Through Space to Mars by Roy Rockwood (e ink epub reader TXT) 📖

>“Isn’t there any way of escape?” asked Jack in a low voice, as he

crouched in the bow and peered into the whirlpool, on the edge of

which they were circling.

 

“I don’t see any,” replied Mr. Roumann. “I am very sorry I got

you into this trouble. If I had not insisted on coming for the

red substance we would not be in this danger.”

 

“It’s as much our fault as yours,” declared the professor. “We

were anxious to get some of the treasure also.”

 

“And now none of us will have any use for it,” observed Andy

dryly. “When we slide down into that hole it will be all up with

us.”

 

They all shuddered as they saw the black hole, around which the

waters raced in a circle.

 

“I wonder what’s down there?” asked Mark.

 

“It isn’t a good thing to think about,” responded Jack. “I

always was afraid of whirlpools.”

 

The boat was now beginning to go around faster. The occupants

were getting dizzy with the motion. They could hear a distant

roar, and knew that it came from the water falling down some

great depth, into which they seemed fated to be dashed.

 

“Did you turn on all the power of the boat?” asked Jack after a

period of silence. “Seems to me we didn’t come along very fast

in this craft. The one we were in first went at a great rate.

Maybe we don’t understand how to make it go at top speed.”

 

“I turned the knobs every way I could think of,” replied Mr.

Roumann. “But it would take terrific speed and power to free us

from the suction of the whirlpool.”

 

Jack moved back to the stern, where the box was, containing the

red substance that furnished power to move the boat. He looked

closely at it.

 

Meanwhile the boat was moving around in ever-narrowing circles,

faster and faster. Jack noticed that twice in each revolution it

went respectively lower and higher on the course, and always at

the same places. That is to say, the whirlpool was on what might

be termed a slant. At one time the boat would be at the lowest

point, and at another at the highest point. At the low point the

occupants of the craft were out of sight of everything, as when a

ship is in the hollow of the sea. A little later they would be

raised up on a crest of water so that they could look to the

distant hills.

 

“If we could only get power enough to shoot the boat out at an

angle when it gets to the high point, we could escape,” thought

Jack.

 

But how could he obtain this power? The mechanism seemed to be

working at the greatest force, for, after an attempt had been

made to stay the progress of the boat by reversing it, Mr.

Roumann had again put on full speed ahead.

 

But was it full speed? That was what Jack wanted to know.

 

He examined every inch of the box. At first he saw nothing but

the three knobs that had been used. Then, all at once, down

underneath, he saw a small pin. It looked as if it could be

moved. He took hold of it.

 

“I wonder what will happen if I pull it out or push it in?” he

asked himself. Then he happened to remember that in an electric

battery, to obtain more power, you must pull out a certain pin.

 

“Perhaps this works like an electric battery,” he said. “I’ll

pull it out.”

 

He did so, and a surprising thing happened. The boat shot

forward at enormous speed, and as Jack happened to pull the pin

out at a time when the craft was high up, it began to shoot

across the water at an angle to the whirlpool. He had solved the

problem of how to escape. As he afterward learned, the pin was

just for the purpose for which he used it—to cause a sudden

increase in speed.

 

The whirlpool did not give up without a struggle, but the boat

was finally successful, and fought its way out to calm water.

 

“How did you do it?” asked Mark, and Jack told them.

 

“Well, we’d better start back for the city,” proposed Mr.

Roumann. “I guess we’ve had enough for one day. We’ll try

again, and take some other route.”

 

“There’s no need of that,” declared Professor Henderson. “See, we

are close to the hills now. We have crossed the whirlpool. Why

not go on, and see if we can’t find some Cardite? Going back now

will be no easier than after we have made an examination. Let’s

explore the hills.”

 

The boat had shot out on the farther side of the whirlpool, and

there was nothing now between it and the shore. After a

consultation it was decided to land.

 

“We can be more careful coming back,” said Jack.

 

Half an hour later they had landed and started up the hills

toward the summit. The place seemed to be deserted, but there

were evidences that some sort of mining had been going on there,

for great holes and shafts were dug in the ground, and there were

remains of machinery.

 

“They must have dug up all the Cardite in this locality,” said

Professor Henderson, “and they’ve gone to a new place.”

 

“Which we wish to find,” added Mr. Roumann, “and that without

being discovered. From the way in which the Martians guard this,

it will go hard with us if they see us taking any.”

 

They toiled up to the top of some of the lowest hills. There did

not seem to be any of the treasure there, and they went farther.

They were getting tired and hungry, and they sat down to rest and

eat some food which they had brought with them.

 

“Let’s try that hill,” proposed Mark, pointing to a high one

about a mile away. “It looks red from here.”

 

There was a rosy hue about the little mountain, and after a brief

rest they headed for the spot.

 

“There’s nothing here!” exclaimed Jack in disgust, as he and

Mark, in a final spurt, reached the base of it. “Nothing but

ordinary dirt.”

 

Mark looked down. He dug his heel into the sod. Then he uttered a

cry of triumph.

 

“Here it is! Here it is!” he cried. “It’s under the grass!

We’ve got to dig it up!”

 

He knelt down, and began to tear away the sod with his hands.

Jack did the same, and when they had lifted aside the tangle of

roots and grass, they saw beneath it a dull gleaming red

substance, like clay,

 

“That’s it! That’s it!” shouted Mr. Roumann. “We’ve found it!”

 

He stooped over, and with his knife began digging some up.

 

“It’s neither warm, nor does it give any light,” said Mr.

Henderson in disappointed tones.

 

“No; it requires special electrical treatment,” replied Mr.

Roumann. “I know how to do it, though. Now we shall all be

millionaires! There is enough here to make us wealthy for life!”

 

He began filling his iron boxes, the rest helping him. They were

engaged in getting out the Cardite, all working with feverish

haste, when Jack, looking up, saw a Martian officer regarding the

actions of the world-dwellers with his great, bulging eyes.