And as he studied and admired it an idea came into his brain. He at once was determined to broach it to the young inventor.
This idea was to be embodied in the tale which he now proposed to give Frank, and with this explanation let us follow him.
“Ten years ago,” declared the captain, “I was master of as fine a ship as ever rounded Cape Horn. We were south of Panama and somewhere off the coast of Peru when a storm struck us.
“For four days and nights it roared and howled and bellowed. We were buffeted and driven hither and thither, half the time running before the wind. We could not tell where we were nor what would be the end of it all. It seemed as if we must go to the bottom.
“On the fourth day the climax came. The foremast went by the board and carried the maintop with it. Later the main also went and we were almost dismasted. Moreover, the ship began to make water at a fearful rate.
“However, by working sharp we kept her afloat until the morning of the fifth day, which broke clear and bright. On our weather bow we saw land.
“There was no hope of saving the ship, so we worked her down under a jury rig until we found a good place to beach her. Then we went ashore in a long-boat.
“It was a rough, wild coast, with terrible high cliffs and reaches of sand. Of course we climbed the highest cliff to see what was about us.
“Westward was the sea. North and south the rough shore, but eastward was a mountainous country with fearful mountain passes and gorges. There was something weird and mystic about the whole region. But we knew that it was death from starvation to stay by the shore, so we kept on looking for signs of human settlement.
“Before we knew it we were deep in the heart of the strangest region any of us had ever seen. Every cliff or precipice seemed to have the shape of a fiend or a hobgoblin or an elf. The trees were fantastic in shape, there were hideous plants and snake-like vines. At times we came to sluggish streams and deep pools with strange, black depths, apparently bottomless.