[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
and then extended five fingers as if to say: "Correct, you are five."
Now Hank pointed to the Martian and again extended only his thumb. This meant:
"You are only one." Then the young man looked around searchingly and
inquiringly in all directions, with helpless motions of the hand, by which the
inhabitant of Mars promptly guessed the question: "Where are the other
inhabitants of Mars?"
Here he shook his head and a deep sadness passed over his gentle features: he
extended his thumb impressively, touched his breast, then pointed his arm in a
circle, always shaking his head and at the same time swinging his hand
negatively, as if to say: "I am the only one here! Otherwise there is nobody
to be found."
Our friends looked at him astounded; then he beckoned to them to follow him.
He led them to the edge of the mound and pointed down into the swamp.
Shuddering, they saw the tops of structures projecting out of the black slime,
and the doleful gestures of the old man said: "All of them have been swallowed
by the waters, all of them are rotting in the swamp or serving as grub for the
swamp vermin."
Then the old man pulled himself together, pointed to his guests and then up to
the earth, making them understand with violent movements of the hand: "Flee,
flee! Else the same fate will overtake you!"
He made this gruesome fate still plainer by pointing down again into the
swamp, then holding the palm of his hand level above the ground and raising it
by jerks ever higher on his own body until it reached above his head.
"He wants to indicate that the waters may suddenly rise and go high above our
heads," explained Lord Flitmore.
"Sure enough," confirmed Schulze. "The astronomers have often observed such
catastrophes upon Mars. The land is suddenly swallowed up by seas and the
divisions of land and water take on an entirely new form."
"In that case we shall not have very much more to discover here," said
Munchhausen. "At any rate, this man knows best what he is talking about, and
Page 42
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
we shall do well not to throw his warning to the winds."
Just then the sound of the
Sannah's siren rolled through the air.
XIV A CATASTROPHE ON MARS
HELLO there! That's a serious sign!" cried Flitmore. "What can be wrong
there?" Mitzie asked, worriedly.
"In any case, we ought to turn back as quickly as we can," urged the Captain.
Hank took the Martian by the hand and pointed out to him the World-Ship
projecting high in the distance, signifying to him that he might flee with
them.
But the man only shook his head in sorrow and waved his hand down towards the
swamp. There was nothing to do about it: all his beloved lay there and he
wanted to make his grave by their side!
Flitmore did not neglect to photograph the sole survivor of an extinct human
world; then our friends parted regretfully from the old man and hastened to
reach the
Sannah again; for the tone of the siren had apprised them that something must
be wrong there.
They came to a halt on the outskirts of the woods in order to make a hasty
meal out of the provisions they had taken along; for hunger was making
powerful demands upon them and Munchhausen had declared that he could not take
another step forward on an empty stomach after he had been so thoroughly
pumped the night before.
Bobs, the chimpanzee, plucked the golden-yellow pyramidal fruits from the
trees along the edge of the woods and devoured them with such obvious relish
that the Captain could not restrain himself from tasting them too. He found
them of such a delicious flavor that the others also gathered them and took
along a large stock.
In twenty minutes the woods had been crossed, for they could no longer tarry
over its remarkable things.
When John saw the homecomers coming out of the woods, he swiftly clambered
down the
Sannah and ran to meet them.
"What is it, what's up?" Hank called out to him from afar. "Did something
happen? Did you see any danger approaching, that you gave the emergency
signal?"
"Oh, gentlemen!" cried Rieger, panting towards them. "The
Sannah, as it were, is safe and sound, for nothing has happened to her; but
something terribly extraordinary happened which I perceived from afar, and I
was afraid that if something like it were to take place closer by, it might
possibly bring us to the end of the world."
"What did you see that was so horrible?" inquired Lord nitmore, placidly.
Page 43
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zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
and then extended five fingers as if to say: "Correct, you are five."
Now Hank pointed to the Martian and again extended only his thumb. This meant:
"You are only one." Then the young man looked around searchingly and
inquiringly in all directions, with helpless motions of the hand, by which the
inhabitant of Mars promptly guessed the question: "Where are the other
inhabitants of Mars?"
Here he shook his head and a deep sadness passed over his gentle features: he
extended his thumb impressively, touched his breast, then pointed his arm in a
circle, always shaking his head and at the same time swinging his hand
negatively, as if to say: "I am the only one here! Otherwise there is nobody
to be found."
Our friends looked at him astounded; then he beckoned to them to follow him.
He led them to the edge of the mound and pointed down into the swamp.
Shuddering, they saw the tops of structures projecting out of the black slime,
and the doleful gestures of the old man said: "All of them have been swallowed
by the waters, all of them are rotting in the swamp or serving as grub for the
swamp vermin."
Then the old man pulled himself together, pointed to his guests and then up to
the earth, making them understand with violent movements of the hand: "Flee,
flee! Else the same fate will overtake you!"
He made this gruesome fate still plainer by pointing down again into the
swamp, then holding the palm of his hand level above the ground and raising it
by jerks ever higher on his own body until it reached above his head.
"He wants to indicate that the waters may suddenly rise and go high above our
heads," explained Lord Flitmore.
"Sure enough," confirmed Schulze. "The astronomers have often observed such
catastrophes upon Mars. The land is suddenly swallowed up by seas and the
divisions of land and water take on an entirely new form."
"In that case we shall not have very much more to discover here," said
Munchhausen. "At any rate, this man knows best what he is talking about, and
Page 42
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
we shall do well not to throw his warning to the winds."
Just then the sound of the
Sannah's siren rolled through the air.
XIV A CATASTROPHE ON MARS
HELLO there! That's a serious sign!" cried Flitmore. "What can be wrong
there?" Mitzie asked, worriedly.
"In any case, we ought to turn back as quickly as we can," urged the Captain.
Hank took the Martian by the hand and pointed out to him the World-Ship
projecting high in the distance, signifying to him that he might flee with
them.
But the man only shook his head in sorrow and waved his hand down towards the
swamp. There was nothing to do about it: all his beloved lay there and he
wanted to make his grave by their side!
Flitmore did not neglect to photograph the sole survivor of an extinct human
world; then our friends parted regretfully from the old man and hastened to
reach the
Sannah again; for the tone of the siren had apprised them that something must
be wrong there.
They came to a halt on the outskirts of the woods in order to make a hasty
meal out of the provisions they had taken along; for hunger was making
powerful demands upon them and Munchhausen had declared that he could not take
another step forward on an empty stomach after he had been so thoroughly
pumped the night before.
Bobs, the chimpanzee, plucked the golden-yellow pyramidal fruits from the
trees along the edge of the woods and devoured them with such obvious relish
that the Captain could not restrain himself from tasting them too. He found
them of such a delicious flavor that the others also gathered them and took
along a large stock.
In twenty minutes the woods had been crossed, for they could no longer tarry
over its remarkable things.
When John saw the homecomers coming out of the woods, he swiftly clambered
down the
Sannah and ran to meet them.
"What is it, what's up?" Hank called out to him from afar. "Did something
happen? Did you see any danger approaching, that you gave the emergency
signal?"
"Oh, gentlemen!" cried Rieger, panting towards them. "The
Sannah, as it were, is safe and sound, for nothing has happened to her; but
something terribly extraordinary happened which I perceived from afar, and I
was afraid that if something like it were to take place closer by, it might
possibly bring us to the end of the world."
"What did you see that was so horrible?" inquired Lord nitmore, placidly.
Page 43
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