The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1921-04-29

OF come We hunted IN the Phpuhn
isiunaS where the Nautilus was Az
tackled by the native savageS. An cleo
tric current turned them bacl. shocked
and hGwling eve they could climb
aboard.
When one of the crew died Captain
Memo had him buried in coral glade
in the South Pacific. where was a
cross of red coral that looked like
petrified blood. 1t was WONDERFUL
solemn sight to see the pall-hearers
with tie dead body on their shoulders.
and all treading so reverentiaIly the
way from the ship to the coral GENE
terv, where at the foot of the cross
the body was inferred and covered up
All knelt in prayer. Captain Mem
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 yOvaged under colossal icebe:gS
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 Subterranean
tunnel under the iSthmuS. CThis was
before the digging of the SueZ canal)
There we witnessed the transfer of a
million dollars worth of gold ingOtS
~, tn no
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 a half later this ruler of the
underseas came and helped himself
whenever it pleased him. give 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 l could pay
the national debt of France and not
feel it?"
We had now been six months aboard
the Nautilus. For me, the scientist, it
was a voyage of ceaseless interest ;
but not so for Conseil and Ned Land.
At their request 1 pleaded with Cap
tain Memo for our liberty.
"You came to my ship without in
vitation. You will now remain here.
was his grim answer.
We had left the southern hemi-
sphere and were in the waters off
France and the British islands when
we were pursued by an armed war
ship. Flying no colOrs, she attacked
at once. Her cannon shot rebounded
from our iron hull.
Captain Memo, pointing to her, said :
81 am the oppressed, and there is my
oppressor. Through him I have lost
country, wife, children, father and
mother. Why should I withhold my
vengeance?'
He called out his orders. The Maui
titus sank below the sea. We felt her
rushing forward, felt the shock of her
steel ram piercing the hull of the en-
envy. Through the glass panels we
saw her doomed crew crowding the
ratlines, clinging to the rails, strug-
Cling in the sea. The Nautilus passed
on.
I saw captain Memo go to his room
and kneel before the portrait of a
woman and two little children. "How
long, o Lord, how long," he cried out
We steamed north, to that part OF
the Norwegian coast where lies that
dreaded maelstrom which draws into
itself all floating things. The Nautilus
was it an accident?-was drawn in
to the whirlpool. Around and around
she whirled. Even her steel hull felt
the strain; we could hear bolts being
pulled out from her Orders. The
long-boat was torn from it's f,iaeesc1:
deck and hurled like stone into the
whirlpool. I lost consciousness.
When I came to myself. I was in a
Loffoden fisherman's hut, and Conseil
and Ned Land were chatting my hands
So ended our voyage of 10000
leagues under the sea. What became
of Captain Memo and his strange
craft I do not know. hope his power
full ship conquered the maelstrom
even as I hope, if he lived, that his
philosophy and powerful will finally
conquered his desire for vengeance.
Copyright, 1919, by Post Publishing Co
CThe Boston PosD. All rights reserved.