 This is the Levervox recording. All Levervox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Levervox.org. This recording has been Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. THE MASTER OF THE WORLD by Jules Verne CHAPTER XV THE EGLE'S NEST On the morrow, when I awoke after a sound sleep, our vehicles seemed motionless. It seemed to me evident that we were not running upon land, yet neither were we rushing through or beneath the waters, nor yet soaring across the sky, had the inventor regained that mysterious hiding place of his where no human being had ever set foot before him, and now, since he had not disembarrassed himself of my presence, was his secret about to be revealed to me. It seemed astonishing that I had slept so profoundly during most of our voyage through the air. It puzzled me, and I asked if this sleep had not been caused by some drug, mixed with my last meal, the captain of the terror having wished thus to prevent me from knowing the place where we landed. All that I can recall of the previous night is the terrible impression made upon me by that moment, when the machine, instead of being caught in the vortex of the cataract, rose under the impulse of its machinery like a bird with its huge wings beating with tremendous power. So this machine actually fulfilled a fourfold use. It was at the same time automobile, boat, submarine, and airship. Earth, sea, and air it could move through all three elements. And with what power? With what speed? A few instance suffice to complete its marvellous transformations. The same engine drove it along all its courses, and I had been a witness of its metamorphosis. But that of which I was still ignorant, and which I could perhaps discover, was the source of the energy which drove the machine, and above all, who was the inspired inventor who, after having created it, in every detail, guided it with so much ability and audacity. At the moment when the terror rose above the Canadian falls, I was held down against the hatchway of my cabin. The clear, moonlit evening had permitted me to note the direction taken by the airship. It followed the course of the river and passed the suspension bridge three miles below the falls. It is here that the irresistible rapids of the Niagara River begin, where the river bends sharply to descend toward Lake Ontario. On leaving this point, I was sure that we had turned toward the east. The captain continued at the helm. I had not addressed a word to him. What good would it do? He would not have answered. I noted that the terror seemed to be guided in its course through the air with surprising ease. Assuredly the roads of the air were as familiar to it as those of the seas and of the lands. In the presence of such results, could one not understand the enormous pride of this man who proclaimed himself Master of the World? Was he not in control of a machine infinitely superior to any that had ever sprung from the hand of man, and against which men were powerless? In truth, why should he sell this marvel? Why should he accept the millions offered him? Yes, I comprehended now that absolute confidence in himself which was expressed in his every attitude, and where might not his ambition carry him, if by its own excess it mounted some day into madness? A half hour after the terror soared into the air, I had sunk into complete unconsciousness without realizing its approach. I repeat, it must have been caused by some drug. Without doubt our commander did not wish me to know the road he followed. Hence I cannot say whether the aviator continued his flight through space or whether the mariner sailed the surface, of some sea or lake, or the chauffeur sped across the American roads. No recollection remains with me of what passed during that night of July 31st. Now what was to follow from this adventure, and especially concerning myself, what would be its end? I have said that at the moment when I awoke from my strange sleep the terror seemed to me completely motionless. I could hardly be mistaken. Whatever had been her method of progress I should have felt some movement, even in the air. I lay in my berth in the cabin, where I had been shut in without knowing it, just as I had been on the preceding night when I had passed on board the terror on Lake Erie. My business now was to learn if I would be allowed to go on deck here where the machine had landed. I attempted to raise the hatchway. It was fastened. Ah! said I. Am I to be kept here until the terror recommences its travels? Was not that indeed the only time when escape was hopeless? My impatience and anxiety may be appreciated. I knew not how long this halt might continue. I had not a quarter of an hour to wait. A noise of bars being removed came to my ear. The hatchway was raised from above. A wave of light and air penetrated my cabin. With one bound I reached the deck. My eyes in an instant swept round their horizon. The terror, as I had thought, rested quiet on the ground. She was in the midst of a rocky hollow measuring from fifteen to eighteen hundred feet in circumference. A floor of yellow gravel carpeted its entire extent, unreleaved by a single tuft of herbage. This hollow formed an almost regular oval with its longer diameter extending north and south. As to the surrounding wall, what was its height, what the character of its crest I could not judge. Above us was gathered a fog so heavy that the rays of the sun had not yet pierced it. Heavy trails of cloud drifted across the sandy floor. Doubtless the morning was still young and this mist might later be dissolved. It was quite cold here, although this was the first day of August. I concluded therefore that we must be far in the north or else high above sea level. We must still be somewhere on the new continent, though where it was impossible to surmise. Yet no matter how rapid our flight had been, the airship could not have traversed either ocean in the dozen hours since our departure from Niagara. At this moment I saw the captain come from an opening in the rocks, probably a grotto, at the pace of this cliff hidden in the fog. Occasionally in the mists above appeared the shadows of huge birds. Their raucous cries were the sole interruption to the profound silence. Who knows if they were not affrighted by the arrival of this formidable, winged monster which they could not match either in might or speed. Everything led me to believe that it was here that the master of the world withdrew in the intervals between his prodigious journeys. Here was the garage of his automobile, the harbour of his boat, the hangar of his airship. Now the terror stood motionless at the bottom of this hollow. At last I could examine her, and it looked as if her owners had no intention of preventing me. The truth is that the commander seemed to take no more notice of my presence than before. His two companions joined him and the three did not hesitate to enter together into the grotto I had seen. What a chance to study the machine, at least its exterior. As to its inner parts, probably I should never get beyond conjecture. In fact, except for that of my cabin, the hatchways were closed, and it would be vain for me to attempt to open them. At any rate it might be more interesting to find out what kind of propeller drove the terror in these many transformations. I jumped to the ground and found I was left at leisure to proceed with this first examination. The machine was, as I have said, spindle-shaped. The bow was sharper than the stern. The body was of aluminum, the wings of a substance whose nature I could not determine. The body rested on four wheels, about two feet in diameter. These had pneumatic tires so thick as to assure ease of movement at any speed. Their spokes spread out like paddles or battle-doors, and when the terror moved either on or under the water, they must have increased their pace. These wheels were not, however, the principal propeller. This consisted of two Parsons turbines placed on either side of the keel. Driven with extreme rapidity by the engine, they urged the boat onward in the water by twin screws, and I even questioned if they were not powerful enough to propel the machine through the air. The chief aerial support, however, was that of the great wings, now again in repose and folded back along the sides. Thus the theory of the heavier-than-air flying machine was employed by the inventor, a system which enabled him to dart through space with a speed probably superior to that of the largest birds. As to the agent which set in motion these various mechanisms, I repeat it was, it could be, no other than electricity. But from what source did his batteries get their power? Had he somewhere an electric factory to which he must return? Were the dynamos perhaps working in one of the caverns of this hollow? The result of my examination was that, while I could see that the machine used wheels and turbine screws and wings, I knew nothing of either its engine nor of the force which drove it. To be sure the discovery of this secret would be of little value to me. To employ it I must first be free. And after what I knew, little as that really was, the master of the world would never release me. There remained, it is true, the chance of escape, what would an opportunity ever present itself? If there could be none during the voyages of the terror, might there possibly be while we remained in this retreat? The first question to be solved was the location of this hollow. What communication did it have with the surrounding region? Could one only depart from it by a flying machine? And in what part of the United States were we? Was it not reasonable to estimate that our flight through the darkness had covered several hundred leagues? There was one very natural hypothesis which deserved to be considered if not actually accepted. What more natural a harbor could there be for the terror than the Great Erie? Was it too difficult a flight for our aviator to reach the summit? Could he not soar anywhere that the vultures and the eagles could? Did not that inaccessible Erie offer to the master of the world just such a retreat as our police have been unable to discover, one in which he might well believe himself saved from all attacks? Moreover, the distance between Niagara Falls and this part of the Blue Ridge Mountains did not exceed 450 miles, a flight which would have been easy for the terror. Yes, this idea more and more took possession of me. He crowded out a hundred other unsupported suggestions. Did not this explain the nature of the bond which existed between the Great Erie and the letter which I had received with our commander's initials? And the threats against me if I renewed the ascent? And the espionage to which I had been subjected? And all the phenomena of which the Great Erie had been the theatre, were they not to be attributed to this same cause, though what lay behind the phenomena was not yet clear? Yes, the Great Erie, the Great Erie. But since it had been impossible for me to penetrate here, would it not be equally impossible for me to get out again, except upon the terror? Ah, if the miss would but lift. Perhaps I should recognize the place. What was it yet a mere hypothesis would become a starting point to act upon? However, since I had freedom to move about, since neither the captain nor his men paid any heed to me, I resolved to explore the hollow. The three of them were all in the grotto toward the north end of the Oval. Therefore I would commence my inspection at the southern end. Reaching the rocky wall, I skirted along its base and found it broken by many crevices. Of a rose more solid rocks of that felled spar of which the chain of the Alleghenies largely consists. To what height the rock wall rose or what was the character of its summit was still impossible to see? I must wait until the sun had scattered the mists. In the meantime I continued to follow along the base of the cliff. None of the cavities seemed to extend inward to any distance. Several of them contained debris from the hand of man, bits of broken wood, heaps of dried grasses. On the ground were still to be seen the footprints that the captain and his men must have left, perhaps months before, upon the sand. My jailers, being doubtless very busy in their cabin, did not show themselves until they had arranged and packed several large bundles. Did they propose to carry those on board the terror, and were they packing up with the intention of permanently leaving their retreat? In half an hour my explorations were completed, and I returned toward the center. Here and there were heaped up piles of ashes, bleached by weather. There were fragments of burned planks and beams, posts to which clung rusted ironwork, armatures of metal twisted by fire, all the remnants of some intricate mechanism destroyed by the flames. Clearly at some period not very remote the hollow had been the scene of a conflagration, accidental or intentional. Naturally I connected this with the phenomena observed at the Great Erie, the flames which rose above the crest, the noises which had so frightened the people of Pleasant Garden and Morganton. But of what mechanisms were these the fragments, and what reason had our captain for destroying them? At this moment I felt a breath of air. A breeze came from the east. The sky swiftly cleared. The hollow was filled with light from the rays of the sun which appeared midway between the horizon and the zenith. A cry escaped me. The crest of the rocky wall rose a hundred feet above me, and on the eastern side was revealed that easily recognizable pinnacle, the rock like a mounting eagle. It was the same that had held the attention of Mr. Elias Smith and myself when we had looked up at it from the outer side of the Great Erie. Thus there was no further doubt. In its flight during the night the airship had covered the distance between Lake Erie and North Carolina. It was in the depth of this Erie that the machine had found shelter. This was the nest worthy of the gigantic and powerful bird created by the genius of our captain, the fortress whose mighty walls none but he could scale. Perhaps even he had discovered in the depths of some cavern some subterranean passage by which he himself could quit the Great Erie, leaving the terror safely sheltered within. At last I saw it all. This explained the first letter sent me from the Great Erie itself with the threat of death. If we had been able to penetrate into this hollow, who knows if the secrets of the master of the world might not have been discovered before you had been able to set them beyond our reach. I stood there motionless. My eyes fixed on that mounting eagle of stone, preyed to a sudden violent emotion. Whatsoever might be the consequences to myself, was it not my duty to destroy this machine here and now before it could resume its menacing flight of mastery across the world? Steps approached behind me. I turned. The inventor stood by my side and pausing looked me in the face. I was unable to restrain myself. The words burst forth. The Great Erie. The Great Erie. Yes, Inspector Strach. And you. You are the master of the world. Of that world to which I have already proved to myself to be the most powerful of men. You. I reiterated, stupefied with amazement. I responded he, drawing himself up in all his pride. I rober. ROBER THE CONQUERER END OF CHAPTER This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. THE MASTER OF THE WORLD By Jules Verne CHAPTER XVI. ROBER THE CONQUERER ROBER THE CONQUERER This then was the likeness I had vaguely recalled. Some years before the portrait of this extraordinary man had been printed in all the American newspapers. Under date of the 13th of June, the date after this personage had made his sensational appearance at the meeting of the Weldon Institute at Philadelphia. I had noted the striking character of the portrait at the time, the square shoulders, the back like a regular trapezoid, its longer side formed by that geometrical shoulder line, the robust neck, the enormous spheroidal head, the eyes at the least emotion burned with fire while above them were the heavy, permanently contracted brows which signified such energy. The hair was short and crisp, with a glitter as of metal in its lights. The huge breast rose and fell like a blacksmith's forge, and the thighs, the arms and hands were worthy of the mighty body. The narrow beard was the same also, with the smooth shaven cheeks which showed the powerful muscles of the jaw. And this was Robert the Conqueror, who now stood before me, so revealed himself to me, hurling forth his name like a threat within his own impenetrable fortress. Let me recall briefly the facts which had previously drawn upon Robert the Conqueror the attention of the entire world. The Weldon Institute was a club devoted to aeronautics under the presidency of one of the chief personages of Philadelphia, commonly called Uncle Prudent. Its secretary was Mr. Philip Evans. The members of the Institute were devoted to the theory of the lighter-than-air machine, and under their two leaders were constructing an enormous dirigible balloon, the Go-ahead. At a meeting in which they were discussing the details of the construction of their balloon, this unknown robber had suddenly appeared, and ridiculing all their plans, had insisted that the only true solution of flight lay with the heavier-than-air machines, and that he had proven this by constructing one. He was, in this turn, doubted and ridiculed by the members of the club, who called him in mockery, Robert the Conqueror. In the tumult that followed revolver shots were fired, and the intruder disappeared. That same night he had, by force, abducted the president and the secretary of the club, and had taken them, much against their will, upon a voyage in the wonderful airship, the Albatross, which he had constructed. He meant thus to prove to them, beyond argument, the correctness of his assertions, that this ship, a hundred feet long, was upheld in the air by a large number of horizontal screws and was driven forward by vertical screws at its bow and stern. It was managed by a crew of at least half a dozen men, who seemed absolutely devoted to their leader, robber. After a voyage almost completely around the world, Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans managed to escape from the Albatross after a desperate struggle. They even managed to cause an explosion on the airship, destroying it, and involving the inventor and all his crew in a terrific fall from the sky, into the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans then returned to Philadelphia. They had learned that the Albatross had been constructed on an unknown isle of the Pacific called Island X. But since the location of this hiding-place was wholly unknown, its discovery lay scarcely within the bounds of possibility. Moreover, the search seemed entirely unnecessary, as the vengeful prisoners were quite certain that they had destroyed their jailers. Hence the two millionaires, restored to their homes, went calmly on with the construction of their own machine, the go-ahead. They hoped by means of it to soar once more into the regions they had traversed with robber, and to prove to themselves that their lighter-than-air machine was at least the equal of the heavy Albatross. If they had not persisted they would not have been true Americans. On the twentieth of April in the following year the go-ahead was finished and the ascent was made, from Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. I myself was there with thousands of other spectators. We saw the huge balloon rise gracefully, and thanks to its powerful screws it maneuvered in every direction with surprising ease. Suddenly a cry was heard, a cry repeated from a thousand throats. Another airship had appeared in the distant skies and it now approached with marvelous rapidity. It was another Albatross, perhaps even superior to the first. Robber and his men had escaped death in the Pacific and, burning for revenge, they had constructed a second airship in their secret island X. Like a gigantic bird of prey the Albatross hurled itself upon the go-ahead. Doubtless Robber, while avenging himself, wished also to prove the immeasurable superiority of the heavier-than-air machines. Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans defended themselves as best they could. Knowing that their balloon had nothing like the horizontal speed of the Albatross, they attempted to take advantage of their superior lightness and rise above her. The go-ahead, throwing out all her ballast, soared to a height of over twenty thousand feet. Yet even there the Albatross rose above her and circled round her with ease. Suddenly an explosion was heard. The enormous gas bag of the go-ahead, expanding under the dilation of its contents at this great height, had finally burst. Half emptied, the balloon fell rapidly. Then to our universal astonishment the Albatross shot down after her rival, not to finish the work of destruction, but to bring rescue. Yes, Robber, forgetting his vengeance, rejoined the sinking go-ahead, and his men lifted Mr. Prudent, Mr. Evans, and the Aeronaut who accompanied them, on to the platform of his craft. Then the balloon, being at length entirely empty, fell to its destruction among the trees of Fairmount Park. The public was overwhelmed with astonishment, with fear. Now that Robber had recaptured his prisoners, how would he avenge himself? Would they be carried away this time, forever? The Albatross continued to descend, as if to land in the clearing at Fairmount Park. But if it came within reach, would not the infuriated crowd throw themselves upon the airship, tearing both it and its inventor to pieces? The Albatross descended within six feet of the ground. I remember well the general movement forward with which the crowd threatened to attack it. Then Robber's voice rang out in words which even now I can repeat, almost as he said them. Citizens of the United States, the President and the Secretary of the Weldon Institute are again in my power. In holding them prisoners I would but be exercising my natural right of reprisal for the injuries they have done me. But the passion and the resentment which have been roused both in them and you, by the success of the Albatross, know that the souls of men are not yet ready for the vast increase of power which the conquest of the air will bring to them. Uncle Prudent, Philip Evans, you are free. The three men rescued from the balloon leaped to the ground. The airship rose some thirty feet out of reach and Robber recommenced. Citizens of the United States, the conquest of the air is made, but it shall not be given into your hands until the proper time. I leave, and I carry my secret with me. It will not be lost to humanity, but shall be entrusted to them when they have learned not to abuse it. Farewell, citizens of the United States! Then the Albatross rose under the impulse of its mighty screws and sped away amidst the hurrahs of the multitude. I have ventured to remind my readers of this last scene somewhat in detail, because it seemed to reveal the state of mind of the remarkable personage who now stood before me. Apparently he had not then been animated by sentiments hostile to humanity. He was content to await the future, though his attitude undeniably revealed the immeasurable confidence which he had in his own genius. The immense pride which his almost superhuman powers had aroused within him. It was not astonishing, moreover, that this haughtiness had little by little been aggravated to such a degree that he now presumed to enslave the entire world as his public letter had suggested by its significant threats. His vehement mind had, with time, been roused to such over-excitement that he might easily be driven into the most violent excesses. As to what had happened in the years since the last departure of the Albatross, I could only partly reconstruct this even with my present knowledge. It had not sufficed the prodigious inventor to create a flying machine, perfect as that was. He had planned to construct a machine which could conquer all the elements at once. Probably in the workshops of Island X, a selected body of devoted workmen had constructed, one by one, the pieces of this marvellous machine, with its quadruple transformation. Then the second Albatross must have carried these pieces to the Great Erie where they had been put together within easier access of the world of men than the far-off island had permitted. The Albatross itself had apparently been destroyed, whether by accident or design, within the Erie. The terror had then made its appearance on the roads of the United States and in the neighboring waters. And I have told under what conditions, after having been vainly pursued across Lake Erie, this remarkable masterpiece had risen through the air, carrying me a prisoner on board. CHAPTER XVII. What was to be the issue of this remarkable adventure? Could I bring it to any D'Amont, whatever, either sooner or later? Did not Rober hold the results wholly in his own hands? Probably I would never have such an opportunity for escape as had occurred to Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans amid the islands of the Pacific. I could only wait. And how long might the waiting last? To be sure my curiosity had been partly satisfied, but even now I knew only the answer to the problems of the Great Erie. Having at length penetrated its circle, I comprehended all the phenomena observed by the people of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was assured that neither the countryfolk throughout the region nor the townfolk of Pleasant Garden and Morganton were in danger of volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. No subterranean forces whatever were battling within the bowels of the mountains. No crater had arisen in this corner of the Alleghenies. The Great Erie served merely as the retreat of Rober the Conqueror. This impenetrable hiding-place where he stored his materials and provisions had without doubt been discovered by him during one of his aerial voyages and the Albatross. It was a retreat probably even more secure than that as yet undiscovered island X in the Pacific. This much I knew of him, but of this marvellous machine of his, of the secrets of its construction and propelling force. What did I really know? Admitting that this multiple mechanism was driven by electricity, and that this electricity was, as we knew it had been in the Albatross, extracted directly from the surrounding air by some new process. What were the details of its mechanism? I had not been permitted to see the engine. Doubtless I should never see it. On the question of my liberty, I argued thus. Rober evidently intends to remain unknown. As to what he intends to do with his machine, I fear, recalling his letter, that the world must expect from it more of evil than of good. At any rate, the incognito which he has so carefully guarded in the past, he must mean to preserve in the future. Now only one man can establish the identity of the master of the world with Rober the Conqueror. This man is I, his prisoner. I who have the right to arrest him. I, who ought to put my hand on his shoulder saying, in the name of the law. On the other hand, could I hope for a rescue from without? Evidently not. The police authorities must know everything that had happened at Black Rock Creek. Mr. Ward, advised of all the incidents, would have reasoned on the matter as follows. When the terror acquitted the creek, dragging me at the end of her hauser, I had either been drowned, or, since my body had not been recovered, I had been taken on board the terror, and was in the hands of its commander. In the first case, there was nothing more to do than to write deceased after the name of John Struck, chief inspector of the federal police in Washington. In the second case, could my comfrères hope ever to see me again? The two destroyers which had pursued the terror into the Niagara River had stopped, per force, when the current threatened to drag them over the falls. At that moment night was closing in, and what could be thought on board the destroyers but that the terror had been engulfed in the abyss of the cataract? It was scarce possible that our machine had been seen when, amid the shades of night, it rose above the horseshoe falls? Or when it winged its way high above the mountains on its route to the Great Erie? With regard to my own fate, should I resolve to question Rober? Would he consent even to appear to hear me? Was he not content with having hurled at me his name? Would not that name seem to him to answer everything? That day wore away without bringing the least change to the situation. Rober and his men continued actively at work upon the machine, which apparently needed considerable repair. I concluded that they meant to start forth again very shortly, and to take me with them. It would, however, have been quite possible to leave me at the bottom of the Erie. There would have been no way by which I could have escaped, and there were provisions at hand sufficient to keep me alive for many days. What I studied particularly during this period was the mental state of Rober. He seemed to me under the dominance of a continuous excitement. What was it that his ever-seething brain now meditated? What projects was he forming for the future? Toward what region would he now turn? Would he put in execution the menaces expressed in his letter, the menaces of a madman? The night of that first day I slept on a couch of dry grass in one of the grottoes of the Great Erie. Food was set for me in this grotto each succeeding day. On the second and third of August the three men continued at their work scarcely once, however, exchanging any words, even in the midst of their labours. When the engines were all repaired to Rober's satisfaction, the men began putting stores aboard their craft, as if expecting a long absence. Perhaps the terror was about to traverse immense distances. Perhaps, even, the captain intended to regain his Island X in the midst of the Pacific. Sometimes I saw him wanderer about the Erie buried in thought, or he would stop and raise his arm toward heaven, as if in defiance of that God with whom he assumed to divide the empire of the world. Was not his overweening pride leading him toward insanity? An insanity which his two companions, hardly less excited than he, could do nothing to subdue. Had he not come to regard himself as mightier than the elements which he had so audaciously defied, even when he possessed only an airship, the Albatross? And now, how much more powerful had he become when earth, air, and water, combined to offer him an infinite field where none might follow him? Hence I had much to fear from the future, even the most dread catastrophes. It was impossible for me to escape from the Great Erie before being dragged into a new voyage. After that, how could I possibly get away while the terror sped through the air or the ocean? My only chance must be when she crossed the land and did so at some moderate speed, surely a distant and feeble hope to cling to. It will be recalled that after our arrival at the Great Erie I had attempted to obtain some response from Rober as to his purpose with me, but I had failed. On this last day I made another attempt. In the afternoon I walked up and down before the large grotto where my captors were at work. Rober, standing at the entrance, followed me steadily with his eyes. Did he mean to address me? I went up to him. Captain, said I, I have already asked you a question which you have not answered. I ask it again, what do you intend to do with me? We stood face to face, scarce two steps apart. With arms folded he glared at me and I was terrified by his glance. Terrified, that is the word. The glance was not that of a sane man. Indeed it seemed to reflect nothing whatever of humanity within. I repeated my question in a more challenging tone. For an instant I thought that Rober would break his silence and burst forth. What do you intend to do with me? Will you set me free? Suddenly my captor's mind was obsessed by some other thought from which I had only distracted him for a moment. He made again that gesture which I had already observed. He raised one defiant arm toward the zenith. It seemed to me as if some irresistible force drew him toward those upper zones of the sky that he belonged no more to the earth that he was destined to live in space, a perpetual dweller in the clouds. Without answering me, without seeming to have understood me, Rober re-entered the grotto. How long this sojourn or rather relaxation of the terror in the Great Erie was to last I did not know. I saw, however, on the afternoon of this third of August, that the repairs and the embarkation of stores were completed. The hold and lockers of our craft must have been completely crowded with the provisions taken from the grottoes of the Erie. Then the chief of the two assistants, a man whom I now recognized as that John Turner who had been mate of the albatross, began another labour. With the help of his companion he dragged to the centre of the hollow all that remained of their materials, empty cases, fragments of carpentry, peculiar pieces of wood which clearly must have belonged to the albatross, which had been sacrificed to this new and mightier engine of locomotion. Beneath this mass there lay a great quantity of dried grasses. The thought came to me that Rober was preparing to leave this retreat for ever. In fact, he could not be ignorant that the attention of the public was now keenly fixed upon the Great Erie, and that some further attempt was likely to be made to penetrate it. Must he not fear that some day or other the effort would be successful, and that men would end by invading his hiding place? Did he not wish that they should find there no single evidence of his occupation? The sun disappeared behind the crests of the Blue Ridge. His rays now lighted only the very summit of black dome towering in the northwest. Probably the terror awaited only the night in order to begin her flight. The world did not yet know that the automobile and boat could also transform itself into a flying machine. Until now it had never been seen in the air. And would not this fourth transformation be carefully concealed, until the day when the master of the world chose to put into execution his insensate menaces? Toward nine o'clock profound obscurity and wrapped the hollow. Not a star looked down on us. Heavy clouds driven by a keen eastern wind covered the entire sky. The passage of the terror would be invisible, not only in our immediate neighborhood, but probably across all the American territory and even the adjoining seas. At this moment Turner, approaching the huge stack in the middle of the Erie, set fire to the grass beneath. The whole mass flared up at once. From the midst of a dense smoke the roaring flames rose to a height which towered above the walls of the Great Erie. Once more the good folk of Morganton and Pleasant Garden would believe that the crater had reopened. These flames would announce to them another volcanic upheaval. I watched the conflagration. I heard the roaring and cracklings which filled the air. From the deck of the terror Robert watched it also. Turner and his companion pushed back into the fire the fragments which the violence of the flames cast forth. Little by little the huge bonfire grew less. The flames sank down into a mere mass of burnt-out ashes, and once more all was silence and blackest night. Suddenly I felt myself seized by the arm. Turner drew me toward the terror. Resistance would have been useless. And moreover what could be worse than to be abandoned without resources in this prison whose walls I could not climb. As soon as I set foot on the deck Turner also embarked. His companion went forward to the lookout. Turner climbed down into the engine room, lighted by electric bulbs from which not a gleam escaped outside. Robert himself was at the helm, the regulator within reach of his hand, so that he could control both our speed and our direction. As to me I was forced to descend into my cabin, and the hatchway was fastened above me. During that night, as on that of our departure from Niagara, I was not allowed to watch the movements of the terror. Nevertheless, if I could see nothing of what was passing on board, I could hear the noises of the machinery. I had first the feeling that our craft, its bow slightly raised, lost contact with the earth. Some swerves and balancings and the air followed. Then the turbines underneath spun with prodigious rapidity while the great wings beat with steady regularity. Thus the terror, probably forever, had left the great airy and launched into the air as a ship launches into the waters. Our captain soared above the double chain of the Alleghenies, and without doubt he would remain in the upper zones of the air until he had left all the mountain region behind. But in what direction would he turn? Would he pass in flight across the plains of North Carolina, seeking the Atlantic Ocean? Or would he head to the west to reach the Pacific? Perhaps he would seek to the south the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. When day came how should I recognize which sea we were upon if the horizon of water and sky encircled us on every side? Several hours passed, and how long they seemed to me. I made no effort to find forgetfulness and sleep. Wild and incoherent thoughts assailed me. I felt myself swept over worlds of imagination as I was swept through space by an aerial monster. At the speed which the terror possessed, wither might I not be carried during this interminable night. I recalled the unbelievable voyage of the Abutras, of which the Weldon Institute had published an account, as described by Mr. Prudent and Mr. Evans. What robber the conqueror had done with his first airship he could do even more readily with his quadruple machine. At length the first rays of daylight brightened my cabin. Would I be permitted to go out now to take my place upon the deck as I had done upon Lake Erie? I pushed upon the hatchway. It opened. I came half way out upon the deck. All about was sky and sea. We floated in the air above an ocean, at a height which I judged to be about a thousand or twelve hundred feet. I could not see robber, so he was probably in the engine room. Turner was at the helm, his companion on the lookout. Now that I was upon the deck, I saw what I had not been able to see during our formal nocturnal voyage, the action of those powerful wings which beat upon either side at the same time that the screws spun beneath the flanks of the machine. By the position of the sun, as it slowly mounted from the horizon, I realized that we were advancing toward the south. Hence if this direction had not been changed during the night, this was the Gulf of Mexico which lay beneath us. A hot day was announced by the heavy livid clouds which clung to the horizon. These warnings of a coming storm did not escape the eye of robber when toward eight o'clock he came on deck and took Turner's place at the helm. Perhaps the cloud bank recalled to him that waterspout in which the albatross had so nearly been destroyed, or the mighty cyclone from which he had escaped only as if by a miracle above the Antarctic Sea. It is true that the forces of nature which had been too strong for the albatross might easily be evaded by this lighter and more versatile machine. It could abandon the sky where the elements were in battle, and descend to the surface of the sea, and if the waves beat against it, there too heavily, it could always find calm in the tranquil depths. Doubtless, however, there were some signs by which robber, who must be experienced in judging, decided that the storm would not burst until the next day. He continued his flight, and in the afternoon when we settled down upon the surface of the sea there was not a sign of bad weather. The terror is a sea bird, an albatross or frigate bird which can rest at will upon the waves. Only we have this advantage that fatigue has never any hold upon this metal organism driven by the inexhaustible electricity. The whole vast ocean around us was empty. Not a sail nor a trail of smoke was visible even on the limits of the horizon. Hence our passage through the clouds had not been seen and signalled ahead. The afternoon was not marked by any incident. The terror advanced at easy speed. What her captain intended to do, I could not guess. If he continued in this direction we should reach some one of the West Indies, or beyond that at the end of the Gulf, the shore of Venezuela or Columbia. But when night came perhaps we would again rise in the air to clear the mountainous barrier of Guatemala and Nicaragua and take flight toward Island X somewhere in the unknown regions of the Pacific. Evening came. The sun sank in a horizon red as blood. The sea glistened around the terror which seemed to raise a shower of sparks in its passage. There was a storm at hand. Evidently our captain thought so. Instead of being allowed to remain on deck I was compelled to re-enter my cabin and the hatchway was closed above me. In a few moments from the noises that followed I knew that the machine was about to be submerged. In fact, five minutes later we were moving peacefully forward through the ocean's depths. Thoroughly worn out, less by fatigue than by excitement and anxious thought, I fell into a profound sleep, natural this time and not provoked by any so horrific drug. When I awoke, after a length of time which I could not reckon, the terror had not yet returned to the surface of the sea. This maneuver was executed a little later. The daylight pierced my porthole and at the same moment I felt the pitching and tossing to which we were subjected by a heavy sea. I was allowed to take my place once more outside the hatchway, where my first thought was for the weather. A storm was approaching from the northwest. Vivid lightning darted amid the dense black clouds. Already we could hear the rumbling of thunder echoing continuously through space. I was surprised. More than surprised, frightened by the rapidity with which the storm rushed upward toward the zenith. Scarcely would a ship have had time to furl her sails to escape the shock of the blast before it was upon her. The advance was as swift as it was terrible. Suddenly the wind was unchained with unheard of violence as if it had suddenly burst from this prison of cloud. In an instant a frightful sea arose. The breaking waves, foaming along all their crests, swept with their full weight over the terror. If I had not been wedged solidly against the rail, I should have been swept overboard. There was but one thing to do, to change our machine again into a submarine. It would find security and calm at a few dozen feet beneath the surface. To continue to brave the fury of this outrageous sea was impossible. Rober himself was on deck, and I awaited the order to return to my cabin, an order which was not given. There was not even any preparation for the plunge. With an eye more burning than ever, impassive before this frightful storm, the captain looked it full in the face, as if to defy it, knowing that he had nothing to fear. It was imperative that the terror should plunge below without losing a moment. Yet Rober seemed to have no thought of doing so. No, he preserved his haughty attitude as of a man who in his immeasurable pride believed himself above or beyond humanity. Seeing him thus I asked myself with almost superstitious awe, if he were not indeed a demoniacal being, escape from some supernatural world. A cry leaped from his mouth, and was heard amid the shrieks of the tempest and the howlings of the thunder. I, Rober! Rober! The master of the world! He made a gesture which Turner and his companions understood. It was a command, and without any hesitation these unhappy men, insane as their master, obeyed it. The great wings shot out, and the airship rose as it had risen above the falls of Niagara. But if on that day it had escaped the might of the cataract, this time it was amidst the might of the hurricane that he attempted our insensate flight. The airship soared upward into the heart of the sky amid a thousand lightning flashes, surrounded and shaken by the burst of thunder. It steered amid the blinding, darting lights, courting destruction at every instant. Rober's position and attitude did not change. With one hand on the helm, the other on the speed regulators, while the great wings beat furiously, he headed his machine toward the very center of the storm, where the electric flashes were leaping from cloud to cloud. I must throw myself upon this madman to prevent him from driving his machine into the very middle of this aerial furnace. I must compel him to descend, to seek beneath the waters a safety which was no longer possible either upon the surface of the sea or in the sky. Beneath we could wait until this frightful outburst of the elements was at an end. Then amid this wild excitement my own passion, all my instincts of duty arose within me. Yes, this was madness. Yet must I not arrest this criminal whom my country had outlawed, who threatened the entire world with this terrible invention? Must I not put my hand on his shoulder and summon him to surrender to justice? Was I or was I not? Struck, Chief Inspector of the Federal Police. Forgetting where I was, one against three, uplifted amid the sky above a howling ocean, I leaped toward the stern, and in a voice which rose above the tempest, I cried as I hurled myself upon rober. In the name of the law I— Suddenly the terror trembled, as if from a violent shock. All her frame quivered, as the human frame quivers under the electric fluid. Struck by the lightning in the very middle of her powerful batteries, the airships spread out on all sides, and went to pieces. With her wings fallen, her screws broken, with bolt after bolt of the lightning darting amid her ruins, the terror fell from the height of more than a thousand feet into the ocean beneath. CHAPTER XVIII. The Old Housekeeper's Last Comment When I came to myself after having been unconscious for many hours, a group of sailors whose care had restored me to life surrounded the door of a cabin in which I lay. By my pillow sat an officer who questioned me, and as my senses slowly returned, I answered to his questioning. I told them everything—yes, everything—and assuredly my listeners must have thought that they had upon their hands an unfortunate whose reason had not returned with his consciousness. I was on board the steamer Ottawa, in the Gulf of Mexico, headed for the port of New Orleans. This ship, while flying before the same terrific thunderstorm which destroyed the terror, had encountered some wreckage, among whose fragments was entangled by helpless body. Thus I found myself back among humankind once more, while Robert the Conqueror and his two companions had ended their adventurous careers in the waters of the Gulf. The master of the world had disappeared forever, struck down by those thunderbolts which he had dared to brave in the regions of their fullest power. He carried with him the secret of his extraordinary machine. Five days later the Ottawa sided the shores of Louisiana, and on the morning of the 10th of August she reached her port. After taking a warm leave of my rescuers, I set out at once by train for Washington, which more than once I had despaired of ever seeing again. I went first of all to the Bureau of Police, meaning to make my earliest appearance before Mr. Ward. What was the surprise, the stoop of faction, and also the joy of my chief when the door of his cabinet opened before me? Had he not every reason to believe, from the report of my companions, that I had perished in the waters of Lake Erie? I informed him of all my experiences since I had disappeared. The pursuit of the destroyers on the lake, the soaring of the terror from amid Niagara Falls, the halt within the crater of the Great Erie, and the catastrophe during the storm above the Gulf of Mexico. He learned for the first time that the machine created by the genius of this robber could traverse space as it did the earth and the sea. In truth did not the possession of so complete and marvellous a machine justify the name of Master of the World which robber had taken to himself? Certain it is that the comfort and even the lives of the public must have been forever in danger from him, and that all methods of defense must have been feeble and ineffective. But the pride which I had seen rising bit by bit within the heart of this prodigious man had driven him to give equal battle to the most terrible of all the elements. It was a miracle that I had escaped safe and sound from that frightful catastrophe. Mr. Ward could scarcely believe my story. Well, my dear Strock, said he at last, you have come back, and that is the main thing. Next to this notorious robber you will be the man of the hour. I hope that your head will not be turned with vanity like that of this crazy inventor. No, Mr. Ward, I responded, but you will agree with me that never was inquisitive man put to greater straits to satisfy his curiosity. I agree, Strock, and the mysteries of the great eerie, the transformations of the terror, you have discovered them. But unfortunately the still greater secrets of this Master of the World have perished with him. The same evening the newspapers published an account of my adventures, the truthfulness of which could not be doubted. Then, as Mr. Ward had prophesied, I was the man of the hour. One of the papers said, thanks to Inspector Strock the American police still lead the world, while others have accomplished their work with more or less success by land and by sea, the American police hurl themselves in pursuit of criminals through the depths of lakes and oceans and even through the sky. And in following, as I have told, in pursuit of the terror, had I done anything more than by the close of the present century will have become the regular duty of my successors. It is easy to imagine what a welcome my old housekeeper gave me when I entered my house in Longstreet, when my apparition—does not the word seem just—stood before her I feared for a moment she would drop dead, poor woman. Then after hearing my story, with eyes streaming with tears, she thanked Providence for having saved me from so many perils. Now, sir, said she, now was I wrong? Wrong about what? In saying that the great Erie was the home of the devil? Nonsense! This robber was not the devil. Ah, well, replied the old woman, he was worthy of being so. End of chapter. End of story. Thank you for listening.