The Second Deluge | Page 9

press had
received its final touches it contained no hint of the seeds of discord
that Cosmo Versál had sown among America's foremost savants. The
next morning it appeared in all the newspapers as follows:
Official Statement from the Carnegie Institution
In consequence of the popular excitement caused by the sensational
utterance of a notorious pretender to scientific knowledge in New York,
the council of this institution authorizes the statement that it has
examined the alleged grounds on which the prediction of a great flood,
to be caused by a nebula encountering the earth, is based, and finds, as
all real men of science knew beforehand, that the entire matter is
simply a canard.
The nebulae are not composed of water; if they were composed of
water they could not cause a flood on the earth; the report that some
strange, misty object is visible in the starry heavens is based on a
misapprehension; and finally, the so-called calculations of the author of
this inexcusable hoax are baseless and totally devoid of validity.
The public is earnestly advised to pay no further attention to the matter.
If there were any danger to the earth--and such a thing is not to be
seriously considered--astronomers would know it long in advance, and

would give due and official warning.
Unfortunately for the popular effect of this pronouncement, on the very
morning when it appeared in print, thirty thousand people were
crowded around the old aviation field at Mineola, excitedly watching
Cosmo Versál, with five hundred workmen, laying the foundations of a
huge platform, while about the field were stretched sheets of canvas
displaying the words:
THE ARK OF SAFETY Earnest Inspection Invited by All Attendants
will Furnish Gratis Plans for Similar Constructions Small Arks Can Be
Built for Families Act While There Is Yet Time
The multitude saw at a glance that here was a work that would cost
millions, and the spectacle of this immense expenditure, the evidence
that Cosmo was backing his words with his money, furnished a silent
argument which was irresistible. In the midst of all, flying about among
his men, was Cosmo, impressing every beholder with the feeling that
intellect was in charge.
Like the gray coat of Napoleon on a battlefield, the sight of that mighty
brow bred confidence.
CHAPTER III
THE FIRST DROPS OF THE DELUGE
The utterance of the Carnegie Institution indeed fell flat, and Cosmo
Versál's star reigned in the ascendent. He pushed his preparations with
amazing speed, and not only politics, but even the war that had just
broken out in South America was swallowed up in the newspapers by
endless descriptions of the mysterious proceedings at Mineola. Cosmo
still found time every day to write articles and to give out interviews;
and Joseph Smith was kept constantly on the jump, running for
street-cars or trains, or leaping, with his long coat flapping, into and out
of elevators on ceaseless missions to the papers, the scientific societies,
and the meetings of learned or unlearned bodies which had been
persuaded to investigate the subject of the coming flood. Between the

work of preparation and that of proselytism it is difficult to see how
Cosmo found time to sleep.
Day by day the Ark of Safety rose higher upon its great platform, its
huge metallic ribs and broad, bulging sides glinting strangely in the
unbroken sunshine--for, as if imitating the ominous quiet before an
earthquake, the July sky had stripped itself of all clouds. No
thunder-storms broke the serenity of the long days, and never had the
overarching heavens seemed so spotless and motionless in their
cerulean depths.
All over the world, as the news dispatches showed, the same strange
calm prevailed. Cosmo did not fail to call attention to this unparalleled
repose of nature as a sure prognostic of the awful event in preparation.
The heat became tremendous. Hundreds were stricken down in the
blazing streets. Multitudes fled to the seashore, and lay panting under
umbrellas on the burning sands, or vainly sought relief by plunging into
the heated water, which, rolling lazily in with the tide, felt as if it had
come from over a boiler.
Still, perspiring crowds constantly watched the workmen, who
struggled with the overpowering heat, although Cosmo had erected
canvas screens for them and installed a hundred immense electric fans
to create a breeze.
Beginning with five hundred men, he had, in less than a month,
increased his force to nearer five thousand, many of whom, not
engaged in the actual construction, were preparing the materials and
bringing them together. The ark was being made of pure levium, the
wonderful new metal which, although already employed in the
construction of aeroplanes and the framework of dirigible balloons, had
not before been used for shipbuilding, except in the case of a few