The Secret of the Earth Read online

  *II.*

  The Bungalow was a quaint, old-fashioned place in neither town norcountry. The house stood in a garden, and beyond the garden were somefields belonging to the premises; and in the distance scattered groupsof buildings like an abortive effort to start a village. There was abarn in one of the fields, and from the look of his surroundings, weshould have said that Mr. Wetherbee had been a farmer whose domain hadbeen encroached upon by the vanguard of suburban residences.

  We went through an iron gate with the words "The Bungalow" blocked inbrass letters between the bars, and walked down a cemented path borderedwith boxwood, to a green door opening directly into the house. There wasno porch, and the entrance was only a step above the path. We wereshown into a musty parlor, which felt damp and cold, although a smallfire was burning in the grate. The windows were low and opened upon thegarden, but the trees were bare and the flowers dead. There werepictures on the walls, and jars upon the tables and mantel, wherebunches of withered grasses were displayed as relics of the summer. Thecarpet and furniture were old and faded. It did not look like the abodeof wealth, and we saw no ground for hope. Observing the dejected lookon Torry's face, I tried to comfort him with the reflection that some ofthe wealthiest of the English live with the least ostentation.

  "I know it," he answered looking up. "The man may be worth a million,but I doubt it."

  There was a cough in the ball, and the sound of some one approachingwith a walking stick. In a minute the door was opened, and an old manbent nearly double, and supporting himself with a cane, entered theroom.

  "Two of you! I didn't expect to see but one," he muttered, hobblingacross the carpet without further salute, and then, as he hooked thehandle of his stick into the leg of a chair, and pulled it up to thefire for himself, added:

  "Have seats."

  "My brother came with me, as we have always lived together," saidTorrence, by way of explanation, "although I only sent my individualcard, as it is you and I who have corresponded. I hope we find youwell, Mr. Wetherbee, and that this damp weather doesn't disagree withyou."

  Wetherbee grunted, and poked the fire.

  "Nothing disagrees with me," he said after a minute. "I've been hardenedto this climate for eighty years. It has done its best to kill me, andfailed." Then with a grim smile, he added:

  "My figure isn't quite as good as it used to be; but I'm not vain, Mr.Attlebridge; I'm not vain."

  "I suppose you've been a sufferer from rheumatism?" I suggested, by wayof talk.

  Evidently he did not hear me, as he was raking cinders from the bottomof the grate. When he had finished, he said:

  "Did you come over from America in your air ship?"

  Torrence laughed.

  "Not this time, Mr. Wetherbee, but I expect to go back in it," heanswered.

  "Great confidence! Great confidence!" exclaimed Wetherbee; "Well, I'mglad of it; nothing is ever accomplished without it."

  The old man leaned his head upon his hands, while his elbows rested onhis knees. It was impossible for him to sit upright. His hair waswhite, and his face wrinkled; he looked his age. Certainly he was adifferent person from what Torrence had expected.

  "I suppose you have brought a model with you," continued Wetherbee; "youYankees are so handy with such things." This was evidently intended asa compliment.

  "No," said Torrence, "I did not suppose it was necessary. Thetransportation would have been costly, and I knew that if you insisted,it could be shipped after me. My last effort was deficient in someminor details, which would have necessitated a thorough overhauling ofthe parts, with readjustment. My position now is that of absolutemastery of the subject, and I thought, with your assistance, that Imight build a full-sized vessel at once. There is no longer any need towaste money on models, as the next machine will fly, full size."

  Mr. Wetherbee lifted his head a little.

  "How can you be sure of it?" he asked.

  "Because my last model did," answered Torrence.

  "And yet you admit there was an error."

  "There was a slight error of calculation, which impaired the power Ihoped to evolve; but I know where the mistake lay and can remedy it.All my plans and formulas are with me. There is no vital principle atstake. The thing is assured beyond a doubt."

  "And what would be the size of the vessel you propose to build?" askedWetherbee.

  "My idea is to construct a ship for practical aerial navigation, capableof carrying half a dozen passengers, with their luggage. Such a vesselwould be about sixty feet long, with ten feet beam; while her greatestdepth would be about eleven feet."

  "And how long a time would it take to construct such a craft?"

  "With everything at our hand, and all necessary funds forthcoming, Ishould say it would require about six weeks."

  The old man's figure was growing wonderfully erect. His eyes shone withvivid intensity. I could see that my brother was making an impression,and hoped for a successful turn in affairs.

  "And what did you say would be the probable cost of such a machine?"inquired Wetherbee, his back still unrelaxed.

  "I did not say," answered Torrence; "but from the best of myknowledge--provided labor and material are no dearer over here than athome--I should estimate that the thing could be turned out ready forservice, at an expense of--say, twenty thousand dollars."

  Wetherbee's eyes were fixed intently upon the fire. He looked even moreinterested than our most sanguine expectations could have pictured.

  "That is--let me see!" he muttered.

  "About four thousand pounds," I answered.

  "And you will guarantee the result?"

  "Mr. Wetherbee," said Torrence, drawing his chair a little nearer theinvalid's, "I have not the means to make a legal guaranty; but this muchI will say--so absolutely certain am I of success, that I will expendthe few pounds I have with me, in a working model, provided I have yourpromise, in the event of my demonstrating satisfactorily the principle,to place the necessary means at my disposal for building and equipping aship of the dimensions named. But let me repeat my assurance that sucha model would be a waste of time and money. I have a large batch ofevidence to prove all that I say."

  Here Wetherbee left his chair and hobbled about the room without hiscane. He seemed to have forgotten it. Suddenly he stopped, andsupporting himself by the table, while he trembled visibly, said:

  "What if it should fail?"

  "Why, in that event I should be the only loser!" answered Torrence."But it cannot fail. I have not the slightest fear of it."

  The old man's excitement was contagious. Here at last was an outcomefor our difficulties; a balm for every disappointment. I pictured theairship soaring over land and sea, the wonder of the age, and my brothereulogized as the genius of the century. I could hear his name upon thelips of future generations, and I imagined the skies already filled withglittering fleets from horizon to horizon. Beyond all this I saw untoldwealth, and a new era of prosperity for all men. My flight ofimagination was interrupted by a long drawn sigh from Wetherbee, as hemurmured:

  "Four thousand pounds! Ah! if I could only get it!"

  The dream of bliss was cut short by a rude awakening. I was dismayed.What did the man mean?

  "If I could only get it!" he repeated with a sigh which seemed to comefrom the bottom of his soul. Then he hobbled back to the fire andresumed his seat. I watched Torrence, from whose face all joy had fled.He was more solemn than ever before.

  Again Wetherbee stared into the coals. He had forgotten hissurroundings. Neither Torrence nor I spoke, in the hope that he wasconsidering the best manner of raising the money. The silence wasominous. A clock in a corner was forever ticking out thewords--"_Four--thous--and--pounds_." I listened until it sounded as ifgifted with human intelligence. Each minute was like an hour whilewaiting for our host to speak, feeling that our doom hung irrevocablyupon his words. Suddenly we were startled by a sharp voice in the hall:


  "_Mr. Wetherbee, your soup is ready!_"

  The old man pulled himself together, as if aroused from a dream; pickedup his cane and tottered toward the door. At its portal he stopped, andturning half around, said:

  "Gentlemen, I will consider your proposition, and if I can see my way tothe investment--well, I have your address--and will communicate withyou. Meanwhile there is a barn in one of my fields, which is sound androomy. It is at your disposal, and I heartily hope you will be able toraise the money for your enterprise. The barn you shall have at anominal rent, and you will find the swamps about here to be the bestlocality anywhere near London for your experiments. I wish you well.Should you conclude to use the barn, let me know, and I will turn thekey over to you immediately. Meanwhile I wish you luck!"

  He went out without another word, leaving us alone with the talkativeclock, and the dead grasses of the previous summer. I glanced atTorrence, who was pale, but with an indomitable look of courage in hiseyes. I had seen it before.

  It was impossible to say from Wetherbee's manner of departure, whetherhe intended to return or not. We could scarcely consider the interviewended, when we had made no movement toward going ourselves, and whiledeliberating what was best to do, there was a light step in the hall,and the door again opened, admitting a middle aged woman who approachedus with a frown. We bowed.

  "May I inquire the nature of your errand?" she began, without addressingeither one of us in particular; but Torrence, stepping forward,answered:

  "Our visit is hardly in the way of an errand, madam. We are here upon animportant business engagement with Mr. Wetherbee, who I trust will soonreturn to give us an opportunity to continue our conversation."

  "I was afraid so!" she replied with a look of regret. She sat down inthe same chair that Wetherbee had occupied, and asked us to resume ourseats. There was something odd in her manner, which betrayed deepconcern in our visit. Putting her hand in her pocket she drew out aspectacle case, and placed the glasses upon her nose. Then she lookedat us each in turn with growing interest.

  "You need not conceal your business from me, gentlemen," she continued,"Mr. Wetherbee is my father. As you are aware, he is a very old man,and I am acting in the double capacity of nurse and guardian for him.He does nothing without my knowledge."

  Her manner was thoroughly earnest, and the expression of her face thatof deep concern. Torrence replied after a moment's hesitation asfollows:

  "While not for a moment doubting your statement, madam, would it not bea little more regular to ask Mr. Wetherbee's consent before speaking ofa matter in which he is equally interested with ourselves? If he saysso, I shall be more than willing to explain to you all that we have beentalking about. Meanwhile I can only say that our business was upon amatter of great importance, which I should hardly feel at liberty todivulge without the agreement of all parties concerned."

  She did not answer for several minutes, during which time the hard lookin her eyes softened; I even thought they were dimmed with tears. For amoment she averted her face and taking off her glasses polished themthoroughly, returning them to her pocket. Then she stared into the fireas if thinking how to proceed, and then without removing her eyes, said:

  "I shall not ask your business, gentlemen, but I will tell you somethingof mine. Mr. Wetherbee, my father, is, I am pained to confess, amonomaniac on the subject of inventions. His fortune, which once wasample, has been squandered in all manner of mechanical foolery, for Ican call it by no other name. An inventor who could once gain his eyethrough the medium of print, or his ear, through that of speech, couldwring whatever money out of him he chose. Finding that our means werebecoming scattered, and our credit going, and my good father unable tosee that he was imposed upon, I applied to the courts for hisguardianship, on the ground of mental disability. He has no moneywhatever that he can call his own; the little that is left between usbeing at my disposal. Should you have plans requiring pecuniary aid, Imust tell you frankly now, that it will be impossible to obtain ithere."

  She stopped, and Torrence and I stared at each other aghast.

  "But, madam!" I exclaimed, unable to contain myself, "We have come allthe way from America, and at great personal inconvenience and expense,in response to your father's letters, and should he refuse to aid us nowwe are ruined."

  "It is impossible--quite impossible, I assure you, my dear sirs, to keeptrack of my father's correspondence. He answers everything he finds inthe papers relating to patents. It is unfortunate, deeply unfortunate,but cannot be helped. The public has repeatedly been warned against himthrough the newspapers, and we can do no more."

  "It is indeed most unfortunate," said Torrence; "but let me ask you,madam, if in the event of my being able to demonstrate, to your entiresatisfaction, the inestimable value of my air ship, you could be inducedto aid in its construction?"

  "Alas, my dear sir, I have not the means!"

  There was a painful silence, in which, to me, the end of all things wasin sight. Mentally I ran over the account of our cash, and roughlyestimated how long it would last. Much as we had abused Mrs. Twitcham'slodging, I foresaw that we should have to leave it for a worse one.

  "Is there, then, nothing that could induce you to take an interest inour scheme? Remember it is the invention of the century. All therailways, all the telegraphs in existence will be counted trifling bycomparison when it shall be built and given commercial value. Rememberalso, that the insignificant sum required, will be repaid ten times overwithin sixty days. Remember, my dear madam, that in refusing to aid us,you are throwing away the greatest material blessing that man canpossibly acquire. It is the dream of the ages--the culmination of everyhope. Think well before you refuse!"

  I was so wrought up that I spoke more earnestly than ever before,realizing that if we failed with Wetherbee & Hart, we were outcasts.But all my enthusiasm, and all my brother's eloquence were futile.

  "It is not that I will not, it is that I cannot," repeated the lady, whoreally did not appear lacking in sympathy. or a due comprehension of thesituation.

  "Then have you no friends," I persisted, "who might be induced to take ashare in the invention, I should say discovery, for it is indeed more ofa discovery than otherwise?"

  "Most of our friends have already lost money through my father'sinfatuation, or weakness, and I dare not mention the subject to any ofthem."

  We got up to go, thanking the lady for her explanation, and the interestshe had shown. At the door, Torrence stopped.

  "I was about to forget," he said; "your father told us of a barn whichhe would place at our disposal, should we need it for a workshop. Isthe offer still open?"

  The lady smiled, and said she could not refuse so simple a thing,especially when we had come so far, and had a right to expect so much.We thanked her, bade her farewell and departed.

  We passed again down the cemented path between the boxwood bushes, andthrough the iron gate. When out once more upon the open highway,Torrence turned toward me, and with an air of surprising indifference,said:

  "It looks as though we were checkmated, old man, but we're not. Thesepeople have only stirred up the mettle in me, and I shall build the airship despite all of them."

  As I have said before, my brother was an extraordinary man; possessed ofa fertile mind, an indomitable will, and withal a secretiveness whicheven showed itself occasionally to me. We walked on in silence; thefuture looked black and disheartening, I had not the courage to discussit. It was dark when we reached the river, and the small Thames boatwended its way through innumerable lights, reflected across the water inlong, trembling lines. The minutest object claimed my attention, and Ifell to speculating on the mental condition of a fellow-passenger whowas whistling a familiar tune at my elbow. I looked over the taffrailinto the black water beneath, and wondered how it felt to drown, and howmany people had tried it in these waters. I pictured their corpsesstill lying at the bottom, and made a rough calculation of how manyyears it would take to
disintegrate a man's skeleton, after the fisheshad eaten all the flesh off his bones. Then in the dim light I sawTorrence walking past the man who held the tiller. He did not speak,and I did not disturb him. Possibly he did not see me, at all events wewalked on opposite sides of the deck, each absorbed in his own thoughts.At last we met, as if by accident, although I had purposely wanderedover to his side.

  "Well, old man! What's the matter?" he cried with a heartiness thatstartled me.

  "Nothing," I answered; "I was only going to ask why you made thatinquiry about the barn."

  "Because I thought it might be useful," he answered.

  "And for what, pray?"

  "Why, to build the air ship in, to be sure. Did you think I wanted itfor a billiard room?"

  "And how can you build the air ship without Wetherbee & Hart?" Iinquired.

  "I am not quite prepared to answer your question. But I have overcomedifficulties before, and I shall overcome this one. Don't fret, Gurt!the air ship will be built."

  His manner was confident, and showed such indifference to the gravity ofour situation, that I looked at him in amazement. There was nothingmore to say, and we wandered apart again.

  Once more I began an exhaustive study of my surroundings--the river--thelights--the boat itself, and finally of my fellow-passengers. Thusoccupied I allowed several landings to pass unheeded, when suddenly Ibecame interested in a low but animated conversation between two men whowere opposite me, the one standing, the other sitting. It was nearlydark in that part of the deck where we were, but presently the man whowas sitting, shifted his position slightly to make room for the other,when they both came in range of a dimly burning lantern, and I wassurprised to see that one of the men was my brother. The stranger was arough, dirty looking sailor, and the pair, as I say, were deeplyabsorbed in conversation, in which they had evidently been engaged forsome time.

  "Yes, stranger," said the sailor, "you may believe me or not as youplease, but I have proof enough of what I tell you; and three times I'vebeen locked up with lunatics for stickin' to the truth, and not lyin'."

  "And you say you can prove this?" inquired my brother in a low tone.

  "Ay, and _will do it_!"

  "It is too marvelous. You astound me! I cannot comprehend it!" saidTorrence in a voice that was scarcely audible, and which I observed waspurposely subdued.

  "And indeed you may well be all o' that, an' more too. I was good crazyfor a spell when I first found it out, leastways I was nigh it, but Idon't talk about it no more since they locked me up, but when I heerdyou fellers a gassin' about a air ship, I 'lowed you was the kind, ifever there was any, as it wouldn't hurt to tell. For my part, it don'tmatter--I can't live long no way--and I hate to have _that secret_ diewith me. I'm a stoppin' down the river on the Kangaroo, she's a boat asis fitted up as a 'orspital for crippled seamen and the like. I'mtullable comfortable thar, and doubt as I'll ever anchor to any othercraft for a home this side o' Davy Jones'."

  "But surely you'll let me see you again," said Torrence, as the man madea move to leave the boat at the landing we were approaching.

  "Course'n I will. I won't forgit ye," tapping his breast as ifreferring to a memorandum which I supposed Torrence had given him. "AndI'll keep my word, too, and prove every breath I've done breathed to youto-night. Ta-ta!"

  The man left the boat hurriedly, and the next landing was our own.