Chapter 7 Chapter Seven The Third Monster

I must admit that at first I was shocked by the letter: "Oh my God! That's what happened!" I couldn't help muttering to myself.The old servant looked at me, wondering what I was thinking. "Ah, sir! Bad news?" I could only reply--I could only disappoint this faithful servant, and had to conceal from her--read the letter from beginning to end.She listened, looking very anxious. "Must be joking," I said, shrugging. "Well," replied the doubting old servant, "if it wasn't written by the devil, it was sent from hell, I suppose." After the old servant left, I read this unexpected letter again.After thinking about the content of the letter repeatedly, I am more and more convinced that it must be written by a person who is used to joking.My scouting of Mount Airi is no secret.Various newspapers have made detailed reports.Certain satirists, of the kind that are commonplace in America, are not surprising, and must have written this threatening letter to make fun of me.

On the other hand, it seems implausible to assume that the Mount Airi was indeed a hiding place for a gang of criminals.If they were afraid that the police would discover their hiding place, they would not be so stupid as to use this method to attract the attention of the police.The best way for them to get away with it is for no one to know where they are.They must have realized that such a challenge of theirs would only force the police to act against them again.Dana or Menin Dynamites are sure to blow open the passage to their stronghold in no time.Also, where did the criminals themselves infiltrate the Mount of Love? ——If so, there must be a passage, although we have not yet discovered it.Oddly enough, this letter must have come from some jest or a madman.I don't have to worry about it, and I shouldn't even bother.

I should confess that, for a moment, I did have the idea of ​​showing this letter to Mr. Ward.However, I ultimately decided not to.He must have considered the letter nothing to be surprised about.Having said that, I did not destroy the letter, but locked it in my office for safety.If the same letter arrives again, with the same initials, a comparison of them may somehow attract my attention. A few days passed without incident.There is little indication that I will be leaving Washington any time soon, although, as far as my career and responsibilities are concerned, it is difficult for me to foresee what new developments will arise tomorrow.I may be ordered to sail at any time, from Oregon to Florida, from Maine to Texas.An unpleasant thought often lingers in my mind-if my next mission fails like exploring the peak of Airi, I will resolutely take the blame and resign.There is no further news about the mysterious driver.I know that our government and foreign agents are standing by on all the roads, rivers, lakes and seas of the United States, watching the situation closely.Of course, due to the vastness of the United States, any rigorous surveillance measures are not foolproof; yet these monsters that look like they were created by the same designer have not appeared in those remote, sparsely populated and inaccessible locations before.The Wisconsin Speedway, where the grand car race is held, and the Boston Bay, where thousands of boats pass through, can hardly be called safe havens for any reason!If the daring and fearless driver has not disappeared—although there is a great possibility, then he must have left the United States, maybe he will appear in the waters of the Eastern Hemisphere or hide in a place known only to himself, if so if--

"Oh!" I said to myself repeatedly.In search of such a refuge, both private and safe, this strange man could not have found a more ideal place than the Great Peak of Airi!But obviously, boats can't get there, and even cars can't get to the summit.Only a high-flying bird of prey, a mountain eagle or a vulture, can find refuge there. On June 19th, I was preparing to go to the police station.Just as I was leaving home, I noticed two men eyeing me consciously.I didn't know them well, so I didn't care.If this incident aroused my alarm, it was because the old servant told me about it when I got home.

For several days, she said, she noticed that these two men seemed to be spying on me from the street.They had been standing about a hundred paces from my house, and she suspected they were following me as I went out into the street. "Are you serious?" I asked. "Yes, sir, just yesterday, when you came home, these two fellows stalked behind you, and as soon as the door closed, they left." "You read it right?" "No, sir." "If you met these two guys, who would you know?" "yes." "Good!" I exclaimed, laughing. "I think you're qualified to be my detective. I'm going to have to hire you!"

"It's okay to be joking. Sir, but my eyesight is really not bad. I don't need to wear glasses to keep it safe. I can recognize anyone. Someone is watching you, it must be true. You have to ask your people to watch them. " "It's a deal, I'll do it," I said, to reassure her, "If my men catch them, we'll see why they're after me." As a matter of fact, I didn't mind much about this excited speech from my faithful old servant. "If I see these two guys again," she went on, "I'll warn you before you go out." "Okay!" I ended the conversation, fully convinced that if I had allowed her to babble, she would have asserted that the Devil himself and his retinue were following me at all times.

In the next two days, I did not find anyone watching me on the street or at the entrance.From this, I thought that my old servant must be as suspicious as usual, and she made things out of nothing, but on the morning of the 22nd of June, despite her advanced age, she rushed upstairs.The faithful maid came into my room, gasped, and whispered, "Look, sir!" "What's the matter?" "Look, there they are." "Who?" I asked, thinking of something else, but her words had alarmed me. "Two detectives!" "Well, those two you saw!" "It's them!—in the street—to the right of our window!—watching our house, waiting for you to come out."

I went to the window and took a shelter so as not to disturb them.I saw two men on the sidewalk. Both were imposing, broad-shouldered, well-built men, about forty years of age, dressed in the usual dress of the day, with floppy hats, thick wool coats, sturdy sneakers, and clutches in their hands.It seemed they had been watching my apparently unguarded house.Then, after talking to each other a few words, they walked towards a place not far away, and returned to the same place after a while. "You really didn't see germanium, these are the two guys you saw before?" "Yes, sir."

Obviously, I could no longer ignore her reminders, which seemed to me hallucinatory; I resolved to find out for myself what the hell was going on.If I follow them, maybe they are too familiar with me, and they will be self-defeating.It may be useless to greet them directly.It is worth noting, however, that on this day a detective of my caliber is being watched; if these two fellows show up tomorrow, they will surely be watched, and it will eventually be found out what they are. ! But at the time, would they have been waiting to follow me to the police station?Because that's where I usually go.If they stayed with me, I could politely ask who they were, which would certainly embarrass them immensely.

I took off my hat, while the old servant was still peeping out of the window.I went downstairs, opened the door, and went out into the street. The two guys have disappeared. Although I was very careful that day, I did not spot them as I walked along the street.The old servant and I have neither seen them before my house since, nor have I met them anywhere.However, their faces have been etched in my memory and will never be forgotten. Anyway, maybe, I have been the object of their pursuit, and they don't know much about my appearance.Once they set their eyes on me, they stopped following me.I do not think, therefore, that this matter deserves any more attention than the letter with the initials M.O.W.

Then, on June 24, another incident aroused my interest and also attracted the attention of the general public, because the two mysterious incidents of the strange car and the strange ship had already happened before this. The Washington Evening Star published the following story, which was reprinted the next morning in newspapers across the country. "Forty miles west of Topeka, Lake Caldor, in Kansas, has never been known. It deserves to be known, and it will undoubtedly become so, for now, in a most extraordinary way, it is the center of attention. center." "The Caldor Lake hidden in the deep mountains has no outlet since its formation, and the evaporated lake water is replenished by the adjacent stream water and heavy rain." "The lake covers an area of ​​seventy-five square miles, and its elevation is only slightly lower than the plateau that surrounds it. It is cut off by mountains and can only be accessed by narrow and steep canyons. Nevertheless, along the banks of the lake, there are several small Village. The lake is rich in fish, and fishing boats can be seen everywhere on the lake. "In many places along the coast, Lake Caldore is fifty feet deep. The vast surface of the lake is surrounded by overhanging rock walls. The wind whips up waves in great waves, which beat the shores violently, and the houses on the lake are often drowned by the waves. As if swept in some places by a hurricane, the survey showed, over three hundred feet. "Thousands of people live by fishing, and in addition to the dozens of small steamboats used for transportation, there are hundreds of fishing boats. The railroad passes around the mountains, and carries the fish products of Kansas and the adjacent states to various places. " "This description of Lake Caldor is necessary to give you an idea of ​​a marvelous event which we are about to report on Lake Caldor." This lurid article in the newspaper then described the matter as follows: "Recently, fishermen have noticed a strange stream of water emerging from the lake, which sometimes spurts out of the water as if from from the bottom; and even when the sky is clear and calm, and there is not even a breath of wind, this column of water sometimes rises up in waves." "Under the turbulent waves and turbulent currents, fishing boats lost control and drifted around. Sometimes, fishing boats collided with each other, and serious consequences of boat destruction and death often occurred." "This anomaly in the lake's waters can apparently be traced somewhere on the bottom of the lake, and there are many explanations for it. First, it was suggested that it was due to the destructive force of the earthquake, volcanic movement within the strata at the bottom of the lake, but this assumption had to be disproved, Because people found that this weird phenomenon was not limited to one place, but spread to the entire lake, sometimes here and sometimes in another place, also in the center of the lake or along the lakeshore, and its scope of occurrence was always along a fixed direction. The possibility that it occurred due to earthquakes or volcanic activity is completely ruled out." "Another hypothesis is that the anomaly in the lake was caused by the disturbance of some sea monster. However, unless the monster was originally grown in the lake and developed here to a huge size, this is impossible. Then , it must come from outside the lake, but Lake Caldor is not connected to any other river. If the lake is near the Great Lakes, there must be subterranean canals; It is impossible. In short, it is yet another inexplicable mystery. It is not difficult to point out the possibility of these misinterpretations, but it is not easy to find convincing explanations." "It is also possible that some submarine under the waters of the lake is undergoing experiments? It is no longer difficult to manufacture such boats. Some years ago, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a ship called the Defender 》The sea boat set sail from the port. It can travel on water, underwater, and even on land. This boat was built by an inventor named Naike, equipped with two engines, one with seventy-five horsepower The other is a steam engine with a power of up to two hundred and fifty horsepower. Its wheels are three feet in diameter, and the ship can travel on roads and seas alike." "However, even with the certainty that the strange commotion at Caldor Lake was caused by a submarine, which seems invulnerable, remains as implausible as the other hypotheses; how did it get to Caldor Lake? The lake is surrounded by mountains , there is no passage to the outside world at all, and it is equally impossible for submarines and sea monsters to enter the lake." "However the explanations for this recent puzzling event may be debated, it is clear that since June 20, the debate over the nature of this strange phenomenon has ceased. In the afternoon of that day, while the schooner "Markle" was speeding under its sails, it collided violently with some foreign body near the surface of the water; but there were neither shallows nor rocks nearby, because the lake here was only 80 or so. Ninety feet. The schooner was badly damaged bow and side, and was in danger of sinking. However, the schooner managed to reach the shore before the decks were completely disintegrated." "The HMS Markle was recovered and investigations indicated that the trauma to the bow appeared to have been caused by a collision with a fast-moving torpedo ship." "From this, it does appear that a submarine is traveling under Lake Caldor at an astonishing speed." "This strange thing is hard to explain. Not only how did this submarine get into the lake? But why did it stay there? Why did it never come to the surface? What caused the owner of this submarine to hide himself? Expect other disasters from its rampage?" The article ends with a very compelling and meaningful question: "After the mysterious car came the mysterious ship. Now, the mysterious submarine." "Should we conclude that the three engines on these three strange monsters are from the same inventor, so these three things are actually the same monster."