Ten thousand years would be but little for man to develop from a cave dwelling savage to such a high state of culture, yet all trace of that 10,000 years has been blotted from the face of the earth. Suddenly, from nowhere it seems, this race who must have appeared like gods to the barbarians, arrived in countries thousands of miles apart; and in a few generations they are creating marvels that have never been surpassed. Where did they come from? Where is the evidence of their long struggle against nature? The only conceivable explanation is the acceptance of Plato's record—that it lies beneath the waves that cover the lost continent.
'If further evidence is needed we have abundant historical memories to confirm the belief embodied as mythology in the religions of these races which had been completely separated for thousands of years until the rediscovery of the New World in the fifteenth century. The Incas and the Aztecs trace the foundation of their empires to a fair-haired, blue-eyed bearded stranger, who came up from the waters out of the East. This god-like figure is found with many names but all accounts agree that he brought with him infinite knowledge, peace and prosperity, teaching them husbandry, metallurgy, weaving, and to live in houses instead of rude tents and caves; then, after giving them a new code of laws his spirit returned to the island Paradise in the East from which he had come.
'It was on account of a similar fully accepted belief, so Cortes relates, that he was able, with a handful of white men, to subdue the legions of the Mexican Emperor Montezuma. They believed that their bearded myth heroes had come again from their island Paradise in the East and they fell down in their thousands before the Spanish lord, Alvardo, worshipping him as a god in human form because he possessed the white skin, the blue eyes, the magnificent golden hair, which tallied in all particulars with those of his predecessor who had brought them the blessings of civilisation.
'Turn now to the Mediterranean side of the Atlantic. The ancient peoples of the Euphrates believed that Ea, god of the Ocean, first brought civilisation from out of the great waters of the West to Assyria. In the Osiris legends of Egypt we get an exact parallel of the Mexican belief. The fair-skinned golden-haired Osiris arrived among the dusky primitive Egyptians, taught them the arts of agriculture, architecture and to observe a new highly civilised code of laws. Then his spirit departed to the islands of Sekhet-Aaru in the West, which are specifically stated to be intersected by canals filled with running water, which caused them to be always green and fertile. Wherever we turn in the mythologies of the Mediterranean peoples we find constant and persistent mention of this antediluvian world, the Garden of Eden, The Elysian Fields, The Gardens of the Hesperides and the Islands of the Blessed. Invariably this happy state is situated towards the West in the great open ocean that lies beyond the Straits of Gibraltar; so that the belief is even perpetuated in Europe to this very day in that colloquial expression for death "to go West".
'The ancient universal belief in the spirits of the dead going to an underworld is part of the same tradition. It was not until comparatively recent times that the expression was taken to mean a world under the earth. It signified originally the world beyond or under the horizon.
'The only possible explanation therefore of the American Heaven being placed in the East and the Mediterranean peoples Paradise being universally in the West, is that it lay somewhere between the two and is a race memory of that great peaceful island where all civilisation was first born, in the centre of the Atlantic.'
As the Doctor ceased there was a moment's hush then, his lined face breaking into a boyish smile, the McKay exclaimed:
'Doctor, I owe you an apology. I had no right to express an opinion without knowing more about the subject. I couldn't attempt to confute a single one of your arguments if I racked my brains for a month.'
'There are more—details—checkings up, a hundred points I have not yet touched upon,' the Doctor burst out determinedly. 'Take the mound builders-'
'Take nothing!' Nicky interrupted, 'I've had enough. Once I was through College I took a vow against learning. We've heard all we want to of this mystic isle. What about it now Camilla?'
'The Doctor has convinced me about his theory all right,' Camilla hesitated a moment. 'But is the expedition practical —that's what 1 want to know?'
'That's it,' echoed Sally. 'Is there a chance in a hundred of our finding this place that's been eleven and a half thousand years beneath the seas?'
'Yes, yes, Fraulein,' the Doctor insisted. 'Ten years ago, even with the secret of the latitude and longitude which I possess—no. Five years ago—no. But now that Dr. William Beebe has invented his bathysphere for deep sea-diving— yes. In my model which is much larger I will take you to the very place where is the sunken gold.'
'In that case I'm all for it,' Sally agreed, and Camilla smiled round at them.
'All right then—the party's on if you wish.'
Thus the final decision was taken which led this diverse group of people into the strangest adventure that has ever befallen men and women in our time.
The Three Lovers of Camilla
Doktor Herman Tisch's mystery ship was steaming almost due north-west towards the little coast town of Horta on the island of Fayal in the Azores. He had chosen it for his base in preference to Funta Delgada on the larger island of Saint Miguel because it lay nearer to the spot which was indicated on the precious cylinder of baked clay that he had unearthed from the banks of the Euphrates.
Eleven thousand four hundred years is but a split second in astronomical time and it needed only decimal corrections in the bearing of the fixed stars to give him the exact site where the mighty capital of Atlantis had once stood.
37° 52"N. 27° 8"W. was the important cypher which he kept locked in his own brain. He had an almost morbid dread that someone might steal his secret and forestall his great discovery so he would not even make a jotting of the map reference in his notebook. When Camilla had pressed him, as her right through financing the expedition, for details of their destination, he had refused to say more than that the place lay between the latitudes of Richmond, Virginia; and Lisbon; which still left him sixty miles leeway, and he refused to give any indication of its longitude at all so they still knew only that it was somewhere to the southward of the Azores.
This uncharted point upon the map which held all the Doctor's interest lay well within the 1,000 fathom line. There might be pockets of a greater depth, of course, but he had 10,000 feet of cable on his drums, and so enough to reach the bottom in the bathysphere, even if it was nearly double the depth that he anticipated, for the few miles round that area in which it was his unshakable conviction that the Golden Temple of Poseidon had once reared its flashing pinnacles to the sky.
All thoughts of Slinger's sinister designs upon Camilla which, at the last, had alone made his expedition possible had left him. He was consumed with impatience now to reach his destination and get to work so on their first morning out from Madeira he paced the deck oblivious of his surroundings while the others explored the ship.
It was an ex-cargo vessel of 2,500 tons, in forward part and midships converted to the semblance of a private yacht. Below the bridge a wide lounge with comfortable furniture and gay chintz curtains opened on to the sun deck where what had formerly been the forward hatch was boarded and canvassed to form a swimming pool. The dining room lay beneath the lounge and on either side of it were the cabins which accommodated the guests. To Camilla's annoyance the ship had no deck cabins but she had one which contained a private bath and sitting-room forming the owner's suite. Contrary to usual arrangements the entire accommodation abaft the bridge below decks was given over to the crew, while above, all the available space was occupied by the huge drums which carried the cable of the bathysphere and the massive machinery for lowering it into the depths. The bathysphere itself, supported by two huge steel girders locked into the hull of the ship, rode on the water line astern.