lf somewhat heavily from the bunk, I reached for
my clothes and dressed, though without much energy. Was I not
probably locked within this cabin?

The only exit seemed by a ladder and hatchway above my head. The
hatch rose readily to my hand, and I ascended half way on deck.

My first care was to look forward, backward, and on both sides of the
speeding "Terror." Everywhere a vast expanse of waves! Not a shore in
sight! Nothing but the horizon formed by sea and sky!

Whether it was a lake or the ocean I could easily settle. As we shot
forward at such speed the water cut by the bow, rose furiously upward
on either side, and the spray lashed savagely against me.

I tasted it. It was fresh water, and very probably that of Lake Erie.
The sun was but midway toward the zenith so it could scarcely be more
than seven or eight hours since the moment when the "Terror" had
darted from Black Rock Creek.

This must therefore be the following morning, that of the
thirty-first of July.

Considering that Lake Erie is two hundred and twenty miles long, and
over fifty wide, there was no reason to be surprised that I could see
no land, neither that of the United States to the southeast nor of
Canada to the northwest.

At this moment there were two men on the deck, one being at the bow
on the look-out, the other in the stern, keeping the course to the
northeast, as I judged by the position of the sun. The one at the bow
was he whom I had recognized as he ascended the ravine at Black Rock.
The second was his companion who had carried the lantern. I looked in
vain for the one whom they had called Captain. He was not in sight.

It will be readily appreciated how eager was my desire to stand in
the presence of the creator of this prodigious machines of this
fantastic personage who occupied and preoccupied the attention of all
the world, the daring inventor who did not fear to engage in battle
against the entire human race, and who proclaimed himself "Master of
the World."

I approached the man on the look-out, and after a minute of silence I
asked him, "Where is the Captain?"

He looked at me through half-closed eyes. He seemed not to understand
me. Yet I knew, having heard him the night before, that he spoke
English. Moreover, I noticed that he did not appear surprised to see
me out of my cabin. Turning his back upon me, he continued to search
the horizon.

I stepped then toward the stern, determined to ask the same question
a