed for something very like despair . The car in which we
rode had canted over to one side, so that it was becoming difficult
either to sit or stand straight in it . We soon saw why .
One of the balloons was slowly collapsing, and on examination
we found that it had been slightly grazed by the missile which had
passed through the car . It was clear that we must lower the car to the
ground as quickly as possible, and it was very doubtful if we could
raise it again . A closer examination revealed a far worse loss . The
missile in question had been driven straight through the wall-bag
which held our provisions, and nearly all of them had fallen through
the hole which had been pierced through the floor of the car. It was
surely no chance which had given the missile its precise direction .
It was almost incredible skill and altogether diabolical malignity .
We thought that our enemy had aimed at our bodies and had missed
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 564
his aim: he knew better: the purpose of his missile was to cause our
miserable death in the wilderness .
Jack put in action the machinery by which the balloons were
filled, and endeavoured to trim them so as to act together. But it
proved quite impossible to do so . The rent in the injured balloon was
increasing slowly under the pressure of the gas, and it was evident
that it would very soon be quite useless . Jack sang out to me to con-
nect the batteries and to set the paddles in motion . I did so at once
and I soon perceived why I was told to do so . The injured balloon
was now collapsing so rapidly that we were in great danger of be-
ing upset by the one-sided buoyancy of the car . It was necessary to
empty the other balloon as quickly as possible in order to keep the
car in such a position that we could keep our seats . And the rapid
emptying of the balloons would have dashed us to the gr
ound but
for the motion of the paddles . As it was we were half turned over
before we reached the ground, and we fell with rather a severe crash
but without any serious injury . I managed to gather up a few of the
lozenges which were left on the floor of the car, as they were rolling
off the car when we were fifty or sixty feet from the ground.
Here we were now in a condition almost as bad as when the
blacks left us; quite as bad, indeed, or worse, for although we were
now probably much nearer to help than then, we did not know where
to look for it, and we had no time to spend in finding it. When we
were left alone before, we had plenty of water and the means of pro-
curing food for at least some weeks . Now the doubt was if we could
survive the second day unless help should reach us before its close .
Besides we were not now as ready to stand hardships as then . We
were then in splendid condition . But the nervous excitement con-
sequent upon the startling experiences of the few days which had
intervened since then had heavily told on both of us; and anxiety
and broken rest had also had their effect . I was myself much worn,
but I saw now, or thought I saw, that Jack was on the very verge of
collapsing . He was brave enough and ready enough, and very much
more hopeful than I was, but there was a look about his eyes and
mouth which alarmed me .
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 565
“What do you think now, Jack?” I said .
“Well, it’s rather a bad business about the lozenges,” he replied,
“but as for the car, he has only done what I should have liked to do
myself; we are well rid of it .”
Easterley . But where’s the wire?
Wilbraham. Well, old man, the wire is not five miles off, you may
be sure of that: most likely not half so far .
Easterley . Why do you think so?
Wilbraham . Leäfar would never have left unless he knew that we
were near enough . Besides, all our calculations look the same way .
Easterley . I wish I could see the situation in the same light . Our
calculations are based on guesses, and may easily be fifty or a hun-
dred miles astray . And Leäfar most likely did not know that our car
was badly damaged and our food lost . Besides, the other one seemed
to be quite satisfied with what, he had done; for he sailed straight
away . But he has not done much after all if he has only dropped us