THE TREMENDOUS EVENT

CONTENTS


PART THE FIRST

CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE SUIT 13
II. THE CROSSING 32
III. GOOD-BYE SIMON 54
IV. THE GREAT UPHEAVAL 71
V. VIRGIN SOIL 85
VI. TRIUMPH 98
VII. LYNX-EYE 120
VIII. ON THE WAR-PATH 143


PART THE SECOND

I. INSIDE THE WRECK 169
II. ALONG THE CABLE 189
III. SIDE BY SIDE 209
IV. THE BATTLE 223
V. THE CHIEF'S REWARD 242
VI. HELL ON EARTH 265
VII. THE FIGHT FOR THE GOLD 282
VIII. THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES 301




PART THE FIRST




The Tremendous Event




CHAPTER I

THE SUIT


"Oh, but this is terrible!" cried Simon Dubosc. "Edward, just listen!"

And the young Frenchman, drawing his friend away from the tables
arranged in little groups on the terraces of the club-house, showed
him, in the late edition of the _Argus_, which a motorcyclist had just
brought to the New Golf Club, this telegram, printed in heavy type:

"BOULOGNE, _20 May_.--The master and crew of a
fishing-vessel which has returned to harbour declare
that this morning, at a spot mid-way between the
French and English coasts, they saw a large steamer
lifted up by a gigantic waterspout. After standing on
end with her whole length out of the water, she
pitched forward and disappeared in the space of a few
seconds.

"Such violent eddies followed and the sea, until then
quite calm, was affected by such abnormal convulsions
that the fishermen had to row their hardest to avoid
being dragged into the whirlpool. The naval
authorities are sending a couple of tugs to the site
of the disaster."

"Well, Rolleston, what do you think of it?"

"Terrible indeed!" replied the Englishman. "Two days ago, the _Ville
de Dunkerque_. To-day another ship, and in the same place. There's a
coincidence about it. . . ."

"That's precisely what a second telegram says," exclaimed Simon,
continuing to read:

"3. O. P. M.--The steamer sunk between Folkestone and
Boulogne is the transatlantic liner _Brabant_, of the
Rotterdam-Amerika Co., carrying twelve hundred
passengers and a crew of eight hundred. No survivors
have been picked up. The bodies of the drowned are
beginning to rise to the surface.

"There is no doubt that this terrifying calamity, like
the loss of the _Ville de Dunkerque_ two days ago, was
caused by one of those mysterious phenomena which have
been disturbing the Straits of Dover during the past
week and in which a number of vessels were nearly
lost, before the sinking of the _Brabant_ and the
_Ville de Dunkerque_."

The two young men were silent. Leaning on the balustrade which runs
along the terrace of the club-house, they gazed beyond the cliffs at
the vast circle of the sea. It was peaceful and kindly innocent of
anger or treachery; its near surface was crossed by fine streaks of
green or yellow, while, farther out, it was flawless and blue as the
sky and, farther still, beneath the motionless cloud, grey as a great
sheet of slate.

But, above Brighton, the sun, already dipping towards the downs, shone
through the clouds; and a luminous trail of gold-dust appeared upon
the sea.

"_La perfide!_" murmured Simon Dubosc. He understood English
perfectly, but always spoke French with his friend. "The perfidious
brute: how beautiful she is, how attractive! Would you ever have
thought her capable of these malevolent whims, which are so
destructive and murderous? Are you crossing to-night, Rolleston?"

"Yes, Newhaven to Dieppe."

"You'll be quite safe," said Simon. "The sea has had her two wrecks;
she's sated. But why are you in such a hurry to go?"

"I have to interview a crew at Dieppe to-morrow morning; I am putting
my yacht in commission. Then, in the afternoon, to Paris, I expect;
and, in a week's time, a cruise to Norway. And you, Simon?"