The Greatest Adventure by Taine John

Author:Taine, John [Taine, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781612871974
Google: hlHroAEACAAJ
Amazon: 1612871976
Publisher: Dutton Books
Published: 1929-03-09T05:00:00+00:00

12 – TRAPPED

To the the Captain’s anxious inquiries the fliers replied that they had returned early on account of the cold. Although sorely disappointed that Edith had not discovered another oil-hole for him, Anderson said nothing. He contented himself with putting Ole to the dirtiest job in sight. Lane was far inland, superintending the caching of stores. Drake had gone off somewhere to exercise his beloved dogs.

Edith and Ole conspired to keep their find to themselves until they should have explored it thoroughly. They began to regret their panicky flight straight back to the ship. Tomorrow, however, they would keep their nerve and spend a heavenly day investigating the abode of the dragon. A landing in the open should be sufficient protection from a surprise. By avoiding clumps of brush, rock piles and the pampas they might see much before being chased.

That evening they gathered in the Captain’s cabin. The Doctor, having unpacked his scientific paraphernalia, was absorbed in an attempt to analyze the green venom which he had collected from the giant reptile on the beach. The scanty equipment proving insufficient he put away his test tubes with a sigh of disappointment.

“I shall have to wait for a living victim.”

“Let me see your flask, Doctor,” Oie begged.

“Have you a theory?” the Doctor laughed, handing over the pint of thick, evil, green fluid.

“Not this time. But I have a knife.”

To the astonishment of the party Ole proceeded to anoint the eight-inch blade of his murderous knife with the sticky green venom.

“There,” he said complacently, brandishing the knife to dry it, “nobody gets fresh with me any more.”

“It may be harmless,” Edith remarked with a meaning look. “You had better not put too much faith in that messy stuff.”

“I’ll chance it.”

As he spoke he unconsciously fixed his eyes on Anderson. The Captain stirred uneasily.

“Look here, Ole, I set you at that job this afternoon because all the men were away with Lane.”

“That’s all right, Captain.” Ole was not going to let his accidental advantage slip. “It gave me a touch of lumbago. Can Bronson take my watch tonight?”

“I’ll take it myself if he can’t. With lumbago like that you’re not fit to be on deck. Will you be able to fly tomorrow?”

“Flying rests my back. Ill be better in a week or two.”

Edith rose to retire. As she went out she shot Ole a significant glance. Mumbling an excuse he followed her.

“Why not take a revolver tomorrow?” she whispered.

“No use. I couldn’t hit the side of the ship at ten yards.”

“But suppose we do get caught again? That stuff may take hours to act. I doubt whether it is a poison at all. Father really knows nothing about it.”

“What can we do? A guess is better than nothing. Besides, I don’t mean to get caught.”

“Neither do I. Oh, that awful brute. I shall have a ghastly nightmare. Good-night, Ole.”

They were off at sunrise in the stinging cold. Drake for a spell at breakfast had grown quite peevish, not to say profanely rude, when Ole harmlessly asked him to pass the butter.

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