He opened the one he held in his hand, and proceeded to explain the use of the instrument.
"It is very simple," he said. "Let us a.s.sume that you wish to communicate with the ship. You draw your box from your pocket, and press firmly upon this small black k.n.o.b, thus: and a bell instantly rings in the pilot-house, and in every one of the habitable chambers of the ship--for I have coupled them all up together in order that, wherever the occupants of the ship may be, they will hear at least one of the bells, and will know that one of us is calling. Incidentally I may mention that a bell will at the same time ring in each of our instruments. Listen!"
The professor pressed the k.n.o.b of his own instrument; and as he did so the sound of many bells, not very loud, but still perfectly distinct, came to them from every part of the ship, and also from the instrument that each man held in his hand.
"So!" said von Schalckenberg. "Now, when any of us hears the sound of the bell in his instrument, he at once withdraws that instrument from his pocket, and touches the small _red_ k.n.o.b. This stops the ringing of his own particular bell--as you may ascertain by experiment--and at the same time informs the other person--by the momentary stoppage of _his_ bell--that some one is in touch with him. Then the person who desires to communicate proceeds somewhat in this fashion. Releasing his pressure on the black k.n.o.b, he draws out this small tube from the box, inserts its nozzle into his ear, and says into this mouthpiece--
""Hillo, there! Are you the _Flying Fish_?"
""No," comes the answer. "I am von Schalckenberg."
""Thanks! I want the _Flying Fish_," you say; and you press your black k.n.o.b again until you get a reply from the ship."
"Why, what a splendid little device!" exclaimed Sir Reginald. "When did you invent this, Professor?"
"I thought it out that day when we were lost in the forest, and I made my first experimental instrument the next day. It is a wireless telephone; and it is powerful enough, I believe, to permit of intelligible conversation over a s.p.a.ce of about fifty miles. But I cannot speak with certainty on that point without subjecting the instrument to actual trial. It is very roughly made, as you see, but if it answers its purpose, it will serve until we can get smaller and neater ones made."
"Precisely. Utility before beauty, eh, Professor?" remarked Lethbridge.
"Not," he added, "but that this is neat and handy enough for anything.
Well, we need never fear being lost again, I think; for it would be hard if, with these little instruments to ring up our friend Mildmay, we could not give him some sort of a clue as to the direction in which to look for us. And now, I suppose, we may as well go."
It was but a few steps from the ship to the "palace," which, after all, was only a somewhat larger hut than any of the rest, and a couple of minutes sufficed the party to reach it. They found it unoccupied, for the king"s wives were lodged in an adjoining hut, from which, as the four white men neared it, they became aware of a subdued sound of wailing, which they correctly interpreted as the mourning of the ladies over the tragic end of their lord and master. The interior of the palace consisted of but one circular apartment, some twenty-five feet in diameter, hung round with magnificent "karosses," or curtains, made of the skins of various wild animals. One of these karosses instantly arrested their attention, from the fact that it conveyed to them the information that Africa contained at least one other new animal in addition to those already discovered by them. It was made of zebra skins; but there was a peculiarity in the marking which clearly indicated that the animals from which the skins had been taken were of a new and quite unknown variety. The peculiarity consisted in the fact that the head, neck, forelegs, and front half of the body were of a dark-brown colour, while the hinder half of the body was striped like that of the ordinary zebra.
Von Schalckenberg was at once plunged into an ecstasy of delight at the discovery, and, with the ruthlessness of the true scientist, announced his determination to despoil the palace of that particular kaross, let the opinion of the Makolo upon his act of spoliation be what it might; and he also there and then secured Sir Reginald"s amused consent to proceed eventually in search of the living animals, if it should prove possible to learn from the natives where they were to be found.
The furniture of the palace was of the most primitive description, consisting of a very roughly constructed bed, a low table, of equally rough manufacture, and an armchair decorated with rude but very elaborate carvings. There was also a chest--obviously an ordinary sailor"s sea-chest--which Sir Reginald opened, under the belief that here, if anywhere, would be found such relics of the unfortunate white people as might still remain in existence.
The chest proved to be about three-parts full, and the first articles that came to hand were the king"s very handsome gold coronet, his lion-skin mantle, and a necklace of what at first sight appeared to be red pebbles. Upon closer inspection, however, the stones were p.r.o.nounced by the professor to be uncut and unpolished rubies of exceptional size and beauty, but which were ruined by the roughness and size of their perforations. There were ninety-three of them in all, strung upon a thin strip of deerskin, and, had they been perfect, would have been worth about ten thousand pounds.
The professor"s eyes sparkled as he held the necklace up to the light and noted the fire and deep, rich colour of the stones.
"Ah!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, "here is wealth with a vengeance, but reduced to about a tenth part of its original value by the cra.s.s ignorance and stupidity of somebody who did not know what irreparable mischief he was doing when he chipped and punched those ghastly great holes. I wonder, now, where they were found! Somewhere not very far from here, I"ll be bound, or they would not have found their way into M"Bongwele"s hands.
I must ask Lobelalatutu about these; possibly he may be able to tell us where they came from, and, if so, there will be an opportunity not only for each of us to add considerably to our stock of precious stones, but also for me to acquire a little of that wealth which I so urgently need for the purpose that I mentioned to you, Sir Reginald, when you were good enough to invite me to make one of your party on this cruise."
"All right, Professor; I remember," answered Sir Reginald, cheerily.
"If you can learn where these stones were found, we will go there, and you shall have a full week in which to collect as many as you can."
The next articles in the chest upon which the searchers laid hands, consisted of a soldier"s castoff scarlet coat, b.u.t.tonless, and very much the worse for wear; an old pair of blue trousers decorated on the side seams with tarnish-blackened gold lace; and a most shockingly battered old c.o.c.ked hat; all of which they recognised with laughter as gifts presented by themselves to M"Bongwele upon the occasion of their former visit. And beneath these, again, they found two pairs of coa.r.s.e blue-cloth trousers, a thick pilot-cloth coat, two blue-striped shirts, a pair of coa.r.s.e worsted stockings, and one or two other oddments that had evidently belonged to one or more of the ill-fated party of white people who had fallen into M"Bongwele"s hands, and of whose ident.i.ty the searchers were now endeavouring to discover some trace. But the clothing bore no name, not even of the maker, nor were there any letters or doc.u.ments of any kind in the chest to indicate the name or nationality of the owner. Nor was anything of the kind to be found anywhere in the hut, although the searchers carefully examined it throughout and also every article that it contained. The only chance, therefore, that remained to them was to visit the scene of the wreck, and endeavour to find some vestige of the ship herself.
When, on the morrow of this somewhat eventful day, the male members of the _Flying Fish_ party went on deck to smoke an after-breakfast pipe, they found the chiefs a.s.sembled in the Great Place below, awaiting their appearance for the purpose of submitting the names of those of their number considered most acceptable for the vacant kingship.
And now a rather amusing difficulty arose; for when von Schalckenberg invited the chosen chiefs to ascend to the deck of the _Flying Fish_, in order that the Spirits might determine which of them should receive the position, the whole of them, sixteen in number, gravely ascended the side-ladder and ranged themselves in line before the arbiters of their fate. And when the professor demanded of Lobelalatutu an explanation of this somewhat singular proceeding, he was informed that at the conference of the preceding evening, each chief had calmly and resolutely voted for himself. This somewhat complicated the matter, and brought about a situation full of troublous possibilities, calling for very careful and diplomatic handling; the four "Spirits," therefore, having seated themselves in deck-chairs, invited each chief to step forward, in turn, and state briefly, first, the grounds upon which he based his belief in his own fitness for the post of king, and, secondly, the lines upon which he would govern, and the course of conduct which he would observe generally in the event of his nomination. To each man was accorded a certain number of good and also of bad marks corresponding to the nature of the replies given by him, the bad marks being deducted from the good, and the candidate"s fitness judged by the number of good marks then remaining to him. Thus carefully examined, three of the chiefs were eventually found to be equally suitable, upon which discovery the choice of one from among them was determined by the simple process of "odd man out," as a result of which--to the great satisfaction of the judges--Lobelalatutu proved to be the fortunate individual. The fifteen unsuccessful candidates were, naturally, somewhat chagrined at their failure, but they had seen and understood enough of the proceedings to satisfy them of the absolute fairness of the test, and they therefore took their defeat with a good grace, and made no demur when they were presently required to swear fealty to their new sovereign.
This matter having been satisfactorily arranged, the bodies of M"Bongwele and the chief witch-doctor were ordered to be cut down and interred in the open country outside the village, after which the new king was crowned by no less a personage than Sir Reginald himself, while the professor invested him with the regal mantle of lion-skin, and Lethbridge dropped the ruby necklace over his head, the ceremony being performed on the deck of the _Flying Fish_, in the presence of the entire populace of the village.
The ceremony of coronation having thus been duly performed, the new king was at once called upon to exercise his regal functions for the first time by fulfilling one of the promises that he had made, this being the abolition of the power of the witch-doctors. These functionaries were accordingly summoned before him and bidden to pack up their traps and quit the country forthwith under an armed escort, an a.s.surance being given them that if they were ill-advised enough to return after they had been conducted across the border, they would be slain at sight.
"And now, Lobelalatutu," said von Schalckenberg, when this matter had been arranged and the people dismissed, "there are two things that we require you to do for us. The first is, to tell us, if you can, where M"Bongwele obtained those stones,"--pointing to the necklace of rubies--"and the other is, to guide us to the spot where the ship of the white people was last seen."
"I can do both with equal ease, and at the same time, O Spirit,"
answered the new king, "for these red stones were found by our people on the beach and in the soil of the cliffs at the spot where they came upon the wrecked white men and women. A few were found, in the first place, on the beach, and, being of a pleasing colour and shooting forth a ruddy light, were offered to M"Bongwele, who so greatly admired them that he sent the finders back to look for more, with orders to bring him enough to make a necklace."
"And you know the exact spot?" demanded the professor.
"I know the exact spot; for my brother was one of the finders, and he told me," answered Lobelalatutu.
"Good!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the professor. "Your brother shall go with us, and point out the place."
"Nay," answered the king; "he cannot do that, for he is dead.
M"Bongwele slew him with his own hand."
"Indeed!" exclaimed the professor. "Why?"
"Because he was my brother," answered the king, simply.
Von Schalckenberg turned to Sir Reginald. "His most gracious Majesty, here, tells me that he can show us where the wreck lies, and also where those rubies were found," said he. "If the rest of you are quite agreeable, it appears to me that there is no very particular reason why we should not go there at once. We seem to have finished our business here, at all events, for the present."
"All right," agreed the baronet; "let us go. We will take Lobelalatutu with us, and get him to point out the places; then one of us can run him back here, and land him, while the others take a stroll along the beach and fill their pockets with rubies--if they can find any."
The professor accordingly explained to the newly created monarch what was proposed; and then Sir Reginald retired to the pilot-house to a.s.sume the duties of navigator. A minute later the inhabitants of the village had the gratification of witnessing the flight into the air of their new king, not as a prisoner, but as a friend of the Great Spirits, who were doubtless taking him away with them on some business of importance connected with the welfare of the whole Makolo nation.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
THE RUBY MINE.
The coast line was distant some twenty miles from the village, and about as far from the ruins of Ophir; it was therefore easily reached within an hour from the moment of starting, and King Lobelalatutu then had the mystifying experience of beholding the ladies of the party, accompanied by Ida, Sir Reginald, Lethbridge, and Colonel Sziszkinski suddenly and unaccountably appear on the beach below him--having left the ship in some mysterious and unknown manner--while the professor and Mildmay remained on board with him, to have the position of the wreck pointed out to them, and afterwards convey him back to his village and people.
"Now, Lobelalatutu," said the professor, "show us, if you can, whereabouts the wreck lay, when you last saw it."
The king looked out to seaward, and pointed toward a spot about half a mile from the sh.o.r.e, where the sea was breaking heavily.
"It was there," he said, "quite close to that end of the white line on the water."
"Ah!" exclaimed Mildmay. "There is evidently a reef there; and she fetched up on the southern end of it. We will take a run out there, Professor, and see whether we can discover any signs of her; after which we will run our friend, here, back to the bosom of his anxious family."
And therewith, he retired to the pilot-house. The ship then rose to a height of about five hundred feet into the air, and headed out toward the southern extremity of the reef, over which she was hovering a few minutes later, while the professor and Mildmay peered down into the water below them. At their height above the water it was quite easy to see down into the depths; and, although the foam of the breakers baffled them somewhat, they had very little difficulty in tracing the extent and direction of the reef. For some little time, however, they looked in vain for any sign of the wreck; but at length Mildmay, pointing downward at two dark shapeless blotches that could just be distinguished, one on either side of the reef, remarked--
"That appears to me to be all that is left of her, Professor. And, if so, she has evidently broken in two and gone down, the one half of her inside and the other half outside the reef. Whether, however, I am right in my supposition can only be determined by descending to the bottom and getting into our diving-suits. And, very fortunately for us, the water on both sides of the reef appears to be fairly deep, so that, when we are down there on the sand, we shall not feel the power of the surf very much. Had she remained on top of the reef I doubt whether it would have been possible for us to have got near her."
"Quite right, my friend," answered the professor. "No man could keep his feet among those breakers; we should be helplessly knocked about, like ninepins. And now, do you wish to see any more, or shall we be off back to the village?"
"One moment, please," said Mildmay, drawing out his pocket-book. "It will do no harm to take a set of cross-bearings for the identification of this spot, and they might be useful in the event of an off-sh.o.r.e wind springing up, during which it is quite possible that the sea may cease to break on the reef, in which case we could not very easily find the wreck unless we happened to have the bearings of her."
He went into the pilot-house accordingly, and took the bearings, having done which he set the engines in motion, and headed the ship back toward the village, where she duly arrived about an hour later.
As the professor drew up and stowed away the accommodation ladder by means of which Lobelalatutu had left the ship he said--