Astounding Stories of Super-Science January 1931 Part 9

Whereupon Larry subsided; outwardly, at least. But when presently the central square revealed another and then another sunken s.h.i.+p, it was all he could do to contain himself.

Now, suddenly, Diane cried out:

"Oh, daddy, look! There's a modern s.h.i.+p! A--a freighter, isn't it?"

"A collier, I would say," was her father's calm reply. "Rather a large one, too. _Cyclops_, possibly. She disappeared some years ago, en route from the Barbados to Norfolk. Or possibly it is any one of a dozen other steel vessels that have vanished from these seas in recent times. The area of the Sarga.s.so, my dear, is known as 'The Port of Missing s.h.i.+ps.'"

"But couldn't we drop down and make sure which s.h.i.+p it is?" she pleaded, voicing the very thought Larry had been struggling to suppress.

At the professor's reply, however, he was glad he had kept quiet.

"We could, of course," was his gentle though firm rebuke, "but if we stopped to solve the mystery of every sunken s.h.i.+p we shall probably see during this cruise, we would have time for nothing else.

Nevertheless, my dear, you may take a short memorandum of the location and circ.u.mstances, in the present instance."

Whereupon he dictated briefly, while Larry devoted his attention once more to the central square.

Suddenly, beyond a dark pit that seemed to reach down into the very bowels of the earth, rose an abrupt plateau--and on one of its nearer elevations, almost directly under then, loomed a monumental four-sided mound.

"Say--hold on!" called Larry. "Look at that, Professor! Isn't that a building of some kind?"

Martin Stevens looked up, glanced skeptically toward the panel. But one glimpse at what that central square revealed, and his skepticism vanished.

"A building?" he cried in triumph. "A building indeed! It is a pyramid, young man!"

"Good Lord!"

"Oh, daddy! Really?"

"Beyond a doubt! And look--there are two other similar structures, only smaller!"

Struggling for calm, he turned to Captain Petersen, who had taken his eyes from the forward square and was peering down as well upon those singular mounds.

"Stop! Descend!" was his exultant command. "This is my proof! We have discovered Antillia!"

Swiftly the _Nereid_ dropped to that submerged plateau.

In five minutes, her keel was resting evenly on the smooth sand beside the largest of the three pyramids.

Professor Stevens then announced that he would make a preliminary investigation of the site at once.

"For, otherwise, I for one would be quite unable to sleep tonight!"

declared the graybeard, with a boyish chuckle.

He added that Diane would accompany him.

At this latter announcement, Larry's heart sank. He had hoped against hope that he might be invited along with them.

But once again his champion came to his aid.

"We really ought to let Mr. Hunter come with us, daddy, don't you think?" she urged, noting his disappointment. "After all, it was he who made the discovery."

"Very true," said her father, "but I had not thought it necessary for anyone to accompany us. In the event anyone does, Captain Petersen should have that honor."

But this honor the captain declined.

"If you don't mind, sir, I'd prefer to stay with the s.h.i.+p," he said, quietly. "I haven't forgotten that radio warning."

"But surely you don't think anyone can molest us down here?" scoffed the professor.

"No, but I'd prefer to stay with the s.h.i.+p just the same, sir, if you don't mind."

"Very well"--with a touch of pique. "Then you may come along if you care to, Mr. Hunter."

If he cared to!

"Thanks, Professor!" he said with a grateful look toward Diane. "I'd be keen to!"

So he accompanied them below, where they donned their pressure-suits--rubber affairs rather less c.u.mbersome than ordinary deep-sea diving gear, reinforced with steel wire and provided with thick gla.s.s goggles and powerful searchlights, in addition to their vibratory communication apparatus and other devices that were explained to Larry.

When he had mastered their operation, which was rendered simple by reason of the fact that they were so nearly automatic, the trio stepped into a lock on the floor of the s.h.i.+p and Professor Stevens ordered them to couple their suits to air-valve connections on the wall, at the same time admitting water by opening another valve.

Swiftly the lock flooded, while their suits inflated.

"All right?" came his vibratory query.

"Right!" they both answered.

"Then stand by for the heavy pressure."

Wider now he opened the water-valve, letting the ocean in, while at the same time their suits continued inflating through their air-valve connections.

To his surprise, Larry found himself no more inconvenienced by the pressure than he had been from the moment the submarine dove to its present depth. Indeed, most of the air that was coming into his suit was filling the reinforced s.p.a.ce between its inner and outer layers, much as the _Nereid_ held air under pressure between her two thick sh.e.l.ls.

"All right now?" called out the professor's vibrator.

"Right!" they called back again.

"Then uncouple your air-valve connections and make ready."

They did so; and he likewise.

Then, advancing to a ma.s.sive door like that of a vault, he flung back its powerful clamps, dragged it open--and there beyond, its pressure equaled by that within the lock, loomed the black tide of the ocean bottom.