"It is impossible to describe it. It was the secret of old Egypt revealed at last--at the end of the world!"
"But what was it like?"
"Like a glimpse into the remotest corridors of time," interposed Cosmo Versal, with a curious look in his eyes.
"Some of you may have heard that long ago holes were driven through the Sphinx in the hope of discovering something hidden inside, but they missed the secret. The old G.o.d kept it well until his form fell apart.
We were pinned so close to it that we could not help seeing it, even in the excitement of our situation.
"It had always been supposed that the Sphinx was the symbol of something--it _was_, and more than a symbol! The explorers away back in the nineteenth century who thought that they had found something mysterious in the Great Pyramid went wide of the mark when they neglected the Sphinx."
"But what did you see?"
_"We saw the prophecy of the Second Deluge,"_ said Cosmo, rising to his feet, his piercing eyes aflame. "In the heart of the huge ma.s.s, approachable, no doubt, by some concealed pa.s.sage in the rock beneath, known only to the priests, stood a gigantic idol, carved out of black marble.
"It had enormous eyes of some gem that blazed in the electric beam from the searchlight, with huge golden ears and beard, and on its breast was a representation of a drowning world, with a great nebula sweeping over it."
"It might have been a history instead of a prophecy," suggested one of the listening savants. "Perhaps it only told what had once happened."
"No," replied Cosmo, shaking his big head. "It was a prophecy. Under it, in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which I recognized, was an inscription which could only be translated by the words, "I come again--at the end of time!""
There was a quality in Cosmo Versal"s voice which made the hearers shudder with horror.
"Yes," he added. "It comes again! The prophecy was hidden, but science had its means of revelation, too, if the world would but have listened to its voice. Even without the prophecy I have saved the flower of mankind."
CHAPTER XXII
THE TERRIBLE NUCLEUS ARRIVES
When the company in the Ark had recovered from the astonishment produced by the narratives of De Beauxchamps and Cosmo Versal, and particularly the vivid description given by the latter of the strange idol concealed in the breast of the "Father of Horror," and the inferences which he drew concerning its prophetic character, the question again arose as to their future course.
Captain Arms was still for undertaking to follow the trough of the Red Sea, but Cosmo declared that this course would be doubly dangerous now that the water had lowered and that they no longer had the _Jules Verne_ to act as a submarine scout, warning them of hidden perils.
They must now go by their own soundings, and this would be especially dangerous in the close neighborhood of half-submerged mountains, whose b.u.t.tresses and foothills might rise suddenly out of the depths with slopes so steep that the lead would afford no certain guidance.
It was first necessary to learn if possible the actual height of the water, and whether it was still subsiding. It was partly for this purpose that they had pa.s.sed over Egypt instead of keeping directly on toward the coast of lower Palestine.
But now Cosmo abandoned his purpose of taking his measurement by the aid of Mount Sinai or some of its neighboring peaks, on account of the dangerous character of that rugged region. If they had been furnished with deep-sea sounding apparatus they might have made a direct measurement of the depth in Egypt, but that was one of the few things which Cosmo Versal had overlooked in furnishing the Ark, and such an operation could not be undertaken.
He discovered that there was a mountain north of the Gulf of Akaba having an elevation of 3,450 feet, and since this was 220 feet higher than Monte Lauro, in Sicily, on which the Ark had grounded, he counted on it as a gage which would serve his purpose.
So they pa.s.sed almost directly over Suez, and about 120 miles farther east they found the mountain they sought, rising to the west of the Wadi el Arabia, a continuation of the depression at whose deepest point lay the famous "Dead Sea," so often spoken of in the books of former times.
Here Cosmo was able to make a very accurate estimate from the height of the peak above the water, and he was gratified to find that the recession had not continued. The level of the water appeared to be exactly the same as when they made their unfortunate excursion in the direction of smoking Etna.
"It"s all right," he said to Captain Arms. "We can get over into the Syrian desert without much danger, although we must go slowly and carefully until we are well past these ranges that come down from the direction of the Dead Sea. After that I do not see that there is anything in our way until we reach the ancient plains of Babylon."
King Richard, who was full of the history of the Crusades, as well as of Bible narratives, wished to have the Ark turn northward, so that they might sail over Jerusalem, and up the Valley of the Jordan within sight of Mount Hermon and the Lebanon range.
Cosmo had had enough of that kind of adventure, while Captain Arms declared that he would resign on the spot if there was to be any more "fool navigating on mountain tops." But there were many persons in the Ark who would have been very glad if King Richard"s suggestion had been carried out.
The feelings of some were deeply stirred when they learned that they were now crossing the lower end of Palestine, and that the scenes of so many incidents in the history of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua lay buried beneath the blue water, whose almost motionless surface was marked with a broad trail of foaming bubbles in the wake of the immense vessel.
Cosmo greatly regretted the absence of the submersible when they were picking their way over this perilous region, but they encountered no real difficulty, and at length found, by celestial observations, that they were beyond all dangers and safely arrived over the deeply submerged desert.
They kept on for several days toward the rising sun, and then Captain Arms announced that the observations showed that they were over the site of Babylon.
This happened just at the time of the midday dinner, and over the dessert Cosmo seized the opportunity to make a little speech, which could be heard by all in the saloon.
"We are now arrived," he said, "over the very spot where the descendants of Noah are said to have erected a tower, known as the Tower of Babel, and which they intended to build so high that it would afford a secure refuge in case there should be another deluge.
"How vain were such expectations, if they were ever entertained, is sufficiently shown by the fact that, at this moment, the water rolls more than three thousand feet deep over the place where they put their tower, and before the present deluge is over it will be thirty thousand feet deep.
"More than half a mile beneath our feet lie the broad plains of Chaldea, where tradition a.s.serts that the study of astronomy began. It was Berosus, a Chaldean, who predicted that there would come a second deluge.
"It occurs to me, since seeing the astounding spectacle disclosed by the falling apart of the Sphinx, that these people may have had an infinitely more profound knowledge of the secrets of the heavens than tradition has a.s.signed to them.
"On the breast of the statue in the Sphinx was the figure of a crowned man, encircled by a huge ring, and having behind him the form of a boat containing two other human figures. The boat was represented as floating in a flood of waters.
"Now, this corresponds exactly with figures that have been found among the most ancient ruins in Chaldea. I regard that ring as symbolical of a nebula enveloping the earth, and I think that the second deluge, which we have lived to see, was foretold here thousands of years ago."
"Who foretold it first, then, the people who placed the statue in the Sphinx, or these astronomers of Chaldea?" asked Professor Abel Able.
"I believe," Cosmo replied, "that the knowledge originated here, beneath us, and that it was afterward conveyed to the Egyptians, who embodied it in their great symbolical G.o.d."
"Are we to understand," demanded Professor Jeremiah Moses, "that this figure was all that you saw on the breast of the statue, and that you simply inferred that the ring represented a nebula?"
"Not at all," Cosmo replied. "The princ.i.p.al representation was that of a world overwhelmed with a flood, and of a nebula descending upon it."
"How do you know that it was intended for a nebula?"
"Because it had the aspect of one, and it was clearly shown to be descending from the high heavens."
"A cloud," suggested Professor Moses.
"No, not a cloud. Mark this, which is a marvel in itself: It had _the form of a spiral nebula_. It was unmistakable."
At this point the discussion was interrupted by a call to Cosmo Versal from Captain Arms on the bridge. He hastily left the table and ascended to the captain"s side.
He did not need to be told what to look for. Off in the north the sky had become a solid black ma.s.s, veined with the fiercest lightning. The pealing of the thunder came in a continuous roll, which soon grew so loud as to shake the Ark.
"Up with the side-plates!" shouted Cosmo, setting twenty bells ringing at once. "Close tight every opening! Screw down the port shutters!"
The crew of the Ark was, in a few seconds, running to and fro, executing the orders that came in swift succession from the commander"s bridge, and the pa.s.sengers were thrown into wild commotion. But n.o.body had time to attend to them.