f the world, but at the first exposure to the air,
the strange liquid that had protected the body vanished, leaving in the
casket not the white figure, but only a crumbling mass of grey dust. But
the questions that the finding of the cave had raised remained
unanswered.

[Illustration]

Who was this woman? How did she get into the sealed cavern? If she had
been the court favorite of that mythical kingdom, now sunk beneath the
waves, and had been disposed of in court intrigue, why would her
murderers have buried her in such a casket? How had she been killed? An
unknown poison? Perhaps she had been a favorite slave of the monarch.
This view gained many converts among the archaeologists who argued that
from all the evidence we have available, the race carrying the Iberian
or Proto-Egyptian culture, long thought to have been the true refugees
from sinking Atlantis, were a slight dark-haired race. Therefore this
woman must have been a captive. Geologists, analyzing the lava,
announced that it had hardened in air and not in water, while
anthropologists classed the skull of the woman as essentially more
modern than either the Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon types. But the
engineers, secretly fuming at the delay, finally managed to fill up the
cave and press on with their drills.

Then following the arguments that still flourished in the press, came a
tiny little news article and the first message to carry concern to the
hearts of the engineers. The sea had begun to trickle in through one
slight crack. Perhaps it was only because the crevice was located on the
English side of the now famous "ancient ridge" that the article brought
forth any notice at all. But for the engineers it meant the first
warning of possibly ultimate disaster. They could not seal the crack,
and pumps were brought into play. However, as a month wore on, the crack
did not appear to widen to any material extent and the danger cry of a
few pessimists was forgotten.

Finally, it will be remembered, that sounders listening in the rocks
heard the drillers of the other party, and then with wild enthusiasm the
work was pushed on to completion. The long Tube had been dug. Now it
only remained for the sides at the junction to be enlarged and encased
with cast iron, while the work of setting up the great machines designed
to drive the pellet trains through, was also pushed on to its ultimate
end. Man had essayed the greatest feat of engineering ever undertaken in
the