Part 6 (2/2)

”I'm going to make a search,” decided the boy.

He took a small portable electric light, run by a storage battery, and, slipping on a pair of shoes and a bath robe, he left his stateroom.

He had decided that the noise came from the storage compartment and so made for that. The door he knew was not locked, since he had seen Mr.

Henderson go in late that afternoon, and the professor had used no key.

Moving softly, Mark left his room and soon found himself in a corridor, on either side of which were located the sleeping quarters of the others. He did not want to awaken them, and, perhaps, be laughed at for his curiosity.

To get to the storeroom Mark had to go first from the corridor into the dining room. He soon reached the door that guarded what he thought might be a strange secret. Trying the k.n.o.b softly he found it giving under his fingers.

”I wonder if I had better go in,” he thought. ”Perhaps, after all, it was only rats, as Jack said.”

But, even as he listened he again heard the odd sound coming from the room. This determined him. He would solve the mystery if possible.

Cautiously he turned the k.n.o.b. The door was slowly swinging open when Mark was startled by a noise from behind him. He turned suddenly to see Professor Henderson confronting him.

”What is it, Mark? Is the s.h.i.+p on fire? What's the matter? Is any one hurt?”

”I was just going in this room to----” began Mark.

”Don't do it! Don't do it!” exclaimed the professor in an excited whisper. ”No one must go in that room. I forgot to tell you and Jack about it. No one must enter. It contains a secret!”

”I heard a strange noise and----” Mark began again.

”It could make no noise! It would be impossible for it to make a noise!” the professor exclaimed.

”I heard something,” the boy insisted.

”You were dreaming!” said the professor. ”Now go back to bed, Mark, and don't let this happen again. Remember, no one must enter that room unless I give permission!”

Somewhat crestfallen at the outcome of his investigations, but realizing that the professor could do what he wanted to aboard his own s.h.i.+p, Mark went back to bed. But he could not sleep. All the rest of the night he was wondering whether Mr. Henderson had some strange creature hidden aboard the Mermaid. He feared lest the old scientist's mind might be affected and, in his wildness he had made some infernal machine that would, in time, blow the whole s.h.i.+p apart.

But tired nature a.s.serted itself at last, and, weary with vain imaginings, Mark fell into a slumber. The next morning he awoke with a start from a dream that he was being devoured by an immense water snake.

He said nothing to the others about his night's adventure, for, as it transpired, no one else had been awakened by his investigations. The professor did not refer to his conversation with Mark.

”There's something queer going on aboard the s.h.i.+p this trip,” said Mark to himself. ”But I guess it's none of my business. Professor Henderson seems to know what he is doing and I guess I can trust him.”

He resolved to think no more of the strange noises and movements, and, for several nights thereafter he was not disturbed by them.

The weather, which, up to this time had been fair, took a sudden turn for the worse about the fourth day after Mark's little night expedition. One evening the sun sank in a ma.s.s of dull lead-colored clouds and a sharp wind sprang up.

”We're going to have a storm,” said Mr. Henderson. ”It's liable to be a bad one, too, from the way the barometer is falling.”

He looked at the gla.s.s, and scanned the various instruments that told how high up the Mermaid was and how fast she was traveling.

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