The Washington times., 1912-03-26

The Second Deluge sARRETES = Z sERyIss


spair that began to seize upon them as
hour after hour passed without the re-
appearance OF the Jules Verne.
His experience had taught him how to
Keep level head in an emergency, an6
how to control panics.. With King Rich
ard always at his side, he went about
among the passengers and fairly
laughed them out of their fears.
Without discussing the matter at all,
he convinced them, by the simple force
nothing.
He was. in fact, as much alarmed as
any of the others, brt he never showed
had elapsed, that Cosmo himself had
said that they would probably require
ten or twelve hours for their expIora.
uon
Cosmo had said nothing Of the kind,
but Blanks prevarication had its in
tended effect, and, fortunately, before
the lapse of another six hours, there
was news from under the sea.
And what was happening in the mys-
teriods depths below the Ark? What
had so long detained the submersible?
The point whore the descent was made
had been 80 well chosen that the Jules
Verne almost struck the apex of the
Great Pyramid as It approached the bot
tom. The water was somewhat muddy
from the sands of the desert and the
searchlight streamed through a yellow
ish medium, recalling the golden at
mosphere" for which Egypt had been
celebrated. But, nevertheless. the lignt
was so powerful that they could see dis
tinctly at a distance of several rods.
The pyramid appeared to have been
but little injured, although the tremen-
dous tidal wave that had swept up the
Nile during the invasion Of the sea be-
fore the downpour began had scooped
| out the sand down to the bedrock on all
sides.
Finding nothing OF particular interest
l tn ,tr, ne ha OV1alI thn, Tp1
| in the direction of the Great Sphinx.
This. too, had been excavated to its
base, and 1t now stood up to its fun
| height. and a terrible expression seemed
to have come into its enigmatic fea-
lures.
Cosmo wished to get a close look at It.
and they ran the submersible into ac-
| tuRl contact with the forepRrt of the
| chin
While they pause1 there. gss iEg out
| of the front window of the vessel, a
bursting sound was heard, followed by
shaken from stem TO stern. Every
| man of them threw himself against the
| sides of the vessel, for the sound came
from overhead. and they had an in
StinCtiVc notion that the roof was being
| crushed Gown uinon tnoIn.
| A second resOunJing crash was heard,
| shaking them ike an earthquake, and
the little vessel rolled partly over upon
| its side.
I'VE are lost" cried De PeauXchamps.
| The Sphinx is falling upCn us! We
| shall be buried alive heTe!'
| A tBirG crash came over their heads,
| and the submersible seemed to sink be-
| meath them as II seeking to avoid the
| fearful blows that were rained upon It's
| roof.
Still, the stout curved ceiling, strongly
braced within. did not yield. although
they saw, with alright that 1t was
bulged inward, and some Of the braces
/ were torn from their places. But no
water came in.
! Stunned by the sudilenness of the
, accident, for a fcw monents they did
nothing but cling to such supports as
were within their reach, expecting that
another blow would either force the
vessel completely over or break the
! Tcot in.
But complete silence now rcigned. and
| the IT iss!lcs from above ceased TO strike
the sutmersible. The searchlight. con-
| tinued to beam out OF the fore end of
| the vessel, and following its broad ray
| with their eyes, they uttered one cry OF
| mingled ama:ement and fear and then
| stared without a word at such a spec
| tacle as the widest imagination could
not have pictured.
| A Continuation of This Story VIII
| BE Found In TOmOrrOw's
| Issue of The Times.