all his life he never has transgressed a single tenet of the
code of ethics of an American gentleman.
Ten days after they brought Mr. Tyler's body off the Toreador,
we steamed out into the Pacific in search of Caprona. There were
forty in the party, including the master and crew of the
Toreador; and Billings the indomitable was in command. We had
a long and uninteresting search for Caprona, for the old map
upon which the assistant secretary had finally located it was
most inaccurate. When its grim walls finally rose out of the
ocean's mists before us, we were so far south that it was a
question as to whether we were in the South Pacific or
the Antarctic. Bergs were numerous, and it was very cold.
All during the trip Billings had steadfastly evaded questions
as to how we were to enter Caspak after we had found Caprona.
Bowen Tyler's manuscript had made it perfectly evident to all
that the subterranean outlet of the Caspakian River was the
only means of ingress or egress to the crater world beyond the
impregnable cliffs. Tyler's party had been able to navigate
this channel because their craft had been a submarine; but the
Toreador could as easily have flown over the cliffs as
sailed under them. Jimmy Hollis and Colin Short whiled away
many an hour inventing schemes for surmounting the obstacle
presented by the barrier cliffs, and making ridiculous wagers
as to which one Tom Billings had in mind; but immediately we
were all assured that we had raised Caprona, Billings called
us together.
"There was no use in talking about these things," he said,
"until we found the island. At best it can be but conjecture on
our part until we have been able to scrutinize the coast closely.
Each of us has formed a mental picture of the Capronian seacoast
from Bowen's manuscript, and it is not likely that any two of
these pictures resemble each other, or that any of them resemble
the coast as we shall presently find it. I have in view three
plans for scaling the cliffs, and the means for carrying out
each is in the hold. There is an electric drill with plenty
of waterproof cable to reach from the ship's dynamos to the
cliff-top when the Toreador is anchored at a safe distance
from shore, and there is sufficient half-inch iron rod to build
a ladder from the base to the top of the cliff. It would be a
long, arduous and dangerous work to bore the holes and insert
the rungs of the ladder from the bottom upward; yet it can be done.
"I also have a life-saving mortar with which we might be able
to throw a line over the summit of the cliffs; but this plan
would necessitate one of us climbing to the top with the
chances more than even that the line would cut at the summit,
or the hooks at the upper end would slip.
