A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder Read online

  Produced by Andrew Sly

  A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder

  By James De Mille

  CONTENTS

  I. The Finding of the Copper Cylinder II. Adrift in the Antarctic Ocean III. A World of Fire and Desolation IV. The Sight of Human Beings V. The Torrent Sweeping Under the Mountains VI. The New World VII. Scientific Theories and Scepticism VIII. The Cave-Dwellers IX. The Cavern of the Dead X. The Sacred Hunt XI. The Swamp Monster XII. The Baleful Sacrifice XIII. The Awful "Mista Kosek" XIV. I Learn My Doom XV. The Kohen is Inexorable XVI. The Kosekin XVII. Belief and Unbelief XVIII. A Voyage over the Pole XIX. The Wonders of the "Amir" XX. The Dark Maiden Layelah XXI. The Flying Monster XXII. Escape XXIII. The Island of Fire XXIV. Recapture XXV. Falling, like Icarus, into the Sea XXVI. Grimm's Law Again XXVII. Oxenden Preaches a Sermon XXVIII. In Prison XXIX. The Ceremony of Separation XXX. The Day of Sacrifice XXXI. Conclusion

  CHAPTER I

  THE FINDING OF THE COPPER CYLINDER

  It occurred as far back as February 15, 1850. It happened on thatday that the yacht Falcon lay becalmed upon the ocean between theCanaries and the Madeira Islands. This yacht Falcon was the propertyof Lord Featherstone, who, being weary of life in England, had takena few congenial friends for a winter's cruise in these southernlatitudes. They had visited the Azores, the Canaries, and the MadeiraIslands, and were now on their way to the Mediterranean.

  The wind had failed, a deep calm had succeeded, and everywhere, as faras the eye could reach, the water was smooth and glassy. The yachtrose and fell at the impulse of the long ocean undulations, and thecreaking of the spars sounded out a lazy accompaniment to the motionof the vessel. All around was a watery horizon, except in the oneplace only, toward the south, where far in the distance the Peak ofTeneriffe rose into the air.

  The profound calm, the warm atmosphere, the slow pitching of theyacht, and the dull creaking of the spars all combined to lull into astate of indolent repose the people on board. Forward were the crew;some asleep, others smoking, others playing cards. At the stern wereOxenden, the intimate friend of Featherstone, and Dr. Congreve, whohad come in the double capacity of friend and medical attendant.These two, like the crew, were in a state of dull and languidrepose. Suspended between the two masts, in an Indian hammock, layFeatherstone, with a cigar in his mouth and a novel in his hand, whichhe was pretending to read. The fourth member of the party, Melick, wasseated near the mainmast, folding some papers in a peculiar way. Hisoccupation at length attracted the roving eyes of Featherstone, whopoked forth his head from his hammock, and said in a sleepy voice:

  "I say, Melick, you're the most energetic fellah I ever saw. By Jove!you're the only one aboard that's busy. What are you doing?"

  "Paper boats," said Melick, in a business-like tone.

  "Paper boats! By Jove!" said Featherstone. "What for?"

  "I'm going to have a regatta," said Melick. "Anything to kill time,you know."

  "By Jove!" exclaimed Featherstone again, raising himself higher in hishammock, "that's not a bad idea. A wegatta! By Jove! glowious!glowious! I say, Oxenden, did you hear that?"

  "What do you mean by a regatta?" asked Oxenden, lazily.

  "Oh, I mean a race with these paper boats. We can bet on them,you know."

  At this Featherstone sat upright, with his legs dangling out ofthe hammock.

  "By Jove!" he exclaimed again. "Betting! So we can. Do you know,Melick, old chap, I think that's a wegular piece of inspiration.A wegatta! and we can bet on the best boat."

  "But there isn't any wind," said Oxenden.

  "Well, you know, that's the fun of it," said Melick, who went solemnlyon as he spoke, folding his paper boats; "that's the fun of it. Foryou see if there was a wind we should be going on ourselves, and theregatta couldn't come off; but, as it is, the water is just right.You pick out your boat, and lay your bet on her to race to some givenpoint."

  "A given point? But how can we find any?"

  "Oh, easily enough; something or anything--a bubble'll do, or we canpitch out a bit of wood."

  Upon this Featherstone descended from his perch, and came near toexamine the proceedings, while the other two, eager to take advantageof the new excitement, soon joined him. By this time Melick hadfinished his paper boats. There were four of them, and they were madeof different colors, namely, red, green, yellow, and white.

  "I'll put these in the water," said Melick, "and then we can lay ourbets on them as we choose. But first let us see if there is anythingthat can be taken as a point of arrival. If there isn't anything, Ican pitch out a bit of wood, in any direction which may seem best."

  Saying this, he went to the side, followed by the others, and alllooked out carefully over the water.

  "There's a black speck out there," said Oxenden.

  "So there is," said Featherstone. "That'll do. I wonder what it is?"

  "Oh, a bit of timber," said Melick. "Probably the spar of some ship."

  "It don't look like a spar," said the doctor; "it's only a round spot,like the float of some net."

  "Oh, it's a spar," said Melick. "It's one end of it, the rest is underwater."

  The spot thus chosen was a dark, circular object, about a hundredyards away, and certainly did look very much like the extremity ofsome spar, the rest of which was under water. Whatever it was,however, it served well enough for their present purpose, and no onetook any further interest in it, except as the point toward which thepaper boats should run in their eventful race.

  Melick now let himself down over the side, and placed the paper boatson the water as carefully as possible. After this the four stoodwatching the little fleet in silence. The water was perfectly still,and there was no perceptible wind, but there were draughts of aircaused by the rise and fall of the yacht, and these affected the tinyboats. Gradually they drew apart, the green one drifting astern, theyellow one remaining under the vessel, while the red and the whitewere carried out in the direction where they were expected to go, withabout a foot of space between them.

  "Two to one on the red!" cried Featherstone, betting on the one whichhad gained the lead.

  "Done," said Melick, promptly taking his offer.

  Oxenden made the same bet, which was taken by Melick and the doctor.

  Other bets were now made as to the direction which they would take, asto the distance by which the red would beat the white, as to the timewhich would be occupied by the race, and as to fifty other thingswhich need not be mentioned. All took part in this; the excitementrose high and the betting went on merrily. At length it was noticedthat the white was overhauling the red. The excitement grew intense;the betting changed its form, but was still kept up, until at lastthe two paper boats seemed blended together in one dim spot whichgradually faded out of sight.

  It was now necessary to determine the state of the race, soFeatherstone ordered out the boat. The four were soon embarked, andthe men rowed out toward the point which had been chosen as the end ofthe race. On coming near they found the paper boats stuck together,saturated with water, and floating limp on the surface. An animateddiscussion arose about this. Some of the bets were off, but othersremained an open question, and each side insisted upon a differentview of the case. In the midst of this, Featherstone's attention wasdrawn to the dark spot already mentioned as the goal of the race.

  "That's a queer-looking thing," said he, suddenly. "Pull up, lads, alittle; let's see what it is. It doesn't look to me like a spar."

  The others, always on the lookout for some new object of interest,were attracted by these words, and look
ed closely at the thing inquestion. The men pulled. The boat drew nearer.

  "It's some sort of floating vessel," said Oxenden.

  "It's not a spar," said Melick, who was at the bow.

  And as he said this he reached out and grasped at it. He failed to getit, and did no more than touch it. It moved easily and sank, but sooncame up again. A second time he grasped at it, and with both hands.This time he caught it, and then lifted it out of the water into theboat. These proceedings had been watched with the deepest interest;and now, as this curious floating thing made its appearance amongthem, they all crowded around it in eager excitement.

  "It looks like a can of preserved meat," said the doctor.

  "It certainly is a can," said Melick, "for it's made of metal; but asto preserved meat, I have my doubts."

  The article in question was made of metal and was cylindrical inshape. It was soldered tight and evidently contained something. It wasabout eighteen inches long and eight wide. The nature of the metal wasnot easily perceptible, for it was coated with slime, and covered overabout half its surface with barnacles and sea-weed. It was not heavy,and would have floated higher out of the water had it not been forthese encumbrances.

  "It's some kind of preserved meat," said the doctor. "Perhapssomething good--game, I dare say--yes, Yorkshire game-pie. They potall sorts of things now."

  "If it's game," said Oxenden, "it'll be rather high by this time. Manalive! look at those weeds and shells. It must have been floating forages."

  "It's my belief," said Featherstone, "that it's part of the provisionslaid in by Noah for his long voyage in the ark. So come, let's openit, and see what sort of diet the antediluvians had."

  "It may be liquor," said Oxenden.

  Melick shook his head.

  "No," said he; "there's something inside, but whatever it is, it isn'tliquor. It's odd, too. The thing is of foreign make, evidently. Inever saw anything like it before. It may be Chinese."

  "By Jove!" cried Featherstone, "this is getting exciting. Let's goback to the yacht and open it."

  The men rowed back to the yacht.

  "It's meat of some sort," continued the doctor. "I'm certain of that.It has come in good time. We can have it for dinner."

  "You may have my share, then," said Oxenden. "I hereby give andbequeath to you all my right, title, and interest in and to anythingin the shape of meat that may be inside."

  "Meat cans," said Melick, "are never so large as that."

  "Oh, I don't know about that," said the doctor, "they make up prettylarge packages of pemmican for the arctic expeditions."

  "But they never pack up pemmican in copper cylinders," said Melick,who had been using his knife to scrape off the crust from the vessel.

  "Copper!" exclaimed Oxenden. "Is it copper?"

  "Look for yourselves," said Melick, quietly.

  They all looked, and could see, where the knife had cut into thevessel, that it was as he said. It was copper.

  "It's foreign work," said Melick. "In England we make tin cans foreverything. It may be something that's drifted out from Mogadore orsome port in Morocco."

  "In that case," said Oxenden, "it may contain the mangled remains ofone of the wives of some Moorish pasha."

  By this time they had reached the yacht and hurried aboard. All wereeager to satisfy their curiosity. Search was made for a cold-chisel,but to no purpose. Then Featherstone produced a knife which was usedto open sardine boxes, but after a faithful trial this proved useless.At length Melick, who had gone off in search of something moreeffective, made his appearance armed with an axe. With this heattacked the copper cylinder, and by means of a few dexterous blowssucceeded in cutting it open. Then he looked in.

  "What do you see?" asked Featherstone.

  "Something," said Melick, "but I can't quite make it out."

  "If you can't make it out, then shake it out," said Oxenden.

  Upon this Melick took the cylinder, turned it upside down, shook itsmartly, and then lifted it and pounded it against the deck. Thisserved to loosen the contents, which seemed tightly packed, but camegradually down until at length they could be seen and drawn forth.Melick drew them forth, and the contents of the mysterious coppercylinder resolved themselves into two packages.

  The sight of these packages only served to intensify their curiosity.If it had been some species of food it would at once have revealeditself, but these packages suggested something more important. Whatcould they be? Were there treasures inside--jewels, or goldenornaments from some Moorish seraglio, or strange coin from far Cathay?

  One of the packages was very much larger than the other. It wasenclosed in wrappers made of some coarse kind of felt, bound tightwith strong cords. The other was much smaller, and, was folded in thesame material without being bound. This Melick seized and began toopen.

  "Wait a minute," said Featherstone. "Let's make a bet on it. Fiveguineas that it's some sort of jewels!"

  "Done," said Oxenden.

  Melick opened the package, and it was seen that Featherstone had lost.There were no jewels, but one or two sheets of something that lookedlike paper. It was not paper, however, but some vegetable productwhich was used for the same purpose. The surface was smooth, but thecolor was dingy, and the lines of the vegetable fibres were plainlydiscernible. These sheets were covered with writing.

  "Halloa!" cried Melick. "Why, this is English!"

  At this the others crowded around to look on, and Featherstone in hisexcitement forgot that he had lost his bet. There were three sheets,all covered with writing--one in English, another in French, and athird in German. It was the same message, written in these threedifferent languages. But at that moment they scarcely noticed this.All that they saw was the message itself, with its mysterious meaning.

  It was as follows:

  "To the finder of this:

  "Sir,--I am an Englishman, and have been carried by a series ofincredible events to a land from which escape is as impossible as fromthe grave. I have written this and committed it to the sea, in thehope that the ocean currents may bear it within the reach of civilizedman. Oh, unknown friend! whoever you are. I entreat you to let thismessage be made known in some way to my father, Henry More, Keswick,Cumberland, England, so that he may learn the fate of his son. The MS.accompanying this contains an account of my adventures, which I shouldlike to have forwarded to him. Do this for the sake of that mercywhich you may one day wish to have shown to yourself.

  "ADAM MORE."

  "By Jove!" cried Featherstone, as he read the above, "this is reallygetting to be something tremendous."

  "This other package must be the manuscript," said Oxenden, "and it'lltell all about it."

  "Such a manuscript'll be better than meat," said the doctor,sententiously.

  Melick said nothing, but, opening his knife, he cut the cords andunfolded the wrapper. He saw a great collection of leaves, just likethose of the letter, of some vegetable substance, smooth as paper, andcovered with writing.

  "It looks like Egyptian papyrus," said the doctor. "That was thecommon paper of antiquity."

  "Never mind the Egyptian papyrus," said Featherstone, in feverishcuriosity. "Let's have the contents of the manuscript. You, Melick,read; you're the most energetic of the lot, and when you're tired therest of us will take turns."

  "Read? Why, it'll take a month to read all this," said Melick.

  "All the better," said Featherstone; "this calm will probably last amonth, and we shall have nothing to interest us."

  Melick made no further objection. He was as excited as the rest, andso he began the reading of the manuscript.