CHAPTER IX. GRAPPLING A QUEER FISH.
At nearly the same moment both Bruno and Waldo caught a glimpse ofwater, shining clear and distinct amidst that sombre setting; but as yeta tree-crested elevation interfered with the prospect, and it was notuntil after the course of the air-ship had been materially changed, andsome little time had elapsed, that aught definite could be determined asto the actual spread of that body of water.
This proved to be considerable, although it needed but a single lookinto the professor's face to learn that his eager hopes and exaltedanticipations fell far short of realisation.
"Well, it's a sea all right," generously declared Waldo, giving avigorous sniff by way of strengthening his words. "I can smell the saltclear from this. A sea, even if it isn't quite so large as others,--whatone might term a lower-case c!"
If nothing else, that generous effort brought its reward in the drylittle chuckle which escaped the professor's lips, and a kindly glowshowed through his glasses as he turned towards Waldo with a nod ofacknowledgment.
"Barring the salty scent, my dear boy, which probably finds birth inyour kindly imagination. So, on the whole, perhaps 'twould be just aswell to term it a lake."
"One of no mean dimensions, at any rate, uncle Phaeton."
"True, Bruno," with a nod of agreement, yet with forehead contractinginto a network of troubled lines. "Naturally so, and yet--surely thismust be merely a portion? Unless--yet I fail to see aught which might beinterpreted as being--"
Promptly responding to each touch of hand upon steering-gear, theaeromotor swung smoothly around, sailing on even keel right into theteeth of the gentle wind, by this time near enough to that body of waterfor the air-voyagers to scan its surface: a considerable expanse, alltold, yet by no means of such magnitude as Professor Featherwit hadanticipated.
Too deeply absorbed in his own thoughts to notice the little cries andejaculations which came from the brothers, he caused the aerostat torise higher, slowly sweeping that extended field with his glasses.
He could see where several streams entered the body of water, comingfrom opposite points of the compass, and thus confirming at least oneportion of his explained theory; but, so far as his visual powers went,there was no other considerable body of water to be discovered.
"Yet, how can that contracted basin contain all the drainage from thisvast scope of country? How can we explain the stubborn fact of--Whatnow, lads?"
An abrupt break, but one caused by the eager cry and loud speech fromthe lips of the younger Gillespie.
"Looky yonder! Isn't that one o' those sour-us dictionary fellows on abender? Isn't that--but I don't--no, it's only--"
"Only a partly decayed tree gone afloat!" volunteered Bruno, with amerry laugh, as his eager brother drew back in evident chagrin.
"Well, that's all right. It ought to've been one, even if it isn't.What's the use in coming all this way, if we're not going to discoversomething beyond the common? And my sour-us is worth more than one ofthe other kind, after all; get it ashore and you might cook dinner for asolid month by it; now there!"
It was easily to be seen that Waldo had been giving free rein to hisexpectations ever since the professor's little lecture, but his naturalchagrin was quickly forgotten in a matter of far greater interest.
Professor Featherwit had resumed his scrutiny of yonder body of water,slowly turning his glasses while holding the air-ship on a true courseand even keel.
For a brief space nothing interfered with the steady motion ofthe field-glasses, but then something called for a more thoroughexamination, and little by little the savant leaned farther forward,breath coming more rapidly, face beginning to flush with deepeninginterest.
Bruno took note of all this, and, failing to see aught to account forthe symptoms with unaided eyes, at length ventured to speak.
"What is it, uncle Phaeton? Something of interest, or your looks--"
Professor Featherwit gave a start, then lowered the glasses and reachedthem towards his nephew, speaking hurriedly:
"You try them, Bruno; your eyes are younger, and ought to be keener thanmine. Yonder; towards the lower end of the--the lake, please."
Nothing loath, Gillespie complied, quickly finding the correct pointupon which the professor's interest had centred, holding the glassesmotionless for a brief space, then giving vent to an eager ejaculation.
"What is it all about, bless you, boy?" demanded Waldo, unable longer tocurb his hot impatience. "Another drifting tree, eh?"
"No, but,--did you see it, uncle?"
"I saw something which--what do YOU see, first?"
"A great big suck,--a monster whirlpool which is hollowed like--"
"I knew it! I felt that must be the true solution of it all!" crieduncle Phaeton, squirming about pretty much as one might into whose veinshad been injected quicksilver in place of ordinary blood. "The outlet!Where the surplus waters drain off to the Pacific Ocean!"
"I say, give me a chance, can't you?" interrupted Waldo, grasping theglasses and shifting his station for one more favourable as a lookout.
He had seen sufficient to catch the right angle, and then gave asuppressed snort as he took in the view. Half a minute thus, then a wildcry escaped his lips, closely followed by the words:
"Now I DO see something! And it isn't a drifting tree, either! Or, thatis, something else which--shove her closer, uncle Phaeton! True as youlive, there's something caught in yonder big suck which is--closer, forlove of glory!"
"If this is another joke, Waldo--"
"No, no, I tell you, Bruno! Shove her over, uncle, for, without thisglass is hoodooed, we're needed right yonder,--and needed mighty bad,too!"
Little need of so much urging, by the way, since Professor Featherwitwas but slightly less excited by their double discovery, and even beforethe glasses were clapped to Waldo's eyes the aerostat swung around tomove at full speed towards that precise quarter of the compass.
"What is it you see, then, boy?" demanded Bruno, itching to take theglasses, yet straining his own vision towards that as yet far-distantspot.
"Something like--oh, see how the water is running out,--just likeemptying a bathtub through a hole at the bottom! And see what--a mancaught in the whirl, true's you're a foot high, uncle!"
"A man? Here? Impossible,--incredible, boy!" fairly exploded theprofessor, not yet ready to relinquish his cherished belief in a terraincognita.
The air-voyagers were swiftly nearing that point of interest, and nowkeen-eyed Bruno caught a glimpse of a drifting object which had beendrawn within the influence of yonder whirlpool, but which was just ascertainly a derelict from the forest.
"Another floating tree-trunk for Waldo!" he cried, with a short laugh,feeling far from unpleased that the intense strain upon his nervesshould be thus lessened. "Try it again, lad, and perhaps--"
"Try your great-grandmother's cotton nightcap! Don't you suppose I cantell the difference between a tree and a--"
"Ranting, prancing, cavorting 'sour-us' right out of Webster'sUnabridged, eh, laddy-buck?"
"That's all right, if you can only keep on thinking that way, old man;but if yonder isn't a fellow being in a mighty nasty pickle, then Iwouldn't even begin to say so! And--you look, uncle Phaeton, please."
Nothing loath, the professor took the proffered glasses, and but aninstant later he, too, gave a sharp cry of amazement, for he saw,clinging to the trunk of a floating tree, swiftly moving with thosecircling waters, a living being!
And but a few seconds later, Bruno made the same discovery, greatly tothe delight of his younger brother.
"A man! And living, too!"
"Of course; reckon I'd make such a howl about a floater?" bluntlyinterjected Waldo. "But I'll do my crowing later on. For now we've gotto get the poor fellow out of that,--just got to yank him out!"
Through all this hasty interchange of words, the aeromotor was swiftlyprogressing, and now swung almost directly above the whirlpool, givingall a fair, unobstructed view of everything below.
The suction was so great that a sloping basin was formed, more than onehundred yards in diameter, while the actual centre lay a number of feetlower than the surrounding level.
Half-way down that perilous slope a great tree was revolving, and tothis, as his forlorn hope, clung a half-clad man, plainly alive, sincehe was looking upward, and--yes, waving a hand and uttering a cry foraid and succour.
"Help! For love of God, save me!"
"White,--an American, too!" exploded Waldo, taking action as bybrilliant inspiration. "Hang over him, uncle, for I'm going--to gofishing--for a man!"
Waldo was tugging at the grapnel and long drag-rope. Bruno was quickto divine his intention, and lent a deft hand, while the professormanipulated the helm so adroitly as to keep the flying-machine hoveringdirectly above yonder imperilled stranger, leaning far over thehand-rail to shout downward:
"Have courage, sir, and stand ready to help yourself! We will rescue youif it lies within the possibilities of--we WILL save you!"
"You bet we just will, and right--like this," spluttered Waldo, as hecast the grapnel over the rail and swiftly lowered it by the rope. "Playyou're a fish, stranger, and when you bite, hang on like grim death toa--steady, now!"
Fortunately nothing occurred to mar the programme so hastily arranged,for the drift was drawing nearer the centre of the whirl, and if oncefairly caught by that, nothing human could preserve the stranger fromdeath.
"Make a jump and grab it, if you can't do better!" cried Waldo,intensely excited now that the crisis was at hand.
The long rope with its iron weight swayed awkwardly in spite of all hecould do to steady it, and as each one of the three prongs was meant forcatching and holding fast to whatever they touched, there was no slightrisk of impaling the man, thus giving him the choice of another andstill more painful death.
Then, with a desperate grasp, a death-clutch, he caught one arm of thegrapnel, holding fast as the shock came. He was carried clear of thetree, and partly submerged in the water as his added weight brought theflying-machine so much lower.
"Up, up, uncle Phaeton!" fairly howled Waldo, at the same time tuggingat the now taut rope, in which he was ably seconded by his brother. "Forlove of--higher, uncle!"
Then the noble machine responded to the touch of its builder, liftingthe dripping stranger clear of the whirling currents, swinging him awaytowards yonder higher level, where a fall would not prove so quicklyfatal. And then the eager professor gave a shrill cheer as he saw theman, by a vigorous effort, draw his body upward sufficiently far tothrow one leg over an arm of the grapnel itself.
Knowing now that the rescued was in no especial peril, uncle Phaetonleft the air-ship to steer itself long enough for his nimble hands totake several turns of the drag-rope around the cleat provided forthat express purpose, thus relieving both Bruno and Waldo of the heavystrain, which might soon begin to tell upon them.
"Hurrah for we, us, and company!" cried Waldo, relieving his lungs ofa portion of their pent-up energy, then leaning perilously far over theedge of the machine to encourage the queer fish he had hooked.
The Lost City Page 9