The Great Stone of Sardis

Great Stone of Sardis, by Frank R.
Stockton

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Title: The Great Stone of Sardis
Author: Frank R. Stockton
Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6127] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of
schedule] [This file was first posted on November 16, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT STONE OF
SARDIS ***

THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS
BY FRANK R. STOCKTON

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE-THALIA
II. THE SARDIS WORKS
III. MARGARET RALEIGH
IV. THE MISSION OF SAMUEL BLOCK V. UNDER WATER
VI. VOICES FROM THE POLAR SEAS
VII. GOOD NEWS GOES FROM SARDIS
VIII. THE DEVIL ON THE DIPSEY
IX. THE ARTESIAN RAY
X. "LAKE SHIVER"
XI. THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE POLAR SEA
XII. CAPTAIN HUBBELL TAKES COMMAND
XIII. LONGITUDE EVERYTHING
XIV. A REGION OF NOTHINGNESS
XV. THE AUTOMATIC SHELL
XVI. THE TRACK OF THE SHELL
XVII. CAPTAIN HUBBELL DECLINES TO GO WHALING
XVIII. MR. MARCY'S CANAL
XIX. THE ICY GATEWAY

XX. "THAT IS HOW I LOVE YOU"
XXI. THE CAVE OF LIGHT
XXII. CLEWE'S THEORY
XXIII. THE LAST DIVE OF THE DIPSEY
XXIV. ROVINSKI COMES TO THE SURFACE
XXV. LAURELS

THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS

CHAPTER I
THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUTERPE-THALIA
It was about noon of a day in early summer that a westward-bound Atlantic liner was
rapidly nearing the port of New York. Not long before, the old light-house on Montauk
Point had been sighted, and the company on board the vessel were animated by the
knowledge that in a few hours they would be at the end of their voyage.
The vessel now speeding along the southern coast of Long Island was the Euterpe-Thalia,
from Southampton. On Wednesday morning she had left her English port, and many of
her passengers were naturally anxious to be on shore in time to transact their business on
the last day of the week. There were even some who expected to make their return
voyage on the Melpomene-Thalia, which would leave New York on the next Monday.
The Euterpe-Thalia was one of those combination ocean vessels which had now been in
use for nearly ten years, and although the present voyage was not a particularly rapid one,
it had been made in a little less than three days.
As may be easily imagined, a vessel like this was a very different craft from the old
steamers which used to cross the Atlantic--"ocean greyhounds" they were called--in the
latter part of the nineteenth century.
It would be out of place here to give a full description of the vessels which at the period
of our story, in 1947, crossed the Atlantic at an average time of three days, but an idea of
their construction will suffice. Most of these vessels belonged to the class of the
Euterpe-Thalia, and were, in fact, compound marine structures, the two portions being
entirely distinct from each other. The great hull of each of these vessels contained
nothing but its electric engines and its propelling machinery, with the necessary fuel and
adjuncts.

The upper portion of the compound vessel consisted of decks and quarters for passengers
and crew and holds for freight. These were all comprised within a vast upper hull, which
rested upon the lower hull containing the motive power, the only point of contact being
an enormous ball-and-socket joint. Thus, no matter how much the lower hull might roll
and pitch and toss, the upper hull remained level and comparatively undisturbed.
Not only were comfort to passengers and security to movable freight gained by this
arrangement of the compound vessel, but it was now possible to build the lower hull of
much less size than had been the custom in the former days of steamships, when the hull
had to be large enough