Part 31 (1/2)
”It'll take a man long time to carry down all your things, Perfessor.”
”Oh, led them go! The eruption has alretty swallowed them oop. The lava iss by now a foot deep in the valley. Before long it flows here, so we must embark.”
”But you've lost all them vallyable things, Perfessor,” said Handy Solomon. ”Now, I call that hard luck.”
Dr. Schermerhorn snapped his fingers.
”They do not amoundt to that!” he cried. ”Here, here, in this leetle box iss all the treasure! Here iss the labour of ten years! Here iss the _Laughing La.s.s_, and the crew, and all the equipmendt comprised. Here iss the world!”
”I'm a plain seaman, Perfessor, and I suppose I got to believe you; but she's a main small box for all that.”
”With that small box you can haf all your wishes,” a.s.serted the Professor, still in the German lyric strain over his triumph. ”It iss the box of enchantments. You haf but to will the change you would haf taig place--it iss done. The substance of the rocks, the molecule--all!”
”Could a man make diamonds?” asked Pulz abruptly. I could hear the sharp intake of the men's breathing as they hung on the reply.
”Much more wonderful changes than that it can accomplish,” replied the doctor, with an indulgent laugh. ”That change iss simple. Carbon iss coal; carbon iss diamond. You see? One has but to change the form, not the substance.”
”Then it'll change coal to diamonds?” asked Handy Solomon.
”Yes, you gather my meanings--”
I heard a sharp squeak like a terrified mouse. Then a long, dreadful silence; then two dull, heavy blows, s.p.a.ced with deliberation. A moment later I caught a glimpse of Handy Solomon bent forward to the labour of dragging a body toward the sea, his steel claw hooked under the angle of the jaw as a man handles a fish. Pulz came and threw off my bonds and gag.
”Come along!” said he.
All kept looking fearfully toward the arroyo. A dense white steam marked its course. The air was now heavy with portent. Successive explosions, some light, some severe, shook the foundations of the island. Great rocks and boulders bounded down the hills. The flashes of lightning had become more frequent. We moved, exaggerated to each other's vision by the strange light, uncouth and gigantic.
”Let's get out of this!” cried Thrackles.
We turned at the word and ran, Thrackles staggering under the weight of the chest. All our belongings we abandoned, and set out for the _Laughing La.s.s_ with only the tatters in which we stood. Luckily for us a great part of the s.h.i.+p's stores had been returned to her hold after the last thorough scrubbing, so we were in subsistence, but all our clothes, all our personal belongings, were left behind us on the beach. For after once we had topped the cliff that led over to the cove, I doubt if any consideration on earth would have induced us to return to that accursed place.
The row out to the s.h.i.+p was wet and dangerous. Seismic disturbances were undoubtedly responsible for high pyramidic waves that lifted and fell without onward movement. We fairly tumbled up out of the dory, which we did not hoist on deck, but left at the end of the painter to beat her sides against the s.h.i.+p.
XVII
THE OPEN SEA
Our haste, however, availed us little, for there was no wind at all. We lay for over two hours under the weird light, over-canopied by the red- brown cloud, while the explosions shook the foundations of the world.
n.o.body ventured below. The sails flapped idly from the masts: the blocks and spars creaked: the three-cornered waves rose straight up and fell again as though reaching from the deep.
When the men first began to sweat the sails up, evidently in preparation for an immediate departure, I objected vehemently.
”You aren't going to leave him on the island,” I cried. ”He'll die of starvation.”
They did not answer me; but after a little more, when my expostulations had become more positive, Handy Solomon dropped the halliard, and drew me to one side.
”Look here, you,” he snarled, ”you'd better just stow your gab. You're lucky to be here yourself, let alone botherin' your thick head about anybody else, and you can kiss the Book on that! Do you know why you ain't with them carrion?” He jerked his thumb toward the beach. ”It's because Solomon Anderson's your friend. Thrackles would have killed you in a minute 'count of his bit hand. I got you your chance. Now don't you be a fool, for I ain't goin' to stand between you and them another time.