ave always known. If we are not ON earth, there is
every reason to believe that we may be IN it."
"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon some
tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry shook
his head.
"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime suppose
we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast--we may find a native
who can enlighten us."
As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across the
water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem.
"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about the
horizon?"
As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of the
landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive
suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural--THERE WAS NO HORIZON! As far
as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom floated
tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere specks; but ever
beyond them was the sea, until the impression became quite real that
one was LOOKING UP at the most distant point that the eyes could
fathom--the distance was lost in the distance. That was all--there was
no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the
line of vision.
"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, taking
out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the riddle. It
is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector the sun was
directly above us. Where is it now?"
I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center of
the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. Fully
thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, and
apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction that one
might almost reach up and touch it.
"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginning
to get on my nerves."
"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, "that
we are--" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity of the
prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring roar that ever
had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned to discover the
author of that fearsome noise.
Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight that
met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging from the
forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a bear. It was
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