Five Thousand Miles Underground; Or, the Mystery of the Centre of the Earth by - (best novels of all time txt) 📕

THE BIG MEN HAD GATHERED IN A COMPACT MASS

Jack, seeing how successful his comrade was, attacked the three giants who were striving to make him a captive. He succeeded in disposing of them, knocking one down so hard that the man was unable to rise until his companions helped him.

“That’s the way!” cried Washington. “They’re soft as snow men!”

The vanquished giants set up a sort of roar, which was answered by their fellows, and soon there was a terrible din.

“All get together!” called the professor. “They are evidently going to make a rush for us. If we stand by one another we may fight them off, though they outnumber us a hundred to one. Besides it will soon be dark, and we may be able to escape!”

Washington, Jack and Mark retreated toward the ship, in the direction of which the others had also made their way. The big men had gathered in a compact mass and were advancing on the adventurers.

“What do you suppose makes them so soft?” asked Mark. “I believe I could manage half a dozen.”

“It must be the effect of the climate and conditions here,” the professor replied. “Probably they have to be big to stand the pressure of the thick water, and the increased attraction of gravitation. Then too, being without the weight of the atmosphere to which we are accustomed, they have probably expanded. If they were to go up to earth, they might shrink to our size.”

“Do you think that possible?”

“Of course. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing in particular,” replied Mark. But to himself, he added: “That would explain it all.”

It was getting dusk now. The travelers had reached their ship, and rushed inside and tried to close the doors in the face of the advancing horde. But, by this time the giants were so close that one or two of them thrust their big feet in, and prevented this movement. At the same time they set up a great howling.

“Quick!” cried the professor. “We must start the ship and get away!”

“I can’t close the door!” yelled Washington, who had been the last to enter.

“Never mind that! Go up with it open! Drag them along if they won’t let go!” answered Mr. Henderson, as he ran toward the engine room.

There was a sudden rush among the giants, and a sound as if something was being thrown over the top and ends of the ship. Mark turned the gas machine on, while Jack worked the negative gravity apparatus. They waited for the ship to rise.

“Why don’t we go up?” asked the professor.

“'Cause they’ve caught us!” called out Washington.

“Caught us? How?”

“They’ve thrown ropes over the top and ends of the ship, and fastened them to their big houses!”

Running to a side window the professor saw that the Mermaid was fastened down by a score of cables, each one six inches thick. They were held captives by the enemy.

Though the giants, man for man, were no match for the travelers, collectively the horde proved too much. They had swarmed about the ship, and, by passing the big cables over her, effectively held her down.

“Let me get out and I’ll cut ’em!” cried Andy. “We must get away from these savages!”

“No, no, don’t go out!” exclaimed the professor. “They would eventually kill you, though you might fight them off for a time. We must wait and see what develops. They can have no object in harming us, as we have not injured them.”

“I’d rather fight ’em,” insisted the old hunter.

But the professor had his way and Andy was forced to obey. The giants had withdrawn their big feet from the side door and Washington had closed it. But nothing else had been accomplished, and the ship could not rise. The gas and negative gravity machines were stopped, as they were only under a useless strain.

Suddenly, the colored lights which had been growing dimmer and dimmer, with the approach of night, went out altogether. Almost as suddenly, Mark, who was watching the giants from the conning tower, as they made fast the loose ends of the cables, saw them make a dash for the mound houses.

“They’re afraid of the dark!” he cried. “Come on! We can go out now and loosen the ropes!“

He hurried to tell the professor what he had noticed.

“Good!” exclaimed Mr. Henderson. “Perhaps we can escape now!”

They waited a few minutes, listening to the sound of many big feet running away from the ship, and then, Bill cautiously opened the side door. The others were behind him, waiting, with knives and hatchets in their hands, to rush out and cut the restraining cables.

“All ready!” called Bill. “There doesn’t seem to be a one in sight!”

He stepped out but no sooner had he set foot on the ground than there came a thud, and Bill went down as if some one had knocked his feet from under him.

“Go back! Go back!” he cried. “They hit me with something. I’m being smothered!”

“Bring a light!” cried the professor, for the sally had been started in the dark.

Jack brought the portable electric it having been repaired and flashed it out of the door. In the gleam of it, Bill was seen lying prostrate, half covered by an orange, about half as big as himself. The fruit was as soft and mushy as some of the giants themselves, or Bill would not have fared so easily.

Then, as the others stood watching, and while Bill arose and wiped some of the juice from his face, there came a regular shower of the monstrous oranges.

“Get inside quick! We’ll be smothered under them!” Mr. Henderson cried.

Pausing only to rescue Bill, the adventurers retreated inside the ship, and made fast the door. Outside they could hear the thud as the oranges were thrown, some hitting the Flying Mermaid and many dropping all about her.

“I guess they are going to have things their own way,” observed Bill, as he gazed down on his clothes, which were covered with juice from the fruit.

The night was one of anxiety. The travelers took turns standing guard, but nothing more occurred. The giants remained in their houses, and the heavy ropes still held the ship fast.

“We must hold a council of war,” the professor decided as they gathered at breakfast, which was far from a cheerful meal.

With the return of the colored lights the giants again made their appearance. They came swarming from the mound houses, and a great crowd they proved to be. Several thousand at least, Jack estimated, and when he went up into the conning tower and took a survey he could see the strange and terrible creatures pouring in from the surrounding country.

“I’m afraid there will be trouble,” he said, as he came down and reported what he had seen.

“We must hold a council of war,” repeated the professor. “Has any one anything to suggest?”

“Get a lot of powder and blow ’em up!” cried Andy.

“Arrange electric wires and shock ’em to death!” was Bill’s plan.

“Can’t we slip the ropes in some way and escape?” asked Jack. “I don’t believe we can successfully fight the giants. They are too many, even if they are weak, individually.”

“I think you’re right there,” Mr. Henderson said. “We must try some sort of strategy, but what? That is the question.”

For a few minutes no one spoke. They were all thinking deeply, for their lives might hang in the balance.

“I think I have a plan,” said Mark, at length. “Did we bring any diving suits with us?”

“There may be one or two,” the professor replied. “But what good will they do?”

“Two of us could put them on,” continued Mark, “and, as they afford good protection from any missiles like fruit, we could crawl out on the deck of the ship. From there, armed with hatchets or knives we could cut the ropes. Then the ship could rise.”

“That’s a good plan!” cried the scientist. “We’ll try it at once!”

Search revealed that two diving suits were among the stores of the Mermaid. Jack and Mark wanted to be the ones to don them, but as the suits were rather large, and as the professor thought it would take more strength than the boys had to do the work, it was decided that Andy and Washington should make the attempt to cut the ropes.

The hunter and colored man lost little time in getting into the modern armor. In the meanwhile Jack, who had been posted as a lookout, reported that there seemed to be some activity among the giants. They were running here and there, and some seemed to be going off toward the woods, that were not far away.

“Now work quickly,” urged the professor. “We will be on the watch, and as soon as the last rope is cut we will start the machinery and send the ship up. We will not wait for you to come back inside, so hold fast as best you can when the Mermaid rises.”

“We