But if our friends expected to reach it unmolested they were disappointed. No sooner had they increased their pace than the oxen, with snorts of rage, darted forward. The animals may have imagined they were about to be attacked, and determined to make the first move.
“Here they come!” yelled Ned.
“Sprint for it!” cried Tom.
“Oh, if I only had my gun!” groaned Abe.
It was hard work running over the ice and snow, hampered as they were with their heavy fur garments. They soon realized this, and the pace was telling on them. They were now near to the ship, but the savage creatures still were between them and the craft.
“Try around the other way!” directed Tom, They changed their direction, but the oxen also shifted their ground, and with loud bellows of rage came on, shaking their shaggy heads and big horns, while the hair, hanging down from their sides and flanks, dragged in the snow.
“Right at ’em! Run and yell!” advised the young inventor. “Maybe we can scare ’em!”
They followed his advice. Yelling like Indians the four rushed straight for the animals. For a moment only the creatures halted. Then, bellowing louder than ever they rushed straight at Tom and the others.
The largest of the oxen, with a sudden swerve, made for Mr. Parker, who was slightly in the lead off to one side. In an instant the scientist was tossed high in the air, falling in a snow bank.
“Mr. Damon! Mr. Damon!” yelled Tom, frantically. “Get a gun and shoot these beasts!”
The young inventor and his two companions had come to a halt. The oxen also stopped momentarily. Suddenly Mr. Damon appeared on the deck of the airship. He held two rifles. Laying one down he aimed the other at the ox which was rushing at the prostrate Mr. Parker. The eccentric man fired. He hit the beast on the flank, and, with a bellow of rage it turned.
“Now’s our time!” yelled Tom. “Head for the ship, I’ll get my electric gun!”
“We can’t leave Mr. Parker!” yelled Abe.
But the scientist had arisen, and was running toward the Red Cloud. He did not seem to be much hurt. Mr. Damon fired again, hitting another beast, but not mortally.
Once more the herd of shaggy creatures came on, but the adventurers were now almost at the ship, on the deck of which stood Mr. Damon, firing as fast as he could work the lever and pull the trigger.
CHAPTER XIX
THE CAVES OF ICE
“Keep on firing! Hold ’em back a few minutes and I’ll soon turn my electric rifle loose on ’em!” yelled Tom Swift as he sprinted forward. “Keep on shooting, Mr. Damon!”
“Bless my powder-horn! I will!” cried the excited man. “I’ll fire all the cartridges there are in the rifle!”
Which, at the rate he was discharging the weapon, would not take a long time. But it had the effect of momentarily checking the advance of the creatures.
Not for long, however. Our friends had barely reached the airship, with Mr. Parker stumbling and slipping on the ice and snow, ere the musk oxen came on again, with loud bellows.
“They’re going to charge the ship! They’ll ram her!” yelled Ned Newton.
“I think I can stop them!” cried Tom, who had leaped toward his stateroom. He came out a moment later, carrying a peculiar-looking gun, The adventurers had seen it before, but never in operation, as Tom had only put some finishing touches on it since undertaking the voyage to the caves of ice.
“What sort of a weapon is that?” cried Abe, as he helped Mr. Parker on board.
“It’s my new electric rifle,” answered the young inventor. “I don’t know how it will work, as it isn’t entirely finished, but I’m going to try it.”
Putting it to his shoulder he aimed at the leading musk ox, and pulled a small lever. There was no report, no puff of smoke and no fire, yet the big creature, which had been rushing at the ship, suddenly stopped, swayed for a moment, and then fell over in the snow, kicking in his death agony.
“One down!” yelled Tom. “My rifle works all right, even if it isn’t finished!”
He aimed at another ox, and that creature was stopped in its tracks. Mr. Damon had exhausted his cartridges, and had ceased firing, but Abe Abercrombie was ready with his rifle, and opened up on the beasts. Tom killed another with his electric gun, and Abe shot two. This stopped the advance, and only just in time, for the foremost animals were already close to the ship, and had they rushed at the frail hull they might have damaged it beyond repair.
“Here goes for the big one!” cried Tom, and, aiming at the largest ox of the herd, the young inventor pulled the lever. The brute fell over dead, and the rest, terror stricken, turned and fled.
“Hurrah! That’s the stuff!” cried Ned Newton, capering about on deck. He had hurried to his stateroom and secured his rifle, and, before the musk oxen were out of sight he had killed one, which gave him great delight.
“Mighty lucky we drove them away,” declared Abe. “They are terrible savage at times, an’ I reckon we struck one of them times. But say, Tom, what sort of a gun is that you got, anyhow?”
“Oh, it fires electric bullets,” explained our hero. “But I haven’t time to tell you about it now. Let’s get out and skin one of those oxen. The fresh meat will come in good, for we’ve been living on canned stuff since we left Seattle. We’ve got time enough before it gets dark.”
They hurried to where the shaggy creatures lay in the snow, and soon there was enough fresh meat to last a long time, as it would keep well in the intense cold. Tom put away his electric gun, briefly explaining the system of it to his companions. The time was to come, and that not very far off, when that same electric rifle was to save his life in a remarkable manner, in the wilds of Africa where he went to hunt elephants.
In the cozy cabin that night they sat and talked of the day’s adventures. The airship had been slightly lifted up by means of the gas bag, and now rested on a level keel, so it was more comfortable for the gold hunters.
“I did not complete my observations about the great snow slide,” remarked Professor Parker, “I trust I will have time to go over the ground again tomorrow.”
“We leave early in the morning,” objected Tom.
“Besides, I don’t believe it would be safe to go over that ground again,” put in Mr. Damon.
“Bless my gunpowder! But when I saw those savage creatures rushing at you, I thought it was all up with us. Are you hurt, Parker, my dear fellow? I forgot to ask before.”
“Not hurt in the least,” answered the scientist. “My heavy and thick fur garments saved me from the beasts’ horns, and I fell in some soft snow. I was quite startled for a moment. I thought it might be the beginning of the snow movement.”
“It was an ox movement,” said Ned, in a low voice to Tom.
Morning saw the travelers again under way, with the Red Cloud now floating high enough to avoid the lofty peaks. The weather was clear but very cold, and Tom, who was in the pilot-house, could see a long distance ahead, and note many towering crags, which, had the airship been flying low enough, would have interfered with her progress.
“We’ll have to keep the searchlight going all night, to avoid a collision,” he decided.
“Are we anywhere near the place?” asked Mr. Damon.
“We’re in th’ right region,” declared the old miner. “I think we’re on th’ right track. I recognize a few more landmarks.”
“There wouldn’t have been any trouble if I hadn’t lost the map.” complained Tom, bitterly.
“Never mind about that,” insisted Abe. “We’ll find th’ place anyhow. But look ahead there; is that another hail storm headin’ this way, Tom?”
The young inventor glanced to where Abe pointed. There was a mist in the air, and, for a time great apprehension was felt, but, in a few minutes there was a violent flurry of snow and they all breathed easier. For, though the flakes were so numerous as to completely shut off the view, there was no danger to the airship from them. Tom steered by the compass.
; The storm lasted several hours, and when it was over the adventurers found themselves several miles nearer their destination—at least they hoped they were nearer it, for they were going it blind.
Abe declared they were now in the region of the gold valley. They cruised about for two days, making vain observations by means of powerful telescopes, but they saw no signs of any depression which corresponded with the place whence Abe had seen the gold taken from. At times they passed over Indian villages, and had glimpses of the skin-clad inhabitants rushing out to point to the strange sight of the airship overhead. Tom was beginning to reproach himself again for his carelessness in losing the map, and it did begin to took as if they were making a fruitless search.
Still they all kept up their good spirits, and Mr. Damon concocted some new dishes from the meat of the musk oxen. It was about a week after the fight with the savage creatures when, one day, as Ned was on duty in the pilothouse, he happened to lock down. What he saw caused him to call to Tom.
“What’s the matter?” demanded the young inventor, as he hurried forward.
“Look down there,” directed Ned. “It looks as if we were sailing over a lot of immense beehives of the old-fashioned kind.”
Tom looked. Below were countless, rounded hummocks of snow or ice. Some were very large—as immense as a great shed in which a dirigible balloon could be housed—while others were as small as the ice huts in which the Eskimos live.
“That’s rather strange,” remarked Tom. “I wonder—”
But he did not complete his sentence, for Abe Abercrombie, who had come to stand beside him, suddenly yelled out:
“The caves of ice! The caves of ice! Now I know where we are! We’re close to the valley of gold! There are the caves of ice, and just beyond is th’ place we’re lookin’ for! We’ve found it at last!”
CHAPTER XX
IN THE GOLD VALLEY
The excited cries of the old miner brought Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker to the pilothouse on the run.
“Bless my refrigerator!” exclaimed Mr. Damon. “Are there more of those savage, shaggy creatures down there?”
“No, but we are over th’ caves of ice,” explained Abe. “That means we are near th’ gold.”
“You don’t say so!” burst out the scientist. “The caves of ice! Now I can begin my real observations! I have a theory that the caves are on top of a strata of ice that is slowly moving down, and will eventually bury the whole of the North American continent. Let me once get down there, and I can prove what I say.”
“I’d a good deal rather you wouldn’t prove it, if it’s going to be anything like it was on Earthquake Island, or out among the diamond makers.” said Tom Swift. “But we will go down there, to see what they are like. Perhaps there is a trail from among the ice caves to the valley of gold.”
“I don’t think so,” said Abe, shaking his head.
“I think th’ gold valley lies over that high ridge,” and he pointed to one. “That’s where me an’ my partner was,” he went on. “I recognize th’ place now.”
“Well, we’ll go down here, anyhow,” decided Tom, and he pulled the lever to let some gas out of the bag, and tilted the deflection rudder to send the airship toward the odd caves.
And, curious enough did our friends find them when they had made a landing and got out to walk about them. It was very cold, for on every side was solid ice. They walked on ice, which was like a floor beneath their feet, level save where the ice caves reared themselves. As for the caverns, they, too, were hollowed out of the solid ice. It was exactly as though there had once been a level surface of some liquid. Then by some upheaval of nature, the surface was blown into bubbles, some large and some small. Then the whole thing had frozen solid, and the bubbles became hollow caves. In time part of the sides fell in and made an opening, so that nearly all the caves were capable of being entered.
This method of their formation was advanced as a theory by Mr. Parker, and no one cared to dispute him. The gold-seekers walked about, gazing on the ice caves with wonder showing on their faces.
It was almost like being in some fantastic scene from fairyland, the big ice bubbles representing the houses, the roofs being rounded like the igloos of the Eskimos. Some had no means of entrance, the outer surface showing no break. Others had small openings, like a little doorway, while of still others there remained but a small part of the original cave, some force of nature having crumbled and crushed it.
“Wonderful! Wonderful!” exclaimed Mr. Parker. “It bears out my theory exactly! Now to see how fast the ice is moving.”
“How are you going to tell?” asked Tom.
“By taking some mark on this field of ice, and observing a distant peak. Then I will set up a stake, and by noting their relative positions, I can tell just how fast the ice field is moving southward.” The scientist hurried into the ship to get a sharpened stake he had prepared for this purpose.
“How fast do you think the ice is moving?” asked Ned.
“Oh, perhaps two or three feet a year.” “Two or three feet a year?” gasped Mr. Damon. “Why, Parker, my dear fellow, at that rate it will be some time before the ice gets to New York.”
“Oh, yes. I hardly expect it will reach there within two thousand years, but my theory will be proved, just the same!”
“Humph!” exclaimed Abe Abercrombie, “I ain’t goin’ to worry any more, if it’s goin’ t’ take all that while. I reckoned, to hear him talk, that it was goin’ t’ happen next summer.”
“So did I,” agreed Tom, but their remarks were lost on Mr. Parker who was busy making observations. The young inventor and the others walked about among the ice caves.
“Some of these caverns would be big enough to house the Red Cloud in case of another hail storm,” observed Tom. “That one over there would hold two craft the size of mine,” and, in fact, probably three could have gotten in if the opening had been somewhat enlarged, for the ice cave to which our hero pointed was an immense one.
As the adventurers were walking about they were startled by a terrific crashing sound. They started in alarm, for, off to their left, the top of one of the ice caverns had crashed inward, the blocks of frozen water crushing and grinding against one another.
“It’s a good thing we weren’t in there,” remarked Tom, and he could not repress a shudder, “There wouldn’t have been much left of the Red Cloud if she had been inside.”
It was a desolate place, in spite of the wild beauty of it, and beautiful it was when the sun shone on the ice caves, making them sparkle as if they were studded with diamonds. But it was cold and cheerless, and there were no signs that human beings had ever been there. Mr. Parker had completed the setting of his stake, and picked out his landmarks, and was gravely making his “observations,” and jotting down some figures in a notebook.
“How fast is it moving, Parker?” called Mr. Damon.
“I can’t tell yet,” was the response. “It will require observations extending over several days before I will know the rate.”
“Then we might as well go on,” suggested Tom. “There is nothing to be gained from staying here, and I would like to get to the gold valley. Abe says we are near it.”
“Right over that ridge, I take it to be,” replied the miner. “An’ we can’t get there any too soon for me. Those Fogers may git their ship fixed up, an’ arrive before we do if we wait much longer.”
“Not much danger, I guess,” declared Ned.
“Well, we’ll go up in the air, and see what we can find,” decided Tom, as he turned back toward the ship.
They found the “ridge” as Abe designated it, to be a great plateau, over a hundred miles in extent, and they were the better part of that day crossing it, for they went slowly, so as not to miss the valley which the miner was positive was close at hand. Mr. Parker disliked leaving the ice caves, but Abe said there were more in the valley where they were going, and the scientist could renew his observations.
It was getting dusk whe
n Tom, who was peering through a powerful glass, called out:
“Well, we’re at the end of the plateau, and it seems to dip down into a valley just beyond here.”
“Then that’s the place!” cried Abe, excitedly. “Go slow, Tom.”
Our hero needed no such caution. Carefully he sent the airship forward. A few minutes later they were passing over a large Eskimo village, the fur-clad inhabitants of which rushed about wildly excited at the sight of the airship.
“There they are! Them’s th’ beggars!” cried the old miner. “Them’s th’ fellows who drove me an’ my partner away. But there’s th’ valley of gold! I know it now! Now t’ fill our pockets with nuggets!”
“Are you sure this is the place?” asked Mr. Damon.
“Sartin sure of it!” declared Abe. “Put her down, Tom! Put her down!”
“All right,” agreed the young inventor, as he shifted the deflection rudder. The airship began her descent into the valley. The edge of the plateau, leading down into the great depression was now black with the Eskimos and Indians, who were capering about, gesticulating wildly.
“It’s quite a surprise party to ’em,” observed Ned Newton.
“Yes, I hope they don’t spring one on us,” added Tom.
Down and down went the Red Cloud lower and lower into the valley.
“There are ice caves there!” cried Mr. Parker, pointing to the curiously rounded and hollow hummocks. “Lots of them!”
“And larger than the others!” added Mr. Damon.
The airship was now moving slowly, for Tom wanted to pick out a good landing place. He saw a smooth stretch of the ice just ahead of him, in front of an immense ice cave.
“I’ll make for that,” he told Ned.
A few minutes later the craft had come to rest. Tom shut off the power and hurried from the pilothouse, donning his fur coat as he rushed out. A blast of frigid air met him as he opened the outer door of the cabin. Back on the ridge of the plateau he could see the fringe of Indians.
“Well, we’re here in the valley,” he said, as his friends gathered about him on the icy ground.
The Tom Swift Megapack Page 99
