"Dead! All Dead!"
He was sitting, in hands, on the of his as I entered. He had taken off his coat.
"Throck," I cried. "What was it? What are you from, man? Where is your wife—and Stanton?"
"Dead!" he monotonously. "Dead! All dead!" Then as I from him—"All dead. Edith, Stanton, Thora—dead—or worse. And Edith in the Moon Pool—with them—drawn by what you saw on the moon path—that has put its upon me—and me!"
He open his shirt.
"Look at this," he said. Around his chest, above his heart, the skin was white as pearl. This was against the healthy of the body. It him with an about two wide.
"Burn it!" he said, and offered me his cigarette. I back. He gestured—peremptorily. I pressed the end of the cigarette into the of white flesh. He did not was there of nor, as I the little away, any mark upon the whiteness.
"Feel it!" he again. I my upon the band. It was cold—like marble.
He his shirt around him.
"Two you have seen," he said. "It—and its mark. Seeing, you must my story. Goodwin, I tell you again that my wife is dead—or worse—I do not know; the of—what you saw; so, too, is Stanton; so Thora. How—"
Tears rolled the face.
"Why did God let it us? Why did He let it take my Edith?" he in bitterness. "Are there than God, do you think, Walter?"
I hesitated.
"Are there? Are there?" His wild me.
"I do not know just how you God," I managed at last through my to make answer. "If you the will to know, through science—"
He me impatiently.
"Science," he said. "What is our science against—that? Or against the science of that it—or the way for it to enter this world of ours?"
With an he control.
"Goodwin," he said, "do you know at all of the on the Carolines; the cyclopean, and of Ponape and Lele, of Kusaie, of Ruk and Hogolu, and a score of other there? Particularly, do you know of the Nan-Matal and the Metalanim?"
"Of the Metalanim I have and photographs," I said. "They call it, don't they, the Lost Venice of the Pacific?"
"Look at this map," said Throckmartin. "That," he on, "is Christian's of Metalanim and the Nan-Matal. Do you see the marked Nan-Tauach?"
"Yes," I said.
"There," he said, "under those is the Moon Pool and the seven lights that the Dweller in the Pool, and the and of the Dweller. And there in the Moon Pool with it Edith and Stanton and Thora."
"The Dweller in the Moon Pool?" I half-incredulously.
"The Thing you saw," said Throckmartin solemnly.
A solid of rain the ports, and the Southern Queen to roll on the swells. Throckmartin another of relief, and a out into the night. Its to him. At any rate, when he sat again he was calm.
"There are no more in the world," he almost casually. "They take in some fifty and with their and about twelve square miles. Who them? None knows. When were they built? Ages the memory of present man, that is sure. Ten thousand, twenty thousand, a hundred thousand years ago—the last more likely.
"All these islets, Walter, are squared, and their are of and put in place by the hands of man. Each water-front is with a of those which out six above the that them. On the these are time-shattered fortresses, palaces, terraces, pyramids; with ruins—and all so old that they to the of those who look on them.
"There has been a great subsidence. You can out of Metalanim for three miles and look upon the of and twenty you in the water.
"And all about, on their canals, are the with their through the of mangroves—dead, for ages; by those who live near.
"You as a are familiar with the that a in the Pacific—a that was not rent by as was that one of Atlantis in the Eastern Ocean.[1] My work in Java, in Papua, and in the Ladrones had set my mind upon this Pacific land. Just as the Azores are to be the last high of Atlantis, so came to me that Ponape and Lele and their were the last points of the slowly western land still to the sunlight, and had been the last and places of the of that which had their home under the of the Pacific.
"I that under these I might the that I sought.
"My—my wife and I had talked we were married of making this our great work. After the we prepared for the expedition. Stanton was as as ourselves. We sailed, as you know, last May for of my dreams.
"At Ponape we selected, not without difficulty, to help us—diggers. I had to make I together my force. Their are gloomy, these Ponapeans. They people their swamps, their forests, their mountains, and shores, with spirits—ani they call them. And they are afraid—bitterly of the of and what they think the hide. I do not wonder—now!
"When they were told where they were to go, and how long we to stay, they murmured. Those who, at last, were what I then a that they were to be allowed to go away on the three nights of the full moon. Would to God we had them and gone too!"
"We passed into Metalanim harbour. Off to our left—a mile away a quadrangle. Its were all of high and hundreds of on each side. As we by, our very silent; it furtively, fearfully. I it for the that are called Nan-Tauach, the 'place of walls.' And at the of my men I what Christian had of this place; of how he had come upon its 'ancient and of stonework; its wonder of and of canals; of out from screens; barricades,' and of how, when he had 'into its shadows, straight-way the of was and died to whispers.'"
He was for a little time.
"Of I wanted to our there," he on again quietly, "but I soon gave up that idea. The were panic-stricken—threatened to turn back. 'No,' they said, 'too great there. We go to any other place—but not there.'
"We for our the called Uschen-Tau. It was close to the of desire, but away from it to satisfy our men. There was an excellent camping-place and a of fresh water. We our tents, and in a of days the work was in full swing."
[1] For more on these points to G. Volkens, Uber die Karolinen Insel Yap, in Verhandlungen Gesellschaft Erdkunde Berlin, (1901); J. S. Kubary, Ethnographische Beitrage Kentniss Karolinen Archipel (Leiden, 1889-1892); De Abrade Historia Conflicto de Carolinas, etc. (Madrid, 1886).—W. T. G.