The Log of the Flying Fish: A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  A TROOP OF UNICORNS.

  A week later, the four friends once more found themselves beneath theroof of "The Migrants'", where it had been arranged that they were tomeet and take luncheon together prior to their journey down toPortsmouth to rejoin the _Flying Fish_. On comparing notes it was foundthat each had, according to his own views, made the best possible use ofhis time, the professor having not only placed the mammoth's skin in thehands of an eminent taxidermist, but also prepared and read before theRoyal Society a paper on "The Open Polar Sea," which had created aprofound impression on the collective mind of that august body;Lethbridge and Mildmay had seized the opportunity for paying a too-long-deferred visit to their respective mothers; and Sir Reginald had, actingupon the best obtainable advice, conveyed the four parcels of diamondsbelonging to the party over to Amsterdam, where they had been left inthe care of a thoroughly trustworthy diamond merchant, with instructionsthat certain of the jewels were to be cut and set in the handsomestpossible manner, whilst the rest were to be disposed of as opportunitymight offer. The furs were also satisfactorily got rid of; some of themhaving been sold, and the remainder (consisting of all the choicestskins) placed in the hands of the furriers to be cured and taken care ofuntil their owners should return to claim them.

  The luncheon was a very lively meal; the conversation naturally turningto the last occasion upon which the travellers had met there; and uponits conclusion the four friends chartered a couple of hansoms, whichconveyed them to Waterloo station in good time for the Portsmouthexpress.

  On their arrival at the Harbour station they found George and his Frenchfriend, the cook (both of whom had been granted a week's leave),dutifully awaiting them on the platform. The boats, under the care ofthe man who had been placed in charge of them, were lying alongside theadjacent slipway, in accordance with a telegraphed arrangement which hadpreceded the travellers; and, entering these, the party at onceproceeded down the harbour, past Southsea and its castle, and out towardNettlestone Point. It was by this time quite dark, save for the lightof the young moon, which was already near her setting, and the boatswere consequently at once urged to their full speed in the directionwhere the _Flying Fish_ had been left.

  Having originally taken their cross bearings wholly from the shorelights, the voyagers had now no difficulty whatever in placing the boatsin their proper position. Arrived on the spot, a sounding-line wasdropped over the side, and the first cast showed that they were floatingexactly over the submerged ship. The boats were therefore allowed todrift with the tide until they were clear of the _Flying Fish_, when SirReginald dropped his anchor and ladder, and the professor, who hadalready routed out from the stern locker and donned his diving armour,stepped over the side, adjusted his weights, and quietly disappearedbeneath the surface of the water. A lapse of perhaps a minute occurred,when the ladder was found to be hanging limp and loose; a bright whitelight flashed upward through the water for a moment, as a signal fromthe professor that he had reached the bottom all right; and then theluminous beam was seen moving slowly forward over the bottom in thedirection of the submerged ship. Suddenly the light vanished.

  "He has reached the ship," the baronet reported to those in the otherboat, who were alternately drifting with the tide and moving up againstit to maintain an easy speaking distance from their consort. A quarterof an hour passed, and then a brilliant, dazzling flood of lightstreamed out for about ten seconds at apparently no great distance belowthe surface, then vanished again.

  "All right," remarked Sir Reginald as soon as he saw this; "he hasreached the pilot-house. Now, George, up with the anchor, my goodfellow, and we will back off a few yards out of harm's way."

  The boats accordingly did so, von Schalckenberg allowing them tenminutes for the operation; then, with a sudden rush and swirl of water,the huge bulk of the _Flying Fish_ appeared above the surface, loomingblack, vast, and mysterious against the faintly luminous horizon. Amoment more, and the windows of the pilot-house shone out a series ofluminous discs against the darkness, showing that the professor hadlighted up the interior, and that individual himself appeared on deckhailing the invisible boats with:

  "It is all right; everything is just as we left it, and you may come onboard as soon as you like."

  Ten minutes later the boats had been hoisted in and stowed away, and the_Flying Fish_, at an elevation of some three hundred feet above the sea-level, was moving to the southward and eastward across the placid watersof the Channel, at the moderate rate of some five-and-twenty miles perhour. At midnight, however, after a little music and conversation, thepace was quickened to about one hundred miles per hour; the altitude wasat the same time increased to ten thousand feet; the course was set tosouth, by compass, and the travellers, with a feeling of perfectsecurity, retired to rest, confident that the professor's cleverautomatic devices would not only maintain the ship at her thenelevation, but would also steer her straight in the required direction.

  On the following morning at daybreak the travellers found themselveshovering over the blue Mediterranean, with the African coast at no greatdistance, and a town of considerable size directly ahead. This town wassoon identified as Tunis (near which is the site of ancient Carthage),and they shortly afterwards passed over it, not unnoticed by theinhabitants, who, with the aid of the telescope, could be seen pointingupward at the ship in evident consternation. Then on over the chain ofhills beyond the town, and they once more found themselves with the seabeneath them, the ship's course causing her to just skirt the Gulf ofHammamet, whilst they obtained a splendid view of Lake Kairwan and thethree streams which it absorbs. Then past Capes Dimas and Kadijah,across the Gulf of Cabes, and so on to Tripoli, which was reached andpassed soon after the party had risen from breakfast. At this point theMediterranean was finally left behind, and the ship's speed was shortlyafterwards reduced to a rate of about fifteen knots through the air; heraltitude being also decreased to about one thousand feet above theground level.

  The course was now altered to about south by west (true), and thetravellers passed slowly over the Fezzan country, the borders of theLibyan Desert, the Soudan, and Dar Zaleh; the prospect beneath andaround them varying with every hour of their progress, from the mostfertile and highly cultivated district, dotted here and there withstraggling villages, to the most sterile and sandy wastes. They saw butlittle game during this portion of their journey, and only descended tothe ground at night, when the vessel was secured by her four grip-anchors during the hours which her crew devoted to rest.

  This uneventful state of affairs continued until they arrived in tendegrees of north latitude and twenty degrees of east longitude, whenthey found themselves fairly beyond the limits of even the mostrudimentary civilisation, and in a country of alternating wooded hilland grassy, well-watered plain, which had all the appearance of a verypromising hunting district. The country was very thinly populated, thenative villages being in some cases as much as fifty or sixty milesapart, whilst in no instance were two villages found within a shorterdistance than twenty miles. The inhabitants were, as far as could beseen, fine stalwart specimens of the negro race, evidently skilled inthe chase and, presumably, also in all the arts of savage warfare; butit was not very easy to form a reliable opinion upon their habits andmode of life, as whenever the _Flying Fish_ appeared upon the scene theyinvariably took to their heels with yells of terror and sought shelterin the thickest covert they could find.

  As the travellers penetrated further in toward the heart of thisdistrict, their anticipations in the matter of game became ever moreabundantly realised; vast herds of antelope of various descriptions, andincluding more than one new species, being constantly visible from theship's deck whenever she was raised a few hundred feet in the air. And,in addition to antelope, a few elephants, an occasional herd of buffalo,a troop or two of wild horses, a rhinoceros, a family of lions, askulking leopard, or a gorilla, was a by no means unusual sight; to saynothing of the countless troops of
monkeys and other unimportant gamewith which the country seemed to be literally swarming.

  Such a district seemed to be the very realisation of a sportsman's or anaturalist's dream of paradise; and it was quickly decided that a haltshould be called, and at least a few days devoted to the pursuit of gameand the collection of natural history specimens. A suitable spot inwhich to bring the _Flying Fish_ to earth was accordingly sought for,and found in a small open space of about thirty acres, almost entirelysurrounded by bush, and in close proximity to a tiny streamlet whichemptied itself into a small shallow lake about half a mile distant fromthe selected site.

  Here they hunted with moderate success for a week, not killing any verylarge amount of game--for they soon discovered that they could do verylittle without horses--but managing, by patient stalking and thesecreting of themselves in artfully devised ambushes, to secure a fewchoice and rare skins and horns, besides the tusks of eight elephantsand the plumage of over a dozen ostriches.

  On the day of their departure from this temporary halting-place,however, a piece of surprising and wholly unexpected good fortune befellthem. It was one of those especially glorious mornings which are neverencountered anywhere but in the tropics. A very heavy dew had fallenduring the night, revivifying the vegetation parched by the fervid heatof the previous day, and causing the foliage and flowers to glow for abrief period in their brightest and freshest tints, whilst they exhaledtheir choicest odours; and a light cool northerly breeze imparted atemporary freshness to the early morning air, as yet uninfluenced by thescarcely risen sun.

  They had "broken camp," and had risen to a height of about one thousandfeet above the ground level, preparatory to the resumption of theirsouthward journey. An awning was spread over the deck, fore and aft,under the protecting shade of which they proposed to take breakfast; andwhilst waiting for the meal to be served, the travellers, each seated ina deck chair, were amusing themselves by inspecting the magnificentprospect which lay spread out around and beneath them, the more distantparts of which were being diligently investigated with the aid of theirtelescopes.

  They were thus engaged when George announced that breakfast was served;and the professor was just on the point of laying down his instrument,preparatory to seating himself at the table, when a small group ofanimals, which were grazing upon the crest of a distant eminence, sweptfor a moment across his field of view. A certain something ofpeculiarity and strangeness in the appearance of the creatures causedthe motion of the telescope to be arrested in mid-sweep, and in anotherinstant von Schalckenberg, deaf to the calls of his companions and therespectful reminder of the faithful steward, had his instrument focusedfull upon the group of animals. They were, however, a long way off, andthe mist was now rising so thickly from the surface of the ground thatit was impossible to clearly distinguish them; so the professorcontented himself by going to the pilot-house and directing the ship'shead straight toward the point occupied by the animals. After which hecarefully noted the time, made a little mental calculation, and seatedhimself at the breakfast table, with his watch carefully propped upbefore his plate.

  His friends were, by this time, so accustomed to the professor's littlepeculiarities that no one thought of asking any questions, feeling surethat an explanation would come all in good time. Neither did they makeany remark or evince any surprise, beyond a shrug of the shoulders andan amused elevation of the eyebrows, when the _savant_, glancing at hiswatch, hastily rose from the table, and, in his absent-mindednesscarrying with him a fork with a morsel of venison-steak impaled upon itsprongs, hurried away to the pilot-house. A moment or two later a gentlejar was felt as the ship came to the ground; but the mist was by thistime so thick that it was difficult to see objects more than a couple ofhundred feet distant, and all that could be clearly made out was thatthey had stopped close to a clump of bush of considerable extent.

  By the time that breakfast was over, the morning mist, true to itsproverbially evanescent character, had completely passed away, and thetravellers found that they had come to earth on the crest of a slighteminence, from which an uninterrupted view, of several miles extent overthe surrounding plains, could be obtained in every direction save one,namely, that between which and the ship stretched the belt of bush.

  And now came the professor's explanation:

  "You have, doubtless, wondered, gentlemen," said he, "why I have thusearly, and without warning, interrupted our journey. I will now tellyou. I have lately been glancing through the book which, you willremember, I succeeded in recovering from the wreck of the _Daedalus_,and therein I met with a passage of a most surpassingly interestingcharacter. This passage related to the rumoured penetration into thisregion of a certain unnamed traveller who is stated to have positivelyasserted that he here saw, on more than one occasion, an animalabsolutely identical with the fabled unicorn. This remarkable statementat once reminded me that I had, many years ago, seen a paragraph in aBerlin paper to a similar effect. The statement was accompanied by anexpression of strong doubt, if not of absolute incredulity, as to itsveracity; an expression which impressed me at the time as being mostcruel and unfair to the claimant for the honours of a new discovery innatural history; since the discovery was alleged to have been made in aregion which had never before--nor, indeed, has since, until now--beenpenetrated by civilised man; or from which, at all events, no civilisedtraveller has ever again emerged, if indeed he had been successful inpenetrating it. Such being the case, as the course we were pursuingwould take us through the very heart of this unknown and unvisitedregion, I resolved to maintain a most careful watch for these creatures.I have done so, and I am sanguine that I have this morning actuallyseen a troop of them. Unfortunately, the mist and the distance togetherprevented a clear and distinct view of the animals to which I refer;but, whatever they may be, I have an idea that they are at this momentfeeding at no great distance on the other side of this belt of bush.Should such be the case, we have the wind of the animals and ought tohave no great difficulty in stalking them; a proceeding which, ifpatiently and cautiously executed, ought to enable us not only to securea specimen or two, but also to obtain a slight insight into the habitsof the creature."

  The trio addressed felt, one and all, slightly incredulous as to therealisation of von Schalckenberg's sanguine surmises; but, rememberingthe mammoths, they prudently kept their own counsel, and hastened awayto secure their rifles and to make their preparations for a possiblylong and tedious stalk. They exchanged their suits of dazzling whitenankeen for others of a thin, tough serge of a light greenish-grey tint,which admirably matched the colour of the long grass through which thestalk would have to be performed; and, in about a quarter of an hourfrom the commencement of their preparations, found themselves standingoutside the huge hull of the ship, and in its shadow, making their finaldispositions for the chase. These arrangements were soon made. SirReginald and the professor were to constitute one contingent, Lethbridgeand Mildmay the other; these last being impressively instructed by vonSchalckenberg to take up the most advantageous position possible forintercepting the flight of the game, but on no account to shoot untilthe others had first opened fire.

  The two parties then went their several ways, reaching, at about thesame moment, the opposite extremities of the bush belt. The utmostcaution now became necessary in order to avoid startling the game, ifindeed the professor was right in his conjectures, and the hunters sankdown upon their knees and began a slow and tedious progress through thelong grass. The professor was fairly quivering with excitement, and allhis companion's efforts were ineffectual to prevent his risingcautiously to his feet as soon as they had cleared the bush sufficientlyto allow of his obtaining a view beyond. For a moment or two he glaredanxiously around him, then dropped to his knees again as if shot.

  "They are there," he gasped almost inarticulately, "sixteen of them; notmore than half a mile away."

  "And what do `_they_' actually prove to be?" murmured the baronet. "Notunicorns, of course?"


  "Yes, _unicorns_! Animals with only one horn--the males, that is tosay. Some have no horns, and those I take to be females."

  This was too much for Sir Reginald's curiosity. He, in his turn, roseto his feet, ignoring the professor's agonised entreaties for caution,and, sure enough, within half a mile of where he stood was a herd ofanimals so closely resembling the unicorn which figures as one of thesupporters of the royal arms of England that he could hardly credit hiseyes. He counted the creatures, and found that, as the professor hadstated, there were sixteen of them, all apparently full-grown. Theyvery closely approached the zebra in general shape, but wereconsiderably larger animals, standing about fourteen hands high. Theywere of a beautiful deep cream colour, their legs black below the knee,and they had short black manes, black switched tails very similar tothat of the gemsbok, and, in the case of four of the animals then inview, were provided with a single straight black pointed horn projectingfrom the very centre of the forehead, just above the level of the eyes.

  At length, yielding to the professor's entreaties and remonstrances, thebaronet again sank to his knees and the stalk was resumed.

  Soon, however, it became apparent that, from some cause or other, theanimals were growing restless and uneasy. They frequently ceasedfeeding suddenly and gazed about them with an anxious, inquiring look,as though suspicious of but unable to detect the approach of danger, andinstead of steadily cropping at the grass in one particular spot theywould snatch a few hasty mouthfuls and then move on some ten or a dozenyards. And, as it unfortunately happened, their progress was directlyaway from the hunters, so that the latter soon found they were bookedfor a very long, tedious, and wearisome task. The stalkers were atfirst disposed to regard the uneasiness of the game as due to their ownpresence, yet, upon further reflection, this seemed scarcely possible,for, in the first place, they were all, even to Mildmay and theprofessor, tolerably experienced hunters, and were conducting the stalkin the most approved and sportsmanlike manner, and, in the next place,they were dead to leeward of the animals, and it was consequentlyimpossible that the creatures could have scented them. Both SirReginald and the colonel were thoroughly puzzled; and at length they--almost simultaneously, as it afterwards appeared--arrived at the sameconclusion, namely, that the unicorns were being stalked by somebody orsomething besides themselves, or else that a storm was brewing.

  In support of the first idea there was no evidence beyond the mere factof the animals' restlessness; but the aspect of the heavens soon becamesuch as to strongly favour the second. Whilst the hunters had beensedulously pursuing their task the sky had gradually lost its pristinepurity of blue and had become a pale colourless grey, in which the sunseemed to hang like a ghastly white radiant ball, shorn of his beams.The distant landscape first became unnaturally clear and distinct in allits details and then became veiled in a sort of murky haze. Presently asharply defined ridge of cloud made its appearance above the south-western horizon, spreading rapidly toward the zenith, and the huntersbegan to realise that they were in for a thorough wetting, if fornothing worse. Mildmay, indeed, who was perhaps better acquainted thananyone else in the party with the character of the tropics, stronglyurged upon his companion, Lethbridge, the desirability of abandoning thechase and returning with all speed to the ship; and the latter,impressed by the lieutenant's earnestness, once rose cautiously to hisfeet with the intention of signalling a return to the other contingent,but the baronet and the scientist were at that moment invisible, so thecolonel sank once more on all-fours and the chase went on.

  Suddenly a sound like a low growling roar, closely followed by a shrillscream, came floating down to the hunters upon the wings of the almoststagnant breeze, and, springing hastily to their feet, they saw that amagnificent leopard had sprung upon the back of one of the hornlessunicorns, and was tearing savagely at its neck and throat with its teethand claws, the rest of the herd, with one exception, being in fullflight. The exception was a fine male unicorn, which, with bristlingmane and half-averted body, stood motionless save for a quick angrystamping of his fore-feet upon the ground, watching the unavailingstruggles of his hapless companion. These were of very short duration,a staggering gallop of a few yards sufficing to exhaust the victim'sstrength, when she reeled and fell headlong to the ground with hersavage rider still clinging tenaciously to her back. This, apparently,was the moment which the male unicorn had been waiting for. Boundingforward at lightning speed and with lowered head he charged full uponthe prostrate pair, and, as the leopard faced round toward him with anangry snarl, the long straight pointed horn was levelled and in anotherinstant the great cat was hurled ruthlessly from the quivering body ofhis victim, transfixed through eye and brain by the formidable weapon ofhis vengeful antagonist. The unicorn stood for a moment tossing hishead, apparently half stunned with the tremendous shock; but he quicklyrecovered, and was evidently preparing to renew his terrible onslaughtwhen his quick eye detected the presence of the hunters, who, completelycarried away by the exciting spectacle they had just witnessed, werestanding at their full height in the long grass, fully exposed fromtheir waists upward, and with the light glancing brightly from thepolished silver-like barrels of their rifles. A moment's pause wassufficient for the unicorn; some subtle instinct doubtless taught himthat in the strange beings who had thus unexpectedly revealed themselveshe beheld enemies more dangerous than the most deadly of his four-footedfoes; and, wheeling quickly about, he uttered a curious barking kind ofneigh and dashed off at a headlong gallop in the direction already takenby the rest of his companions.

  "Good Heavens, we have lost them!" groaned the professor in a perfectagony of despair.

  "Yes," assented the baronet, who next turned to his more distantcompanions and hailed them with:

  "We have had our trouble for nothing, after all. The best thing we cannow do is to make our way back to the ship with all speed, when we canrenew the pursuit, unless, as seems only too probable, we are about tohave our hands full with the coming storm. We have not a moment tolose, I should say; so I would suggest that each of us put his best footforemost."

  "Ay, ay," replied Mildmay, "crowd sail we must; for, unless I am greatlymistaken, we are about to have a regular tornado."

  "A tornado!" gasped the professor. "Run--run for your lives; I verilybelieve _I forgot to moor the ship_!"

  Forgot to moor the ship! Could such fatal carelessness be possible? Ifso, they must indeed run for their lives; for should the storm burstbefore they reached the ship she would be whirled away over the plainlike an empty bladder before the blast, to what distance and with whatresults it was difficult just then to foreshadow; but among thepossibilities which instantly presented themselves to the mind was thatof death to the two inmates of the ship, irreparable damage to the craftherself, and four persons left to shift for themselves in the verycentre of Africa, with nothing but the clothes they wore, the riflesthey carried, and about a dozen rounds of ammunition apiece. Theprospect was appalling enough to send a momentary spasm of horrorthrilling through the stoutest heart there, but it also at the same timeendowed them with a temporary access of almost supernatural energy; andthe four men at once started for the ship at a speed which, even at themoment and to themselves, seemed incredible.

  The distance they had to traverse was but short, a mere half-mile or soperhaps; but to the runners it seemed, notwithstanding their speed, asthough they would _never_ reach their goal. The grass was long andtangled, and rapid progress through it was possible only by a series ofleaps or bounds; any other mode of progression would simply haveresulted in their being tripped up at every other step. This, to menunaccustomed to such exercise, was in itself a sufficiently fatiguingprocess; but in addition to this they had to contend with the stiflingheat of the stagnant atmosphere, which had been oppressive enough evenwhilst they had been in a condition of comparative inactivity; now itseemed to completely sap their strength and cause their limbs to hangheavy as lead about them. Then, too, the air had become so rarefiedt
hat it seemed impossible to breathe, whilst the blood rushed to theirheads, and their hearts thumped against their ribs until it seemed asthough nature could bear the tremendous exertion no more, and that therunners must drop dead upon the plain. Still, however, the men sped on,the portentous aspect of the heavens serving as an effectual spur totheir flagging energies. The dark slate-coloured cloud had alreadyreached the zenith, deepening in tint meanwhile until it had grownalmost literally as black as ink. Presently a few great drops of hotrain splashed down upon the panting runners; and, as they rounded theend of the bush clump and came within view of the _Flying Fish_, ablinding flash of lightning blazed out from the sable canopy overhead,accompanied by a deafening peal of thunder which rattled and crashed andboomed and rumbled and rolled until its echoes gradually died away inthe distance. A perfect deluge of rain almost immediately followed,wetting the runners to the skin in an instant as effectually as thoughthey had been plunged into the sea. This lasted for perhaps tenseconds, during which every object, even to the racing figures of theircompanions, was hidden from view by the dense volume of falling water.Then the rain ceased as abruptly as it had begun, the travellers findingthemselves at the same instant close to the towering hull of the _FlyingFish_.

  "Last man in, close the trap!" gasped the baronet as he dashed up firstto the opening in the ship's bottom. The others were only a few yardsbehind him and heard his command; so he wasted no more time inconversation, but bounded up the long spiral staircase leading to thepilot-house, having reached which he laid his hands upon the enginelever and tiller, and gaspingly awaited the signal shout which shouldtell him he might move the ship, gazing anxiously out through thewindows meanwhile on the watch for some sign of the bursting of thehurricane.

  He had not long to wait. Almost before he had found time to remove hishat and wipe the perspiration from his brow a shout came echoing up thestaircase shaft from the bottom of the ship, announcing the fact thatthe trap-door was securely closed; and Sir Reginald instantly raised theship from the ground, sending the engines gently ahead at the samemoment, and putting the helm hard over so as to bring the _Flying Fish_stem-on to the direction from which he expected the hurricane.