The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1920-11-12

XAfk
air to breathe. but with the light 10
see our way. We carried air-guns
which fired class bullets heavily charg-
ed with electricity, which had only to
touch the most powerful animal 10 XIII
him. A connecting compartment filed
with water let us into the sea. Ana
thus equipped. wading on the bottom
Of the clear ocean. we killed our game
with ease and without danger.
That hunt was but the first OF the
wonders Of the cruise. onward we
rushed. sometimes on the surface,
sometimes under the sea. There was
our fight with the immense devil-nsh
which once in a huge school enmeshed
the Nautilus. There was the visit 10
a wonderful pearl fishery, where Cap
tain Memo showed us mollusc with
in whose jaws was a pearl Weighing
perhaps 500 pounds. Some day ne
would return and pluck that treasure
but not yet-every year was ADDING 10
its value. We visited the skeletons OF
long-sunken ships, the corpses OF the
drowned crew still clinging to the huiis
of some. We hunted in the Papuan
islands where the Nautilus was at
tackled by the native savages. An cleo
trio current turned them back shocked
and bowling ere they could CLIMB
aboard.
When one of the crew died Captain
Memo had him buried in a coral glade
in the South Pacific. where was
cross of red coral that looked like
petrified blood. It was wonderful,
solemn sight to see the pall-bearers
with the dead body on their shoulders,
and all treading so reverentially the
way from the ship to the coral ceme-
terry, where Mt the foot Of the cross
the body was inferred and covered up.
All knelt In prayer. Captain Memo
was the last to leave.
"Your dead sleep quietly out OF the
reach Of sharks" I said when we were
back on the Nautilus.
"Of sharks and men," he replied.
We voyaged under colossal icebergs
to the South Pole and all but persisted
there, escaping from an Icy tomb only
as our last breath Of storage air was
exhausted. Wonderful was our passage
from the Red sea into the Mediter-
ranean by means of a subterranean
tunnel under the isthmus. (This was
before the digging of the Suez canal0
There we witnessed the transfer of Q
million dollars worth of gold ingots
from the Nautilus to the vessel Of q
Greek diver.
Whence came this store Of gold?
Later we learned.
In vigo bay. on the Spanish coast,
the Nautilus came to rest on bottom.
Here in 1902 a fleet Of Spanish gal.
Icons were sunk, and here from this
sunken treasure more than a century
and half later this ruler Of the
underseas came and helped himself
whenever 1t pleased him. "Five nun
dred millions were there" said Cap
tain Memo, "but not now. Do you
see now how with these and the other
treasures of my domain could pay
| the national debt Of France and moi
feel itT'
We had now been six months aboard
the Nautilus. For me, the scientist, i
was a voyage Of ceaseless interest
but not 30 for Conseil and Ned Land
At their request pleaded with Cap
tain Memo for our liberty.
i "You came to my ship without In
vitation. You will now remain here.
was his grim answer.
We had left the southern hem
sphere and were in the waters Of
France and the British islands whe
, we were pursued by an armed wal
ship. Flying no colors. she attacke
3 at once. Her cannon shot rebounde
c from our iron hull.
s Captain Memo, pointing to her, said
t II am the oppressed, and there Is m
: oppressor. Through him have lo
]. country, wife. children. father ar
4 mother. Why should ! withhold n
a vengeanceT'
3, He called out his orders. The Ma
A. titus sank below the sea. We felt h
m rushing forward, felt the shock of h
ID steel ram piercing the hull Of the 9
IN envy. Through the glass panels '
a. saw her doomed crew crowding I
st ratlines. clinging to the rails, stru
I'd Cling in the sea. The Nautilus pass
G. on.
3, l saw captain Memo 60 10 his roo
i'd and kneel before the portrait OF
woman and two little children. HI
se long. o Lord. how long!" he cried o
ch We steamed north, to that part
nv the Norwegian coast where lies Il
he dreaded maelstrom which draws II
&c. itself all floating things. The Nauti
az was 1t an accldentf-was drawn
Tia to the whirlpool. Around and arou
as she whirled. Even her steel hull
the strain; we could hear bolts be
,v pulled out from >her Orders.
Nd long-boat was torn from It's place
~. deck and hurled like stone into
~ whirlpool. I lost consciousness.
lly When came to myself, I was |,
We. Loffoden flsherman's hut. and Con-
and Ned Land were chatting my har
It'll So ended our voyage Of 20,
Me leagues under the sea. What beca