pocalypse.

And now there were no longer minutes to wait. Any second might bring
the expected apparition.

It was not yet eleven o'clock when a rumbling was heard far down the
track, and the dust rose in violent whirlwinds. Harsh whistlings
shrieked through the air warning all to give passage to the monster.

It did not slacken speed at the finish. Lake Michigan was not half a
mile beyond, and the machine must certainly be hurled into the water!
Could it be that the mechanician was no longer master of his
mechanism?

There could be little doubt of it. Like a shooting star, the vehicle
flashed through Milwaukee. When it had passed the city, would it
plunge itself to destruction in the waters of Lake Michigan?

At any rate when it disappeared at a slight bend in the road no trace
was to be found of its passage.

Chapter 5

ALONG THE SHORES OF NEW ENGLAND

At the time when the newspapers were filled with these reports, I was
again in Washington. On my return I had presented myself at my
chief's office, but had been unable to see him. Family affairs had
suddenly called him away, to be absent some weeks. Mr. Ward, however,
undoubtedly knew of the failure of my mission. The newspapers,
especially those of North Carolina, had given full details of our
ascent of the Great Eyrie.

Naturally, I was much annoyed by this delay which further fretted my
restless curiosity. I could turn to no other plans for the future.
Could I give up the hope of learning the secret of the Great Eyrie?
No! I would return to the attack a dozen times if necessary, and
despite every failure.

Surely, the winning of access within those walls was not a task
beyond human power. A scaffolding might be raised to the summit of
the cliff; or a tunnel might be pierced through its depth. Our
engineers met problems more difficult every day. But in this case it
was necessary to consider the expense, which might easily grow out of
proportion to the advantages to be gained. A tunnel would cost many
thousand dollars, and what good would it accomplish beyond satisfying
the public curiosity and my own?

My personal resources were wholly insufficient for the achievement.
Mr. Ward, who held the government's funds, was away. I even thought
of trying to interest some millionaire. Oh, if I could but have
promised one of them some gold or silver mines within the mountain!
But such an hypothesis was not admissible. The chain of the
Appalachians is not