There was nothing! Nothing!

The spot where Wells had left the "Terror" twenty-four hours before
was empty. The "Master of the World" was no longer at Black Rock
Creek.





Chapter 12

BLACK ROCK CREEK




Human nature is prone to illusions. Of course, there had been all
along a probability that the "Terror" had deserted the locality, even
admitting that it was she Wells had seen the previous day. If some
damage to her triple system of locomotion had prevented her from
regaining either by land or by water her usual hiding-place, and
obliged her to seek refuge in Black Rock Creek, what ought we to
conclude now upon finding her here no longer? Obviously, that, having
finished her repairs, she had continued on her way, and was already
far beyond the waters of Lake Erie.

But probable as this result had been from the first, we had more and
more ignored it as our trip proceeded. We had come to accept as a
fact that we should meet the "Terror," that we should find her