Chapter 5 CHAPTER V THE PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF THE WELTON SOCIETY AGREE TO RECOVER

Uncle Prudang, Phil.Evans and the servant, Fricoland, were covered with cloth strips, their mouths were gagged, and ropes were tied around their wrists and feet. They were unable to see, speak, or move.This is not done to make them better accept their situation.Besides, they had no idea who was behind the kidnapping and where they were thrown like postal parcels in a luggage cart.Where I am now and what fate awaits me, I am afraid that even the most patient lamb will not be able to bear it and become angry.We all know that members of the Weldon Society are just not patient lambs.With a man as violent as Uncle Prudden, it is not difficult to imagine what he looked like at that time.

Anyway, he and Phil.Evans should have imagined that it would be difficult for them to go to the Society's office the next night. As for Fricoland, his eyes were blindfolded, his mouth was gagged, and he was already half-dead, and it was impossible to think about anything else. An hour passed without any change in the conditions of the captivity.Nobody came to see them, nobody came to restore them the freedom of movement and speech, which they so needed!They could only let out choked sighs, hum through the rags stuffed in their mouths, and writhe like carp leaving a pond.It is not difficult to understand what silent anger and suppressed (or rather tied up) anger all this means.After a series of futile efforts, they were quiet for a while.Since sight was of no use, the senses had to be relied upon for certain clues as to the truth of this disturbing state of affairs.But they were in vain, hearing nothing but the endless, inexplicable whirring that seemed to surround them in a trembling air.

However, a new situation appeared at this time: Phil.Evans tried and tried, and finally loosened the rope that bound his wrist, and then the rope buckle was gradually undone, and the fingers slipped out one by one.His hands moved freely again as usual. After some friction, the blood circulation that was bound and blocked was restored.After a while, Phil.Evans undid his blindfold, removed the gag, and cut the cord with the sharp edge of his hunting knife.An American who does not carry a hunting knife with him at all times is not an American. Phil.Evans could move and talk now, but that was all.He couldn't use his eyes just yet, at least not at the moment: the room was pitch black.However, there is a hole like a gun hole in the wall at a height of eight feet, and a little light can pass through it.

Needless to say, everyone wants to get it, Phil.Without the slightest hesitation, Evans immediately went to untie his nemesis.With a few strokes of his little hunting knife he cut the ropes that bound Uncle Pruden's hands and feet.Uncle Pruden, who was on the verge of madness, got up on his knees, tore off the blindfold and the gag, and said in a newly recovered voice: Thanks! No!You're welcome.replied another. Phil.Evans? Uncle Prudang? Here, let's not distinguish between the chairman and secretary of the Weldon Society, no one is a rival to the other! Makes sense, Phil.Evans replied that the top priority now is for the two of them to avenge the third person together, and he should be severely retaliated against for his murder.This third party is

It's Robier! It's Robier! On this point, the two former competitors are in complete agreement.There is no need to worry about disputes over this kind of issue. What about your footman?Phil.Evans pointed to Fricoland, who was panting like a seal, and said, untie him, please? Don't worry, said Uncle Prudden, we'll be bored to death by his complaints, but we have other things to do than teach him! What are you referring to?Uncle Prudang. Run away, if possible. Escape even if it is impossible. You're right, Phil.Evans, escape even if it is impossible. As for whether the kidnapping should be blamed on the weirdo Rober, the chairman and his fellow countrymen never hesitated for a moment.Yes, if it's those common ones.If they were real robbers, they would first take their pocket watches, jewelry, purses, big and small, put a good knife in their chest, and throw them into the Shuikill River instead of locking them up. What is it locked in?This is indeed a serious problem. No matter how sure the escape is, one should understand it before escaping.

Phil.Evans, said Uncle Pruden again, coming out of the meeting, we might not be so absent-minded if we hadn't been so verbal (no need to mention it now).If we were on the streets of Philadelphia, things like this would never happen.This Robier obviously had expected what was going to happen in the club, and had thought that his provocative attitude would arouse everyone's anger, so he had arranged several of his gangsters at the door as his helpers in advance.The thugs had been following us as we left Walnut Road, and when they saw us accidentally walk into the Fairmont Parkway, they won.

Exactly so, Phil."Our biggest mistake was not going straight home," Evans said. The mistake is that there is no reason to do so.Uncle Prudang replied. At this moment, a long sigh came from the dark corner of the hut. what happened?Phil.Evans asked. nothing!It was Fricoland talking in his sleep. Uncle Prudang said again: We were kidnapped a few steps away from the glade, and we were thrown in this cell in less than two minutes.Obviously, these people didn't get us out of Fairmont Park. We should feel diverted if it does knock us out of the park. Yes, Uncle Prudang replied, so, without a doubt, we must be locked in the compartment of some kind of car, either a long truck like the one on the western prairie, or a charlatan's cart.

Obviously so!If this was a boat on the Shoekill River, we should be able to make out the current rolling the boat from side to side. Yes, you are absolutely right!Uncle Pruden said repeatedly, so I think that since we are still in the glade, it means that we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escape, and anyway, we can find this Robier anytime in the future Make him pay for the violation of civil liberties in two United States of America! A very high price! What does this person do?What country are you from?British?German?Or French? It is enough to know that he is a rascal, Uncle Prudang said, now, let's act!

The two stretched out their hands, spread their ten fingers, and began to feel around the walls of the small room, looking for joints or gaps.No.There was nothing on the door either.The door is tightly closed, and there is no possibility of picking the lock at all.Looks like you have to dig a hole and escape from it.The question is whether the small hunting knife can dig the wall, and whether the blade will be dulled or broken. Where the hell was this booming hum coming from?Phil.asked Evans, puzzled by the constant rumble. Maybe it's the wind?Uncle Prudang replied. wind?But I feel that tonight, until midnight, there has been no wind at all.

Phil.Evans, that was obvious.If it's not wind, what are you talking about? Phil.Evans drew his knife, ready to dig into the wall next to the door.If the door is only bolted from the outside, or if the key is still in the lock, it may be possible to open the door from the outside by digging a hole. After digging for a few minutes, there was no result except that the knife was chipped and turned into a thousand-tooth saw. Can't dig? Can't dig. The house we are staying in is not an iron cabin, is it? Unlike these walls, there is no metallic sound at all when knocked. Or ironwood?

Neither iron nor wood! what is that? Can't tell.Anyway, this is something that even a steel knife can't scratch. Uncle Pruden's anger suddenly rose, he cursed, his feet hit the floor hard, and his hands strangled the imaginary Robier's neck. Calm down, Uncle Prudang, Phil.Evans advised, calm down!You can try it too. Uncle Pruden tried, but even with the sharpest edge of his little hunting knife he could not make a mark, let alone dig through the wall, as if cutting crystal with an ordinary knife. Therefore, even if one could escape by simply opening the door, there is no such possibility now. It's not in Yankee temper to leave it to fate.Moreover, everything is subject to chance, which is also abhorred by highly practical people.There was a lot of swearing and abusive remarks about this Robier. If Robier had the same spirit in his private life as he showed at the Welton Institute, he probably wouldn't care about it. At this moment Fricolean made several more definite and distressed signals.Either with stomach cramps or cramps in his limbs, he writhed miserably on the floor. Uncle Prudang felt that this kind of physical training should come to an end, so he cut the ropes that bound the black man. He probably began to regret it immediately, for the negro, tormented by fear and pangs of hunger, immediately began to babble.For Fricoland, both the feeling of the stomach and the feeling of the brain can influence him. It is difficult to say which organ is more related to his feeling. Fricoland! Master uncle!Master uncle!The black man responded with a wail. We risked starving to death in this cell, so we decided to wait until everything edible that would prolong our lives had been eaten before we died. Want to eat me? As everyone will do in this kind of occasion So, Fricoland, you better not be reminded of your existence Or beat you into a pulp!Phil.Evans added. Fricoran was really afraid of being used to prolong two lives that were obviously more precious than his own, so he had to suppress his groans. Time ticked by, and any attempts to open the door or the walls were fruitless.What the walls were made of was simply impossible to discern.Not metal, not wood, not stone.Also, the floor of the small room appears to be of the same material.The sound of stamping the floor with his feet was so peculiar that it was difficult for Uncle Prudden to classify this sound into any known sound.Another thing that caught my attention was that from the sound of the floor, it seemed to be empty below, and it didn't seem to be directly resting on the clearing in the forest.right!That inexplicable rumble seemed to be right under the floorboards.All this is really worrying. Uncle Prudang!Phil.Evans said. What's the matter, Phil.Evans?Uncle Prudang replied. Do you think our room is moving? Not at all. When we were first locked in, I could clearly smell the fragrance of green grass and the smell of resin in the park.But now, I can't smell it no matter how hard I try, it seems that everything has disappeared indeed so. How can this be explained? Phil.Evans, you can explain it all you want except the assumption that our cells have moved.I repeat, if we are in a moving car or a ship underway, we should feel it. At this moment, Fricoland let out a long moan.If he hadn't groaned a few more times, everyone really thought that he died after the first groan. I guess this Robier will call us after a while. I hope so, cried Uncle Prudden, then I will tell him say what? That he was just a madman before, and now he's a villain! At this time, Phil.Evans found that the sky had brightened.A dim light was coming through a narrow window above the wall opposite the door.This shows that it is already four o'clock in the morning.It is at this latitude in June that the Philadelphia skyline begins to be illuminated by morning light. When Uncle Pruden rang his reed watch, which was the masterpiece of his colleague's factory, it was only fifteen minutes to three, but the watch never stopped. Weird thing!Phil.Evans said it was still dark at fifteen minutes to three. Either my watch is slow, said Uncle Prudang. Do Walton Watch Company watches go slow sometimes? !Phil.cried Evans. Anyway, the sky did start to light up.In the thick darkness of the room, the small window gradually showed a white outline.Dawn shouldn't come so early in Philadelphia at forty degrees north latitude, but it shouldn't come so quickly as it does at lower latitudes. Uncle Prudden's new discovery is yet another inexplicable phenomenon. Shall we crawl up to the window and see where we are.Phil.Evans said. OKUncle Prudang replied. Then he turned to Fricoland again, and said: Now, Frico, stand up! The Negro stood up. Standing with his back against the wall, Uncle Prudden said again, Phil.Evans, you, please climb onto the child's shoulders, and I will hold him so that he will not fall to you when he can't hold on. follow orders.Phil.Evans replied. In a moment he was kneeling on Fricolin's shoulder, and his eyes were on the window. The window had no lensed glass like the portholes of ships, but just a plain glass.Although the glass is not thick, it hinders Phil.Evans' vision made his field of vision extremely limited. Then break the glass, so maybe you can see better?Uncle Prudang said. Phil.Evans smacked the glass hard with the handle of his hunting knife.The glass rang like silver bells, but it didn't break. He tapped harder.The result is still the same. Hurrah!Phil.cried Evans, and fiberglass! It must be fiberglass tempered according to the method of the inventor Simmons.No matter how you smash it, the fiberglass remains intact. However, it was quite bright outside now, and it was possible to see far away, at least within the limited range of the window frame. Do you see anything?Uncle Prudang asked. nothing. how?Don't have a clump of trees? No. Not even a treetop? No. So aren't we in a glade? Neither in a glade nor in a park. You can at least see the top of the roof or something?Uncle Pruden said that he was more and more disappointed and annoyed. There is no roof, nor the top of anything. how!Not even a flagpole on top of a pavilion, a church bell tower, a factory chimney?There is only endless space. At this moment, the door of the room was opened.A man appeared at the door.It's Robier. Dear balloonists, he said in a solemn voice, now you are free to move Move freely!cried Uncle Prudang. Yes to a limited extent on board the Albatross! Uncle Prudden and Phil.Evans rushed out of the room. what did they see The place 1,200 to 300 meters below their feet was completely unfamiliar to them.