John Russell Fearn Omnibus
Page 94
“Everest!” shouted somebody.
“No!” Kang said quietly. “A mountain of the lower Himalayas. Everest is…there!”
At that moment the Ark turned slightly and the astounding vision burst full upon the sight. For a moment the raging rain thinned a little and the awe inspiring mass of Mount Everest itself loomed on the sight, rearing to infinity with waters ploughing and churning round its invincible mass. Here and there were the bobbing lights of other Arks.
“You shan’t do it!” Kronheim shouted suddenly. “You shan’t take me there, Kang! You shan’t take me to be looked at, to be pointed to as a specimen. I am still the master! I will continue…”
He broke off and picked up a chair, whirled it around in an arc towards the little scientist. But half way in its journey the chair dropped as Kang’s calm eyes met the inflamed ones of Kronheim. Kronheim fell slowly back towards the wall, pulling at his lips. That calm, inexorable stare followed him.
“Not there….” Kronheim whispered, drooling. “Not there…”
“Leader! What is the matter?” Ox caught him fiercely, forced him to stand up straight. “Leader, what’s wrong? Command me! I am still here to obey! I will force these scum…”
Kronheim looked at Ox stupidly. “Bombs…Send in Dr. Mane. We’ll sink ’em deep down, Standish! Deep down! Standish! Where the hell’s Standish? Standish!”
“Easy, leader…easy,” Ox panted, staring fixedly at the trickle of saliva running from Kronheim’s undisciplined lips.
Rita turned away, sickened. Val caught her head on his shoulder, watched in fascinated interest. He turned suddenly to Kang.
“Kang, did you…?” he whispered, amazed.
The Mongolian only smiled …but it was a calm, cruel smile. It seemed to verify Val’s belief that the scientist had used his superior mind to snap once and for all the reason of the dictator.
“Where’s Standish?” Kronheim repeated presently, gazing unseeingly at Ox. “Where—where is he? It’s—it’s so dark in here…”
“For God’s sake somebody, knock him out!” screamed Hoyle. “He’s gone nuts.”
Ox shook himself as though ridding himself of a vast unbelief. Very quietly he tugged out his gun, leveled it, then fired. He stood watching as Kronheim’s gross body sank slowly to the floor and lay still.
The silence on the assembly was complete. Only the howling wind made any noise at all. Everybody watched, motionless, as Ox lifted the dead dictator on his broad shoulder and carried it to the rear window. He forced the frame open, eased the corpse outside, and dropped it onto the waste of waters. Then he turned back, clicked his heels together, and gave a final salute. He fired one shot of his gun into the air, then laid the weapon carefully on a side table.
He turned, his face like granite. “The regime I obeyed is ended,” he announced cryptically. “I swore my allegiance until death. The good soldier knows when it is his duty to surrender.”
Then before anybody could grasp his intention he turned back to the window, wriggled through it, and was gone. The glass slammed shut, but by the time everybody had rushed to it the waste of water outside was dark and empty.
“He—he killed himself,” Val whispered. “The poor, duty-crazed fool!”
“No—a good soldier,” Kang said quietly. He stood thinking for a moment, then with a shrug he turned and pointed to the gleaming mountain ramparts coming ever nearer.
“There is the foundation of a new world,” he said slowly. “The foundation of a world in which all men, as one of your great American statesmen once said, shall be free and equal.”
If you enjoyed The John Russell Fearn Omnibus, we would be really grateful if you could leave a review on the Amazon page and Goodreads.
For weekly updates on our free and discounted eBooks sign up to our newsletter.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Table of Contents
The Best of John Russell Fearn Vol. 1
The Best of John Russell Fearn Vol. 2
Waters of Eternity
War of The Scientists
Secret of the Buried City
The Multillionth Chance