The Lure of Atlantis
(Continued from page 24)
"Why?" I asked, somewhat testily, though never before had I questioned his decisions.
"It is exhausting work," he replied, "and we do not know how long we can stay here before there may be a storm, in which case we may have to up anchor and run before it. I think we can work best by going down in turn, I today, you tomorrow."
His reasoning seemed wholly specious, but I assented sullenly.
Throughout the four hours of his trip below I lived in torture. I thought of him down there walking through those magnificent halls, enjoying the wonders of Atlantis, the attractions of the ancient chapel, the charm of that smiling beauty there in her crystal tomb. Vaguely I wondered what he would bring up with him, and you may guess that I was somewhat startled when he came up, as he had gone down, with nothing at all.
That night, for the first time in our long friendship, we had harsh words in his cabin. I upbraided him for bringing up none of the jewels, pointing out that even if he himself had no need for further wealth, some of the rest of us were poor men and could put them to good use. My remark seemed to anger him greatly, and he lost himself in a mighty gust of wrath.
"They are not ours," he thundered, towering over me. "Not one jot nor tittle of them shall we take! They are hers. They belong to Wynona. You shall not have them."
"You are mad!" I raged. "You are inhumanly selfish! You at least owe it to these poor men aboard, who could be made independent for life. It is not within your right to deny them."
All my raging was of no avail, and the next morning I was only partly surprized, though greatly angered, when he told me curtly that only he would go beneath the waters. And for another four hours I sat there on the decks of the Nautilus, suffering the tortures of the damned. And again he came up empty-handed.
That night we went at it again over the teacups. I raged, I tore, I stamped about the room; but he answered me with gentle words, or, more often, not at all. For the most part he was peculiarly silent, almost uncannily pleasant. When I had finished my tirade he got up, but paused on the threshold of his cabin.
"Fear not," he said with a peculiarly quiet smile, "they shall have everything. Every foot of Atlantis shall be theirs. They shall climb its hills, wander through its halls, sun themselves on its terraces. They shall know its every beauty, all its wealth. But for you. my friend, I can promise nothing, You are not wanted down below."
His cryptic remark startled me, and I began to wonder if he were not a little mad.
That night I lay awake through all the long hours until dawn, thinking not of the jewels, of the wealth in Atlantis, but only of Wynona. At dawn I slept a little, and she came in all her gorgeous beauty and mocked me there in my cabin. That day, I vowed, it should be I who would go below.
In that I was vastly mistaken, however. We quarreled at the rail just before he went over, but he brushed me back and plunged into the sea. I saw his face, laughing up in derision through the glass of his helmet, as he slowly sank from sight.
For perhaps an hour I sat there by the rail, until the strain became no longer endurable. Then it was that
