Fifteen Hundred Miles An Hour

"Very true, Temple, but unfortunately we know not in which direction Edos lies," the Doctor answered.

And so we sped on, we knew not whither, but keeping a sharp look-out. Our course was nearly due north, a point or so east. The country, so far as we could judge in the deepening gloom, was forbidding in appearance, and the reflection from the lake of molten fire shone on the heavens for a vast distance. We seemed to have left all fertile lands behind us, and were hastening into regions of desert barrenness.

Two hours after our escape from Remagaloth, our stock of electricity showed signs of becoming exhausted. We had not the wherewithal to generate more. We were now quite two hundred miles away to the north-eastward of the fire-lake, and here we were compelled to descend. We dropped gently down on what seemed to be a vast plain, barren of vegetation; and there, safe in the Sirius, we ate a hearty meal, enjoyed the luxury of a cigar, and went to sleep, all eager for the dawn to disclose to us the nature of the country we had entered.

CHAPTER XIV.

ACROSS THE DESERT CHADOS

We awoke at dawn feeling like new men, scarcely being able to realise the fact that we were free! The events of yesterday still lingered in our minds, like the remnants of a more than usually vivid dream. That all was real and true we could not bring ourselves to believe, so awful and inhuman seemed the doom we had so miraculously escaped. But the sun, as it rose in solemn splendour above the eastern edge of this strange world, soon dispelled our morbid thoughts and cheered us into activity. The view from the balcony of the Sirius was grand, though the country round us was sterile and desolate as the Valley of Death below Remagaloth, from which we had been delivered at yester e'en! But we had life and liberty; the future was once more before us, full of hopes and possibilities, and each one felt that the worst was over and brighter prospects were now before us.

We found everything in the Sirius precisely as we had left it. Evidently the people of Edos had shunned our carriage, and desired that we and all our belongings might be destroyed together. This was a fortunate circumstance for us, for had the Sirius been dismantled and pillaged we should have been in this wilderness without food. As soon as breakfast was over we consulted together as to what was best to be done.

"There is no help for it, my friends," said the Doctor; "the Sirius is wrecked, and we shall have to leave her to her fate. Alas! she can give us safety no longer, and we may stay in her at our peril. We may be sure a search will be made for us, and that very quickly. Our only course is to abandon her, taking with us as many absolute necessaries as we can conveniently carry among us, and set off at once towards more fertile country. The future must take care of itself entirely, and we be guided further solely by circumstances."

"But, Doctor, is there no hope of patching her up for a little time longer?"

"None, Graham; our motors are worn out; our generating material exhausted. We should require all the resources of a civilised community to make good her defects and replenish her power."

"Then there is nothing for it but to do as you suggest, Doctor," said Temple; and Graham reluctantly acquiesced.

While the Doctor and Sandy selected such articles as we were going to take, Temple and Graham went outside to reconnoitre, and to decide as to the best route we should take.

There was little choice to be made. Radiating in every direction from where we stood, the wide desert extended in one vast scene of ruinous waste. We stood on a wide uneven rock- and sand-strewn plain, which reached to the horizon on every side. Not a trace of vegetation could we detect sprouting from the bitter, ungenerous soil; not a stream or a pool cheered its wide expanse. All round the horizon were mountains of bare and forbidding aspect; some of them crested with what looked like snow; others volcanic, and belching smoke and fire. The route toward the north-east seemed the most feasible, for in that direction the mountains were not so high, and an apparent break in the rocky girdle suggested an easier passage over them.

"North-east it must be, Mr. Temple. We ought to reach the mountains by to-morrow afternoon, and get through yonder pass to the country beyond them by evening of the next day, at latest."

"I think so, too," said Temple. "And now that is decided, let me take the opportunity of our few moments alone together, sincerely to thank you for our deliverance from death yesterday. You have saved my life, Graham, and anything that I can do in return I shall be only too pleased. I have not cared to speak thus to you before the Doctor, as I know the subject is distasteful to him. Whenever a woman is concerned, no matter how remotely, all his good-humour and generosity vanish. He absolutely hates women, and all to do with them."

"Pray, Mr. Temple, do not thank me. I was but the agent of our deliverance, after all. Thank this wonderful priest, Echri, for it was he who saved us through Volinè's mystic ring. Why, or how, we know not; yet I am as sure of it as I am of my own existence. I cannot expect you and the rest to be so credulous as to believe in its virtues," he continued, looking at the ring and twirling it round his finger as he spoke, "but the feelings that came over me when I broke those fetters, yesternight, can never be expressed in words. Ask me not to attempt to describe them; for I desire to keep what I then felt a sacred secret."

"But talking of Volinè, Graham; I am really very sorry for you. It recalls my own young days when I wooed and won the charming girl who became my wife, but only to die with her infant son in twelve short fleeting months, and to leave me in lonely sorrow. I have not got over that trouble, Graham, and I never shall, twenty years old though it is."

"Then, Mr. Temple, you can slightly understand my infatuation, my sincere love for this girl of Gathma. Is she not worthy of all the love that man can give? She is as good and as true as she is handsome. And yet, all now is over between us – all is over, and I shall see her no more!"

"But you must cheer up. Don't let the Doctor see your weakness, for it will only make unpleasantness amongst us. Things may come right yet. You know the old Earth-saying about all things coming to him who waits? Something tells me that even now we have not seen the last of Edos, or of the King of Gathma's daughter."

"That you may be a true prophet, then, is my one prayer. For I love Volinè, and without her my life is dreary and desolate as this desert around us."

"Well, Graham, we had better get back to the Sirius now. I daresay the Doctor is ready to start by this time; and if you take my advice you will let the subject of Volinè, and all that happened in Edos, form no part of our conversation. The Doctor has strange ideas – what man of genius has not? – and at present it is best to humour him, for we require all his undivided energies to bring us safely through our perils."

So conversing, Temple and Graham walked back towards the Sirius, where we found the Doctor and Sandy had arranged into four packs the various necessaries he had selected from the stores.

"Well, friends, what is the result of your exploration?" said the Doctor, smiling, and looking up from one of the packages he was strapping together.

"Travelling will be slow, Doctor," answered Graham, "for the ground is covered with loose sand and rough broken rock. Our best course is north-east, towards the rent or defile in the mountains yonder. We should reach them by to-morrow afternoon."

"Then take a cup of this meat essence, and we will be off," said the Doctor. "I think we have got all that we shall require for immediate use. Water will be scarce, but I think we have a substitute. Now have a last look round, and satisfy yourselves that you are leaving nothing you may value specially behind."

At last we each shouldered our package, strapping it on our back like a knapsack, and with rifle in hand we turned from the Sirius and began our march. Tears dimmed the Doctor's eyes as he looked for the last time upon his cherished handiwork, every bolt and plate of which was dear to him; and not one of us left the good carriage without feelings of regret, for it seemed as though we were turning our backs on home!

Hour after hour we trudged along, now sinking knee-deep in fine sand, then slipping and stumbling as we slowly picked our way across stony ground, the sun beating down upon us from a clear and rainless sky. After exerting ourselves to the very utmost, we found that we had not advanced more than twelve miles from the Sirius by mid-day; and owing to the extreme clearness of the heated atmosphere, this distance did not appear much more than six. We halted to rest under the shadow of a big mass of rock which lay embedded in the sand, and here we ate our food and each drank a cup of wine and water from his flask. Of pure water we had only one small cask, holding a gallon, which Sandy carried slung from his shoulder. This we reserved for any emergency, but we hoped to find a stream or pool before nightfall.

We allowed ourselves one hour's rest, then resumed our march, and continued struggling on till sunset. During the afternoon we crossed a stretch of better ground, and by the time we halted for the night, we seemed to have done at least half the distance that separated the Sirius from the mountains. We encamped in a rocky hollow. Tent or fire we had none: we could not carry the one, and no materials for the other were to be got in this wilderness. We ate our cold supper and then fell asleep, with nothing but the starry sky above us, and with the soft sand for our beds. It was a lovely night, warm and windless and still, so that we experienced little or no discomfort, and awoke refreshed, just as the rising sun was tipping the distant hills with gold. Not one drop of water, not the slightest sign of moisture had we discovered, and the night had been dry and dewless. Not a blade of vegetation, or a trace of any living thing, could yet be seen – all was desert and barren.

With no fire to warm or cook anything, our morning meal was not quite so savoury as it might have been, but we were hungry, and hungry men are rarely fastidious. Meat essence dissolved in a little water, with biscuits and a draught of watered wine, formed our repast, and as soon as it was done we picked up our belongings and made an early start. We were anxious to get as much ground covered as possible before the sun became so oppressively powerful; besides, death stared us in the face on every side in this terrible wilderness, and delay might prove fatal to us all.

Slowly, terribly slowly, mile after mile was passed, and the mountains before us began to show out in more detail. They were barren and sterile enough. Everything seemed withered and blasted, and the sun in fierce splendour travelled across the waterless heavens, and burnt into the bare rocks and sands, wasting his life-nourishing heat on a region of eternal desolation. By mid-day we were so fatigued that we sank down beside a big stone to rest our weary limbs and throbbing heads. Eat we could not; our mouths were dry and parched, and we craved for water.

There was but a quart of the precious fluid left – a quart of lukewarm, half-putrid water, between four thirsty men and a panting dog! Sandy begged hard for a drop for his dog, and he moistened poor Rover's mouth with a spoonful; but we ourselves tried to slake our awful thirst with a few of the Doctor's lozenges. They answered admirably; but their effect was only momentary, and by the time each little cake was sucked away we were as thirsty as before. The sun beat down upon us remorselessly, and to save ourselves from being scorched to death we scraped a hole under the shadow of the stone, and there, huddled together in the scanty shade, we lay waiting for the sun to sink lower in the west before we tried to drag our weary feet a little farther. For three hours we remained in this hole in the sand; then once more we started on, moistening our mouths from our nearly empty flasks, and munching a biscuit as we went.

Towards night the temperature became much lower, and we were able to get along a little faster; but every mile that we went we found our burdens becoming heavier. Yet we struggled on; nor did we seek a camping-place until we reached the lower slopes of the mountains. Still all was desolation; closer scrutiny only confirmed the opinions formed by a more distant view, for the hills were as sterile and barren as the plain we had crossed.

"Never mind, my friends," said the Doctor, "we have crossed the worst part. Here, amid the mountains, we are sure of more shade, and shall most probably find water, if not on these slopes, surely on the other side."

"Well, Doctor, if we don't find water soon, it will be all over with us," remarked Temple. "I myself don't feel equal to another day like this has been."

"None of us know the compass of our strength, or what we can do, until spurred on by the goads of necessity, Temple," the Doctor answered.

We selected a sheltered nook among the rocks, each smoothing the sand into the semblance of a couch, and there we used the remainder of the water to make our essence, and then stretching our stiff and weary limbs, soon fell asleep.

Not one of us awoke again until the next day was far advanced. The sun was four hours high towards the zenith ere we roused from our slumber. The long sleep had done us good; our heads were easier; our thirst not so intense. We drank the remainder of our wine and water, ate a few biscuits, and then prepared for our onward march. The rocky pass between two rugged mountains lay straight before us, and in single file we went our way. At first the precipitous sides of the mountains nearly met overhead, and the path was little more than a gloomy fissure; but this soon widened out as we ascended, and we eventually found ourselves in a broad valley, with an uninterrupted view for miles.

Our great exertions in walking over the rock-strewn ground soon began to create acute thirst. We had no fluid now of any kind, and only a dozen lozenges were left. These we shared, three to each; and very soon the cravings for moisture triumphed and they were gone. We had nothing whatever now to assuage thirst! We must find water, or die!

Times without number we consulted together as to the propriety of throwing away our arms and ammunition; but still we continued to carry them, first in one hand, then in the other. Then one or the other of us said he could go no farther, and begged the rest to leave him to die in peace. But we cheered and rallied him whose hopes of deliverance were ebbing, as best we could, and still toiled on. Upwards! onwards! filled with all the torments of a raging thirst, we toiled, our feet heavy as though shod with lead; but still no sign of life – the same desolate wilderness, the same hot sun, the same bare rocks and stony way, continuing on and on apparently to eternity! All that livelong day we struggled on beneath a scorching sun. Towards evening we were startled by a shout from Sandy:

"The water! Doctor, the shining water! See, there! There! below ye on the left."

We looked where Sandy pointed, and there – could we trust our eyes? or was it but the fancy of a scorched and sun-disordered brain? – there, about a mile away, was a beautiful pool below the hillside, its shimmering waters glistening like silver in the setting sun! We literally danced for joy, and, nerved to new strength by the sight of the welcome waters, we ran helter-skelter over the rocks and stones towards them. When two hundred yards away we threw down our rifles, and slipped out of the straps that held our burdens, and each raced as for his life to be the first to revel in the feast!

Graham, being by far the strongest, reached the brink first; but instead of kneeling down to quench his thirst, he threw himself to the ground with a piteous groan of despair, saying:

"We are lost! my comrades; we are lost! Unless we can cool our burning tongues with mercury!"

Alas! Graham's words were only too true, for the lake, which must have covered some hundreds of acres of ground, was one thick, fluid mass of quicksilver! We sat down by this costly, yet horrid pool, too overcome with bitter disappointment, and with the exertion of hastening thither, to speak; and not one of us stirred until the sun had set and night approached.

"Doctor," exclaimed Temple at last, in a weak and weary voice, "we can go no further; we had best remain here and die."

But Doctor Hermann made no answer. He was gazing into the lake at our feet in a half-conscious manner, muttering incoherently to himself about "majestic phenomenon" and "wonderful sight," and then he sank back unconscious! The scene now became intensely horrible. Temple sat with pale hollow cheeks, and sunken eyes, his chin resting upon his knees; Sandy was struggling with Graham to reach the lake, swearing he would have water if he killed him in reaching it. But poor Sandy was weak as a child, and Graham in very kindness hurled him to the ground, where he lay like one dead. The only man with any control over himself, or with any strength, was Graham, and he stood amongst his fallen companions, gaunt and haggard, with tears of sympathy for them trickling down his wan, wasted cheeks, and white face turned upwards to the sky.

"Oh, God!" he cried, in words that rattled hoarsely in his parched and burning throat – "Oh, God! give us water, or be merciful and let us quickly die. Oh, Echri!" he panted, "servant of God, if your power admits, hear the voice of him who wears your sacred ring, crying for help in the wilderness, and send him succour. Help! – me – and them – oh, God! – Echri – ring – Volinè;" but the last words became but rattling, meaningless sounds, and he too was overcome with faintness and thirst, and sank down among the rest to die!

A few minutes later, Temple alone remained conscious; but he felt too weak to move, and he sat there in his agony, watching the bright merciless stars come forth one by one, and the distant yellow ball of Earth rise steadily above the mountains, until a drowsiness overcame him, and he mercifully fell into a troubled sleep.

How long he slumbered we shall never know, but he woke trembling with cold, roused from his sleep by the chilly blast that was howling and shrieking round him. The heavens were of an inky blackness, save at irregular intervals, when the blue lightning lit up the banks of cloud for a fleeting moment. The cold wind, evidently charged with moisture, had brought new life upon its wings for Temple, and he felt refreshed. He was still too weak to move, and sat shivering in astonished silence, viewing the progress of the storm. Peal after peal of thunder shook the ground beneath him: flash after flash of lightning glanced along the lake of mercury, and illumined its smooth waveless surface like a mirror. Then a few big heavy drops of rain spattered on the rocks, one of them striking him full on his forehead. A minute or so later, preceded by a warning roar, the tempest broke in all its fury. The rain beat down on the parched ground, wetting him and his companions to the skin, collecting into pools, and flowing in tiny rills and torrents between the rocks, and forming channels across the firmer beds of sand.

The water revived Temple like doses of some magic elixir, and he crawled to the nearest pool and drank his fill of this sweet, refreshing nectar from the sky! Then amidst the tempest strife, and by the lightning's light, he dragged his cold and aching body towards his fallen comrades, his cap full of water, and beginning with Graham, who was lying face downwards, he gently parted his dry cracked lips asunder, and poured a few drops between his teeth. The effect was instantaneous, and he showed signs of returning consciousness; by bathing his forehead, he was soon able to speak.