Fifteen Hundred Miles an Hour Page 8

  CHAPTER VII.

  OUR ARRIVAL AND SAFE DESCENT.

  As the _Sirius_ gradually descended the last few hundred feet, Sandywas busy getting out the rope ladder; Graham confined his attention tothe motors and steering apparatus; whilst on the balcony Temple and theDoctor kept a close watch, the latter on the alert for every possiblecontingency, and from time to time calling out instructions to Grahamfor his guidance. We all of us remarked the greater buoyancy of the_Sirius_ in the lower Martial atmosphere than was the case in that ofthe Earth, and our descent was slow and easy in the extreme. In fact,so buoyant had the _Sirius_ become, that we had great fears of everreaching ground at all without assistance from below. But eventuallythe good _Sirius_ settled down through a dense growth of vegetation ofsome kind, snapping tall tapering stems like straws, crashing throughgiant reeds like so many grass stalks, and then sinking for a coupleof feet into the soft slimy soil of what was evidently a dismal swampyjungle. Here, at last, the _Sirius_ came to rest amidst a forest ofmighty stems, whose branches met overhead and formed a gloomy bowerabove and around it.

  We now armed ourselves with our revolvers and hunting-knives beforeattempting to pass down the ladder, one end of which was alreadylying on the ground. Each one felt that to Doctor Hermann the honourjustly belonged of being the first to set foot on this new world; and,accordingly, he led the way down the steps into the gloom, carrying apowerful electric hand-lamp, followed by Temple and Graham; Sandy, withpoor old Rover in his arms, bringing up the rear. The air soon beganto have a most remarkable and exhilarating effect upon us all. Eachone felt a buoyancy of spirits, a sense of lightness, and an increaseof physical strength never known before; these effects we rightlyattributed to the specific gravity of Mars, which is so much less thanthat of Earth. They were intensely exciting moments for us as, one byone, we climbed down the time-and-travel-worn sides of the _Sirius_,fighting our way through the vegetation which clustered around us,until the bottom rung of the ladder was reached, and we felt theground of a new world beneath our feet. But the country where we hadchanced to descend was sullen and uninviting; even the light from theMartial moons, shining so fairly, high up in the dark blue sky, failedto penetrate the dismal shadows of this swampy wilderness; whilst thelurid reflection in the heavens from a distant crater only intensifiedthe horrible scene of gloom.

  But amid the shadows and the vapours of this reeking marsh we couldsee sufficient with our lamp to tell us that we were surrounded byvegetation totally different from anything we had left behind us onEarth. The reeds were stupendous, with fluted and flattened stems,eighteen inches in width, rising straight as arrows from the stagnantwater, their crowns lost to view in the night haze, and minglingtogether far above the roof of the _Sirius_.

  The malarious vapours rising from the stagnant water and the rottingvegetation were deadly in their subtleness, and in spite of ourever-increasing excitement and curiosity, Doctor Hermann insisted forour health's sake that we should return to the _Sirius_. A night amidstsuch poisonous gases might have stricken each one of us down with afatal fever. It was well that we did so, for before morning dawned thedangers of our position were manifested in various startling ways.Soon, huge banks of black clouds spread across the sky like shrouds,and drops of rain began to patter on the windows.

  "My friends," said Doctor Hermann, "the best advice I can give is thatwe stay inside the _Sirius_ until dawn. Sandy had better prepare ussome food; we have not eaten for the past eight hours, and it is ofthe greatest importance that we take every care of ourselves, for wemay have our strength and endurance put to the severest tests in thenear future. Besides, this marsh is full of pestilence; we cannot betoo careful: and, further, from the closeness of the atmosphere and thelook of the heavens, I predict a storm within the next hour or so."

  "You are quite right, Doctor," rejoined Temple; whilst Sandy, as becamethe dutiful servant he was, began to act on the Doctor's wishes, andvery soon had spread before us a right royal repast, which bore ampletestimony not only to his culinary skill, but to the still ampleresources of our larder. A bottle of our best wine was uncorked inhonour of the occasion, and we sat down well-prepared to do justice towhat Temple called our "triumphal feast."

  Convivial and merry was our meal, notwithstanding the dismalsurroundings; and so gay and light-hearted did we feel that even thereeking swamp was toasted, for, after all, in spite of its gloom andits pestilential breath, it was the first ground to echo our foot-fallson this new world.

  "One more bottle of wine, my comrades," said Temple, as soon as ourmeal was over, "and let Sandy have a double allowance of whiskyto-night. We must inaugurate the termination of our journey in a rightfestive way."

  "What a triumph for Science, for Electricity in particular, we havewon!" said Doctor Hermann. "Here's to our continued success, and to thepeople of Mars, if such there be----"

  But before the Doctor could complete his toast the whole apartment wasfilled with a lurid flash of bluish light, and before we could recoverfrom our surprise the vault of heaven was shaken by an appalling pealof thunder.

  "The storm is on us, Doctor," exclaimed Graham, "and to all appearanceit is far too close to be pleasant."

  A few moments after, another and a brighter flash of lightning lit upthe gloomy swamp, and almost simultaneously the thunder bellowed out ina quick succession of cracking reports, dying away in rumblings andgrowlings which were tossed from echo to echo in the wilderness. Thendown came the rain in a drowning deluge, roaring on the foliage, andchurning the surface of the sleeping lake into a torrent of bubbling,boiling foam.

  Towards the end of the storm we had another surprise, which filled uswith the direst alarm. An exclamation from Temple brought us all to thewindow of the _Sirius_ which overlooked the lake. With blanched face,and eyes fixed intently upon the water, he pointed to the seething pool.

  "Tell me if I am mad or dreaming," he shouted in his terror.

  ITS HUGE, SCALY CARCASS.]

  Truly, indeed, his alarm was not without cause, for there, comingslowly from the water on to the shore, and in the direction of the_Sirius_, was the first representative we had seen of animal life inMars. How shall we attempt to describe this hideous amphibious monster,as it appeared lit up by the almost incessant flashes of lightning?Only its enormous head and forequarters were yet visible--a huge scalycarcase, mapped out with phosphorescent light, a square-looking headwith pointed snout, and with two monstrous eyes attached to stalk-likeshafts about a foot in length, which in the brief intervals of darknessshone like balls of fire. Raising its head on its long pliant neck,it sniffed the air as if in anger, and then began to crawl out of thepool, yard after yard of its repulsive body emerging, its head nearlyreaching the _Sirius_ before its tapering fish-like tail was drawn fromthe water. We could hear the grinding, crunching sound of its scalybody as it was slowly drawn along the swampy ground, and so near hadit come to us that we could see a coarse, bushy mane hanging round itslower neck in dripping folds. The hideous reptile, for such we mustcall it, passed on without noticing the _Sirius_, although we felt itsrough, scaly body rub against the sides; and as its hideous, mightycoils disappeared into the gloomy swamp, leaving a luminous, slimytrack behind them we could detect huge protuberances like warts alongits back, here and there varied with spiky fins, which were from timeto time half-raised, as though the horrible creature were about toengage in combat.

  "Doctor," said Temple, in his alarm, "if this is a fair sample of thecreatures we have come to live amongst, I really think it time webegan to think about getting back again. I don't like the idea of suchneighbours at all. Besides, we may yet meet with monsters more terriblestill, and what is of greater importance to us, we may not escape theirnotice so easily next time. We should require an army to protect usfrom such creatures as this."

  "Gently, gently, Temple; you are not a naturalist, and cannot beexpected to feel my enthusiasm."

  No less than nine of these terrible monsters came from the lake duringthe hour that w
e watched, and all took the same beaten track into theswamps that the first had followed, and we saw them no more. Templecould scarcely conceal a shudder, as he looked at the now placid water."Ah!" he exclaimed, "who would have dreamed that such creatures werelying beneath its surface?"

  Certainly the Doctor alarmed us, when we heard him coolly biddingSandy to seek and slaughter these loathsome creatures.

  "Sandy," said he, "you must get me one of those serpents to morrow.It will be most interesting to dissect so magnificent a type of theReptilia. I may not have another such opportunity."

  "Na, na, Doctor, I could na do it--I could na do it, mon," he replieddeprecatingly.

  "Doctor, I am afraid, if you press your request, we shall have Sandywanting to give us all a week's notice," said Graham, assuming an airof mock gravity as he spoke.

  "I dinna want to do anything o' the kind, Mr. Graham."

  "All right, Sandy my boy, I'll make a bargain with you," answeredGraham, laughing. "If I kill the beastie, will you help to cut him up?"

  "Na, na, Mr. Graham, it is na a joking matter. I will ha' nothing to dowith it; for as sure as you do, bad luck'll be followin' us. We'd bestnot meddle wi' the likes o' them."

  "Well, Sandy," said the Doctor, "you must have had sufficientexperience of me, by this time, to know that I never ask a man to doanything I am afraid to do myself. I spoke thoughtlessly, and will dothe killing myself."

  By the time these reptiles had passed out of sight, the storm hadwell-nigh subsided. Sleep was beyond us, the sight of these reptilesalone was enough to keep us awake for a week. We longed, oh, how welonged for the dawn! But more surprises were in store for us, ere thateventful night had passed away.

  The awful storm seemed to have stirred into activity the wild beasts ofthis lonesome marsh, and many curious cries resounded from its depths.Now a muffled yell, or a chorus of loud bellowings would be heard,as if some gigantic creatures were fighting each other to the death.Then more musical calls would break the oppressive stillness--here,there, and everywhere from the thickets they came, but the animals thatproduced them were invisible in the gloom. Our curiosity was excited tothe utmost limits of human endurance.

  It must have been about an hour before the dawn when we were terrified,beyond all description, by a crash against one of the windows of the_Sirius_, followed by a moan as of pain, so appalling, so unearthly,that our very blood seemed to curdle with horror. Even Doctor Hermannhimself was visibly disconcerted. Perhaps it was owing to the highlywrought state of our nerves, but all of us, for the moment, were tooterror-stricken to move. In the Doctor's case the alarm was onlymomentary, and with intrepid courage he rushed to the broken window,firing a couple of shots from his revolver at some dread shapestruggling to enter the apartment. The Doctor was a poor hand with sucha weapon; both bullets missed their mark; and before a third shot couldbe fired, the frightful creature had vanished. Moan after moan washeard; now near, then far away in the distance, sounding more like thevoices of tortured souls, than of any material being. In a few moments,another of these mysterious creatures appeared, and this time wewatched it approach with rapt astonishment, as it floated through theair in the full focus of the rays from our electric lamps. No creatureof Earth possesses such means of locomotion. It looked like a hugedark ball, perhaps six feet in diameter; and as it came towards us, wenoticed that it was revolving with enormous rapidity, forcing its waythrough the air, evidently on the same principle as a screw-propellerin the water.

  Graham had by this time regained his self-possession, and, with hisrifle in hand, as this monster approached, he said:

  "Doctor, shall I fire?"

  "Yes, Graham, by all means; but be absolutely sure of your aim beforedoing so."

  Almost before the Doctor had finished speaking, the crack of Graham'srifle rang out; but the animal continued its course, and came with acrash against the _Sirius_. The shot had told, nevertheless, and weheard its body fall through the reeds, and drop with a heavy thud onthe spongy ground.

  "Well done, Mr. Graham! A splendid shot! He's doon! He's doon!" sangout Sandy at the top of his voice, evidently both pleased and comfortedbeyond measure, to see that these strange beings we had come amongstwere not proof against earthly powder and ball.