After a time he discerned a figure lying upon a ledge below. Close scrutiny revealed that the dark costume characteristic of the Seuen-H’sin was torn, displaying an orange garment beneath.
Confident that none of the sorcerers would be wearing two suits at once in this fashion, the scientist concluded the figure was mine. For a time he doubted whether I lived, but eventually he thought he saw me stir feebly, whereupon he began frantic efforts to reach me.
Repeated attempts to descend the precipice failed. Then he tried dropping pebbles to arouse me. Again unsuccessful, he risked attracting the sorcerers back to the spot by shouting into the chasm.
All his efforts proved futile, so he finally returned to the destroyer and obtained this rescue party.
In grateful silence I gripped his hand.
“Now,” the astronomer concluded, “if you are able to walk, we will get back to the ship. It is only 1 o’clock, and if we hurry there still is time to attack the Seuen-H’sin before daylight. Conditions throughout the world are so alarming that we must put this power plant out of business without delay!”
“Go ahead!” I assented. “I’m able to hobble along!”
It was less than two miles to the destroyer’s anchorage, they said. During the march none of the sorcerers was sighted, with which we began to conclude that the cracking of the earth had affected the village on the other side of the mountain so that all their lookouts had been called in.
But suddenly, when we were less than half a mile from the vessel, the stillness of the night was shattered by the shrill blast of a whistle. A series of other wild shrieks from the steam chant came in quick succession.
“The _Albatross_!” exclaimed Ensign Hallock. “Something’s happening?”
We burst into a run—the whistle still screaming through the night.
All at once the sound ceased, and as the echoes died out among the hills we heard the rattle of firearms.
“An attack!” cried Hallock. “The sorcerers have attacked the ship!”
Then, abruptly, the firing, too, died out.
A few moments later we emerged from the ravine onto the bank of the fiord and into full view of the destroyer. The passing of the moon into the west had brought the vessel within its rays—and the sight that greeted us almost froze our blood!
Swarming about the deck were dozens of Chinamen—some with rifles, some with knives. They appeared to be completely in control of the ship. Numerous pairs of them were coming up from below decks, carrying the bodies of the vessel’s crew, which they carelessly tossed overboard. Evidently they had taken our companions by surprise and wiped them out!
At this sight Ensign Hallock and his men became frenzied with rage.
“Ready, men!” the officer announced to his followers. “We’re going down there and give those murderers something to remember!”
Eagerly the seamen prepared to charge the ship. But Dr. Gresham stopped them.
“It’s no use,” he said. “There are hundreds of the sorcerers down there—and only a handful of us. You would only be throwing away your lives and defeating the whole purpose of this expedition. We must find a better way.”
The astronomer’s counsel prevailed. Whereupon we debated what should be done. The situation was desperate. Here we were, completely isolated in a grim wilderness, hundreds of miles from help, and surrounded by hordes of savage fanatics. Soon, no doubt, the sorcerers’ spies would find us. And, meanwhile, we were helpless to put an end to the terrors that were engulfing the planet and its inhabitants.
So despair gradually took possession of us. Not even the customary resourcefulness of Dr. Gresham rose to the emergency.
Suddenly Ensign Hallock gave an exclamation of excitement.
“_The Nippon!_” he burst out. “Let’s turn the tables on the Chinese, and seize the _Nippon_! She’s probably got a guard on board, but maybe we can take it by surprise!”
“What could we do with her?” I objected. “She needs a large crew—and there are only twenty-seven of us!”
“We’ll sail her away, of course!” replied the young naval officer with enthusiasm. “There must be fuel on board, for her fires are going. Three of the boys here are apprentice engineers. I can do the navigating. And the rest of you can take turns stoking the boilers!”
“But how could we slip past the _Albatross_?” asked Dr. Gresham.
Ensign Hallock seemed to have thought of that, too, for he promptly answered:
“The _Albatross_ is an oil-burning craft, with the new type of burners that came into use since these Chinks have been stowed away here in the wilderness. The mechanism for using the oil is quite complicated, and the sorcerers are likely to have trouble operating her until they figure out the system. If we reach them before they have time to master the thing, they will be helpless to stop us!”
The young man’s enthusiasm was contagious. Dr. Gresham begun to give heed.
“Even if we fail to get away in the _Nippon_,” the scientist admitted, “she has a powerful wireless outfit: Kwo-Sung-tao has been using it to communicate with Washington. With that radio in our hands for ten minutes, we can summon help sufficient to annihilate these yellow devils!”
The plan was adopted without further question. And, believing that the sorcerers’ easy victory over the _Albatross_ had made them careless, perhaps, we struck out in as direct a course as possible for the spot at which the _Nippon_ was docked.
In twenty minutes, without sighting any of the enemy, we arrived at the edge of the timber behind the wharf.
_CHAPTER X_
WE TAKE DESPERATE CHANCES
The great liner lay silent in the moonlight, with no lights visible about her, but thin columns of smoke rose lazily from her funnels. A gangplank was down.
It was decided that our number should divide into three equal parts. One was to go to the bow and board the craft there by climbing up the line fastening the ship to the pier; this line was in the shadow except at its far end, where the men would emerge upon the deck. The second group was to get aboard at the stern by the same means. And the third detachment was to advance by the gangplank.
The plan worked without a hitch, and soon we were assembled upon the vessel’s main deck. No guard was in sight. Hurriedly, we explored the upper decks and all the chambers off them. They were empty.
Then, descending simultaneously by companionways forward, aft and amidship, we began to search the body of the vessel. Still no one could be found.
And this deserted condition of the ship continued until only the stokehold remained to be entered. Here, however, we were certain of finding people.
Leaving three men on deck to guard against surprise, the rest of us crept into the boiler room.
Only two Chinamen were in the place, leisurely engaged in stoking the furnaces. We had them covered with our revolvers before they had any warning of our approach.
In spite of the odds against them, one of the Mongolians leaped forward and had almost struck one of our men with his shovel before a shot killed him in his tracks. The other Chinaman submitted, and he at once was securely bound and dumped into a corner.
Dr. Gresham tried to question the prisoner in Chinese, but all the information he could get regarding the keeping up of steam on the _Nippon_ was: “Maybe leave here soon!”
While the astronomer had been thus engaged, Ensign Hallock and some of his men were examining the coal bunkers, and they now reported that the vessel was stocked with fuel for a long voyage.
At this juncture, one of the deck watch came to announce that the moon was sinking near the mountaintops, and that if we hoped to get far down the channel before the light failed we would have to start promptly.
Detailing eighteen men to do the firing—with orders to get more steam as rapidly as possible—Ensign Hallock and the rest rushed to the engine room, where the three apprentice engineers already were at work. Finding everything all right there, the officer proceeded to the steering room, while some of us pulled in the gangplank.
The astronomer and myself next started to find the radio plant, to get into communication with the Mare Island navy yard. But here we encountered a set-back: The wireless plant had been removed! Kwo-Sung-tao, we could only surmise, had moved the set to a spot more convenient to the village. So, for the present, communication with the outside world was impossible.
During this brief period of putting the ship in sailing order, none of the sorcerers made an appearance; probably all the men they could spare were exploring the captured destroyer.
Soon steam was up; whereupon Ensign Hallock sent Dr. Gresham to the bow and myself to the stern to keep a close lookout, and himself ascended to the bridge and gave the order to start the engines and cast off. Before many moments the leviathan was moving away from the wharf.
The officer had found from the charts that there was a place only half a mile or so upstream where the fiord opened into a bay, or amphitheater. There, from all indications, room might be had to turn the ship around and head her down the channel. For this opening he now set his course.