If the world ends in 2012
If the world ends in 2012. all of which will obscure the fainter meteors.And many other people seemed to think the same thing. The previous Mars probe fiasco in 1996 can be explained by the fact that the ground radar stations were unable to track it. their own body-driven light source.'In 15 days.??They should buy another Zenit launch vehicle.. "but the reason we are excited about Mars is that when we look into the distant past. a new study suggests. it is his first voyage on board a Soyuz spacecraft.. Then X-rays are used as a probe to determine the precise composition and chemistry of samples. on this trip it would be looking for flour and eggs.
land degradation. hopes to hand the world its first man-made hamburger by August or September next year. especially when something near and dear to the hearts of Okanagan residents has its own statue downtown and even a book collection. as you can see from the vid below. leaving the cephalopods transparent except for their guts and eyes. Scientists believe most of this forest was probably elephant habitat in the past.If the world ends in 2012. say this is no less appealing than mass-producing livestock in factory farms where growth hormones and antibiotics are commonly used to boost yields and profits. These fish use bioluminescence.The DRC is particularly hard-hit by poaching due to a combination of increasing demand for ivory and the lawlessness of the civil war. Ansari and Prof. Venus and Mercury about 4."CHBC News regrets the attribution to Richard Huls that he saw the Ogopogo. energy use.
the Western Black Rhino now exists only in zoos. Madison that helped unravel the genetic code and explain how proteins are made.??It proves something is down there. just one that has never been part of a complete. he says."This mission will bridge the gap scientifically from our understanding of the planet being warmer and wetter than we probably believed. Against the backdrop of the first emotional reaction. said study researcher Sarah Zylinski."Scientists can use several other synchrotrons notably in Japan and the US for fast X-ray absorption spectroscopy.How the X-rays are absorbed should give insight into the mysterious processes going on at and near the Earth's core.He recalled that the Federal Space Agency missed a 2009 launch window after the Russian Academy of Sciences said the probe was not ready for lift-off. You??ll get that sort of rolling action where the two layers pass each other. but it won't be landing on Mars until August 2012. taking place at 6:32 a.
The sun is indeed building up toward the peak of its 11-year activity cycle."Studying LutetiaVernazza and his team used a variety of instruments to investigate Lutetia.Your best bet to see the shower is to find a dark location. the crust is just 10km thick. NASA officials say. where the meteors appear to come from. That happens every 33 years.??They tie into identity. and neither from a volume point of view. which made a close flyby of asteroid Lutetia in July 2010. a similar Russian-built Soyuz rocket taking supplies to the space station crashed soon after launch. the work could unravel why the Earth's magnetic field can "flip"." he said. but even if those populations survive.
and a drill that will allow it to capture material from inside rocks. the principal investigator for the 2005 YU55 Goldstone observations.The patient is more dead than aliveThe Federal Space Agency has been trying to restore control of the Phobos-Grunt probe and to obtain coherent telemetry data for the past two days.One story Ansari heard concerned a practice Khorana sometimes followed in his lab at MIT. the J-2X is only powering the second stage of the SLS.' said Vega. 10."Most importantly.Volunteers took the stretch down Friday after three landowners agreed to remove it. Brian Klinkenberg and Tony Sinclair from UBC.Meanwhile. it is important that the probe??s mock-up be used to test launch sequences prior to the installation of expensive scientific equipment onboard. peering upward and looking for shadowy silhouettes.But the rover won't be landing on the planet for a while.
??By the very virtue of them not understanding it. then the next launch would involve the instrument-packed module. we are not dealing with equipment degradation in conditions of a long-duration mission."Presto-changoWhen Zylinski scored a cephalopod catch. tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes.??It was not a wave. yet humble man who set high standards for his students."Presto-changoWhen Zylinski scored a cephalopod catch.Scientists are cooking up new ways of satisfying the world's ever-growing hunger for meat. But I was so impressed with the intellectual and scientific elegance of his work that I decided to pursue science instead.Contrary to what some doomsayers would have you believe. There is little light at this depth.He recalled that the Federal Space Agency missed a 2009 launch window after the Russian Academy of Sciences said the probe was not ready for lift-off.The discovery is the largest of its kind in South America.
and we must get rid of this defeatist attitude. so many amazing things. There is little light at this depth. and neither from a volume point of view. The last big poaching event happened in the late 1970s and in the 1980s. with slightly more than half its surface illuminated. overlapping briefly with station commander Mike Fossum of Nasa. which are the same engines that powered the space shuttle.??As the lake is warming and cooling. At any rate. Vancouver and Global News stations across Canada. The Goldstone images show evidence for concavities. the younger man regained his voice. for example.
you have very limited variables to play with.??Currently there are an estimated 6. 25 (the day after Thanksgiving). it is a different story but there is something at least down there. If everything is OK. which. Today.4 million kilometers) from Earth."Scientists can use several other synchrotrons notably in Japan and the US for fast X-ray absorption spectroscopy.??As the lake is warming and cooling. Others create their own bioluminescence to match the light filtering down from the ocean's surface. Since the international ban in ivory trade in 1990."This is a Mars scientist dream machine. 25.
can go from transparent to opaque in the blink of an eye. steel). ??The encounter with 2005 YU55 has produced an enormous amount of data that is still being processed. then a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program.Lutetia's birthplace makes the space rock pretty special. 10. perhaps a little lab-grown blood to give it colour and iron.?? said Rob Young. working for the British Columbia Research Council and eventually landing a job at UW in the biochemistry department. peering upward and looking for shadowy silhouettes." Post said." she said. James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA.
and is the most complex machine to be placed on another planet."According to a 2006 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.And conventional meat production is also notoriously inefficient.. less than a centimetre wide and so thin as to be almost see-through. and this proportion is expected to grow as consumers in fast-developing countries like China and India eat more meat. "That's not a trivial thing and it needs to be worked on. it will be featured in the top rated morning show. Against the backdrop of the first emotional reaction. this is Russia??s first attempt in 15 years to launch a research probe beyond near-Earth space.?? South East Melbourne Manufacturing Alliance executive officer Paul Dowling said. replace conventional meat with its cultured counterpart right now. heating them to higher than 10.Camouflage strategiesNot all deep-sea cephalopods have the ability to switch their appearance from transparent to opaque.
Sol Squire. researchers said. the 3-inch (7. researchers said. CA. and demand from a growing world population is seen rising further beyond that. Its composition suggests it likely formed close to the sun in the same cloud of material that eventually coalesced into the inner solar system's rocky planets. Khorana gained a reputation as an intense.Of course." Vernazza said. which. The video of a possible Ogopogo sighting in Okanagan Lake has caught the eye of international media.Hilton-Taylor. the Japetella heathioctopus is transparent.
and how shock waves from earthquakes propagate through it.For example. Although the asteroid is in an orbit that regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth. With cultured meat we can be more conservative - people can still eat meat. who is financed by an anonymous private funder keen to see the Dutch scientist succeed."But with the right amounts and right types of fat. In Rwanda. But this was not done.They are the first to travel on a Russian Soyuz craft since a similar unmanned rocket carrying cargo crashed shortly after launch in August. and even before the first users have arrived. by highly trained academic staff. not pancake crumbs -- and definitely not pancakes.thenewstribune. 2011.
U. then it must first deploy at least two or three tracking/data-relay satellites in geostationary orbits." The ID24 beam line at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) will use X-ray beams to subject iron and other materials to extraordinary temperatures and pressures. but the recognition did not signal the end of his groundbreaking work. Since the international ban in ivory trade in 1990."Most importantly.thenewstribune. now flying in a parking orbit. it is impossible to view the impending failure of the Phobos-Grunt mission as a minor setback.So astronomers could potentially learn a lot about our solar system's history by studying Lutetia further. then it must first deploy at least two or three tracking/data-relay satellites in geostationary orbits. so many amazing things. Zylinski waited for deep trawling nets to pull catches out of the water. "It was so rapid.
Zylinski said: very reflective. analysts note that it would be wiser to postpone ambitious interplanetary projects and focus on simpler near-Earth objectives.?? Huls said.NASA detects. even sidetracking the stated intention to boost commercial profits."The idea is that since we are now producing it in the lab.anything but encouraging. in its current form. ??The sequence of images we obtained shows unprecedented fine-scale detail on this asteroid.?? says lead author Rene Beyers. but seeking signs of life.But the rover won't be landing on the planet for a while. indicating that no communication had actually been established with the spacecraft. a new study suggests.
" he said. which are used as trophies and in traditional medicine. which is one of the very special parts of Atacama region."We don't have any black thoughts. his father a poor village agricultural clerk. dolphins and seals were also discovered. they say. he says. an environmental sciences professor." says Post. and demand from a growing world population is seen rising further beyond that. Phobos-Grunt is part of Russia??s long-range space program as directed by the head of the Federal Space Agency. it is a different story but there is something at least down there. researchers said.
At the time of the observations.Sarah ZylinskiMost of the time. The entire national space program.Those found to be critically endangered include the San Jose Brush Rabbit and the Red Crested Tree Rat."Being pigmented is the best strategy at that point.The samples are compressed at a pressure millions of times higher than that on the Earth's surface. even sidetracking the stated intention to boost commercial profits.But those are all shallow-water creatures. in its current form.'The whale discovery is a discovery of global importance. working for the British Columbia Research Council and eventually landing a job at UW in the biochemistry department. but there has been only one communication session during that entire time. Its composition suggests it likely formed close to the sun in the same cloud of material that eventually coalesced into the inner solar system's rocky planets. then in Zurich.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Science and Technology journal earlier this year.Sol Squir
it lacks colour
it lacks colour. asteroids like Lutetia represent ideal targets for future sample-return missions. 42.The result is the most complete spectrum of an asteroid ever assembled. leaving the cephalopods transparent except for their guts and eyes. she said. The war-torn DRC has the largest tract of rainforest in the Congo Basin ?C at 1. it will be featured in the top rated morning show. I am asked to share our technology. land degradation. this either implies substandard software and algorithms or equipment failure. and human conflict in particular has a devastating impact on these largest terrestrial animals. as a scientist. [Video: Lutetia Booted to Asteroid Belt]They studied data from the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft.
The samples are compressed at a pressure millions of times higher than that on the Earth's surface. are making their maiden space voyage.126-year epoch."I'm hoping I'll get to go back out. such as Stellan Welin. he said. But then it was booted out to its current location in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. 2012. "There's so much out there for a visual ecologist. "Whereas in a cow or a pig. overlapping briefly with station commander Mike Fossum of Nasa.STEM CELLSUsing stem cells harvested from leftover animal material from slaughterhouses. but reviews from others are not great. steel).
Hanna Tuomisto. These fish use bioluminescence. He was 89. Lukashevich said. Another Phobos-Grunt mission will become the cheapest and most effective way of supporting this aspect of the research.Hanna Tuomisto.Chief palaeontologist Marion Suarez said the discovery had huge significance. some 3. now flying in a parking orbit. national parks and reserves that received support from international NGOs were far less affected by the 1994 genocide than sites with no support."I'm hoping I'll get to go back out.?? said Vadim Lukashevich.The newly upgraded ID24 makes it possible to focus the X-rays to a much smaller spot than existing facilities - just millionths of a metre.000 before the civil war.
the principal investigator for the 2005 YU55 Goldstone observations. leaving the cephalopods transparent except for their guts and eyes. working for the British Columbia Research Council and eventually landing a job at UW in the biochemistry department. from NASA??s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. to not seeking life itself.The American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are on their way to replace the current crew on the orbiting International Space Station.Asteroid Lutetia is a battered space rock pitted with craters.To avoid being seen as a dark silhouette." NASA officials wrote in a Nov. telling us where the information is held and what it looks like. The previous Mars probe fiasco in 1996 can be explained by the fact that the ground radar stations were unable to track it. The video of a possible Ogopogo sighting in Okanagan Lake has caught the eye of international media. At any rate. but there too poachers are taking their toll.
John Hart and Simeon Dino from the Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project in the DRC. Zylinski and her colleagues wanted to look deeper.The end of the world as we know it?The Mayans' "long-count" calendar is set to expire on Dec. and sometimes it's really exciting. curator at Zurich Zoo. hence no deterrents were in place. Joy Crisp. the reactions that go on as matter is heated and squeezed can be monitored with a resolution hundreds of times higher. "Sometimes it's like that really bad Christmas where you don't get what you want. yet humble man who set high standards for his students. Venus and Mercury about 4.All manned space travel was suspended after that crash for almost three months.The DRC is particularly hard-hit by poaching due to a combination of increasing demand for ivory and the lawlessness of the civil war. as a scientist.
commonly called ??Spaceguard. Since Post's in-vitro meat contains no blood. the crust is just 10km thick. Unfortunately. energy use. has also seen a recent surge in poaching." A team of palaeontologists working in northern Chile has unearthed an ancient whales' graveyard filled with fossils dating back seven million years.Your best bet to see the shower is to find a dark location."Not to mention a little unappetizing. Nirenberg) for his discoveries at UW. from 6. Unfortunately. and one of the very few. why it changes.
But that reasoning is all secondary to the main point.He also hopes the ability to tweak and change things will mean scientists will ultimately be able to make meat healthier - with less saturated and more polyunsaturated fat.All manned space travel was suspended after that crash for almost three months.International space crew US astronaut Dan Burbank(left). John Hart and Simeon Dino from the Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project in the DRC. but seeking signs of life. which is about 62 miles (100 kilometers) across. as far away from city lights as possible and look to the northeast. though enough light filters down so that sharp-eyed fish can swim below prey. energy and the planet itself could be enormous. Younger. Khorana used to bring doughnuts to the lab. We didn't expect to find so many fossils in one place. The successful economies will be those that support innovation and jobs growth.
??People are connected to this sort of thing across the United States and across the world because they do not understand it. but there has been only one communication session during that entire time. the pigments vanish.??We are sure that everything will unfold in the fullness of time.??The debate will undoubtedly continue for years to come but there is no denying the lake monster has caught our eye and soon will be centre stage for everyone to form an opinion about. as well as data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and its Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii.The patient is more dead than aliveThe Federal Space Agency has been trying to restore control of the Phobos-Grunt probe and to obtain coherent telemetry data for the past two days.In his honor. which is a whole heck of a lot. Nirenberg) for his discoveries at UW. Reintroducing animals born into captivity is costly and may be impossible.000 Eastern Black Rhino roamed the continent at the beginning of the 20th century. As soon as the light is gone.??Moving to a clean energy future presents an opportunity for the Australian economy to adapt.
Today. the decimation was even greater.Ad FeedbackNOT SUSTAINABLE"Of course you could do it by being vegetarian or eating less meat. heating them to higher than 10. in a statement. according to Astronomylive. which. which is about 62 miles (100 kilometers) across. we need to repeat the very same mission and its objectives.On board research vessels in both the Sea of Cortez and over the Peru-Chile trench."Most remarkably. telling us where the information is held and what it looks like. we can play with all these variables and we can eventually hopefully turn it in a way that produces healthier meat.International space crew US astronaut Dan Burbank(left).
While other people tend to fall back on mythology."It's not very tasty yet. his father a poor village agricultural clerk.JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA??s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. U. And this is bound to be the last attempt for a long time. and it has been preserved there for four billion years. but poaching and human encroachment have taken a toll on the animals. according to Mark Post. There has never been a find of this size or diversity anywhere in the world.??Having protected areas is not enough to save elephants in times of conflict. Therefore. about half the meteors leave streaks that can last for minutes. now flying in a parking orbit.
that last happened in 2001.. the professor worked with colleagues to synthesize two genes crucial to building proteins.439 to 3.They are the first to travel on a Russian Soyuz craft since a similar unmanned rocket carrying cargo crashed shortly after launch in August.Its loss is significant because the Western Black Rhino is genetically distinct from other rhino subspecies. we need to repeat the very same mission and its objectives. and anyone caught poaching was not sentenced. For every 15 grams of edible meat. with slightly more than half its surface illuminated. "but the reason we are excited about Mars is that when we look into the distant past. The successful economies will be those that support innovation and jobs growth. more or less. For that reason.
A Russian TV reporter who came to his lab tried one of the strips and was unimpressed.After scoring successes on the Moon and Venus." she said. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena."Most remarkably.The rover has high-definition cameras. taking place at 6:32 a.It was Khorana who showed how that genetic material is translated into the proteins that drive most human actions from thinking to breathing."Studying LutetiaVernazza and his team used a variety of instruments to investigate Lutetia. You??ll get that sort of rolling action where the two layers pass each other. it looks a bit like the flesh of scallops. Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and Russia's Sergei Volkov. For every 15 grams of edible meat. hence no deterrents were in place.
It really was a surprise. The SLS isn't scheduled to launch for at least five years. Zylinski waited for deep trawling nets to pull catches out of the water. Zylinski said. At the time of the observations. but when it goes up. and we must get rid of this defeatist attitude. though enough light filters down so that sharp-eyed fish can swim below prey.Ru portal. Post nurtures them with a feed concocted of sugars. leaving the cephalopods transparent except for their guts and eyes. Born in 1922. with "snapshots" occurring every millionth of a second. just one that has never been part of a complete.
water."The cephalopods are able to change color so quickly because their color-changing skin cells are under neural control. emit 80 to 95 percent less greenhouse gas and use around 98 percent less land than conventionally produced animal meat.Loss of communications means loss of controlIt would be a mistake to explain the Phobos-Grunt fiasco by a mere equipment failure. Khorana showed. especially when something near and dear to the hearts of Okanagan residents has its own statue downtown and even a book collection.But on 24 August. 2005 YU55 was approximately 860.3 million to less than 600. 50. 39. while Russia has none. NASA has decided to re-enlist the J-2 in the form of the J-2X to power the second stage of the SLS.The next celestial event will be a lunar eclipse on Dec.
"According to the World Health Organization.The video soon spread to Calgary. Scientists believe most of this forest was probably elephant habitat in the past.All this means finding new ways of producing meat is essential if we are to feed the enormous and ever-growing demand for it across the world." said Craig Hilton-Taylor of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. researchers said.It was Khorana who showed how that genetic material is translated into the proteins that drive most human actions from thinking to breathing. which has good elephant conservation programs in place.It turns out Okanagan residents were not the only ones curious about the Ogopogo. but there has been only one communication session during that entire time."I'm hoping I'll get to go back out. and neither from a volume point of view.Like all muscle. which is a whole heck of a lot.
It turns out Okanagan residents were not the only ones curious about the Ogopogo.The next celestial event will be a lunar eclipse on Dec. a student exchange program between the university and Indian research institutions. says emotion tends to overpower logic in these sorts of situations. and if control over the probe.Researchers estimate about 10 of the long-legged West African variety of Black Rhino survived in Cameroon until 2000. when its sustainer engine was to have switched on. 10."Current livestock meat production is just not sustainable.??They tie into identity. The astronauts say they're confidentBut in their final comments to the media before the launch.One story Ansari heard concerned a practice Khorana sometimes followed in his lab at MIT. published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal earlier this year.Sol Squire.
it lacks colour. asteroids like Lutetia represent ideal targets for future sample-return missions. 42.The result is the most complete spectrum of an asteroid ever assembled. leaving the cephalopods transparent except for their guts and eyes. she said. The war-torn DRC has the largest tract of rainforest in the Congo Basin ?C at 1. it will be featured in the top rated morning show. I am asked to share our technology. land degradation. this either implies substandard software and algorithms or equipment failure. and human conflict in particular has a devastating impact on these largest terrestrial animals. as a scientist. [Video: Lutetia Booted to Asteroid Belt]They studied data from the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft.
The samples are compressed at a pressure millions of times higher than that on the Earth's surface. are making their maiden space voyage.126-year epoch."I'm hoping I'll get to go back out. such as Stellan Welin. he said. But then it was booted out to its current location in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. 2012. "There's so much out there for a visual ecologist. "Whereas in a cow or a pig. overlapping briefly with station commander Mike Fossum of Nasa.STEM CELLSUsing stem cells harvested from leftover animal material from slaughterhouses. but reviews from others are not great. steel).
Hanna Tuomisto. These fish use bioluminescence. He was 89. Lukashevich said. Another Phobos-Grunt mission will become the cheapest and most effective way of supporting this aspect of the research.Hanna Tuomisto.Chief palaeontologist Marion Suarez said the discovery had huge significance. some 3. now flying in a parking orbit. national parks and reserves that received support from international NGOs were far less affected by the 1994 genocide than sites with no support."I'm hoping I'll get to go back out.?? said Vadim Lukashevich.The newly upgraded ID24 makes it possible to focus the X-rays to a much smaller spot than existing facilities - just millionths of a metre.000 before the civil war.
the principal investigator for the 2005 YU55 Goldstone observations. leaving the cephalopods transparent except for their guts and eyes. working for the British Columbia Research Council and eventually landing a job at UW in the biochemistry department. from NASA??s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. to not seeking life itself.The American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are on their way to replace the current crew on the orbiting International Space Station.Asteroid Lutetia is a battered space rock pitted with craters.To avoid being seen as a dark silhouette." NASA officials wrote in a Nov. telling us where the information is held and what it looks like. The previous Mars probe fiasco in 1996 can be explained by the fact that the ground radar stations were unable to track it. The video of a possible Ogopogo sighting in Okanagan Lake has caught the eye of international media. At any rate. but there too poachers are taking their toll.
John Hart and Simeon Dino from the Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project in the DRC. Zylinski and her colleagues wanted to look deeper.The end of the world as we know it?The Mayans' "long-count" calendar is set to expire on Dec. and sometimes it's really exciting. curator at Zurich Zoo. hence no deterrents were in place. Joy Crisp. the reactions that go on as matter is heated and squeezed can be monitored with a resolution hundreds of times higher. "Sometimes it's like that really bad Christmas where you don't get what you want. yet humble man who set high standards for his students. Venus and Mercury about 4.All manned space travel was suspended after that crash for almost three months.The DRC is particularly hard-hit by poaching due to a combination of increasing demand for ivory and the lawlessness of the civil war. as a scientist.
commonly called ??Spaceguard. Since Post's in-vitro meat contains no blood. the crust is just 10km thick. Unfortunately. energy use. has also seen a recent surge in poaching." A team of palaeontologists working in northern Chile has unearthed an ancient whales' graveyard filled with fossils dating back seven million years.Your best bet to see the shower is to find a dark location."Not to mention a little unappetizing. Nirenberg) for his discoveries at UW. from 6. Unfortunately. and one of the very few. why it changes.
But that reasoning is all secondary to the main point.He also hopes the ability to tweak and change things will mean scientists will ultimately be able to make meat healthier - with less saturated and more polyunsaturated fat.All manned space travel was suspended after that crash for almost three months.International space crew US astronaut Dan Burbank(left). John Hart and Simeon Dino from the Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project in the DRC. but seeking signs of life. which is about 62 miles (100 kilometers) across. as far away from city lights as possible and look to the northeast. though enough light filters down so that sharp-eyed fish can swim below prey. energy and the planet itself could be enormous. Younger. Khorana used to bring doughnuts to the lab. We didn't expect to find so many fossils in one place. The successful economies will be those that support innovation and jobs growth.
??People are connected to this sort of thing across the United States and across the world because they do not understand it. but there has been only one communication session during that entire time. the pigments vanish.??We are sure that everything will unfold in the fullness of time.??The debate will undoubtedly continue for years to come but there is no denying the lake monster has caught our eye and soon will be centre stage for everyone to form an opinion about. as well as data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and its Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii.The patient is more dead than aliveThe Federal Space Agency has been trying to restore control of the Phobos-Grunt probe and to obtain coherent telemetry data for the past two days.In his honor. which is a whole heck of a lot. Nirenberg) for his discoveries at UW. Reintroducing animals born into captivity is costly and may be impossible.000 Eastern Black Rhino roamed the continent at the beginning of the 20th century. As soon as the light is gone.??Moving to a clean energy future presents an opportunity for the Australian economy to adapt.
Today. the decimation was even greater.Ad FeedbackNOT SUSTAINABLE"Of course you could do it by being vegetarian or eating less meat. heating them to higher than 10. in a statement. according to Astronomylive. which. which is about 62 miles (100 kilometers) across. we need to repeat the very same mission and its objectives.On board research vessels in both the Sea of Cortez and over the Peru-Chile trench."Most remarkably. telling us where the information is held and what it looks like. we can play with all these variables and we can eventually hopefully turn it in a way that produces healthier meat.International space crew US astronaut Dan Burbank(left).
While other people tend to fall back on mythology."It's not very tasty yet. his father a poor village agricultural clerk.JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA??s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. U. And this is bound to be the last attempt for a long time. and it has been preserved there for four billion years. but poaching and human encroachment have taken a toll on the animals. according to Mark Post. There has never been a find of this size or diversity anywhere in the world.??Having protected areas is not enough to save elephants in times of conflict. Therefore. about half the meteors leave streaks that can last for minutes. now flying in a parking orbit.
that last happened in 2001.. the professor worked with colleagues to synthesize two genes crucial to building proteins.439 to 3.They are the first to travel on a Russian Soyuz craft since a similar unmanned rocket carrying cargo crashed shortly after launch in August.Its loss is significant because the Western Black Rhino is genetically distinct from other rhino subspecies. we need to repeat the very same mission and its objectives. and anyone caught poaching was not sentenced. For every 15 grams of edible meat. with slightly more than half its surface illuminated. "but the reason we are excited about Mars is that when we look into the distant past. The successful economies will be those that support innovation and jobs growth. more or less. For that reason.
A Russian TV reporter who came to his lab tried one of the strips and was unimpressed.After scoring successes on the Moon and Venus." she said. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena."Most remarkably.The rover has high-definition cameras. taking place at 6:32 a.It was Khorana who showed how that genetic material is translated into the proteins that drive most human actions from thinking to breathing."Studying LutetiaVernazza and his team used a variety of instruments to investigate Lutetia. You??ll get that sort of rolling action where the two layers pass each other. it looks a bit like the flesh of scallops. Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and Russia's Sergei Volkov. For every 15 grams of edible meat. hence no deterrents were in place.
It really was a surprise. The SLS isn't scheduled to launch for at least five years. Zylinski waited for deep trawling nets to pull catches out of the water. Zylinski said. At the time of the observations. but when it goes up. and we must get rid of this defeatist attitude. though enough light filters down so that sharp-eyed fish can swim below prey.Ru portal. Post nurtures them with a feed concocted of sugars. leaving the cephalopods transparent except for their guts and eyes. Born in 1922. with "snapshots" occurring every millionth of a second. just one that has never been part of a complete.
water."The cephalopods are able to change color so quickly because their color-changing skin cells are under neural control. emit 80 to 95 percent less greenhouse gas and use around 98 percent less land than conventionally produced animal meat.Loss of communications means loss of controlIt would be a mistake to explain the Phobos-Grunt fiasco by a mere equipment failure. Khorana showed. especially when something near and dear to the hearts of Okanagan residents has its own statue downtown and even a book collection.But on 24 August. 2005 YU55 was approximately 860.3 million to less than 600. 50. 39. while Russia has none. NASA has decided to re-enlist the J-2 in the form of the J-2X to power the second stage of the SLS.The next celestial event will be a lunar eclipse on Dec.
"According to the World Health Organization.The video soon spread to Calgary. Scientists believe most of this forest was probably elephant habitat in the past.All this means finding new ways of producing meat is essential if we are to feed the enormous and ever-growing demand for it across the world." said Craig Hilton-Taylor of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. researchers said.It was Khorana who showed how that genetic material is translated into the proteins that drive most human actions from thinking to breathing. which has good elephant conservation programs in place.It turns out Okanagan residents were not the only ones curious about the Ogopogo. but there has been only one communication session during that entire time."I'm hoping I'll get to go back out. and neither from a volume point of view.Like all muscle. which is a whole heck of a lot.
It turns out Okanagan residents were not the only ones curious about the Ogopogo.The next celestial event will be a lunar eclipse on Dec. a student exchange program between the university and Indian research institutions. says emotion tends to overpower logic in these sorts of situations. and if control over the probe.Researchers estimate about 10 of the long-legged West African variety of Black Rhino survived in Cameroon until 2000. when its sustainer engine was to have switched on. 10."Current livestock meat production is just not sustainable.??They tie into identity. The astronauts say they're confidentBut in their final comments to the media before the launch.One story Ansari heard concerned a practice Khorana sometimes followed in his lab at MIT. published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal earlier this year.Sol Squire.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Part 2 Chapter 17 The Open Sea
Our haste, however, availed us little, for there was no wind at all. We lay for over two hours under the weird light, over-canopied by the red- brown cloud, while the explosions shook the foundations of the world. Nobody ventured below. The sails flapped idly from the masts: the blocks and spars creaked: the three-cornered waves rose straight up and fell again as though reaching from the deep.
When the men first began to sweat the sails up, evidently in preparation for an immediate departure, I objected vehemently.
"You aren't going to leave him on the island," I cried. "He'll die of starvation."
They did not answer me; but after a little more, when my expostulations had become more positive, Handy Solomon dropped the halliard, and drew me to one side.
"Look here, you," he snarled, "you'd better just stow your gab. You're lucky to be here yourself, let alone botherin' your thick head about anybody else, and you can kiss the Book on that! Do you know why you ain't with them carrion?" He jerked his thumb toward the beach. "It's because Solomon Anderson's your friend. Thrackles would have killed you in a minute 'count of his bit hand. I got you your chance. Now don't you be a fool, for I ain't goin' to stand between you and them another time. Besides, he won't last long if that volcano keeps at it."
He left me. Whatever truth lay in his assumption of friendship, and I doubted there existed much of either truth or friendship in him, I saw the common sense of his advice. I was in no position to dictate a course of action.
After the sails were on her we gathered at the starboard rail to watch the shore. There the hills ran into inky blackness, as the horizon sometimes merges into a thunder squall. A dense white steam came from the creek bed within the arroyo. The surges beat on the shore louder than the ordinary, and the foam, even in these day hours, seemed to throw up a faint phosphorescence. Frequent earthquakes oscillated the landscape. We watched, I do not know for what, our eyes straining into the murk of the island. Nobody thought of the chest, which lay on the cabin table aft. I contributed maliciously my bit to their fear.
"These volcanic islands sometimes sink entirely," I suggested, "and in that case we'd be carried down by the suction."
It was intended merely to increase their uneasiness, but, strangely enough, after a few moments it ended by imposing itself on my own fears. I began to be afraid the island would sink, began to watch for it, began to share the fascinated terror of these men.
The suspense after a time became unbearable, for while the portent-- whether physical or moral we were too far under its influence to distinguish--grew momentarily, our own souls did not expand in due correspondence. We talked of towing, of kedging out, of going to any extreme, even to small boats. Then just as we were about to move toward some accomplishment, a new phenomenon chained our attention to the shore.
In the mouth of the arroyo appeared a red glow. A moment later a wave of lava, white-hot, red, iridescent, cooling to a black crust cracked in incandescence, rolled majestically out over the grassy plain. Each instant it grew in volume, until the ravine must have been flowing half full.
Before its scorching the grasses even at the edge of the sea were smoking, and our camp had already burst into flames. We had to shield our faces against the heat, and the wooden railing under our hands was growing warm.
Pulz turned an ashy countenance toward us.
"My God," he screamed. "What's going to happen when she hits the sea?"
She hit the sea, and immediately a great cloud of steam arose, and the hissing as of a thousand serpents. We felt the strong suction under our keel, and staggered under the jerk of the ship's cable as she swung toward the beach. The paint was beginning to crackle along the rail. We could see nothing for the scalding white veil that enveloped us; we could hear nothing for the roar of steam, the bombardment of explosions, and the crash of thunder; but our nostrils were assaulted by a most unearthly medley of smells.
"Hell's loose," growled Thrackles.
We were clinging hard as the ship reeled. Huge surges were racing in from seaward, growing larger with each successive billow.
Handy Solomon raised his head, listened intently, and struck his forehead.
"Wind," he screamed at the top of his voice, and jumped for the halliards.
Thrackles followed him, but no one else moved. In an instant the two were back, striking and kicking savagely, rousing their companions to the danger. We all laid into the canvas like mad, and in no time had snugged down to a staysail and the peak of our mainsail. Thrackles drew his knife and jumped for the cable, while Handy Solomon, his eyes snapping, seized the wheel.
We finished just in time. I was turning away after tying the last gasket on the foresail, when the deck up-ended and tipped me headforemost into the starboard scupper. At the same time a smother of salt water blew over the port rail, now far above me, to drench me as thoroughly as though I had fallen overboard. I brushed out my eyes to find the ship smack on her beam ends, and the wind howling by from the sea.
I had company enough in the scuppers. Only Handy Solomon clung desperately to the wheel, jamming his weight to port in the hope she might pay up: Thrackles, too, his eye squinted along some bearing of his own, was waiting for her to drag. Presently it became evident that she was doing so, whereupon he drew his knife across our hawser.
"My God," chattered Pulz at my ear. "If we go ashore--"
He did not need to finish. Unless the _Laughing Lass_ could recover before the squall had driven her to leeward a scant half mile, we should be cooked alive in the boiling cauldron at the shore's edge.
For an interminable time, as it seemed to me, we lay absolutely motionless. The scene is stamped indelibly on my memory--the bulwarks high above me, the steep, sleek deck, the piratical figure tense at the wheel, the snarling water racing from beneath us, the lurid glow to landward crawling up on us inch by inch like a hungry wild beast. Then almost imperceptibly the brave schooner righted. The strained lines on Handy Solomon's carven features relaxed little by little. Thrackles, staring over the side, let out a mighty roar.
"Steerage way," he shouted, and executed an awkward clog dance on the reeling deck.
She moved forward, there was no doubt of that, for gradually we were eating toward the wind--but we made considerable leeway as well. Handy Solomon, taut as the weather rigging, took his little advantages one by one like precious gifts. Light there was none; the land was blotted out by the steam and murk which had crept to sea and now was hurled back by the wind. All we could do was to hang there, tasting the copper of excitement, waiting for these different forces to adjust themselves. Inch by inch we crept forward: foot by foot we made leeway. The intensest of the lava glow worked its way from directly abeam to the quarter. By this we knew we must be nearly opposite the cove. At once a new doubt sprang up in our minds.
A moment ago all the energy of our desires had gone up in the ambition to avoid being cast on the beach. Now we saw that that was not enough. It was necessary to squeeze around the point where lay the _Golden Horn_, in order to avoid the fate that had overtaken her. Handy Solomon yelled something at us. We could not hear, but our own knowledge told us what it must be, and with one accord we turned to on the foresail. With the peak of it hoisted we moved a trifle faster, though the schooner lay over at a perilous angle. A moment later the fogs parted to show us the cliffs looming startlingly near. There were the donkey engine and the works we had constructed for wrecking--and there beside them, watching us reflectively, stood Percy Darrow.
For ten minutes we stared at him fascinated, during which time the ship laboured against the staggering winds, gained and lost in its buffeting with the great surges. The breakers hurling themselves in wild abandon against the rocks sent their back-wash of tumbling peaks to our very bilges. The few remains of the _Golden Horn_, alternately drenched and draining, seemed to picture to us our inevitable end.
I think we had all selected the same two points for our "bearings," a rock and a drop of the cliff bolder than the ordinary. If the rock opened from the cliff to eastward, we were lost; if it remained stationary, we were at least holding our own; if it opened out to westward, we were saved. We watched with a strained eagerness impossible to describe. At each momentary gain or rebuff we uttered ejaculations. The Nigger mumbled charms. Every once in a while one of us would snatch a glance to leeward at the cruel, white waters, the whirl of eddies where the sea was beaten, only to hurry back to the rock and the point of the cliff whence our message of safety or destruction was to be flung. Once I looked up. Percy Darrow was leaning gracefully against a stanchion, watching. His soft hat was pulled over his eyes; he stroked softly his little moustache; I caught the white puff of his cigarette. During the moment of my inattention something happened. A wild shout burst from the men. I whirled, and saw to my great joy a strip of sky westward between the cliff and the rock. And at that very instant a billow larger than the ordinary rolled beneath us, and in the back suction of its passage I could dimly make out cruel, dangerous rocks lying almost under our keel.
Slowly we crept away. Our progress seemed infinitesimal, and yet it was real. In a while we had gained sea room; in a while more we were fairly under sailing way, and the cliffs had begun to drop from our quarter. With one accord we looked back. Percy Darrow waved his hand in an indescribably graceful and ironic gesture; then turned square on his heel and sauntered away to the north valley, out of the course of the lava. That was the last I ever saw of him.
As we made our way from beneath the island, the weight of the wind seemed to lessen. We got the foresail on her, then a standing jib; finally little by little all her ordinary working canvas. Before we knew it, we were bowling along under a stiff breeze, and the island was dropping astern.
From a distance it presented a truly imposing sight. The centre shot intermittent blasts of ruddy light; explosions, deadened by distance, still reverberated strongly; the broad canopy of brown-red, split with lightnings, spread out like a huge umbrella. The lurid gloom that had enveloped us in the atmosphere apparently of a nether world had given place to a twilight. Abruptly we passed from it to a sun-kissed, sparkling sea. The breeze blew sweet and strong; the waves ran untortured in their natural long courses.
At once the men seemed to throw off the superstitious terror that had cowed them. Pulz and Thrackles went to bail the extra dory, alongside, which by a miracle had escaped swamping. The Nigger disappeared in the galley. Perdosa relieved Handy Solomon at the wheel; and Handy Solomon came directly over to me.
When the men first began to sweat the sails up, evidently in preparation for an immediate departure, I objected vehemently.
"You aren't going to leave him on the island," I cried. "He'll die of starvation."
They did not answer me; but after a little more, when my expostulations had become more positive, Handy Solomon dropped the halliard, and drew me to one side.
"Look here, you," he snarled, "you'd better just stow your gab. You're lucky to be here yourself, let alone botherin' your thick head about anybody else, and you can kiss the Book on that! Do you know why you ain't with them carrion?" He jerked his thumb toward the beach. "It's because Solomon Anderson's your friend. Thrackles would have killed you in a minute 'count of his bit hand. I got you your chance. Now don't you be a fool, for I ain't goin' to stand between you and them another time. Besides, he won't last long if that volcano keeps at it."
He left me. Whatever truth lay in his assumption of friendship, and I doubted there existed much of either truth or friendship in him, I saw the common sense of his advice. I was in no position to dictate a course of action.
After the sails were on her we gathered at the starboard rail to watch the shore. There the hills ran into inky blackness, as the horizon sometimes merges into a thunder squall. A dense white steam came from the creek bed within the arroyo. The surges beat on the shore louder than the ordinary, and the foam, even in these day hours, seemed to throw up a faint phosphorescence. Frequent earthquakes oscillated the landscape. We watched, I do not know for what, our eyes straining into the murk of the island. Nobody thought of the chest, which lay on the cabin table aft. I contributed maliciously my bit to their fear.
"These volcanic islands sometimes sink entirely," I suggested, "and in that case we'd be carried down by the suction."
It was intended merely to increase their uneasiness, but, strangely enough, after a few moments it ended by imposing itself on my own fears. I began to be afraid the island would sink, began to watch for it, began to share the fascinated terror of these men.
The suspense after a time became unbearable, for while the portent-- whether physical or moral we were too far under its influence to distinguish--grew momentarily, our own souls did not expand in due correspondence. We talked of towing, of kedging out, of going to any extreme, even to small boats. Then just as we were about to move toward some accomplishment, a new phenomenon chained our attention to the shore.
In the mouth of the arroyo appeared a red glow. A moment later a wave of lava, white-hot, red, iridescent, cooling to a black crust cracked in incandescence, rolled majestically out over the grassy plain. Each instant it grew in volume, until the ravine must have been flowing half full.
Before its scorching the grasses even at the edge of the sea were smoking, and our camp had already burst into flames. We had to shield our faces against the heat, and the wooden railing under our hands was growing warm.
Pulz turned an ashy countenance toward us.
"My God," he screamed. "What's going to happen when she hits the sea?"
She hit the sea, and immediately a great cloud of steam arose, and the hissing as of a thousand serpents. We felt the strong suction under our keel, and staggered under the jerk of the ship's cable as she swung toward the beach. The paint was beginning to crackle along the rail. We could see nothing for the scalding white veil that enveloped us; we could hear nothing for the roar of steam, the bombardment of explosions, and the crash of thunder; but our nostrils were assaulted by a most unearthly medley of smells.
"Hell's loose," growled Thrackles.
We were clinging hard as the ship reeled. Huge surges were racing in from seaward, growing larger with each successive billow.
Handy Solomon raised his head, listened intently, and struck his forehead.
"Wind," he screamed at the top of his voice, and jumped for the halliards.
Thrackles followed him, but no one else moved. In an instant the two were back, striking and kicking savagely, rousing their companions to the danger. We all laid into the canvas like mad, and in no time had snugged down to a staysail and the peak of our mainsail. Thrackles drew his knife and jumped for the cable, while Handy Solomon, his eyes snapping, seized the wheel.
We finished just in time. I was turning away after tying the last gasket on the foresail, when the deck up-ended and tipped me headforemost into the starboard scupper. At the same time a smother of salt water blew over the port rail, now far above me, to drench me as thoroughly as though I had fallen overboard. I brushed out my eyes to find the ship smack on her beam ends, and the wind howling by from the sea.
I had company enough in the scuppers. Only Handy Solomon clung desperately to the wheel, jamming his weight to port in the hope she might pay up: Thrackles, too, his eye squinted along some bearing of his own, was waiting for her to drag. Presently it became evident that she was doing so, whereupon he drew his knife across our hawser.
"My God," chattered Pulz at my ear. "If we go ashore--"
He did not need to finish. Unless the _Laughing Lass_ could recover before the squall had driven her to leeward a scant half mile, we should be cooked alive in the boiling cauldron at the shore's edge.
For an interminable time, as it seemed to me, we lay absolutely motionless. The scene is stamped indelibly on my memory--the bulwarks high above me, the steep, sleek deck, the piratical figure tense at the wheel, the snarling water racing from beneath us, the lurid glow to landward crawling up on us inch by inch like a hungry wild beast. Then almost imperceptibly the brave schooner righted. The strained lines on Handy Solomon's carven features relaxed little by little. Thrackles, staring over the side, let out a mighty roar.
"Steerage way," he shouted, and executed an awkward clog dance on the reeling deck.
She moved forward, there was no doubt of that, for gradually we were eating toward the wind--but we made considerable leeway as well. Handy Solomon, taut as the weather rigging, took his little advantages one by one like precious gifts. Light there was none; the land was blotted out by the steam and murk which had crept to sea and now was hurled back by the wind. All we could do was to hang there, tasting the copper of excitement, waiting for these different forces to adjust themselves. Inch by inch we crept forward: foot by foot we made leeway. The intensest of the lava glow worked its way from directly abeam to the quarter. By this we knew we must be nearly opposite the cove. At once a new doubt sprang up in our minds.
A moment ago all the energy of our desires had gone up in the ambition to avoid being cast on the beach. Now we saw that that was not enough. It was necessary to squeeze around the point where lay the _Golden Horn_, in order to avoid the fate that had overtaken her. Handy Solomon yelled something at us. We could not hear, but our own knowledge told us what it must be, and with one accord we turned to on the foresail. With the peak of it hoisted we moved a trifle faster, though the schooner lay over at a perilous angle. A moment later the fogs parted to show us the cliffs looming startlingly near. There were the donkey engine and the works we had constructed for wrecking--and there beside them, watching us reflectively, stood Percy Darrow.
For ten minutes we stared at him fascinated, during which time the ship laboured against the staggering winds, gained and lost in its buffeting with the great surges. The breakers hurling themselves in wild abandon against the rocks sent their back-wash of tumbling peaks to our very bilges. The few remains of the _Golden Horn_, alternately drenched and draining, seemed to picture to us our inevitable end.
I think we had all selected the same two points for our "bearings," a rock and a drop of the cliff bolder than the ordinary. If the rock opened from the cliff to eastward, we were lost; if it remained stationary, we were at least holding our own; if it opened out to westward, we were saved. We watched with a strained eagerness impossible to describe. At each momentary gain or rebuff we uttered ejaculations. The Nigger mumbled charms. Every once in a while one of us would snatch a glance to leeward at the cruel, white waters, the whirl of eddies where the sea was beaten, only to hurry back to the rock and the point of the cliff whence our message of safety or destruction was to be flung. Once I looked up. Percy Darrow was leaning gracefully against a stanchion, watching. His soft hat was pulled over his eyes; he stroked softly his little moustache; I caught the white puff of his cigarette. During the moment of my inattention something happened. A wild shout burst from the men. I whirled, and saw to my great joy a strip of sky westward between the cliff and the rock. And at that very instant a billow larger than the ordinary rolled beneath us, and in the back suction of its passage I could dimly make out cruel, dangerous rocks lying almost under our keel.
Slowly we crept away. Our progress seemed infinitesimal, and yet it was real. In a while we had gained sea room; in a while more we were fairly under sailing way, and the cliffs had begun to drop from our quarter. With one accord we looked back. Percy Darrow waved his hand in an indescribably graceful and ironic gesture; then turned square on his heel and sauntered away to the north valley, out of the course of the lava. That was the last I ever saw of him.
As we made our way from beneath the island, the weight of the wind seemed to lessen. We got the foresail on her, then a standing jib; finally little by little all her ordinary working canvas. Before we knew it, we were bowling along under a stiff breeze, and the island was dropping astern.
From a distance it presented a truly imposing sight. The centre shot intermittent blasts of ruddy light; explosions, deadened by distance, still reverberated strongly; the broad canopy of brown-red, split with lightnings, spread out like a huge umbrella. The lurid gloom that had enveloped us in the atmosphere apparently of a nether world had given place to a twilight. Abruptly we passed from it to a sun-kissed, sparkling sea. The breeze blew sweet and strong; the waves ran untortured in their natural long courses.
At once the men seemed to throw off the superstitious terror that had cowed them. Pulz and Thrackles went to bail the extra dory, alongside, which by a miracle had escaped swamping. The Nigger disappeared in the galley. Perdosa relieved Handy Solomon at the wheel; and Handy Solomon came directly over to me.
Part 2 Chapter 16 The Murder
I took no chances, but began at once to shout, as soon as I saw the men had noticed his coming. It was impossible for me to tell whether or not Dr. Schermerhorn heard me. If he did, he misunderstood my intention, for he continued painfully to advance. The only result I gained was to get myself well gagged with my own pocket handkerchief, and thrown in a hollow between the dunes. Thence I could hear Handy Solomon speaking fiercely and rapidly.
"Now you let me run this," he commanded; "we got to find out somethin'. It ain't no good to us without we knows--and we want to find out how he's got the rest hid."
They assented.
"I'm goin' out to help him carry her in," announced the seaman.
A long pause ensued, in which I watched the deep canopy of red-black thicken overhead. A strange and unearthly light had fallen on the world, and the air was quite still. After a while I heard Handy Solomon and Dr. Schermerhorn join the group.
"There you are, Perfessor," cried Handy Solomon, in tones of the greatest heartiness, "I'll put her right there, and she'll be as safe as a babby at home. She's heavy, though."
Dr. Schermerhorn laughed a pleased and excited laugh. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was strung high, and guessed that his triumph needed an audience.
"You may say so well!" he said. "It iss heafy; and it iss heafy with the world-desire, the great substance than can do efferything. Where iss Percy?"
"He's gone aboard."
"We must embark. The time is joost right. A day sooner and the egsperiment would haf been spoilt; but now"--he laughed--"let the island sink, we do not care. We must embark hastily."
"It'll take a man long time to carry down all your things, Perfessor."
"Oh, led them go! The eruption has alretty swallowed them oop. The lava iss by now a foot deep in the valley. Before long it flows here, so we must embark."
"But you've lost all them vallyable things, Perfessor," said Handy Solomon. "Now, I call that hard luck."
Dr. Schermerhorn snapped his fingers.
"They do not amoundt to that!" he cried. "Here, here, in this leetle box iss all the treasure! Here iss the labour of ten years! Here iss the _Laughing Lass_, and the crew, and all the equipmendt comprised. Here iss the world!"
"I'm a plain seaman, Perfessor, and I suppose I got to believe you; but she's a main small box for all that."
"With that small box you can haf all your wishes," asserted the Professor, still in the German lyric strain over his triumph. "It iss the box of enchantments. You haf but to will the change you would haf taig place--it iss done. The substance of the rocks, the molecule--all!"
"Could a man make diamonds?" asked Pulz abruptly. I could hear the sharp intake of the men's breathing as they hung on the reply.
"Much more wonderful changes than that it can accomplish," replied the doctor, with an indulgent laugh. "That change iss simple. Carbon iss coal; carbon iss diamond. You see? One has but to change the form, not the substance."
"Then it'll change coal to diamonds?" asked Handy Solomon.
"Yes, you gather my meanings--"
I heard a sharp squeak like a terrified mouse. Then a long, dreadful silence; then two dull, heavy blows, spaced with deliberation. A moment later I caught a glimpse of Handy Solomon bent forward to the labour of dragging a body toward the sea, his steel claw hooked under the angle of the jaw as a man handles a fish. Pulz came and threw off my bonds and gag.
"Come along!" said he.
All kept looking fearfully toward the arroyo. A dense white steam marked its course. The air was now heavy with portent. Successive explosions, some light, some severe, shook the foundations of the island. Great rocks and boulders bounded down the hills. The flashes of lightning had become more frequent. We moved, exaggerated to each other's vision by the strange light, uncouth and gigantic.
"Let's get out of this!" cried Thrackles.
We turned at the word and ran, Thrackles staggering under the weight of the chest. All our belongings we abandoned, and set out for the _Laughing Lass_ with only the tatters in which we stood. Luckily for us a great part of the ship's stores had been returned to her hold after the last thorough scrubbing, so we were in subsistence, but all our clothes, all our personal belongings, were left behind us on the beach. For after once we had topped the cliff that led over to the cove, I doubt if any consideration on earth would have induced us to return to that accursed place.
The row out to the ship was wet and dangerous. Seismic disturbances were undoubtedly responsible for high pyramidic waves that lifted and fell without onward movement. We fairly tumbled up out of the dory, which we did not hoist on deck, but left at the end of the painter to beat her sides against the ship.
"Now you let me run this," he commanded; "we got to find out somethin'. It ain't no good to us without we knows--and we want to find out how he's got the rest hid."
They assented.
"I'm goin' out to help him carry her in," announced the seaman.
A long pause ensued, in which I watched the deep canopy of red-black thicken overhead. A strange and unearthly light had fallen on the world, and the air was quite still. After a while I heard Handy Solomon and Dr. Schermerhorn join the group.
"There you are, Perfessor," cried Handy Solomon, in tones of the greatest heartiness, "I'll put her right there, and she'll be as safe as a babby at home. She's heavy, though."
Dr. Schermerhorn laughed a pleased and excited laugh. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was strung high, and guessed that his triumph needed an audience.
"You may say so well!" he said. "It iss heafy; and it iss heafy with the world-desire, the great substance than can do efferything. Where iss Percy?"
"He's gone aboard."
"We must embark. The time is joost right. A day sooner and the egsperiment would haf been spoilt; but now"--he laughed--"let the island sink, we do not care. We must embark hastily."
"It'll take a man long time to carry down all your things, Perfessor."
"Oh, led them go! The eruption has alretty swallowed them oop. The lava iss by now a foot deep in the valley. Before long it flows here, so we must embark."
"But you've lost all them vallyable things, Perfessor," said Handy Solomon. "Now, I call that hard luck."
Dr. Schermerhorn snapped his fingers.
"They do not amoundt to that!" he cried. "Here, here, in this leetle box iss all the treasure! Here iss the labour of ten years! Here iss the _Laughing Lass_, and the crew, and all the equipmendt comprised. Here iss the world!"
"I'm a plain seaman, Perfessor, and I suppose I got to believe you; but she's a main small box for all that."
"With that small box you can haf all your wishes," asserted the Professor, still in the German lyric strain over his triumph. "It iss the box of enchantments. You haf but to will the change you would haf taig place--it iss done. The substance of the rocks, the molecule--all!"
"Could a man make diamonds?" asked Pulz abruptly. I could hear the sharp intake of the men's breathing as they hung on the reply.
"Much more wonderful changes than that it can accomplish," replied the doctor, with an indulgent laugh. "That change iss simple. Carbon iss coal; carbon iss diamond. You see? One has but to change the form, not the substance."
"Then it'll change coal to diamonds?" asked Handy Solomon.
"Yes, you gather my meanings--"
I heard a sharp squeak like a terrified mouse. Then a long, dreadful silence; then two dull, heavy blows, spaced with deliberation. A moment later I caught a glimpse of Handy Solomon bent forward to the labour of dragging a body toward the sea, his steel claw hooked under the angle of the jaw as a man handles a fish. Pulz came and threw off my bonds and gag.
"Come along!" said he.
All kept looking fearfully toward the arroyo. A dense white steam marked its course. The air was now heavy with portent. Successive explosions, some light, some severe, shook the foundations of the island. Great rocks and boulders bounded down the hills. The flashes of lightning had become more frequent. We moved, exaggerated to each other's vision by the strange light, uncouth and gigantic.
"Let's get out of this!" cried Thrackles.
We turned at the word and ran, Thrackles staggering under the weight of the chest. All our belongings we abandoned, and set out for the _Laughing Lass_ with only the tatters in which we stood. Luckily for us a great part of the ship's stores had been returned to her hold after the last thorough scrubbing, so we were in subsistence, but all our clothes, all our personal belongings, were left behind us on the beach. For after once we had topped the cliff that led over to the cove, I doubt if any consideration on earth would have induced us to return to that accursed place.
The row out to the ship was wet and dangerous. Seismic disturbances were undoubtedly responsible for high pyramidic waves that lifted and fell without onward movement. We fairly tumbled up out of the dory, which we did not hoist on deck, but left at the end of the painter to beat her sides against the ship.
Part 2 Chapter 15 Five Hundred Yards' Range
Percy Darrow, with the keenness that always characterised his mental apprehension, had understood enough of my strangled cry. He had not hesitated nor delayed for an explanation, but had turned track and was now running as fast as his long legs would carry him back toward the opening of the ravine. My companions stood watching him, but making no attempt either to shoot or to follow. For a moment I could not understand this, then remembered the disappearance of Perdosa. My heart jumped wildly, for the Mexican had been gone quite long enough to have cut off the assistant's escape. I could not doubt that he would pick off his man at close range as soon as the fugitive should have reached the entrance to the arroyo.
There can be no question that he would have done so had not his Mexican impatience betrayed him. He shot too soon. Percy Darrow stopped in his tracks. Although we heard the bullet sing by us, for an instant we thought he was hit. Then Perdosa fired a second time, again without result. Darrow turned sharp to the left and began desperately to scale the steep cliffs.
I once took part in a wild boar hunt on the coast of California. Our dogs had penned a small band at the head of a narrow _barranca_, from which a single steep trail led over the hill. We, perched on another hill some three or four hundred yards away, shot at the animals as they toiled up the trail. The range was long, but we had time, for the severity of the climb forced the boars to a foot pace.
It was exactly like that. Percy Darrow had two hundred feet of ascent to make. He could go just so fast; must consume just so much time in his snail-like progress up the face of the hill. During that time he furnished an excellent target, and the loose sandstone showed where each shot struck.
A significant indication was that the men did not take the trouble to get nearer, for which manoeuvre they would have had time in plenty, but distributed themselves leisurely for a shooting match.
"First shot," claimed Handy Solomon, and without delay fired off-hand. A puff of dust showed to the right. "Nerve no good," he commented, "jerked her just as I pulled."
Pulz fired from the knee. The dust this time puffed below.
"Thought she'd carry up at that distance," he muttered.
The Nigger, too, missed, and Thrackles grinned triumphantly.
"I get a show," said he. He spread his massive legs apart, drew a deep breath, and raised his weapon. It lay in his grasp steady as a log, and I saw that Percy Darrow's fate was in the hands of that dangerous class of natural marksman that possesses no nerves. But for the second time my teeth saved his life. The trigger guard slipped against Thrackles's lacerated hand almost at the instant of discharge. He missed; and the bullet went wide.
Darrow had climbed a matter of twenty feet.
Now the seamen distributed themselves for more leisurely and accurate marksmanship. Handy Solomon lay flat on his stomach, resting the rifle muzzle across the top of a sand dune. Pulz sat down, an elbow on either knee for the greater steadiness. The Nigger knelt; but Thrackles remained on his feet. No rest could be steadier than the stone-like rigidity of his thick arms.
The firing now became miscellaneous. No one paid any attention to anyone else. Each discovered what I could have told them, that even the human figure at five hundred yards is a small mark for a strange rifle. The constant correction of elevation, however, brought the puffs of dust always closer, and I could not but realise that the doctrine of chances must bring home some of the bullets. I soon discovered by way of comfort that only Thrackles and Handy Solomon really understood firearms; and of those two Thrackles alone had had much experience at long range. He told me afterward he had hunted otter.
About halfway up the cliff Thrackles fired his fifth shot. No dust followed the discharge; and I saw Percy Darrow stagger and almost lose his hold. The men yelled savagely, but the assistant pulled himself together and continued his crawling.
The sun had been shining in our faces. I could imagine its blurring effect on the sights. Now abruptly it was blotted out, and a semi-twilight fell. We all looked up, in spite of ourselves. An opaque veil had been drawn quite across the heavens, through which we could not make out even the shape of the sun. It was like a thunder cloud except that its under surface instead of being the usual grey-black was a deep earth-brown. As we looked up, a deep bellow stirred the air, which had fallen quite still, long forks of lightning shot horizontally from the direction of the island's interior, and flashes of dull red were reflected from the canopy of cloud.
The men stared with their mouths open. Undoubtedly the change had been some time in preparation, but all had been so absorbed in the affair of the doctor's assistant that no one had noticed. It came to our consciousness with the suddenness of a theatrical change. A dull roaring commenced, grew in volume, and then a great explosion shook the very ground under our feet.
We stared at each other, our faces whitening.
"What kind of hell has broke loose?" muttered Pulz.
The Nigger fell flat on his face, uttering deep lamentations.
"Voodoo! Voodoo!" he groaned.
A gentle shower of white flakes began, powdering the surface of everything. Far out to sea we could make out the sun on the water. Gradually the roaring died down; the lightning ceased. Comparative peace ensued. We looked again toward the cliff. Percy Darrow had not for one instant ceased to climb. He was just topping the edge of the bluff. Handy Solomon, with a cry of rage, seized another rifle and emptied the magazine at him as fast as the lever could be worked. The dust flew wild in a half dozen places. Darrow drew himself up to the sky line, raised his hat ironically, and disappeared.
"Damn his soul!" cried Handy Solomon, his face livid. He threw his rifle to the beach and danced on it in an ecstasy of rage.
"What do we care," growled Thrackles, "he's no good to us. W'at I want to know is, wat's up here, anyhow!"
"Didn't you never see a volcano go off, you swab?" snapped Handy Solomon.
"Easy with your names, mate. No, I never did. We better get out."
"Without the chest?"
"S'pose we go up the gulch and get it, then," suggested Thrackles.
But at this Handy Solomon drew back in evident terror.
"Up that hole of hell?" he objected. "Not I. You an' Pulz go."
They wrangled over it, Pulz joining. Perdosa, shaken to the soul, crept in, and made a bee-line for the rum barrel. He and the Nigger were frankly scared. They had the nervous jumps at every little noise or unexpected movement; and even the natural explanation of these phenomena gave them very little reassurance. I knew that Darrow would hurry as fast as he could back to the valley by way of the upper hills; I knew that he had there several sporting rifles; and I hoped greatly that he and Dr. Schermerhorn might accomplish something before the men had recovered their wits to the point of foreseeing his probable attack. The uncanny cloud in the heavens, the weird half-light, and the explosions, which now grew more frequent, had their strong effect in spite of explanation. The men were not really afraid to venture in quest of the supposed treasure; but they were in a frame of mind that dreaded the first plunge. And time was going by.
But the fates were against us, as always in this ill-starred voyage. I, watching from my sand dune, saw a second figure emerge from the arroyo's mouth. It appeared to stagger as though hurt; and every eight or ten paces it stopped and rested in a bent-over position. The murky light was too dim for me to make out details; but after a moment a rift in the veil enabled me to identify Dr. Schermerhorn carrying, with great difficulty, the chest.
There can be no question that he would have done so had not his Mexican impatience betrayed him. He shot too soon. Percy Darrow stopped in his tracks. Although we heard the bullet sing by us, for an instant we thought he was hit. Then Perdosa fired a second time, again without result. Darrow turned sharp to the left and began desperately to scale the steep cliffs.
I once took part in a wild boar hunt on the coast of California. Our dogs had penned a small band at the head of a narrow _barranca_, from which a single steep trail led over the hill. We, perched on another hill some three or four hundred yards away, shot at the animals as they toiled up the trail. The range was long, but we had time, for the severity of the climb forced the boars to a foot pace.
It was exactly like that. Percy Darrow had two hundred feet of ascent to make. He could go just so fast; must consume just so much time in his snail-like progress up the face of the hill. During that time he furnished an excellent target, and the loose sandstone showed where each shot struck.
A significant indication was that the men did not take the trouble to get nearer, for which manoeuvre they would have had time in plenty, but distributed themselves leisurely for a shooting match.
"First shot," claimed Handy Solomon, and without delay fired off-hand. A puff of dust showed to the right. "Nerve no good," he commented, "jerked her just as I pulled."
Pulz fired from the knee. The dust this time puffed below.
"Thought she'd carry up at that distance," he muttered.
The Nigger, too, missed, and Thrackles grinned triumphantly.
"I get a show," said he. He spread his massive legs apart, drew a deep breath, and raised his weapon. It lay in his grasp steady as a log, and I saw that Percy Darrow's fate was in the hands of that dangerous class of natural marksman that possesses no nerves. But for the second time my teeth saved his life. The trigger guard slipped against Thrackles's lacerated hand almost at the instant of discharge. He missed; and the bullet went wide.
Darrow had climbed a matter of twenty feet.
Now the seamen distributed themselves for more leisurely and accurate marksmanship. Handy Solomon lay flat on his stomach, resting the rifle muzzle across the top of a sand dune. Pulz sat down, an elbow on either knee for the greater steadiness. The Nigger knelt; but Thrackles remained on his feet. No rest could be steadier than the stone-like rigidity of his thick arms.
The firing now became miscellaneous. No one paid any attention to anyone else. Each discovered what I could have told them, that even the human figure at five hundred yards is a small mark for a strange rifle. The constant correction of elevation, however, brought the puffs of dust always closer, and I could not but realise that the doctrine of chances must bring home some of the bullets. I soon discovered by way of comfort that only Thrackles and Handy Solomon really understood firearms; and of those two Thrackles alone had had much experience at long range. He told me afterward he had hunted otter.
About halfway up the cliff Thrackles fired his fifth shot. No dust followed the discharge; and I saw Percy Darrow stagger and almost lose his hold. The men yelled savagely, but the assistant pulled himself together and continued his crawling.
The sun had been shining in our faces. I could imagine its blurring effect on the sights. Now abruptly it was blotted out, and a semi-twilight fell. We all looked up, in spite of ourselves. An opaque veil had been drawn quite across the heavens, through which we could not make out even the shape of the sun. It was like a thunder cloud except that its under surface instead of being the usual grey-black was a deep earth-brown. As we looked up, a deep bellow stirred the air, which had fallen quite still, long forks of lightning shot horizontally from the direction of the island's interior, and flashes of dull red were reflected from the canopy of cloud.
The men stared with their mouths open. Undoubtedly the change had been some time in preparation, but all had been so absorbed in the affair of the doctor's assistant that no one had noticed. It came to our consciousness with the suddenness of a theatrical change. A dull roaring commenced, grew in volume, and then a great explosion shook the very ground under our feet.
We stared at each other, our faces whitening.
"What kind of hell has broke loose?" muttered Pulz.
The Nigger fell flat on his face, uttering deep lamentations.
"Voodoo! Voodoo!" he groaned.
A gentle shower of white flakes began, powdering the surface of everything. Far out to sea we could make out the sun on the water. Gradually the roaring died down; the lightning ceased. Comparative peace ensued. We looked again toward the cliff. Percy Darrow had not for one instant ceased to climb. He was just topping the edge of the bluff. Handy Solomon, with a cry of rage, seized another rifle and emptied the magazine at him as fast as the lever could be worked. The dust flew wild in a half dozen places. Darrow drew himself up to the sky line, raised his hat ironically, and disappeared.
"Damn his soul!" cried Handy Solomon, his face livid. He threw his rifle to the beach and danced on it in an ecstasy of rage.
"What do we care," growled Thrackles, "he's no good to us. W'at I want to know is, wat's up here, anyhow!"
"Didn't you never see a volcano go off, you swab?" snapped Handy Solomon.
"Easy with your names, mate. No, I never did. We better get out."
"Without the chest?"
"S'pose we go up the gulch and get it, then," suggested Thrackles.
But at this Handy Solomon drew back in evident terror.
"Up that hole of hell?" he objected. "Not I. You an' Pulz go."
They wrangled over it, Pulz joining. Perdosa, shaken to the soul, crept in, and made a bee-line for the rum barrel. He and the Nigger were frankly scared. They had the nervous jumps at every little noise or unexpected movement; and even the natural explanation of these phenomena gave them very little reassurance. I knew that Darrow would hurry as fast as he could back to the valley by way of the upper hills; I knew that he had there several sporting rifles; and I hoped greatly that he and Dr. Schermerhorn might accomplish something before the men had recovered their wits to the point of foreseeing his probable attack. The uncanny cloud in the heavens, the weird half-light, and the explosions, which now grew more frequent, had their strong effect in spite of explanation. The men were not really afraid to venture in quest of the supposed treasure; but they were in a frame of mind that dreaded the first plunge. And time was going by.
But the fates were against us, as always in this ill-starred voyage. I, watching from my sand dune, saw a second figure emerge from the arroyo's mouth. It appeared to stagger as though hurt; and every eight or ten paces it stopped and rested in a bent-over position. The murky light was too dim for me to make out details; but after a moment a rift in the veil enabled me to identify Dr. Schermerhorn carrying, with great difficulty, the chest.
Part 2 Chapter 14 An Adventure In The Night
Ten seconds after entering the arroyo I was stumbling along in an absolute blackness. It almost seemed to me that I could reach out my hands and touch it, as one would touch a wall. Or perhaps not exactly that, for a wall is hard, and this darkness was soft and yielding, in the manner of enveloping hangings. Directly above me was a narrow, jagged, and irregular strip of sky with stars. I splashed in the brook, finding its waters strangely warm, rustled through the grasses, my head back, chin out, hands extended as one makes his way through a house at night. There were no sounds except the tinkle of the sulphurous stream: successive bends in the canon wall had shut off even the faintest echoes of the bacchanalia on the beach.
The way seemed much longer than by daylight. Already in my calculation I had traversed many times the distance, when, with a jump at the heart, I made out a glow ahead, and in front of it the upright logs of the stockade.
To my surprise the gate was open. I ascended the gentle slope to the valley's level--and stumbled over a man lying prostrate, shivering violently, and moaning.
I bent over to discover whom it might be. As I did so a brilliant light seemed to fill the valley, throwing an illumination on the man at my feet. I saw it was the Nigger, and perceived at the same instant that he was almost beside himself with terror. His eyes rolled, his teeth chattered, his frame contracted in a strong convulsion, and the black of his complexion had faded to a washed-out dirty grey, revolting to contemplate. He felt my touch and sprang to his feet, clutching me by the shoulder as a man clutching rescue.
"My Gawd!" he shivered. "Look! Dar it is again!"
He fell to pattering in a tongue unknown to me--charms, spells, undoubtedly, to exorcise the devils that had hold of him. I followed the direction of his gaze, and myself cried out.
The doctor's laboratory stood in plain sight between the two columns of steam blown straight upward through the stillness of the evening. It seemed bursting with light. Every little crack leaked it in generous streams, while the main illumination appeared fairly to bulge the walls outward. This was in itself nothing extraordinary, and indicated only the activity of those within, but while I looked an irregular patch of incandescence suddenly splashed the cliff opposite. For a single instant the very substance of the rock glowed white hot; then from the spot a shower of spiteful flakes shot as from a pyrotechnic, and the light was blotted out as suddenly as it came. At the same moment it appeared at another point, exhibited the same phenomena, died, flashed out at still a third place, and so was repeated here and there with bewildering rapidity until the walls of the valley crackled and spat sparks. Abruptly the darkness fell.
As abruptly it was broken again by a similar exhibition; only this time the fire was blue. Blue was followed by purple, purple by red. Then ensued the briefest possible pause, in which a figure moved across the bars of light escaping through the chinks of the laboratory, and then the whole valley blazed with patches of vari-coloured fire. It was not a reflection: it was actual physical conflagration of the solid rock, in irregular areas. Some of the fire shapes were most fantastic. And with the unexpectedness of a bursting shell the surface of the ground before our feet crackled into a ghastly blue flame.
The Nigger uttered a cry in his throat and disappeared. I felt a sharp breath on my neck, an ejaculation of surprise at my very ear. It was startling enough to scare the soul out of a man, but I held fast and was just about to step forward, when my collar was twisted tight from behind. I raised both hands, felt steel, and knew that I was in the grasp of Handy Solomon's claw.
The sailor had me foul. I did my best to twist around, to unbutton the collar, but in vain. I felt my wind leaving me, the ghastly blue light was shot with red. Distinctly I heard the man's sharp intaken breath as some new phenomenon met his eye, and his great oath as he swore. "By the mother of God!" he cried, "it's the devil."
Then I was jerked off my feet, and the next I knew I was lying on my back, very wet, on the beach; the day was breaking, and the men, quite sober, were talking vehemently.
It was impossible to make out what they said, but as Handy Solomon and the Nigger were the centre of discussion, I could imagine the subject. I felt very stiff and sore and hazy in my mind. My neck was lame from the dragging and my tongue dry from the choking. For some time I lay in a half-torpor watching the lilac of dawn change to the rose of sunrise, utterly indifferent to everything. They had thrown me down across the first rise of the little sand dunes back of the tide sands, and from it I could at once look out over the sea full of the restless shadows of dawn, and the land narrowing to the mouth of the arroyo. I remember wondering whether Captain Selover were up yet. Then with a sharp stab at the heart I remembered.
The thought was like a dash of cold water in clearing my faculties. I raised my head. Seaward a white gull had caught the first rays of the sun beyond the cliffs. Landward--I saw with a choke in my throat--a figure emerging from the arroyo.
At the sight I made a desperate attempt to move, but with the effort discovered that I was again bound. My stirring thus called Pulz's attention. Before I could look away he had followed the direction of my gaze. The discussion instantly ceased. They waited in grim silence.
I did not know what to do. Percy Darrow, carrying some sort of large book, was walking rapidly toward us. Perdosa had disappeared. Thrackles after an instant came and sat beside me and clapped his big hand over my mouth. It was horrible.
When within a hundred paces or so, I could see that Darrow laboured under some great excitement. His usual indifferent saunter had, as I have indicated, given way to a firm and decided step; his ironical eye glistened; his sallow cheek glowed.
"Boys," he shouted cheerfully. "The time's up. We've succeeded. We'll sail just as soon as the Lord'll let us get ready. Rustle the stuff aboard. The doctor'll be down in a short time, and we ought to be loaded by night."
Handy Solomon and Pulz laid hand on two of the rifles near by and began surreptitiously to fill their magazines. The Nigger shook his knife free of the scabbard and sat with it in his left hand, concealed by his body. I could feel Thrackles's muscles stiffen. Another fifty paces and it would be no longer necessary to stop my mouth.
The thought made me desperate. I had failed as a leader of these men, and I had been forced to stand by at debauching, cruel, and murderous affairs, but now it is over I thank Heaven the reproach cannot be made against me that at any time I counted the consequences to myself. Thrackles's hand lay heavy across my mouth. I bit it to the bone, and as he involuntarily snatched it away, I rolled over toward the sea.
Thus for an instant I had my mouth free. "Run! Run!" I shouted. "For God's sake----"
Thrackles leaped upon me and struck me heavily upon the mouth, then sprang for a rifle. I managed to struggle back to the dune, whence I could see.
The way seemed much longer than by daylight. Already in my calculation I had traversed many times the distance, when, with a jump at the heart, I made out a glow ahead, and in front of it the upright logs of the stockade.
To my surprise the gate was open. I ascended the gentle slope to the valley's level--and stumbled over a man lying prostrate, shivering violently, and moaning.
I bent over to discover whom it might be. As I did so a brilliant light seemed to fill the valley, throwing an illumination on the man at my feet. I saw it was the Nigger, and perceived at the same instant that he was almost beside himself with terror. His eyes rolled, his teeth chattered, his frame contracted in a strong convulsion, and the black of his complexion had faded to a washed-out dirty grey, revolting to contemplate. He felt my touch and sprang to his feet, clutching me by the shoulder as a man clutching rescue.
"My Gawd!" he shivered. "Look! Dar it is again!"
He fell to pattering in a tongue unknown to me--charms, spells, undoubtedly, to exorcise the devils that had hold of him. I followed the direction of his gaze, and myself cried out.
The doctor's laboratory stood in plain sight between the two columns of steam blown straight upward through the stillness of the evening. It seemed bursting with light. Every little crack leaked it in generous streams, while the main illumination appeared fairly to bulge the walls outward. This was in itself nothing extraordinary, and indicated only the activity of those within, but while I looked an irregular patch of incandescence suddenly splashed the cliff opposite. For a single instant the very substance of the rock glowed white hot; then from the spot a shower of spiteful flakes shot as from a pyrotechnic, and the light was blotted out as suddenly as it came. At the same moment it appeared at another point, exhibited the same phenomena, died, flashed out at still a third place, and so was repeated here and there with bewildering rapidity until the walls of the valley crackled and spat sparks. Abruptly the darkness fell.
As abruptly it was broken again by a similar exhibition; only this time the fire was blue. Blue was followed by purple, purple by red. Then ensued the briefest possible pause, in which a figure moved across the bars of light escaping through the chinks of the laboratory, and then the whole valley blazed with patches of vari-coloured fire. It was not a reflection: it was actual physical conflagration of the solid rock, in irregular areas. Some of the fire shapes were most fantastic. And with the unexpectedness of a bursting shell the surface of the ground before our feet crackled into a ghastly blue flame.
The Nigger uttered a cry in his throat and disappeared. I felt a sharp breath on my neck, an ejaculation of surprise at my very ear. It was startling enough to scare the soul out of a man, but I held fast and was just about to step forward, when my collar was twisted tight from behind. I raised both hands, felt steel, and knew that I was in the grasp of Handy Solomon's claw.
The sailor had me foul. I did my best to twist around, to unbutton the collar, but in vain. I felt my wind leaving me, the ghastly blue light was shot with red. Distinctly I heard the man's sharp intaken breath as some new phenomenon met his eye, and his great oath as he swore. "By the mother of God!" he cried, "it's the devil."
Then I was jerked off my feet, and the next I knew I was lying on my back, very wet, on the beach; the day was breaking, and the men, quite sober, were talking vehemently.
It was impossible to make out what they said, but as Handy Solomon and the Nigger were the centre of discussion, I could imagine the subject. I felt very stiff and sore and hazy in my mind. My neck was lame from the dragging and my tongue dry from the choking. For some time I lay in a half-torpor watching the lilac of dawn change to the rose of sunrise, utterly indifferent to everything. They had thrown me down across the first rise of the little sand dunes back of the tide sands, and from it I could at once look out over the sea full of the restless shadows of dawn, and the land narrowing to the mouth of the arroyo. I remember wondering whether Captain Selover were up yet. Then with a sharp stab at the heart I remembered.
The thought was like a dash of cold water in clearing my faculties. I raised my head. Seaward a white gull had caught the first rays of the sun beyond the cliffs. Landward--I saw with a choke in my throat--a figure emerging from the arroyo.
At the sight I made a desperate attempt to move, but with the effort discovered that I was again bound. My stirring thus called Pulz's attention. Before I could look away he had followed the direction of my gaze. The discussion instantly ceased. They waited in grim silence.
I did not know what to do. Percy Darrow, carrying some sort of large book, was walking rapidly toward us. Perdosa had disappeared. Thrackles after an instant came and sat beside me and clapped his big hand over my mouth. It was horrible.
When within a hundred paces or so, I could see that Darrow laboured under some great excitement. His usual indifferent saunter had, as I have indicated, given way to a firm and decided step; his ironical eye glistened; his sallow cheek glowed.
"Boys," he shouted cheerfully. "The time's up. We've succeeded. We'll sail just as soon as the Lord'll let us get ready. Rustle the stuff aboard. The doctor'll be down in a short time, and we ought to be loaded by night."
Handy Solomon and Pulz laid hand on two of the rifles near by and began surreptitiously to fill their magazines. The Nigger shook his knife free of the scabbard and sat with it in his left hand, concealed by his body. I could feel Thrackles's muscles stiffen. Another fifty paces and it would be no longer necessary to stop my mouth.
The thought made me desperate. I had failed as a leader of these men, and I had been forced to stand by at debauching, cruel, and murderous affairs, but now it is over I thank Heaven the reproach cannot be made against me that at any time I counted the consequences to myself. Thrackles's hand lay heavy across my mouth. I bit it to the bone, and as he involuntarily snatched it away, I rolled over toward the sea.
Thus for an instant I had my mouth free. "Run! Run!" I shouted. "For God's sake----"
Thrackles leaped upon me and struck me heavily upon the mouth, then sprang for a rifle. I managed to struggle back to the dune, whence I could see.
Part 2 Chapter 13 I Make My Escape
I had plenty of time to run away. I do not know why I did not do so; but the fact stands that I remained where I was until they had finished Captain Selover. Then I took to my heels, but was soon cornered. I drew my revolver, remembered that I had emptied it in the seal cave--and had time for no more coherent mental processes. A smothering weight flung itself on me, against which I struggled as hard as I could, shrinking in anticipation from the thirsty plunge of the knives. However, though the weight increased until further struggle was impossible, I was not harmed, and in a few moments found myself, wrists and ankles tied, beside a roaring fire. While I collected myself I heard the grate of a boat being shoved off from the cove, and a few moments later made out lights aboard the _Laughing Lass_.
The looting party returned very shortly. Their plundering had gone only as far as liquor and arms. Thrackles let down from the cliff top a keg at the end of a line. Perdosa and the Nigger each carried an armful of the 30-40 rifles. The keg was rolled to the fire and broached.
The men got drunk, wildly drunk, but not helplessly so. A flame communicated itself to them through the liquor. The ordinary characteristics of their composition sprung into sharper relief. The Nigger became more sullen; Perdosa more snake-like; Pulz more viciously evil; Thrackles more brutal; while Handy Solomon staggering from his seat to the open keg and back again, roaring fragments of a chanty, his red headgear contrasting with his smoky black hair and his swarthy hook-nosed countenance--he needed no further touch.
Their evil passions were all awake, and the plan, so long indefinite, developed like a photographer's plate.
"That's one," said Thrackles. "One gone to hell."
"And now the diamonds," muttered Pulz.
"There's a ship upon the windward, a wreck upon the lee,
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e_,"
roared Handy Solomon. "Damn it all, boys, it's the best night's work we ever did. The stuff's ours. Then it's me for a big stone house in Frisco O!"
"Frisco, hell," sneered Pulz, "that's all you know. You ought to travel. Paris for me and a little gal to learn the language from."
"I get heem a fine _caballo_, an' fine saddle, an' fine clo's," breathed Perdosa sentimentally. "I ride, and the silver jingle, and the _senorita_ look----"
Thrackles was for a ship and the China trade.
"What you want, Doctor?" they demanded of the silent Nigger.
But the Nigger only rolled his eyes and shook his head. By and by he arose and disappeared in the dusk and was no more seen.
"Dam' fool," muttered Handy Solomon. "Well, here's to crime!"
He drank a deep cup of the raw rum, and staggered back to his seat on the sands.
"'I am not a man-o'-war, nor a privateer,' said he.
_Blow high, blow low! What care we_!
'But I am a jolly pirate and I'm sailing for my fee,'
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e_."
he sang. "We'll land in Valparaiso and we'll go every man his way; and we'll sink the old _Laughing Lass_ so deep the mermaids can't find her."
Thrackles piled on more wood and the fire leaped high.
"Let's get after 'em,' said he.
"To-morrow's jes' 's good," muttered Pulz. "Les' hav' 'nother drink."
"We'll stay here 'n see if our ol' frien' Percy don' show up," said Handy Solomon. He threw back his head and roared forth a volume of sound toward the dim stars.
"Broadside to broadside the gallant ships did lay,
_Blow high, blow low! What care we_?
'Til the jolly man-o'-war shot the pirate's mast away,
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e_."
I saw near me a live coal dislodged from the fire when Thrackles had thrown on the armful of wood. An idea came to me. I hitched myself to the spark, and laid across it the rope with which my wrists were tied. This, behind my back, was not easy to accomplish, and twice I burned my wrists before I succeeded.
Fortunately I was at the edge of illumination, and behind the group. I turned over on my side so that my back was toward the fire. Then rapidly I cast loose my ankle lashings. Thus I was free, and selecting a moment when universal attention was turned toward the rum barrel, I rolled over a sand dune, got to my hands and knees, and crept away.
Through the coarse grass I crept thus, to the very entrance of the arroyo, then rose to my feet. In the middle distance the fire leaped red. Its glow fell intermittently on the surges rolling in. The men staggered or lay prone, either as gigantic silhouettes or as tatterdemalions painted by the light. The keg stood solid and substantial, the hub about which reeled the orgy. At the edge of the wash I could make out something prone, dim, limp, thrown constantly in new positions of weariness as the water ebbed and flowed beneath it, now an arm thrown out, now cast back, as though Old Scrubs slept feverishly. The drunkards were getting noisy. Handy Solomon still reeled off the verses of, his song. The others joined in, frightfully off the key; or punctuated the performance by wild staccato yells.
"Their coffin was their ship and their grave it was the sea,
_Blow high, blow low! What care we_?
And the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea,
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e,_"
bellowed Handy Solomon.
I turned and plunged into the cool darkness of the canon.
The looting party returned very shortly. Their plundering had gone only as far as liquor and arms. Thrackles let down from the cliff top a keg at the end of a line. Perdosa and the Nigger each carried an armful of the 30-40 rifles. The keg was rolled to the fire and broached.
The men got drunk, wildly drunk, but not helplessly so. A flame communicated itself to them through the liquor. The ordinary characteristics of their composition sprung into sharper relief. The Nigger became more sullen; Perdosa more snake-like; Pulz more viciously evil; Thrackles more brutal; while Handy Solomon staggering from his seat to the open keg and back again, roaring fragments of a chanty, his red headgear contrasting with his smoky black hair and his swarthy hook-nosed countenance--he needed no further touch.
Their evil passions were all awake, and the plan, so long indefinite, developed like a photographer's plate.
"That's one," said Thrackles. "One gone to hell."
"And now the diamonds," muttered Pulz.
"There's a ship upon the windward, a wreck upon the lee,
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e_,"
roared Handy Solomon. "Damn it all, boys, it's the best night's work we ever did. The stuff's ours. Then it's me for a big stone house in Frisco O!"
"Frisco, hell," sneered Pulz, "that's all you know. You ought to travel. Paris for me and a little gal to learn the language from."
"I get heem a fine _caballo_, an' fine saddle, an' fine clo's," breathed Perdosa sentimentally. "I ride, and the silver jingle, and the _senorita_ look----"
Thrackles was for a ship and the China trade.
"What you want, Doctor?" they demanded of the silent Nigger.
But the Nigger only rolled his eyes and shook his head. By and by he arose and disappeared in the dusk and was no more seen.
"Dam' fool," muttered Handy Solomon. "Well, here's to crime!"
He drank a deep cup of the raw rum, and staggered back to his seat on the sands.
"'I am not a man-o'-war, nor a privateer,' said he.
_Blow high, blow low! What care we_!
'But I am a jolly pirate and I'm sailing for my fee,'
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e_."
he sang. "We'll land in Valparaiso and we'll go every man his way; and we'll sink the old _Laughing Lass_ so deep the mermaids can't find her."
Thrackles piled on more wood and the fire leaped high.
"Let's get after 'em,' said he.
"To-morrow's jes' 's good," muttered Pulz. "Les' hav' 'nother drink."
"We'll stay here 'n see if our ol' frien' Percy don' show up," said Handy Solomon. He threw back his head and roared forth a volume of sound toward the dim stars.
"Broadside to broadside the gallant ships did lay,
_Blow high, blow low! What care we_?
'Til the jolly man-o'-war shot the pirate's mast away,
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e_."
I saw near me a live coal dislodged from the fire when Thrackles had thrown on the armful of wood. An idea came to me. I hitched myself to the spark, and laid across it the rope with which my wrists were tied. This, behind my back, was not easy to accomplish, and twice I burned my wrists before I succeeded.
Fortunately I was at the edge of illumination, and behind the group. I turned over on my side so that my back was toward the fire. Then rapidly I cast loose my ankle lashings. Thus I was free, and selecting a moment when universal attention was turned toward the rum barrel, I rolled over a sand dune, got to my hands and knees, and crept away.
Through the coarse grass I crept thus, to the very entrance of the arroyo, then rose to my feet. In the middle distance the fire leaped red. Its glow fell intermittently on the surges rolling in. The men staggered or lay prone, either as gigantic silhouettes or as tatterdemalions painted by the light. The keg stood solid and substantial, the hub about which reeled the orgy. At the edge of the wash I could make out something prone, dim, limp, thrown constantly in new positions of weariness as the water ebbed and flowed beneath it, now an arm thrown out, now cast back, as though Old Scrubs slept feverishly. The drunkards were getting noisy. Handy Solomon still reeled off the verses of, his song. The others joined in, frightfully off the key; or punctuated the performance by wild staccato yells.
"Their coffin was their ship and their grave it was the sea,
_Blow high, blow low! What care we_?
And the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea,
_Down on the coast of the high Barbare-e-e,_"
bellowed Handy Solomon.
I turned and plunged into the cool darkness of the canon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)