At Sam's wish, and with the willing consent of the others, Gervaise had been elected captain of the Ark and at midday he decided to release oxygen in order to revitalise the atmosphere.
Margery, sweltering in the kitchen but with her usual sense of duty to be done, insisted on cooking them a lunch; but no one except Oliver could do justice to it. Hemmingway, Lavina and Sam, having slept through the morning, were roused for the meal and appeared in dressing-gowns; but all of them were so tense with excitement that they could hardly manage to swallow a few mouthfuls of the food that Margery had cooked.
After the meal they tried the wireless again but it still gave out only a nerve-racking hotch-potch of unintelligible sounds. Then Sam helped to clear away. With a smile at Lavina, he said:
'Hadn't you better give Margery a hand in washing-up?'
She did not return his smile, and it was the first time Sam had known that happen since they had been married. Instead, she almost scowled, glanced down at her beautiful, slender hands, and replied quietly:
'If Margery wants any help she can call me; but if I've got to become a charwoman I rather hope the comet does hit us.'
She would have performed any menial task without complaint for a person she loved, providing it was not expected of her as a daily drudgery, but she saw no reason whatever why she should do anything of the kind when there was somebody else to do it for them. Margery was used to such things, and didn't mind them, so Lavina considered that Sam had been extremely tactless in drawing attention to her own laziness.
In the early afternoon there was another series of earthquake shocks, and, when the outer sphere of the Ark had righted itself again after one which was particularly severe, they were alarmed to see that the level of the lake was lower, and its waters appeared to be seeping away into some invisible chasm below it; but another shock restored the situation as a humped waterspout, about four feet high, suddenly appeared in its centre, and the waters came bubbling back to their original level.
It was shortly after this that they observed a group of people running across the meadows towards the southern shore of the lake. Through binoculars it was easy to study them as though they had been at comparatively close quarters. All of them were pouring with perspiration, and clad in the scantiest garments. On reaching the lake-side both women and men tore off their remaining clothes, and plunged into the water.
'It's the heat,' said Oliver, tapping the dial of a thermometer which registered the temperature outside the Ark. 'It's over 120 degrees in the sun out there, as hot as in the Sahara. They're trying to cool themselves by taking refuge in the water.'
'Poor wretches,' sighed Lavina. 'Can't we possibly take some of them into the Ark? It's too awful to see them suffering like that.'
'We've only got two spare bunks—those that Roy and Derek should have occupied,' Sam replied doubtfully.
But they were not called upon to make any such terrible decision as to whether they should overcrowd the Ark or leave the distraught people to their fate. Another tremor churned up the waters of the lake and, staggering to its banks, the terrified bathers dashed away stark naked over the meadow.
4 "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad,"' quoted Gervaise, 'and it seems that a merciful god is intervening in this instance. The comet's rays must be so strong now that everyone exposed to them is probably quite ignorant of what he is doing.'
Lavina caught Hemmingway's eye but they both looked quickly away from each other again.
'That's it,' agreed Sam, 'and if they have been driven mad they'll at least be saved from this awful suspense or any real understanding of what's happening when the last phase occurs tonight.'
Sweltering still, they lay about in the easy-chairs while one or other of them continued to keep a look-out through the port-holes. It was about half-past four when Margery suddenly cried:
'Look! There's a car coming.'
They jumped to their feet and peered out in the direction of the drive, which was visible for some distance until it was hidden where it curved up to the house. A low, long-bonneted car was streaking along it.
'By Jove, it's mine!' exclaimed Hemmingway.
'Derek!' cried Lavina. 'Derek's got here after all!'
The car suddenly swerved from the drive, apparently out of control, and came charging down the bank towards them. Leaving the grass it plunged into the water, sending up a great sheet of spray, and wallowed to a halt, half-submerged and with its tyres bogged in mud, about ten feet out from the bank. Its driver was thrown violently forward across the wheel and remained there sagging over it.
'Quick! We must get him!' cried Sam, as Gervaise sprang to the door of the Ark.
The second he opened it a blast of hot air surged in, searing them like the breath of a furnace. But the men of the party all scrambled into the punt and started to propel it as swiftly as they could towards the water-logged car. Running to the door th? girls watched them as they dragged Derek's limp body from the wreckage and, having lain it in the bottom of the punt, began to pole back as though all the devils of hell were after them.
When they reached the Ark perspiration was streaming from them; their shirts were soaking with it and all of them, temporarily affected by the comet's rays, were laughing or cursing insanely. Gasping, swearing, staggering about like drunken people, they pulled Derek into the Ark and slammed its door shut again.
It was several moments before the rescuers recovered physi-cally or mentally from their brief adventure, but the two girls carried Derek's unconscious form into the men's cabin, bathed his face, undressed him and got him between the sheets in one °f the bunks.
Ten minutes later Gervaise, his handsome, aquiline features L|nusually grave, came to look at Derek and, after a brief examination, declared that he was suffering from concussion through his head's having hit the windscreen of the car so hard as he was thrown forward. They did what they could for him and tucked him up; but Gervaise thought it probable that he would not come to for several hours and feared that, when he did, he might have lost his sanity from having been exposed for the whole day to the comet's rays.
Unnoticed by them while they had been looking after Derek, the sky had started to cloud over. Great, dense, sharp-edged, thunderous masses were rolling up from the east and the wind was rising.
By six o'clock both the sun and the comet had been blotted out and the force of the wind had become terrific. They could not hear its screaming as the Ark was now sealed again, but watching through the port-holes they could witness the effect of the gale.
With greedy insistence the wind was tearing at the leaves of the trees and shrubs in the park. Small branches were being broken off and carried bouncing away across the grass. Many of the smaller trees were bent right over in sharp curves. A great elm was torn up by its roots and crashed to earth. The wind increased to hurricane violence, bushes were uprooted and blown like pieces of paper across the unkempt garden. Tree after tree snapped under the terrific strain.
The sky was still black but by the discoloration of the mica over the port-holes they knew that the awful red light must still be shining through it. Another 'quake came and then the rain.
It streamed down with tropical fury, in such a spate that they could not see a yard beyond the port-holes, and it seemed that the very heavens had opened, just as in the Biblical account of the Flood.
By seven it had eased a little and great jagged streaks of lightning flashed almost continuously from the pitch-black sky. Even the fact of the Ark being sealed did not prevent the crash of the thunder reaching them. In peal after peal it rolled through the heavens like the echoing broadsides of great guns. The lake was churning like an angry sea and the outer sphere of the Ark was rocking wildly; but its internal platform was still held steady by its gyroscopes and its anchors prevented it from being washed up on the lake shore.