start dismantling it first thing to-morrow.’
‘How long do you think such a flood would last?’ Gervaise inquired, looking across at Oliver.
The astronomer shrugged his sloping shoulders. ‘Who can say? If the comet is as big as I fear, there will be no flood but total disruption. If it’s a smaller body the Rockies and the Andes should protect us from any great tidal wave it may create in the Pacific. Short of annihilation our danger will be from a wave created by sympathetic eruptions in the central Atlantic. Unless the earth bursts, one can hardly visualise a local disturbance of sufficient magnitude to send out a wave which would wash right over the mountain chains of Britain. It’s more likely that although high land would be swept by the first onrush only valleys and low-lying land would be flooded for any length of time. But, even that, would mean the submergence of practically every city and town in the country; and weeks, if not months, before the waters finally drained away.’
‘Say we took enough provisions to last us two months then?’
‘Yes, that should certainly suffice. In such a local flood we should probably be washed up somewhere within a few days. But our trouble then would be to reach an area which had not been flooded at all. You see, the wave would wash right over all but the highest ground destroying everything in its path.’
‘You mean that we might find ourselves marooned on an island for several weeks,’ said Hemmingway, ‘and, maybe, one where we’d have to rely on such stores as we brought with
us?’
‘Exactly.’
‘How about if the comet caused a permanent rise in the ocean level? Britain would be converted into an archipelago, wouldn’t it?’
‘That is certainly a possibility.’
‘Then we might find ourselves stuck on our particular island for good?’
‘Yes, that too might quite well happen.’
‘We’d look a pretty lot of fools if we escaped the flood and died of starvation in a stretch of isolated fields two months later, wouldn’t we?’
‘We could eke out our supplies with roots and fish,’ Gervaise interjected.
‘Maybe,’ agreed Hemmingway. ‘In fact, we’ll have to chance being able to do that as the storage space of the Ark will be limited. But it seems to me we ought to ensure ourselves against such an emergency by preparing to meet it properly. As far as space permits we ought to take all the things we’d be most likely to need if we were deliberately going off to found a new settlement.’
‘Books,’ said Gervaise.
‘Seeds and roots to ensure ourselves future crops,’ said Margery.
‘Scientific instruments,’ said Oliver.
‘Engineer’s stores,’ said Derek. ‘I was at an Engineering College till my father died, so I could give you particulars of the most useful things in that line.’
‘Fine,’ said Hemmingway. ‘Let’s make some lists, shall we?’ Upon which they spent the next hour jotting down all the less bulky items they could think of which might prove invaluable to them if chanced to be stranded.
When they had done it was agreed that they should divide thelabour of ordering the goods and have all accounts rendered to Hemmingway. He then smiled round at the others and said:
‘I’d best be going now. It’s still only a little after midday in New York, so I’ll get busy with my cabling the moment I’m back in London and with any luck we’ll have the plans of the new life-boat coming through by radio some time to-night. Whoever the firm is that makes these things, they’ll know Sam’s good for the money, whatever price they ask.’
Soon afterwards Oliver and Hemmingway returned to London but the following morning the centuries-old peace of Stapleton Court was shattered; and fate had decreed that it should never again be resumed.
A party of surveyors, sent by Hemmingway, arrived with instructions to prospect the lake-shore for the best site in which to lay down a slipway on which the spherical Ark could be
‘How long do you think such a flood would last?’ Gervaise inquired, looking across at Oliver.
The astronomer shrugged his sloping shoulders. ‘Who can say? If the comet is as big as I fear, there will be no flood but total disruption. If it’s a smaller body the Rockies and the Andes should protect us from any great tidal wave it may create in the Pacific. Short of annihilation our danger will be from a wave created by sympathetic eruptions in the central Atlantic. Unless the earth bursts, one can hardly visualise a local disturbance of sufficient magnitude to send out a wave which would wash right over the mountain chains of Britain. It’s more likely that although high land would be swept by the first onrush only valleys and low-lying land would be flooded for any length of time. But, even that, would mean the submergence of practically every city and town in the country; and weeks, if not months, before the waters finally drained away.’
‘Say we took enough provisions to last us two months then?’
‘Yes, that should certainly suffice. In such a local flood we should probably be washed up somewhere within a few days. But our trouble then would be to reach an area which had not been flooded at all. You see, the wave would wash right over all but the highest ground destroying everything in its path.’
‘You mean that we might find ourselves marooned on an island for several weeks,’ said Hemmingway, ‘and, maybe, one where we’d have to rely on such stores as we brought with
us?’
‘Exactly.’
‘How about if the comet caused a permanent rise in the ocean level? Britain would be converted into an archipelago, wouldn’t it?’
‘That is certainly a possibility.’
‘Then we might find ourselves stuck on our particular island for good?’
‘Yes, that too might quite well happen.’
‘We’d look a pretty lot of fools if we escaped the flood and died of starvation in a stretch of isolated fields two months later, wouldn’t we?’
‘We could eke out our supplies with roots and fish,’ Gervaise interjected.
‘Maybe,’ agreed Hemmingway. ‘In fact, we’ll have to chance being able to do that as the storage space of the Ark will be limited. But it seems to me we ought to ensure ourselves against such an emergency by preparing to meet it properly. As far as space permits we ought to take all the things we’d be most likely to need if we were deliberately going off to found a new settlement.’
‘Books,’ said Gervaise.
‘Seeds and roots to ensure ourselves future crops,’ said Margery.
‘Scientific instruments,’ said Oliver.
‘Engineer’s stores,’ said Derek. ‘I was at an Engineering College till my father died, so I could give you particulars of the most useful things in that line.’
‘Fine,’ said Hemmingway. ‘Let’s make some lists, shall we?’ Upon which they spent the next hour jotting down all the less bulky items they could think of which might prove invaluable to them if chanced to be stranded.
When they had done it was agreed that they should divide thelabour of ordering the goods and have all accounts rendered to Hemmingway. He then smiled round at the others and said:
‘I’d best be going now. It’s still only a little after midday in New York, so I’ll get busy with my cabling the moment I’m back in London and with any luck we’ll have the plans of the new life-boat coming through by radio some time to-night. Whoever the firm is that makes these things, they’ll know Sam’s good for the money, whatever price they ask.’
Soon afterwards Oliver and Hemmingway returned to London but the following morning the centuries-old peace of Stapleton Court was shattered; and fate had decreed that it should never again be resumed.
A party of surveyors, sent by Hemmingway, arrived with instructions to prospect the lake-shore for the best site in which to lay down a slipway on which the spherical Ark could be
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