Dennis Wheatley - They Found Atlantis

'No,' said Slinger, 'go below.'

'I'm unarmed as you can see and you can keep me covered if you wish—but I've got to talk to you.'

'Get below!'

'All right,' the McKay shrugged, 'if you won't send your friends away I'll talk to all three of you. This game you're playing looks pretty profitable I know, but if that faked will fails to be upheld in the courts you won't get a penny piece and, what's more, sooner or later the police will run you down and you'll all get a long stretch in jail for this hold up.'

'Get below,' Slinger repeated.

'I'm going—when I've said my say,' announced the McKay doggedly. 'Now the Duchess knows that her lawyers will contest that will and if you go off to New York tomorrow you'll find a policeman on the quay to arrest you.'

Slinger's eyes narrowed. 'How can you possibly know that?'

'Never you mind. Trying to semaphore with a couple of handkerchiefs isn't the only way of communcating with passing shipping.'

'Have you been up to something?'

The McKay met Slinger's angry glance with a cold stare. 'D'you think I'd tell you if I had—but I wasn't born yesterday and you can't keep a man who's spent his life at sea in a ship indefinitely, against his will.'

'Well—what have you got to say.'

'Send your friends away and I'll tell you.'

Slinger shook his head.

'All right then. If the three of you will come in with us and arrange for our party to be landed at any port which possesses a United States or British Consul the Duchess will guarantee you the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars cash, and no questions asked or action to be taken. That's a hell of a lot of money—what about it?'

The barest flicker of a smile touched Slinger's lips. If they were offering a quarter of a million dollars for their freedom they could have very little hope of gaining it by any other means. Obviously this talk of the will being seriously contested and communications with other ships which would assure his arrest on landing was pure bluff.

He hardly hesitated a second before dismissing the offer from his mind but even before he spoke one of the gunmen tapped him on the arm.

'Send him below Boss—or Captain Ardow'll be wantin' ter know just what's been keepin' you all this time.'

Slinger jerked his head in the direction of the companion-way. 'Forget it,' he said, 'and no more attempts to signal ships. I shan't be so lenient next time. Down to your cabin now.'

161

t.f.a.—f

The McKay saw the futility of endeavouring to prolong the discussion. Slinger had been set to watch them but Captain Ardow had been set to watch Slinger and probably one or more of the gunmen were completely loyal to Kate and watching both Slinger and the Captain in his interest, on top of which the whole lot of them were keeping the wireless men, officers and crew under their observation. Mentally the McKay was compelled to salute that some-time scholar at one of England's leading public schools who had organised the whole business, and physically, he took himself off to bed.

In the morning a long rolling swell, aftermath of the storm, still made bathysphere diving impossible, but the sky had lightened and the weather was warmer. The McKay and Sally bathed in the pool. Vladimir was on deck again, handsome and romantic looking with a white bandage round his dark curly head. For Nicky the night's sleep had only served to reinforce his opinion that he was in truth a hero and Camilla's chosen champion. He had no doubt whatsoever that if only they could get out of the clutches of this gang she would marry him tomorrow. He was the only person who had actually struck a blow for her and the episode grew in his mind to gigantic proportions. 'Well, I hit him anyhow—right on the nose,' was the remark which he made to various members of the party at least a dozen times during the morning.

The sea had eased at least sufficiently for them to steam out into the open and by the employment of the electric sounding machine locate the site of the lost city by midday. The sun came out and there seemed no reason now why it should not stay out for several consecutive days. By half past two the swell was no more than an undulation of the glassy surface and the Doctor announced his intention of going down. He was however in some difficulty because Oscar, his telephonist, had gone on strike. That seedy youth had not yet recovered from his experience of two days before and had definitely stated that nothing would ever induce him to go down in the bathysphere again.

Doctor Tisch called for a volunteer among the passengers to take Oscar's place and looked confidently towards Count Axel, but the Count said that willingly as he would have done so, he was the victim of a wicked migraine and, to his great disappointment, was not well enough to go down at all that day. Upon which Nicky, who was suffering from a bravery complex at the moment, promptly said that he would take Oscar's place.

Vladimir, not to be outdone, declared his intention of accompanying them but the two girls said that although they might go down later, their last experience was too recent for them to care about another trip at the moment. The McKay refrained from reminding them that since it was Saturday this was probably their last chance of ever going on another dive and settled himself to entertain them. Count Axel, holding his forehead with his hand, went down to his cabin just as the bathysphere party departed aft.

It was sunset before the sphere was hauled in again and even so it had been less than an hour at the bottom. Nicky and Vladimir hurried forward to report the Doctor's operations. They had landed in the outer fringe of the great stones again, some of which they judged to be eighty feet in height, bored three holes at the base of one, inserted charges, been drawn up 400 feet, and then exploded them. After which they had descended again for the sphere's undercarriage to collect as much of the debris as it could carry and the Doctor was sorting the contents of the dredge at the moment.

'Well, it's some comfort to think none of you will have any further opportunity of risking your necks in that darned thing,' the McKay remarked, 'we'll be sailing for Horta I expect this evening.'

'Oh, this is hellish!' exclaimed Sally hitting the arm of her chair with a small clenched fist. 'The whole week's gone and we've done nothing. Isn't there any way we can save ourselves from that devil Kate?'

The McKay shrugged. 'M'dear I told you what happened when I tried to scare Slinger and then bribe him last night. Even if he were willing he couldn't help us. The whole crowd are watching each other like cats and they've got us cold at the moment. Try and be patient. I think our chance may come before we reach the Falklands.'

'We'll never reach the Falklands,' said Sally with conviction. 'When Kate learns——'

She never completed her sentence for at that moment Doctor Tisch came bursting into the lounge.

'Look, he cried and the pudgy hand he held out was quivering with excitement. It held a triangular piece of stone, one side of which showed a smooth dull cloudy reddish surface. 'Look please,' he repeated. 'I haf polished a little—soon I will polish again and it will become clear and bright. This stone is faced' with pure red copper— orichalcum. Atlantis is found again—found I tell you. Tomorrow—next week I will bring up silver and gold.'

They stared at this first certain symbol which honestly justified the Doctor's theories. Copper facings did not grow on rocks at the sea bottom, no one could contest that. Some long dead human must have worked this metal found 5,000 feet under the sea. It was an incontestable proof that the great stones beneath them were truly the remains of a mighty building erected by an ancient race. Further dives might bring the most staggering discoveries; not only gold and gems but perhaps the data of arts and sciences unknown to even the modern world as yet.