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protection."
Just then a large, but apparently not particularly heavy, body rolled down the
rope ladder.
"Aha! It looks as though one of those repulsive Saturn-beetles had made itself
obnoxious up there," said the Captain.
"Well, Bobs has made its improper behavior clear to it and torn its head off
until it hangs to its hideous body by only a hair."
"Don't call this creature repulsive and hideous," the Professor called out.
"It is highly interesting." With a scientific eye, he examined the dor-beetle
which lay at his feet; for a
dor-beetle it was, this beast comparable in size to a young calf.
In the meantime the screaming of the ape did not cease, and they soon saw
Bobs, with a pitiful look and bleeding arms, swinging his way down the rope
ladder in hasty flight.
"Oho! There you have it. Professor!" cried Munchhau-sen. "It looks as though a
few more of your highly interesting beasts had made a nest for themselves up
there in the
Sannah.
I propose that you go right up, since you have such a tender feeling towards
these creatures. You can make your studies there without disturbance; for we
shall follow you only when you have come to an end and have added the invaders
to your beetle collection."
Schulze made a long face. No! He did not trust himself to go up, although he
could see nothing but mist when he raised his eyes. But since Bobs had taken
to flight, there must be something wrong.
"Let's set up the tents again, the storm is subsiding," said Flitmore, drily.
The hurricane had torn down all the tents.
"Does that mean we are to leave the
Sannah to her fate for a while?" asked Hank.
"There is nothing to be gained in letting ourselves in for some unknown
danger, in this mist, with night falling, and taking up a battle with rabid
monsters," replied Flitmore, shrugging his shoulders.
"But neither tent-walls nor ceilings are a protection against this drizzling
downpour," the Captain reminded them. "We are already drenched to the skin and
under such conditions Lady Flitmore may catch a dangerous cold."
"How do you know that there are disease germs, especially cold-germs, on
Saturn?" interrupted Schulze.
"Bah! You can catch cold anywhere," asserted Munch-hausen, "and it's a dry bed
that protects you from it, not a learned germ theory. As for myself, an old
sea-growler, I
can stand dampness and cold air. I am only concerned about you and
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
particularly about the gentle Lady."
"'Gentle Lady!'" laughed Mitzie. "Did you know me in Africa for a wax doll to
think I have to be rolled up in cotton?"
"Not that, but at that time you were a Boer girl and now you are mistress of
an English castle."
"But no softer than I was then; England took none of my Boer blood from me."
"I can vouch for my wife," confirmed Flitmore. "Have no worries about her."
"Only," said Munchhausen, whose soaking bed did not look very inviting despite
his sailor's boasts, "only, now that the Professor has mentioned the question
of germs, who knows but that Saturn may have much more dangerous germs than
those on the earth? Perhaps even very huge ones!"
"Calm yourself," said Hank suddenly, "I will risk the venture and hope to
exterminate the monsters that are up there."
"Don't be foolhardy, young man," warned Lord Flitmore. "There is no point to
it. Let us wait till morning, when we can examine the situation. Maybe by that
time the beetles will have withdrawn voluntarily, if only to seek food; for
they will find nothing in the North Pole room and they surely will not be able
to open the doors leading from it."
"Yes, let it be, my young friend," Schulze also joined in. 'Bobs would never
have fled if the odds had not been very great."
"I have my plan, which involves no risk for me," insisted Hank. "Foolhardiness
is not of my nature; if I find that there is danger, I shall turn back."
"Come, come!" threatened Munchhausen. "You showed us in Australia more than
once that you hold back from no
deadly dangers; I haven't so much confidence in your caution."
"Just let me try," Hank cried down from the rope ladder, up which he climbed
as nimbly as a cat, so as to cut off all further argument.
Behind him came the chimpanzee Dick. He had become especially attached to the
young man, who always took a kindly and solicitous interest in the ape.
But John too clambered up, calling after Hank: "I permit my humble self to
follow right behind you, for three of us ought to be in a better position to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]