"My third plan seems to me the most feasible. You all saw a
number of large, heavy boxes lowered into the hold before
we sailed. I know you did, because you asked me what they
contained and commented upon the large letter 'H' which was
painted upon each box. These boxes contain the various parts
of a hydro-aeroplane. I purpose assembling this upon the strip
of beach described in Bowen's manuscript--the beach where he
found the dead body of the apelike man--provided there is
sufficient space above high water; otherwise we shall have to
assemble it on deck and lower it over the side. After it is
assembled, I shall carry tackle and ropes to the cliff-top, and
then it will be comparatively simple to hoist the search-party
and its supplies in safety. Or I can make a sufficient number
of trips to land the entire party in the valley beyond the
barrier; all will depend, of course, upon what my first
reconnaissance reveals."
That afternoon we steamed slowly along the face of Caprona's
towering barrier.
"You see now," remarked Billings as we craned our necks to scan
the summit thousands of feet above us, "how futile it would
have been to waste our time in working out details of a plan to
surmount those." And he jerked his thumb toward the cliffs.
"It would take weeks, possibly months, to construct a ladder
to the top. I had no conception of their formidable height.
Our mortar would not carry a line halfway to the crest of the
lowest point. There is no use discussing any plan other than
the hydro-aeroplane. We'll find the beach and get busy."
Late the following morning the lookout announced that he could
discern surf about a mile ahead; and as we approached, we all
saw the line of breakers broken by a long sweep of rolling surf
upon a narrow beach. The launch was lowered, and five of us
made a landing, getting a good ducking in the ice-cold waters
in the doing of it; but we were rewarded by the finding of the
clean-picked bones of what might have been the skeleton of a
high order of ape or a very low order of man, lying close to
the base of the cliff. Billings was satisfied, as were the
rest of us, that this was the beach mentioned by Bowen, and we
further found that there was ample room to assemble the
sea-plane.
Billings, having arrived at a decision, lost no time in acting,
with the result that before mid-afternoon we had landed all the
large boxes marked "H" upon the beach, and were busily
engaged in opening them. Two days later the plane was
assembled and tuned. We loaded tackles and ropes, water, food
and ammunition in it, and then we each implored Billings to let
