Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-05-10
CHAPTER VT.

When | awoke it was about half past
3 in the morning, and still dark The
sky glittered with stars. amongst the
brightest of which l could see my native
earth shining with a soft, steady light
Underneath me were the dark clouds hid
ing the sea from view. [ descended eau
tiously till | found myself in thick dark
ness, through which 1 could see neither
stars nor sea. Still continuing nv de-
scent, all at once found the darkness for
a moment Illuminated by a fash Of
lightning, followed almost Immediately
~ after, certainly in less than a second by
loud peal of thunder. [ had dropped
into the midst of thundercloud, and the
situation was not without danger. NY
safest course would have been to ascend
rapidly out of the cloud; but wishing to
witness a thunderstorm on the planet
Mars, l took the opposite course, and de-
scended rapidly towards the sea. 1t was
pitch dark; but from the view which
had had of the ocean when l was first
approaching the planet | did not think
ran much risk of being dashed upon any
island or rock, though, of course, such a
catastrophe was possible. [ listened at
tentively with my hand on the handle
of the regulator, ready to reverse the cleo
trio pressure in an instant, if [ heard
any alarming sound of breakers. Pres
emily L did hear something which I fan
cled to be such, SO l turned the handle
ly diminish the rapidity of my descent,
but not enough to stop it; and the next
moment was nearly jerked off my steer
ing seat by the shock of the Shooting
Star plunging into the sea. l soon made
it rise to the surface, however, where for
a brief space held it stationary to ascer-
tain my position. The darkness was as
thick as ever; but 1 could hear the loud
Splashlng of the sea against some rocks
to the right of me, and apparently not
many yards off. Presently the darkness
was again for a moment dispelled by an
other fash, which revealed the rocks dis
tinctly. [ had had narrow escape. A
loud peal of thunder followed, which was
quickly succeeded by another flash, and
yet another and another, from all parts
of the horizon at once, while the thunder
cracked and crashed, and rolled in sue
cesslve peals overhead with a noise that
was terrific. The lightning was occa-
sionally so bright that it seemed like a
flash of daylight upon the scene and
was consequently able to take in my
whole surroundings. To the right lay a
small island, steep and precipitous on the
side nearest me, which was not more than
thirty yards off, but sloping gently to-
wards the sea elsewhere. In shape it
was like South America in miniature, as
it might appear to one looking from the
west; but its length was not much over
500 yards.
abated, and in proportion as it did so
the darkness also grew less dark, till at
last the rain ceased altogether, and the
da kness gave place to the dim light of
approaching day. Except the small island
near me, which appeared barren and desc
late, there was nothing to be seen all
round but the restless, heaving ocean.
was under no temptation therefore to
prolong my stay here, so [ at once put
the Shooting Star again in motion, and
continued my course westward. / gener-
ally kept at a height of a hundred feet
but sometimes, for my amusement,
skinned the surface of the waves, bound
ing over theiI backs in very wantonness of
sport. At other times / made the machine
dive right under them, and propelled it
through the waters many fathoms below
the surface at a rate which made a sensi-
bic difference to the temperature inside
from the friction of the water against the
outside.
After one prolonged dive of this kind
the longest and last-I found, on coming
to the surface, that / had emerged into
an unexpected scene of beauty. The same
delicate rosy light which had colored
everything after sunset the evening be-
fore, now colored everything again, her
aiding the fast APPROACH of the dawn. The