The explanation was clear. Cosmo, foreseeing the probability of a despairing attack, had surrounded the ark with an impa.s.sable electric barrier. The sound of a whirring dynamo could be heard. A tremendous current was flowing through the hidden wires and transmitting its paralyzing energy to the metallic crest of the wall.
Still those behind pushed on, until rank after rank had sunk helpless at the impregnable line of defense. They were not killed--at least, not many--but the shock was so paralyzing that those who had experienced its effects made no further attempts to cross the barrier. Many lay for a time helpless upon the sodden ground.
Cosmo and Joseph Smith, who had now appeared at his side, continued to shout warnings, which began to be heeded when the nature of the obstacle became known. The rush was stopped, and the mult.i.tude stood at bay, dazed, and uncertain what to do. Then a murmur arose, growing louder and more angry and threatening, until suddenly a shot was heard in the midst of the crowd, and Cosmo was seen to start backward, while Joseph Smith instantly dodged out of sight.
A cry arose:
"Shoot him! That"s right! Shoot the devil! He"s a witch! He"s drowning the world!"
They meant it--at least, half of them did. It was the logic of terror.
Hundreds of shots were now fired from all quarters, and heads that had been seen flitting behind the various portholes instantly disappeared.
The bullets rattled on the huge sides of the ark, but they came from small pistols and had not force enough to penetrate.
Cosmo Versal alone remained in sight. Occasionally a quick motion showed that even his nerves were not steady enough to defy the whistling of the bullets pa.s.sing close; but he held his ground, and stretched out his hand to implore attention.
When the fusillade ceased for a moment he put his trumpet again to his lips and shouted:
"I have done my best to save you, but you would not listen. Although I know that you must perish, I would not myself harm a hair of your heads.
Go back, I implore you. You may prolong your lives if you will fly to the highlands and the mountains--but here you cannot enter. _The ark is full._"
Another volley of shots was the only answer. One broad-shouldered man forced his way to the front, took his stand close to the wall, and yelled in stentorian tones:
"Cosmo Versal, listen to me! You are the curse of the world! You have brought this flood upon us with your d.a.m.nable incantations. Your infernal nebula is the seal of Satan! Here, beast and devil, here at my feet, lies my only son, slain by your h.e.l.lish device. By the Eternal I swear you shall go back to the pit!"
Instantly a pistol flashed in the speaker"s hand, and five shots rang in quick succession. One after another they whistled by Cosmo"s head and flattened themselves upon the metal-work behind. Cosmo Versal, untouched, folded his arms and looked straight at his foe. The man, staring a moment confusedly, as if he could not comprehend his failure, threw up his arms with a despairing gesture, and fell p.r.o.ne upon the ground.
Then yells and shots once more broke out. Cosmo stepped back, and a great metallic door swung to, closing the gangway.
But three minutes later the door opened, and the mob saw two machine-guns trained upon them.
Once more Cosmo appeared, with the trumpet.
"If you fire again," he cried, "I shall sweep you with grapeshot. I have told you how you can prolong your lives. Now go!"
Not another shot was fired. In the face of the guns, whose terrible power all comprehended, no one dared to make a hostile movement.
But, perhaps, if Cosmo Versal had not set new thoughts running in the minds of the a.s.sailants by telling them there was temporary safety to be found by seeking high ground, even the terror of the guns would not have daunted them. Now their hopefulness was reawakened, and many began to ponder upon his words.
"He says we must perish, and yet that we can find safety in the hills and mountains," said one man. "I believe half of that is a lie. We are not going to be drowned. The water won"t rise much higher. The flood from the south pole that they talk about must be here by this time, and then what"s left to come?"
"The nebula," suggested one.
"Aw, the nebula be hanged! There"s no such thing! I live on high ground; I"m going to keep a sharp outlook, and if the water begins to shut off Manhattan I"ll take my family up the Hudson to the Highlands. I guess old Storm King"ll keep his head above. That"s where I come from--up that way. I used to hear people say when I was a boy that New York was bound to sink some day. I used to laugh at that then, but it looks mighty like it now, don"t it?"
"Say," put in another, "what did the fellow mean by saying the ark was _full_? That"s funny, ain"t it? Who"s he got inside, anyway?"
"Oh, he ain"t got n.o.body," said another.
"Yes, he has. I seen a goodish lot through the portholes. He"s got somebody, sure."
"A lot of fools like himself, most likely."
"Well, if he"s a fool, and they"s fools, what are _we_, I"d like to know? What did you come here for, hey?"
It was a puzzling question, and brought forth only a sheepish laugh, followed by the remark:
"I guess we fooled ourselves considerable. We got scared too easy."
"Maybe you"ll feel scared again when you see the water climbing up the streets in New York. I don"t half like this thing. I"m going to follow his advice and light out for higher ground."
Soon conversation of this sort was heard on all sides, and the crowd began to disperse, only those lingering behind who had friends or relatives that had been struck down at the fatal wall. It turned out that not more than one or two had been mortally shocked. The rest were able to limp away, and many had fully recovered within five minutes after suffering the shock. In half an hour not a dozen persons were in sight from the ark.
But when the retreating throngs drew near the sh.o.r.es of the Sound, and the East River, which had expanded into a true arm of the sea, and found that there had been a perceptible rise since they set out to capture the ark, they began to shake their heads and fear once more entered their hearts.
Thousands then and there resolved that they would not lose another instant in setting out for high land, up the Hudson, in Connecticut, among the hills of New Jersey. In fact, many had already fled thither, some escaping on aeros; and hosts would now have followed but for a marvelous change that came just before nightfall and prevented them.
For some days the heavens had alternately darkened and lightened, as gushes of mist came and went, but there had been no actual rain. Now, without warning, a steady downpour began. Even at the beginning it would have been called, in ordinary times, a veritable cloudburst; but it rapidly grew worse and worse, until there was no word in the vernacular or in the terminology of science to describe it.
It seemed, in truth, that "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." The water thundered upon the roofs, and poured off them in torrents. In five minutes every sloping street had become an angry river, and every level place a swelling lake. People caught out of doors were almost beaten to the ground by the force of the water falling upon them as if they had been standing under a cataract.
In a short time every cellar and every bas.e.m.e.nt was filled to overflowing, and in the avenues the flood, lapping every instant higher upon the doorsteps and the walls, rushed by with frightful roarings, bearing in its awful embrace pieces of furniture, clothing, bedding, washed out of ground-floor rooms--and, alas! human beings; some motionless, already mercifully deprived of life, but others struggling and shouting for aid which could not be given.
So terrible a spectacle no one had ever looked upon, no one had ever imagined. Those who beheld it were too stunned to cry out, too overwhelmed with terror and horror to utter a word. They stood, or fell into chairs or upon the floor, trembling in every limb, with staring eyes and drooping jaws, pa.s.sively awaiting their fate.
As night came on there was no light. The awful darkness of the _third sign_ once more settled upon the great city, but now it was not the terror of indefinite expectation that crushed down the souls of men and women--it was the weight of doom accomplished!
There was no longer any room for self-deception; every quaking heart felt now that the nebula had come. _Cosmo Versal had been right!_
After the water had attained a certain height in the streets and yards, depending upon the ratio between the amount descending from the sky and that which could find its way to the rivers, the flood for the time being rose no higher. The actual drowning of New York could not happen until the Hudson and the East River should become so swollen that the water would stand above the level of the highest buildings, and turn the whole region round about, as far as the Orange hills, the Ramapo Mountains, the Highlands, and the Housatonic hills, into an inland sea.
But before we tell that story we must return to see what was going on at Mineola. Cosmo Versal, on that awful night when New York first knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, or the gleam of a hope, that it was doomed, presided over a remarkable a.s.sembly in the grand saloon of his ark.
CHAPTER IX
THE COMPANY OF THE REPRIEVED
How did it happen that Cosmo Versal was able to inform the mob when it a.s.sailed the ark that he had no room left?
Who composed his ship"s company, whence had they come, and how had they managed to embark without the knowledge of the public?
The explanation is quite simple. It was all due to the tremendous excitement that had prevailed ever since the seas began to overflow. In the universal confusion people had to think of other things nearer their doors than the operations of Cosmo Versal. Since the embarkation of the animals the crowds had ceased to visit the field at Mineola, and it was only occasionally that even a reporter was sent there. Accordingly, there were many hours every day when no curiosity-seekers were in sight of the ark, and at night the neighborhood was deserted; and this state of affairs continued until the sudden panic which led to the attack that has been described.
Cosmo Versal, of course, had every reason to conceal the fact that he was carefully selecting his company. It was a dangerous game to play, and he knew it. The consequence was that he enjoined secrecy upon his invited guests, and conducted them, a few at a time, into the ark, a.s.suring them that their lives might be in peril if they were recognized. And once under the domain of the fear which led them to accept his invitation, they were no less anxious than he to avoid publicity. Some of them probably desired to avoid recognition through dread of ridicule; for, after all, the flood might not turn out to be so bad as Cosmo had predicted.