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diff --git a/1368-h/1368-h.htm b/1368-h/1368-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a932245 --- /dev/null +++ b/1368-h/1368-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17184 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of When the World Shook, by H. Rider Haggard</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1368 ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>When the World Shook</h1> + +<h3>Being an Account of the Great Adventure<br /> +of Bastin, Bickley and Arbuthnot</h3> + +<h2 class="no-break">by H. Rider Haggard</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. Arbuthnot Describes Himself</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. Bastin and Bickley</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. Natalie</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. Death and Departure</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. The Cyclone</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. Land</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. The Orofenans</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. Bastin Attempts the Martyr’s Crown</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. The Island in the Lake</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. The Dwellers in the Tomb</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. Resurrection</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Years!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. Oro Speaks and Bastin Argues</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. The Under-world</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. Oro in His House</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. Visions of the Past</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. Yva Explains</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII. The Accident</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX. The Proposals of Bastin and Bickley</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX. Oro and Arbuthnot Travel by Night</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI. Love’s Eternal Altar</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII. The Command</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII. In the Temple of Fate</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV. The Chariot of the Pit</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV. Sacrifice</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI. Tommy</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII. Bastin Discovers a Resemblance</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap28">NOTE By J. R. Bickley, M.R.C.S.</a></td> +</tr> + + +</table> + +<hr /> + +<h2>DEDICATION</h2> + +<p class="right"> +Ditchingham, 1918. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +M<small>Y DEAR</small> C<small>URZON</small>, +</p> + +<p> +More than thirty years ago you tried to protect me, then a stranger to you, +from one of the falsest and most malignant accusations ever made against a +writer. +</p> + +<p> +So complete was your exposure of the methods of those at work to blacken a +person whom they knew to be innocent, that, as you will remember, they refused +to publish your analysis which destroyed their charges and, incidentally, +revealed their motives. +</p> + +<p> +Although for this reason vindication came otherwise, your kindness is one that +I have never forgotten, since, whatever the immediate issue of any effort, in +the end it is the intention that avails. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore in gratitude and memory I ask you to accept this romance, as I know +that you do not disdain the study of romance in the intervals of your Imperial +work. +</p> + +<p> +The application of its parable to our state and possibilities—beneath or +beyond these glimpses of the moon—I leave to your discernment. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Believe me,<br /> +Ever sincerely yours,<br /> +H. RIDER HAGGARD. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +To<br /> +The Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>WHEN THE WORLD SHOOK</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +Arbuthnot Describes Himself</h2> + +<p> +I suppose that I, Humphrey Arbuthnot, should begin this history in which +Destiny has caused me to play so prominent a part, with some short account of +myself and of my circumstances. +</p> + +<p> +I was born forty years ago in this very Devonshire village in which I write, +but not in the same house. Now I live in the Priory, an ancient place and a +fine one in its way, with its panelled rooms, its beautiful gardens where, in +this mild climate, in addition to our own, flourish so many plants which one +would only expect to find in countries that lie nearer to the sun, and its +green, undulating park studded with great timber trees. The view, too, is +perfect; behind and around the rich Devonshire landscape with its hills and +valleys and its scarped faces of red sandstone, and at a distance in front, the +sea. There are little towns quite near too, that live for the most part on +visitors, but these are so hidden away by the contours of the ground that from +the Priory one cannot see them. Such is Fulcombe where I live, though for +obvious reasons I do not give it its real name. +</p> + +<p> +Many years ago my father, the Rev. Humphrey Arbuthnot, whose only child I am, +after whom also I am named Humphrey, was the vicar of this place with which our +family is said to have some rather vague hereditary connection. If so, it was +severed in the Carolian times because my ancestors fought on the side of +Parliament. +</p> + +<p> +My father was a recluse, and a widower, for my mother, a Scotswoman, died at or +shortly after my birth. Being very High Church for those days he was not +popular with the family that owned the Priory before me. Indeed its head, a +somewhat vulgar person of the name of Enfield who had made money in trade, +almost persecuted him, as he was in a position to do, being the local magnate +and the owner of the rectorial tithes. +</p> + +<p> +I mention this fact because owing to it as a boy I made up my mind that one day +I would buy that place and sit in his seat, a wild enough idea at the time. Yet +it became engrained in me, as do such aspirations of our youth, and when the +opportunity arose in after years I carried it out. Poor old Enfield! He fell on +evil fortunes, for in trying to bolster up a favourite son who was a gambler, a +spendthrift, and an ungrateful scamp, in the end he was practically ruined and +when the bad times came, was forced to sell the Fulcombe estate. I think of him +kindly now, for after all he was good to me and gave me many a day’s +shooting and leave to fish for trout in the river. +</p> + +<p> +By the poor people, however, of all the district round, for the parish itself +is very small, my father was much beloved, although he did practise confession, +wear vestments and set lighted candles on the altar, and was even said to have +openly expressed the wish, to which however he never attained, that he could +see a censer swinging in the chancel. Indeed the church which, as monks built +it, is very large and fine, was always full on Sundays, though many of the +worshippers came from far away, some of them doubtless out of curiosity because +of its papistical repute, also because, in a learned fashion, my father’s +preaching was very good indeed. +</p> + +<p> +For my part I feel that I owe much to these High-Church views. They opened +certain doors to me and taught me something of the mysteries which lie at the +back of all religions and therefore have their home in the inspired soul of man +whence religions are born. Only the pity is that in ninety-nine cases out of a +hundred he never discovers, never even guesses at that entombed aspiration, +never sinks a shaft down on to this secret but most precious vein of ore. +</p> + +<p> +I have said that my father was learned; but this is a mild description, for +never did I know anyone quite so learned. He was one of those men who is so +good all round that he became pre-eminent in nothing. A classic of the first +water, a very respectable mathematician, an expert in theology, a student of +sundry foreign languages and literature in his lighter moments, an inquirer +into sociology, a theoretical musician though his playing of the organ +excruciated most people because it was too correct, a really first-class +authority upon flint instruments and the best grower of garden vegetables in +the county, also of apples—such were some of his attainments. That was +what made his sermons so popular, since at times one or the other of these +subjects would break out into them, his theory being that God spoke to us +through all of these things. +</p> + +<p> +But if I began to drift into an analysis of my father’s abilities, I +should never stop. It would take a book to describe them. And yet mark this, +with them all his name is as dead to the world to-day as though he had never +been. Light reflected from a hundred facets dissipates itself in space and is +lost; that concentrated in one tremendous ray pierces to the stars. +</p> + +<p> +Now I am going to be frank about myself, for without frankness what is the +value of such a record as this? Then it becomes simply another convention, or +rather conventional method of expressing the octoroon kind of truths with which +the highly civilised races feed themselves, as fastidious ladies eat cakes and +bread from which all but the smallest particle of nourishment has been +extracted. +</p> + +<p> +The fact is, therefore, that I inherited most of my father’s abilities, +except his love for flint instruments which always bored me to distraction, +because although they are by association really the most human of things, +somehow to me they never convey any idea of humanity. In addition I have a +practical side which he lacked; had he possessed it surely he must have become +an archbishop instead of dying the vicar of an unknown parish. Also I have a +spiritual sense, mayhap mystical would be a better term, which with all this +religion was missing from my father’s nature. +</p> + +<p> +For I think that notwithstanding his charity and devotion he never quite got +away from the shell of things, never cracked it and set his teeth in the kernel +which alone can feed our souls. His keen intellect, to take an example, +recognised every one of the difficulties of our faith and flashed hither and +thither in the darkness, seeking explanation, seeking light, trying to +reconcile, to explain. He was not great enough to put all this aside and go +straight to the informing Soul beneath that strives to express itself +everywhere, even through those husks which are called the World, the Flesh and +the Devil, and as yet does not always quite succeed. +</p> + +<p> +It is this boggling over exteriors, this peering into pitfalls, this desire to +prove that what such senses as we have tell us is impossible, is in fact +possible, which causes the overthrow of many an earnest, seeking heart and +renders its work, conducted on false lines, quite nugatory. These <i>will</i> +trust to themselves and their own intelligence and not be content to spring +from the cliffs of human experience into the everlasting arms of that Infinite +which are stretched out to receive them and to give them rest and the keys of +knowledge. When will man learn what was taught to him of old, that faith is the +only plank wherewith he can float upon this sea and that his miserable works +avail him nothing; also that it is a plank made of many sorts of wood, perhaps +to suit our different weights? +</p> + +<p> +So to be honest, in a sense I believe myself to be my father’s superior, +and I know that he agreed with me. Perhaps this is owing to the blood of my +Scotch mother which mixed well with his own; perhaps because the essential +spirit given to me, though cast in his mould, was in fact quite +different—or of another alloy. Do we, I wonder, really understand that +there are millions and billions of these alloys, so many indeed that Nature, or +whatever is behind Nature, never uses the same twice over? That is why no two +human beings are or ever will be quite identical. Their flesh, the body of +their humiliation, is identical in all, any chemist will prove it to you, but +that which animates the flesh is distinct and different because it comes from +the home of that infinite variety which is necessary to the ultimate evolution +of the good and bad that we symbolise as heaven and hell. +</p> + +<p> +Further, I had and to a certain extent still have another advantage over my +father, which certainly came to me from my mother, who was, as I judge from all +descriptions and such likenesses as remain of her, an extremely handsome woman. +I was born much better looking. He was small and dark, a little man with +deep-set eyes and beetling brows. I am also dark, but tall above the average, +and well made. I do not know that I need say more about my personal appearance, +to me not a very attractive subject, but the fact remains that they called me +“handsome Humphrey” at the University, and I was the captain of my +college boat and won many prizes at athletic sports when I had time to train +for them. +</p> + +<p> +Until I went up to Oxford my father educated me, partly because he knew that he +could do it better than anyone else, and partly to save school expenses. The +experiment was very successful, as my love of all outdoor sports and of any +small hazardous adventure that came to my hand, also of associating with +fisherfolk whom the dangers of the deep make men among men, saved me from +becoming a milksop. For the rest I learned more from my father, whom I always +desired to please because I loved him, than I should have done at the best and +most costly of schools. This was shown when at last I went to college with a +scholarship, for there I did very well indeed, as search would still reveal. +</p> + +<p> +Here I had better set out some of my shortcomings, which in their sum have made +a failure of me. Yes, a failure in the highest sense, though I trust what +Stevenson calls “a faithful failure.” These have their root in +fastidiousness and that lack of perseverance, which really means a lack of +faith, again using the word in its higher and wider sense. For if one had real +faith one would always persevere, knowing that in every work undertaken with +high aim, there is an element of nobility, however humble and unrecognised that +work may seem to be. God after all is the God of Work, it is written large upon +the face of the Universe. I will not expand upon the thought; it would lead me +too far afield, but those who have understanding will know what I mean. +</p> + +<p> +As regards what I interpret as fastidiousness, this is not very easy to +express. Perhaps a definition will help. I am like a man with an over-developed +sense of smell, who when walking through a foreign city, however clean and well +kept, can always catch the evil savours that are inseparable from such cities. +More, his keen perception of them interferes with all other perceptions and +spoils his walks. The result is that in after years, whenever he thinks of that +beautiful city, he remembers, not its historic buildings or its wide +boulevards, or whatever it has to boast, but rather its ancient, fish-like +smell. At least he remembers that first owing to this defect in his +temperament. +</p> + +<p> +So it is with everything. A lovely woman is spoiled for such a one because she +eats too much or has too high a voice; he does not care for his shooting +because the scenery is flat, or for his fishing because the gnats bite as well +as the trout. In short he is out of tune with the world as it is. Moreover, +this is a quality which, where it exists, cannot be overcome; it affects +day-labourers as well as gentlemen at large. It is bred in the bone. +</p> + +<p> +Probably the second failure-breeding fault, lack of perseverance, has its roots +in the first, at any rate in my case. At least on leaving college with some +reputation, I was called to the Bar where, owing to certain solicitor and other +connections, I had a good opening. Also, owing to the excellence of my memory +and powers of work, I began very well, making money even during my first year. +Then, as it happened, a certain case came my way and, my leader falling ill +suddenly after it was opened, was left in my hands. The man whose cause I was +pleading was, I think, one of the biggest scoundrels it is possible to +conceive. It was a will case and if he won, the effect would be to beggar two +most estimable middle-aged women who were justly entitled to the property, to +which end personally I am convinced he had committed forgery; the perjury that +accompanied it I do not even mention. +</p> + +<p> +Well, he did win, thanks to me, and the estimable middle-aged ladies were +beggared, and as I heard afterwards, driven to such extremities that one of +them died of her misery and the other became a lodging-house keeper. The +details do not matter, but I may explain that these ladies were unattractive in +appearance and manner and broke down beneath my cross-examination which made +them appear to be telling falsehoods, whereas they were only completely +confused. Further, I invented an ingenious theory of the facts which, although +the judge regarded it with suspicion, convinced an unusually stupid jury who +gave me their verdict. +</p> + +<p> +Everybody congratulated me and at the time I was triumphant, especially as my +leader had declared that our case was impossible. Afterwards, however, my +conscience smote me sorely, so much so that arguing from the false premise of +this business, I came to the conclusion that the practice of the Law was not +suited to an honest man. I did not take the large view that such matters +average themselves up and that if I had done harm in this instance, I might +live to do good in many others, and perhaps become a just judge, even a great +judge. Here I may mention that in after years, when I grew rich, I rescued that +surviving old lady from her lodging-house, although to this day she does not +know the name of her anonymous friend. So by degrees, without saying anything, +for I kept on my chambers, I slipped out of practice, to the great +disappointment of everybody connected with me, and took to authorship. +</p> + +<p> +A marvel came to pass, my first book was an enormous success. The whole world +talked of it. A leading journal, delighted to have discovered someone, wrote it +up; other journals followed suit to be in the movement. One of them, I +remember, which had already dismissed it with three or four sneering lines, +came out with a second and two-column notice. It sold like wildfire and I +suppose had some merits, for it is still read, though few know that I wrote it, +since fortunately it was published under a pseudonym. +</p> + +<p> +Again I was much elated and set to work to write another and, as I believe, a +much better book. But jealousies had been excited by this leaping into fame of +a totally unknown person, which were, moreover, accentuated through a foolish +article that I published in answer to some criticisms, wherein I spoke my mind +with an insane freedom and biting sarcasm. Indeed I was even mad enough to +quote names and to give the example of the very powerful journal which at first +carped at my work and then gushed over it when it became the fashion. All of +this made me many bitter enemies, as I found out when my next book appeared. +</p> + +<p> +It was torn to shreds, it was reviled as subversive of morality and religion, +good arrows in those days. It was called puerile, half-educated stuff—I +half-educated! More, an utterly false charge of plagiarism was cooked up +against me and so well and venomously run that vast numbers of people concluded +that I was a thief of the lowest order. Lastly, my father, from whom the secret +could no longer be kept, sternly disapproved of both these books which I admit +were written from a very radical and somewhat anti-church point of view. The +result was our first quarrel and before it was made up, he died suddenly. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Now again fastidiousness and my lack of perseverance did their work, and +solemnly I swore that I would never write another book, an oath which I have +kept till this moment, at least so far as publication is concerned, and now +break only because I consider it my duty so to do and am not animated by any +pecuniary object. +</p> + +<p> +Thus came to an end my second attempt at carving out a career. By now I had +grown savage and cynical, rather revengeful also, I fear. Knowing myself to +possess considerable abilities in sundry directions, I sat down, as it were, to +think things over and digest my past experiences. Then it was that the truth of +a very ancient adage struck upon my mind, namely, that money is power. Had I +sufficient money I could laugh at unjust critics for example; indeed they or +their papers would scarcely dare to criticise me for fear lest it should be in +my power to do them a bad turn. Again I could follow my own ideas in life and +perhaps work good in the world, and live in such surroundings as commended +themselves to me. It was as clear as daylight, but—how to make the money? +</p> + +<p> +I had some capital as the result of my father’s death, about £8,000 in +all, plus a little more that my two books had brought in. In what way could I +employ it to the best advantage? I remembered that a cousin of my father and +therefore my own, was a successful stock-broker, also that there had been some +affection between them. I went to him, he was a good, easy-natured man who was +frankly glad to see me, and offered to put £5,000 into his business, for I was +not minded to risk every thing I had, if he would give me a share in the +profits. He laughed heartily at my audacity. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, my boy,” he said, “being totally inexperienced at this +game, you might lose us more than that in a month. But I like your courage, I +like your courage, and the truth is that I do want help. I will think it over +and write to you.” +</p> + +<p> +He thought it over and in the end offered to try me for a year at a fixed +salary with a promise of some kind of a partnership if I suited him. Meanwhile +my £5,000 remained in my pocket. +</p> + +<p> +I accepted, not without reluctance since with the impatience of youth I wanted +everything at once. I worked hard in that office and soon mastered the +business, for my knowledge of figures—I had taken a first-class +mathematical degree at college—came to my aid, as in a way did my +acquaintance with Law and Literature. Moreover I had a certain aptitude for +what is called high finance. Further, Fortune, as usual, showed me a favourable +face. +</p> + +<p> +In one year I got the partnership with a small share in the large profits of +the business. In two the partner above me retired, and I took his place with a +third share of the firm. In three my cousin, satisfied that it was in able +hands, began to cease his attendance at the office and betook himself to +gardening which was his hobby. In four I paid him out altogether, although to +do this I had to borrow money on our credit, for by agreement the title of the +firm was continued. Then came that extraordinary time of boom which many will +remember to their cost. I made a bold stroke and won. On a certain Saturday +when the books were made up, I found that after discharging all liabilities, I +should not be worth more than £20,000. On the following Saturday but two when +the books were made up, I was worth £153,000! <i>L’appétit vient en +mangeant</i>. It seemed nothing to me when so many were worth millions. +</p> + +<p> +For the next year I worked as few have done, and when I struck a balance at the +end of it, I found that on the most conservative estimate I was the owner of a +million and a half in hard cash, or its equivalent. I was so tired out that I +remember this discovery did not excite me at all. I felt utterly weary of all +wealth-hunting and of the City and its ways. Moreover my old fastidiousness and +lack of perseverance re-asserted themselves. I reflected, rather late in the +day perhaps, on the ruin that this speculation was bringing to thousands, of +which some lamentable instances had recently come to my notice, and once more +considered whether it were a suitable career for an upright man. I had wealth; +why should I not take it and enjoy life? +</p> + +<p> +Also—and here my business acumen came in, I was sure that these times +could not last. It is easy to make money on a rising market, but when it is +falling the matter is very different. In five minutes I made up my mind. I sent +for my junior partners, for I had taken in two, and told them that I intended +to retire at once. They were dismayed both at my loss, for really I was the +firm, and because, as they pointed out, if I withdrew all my capital, there +would not be sufficient left to enable them to carry on. +</p> + +<p> +One of them, a blunt and honest man, said to my face that it would be +dishonourable of me to do so. I was inclined to answer him sharply, then +remembered that his words were true. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” I said, “I will leave you £600,000 on which you +shall pay me five per cent interest, but no share of the profits.” +</p> + +<p> +On these terms we dissolved the partnership and in a year they had lost the +£600,000, for the slump came with a vengeance. It saved them, however, and +to-day they are earning a reasonable income. But I have never asked them for +that £600,000. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +Bastin and Bickley</h2> + +<p> +Behold me once more a man without an occupation, but now the possessor of about +£900,000. It was a very considerable fortune, if not a large one in England; +nothing like the millions of which I had dreamed, but still enough. To make the +most of it and to be sure that it remained, I invested it very well, mostly in +large mortgages at four per cent which, if the security is good, do not +depreciate in capital value. Never again did I touch a single speculative +stock, who desired to think no more about money. It was at this time that I +bought the Fulcombe property. It cost me about £120,000 of my capital, or with +alterations, repairs, etc., say £150,000, on which sum it may pay a net two and +a half per cent, not more. +</p> + +<p> +This £3,700 odd I have always devoted to the upkeep of the place, which is +therefore in first-rate order. The rest I live on, or save. +</p> + +<p> +These arrangements, with the beautifying and furnishing of the house and the +restoration of the church in memory of my father, occupied and amused me for a +year or so, but when they were finished time began to hang heavy on my hands. +What was the use of possessing about £20,000 a year when there was nothing upon +which it could be spent? For after all my own wants were few and simple and the +acquisition of valuable pictures and costly furniture is limited by space. Oh! +in my small way I was like the weary King Ecclesiast. For I too made me great +works and had possessions of great and small cattle (I tried farming and lost +money over it!) and gathered me silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of +kings, which I presume means whatever a man in authority chiefly desires, and +so forth. But “behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there +was no profit under the sun.” +</p> + +<p> +So, notwithstanding my wealth and health and the deference which is the rich +man’s portion, especially when the limit of his riches is not known, it +came about that I too “hated life,” and this when I was not much +over thirty. I did not know what to do; for Society as the word is generally +understood, I had no taste; it bored me; horse-racing and cards I loathed, who +had already gambled too much on a big scale. The killing of creatures under the +name of sport palled upon me, indeed I began to doubt if it were right, while +the office of a junior county magistrate in a place where there was no crime, +only occupied me an hour or two a month. +</p> + +<p> +Lastly my neighbours were few and with all due deference to them, extremely +dull. At least I could not understand them because in them there did not seem +to be anything to understand, and I am quite certain that they did not +understand me. More, when they came to learn that I was radical in my views and +had written certain “dreadful” and somewhat socialistic books in +the form of fiction, they both feared and mistrusted me as an enemy to their +particular section of the race. As I had not married and showed no inclination +to do so, their womenkind also, out of their intimate knowledge, proclaimed +that I led an immoral life, though a little reflection would have shown them +that there was no one in the neighbourhood which for a time I seldom left, who +could possibly have tempted an educated creature to such courses. +</p> + +<p> +Terrible is the lot of a man who, while still young and possessing the +intellect necessary to achievement, is deprived of all ambition. And I had none +at all. I did not even wish to purchase a peerage or a baronetcy in this +fashion or in that, and, as in my father’s case, my tastes were so many +and so catholic that I could not lose myself in any one of them. They never +became more than diversions to me. A hobby is only really amusing when it +becomes an obsession. +</p> + +<p> +At length my lonesome friendlessness oppressed me so much that I took steps to +mitigate it. In my college life I had two particular friends whom I think I +must have selected because they were so absolutely different from myself. +</p> + +<p> +They were named Bastin and Bickley. Bastin—Basil was his Christian +name—was an uncouth, shock-headed, flat-footed person of large, rugged +frame and equally rugged honesty, with a mind almost incredibly simple. Nothing +surprised him because he lacked the faculty of surprise. He was like that kind +of fish which lies at the bottom of the sea and takes every kind of food into +its great maw without distinguishing its flavour. Metaphorically speaking, +heavenly manna and decayed cabbage were just the same to Bastin. He was not +fastidious and both were mental pabulum—of a sort—together with +whatever lay between these extremes. Yet he was good, so painfully good that +one felt that without exertion to himself he had booked a first-class ticket +straight to Heaven; indeed that his guardian angel had tied it round his neck +at birth lest he should lose it, already numbered and dated like an +identification disc. +</p> + +<p> +I am bound to add that Bastin never went wrong because he never felt the +slightest temptation to do so. This I suppose constitutes real virtue, since, +in view of certain Bible sayings, the person who is tempted and would like to +yield to the temptation, is equally a sinner with the person who does yield. To +be truly good one should be too good to be tempted, or too weak to make the +effort worth the tempter’s while—in short not deserving of his +powder and shot. +</p> + +<p> +I need hardly add that Bastin went into the Church; indeed, he could not have +gone anywhere else; it absorbed him naturally, as doubtless Heaven will do in +due course. Only I think it likely that until they get to know him he will bore +the angels so much that they will continually move him up higher. Also if they +have any susceptibilities left, probably he will tread upon their toes—an +art in which I never knew his equal. However, I always loved Bastin, perhaps +because no one else did, a fact of which he remained totally unconscious, or +perhaps because of his brutal way of telling one what he conceived to be the +truth, which, as he had less imagination than a dormouse, generally it was not. +For if the truth is a jewel, it is one coloured and veiled by many different +lights and atmospheres. +</p> + +<p> +It only remains to add that he was learned in his theological fashion and that +among his further peculiarities were the slow, monotonous voice in which he +uttered his views in long sentences, and his total indifference to adverse +argument however sound and convincing. +</p> + +<p> +My other friend, Bickley, was a person of a quite different character. Like +Bastin, he was learned, but his tendencies faced another way. If Bastin’s +omnivorous throat could swallow a camel, especially a theological camel, +Bickley’s would strain at the smallest gnat, especially a theological +gnat. The very best and most upright of men, yet he believed in nothing that he +could not taste, see or handle. He was convinced, for instance, that man is a +brute-descended accident and no more, that what we call the soul or the mind is +produced by a certain action of the grey matter of the brain; that everything +apparently inexplicable has a perfectly mundane explanation, if only one could +find it; that miracles certainly never did happen, and never will; that all +religions are the fruit of human hopes and fears and the most convincing proof +of human weakness; that notwithstanding our infinite variations we are the +subjects of Nature’s single law and the victims of blind, black and +brutal chance. +</p> + +<p> +Such was Bickley with his clever, well-cut face that always reminded me of a +cameo, and thoughtful brow; his strong, capable hands and his rather steely +mouth, the mere set of which suggested controversy of an uncompromising kind. +Naturally as the Church had claimed Bastin, so medicine claimed Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +Now as it happened the man who succeeded my father as vicar of Fulcombe was +given a better living and went away shortly after I had purchased the place and +with it the advowson. Just at this time also I received a letter written in the +large, sprawling hand of Bastin from whom I had not heard for years. It went +straight to the point, saying that he, Bastin, had seen in a Church paper that +the last incumbent had resigned the living of Fulcombe which was in my gift. He +would therefore be obliged if I would give it to him as the place he was at in +Yorkshire did not suit his wife’s health. +</p> + +<p> +Here I may state that afterwards I learned that what did not suit Mrs. Bastin +was the organist, who was pretty. She was by nature a woman with a temperament +so insanely jealous that actually she managed to be suspicious of Bastin, whom +she had captured in an unguarded moment when he was thinking of something else +and who would as soon have thought of even looking at any woman as he would of +worshipping Baal. As a matter of fact it took him months to know one female +from another. Except as possible providers of subscriptions and props of +Mothers’ Meetings, women had no interest for him. +</p> + +<p> +To return—with that engaging honesty which I have +mentioned—Bastin’s letter went on to set out all his own +disabilities, which, he added, would probably render him unsuitable for the +place he desired to fill. He was a High Churchman, a fact which would certainly +offend many; he had no claims to being a preacher although he was +extraordinarily well acquainted with the writings of the Early Fathers. (What +on earth had that to do with the question, I wondered.) On the other hand he +had generally been considered a good visitor and was fond of walking (he meant +to call on distant parishioners, but did not say so). +</p> + +<p> +Then followed a page and a half on the evils of the existing system of the +presentation to livings by private persons, ending with the suggestion that I +had probably committed a sin in buying this particular advowson in order to +increase my local authority, that is, if I had bought it, a point on which he +was ignorant. Finally he informed me that as he had to christen a sick baby +five miles away on a certain moor and it was too wet for him to ride his +bicycle, he must stop. And he stopped. +</p> + +<p> +There was, however, a P.S. to the letter, which ran as follows: +</p> + +<p> +“Someone told me that you were dead a few years ago, and of course it may +be another man of the same name who owns Fulcombe. If so, no doubt the Post +Office will send back this letter.” +</p> + +<p> +That was his only allusion to my humble self in all those diffuse pages. It was +a long while since I had received an epistle which made me laugh so much, and +of course I gave him the living by return of post, and even informed him that I +would increase its stipend to a sum which I considered suitable to the +position. +</p> + +<p> +About ten days later I received another letter from Bastin which, as a scrawl +on the flap of the envelope informed me, he had carried for a week in his +pocket and forgotten to post. Except by inference it returned no thanks for my +intended benefits. What it did say, however, was that he thought it wrong of me +to have settled a matter of such spiritual importance in so great a hurry, +though he had observed that rich men were nearly always selfish where their +time was concerned. Moreover, he considered that I ought first to have made +inquiries as to his present character and attainments, etc., etc. +</p> + +<p> +To this epistle I replied by telegraph to the effect that I should as soon +think of making inquiries about the character of an archangel, or that of one +of his High Church saints. This telegram, he told me afterwards, he considered +unseemly and even ribald, especially as it had given great offence to the +postmaster, who was one of the sidesmen in his church. +</p> + +<p> +Thus it came about that I appointed the Rev. Basil Bastin to the living of +Fulcombe, feeling sure that he would provide me with endless amusement and act +as a moral tonic and discipline. Also I appreciated the man’s blunt +candour. In due course he arrived, and I confess that after a few Sundays of +experience I began to have doubts as to the wisdom of my choice, glad as I was +to see him personally. His sermons at once bored me, and, when they did not +send me to sleep, excited in me a desire for debate. How could he be so +profoundly acquainted with mysteries before which the world had stood amazed +for ages? Was there nothing too hot or too heavy in the spiritual way for him +to dismiss in a few blundering and casual words, as he might any ordinary +incident of every-day life, I wondered? Also his idea of High Church +observances was not mine, or, I imagine, that of anybody else. But I will not +attempt to set it out. +</p> + +<p> +His peculiarities, however, were easy to excuse and entirely swallowed up by +the innate goodness of his nature which soon made him beloved of everyone in +the place, for although he thought that probably most things were sins, I never +knew him to discover a sin which he considered to be beyond the reach of +forgiveness. Bastin was indeed a most charitable man and in his way +wide-minded. +</p> + +<p> +The person whom I could not tolerate, however, was his wife, who, to my fancy, +more resembled a vessel, a very unattractive vessel, full of vinegar than a +woman. Her name was Sarah and she was small, plain, flat, sandy-haired and +odious, quite obsessed, moreover, with her jealousies of the Rev. Basil, at +whom it pleased her to suppose that every woman in the countryside under fifty +was throwing herself. +</p> + +<p> +Here I will confess that to the best of my ability I took care that they did in +outward seeming, that is, whenever she was present, instructing them to sit +aside with him in darkened corners, to present him with flowers, and so forth. +Several of them easily fell into the humour of the thing, and I have seen him +depart from a dinner-party followed by that glowering Sarah, with a handful of +rosebuds and violets, to say nothing of the traditional offerings of slippers, +embroidered markers and the like. Well, it was my only way of coming even with +her, which I think she knew, for she hated me poisonously. +</p> + +<p> +So much for Basil Bastin. Now for Bickley. Him I had met on several occasions +since our college days, and after I was settled at the Priory from time to time +I asked him to stay with me. At length he came, and I found out that he was not +at all comfortable in his London practice which was of a nature uncongenial to +him; further, that he did not get on with his partners. Then, after reflection, +I made a suggestion to him. I pointed out that, owing to its popularity amongst +seaside visitors, the neighbourhood of Fulcombe was a rising one, and that +although there were doctors in it, there was no really first-class surgeon for +miles. +</p> + +<p> +Now Bickley was a first-class surgeon, having held very high hospital +appointments, and indeed still holding them. Why, I asked, should he not come +and set up here on his own? I would appoint him doctor to the estate and also +give him charge of a cottage hospital which I was endowing, with liberty to +build and arrange it as he liked. Further, as I considered that it would be of +great advantage to me to have a man of real ability within reach, I would +guarantee for three years whatever income he was earning in London. +</p> + +<p> +He thanked me warmly and in the end acted on the idea, with startling results +so far as his prospects were concerned. Very soon his really remarkable skill +became known and he was earning more money than as an unmarried man he could +possibly want. Indeed, scarcely a big operation took place at any town within +twenty miles, and even much farther away, at which he was not called in to +assist. +</p> + +<p> +Needless to say his advent was a great boon to me, for as he lived in a house I +let him quite near by, whenever he had a spare evening he would drop in to +dinner, and from our absolutely opposite standpoints we discussed all things +human and divine. Thus I was enabled to sharpen my wits upon the hard steel of +his clear intellect which was yet, in a sense, so limited. +</p> + +<p> +I must add that I never converted him to my way of thinking and he never +converted me to his, any more than he converted Bastin, for whom, queerly +enough, he had a liking. They pounded away at each other, Bickley frequently +getting the best of it in the argument, and when at last Bastin rose to go, he +generally made the same remark. It was: +</p> + +<p> +“It really is sad, my dear Bickley, to find a man of your intellect so +utterly wrongheaded and misguided. I have convicted you of error at least half +a dozen times, and not to confess it is mere pigheadedness. Good night. I am +sure that Sarah will be sitting up for me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Silly old idiot!” Bickley would say, shaking his fist after him. +“The only way to get him to see the truth would be to saw his head open +and pour it in.” +</p> + +<p> +Then we would both laugh. +</p> + +<p> +Such were my two most intimate friends, although I admit it was rather like the +equator cultivating close relationships with the north and south poles. +Certainly Bastin was as far from Bickley as those points of the earth are +apart, while I, as it were, sat equally distant between the two. However, we +were all very happy together, since in certain characters, there are few things +that bind men more closely than profound differences of opinion. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Now I must turn to my more personal affairs. After all, it is impossible for a +man to satisfy his soul, if he has anything of the sort about him which in the +remotest degree answers to that description, with the husks of wealth, luxury +and indolence, supplemented by occasional theological and other arguments +between his friends. Becoming profoundly convinced of this truth, I searched +round for something to do and, like Noah’s dove on the waste of waters, +found nothing. Then I asked Bickley and Bastin for their opinions as to my best +future course. Bickley proved a barren draw. He rubbed his nose and feebly +suggested that I might go in for “research work,” which, of course, +only represented his own ambitions. I asked him indignantly how I could do such +a thing without any scientific qualifications whatever. He admitted the +difficulty, but replied that I might endow others who had the qualifications. +</p> + +<p> +“In short, become a milch cow for sucking scientists,” I replied, +and broke off the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin’s idea was, first, that I should teach in a Sunday School; +secondly, that if this career did not satisfy all my aspirations, I might be +ordained and become a missionary. +</p> + +<p> +On my rejection of this brilliant advice, he remarked that the only other thing +he could think of was that I should get married and have a large family, which +might possibly advantage the nation and ultimately enrich the Kingdom of +Heaven, though of such things no one could be quite sure. At any rate, he was +certain that at present I was in practice neglecting my duty, whatever it might +be, and in fact one of those cumberers of the earth who, he observed in the +newspaper he took in and read when he had time, were “very happily +named—the idle rich.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which reminds me,” he added, “that the clothing-club +finances are in a perfectly scandalous condition; in fact, it is £25 in debt, +an amount that as the squire of the parish I consider it incumbent on you to +make good, not as a charity but as an obligation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, my friend,” I said, ignoring all the rest, “will +you answer me a plain question? Have you found marriage such a success that you +consider it your duty to recommend it to others? And if you have, why have +<i>you</i> not got the large family of which you speak?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course not,” he replied with his usual frankness. +“Indeed, it is in many ways so disagreeable that I am convinced it must +be right and for the good of all concerned. As regards the family I am sure I +do not know, but Sarah never liked babies, which perhaps has something to do +with it.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he sighed, adding, “You see, Arbuthnot, we have to take things as we +find them in this world and hope for a better.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which is just what I am trying to do, you unilluminating old +donkey!” I exclaimed, and left him there shaking his head over matters in +general, but I think principally over Sarah. +</p> + +<p> +By the way, I think that the villagers recognised this good lady’s +vinegary nature. At least, they used to call her “Sour Sal.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +Natalie</h2> + +<p> +Now what Bastin had said about marriage stuck in my mind as his blundering +remarks had a way of doing, perhaps because of the grain of honest truth with +which they were often permeated. Probably in my position it was more or less my +duty to marry. But here came the rub; I had never experienced any leanings that +way. I was as much a man as others, more so than many are, perhaps, and I liked +women, but at the same time they repelled me. +</p> + +<p> +My old fastidiousness came in; to my taste there was always something wrong +about them. While they attracted one part of my nature they revolted another +part, and on the whole I preferred to do without their intimate society, rather +than work violence to this second and higher part of me. Moreover, quite at the +beginning of my career I had concluded from observation that a man gets on +better in life alone, rather than with another to drag at his side, or by whom +perhaps he must be dragged. Still true marriage, such as most men and some +women have dreamed of in their youth, had always been one of my ideals; indeed +it was on and around this vision that I wrote that first book of mine which was +so successful. Since I knew this to be unattainable in our imperfect +conditions, however, notwithstanding Bastin’s strictures, again I +dismissed the whole matter from my mind as a vain imagination. +</p> + +<p> +As an alternative I reflected upon a parliamentary career which I was not too +old to begin, and even toyed with one or two opportunities that offered +themselves, as these do to men of wealth and advanced views. They never came to +anything, for in the end I decided that Party politics were so hateful and so +dishonest, that I could not bring myself to put my neck beneath their yoke. I +was sure that if I tried to do so, I should fail more completely than I had +done at the Bar and in Literature. Here, too, I am quite certain that I was +right. +</p> + +<p> +The upshot of it all was that I sought refuge in that last expedient of weary +Englishmen, travel, not as a globe-trotter, but leisurely and with an inquiring +mind, learning much but again finding, like the ancient writer whom I have +quoted already, that there is no new thing under the sun; that with certain +variations it is the same thing over and over again. +</p> + +<p> +No, I will make an exception, the East did interest me enormously. There it +was, at Benares, that I came into touch with certain thinkers who opened my +eyes to a great deal. They released some hidden spring in my nature which +hitherto had always been striving to break through the crust of our conventions +and inherited ideas. I know now that what I was seeking was nothing less than +the Infinite; that I had “immortal longings in me.” I listened to +all their solemn talk of epochs and years measureless to man, and reflected +with a thrill that after all man might have his part in every one of them. Yes, +that bird of passage as he seemed to be, flying out of darkness into darkness, +still he might have spread his wings in the light of other suns millions upon +millions of years ago, and might still spread them, grown radiant and glorious, +millions upon millions of years hence in a time unborn. +</p> + +<p> +If only I could know the truth. Was Life (according to Bickley) merely a short +activity bounded by nothingness before and behind; or (according to Bastin) a +conventional golden-harped and haloed immortality, a word of which he did not +in the least understand the meaning? +</p> + +<p> +Or was it something quite different from either of these, something vast and +splendid beyond the reach of vision, something God-sent, beginning and ending +in the Eternal Absolute and at last partaking of His attributes and nature and +from aeon to aeon shot through with His light? And how was the truth to be +learned? I asked my Eastern friends, and they talked vaguely of long ascetic +preparation, of years upon years of learning, from whom I could not quite +discover. I was sure it could not be from them, because clearly they did not +know; they only passed on what they had heard elsewhere, when or how they +either could not or would not explain. So at length I gave it up, having +satisfied myself that all this was but an effort of Oriental imagination called +into life by the sweet influences of the Eastern stars. +</p> + +<p> +I gave it up and went away, thinking that I should forget. But I did not +forget. I was quick with a new hope, or at any rate with a new aspiration, and +that secret child of holy desire grew and grew within my soul, till at length +it flashed upon me that this soul of mine was itself the hidden Master from +which I must learn my lesson. No wonder that those Eastern friends could not +give his name, seeing that whatever they really knew, as distinguished from +what they had heard, and it was little enough, each of them had learned from +the teaching of his own soul. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, then, I too became a dreamer with only one longing, the longing for +wisdom, for that spirit touch which should open my eyes and enable me to see. +</p> + +<p> +Yet now it happened strangely enough that when I seemed within myself to have +little further interest in the things of the world, and least of all in women, +I, who had taken another guest to dwell with me, those things of the world came +back to me and in the shape of Woman the Inevitable. Probably it was so decreed +since is it not written that no man can live to himself alone, or lose himself +in watching and nurturing the growth of his own soul? +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +It happened thus. I went to Rome on my way home from India, and stayed there a +while. On the day after my arrival I wrote my name in the book of our Minister +to Italy at that time, Sir Alfred Upton, not because I wished him to ask me to +dinner, but for the reason that I had heard of him as a man of archæological +tastes and thought that he might enable me to see things which otherwise I +should not see. +</p> + +<p> +As it chanced he knew about me through some of my Devonshire neighbours who +were friends of his, and did ask me to dinner on the following night. I +accepted and found myself one of a considerable party, some of them +distinguished English people who wore Orders, as is customary when one dines +with the representative of our Sovereign. Seeing these, and this shows that in +the best of us vanity is only latent, for the first time in my life I was sorry +that I had none and was only plain Mr. Arbuthnot who, as Sir Alfred explained +to me politely, must go in to dinner last, because all the rest had titles, and +without even a lady as there was not one to spare. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was my lot bettered when I got there, as I found myself seated between an +Italian countess and a Russian prince, neither of whom could talk English, +while, alas, I knew no foreign language, not even French in which they +addressed me, seeming surprised that I did not understand them. I was +humiliated at my own ignorance, although in fact I was not ignorant, only my +education had been classical. Indeed I was a good classic and had kept up my +knowledge more or less, especially since I became an idle man. In my confusion +it occurred to me that the Italian countess might know Latin from which her own +language was derived, and addressed her in that tongue. She stared, and Sir +Alfred, who was not far off and overheard me (he also knew Latin), burst into +laughter and proceeded to explain the joke in a loud voice, first in French and +then in English, to the assembled company, who all became infected with +merriment and also stared at me as a curiosity. +</p> + +<p> +Then it was that for the first time I saw Natalie, for owing to a mistake of my +driver I had arrived rather late and had not been introduced to her. As her +father’s only daughter, her mother being dead, she was seated at the end +of the table behind a fan-like arrangement of white Madonna lilies, and she had +bent forward and, like the others, was looking at me, but in such a fashion +that her head from that distance seemed as though it were surrounded and +crowned with lilies. Indeed the greatest art could not have produced a more +beautiful effect which was, however, really one of naked accident. +</p> + +<p> +An angel looking down upon earth through the lilies of Heaven—that was +the rather absurd thought which flashed into my mind. I did not quite realise +her face at first except that it seemed to be both dark and fair; as a fact her +waving hair which grew rather low upon her forehead, was dark, and her large, +soft eyes were grey. I did not know, and to this moment I do not know if she +was really beautiful, but certainly the light that shone through those eyes of +hers and seemed to be reflected upon her delicate features, was beauty itself. +It was like that glowing through a thin vase of the purest alabaster within +which a lamp is placed, and I felt this effect to arise from no chance, like +that of the lily-setting, but, as it were, from the lamp of the spirit within. +</p> + +<p> +Our eyes met, and I suppose that she saw the wonder and admiration in mine. At +any rate her amused smile faded, leaving the face rather serious, though still +sweetly serious, and a tinge of colour crept over it as the first hue of dawn +creeps into a pearly sky. Then she withdrew herself behind the screen of lilies +and for the rest of that dinner which I thought was never coming to an end, +practically I saw her no more. Only I noted as she passed out that although not +tall, she was rounded and graceful in shape and that her hands were peculiarly +delicate. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwards in the drawing-room her father, with whom I had talked at the table, +introduced me to her, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“My daughter is the real archaeologist, Mr. Arbuthnot, and I think if you +ask her, she may be able to help you.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he bustled away to speak to some of his important guests, from whom I +think he was seeking political information. +</p> + +<p> +“My father exaggerates,” she said in a soft and very sympathetic +voice, “but perhaps”—and she motioned me to a seat at her +side. +</p> + +<p> +Then we talked of the places and things that I more particularly desired to see +and, well, the end of it was that I went back to my hotel in love with Natalie; +and as she afterwards confessed, she went to bed in love with me. +</p> + +<p> +It was a curious business, more like meeting a very old friend from whom one +had been separated by circumstances for a score of years or so than anything +else. We were, so to speak, intimate from the first; we knew all about each +other, although here and there was something new, something different which we +could not remember, lines of thought, veins of memory which we did not possess +in common. On one point I am absolutely clear: it was not solely the everyday +and ancient appeal of woman to man and man to woman which drew us together, +though doubtless this had its part in our attachment as under our human +conditions it must do, seeing that it is Nature’s bait to ensure the +continuance of the race. It was something more, something quite beyond that +elementary impulse. +</p> + +<p> +At any rate we loved, and one evening in the shelter of the solemn walls of the +great Coliseum at Rome, which at that hour were shut to all except ourselves, +we confessed our love. I really think we must have chosen the spot by tacit but +mutual consent because we felt it to be fitting. It was so old, so impregnated +with every human experience, from the direst crime of the tyrant who thought +himself a god, to the sublimest sacrifice of the martyr who already was half a +god; with every vice and virtue also which lies between these extremes, that it +seemed to be the most fitting altar whereon to offer our hearts and all that +caused them to beat, each to the other. +</p> + +<p> +So Natalie and I were betrothed within a month of our first meeting. Within +three we were married, for what was there to prevent or delay? Naturally Sir +Alfred was delighted, seeing that he possessed but small private resources and +I was able to make ample provision for his daughter who had hitherto shown +herself somewhat difficult in this business of matrimony and now was bordering +on her twenty-seventh year. Everybody was delighted, everything went smoothly +as a sledge sliding down a slope of frozen snow and the mists of time hid +whatever might be at the end of that slope. Probably a plain; at the worst the +upward rise of ordinary life. +</p> + +<p> +That is what we thought, if we thought at all. Certainly we never dreamed of a +precipice. Why should we, who were young, by comparison, quite healthy and very +rich? Who thinks of precipices under such circumstances, when disaster seems to +be eliminated and death is yet a long way off? +</p> + +<p> +And yet we ought to have done so, because we should have known that smooth +surfaces without impediment to the runners often end in something of the kind. +</p> + +<p> +I am bound to say that when we returned home to Fulcombe, where of course we +met with a great reception, including the ringing (out of tune) of the new peal +of bells that I had given to the church, Bastin made haste to point this out. +</p> + +<p> +“Your wife seems a very nice and beautiful lady, Arbuthnot,” he +reflected aloud after dinner, when Mrs. Bastin, glowering as usual, though what +at I do not know, had been escorted from the room by Natalie, “and +really, when I come to think of it, you are an unusually fortunate person. You +possess a great deal of money, much more than you have any right to; which you +seem to have done very little to earn and do not spend quite as I should like +you to do, and this nice property, that ought to be owned by a great number of +people, as, according to the views you express, I should have thought you would +acknowledge, and everything else that a man can want. It is very strange that +you should be so favoured and not because of any particular merits of your own +which one can see. However, I have no doubt it will all come even in the end +and you will get your share of troubles, like others. Perhaps Mrs. Arbuthnot +will have no children as there is so much for them to take. Or perhaps you will +lose all your money and have to work for your living, which might be good for +you. Or,” he added, still thinking aloud after his fashion, +“perhaps she will die young—she has that kind of face, although, of +course, I hope she won’t,” he added, waking up. +</p> + +<p> +I do not know why, but his wandering words struck me cold; the proverbial +funeral bell at the marriage feast was nothing to them. I suppose it was +because in a flash of intuition I knew that they would come true and that he +was an appointed Cassandra. Perhaps this uncanny knowledge overcame my natural +indignation at such super-<i>gaucherie</i> of which no one but Bastin could +have been capable, and even prevented me from replying at all, so that I merely +sat still and looked at him. +</p> + +<p> +But Bickley did reply with some vigour. +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me for saying so, Bastin,” he said, bristling all over as +it were, “but your remarks, which may or may not be in accordance with +the principles of your religion, seem to me to be in singularly bad taste. They +would have turned the stomachs of a gathering of early Christians, who appear +to have been the worst mannered people in the world, and at any decent heathen +feast your neck would have been wrung as that of a bird of ill omen.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” asked Bastin blankly. “I only said what I thought to +be the truth. The truth is better than what you call good taste.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I will say what I think also to be the truth,” replied +Bickley, growing furious. “It is that you use your Christianity as a +cloak for bad manners. It teaches consideration and sympathy for others of +which you seem to have none. Moreover, since you talk of the death of +people’s wives, I will tell you something about your own, as a doctor, +which I can do as I never attended her. It is highly probable, in my opinion, +that she will die before Mrs. Arbuthnot, who is quite a healthy person with a +good prospect of life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” said Bastin. “If so, it will be God’s will +and I shall not complain” (here Bickley snorted), “though I do not +see what you can know about it. But why should you cast reflections on the +early Christians who were people of strong principle living in rough times, and +had to wage war against an established devil-worship? I know you are angry +because they smashed up the statues of Venus and so forth, but had I been in +their place I should have done the same.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course you would, who doubts it? But as for the early Christians and +their iconoclastic performances—well, curse them, that’s +all!” and he sprang up and left the room. +</p> + +<p> +I followed him. +</p> + +<p> +Let it not be supposed from the above scene that there was any ill-feeling +between Bastin and Bickley. On the contrary they were much attached to each +other, and this kind of quarrel meant no more than the strong expression of +their individual views to which they were accustomed from their college days. +For instance Bastin was always talking about the early Christians and +missionaries, while Bickley loathed both, the early Christians because of the +destruction which they had wrought in Egypt, Italy, Greece and elsewhere, of +all that was beautiful; and the missionaries because, as he said, they were +degrading and spoiling the native races and by inducing them to wear clothes, +rendering them liable to disease. Bastin would answer that their souls were +more important than their bodies, to which Bickley replied that as there was no +such thing as a soul except in the stupid imagination of priests, he differed +entirely on the point. As it was quite impossible for either to convince the +other, there the conversation would end, or drift into something in which they +were mutually interested, such as natural history and the hygiene of the +neighbourhood. +</p> + +<p> +Here I may state that Bickley’s keen professional eye was not mistaken +when he diagnosed Mrs. Bastin’s state of health as dangerous. As a matter +of fact she was suffering from heart disease that a doctor can often recognise +by the colour of the lips, etc., which brought about her death under the +following circumstances: +</p> + +<p> +Her husband attended some ecclesiastical function at a town over twenty miles +away and was to have returned by a train which would have brought him home +about five o’clock. As he did not arrive she waited at the station for +him until the last train came in about seven o’clock—without the +beloved Basil. Then, on a winter’s night she tore up to the Priory and +begged me to lend her a dog-cart in which to drive to the said town to look for +him. I expostulated against the folly of such a proceeding, saying that no +doubt Basil was safe enough but had forgotten to telegraph, or thought that he +would save the sixpence which the wire cost. +</p> + +<p> +Then it came out, to Natalie’s and my intense amusement, that all this +was the result of her jealous nature of which I have spoken. She said she had +never slept a night away from her husband since they were married and with so +many “designing persons” about she could not say what might happen +if she did so, especially as he was “such a favourite and so +handsome.” (Bastin was a fine looking man in his rugged way.) +</p> + +<p> +I suggested that she might have a little confidence in him, to which she +replied darkly that she had no confidence in anybody. +</p> + +<p> +The end of it was that I lent her the cart with a fast horse and a good driver, +and off she went. Reaching the town in question some two and a half hours +later, she searched high and low through wind and sleet, but found no Basil. +He, it appeared, had gone on to Exeter, to look at the cathedral where some +building was being done, and missing the last train had there slept the night. +</p> + +<p> +About one in the morning, after being nearly locked up as a mad woman, she +drove back to the Vicarage, again to find no Basil. Even then she did not go to +bed but raged about the house in her wet clothes, until she fell down utterly +exhausted. When her husband did return on the following morning, full of +information about the cathedral, she was dangerously ill, and actually passed +away while uttering a violent tirade against him for his supposed suspicious +proceedings. +</p> + +<p> +That was the end of this truly odious British matron. +</p> + +<p> +In after days Bastin, by some peculiar mental process, canonised her in his +imagination as a kind of saint. “So loving,” he would say, +“such a devoted wife! Why, my dear Humphrey, I can assure you that even +in the midst of her death-struggle her last thoughts were of me,” words +that caused Bickley to snort with more than usual vigour, until I kicked him to +silence beneath the table. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +Death and Departure</h2> + +<p> +Now I must tell of my own terrible sorrow, which turned my life to bitterness +and my hopes to ashes. +</p> + +<p> +Never were a man and a woman happier together than I and Natalie. Mentally, +physically, spiritually we were perfectly mated, and we loved each other +dearly. Truly we were as one. Yet there was something about her which filled me +with vague fears, especially after she found that she was to become a mother. I +would talk to her of the child, but she would sigh and shake her head, her eyes +filling with tears, and say that we must not count on the continuance of such +happiness as ours, for it was too great. +</p> + +<p> +I tried to laugh away her doubts, though whenever I did so I seemed to hear +Bastin’s slow voice remarking casually that she might die, as he might +have commented on the quality of the claret. At last, however, I grew terrified +and asked her bluntly what she meant. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t quite know, dearest,” she replied, “especially +as I am wonderfully well. But—but—” +</p> + +<p> +“But what?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“But I think that our companionship is going to be broken for a little +while.” +</p> + +<p> +“For a little while!” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Humphrey. I think that I shall be taken away from you—you +know what I mean,” and she nodded towards the churchyard. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my God!” I groaned. +</p> + +<p> +“I want to say this,” she added quickly, “that if such a +thing should happen, as it happens every day, I implore you, dearest Humphrey, +not to be too much distressed, since I am sure that you will find me again. No, +I can’t explain how or when or where, because I do not know. I have +prayed for light, but it has not come to me. All I know is that I am not +talking of reunion in Mr. Bastin’s kind of conventional heaven, which he +speaks about as though to reach it one stumbled through darkness for a minute +into a fine new house next door, where excellent servants had made everything +ready for your arrival and all the lights were turned up. It is something quite +different from that and very much more real.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she bent down ostensibly to pat the head of a little black cocker spaniel +called Tommy which had been given to her as a puppy, a highly intelligent and +affectionate animal that we both adored and that loved her as only a dog can +love. Really, I knew, it was to hide her tears, and fled from the room lest she +should see mine. +</p> + +<p> +As I went I heard the dog whimpering in a peculiar way, as though some +sympathetic knowledge had been communicated to its wonderful animal +intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +That night I spoke to Bickley about the matter, repeating exactly what had +passed. As I expected, he smiled in his grave, rather sarcastic way, and made +light of it. +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Humphrey,” he said, “don’t torment yourself +about such fancies. They are of everyday occurrence among women in your +wife’s condition. Sometimes they take one form, sometimes another. When +she has got her baby you will hear no more of them.” +</p> + +<p> +I tried to be comforted but in vain. +</p> + +<p> +The days and weeks went by like a long nightmare and in due course the event +happened. Bickley was not attending the case; it was not in his line, he said, +and he preferred that where a friend’s wife was concerned, somebody else +should be called in. So it was put in charge of a very good local man with a +large experience in such domestic matters. +</p> + +<p> +How am I to tell of it? Everything went wrong; as for the details, let them be. +Ultimately Bickley did operate, and if surpassing skill could have saved her, +it would have been done. But the other man had misjudged the conditions; it was +too late, nothing could help either mother or child, a little girl who died +shortly after she was born but not before she had been christened, also by the +name of Natalie. +</p> + +<p> +I was called in to say farewell to my wife and found her radiant, triumphant +even in her weakness. +</p> + +<p> +“I know now,” she whispered in a faint voice. “I understood +as the chloroform passed away, but I cannot tell you. Everything is quite well, +my darling. Go where you seem called to go, far away. Oh! the wonderful place +in which you will find me, not knowing that you have found me. Good-bye for a +little while; only for a little while, my own, my own!” +</p> + +<p> +Then she died. And for a time I too seemed to die, but could not. I buried her +and the child here at Fulcombe; or rather I buried their ashes since I could +not endure that her beloved body should see corruption. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Afterwards, when all was over, I spoke of these last words of Natalie’s +with both Bickley and Bastin, for somehow I seemed to wish to learn their +separate views. +</p> + +<p> +The latter I may explain, had been present at the end in his spiritual +capacity, but I do not think that he in the least understood the nature of the +drama which was passing before his eyes. His prayers and the christening +absorbed all his attention, and he never was a man who could think of more than +one thing at a time. +</p> + +<p> +When I told him exactly what had happened and repeated the words that Natalie +spoke, he was much interested in his own nebulous way, and said that it was +delightful to meet with an example of a good Christian, such as my wife had +been, who actually saw something of Heaven before she had gone there. His own +faith was, he thanked God, fairly robust, but still an undoubted occurrence of +the sort acted as a refreshment, “like rain on a pasture when it is +rather dry, you know,” he added, breaking into simile. +</p> + +<p> +I remarked that she had not seemed to speak in the sense he indicated, but +appeared to allude to something quite near at hand and more or less immediate. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know that there is anything nearer at hand than the +Hereafter,” he answered. “I expect she meant that you will probably +soon die and join her in Paradise, if you are worthy to do so. But of course it +is not wise to put too much reliance upon words spoken by people at the last, +because often they don’t quite know what they are saying. Indeed +sometimes I think this was so in the case of my own wife, who really seemed to +me to talk a good deal of rubbish. Good-bye, I promised to see Widow Jenkins +this afternoon about having her varicose veins cut out, and I mustn’t +stop here wasting time in pleasant conversation. She thinks just as much of her +varicose veins as we do of the loss of our wives.” +</p> + +<p> +I wonder what Bastin’s ideas of <i>unpleasant</i> conversation may be, +thought I to myself, as I watched him depart already wool-gathering on some +other subject, probably the heresy of one of those “early fathers” +who occupied most of his thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley listened to my tale in sympathetic silence, as a doctor does to a +patient. When he was obliged to speak, he said that it was interesting as an +example of a tendency of certain minds towards romantic vision which sometimes +asserts itself, even in the throes of death. +</p> + +<p> +“You know,” he added, “that I put faith in none of these +things. I wish that I could, but reason and science both show me that they lack +foundation. The world on the whole is a sad place, where we arrive through the +passions of others implanted in them by Nature, which, although it cares +nothing for individual death, is tender towards the impulse of races of every +sort to preserve their collective life. Indeed the impulse <i>is</i> Nature, or +at least its chief manifestation. Consequently, whether we be gnats or +elephants, or anything between and beyond, even stars for aught I know, we must +make the best of things as they are, taking the good and the evil as they come +and getting all we can out of life until it leaves us, after which we need not +trouble. You had a good time for a little while and were happy in it; now you +are having a bad time and are wretched. Perhaps in the future, when your mental +balance has re-asserted itself, you will have other good times in the afternoon +of your days, and then follow twilight and the dark. That is all there is to +hope for, and we may as well look the thing in the face. Only I confess, my +dear fellow, that your experience convinces me that marriage should be avoided +at whatever inconvenience. Indeed I have long wondered that anyone can take the +responsibility of bringing a child into the world. But probably nobody does in +cold blood, except misguided idiots like Bastin,” he added. “He +would have twenty, had not his luck intervened.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you believe in nothing, Friend,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, I am sorry to say, except what I see and my five senses +appreciate.” +</p> + +<p> +“You reject all possibility of miracle, for instance?” +</p> + +<p> +“That depends on what you mean by miracle. Science shows us all kinds of +wonders which our great grandfathers would have called miracles, but these are +nothing but laws that we are beginning to understand. Give me an +instance.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” I replied at hazard, “if you were assured by someone +that a man could live for a thousand years?” +</p> + +<p> +“I should tell him that he was a fool or a liar, that is all. It is +impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or that the same identity, spirit, animating principle—call it +what you will—can flit from body to body, say in successive ages? Or that +the dead can communicate with the living?” +</p> + +<p> +“Convince me of any of these things, Arbuthnot, and mind you I desire to +be convinced, and I will take back every word I have said and walk through +Fulcombe in a white sheet proclaiming myself the fool. Now, I must get off to +the Cottage Hospital to cut out Widow Jenkins’s varicose veins. They are +tangible and real at any rate; about the largest I ever saw, indeed. Give up +dreams, old boy, and take to something useful. You might go back to your +fiction writing; you seem to have leanings that way, and you know you need not +publish the stories, except privately for the edification of your +friends.” +</p> + +<p> +With this Parthian shaft Bickley took his departure to make a job of Widow +Jenkins’s legs. +</p> + +<p> +I took his advice. During the next few months I did write something which +occupied my thoughts for a while, more or less. It lies in my safe to this +minute, for somehow I have never been able to make up my mind to burn what cost +me so much physical and mental toil. +</p> + +<p> +When it was finished my melancholy returned to me with added force. Everything +in the house took a tongue and cried to me of past days. Its walls echoed a +voice that I could never hear again; in the very looking-glasses I saw the +reflection of a lost presence. Although I had moved myself for the purposes of +sleep to a little room at the further end of the building, footsteps seemed to +creep about my bed at night and I heard the rustle of a remembered dress +without the door. The place grew hateful to me. I felt that I must get away +from it or I should go mad. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +One afternoon Bastin arrived carrying a book and in a state of high +indignation. This work, written, as he said, by some ribald traveller, grossly +traduced the character of missionaries to the South Sea Islands, especially of +those of the Society to which he subscribed, and he threw it on the table in +his righteous wrath. Bickley picked it up and opened it at a photograph of a +very pretty South Sea Island girl clad in a few flowers and nothing else, which +he held towards Bastin, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Is it to this child of Nature that you object? I call her distinctly +attractive, though perhaps she does wear her hibiscus blooms with a difference +to our women—a little lower down.” +</p> + +<p> +“The devil is always attractive,” replied Bastin gloomily. +“Child of Nature indeed! I call her Child of Sin. That photograph is +enough to make my poor Sarah turn in her grave.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” asked Bickley; “seeing that wide seas roll between you +and this dusky Venus. Also I thought that according to your Hebrew legend sin +came in with bark garments.” +</p> + +<p> +“You should search the Scriptures, Bickley,” I broke in, “and +cultivate accuracy. It was fig-leaves that symbolised its arrival. The +garments, which I think were of skin, developed later.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” went on Bickley, who had turned the page, +“she” (he referred to the late Mrs. Bastin) “would have +preferred her thus,” and he held up another illustration of the same +woman. +</p> + +<p> +In this the native belle appeared after conversion, clad in broken-down +stays—I suppose they were stays—out of which she seemed to bulge +and flow in every direction, a dirty white dress several sizes too small, a +kind of Salvation Army bonnet without a crown and a prayer-book which she held +pressed to her middle; the general effect being hideous, and in some curious +way, improper. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly,” said Bastin, “though I admit her clothes do not +seem to fit and she has not buttoned them up as she ought. But it is not of the +pictures so much as of the letterpress with its false and scandalous +accusations, that I complain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you complain?” asked Bickley. “Probably it is quite +true, though that we could never ascertain without visiting the lady’s +home.” +</p> + +<p> +“If I could afford it,” exclaimed Bastin with rising anger, +“I should like to go there and expose this vile traducer of my +cloth.” +</p> + +<p> +“So should I,” answered Bickley, “and expose these +introducers of consumption, measles and other European diseases, to say nothing +of gin, among an innocent and Arcadian people.” +</p> + +<p> +“How can you call them innocent, Bickley, when they murder and eat +missionaries?” +</p> + +<p> +“I dare say we should all eat a missionary, Bastin, if we were hungry +enough,” was the answer, after which something occurred to change the +conversation. +</p> + +<p> +But I kept the book and read it as a neutral observer, and came to the +conclusion that these South Sea Islands, a land where it was always afternoon, +must be a charming place, in which perhaps the stars of the Tropics and the +scent of the flowers might enable one to forget a little, or at least take the +edge off memory. Why should I not visit them and escape another long and dreary +English winter? No, I could not do so alone. If Bastin and Bickley were there, +their eternal arguments might amuse me. Well, why should they not come also? +When one has money things can always be arranged. +</p> + +<p> +The idea, which had its root in this absurd conversation, took a curious hold +on me. I thought of it all the evening, being alone, and that night it re-arose +in my dreams. I dreamed that my lost Natalie appeared to me and showed me a +picture. It was of a long, low land, a curving shore of which the ends were out +of the picture, whereon grew tall palms, and where great combers broke upon +gleaming sand. +</p> + +<p> +Then the picture seemed to become a reality and I saw Natalie herself, +strangely changeful in her aspect, strangely varying in face and figure, +strangely bright, standing in the mouth of a pass whereof the little bordering +cliffs were covered with bushes and low trees, whose green was almost hid in +lovely flowers. There in my dream she stood, smiling mysteriously, and +stretched out her arms towards me. +</p> + +<p> +As I awoke I seemed to hear her voice, repeating her dying words: “Go +where you seem called to go, far away. Oh! the wonderful place in which you +will find me, not knowing that you have found me.” +</p> + +<p> +With some variations this dream visited me twice that night. In the morning I +woke up quite determined that I would go to the South Sea Islands, even if I +must do so alone. On that same evening Bastin and Bickley dined with me. I said +nothing to them about my dream, for Bastin never dreamed and Bickley would have +set it down to indigestion. But when the cloth had been cleared away and we +were drinking our glass of port—both Bastin and Bickley only took one, +the former because he considered port a sinful indulgence of the flesh, the +latter because he feared it would give him gout—I remarked casually that +they both looked very run down and as though they wanted a rest. They agreed, +at least each of them said he had noticed it in the other. Indeed Bastin added +that the damp and the cold in the church, in which he held daily services to no +congregation except the old woman who cleaned it, had given him rheumatism, +which prevented him from sleeping. +</p> + +<p> +“Do call things by their proper names,” interrupted Bickley. +“I told you yesterday that what you are suffering from is neuritis in +your right arm, which will become chronic if you neglect it much longer. I have +the same thing myself, so I ought to know, and unless I can stop operating for +a while I believe my fingers will become useless. Also something is affecting +my sight, overstrain, I suppose, so that I am obliged to wear stronger and +stronger glasses. I think I shall have to leave Ogden” (his partner) +“in charge for a while, and get away into the sun. There is none here +before June.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would if I could pay a <i>locum tenens</i> and were quite sure it +isn’t wrong,” said Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad you both think like that,” I remarked, “as I have +a suggestion to make to you. I want to go to the South Seas about which we were +talking yesterday, to get the thorough change that Bickley has been advising +for me, and I should be very grateful if you would both come as my guests. You, +Bickley, make so much money out of cutting people about, that you can arrange +your own affairs during your absence. But as for you, Bastin, I will see to the +wherewithal for the <i>locum tenens</i>, and everything else.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are very kind,” said Bastin, “and certainly I should +like to expose that misguided author, who probably published his offensive work +without thinking that what he wrote might affect the subscriptions to the +missionary societies, also to show Bickley that he is not always right, as he +seems to think. But I could never dream of accepting without the full approval +of the Bishop.” +</p> + +<p> +“You might get that of your nurse also, if she happens to be still +alive,” mocked Bickley. “As for his Lordship, I don’t think +he will raise any objection when he sees the certificate I will give you about +the state of your health. He is a great believer in me ever since I took that +carbuncle out of his neck which he got because he will not eat enough. As for +me, I mean to come if only to show you how continually and persistently you are +wrong. But, Arbuthnot, how do you mean to go?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know. In a mail steamer, I suppose.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you can run to it, a yacht would be much better.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a good idea, for one could get out of the beaten tracks and +see the places that are never, or seldom, visited. I will make some inquiries. +And now, to celebrate the occasion, let us all have another glass of port and +drink a toast.” +</p> + +<p> +They hesitated and were lost, Bastin murmuring something about doing without +his stout next day as a penance. Then they both asked what was the toast, each +of them, after thought, suggesting that it should be the utter confusion of the +other. +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head, whereon as a result of further cogitation, Bastin submitted +that the Unknown would be suitable. Bickley said that he thought this a foolish +idea as everything worth knowing was already known, and what was the good of +drinking to the rest? A toast to the Truth would be better. +</p> + +<p> +A notion came to me. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us combine them,” I said, “and drink to the Unknown +Truth.” +</p> + +<p> +So we did, though Bastin grumbled that the performance made him feel like +Pilate. +</p> + +<p> +“We are all Pilates in our way,” I replied with a sigh. +</p> + +<p> +“That is what I think every time I diagnose a case,” exclaimed +Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +As for me I laughed and for some unknown reason felt happier than I had done +for months. Oh! if only the writer of that tourist tale of the South Sea +Islands could have guessed what fruit his light-thrown seed would yield to us +and to the world! +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I made my inquiries through a London agency which hired out yachts or sold them +to the idle rich. As I expected, there were plenty to be had, at a price, but +wealthy as I was, the figure asked of the buyer of any suitable craft, +staggered me. In the end, however, I chartered one for six months certain and +at so much per month for as long as I liked afterwards. The owners paid +insurance and everything else on condition that they appointed the captain and +first mate, also the engineer, for this yacht, which was named <i>Star of the +South</i>, could steam at about ten knots as well as sail. +</p> + +<p> +I know nothing about yachts, and therefore shall not attempt to describe her, +further than to say that she was of five hundred and fifty tons burden, very +well constructed, and smart to look at, as well she might be, seeing that a +deceased millionaire from whose executors I hired her had spent a fortune in +building and equipping her in the best possible style. In all, her crew +consisted of thirty-two hands. A peculiarity of the vessel was that owing to +some fancy of the late owner, the passenger accommodation, which was splendid, +lay forward of the bridge, this with the ship’s store-rooms, +refrigerating chamber, etc., being almost in the bows. It was owing to these +arrangements, which were unusual, that the executors found it impossible to +sell, and were therefore glad to accept such an offer as mine in order to save +expenses. Perhaps they hoped that she might go to the bottom, being heavily +insured. If so, the Fates did not disappoint them. +</p> + +<p> +The captain, named Astley, was a jovial person who held every kind of +certificate. He seemed so extraordinarily able at his business that personally +I suspected him of having made mistakes in the course of his career, not +unconnected with the worship of Bacchus. In this I believe I was right; +otherwise a man of such attainments would have been commanding something bigger +than a private yacht. The first mate, Jacobsen, was a melancholy Dane, a +spiritualist who played the concertina, and seemed to be able to do without +sleep. The crew were a mixed lot, good men for the most part and quite +unobjectionable, more than half of them being Scandinavian. I think that is all +I need say about the <i>Star of the South</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The arrangement was that the <i>Star of the South</i> should proceed through +the Straits of Gibraltar to Marseilles, where we would join her, and thence +travel via the Suez Canal, to Australia and on to the South Seas, returning +home as our fancy or convenience might dictate. +</p> + +<p> +All the first part of the plan we carried out to the letter. Of the remainder I +say nothing at present. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Star of the South</i> was amply provided with every kind of store. Among +them were medicines and surgical instruments, selected by Bickley, and a case +of Bibles and other religious works in sundry languages of the South Seas, +selected by Bastin, whose bishop, when he understood the pious objects of his +journey, had rather encouraged than hindered his departure on sick leave, and a +large number of novels, books of reference, etc., laid in by myself. She duly +sailed from the Thames and reached Marseilles after a safe and easy passage, +where all three of us boarded her. +</p> + +<p> +I forgot to add that she had another passenger, the little spaniel, Tommy. I +had intended to leave him behind, but while I was packing up he followed me +about with such evident understanding of my purpose that my heart was touched. +When I entered the motor to drive to the station he escaped from the hands of +the servant, whimpering, and took refuge on my knee. After this I felt that +Destiny intended him to be our companion. Moreover, was he not linked with my +dead past, and, had I but known it, with my living future also? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +The Cyclone</h2> + +<p> +We enjoyed our voyage exceedingly. In Egypt, a land I was glad to revisit, we +only stopped a week while the <i>Star of the South</i>, which we rejoined at +Suez, coaled and went through the Canal. This, however, gave us time to spend a +few days in Cairo, visit the Pyramids and Sakkara which Bastin and Bickley had +never seen before, and inspect the great Museum. The journey up the Nile was +postponed until our return. It was a pleasant break and gave Bickley, a most +omnivorous reader who was well acquainted with Egyptian history and theology, +the opportunity of trying to prove to Bastin that Christianity was a mere +development of the ancient Egyptian faith. The arguments that ensued may be +imagined. It never seemed to occur to either of them that all faiths may be and +indeed probably are progressive; in short, different rays of light thrown from +the various facets of the same crystal, as in turn these are shone upon by the +sun of Truth. +</p> + +<p> +Our passage down the Red Sea was cool and agreeable. Thence we shaped our +course for Ceylon. Here again we stopped a little while to run up to Kandy and +to visit the ruined city of Anarajapura with its great Buddhist topes that once +again gave rise to religious argument between my two friends. Leaving Ceylon we +struck across the Indian Ocean for Perth in Western Australia. +</p> + +<p> +It was a long voyage, since to save our coal we made most of it under canvas. +However, we were not dull as Captain Astley was a good companion, and even out +of the melancholy Dane, Jacobsen, we had entertainment. He insisted on holding +seances in the cabin, at which the usual phenomena occurred. The table twisted +about, voices were heard and Jacobsen’s accordion wailed out tunes above +our heads. These happenings drove Bickley to a kind of madness, for here were +events which he could not explain. He was convinced that someone was playing +tricks upon him, and devised the most elaborate snares to detect the rogue, +entirely without result. +</p> + +<p> +First he accused Jacobsen, who was very indignant, and then me, who laughed. In +the end Jacobsen and I left the “circle” and the cabin, which was +locked behind us; only Bastin and Bickley remaining there in the dark. +Presently we heard sounds of altercation, and Bickley emerged looking very red +in the face, followed by Bastin, who was saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Can I help it if something pulled your nose and snatched off your +eyeglasses, which anyhow are quite useless to you when there is no light? +Again, is it possible for me, sitting on the other side of that table, to have +placed the concertina on your head and made it play the National Anthem, a +thing that I have not the slightest idea how to do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Please do not try to explain,” snapped Bickley. “I am +perfectly aware that you deceived me somehow, which no doubt you think a good +joke.” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear fellow,” I interrupted, “is it possible to imagine +old Basil deceiving anyone?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not,” snorted Bickley, “seeing that he deceives himself +from one year’s end to the other?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think,” said Bastin, “that this is an unholy business and +that we are both deceived by the devil. I will have no more to do with +it,” and he departed to his cabin, probably to say some appropriate +prayers. +</p> + +<p> +After this the seances were given up but Jacobsen produced an instrument called +a planchette and with difficulty persuaded Bickley to try it, which he did +after many precautions. The thing, a heart-shaped piece of wood mounted on +wheels and with a pencil stuck at its narrow end, cantered about the sheet of +paper on which it was placed, Bickley, whose hands rested upon it, staring at +the roof of the cabin. Then it began to scribble and after a while stopped +still. +</p> + +<p> +“Will the Doctor look?” said Jacobsen. “Perhaps the spirits +have told him something.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! curse all this silly talk about spirits,” exclaimed Bickley, +as he arranged his eyeglasses and held up the paper to the light, for it was +after dinner. +</p> + +<p> +He stared, then with an exclamation which I will not repeat, and a glance of +savage suspicion at the poor Dane and the rest of us, threw it down and left +the cabin. I picked it up and next moment was screaming with laughter. There on +the top of the sheet was a rough but entirely recognizable portrait of Bickley +with the accordion on his head, and underneath, written in a delicate, Italian +female hand, absolutely different from his own, were these words taken from one +of St. Paul’s Epistles—“Oppositions of science falsely so +called.” Underneath them again in a scrawling, schoolboy fist, very like +Bastin’s, was inscribed, “Tell us how this is done, you silly +doctor, who think yourself so clever.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that the devil really can quote Scripture,” was +Bastin’s only comment, while Jacobsen stared before him and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley never alluded to the matter, but for days afterwards I saw him +experimenting with paper and chemicals, evidently trying to discover a form of +invisible ink which would appear upon the application of the hand. As he never +said anything about it, I fear that he failed. +</p> + +<p> +This planchette business had a somewhat curious ending. A few nights later +Jacobsen was working it and asked me to put a question. To oblige him I +inquired on what day we should reach Fremantle, the port of Perth. It wrote an +answer which, I may remark, subsequently proved to be quite correct. +</p> + +<p> +“That is not a good question,” said Jacobsen, “since as a +sailor I might guess the reply. Try again, Mr. Arbuthnot.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will anything remarkable happen on our voyage to the South Seas?” +I inquired casually. +</p> + +<p> +The planchette hesitated a while then wrote rapidly and stopped. Jacobsen took +up the paper and began to read the answer aloud—“To A, B the D, and +B the C, the most remarkable things will happen that have happened to men +living in the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“That must mean me, Bickley the doctor and Bastin the clergyman,” I +said, laughing. +</p> + +<p> +Jacobsen paid no attention, for he was reading what followed. As he did so I +saw his face turn white and his eyes begin to start from his head. Then +suddenly he tore the paper in pieces which he thrust into his pocket. Lifting +his great fist he uttered some Danish oath and with a single blow smashed the +planchette to fragments, after which he strode away, leaving me astonished and +somewhat disturbed. When I met him the next morning I asked him what was on the +paper. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” he said quietly, “something I should not like you +too-proper English gentlemens to see. Something not nice. You understand. Those +spirits not always good; they do that kind of thing sometimes. That’s why +I broke up this planchette.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he began to talk of something else and there the matter ended. +</p> + +<p> +I should have said that, principally with a view to putting themselves in a +position to confute each other, ever since we had started from Marseilles both +Bastin and Bickley spent a number of hours each day in assiduous study of the +language of the South Sea Islands. It became a kind of competition between them +as to which could learn the most. Now Bastin, although simple and even stupid +in some ways, was a good scholar, and as I knew at college, had quite a faculty +for acquiring languages in which he had taken high marks at examinations. +Bickley, too, was an extraordinarily able person with an excellent memory, +especially when he was on his mettle. The result was that before we ever +reached a South Sea island they had a good working knowledge of the local +tongues. +</p> + +<p> +As it chanced, too, at Perth we picked up a Samoan and his wife who, under some +of the “white Australia” regulations, were not allowed to remain in +the country and offered to work as servants in return for a passage to Apia +where we proposed to call some time or other. With these people Bastin and +Bickley talked all day long till really they became fairly proficient in their +soft and beautiful dialect. They wished me to learn also, but I said that with +two such excellent interpreters and the natives while they remained with us, it +seemed quite unnecessary. Still, I picked up a good deal in a quiet way, as +much as they did perhaps. +</p> + +<p> +At length, travelling on and on as a voyager to the planet Mars might do, we +sighted the low shores of Australia and that same evening were towed, for our +coal was quite exhausted, to the wharf at Fremantle. Here we spent a few days +exploring the beautiful town of Perth and its neighbourhood where it was very +hot just then, and eating peaches and grapes till we made ourselves ill, as a +visitor often does who is unaware that fruit should not be taken in quantity in +Australia while the sun is high. Then we departed for Melbourne almost before +our arrival was generally known, since I did not wish to advertise our presence +or the object of our journey. +</p> + +<p> +We crossed the Great Australian Bight, of evil reputation, in the most perfect +weather; indeed it might have been a mill pond, and after a short stay at +Melbourne, went on to Sydney, where we coaled again and laid in supplies. +</p> + +<p> +Then our real journey began. The plan we laid out was to sail to Suva in Fiji, +about 1,700 miles away, and after a stay there, on to Hawaii or the Sandwich +Islands, stopping perhaps at the Phoenix Islands and the Central Polynesian +Sporades, such as Christmas and Fanning Isles. Then we proposed to turn south +again through the Marshall Archipelago and the Caroline Islands, and so on to +New Guinea and the Coral Sea. Particularly did we wish to visit Easter Island +on account of its marvelous sculptures that are supposed to be the relics of a +pre-historic race. In truth, however, we had no fixed plan except to go +wherever circumstance and chance might take us. Chance, I may add, or something +else, took full advantage of its opportunities. +</p> + +<p> +We came to Suva in safety and spent a while in exploring the beautiful Fiji +Isles where both Bastin and Bickley made full inquiries about the work of the +missionaries, each of them drawing exactly opposite conclusions from the same +set of admitted facts. Thence we steamed to Samoa and put our two natives +ashore at Apia, where we procured some coal. We did not stay long enough in +these islands to investigate them, however, because persons of experience there +assured us from certain familiar signs that one of the terrible hurricanes with +which they are afflicted, was due to arrive shortly and that we should do well +to put ourselves beyond its reach. So having coaled and watered we departed in +a hurry. +</p> + +<p> +Up to this time I should state we had met with the most wonderful good fortune +in the matter of weather, so good indeed that never on one occasion since we +left Marseilles, had we been obliged to put the fiddles on the tables. With the +superstition of a sailor Captain Astley, when I alluded to the matter, shook +his head saying that doubtless we should pay for it later on, since “luck +never goes all the way” and cyclones were reported to be about. +</p> + +<p> +Here I must tell that after we were clear of Apia, it was discovered that the +Danish mate who was believed to be in his cabin unwell from something he had +eaten, was missing. The question arose whether we should put back to find him, +as we supposed that he had made a trip inland and met with an accident, or been +otherwise delayed. I was in favour of doing so though the captain, thinking of +the threatened hurricane, shook his head and said that Jacobsen was a queer +fellow who might just as well have gone overboard as anywhere else, if he +thought he heard “the spirits, of whom he was so fond,” calling +him. While the matter was still in suspense I happened to go into my own +stateroom and there, stuck in the looking-glass, saw an envelope in the +Dane’s handwriting addressed to myself. On opening it I found another +sealed letter, unaddressed, also a note that ran as follows: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Honoured Sir,<br /> + “You will think very badly of me for leaving you, but the enclosed +which I implore you not to open until you have seen the last of the <i>Star of +the South</i>, will explain my reason and I hope clear my reputation. I thank +you again and again for all your kindness and pray that the Spirits who rule +the world may bless and preserve you, also the Doctor and Mr. Bastin.” +</p> + +<p> +This letter, which left the fate of Jacobsen quite unsolved, for it might mean +either that he had deserted or drowned himself, I put away with the enclosure +in my pocket. Of course there was no obligation on me to refrain from opening +the letter, but I shrank from doing so both from some kind of sense of honour +and, to tell the truth, for fear of what it might contain. I felt that this +would be disagreeable; also, although there was nothing to connect them +together, I bethought me of the scene when Jacobsen had smashed the planchette. +</p> + +<p> +On my return to the deck I said nothing whatsoever about the discovery of the +letter, but only remarked that on reflection I had changed my mind and agreed +with the captain that it would be unwise to attempt to return in order to look +for Jacobsen. So the boatswain, a capable individual who had seen better days, +was promoted to take his watches and we went on as before. How curiously things +come about in the world! For nautical reasons that were explained to me, but +which I will not trouble to set down, if indeed I could remember them, I +believe that if we had returned to Apia we should have missed the great gale +and subsequent cyclone, and with these much else. But it was not so fated. +</p> + +<p> +It was on the fourth day, when we were roughly seven hundred miles or more +north of Samoa, that we met the edge of this gale about sundown. The captain +put on steam in the hope of pushing through it, but that night we dined for the +first time with the fiddles on, and by eleven o’clock it was as much as +one could do to stand in the cabin, while the water was washing freely over the +deck. Fortunately, however, the wind veered more aft of us, so that by putting +about her head a little (seamen must forgive me if I talk of these matters as a +landlubber) we ran almost before the wind, though not quite in the direction +that we wished to go. +</p> + +<p> +When the light came it was blowing very hard indeed, and the sky was utterly +overcast, so that we got no glimpse of the sun, or of the stars on the +following night. Unfortunately, there was no moon visible; indeed, if there had +been I do not suppose that it would have helped us because of the thick pall of +clouds. For quite seventy-two hours we ran on beneath bare poles before that +gale. The little vessel behaved splendidly, riding the seas like a duck, but I +could see that Captain Astley was growing alarmed. When I said something +complimentary to him about the conduct of the <i>Star of the South</i>, he +replied that she was forging ahead all right, but the question was—where +to? He had been unable to take an observation of any sort since we left Samoa; +both his patent logs had been carried away, so that now only the compass +remained, and he had not the slightest idea where we were in that great ocean +studded with atolls and islands. +</p> + +<p> +I asked him whether we could not steam back to our proper course, but he +answered that to do so he would have to travel dead in the eye of the gale, and +he doubted whether the engines would stand it. Also there was the question of +coal to be considered. However, he had kept the fires going and would do what +he could if the weather moderated. +</p> + +<p> +That night during dinner which now consisted of tinned foods and whisky and +water, for the seas had got to the galley fire, suddenly the gale dropped, +whereat we rejoiced exceedingly. The captain came down into the saloon very +white and shaken, I thought, and I asked him to have a nip of whisky to warm +him up, and to celebrate our good fortune in having run out of the wind. He +took the bottle and, to my alarm, poured out a full half tumbler of spirit, +which he swallowed undiluted in two or three gulps. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s better!” he said with a hoarse laugh. “But man, +what is it you are saying about having run out of the wind? Look at the +glass!” +</p> + +<p> +“We have,” said Bastin, “and it is wonderfully steady. About +29 degrees or a little over, which it has been for the last three days.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Astley laughed in a mirthless fashion, as he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that thing! That’s the passengers’ glass. I told the +steward to put it out of gear so that you might not be frightened; it is an old +trick. Look at this,” and he produced one of the portable variety out of +his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +We looked, and it stood somewhere between 27 degrees and 28 degrees. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the lowest glass I ever saw in the Polynesian or any other +seas during thirty years. It’s right, too, for I have tested it by three +others,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“What does it mean?” I asked rather anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +“South Sea cyclone of the worst breed,” he replied. “That +cursed Dane knew it was coming and that’s why he left the ship. Pray as +you never prayed before,” and again he stretched out his hand towards the +whisky bottle. But I stepped between him and it, shaking my head. Thereon he +laughed for the third time and left the cabin. Though I saw him once or twice +afterwards, these were really the last words of intelligible conversation that +I ever had with Captain Astley. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that we are in some danger,” said Bastin, in an unmoved +kind of way. “I think that was a good idea of the captain’s, to put +up a petition, I mean, but as Bickley will scarcely care to join in it I will +go into the cabin and do so myself.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley snorted, then said: +</p> + +<p> +“Confound that captain! Why did he play such a trick upon us about the +barometer? Humphrey, I believe he had been drinking.” +</p> + +<p> +“So do I,” I said, looking at the whisky bottle. “Otherwise, +after taking those precautions to keep us in the dark, he would not have let on +like that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Bickley, “he can’t get to the liquor, +except through this saloon, as it is locked up forward with the other +stores.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s nothing,” I replied, “as doubtless he has a +supply of his own; rum, I expect. We must take our chance.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley nodded, and suggested that we should go on deck to see what was +happening. So we went. Not a breath of wind was stirring, and even the sea +seemed to be settling down a little. At least, so we judged from the motion, +for we could not see either it or the sky; everything was as black as pitch. We +heard the sailors, however, engaged in rigging guide ropes fore and aft, and +battening down the hatches with extra tarpaulins by the light of lanterns. Also +they were putting ropes round the boats and doing something to the spars and +topmasts. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Bastin joined us, having, I suppose, finished his devotions. +</p> + +<p> +“Really, it is quite pleasant here,” he said. “One never +knows how disagreeable so much wind is until it stops.” +</p> + +<p> +I lit my pipe, making no answer, and the match burned quite steadily there in +the open air. +</p> + +<p> +“What is that?” exclaimed Bickley, staring at something which now I +saw for the first time. It looked like a line of white approaching through the +gloom. With it came a hissing sound, and although there was still no wind, the +rigging began to moan mysteriously like a thing in pain. A big drop of water +also fell from the sides into my pipe and put it out. Then one of the sailors +cried in a hoarse voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Get down below, governors, unless you want to go out to sea!” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” inquired Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“Why? Becos the ‘urricane is coming, that’s all. Coming as +though the devil had kicked it out of ‘ell.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin seemed inclined to remonstrate at this sort of language, but we pushed +him down the companion and followed, propelling the spaniel Tommy in front of +us. Next moment I heard the sailors battening the hatch with hurried blows, and +when this was done to their satisfaction, heard their feet also as they ran +into shelter. +</p> + +<p> +Another instant and we were all lying in a heap on the cabin floor with poor +Tommy on top of us. The cyclone had struck the ship! Above the wash of water +and the screaming of the gale we heard other mysterious sounds, which doubtless +were caused by the yards hitting the seas, for the yacht was lying on her side. +I thought that all was over, but presently there came a rending, crashing +noise. The masts, or one of them, had gone, and by degrees we righted. +</p> + +<p> +“Near thing!” said Bickley. “Good heavens, what’s +that?” +</p> + +<p> +I listened, for the electric light had temporarily gone out, owing, I suppose, +to the dynamo having stopped for a moment. A most unholy and hollow sound was +rising from the cabin floor. It might have been caused by a bullock with its +windpipe cut, trying to get its breath and groaning. Then the light came on +again and we saw Bastin lying at full length on the carpet. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s broken his neck or something,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley crept to him and having looked, sang out: +</p> + +<p> +“It’s all right! He’s only sea-sick. I thought it would come +to that if he drank so much tea.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sea-sick,” I said faintly—“sea-sick?” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s all,” said Bickley. “The nerves of the stomach +acting on the brain or vice-versa—that is, if Bastin has a brain,” +he added sotto voce. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” groaned the prostrate clergyman. “I wish that I were +dead!” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t trouble about that,” answered Bickley. “I expect +you soon will be. Here, drink some whisky, you donkey.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin sat up and obeyed, out of the bottle, for it was impossible to pour +anything into a glass, with results too dreadful to narrate. +</p> + +<p> +“I call that a dirty trick,” he said presently, in a feeble voice, +glowering at Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I expect I shall have to play you a dirtier before long, for you are a +pretty bad case, old fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +As a matter of fact he had, for once Bastin had begun really we thought that he +was going to die. Somehow we got him into his cabin, which opened off the +saloon, and as he could drink nothing more, Bickley managed to inject morphia +or some other compound into him, which made him insensible for a long while. +</p> + +<p> +“He must be in a poor way,” he said, “for the needle went +more than a quarter of an inch into him, and he never cried out or stirred. +Couldn’t help it in that rolling.” +</p> + +<p> +But now I could hear the engines working, and I think that the bow of the +vessel was got head on to the seas, for instead of rolling we pitched, or +rather the ship stood first upon one end and then upon the other. This +continued for a while until the first burst of the cyclone had gone by. Then +suddenly the engines stopped; I suppose that they had broken down, but I never +learned, and we seemed to veer about, nearly sinking in the process, and to run +before the hurricane at terrific speed. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder where we are going to?” I said to Bickley. “To the +land of sleep, Humphrey, I imagine,” he replied in a more gentle voice +than I had often heard him use, adding: “Good-bye, old boy, we have been +real friends, haven’t we, notwithstanding my peculiarities? I only wish +that I could think that there was anything in Bastin’s views. But I +can’t, I can’t. It’s good night for us poor creatures!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +Land</h2> + +<p> +At last the electric light really went out. I had looked at my watch just +before this happened and wound it up, which, Bickley remarked, was superfluous +and a waste of energy. It then marked 3.20 in the morning. We had wedged +Bastin, who was now snoring comfortably, into his berth, with pillows, and +managed to tie a cord over him—no, it was a large bath towel, fixing one +end of it to the little rack over his bed and the other to its framework. As +for ourselves, we lay down on the floor between the table legs, which, of +course, were screwed, and the settee, protecting ourselves as best we were able +by help of the cushions, etc., between two of which we thrust the terrified +Tommy who had been sliding up and down the cabin floor. Thus we remained, +expecting death every moment till the light of day, a very dim light, +struggling through a port-hole of which the iron cover had somehow been +wrenched off. Or perhaps it was never shut, I do not remember. +</p> + +<p> +About this time there came a lull in the hellish, howling hurricane; the fact +being, I suppose, that we had reached the centre of the cyclone. I suggested +that we should try to go on deck and see what was happening. So we started, +only to find the entrance to the companion so faithfully secured that we could +not by any means get out. We knocked and shouted, but no one answered. My +belief is that at this time everyone on the yacht except ourselves had been +washed away and drowned. +</p> + +<p> +Then we returned to the saloon, which, except for a little water trickling +about the floor, was marvelously dry, and, being hungry, retrieved some bits of +food and biscuit from its corners and ate. At this moment the cyclone began to +blow again worse than ever, but it seemed to us, from another direction, and +before it sped our poor derelict barque. It blew all day till for my part I +grew utterly weary and even longed for the inevitable end. If my views were not +quite those of Bastin, certainly they were not those of Bickley. I had believed +from my youth up that the individuality of man, the ego, so to speak, does not +die when life goes out of his poor body, and this faith did not desert me then. +Therefore, I wished to have it over and learn what there might be upon the +other side. +</p> + +<p> +We could not speak much because of the howling of the wind, but Bickley did +manage to shout to me something to the effect that his partners would, in his +opinion, make an end of their great practice within two years, which, he added, +was a pity. I nodded my head, not caring twopence what happened to +Bickley’s partners or their business, or to my own property, or to +anything else. When death is at hand most of us do not think much of such +things because then we realise how small they are. Indeed I was wondering +whether within a few minutes or hours I should or should not see Natalie again, +and if this were the end to which she had seemed to beckon me in that dream. +</p> + +<p> +On we sped, and on. About four in the afternoon we heard sounds from +Bastin’s cabin which faintly reminded me of some tune. I crept to the +door and listened. Evidently he had awakened and was singing or trying to sing, +for music was not one of his strong points, “For those in peril on the +sea.” Devoutly did I wish that it might be heard. Presently it ceased, so +I suppose he went to sleep again. +</p> + +<p> +The darkness gathered once more. Then of a sudden something fearful happened. +There were stupendous noises of a kind I had never heard; there were +convulsions. It seemed to us that the ship was flung right up into the air a +hundred feet or more. +</p> + +<p> +“Tidal wave, I expect,” shouted Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +Almost as he spoke she came down with the most appalling crash on to something +hard and nearly jarred the senses out of us. Next the saloon was whirling round +and round and yet being carried forward, and we felt air blowing upon us. Then +our senses left us. As I clasped Tommy to my side, whimpering and licking my +face, my last thought was that all was over, and that presently I should learn +everything or nothing. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I woke up feeling very bruised and sore and perceived that light was flowing +into the saloon. The door was still shut, but it had been wrenched off its +hinges, and that was where the light came in; also some of the teak planks of +the decking, jagged and splintered, were sticking up through the carpet. The +table had broken from its fastenings and lay upon its side. Everything else was +one confusion. I looked at Bickley. Apparently he had not awakened. He was +stretched out still wedged in with his cushions and bleeding from a wound in +his head. I crept to him in terror and listened. He was not dead, for his +breathing was regular and natural. The whisky bottle which had been corked was +upon the floor unbroken and about a third full. I took a good pull at the +spirit; to me it tasted like nectar from the gods. Then I tried to force some +down Bickley’s throat but could not, so I poured a little upon the cut on +his head. The smart of it woke him in a hurry. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are we now?” he exclaimed. “You don’t mean to +tell me that Bastin is right after all and that we live again somewhere else? +Oh! I could never bear that ignominy.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know about living somewhere else,” I said, +“although my opinions on that matter differ from yours. But I do know +that you and I are still on earth in what remains of the saloon of the <i>Star +of the South</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank God for that! Let’s go and look for old Bastin,” said +Bickley. “I do pray that he is all right also.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is most illogical of you, Bickley, and indeed wrong,” groaned a +deep voice from the other side of the cabin door, “to thank a God in Whom +you do not believe, and to talk of praying for one of the worst and most +inefficient of His servants when you have no faith in prayer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Got you there, my friend,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley murmured something about force of habit, and looked smaller than I had +ever seen him do before. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow we forced that door open; it was not easy because it had jammed. Within +the cabin, hanging on either side of the bath towel which had stood the strain +nobly, something like a damp garment over a linen line, was Bastin most of +whose bunk seemed to have disappeared. Yes—Bastin, pale and dishevelled +and looking shrunk, with his hair touzled and his beard apparently growing all +ways, but still Bastin alive, if very weak. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley ran at him and made a cursory examination with his fingers. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing broken,” he said triumphantly. “He’s all +right.” +</p> + +<p> +“If <i>you</i> had hung over a towel for many hours in most violent +weather you would not say that,” groaned Bastin. “My inside is a +pulp. But perhaps you would be kind enough to untie me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bosh!” said Bickley as he obeyed. “All you want is something +to eat. Meanwhile, drink this,” and he handed him the remains of the +whisky. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin swallowed it every drop, murmuring something about taking a little wine +for his stomach’s sake, “one of the Pauline injunctions, you +know,” after which he was much more cheerful. Then we hunted about and +found some more of the biscuits and other food with which we filled ourselves +after a fashion. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder what has happened,” said Bastin. “I suppose that, +thanks to the skill of the captain, we have after all reached the haven where +we would be.” +</p> + +<p> +Here he stopped, rubbed his eyes and looked towards the saloon door which, as I +have said, had been wrenched off its hinges, but appeared to have opened wider +than when I observed it last. Also Tommy, who was recovering his spirits, +uttered a series of low growls. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a most curious thing,” he went on, “and I suppose I +must be suffering from hallucinations, but I could swear that just now I saw +looking through that door the same improper young woman clothed in a few +flowers and nothing else, whose photograph in that abominable and libellous +book was indirectly the cause of our tempestuous voyage.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” replied Bickley. “Well, so long as she has not got +on the broken-down stays and the Salvation Army bonnet without a crown, which +you may remember she wore after she had fallen into the hands of your +fraternity, I am sure <i>I</i> do not mind. In fact I should be delighted to +see anything so pleasant.” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment a distinct sound of female tittering arose from beyond the door. +Tommy barked and Bickley stepped towards it, but I called to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out! Where there are women there are sure to be men. Let us be +ready against accidents.” +</p> + +<p> +So we armed ourselves with pistols, that is Bickley and I did, Bastin being +fortified solely with a Bible. +</p> + +<p> +Then we advanced, a remarkable and dilapidated trio, and dragged the door wide. +Instantly there was a scurry and we caught sight of women’s forms wearing +only flowers, and but few of these, running over white sand towards groups of +men armed with odd-looking clubs, some of which were fashioned to the shapes of +swords and spears. To make an impression I fired two shots with my revolver +into the air, whereupon both men and women fled into groves of trees and +vanished. +</p> + +<p> +“They don’t seem to be accustomed to white people,” said +Bickley. “Is it possible that we have found a shore upon which no +missionary has set a foot?” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope so,” said Bastin, “seeing that unworthy as I am, then +the opportunities for me would be very great.” +</p> + +<p> +We stood still and looked about us. This was what we saw. All the after part of +the ship from forward of the bridge had vanished utterly; there was not a trace +of it; she had as it were been cut in two. More, we were some considerable +distance from the sea which was still raging over a quarter of a mile away +where great white combers struck upon a reef and spouted into the air. Behind +us was a cliff, apparently of rock but covered with earth and vegetation, and +against this cliff, in which the prow of the ship was buried, she, or what +remained of her, had come to anchor for the last time. +</p> + +<p> +“You see what has happened,” I said. “A great tidal wave has +carried us up here and retreated.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it,” exclaimed Bickley. “Look at the +debris,” and he pointed to torn-up palms, bushes and seaweed piled into +heaps which still ran salt water; also to a number of dead fish that lay about +among them, adding, “Well, we are saved anyhow.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet there are people like you who say that there is no +Providence!” ejaculated Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder what the views of Captain Astley and the crew are, or rather +were, upon that matter,” interrupted Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” answered Bastin, looking about him vaguely. +“It is true that I can’t see any of them, but if they are drowned +no doubt it is because their period of usefulness in this world had +ended.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s get down and look about us,” I remarked, being anxious +to avoid further argument. +</p> + +<p> +So we scrambled from the remnant of the ship, like Noah descending out of the +ark, as Bastin said, on to the beach beneath, where Tommy rushed to and fro, +gambolling for joy. Here we discovered a path which ran diagonally up the side +of a cliff which was nowhere more than fifty or sixty feet in height, and +possibly had once formed the shore of this land, or perhaps that of a lake. Up +this path we went, following the tracks of many human feet, and reaching the +crest of the cliff, looked about us, basking as we did so in the beautiful +morning sun, for the sky was now clear of clouds and with that last awful +effort, which destroyed our ship, the cyclone had passed away. +</p> + +<p> +We were standing on a plain down which ran a little stream of good water +whereof Tommy drank greedily, we following his example. To the right and left +of this plain, further than we could see, stretched bushland over which towered +many palms, rather ragged now because of the lashing of the gale. Looking +inland we perceived that the ground sloped gently downwards, ending at a +distance of some miles in a large lake. Far out in this lake something like the +top of a mountain of a brown colour rose above the water, and on the edge of it +was what from that distance appeared to be a tumbled ruin. +</p> + +<p> +“This is all very interesting,” I said to Bickley. “What do +you make of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t quite know. At first sight I should say that we are +standing on the lip of a crater of some vast extinct volcano. Look how it +curves to north and south and at the slope running down to the lake.” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“Lucky that the tidal wave did not get over the cliff,” I said. +“If it had the people here would have all been drowned out. I wonder +where they have gone?” +</p> + +<p> +As I spoke Bastin pointed to the edge of the bush some hundreds of yards away, +where we perceived brown figures slipping about among the trees. I suggested +that we should go back to the mouth of our path, so as to have a line of +retreat open in case of necessity, and await events. So we did and there stood +still. By degrees the brown figures emerged on to the plain to the number of +some hundreds, and we saw that they were both male and female. The women were +clothed in nothing except flowers and a little girdle; the men were all armed +with wooden weapons and also wore a girdle but no flowers. The children, of +whom there were many, were quite naked. +</p> + +<p> +Among these people we observed a tall person clothed in what seemed to be a +magnificent feather cloak, and, walking around and about him, a number of +grotesque forms adorned with hideous masks and basket-like head-dresses that +were surmounted by plumes. +</p> + +<p> +“The king or chief and his priests or medicine-men! This is +splendid,” said Bickley triumphantly. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin also contemplated them with enthusiasm as raw material upon which he +hoped to get to work. +</p> + +<p> +By degrees and very cautiously they approached us. To our joy, we perceived +that behind them walked several young women who bore wooden trays of food or +fruit. +</p> + +<p> +“That looks well,” I said. “They would not make offerings +unless they were friendly.” +</p> + +<p> +“The food may be poisoned,” remarked Bickley suspiciously. +</p> + +<p> +The crowd advanced, we standing quite still looking as dignified as we could, I +as the tallest in the middle, with Tommy sitting at my feet. When they were +about five and twenty yards away, however, that wretched little dog caught +sight of the masked priests. He growled and then rushed at them barking, his +long black ears flapping as he went. +</p> + +<p> +The effect was instantaneous. One and all they turned and fled precipitately, +who evidently had never before seen a dog and looked upon it as a deadly +creature. Yes, even the tall chief and his masked medicine-men fled like hares +pursued by Tommy, who bit one of them in the leg, evoking a terrific howl. I +called him back and took him into my arms. Seeing that he was safe for a while +the crowd reformed and once again advanced. +</p> + +<p> +As they came we noted that they were a wonderfully handsome people, tall and +straight with regularly shaped features and nothing of the negro about them. +Some of the young women might even be called beautiful, though those who were +elderly had become corpulent. The feather-clothed chief, however, was much +disfigured by a huge growth with a narrow stalk to it that hung from his neck +and rested on his shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll have that off him before he is a week older,” said +Bickley, surveying this deformity with great professional interest. +</p> + +<p> +On they came, the girls with the platters walking ahead. On one of these were +what looked like joints of baked pork, on another some plantains and +pear-shaped fruits. They knelt down and offered these to us. We contemplated +them for a while. Then Bickley shook his head and began to rub his stomach with +appropriate contortions. Clearly they were quick-minded enough for they saw the +point. At some words the girls brought the platters to the chief and others, +who took from them portions of the food at hazard and ate them to show that it +was not poisoned, we watching their throats the while to make sure that it was +swallowed. Then they returned again and we took some of the food though only +Bickley ate, because, as I pointed out to him, being a doctor who understood +the use of antidotes; clearly he should make the experiment. However, nothing +happened; indeed he said that it was very good. +</p> + +<p> +After this there came a pause. Then suddenly Bastin took up his parable in the +Polynesian tongue which—to a certain extent—he had acquired with so +much pains. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this place called?” he asked slowly and distinctly, +pausing between each word. +</p> + +<p> +His audience shook their heads and he tried again, putting the accents on +different syllables. Behold! some bright spirit understood him and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Orofena.” +</p> + +<p> +“That means a hill, or an island, or a hill in an island,” +whispered Bickley to me. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is your God?” asked Bastin again. +</p> + +<p> +The point seemed one upon which they were a little doubtful, but at last the +chief answered, “Oro. He who fights.” +</p> + +<p> +“In other words, Mars,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I will give you a better one,” said Bastin in the same slow +fashion. +</p> + +<p> +Thinking that he referred to himself these children of Nature contemplated his +angular form doubtfully and shook their heads. Then for the first time one of +the men who was wearing a mask and a wicker crate on his head, spoke in a +hollow voice, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“If you try Oro will eat you up.” +</p> + +<p> +“Head priest!” said Bickley, nudging me. “Old Bastin had +better be careful or he will get his teeth into him and call them +Oro’s.” +</p> + +<p> +Another pause, after which the man in a feather cloak with the growth on his +neck that a servant was supporting, said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am Marama, the chief of Orofena. We have never seen men like you +before, if you are men. What brought you here and with you that fierce and +terrible animal, or evil spirit which makes a noise and bites?” +</p> + +<p> +Now Bickley pretended to consult me who stood brooding and majestic, that is if +I can be majestic. I whispered something and he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“The gods of the wind and the sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“What nonsense,” ejaculated Bastin, “there are no such +things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shut up,” I said, “we must use similes here,” to which +he replied: +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t like similes that tamper with the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Remember Neptune and Aeolus,” I suggested, and he lapsed into +consideration of the point. +</p> + +<p> +“We knew that you were coming,” said Marama. “Our doctors +told us all about you a moon ago. But we wish that you would come more gently, +as you nearly washed away our country.” +</p> + +<p> +After looking at me Bickley replied: +</p> + +<p> +“How thankful should you be that in our kindness we have spared +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you come to do?” inquired Marama again. After the usual +formula of consulting me Bickley answered: +</p> + +<p> +“We come to take that mountain (he meant lump) off your neck and make you +beautiful; also to cure all the sickness among your people.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I come,” broke in Bastin, “to give you new +hearts.” +</p> + +<p> +These announcements evidently caused great excitement. After consultation +Marama answered: +</p> + +<p> +“We do not want new hearts as the old ones are good, but we wish to be +rid of lumps and sicknesses. If you can do this we will make you gods and +worship you and give you many wives.” (Here Bastin held up his hands in +horror.) “When will you begin to take away the lumps?” +</p> + +<p> +“To-morrow,” said Bickley. “But learn that if you try to harm +us we will bring another wave which will drown all your country.” +</p> + +<p> +Nobody seemed to doubt our capacities in this direction, but one inquiring +spirit in a wicker crate did ask how it came about that if we controlled the +ocean we had arrived in half a canoe instead of a whole one. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley replied to the effect that it was because the gods always travelled in +half-canoes to show their higher nature, which seemed to satisfy everyone. Then +we announced that we had seen enough of them for that day and would retire to +think. Meanwhile we should be obliged if they would build us a house and keep +us supplied with whatever food they had. +</p> + +<p> +“Do the gods eat?” asked the sceptic again. +</p> + +<p> +“That fellow is a confounded radical,” I whispered to Bickley. +“Tell him that they do when they come to Orofena.” +</p> + +<p> +He did so, whereon the chief said: +</p> + +<p> +“Would the gods like a nice young girl cooked?” +</p> + +<p> +At this point Bastin retired down the path, realising that he had to do with +cannibals. We said that we preferred to look at the girls alive and would meet +them again to-morrow morning, when we hoped that the house would be ready. +</p> + +<p> +So our first interview with the inhabitants of Orofena came to an end, on which +we congratulated ourselves. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +On reaching the remains of the <i>Star of the South</i> we set to work to take +stock of what was left to us. Fortunately it proved to be a very great deal. As +I think I mentioned, all the passenger part of the yacht lay forward of the +bridge, just in front of which the vessel had been broken in two, almost as +cleanly as though she were severed by a gigantic knife. Further our stores were +forward and practically everything else that belonged to us, even down to +Bickley’s instruments and medicines and Bastin’s religious works, +to say nothing of a great quantity of tinned food and groceries. Lastly on the +deck above the saloon had stood two large lifeboats. Although these were amply +secured at the commencement of the gale one of them, that on the port side, was +smashed to smithers; probably some spar had fallen upon it. The starboard boat, +however, remained intact and so far as we could judge, seaworthy, although the +bulwarks were broken by the waves. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s something we can get away in if necessary,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Where to?” remarked Bastin. “We don’t know where we +are or if there is any other land within a thousand miles. I think we had +better stop here as Providence seems to have intended, especially when there is +so much work to my hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be careful,” answered Bickley, “that the work to your hand +does not end in the cutting of all our throats. It is an awkward thing +interfering with the religion of savages, and I believe that these untutored +children of Nature sometimes eat missionaries.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have heard that,” said Bastin; “they bake them first +as they do pigs. But I don’t know that they would care to eat me,” +and he glanced at his bony limbs, “especially when you are much plumper. +Anyhow one can’t stop for a risk of that sort.” +</p> + +<p> +Deigning no reply, Bickley walked away to fetch some fine fish which had been +washed up by the tidal wave and were still flapping about in a little pool of +salt water. Then we took counsel as to how to make the best of our +circumstances, and as a result set to work to tidy up the saloon and cabins, +which was not difficult as what remained of the ship lay on an even keel. Also +we got out some necessary stores, including paraffin for the swinging lamps +with which the ship was fitted in case of accident to the electric light, +candles, and the guns we had brought with us so that they might be handy in the +event of attack. This done, by the aid of the tools that were in the +storerooms, Bickley, who was an excellent carpenter, repaired the saloon door, +all that was necessary to keep us private, as the bulkhead still remained. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” he said triumphantly when he had finished and got the lock +and bolts to work to his satisfaction, “we can stand a siege if needed, +for as the ship is iron built they can’t even burn us out and that teak +door would take some forcing. Also we can shore it up.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about something to eat? I want my tea,” said Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, my reverend friend,” replied Bickley, “take a couple +of the fire buckets and fetch some water from the stream. Also collect +driftwood of which there is plenty about, clean those fish and grill them over +the saloon stove.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll try,” said Bastin, “but I never did any cooking +before.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” replied Bickley, “on second thoughts I will see to that +myself, but you can get the fish ready.” +</p> + +<p> +So, with due precautions, Bastin and I fetched water from the stream which we +found flowed over the edge of the cliff quite close at hand into a beautiful +coral basin that might have been designed for a bath of the nymphs. Indeed one +at a time, while the other watched, we undressed and plunged into it, and never +was a tub more welcome than after our long days of tempest. Then we returned to +find that Bickley had already set the table and was engaged in frying the fish +very skilfully on the saloon stove, which proved to be well adapted to the +purpose. He was cross, however, when he found that we had bathed and that it +was now too late for him to do likewise. +</p> + +<p> +While he was cleaning himself as well as he could in his cabin basin and Bastin +was boiling water for tea, suddenly I remembered the letter from the Danish +mate Jacobsen. Concluding that it might now be opened as we had certainly +parted with most of the <i>Star of the South</i> for the last time, I read it. +It was as follows: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The reason, honoured Sir, that I am leaving the ship is that on the +night I tore up the paper, the spirit controlling the planchette wrote these +words: ‘After leaving Samoa the <i>Star of the South</i> will be wrecked +in a hurricane and everybody on board drowned except A. B. and B. Get out of +her! Get out of her! Don’t be a fool, Jacob, unless you want to come over +here at once. Take our advice and get out of her and you will live to be +old.—S<small>KOLL</small>.” +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Sir, I am not a coward but I know that this will happen, for that spirit +which signs itself Skoll never tells a lie. I did try to give the captain a +hint to stop at Apia, but he had been drinking and openly cursed me and called +me a sneaking cheat. So I am going to run away, of which I am very much +ashamed. But I do not wish to be drowned yet as there is a girl whom I want to +marry, and my mother I support. You will be safe and I hope you will not think +too badly of me.—J<small>ACOB</small> J<small>ACOBSEN</small>.<br /> + “<i>P.S</i>.—It is an awful thing to know the future. Never try +to learn that.” +</p> + +<p> +I gave this letter to Bastin and Bickley to read and asked them what they +thought of it. +</p> + +<p> +“Coincidence,” said Bickley. “The man is a weak-minded idiot +and heard in Samoa that they expected a hurricane.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think,” chimed in Bastin, “that the devil knows how to +look after his own at any rate for a little while. I dare say it would have +been much better for him to be drowned.” +</p> + +<p> +“At least he is a deserter and failed in his duty. I never wish to hear +of him again,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +As a matter of fact I never have. But the incident remains quite unexplained +either by Bickley or Bastin. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +The Orofenans</h2> + +<p> +To our shame we had a very pleasant supper that night off the grilled fish, +which was excellent, and some tinned meat. I say to our shame, in a sense, for +on our companions the sharks were supping and by rights we should have been +sunk in woe. I suppose that the sense of our own escape intoxicated us. Also, +notwithstanding his joviality, none of us had cared much for the captain, and +his policy had been to keep us somewhat apart from the crew, of whom therefore +we knew but little. It is true that Bastin held services on Sundays, for such +as would attend, and Bickley had doctored a few of them for minor ailments, but +there, except for a little casual conversation, our intercourse began and +ended. +</p> + +<p> +Now the sad fact is that it is hard to be overwhelmed with grief for those with +whom we are not intimate. We were very sorry and that is all that can be said, +except that Bastin, being High Church, announced in a matter-of-fact way that +he meant to put up some petitions for the welfare of their souls. To this +Bickley retorted that from what he had seen of their bodies he was sure they +needed them. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, it was a pleasant supper, not made less so by a bottle of champagne which +Bickley and I shared. Bastin stuck to his tea, not because he did not like +champagne, but because, as he explained, having now come in contact with the +heathen it would never do for him to set them an example in the use of +spirituous liquors. +</p> + +<p> +“However much we may differ, Bastin, I respect you for that +sentiment,” commented Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know why you should,” answered Bastin; “but if +so, you might follow my example.” +</p> + +<p> +That night we slept like logs, trusting to our teak door which we barricaded, +and to Tommy, who was a most excellent watch-dog, to guard us against surprise. +At any rate we took the risk. As a matter of fact, nothing happened, though +before dawn Tommy did growl a good deal, for I heard him, but as he sank into +slumber again on my bed, I did not get up. In the morning I found from fresh +footprints that two or three men had been prowling about the ship, though at a +little distance. +</p> + +<p> +We rose early, and taking the necessary precautions, bathed in the pool. Then +we breakfasted, and having filled every available receptacle with water, which +took us a long time as these included a large tank that supplied the bath, so +that we might have at least a week’s supply in case of siege, we went on +deck and debated what we should do. In the end we determined to stop where we +were and await events, because, as I pointed out, it was necessary that we +should discover whether these natives were hostile or friendly. In the former +event we could hold our own on the ship, whereas away from it we must be +overwhelmed; in the latter there was always time to move inland. +</p> + +<p> +About ten o’clock when we were seated on stools smoking, with our guns by +our side—for here, owing to the overhanging cliff in which it will be +remembered the prow of the ship was buried, we could not be reached by missiles +thrown from above—we saw numbers of the islanders advancing upon us along +the beach on either side. They were preceded as before by women who bore food +on platters and in baskets. These people, all talking excitedly and laughing +after their fashion, stopped at a distance, so we took no notice of them. +Presently Marama, clad in his feather cloak, and again accompanied by priests +or medicine-men, appeared walking down the path on the cliff face, and, +standing below, made salutations and entered into a conversation with us of +which I give the substance—that is, so far as we could understand it. +</p> + +<p> +He reproached us for not having come to him as he expected we would do. We +replied that we preferred to remain where we were until we were sure of our +greeting and asked him what was the position. He explained that only once +before, in the time of his grandfather, had any people reached their shores, +also during a great storm as we had done. They were dark-skinned men like +themselves, three of them, but whence they came was never known, since they +were at once seized and sacrificed to the god Oro, which was the right thing to +do in such a case. +</p> + +<p> +We asked whether he would consider it right to sacrifice us. He replied: +</p> + +<p> +Certainly, unless we were too strong, being gods ourselves, or unless an +arrangement could be concluded. We asked—what arrangement? He replied +that we must make them gifts; also that we must do what we had promised and +cure him—the chief—of the disease which had tormented him for +years. In that event everything would be at our disposal and we, with all our +belongings, should become <i>taboo</i>, holy, not to be touched. None would +attempt to harm us, nothing should be stolen under penalty of death. +</p> + +<p> +We asked him to come up on the deck with only one companion that his sickness +might be ascertained, and after much hesitation he consented to do so. Bickley +made an examination of the growth and announced that he believed it could be +removed with perfect safety as the attachment to the neck was very slight, but +of course there was always a risk. This was explained to him with difficulty, +and much talk followed between him and his followers who gathered on the beach +beneath the ship. They seemed adverse to the experiment, till Marama grew +furious with them and at last burst into tears saying that he could no longer +drag this terrible burden about with him, and he touched the growth. He would +rather die. Then they gave way. +</p> + +<p> +I will tell the rest as shortly as I can. +</p> + +<p> +A hideous wooden idol was brought on board, wrapped in leaves and feathers, and +upon it the chief and his head people swore safety to us whether he lived or +died, making us the guests of their land. There were, however, two provisos +made, or as such we understood them. These seemed to be that we should offer no +insult or injury to their god, and secondly, that we should not set foot on the +island in the lake. It was not till afterwards that it occurred to me that this +must refer to the mountain top which appeared in the inland sheet of water. To +those stipulations we made no answer. Indeed, the Orofenans did all the +talking. Finally, they ratified their oaths by a man who, I suppose, was a head +priest, cutting his arm and rubbing the blood from it on the lips of the idol; +also upon those of the chief. I should add that Bastin had retired as soon as +he saw that false god appear, of which I was glad, since I felt sure that he +would make a scene. +</p> + +<p> +The operation took place that afternoon and on the ship, for when once Marama +had made up his mind to trust us he did so very thoroughly. It was performed on +deck in the presence of an awed multitude who watched from the shore, and when +they saw Bickley appear in a clean nightshirt and wash his hands, uttered a +groan of wonder. Evidently they considered it a magical and religious ceremony; +indeed ever afterwards they called Bickley the Great Priest, or sometimes the +Great Healer in later days. This was a grievance to Bastin who considered that +he had been robbed of his proper title, especially when he learned that among +themselves he was only known as “the Bellower,” because of the loud +voice in which he addressed them. Nor did Bickley particularly appreciate the +compliment. +</p> + +<p> +With my help he administered the chloroform, which was done under shelter of a +sail for fear lest the people should think that we were smothering their chief. +Then the operation went on to a satisfactory conclusion. I omit the details, +but an electric battery and a red-hot wire came into play. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” said Bickley triumphantly when he had finished tying the +vessels and made everything neat and tidy with bandages, “I was afraid he +might bleed to death, but I don’t think there is any fear of that now, +for I have made a real job of it.” Then advancing with the horrid tumour +in his hands he showed it in triumph to the crowd beneath, who groaned again +and threw themselves on to their faces. Doubtless now it is the most sacred +relic of Orofena. +</p> + +<p> +When Marama came out of the anesthetic, Bickley gave him something which sent +him to sleep for twelve hours, during all which time his people waited beneath. +This was our dangerous period, for our difficulty was to persuade them that he +was not dead, although Bickley had assured them that he would sleep for a time +while the magic worked. Still, I was very glad when he woke up on the following +morning, and two or three of his leading men could see that he was alive. The +rest was lengthy but simple, consisting merely in keeping him quiet and on a +suitable diet until there was no fear of the wound opening. We achieved it +somehow with the help of an intelligent native woman who, I suppose, was one of +his wives, and five days later were enabled to present him healed, though +rather tottery, to his affectionate subjects. +</p> + +<p> +It was a great scene, which may be imagined. They bore him away in a litter +with the native woman to watch him and another to carry the relic preserved in +a basket, and us they acclaimed as gods. Thenceforward we had nothing to fear +in Orofena—except Bastin, though this we did not know at the time. +</p> + +<p> +All this while we had been living on our ship and growing very bored there, +although we employed the empty hours in conversation with selected natives, +thereby improving our knowledge of the language. Bickley had the best of it, +since already patients began to arrive which occupied him. One of the first was +that man whom Tommy had bitten. He was carried to us in an almost comatose +state, suffering apparently from the symptoms of snake poisoning. +</p> + +<p> +Afterward it turned out that he conceived Tommy to be a divine but most +venomous lizard that could make a very horrible noise, and began to suffer as +one might do from the bite of such a creature. Nothing that Bickley could do +was enough to save him and ultimately he died in convulsions, a circumstance +that enormously enhanced Tommy’s reputation. To tell the truth, we took +advantage of it to explain that Tommy was in fact a supernatural animal, a sort +of tame demon which only harmed people who had malevolent intentions towards +those he served or who tried to steal any of their possessions or to intrude +upon them at inconvenient hours, especially in the dark. So terrible was he, +indeed, that even the skill of the Great Priest, <i>i.e.</i>, Bickley, could +not avail to save any whom once he had bitten in his rage. Even to be barked at +by him was dangerous and conveyed a curse that might last for generations. +</p> + +<p> +All this we set out when Bastin was not there. He had wandered off, as he said, +to look for shells, but as we knew, to practise religious orations in the +Polynesian tongue with the waves for audience, as Demosthenes is said to have +done to perfect himself as a political orator. Personally I admit that I relied +more on the terrors of Tommy to safeguard us from theft and other troubles than +I did upon those of the native <i>taboo</i> and the priestly oaths. +</p> + +<p> +The end of it all was that we left our ship, having padlocked up the door (the +padlock, we explained, was a magical instrument that bit worse than Tommy), and +moved inland in a kind of triumphal procession, priests and singers going +before (the Orofenans sang extremely well) and minstrels following after +playing upon instruments like flutes, while behind came the bearers carrying +such goods as we needed. They took us to a beautiful place in a grove of palms +on a ridge where grew many breadfruit trees, that commanded a view of the ocean +upon one side and of the lake with the strange brown mountain top on the other. +Here in the midst of the native gardens we found that a fine house had been +built for us of a kind of mud brick and thatched with palm leaves, surrounded +by a fenced courtyard of beaten earth and having wide overhanging verandahs; a +very comfortable place indeed in that delicious climate. In it we took up our +abode, visiting the ship occasionally to see that all was well there, and +awaiting events. +</p> + +<p> +For Bickley these soon began to happen in the shape of an ever-increasing +stream of patients. The population of the island was considerable, anything +between five and ten thousand, so far as we could judge, and among these of +course there were a number of sick. Ophthalmia, for instance, was a prevalent +disease, as were the growths such as Marama had suffered from, to say nothing +of surgical cases and those resulting from accident or from nervous ailments. +With all of these Bickley was called upon to deal, which he did with remarkable +success by help of his books on Tropical Diseases and his ample supplies of +medical necessaries. +</p> + +<p> +At first he enjoyed it very much, but when we had been established in the house +for about three weeks he remarked, after putting in a solid ten hours of work, +that for all the holiday he was getting he might as well be back at his old +practice, with the difference that there he was earning several thousands a +year. Just then a poor woman arrived with a baby in convulsions to whose +necessities he was obliged to sacrifice his supper, after which came a man who +had fallen from a palm tree and broken his leg. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did I escape, since having somehow or other established a reputation for +wisdom, as soon as I had mastered sufficient of the language, every kind of +knotty case was laid before me for decision. In short, I became a sort of Chief +Justice—not an easy office as it involved the acquirement of the native +law which was intricate and peculiar, especially in matrimonial cases. +</p> + +<p> +At these oppressive activities Bastin looked on with a gloomy eye. +</p> + +<p> +“You fellows seem very busy,” he said one evening; “but I can +find nothing to do. They don’t seem to want me, and merely to set a good +example by drinking water or tea while you swallow whisky and their palm wine, +or whatever it is, is very negative kind of work, especially as I am getting +tired of planting things in the garden and playing policeman round the wreck +which nobody goes near. Even Tommy is better off, for at least he can bark and +hunt rats.” +</p> + +<p> +“You see,” said Bickley, “we are following our trades. +Arbuthnot is a lawyer and acts as a judge. I am a surgeon and I may add a +general—a very general—practitioner and work at medicine in an +enormous and much-neglected practice. Therefore, you, being a clergyman, should +go and do likewise. There are some ten thousand people here, but I do not +observe that as yet you have converted a single one.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus spoke Bickley in a light and unguarded moment with his usual object of +what is known as “getting a rise” out of Bastin. Little did he +guess what he was doing. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin thought a while ponderously, then said: +</p> + +<p> +“It is very strange from what peculiar sources Providence sometimes sends +inspirations. If wisdom flows from babes and sucklings, why should it not do so +from the well of agnostics and mockers?” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no reason which I can see,” scoffed Bickley, +“except that as a rule wells do not flow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your jest is ill-timed and I may add foolish,” continued Bastin. +“What I was about to add was that you have given me an idea, as it was no +doubt intended that you should do. I will, metaphorically speaking, gird up my +loins and try to bear the light into all this heathen blackness.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it is one of the first you ever had, old fellow. But what’s +the need of girding up your loins in this hot climate?” inquired Bickley +with innocence. “Pyjamas and that white and green umbrella of yours would +do just as well.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin vouchsafed no reply and sat for the rest of that evening plunged in deep +thought. +</p> + +<p> +On the following morning he approached Marama and asked his leave to teach the +people about the gods. The chief readily granted this, thinking, I believe, +that he alluded to ourselves, and orders were issued accordingly. They were to +the effect that Bastin was to be allowed to go everywhere unmolested and to +talk to whom he would about what he would, to which all must listen with +respect. +</p> + +<p> +Thus he began his missionary career in Orofena, working at it, good and earnest +man that he was, in a way that excited even the admiration of Bickley. He +started a school for children, which was held under a fine, spreading tree. +These listened well, and being of exceedingly quick intellect soon began to +pick up the elements of knowledge. But when he tried to persuade them to clothe +their little naked bodies his failure was complete, although after much +supplication some of the bigger girls did arrive with a chaplet of +flowers—round their necks! +</p> + +<p> +Also he preached to the adults, and here again was very successful in a way, +especially after he became more familiar with the language. They listened; to a +certain extent they understood; they argued and put to poor Bastin the most +awful questions such as the whole Bench of Bishops could not have answered. +Still he did answer them somehow, and they politely accepted his interpretation +of their theological riddles. I observed that he got on best when he was +telling them stories out of the Old Testament, such as the account of the +creation of the world and of human beings, also of the Deluge, etc. Indeed one +of their elders said—Yes, this was quite true. They had heard it all +before from their fathers, and that once the Deluge had taken place round +Orofena, swallowing up great countries, but sparing them because they were so +good. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin, surprised, asked them who had caused the deluge. They replied, Oro +which was the name of their god, Oro who dwelt yonder on the mountain in the +lake, and whose representation they worshipped in idols. He said that God dwelt +in Heaven, to which they replied with calm certainty: +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, he dwells on the mountain in the lake,” which was why they +never dared to approach that mountain. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed it was only by giving the name Oro to the Divinity and admitting that He +might dwell in the mountain as well as everywhere else, that Bastin was able to +make progress. Having conceded this, not without scruples, however, he did make +considerable progress, so much, in fact, that I perceived that the priests of +Oro were beginning to grow very jealous of him and of his increasing authority +with the people. Bastin was naturally triumphant, and even exclaimed exultingly +that within a year he would have half of the population baptised. +</p> + +<p> +“Within a year, my dear fellow,” said Bickley, “you will have +your throat cut as a sacrifice, and probably ours also. It is a pity, too, as +within that time I should have stamped out ophthalmia and some other diseases +in the island.” +</p> + +<p> +Here, leaving Bastin and his good work aside for a while, I will say a little +about the country. From information which I gathered on some journeys that I +made and by inquiries from the chief Marama, who had become devoted to us, I +found that Orofena was quite a large place. In shape the island was circular, a +broad band of territory surrounding the great lake of which I have spoken, that +in its turn surrounded a smaller island from which rose the mountain top. No +other land was known to be near the shores of Orofena, which had never been +visited by anyone except the strangers a hundred years ago or so, who were +sacrificed and eaten. Most of the island was covered with forest which the +inhabitants lacked the energy, and indeed had no tools, to fell. They were an +extremely lazy people and would only cultivate enough bananas and other food to +satisfy their immediate needs. In truth they lived mostly upon breadfruit and +other products of the wild trees. +</p> + +<p> +Thus it came about that in years of scarcity through drought or climatic +causes, which prevented the forest trees from bearing, they suffered very much +from hunger. In such years hundreds of them would perish and the remainder +resorted to the dreadful expedient of cannibalism. Sometimes, too, the shoals +of fish avoided their shores, reducing them to great misery. Their only +domestic animal was the pig which roamed about half wild and in no great +numbers, for they had never taken the trouble to breed it in captivity. Their +resources, therefore, were limited, which accounted for the comparative +smallness of the population, further reduced as it was by a wicked habit of +infanticide practised in order to lighten the burden of bringing up children. +</p> + +<p> +They had no traditions as to how they reached this land, their belief being +that they had always been there but that their forefathers were much greater +than they. They were poetical, and sang songs in a language which themselves +they could not understand; they said that it was the tongue their forefathers +had spoken. Also they had several strange customs of which they did not know +the origin. My own opinion, which Bickley shared, was that they were in fact a +shrunken and deteriorated remnant of some high race now coming to its end +through age and inter-breeding. About them indeed, notwithstanding their +primitive savagery which in its qualities much resembled that of other +Polynesians, there was a very curious air of antiquity. One felt that they had +known the older world and its mysteries, though now both were forgotten. Also +their language, which in time we came to speak perfectly, was copious, musical, +and expressive in its idioms. +</p> + +<p> +One circumstance I must mention. In walking about the country I observed all +over it enormous holes, some of them measuring as much as a hundred yards +across, with a depth of fifty feet or more, and this not on alluvial lands +although there traces of them existed also, but in solid rock. What this rock +was I do not know as none of us were geologists, but it seemed to me to partake +of the nature of granite. Certainly it was not coral like that on and about the +coast, but of a primeval formation. +</p> + +<p> +When I asked Marama what caused these holes, he only shrugged his shoulders and +said he did not know, but their fathers had declared that they were made by +stones falling from heaven. This, of course, suggested meteorites to my mind. I +submitted the idea to Bickley, who, in one of his rare intervals of leisure, +came with me to make an examination. +</p> + +<p> +“If they were meteorites,” he said, “of which a shower struck +the earth in some past geological age, all life must have been destroyed by +them and their remains ought to exist at the bottom of the holes. To me they +look more like the effect of high explosives, but that, of course, is +impossible, though I don’t know what else could have caused such +craters.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he went back to his work, for nothing that had to do with antiquity +interested Bickley very much. The present and its problems were enough for him, +he would say, who neither had lived in the past nor expected to have any share +in the future. +</p> + +<p> +As I remained curious I made an opportunity to scramble to the bottom of one of +these craters, taking with me some of the natives with their wooden tools. Here +I found a good deal of soil either washed down from the surface or resulting +from the decomposition of the rock, though oddly enough in it nothing grew. I +directed them to dig. After a while to my astonishment there appeared a corner +of a great worked stone quite unlike that of the crater, indeed it seemed to me +to be a marble. Further examination showed that this block was most beautifully +carved in bas-relief, apparently with a design of leaves and flowers. In the +disturbed soil also I picked up a life-sized marble hand of a woman exquisitely +finished and apparently broken from a statue that might have been the work of +one of the great Greek sculptors. Moreover, on the third finger of this hand +was a representation of a ring whereof, unfortunately, the bezel had been +destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +I put the hand in my pocket, but as darkness was coming on, I could not pursue +the research and disinter the block. When I wished to return the next day, I +was informed politely by Marama that it would not be safe for me to do so as +the priests of Oro declared that if I sought to meddle with the “buried +things the god would grow angry and bring disaster on me.” +</p> + +<p> +When I persisted he said that at least I must go alone since no native would +accompany me, and added earnestly that he prayed me not to go. So to my great +regret and disappointment I was obliged to give up the idea. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +Bastin Attempts the Martyr’s Crown</h2> + +<p> +That carved stone and the marble hand took a great hold of my imagination. What +did they mean? How could they have come to the bottom of that hole, unless +indeed they were part of some building and its ornaments which had been +destroyed in the neighbourhood? The stone of which we had only uncovered a +corner seemed far too big to have been carried there from any ship; it must +have weighed several tons. Besides, ships do not carry such things about the +world, and none had visited this island during the last two centuries at any +rate, or local tradition would have recorded so wonderful a fact. Were there, +then, once edifices covered with elegant carving standing on this place, and +were they adorned with lovely statues that would not have disgraced the best +period of Greek art? The thing was incredible except on the supposition that +these were relics of an utterly lost civilisation. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley was as much puzzled as myself. All he could say was that the world was +infinitely old and many things might have happened in it whereof we had no +record. Even Bastin was excited for a little while, but as his imagination was +represented by zero, all he could say was: +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose someone left them there, and anyhow it doesn’t matter +much, does it?” +</p> + +<p> +But I, who have certain leanings towards the ancient and mysterious, could not +be put off in this fashion. I remembered that unapproachable mountain in the +midst of the lake and that on it appeared to be something which looked like +ruins as seen from the top of the cliff through glasses. At any rate this was a +point that I might clear up. +</p> + +<p> +Saying nothing to anybody, one morning I slipped away and walked to the edge of +the lake, a distance of five or six miles over rough country. Having arrived +there I perceived that the cone-shaped mountain in the centre, which was about +a mile from the lake shore, was much larger than I had thought, quite three +hundred feet high indeed, and with a very large circumference. Further, its +sides evidently once had been terraced, and it was on one of these broad +terraces, half-way up and facing towards the rising sun, that the ruin-like +remains were heaped. I examined them through my glasses. Undoubtedly it was a +cyclopean ruin built of great blocks of coloured stone which seemed to have +been shattered by earthquake or explosion. There were the pillars of a mighty +gateway and the remains of walls. +</p> + +<p> +I trembled with excitement as I stared and stared. Could I not get to the place +and see for myself? I observed that from the flat bush-clad land at the foot of +the mountain, ran out what seemed to be the residue of a stone pier which ended +in a large table-topped rock between two and three hundred feet across. But +even this was too far to reach by swimming, besides for aught I knew there +might be alligators in that lake. I walked up and down its borders, till +presently I came to a path which led into a patch of some variety of cotton +palm. +</p> + +<p> +Following this path I discovered a boat-house thatched over with palm leaves. +Inside it were two good canoes with their paddles, floating and tied to the +stumps of trees by fibre ropes. Instantly I made up my mind that I would paddle +to the island and investigate. Just as I was about to step into one of the +canoes the light was cut off. Looking up I saw that a man was crouching in the +door-place of the boat-house in order to enter, and paused guiltily. +</p> + +<p> +“Friend-from-the-Sea” (that was the name that these islanders had +given to me), said the voice of Marama, “say—what are you doing +here?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am about to take a row on the lake, Chief,” I answered +carelessly. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, Friend. Have we then treated you so badly that you are tired of +life?” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Come out into the sunlight, Friend, and I will explain to you.” +</p> + +<p> +I hesitated till I saw Marama lifting the heavy wooden spear he carried and +remembered that I was unarmed. Then I came out. +</p> + +<p> +“What does all this mean, Chief?” I asked angrily when we were +clear of the patch of cotton palm. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean, Friend, that you have been very near to making a longer journey +than you thought. Have patience now and listen to me. I saw you leaving the +village this morning and followed, suspecting your purpose. Yes, I followed +alone, saying nothing to the priests of Oro who fortunately were away watching +the Bellower for their own reasons. I saw you searching out the secrets of the +mountain with those magic tubes that make things big that are small, and things +that are far off come near, and I followed you to the canoes.” +</p> + +<p> +“All that is plain enough, Marama. But why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Have I not told you, Friend-from-the-Sea, that yonder hill which is +called Orofena, whence this island takes its name, is sacred?” +</p> + +<p> +“You said so, but what of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“This: to set foot thereon is to die and, I suppose, great as you are, +you, too, can die like others. At least, although I love you, had you not come +away from that canoe I was about to discover whether this is so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then for what are the canoes used?” I asked with irritation. +</p> + +<p> +“You see that flat rock, Friend, with the hole beyond, which is the mouth +of a cave that appeared only in the great storm that brought you to our land? +They are used to convey offerings which are laid upon the rock. Beyond it no +man may go, and since the beginning no man has ever gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Offerings to whom?” +</p> + +<p> +“To the Oromatuas, the spirits of the great dead who live there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oromatuas? Oro! It is always something to do with Oro. Who and what is +Oro?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oro is a god, Friend, though it is true that the priests say that above +him there is a greater god called Degai, the Creator, the Fate who made all +things and directs all things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, but why do you suppose that Oro, the servant of Degai, lives +in that mountain? I thought that he lived in a grove yonder where your priests, +as I am told, have an image of him.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, Friend-from-the-Sea, but so it has been held from the +beginning. The image in the grove is only visited by his spirit from time to +time. Now, I pray you, come back and before the priests discover that you have +been here, and forget that there are any canoes upon this lake.” +</p> + +<p> +So, thinking it wisest, I turned the matter with a laugh and walked away with +him to the village. On our road I tried to extract some more information but +without success. He did not know who built the ruin upon the mountain, or who +destroyed it. He did not know how the terraces came there. All he knew was that +during the convulsion of Nature which resulted in the tidal wave that had +thrown our ship upon the island, the mountain had been seen to quiver like a +tree in the wind as though within it great forces were at work. Then it was +observed to have risen a good many more feet above the surface of the lake, as +might be noted by the water mark upon the shore, and then also the mouth of the +cave had appeared. The priests said that all this was because the Oromatuas who +dwelt there were stirring, which portended great things. Indeed great things +had happened—for had we not arrived in their land? +</p> + +<p> +I thanked him for what he had told me, and, as there was nothing more to be +learned, dropped the subject which was never mentioned between us again, at +least not for a long while. But in my heart I determined that I would reach +that mountain even though to do so I must risk my life. Something seemed to +call me to the place; it was as though I were being drawn by a magnet. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +As it happened, before so very long I did go to the mountain, not of my own +will but because I was obliged. It came about thus. One night I asked Bastin +how he was getting on with his missionary work. He replied: Very well indeed, +but there was one great obstacle in his path, the idol in the Grove. Were it +not for this accursed image he believed that the whole island would become +Christian. I asked him to be more plain. He explained that all his work was +thwarted by this idol, since his converts declared that they did not dare to be +baptised while it sat there in the Grove. If they did, the spirit that was in +it would bewitch them and perhaps steal out at night and murder them. +</p> + +<p> +“The spirit being our friends the sorcerers,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it, Arbuthnot. Do you know, I believe those devilish men +sometimes offer human sacrifices to this satanic fetish, when there is a +drought or anything of that sort.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can quite believe it,” I answered, “but as they will +scarcely remove their god and with it their own livelihood and authority, I am +afraid that as we don’t want to be sacrificed, there is nothing to be +done.” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment I was called away. As I went I heard Bastin muttering something +about martyrs, but paid no attention. Little did I guess what was going on in +his pious but obstinate mind. In effect it was this—that if no one else +would remove that idol he was quite ready to do it himself. +</p> + +<p> +However, he was very cunning over that business, almost Jesuitical indeed. Not +one word did he breathe of his dark plans to me, and still less to Bickley. He +just went on with his teaching, lamenting from time to time the stumbling-block +of the idol and expressing wonder as to how it might be circumvented by a +change in the hearts of the islanders, or otherwise. Sad as it is to record, in +fact, dear old Bastin went as near to telling a fib in connection with this +matter as I suppose he had ever done in his life. It happened thus. One day +Bickley’s sharp eye caught sight of Bastin walking about with what looked +like a bottle of whisky in his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo, old fellow,” he said, “has the self-denying ordinance +broken down? I didn’t know that you took pegs on the sly,” and he +pointed to the bottle. +</p> + +<p> +“If you are insinuating, Bickley, that I absorb spirits surreptitiously, +you are more mistaken than usual, which is saying a good deal. This bottle +contains, not Scotch whisky but paraffin, although I admit that its label may +have misled you, unintentionally, so far as I am concerned.” +</p> + +<p> +“What are you going to do with the paraffin?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin coloured through his tan and replied awkwardly: +</p> + +<p> +“Paraffin is very good to keep away mosquitoes if one can stand the smell +of it upon one’s skin. Not that I have brought it here with that sole +object. The truth is that I am anxious to experiment with a lamp of my own +design made—um—of native wood,” and he departed in a hurry. +</p> + +<p> +“When next old Bastin wants to tell a lie,” commented Bickley, +“he should make up his mind as to what it is to be, and stick to it. I +wonder what he is after with that paraffin? Not going to dose any of my +patients with it, I hope. He was arguing the other day that it is a great +remedy taken internally, being quite unaware that the lamp variety is not used +for that purpose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps he means to swallow some himself, just to show that he is +right,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“The stomach-pump is at hand,” said Bickley, and the matter +dropped. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning I got up before it was light. Having some elementary knowledge of +the main facts of astronomy, which remained with me from boyhood when I had +attended lectures on the subject, which I had tried to refresh by help of an +encyclopedia I had brought from the ship, I wished to attempt to obtain an idea +of our position by help of the stars. In this endeavour, I may say, I failed +absolutely, as I did not know how to take a stellar or any other observation. +</p> + +<p> +On my way out of our native house I observed, by the lantern I carried, that +the compartment of it occupied by Bastin was empty, and wondered whither he had +gone at that hour. On arriving at my observation-post, a rocky eminence on open +ground, where, with Tommy at my side, I took my seat with a telescope, I was +astonished to see or rather to hear a great number of the natives walking past +the base of the mound towards the bush. Then I remembered that some one, +Marama, I think, had informed me that there was to be a great sacrifice to Oro +at dawn on that day. After this I thought no more of the matter but occupied +myself in a futile study of the heavenly bodies. At length the dawn broke and +put a period to my labours. +</p> + +<p> +Glancing round me before I descended from the little hill, I saw a flame of +light appear suddenly about half a mile or more away among those trees which I +knew concealed the image of Oro. On this personally I had never had the +curiosity to look, as I knew that it was only a hideous idol stuck over with +feathers and other bedizenments. The flame shot suddenly straight into the +still air and was followed a few seconds later by the sound of a dull +explosion, after which it went out. Also it was followed by something +else—a scream of rage from an infuriated mob. +</p> + +<p> +At the foot of the hill I stopped to wonder what these sounds might mean. Then +of a sudden appeared Bickley, who had been attending some urgent case, and +asked me who was exploding gunpowder. I told him that I had no idea. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I have,” he answered. “It is that ass Bastin up to some +game. Now I guess why he wanted that paraffin. Listen to the row. What are they +after?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sacrificing Bastin, perhaps,” I replied, half in jest. “Have +you your revolver?” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded. We always wore our pistols if we went out during the dark hours. +</p> + +<p> +“Then perhaps we had better go to see.” +</p> + +<p> +We started, and had not covered a hundred yards before a girl, whom I +recognised as one of Bastin’s converts, came flying towards us and +screaming out, “Help! Help! They kill the Bellower with fire! They cook +him like a pig!” +</p> + +<p> +“Just what I expected,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +Then we ran hard, as evidently there was no time to lose. While we went I +extracted from the terrified girl, whom we forced to show us the way, that as +the sacrifice was about to be offered Bastin had appeared, and, “making +fire,” applied it to the god Oro, who instantly burst into flame. Then he +ran back, calling out that the devil was dead. As he did so there was a loud +explosion and Oro flew into pieces. His burning head went a long way into the +air and, falling on to one of the priests, killed him. Thereon the other +priests and the people seized the Bellower and made him fast. Now they were +engaged in heating an oven in which to put him to cook. When it was ready they +would eat him in honour of Oro. +</p> + +<p> +“And serve him right too!” gasped Bickley, who, being stout, was +not a good runner. “Why can’t he leave other people’s gods +alone instead of blowing them up with gunpowder?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know,” I answered. “Hope we shall get there in +time!” +</p> + +<p> +“To be cooked and eaten with Bastin!” wheezed Bickley, after which +his breath gave out. +</p> + +<p> +As it chanced we did, for these stone ovens take a long time to heat. There by +the edge of his fiery grave with his hands and legs bound in palm-fibre +shackles, stood Bastin, quite unmoved, smiling indeed, in a sort of seraphic +way which irritated us both extremely. Round him danced the infuriated priests +of Oro, and round them, shrieking and howling with rage, was most of the +population of Orofena. We rushed up so suddenly that none tried to stop us, and +took our stand on either side of him, producing our pistols as we did so. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you for coming,” said Bastin in the silence which followed; +“though I don’t think it is the least use. I cannot recall that any +of the early martyrs were ever roasted and eaten, though, of course, throwing +them into boiling oil or water was fairly common. I take it that the rite is +sacrificial and even in a low sense, sacramental, not merely one of common +cannibalism.” +</p> + +<p> +I stared at him, and Bickley gasped out: +</p> + +<p> +“If you are to be eaten, what does it matter why you are eaten?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” replied Bastin; “there is all the difference in the +world, though it is one that I cannot expect you to appreciate. And now please +be quiet as I wish to say my prayers. I imagine that those stones will be hot +enough to do their office within twenty minutes or so, which is not very +long.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment Marama appeared, evidently in a state of great perturbation. +With him were some of the priests or sorcerers who were dancing about as I +imagine the priests of Baal must have done, and filled with fury. They rolled +their eyes, they stuck out their tongues, they uttered weird cries and shook +their wooden knives at the placid Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter?” I asked sternly of the chief. +</p> + +<p> +“This, Friend-from-the-Sea. The Bellower there, when the sacrifice was +about to be offered to Oro at the dawn, rushed forward, and having thrust +something between the legs of the image of the god, poured yellow water over +it, and with fire caused it to burst into fierce flame. Then he ran away and +mocked the god who presently, with a loud report, flew into pieces and killed +that man. Therefore the Bellower must be sacrificed.” +</p> + +<p> +“What to?” I asked. “The image has gone and the piece of it +that ascended fell not upon the Bellower, as would have happened if the god had +been angry with him, but on one of its own priests, whom it killed. Therefore, +having been sacrificed by the god itself, he it is that should be eaten, not +the Bellower, who merely did what his Spirit bade him.” +</p> + +<p> +This ingenious argument seemed to produce some effect upon Marama, but to the +priests it did not at all appeal. +</p> + +<p> +“Eat them all!” these cried. “They are the enemies of Oro and +have worked sacrilege!” +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, to judge from their demeanour, the bulk of the people seemed to agree +with them. Things began to look very ugly. The priests rushed forward, +threatening us with their wooden weapons, and one of them even aimed a blow at +Bickley, which only missed him by an inch or two. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, my friend,” called the doctor whose temper was rising, +“you name me the Great Priest or Great Healer, do you not? Well, be +careful, lest I should show you that I can kill as well as heal!” +</p> + +<p> +Not in the least intimidated by this threat the man, a great bedizened fellow +who literally was foaming at the mouth with rage, rushed forward again, his +club raised, apparently with the object of dashing out Bickley’s brains. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Bickley lifted his revolver and fired. The man, shot through the +heart, sprang into the air and fell upon his face—stone dead. There was +consternation, for these people had never seen us shoot anything before, and +were quite unacquainted with the properties of firearms, which they supposed to +be merely instruments for making a noise. They stared, they gasped in fear and +astonishment, and then they fled, pursued by Tommy, barking, leaving us alone +with the two dead men. +</p> + +<p> +“It was time to teach them a lesson,” said Bickley as he replaced +the empty cartridge, and, seizing the dead man, rolled him into the burning +pit. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered; “but presently, when they have got over +their fright, they will come back to teach us one.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin said nothing; he seemed too dazed at the turn events had taken. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you suggest?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Flight,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Where to—the ship? We might hold that.” +</p> + +<p> +“No; that is what they expect. Look! They are cutting off our road there. +To the island in the lake where they dare not follow us, for it is holy +ground.” +</p> + +<p> +“How are we going to live on the island?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” I replied; “but I am quite certain that +if we stay here we shall die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” he said; “let us try it.” +</p> + +<p> +While we were speaking I was cutting Bastin’s bonds. “Thank +you,” he said. “It is a great relief to stretch one’s arms +after they have been compressed with cords. But at the same time, I do not know +that I am really grateful. The martyr’s crown was hanging above me, so to +speak, and now it has vanished into the pit, like that man whom Bickley +murdered.” +</p> + +<p> +“Look here,” exclaimed the exasperated Bickley, “if you say +much more, Bastin, I’ll chuck you into the pit too, to look for your +martyr’s crown, for I think you have done enough mischief for one +morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you are trying to shift the responsibility for that unfortunate +man’s destruction on to me—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! shut it and trot,” broke in Bickley. “Those infernal +savages are coming with your blessed converts leading the van.” +</p> + +<p> +So we “trotted” at no mean pace. As we passed it, Bastin stooped +down and picked up the head of the image of Oro, much as Atalanta in Academy +pictures is represented as doing to the apples, and bore it away in triumph. +</p> + +<p> +“I know it is scorched,” he ejaculated at intervals, “but +they might trim it up and stick it on to a new body as the original false god. +Now they <i>can’t</i>, for there’s nothing left.” +</p> + +<p> +As a matter of fact, we were never in any real danger, for our pursuit was very +half-hearted indeed. To begin with, now that their first rage was over, the +Orofenans who were fond of us had no particular wish to do us to death, while +the ardour of their sorcerers, who wished this very much, had been greatly +cooled by the mysterious annihilation of their idol and the violent deaths of +two of their companions, which they thought might be reduplicated in their own +persons. So it came about that the chase, if noisy, was neither close nor +eager. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the edge of the lake where was the boat-house of which I have spoken +already, travelling at little more than a walk. Here we made Bastin unfasten +the better of the two canoes that by good luck was almost filled with +offerings, which doubtless, according to custom, must be made upon the day of +this feast to Oro, while we watched against surprise at the boat-house door. +When he was ready we slipped in and took our seats, Tommy jumping in after us, +and pushed the canoe, now very heavily laden, out into the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Here, at a distance of about forty paces, which we judged to be beyond wooden +spear-throw, we rested upon our paddles to see what would happen. All the crowd +of islanders had rushed to the lake edge where they stood staring at us +stupidly. Bastin, thinking the occasion opportune, lifted the hideous head of +the idol which he had carefully washed, and began to preach on the downfall of +“the god of the Grove.” +</p> + +<p> +This action of his appeared to awake memories or forebodings in the minds of +his congregation. Perhaps some ancient prophecy was concerned—I do not +know. At any rate, one of the priests shouted something, whereon everybody +began to talk at once. Then, stooping down, they threw water from the lake over +themselves and rubbed its sand and mud into their hair, all the while making +genuflexions toward the mountain in the middle, after which they turned and +departed. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you think we had better go back?” asked Bastin. +“Evidently my words have touched them and their minds are melting beneath +the light of Truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! by all means,” replied Bickley with sarcasm; “for then +their spears will touch <i>us</i>, and our bodies will soon be melting above +the fires of that pit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you are right,” said Bastin; “at least, I admit that +you have made matters very difficult by your unjustifiable homicide of that +priest who I do not think meant to injure you seriously, and really was not at +all a bad fellow, though opinionated in some ways. Also, I do not suppose that +anybody is expected, as it were, to run his head into the martyr’s crown. +When it settles there of itself it is another matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Like a butterfly!” exclaimed the enraged Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, if you like to put it that way, though the simile seems a very poor +one; like a sunbeam would be better.” +</p> + +<p> +Here Bickley gave way with his paddle so vigorously that the canoe was as +nearly as possible upset into the lake. +</p> + +<p> +In due course we reached the flat Rock of Offerings, which proved to be quite +as wide as a double croquet lawn and much longer. +</p> + +<p> +“What are those?” I asked, pointing to certain knobs on the edge of +the rock at a spot where a curved projecting point made a little harbour. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley examined them, and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“I should say that they are the remains of stone mooring-posts worn down +by many thousands of years of weather. Yes, look, there is the cut of the +cables upon the base of that one, and very big cables they must have +been.” +</p> + +<p> +We stared at one another—that is, Bickley and I did, for Bastin was still +engaged in contemplating the blackened head of the god which he had overthrown. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +The Island in the Lake</h2> + +<p> +We made the canoe fast and landed on the great rock, to perceive that it was +really a peninsula. That is to say, it was joined to the main land of the lake +island by a broad roadway quite fifty yards across, which appeared to end in +the mouth of the cave. On this causeway we noted a very remarkable thing, +namely, two grooves separated by an exact distance of nine feet which ran into +the mouth of the cave and vanished there. +</p> + +<p> +“Explain!” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Paths,” I said, “worn by countless feet walking on them for +thousands of years.” +</p> + +<p> +“You should cultivate the art of observation, Arbuthnot. What do you say, +Bastin?” +</p> + +<p> +He stared at the grooves through his spectacles, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t say anything, except that I can’t see anybody to +make paths here. Indeed, the place seems quite unpopulated, and all the +Orofenans told me that they never landed on it because if they did they would +die. It is a part of their superstitious nonsense. If you have any idea in your +head you had better tell us quickly before we breakfast. I am very +hungry.” +</p> + +<p> +“You always are,” remarked Bickley; “even when most +people’s appetites might have been affected. Well, I think that this +great plateau was once a landing-place for flying machines, and that there is +the air-shed or garage.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin stared at him. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you think we had better breakfast?” he said. +“There are two roast pigs in that canoe, and lots of other food, enough +to last us a week, I should say. Of course, I understand that the blood you +have shed has thrown you off your balance. I believe it has that effect, except +on the most hardened. Flying machines were only invented a few years ago by the +brothers Wright in America.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin,” said Bickley, “I begin to regret that I did not +leave you to take part in another breakfast yonder—I mean as the +principal dish.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was Providence, not you, who prevented it, Bickley, doubtless because +I am unworthy of such a glorious end.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it is lucky that Providence is a good shot with a pistol. Stop +talking nonsense and listen. If those were paths worn by feet they would run to +the edge of the rock. They do not. They begin there in that gentle depression +and slope upwards somewhat steeply. The air machines, which were evidently +large, lit in the depression, possibly as a bird does, and then ran on wheels +or sledge skids along the grooves to the air-shed in the mountain. Come to the +cave and you will see.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not till we have breakfast,” said Bastin. “I will get out a +pig. As a matter of fact, I had no supper last night, as I was taking a class +of native boys and making some arrangements of my own.” +</p> + +<p> +As for me, I only whistled. It all seemed very feasible. And yet how could such +things be? +</p> + +<p> +We unloaded the canoe and ate. Bastin’s appetite was splendid. Indeed, I +had to ask him to remember that when this supply was done I did not know where +we should find any more. +</p> + +<p> +“Take no thought for the morrow,” he replied. “I have no +doubt it will come from somewhere,” and he helped himself to another +chop. +</p> + +<p> +Never had I admired him so much. Not a couple of hours before he was about to +be cruelly murdered and eaten. But this did not seem to affect him in the +least. Bastin was the only man I have ever known with a really perfect faith. +It is a quality worth having and one that makes for happiness. What a great +thing not to care whether you are breakfasted on, or breakfast! +</p> + +<p> +“I see that there is lots of driftwood about here,” he remarked, +“but unfortunately we have no tea, so in this climate it is of little +use, unless indeed we can catch some fish and cook them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop talking about eating and help us to haul up the canoe,” said +Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +Between the three of us we dragged and carried the canoe a long way from the +lake, fearing lest the natives should come and bear it off with our provisions. +Then, having given Tommy his breakfast off the scraps, we walked to the cave. I +glanced at my companions. Bickley’s face was alight with scientific +eagerness. Here are not dreams or speculations, but facts to be learned, it +seemed to say, and I will learn them. The past is going to show me some of its +secrets, to tell me how men of long ago lived and died and how far they had +advanced to that point on the road of civilisation at which I stand in my +little hour of existence. +</p> + +<p> +That of Bastin was mildly interested, no more. Obviously, with half his mind he +was thinking of something else, probably of his converts on the main island and +of the school class fixed for this hour which circumstances prevented him from +attending. Indeed, like Lot’s wife he was casting glances behind him +towards the wicked place from which he had been forced to flee. +</p> + +<p> +Neither the past nor the future had much real interest for Bastin; any more +than they had for Bickley, though for different reasons. The former was done +with; the latter he was quite content to leave in other hands. If he had any +clear idea thereof, probably that undiscovered land appeared to him as a big, +pleasant place where are no unbelievers or erroneous doctrines, and all sinners +will be sternly repressed, in which, clad in a white surplice with all proper +ecclesiastical trappings, he would argue eternally with the Early Fathers and +in due course utterly annihilate Bickley, that is in a moral sense. Personally +and as a man he was extremely attached to Bickley as a necessary and +wrong-headed nuisance to which he had become accustomed. +</p> + +<p> +And I! What did I feel? I do not know; I cannot describe. An extraordinary +attraction, a semi-spiritual exaltation, I think. That cave mouth might have +been a magnet drawing my soul. With my body I should have been afraid, as I +daresay I was, for our circumstances were sufficiently desperate. Here we were, +castaways upon an island, probably uncharted, one of thousands in the recesses +of a vast ocean, from which we had little chance of escape. More, having +offended the religious instincts of the primeval inhabitants of that island, we +had been forced to flee to a rocky mountain in the centre of a lake, where, +after the food we had brought with us by accident was consumed, we should no +doubt be forced to choose between death by starvation, or, if we attempted to +retreat, at the hands of justly infuriated savages. Yet these facts did not +oppress me, for I was being drawn, drawn to I knew not what, and if it were to +doom—well, no matter. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, none of us cared: Bastin because his faith was equal to any +emergency and there was always that white-robed heaven waiting for him beyond +which his imagination did not go (I often wondered whether he pictured Mrs. +Bastin as also waiting; if so, he never said anything about her); Bickley +because as a child of the Present and a servant of knowledge he feared no +future, believing it to be for him non-existent, and was careless as to when +his strenuous hour of life should end; and I because I felt that yonder lay my +true future; yes, and my true past, even though to discover them I must pass +through that portal which we know as Death. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the mouth of the cave. It was a vast place; perhaps the arch of it +was a hundred feet high, and I could see that once all this arch had been +adorned with sculptures. Protected as these were by the overhanging rock, for +the sculptured mouth of the cave was cut deep into the mountain face, they were +still so worn that it was impossible to discern their details. Time had eaten +them away like an acid. But what length of time? I could not guess, but it must +have been stupendous to have worked thus upon that hard and sheltered rock. +</p> + +<p> +This came home to me with added force when, from subsequent examination, we +learned that the entire mouth of this cave had been sealed up for unnumbered +ages. It will be remembered that Marama told me the mountain in the lake had +risen much during the frightful cyclone in which we were wrecked and with it +the cave mouth which previously had been invisible. From the markings on the +mountain side it was obvious that something of the sort had happened very +recently, at any rate on this eastern face. That is, either the flat rock had +sunk or the volcano had been thrown upwards. +</p> + +<p> +Once in the far past the cave had been as it was when we found it. Then it had +gone down in such a way that the table-rock entirely sealed the entrance. Now +this entrance was once more open, and although of course there was a break in +them, the grooves of which I have spoken ran on into the cave at only a +slightly different level from that at which they lay upon the flat rock. And +yet, although they had been thus sheltered by a great stone curtain in front of +them, still these sculptures were worn away by the tooth of Time. Of course, +however, this may have happened to them <i>before</i> they were buried in some +ancient cataclysm, to be thus resurrected at the hour of our arrival upon the +island. +</p> + +<p> +Without pausing to make any closer examination of these crumbled carvings, we +entered the yawning mouth of that great place, following and indeed walking in +the deep grooves that I have mentioned. Presently it seemed to open out as a +courtyard might at the end of a passage; yes, to open on to some vast place +whereof in that gloom we could not see the roof or the limits. All we knew was +that it must be enormous—the echoes of our voices and footsteps told us +as much, for these seemed to come back to us from high, high above and from +far, far away. Bickley and I said nothing; we were too overcome. But Bastin +remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever go to Olympia? I did once to see a kind of play where the +people said nothing, only ran about dressed up. They told me it was religious, +the sort of thing a clergyman should study. I didn’t think it religious +at all. It was all about a nun who had a baby.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what of it?” snapped Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing particular, except that nuns don’t have babies, or if they +do the fact should not be advertised. But I wasn’t thinking of that. I +was thinking that this place is like an underground Olympia.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, be quiet!” I said, for though Bastin’s description was +not bad, his monotonous, drawling voice jarred on me in that solemnity. +</p> + +<p> +“Be careful where you walk,” whispered Bickley, for even he seemed +awed, “there may be pits in this floor.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wish we had a light,” I said, halting. +</p> + +<p> +“If candles are of any use,” broke in Bastin, “as it happens +I have a packet in my pocket. I took them with me this morning for a certain +purpose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not unconnected with the paraffin and the burning of the idol, I +suppose?” said Bickley. “Hand them over.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; if I had been allowed a little more time I intended—” +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind what you intended; we know what you did and that’s +enough,” said Bickley as he snatched the packet from Bastin’s hand +and proceeded to undo it, adding, “By heaven! I have no matches, nor have +you, Arbuthnot!” +</p> + +<p> +“I have a dozen boxes of wax vestas in my other pocket,” said +Bastin. “You see, they burn so well when you want to get up a fire on a +damp idol. As you may have noticed, the dew is very heavy here.” +</p> + +<p> +In due course these too were produced. I took possession of them as they were +too valuable to be left in the charge of Bastin, and, extracting a box from the +packet, lit two of the candles which were of the short thick variety, like +those used in carriage-lamps. +</p> + +<p> +Presently they burned up, making two faint stars of light which, however, were +not strong enough to show us either the roof or the sides of that vast place. +By their aid we pursued our path, still following the grooves till suddenly +these came to an end. Now all around us was a flat floor of rock which, as we +perceived clearly when we pushed aside the dust that had gathered thickly on it +in the course of ages, doubtless from the gradual disintegration of the stony +walls, had once been polished till it resembled black marble. Indeed, certain +cracks in the floor appeared to have been filled in with some dark-coloured +cement. I stood looking at them while Bickley wandered off to the right and a +little forward, and presently called to me. I walked to him, Bastin sticking +close to me as I had the other candle, as did the little dog, Tommy, who did +not like these new surroundings and would not leave my heels. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” said Bickley, holding up his candle, “and tell +me—what’s that?” +</p> + +<p> +Before me, faintly shown, was some curious structure of gleaming rods made of +yellowish metal, which rods appeared to be connected by wires. The structure +might have been forty feet high and perhaps a hundred long. Its bottom part was +buried in dust. +</p> + +<p> +“What is that?” asked Bickley again. +</p> + +<p> +I made no answer, for I was thinking. Bastin, however, replied: +</p> + +<p> +“It’s difficult to be sure in this light, but I should think that +it may be the remains of a cage in which some people who lived here kept +monkeys, or perhaps it was an aviary. Look at those little ladders for the +monkeys to climb by, or possibly for the birds to sit on.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you sure it wasn’t tame angels?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“What a ridiculous remark! How can you keep an angel in a cage? +I—” +</p> + +<p> +“Aeroplane!” I almost whispered to Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve got it!” he answered. “The framework of an +aeroplane and a jolly large one, too. Only why hasn’t it oxidised?” +</p> + +<p> +“Some indestructible metal,” I suggested. “Gold, for +instance, does not oxidise.” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded and said: +</p> + +<p> +“We shall have to dig it out. The dust is feet thick about it; we can do +nothing without spades. Come on.” +</p> + +<p> +We went round to the end of the structure, whatever it might be, and presently +came to another. Again we went on and came to another, all of them being +berthed exactly in line. +</p> + +<p> +“What did I tell you?” said Bickley in a voice of triumph. “A +whole garage full, a regular fleet of aeroplanes!” +</p> + +<p> +“That must be nonsense,” said Bastin, “for I am quite sure +that these Orofenans cannot make such things. Indeed they have no metal, and +even cut the throats of pigs with wooden knives.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I began to walk forward, bearing to the left so as to regain our former +line. We could do nothing with these metal skeletons, and I felt that there +must be more to find beyond. Presently I saw something looming ahead of me and +quickened my pace, only to recoil. For there, not thirty feet away and perhaps +three hundred yards from the mouth of the cave, suddenly appeared what looked +like a gigantic man. Tommy saw it also and barked as dogs do when they are +frightened, and the sound of his yaps echoed endlessly from every quarter, +which scared him to silence. Recovering myself I went forward, for now I +guessed the truth. It was not a man but a statue. +</p> + +<p> +The thing stood upon a huge base which lessened by successive steps, eight of +them, I think, to its summit. The foot of this base may have been a square of +fifty feet or rather more; the real support or pedestal of the statue, however, +was only a square of about six feet. The figure itself was little above +life-size, or at any rate above our life-size, say seven feet in height. It was +very peculiar in sundry ways. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, nothing of the body was visible, for it was swathed like a +corpse. From these wrappings projected one arm, the right, in the hand of which +was the likeness of a lighted torch. The head was not veiled. It was that of a +man, long-nosed, thin-lipped, stern-visaged; the countenance pervaded by an +awful and unutterable calm, as deep as that of Buddha only less benign. On the +brow was a wreathed head-dress, not unlike an Eastern turban, from which sprang +two little wings resembling in some degree those on the famous Greek head of +Hypnos, lord of Sleep. Between the folds of the wrappings on the back sprang +two other wings, enormous wings bent like those of a bird about to take flight. +Indeed the whole attitude of the figure suggested that it was springing from +earth to air. It was executed in black basalt or some stone of the sort, and +very highly finished. For instance, on the bare feet and the arm which held the +torch could be felt every muscle and even some of the veins. In the same way +the details of the skull were perfectly perceptible to the touch, although at +first sight not visible on the marble surface. This was ascertained by climbing +on the pedestal and feeling the face with our hands. +</p> + +<p> +Here I may say that its modelling as well as that of the feet and the arm +filled Bickley, who, of course, was a highly trained anatomist, with absolute +amazement. He said that he would never have thought it possible that such +accuracy could have been reached by an artist working in so hard a material. +</p> + +<p> +When the others had arrived we studied this relic as closely as our two candles +would allow, and in turn expressed our opinions of its significance. Bastin +thought that if those things down there were really the remains of aeroplanes, +which he did not believe, the statue had something to do with flying, as was +shown by the fact that it had wings on its head and shoulders. Also, he added, +after examining the face, the head was uncommonly like that of the idol that he +had blown up. It had the same long nose and severe shut mouth. If he was right, +this was probably another effigy of Oro which we should do well to destroy at +once before the islanders came to worship it. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley ground his teeth as he listened to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Destroy that!” he gasped. “Destroy! Oh! you, you—early +Christian.” +</p> + +<p> +Here I may state that Bastin was quite right, as we proved subsequently when we +compared the head of the fetish, which, as it will be remembered, he had +brought away with him, with that of the statue. Allowing for an enormous +debasement of art, they were essentially identical in the facial +characteristics. This would suggest the descent of a tradition through +countless generations. Or of course it may have been accidental. I am sure I do +not know, but I think it possible that for unknown centuries other old statues +may have existed in Orofena from which the idol was copied. Or some daring and +impious spirit may have found his way to the cave in past ages and fashioned +the local god upon this ancient model. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley was struck at once, as I had been, with the resemblance of the figure +to that of the Egyptian Osiris. Of course there were differences. For instance, +instead of the crook and the scourge, this divinity held a torch. Again, in +place of the crown of Egypt it wore a winged head-dress, though it is true this +was not very far removed from the winged disc of that country. The wings that +sprang from its shoulders, however, suggested Babylonia rather than Egypt, or +the Assyrian bulls that are similarly adorned. All of these symbolical ideas +might have been taken from that figure. But what was it? What was it? +</p> + +<p> +In a flash the answer came to me. A representation of the spirit of Death! +Neither more nor less. There was the shroud; there the cold, inscrutable +countenance suggesting mysteries that it hid. But the torch and the wings? +Well, the torch was that which lighted souls to the other world, and on the +wings they flew thither. Whoever fashioned that statue hoped for another life, +or so I was convinced. +</p> + +<p> +I explained my ideas. Bastin thought them fanciful and preferred his notion of +a flying man, since by constitution he was unable to discover anything +spiritual in any religion except his own. Bickley agreed that it was probably +an allegorical representation of death but sniffed at my interpretation of the +wings and the torch, since by constitution he could not believe that the folly +of a belief in immortality could have developed so early in the world, that is, +among a highly civilised people such as must have produced this statue. +</p> + +<p> +What we could none of us understand was why this ominous image with its dead, +cold face should have been placed in an aerodrome, nor in fact did we ever +discover. Possibly it was there long before the cave was put to this use. At +first the place may have been a temple and have so remained until circumstances +forced the worshippers to change their habits, or even their Faith. +</p> + +<p> +We examined this wondrous work and the pedestal on which it stood as closely as +we were able by the dim light of our candles. I was anxious to go further and +see what lay beyond it; indeed we did walk a few paces, twenty perhaps, onward +into the recesses of the cave. +</p> + +<p> +Then Bickley discovered something that looked like the mouth of a well down +which he nearly tumbled, and Bastin began to complain that he was hot and very +thirsty; also to point out that he wished for no more caves and idols at +present. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, Arbuthnot,” said Bickley, “these candles are +burning low and we don’t want to use up more if we can prevent it, for we +may need what we have got very badly later on. Now, according to my pocket +compass the mouth of this cave points due east; probably at the beginning it +was orientated to the rising sun for purposes of astronomical observation or of +worship at certain periods of the year. From the position of the sun when we +landed on the rock this morning I imagine that just now it rises almost exactly +opposite to the mouth of the cave. If this is so, to-morrow at dawn, for a time +at least, the light should penetrate as far as the statue, and perhaps further. +What I suggest is that we should wait till then to explore.” +</p> + +<p> +I agreed with him, especially as I was feeling tired, being exhausted by +wonder, and wanted time to think. So we turned back. As we did so I missed +Tommy and inquired anxiously where he was, being afraid lest he might have +tumbled down the well-like hole. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s all right,” said Bastin. “I saw him sniffing at +the base of that statue. I expect there is a rat in there, or perhaps a +snake.” +</p> + +<p> +Sure enough when we reached it there was Tommy with his black nose pressed +against the lowest of the tiers that formed the base of the statue, and +sniffing loudly. Also he was scratching in the dust as a dog does when he has +winded a rabbit in a hole. So engrossed was he in this occupation that it was +with difficulty that I coaxed him to leave the place. +</p> + +<p> +I did not think much of the incident at that time, but afterwards it came back +to me, and I determined to investigate those stones at the first opportunity. +</p> + +<p> +Passing the wrecks of the machines, we emerged on to the causeway without +accident. After we had rested and washed we set to work to draw our canoe with +its precious burden of food right into the mouth of the cave, where we hid it +as well as we could. +</p> + +<p> +This done we went for a walk round the base of the peak. This proved to be a +great deal larger than we had imagined, over two miles in circumference indeed. +All about it was a belt of fertile land, as I suppose deposited there by the +waters of the great lake and resulting from the decay of vegetation. Much of +this belt was covered with ancient forest ending in mud flats that appeared to +have been thrown up recently, perhaps at the time of the tidal wave which bore +us to Orofena. On the higher part of the belt were many of the extraordinary +crater-like holes that I have mentioned as being prevalent on the main island; +indeed the place had all the appearance of having been subjected to a terrific +and continuous bombardment. +</p> + +<p> +When we had completed its circuit we set to work to climb the peak in order to +explore the terraces of which I have spoken and the ruins which I had seen +through my field-glasses. It was quite true; they were terraces cut with +infinite labour out of the solid rock, and on them had once stood a city, now +pounded into dust and fragments. We struggled over the broken blocks of stone +to what we had taken for a temple, which stood near the lip of the crater, for +without doubt this mound was an extinct volcano, or rather its crest. All we +could make out when we arrived was that here had once stood some great +building, for its courts could still be traced; also there lay about fragments +of steps and pillars. +</p> + +<p> +Apparently the latter had once been carved, but the passage of innumerable ages +had obliterated the work and we could not turn these great blocks over to +discover if any remained beneath. It was as though the god Thor had broken up +the edifice with his hammer, or Jove had shattered it with his thunderbolts; +nothing else would account for that utter wreck, except, as Bickley remarked +significantly, the scientific use of high explosives. +</p> + +<p> +Following the line of what seemed to have been a road, we came to the edge of +the volcano and found, as we expected, the usual depression out of which fire +and lava had once been cast, as from Hecla or Vesuvius. It was now a lake more +than a quarter of a mile across. Indeed it had been thus in the ancient days +when the buildings stood upon the terraces, for we saw the remains of steps +leading down to the water. Perhaps it had served as the sacred lake of the +temple. +</p> + +<p> +We gazed with wonderment and then, wearied out, scrambled back through the +ruins, which, by the way, were of a different stone from the lava of the +mountain, to the mouth of the great cave. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> +The Dwellers in the Tomb</h2> + +<p> +By now it was drawing towards sunset, so we made such preparations as we could +for the night. One of these was to collect dry driftwood, of which an abundance +lay upon the shore, to serve us for firing, though unfortunately we had nothing +that we could cook for our meal. +</p> + +<p> +While we were thus engaged we saw a canoe approaching the table-rock and +perceived that in it were the chief Marama and a priest. After hovering about +for a while they paddled the canoe near enough to allow of conversation which, +taking no notice of their presence, we left it to them to begin. +</p> + +<p> +“O, Friend-from-the-Sea,” called Marama, addressing myself, +“we come to pray you and the Great Healer to return to us to be our +guests as before. The people are covered with darkness because of the loss of +your wisdom, and the sick cry aloud for the Healer; indeed two of those whom he +has cut with knives are dying.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what of the Bellower?” I asked, indicating Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“We should like to see him back also, Friend-from-the-Sea, that we may +sacrifice and eat him, who destroyed our god with fire and caused the Healer to +kill his priest.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is most unjust,” exclaimed Bastin. “I deeply regret the +blood that was shed on the occasion, unnecessarily as I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then go and atone for it with your own,” said Bickley, “and +everybody will be pleased.” +</p> + +<p> +Waving to them to be silent, I said: +</p> + +<p> +“Are you mad, Marama, that you should ask us to return to sojourn among +people who tried to kill us, merely because the Bellower caused fire to burn an +image of wood and its head to fly from its shoulders, just to show you that it +had no power to hold itself together, although you call it a god? Not so, we +wash our hands of you; we leave you to go your own way while we go ours, till +perchance in a day to come, after many misfortunes have overtaken you, you +creep about our feet and with prayers and offerings beg us to return.” +</p> + +<p> +I paused to observe the effect of my words. It was excellent, for both Marama +and the priest wrung their hands and groaned. Then I went on: +</p> + +<p> +“Meanwhile we have something to tell you. We have entered the cave where +you said no man might set a foot, and have seen him who sits within, the true +god.” (Here Bastin tried to interrupt, but was suppressed by Bickley.) +</p> + +<p> +They looked at each other in a frightened way and groaned more loudly than +before. +</p> + +<p> +“He sends you a message, which, as he told us of your approach, we came +to the shore to deliver to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“How can you say that?” began Bastin, but was again violently +suppressed by Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“It is that he, the real Oro, rejoices that the false Oro, whose face is +copied from his face, has been destroyed. It is that he commands you day by day +to bring food in plenty and lay it upon the Rock of Offerings, not forgetting a +supply of fresh fish from the sea, and with it all those things that are stored +in the house wherein we, the strangers from the sea, deigned to dwell awhile +until we left you because in your wickedness you wished to murder us.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if we refuse—what then?” asked the priest, speaking for +the first time. +</p> + +<p> +“Then Oro will send death and destruction upon you. Then your food shall +fail and you shall perish of sickness and want, and the Oromatuas, the spirits +of the great dead, shall haunt you in your sleep, and Oro shall eat up your +souls.” +</p> + +<p> +At these horrible threats both of them uttered a kind of wail, after which, +Marama asked: +</p> + +<p> +“And if we consent, what then, Friend-from-the-Sea?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, perchance,” I answered, “in some day to come we may +return to you, that I may give you of my wisdom and the Great Healer may cure +your sick and the Bellower may lead you through his gate, and in his kindness +make you to see with his eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +This last clause of my ultimatum did not seem to appeal to the priest, who +argued a while with Marama, though what he said we could not hear. In the end +he appeared to give way. At any rate Marama called out that all should be done +as we wished, and that meanwhile they prayed us to intercede with Oro in the +cave, and to keep back the ghosts from haunting them, and to protect them from +misfortune. I replied that we would do our best, but could guarantee nothing +since their offence was very great. +</p> + +<p> +Then, to show that the conversation was at an end, we walked away with dignity, +pushing Bastin in front of us, lest he should spoil the effect by some of his +ill-timed and often over-true remarks. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s capital,” said Bickley, when we were out of hearing. +“The enemy has capitulated. We can stop here as long as we like, +provisioned from the mainland, and if for any reason we wish to leave, be sure +of our line of retreat.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what you call capital,” exclaimed Bastin. +“It seems to me that all the lies which Arbuthnot has just told are +sufficient to bring a judgment upon us. Indeed, I think that I will go back +with Marama and explain the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never before knew anybody who was so anxious to be cooked and +eaten,” remarked Bickley. “Moreover, you are too late, for the +canoe is a hundred yards away by now, and you shan’t have ours. Remember +the Pauline maxims, old fellow, which you are so fond of quoting, and be all +things to all men, and another that is more modern, that when you are at Rome, +you must do as the Romans do; also a third, that necessity has no law, and for +the matter of that, a fourth, that all is fair in love and war.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure, Bickley, that Paul never meant his words to bear the debased +sense which you attribute to them—” began Bastin, but at this point +I hustled him off to light a fire—a process at which I pointed out he had +shown himself an expert. +</p> + +<p> +We slept that night under the overhanging rock just to one side of the cave, +not in the mouth, because of the draught which drew in and out of the great +place. In that soft and balmy clime this was no hardship, although we lacked +blankets. And yet, tired though I was, I could not rest as I should have done. +Bastin snored away contentedly, quite unaffected by his escape which to him was +merely an incident in the day’s work; and so, too, slumbered Bickley, +except that he did not snore. But the amazement and the mystery of all that we +had discovered and of all that might be left for us to discover, held me back +from sleep. +</p> + +<p> +What did it mean? What could it mean? My nerves were taut as harp strings and +seemed to vibrate to the touch of invisible fingers, although I could not +interpret the music that they made. Once or twice also I thought I heard actual +music with my physical ears, and that of a strange quality. Soft and low and +dreamful, it appeared to well from the recesses of the vast cave, a wailing +song in an unknown tongue from the lips of women, or of a woman, multiplied +mysteriously by echoes. This, however, must have been pure fancy, since there +was no singer there. +</p> + +<p> +Presently I dozed off, to be awakened by the sudden sound of a great fish +leaping in the lake. I sat up and stared, fearing lest it might be the splash +of a paddle, for I could not put from my mind the possibility of attack. All I +saw, however, was the low line of the distant shore, and above it the bright +and setting stars that heralded the coming of the sun. Then I woke the others, +and we washed and ate, since once the sun rose time would be precious. +</p> + +<p> +At length it appeared, splendid in a cloudless sky, and, as I had hoped, +directly opposite to the mouth of the cave. Taking our candles and some stout +pieces of driftwood which, with our knives, we had shaped on the previous +evening to serve us as levers and rough shovels, we entered the cave. Bickley +and I were filled with excitement and hope of what we knew not, but Bastin +showed little enthusiasm for our quest. His heart was with his half-converted +savages beyond the lake, and of them, quite rightly I have no doubt, he thought +more than he did of all the archaeological treasures in the whole earth. Still, +he came, bearing the blackened head of Oro with him which, with unconscious +humour, he had used as a pillow through the night because, as he said, +“it was after all softer than stone.” Also, I believe that in his +heart he hoped that he might find an opportunity of destroying the bigger and +earlier edition of Oro in the cave, before it was discovered by the natives who +might wish to make it an object of worship. Tommy came also, with greater +alacrity than I expected, since dogs do not as a rule like dark places. When we +reached the statue I learned the reason; he remembered the smell he had +detected at its base on the previous day, which Bastin supposed to proceed from +a rat, and was anxious to continue his investigations. +</p> + +<p> +We went straight to the statue, although Bickley passed the half-buried +machines with evident regret. As we had hoped, the strong light of the rising +sun fell upon it in a vivid ray, revealing all its wondrous workmanship and the +majesty—for no other word describes it—of the somewhat terrifying +countenance that appeared above the wrappings of the shroud. Indeed, I was +convinced that originally this monument had been placed here in order that on +certain days of the year the sun might fall upon it thus, when probably +worshippers assembled to adore their hallowed symbol. After all, this was +common in ancient days: witness the instance of the awful Three who sit in the +deepest recesses of the temple of Abu Simbel, on the Nile. +</p> + +<p> +We gazed and gazed our fill, at least Bickley and I did, for Bastin was +occupied in making a careful comparison between the head of his wooden Oro and +that of the statue. +</p> + +<p> +“There is no doubt that they are very much alike,” he said. +“Why, whatever is that dog doing? I think it is going mad,” and he +pointed to Tommy who was digging furiously at the base of the lowest step, as +at home I have seen him do at roots that sheltered a rabbit. +</p> + +<p> +Tommy’s energy was so remarkable that at length it seriously attracted +our attention. Evidently he meant that it should do so, for occasionally he +sprang back to me barking, then returned and sniffed and scratched. Bickley +knelt down and smelt at the stone. +</p> + +<p> +“It is an odd thing, Humphrey,” he said, “but there is a +strange odour here, a very pleasant odour like that of sandal-wood or attar of +roses.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never heard of a rat that smelt like sandal-wood or attar of +roses,” said Bastin. “Look out that it isn’t a snake.” +</p> + +<p> +I knelt down beside Bickley, and in clearing away the deep dust from what +seemed to be the bottom of the step, which was perhaps four feet in height, by +accident thrust my amateur spade somewhat strongly against its base where it +rested upon the rocky floor. +</p> + +<p> +Next moment a wonder came to pass. The whole massive rock began to turn +outwards as though upon a pivot! I saw it coming and grabbed Bickley by the +collar, dragging him back so that we just rolled clear before the great block, +which must have weighed several tons, fell down and crushed us. Tommy saw it +too, and fled, though a little late, for the edge of the block caught the tip +of his tail and caused him to emit a most piercing howl. But we did not think +of Tommy and his woes; we did not think of our own escape or of anything else +because of the marvel that appeared to us. Seated there upon the ground, after +our backward tumble, we could see into the space which lay behind the fallen +step, for there the light of the sun penetrated. +</p> + +<p> +The first idea it gave me was that of the jewelled shrine of some mediaeval +saint which, by good fortune, had escaped the plunderers; there are still such +existing in the world. It shone and glittered, apparently with gold and +diamonds, although, as a matter of fact, there were no diamonds, nor was it +gold which gleamed, but some ancient metal, or rather amalgam, which is now +lost to the world, the same that was used in the tubes of the air-machines. I +think that it contained gold, but I do not know. At any rate, it was equally +lasting and even more beautiful, though lighter in colour. +</p> + +<p> +For the rest this adorned recess which resembled that of a large funeral vault, +occupying the whole space beneath the base of the statue that was supported on +its arch, was empty save for two flashing objects that lay side by side but +with nearly the whole width of the vault between them. +</p> + +<p> +I pointed at them to Bickley with my finger, for really I could not speak. +</p> + +<p> +“Coffins, by Jove!” he whispered. “Glass or crystal coffins +and people in them. Come on!” +</p> + +<p> +A few seconds later we were crawling into that vault while Bastin, still +nursing the head of Oro as though it were a baby, stood confused outside +muttering something about desecrating hallowed graves. +</p> + +<p> +Just as we reached the interior, owing to the heightening of the sun, the light +passed away, leaving us in a kind of twilight. Bickley produced carriage +candles from his pocket and fumbled for matches. While he was doing so I +noticed two things—firstly, that the place really did smell like a +scent-shop, and, secondly, that the coffins seemed to glow with a kind of +phosphorescent light of their own, not very strong, but sufficient to reveal +their outlines in the gloom. Then the candles burnt up and we saw. +</p> + +<p> +Within the coffin that stood on our left hand as we entered, for this crystal +was as transparent as plate glass, lay a most wonderful old man, clad in a +gleaming, embroidered robe. His long hair, which was parted in the middle, as +we could see beneath the edge of the pearl-sewn and broidered cap he wore, also +his beard were snowy white. The man was tall, at least six feet four inches in +height, and rather spare. His hands were long and thin, very delicately made, +as were his sandalled feet. +</p> + +<p> +But it was his face that fixed our gaze, for it was marvelous, like the face of +a god, and, as we noticed at once, with some resemblance to that of the statue +above. Thus the brow was broad and massive, the nose straight and long, the +mouth stern and clear-cut, while the cheekbones were rather high, and the +eyebrows arched. Such are the characteristics of many handsome old men of good +blood, and as the mummies of Seti and others show us, such they have been for +thousands of years. Only this man differed from all others because of the +fearful dignity stamped upon his features. Looking at him I began to think at +once of the prophet Elijah as he must have appeared rising to heaven, enhanced +by the more earthly glory of Solomon, for although the appearance of these +patriarchs is unknown, of them one conceives ideas. Only it seemed probable +that Elijah may have looked more benign. Here there was no benignity, only +terrible force and infinite wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +Contemplating him I shivered a little and felt thankful that he was dead. For +to tell the truth I was afraid of that awesome countenance which, I should add, +was of the whiteness of paper, although the cheeks still showed tinges of +colour, so perfect was the preservation of the corpse. +</p> + +<p> +I was still gazing at it when Bickley said in a voice of amazement: +</p> + +<p> +“I say, look here, in the other coffin.” +</p> + +<p> +I turned, looked, and nearly collapsed on the floor of the vault, since beauty +can sometimes strike us like a blow. Oh! there before me lay all loveliness, +such loveliness that there burst from my lips an involuntary cry: +</p> + +<p> +“Alas! that she should be dead!” +</p> + +<p> +A young woman, I supposed, at least she looked young, perhaps five or six and +twenty years of age, or so I judged. There she lay, her tall and delicate shape +half hidden in masses of rich-hued hair in colour of a ruddy blackness. I know +not how else to describe it, since never have I seen any of the same tint. +Moreover, it shone with a life of its own as though it had been dusted with +gold. From between the masses of this hair appeared a face which I can only +call divine. There was every beauty that woman can boast, from the curving +eyelashes of extraordinary length to the sweet and human mouth. To these charms +also were added a wondrous smile and an air of kind dignity, very different +from the fierce pride stamped upon the countenance of the old man who was her +companion in death. +</p> + +<p> +She was clothed in some close-fitting robe of white broidered with gold; pearls +were about her neck, lying far down upon the perfect bosom, a girdle of gold +and shining gems encircled her slender waist, and on her little feet were +sandals fastened with red stones like rubies. In truth, she was a splendid +creature, and yet, I know not how, her beauty suggested more of the spirit than +of the flesh. Indeed, in a way, it was unearthly. My senses were smitten, it +pulled at my heart-strings, and yet its unutterable strangeness seemed to awake +memories within me, though of what I could not tell. A wild fancy came to me +that I must have known this heavenly creature in some past life. +</p> + +<p> +By now Bastin had joined us, and, attracted by my exclamation and by the +attitude of Bickley, who was staring down at the coffin with a fixed look upon +his face, not unlike that of a pointer when he scents game, he began to +contemplate the wonder within it in his slow way. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I never!” he said. “Do you think the Glittering Lady +in there is human?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Glittering Lady is dead, but I suppose that she was human in her +life,” I answered in an awed whisper. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course she is dead, otherwise she would not be in that glass coffin. +I think I should like to read the Burial Service over her, which I daresay was +never done when she was put in there.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know she is dead?” asked Bickley in a sharp voice and +speaking for the first time. “I have seen hundreds of corpses, and +mummies too, but never any that looked like these.” +</p> + +<p> +I stared at him. It was strange to hear Bickley, the scoffer at miracles, +suggesting that this greatest of all miracles might be possible. +</p> + +<p> +“They must have been here a long time,” I said, “for although +human, they are not, I think, of any people known to the world to-day; their +dress, everything, shows it, though perhaps thousands of years +ago—” and I stopped. +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so,” answered Bickley; “I agree. That is why I suggest +that they may have belonged to a race who knew what we do not, namely, how to +suspend animation for great periods of time.” +</p> + +<p> +I said no more, nor did Bastin, who was now engaged in studying the old man, +and for once, wonderstruck and overcome. Bickley, however, took one of the +candles and began to make a close examination of the coffins. So did Tommy, who +sniffed along the join of that of the Glittering Lady until his nose reached a +certain spot, where it remained, while his black tail began to wag in a +delighted fashion. Bickley pushed him away and investigated. +</p> + +<p> +“As I thought,” he said—“air-holes. See!” +</p> + +<p> +I looked, and there, bored through the crystal of the coffin in a line with the +face of its occupant, were a number of little holes that either by accident or +design outlined the shape of a human mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“They are not airtight,” murmured Bickley; “and if air can +enter, how can dead flesh remain like that for ages?” +</p> + +<p> +Then he continued his search upon the other side. +</p> + +<p> +“The lid of this coffin works on hinges,” he said. “Here they +are, fashioned of the crystal itself. A living person within could have pulled +it down before the senses departed.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I answered; “for look, here is a crystal bolt at the +end and it is shot from without.” +</p> + +<p> +This puzzled him; then as though struck by an idea, he began to examine the +other coffin. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed presently. “The old god in +here” (somehow we all thought of this old man as not quite normal) +“shut down the Glittering Lady’s coffin and bolted it. His own is +not bolted, although the bolt exists in the same place. He just got in and +pulled down the lid. Oh! what nonsense I am talking—for how can such +things be? Let us get out and think.” +</p> + +<p> +So we crept from the sepulchre in which the perfumed air had begun to oppress +us and sat ourselves down upon the floor of the cave, where for a while we +remained silent. +</p> + +<p> +“I am very thirsty,” said Bastin presently. “Those smells +seem to have dried me up. I am going to get some tea—I mean water, as +unfortunately there is no tea,” and he set off towards the mouth of the +cave. +</p> + +<p> +We followed him, I don’t quite know why, except that we wished to breathe +freely outside, also we knew that the sepulchre and its contents would be as +safe as they had been for—well, how long? +</p> + +<p> +It proved to be a beautiful morning outside. We walked up and down enjoying it +sub-consciously, for really our—that is Bickley’s and my +own—intelligences were concentrated on that sepulchre and its contents. +Where Bastin’s may have been I do not know, perhaps in a visionary +teapot, since I was sure that it would take him a day or two to appreciate the +significance of our discoveries. At any rate, he wandered off, making no +remarks about them, to drink water, I suppose. +</p> + +<p> +Presently he began to shout to us from the end of the table-rock and we went to +see the reason of his noise. It proved to be very satisfactory, for while we +were in the cave the Orofenans had brought absolutely everything belonging to +us, together with a large supply of food from the main island. Not a single +article was missing; even our books, a can with the bottom out, and the broken +pieces of a little pocket mirror had been religiously transported, and with +these a few articles that had been stolen from us, notably my pocket-knife. +Evidently a great taboo had been laid upon all our possessions. They were now +carefully arranged in one of the grooves of the rock that Bickley supposed had +been made by the wheels of aeroplanes, which was why we had not seen them at +once. +</p> + +<p> +Each of us rushed for what we desired most—Bastin for one of the +canisters of tea, I for my diaries, and Bickley for his chest of instruments +and medicines. These were removed to the mouth of the cave, and after them the +other things and the food; also a bell tent and some camp furniture that we had +brought from the ship. Then Bastin made some tea of which he drank four large +pannikins, having first said grace over it with unwonted fervour. Nor did we +disdain our share of the beverage, although Bickley preferred cocoa and I +coffee. Cocoa and coffee we had no time to make then, and in view of that +sepulchre in the cave, what had we to do with cocoa and coffee? +</p> + +<p> +So Bickley and I said to each other, and yet presently he changed his mind and +in a special metal machine carefully made some extremely strong black coffee +which he poured into a thermos flask, previously warmed with hot water, adding +thereto about a claret glass of brandy. Also he extracted certain drugs from +his medicine-chest, and with them, as I noted, a hypodermic syringe, which he +first boiled in a kettle and then shut up in a little tube with a glass +stopper. +</p> + +<p> +These preparations finished, he called to Tommy to give him the scraps of our +meal. But there was no Tommy. The dog was missing, and though we hunted +everywhere we could not find him. Finally we concluded that he had wandered off +down the beach on business of his own and would return in due course. We could +not bother about Tommy just then. +</p> + +<p> +After making some further preparations and fidgeting about a little, Bickley +announced that as we had now some proper paraffin lamps of the powerful sort +which are known as “hurricane,” he proposed by their aid to carry +out further examinations in the cave. +</p> + +<p> +“I think I shall stop where I am,” said Bastin, helping himself +from the kettle to a fifth pannikin of tea. “Those corpses are very +interesting, but I don’t see any use in staring at them again at present. +One can always do that at any time. I have missed Marama once already by being +away in that cave, and I have a lot to say to him about my people; I +don’t want to be absent in case he should return.” +</p> + +<p> +“To wash up the things, I suppose,” said Bickley with a sniff; +“or perhaps to eat the tea-leaves.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, as a matter of fact, I have noticed that these natives have a +peculiar taste for tea-leaves. I think they believe them to be a medicine, but +I don’t suppose they would come so far for them, though perhaps they +might in the hope of getting the head of Oro. Anyhow, I am going to stop +here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pray do,” said Bickley. “Are you ready, Humphrey?” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded, and he handed to me a felt-covered flask of the non-conducting kind, +filled with boiling water, a tin of preserved milk, and a little bottle of meat +extract of a most concentrated sort. Then, having lit two of the hurricane +lamps and seen that they were full of oil, we started back up the cave. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +Resurrection</h2> + +<p> +We reached the sepulchre without stopping to look at the parked machines or +even the marvelous statue that stood above it, for what did we care about +machines or statues now? As we approached we were astonished to hear low and +cavernous growlings. +</p> + +<p> +“There is some wild beast in there,” said Bickley, halting. +“No, by George! it’s Tommy. What can the dog be after?” +</p> + +<p> +We peeped in, and there sure enough was Tommy lying on the top of the +Glittering Lady’s coffin and growling his very best with the hair +standing up upon his back. When he saw who it was, however, he jumped off and +frisked round, licking my hand. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s very strange,” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Not stranger than everything else,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you going to do?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Open these coffins,” he answered, “beginning with that of +the old god, since I would rather experiment on him. I expect he will crumble +into dust. But if by chance he doesn’t I’ll jam a little +strychnine, mixed with some other drugs, of which you don’t know the +names, into one of his veins and see if anything happens. If it doesn’t, +it won’t hurt him, and if it does—well, who knows? Now give me a +hand.” +</p> + +<p> +We went to the left-hand coffin and by inserting the hook on the back of my +knife, of which the real use is to pick stones out of horses’ hoofs, into +one of the little air-holes I have described, managed to raise the heavy +crystal lid sufficiently to enable us to force a piece of wood between it and +the top. The rest was easy, for the hinges being of crystal had not corroded. +In two minutes it was open. +</p> + +<p> +From the chest came an overpowering spicy odour, and with it a veritable breath +of warm air before which we recoiled a little. Bickley took a pocket +thermometer which he had at hand and glanced at it. It marked a temperature of +82 degrees in the sepulchre. Having noted this, he thrust it into the coffin +between the crystal wall and its occupant. Then we went out and waited a little +while to give the odours time to dissipate, for they made the head reel. +</p> + +<p> +After five minutes or so we returned and examined the thermometer. It had risen +to 98 degrees, the natural temperature of the human body. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you make of that if the man is dead?” he whispered. +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head, and as we had agreed, set to helping him to lift the body from +the coffin. It was a good weight, quite eleven stone I should say; moreover, +<i>it was not stiff</i>, for the hip joints bent. We got it out and laid it on +a blanket we had spread on the floor of the sepulchre. Whilst I was thus +engaged I saw something that nearly caused me to loose my hold from +astonishment. Beneath the head, the centre of the back and the feet were +crystal boxes about eight inches square, or rather crystal blocks, for in them +I could see no opening, and these boxes emitted a faint phosphorescent light. I +touched one of them and found that it was quite warm. +</p> + +<p> +“Great heavens!” I exclaimed, “here’s magic.” +</p> + +<p> +“There’s no such thing,” answered Bickley in his usual +formula. Then an explanation seemed to strike him and he added, “Not +magic but radium or something of the sort. That’s how the temperature was +kept up. In sufficient quantity it is practically indestructible, you see. My +word! this old gentleman knew a thing or two.” +</p> + +<p> +Again we waited a little while to see if the body begun to crumble on exposure +to the air, I taking the opportunity to make a rough sketch of it in my +pocket-book in anticipation of that event. But it did not; it remained quite +sound. +</p> + +<p> +“Here goes,” said Bickley. “If he should be alive, he will +catch cold in his lungs after lying for ages in that baby incubator, as I +suppose he has done. So it is now or never.” +</p> + +<p> +Then bidding me hold the man’s right arm, he took the sterilized syringe +which he had prepared, and thrusting the needle into a vein he selected just +above the wrist, injected the contents. +</p> + +<p> +“It would have been better over the heart,” he whispered, +“but I thought I would try the arm first. I don’t like risking +chills by uncovering him.” +</p> + +<p> +I made no answer and again we waited and watched. +</p> + +<p> +“Great heavens, he’s stirring!” I gasped presently. +</p> + +<p> +Stirring he was, for his fingers began to move. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley bent down and placed his ear to the heart—I forgot to say that he +had tested this before with a stethoscope, but had been unable to detect any +movement. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe it is beginning to beat,” he said in an awed voice. +</p> + +<p> +Then he applied the stethoscope, and added, “It is, it is!” +</p> + +<p> +Next he took a filament of cotton wool and laid it on the man’s lips. +Presently it moved; he was breathing, though very faintly. Bickley took more +cotton wool and having poured something from his medicine-chest on to it, +placed it over the mouth beneath the man’s nostrils—I believe it +was sal volatile. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing further happened for a little while, and to relieve the strain on my +mind I stared absently into the empty coffin. Here I saw what had escaped our +notice, two small plates of white metal and cut upon them what I took to be +star maps. Beyond these and the glowing boxes which I have mentioned, there was +nothing else in the coffin. I had no time to examine them, for at that moment +the old man opened his mouth and began to breathe, evidently with some +discomfort and effort, as his empty lungs filled themselves with air. Then his +eyelids lifted, revealing a wonderful pair of dark glowing eyes beneath. Next +he tried to sit up but would have fallen, had not Bickley supported him with +his arm. +</p> + +<p> +I do not think he saw Bickley, indeed he shut his eyes again as though the +light hurt them, and went into a kind of faint. Then it was that Tommy, who all +this while had been watching the proceedings with grave interest, came forward, +wagging his tail, and licked the man’s face. At the touch of the +dog’s red tongue, he opened his eyes for the second time. Now he +saw—not us but Tommy, for after contemplating him for a few seconds, +something like a smile appeared upon his fierce but noble face. More, he lifted +his hand and laid it on the dog’s head, as though to pat it kindly. Half +a minute or so later his awakening senses appreciated our presence. The +incipient smile vanished and was replaced by a somewhat terrible frown. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Bickley had poured out some of the hot coffee laced with brandy into +the cup that was screwed on the top of the thermos flask. Advancing to the man +whom I supported, he put it to his lips. He tasted and made a wry face, but +presently he began to sip, and ultimately swallowed it all. The effect of the +stimulant was wonderful, for in a few minutes he came to life completely and +was even able to sit up without support. +</p> + +<p> +For quite a long while he gazed at us gravely, taking us in and everything +connected with us. For instance, Bickley’s medicine-case which lay open +showing the little vulcanite tubes, a few instruments and other outfit, engaged +his particular attention, and I saw at once that he understood what it was. +Thus his arm still smarted where the needle had been driven in and on the +blanket lay the syringe. He looked at his arm, then looked at the syringe, and +nodded. The paraffin hurricane lamps also seemed to interest and win his +approval. We two men, as I thought, attracted him least of all; he just summed +us up and our garments, more especially the garments, with a few shrewd +glances, and then seemed to turn his thoughts to Tommy, who had seated himself +quite contentedly at his side, evidently accepting him as a new addition to our +party. +</p> + +<p> +I confess that this behaviour on Tommy’s part reassured me not a little. +I am a great believer in the instincts of animals, especially of dogs, and I +felt certain that if this man had not been in all essentials human like +ourselves, Tommy would not have tolerated him. In the same way the +sleeper’s clear liking for Tommy, at whom he looked much oftener and with +greater kindness than he did at us, suggested that there was goodness in him +somewhere, since although a dog in its wonderful tolerance may love a bad +person in whom it smells out hidden virtue, no really bad person ever loved a +dog, or, I may add, a child or a flower. +</p> + +<p> +As a matter of fact, the “old god,” as we had christened him while +he was in his coffin, during all our association with him, cared infinitely +more for Tommy than he did for any of us, a circumstance that ultimately was +not without its influence upon our fortunes. But for this there was a reason as +we learned afterwards, also he was not really so amiable as I hoped. +</p> + +<p> +When we had looked at each other for a long while the sleeper began to arrange +his beard, of which the length seemed to surprise him, especially as Tommy was +seated on one end of it. Finding this out and apparently not wishing to disturb +Tommy, he gave up the occupation, and after one or two attempts, for his tongue +and lips still seemed to be stiff, addressed us in some sonorous and musical +language, unlike any that we had ever heard. We shook our heads. Then by an +afterthought I said “Good day” to him in the language of the +Orofenans. He puzzled over the word as though it were more or less familiar to +him, and when I repeated it, gave it back to me with a difference indeed, but +in a way which convinced us that he quite understood what I meant. The +conversation went no further at the moment because just then some memory seemed +to strike him. +</p> + +<p> +He was sitting with his back against the coffin of the Glittering Lady, whom +therefore he had not seen. Now he began to turn round, and being too weak to do +so, motioned me to help him. I obeyed, while Bickley, guessing his purpose, +held up one of the hurricane lamps that he might see better. With a kind of +fierce eagerness he surveyed her who lay within the coffin, and after he had +done so, uttered a sigh as of intense relief. +</p> + +<p> +Next he pointed to the metal cup out of which he had drunk. Bickley filled it +again from the thermos flask, which I observed excited his keen interest, for, +having touched the flask with his hand and found that it was cool, he appeared +to marvel that the fluid coming from it should be hot and steaming. Presently +he smiled as though he had got the clue to the mystery, and swallowed his +second drink of coffee and spirit. This done, he motioned to us to lift the lid +of the lady’s coffin, pointing out a certain catch in the bolts which at +first we could not master, for it will be remembered that on this coffin these +were shot. +</p> + +<p> +In the end, by pursuing the same methods that we had used in the instance of +his own, we raised the coffin lid and once more were driven to retreat from the +sepulchre for a while by the overpowering odour like to that of a whole +greenhouse full of tuberoses, that flowed out of it, inducing a kind of +stupefaction from which even Tommy fled. +</p> + +<p> +When we returned it was to find the man kneeling by the side of the coffin, for +as yet he could not stand, with his glowing eyes fixed upon the face of her who +slept therein and waving his long arms above her. +</p> + +<p> +“Hypnotic business! Wonder if it will work,” whispered Bickley. +Then he lifted the syringe and looked inquiringly at the man, who shook his +head, and went on with his mesmeric passes. +</p> + +<p> +I crept round him and took my stand by the sleeper’s head, that I might +watch her face, which was well worth watching, while Bickley, with his medicine +at hand, remained near her feet, I think engaged in disinfecting the syringe in +some spirit or acid. I believe he was about to make an attempt to use it when +suddenly, as though beneath the influence of the hypnotic passes, a change +appeared on the Glittering Lady’s face. Hitherto, beautiful as it was, it +had been a dead face though one of a person who had suddenly been cut off while +in full health and vigour a few hours, or at the most a day or so before. Now +it began to live again; it was as though the spirit were returning from afar, +and not without toil and tribulation. +</p> + +<p> +Expression after expression flitted across the features; indeed these seemed to +change so much from moment to moment that they might have belonged to several +different individuals, though each was beautiful. The fact of these remarkable +changes with the suggestion of multiform personalities which they conveyed +impressed both Bickley and myself very much indeed. Then the breast heaved +tumultuously; it even appeared to struggle. Next the eyes opened. They were +full of wonder, even of fear, but oh! what marvelous eyes. I do not know how to +describe them, I cannot even state their exact colour, except that it was dark, +something like the blue of sapphires of the deepest tint, and yet not black; +large, too, and soft as a deer’s. They shut again as though the light +hurt them, then once more opened and wandered about, apparently without seeing. +</p> + +<p> +At length they found my face, for I was still bending over her, and, resting +there, appeared to take it in by degrees. More, it seemed to touch and stir +some human spring in the still-sleeping heart. At least the fear passed from +her features and was replaced by a faint smile, such as a patient sometimes +gives to one known and well loved, as the effects of chloroform pass away. For +a while she looked at me with an earnest, searching gaze, then suddenly, for +the first time moving her arms, lifted them and threw them round my neck. +</p> + +<p> +The old man stared, bending his imperial brows into a little frown, but did +nothing. Bickley stared also through his glasses and sniffed as though in +disapproval, while I remained quite still, fighting with a wild impulse to kiss +her on the lips as one would an awakening and beloved child. I doubt if I could +have done so, however, for really I was immovable; my heart seemed to stop and +all my muscles to be paralysed. +</p> + +<p> +I do not know for how long this endured, but I do know how it ended. Presently +in the intense silence I heard Bastin’s heavy voice and looking round, +saw his big head projecting into the sepulchre. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I never!” he said, “you seem to have woke them up with +a vengeance. If you begin like <i>that</i> with the lady, there will be +complications before you have done, Arbuthnot.” +</p> + +<p> +Talk of being brought back to earth with a rush! I could have killed Bastin, +and Bickley, turning on him like a tiger, told him to be off, find wood and +light a large fire in front of the statue. I think he was about to argue when +the Ancient gave him a glance of his fierce eyes, which alarmed him, and he +departed, bewildered, to return presently with the wood. +</p> + +<p> +But the sound of his voice had broken the spell. The Lady let her arms fall +with a start, and shut her eyes again, seeming to faint. Bickley sprang forward +with his sal volatile and applied it to her nostrils, the Ancient not +interfering, for he seemed to recognise that he had to deal with a man of skill +and one who meant well by them. +</p> + +<p> +In the end we brought her round again and, to omit details, Bickley gave her, +not coffee and brandy, but a mixture he compounded of hot water, preserved milk +and meat essence. The effect of it on her was wonderful, since a few minutes +after swallowing it she sat up in the coffin. Then we lifted her from that +narrow bed in which she had slept for—ah! how long? and perceived that +beneath her also were crystal boxes of the radiant, heat-giving substance. We +sat her on the floor of the sepulchre, wrapping her also in a blanket. +</p> + +<p> +Now it was that Tommy, after frisking round her as though in welcome of an old +friend, calmly established himself beside her and laid his black head upon her +knee. She noted it and smiled for the first time, a marvelously sweet and +gentle smile. More, she placed her slender hand upon the dog and stroked him +feebly. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley tried to make her drink some more of his mixture, but she refused, +motioning him to give it to Tommy. This, however, he would not do because there +was but one cup. Presently both of the sleepers began to shiver, which caused +Bickley anxiety. Abusing Bastin beneath his breath for being so long with the +fire, he drew the blankets closer about them. +</p> + +<p> +Then an idea came to him and he examined the glowing boxes in the coffin. They +were loose, being merely set in prepared cavities in the crystal. Wrapping our +handkerchiefs about his hand, he took them out and placed them around the +wakened patients, a proceeding of which the Ancient nodded approval. Just then, +too, Bastin returned with his first load of firewood, and soon we had a merry +blaze going just outside the sepulchre. I saw that they observed the lighting +of this fire by means of a match with much interest. +</p> + +<p> +Now they grew warm again, as indeed we did also—too warm. Then in my turn +I had an idea. I knew that by now the sun would be beating hotly against the +rock of the mount, and suggested to Bickley, that, if possible, the best thing +we could do would be to get them into its life-giving rays. He agreed, if we +could make them understand and they were able to walk. So I tried. First I +directed the Ancient’s attention to the mouth of the cave which at this +distance showed as a white circle of light. He looked at it and then at me with +grave inquiry. I made motions to suggest that he should proceed there, +repeating the word “Sun” in the Orofenan tongue. He understood at +once, though whether he read my mind rather than what I said I am not sure. +Apparently the Glittering Lady understood also and seemed to be most anxious to +go. Only she looked rather pitifully at her feet and shook her head. This +decided me. +</p> + +<p> +I do not know if I have mentioned anywhere that I am a tall man and very +muscular. She was tall, also, but as I judged not so very heavy after her long +fast. At any rate I felt quite certain that I could carry her for that +distance. Stooping down, I lifted her up, signing to her to put her arms round +my neck, which she did. Then calling to Bickley and Bastin to bring along the +Ancient between them, with some difficulty I struggled out of the sepulchre, +and started down the cave. She was more heavy than I thought, and yet I could +have wished the journey longer. To begin with she seemed quite trustful and +happy in my arms, where she lay with her head against my shoulder, smiling a +little as a child might do, especially when I had to stop and throw her long +hair round my neck like a muffler, to prevent it from trailing in the dust. +</p> + +<p> +A bundle of lavender, or a truss of new-mown hay, could not have been more +sweet to carry and there was something electric about the touch of her, which +went through and through me. Very soon it was over, and we were out of the cave +into the full glory of the tropical sun. At first, that her eyes might become +accustomed to its light and her awakened body to its heat, I set her down where +shadow fell from the overhanging rock, in a canvas deck chair that had been +brought by Marama with the other things, throwing the rug about her to protect +her from such wind as there was. She nestled gratefully into the soft seat and +shut her eyes, for the motion had tired her. I noted, however, that she drew in +the sweet air with long breaths. +</p> + +<p> +Then I turned to observe the arrival of the Ancient, who was being borne +between Bickley and Bastin in what children know as a dandy-chair, which is +formed by two people crossing their hands in a peculiar fashion. It says much +for the tremendous dignity of his presence that even thus, with one arm round +the neck of Bickley and the other round that of Bastin, and his long white +beard falling almost to the ground, he still looked most imposing. +</p> + +<p> +Unfortunately, however, just as they were emerging from the cave, Bastin, +always the most awkward of creatures, managed to leave hold with one hand, so +that his passenger nearly came to the ground. Never shall I forget the look +that he gave him. Indeed, I think that from this moment he hated Bastin. +Bickley he respected as a man of intelligence and learning, although in +comparison with his own, the latter was infantile and crude; me he tolerated +and even liked; but Bastin he detested. The only one of our party for whom he +felt anything approaching real affection was the spaniel Tommy. +</p> + +<p> +We set him down, fortunately uninjured, on some rugs, and also in the shadow. +Then, after a little while, we moved both of them into the sun. It was quite +curious to see them expand there. As Bickley said, what happened to them might +well be compared to the development of a butterfly which has just broken from +the living grave of its chrysalis and crept into the full, hot radiance of the +light. Its crinkled wings unfold, their brilliant tints develop; in an hour or +two it is perfect, glorious, prepared for life and flight, a new creature. +</p> + +<p> +So it was with this pair, from moment to moment they gathered strength and +vigour. Near-by to them, as it happened, stood a large basket of the luscious +native fruits brought that morning by the Orofenans, and at these the Lady +looked with longing. With Bickley’s permission, I offered them to her and +to the Ancient, first peeling them with my fingers. They ate of them greedily, +a full meal, and would have gone on had not the stern Bickley, fearing untoward +consequences, removed the basket. Again the results were wonderful, for half an +hour afterwards they seemed to be quite strong. With my assistance the +Glittering Lady, as I still call her, for at that time I did not know her name, +rose from the chair, and, leaning on me, tottered a few steps forward. Then she +stood looking at the sky and all the lovely panorama of nature beneath, and +stretching out her arms as though in worship. Oh! how beautiful she seemed with +the sunlight shining on her heavenly face! +</p> + +<p> +Now for the first time I heard her voice. It was soft and deep, yet in it was a +curious bell-like tone that seemed to vibrate like the sound of chimes heard +from far away. Never have I listened to such another voice. She pointed to the +sun whereof the light turned her radiant hair and garments to a kind of golden +glory, and called it by some name that I could not understand. I shook my head, +whereon she gave it a different name taken, I suppose, from another language. +Again I shook my head and she tried a third time. To my delight this word was +practically the same that the Orofenans used for “sun.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, speaking very slowly, “so it is called by the +people of this land.” +</p> + +<p> +She understood, for she answered in much the same language: +</p> + +<p> +“What, then, do you call it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sun in the English tongue,” I replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Sun. English,” she repeated after me, then added, “How are +you named, Wanderer?” +</p> + +<p> +“Humphrey,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Hum-fe-ry!” she said as though she were learning the word, +“and those?” +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin and Bickley,” I replied. +</p> + +<p> +Over these patronymics she shook her head; as yet they were too much for her. +</p> + +<p> +“How are you named, Sleeper?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Yva,” she answered. +</p> + +<p> +“A beautiful name for one who is beautiful,” I declared with +enthusiasm, of course always in the rich Orofenan dialect which by now I could +talk well enough. +</p> + +<p> +She repeated the words once or twice, then of a sudden caught their meaning, +for she smiled and even coloured, saying hastily with a wave of her hand +towards the Ancient who stood at a distance between Bastin and Bickley, +“My father, Oro; great man; great king; great god!” +</p> + +<p> +At this information I started, for it was startling to learn that here was the +original Oro, who was still worshipped by the Orofenans, although of his actual +existence they had known nothing for uncounted time. Also I was glad to learn +that he was her father and not her old husband, for to me that would have been +horrible, a desecration too deep for words. +</p> + +<p> +“How long did you sleep, Yva?” I asked, pointing towards the +sepulchre in the cave. +</p> + +<p> +After a little thought she understood and shook her head hopelessly, then by an +afterthought, she said, +</p> + +<p> +“Stars tell Oro to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +So Oro was an astronomer as well as a king and a god. I had guessed as much +from those plates in the coffin which seemed to have stars engraved on them. +</p> + +<p> +At this point our conversation came to an end, for the Ancient himself +approached, leaning on the arm of Bickley who was engaged in an animated +argument with Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“For Heaven’s sake!” said Bickley, “keep your theology +to yourself at present. If you upset the old fellow and put him in a temper he +may die.” +</p> + +<p> +“If a man tells me that he is a god it is my duty to tell him that he is +a liar,” replied Bastin obstinately. +</p> + +<p> +“Which you did, Bastin, only fortunately he did not understand you. But +for your own sake I advise you not to take liberties. He is not one, I think, +with whom it is wise to trifle. I think he seems thirsty. Go and get some water +from the rain pool, not from the lake.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin departed and presently returned with an aluminum jug full of pure water +and a glass. Bickley poured some of it into a glass and handed it to Yva who +bent her head in thanks. Then she did a curious thing. Having first lifted the +glass with both hands to the sky and held it so for a few seconds, she turned +and with an obeisance poured a little of it on the ground before her +father’s feet. +</p> + +<p> +A libation, thought I to myself, and evidently Bastin agreed with me, for I +heard him mutter, +</p> + +<p> +“I believe she is making a heathen offering.” +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless we were right, for Oro accepted the homage by a little motion of the +head. After this, at a sign from him she drank the water. Then the glass was +refilled and handed to Oro who also held it towards the sky. He, however, made +no libation but drank at once, two tumblers of it in rapid succession. +</p> + +<p> +By now the direct sunlight was passing from the mouth of the cave, and though +it was hot enough, both of them shivered a little. They spoke together in some +language of which we could not understand a word, as though they were debating +what their course of action should be. The dispute was long and earnest. Had we +known what was passing, which I learned afterwards, it would have made us +sufficiently anxious, for the point at issue was nothing less than whether we +should or should not be forthwith destroyed—an end, it appears, that Oro +was quite capable of bringing about if he so pleased. Yva, however, had very +clear views of her own on the matter and, as I gather, even dared to threaten +that she would protect us by the use of certain powers at her command, though +what these were I do not know. +</p> + +<p> +While the event hung doubtful Tommy, who was growing bored with these long +proceedings, picked up a bough still covered with flowers which, after their +pretty fashion, the Orofenans had placed on the top of one of the baskets of +food. This small bough he brought and laid at the feet of Oro, no doubt in the +hope that he would throw it for him to fetch, a game in which the dog +delighted. For some reason Oro saw an omen in this simple canine performance, +or he may have thought that the dog was making an offering to him, for he put +his thin hand to his brow and thought a while, then motioned to Bastin to pick +up the bough and give it to him. +</p> + +<p> +Next he spoke to his daughter as though assenting to something, for I saw her +sigh in relief. No wonder, for he was conveying his decision to spare our lives +and admit us to their fellowship. +</p> + +<p> +After this again they talked, but in quite a different tone and manner. Then +the Glittering Lady said to me in her slow and archaic Orofenan: +</p> + +<p> +“We go to rest. You must not follow. We come back perhaps tonight, +perhaps next night. We are quite safe. You are quite safe under the beard of +Oro. Spirit of Oro watch you. You understand?” +</p> + +<p> +I said I understood, whereon she answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, O Humfe-ry.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, O Yva,” I replied, bowing. +</p> + +<p> +Thereon they turned and refusing all assistance from us, vanished into the +darkness of the cave leaning upon each other and walking slowly. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Years!</h2> + +<p> +“You seem to have made the best of your time, old fellow,” said +Bickley in rather a sour voice. +</p> + +<p> +“I never knew people begin to call each other by their Christian names so +soon,” added Bastin, looking at me with a suspicious eye. +</p> + +<p> +“I know no other,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps not, but at any rate <i>you</i> have another, though you +don’t seem to have told it to her. Anyway, I am glad they are gone, for I +was getting tired of being ordered by everybody to carry about wood and water +for them. Also I am terribly hungry as I can’t eat before it is light. +They have taken most of the best fruit to which I was looking forward, but +thank goodness they do not seem to care for pork.” +</p> + +<p> +“So am I,” said Bickley, who really looked exhausted. “Get +the food, there’s a good fellow. We’ll talk afterwards.” +</p> + +<p> +When we had eaten, somewhat silently, I asked Bickley what he made of the +business; also whither he thought the sleepers had gone. +</p> + +<p> +“I think I can answer the last question,” interrupted Bastin. +“I expect it is to a place well known to students of the Bible which even +Bickley mentions sometimes when he is angry. At any rate, they seem to be very +fond of heat, for they wouldn’t part from it even in their coffins, and +you will admit that they are not quite natural, although that Glittering Lady +is so attractive as regards her exterior.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley waved these remarks aside and addressed himself to me. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what to think of it,” he said; “but as +the experience is not natural and everything in the Universe, so far as we know +it, has a natural explanation, I am inclined to the belief that we are +suffering from hallucinations, which in their way are also quite natural. It +does not seem possible that two people can really have been asleep for an +unknown length of time enclosed in vessels of glass or crystal, kept warm by +radium or some such substance, and then emerge from them comparatively strong +and well. It is contrary to natural law.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about microbes?” I asked. “They are said to last +practically for ever, and they are living things. So in their case your natural +law breaks down.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is true,” he answered. “Some microbes in a sealed tube +and under certain conditions do appear to possess indefinite powers of life. +Also radium has an indefinite life, but that is a mineral. Only these people +are not microbes nor are they minerals. Also, experience tells us that they +could not have lived for more than a few months at the outside in such +circumstances as we seemed to find them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then what do you suggest?” +</p> + +<p> +“I suggest that we did not really find them at all; that we have all been +dreaming. You know that there are certain gases which produce illusions, +laughing gas is one of them, and that these gases are sometimes met with in +caves. Now there were very peculiar odours in that place under the statue, +which may have worked upon our imaginations in some such way. Otherwise we are +up against a miracle, and, as you know, I do not believe in miracles.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>I</i> do,” said Bastin calmly. “You’ll find all +about it in the Bible if you will only take the trouble to read. Why do you +talk such rubbish about gases?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because only gas, or something of the sort, could have made us imagine +them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense, Bickley! Those people were here right enough. Didn’t +they eat our fruit and drink the water I brought them without ever saying thank +you? Only, they are not human. They are evil spirits, and for my part I +don’t want to see any more of them, though I have no doubt Arbuthnot +does, as that Glittering Lady threw her arms round his neck when she woke up, +and already he is calling her by her Christian name, if the word Christian can +be used in connection with her. The old fellow had the impudence to tell us +that he was a god, and it is remarkable that he should have called himself Oro, +seeing that the devil they worship on the island is also called Oro and the +place itself is named Orofena.” +</p> + +<p> +“As to where they have gone,” continued Bickley, taking no notice +of Bastin, “I really don’t know. My expectation is, however, that +when we go to look tomorrow morning—and I suggest that we should not do +so before then in order that we may give our minds time to clear—we shall +find that sepulchre place quite empty, even perhaps without the crystal coffins +we have imagined to stand there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps we shall find that there isn’t a cave at all and that we +are not sitting on a flat rock outside of it,” suggested Bastin with +heavy sarcasm, adding, “You are clever in your way, Bickley, but you can +talk more rubbish than any man I ever knew.” +</p> + +<p> +“They told us they would come back tonight or tomorrow,” I said. +“If they do, what will you say then, Bickley?” +</p> + +<p> +“I will wait till they come to answer that question. Now let us go for a +walk and try to change our thoughts. We are all over-strained and scarcely know +what we are saying.” +</p> + +<p> +“One more question,” I said as we rose to start. “Did Tommy +suffer from hallucinations as well as ourselves?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” answered Bickley. “He is an animal just as we are, +or perhaps we thought we saw Tommy do the things he did.” +</p> + +<p> +“When you found that basket of fruit, Bastin, which the natives brought +over in the canoe, was there a bough covered with red flowers lying on the top +of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Arbuthnot, one bough only; I threw it down on the rock as it got in +the way when I was carrying the basket.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which flowering bough we all thought we saw the Sleeper Oro carry away +after Tommy had brought it to him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; he made me pick it up and give it to him,” said Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, if we did not see this it should still be lying on the rock, as +there has been no wind and there are no animals here to carry it away. You will +admit that, Bickley?” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“Then if it has gone you will admit also that the presumption is that we +saw what we thought we did see?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know how that conclusion can be avoided, at any rate so far as +the incident of the bough is concerned,” replied Bickley with caution. +</p> + +<p> +Then, without more words, we started to look. At the spot where the bough +should have been, there was no bough, but on the rock lay several of the red +flowers, bitten off, I suppose, by Tommy while he was carrying it. Nor was this +all. I think I have mentioned that the Glittering Lady wore sandals which were +fastened with red studs that looked like rubies or carbuncles. On the rock lay +one of these studs. I picked it up and we examined it. It had been sewn to the +sandal-strap with golden thread or silk. Some of this substance hung from the +hole drilled in the stone which served for an eye. It was as rotten as tinder, +apparently with extreme age. Moreover, the hard gem itself was pitted as though +the passage of time had taken effect upon it, though this may have been caused +by other agencies, such as the action of the radium rays. I smiled at Bickley +who looked disconcerted and even sad. In a way it is painful to see the effect +upon an able and earnest man of the upsetting of his lifelong theories. +</p> + +<p> +We went for our walk, keeping to the flat lands at the foot of the volcano +cone, for we seemed to have had enough of wonders and to desire to reassure +ourselves, as it were, by the study of natural and familiar things. As it +chanced, too, we were rewarded by sundry useful discoveries. Thus we found a +place where the bread-tree and other fruits, most of them now ripe, grew in +abundance, as did the yam. Also, we came to an inlet that we noticed was +crowded with large and beautiful fish from the lake, which seemed to find it a +favourite spot. Perhaps this was because a little stream of excellent water ran +in here, overflowing from the great pool or mere which filled the crater above. +</p> + +<p> +At these finds we rejoiced greatly, for now we knew that we need not fear +starvation even should our supply of food from the main island be cut off. +Indeed, by help of some palm-leaf stalks which we wove together roughly, +Bastin, who was rather clever at this kind of thing, managed to trap four fish +weighing two or three pounds apiece, wading into the water to do so. It was +curious to observe with what ease he adapted himself to the manners and customs +of primeval man, so much so, indeed, that Bickley remarked that if he could +believe in re-incarnation, he would be absolutely certain that Bastin was a +troglodyte in his last sojourn on the earth. +</p> + +<p> +However this might be, Bastin’s primeval instincts and abilities were of +the utmost service to us. Before we had been many days on that island he had +built us a kind of native hut or house roofed with palm leaves in which, until +provided with a better, as happened afterwards, we ate and he and Bickley +slept, leaving the tent to me. Moreover, he wove a net of palm fibre with which +he caught abundance of fish, and made fishing-lines of the same material +(fortunately we had some hooks) which he baited with freshwater mussels and the +insides of fish. By means of these he secured some veritable monsters of the +carp species that proved most excellent eating. His greatest triumph, however, +was a decoy which he constructed of boughs, wherein he trapped a number of +waterfowl. So that soon we kept a very good table of a sort, especially after +he had learned how to cook our food upon the native plan by means of hot +stones. This suited us admirably, as it enabled Bickley and myself to devote +all our time to archaeological and other studies which did not greatly interest +Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +By the time that we got back to camp it was drawing towards evening, so we +cooked our food and ate, and then, thoroughly exhausted, made ourselves as +comfortable as we could and went to sleep. Even our marvelous experiences could +not keep Bickley and myself from sleeping, and on Bastin such things had no +effect. He accepted them and that was all, much more readily than we did, +indeed. Triple-armed as he was in the mail of a child-like faith, he snapped +his fingers at evil spirits which he supposed the Sleepers to be, and at +everything else that other men might dread. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as I have mentioned, after our talk with Marama, although we did not think +it wise to adventure ourselves among them again at present, we had lost all +fear of the Orofenans. In this attitude, so far as Marama himself and the +majority of his people were concerned, we were quite justified, for they were +our warm friends. But in the case of the sorcerers, the priests and all their +rascally and superstitious brotherhood, we were by no means justified. They had +not forgiven Bastin his sacrilege or for his undermining of their authority by +the preaching of new doctrines which, if adopted, would destroy them as a +hierarchy. Nor had they forgiven Bickley for shooting one of their number, or +any of us for our escape from the vengeance of their god. +</p> + +<p> +So it came about that they made a plot to seize us all and hale us off to be +sacrificed to a substituted image of Oro, which by now they had set up. They +knew exactly where we slept upon the rock; indeed, our fire showed it to them +and so far they were not afraid to venture, since here they had been accustomed +for generations to lay their offerings to the god of the Mountain. Secretly on +the previous night, without the knowledge of Marama, they had carried two more +canoes to the borders of the lake. Now on this night, just as the moon was +setting about three in the morning, they made their attack, twenty-one men in +all, for the three canoes were large, relying on the following darkness to get +us away and convey us to the place of sacrifice to be offered up at dawn and +before Marama could interfere. +</p> + +<p> +The first we knew of the matter, for most foolishly we had neglected to keep a +watch, was the unpleasant sensation of brawny savages kneeling on us and +trussing us up with palm-fibre ropes. Also they thrust handfuls of dry grass +into our mouths to prevent us from calling out, although as air came through +the interstices of the grass, we did not suffocate. The thing was so well done +that we never struck a blow in self-defence, and although we had our pistols at +hand, much less could we fire a shot. Of course, we struggled as well as we +were able, but it was quite useless; in three minutes we were as helpless as +calves in a net and like calves were being conveyed to the butcher. Bastin +managed to get the gag out of his mouth for a few seconds, and I heard him say +in his slow, heavy voice: +</p> + +<p> +“This, Bickley, is what comes of trafficking with evil spirits in museum +cases—” There his speech stopped, for the grass wad was jammed down +his throat again, but distinctly I heard the inarticulate Bickley snort as he +conceived the repartee he was unable to utter. As for myself, I reflected that +the business served us right for not keeping a watch, and abandoned the issue +to fate. +</p> + +<p> +Still, to confess the truth, I was infinitely more sorry to die than I should +have been forty-eight hours earlier. This is a dull and in most ways a dreadful +world, one, if we could only summon the courage, that some of us would be glad +to leave in search of new adventures. But here a great and unprecedented +adventure had begun to befall me, and before its mystery was solved, before +even I could formulate a theory concerning it, my body must be destroyed, and +my intelligence that was caged therein, sent far afield; or, if Bickley were +right, eclipsed. It seemed so sad just when the impossible, like an unguessed +wandering moon, had risen over the grey flats of the ascertained and made them +shine with hope and wonder. +</p> + +<p> +They carried us off to the canoes, not too gently; indeed, I heard the bony +frame of Bastin bump into the bottom of one of them and reflected, not without +venom, that it served him right as he was the fount and origin of our woes. Two +stinking magicians, wearing on their heads undress editions of their court +cages, since these were too cumbersome for active work of the sort, and painted +all over with various pigments, were just about to swing me after him into the +same, or another canoe, when something happened. I did not know what it was, +but as a result, my captors left hold of me so that I fell to the rock, lying +upon my back. +</p> + +<p> +Then, within my line of vision, which, it must be remembered, was limited +because I could not lift my head, appeared the upper part of the tall person of +the Ancient who said that he was named Oro. I could only see him down to his +middle, but I noted vaguely that he seemed to be much changed. For instance, he +wore a different coloured dress, or rather robe; this time it was dark blue, +which caused me to wonder where on earth it came from. Also, his tremendous +beard had been trimmed and dressed, and on his head there was a simple black +cap, strangely quilted, which looked as though it were made of velvet. +Moreover, his face had plumped out. He still looked ancient, it is true, and +unutterably wise, but now he resembled an antique youth, so great were his +energy and vigour. Also, his dark and glowing eyes shone with a fearful +intensity. In short, he seemed impressive and terrible almost beyond imagining. +</p> + +<p> +He looked about him slowly, then asked in a deep, cold voice, speaking in the +Orofenan tongue: +</p> + +<p> +“What do you, slaves?” +</p> + +<p> +No one seemed able to answer, they were too horror-stricken at this sudden +vision of their fabled god, whose fierce features of wood had become flesh; +they only turned to fly. He waved his thin hand and they came to a standstill, +like animals which have reached the end of their tether and are checked by the +chains that bind them. There they stood in all sorts of postures, immovable and +looking extremely ridiculous in their paint and feathers, with dread +unutterable stamped upon their evil faces. +</p> + +<p> +The Sleeper spoke again: +</p> + +<p> +“You would murder as did your forefathers, O children of snakes and hogs +fashioned in the shape of men. You would sacrifice those who dwell in my shadow +to satisfy your hate because they are wiser than you. Come hither thou,” +and he beckoned with a bony finger to the chief magician. +</p> + +<p> +The man advanced towards him in short jumps, as a mechanical toy might do, and +stood before him, his miniature crate and feathers all awry and the sweat of +terror melting the paint in streaks upon his face. +</p> + +<p> +“Look into the eyes of Oro, O worshipper of Oro,” said the Sleeper, +and he obeyed, his own eyes starting out of his head. +</p> + +<p> +“Receive the curse of Oro,” said the Ancient again. Then followed a +terrible spectacle. The man went raving mad. He bounded into the air to a +height inconceivable. He threw himself upon the ground and rolled upon the +rock. He rose again and staggered round and round, tearing pieces out of his +arms with his teeth. He yelled hideously like one possessed. He grovelled, +beating his forehead against the rock. Then he sat up, slowly choked +and—died. +</p> + +<p> +His companions seemed to catch the infection of death as terrified savages +often do. They too performed dreadful antics, all except three of them who +stood paralysed. They rushed about battering each other with their fists and +wooden weapons, looking like devils from hell in their hideous painted attire. +They grappled and fought furiously. They separated and plunged into the lake, +where with a last grimace they sank like stones. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to last a long while, but I think that as a matter of fact within +five minutes it was over; they were all dead. Only the three paralysed ones +remained standing and rolling their eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The Sleeper beckoned to them with his thin finger, and they walked forward in +step like soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +“Lift that man from the boat,” he said, pointing to Bastin, +“cut his bonds and those of the others.” +</p> + +<p> +They obeyed with a wonderful alacrity. In a minute we stood at liberty and were +pulling the grass gags from our mouths. The Ancient pointed to the head +magician who lay dead upon the rock, his hideous, contorted countenance staring +open-eyed at heaven. +</p> + +<p> +“Take that sorcerer and show him to the other sorcerers yonder,” he +said, “and tell them where your fellows are if they would find them. Know +by these signs that the Oro, god of the Mountain, who has slept a while, is +awake, and ill will it go with them who question his power or dare to try to +harm those who dwell in his house. Bring food day by day and await commands. +Begone!” +</p> + +<p> +The dreadful-looking body was bundled into one of the canoes, that out of which +Bastin had emerged. A rower sprang into each of them and presently was paddling +as he had never done before. As the setting moon vanished, they vanished with +it, and once more there was a great silence. +</p> + +<p> +“I am going to find my boots,” said Bastin. “This rock is +hard and I hurt my feet kicking at those poor fellows who appear to have come +to a bad end, how, I do not exactly understand. Personally, I think that more +allowances should have been made for them, as I hope will be the case +elsewhere, since after all they only acted according to their lights.” +</p> + +<p> +“Curse their lights!” ejaculated Bickley, feeling his throat which +was bruised. “I’m glad they are out.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin limped away in search of his boots, but Bickley and I stood where we +were contemplating the awakened Sleeper. All recollection of the recent +tumultuous scene seemed to have passed from his mind, for he was engaged in a +study of the heavens. They were wonderfully brilliant now that the moon was +down, brilliant as they only can be in the tropics when the sky is clear. +</p> + +<p> +Something caused me to look round, and there, coming towards us, was she who +said her name was Yva. Evidently all her weakness had departed also, for now +she needed no support, but walked with a peculiar gliding motion that reminded +me of a swan floating forward on the water. Well had we named her the +Glittering Lady, for in the starlight literally she seemed to glitter. I +suppose the effect came from her golden raiment, which, however, I noticed, as +in her father’s case, was not the same that she had worn in the coffin; +also from her hair that seemed to give out a light of its own. At least, she +shimmered as she came, her tall shape swaying at every step like a willow in +the wind. She drew near, and I saw that her face, too, had filled out and now +was that of one in perfect health and vigour, while her eyes shone softly and +seemed wondrous large. +</p> + +<p> +In her hands she carried those two plates of metal which I had seen lying in +the coffin of the Sleeper Oro. These she gave to him, then fell back out of his +hearing—if it were ever possible to do this, a point on which I am not +sure—and began to talk to me. I noted at once that in the few hours +during which she was absent, her knowledge of the Orofenan tongue seemed to +have improved greatly as though she had drunk deeply from some hidden fount of +memory. Now she spoke it with readiness, as Oro had done when he addressed the +sorcerers, although many of the words she used were not known to me, and the +general form of her language appeared archaic, as for instance that of Spenser +as compared with modern English. When she saw I did not comprehend her, +however, she would stop and cast her sentences in a different shape, till at +length I caught her meaning. Now I give the substance of what she said. +</p> + +<p> +“You are safe,” she began, glancing first at the palm ropes that +lay upon the rock and then at my wrists, one of which was cut. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Lady Yva, thanks to your father.” +</p> + +<p> +“You should say thanks to me. My father was thinking of other things, but +I was thinking of you strangers, and from where I was I saw those wicked ones +coming to kill you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! from the top of the mountain, I suppose.” +</p> + +<p> +She shook her head and smiled but vouchsafed no further explanation, unless her +following words can be so called. These were: +</p> + +<p> +“I can see otherwise than with my eyes, if I choose.” A statement +that caused Bickley, who was listening, to mutter: +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible! What the deuce can she mean? Telepathy, perhaps.” +</p> + +<p> +“I saw,” she continued, “and told the Lord, my father. He +came forth. Did he kill them? I did not look to learn.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. They lie in the lake, all except three whom he sent away as +messengers.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought so. Death is terrible, O Humphrey, but it is a sword which +those who rule must use to smite the wicked and the savage.” +</p> + +<p> +Not wishing to pursue this subject, I asked her what her father was doing with +the metal plates. +</p> + +<p> +“He reads the stars,” she answered, “to learn how long we +have been asleep. Before we went to sleep he made two pictures of them, as they +were then and as they should be at the time he had set for our +awakening.” +</p> + +<p> +“We set that time,” interrupted Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, O Bickley,” she answered, smiling again. “In the +divine Oro’s head was the time set. You were the hand that executed his +decree.” +</p> + +<p> +When Bickley heard this I really thought he would have burst. However, he +controlled himself nobly, being anxious to hear the end of this mysterious fib. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<img src="images/fig01.jpg" width="443" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<img src="images/fig02.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<p> +“How long was the time that the lord Oro set apart for sleep?” I +asked. +</p> + +<p> +She paused as though puzzled to find words to express her meaning, then held up +her hands and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Ten,” nodding at her fingers. By second thoughts she took +Bickley’s hands, not mine, and counted his ten fingers. +</p> + +<p> +“Ten years,” said Bickley. “Well, of course, it is +impossible, but perhaps—” and he paused. +</p> + +<p> +“Ten tens,” she went on with a deepening smile, “one +hundred.” +</p> + +<p> +“O!” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Ten hundreds, one thousand.” +</p> + +<p> +“I say!” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Ten times ten thousand, one hundred thousand.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley became silent. +</p> + +<p> +“Twice one hundred thousand and half a hundred thousand, two hundred and +fifty thousand years. <i>That</i> was the space of time which the lord Oro, my +father, set for our sleep. Whether it has been fulfilled he will know presently +when he has read the book of the stars and made comparison of it with what he +wrote before we laid us down to rest,” and she pointed to the metal +plates which the Ancient was studying. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley walked away, making sounds as though he were going to be ill and +looking so absurd in his indignation that I nearly laughed. The Lady Yva +actually did laugh, and very musical was that laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“He does not believe,” she said. “He is so clever he knows +everything. But two hundred and fifty thousand years ago we should have thought +him quite stupid. Then we could read the stars and calculate their movements +for ever.” +</p> + +<p> +“So can we,” I answered, rather nettled. +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad, O Humphrey, since you will be able to show my father if in +one of them he is wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +Secretly I hoped that this task would not be laid on me. Indeed, I thought it +well to change the subject for the edification of Bickley who had recovered and +was drawn back by his eager curiosity. Just then, too, Bastin joined us, happy +in his regained boots. +</p> + +<p> +“You tell us, Lady Yva,” I said, “that you slept, or should +have slept for two hundred and fifty thousand years.” Here Bastin opened +his eyes. “If that was so, where was your mind all this time?” +</p> + +<p> +“If by my mind you mean spirit, O Humphrey, I have to answer that at +present I do not know for certain. I think, however, that it dwelt elsewhere, +perhaps in other bodies on the earth, or some different earth. At least, I know +that my heart is very full of memories which as yet I cannot unroll and +read.” +</p> + +<p> +“Great heavens, this is madness!” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“In the great heavens,” she answered slowly, “there are many +things which you, poor man, would think to be madness, but yet are truth and +perfect wisdom. These things, or some of them, soon I shall hope to show +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do if you can,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” interrupted Bastin. “I think the lady’s +remarks quite reasonable. It seems to me highly improbable if really she has +slept for two hundred and fifty thousand years, which, of course, I can’t +decide, that an immortal spirit would be allowed to remain idle for so long. +That would be wallowing in a bed of idleness and shirking its duty which is to +do its work. Also, as she tells you, Bickley, you are not half so clever as you +think you are in your silly scepticism, and I have no doubt that there are many +things in other worlds which would expose your ignorance, if only you could see +them.” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment Oro turned and called his daughter. She went at once, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Come, strangers, and you shall learn.” +</p> + +<p> +So we followed her. +</p> + +<p> +“Daughter,” he said, speaking in Orofenan, I think that we might +understand, “ask these strangers to bring one of those lamps of theirs +that by the light of it I may study these writings.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps this may serve,” said Bickley, suddenly producing an +electric torch from his pocket and flashing it into his face. It was his form +of repartee for all he had suffered at the hands of this incomprehensible pair. +Let me say at once that it was singularly successful. Perhaps the wisdom of the +ages in which Oro flourished had overlooked so small a matter as electric +torches, or perhaps he did not expect to meet with them in these degenerate +days. At any rate for the first and last time in my intercourse with him I saw +the god, or lord—the native word bears either meaning—Oro genuinely +astonished. He started and stepped back, and for a moment or two seemed a +little frightened. Then muttering something as to the cleverness of this +light-producing instrument, he motioned to his daughter to take it from Bickley +and hold it in a certain position. She obeyed, and in its illumination he began +to study the engraved plates, holding one of them in either hand. +</p> + +<p> +After a while he gave me one of the plates to hold, and with his disengaged +hand pointed successively to the constellation of Orion, to the stars Castor, +Pollux, Aldebaran, Rigel, the Pleiades, Sirius and others which with my very +limited knowledge I could not recognise offhand. Then on the plate which I +held, he showed us those same stars and constellations, checking them one by +one. +</p> + +<p> +Then he remarked very quietly that all was in order, and handing the plate he +held to Yva, said: +</p> + +<p> +“The calculations made so long ago are correct, nor have the stars varied +in their proper motions during what is after all but an hour of time. If you, +Stranger, who, I understand, are named Humphrey, should be, as I gather, a +heaven-master, naturally you will ask me how I could fix an exact date by the +stars without an error of, let us say, from five to ten thousand years. I +answer you that by the proper motion of the stars alone it would have been +difficult. Therefore I remember that in order to be exact, I calculated the +future conjunctions of those two planets,” and he pointed to Saturn and +Jupiter. “Finding that one of these occurred near yonder star,” and +he indicated the bright orb, Spica, “at a certain time, I determined that +then I would awake. Behold! There are the stars as I engraved them from my +foreknowledge, upon this chart, and there those two great planets hang in +conjunction. Daughter Yva, my wisdom has not failed me. This world of ours has +travelled round the sun neither less nor more than two hundred and fifty +thousand times since we laid ourselves down to sleep. It is written here, and +yonder,” and he pointed, first to the engraved plates and then to the +vast expanse of the starlit heavens. +</p> + +<p> +Awe fell on me; I think that even Bickley and Bastin were awed, at any rate for +the moment. It was a terrible thing to look on a being, to all appearance more +or less human, who alleged that he had been asleep for two hundred and fifty +thousand years, and proceeded to prove it by certain ancient star charts. Of +course at the time I could not check those charts, lacking the necessary +knowledge, but I have done so since and found that they are quite accurate. +However this made no difference, since the circumstances and something in his +manner convinced me that he spoke the absolute truth. +</p> + +<p> +He and his daughter had been asleep for two hundred and fifty thousand years. +Oh! Heavens, <i>for two hundred and fifty thousand years!</i> +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +Oro Speaks and Bastin Argues</h2> + +<p> +The reader of what I have written, should there ever be such a person, may find +the record marvelous, and therefore rashly conclude that because it is beyond +experience, it could not be. It is not a wise deduction, as I think Bickley +would admit today, because without doubt many things are which surpass our +extremely limited experience. However, those who draw the veil from the Unknown +and reveal the New, must expect incredulity, and accept it without grumbling. +Was that not the fate, for instance, of those who in the Middle Ages, a few +hundred years ago, discovered, or rather rediscovered the mighty movements of +those constellations which served Oro for an almanac? +</p> + +<p> +But the point I want to make is that if the sceptic plays a Bickleyan part as +regards what has been written, it seems probable that his attitude will be +accentuated as regards that which it still remains for me to write. If so, I +cannot help it, and must decline entirely to water down or doctor facts and +thus pander to his prejudice and ignorance. For my part I cannot attempt to +explain these occurrences; I only know that they happened and that I set down +what I saw, heard and felt, neither more nor less. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately after Oro had triumphantly vindicated his stellar calculations he +turned and departed into the cave, followed by his daughter, waving to us to +remain where we were. As she passed us, however, the Glittering Lady +whispered—this time to Bastin—that he would see them again in a few +hours, adding: +</p> + +<p> +“We have much to learn and I hope that then you who, I understand, are a +priest, will begin to teach us of your religion and other matters.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin was so astonished that he could make no reply, but when they had gone he +said: +</p> + +<p> +“Which of you told her that I was a priest?” +</p> + +<p> +We shook our heads for neither of us could remember having done so. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I did not,” continued Bastin, “since at present I have +found no opportunity of saying a word in season. So I suppose she must have +gathered it from my attire, though as a matter of fact I haven’t been +wearing a collar, and those men who wanted to cook me, pulled off my white tie +and I didn’t think it worth while dirtying a clean one.” +</p> + +<p> +“If,” said Bickley, “you imagine that you look like the +minister of any religion ancient or modern in a grubby flannel shirt, a +battered sun-helmet, a torn green and white umbrella and a pair of ragged duck +trousers, you are mistaken, Bastin, that is all.” +</p> + +<p> +“I admit that the costume is not appropriate, Bickley, but how otherwise +could she have learned the truth?” +</p> + +<p> +“These people seem to have ways of learning a good many things. But in +your case, Bastin, the cause is clear enough. You have been walking about with +the head of that idol and always keep it close to you. No doubt they believe +that you are a priest of the worship of the god of the Grove—Baal, you +know, or something of that sort.” +</p> + +<p> +When he heard this Bastin’s face became a perfect picture. Never before +did I see it so full of horror struggling with indignation. +</p> + +<p> +“I must undeceive them without a moment’s delay,” he said, +and was starting for the cave when we caught his arms and held him. +</p> + +<p> +“Better wait till they come back, old fellow,” I said, laughing. +“If you disobey that Lord Oro you may meet with another experience in the +sacrifice line.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you are right, Arbuthnot. I will occupy the interval in +preparing a suitable address.” +</p> + +<p> +“Much better occupy it in preparing breakfast,” said Bickley. +“I have always noticed that you are at your best extempore.” +</p> + +<p> +In the end he did prepare breakfast though in a <i>distrait</i> fashion; indeed +I found him beginning to make tea in the frying-pan. Bastin felt that his +opportunity had arrived, and was making ready to rise to the occasion. +</p> + +<p> +Also we felt, all three of us, that we were extremely shabby-looking objects, +and though none of us said so, each did his best to improve his personal +appearance. First of all Bickley cut Bastin’s and my hair, after which I +did him the same service. Then Bickley who was normally clean shaven, set to +work to remove a beard of about a week’s growth, and I who wore one of +the pointed variety, trimmed up mine as best I could with the help of a +hand-glass. Bastin, too, performed on his which was of the square and rather +ragged type, wisely rejecting Bickley’s advice to shave it off +altogether, offered, I felt convinced, because he felt that the result on +Bastin would be too hideous for words. After this we cut our nails, cleaned our +teeth and bathed; I even caught Bickley applying hair tonic from his dressing +case in secret, behind a projecting rock, and borrowed some myself. He gave it +me on condition that I did not mention its existence to Bastin who, he +remarked, would certainly use the lot and make himself smell horrible. +</p> + +<p> +Next we found clean ducks among our store of spare clothes, for the Orofenans +had brought these with our other possessions, and put them on, even adding silk +cumberbunds and neckties. My tie I fastened with a pin that I had obtained in +Egypt. It was a tiny gold statuette of very fine and early workmanship, of the +god Osiris, wearing the crown of the Upper Land with the uraeus crest, and +holding in his hands, which projected from the mummy wrappings, the emblems of +the crook, the scourge and the <i>crux ansata</i>, or Sign of Life. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin, for his part, arrayed himself in full clerical costume, black coat and +trousers, white tie and stick-up clergyman’s collar which, as he +remarked, made him feel extremely hot in that climate, and were unsuitable to +domestic duties, such as washing-up. I offered to hold his coat while he did +this office and told him he looked very nice indeed. +</p> + +<p> +“Beautiful!” remarked Bickley, “but why don’t you put +on your surplice and biretta?” (Being very High-Church Bastin did wear a +biretta on festival Sundays at home.) “There would be no mistake about +you then.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not think it would be suitable,” replied Bastin whose sense +of humour was undeveloped. “There is no service to be performed at +present and no church, though perhaps that cave—” and he stopped. +</p> + +<p> +When we had finished these vain adornments and Bastin had put away the things +and tidied up, we sat down, rather at a loose end. We should have liked to walk +but refrained from doing so for fear lest we might dirty our clean clothes. So +we just sat and thought. At least Bickley thought, and so did I for a while +until I gave it up. What was the use of thinking, seeing that we were face to +face with circumstances which baffled reason and beggared all recorded human +experience? What Bastin did I am sure I do not know, but I think from the +expression of his countenance that he was engaged in composing sermons for the +benefit of Oro and the Glittering Lady. +</p> + +<p> +One diversion we did have. About eleven o’clock a canoe came from the +main island laden with provisions and paddled by Marama and two of his people. +We seized our weapons, remembering our experiences of the night, but Marama +waved a bough in token of peace. So, carrying our revolvers, we went to the +rock edge to meet him. He crept ashore and, chief though he was, prostrated +himself upon his face before us, which told me that he had heard of the fate of +the sorcerers. His apologies were abject. He explained that he had no part in +the outrage of the attack, and besought us to intercede on behalf of him and +his people with the awakened god of the Mountain whom he looked for with a +terrified air. +</p> + +<p> +We consoled him as well as we could, and told him that he had best be gone +before the god of the Mountain appeared, and perhaps treated him as he had done +the sorcerers. In his name, however, we commanded Marama to bring materials and +build us a proper house upon the rock, also to be sure to keep up a regular and +ample supply of provisions. If he did these things, and anything else we might +from time to time command, we said that perhaps his life and those of his +people would be spared. This, however, after the evil behaviour of some of them +of course we could not guarantee. +</p> + +<p> +Marama departed so thoroughly frightened that he even forgot to make any +inquiries as to who this god of the Mountain might be, or where he came from, +or whither he was going. Of course, the place had been sacred among his people +from the beginning, whenever that may have been, but that its sacredness should +materialise into an active god who brought sorcerers of the highest reputation +to a most unpleasant end, just because they wished to translate their preaching +into practice, was another matter. It was not to be explained even by the fact +of which he himself had informed me, that during the dreadful storm of some +months before, the cave mouth which previously was not visible on the volcano, +had suddenly been lifted up above the level of the Rock of Offerings, although, +of course, all religious and instructed persons would have expected something +peculiar to happen after this event. +</p> + +<p> +Such I knew were his thoughts, but, as I have said, he was too frightened and +too hurried to express them in questions that I should have found it extremely +difficult to answer. As it was he departed quite uncertain as to whether one of +us was not the real “god of the Mountain,” who had power to bring +hideous death upon his molesters. After all, what had he to go on to the +contrary, except the word of three priests who were so terrified that they +could give no coherent account of what had happened? Of these events, it was +true, there was evidence in the twisted carcass of their lamented high +sorcerer, and, for the matter of that, of certain corpses which he had seen, +that lay in shallow water at the bottom of the lake. Beyond all was vague, and +in his heart I am sure that Marama believed that Bastin was the real “god +of the Mountain.” Naturally, he would desire to work vengeance on those +who tried to sacrifice and eat him. Moreover, had he not destroyed the image of +the god of the Grove and borne away its head whence he had sucked magic and +power? +</p> + +<p> +Thus argued Marama, disbelieving the tale of the frightened sorcerers, for he +admitted as much to me in after days. +</p> + +<p> +Marama departed in a great hurry, fearing lest the “god of the +Mountain,” or Bastin, whose new and splendid garb he regarded with much +suspicion, might develop some evil energy against him. Then we went back to our +camp, leaving the industrious Bastin, animated by a suggestion from Bickley +that the fruit and food might spoil if left in the sun, to carry it into the +shade of the cave. Owing to the terrors of the Orofenans the supply was so +large that to do this he must make no fewer than seven journeys, which he did +with great good will since Bastin loved physical exercise. The result on his +clerical garments, however, was disastrous. His white tie went awry, squashed +fruit and roast pig gravy ran down his waistcoat and trousers, and his high +collar melted into limp crinkles in the moisture engendered by the tropical +heat. Only his long coat escaped, since that Bickley kindly carried for him. +</p> + +<p> +It was just as he arrived with the seventh load in this extremely dishevelled +condition that Oro and his daughter emerged from the cave. Indeed Bastin, who, +being shortsighted, always wore spectacles that, owing to his heated state were +covered with mist, not seeing that dignitary, dumped down the last basket on to +his toes, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“There, you lazy beggar, I told you I would bring it all, and I +have.” +</p> + +<p> +In fact he thought he was addressing Bickley and playing off on him a +troglodytic practical joke. +</p> + +<p> +Oro, however, who at his age did not appreciate jokes, resented it and was +about to do something unpleasant when with extraordinary tact his daughter +remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin the priest makes you offerings. Thank him, O Lord my +father.” +</p> + +<p> +So Oro thanked him, not too cordially for evidently he still had feeling in his +toes, and once more Bastin escaped. Becoming aware of his error, he began to +apologise profusely in English, while the lady Yva studied him carefully. +</p> + +<p> +“Is that the costume of the priests of your religion, O Bastin?” +she asked, surveying his dishevelled form. “If so, you were better +without it.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Bastin retired to straighten his tie, and grabbing his coat from Bickley, +who handed it to him with a malicious smile, forced his perspiring arms into it +in a peculiarly awkward and elephantine fashion. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Bickley and I produced two camp chairs which we had made ready, and +on these the wondrous pair seated themselves side by side. +</p> + +<p> +“We have come to learn,” said Oro. “Teach!” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, Father,” interrupted Yva, who, I noted, was clothed in yet +a third costume, though whence these came I could not imagine. “First I +would ask a question. Whence are you, Strangers, and how came you here?” +</p> + +<p> +“We are from the country called England and a great storm shipwrecked us +here; that, I think, which raised the mouth of the cave above the level of this +rock,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“The time appointed having come when it should be raised,” said Oro +as though to himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is England?” asked Yva. +</p> + +<p> +Now among the books we had with us was a pocket atlas, quite a good one of its +sort. By way of answer I opened it at the map of the world and showed her +England. Also I showed, to within a thousand miles or so, that spot on the +earth’s surface where we spoke together. +</p> + +<p> +The sight of this atlas excited the pair greatly. They had not the slightest +difficulty in understanding everything about it and the shape of the world with +its division into hemispheres seemed to be quite familiar to them. What +appeared chiefly to interest them, and especially Oro, were the relative areas +and positions of land and sea. +</p> + +<p> +“Of this, Strangers,” he said, pointing to the map, “I shall +have much to say to you when I have studied the pictures of your book and +compared them with others of my own.” +</p> + +<p> +“So he has got maps,” said Bickley in English, “as well as +star charts. I wonder where he keeps them.” +</p> + +<p> +“With his clothes, I expect,” suggested Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Oro had hidden the atlas in his ample robe and motioned to his +daughter to proceed. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you come here from England so far away?” the Lady Yva +asked, a question to which each of us had an answer. +</p> + +<p> +“To see new countries,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Because the cyclone brought us,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“To convert the heathen to my own Christian religion,” said Bastin, +which was not strictly true. +</p> + +<p> +It was on this last reply that she fixed. +</p> + +<p> +“What does your religion teach?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +“It teaches that those who accept it and obey its commands will live +again after death for ever in a better world where is neither sorrow nor +sin,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +When he heard this saying I saw Oro start as though struck by a new thought and +look at Bastin with a curious intentness. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are the heathen?” Yva asked again after a pause, for she also +seemed to be impressed. +</p> + +<p> +“All who do not agree with Bastin’s spiritual views,” +answered Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Those who, whether from lack of instruction or from hardness of heart, +do not follow the true faith. For instance, I suppose that your father and you +are heathen,” replied Bastin stoutly. +</p> + +<p> +This seemed to astonish them, but presently Yva caught his meaning and smiled, +while Oro said: +</p> + +<p> +“Of this great matter of faith we will talk later. It is an old question +in the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” went on Yva, “if you wished to travel so far did you +come in a ship that so easily is wrecked? Why did you not journey through the +air, or better still, pass through space, leaving your bodies asleep, as, being +instructed, doubtless you can do?” +</p> + +<p> +“As regards your first question,” I answered, “there are no +aircraft known that can make so long a journey.” +</p> + +<p> +“And as regards the second,” broke in Bickley, “we did not do +so because it is impossible for men to transfer themselves to other places +through space either with or without their bodies.” +</p> + +<p> +At this information the Glittering Lady lifted her arched eyebrows and smiled a +little, while Oro said: +</p> + +<p> +“I perceive that the new world has advanced but a little way on the road +of knowledge.” +</p> + +<p> +Fearing that Bastin was about to commence an argument, I began to ask questions +in my turn. +</p> + +<p> +“Lord Oro and Lady Yva,” I said, “we have told you something +of ourselves and will tell you more when you desire it. But pardon us if first +we pray you to tell us what we burn to know. Who are you? Of what race and +country? And how came it that we found you sleeping yonder?” +</p> + +<p> +“If it be your pleasure, answer, my Father,” said Yva. +</p> + +<p> +Oro thought a moment, then replied in a calm voice: +</p> + +<p> +“I am a king who once ruled most of the world as it was in my day, though +it is true that much of it rebelled against me, my councillors and servants. +Therefore I destroyed the world as it was then, save only certain portions +whence life might spread to the new countries that I raised up. Having done +this I put myself and my daughter to sleep for a space of two hundred and fifty +thousand years, that there might be time for fresh civilisations to arise. Now +I begin to think that I did not allot a sufficiency of ages, since I perceive +from what you tell me, that the learning of the new races is as yet but +small.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley and I looked at each other and were silent. Mentally we had collapsed. +Who could begin to discuss statements built upon such a foundation of gigantic +and paralysing falsehoods? +</p> + +<p> +Well, Bastin could for one. With no more surprise in his voice than if he were +talking about last night’s dinner, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“There must be a mistake somewhere, or perhaps I misunderstand you. It is +obvious that you, being a man, could not have destroyed the world. That could +only be done by the Power which made it and you.” +</p> + +<p> +I trembled for the results of Bastin’s methods of setting out the truth. +To my astonishment, however, Oro replied: +</p> + +<p> +“You speak wisely, Priest, but the Power you name may use instruments to +accomplish its decrees. I am such an instrument.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so,” said Bastin, “just like anybody else. You have +more knowledge of the truth than I thought. But pray, how did you destroy the +world?” +</p> + +<p> +“Using my wisdom to direct the forces that are at work in the heart of +this great globe, I drowned it with a deluge, causing one part to sink and +another to rise, also changes of climate which completed the work.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s quite right,” exclaimed Bastin delightedly. “We +know all about the Deluge, only <i>you</i> are not mentioned in connection with +the matter. A man, Noah, had to do with it when he was six hundred years +old.” +</p> + +<p> +“Six hundred?” said Oro. “That is not very old. I myself had +seen more than a thousand years when I lay down to sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +“A thousand!” remarked Bastin, mildly interested. “That is +unusual, though some of these mighty men of renown we know lived over nine +hundred.” +</p> + +<p> +Here Bickley snorted and exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Nine hundred moons, he means.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not know Noah,” went on Oro. “Perhaps he lived after +my time and caused some other local deluge. Is there anything else you wish to +ask me before I leave you that I may study this map writing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Bastin. “Why were you allowed to drown your +world?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because it was evil, Priest, and disobeyed me and the Power I +serve.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! thank you,” said Bastin, “that fits in exactly. It was +just the same in Noah’s time.” +</p> + +<p> +“I pray that it is not just the same now,” said Oro, rising. +“To-morrow we will return, or if I do not who have much that I must do, +the lady my daughter will return and speak with you further.” +</p> + +<p> +He departed into the cave, Yva following at a little distance. +</p> + +<p> +I accompanied her as far as the mouth of the cave, as did Tommy, who all this +time had been sitting contentedly upon the hem of her gorgeous robe, quite +careless of its immemorial age, if it was immemorial and not woven yesterday, a +point on which I had no information. +</p> + +<p> +“Lady Yva,” I said, “did I rightly understand the Lord Oro to +say that he was a thousand years old?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, O Humphrey, and really he is more, or so I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then are you a thousand years old also?” I asked, aghast. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” she replied, shaking her head, “I am young, quite +young, for I do not count my time of sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly you look it,” I said. “But what, Lady Yva, do you +mean by young?” +</p> + +<p> +She answered my question by another. +</p> + +<p> +“What age are your women when they are as I am?” +</p> + +<p> +“None of our women were ever quite like you, Lady Yva. Yet, say from +twenty-five to thirty years of age.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I have been counting and now I remember. When my father sent me to +sleep I was twenty-seven years old. No, I will not deceive you, I was +twenty-seven years and three moons.” Then, saying something to the effect +that she would return, she departed, laughing a little in a mischievous way, +and, although I did not observe this till afterwards, Tommy departed with her. +</p> + +<p> +When I repeated what she had said to Bastin and Bickley, who were standing at a +distance straining their ears and somewhat aggrieved, the former remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“If she is twenty-seven her father must have married late in life, though +of course it may have been a long while before he had children.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Bickley, who had been suppressing himself all this while, went off like a +bomb. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you tell us, Bastin,” he asked, “that you believe one +word of all this ghastly rubbish? I mean as to that antique charlatan being a +thousand years old and having caused the Flood and the rest?” +</p> + +<p> +“If you ask me, Bickley, I see no particular reason to doubt it at +present. A person who can go to sleep in a glass coffin kept warm by a +pocketful of radium together with very accurate maps of the constellations at +the time he wakes up, can, I imagine, do most things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even cause the Deluge,” jeered Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know about <i>the</i> Deluge, but perhaps he may have been +permitted to cause a deluge. Why not? You can’t look at things from far +enough off, Bickley. And if something seems big to you, you conclude that +therefore it is impossible. The same Power which gives you skill to succeed in +an operation, that hitherto was held impracticable, as I know you have done +once or twice, may have given that old fellow power to cause a deluge. You +should measure the universe and its possibilities by worlds and not by acres, +Bickley.” +</p> + +<p> +“And believe, I suppose, that a man can live a thousand years, whereas we +know well that he cannot live more than about a hundred.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t <i>know</i> anything of the sort, Bickley. All you know +is that over the brief period of history with which we are acquainted, say ten +thousand years at most, men have only lived to about a hundred. But the very +rocks which you are so fond of talking about, tell us that even this planet is +millions upon millions of years of age. Who knows then but that at some time in +its history, men did not live for a thousand years, and that lost civilisations +did not exist of which this Oro and his daughter may be two survivors?” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no proof of anything of the sort,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know about proof, as you understand it, though I have read +in Plato of a continent called Atlantis that was submerged, according to the +story of old Egyptian priests. But personally I have every proof, for it is all +written down in the Bible at which you turn up your nose, and I am very glad +that I have been lucky enough to come across this unexpected confirmation of +the story. Not that it matters much, since I should have learned all about it +when it pleases Providence to remove me to a better world, which in our +circumstances may happen any day. Now I must change my clothes before I see to +the cooking and other things.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am bound to admit,” said Bickley, looking after him, “that +old Bastin is not so stupid as he seems. From his point of view the arguments +he advances are quite logical. Moreover I think he is right when he says that +we look at things through the wrong end of the telescope. After all the +universe is very big and who knows what may happen there? Who knows even what +may have happened on this little earth during the æons of its existence, +whenever its balance chanced to shift, as the Ice Ages show us it has often +done? Still I believe that old Oro to be a Prince of Liars.” +</p> + +<p> +“That remains to be proved,” I answered cautiously. “All I +know is that he is a wonderfully learned person of most remarkable appearance, +and that his daughter is the loveliest creature I ever saw.” +</p> + +<p> +“There I agree,” said Bickley decidedly, “and as brilliant as +she is lovely. If she belongs to a past civilisation, it is a pity that it ever +became extinct. Now let’s go and have a nap. Bastin will call us when +supper is ready.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +The Under-world</h2> + +<p> +That night we slept well and without fear, being quite certain that after their +previous experience the Orofenans would make no further attempts upon us. +Indeed our only anxiety was for Tommy, whom we could not find when the time +came to give him his supper. Bastin, however, seemed to remember having seen +him following the Glittering Lady into the cave. This, of course, was possible, +as certainly he had taken an enormous fancy to her and sat himself down as +close to her as he could on every occasion. He even seemed to like the ancient +Oro, and was not afraid to jump up and plant his dirty paws upon that terrific +person’s gorgeous robe. Moreover Oro liked him, for several times I +observed him pat the dog upon the head; as I think I have said, the only human +touch that I had perceived about him. So we gave up searching and calling in +the hope that he was safe with our supernatural friends. +</p> + +<p> +The next morning quite early the Lady Yva appeared alone; no, not alone, for +with her came our lost Tommy looking extremely spry and well at ease. The +faithless little wretch just greeted us in a casual fashion and then went and +sat by Yva. In fact when the awkward Bastin managed to stumble over the end of +her dress Tommy growled at him and showed his teeth. Moreover the dog was +changed. He was blessed with a shiny black coat, but now this coat sparkled in +the sunlight, like the Lady Yva’s hair. +</p> + +<p> +“The Glittering Lady is all very well, but I’m not sure that I care +for a glittering dog. It doesn’t look quite natural,” said Bastin, +contemplating him. +</p> + +<p> +“Why does Tommy shine, Lady?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Because I washed him in certain waters that we have, so that now he +looks beautiful and smells sweet,” she answered, laughing. +</p> + +<p> +It was true, the dog did smell sweet, which I may add had not always been the +case with him, especially when there were dead fish about. Also he appeared to +have been fed, for he turned up his nose at the bits we had saved for his +breakfast. +</p> + +<p> +“He has drunk of the Life-water,” explained Yva, “and will +want no food for two days.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley pricked up his ears at this statement and looked incredulous. +</p> + +<p> +“You do not believe, O Bickley,” she said, studying him gravely. +“Indeed, you believe nothing. You think my father and I tell you many +lies. Bastin there, he believes all. Humphrey? He is not sure; he thinks to +himself, I will wait and find out whether or no these funny people cheat +me.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley coloured and made some remark about things which were contrary to +experience, also that Tommy in a general way was rather a greedy little dog. +</p> + +<p> +“You, too, like to eat, Bickley” (this was true, he had an +excellent appetite), “but when you have drunk the Life-water you will +care much less.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad to hear it,” interrupted Bastin, “for Bickley +wants a lot of cooking done, and I find it tedious.” +</p> + +<p> +“You eat also, Lady,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I eat sometimes because I like it, but I can go weeks and not eat, +when I have the Life-water. Just now, after so long a sleep, I am hungry. +Please give me some of that fruit. No, not the flesh, flesh I hate.” +</p> + +<p> +We handed it to her. She took two plantains, peeled and ate them with +extraordinary grace. Indeed she reminded me, I do not know why, of some lovely +butterfly drawing its food from a flower. +</p> + +<p> +While she ate she observed us closely; nothing seemed to escape the quick +glances of those beautiful eyes. Presently she said: +</p> + +<p> +“What, O Humphrey, is that with which you fasten your neckdress?” +and she pointed to the little gold statue of Osiris that I used as a pin. +</p> + +<p> +I told her that it was a statuette of a god named Osiris and very, very +ancient, probably quite five thousand years old, a statement at which she +smiled a little; also that it came from Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” she answered, “is it so? I asked because we have +figures that are very like to that one, and they also hold in their hands a +staff surmounted by a loop. They are figures of Sleep’s +brother—Death.” +</p> + +<p> +“So is this,” I said. “Among the Egyptians Osiris was the god +of Death.” +</p> + +<p> +She nodded and replied that doubtless the symbol had come down to them. +</p> + +<p> +“One day you shall take me to see this land which you call so very old. +Or I will take you, which would be quicker,” she added. +</p> + +<p> +We all bowed and said we should be delighted. Even Bastin appeared anxious to +revisit Egypt in such company, though when he was there it seemed to bore him. +But what she meant about taking us I could not guess. Nor had we time to ask +her, for she went on, watching our faces as she spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord Oro sends you a message, Strangers. He asks whether it is your +wish to see where we dwell. He adds that you are not to come if you do not +desire, or if you fear danger.” +</p> + +<p> +We all answered that there was nothing we should like better, but Bastin added +that he had already seen the tomb. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think, Bastin, that we live in a tomb because we slept there for +a while, awaiting the advent of you wanderers at the appointed hour?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t see where else it could be, unless it is further down that +cave,” said Bastin. “The top of the mountain would not be +convenient as a residence.” +</p> + +<p> +“It has not been convenient for many an age, for reasons that I will show +you. Think now, before you come. You have naught to fear from us, and I believe +that no harm will happen to you. But you will see many strange things that will +anger Bickley because he cannot understand them, and perhaps will weary Bastin +because his heart turns from what is wondrous and ancient. Only Humphrey will +rejoice in them because the doors of his soul are open and he longs—what +do you long for, Humphrey?” +</p> + +<p> +“That which I have lost and fear I shall never find again,” I +answered boldly. +</p> + +<p> +“I know that you have lost many things—last night, for instance, +you lost Tommy, and when he slept with me he told me much about you +and—others.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is ridiculous,” broke in Bastin. “Can a dog +talk?” +</p> + +<p> +“Everything can talk, if you understand its language, Bastin. But keep a +good heart, Humphrey, for the bold seeker finds in the end. Oh! foolish man, do +you not understand that all is yours if you have but the soul to conceive and +the will to grasp? All, all, below, between, above! Even I know that, I who +have so much to learn.” +</p> + +<p> +So she spoke and became suddenly magnificent. Her face which had been but that +of a super-lovely woman, took on grandeur. Her bosom swelled; her presence +radiated some subtle power, much as her hair radiated light. +</p> + +<p> +In a moment it was gone and she was smiling and jesting. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you come, Strangers, where Tommy was not afraid to go, down to the +Under-world? Or will you stay here in the sun? Perhaps you will do better to +stay here in the sun, for the Under-world has terrors for weak hearts that were +born but yesterday, and feeble feet may stumble in the dark.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall take my electric torch,” said Bastin with decision, +“and I advise you fellows to do the same. I always hated cellars, and the +catacombs at Rome are worse, though full of sacred interest.” +</p> + +<p> +Then we started, Tommy frisking on ahead in a most provoking way as though he +were bored by a visit to a strange house and going home, and Yva gliding +forward with a smile upon her face that was half mystic and half mischievous. +We passed the remains of the machines, and Bickley asked her what they were. +</p> + +<p> +“Carriages in which once we travelled through the skies, until we found a +better way, and that the uninstructed used till the end,” she answered +carelessly, leaving me wondering what on earth she meant. +</p> + +<p> +We came to the statue and the sepulchre beneath without trouble, for the glint +of her hair, and I may add of Tommy’s back, were quite sufficient to +guide us through the gloom. The crystal coffins were still there, for Bastin +flashed his torch and we saw them, but the boxes of radium had gone. +</p> + +<p> +“Let that light die,” she said to Bastin. “Humphrey, give me +your right hand and give your left to Bickley. Let Bastin cling to him and fear +nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +We passed to the end of the tomb and stood against what appeared to be a rock +wall, all close together, as she directed. +</p> + +<p> +“Fear nothing,” she said again, but next second I was never more +full of fear in my life, for we were whirling downwards at a speed that would +have made an American elevator attendant turn pale. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t choke me,” I heard Bickley say to Bastin, and the +latter’s murmured reply of: +</p> + +<p> +“I never could bear these moving staircases and tubelifts. They always +make me feel sick.” +</p> + +<p> +I admit that for my part I also felt rather sick and clung tightly to the hand +of the Glittering Lady. She, however, placed her other hand upon my shoulder, +saying in a low voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Did I not tell you to have no fear?” +</p> + +<p> +Then I felt comforted, for somehow I knew that it was not her desire to harm +and much less to destroy me. Also Tommy was seated quite at his ease with his +head resting against my leg, and his absence of alarm was reassuring. The only +stoic of the party was Bickley. I have no doubt that he was quite as frightened +as we were, but rather than show it he would have died. +</p> + +<p> +“I presume this machinery is pneumatic,” he began when suddenly and +without shock, we arrived at the end of our journey. How far we had fallen I am +sure I do not know, but I should judge from the awful speed at which we +travelled, that it must have been several thousand feet, probably four or five. +</p> + +<p> +“Everything seems steady now,” remarked Bastin, “so I suppose +this luggage lift has stopped. The odd thing is that I can’t see anything +of it. There ought to be a shaft, but we seem to be standing on a level +floor.” +</p> + +<p> +“The odd thing is,” said Bickley, “that we can see at all. +Where the devil does the light come from thousands of feet underground?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” answered Bastin, “unless there is +natural gas here, as I am told there is at a town called Medicine Hat in +Canada.” +</p> + +<p> +“Natural gas be blowed,” said Bickley. “It is more like +moonlight magnified ten times.” +</p> + +<p> +So it was. The whole place was filled with a soft radiance, equal to that of +the sun at noon, but gentler and without heat. +</p> + +<p> +“Where does it come from?” I whispered to Yva. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” she replied, as I thought evasively. “It is the light +of the Under-world which we know how to use. The earth is full of light, which +is not wonderful, is it, seeing that its heart is fire? Now look about +you.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked and leant on her harder than ever, since amazement made me weak. We +were in some vast place whereof the roof seemed almost as far off as the sky at +night. At least all that I could make out was a dim and distant arch which +might have been one of cloud. For the rest, in every direction stretched +vastness, illuminated far as the eye could reach by the soft light of which I +have spoken, that is, probably for several miles. But this vastness was not +empty. On the contrary it was occupied by a great city. There were streets much +wider than Piccadilly, all bordered by houses, though these, I observed, were +roofless, very fine houses, some of them, built of white stone or marble. There +were roadways and pavements worn by the passage of feet. There, farther on, +were market-places or public squares, and there, lastly, was a huge central +enclosure one or two hundred acres in extent, which was filled with majestic +buildings that looked like palaces, or town-halls; and, in the midst of them +all, a vast temple with courts and a central dome. For here, notwithstanding +the lack of necessity, its builders seemed to have adhered to the Over-world +tradition, and had roofed their fane. +</p> + +<p> +And now came the terror. All of this enormous city was <i>dead</i>. Had it +stood upon the moon it could not have been more dead. None paced its streets; +none looked from its window-places. None trafficked in its markets, none +worshipped in its temple. Swept, garnished, lighted, practically untouched by +the hand of Time, here where no rains fell and no winds blew, it was yet a +howling wilderness. For what wilderness is there to equal that which once has +been the busy haunt of men? Let those who have stood among the buried cities of +Central Asia, or of Anarajapura in Ceylon, or even amid the ruins of Salamis on +the coast of Cyprus, answer the question. But here was something infinitely +more awful. A huge human haunt in the bowels of the earth utterly devoid of +human beings, and yet as perfect as on the day when these ceased to be. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not care for underground localities,” remarked Bastin, his +gruff voice echoing strangely in that terrible silence, “but it does seem +a pity that all these fine buildings should be wasted. I suppose their +inhabitants left them in search of fresh air.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why did they leave them?” I asked of Yva. +</p> + +<p> +“Because death took them,” she answered solemnly. “Even those +who live a thousand years die at last, and if they have no children, with them +dies the race.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then were you the last of your people?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Inquire of my father,” she replied, and led the way through the +massive arch of a great building. +</p> + +<p> +It led into a walled courtyard in the centre of which was a plain cupola of +marble with a gate of some pale metal that looked like platinum mixed with +gold. This gate stood open. Within it was the statue of a woman beautifully +executed in white marble and set in a niche of some black stone. The figure was +draped as though to conceal the shape, and the face was stern and majestic +rather than beautiful. The eyes of the statue were cunningly made of some +enamel which gave them a strange and lifelike appearance. They stared upwards +as though looking away from the earth and its concerns. The arms were +outstretched. In the right hand was a cup of black marble, in the left a +similar cup of white marble. From each of these cups trickled a thin stream of +sparkling water, which two streams met and mingled at a distance of about three +feet beneath the cups. Then they fell into a metal basin which, although it +must have been quite a foot thick, was cut right through by their constant +impact, and apparently vanished down some pipe beneath. Out of this metal basin +Tommy, who gambolled into the place ahead of us, began to drink in a greedy and +demonstrative fashion. +</p> + +<p> +“The Life-water?” I said, looking at our guide. +</p> + +<p> +She nodded and asked in her turn: +</p> + +<p> +“What is the statue and what does it signify, Humphrey?” +</p> + +<p> +I hesitated, but Bastin answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Just a rather ugly woman who hid up her figure because it was bad. +Probably she was a relation of the artist who wished to have her likeness done +and sat for nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“The goddess of Health,” suggested Bickley. “Her proportions +are perfect; a robust, a thoroughly normal woman.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Humphrey,” said Yva. +</p> + +<p> +I stared at the work and had not an idea. Then it flashed on me with such +suddenness and certainty that I am convinced the answer to the riddle was +passed to me from her and did not originate in my own mind. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems quite easy,” I said in a superior tone. “The figure +symbolises Life and is draped because we only see the face of Life, the rest is +hidden. The arms are bare because Life is real and active. One cup is black and +one is white because Life brings both good and evil gifts; that is why the +streams mingle, to be lost beneath in the darkness of death. The features are +stern and even terrifying rather than lovely, because such is the aspect of +Life. The eyes look upward and far away from present things, because the real +life is not here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course one may say anything,” said Bastin, “but I +don’t understand all that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Imagination goes a long way,” broke in Bickley, who was vexed that +he had not thought of this interpretation himself. But Yva said: +</p> + +<p> +“I begin to think that you are quite clever, Humphrey. I wonder whence +the truth came to you, for such is the meaning of the figure and the cups. Had +I told it to you myself, it could not have been better said,” and she +glanced at me out of the corners of her eyes. “Now, Strangers, will you +drink? Once that gate was guarded, and only at a great price or as a great +reward were certain of the Highest Blood given the freedom of this fountain +which might touch no common lips. Indeed it was one of the causes of our last +war, for all the world which was, desired this water which now is lapped by a +stranger’s hound.” +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose there is nothing medicinal in it?” said Bastin. +“Once when I was very thirsty, I made a mistake and drank three tumblers +of something of the sort in the dark, thinking that it was Apollinaris, and I +don’t want to do it again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just the sort of thing you would do,” said Bickley. “But, +Lady Yva, what are the properties of this water?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is very health-giving,” she answered, “and if drunk +continually, not less than once each thirty days, it wards off sickness, +lessens hunger and postpones death for many, many years. That is why those of +the High Blood endured so long and became the rulers of the world, and that, as +I have said, is the greatest of the reasons why the peoples who dwelt in the +ancient outer countries and never wished to die, made war upon them, to win +this secret fountain. Have no fear, O Bastin, for see, I will pledge you in +this water.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she lifted a strange-looking, shallow, metal cup whereof the handles were +formed of twisted serpents, that lay in the basin, filled it from the trickling +stream, bowed to us and drank. But as she drank I noted with a thrill of joy +that her eyes were fixed on mine as though it were me she pledged and me alone. +Again she filled the cup with the sparkling water, for it did sparkle, like +that French liqueur in which are mingled little flakes of gold, and handed it +to me. +</p> + +<p> +I bowed to her and drank. I suppose the fluid was water, but to me it tasted +more like strong champagne, dashed with Château Yquem. It was delicious. More, +its effects were distinctly peculiar. Something quick and subtle ran through my +veins; something that for a few moments seemed to burn away the obscureness +which blurs our thought. I began to understand several problems that had +puzzled me, and then lost their explanations in the midst of light, inner +light, I mean. Moreover, of a sudden it seemed to me as though a window had +been opened in the heart of that Glittering Lady who stood beside me. At least +I knew that it was full of wonderful knowledge, wonderful memories and +wonderful hopes, and that in the latter two of these I had some part; what part +I could not tell. Also I knew that my heart was open to her and that she saw in +it something which caused her to marvel and to sigh. +</p> + +<p> +In a few seconds, thirty perhaps, all this was gone. Nothing remained except +that I felt extremely strong and well, happier, too, than I had been for years. +Mutely I asked her for more of the water, but she shook her head and, taking +the cup from me, filled it again and gave it to Bickley, who drank. He flushed, +seemed to lose the self-control which was his very strong characteristic, and +said in a rather thick voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Curious! but I do not think at this moment there is any operation that +has ever been attempted which I could not tackle single-handed and with +success.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he was silent, and Bastin’s turn came. He drank rather noisily, +after his fashion, and began: +</p> + +<p> +“My dear young lady, I think the time has come when I should expound to +you—” Here he broke off and commenced singing very badly, for his +voice was somewhat raucous: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +From Greenland’s icy mountains,<br /> +From India’s coral strand,<br /> +Where Afric’s sunny fountains<br /> +Roll down their golden sand. +</p> + +<p> +Ceasing from melody, he added: +</p> + +<p> +“I determined that I would drink nothing intoxicating while I was on this +island that I might be a shining light in a dark place, and now I fear that +quite unwittingly I have broken what I look upon as a promise.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he, too, grew silent. +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” said Yva, “my father, the Lord Oro, awaits +you.” +</p> + +<p> +We crossed the court of the Water of Life and mounted steps that led to a wide +and impressive portico, Tommy frisking ahead of us in a most excited way for a +dog of his experience. Evidently the water had produced its effect upon him as +well as upon his masters. This portico was in a solemn style of architecture +which I cannot describe, because it differed from any other that I know. It was +not Egyptian and not Greek, although its solidity reminded me of the former, +and the beauty and grace of some of the columns, of the latter. The profuseness +and rather grotesque character of the carvings suggested the ruins of Mexico +and Yucatan, and the enormous size of the blocks of stone, those of Peru and +Baalbec. In short, all the known forms of ancient architecture might have found +their inspiration here, and the general effect was tremendous. +</p> + +<p> +“The palace of the King,” said Yva, “whereof we approach the +great hall.” +</p> + +<p> +We entered through mighty metal doors, one of which stood ajar, into a +vestibule which from certain indications I gathered had once been a guard, or +perhaps an assembly-room. It was about forty feet deep by a hundred wide. +Thence she led us through a smaller door into the hall itself. It was a vast +place without columns, for there was no roof to support. The walls of marble or +limestone were sculptured like those of Egyptian temples, apparently with +battle scenes, though of this I am not sure for I did not go near to them. +Except for a broad avenue along the middle, up which we walked, the area was +filled with marble benches that would, I presume, have accommodated several +thousand people. But they were empty—empty, and oh! the loneliness of it +all. +</p> + +<p> +Far away at the head of the hall was a dais enclosed, and, as it were, roofed +in by a towering structure that mingled grace and majesty to a wonderful +degree. It was modelled on the pattern of a huge shell. The base of the shell +was the platform; behind were the ribs, and above, the overhanging lip of the +shell. On this platform was a throne of silvery metal. It was supported on the +arched coils of snakes, whereof the tails formed the back and the heads the +arms of the throne. +</p> + +<p> +On this throne, arrayed in gorgeous robes, sat the Lord Oro, his white beard +flowing over them, and a jewelled cap upon his head. In front of him was a low +table on which lay graven sheets of metal, and among them a large ball of +crystal. +</p> + +<p> +There he sat, solemn and silent in the midst of this awful solitude, looking in +very truth like a god, as we conceive such a being to appear. Small as he was +in that huge expanse of buildings, he seemed yet to dominate it, in a sense to +fill the emptiness which was accentuated by his presence. I know that the sight +of him filled me with true fear which it had never done in the light of day, +not even when he arose from his crystal coffin. Now for the first time I felt +as though I were really in the presence of a Being Supernatural. Doubtless the +surroundings heightened this impression. What were these mighty edifices in the +bowels of the world? Whence came this wondrous, all-pervading and translucent +light, whereof we could see no origin? Whither had vanished those who had +reared and inhabited them? How did it happen that of them all, this man, if he +were a man; and this lovely woman at my side, who, if I might trust my senses +and instincts, was certainly a woman, alone survived of their departed +multitudes? +</p> + +<p> +The thing was crushing. I looked at Bickley for encouragement, but got none, +for he only shook his head. Even Bastin, now that the first effects of the +Life-water had departed, seemed overwhelmed, and muttered something about the +halls of Hades. +</p> + +<p> +Only the little dog Tommy remained quite cheerful. He trotted down the hall, +jumped on to the dais and sat himself comfortably at the feet of its occupant. +</p> + +<p> +“I greet you,” Oro said in his slow, resonant voice. +“Daughter, lead these strangers to me; I would speak with them.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +Oro in His House</h2> + +<p> +We climbed on to the dais by some marble steps, and sat ourselves down in four +curious chairs of metal that were more or less copied from that which served +Oro as a throne; at least the arms ended in graven heads of snakes. These +chairs were so comfortable that I concluded the seats were fixed on springs, +also we noticed that they were beautifully polished. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder how they keep everything so clean,” said Bastin as we +mounted the dais. “In this big place it must take a lot of housemaids, +though I don’t see any. But perhaps there is no dust here.” +</p> + +<p> +I shrugged my shoulders while we seated ourselves, the Lady Yva and I on +Oro’s right, Bickley and Bastin on his left, as he indicated by pointing +with his finger. +</p> + +<p> +“What say you of this city?” Oro asked after a while of me. +</p> + +<p> +“We do not know what to say,” I replied. “It amazes us. In +our world there is nothing like to it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perchance there will be in the future when the nations grow more skilled +in the arts of war,” said Oro darkly. +</p> + +<p> +“Be pleased, Lord Oro,” I went on, “if it is your will, to +tell us why the people who built this place chose to live in the bowels of the +earth instead of upon its surface.” +</p> + +<p> +“They did not choose; it was forced upon them,” was the answer. +“This is a city of refuge that they occupied in time of war, not because +they hated the sun. In time of peace and before the Barbarians dared to attack +them, they dwelt in the city Pani which signifies Above. You may have noted +some of its remaining ruins on the mount and throughout the island. The rest of +them are now beneath the sea. But when trouble came and the foe rained fire on +them from the air, they retreated to this town, Nyo, which signifies +Beneath.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then?” +</p> + +<p> +“And then they died. The Water of Life may prolong life, but it cannot +make women bear children. That they will only do beneath the blue of heaven, +not deep in the belly of the world where Nature never designed that they should +dwell. How would the voices of children sound in such halls as these? Tell me, +you, Bickley, who are a physician.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot. I cannot imagine children in such a place, and if born here +they would die,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +Oro nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“They did die, and if they went above to Pani they were murdered. So soon +the habit of birth was lost and the Sons of Wisdom perished one by one. Yes, +they who ruled the world and by tens of thousands of years of toil had gathered +into their bosoms all the secrets of the world, perished, till only a few, and +among them I and this daughter of mine, were left.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Humphrey, having power so to do, I did what long I had threatened, +and unchained the forces that work at the world’s heart, and destroyed +them who were my enemies and evil, so that they perished by millions, and with +them all their works. Afterwards we slept, leaving the others, our subjects who +had not the secret of this Sleep, to die, as doubtless they did in the course +of Nature or by the hand of the foe. The rest you know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can such a thing happen again?” asked Bickley in a voice that did +not hide his disbelief. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you question me, Bickley, you who believe nothing of what I tell +you, and therefore make wrath? Still I will say this, that what I caused to +happen I can cause once more—only once, I think—as perchance you +shall learn before all is done. Now, since you do not believe, I will tell you +no more of our mysteries, no, not whence this light comes nor what are the +properties of the Water of Life, both of which you long to know, nor how to +preserve the vital spark of Being in the grave of dreamless sleep, like a live +jewel in a casket of dead stone, nor aught else. As to these matters, Daughter, +I bid you also to be silent, since Bickley mocks at us. Yes, with all this +around him, he who saw us rise from the coffins, still mocks at us in his +heart. Therefore let him, this little man of a little day, when his few years +are done go to the tomb in ignorance, and his companions with him, they who +might have been as wise as I am.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus Oro spoke in a voice of icy rage, his deep eyes glowing like coals. +Hearing him I cursed Bickley in my heart for I was sure that once spoken, his +decree was like to that of the Medes and Persians and could not be altered. +Bickley, however, was not in the least dismayed. Indeed he argued the point. He +told Oro straight out that he would not believe in the impossible until it had +been shown to him to be possible, and that the law of Nature never had been and +never could be violated. It was no answer, he said, to show him wonders without +explaining their cause, since all that he seemed to see might be but mental +illusions produced he knew not how. +</p> + +<p> +Oro listened patiently, then answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Good. So be it, they are illusions. I am an illusion; those savages who +died upon the rock will tell you so. This fair woman before you is an illusion; +Humphrey, I am sure, knows it as you will also before you have done with her. +These halls are illusions. Live on in your illusions, O little man of science, +who because you see the face of things, think that you know the body and the +heart, and can read the soul at work within. You are a worthy child of tens of +thousands of your breed who were before you and are now forgotten.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley looked up to answer, then changed his mind and was silent, thinking +further argument dangerous, and Oro went on: +</p> + +<p> +“Now I differ from you, Bickley, in this way. I who have more wisdom in +my finger-point than you with all the physicians of your world added to you, +have in your brains and bodies, yet desire to learn from those who can give me +knowledge. I understand from your words to my daughter that you, Bastin, teach +a faith that is new to me, and that this faith tells of life eternal for the +children of earth. Is it so?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is,” said Bastin eagerly. “I will set out—” +</p> + +<p> +Oro cut him short with a wave of the hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Not now in the presence of Bickley who doubtless disbelieves your faith, +as he does all else, holding it with justice or without, to be but another +illusion. Yet you shall teach me and on it I will form my own judgment.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall be delighted,” said Bastin. Then a doubt struck him, and +he added: “But why do you wish to learn? Not that you may make a mock of +my religion, is it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I mock at no man’s belief, because I think that what men believe +is true—for them. I will tell you why I wish to hear of yours, since I +never hide the truth. I who am so wise and old, yet must die; though that time +may be far away, still I must die, for such is the lot of man born of woman. +And I do not desire to die. Therefore I shall rejoice to learn of any faith +that promises to the children of earth a life eternal beyond the earth. +Tomorrow you shall begin to teach me. Now leave me, Strangers, for I have much +to do,” and he waved his hand towards the table. +</p> + +<p> +We rose and bowed, wondering what he could have to do down in this luminous +hole, he who had been for so many thousands of years out of touch with the +world. It occurred to me, however, that during this long period he might have +got in touch with other worlds, indeed he looked like it. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait,” he said, “I have something to tell you. I have been +studying this book of writings, or world pictures,” and he pointed to my +atlas which, as I now observed for the first time, was also lying upon the +table. “It interests me much. Your country is small, very small. When I +caused it to be raised up I think that it was larger, but since then that seas +have flowed in.” +</p> + +<p> +Here Bickley groaned aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“This one is much greater,” went on Oro, casting a glance at +Bickley that must have penetrated him like a searchlight. Then he opened the +map of Europe and with his finger indicated Germany and Austria-Hungary. +“I know nothing of the peoples of these lands,” he added, +“but as you belong to one of them and are my guests, I trust that yours +may succeed in the war.” +</p> + +<p> +“What war?” we asked with one voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Since Bickley is so clever, surely he should know better than an +illusion such as I. All I can tell you is that I have learned that there is war +between this country and that,” and he pointed to Great Britain and to +Germany upon the map; “also between others.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is quite possible,” I said, remembering many things. “But +how do you know?” +</p> + +<p> +“If I told you, Humphrey, Bickley would not believe, so I will not tell. +Perhaps I saw it in that crystal, as did the necromancers of the early world. +Or perhaps the crystal serves some different purpose and I saw it +otherwise—with my soul. At least what I say is true.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then who will win?” asked Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot read the future, Preacher. If I could, should I ask you to +expound to me your religion which probably is of no more worth than a score of +others I have studied, just because it tells of the future? If I could read the +future I should be a god instead of only an earth-lord.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your daughter called you a god and you said that you knew we were coming +to wake you up, which is reading the future,” answered Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“Every father is a god to his daughter, or should be; also in my day +millions named me a god because I saw further and struck harder than they +could. As for the rest, it came to me in a vision. Oh! Bickley, if you were +wiser than you think you are, you would know that all things to come are born +elsewhere and travel hither like the light from stars. Sometimes they come +faster before their day into a single mind, and that is what men call prophecy. +But this is a gift which cannot be commanded, even by me. Also I did not know +that you would come. I knew only that we should awaken and by the help of men, +for if none had been present at that destined hour we must have died for lack +of warmth and sustenance.” +</p> + +<p> +“I deny your hypothesis <i>in toto</i>,” exclaimed Bickley, but +nobody paid any attention to him. +</p> + +<p> +“My father,” said Yva, rising and bowing before him with her +swan-like grace, “I have noted your commands. But do you permit that I +show the temple to these strangers, also something of our past?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” he said. “It will save much talk in a savage +tongue that is difficult to me. But bring them here no more without my command, +save Bastin only. When the sun is four hours high in the upper world, let him +come tomorrow to teach me, and afterwards if so I desire. Or if he wills, he +can sleep here.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think I would rather not,” said Bastin hurriedly. “I make +no pretense to being particular, but this place does not appeal to me as a +bedroom. There are degrees in the pleasures of solitude and, in short, I will +not disturb your privacy at night.” +</p> + +<p> +Oro waved his hand and we departed down that awful and most dreary hall. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you will spend a pleasant time here, Bastin,” I said, +looking back from the doorway at its cold, illuminated vastness. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t expect to,” he answered, “but duty is duty, +and if I can drag that old sinner back from the pit that awaits him, it will be +worth doing. Only I have my doubts about him. To me he seems to bear a strong +family resemblance to Beelzebub, and he’s a bad companion week in and +week out.” +</p> + +<p> +We went through the portico, Yva leading us, and passed the fountain of +Life-water, of which she cautioned us to drink no more at present, and to +prevent him from doing so, dragged Tommy past it by his collar. Bickley, +however, lingered under the pretence of making a further examination of the +statue. As I had seen him emptying into his pocket the contents of a corked +bottle of quinine tabloids which he always carried with him, I guessed very +well that his object was to procure a sample of this water for future analysis. +Of course I said nothing, and Yva and Bastin took no note of what he was doing. +</p> + +<p> +When we were clear of the palace, of which we had only seen one hall, we walked +across an open space made unutterably dreary by the absence of any vegetation +or other sign of life, towards a huge building of glorious proportions that was +constructed of black stone or marble. It is impossible for me to give any idea +of the frightful solemnity of this domed edifice, for as I think I have said, +it alone had a roof, standing there in the midst of that brilliant, unvarying +and most unnatural illumination which came from nowhere and yet was everywhere. +Thus, when one lifted a foot, there it was between the sole of the boot and the +floor, or to express it better, the boot threw no shadow. I think this absence +of shadows was perhaps the most terrifying circumstance connected with that +universal and pervading light. Through it we walked on to the temple. We passed +three courts, pillared all of them, and came to the building which was larger +than St. Paul’s in London. We entered through huge doors which still +stood open, and presently found ourselves beneath the towering dome. There were +no windows, why should there be in a place that was full of light? There was no +ornamentation, there was nothing except black walls. And yet the general effect +was magnificent in its majestic grace. +</p> + +<p> +“In this place,” said Yva, and her sweet voice went whispering +round the walls and the arching dome, “were buried the Kings of the Sons +of Wisdom. They lie beneath, each in his sepulchre. Its entrance is +yonder,” and she pointed to what seemed to be a chapel on the right. +“Would you wish to see them?” +</p> + +<p> +“Somehow I don’t care to,” said Bastin. “The place is +dreary enough as it is without the company of a lot of dead kings.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should like to dissect one of them, but I suppose that would not be +allowed,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” she answered. “I think that the Lord Oro would not wish +you to cut up his forefathers.” +</p> + +<p> +“When you and he went to sleep, why did you not choose the family +vault?” asked Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you have found us there?” she queried by way of answer. +Then, understanding that the invitation was refused by general consent, though +personally I should have liked to accept it, and have never ceased regretting +that I did not, she moved towards a colossal object which stood beneath the +centre of the dome. +</p> + +<p> +On a stepped base, not very different from that in the cave but much larger, +sat a figure, draped in a cloak on which was graved a number of stars, +doubtless to symbolise the heavens. The fastening of the cloak was shaped like +the crescent moon, and the foot-stool on which rested the figure’s feet +was fashioned to suggest the orb of the sun. This was of gold or some such +metal, the only spot of brightness in all that temple. It was impossible to say +whether the figure were male or female, for the cloak falling in long, straight +folds hid its outlines. Nor did the head tell us, for the hair also was hidden +beneath the mantle and the face might have been that of either man or woman. It +was terrible in its solemnity and calm, and its expression was as remote and +mystic as that of Buddha, only more stern. Also without doubt it was blind; it +was impossible to mistake the sightlessness of those staring orbs. Across the +knees lay a naked sword and beneath the cloak the arms were hidden. In its +complete simplicity the thing was marvelous. +</p> + +<p> +On either side upon the pedestal knelt a figure of the size of life. One was an +old and withered man with death stamped upon his face; the other was a +beautiful, naked woman, her hands clasped in the attitude of prayer and with +vague terror written on her vivid features. +</p> + +<p> +Such was this glorious group of which the meaning could not be mistaken. It was +Fate throned upon the sun, wearing the constellations as his garment, armed +with the sword of Destiny and worshipped by Life and Death. This interpretation +I set out to the others. +</p> + +<p> +Yva knelt before the statue for a little while, bowing her head in prayer, and +really I felt inclined to follow her example, though in the end I compromised, +as did Bickley, by taking off my hat, which, like the others, I still wore from +force of habit, though in this place none were needed. Only Bastin remained +covered. +</p> + +<p> +“Behold the god of my people,” said Yva. “Have you no +reverence for it, O Bastin?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not much,” he answered, “except as a work of art. You see I +worship Fate’s Master. I might add that <i>your</i> god doesn’t +seem to have done much for you, Lady Yva, as out of all your greatness +there’s nothing left but two people and a lot of old walls and +caves.” +</p> + +<p> +At first she was inclined to be angry, for I saw her start. Then her mood +changed, and she said with a sigh: +</p> + +<p> +“Fate’s Master! Where does He dwell?” +</p> + +<p> +“Here amongst other places,” said Bastin. “I’ll soon +explain that to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you,” she replied gravely. “But why have you not +explained it to Bickley?” Then waving her hand to show that she wished +for no answer, she went on: +</p> + +<p> +“Friends, would you wish to learn something of the history of my +people?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very much,” said the irrepressible Bastin, “but I would +rather the lecture took place in the open air.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is not possible,” she answered. “It must be here and +now, or not at all. Come, stand by me. Be silent and do not move. I am about to +set loose forces that are dangerous if disturbed.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +Visions of the Past</h2> + +<p> +She led us to the back of the statue and pointed to each of us where we should +remain. Then she took her place at right angles to us, as a showman might do, +and for a while stood immovable. Watching her face, once more I saw it, and +indeed all her body, informed with that strange air of power, and noted that +her eyes flashed and that her hair grew even more brilliant than was common, as +though some abnormal strength were flowing through it and her. Presently she +spoke, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“I shall show you first our people in the day of their glory. Look in +front of you.” +</p> + +<p> +We looked and by degrees the vast space of the apse before us became alive with +forms. At first these were vague and shadowy, not to be separated or +distinguished. Then they became so real that until he was reproved by a kick, +Tommy growled at them and threatened to break out into one of his peals of +barking. +</p> + +<p> +A wonderful scene appeared. There was a palace of white marble and in front of +it a great courtyard upon which the sun beat vividly. At the foot of the steps +of the palace, beneath a silken awning, sat a king enthroned, a crown upon his +head and wearing glorious robes. In his hand was a jewelled sceptre. He was a +noble-looking man of middle age and about him were gathered the glittering +officers of his court. Fair women fanned him and to right and left, but a +little behind, sat other fair and jewelled women who, I suppose, were his wives +or daughters. +</p> + +<p> +“One of the Kings of the Children of Wisdom new-crowned, receives the +homage of the world,” said Yva. +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke there appeared, walking in front of the throne one by one, other +kings, for all were crowned and bore sceptres. At the foot of the throne each +of them kneeled and kissed the foot of him who sat thereon, as he did so laying +down his sceptre which at a sign he lifted again and passed away. Of these +kings there must have been quite fifty, men of all colours and of various +types, white men, black men, yellow men, red men. +</p> + +<p> +Then came their ministers bearing gifts, apparently of gold and jewels, which +were piled on trays in front of the throne. I remember noting an incident. An +old fellow with a lame leg stumbled and upset his tray, so that the contents +rolled hither and thither. His attempts to recover them were ludicrous and +caused the monarch on the throne to relax from his dignity and smile. I mention +this to show that what we witnessed was no set scene but apparently a living +piece of the past. Had it been so the absurdity of the bedizened old man +tumbling down in the midst of the gorgeous pageant would certainly have been +omitted. +</p> + +<p> +No, it must be life, real life, something that had happened, and the same may +be said of what followed. For instance, there was what we call a review. +Infantry marched, some of them armed with swords and spears, though these I +took to be an ornamental bodyguard, and others with tubes like savage blowpipes +of which I could not guess the use. There were no cannon, but carriages came by +loaded with bags that had spouts to them. Probably these were charged with +poisonous gases. There were some cavalry also, mounted on a different stamp of +horse from ours, thicker set and nearer the ground, but with arched necks and +fiery eyes and, I should say, very strong. These again, I take it, were +ornamental. Then came other men upon a long machine, slung in pairs in armoured +sacks, out of which only their heads and arms projected. This machine, which +resembled an elongated bicycle, went by at a tremendous rate, though whence its +motive power came did not appear. It carried twenty pairs of men, each of whom +held in his hand some small but doubtless deadly weapon, that in appearance +resembled an orange. Other similar machines which followed carried from forty +to a hundred pairs of men. +</p> + +<p> +The marvel of the piece, however, were the aircraft. These came by in great +numbers. Sometimes they flew in flocks like wild geese, sometimes singly, +sometimes in line and sometimes in ordered squadrons, with outpost and officer +ships and an exact distance kept between craft and craft. None of them seemed +to be very large or to carry more than four or five men, but they were +extraordinarily swift and as agile as swallows. Moreover they flew as birds do +by beating their wings, but again we could not guess whence came their motive +power. +</p> + +<p> +The review vanished, and next appeared a scene of festivity in a huge, +illuminated hall. The Great King sat upon a dais and behind him was that statue +of Fate, or one very similar to it, beneath which we stood. Below him in the +hall were the feasters seated at long tables, clad in the various costumes of +their countries. He rose and, turning, knelt before the statue of Fate. Indeed +he prostrated himself thrice in prayer. Then taking his seat again, he lifted a +cup of wine and pledged that vast company. They drank back to him and +prostrated themselves before him as he had done before the image of Fate. Only +I noted that certain men clad in sacerdotal garments not at all unlike those +which are worn in the Greek Church to-day, remained standing. +</p> + +<p> +Now all this exhibition of terrestrial pomp faded. The next scene was simple, +that of the death-bed of this same king—we knew him by his wizened +features. There he lay, terribly old and dying. Physicians, women, courtiers, +all were there watching the end. The tableau vanished and in place of it +appeared that of the youthful successor amidst cheering crowds, with joy +breaking through the clouds of simulated grief upon his face. It vanished also. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus did great king succeed great king for ages upon ages,” said +Yva. “There were eighty of them and the average of their reigns was 700 +years. They ruled the earth as it was in those days. They gathered up learning, +they wielded power, their wealth was boundless. They nurtured the arts, they +discovered secrets. They had intercourse with the stars; they were as gods. But +like the gods they grew jealous. They and their councillors became a race apart +who alone had the secret of long life. The rest of the world and the +commonplace people about them suffered and died. They of the Household of +Wisdom lived on in pomp for generations till the earth was mad with envy of +them. +</p> + +<p> +“Fewer and fewer grew the divine race of the Sons of Wisdom since +children are not given to the aged and to those of an ancient, outworn blood. +Then the World said: +</p> + +<p> +“‘They are great but they are not many; let us make an end of them +by numbers and take their place and power and drink of their Life-water, that +they will not give to us. If myriads of us perish by their arts, what does it +matter, since we are countless?’ So the World made war upon the Sons of +Wisdom. See!” +</p> + +<p> +Again a picture formed. The sky was full of aircraft which rained down fire +like flashes of lightning upon cities beneath. From these cities leapt up other +fires that destroyed the swift-travelling things above, so that they fell in +numbers like gnats burned by a lamp. Still more and more of them came till the +cities crumbled away and the flashes that darted from them ceased to rush +upwards. The Sons of Wisdom were driven from the face of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +Again the scene changed. Now it showed this subterranean hall in which we +stood. There was pomp here, yet it was but a shadow of that which had been in +the earlier days upon the face of the earth. Courtiers moved about the palace +and there were people in the radiant streets and the houses, for most of them +were occupied, but rarely did the vision show children coming through their +gates. +</p> + +<p> +Of a sudden this scene shifted. Now we saw that same hall in which we had +visited Oro not an hour before. There he sat, yes, Oro himself, upon the dais +beneath the overhanging marble shell. Round him were some ancient councillors. +In the body of the hall on either side of the dais were men in military array, +guards without doubt though their only weapon was a black rod not unlike a +ruler, if indeed it were a weapon and not a badge of office. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Yva, whose face had suddenly grown strange and fixed, began to detail to us +what was passing in this scene, in a curious monotone such as a person might +use who was repeating something learned by heart. This was the substance of +what she said: +</p> + +<p> +“The case of the Sons of Wisdom is desperate. But few of them are left. +Like other men they need food which is hard to come by, since the foe holds the +upper earth and that which their doctors can make here in the Shades does not +satisfy them, even though they drink the Life-water. They die and die. There +comes an embassy from the High King of the confederated Nations to talk of +terms of peace. See, it enters.” +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke, up the hall advanced the embassy. At the head of it walked a +young man, tall, dark, handsome and commanding, whose aspect seemed in some way +to be familiar to me. He was richly clothed in a purple cloak and wore upon his +head a golden circlet that suggested royal rank. Those who followed him were +mostly old men who had the astute faces of diplomatists, but a few seemed to be +generals. Yva continued in her monotonous voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Comes the son of the King of the confederated Nations, the Prince who +will be king. He bows before the Lord Oro. He says ‘Great and Ancient +Monarch of the divine blood, Heaven-born One, your strait, and that of those +who remain to you, is sore. Yet on behalf of the Nations I am sent to offer +terms of peace, but this I may only do in the presence of your child who is +your heiress and the Queen-to-be of the Sons of Wisdom.’” +</p> + +<p> +Here, in the picture, Oro waved his hand and from behind the marble shell +appeared Yva herself, gloriously apparelled, wearing royal ornaments and with +her train held by waiting ladies. She bowed to the Prince and his company and +they bowed back to her. More, we saw a glance of recognition pass between her +and the Prince. +</p> + +<p> +Now the real Yva by our side pointed to the shadow Yva of the vision or the +picture, whichever it might be called, a strange thing to see her do, and went +on: +</p> + +<p> +“The daughter of the Lord Oro comes. The Prince of the Nations salutes +her. He says that the great war has endured for hundreds of years between the +Children of Wisdom fighting for absolute rule and the common people of the +earth fighting for liberty. In that war many millions of the Sons of the +Nations had perished, brought to their death by fearful arts, by wizardries and +by plagues sown among them by the Sons of Wisdom. Yet they were winning, for +the glorious cities of the Sons of Wisdom were destroyed and those who remained +of them were driven to dwell in the caves of the earth where with all their +strength and magic they could not increase, but faded like flowers in the dark. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord Oro asks what are the terms of peace proposed by the Nations. +The Prince answers that they are these: That the Sons of Wisdom shall teach all +their wisdom to the wise men among the Nations. That they shall give them to +drink of the Life-water, so that their length of days also may be increased. +That they shall cease to destroy them by sickness and their mastery of the +forces which are hid in the womb of the world. If they will do these things, +then the Nations on their part will cease from war, will rebuild the cities +they have destroyed by means of their flying ships that rain down death, and +will agree that the Lord Oro and his seed shall rule them for ever as the King +of kings. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord Oro asks if that be all. The Prince answers that it is not all. +He says that when he dwelt a hostage at the court of the Sons of Wisdom he and +the divine Lady, the daughter of the Lord Oro, and his only living child, +learned to love each other. He demands, and the Nations demand, that she shall +be given to him to wife, that in a day to come he may rule with her and their +children after them. +</p> + +<p> +“See!” went on Yva in her chanting, dreamy voice, “the Lord +Oro asks his daughter if this be true. She says,” here the real Yva at my +side turned and looked me straight in the eyes, “that it is true; that +she loves the Prince of the Nations and that if she lives a million years she +will wed no other man, since she who is her father’s slave in all else is +still the mistress of herself, as has ever been the right of her royal mothers. +</p> + +<p> +“See again! The Lord Oro, the divine King, the Ancient, grows wroth. He +says that it is enough and more than enough that the Barbarians should ask to +eat of the bread of hidden learning and to drink of the Life-water of the Sons +of Wisdom, gifts that were given to them of old by Heaven whence they sprang in +the beginning. But that one of them, however highly placed, should dare to ask +to mix his blood with that of the divine Lady, the Heiress, the Queen of the +Earth to be, and claim to share her imperial throne that had been held by her +pure race from age to age, was an insult that could only be purged by death. +Sooner would he give his daughter in marriage to an ape than to a child of the +Barbarians who had worked on them so many woes and striven to break the golden +fetters of their rule. +</p> + +<p> +“Look again!” continued Yva. “The Lord Oro, the divine, grows +angrier still” (which in truth he did, for never did I see such dreadful +rage as that which the picture revealed in him). “He warns, he threatens. +He says that hitherto out of gentle love and pity he has held his hand; that he +has strength at his command which will slay them, not by millions in slow war, +but by tens of millions at one blow; that will blot them and their peoples from +the face of earth and that will cause the deep seas to roll where now their +pleasant lands are fruitful in the sun. They shrink before his fury; behold, +their knees tremble because they know that he has this power. He mocks them, +does the Lord Oro. He asks for their submission here and now, and that in the +name of the Nations they should take the great oath which may not be broken, +swearing to cease from war upon the Sons of Wisdom and to obey them in all +things to the ends of the earth. Some of the ambassadors would yield. They look +about them like wild things that are trapped. But madness takes the Prince. He +cries that the oath of an ape is of no account, but that he will tear up the +Children of Wisdom as an ape tears leaves, and afterwards take the divine Lady +to be his wife. +</p> + +<p> +“Look on the Lord Oro!” continued the living Yva, “his wrath +leaves him. He grows cold and smiles. His daughter throws herself upon her +knees and pleads with him. He thrusts her away. She would spring to the side of +the Prince; he commands his councillors to hold her. She cries to the Prince +that she loves him and him only, and that in a day to come him she will wed and +no other. He thanks her, saying that as it is with her, so it is with him, and +that because of his love he fears nothing. She swoons. The Lord Oro motions +with his hand to the guard. They lift their death-rods. Fire leaps from them. +The Prince and his companions, all save those who were afraid and would have +sworn the oath, twist and writhe. They turn black; they die. The Lord Oro +commands those who are left to enter their flying ships and bear to the Nations +of the Earth tidings of what befalls those who dare to defy and insult him; to +warn them also to eat and drink and be merry while they may, since for their +wickedness they are about to perish.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The scene faded and there followed another which really I cannot describe. It +represented some vast underground place and what appeared to be a huge mountain +of iron clothed in light, literally a thing like an alp, rocking and spinning +down a declivity, which farther on separated into two branches because of a +huge razor-edge precipice that rose between. There in the middle of this vast +space with the dazzling mountain whirling towards him, stood Oro encased in +some transparent armour, as though to keep off heat, and with him his daughter +who under his direction was handling something in the rock behind her. Then +there was a blinding flash and everything vanished. All of this picture passed +so swiftly that we could not grasp its details; only a general impression +remained. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord Oro, using the strength that is in the world whereof he alone +has the secret, changes the world’s balance causing that which was land +to become sea and that which was sea to become land,” said Yva in her +chanting, unnatural voice. +</p> + +<p> +Another scene of stupendous and changing awfulness. Countries were sinking, +cities crashing down, volcanoes were spouting fire; the end of the earth seemed +to be at hand. We could see human beings running to and fro in thousands like +ants. Then in huge waves hundreds and hundreds of feet high, the ocean flowed +in and all was troubled, yeasty sea. +</p> + +<p> +“Oro carries out his threat to destroy the Nations who had rebelled +against him,” said Yva. “Much of the world sinks beneath the waves, +but in place of it other lands arise above the waves, to be inhabited by the +seed of those who remain living in those portions of the Earth that the deluge +spared.” +</p> + +<p> +This horrible vision passed and was succeeded by one more, that of Oro standing +in the sepulchre of the cave by the side of the crystal coffin which contained +what appeared to be the body of his daughter. He gazed at her, then drank some +potion and laid himself down in the companion coffin, that in which we had +found him. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +All vanished away and Yva, appearing to wake from some kind of trance, smiled, +and in her natural voice asked if we had seen enough. +</p> + +<p> +“Quite,” I answered in a tone that caused her to say: +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder what you have seen, Humphrey. Myself I do not know, since it is +through me that you see at all and when you see I am in you who see.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” I replied. “Well, I will tell you about it +later.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you so much,” exclaimed Bastin, recovering suddenly from his +amazement. “I have heard a great deal of these moving-picture shows which +are becoming so popular, but have always avoided attending them because their +influence on the young is supposed to be doubtful, and a priest must set a good +example to his congregation. Now I see that they can have a distinct +educational value, even if it is presented in the form of romance.” +</p> + +<p> +“How is it done?” asked Bickley, almost fiercely. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not altogether know,” she answered. “This I do know, +however, that everything which has happened on this world can be seen from +moment to moment at some point in the depths of space, for thither the +sun’s light takes it. There, too, it can be caught and thence in an +instant returned to earth again, to be reflected in the mirror of the present +by those who know how that mirror should be held. Ask me no more; one so wise +as you, O Bickley, can solve such problems for himself.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you don’t mind, Lady Yva,” said Bastin, “I think I +should like to get out of this place, interesting as it is. I have food to cook +up above and lots of things to attend to, especially as I understand I am to +come back here tomorrow. Would you mind showing me the way to that lift or +moving staircase?” +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” she said, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +So we went past the image of Fate, out of the temple, down the vast and lonely +streets so unnaturally illuminated, to the place where we had first found +ourselves on arrival in the depths. There we stood. +</p> + +<p> +A moment later and we were whirling up as we had whirled down. I suppose that +Yva came with us though I never saw her do so, and the odd thing was that when +we arrived in the sepulchre, she seemed already to be standing there waiting to +direct us. +</p> + +<p> +“Really,” remarked Bastin, “this is exactly like Maskelyne +and Cook. Did you ever see their performance, Bickley? If so, it must have +given you lots to explain for quite a long while.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jugglery never appealed to me, whether in London or in Orofena,” +replied Bickley in a sour voice as he extracted from his pocket an end of +candle to which he set light. +</p> + +<p> +“What is jugglery?” asked Bastin, and they departed arguing, +leaving me alone with Yva in the sepulchre. +</p> + +<p> +“What have I seen?” I asked her. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, Humphrey. Everyone sees different things, but perhaps +something of the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope not, Yva, for amongst other things I seemed to see you swear +yourself to a man for ever.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and this I did. What of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only that it might be hard for another man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, for another man it might be hard. You were once married, were you +not, Humphrey, to a wife who died?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I was married.” +</p> + +<p> +“And did you not swear to that wife that you would never look in love +upon another woman?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did,” I answered in a shamed voice. “But how do you know? +I never told you so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I know you and therefore guessed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what of it, Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, except that you must find your wife before you love again, and +before I love again I must find him whom I wish to be my husband.” +</p> + +<p> +“How can that happen,” I asked, “when both are dead?” +</p> + +<p> +“How did all that you have seen to-day in Nyo happen?” she replied, +laughing softly. “Perhaps you are very blind, Humphrey, or perhaps we +both are blind. If so, mayhap light will come to us. Meanwhile do not be sad. +Tomorrow I will meet you and you shall teach me—your English tongue, +Humphrey, and other things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let it be in the sunlight, Yva. I do not love those darksome halls +of Nyo that glow like something dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is fitting, for are they not dead?” she answered, with a little +laugh. “So be it. Bastin shall teach my father down below, since sun and +shade are the same to him who only thinks of his religion, and you shall teach +me up above.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not so certain about Bastin and of what he thinks,” I said +doubtfully. “Also will the Lord Oro permit you to come?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, for in such matters I rule myself. Also,” she added +meaningly, “he remembers my oath that I will wed no man—save one +who is dead. Now farewell a while and bid Bastin be here when the sun is three +hours high, not before or after.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I left her. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +Yva Explains</h2> + +<p> +When I reached the rock I was pleased to find Marama and about twenty of his +people engaged in erecting the house that we had ordered them to build for our +accommodation. Indeed, it was nearly finished, since house-building in Orofena +is a simple business. The framework of poles let into palm trunks, since they +could not be driven into the rock, had been put together on the further shore +and towed over bodily by canoes. The overhanging rock formed one side of the +house; the ends were of palm leaves tied to the poles, and the roof was of the +same material. The other side was left open for the present, which in that +equable and balmy clime was no disadvantage. The whole edifice was about thirty +feet long by fifteen deep and divided into two portions, one for sleeping and +one for living, by a palm leaf partition. Really, it was quite a comfortable +abode, cool and rainproof, especially after Bastin had built his hut in which +to cook. +</p> + +<p> +Marama and his people were very humble in their demeanour and implored us to +visit them on the main island. I answered that perhaps we would later on, as we +wished to procure certain things from the wreck. Also, he requested Bastin to +continue his ministrations as the latter greatly desired to do. But to this +proposal I would not allow him to give any direct answer at the moment. Indeed, +I dared not do so until I was sure of Oro’s approval. +</p> + +<p> +Towards evening they departed in their canoes, leaving behind them the usual +ample store of provisions. +</p> + +<p> +We cooked our meal as usual, only to discover that what Yva had said about the +Life-water was quite true, since we had but little appetite for solid food, +though this returned upon the following day. The same thing happened upon every +occasion after drinking of that water which certainly was a most invigorating +fluid. Never for years had any of us felt so well as it caused us to do. +</p> + +<p> +So we lit our pipes and talked about our experiences though of these, indeed, +we scarcely knew what to say. Bastin accepted them as something out of the +common, of course, but as facts which admitted of no discussion. After all, he +said, the Old Testament told much the same story of people called the Sons of +God who lived very long lives and ran after the daughters of men whom they +should have left alone, and thus became the progenitors of a remarkable race. +Of this race, he presumed that Oro and his daughter were survivors, especially +as they spoke of their family as “Heaven born.” How they came to +survive was more than he could understand and really scarcely worth bothering +over, since there they were. +</p> + +<p> +It was the same about the Deluge, continued Bastin, although naturally Oro +spoke falsely, or, at any rate, grossly exaggerated, when he declared that he +had caused this catastrophe, unless indeed he was talking about a totally +different deluge, though even then <i>he</i> could not have brought it about. +It was curious, however, that the people drowned were said to have been wicked, +and Oro had the same opinion about those whom he claimed to have drowned, +though for the matter of that, he could not conceive anyone more wicked than +Oro himself. On his own showing he was a most revengeful person and one who +declined to agree to a quite suitable alliance, apparently desired by both +parties, merely because it offended his family pride. No, on reflection he +might be unjust to Oro in this particular, since <i>he</i> never told that +story; it was only shown in some pictures which very likely were just made up +to astonish us. Meanwhile, it was his business to preach to this old sinner +down in that hole, and he confessed honestly that he did not like the job. +Still, it must be done, so with our leave he would go apart and seek +inspiration, which at present seemed to be quite lacking. +</p> + +<p> +Thus declaimed Bastin and departed. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you tell your opinion about the Deluge or he may cause +another just to show that you are wrong,” called Bickley after him. +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t help that,” answered Bastin. “Certainly I +shall not hide the truth to save Oro’s feelings, if he has got any. If he +revenges himself upon us in any way, we must just put up with it like other +martyrs.” +</p> + +<p> +“I haven’t the slightest ambition to be a martyr,” said +Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” shouted Bastin from a little distance, “I am quite +aware of that, as you have often said so before. Therefore, if you become one, +I am sorry to say that I do not see how you can expect any benefit. You would +only be like a man who puts a sovereign into the offertory bag in mistake for a +shilling. The extra nineteen shillings will do him no good at all, since in his +heart he regrets the error and wishes that he could have them back.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he departed, leaving me laughing. But Bickley did not laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“Arbuthnot,” he said, “I have come to the conclusion that I +have gone quite mad. I beg you if I should show signs of homicidal mania, which +I feel developing in me where Bastin is concerned, or of other abnormal +violence, that you will take whatever steps you consider necessary, even to +putting me out of the way if that is imperative.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” I asked. “You seem sane enough.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sane, when I believe that I have seen and experienced a great number of +things which I know it to be quite impossible that I should have seen or +experienced. The only explanation is that I am suffering from delusions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then is Bastin suffering from delusions, too?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, but that is nothing new in his case.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t agree with you, Bickley—about Bastin, I mean. I am +by no means certain that he is not the wisest of the three of us. He has a +faith and he sticks to it, as millions have done before him, and that is better +than making spiritual experiments, as I am sorry to say I do, or rejecting +things because one cannot understand them, as you do, which is only a form of +intellectual vanity.” +</p> + +<p> +“I won’t argue the matter, Arbuthnot; it is of no use. I repeat +that I am mad, and Bastin is mad.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about me? I also saw and experienced these things. Am I mad, +too?” +</p> + +<p> +“You ought to be, Arbuthnot. If it isn’t enough to drive a man mad +when he sees himself exactly reproduced in an utterly impossible moving-picture +show exhibited by an utterly impossible young woman in an utterly impossible +underground city, then I don’t know what is.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” I asked, starting. +</p> + +<p> +“Mean? Well, if you didn’t notice it, there’s hope for +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Notice what?” +</p> + +<p> +“All that envoy scene. There, as I thought, appeared Yva. Do you admit +that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course; there could be no mistake on that point.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well. Then according to my version there came a man, still young, +dressed in outlandish clothes, who made propositions of peace and wanted to +marry Yva, who wanted to marry him. Is that right?” +</p> + +<p> +“Absolutely.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, and didn’t you recognise the man?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; I only noticed that he was a fine-looking fellow whose appearance +reminded me of someone.” +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose it must be true,” mused Bickley, “that we do not +know ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“So the old Greek thought, since he urged that this should be our special +study. ‘Know thyself,’ you remember.” +</p> + +<p> +“I meant physically, not intellectually. Arbuthnot, do you mean to tell +me that you did not recognise your own double in that man? Shave off your beard +and put on his clothes and no one could distinguish you apart.” +</p> + +<p> +I sprang up, dropping my pipe. +</p> + +<p> +“Now you mention it,” I said slowly, “I suppose there was a +resemblance. I didn’t look at him very much; I was studying the +simulacrum of Yva. Also, you know it is some time since—I mean, there are +no pier-glasses in Orofena.” +</p> + +<p> +“The man was <i>you</i>,” went on Bickley with conviction. +“If I were superstitious I should think it a queer sort of omen. But as I +am not, I know that I must be mad.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why? After all, an ancient man and a modern man might resemble each +other.” +</p> + +<p> +“There are degrees in resemblance,” said Bickley with one of his +contemptuous snorts. “It won’t do, Humphrey, my boy,” he +added. “I can only think of one possible explanation—outside of the +obvious one of madness.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is that?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Glittering Lady produced what Bastin called that cinematograph show +in some way or other, did she not? She said that in order to do this she loosed +some hidden forces. I suggest that she did nothing of the sort.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then whence did the pictures come and why?” +</p> + +<p> +“From her own brain, in order to impress us with a cock-and-bull, +fairy-book story. If this were so she would quite naturally fill the role of +the lover of the piece with the last man who had happened to impress her. Hence +the resemblance.” +</p> + +<p> +“You presuppose a great deal, Bickley, including supernatural cunning and +unexampled hypnotic influence. I don’t know, first, why she should be so +anxious to add another impression to the many we have received in this place; +and, secondly, if she was, how she managed to mesmerise three average but +totally different men into seeing the same things. <i>My</i> explanation is +that you were deceived as to the likeness, which, mind you, I did not +recognise; nor, apparently, did Bastin.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin never recognises anything. But if you are in doubt, ask Yva +herself. She ought to know. Now I’m off to try to analyse that confounded +Life-water, which I suspect is of the ordinary spring variety, lightened up +with natural carbonic acid gas and possibly not uninfluenced by radium. The +trouble is that here I can only apply some very elementary tests.” +</p> + +<p> +So he went also, in an opposite direction to Bastin, and I was left alone with +Tommy, who annoyed me much by attempting continually to wander off into the +cave, whence I must recall him. I suppose that my experiences of the day, +reviewed beneath the sweet influences of the wonderful tropical night, affected +me. At any rate, that mystical side of my nature, to which I think I alluded at +the beginning of this record, sprang into active and, in a sense, unholy life. +The normal vanished, the abnormal took possession, and that is unholy to most +of us creatures of habit and tradition, at any rate, if we are British. I lost +my footing on the world; my spirit began to wander in strange places; of +course, always supposing that we have a spirit, which Bickley would deny. +</p> + +<p> +I gave up reason; I surrendered myself to unreason; it is a not unpleasant +process, occasionally. Supposing now that all we see and accept is but the +merest fragment of the truth, or perhaps only a refraction thereof? Supposing +that we do live again and again, and that our animating principle, whatever it +might be, does inhabit various bodies, which, naturally enough, it would shape +to its own taste and likeness? Would that taste and likeness vary so very much +over, let us say, a million years or so, which, after all, is but an hour, or a +minute, in the æons of Eternity? +</p> + +<p> +On this hypothesis, which is so wild that one begins to suspect that it may be +true, was it impossible that I and that murdered man of the far past were in +fact identical? If the woman were the same, preserved across the gulf in some +unknown fashion, why should not her lover be the same? What did I say—her +lover? Was I her lover? No, I was the lover of one who had died—my lost +wife. Well, if I had died and lived again, why should not—why should not +that Sleeper—have lived again during her long sleep? Through all those +years the spirit must have had some home, and, if so, in what shapes did it +live? There were points, similarities, which rushed in upon me—oh! it was +ridiculous. Bickley was right. We were all mad! +</p> + +<p> +There was another thing. Oro had declared that we were at war with Germany. If +this were so, how could he know it? Such knowledge would presume powers of +telepathy or vision beyond those given to man. I could not believe that he +possessed these; as Bickley said, it would be past experience. Yet it was most +strange that he who was uninformed as to our national history and dangers, +should have hit upon a country with which we might well have been plunged into +sudden struggle. Here again I was bewildered and overcome. My brain rocked. I +would seek sleep, and in it escape, or at any rate rest from all these +mysteries. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +On the following morning we despatched Bastin to keep his rendezvous in the +sepulchre at the proper time. Had we not done so I felt sure that he would have +forgotten it, for on this occasion he was for once an unwilling missioner. He +tried to persuade one of us to come with him—even Bickley would have been +welcome; but we both declared that we could not dream of interfering in such a +professional matter; also that our presence was forbidden, and would certainly +distract the attention of his pupil. +</p> + +<p> +“What you mean,” said the gloomy Bastin, “is that you intend +to enjoy yourselves up here in the female companionship of the Glittering Lady +whilst I sit thousands of feet underground attempting to lighten the darkness +of a violent old sinner whom I suspect of being in league with Satan.” +</p> + +<p> +“With whom you should be proud to break a lance,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“So I am, in the daylight. For instance, when he uses <i>your</i> mouth +to advance his arguments, Bickley, but this is another matter. However, if I do +not appear again you will know that I died in a good cause, and, I hope, try to +recover my remains and give them decent burial. Also, you might inform the +Bishop of how I came to my end, that is, if you ever get an opportunity, which +is more than doubtful.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hurry up, Bastin, hurry up!” said the unfeeling Bickley, “or +you will be late for your appointment and put your would-be neophyte into a bad +temper.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Bastin went, carrying under his arm a large Bible printed in the language +of the South Sea Islands. +</p> + +<p> +A little while later Yva appeared, arrayed in her wondrous robes which, being a +man, it is quite impossible for me to describe. She saw us looking at these, +and, after greeting us both, also Tommy, who was enraptured at her coming, +asked us how the ladies of our country attired themselves. +</p> + +<p> +We tried to explain, with no striking success. +</p> + +<p> +“You are as stupid about such matters as were the men of the Old +World,” she said, shaking her head and laughing. “I thought that +you had with you pictures of ladies you have known which would show me.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, in fact, I had in a pocket-book a photograph of my wife in evening-dress, +also a miniature of her head and bust painted on ivory, a beautiful piece of +work done by a master hand, which I always wore. These, after a moment’s +hesitation, I produced and showed to her, Bickley having gone away for a little +while to see about something connected with his attempted analysis of the +Life-water. She examined them with great eagerness, and as she did so I noted +that her face grew tender and troubled. +</p> + +<p> +“This was your wife,” she said as one who states what she knows to +be a fact. I nodded, and she went on: +</p> + +<p> +“She was sweet and beautiful as a flower, but not so tall as I am, I +think.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I answered, “she lacked height; given that she would +have been a lovely woman.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad you think that women should be tall,” she said, glancing +at her shadow. “The eyes were such as mine, were they not—in +colour, I mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, very like yours, only yours are larger.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is a beautiful way of wearing the hair. Would you be angry if I +tried it? I weary of this old fashion.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why should I be angry?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment Bickley reappeared and she began to talk of the details of the +dress, saying that it showed more of the neck than had been the custom among +the women of her people, but was very pretty. +</p> + +<p> +“That is because we are still barbarians,” said Bickley; “at +least, our women are, and therefore rely upon primitive methods of attraction, +like the savages yonder.” +</p> + +<p> +She smiled, and, after a last, long glance, gave me back the photograph and the +miniature, saying as she delivered the latter: +</p> + +<p> +“I rejoice to see that you are faithful, Humphrey, and wear this picture +on your heart, as well as in it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you must be a very remarkable woman,” said Bickley. +“Never before did I hear one of your sex rejoice because a man was +faithful to somebody else.” +</p> + +<p> +“Has Bickley been disappointed in his love-heart, that he is so angry to +us women?” asked Yva innocently of me. Then, without waiting for an +answer, she inquired of him whether he had been successful in his analysis of +the Life-water. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know what I was doing with the Life-water? Did Bastin tell +you?” exclaimed Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin told me nothing, except that he was afraid of the descent to Nyo; +that he hated Nyo when he reached it, as indeed I do, and that he thought that +my father, the Lord Oro, was a devil or evil spirit from some Under-world which +he called hell.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin has an open heart and an open mouth,” said Bickley, +“for which I respect him. Follow his example if you will, Lady Yva, and +tell us who and what is the Lord Oro, and who and what are you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have we not done so already? If not, I will repeat. The Lord Oro and I +are two who have lived on from the old time when the world was different, and +yet, I think, the same. He is a man and not a god, and I am a woman. His powers +are great because of his knowledge, which he has gathered from his forefathers +and in a life of a thousand years before he went to sleep. He can do things you +cannot do. Thus, he can pass through space and take others with him, and return +again. He can learn what is happening in far-off parts of the world, as he did +when he told you of the war in which your country is concerned. He has terrible +powers; for instance, he can kill, as he killed those savages. Also, he knows +the secrets of the earth, and, if it pleases him, can change its turning so +that earthquakes happen and sea becomes land, and land sea, and the places that +were hot grow cold, and those that were cold grow hot.” +</p> + +<p> +“All of which things have happened many times in the history of the +globe,” said Bickley, “without the help of the Lord Oro.” +</p> + +<p> +“Others had knowledge before my father, and others doubtless will have +knowledge after him. Even I, Yva, have some knowledge, and knowledge is +strength.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I interposed, “but such powers as you attribute to +your father are not given to man.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean to man as you know him, man like Bickley, who thinks that he +has learned everything that was ever learned. But it is not so. Hundreds of +thousands of years ago men knew more than it seems they do today, ten times +more, as they lived ten times longer, or so you tell me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Men?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, men, not gods or spirits, as the uninstructed nations supposed them +to be. My father is a man subject to the hopes and terrors of man. He desires +power which is ambition, and when the world refused his rule, he destroyed that +part of it which rebelled, which is revenge. Moreover, above all things he +dreads death, which is fear. That is why he suspended life in himself and me +for two hundred and fifty thousand years, as his knowledge gave him strength to +do, because death was near and he thought that sleep was better than +death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why should he dread to die,” asked Bickley, “seeing that +sleep and death are the same?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because his knowledge tells him that Sleep and Death are <i>not</i> the +same, as you, in your foolishness, believe, for there Bastin is wiser than you. +Because for all his wisdom he remains ignorant of what happens to man when the +Light of Life is blown out by the breath of Fate. That is why he fears to die +and why he talks with Bastin the Preacher, who says he has the secret of the +future.” +</p> + +<p> +“And do you fear to die?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Humphrey,” she answered gently. “Because I think that +there is no death, and, having done no wrong, I dread no evil. I had dreams +while I was asleep, O Humphrey, and it seemed to me that—” +</p> + +<p> +Here she ceased and glanced at where she knew the miniature was hanging upon my +breast. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” she continued, after a little pause, “tell me of your +world, of its history, of its languages, of what happens there, for I long to +know.” +</p> + +<p> +So then and there, assisted by Bickley, I began the education of the Lady Yva. +I do not suppose that there was ever a more apt pupil in the whole earth. To +begin with, she was better acquainted with every subject on which I touched +than I was myself; all she lacked was information as to its modern aspect. Her +knowledge ended two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, at which date, +however, it would seem that civilisation had already touched a higher +water-mark than it has ever since attained. Thus, this vanished people +understood astronomy, natural magnetism, the force of gravity, steam, also +electricity to some subtle use of which, I gathered, the lighting of their +underground city was to be attributed. They had mastered architecture and the +arts, as their buildings and statues showed; they could fly through the air +better than we have learned to do within the last few years. +</p> + +<p> +More, they, or some of them, had learned the use of the Fourth Dimension, that +is their most instructed individuals, could move <i>through</i> opposing +things, as well as over them, up into them and across them. This power these +possessed in a two-fold form. I mean, that they could either disintegrate their +bodies at one spot and cause them to integrate again at another, or they could +project what the old Egyptians called the Ka or Double, and modern Theosophists +name the Astral Shape, to any distance. Moreover, this Double, or Astral Shape, +while itself invisible, still, so to speak, had the use of its senses. It could +see, it could hear, and it could remember, and, on returning to the body, it +could avail itself of the experience thus acquired. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, at least, said Yva, while Bickley contemplated her with a cold and +unbelieving eye. She even went further and alleged that in certain instances, +individuals of her extinct race had been able to pass through the ether and to +visit other worlds in the depths of space. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you ever done that?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Once or twice I dreamed that I did,” she replied quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“We can all dream,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +As it was my lot to make acquaintance with this strange and uncanny power at a +later date, I will say no more of it now. +</p> + +<p> +Telepathy, she declared, was also a developed gift among the Sons of Wisdom; +indeed, they seem to have used it as we use wireless messages. Only, in their +case, the sending and receiving stations were skilled and susceptible human +beings who went on duty for so many hours at a time. Thus intelligence was +transmitted with accuracy and despatch. Those who had this faculty were, she +said, also very apt at reading the minds of others and therefore not easy to +deceive. +</p> + +<p> +“Is that how you know that I had been trying to analyse your +Life-water?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she answered, with her unvarying smile. “At the moment +I spoke thereof you were wondering whether my father would be angry if he knew +that you had taken the water in a little flask.” She studied him for a +moment, then added: “Now you are wondering, first, whether I did not see +you take the water from the fountain and guess the purpose, and, secondly, +whether perhaps Bastin did not tell me what you were doing with it when we met +in the sepulchre.” +</p> + +<p> +“Look here,” said the exasperated Bickley, “I admit that +telepathy and thought-reading are possible to a certain limited extent. But +supposing that you possess those powers, as I think in English, and you do not +know English, how can you interpret what is passing in my mind?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you have been teaching me English all this while without knowing +it, Bickley. In any case, it matters little, seeing that what I read is the +thought, not the language with which it is clothed. The thought comes from your +mind to mine—that is, if I wish it, which is not often—and I +interpret it in my own or other tongues.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad to hear it is not often, Lady Yva, since thoughts are +generally considered private.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and therefore I will read yours no more. Why should I, when they +are so full of disbelief of all I tell you, and sometimes of other things about +myself which I do not seek to know?” +</p> + +<p> +“No wonder that, according to the story in the pictures, those Nations, +whom you named Barbarians, made an end of your people, Lady Yva.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are mistaken, Bickley; the Lord Oro made an end of the Nations, +though against my prayer,” she added with a sigh. +</p> + +<p> +Then Bickley departed in a rage, and did not appear again for an hour. +</p> + +<p> +“He is angry,” she said, looking after him; “nor do I wonder. +It is hard for the very clever like Bickley, who think that they have mastered +all things, to find that after all they are quite ignorant. I am sorry for him, +and I like him very much.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you would be sorry for me also, Lady Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” she asked with a dazzling smile, “when your heart is +athirst for knowledge, gaping for it like a fledgling’s mouth for food, +and, as it chances, though I am not very wise, I can satisfy something of your +soul-hunger.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not very wise!” I repeated. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Humphrey. I think that Bastin, who in many ways is so stupid, has +more true wisdom than I have, because he can believe and accept without +question. After all, the wisdom of my people is all of the universe and its +wonders. What you think magic is not magic; it is only gathered knowledge and +the finding out of secrets. Bickley will tell you the same, although as yet he +does not believe that the mind of man can stretch so far.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean that your wisdom has in it nothing of the spirit?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Humphrey, that is what I mean. I do not even know if there is such +a thing as spirit. Our god was Fate; Bastin’s god is a spirit, and I +think yours also.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Therefore, I wish you and Bastin to teach me of your god, as does Oro, +my father. I want—oh! so much, Humphrey, to learn whether we live after +death.” +</p> + +<p> +“You!” I exclaimed. “You who, according to the story, have +slept for two hundred and fifty thousand years! You, who have, unless I +mistake, hinted that during that sleep you may have lived in other shapes! Do +you doubt whether we can live after death?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. Sleep induced by secret arts is not death, and during that sleep +the <i>I</i> within might wander and inhabit other shapes, because it is +forbidden to be idle. Moreover, what seems to be death may not be death, only +another form of sleep from which the <i>I</i> awakes again upon the world. But +at last comes the real death, when the <i>I</i> is extinguished to the world. +That much I know, because my people learned it.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean, you know that men and women may live again and again upon the +world?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Humphrey, I do. For in the world there is only a certain store of +life which in many forms travels on and on, till the lot of each <i>I</i> is +fulfilled. Then comes the real death, and after that—what, +oh!—what?” +</p> + +<p> +“You must ask Bastin,” I said humbly. “I cannot dare to teach +of such matters.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, but you can and do believe, and that helps me, Humphrey, who am in +tune with you. Yes, it helps me much more than do Bastin and his new religion, +because such is woman’s way. Now, I think Bickley will soon return, so +let us talk of other matters. Tell me of the history of your people, Humphrey, +that my father says are now at war.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +The Accident</h2> + +<p> +Bickley did return, having recovered his temper, since after all it was +impossible for anyone to remain angry with the Lady Yva for long, and we spent +a very happy time together. We instructed and she was the humble pupil. +</p> + +<p> +How swift and nimble was her intelligence! In that one morning she learned all +our alphabet and how to write our letters. It appeared that among her people, +at any rate in their later periods, the only form of writing that was used was +a highly concentrated shorthand which saved labour. They had no journals, since +news which arrived telepathically or by some form of wireless was proclaimed to +those who cared to listen, and on it all formed their own judgments. In the +same way poems and even romances were repeated, as in Homer’s day or in +the time of the Norse <i>sagas</i>, by word of mouth. None of their secret +knowledge was written down. Like the ritual of Freemasonry it was considered +too sacred. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, when men lived for hundreds of years this was not so necessary, +especially as their great fear was lest it should fall into the hands of the +outside nations, whom they called Barbarians. For, be it remembered, these Sons +of Wisdom were always a very small people who ruled by the weight of their +intelligence and the strength of their accumulated lore. Indeed, they could +scarcely be called a people; rather were they a few families, all of them more +or less connected with the original ruling Dynasty which considered itself half +divine. These families were waited upon by a multitude of servants or slaves +drawn from the subject nations, for the most part skilled in one art or +another, or perhaps, remarkable for their personal beauty. Still they remained +outside the pale. +</p> + +<p> +The Sons of Wisdom did not intermarry with them or teach them their learning, +or even allow them to drink of their Life-water. They ruled them as men rule +dogs, treating them with kindness, but no more, and as many dogs run their +course and die in the lifetime of one master, so did many of these slaves in +that of one of the Sons of Wisdom. Therefore, the slaves came to regard their +lords not as men, but gods. They lived but three score years and ten like the +rest of us, and went their way, they, whose great-great-grandfathers had served +the same master and whose great-great-great-grandchildren would still serve +him. What should we think of a lord who we knew was already adult in the time +of William the Conqueror, and who remained still vigorous and all-powerful in +that of George V? One, moreover, who commanded almost infinite knowledge to +which we were denied the key? We might tremble before him and look upon him as +half-divine, but should we not long to kill him and possess his knowledge and +thereby prolong our own existence to his wondrous measure? +</p> + +<p> +Such, said Yva, was the case with their slaves and the peoples from whence +these sprang. They grew mad with jealous hate, till at length came the end we +knew. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we talked on for hours till the time came for us to eat. As before Yva +partook of fruit and we of such meats as we had at hand. These, we noticed, +disgusted her, because, as she explained, the Children of Wisdom, unless driven +thereto by necessity, touched no flesh, but lived on the fruits of the earth +and wine alone. Only the slaves and the Barbarians ate flesh. In these views +Bickley for once agreed with her, that is, except as regards the wine, for in +theory, if not in practice—he was a vegetarian. +</p> + +<p> +“I will bring you more of the Life-water,” she said, “and +then you will grow to hate these dead things, as I do. And now farewell. My +father calls me. I hear him though you do not. To-morrow I cannot come, but the +day after I will come and bring you the Life-water. Nay, accompany me not, but +as I see he wishes it, let Tommy go with me. I will care for him, and he is a +friend in all that lonely place.” +</p> + +<p> +So she went, and with her Tommy, rejoicing. +</p> + +<p> +“Ungrateful little devil!” said Bickley. “Here we’ve +fed and petted him from puppyhood, or at least you have, and yet he skips off +with the first stranger. I never saw him behave like that to any woman, except +your poor wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know,” I answered. “I cannot understand it. Hullo! here +comes Bastin.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin it was, dishevelled and looking much the worse for wear, also minus his +Bible in the native tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, how have you been getting on?” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“I should like some tea, also anything there is to eat.” +</p> + +<p> +We supplied him with these necessaries, and after a while he said slowly and +solemnly: +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot help thinking of a childish story which Bickley told or +invented one night at your house at home. I remember he had an argument with my +wife, which he said put him in mind of it, I am sure I don’t know why. It +was about a monkey and a parrot that were left together under a sofa for a long +while, where they were so quiet that everybody forgot them. Then the parrot +came out with only one feather left in its tail and none at all on its body, +saying, ‘I’ve had no end of a time!’ after which it dropped +down and died. Do you know, I feel just like that parrot, only I don’t +mean to die, and I think I gave the monkey quite as good as he gave me!” +</p> + +<p> +“What happened?” I asked, intensely interested. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! the Glittering Lady took me into that palace hall where Oro was +sitting like a spider in a web, and left me there. I got to work at once. He +was much interested in the Old Testament stories and said there were points of +truth about them, although they had evidently come down to the modern +writer—he called him a <i>modern</i> writer—in a legendary form. I +thought his remarks impertinent and with difficulty refrained from saying so. +Leaving the story of the Deluge and all that, I spoke of other matters, telling +him of eternal life and Heaven and Hell, of which the poor benighted man had +never heard. I pointed out especially that unless he repented, his life, by all +accounts, had been so wicked, that he was certainly destined to the latter +place.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did he say to that?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know, I think it frightened him, if one could imagine Oro being +frightened. At any rate he remarked that the truth or falsity of what I said +was an urgent matter for him, as he could not expect to live more than a few +hundred years longer, though perhaps he might prolong the period by another +spell of sleep. Then he asked me why I thought him so wicked. I replied because +he himself said that he had drowned millions of people, which showed an evil +heart and intention even if it were not a fact. He thought a long while and +asked what could be done in the circumstances. I replied that repentance and +reparation were the only courses open to him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Reparation!” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, reparation was what I said, though I think I made a mistake there, +as you will see. As nearly as I can remember, he answered that he was beginning +to repent, as from all he had learned from us, he gathered that the races which +had arisen as a consequence of his action, were worse than those which he had +destroyed. As regards reparation, what he had done once he could do again. He +would think the matter over seriously, and see if it were possible and +advisable to raise those parts of the world which had been sunk, and sink those +which had been raised. If so, he thought that would make very handsome amends +to the departed nations and set him quite right with any superior Power, if +such a thing existed. What are you laughing at, Bickley? I don’t think it +a laughing matter, since such remarks do not seem to me to indicate any real +change in Oro’s heart, which is what I was trying to effect.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley, who was convulsed with merriment, wiped his eyes and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You dear old donkey, don’t you see what you have done, or rather +would have done if there were a word of truth in all this ridiculous story +about a deluge? You would be in the way of making your precious pupil, who +certainly is the most masterly old liar in the world, repeat his offence and +send Europe to the bottom of the sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“That did occur to me, but it doesn’t much matter as I am quite +certain that such a thing would never be allowed. Of course there was a real +deluge once, but Oro had no more to do with it than I had. Don’t you +agree, Arbuthnot?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think so,” I answered cautiously, “but really in this +place I am beginning to lose count of what is or is not possible. Also, of +course, there may have been many deluges; indeed the history of the world shows +that this was so; it is written in its geological strata. What was the end of +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“The end was that he took the South Sea Bible and, after I had explained +a little about our letters, seemed to be able to read it at once. I suppose he +was acquainted with the art of printing in his youth. At any rate he said that +he would study it, I don’t know how, unless he can read, and that in two +days’ time he would let me know what he thought about the matter of my +religion. Then he told me to go. I said that I did not know the way and was +afraid of losing myself. Thereupon he waved his hand, and I really can’t +say what happened.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you levitate up here,” asked Bickley, “like the late +lamented Mr. Home at the spiritualistic seances?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I did not exactly levitate, but something or someone seemed to get a +hold of me, and I was just rushed along in a most tumultuous fashion. The next +thing I knew was that I was standing at the door of that sepulchre, though I +have no recollection of going up in the lift, or whatever it is. I believe +those beastly caves are full of ghosts, or devils, and the worst of it is that +they have kept my solar-tope, which I put on this morning forgetting that it +would be useless there.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Lady Yva’s Fourth Dimension in action,” I suggested, +“only it wouldn’t work on solar-topes.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said Bastin, +“but if my hat had to be left, why not my boots and other garments? +Please stop your nonsense and pass the tea. Thank goodness I haven’t got +to go down there tomorrow, as he seems to have had enough of me for the +present, so I vote we all pay a visit to the ship. It will be a very pleasant +change. I couldn’t stand two days running with that old fiend, and his +ghosts or devils in the cave.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Next morning accordingly, fearing no harm from the Orofenans, we took the canoe +and rowed to the main island. Marama had evidently seen us coming, for he and a +number of his people met us with every demonstration of delight, and escorted +us to the ship. Here we found things just as we had left them, for there had +been no attempt at theft or other mischief. +</p> + +<p> +While we were in the cabin a fit of moral weakness seemed to overcome Bickley, +the first and I may add the last from which I ever saw him suffer. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know,” he said, addressing us, “I think that we +should do well to try to get out of this place. Eliminating a great deal of the +marvelous with which we seem to have come in touch here, it is still obvious +that we find ourselves in very peculiar and unhealthy surroundings. I mean +mentally unhealthy, indeed I think that if we stay here much longer we shall +probably go off our heads. Now that boat on the deck remains sound and +seaworthy. Why should not we provision her and take our chance? We know more or +less which way to steer.” +</p> + +<p> +Bastin and I looked at each other. It was he who spoke first. +</p> + +<p> +“Wouldn’t it be rather a risky job in an open boat?” he +asked. “However, that doesn’t matter much because I don’t +take any account of risks, knowing that I am of more value than a sparrow and +that the hairs of my head are all numbered.” +</p> + +<p> +“They might be numbered under water as well as above it,” muttered +Bickley, “and I feel sure that on your own showing, you would be as +valuable dead as alive.” +</p> + +<p> +“What I seem to feel,” went on Bastin, “is that I have work +to my hand here. Also, the <i>locum tenens</i> at Fulcombe no doubt runs the +parish as well as I could. Indeed I consider him a better man for the place +than I am. That old Oro is a tough proposition, but I do not despair of him +yet, and besides him there is the Glittering Lady, a most open-minded person, +whom I have not yet had any real opportunity of approaching in a spiritual +sense. Then there are all these natives who cannot learn without a teacher. So +on the whole I think I would rather stay where I am until Providence points out +some other path.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am of the same opinion, if for somewhat different reasons,” I +said. “I do not suppose that it has often been the fortune of men to come +in touch with such things as we have found upon this island. They may be +illusions, but at least they are very interesting illusions. One might live ten +lifetimes and find nothing else of the sort. Therefore I should like to see the +end of the dream.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley reflected a little, then said: +</p> + +<p> +“On the whole I agree with you. Only my brain totters and I am terribly +afraid of madness. I cannot believe what I seem to hear and see, and that way +madness lies. It is better to die than to go mad.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll do that anyway when your time comes, Bickley, I mean +decease, of course,” interrupted Bastin. “And who knows, perhaps +all this is an opportunity given by Providence to open your eyes, which, I must +say, are singularly blind. You think you know everything there is to learn, but +the fact is that like the rest of us, you know nothing at all, and good man +though you are, obstinately refuse to admit the truth and to seek support +elsewhere. For my part I believe that you are afraid of falling in love with +that Glittering Lady and of being convinced by her that you are wrong in your +most unsatisfactory conclusions.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am out-voted anyway,” said Bickley, “and for the rest, +Bastin, look after yourself and leave me alone. I will add that on the whole I +think you are both right, and that it is wisest for us to stop where we are, +for after all we can only die once.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not so sure, Bickley. There is a thing called the second death, +which is what is troubling that old scoundrel, Oro. Now I will go and look for +those books.” +</p> + +<p> +So the idea of flight was abandoned, although I admit that even to myself it +had attractions. For I felt that I was being wrapped in a net of mysteries from +which I saw no escape. Yes, and of more than mysteries; I who had sworn that I +would never look upon another woman, was learning to love this sweet and +wondrous Yva, and of that what could be the end? +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +We collected all we had come to seek, and started homewards escorted by Marama +and his people, including a number of young women who danced before us in a +light array of flowers. +</p> + +<p> +Passing our old house, we came to the grove where the idol Oro had stood and +Bastin was so nearly sacrificed. There was another idol there now which he +wished to examine, but in the end did not as the natives so obviously objected. +Indeed Marama told me that notwithstanding the mysterious death of the +sorcerers on the Rock of Offerings, there was still a strong party in the +island who would be glad to do us a mischief if any further affront were +offered to their hereditary god. +</p> + +<p> +He questioned us also tentatively about the apparition, for such he conceived +it to be, which had appeared upon the rock and killed the sorcerers, and I +answered him as I thought wisest, telling him that a terrible Power was afoot +in the land, which he would do well to obey. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he said; “the God of the Mountain of whom the +tradition has come down to us from our forefathers. He is awake again; he sees, +he hears and we are afraid. Plead with him for us, O +Friend-from-the-Sea.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke we were passing through a little patch of thick bush. Suddenly from +out of this bush, I saw a lad appear. He wore a mask upon his face, but from +his shape could not have been more than thirteen or fourteen years of age. In +his hand was a wooden club. He ran forward, stopped, and with a yell of hate +hurled it, I think at Bastin, but it hit me. At any rate I felt a shock and +remembered no more. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Dreams. Dreams. Endless dreams! What were they all about? I do not know. It +seemed to me that through them continually I saw the stately figure of old Oro +contemplating me gravely, as though he were making up his mind about something +in which I must play a part. Then there was another figure, that of the +gracious but imperial Yva, who from time to time, as I thought, leant over me +and whispered in my ear words of rest and comfort. Nor was this all, since her +shape had a way of changing suddenly into that of my lost wife who would speak +with her voice. Or perhaps my wife would speak with Yva’s voice. To my +disordered sense it was as though they were one personality, having two shapes, +either of which could be assumed at will. It was most strange and yet to me +most blessed, since in the living I seemed to have found the dead, and in the +dead the living. More, I took journeys, or rather some unknown part of me +seemed to do so. One of these I remember, for its majestic character stamped +itself upon my mind in such a fashion that all the waters of delirium could not +wash it out nor all its winds blow away that memory. +</p> + +<p> +I was travelling through space with Yva a thousand times faster than light can +flash. We passed sun after sun. They drew near, they grew into enormous, +flaming Glories round which circled world upon world. They became small, +dwindled to points of light and disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +We found footing upon some far land and passed a marvelous white city wherein +were buildings with domes of crystal and alabaster, in the latter of which were +set windows made of great jewels; sapphires or rubies they seemed to me. We +went on up a lovely valley. To the left were hills, down which tumbled +waterfalls; to the right was a river broad and deep that seemed to overflow its +banks as does the Nile. Behind were high mountains on the slopes of which grew +forests of glorious trees, some of them aflame with bloom, while far away up +their crests stood colossal golden statues set wide apart. They looked like +guardian angels watching that city and that vale. The land was lit with a light +such as that of the moon, only intensified and of many colours. Indeed looking +up, I saw that above us floated three moons, each of them bigger than our own +at the full, and gathered that here it was night. +</p> + +<p> +We came to a house set amid scented gardens and having in front of it terraces +of flowers. It seemed not unlike my own house at home, but I took little note +of it, because of a woman who sat upon the verandah, if I may call it so. She +was clad in garments of white silk fastened about her middle with a jewelled +girdle. On her neck also was a collar of jewels. I forget the colour; indeed +this seemed to change continually as the light from the different moons struck +when she moved, but I think its prevailing tinge was blue. In her arms this +woman nursed a beauteous, sleeping child, singing happily as she rocked it to +and fro. Yva went towards the woman who looked up at her step and uttered a +little cry. Then for the first time I saw the woman’s face. It was that +of my dead wife! +</p> + +<p> +As I followed in my dream, a little cloud of mist seemed to cover both my wife +and Yva, and when I reached the place Yva was gone. Only my wife remained, she +and the child. There she stood, solemn and sweet. While I drew near she laid +down the child upon the cushioned seat from which she had risen. She stretched +out her arms and flung them about me. She embraced me and I embraced her in a +rapture of reunion. Then turning she lifted up the child, it was a girl, for me +to kiss. +</p> + +<p> +“See your daughter,” she said, “and behold all that I am +making ready for you where we shall dwell in a day to come.” +</p> + +<p> +I grew confused. +</p> + +<p> +“Yva,” I said. “Where is Yva who brought me here? Did she go +into the house?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she answered happily. “Yva went into the house. Look +again!” +</p> + +<p> +I looked and it was Yva’s face that was pressed against my own, and +Yva’s eyes that gazed into mine. Only she was garbed as my wife had been, +and on her bosom hung the changeful necklace. +</p> + +<p> +“You may not stay,” she whispered, and lo! it was my wife that +spoke, not Yva. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me what it means?” I implored. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot,” she answered. “There are mysteries that you may +not know as yet. Love Yva if you will and I shall not be jealous, for in loving +Yva you love me. You cannot understand? Then know this, that the spirit has +many shapes, and yet is the same spirit—sometimes. Now I who am far, yet +near, bid you farewell a while.” +</p> + +<p> +Then all passed in a flash and the dream ended. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the only one of those visions which I can recall. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I seemed to wake up as from a long and tumultuous sleep. The first thing I saw +was the palm roof of our house upon the rock. I knew it was our house, for just +above me was a palm leaf of which I had myself tied the stalk to the framework +with a bit of coloured ribbon that I had chanced to find in my pocket. It came +originally from the programme card of a dance that I had attended at Honolulu +and I had kept it because I thought it might be useful. Finally I used it to +secure that loose leaf. I stared at the ribbon which brought back a flood of +memories, and as I was thus engaged I heard voices talking, and +listened—Bickley’s voice, and the Lady Yva’s. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” Bickley was saying, “he will do well now, but he went +near, very near.” +</p> + +<p> +“I knew he would not die,” she answered, “because my father +said so.” +</p> + +<p> +“There are two sorts of deaths,” replied Bickley, “that of +the body and that of the mind. I was afraid that even if he lived, his reason +would go, but from certain indications I do not think that will happen now. He +will get quite well again—though—” and he stopped. +</p> + +<p> +“I am very glad to hear you say so,” chimed in Bastin. “For +weeks I thought that I should have to read the Burial Service over poor +Arbuthnot. Indeed I was much puzzled as to the best place to bury him. Finally +I found a very suitable spot round the corner there, where it isn’t rock, +in which one can’t dig and the soil is not liable to be flooded. In fact +I went so far as to clear away the bush and to mark out the grave with its foot +to the east. In this climate one can’t delay, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +Weak as I was, I smiled. This practical proceeding was so exactly like Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you wasted your labour,” exclaimed Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I am glad to say I did. But I don’t think it was your +operations and the rest that cured him, Bickley, although you take all the +credit. I believe it was the Life-water that the Lady Yva made him drink and +the stuff that Oro sent which we gave him when you weren’t +looking.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I hope that in the future you will not interfere with my +cases,” said the indignant Bickley, and either the voices passed away or +I went to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +When I woke up again it was to find the Lady Yva seated at my side watching me. +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me, Humphrey, because I here; others gone out walking,” +she said slowly in English. +</p> + +<p> +“Who taught you my language?” I asked, astonished. +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin and Bickley, while you ill, they teach; they teach me much. Man +just same now as he was hundred thousand years ago,” she added +enigmatically. “All think one woman beautiful when no other woman +there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” I replied, wondering to what proceedings on the part of +Bastin and Bickley she alluded. Could that self-centred pair—oh! it was +impossible. +</p> + +<p> +“How long have I been ill?” I asked to escape the subject which I +felt to be uncomfortable. +</p> + +<p> +She lifted her beautiful eyes in search of words and began to count upon her +fingers. +</p> + +<p> +“Two moon, one half moon, yes, ten week, counting Sabbath,” she +answered triumphantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Ten weeks!” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Humphrey, ten whole weeks and three days you first bad, then mad. +Oh!” she went on, breaking into the Orofenan tongue which she spoke so +perfectly, although it was not her own. That language of hers I never learned, +but I know she thought in it and only translated into Orofenan, because of the +great difficulty which she had in rendering her high and refined ideas into its +simpler metaphor, and the strange words which often she introduced. “Oh! +you have been very ill, friend of my heart. At times I thought that you were +going to die, and wept and wept. Bickley thinks that he saved you and he is +very clever. But he could not have saved you; that wanted more knowledge than +any of your people have; only I pray you, do not tell him so because it would +hurt his pride.” +</p> + +<p> +“What was the matter with me then, Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“All was the matter. First, the weapon which that youth threw—he +was the son of the sorcerer whom my father destroyed—crushed in the bone +of your head. He is dead for his crime and may he be accursed for ever,” +she added in the only outbreak of rage and vindictiveness in which I ever saw +her indulge. +</p> + +<p> +“One must make excuses for him; his father had been killed,” I +said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that is what Bastin tells me, and it is true. Still, for that young +man I can make no excuse; it was cowardly and wicked. Well, Bickley performed +what he calls operation, and the Lord Oro, he came up from his house and helped +him, because Bastin is no good in such things. Then he can only turn away his +head and pray. I, too, helped, holding hot water and linen and jar of the stuff +that made you feel like nothing, although the sight made me feel more sick than +anything since I saw one I loved killed, oh, long, long ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“Was the operation successful?” I asked, for I did not dare to +begin to thank her. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that clever man, Bickley, lifted the bone which had been crushed +in. Only then something broke in your head and you began to bleed here,” +and she touched what I believe is called the temporal artery. “The vein +had been crushed by the blow, and gave way. Bickley worked and worked, and just +in time he tied it up before you died. Oh! then I felt as though I loved +Bickley, though afterwards Bastin said that I ought to have loved <i>him</i>, +since it was not Bickley who stopped the bleeding, but his prayer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps it was both,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, Humphrey, at least you were saved. Then came another trouble. +You took fever. Bickley said that it was because a certain gnat had bitten you +when you went down to the ship, and my father, the Lord Oro, told me that this +was right. At the least you grew very weak and lost your mind, and it seemed as +though you must die. Then, Humphrey, I went to the Lord Oro and kneeled before +him and prayed for your life, for I knew that he could cure you if he would, +though Bickley’s skill was at an end. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Daughter,’ he said to me, ‘not once but again and +again you have set up your will against mine in the past. Why then should I +trouble myself to grant this desire of yours in the present, and save a man who +is nothing to me?’ +</p> + +<p> +“I rose to my feet and answered, ‘I do not know, my Father, yet I +am certain that for your own sake it will be well to do so. I am sure that of +everything even you must give an account at last, great though you be, and who +knows, perhaps one life which you have saved may turn the balance in your +favour.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Surely the priest Bastin has been talking to you,’ he said. +</p> + +<p> +“‘He has,’ I answered, ‘and not he alone. Many voices +have been talking to me.’” +</p> + +<p> +“What did you mean by that?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“It matters nothing what I meant, Humphrey. Be still and listen to my +story. My father thought a while and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“‘I am jealous of this stranger. What is he but a short-lived +half-barbarian such as we knew in the old days? And yet already you think more +of him than you do of me, your father, the divine Oro who has lived a thousand +years. At first I helped that physician to save him, but now I think I wish him +dead.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘If you let this man die, my Father,’ I answered, +‘then we part. Remember that I also have of the wisdom of our people, and +can use it if I will.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Then save him yourself,’ he said. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Perhaps I shall, my Father,’ I answered, ‘but if so +it will not be here. I say that if so we part and you shall be left to rule in +your majesty alone.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Now this frightened the Lord Oro, for he has the weakness that he hates +to be alone. +</p> + +<p> +“‘If I do what you will, do you swear never to leave me, +Yva?’ he asked. ‘Know that if you will not swear, the man +dies.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I swear,’ I answered—for your sake, +Humphrey—though I did not love the oath. +</p> + +<p> +“Then he gave me a certain medicine to mix with the Life-water, and when +you were almost gone that medicine cured you, though Bickley does not know it, +as nothing else could have done. Now I have told you the truth, for your own +ear only, Humphrey.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yva,” I asked, “why did you do all this for me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Humphrey, I do not know,” she answered, “but I think because +I must. Now sleep a while.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +The Proposals of Bastin and Bickley</h2> + +<p> +So far as my body was concerned I grew well with great rapidity, though it was +long before I got back my strength. Thus I could not walk far or endure any +sustained exertion. With my mind it was otherwise. I can not explain what had +happened to it; indeed I do not know, but in a sense it seemed to have become +detached and to have assumed a kind of personality of its own. At times it felt +as though it were no longer an inhabitant of the body, but rather its more or +less independent partner. I was perfectly clear-headed and of insanity I +experienced no symptoms. Yet my mind, I use that term from lack of a better, +was not entirely under my control. For one thing, at night it appeared to +wander far away, though whither it went and what it saw there I could never +remember. +</p> + +<p> +I record this because possibly it explains certain mysterious events, if they +were events and not dreams, which shortly I must set out. I spoke to Bickley +about the matter. He put it by lightly, saying that it was only a result of my +long and most severe illness and that I should steady down in time, especially +if we could escape from that island and its unnatural atmosphere. Yet as he +spoke he glanced at me shrewdly with his quick eyes, and when he turned to go +away I heard him mutter something to himself about “unholy +influences” and “that confounded old Oro.” +</p> + +<p> +The words were spoken to himself and quite beneath his breath, and of course +not meant to reach me. But one of the curious concomitants of my state was that +all my senses, and especially my hearing, had become most abnormally acute. A +whisper far away was now to me like a loud remark made in a room. +</p> + +<p> +Bickley’s reflection, for I can scarcely call it more, set me thinking. +Yva had said that Oro sent me medicine which was administered to me without +Bickley’s knowledge, and as she believed, saved my life, or certainly my +reason. What was in it? I wondered. Then there was that Life-water which Yva +brought and insisted upon my drinking every day. Undoubtedly it was a marvelous +tonic and did me good. But it had other effects also. Thus, as she said would +be the case, after a course of it I conceived the greatest dislike, which I may +add has never entirely left me, of any form of meat, also of alcohol. All I +seemed to want was this water with fruit, or such native vegetables as there +were. Bickley disapproved and made me eat fish occasionally, but even this +revolted me, and since I gained steadily in weight, as we found out by a simple +contrivance, and remained healthy in every other way, soon he allowed me to +choose my own diet. +</p> + +<p> +About this time Oro began to pay me frequent visits. He always came at night, +and what is more I knew when he was coming, although he never gave me warning. +Here I should explain that during my illness Bastin, who was so ingenious in +such matters, had built another hut in which he and Bickley slept, of course +when they were not watching me, leaving our old bed-chamber to myself. +</p> + +<p> +Well, I would wake up and be aware that Oro was coming. Then he appeared in a +silent and mysterious way, as though he had materialised in the room, for I +never saw him pass the doorway. In the moonlight, or the starlight, which +flowed through the entrance and the side of the hut that was only enclosed with +latticework, I perceived him seat himself upon a certain stool, looking like a +most majestic ghost with his flowing robes, long white beard, hooked nose and +hawk eyes. In the day-time he much resembled the late General Booth whom I had +often seen, except for certain added qualities of height and classic beauty of +countenance. At night, however, he resembled no one but himself, indeed there +was something mighty and godlike in his appearance, something that made one +feel that he was not as are other men. +</p> + +<p> +For a while he would sit and look at me. Then he began to speak in a low, +vibrant voice. What did he speak of? Well, many matters. It was as though he +were unburdening that hoary soul of his because it could no longer endure the +grandeur of its own loneliness. Amongst sundry secret things, he told me of the +past history of this world of ours, and of the mighty civilisations which for +uncounted ages he and his forefathers had ruled by the strength of their will +and knowledge, of the dwindling of their race and of the final destruction of +its enemies, although I noticed that now he no longer said that this was his +work alone. One night I asked him if he did not miss all such pomp and power. +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly he broke out, and for the first time I really learned what +ambition can be when it utterly possesses the soul of man. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you mad,” he asked, “that you suppose that I, Oro, the +King of kings, can be content to dwell solitary in a great cave with none but +the shadows of the dead to serve me? Nay, I must rule again and be even greater +than before, or else I too will die. Better to face the future, even if it +means oblivion, than to remain thus a relic of a glorious past, still living +and yet dead, like that statue of the great god Fate which you saw in the +temple of my worship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin does not think that the future means oblivion,” I remarked. +</p> + +<p> +“I know it. I have studied his faith and find it too humble for my taste, +also too new. Shall I, Oro, creep a suppliant before any Power, and confess +what Bastin is pleased to call my sins? Nay, I who am great will be the equal +of all greatness, or nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused a while, then went on: +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin speaks of ‘eternity.’ Where and what then is this +eternity which if it has no end can have had no beginning? I know the secret of +the suns and their attendant worlds, and they are no more eternal than the +insect which glitters for an hour. Out of shapeless, rushing gases they +gathered to live their day, and into gases at last they dissolve again with all +they bore.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered, “but they reform into new worlds.” +</p> + +<p> +“That have no part with the old. This world, too, will melt, departing to +whence it came, as your sacred writings say, and what then of those who dwelt +and dwell thereon? No, Man of today, give me Time in which I rule and keep your +dreams of an Eternity that is not, and in which you must still crawl and serve, +even if it were. Yet, if I might, I confess it, I would live on for ever, but +as Master not as Slave.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +On another night he began to tempt me, very subtly. “I see a spark of +greatness in you, Humphrey,” he said, “and it comes into my heart +that you, too, might learn to rule. With Yva, the last of my blood, it is +otherwise. She is the child of my age and of a race outworn; too gentle, too +much all womanly. The soul that triumphs must shine like steel in the sun, and +cut if need be; not merely be beauteous and shed perfume like a lily in the +shade. Yet she is very wise and fair,” here he looked at me, +“perchance of her might come children such as were their forefathers, who +again would wield the sceptre of the dominion of the earth.” +</p> + +<p> +I made no answer, wondering what he meant exactly and thinking it wisest to be +silent. +</p> + +<p> +“You are of the short-lived races,” he went on, “yet very +much a man, not without intelligence, and by the arts I have I can so +strengthen your frame that it will endure the shocks of time for three such +lives as yours, or perchance for more, and then—” +</p> + +<p> +Again he paused and went on: +</p> + +<p> +“The Daughter of kings likes you also, perhaps because you +resemble—” here he fixed me with his piercing eyes, “a +certain kinglet of base blood whom once she also liked, but whom it was my duty +to destroy. Well, I must think. I must study this world of yours also and +therein you may help me. Perhaps afterwards I will tell you how. Now +sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +In another moment he was gone, but notwithstanding his powerful command, for a +while I could not sleep. I understood that he was offering Yva to me, but upon +what terms? That was the question. With her was to go great dominion over the +kingdoms of the earth. I could not help remembering that always this has been +and still is Satan’s favourite bait. To me it did not particularly +appeal. I had been ambitious in my time—who is not that is worth his +salt? I could have wished to excel in something, literature or art, or whatever +it might be, and thus to ensure the memory of my name in the world. +</p> + +<p> +Of course this is a most futile desire, seeing that soon or late every name +must fade out of the world like an unfixed photograph which is exposed to the +sun. Even if it could endure, as the old demigod, or demidevil, Oro, had +pointed out, very shortly, by comparison with Time’s unmeasured vastness, +the whole solar system will also fade. So of what use is this feeble love of +fame and this vain attempt to be remembered that animates us so strongly? +Moreover, the idea of enjoying mere temporal as opposed to intellectual power, +appealed to me not at all. I am a student of history and I know what has been +the lot of kings and the evil that, often enough, they work in their little +day. +</p> + +<p> +Also if I needed any further example, there was that of Oro himself. He had +outlived the greatness of his House, as a royal family is called, and after +some gigantic murder, if his own story was to be believed, indulged in a +prolonged sleep. Now he awoke to find himself quite alone in the world, save +for a daughter with whom he did not agree or sympathise. In short, he was but a +kind of animated mummy inspired by one idea which I felt quite sure would be +disappointed, namely, to renew his former greatness. To me he seemed as +miserable a figure as one could imagine, brooding and plotting in his +illuminated cave, at the end of an extended but misspent life. +</p> + +<p> +Also I wondered what he, or rather his <i>ego</i>, had been doing during all +those two hundred and fifty thousand years of sleep. Possibly if Yva’s +theory, as I understood it, were correct, he had reincarnated as Attila, or +Tamerlane, or Napoleon, or even as Chaka the terrible Zulu king. At any rate +there he was still in the world, filled with the dread of death, but consumed +now as ever by his insatiable and most useless finite ambitions. +</p> + +<p> +Yva, also! Her case was his, but yet how different. In all this long night of +Time she had but ripened into one of the sweetest and most gentle women that +ever the world bore. She, too, was great in her way, it appeared in her every +word and gesture, but where was the ferocity of her father? Where his desire to +reach to splendour by treading on a blood-stained road paved with broken human +hearts? It did not exist. Her nature was different although her body came of a +long line of these power-loving kings. Why this profound difference of the +spirit? Like everything else it was a mystery. The two were as far apart as the +Poles. Everyone must have hated Oro, from the beginning, however much he feared +him, but everyone who came in touch with her must have loved Yva. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Here I may break into my personal narrative to say that this, by their own +confession, proved to be true of two such various persons as Bastin and +Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“The truth, which I am sure it would be wrong to hide from you, +Arbuthnot,” said the former to me one day, “is that during your +long illness I fell in love, I suppose that is the right word, with the +Glittering Lady. After thinking the matter over also, I conceived that it would +be proper to tell her so if only to clear the air and prevent future +misunderstandings. As I remarked to her on that occasion, I had hesitated long, +as I was not certain how she would fill the place of the wife of the incumbent +of an English parish.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mothers’ Meetings, and the rest,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“Exactly so, Arbuthnot. Also there were the views of the Bishop to be +considered, who might have objected to the introduction into the diocese of a +striking person who so recently had been a heathen, and to one in such strong +contrast to my late beloved wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose you didn’t consider the late Mrs. Bastin’s views +on the subject of re-marriage. I remember that they were strong,” I +remarked rather maliciously. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I did not think it necessary, since the Scriptural instructions on +the matter are very clear, and in another world no doubt all jealousies, even +Sarah’s, will be obliterated. Upon that point my conscience was quite +easy. So when I found that, unlike her parent, the Lady Yva was much inclined +to accept the principles of the faith in which it is my privilege to instruct +her, I thought it proper to say to her that if ultimately she made up her mind +to do so—of course <i>this</i> was a <i>sine qua non</i>—I should +be much honoured, and as a man, not as a priest, it would make me most happy if +she would take me as a husband. Of course I explained to her that I considered, +under the circumstances, I could quite lawfully perform the marriage ceremony +myself with you and Bickley as witnesses, even should Oro refuse to give her +away. Also I told her that although after her varied experiences in the past, +life at Fulcombe, if we could ever get there, might be a little monotonous, +still it would not be entirely devoid of interest.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean Christmas decorations and that sort of thing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and choir treats and entertaining Deputations and attending other +Church activities.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, and what did she say, Bastin?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! she was most kind and flattering. Indeed that hour will always +remain the pleasantest of my life. I don’t know how it happened, but when +it was over I felt quite delighted that she had refused me. Indeed on second +thoughts, I am not certain but that I shall be much happier in the capacities +of a brother and teacher which she asked me to fill, than I should have been as +her husband. To tell you the truth, Arbuthnot, there are moments when I am not +sure whether I entirely understand the Lady Yva. It was rather like proposing +to one’s guardian angel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, “that’s about it, old fellow. +‘Guardian Angel’ is not a bad name for her.” +</p> + +<p> +Afterwards I received the confidence of Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, Arbuthnot,” he said. “I want to own up to +something. I think I ought to, because of certain things I have observed, in +order to prevent possible future misunderstandings.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s that?” I asked innocently. +</p> + +<p> +“Only this. As you know, I have always been a confirmed bachelor on +principle. Women introduce too many complications into life, and although it +involves some sacrifice, on the whole, I have thought it best to do without +them and leave the carrying on of the world to others.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what of it? Your views are not singular, Bickley.” +</p> + +<p> +“Only this. While you were ill the sweetness of that Lady Yva and her +wonderful qualities as a nurse overcame me. I went to pieces all of a sudden. I +saw in her a realisation of every ideal I had ever entertained of perfect +womanhood. So to speak, my resolves of a lifetime melted like wax in the sun. +Notwithstanding her queer history and the marvels with which she is mixed up, I +wished to marry her. No doubt her physical loveliness was at the bottom of it, +but, however that may be, there it was.” +</p> + +<p> +“She is beautiful,” I commented; “though I daresay older than +she looks.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is a point on which I made no inquiries, and I should advise you, +when your turn comes, as no doubt it will, to follow my example. You know, +Arbuthnot,” he mused, “however lovely a woman may be, it would put +one off if suddenly she announced that she was—let us say—a hundred +and fifty years old.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I admitted, “for nobody wants to marry the +contemporary of his great-grandmother. However, she gave her age as +twenty-seven years and three moons.” +</p> + +<p> +“And doubtless for once did not tell the truth. But, as she does not look +more than twenty-five, I think that we may all agree to let it stand at that, +namely, twenty-seven, plus an indefinite period of sleep. At any rate, she is a +sweet and most gracious woman, apparently in the bloom of youth, and, to cut it +short, I fell in love with her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Like Bastin,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Bastin!” exclaimed Bickley indignantly. “You don’t +mean to say that clerical oaf presumed—well, well, after all, I suppose +that he is a man, so one mustn’t be hard on him. But who could have +thought that he would run so cunning, even when he knew my sentiments towards +the lady? I hope she told him her mind.” +</p> + +<p> +“The point is, what did she tell <i>you</i>, Bickley?” +</p> + +<p> +“Me? Oh, she was perfectly charming! It really was a pleasure to be +refused by her, she puts one so thoroughly at one’s ease.” (Here, +remembering Bastin and his story, I turned away my face to hide a smile.) +“She said—what did she say exactly? Such a lot that it is difficult +to remember. Oh! that she was not thinking of marriage. Also, that she had not +yet recovered from some recent love affair which left her heart sore, since the +time of her sleep did not count. Also, that her father would never consent, and +that the mere idea of such a thing would excite his animosity against all of +us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that all?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Not quite. She added that she felt wonderfully flattered and extremely +honoured by what I had been so good as to say to her. She hoped, however, that +I should never repeat it or even allude to the matter again, as her dearest +wish was to be able to look upon me as her most intimate friend to whom she +could always come for sympathy and counsel.” +</p> + +<p> +“What happened then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, of course, except that I promised everything that she wished, +and mean to stick to it, too. Naturally, I was very sore and upset, but I am +getting over it, having always practised self-control.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry for you, old fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you?” he asked suspiciously. “Then perhaps you have +tried your luck, too?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Bickley.” +</p> + +<p> +His face fell a little at this denial, and he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it would have been scarcely decent if you had, seeing how lately +you were married. But then, so was that artful Bastin. Perhaps you will get +over it—recent marriage, I mean—as he has.” He hesitated a +while, then went on: “Of course you will, old fellow; I know it, and, +what is more, I seem to know that when your turn comes you will get a different +answer. If so, it will keep her in the family as it were—and good luck to +you. Only—” +</p> + +<p> +“Only what?” I asked anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +“To be honest, Arbuthnot, I don’t think that there will be real +good luck for any one of us over this woman—not in the ordinary sense, I +mean. The whole business is too strange and superhuman. Is she quite a woman, +and could she really marry a man as others do?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is curious that you should talk like that,” I said uneasily. +“I thought that you had made up your mind that the whole business was +either illusion or trickery—I mean, the odd side of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“If it is illusion, Arbuthnot, then a man cannot marry an illusion. And +if it is trickery, then he will certainly be tricked. But, supposing that I am +wrong, what then?” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean, supposing things are as they seem to be?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. In that event, Arbuthnot, I am sure that something will occur to +prevent your being united to a woman who lived thousands of years ago. I am +sorry to say it, but Fate will intervene. Remember, it is the god of her people +that I suppose she worships, and, I may add, to which the whole world +bows.” +</p> + +<p> +At his words a kind of chill fell upon me. I think he saw or divined it, for +after a few remarks upon some indifferent matter, he turned and went away. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after this Yva came to sit with me. She studied me for a while and I +studied her. I had reason to do so, for I observed that of late her dress had +become much more modern, and on the present occasion this struck me forcibly. I +do not know exactly in what the change, or changes, consisted, because I am not +skilled in such matters and can only judge of a woman’s garments by their +general effect. At any rate, the gorgeous sweeping robes were gone, and though +her attire still looked foreign and somewhat oriental, with a touch of barbaric +splendour about it—it was simpler than it had been and showed more of her +figure, which was delicate, yet gracious. +</p> + +<p> +“You have changed your robes, Lady,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Humphrey. Bastin gave me pictures of those your women wear.” +(On further investigation I found that this referred to an old copy of the +<i>Queen</i> newspaper, which, somehow or other, had been brought with the +books from the ship.) “I have tried to copy them a little,” she +added doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do it? Where do you get the material?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” she answered with an airy wave of her hand, “I make +it—it is there.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t understand,” I said, but she only smiled radiantly, +offering no further explanation. Then, before I could pursue the subject, she +asked me suddenly: +</p> + +<p> +“What has Bickley been saying to you about me?” +</p> + +<p> +I fenced, answering: “I don’t know. Bastin and Bickley talk of +little else. You seem to have been a great deal with them while I was +ill.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, a great deal. They are the nearest to you who were so sick. Is it +not so?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” I answered again. “In my illness it +seemed to me that <i>you</i> were the nearest.” +</p> + +<p> +“About Bastin’s words I can guess,” she went on. “But I +ask again—what has Bickley been saying to you about me? Of the first +part, let it be; tell me the rest.” +</p> + +<p> +I intended to evade her question, but she fixed those violet, compelling eyes +upon me and I was obliged to answer. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe you know as well as I do,” I said; “but if you +will have it, it was that you are not as other human women are, and that he who +would treat you as such, must suffer; that was the gist of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Some might be content to suffer for such as I,” she answered with +quiet sweetness. “Even Bastin and Bickley may be content to suffer in +their own little ways.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know that is not what I meant,” I interrupted angrily, for I +felt that she was throwing reflections on me. +</p> + +<p> +“No; you meant that you agreed with Bickley that I am not quite a woman, +as you know women.” +</p> + +<p> +I was silent, for her words were true. +</p> + +<p> +Then she blazed out into one of her flashes of splendour, like something that +takes fire on an instant; like the faint and distant star which flames into +sudden glory before the watcher’s telescope. +</p> + +<p> +“It is true that I am not as your women are—your poor, pale women, +the shadows of an hour with night behind them and before. Because I am humble +and patient, do you therefore suppose that I am not great? Man from the little +country across the sea, I lived when the world was young, and gathered up the +ancient wisdom of a greater race than yours, and when the world is old I think +that I still shall live, though not in this shape or here, with all that +wisdom’s essence burning in my breast, and with all beauty in my eyes. +Bickley does not believe although he worships. You only half believe and do not +worship, because memory holds you back, and I myself do not understand. I only +know though knowing so much, still I seek roads to learning, even the humble +road called Bastin, that yet may lead my feet to the gate of an immortal +city.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor do I understand how all this can be, Yva,” I said feebly, for +she dazzled and overwhelmed me with her blaze of power. +</p> + +<p> +“No, you do not understand. How can you, when even I cannot? Thus for two +hundred and fifty thousand years I slept, and they went by as a lightning +flash. One moment my father gave me the draught and I laid me down, the next I +awoke with you bending over me, or so it seemed. Yet where was I through all +those centuries when for me time had ceased? Tell me, Humphrey, did you dream +at all while you were ill? I ask because down in that lonely cavern where I +sleep a strange dream came to me one night. It was of a journey which, as I +thought, you and I seemed to make together, past suns and universes to a very +distant earth. It meant nothing, Humphrey. If you and I chanced to have dreamed +the same thing, it was only because my dream travelled to you. It is most +common, or used to be. Humphrey, Bickley is quite right, I am not altogether as +your women are, and I can bring no happiness to any man, or at the least, to +one who cannot wait. Therefore, perhaps you would do well to think less of me, +as I have counselled Bastin and Bickley.” +</p> + +<p> +Then again she gazed at me with her wonderful, great eyes, and, shaking her +glittering head a little, smiled and went. +</p> + +<p> +But oh! that smile drew my heart after her. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +Oro and Arbuthnot Travel by Night</h2> + +<p> +As time went on, Oro began to visit me more and more frequently, till at last +scarcely a night went by that he did not appear mysteriously in my +sleeping-place. The odd thing was that neither Bickley nor Bastin seemed to be +aware of these nocturnal calls. Indeed, when I mentioned them on one or two +occasions, they stared at me and said it was strange that he should have come +and gone as they saw nothing of him. +</p> + +<p> +On my speaking again of the matter, Bickley at once turned the conversation, +from which I gathered that he believed me to be suffering from delusions +consequent on my illness, or perhaps to have taken to dreaming. This was not +wonderful since, as I learned afterwards, Bickley, after he was sure that I was +asleep, made a practice of tying a thread across my doorway and of ascertaining +at the dawn that it remained unbroken. But Oro was not to be caught in that +way. I suppose, as it was impossible for him to pass through the latticework of +the open side of the house, that he undid the thread and fastened it again when +he left; at least, that was Bastin’s explanation, or, rather, one of +them. Another was that he crawled beneath it, but this I could not believe. I +am quite certain that during all his prolonged existence Oro never crawled. +</p> + +<p> +At any rate, he came, or seemed to come, and pumped me—I can use no other +word—most energetically as to existing conditions in the world, +especially those of the civilised countries, their methods of government, their +social state, the physical characteristics of the various races, their +religions, the exact degrees of civilisation that they had developed, their +attainments in art, science and literature, their martial capacities, their +laws, and I know not what besides. +</p> + +<p> +I told him all I could, but did not in the least seem to satisfy his perennial +thirst for information. +</p> + +<p> +“I should prefer to judge for myself,” he said at last. +</p> + +<p> +“Why are you so anxious to learn about all these nations, Oro?” I +asked, exhausted. +</p> + +<p> +“Because the knowledge I gather may affect my plans for the +future,” he replied darkly. +</p> + +<p> +“I am told, Oro, that your people acquired the power of transporting +themselves from place to place.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is true that the lords of the Sons of Wisdom had such power, and that +I have it still, O Humphrey.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why do you not go to look with your own eyes?” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“Because I should need a guide; one who could explain much in a short +time,” he said, contemplating me with his burning glance until I began to +feel uncomfortable. +</p> + +<p> +To change the subject I asked him whether he had any further information about +the war, which he had told me was raging in Europe. +</p> + +<p> +He answered: “Not much; only that it was going on with varying success, +and would continue to do so until the nations involved therein were +exhausted,” or so he believed. The war did not seem greatly to interest +Oro. It was, he remarked, but a small affair compared to those which he had +known in the old days. Then he departed, and I went to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +Next night he appeared again, and, after talking a little on different +subjects, remarked quietly that he had been thinking over what I had said as to +his visiting the modern world, and intended to act upon the suggestion. +</p> + +<p> +“When?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” he said. “I am going to visit this England of yours +and the town you call London, and <i>you</i> will accompany me.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not possible!” I exclaimed. “We have no ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“We can travel without a ship,” said Oro. +</p> + +<p> +I grew alarmed, and suggested that Bastin or Bickley would be a much better +companion than I should in my present weak state. +</p> + +<p> +“An empty-headed man, or one who always doubts and argues, would be +useless,” he replied sharply. “You shall come and you only.” +</p> + +<p> +I expostulated; I tried to get up and fly—which, indeed, I did do, in +another sense. +</p> + +<p> +But Oro fixed his eyes upon me and slowly waved his thin hand to and fro above +my head. +</p> + +<p> +My senses reeled. Then came a great darkness. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +They returned again. Now I was standing in an icy, reeking fog, which I knew +could belong to one place only—London, in December, and at my side was +Oro. +</p> + +<p> +“Is this the climate of your wonderful city?” he asked, or seemed +to ask, in an aggrieved tone. +</p> + +<p> +I replied that it was, for about three months in the year, and began to look +about me. +</p> + +<p> +Soon I found my bearings. In front of me were great piles of buildings, looking +dim and mysterious in the fog, in which I recognised the Houses of Parliament +and Westminster Abbey, for both could be seen from where we stood in front of +the Westminster Bridge Station. I explained their identity to Oro. +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” he said. “Let us enter your Place of Talk.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I am not a member, and we have no passes for the Strangers’ +Gallery,” I expostulated. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall not need any,” he replied contemptuously. “Lead +on.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus adjured, I crossed the road, Oro following me. Looking round, to my horror +I saw him right in the path of a motor-bus which seemed to go over him. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s an end to Oro,” thought I to myself. “Well, at +any rate, I have got home.” +</p> + +<p> +Next instant he was at my side quite undisturbed by the incident of the bus. We +came to a policeman at the door and I hesitated, expecting to be challenged. +But the policeman seemed absolutely indifferent to our presence, even when Oro +marched past him in his flowing robes. So I followed with a like success. Then +I understood that we must be invisible. +</p> + +<p> +We passed to the lobby, where members were hurrying to and fro, and +constituents and pressmen were gathered, and so on into the House. Oro walked +up its floor and took his stand by the table, in front of the Speaker. I +followed him, none saying us No. +</p> + +<p> +As it chanced there was what is called a scene in progress—I think it was +over Irish matters; the details are of no account. Members shouted, Ministers +prevaricated and grew angry, the Speaker intervened. On the whole, it was +rather a degrading spectacle. I stood, or seemed to stand, and watched it all. +Oro, in his sweeping robes, which looked so incongruous in that place, stepped, +or seemed to step, up to the principal personages of the Government and +Opposition, whom I indicated to him, and inspected them one by one, as a +naturalist might examine strange insects. Then, returning to me, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“Come away; I have seen and heard enough. Who would have thought that +this nation of yours was struggling for its life in war?” +</p> + +<p> +We passed out of the House and somehow came to Trafalgar Square. A meeting was +in progress there, convened, apparently, to advocate the rights of Labour, also +those of women, also to protest against things in general, especially the +threat of Conscription in the service of the country. +</p> + +<p> +Here the noise was tremendous, and, the fog having lifted somewhat, we could +see everything. Speakers bawled from the base of Nelson’s column. Their +supporters cheered, their adversaries rushed at them, and in one or two +instances succeeded in pulling them down. A woman climbed up and began to +scream out something which could only be heard by a few reporters gathered +round her. I thought her an unpleasant-looking person, and evidently her +remarks were not palatable to the majority of her auditors. There was a rush, +and she was dragged from the base of one of Landseer’s lions on which she +stood. Her skirt was half rent off her and her bodice split down the back. +Finally, she was conveyed away, kicking, biting, and scratching, by a number of +police. It was a disgusting sight, and tumult ensued. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go,” said Oro. “Your officers of order are good; the +rest is not good.” +</p> + +<p> +Later we found ourselves opposite to the doors of a famous restaurant where a +magnificent and gigantic commissionaire helped ladies from motor-cars, +receiving in return money from the men who attended on them. We entered; it was +the hour of dinner. The place sparkled with gems, and the naked backs of the +women gleamed in the electric light. Course followed upon course; champagne +flowed, a fine band played, everything was costly; everything was, in a sense, +repellent. +</p> + +<p> +“These are the wealthy citizens of a nation engaged in fighting for its +life,” remarked Oro to me, stroking his long beard. “It is +interesting, very interesting. Let us go.” +</p> + +<p> +We went out and on, passing a public-house crowded with women who had left +their babies in charge of children in the icy street. It was a day of +Intercession for the success of England in the war. This was placarded +everywhere. We entered, or, rather, Oro did, I following him, one of the +churches in the Strand where an evening service was in progress. The preacher +in the pulpit, a very able man, was holding forth upon the necessity for +national repentance and self-denial; also of prayer. In the body of the church +exactly thirty-two people, most of them elderly women, were listening to him +with an air of placid acceptance. +</p> + +<p> +“The priest talks well, but his hearers are not many,” said Oro. +“Let us go.” +</p> + +<p> +We came to the flaunting doors of a great music-hall and passed through them, +though to others this would have been impossible, for the place was filled from +floor to roof. In its promenades men were drinking and smoking, while gaudy +women, painted and low-robed, leered at them. On the stage girls danced, +throwing their legs above their heads. Then they vanished amidst applause, and +a woman in a yellow robe, who pretended to be tipsy, sang a horrible and vulgar +song full of topical allusions, which was received with screams of delight by +the enormous audience. +</p> + +<p> +“Here the hearers are very many, but those to whom they listen do not +talk well. Let us go,” said Oro, and we went. +</p> + +<p> +At a recruiting station we paused a moment to consider posters supposed to be +attractive, the very sight of which sent a thrill of shame through me. I +remember that the inscription under one of them was: “What will your best +girl say?” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that how you gather your soldiers? Later it will be otherwise,” +said Oro, and passed on. +</p> + +<p> +We reached Blackfriars and entered a hall at the doors of which stood women in +poke-bonnets, very sweet-faced, earnest-looking women. Their countenances +seemed to strike Oro, and he motioned me to follow him into the hall. It was +quite full of a miserable-looking congregation of perhaps a thousand people. A +man in the blue and red uniform of the Salvation Army was preaching of duty to +God and country, of self-denial, hope and forgiveness. He seemed a humble +person, but his words were earnest, and love flowed from him. Some of his +miserable congregation wept, others stared at him open-mouthed, a few, who were +very weary, slept. He called them up to receive pardon, and a number, led by +the sweet-faced women, came and knelt before him. He and others whispered to +them, then seemed to bless them, and they rose with their faces changed. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go,” said Oro. “I do not understand these rites, but +at last in your great and wonderful city I have seen something that is pure and +noble.” +</p> + +<p> +We went out. In the streets there was great excitement. People ran to and fro +pointing upwards. Searchlights, like huge fingers of flame, stole across the +sky; guns boomed. At last, in the glare of a searchlight, we saw a long and +sinister object floating high above us and gleaming as though it were made of +silver. Flashes came from it followed by terrible booming reports that grew +nearer and nearer. A house collapsed with a crash just behind us. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Oro, with a smile. “I know this—it is war, +war as it was when the world was different and yet the same.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, a motor-bus rumbled past. Another flash and explosion. A man, +walking with his arms round the waist of a girl just ahead of us; seemed to be +tossed up and to melt. The girl fell in a heap on the pavement; somehow her +head and her feet had come quite close together and yet she appeared to be +sitting down. The motor-bus burst into fragments and its passengers hurtled +through the air, mere hideous lumps that had been men and women. The head of +one of them came dancing down the pavement towards us, a cigar still stuck in +the corner of its mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, this is war,” said Oro. “It makes me young again to see +it. But does this city of yours understand?” +</p> + +<p> +We watched a while. A crowd gathered. Policemen ran up, ambulances came. The +place was cleared, and all that was left they carried away. A few minutes later +another man passed by with his arm round the waist of another girl. Another +motor-bus rumbled up, and, avoiding the hole in the roadway, travelled on, its +conductor keeping a keen look-out for fares. +</p> + +<p> +The street was cleared by the police; the airship continued its course, +spawning bombs in the distance, and vanished. The incident was closed. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go home,” said Oro. “I have seen enough of your great +and wonderful city. I would rest in the quiet of Nyo and think.” +</p> + +<p> +The next thing that I remember was the voice of Bastin, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“If you don’t mind, Arbuthnot, I wish that you would get up. The +Glittering Lady (he still called her that) is coming here to have a talk with +me which I should prefer to be private. Excuse me for disturbing you, but you +have overslept yourself; indeed, I think it must be nine o’clock, so far +as I can judge by the sun, for my watch is very erratic now, ever since Bickley +tried to clean it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry, my dear fellow,” I said sleepily, “but do you +know I thought I was in London—in fact, I could swear that I have been +there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then,” interrupted Bickley, who had followed Bastin into the hut, +giving me that doubtful glance with which I was now familiar, “I wish to +goodness that you had brought back an evening paper with you.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +A night or two later I was again suddenly awakened to feel that Oro was +approaching. He appeared like a ghost in the bright moonlight, greeted me, and +said: +</p> + +<p> +“Tonight, Humphrey, we must make another journey. I would visit the seat +of the war.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not wish to go,” I said feebly. +</p> + +<p> +“What you wish does not matter,” he replied. “<i>I</i> wish +that you should go, and therefore you must.” +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, Oro,” I exclaimed. “I do not like this business; it +seems dangerous to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no danger if you are obedient, Humphrey.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think there is. I do not understand what happens. Do you make use of +what the Lady Yva called the Fourth Dimension, so that our bodies pass over the +seas and through mountains, like the vibrations of our Wireless, of which I was +speaking to you?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Humphrey. That method is good and easy, but I do not use it because +if I did we should be visible in the places which we visit, since there all the +atoms that make a man would collect together again and be a man.” +</p> + +<p> +“What, then, do you do?” I asked, exasperated. +</p> + +<p> +“Man, Humphrey, is not one; he is many. Thus, amongst other things he has +a Double, which can see and hear, as he can in the flesh, if it is separated +from the flesh.” +</p> + +<p> +“The old Egyptians believed that,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Did they? Doubtless they inherited the knowledge from us, the Sons of +Wisdom. The cup of our learning was so full that, keep it secret as we would, +from time to time some of it overflowed among the vulgar, and doubtless thus +the light of our knowledge still burns feebly in the world.” +</p> + +<p> +I reflected to myself that whatever might be their other characteristics, the +Sons of Wisdom had lost that of modesty, but I only asked how he used his +Double, supposing that it existed. +</p> + +<p> +“Very easily,” he answered. “In sleep it can be drawn from +the body and sent upon its mission by one that is its master.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then while you were asleep for all those thousands of years your Double +must have made many journeys.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” he replied quietly, “and my spirit also, which is +another part of me that may have dwelt in the bodies of other men. But +unhappily, if so I forget, and that is why I have so much to learn and must +even make use of such poor instruments as you, Humphrey.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then if I sleep and you distil my Double out of me, I suppose that you +sleep too. In that case who distils your Double out of <i>you</i>, Lord +Oro?” +</p> + +<p> +He grew angry and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Ask no more questions, blind and ignorant as you are. It is your part +not to examine, but to obey. Sleep now,” and again he waved his hand over +me. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +In an instant, as it seemed, we were standing in a grey old town that I judged +from its appearance must be either in northern France or Belgium. It was much +shattered by bombardment; the church, for instance, was a ruin; also many of +the houses had been burnt. Now, however, no firing was going on for the town +had been taken. The streets were full of armed men wearing the German uniform +and helmet. We passed down them and were able to see into the houses. In some +of these were German soldiers engaged in looting and in other things so +horrible that even the unmoved Oro turned away his head. +</p> + +<p> +We came to the market-place. It was crowded with German troops, also with a +great number of the inhabitants of the town, most of them elderly men and women +with children, who had fallen into their power. The Germans, under the command +of officers, were dragging the men from the arms of their wives and children to +one side, and with rifle-butts beating back the screaming women. Among the men +I noticed two or three priests who were doing their best to soothe their +companions and even giving them absolution in hurried whispers. +</p> + +<p> +At length the separation was effected, whereon at a hoarse word of command, a +company of soldiers began to fire at the men and continued doing so until all +had fallen. Then petty officers went among the slaughtered and with pistols +blew out the brains of any who still moved. +</p> + +<p> +“These butchers, you say, are Germans?” asked Oro of me. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered, sick with horror, for though I was in the mind +and not in the body, I could feel as the mind does. Had I been in the body +also, I should have fainted. +</p> + +<p> +“Then we need not waste time in visiting their country. It is enough; let +us go on.” +</p> + +<p> +We passed out into the open land and came to a village. It was in the +occupation of German cavalry. Two of them held a little girl of nine or ten, +one by her body, the other by her right hand. An officer stood between them +with a drawn sword fronting the terrified child. He was a horrible, +coarse-faced man who looked to me as though he had been drinking. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll teach the young devil to show us the wrong road and let those +French swine escape,” he shouted, and struck with the sword. The +girl’s right hand fell to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“War as practised by the Germans!” remarked Oro. Then he stepped, +or seemed to step up to the man and whispered, or seemed to whisper, in his +ear. +</p> + +<p> +I do not know what tongue or what spirit speech he used, or what he said, but +the bloated-faced brute turned pale. Yes, he drew sick with fear. +</p> + +<p> +“I think there are spirits in this place,” he said with a German +oath. “I could have sworn that something told me that I was going to die. +Mount!” +</p> + +<p> +The Uhlans mounted and began to ride away. +</p> + +<p> +“Watch,” said Oro. +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke out of a dark cloud appeared an aeroplane. Its pilot saw the band +of Germans beneath and dropped a bomb. The aim was good, for the missile +exploded in the midst of them, causing a great cloud of dust from which arose +the screams of men and horses. +</p> + +<p> +“Come and see,” said Oro. +</p> + +<p> +We were there. Out of the cloud of dust appeared one man galloping furiously. +He was a young fellow who, as I noted, had turned his head away and hidden his +eyes with his hand when the horror was done yonder. All the others were dead +except the officer who had worked the deed. He was still living, but both his +hands and one of his feet had been blown away. Presently he died, screaming to +God for mercy. +</p> + +<p> +We passed on and came to a barn with wide doors that swung a little in the +wind, causing the rusted hinges to scream like a creature in pain. On each of +these doors hung a dead man crucified. The hat of one of them lay upon the +ground, and I knew from the shape of it that he was a Colonial soldier. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you not tell me,” said Oro after surveying them, “that +these Germans are of your Christian faith?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; and the Name of God is always on their ruler’s lips.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” he said, “I am glad that I worship Fate. Bastin the +priest need trouble me no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is something behind Fate,” I said, quoting Bastin himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps. So indeed I have always held, but after much study I cannot +understand the manner of its working. Fate is enough for me.” +</p> + +<p> +We went on and came to a flat country that was lined with ditches, all of them +full of men, Germans on one side, English and French upon the other. A terrible +bombardment shook the earth, the shells raining upon the ditches. Presently +that from the English guns ceased and out of the trenches in front of them +thousands of men were vomited, who ran forward through a hail of fire in which +scores and hundreds fell, across an open piece of ground that was pitted with +shell craters. They came to barbed wire defenses, or what remained of them, cut +the wire with nippers and pulled up the posts. Then through the gaps they +surged in, shouting and hurling hand grenades. They reached the German +trenches, they leapt into them and from those holes arose a hellish din. +Pistols were fired and everywhere bayonets flashed. +</p> + +<p> +Behind them rushed a horde of little, dark-skinned men, Indians who carried +great knives in their hands. Those leapt over the first trench and running on +with wild yells, dived into the second, those who were left of them, and there +began hacking with their knives at the defenders and the soldiers who worked +the spitting maxim guns. In twenty minutes it was over; those lines of trenches +were taken, and once more from either side the guns began to boom. +</p> + +<p> +“War again,” said Oro, “clean, honest war, such as the god I +call Fate decrees for man. I have seen enough. Now I would visit those whom you +call Turks. I understand they have another worship and perhaps they are nobler +than these Christians.” +</p> + +<p> +We came to a hilly country which I recognised as Armenia, for once I travelled +there, and stopped on a seashore. Here were the Turks in thousands. They were +engaged in driving before them mobs of men, women and children in countless +numbers. On and on they drove them till they reached the shore. There they +massacred them with bayonets, with bullets, or by drowning. I remember a +dreadful scene of a poor woman standing up to her waist in the water. Three +children were clinging to her—but I cannot go on, really I cannot go on. +In the end a Turk waded out and bayoneted her while she strove to protect the +last living child with her poor body whence it sprang. +</p> + +<p> +“These, I understand,” said Oro, pointing to the Turkish soldiers, +“worship a prophet who they say is the voice of God.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered, “and therefore they massacre these who are +Christians because they worship God without a prophet.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what do the Christians massacre each other for?” +</p> + +<p> +“Power and the wealth and territories that are power. That is, the King +of the Germans wishes to rule the world, but the other Nations do not desire +his dominion. Therefore they fight for Liberty and Justice.” +</p> + +<p> +“As it was, so it is and shall be,” remarked Oro, “only with +this difference. In the old world some were wise, but here—” and he +stopped, his eyes fixed upon the Armenian woman struggling in her death agony +while the murderer drowned her child, then added: “Let us go.” +</p> + +<p> +Our road ran across the sea. On it we saw a ship so large that it attracted +Oro’s attention, and for once he expressed astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“In my day,” he said, “we had no vessels of this greatness in +the world. I wish to look upon it.” +</p> + +<p> +We landed on the deck of the ship, or rather the floating palace, and examined +her. She carried many passengers, some English, some American, and I pointed +out to Oro the differences between the two peoples. These were not, he +remarked, very wide except that the American women wore more jewels, also that +some of the American men, to whom we listened as they conversed, spoke of the +greatness of their country, whereas the Englishmen, if they said anything +concerning it, belittled their country. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, on the surface of the sea at a little distance appeared something +strange, a small and ominous object like a can on the top of a pole. A voice +cried out “<i>Submarine!</i>” and everyone near rushed to look. +</p> + +<p> +“If those Germans try any of their monkey tricks on us, I guess the +United States will give them hell,” said another voice near by. +</p> + +<p> +Then from the direction of the pole with the tin can on the top of it, came +something which caused a disturbance in the smooth water and bubbles to rise in +its wake. +</p> + +<p> +“A torpedo!” cried some. +</p> + +<p> +“Shut your mouth,” said the voice. “Who dare torpedo a vessel +full of the citizens of the United States?” +</p> + +<p> +Next came a booming crash and a flood of upthrown water, in the wash of which +that speaker was carried away into the deep. Then horror! horror! horror! +indescribable, as the mighty vessel went wallowing to her doom. Boats launched; +boats overset; boats dragged under by her rush through the water which could +not be stayed. Maddened men and women running to and fro, their eyes starting +from their heads, clasping children, fastening lifebelts over their costly +gowns, or appearing from their cabins, their hands filled with jewels that they +sought to save. Orders cried from high places by stern-faced officers doing +their duty to the last. And a little way off that thin pole with a tin can on +the top of it watching its work. +</p> + +<p> +Then the plunge of the enormous ship into the deep, its huge screws still +whirling in the air and the boom of the bursting boilers. Lastly everything +gone save a few boats floating on the quiet sea and around them dots that were +the heads of struggling human beings. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us go home,” said Oro. “I grow tired of this war of your +Christian peoples. It is no better than that of the barbarian nations of the +early world. Indeed it is worse, since then we worshipped Fate and but a few of +us had wisdom. Now you all claim wisdom and declare that you worship a God of +Mercy.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +With these words still ringing in my ears I woke up upon the Island of Orofena, +filled with terror at the horrible possibilities of nightmare. +</p> + +<p> +What else could it be? There was the brown and ancient cone of the extinct +volcano. There were the tall palms of the main island and the lake glittering +in the sunlight between. There was Bastin conducting a kind of Sunday school of +Orofenans upon the point of the Rock of Offerings, as now he had obtained the +leave of Oro to do. There was the mouth of the cave, and issuing from it +Bickley, who by help of one of the hurricane lamps had been making an +examination of the buried remains of what he supposed to be flying machines. +Without doubt it was nightmare, and I would say nothing to them about it for +fear of mockery. +</p> + +<p> +Yet two nights later Oro came again and after the usual preliminaries, said: +</p> + +<p> +“Humphrey, this night we will visit that mighty American nation, of which +you have told me so much, and the other Neutral Countries.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +[At this point there is a gap in Mr. Arbuthnot’s M.S., so Oro’s +reflections on the Neutral Nations, if any, remain unrecorded. It continues:] +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +On our homeward way we passed over Australia, making a detour to do so. Of the +cities Oro took no account. He said that they were too large and too many, but +the country interested him so much that I gathered he must have given great +attention to agriculture at some time in the past. He pointed out to me that +the climate was fine, and the land so fertile that with a proper system of +irrigation and water-storage it could support tens of millions and feed not +only itself but a great part of the outlying world. +</p> + +<p> +“But where are the people?” he asked. “Outside of those huge +hives,” and he indicated the great cities, “I see few of them, +though doubtless some of the men are fighting in this war. Well, in the days to +come this must be remedied.” +</p> + +<p> +Over New Zealand, which he found beautiful, he shook his head for the same +reason. +</p> + +<p> +On another night we visited the East. China with its teeming millions +interested him extremely, partly because he declared these to be the +descendants of one of the barbarian nations of his own day. He made a remark to +the effect that this race had always possessed points and capacities, and that +he thought that with proper government and instruction their Chinese offspring +would be of use in a regenerated world. +</p> + +<p> +For the Japanese and all that they had done in two short generations, he went +so far as to express real admiration, a very rare thing with Oro, who was by +nature critical. I could see that mentally he put a white mark against their +name. +</p> + +<p> +India, too, really moved him. He admired the ancient buildings at Delhi and +Agra, especially the Taj Mahal. This, he declared, was reminiscent of some of +the palaces that stood at Pani, the capital city of the Sons of Wisdom, before +it was destroyed by the Barbarians. +</p> + +<p> +The English administration of the country also attracted a word of praise from +him, I think because of its rather autocratic character. Indeed he went so far +as to declare that, with certain modifications, it should be continued in the +future, and even to intimate that he would bear the matter in mind. Democratic +forms of government had no charms for Oro. +</p> + +<p> +Amongst other places, we stopped at Benares and watched the funeral rites in +progress upon the banks of the holy Ganges. The bearers of the dead brought the +body of a woman wrapped in a red shroud that glittered with tinsel ornaments. +Coming forward at a run and chanting as they ran, they placed it upon the +stones for a little while, then lifted it up again and carried it down the +steps to the edge of the river. Here they took water and poured it over the +corpse, thus performing the rite of the baptism of death. This done, they +placed its feet in the water and left it looking very small and lonely. +Presently appeared a tall, white-draped woman who took her stand by the body +and wailed. It was the dead one’s mother. Again the bearers approached +and laid the corpse upon the flaming pyre. +</p> + +<p> +“These rites are ancient,” said Oro. “When I ruled as King of +the World they were practised in this very place. It is pleasant to me to find +something that has survived the changefulness of Time. Let it continue till the +end.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Here I will cease. These experiences that I have recorded are but samples, for +also we visited Russia and other countries. Perhaps, too, they were not +experiences at all, but only dreams consequent on my state of health. I cannot +say for certain, though much of what I seemed to see fitted in very well indeed +with what I learned in after days, and certainly at the time they appeared as +real as though Oro and I had stood together upon those various shores. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br /> +Love’s Eternal Altar</h2> + +<p> +Now of all these happenings I said very little to Bastin and Bickley. The +former would not have understood them, and the latter attributed what I did +tell him to mental delusions following on my illness. To Yva I did speak about +them, however, imploring her to explain their origin and to tell me whether or +not they were but visions of the night. +</p> + +<p> +She listened to me, as I thought not without anxiety, from which I gathered +that she too feared for my mind. It was not so, however, for she said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad, O Humphrey, that your journeyings are done, since such things +are not without danger. He who travels far out of the body may chance to return +there no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“But were they journeyings, or dreams?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +She evaded a direct answer. +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot say. My father has great powers. I do not know them all. It is +possible that they were neither journeyings nor dreams. Mayhap he used you as +the sorcerers in the old days used the magic glass, and after he had put his +spell upon you, read in your mind that which passes elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +I understood her to refer to what we call clairvoyance, when the person +entranced reveals secret or distant things to the entrancer. This is a more or +less established phenomenon and much less marvelous than the actual +transportation of the spiritual self through space. Only I never knew of an +instance in which the seer, on awaking, remembered the things that he had seen, +as in my case. There, however, the matter rested, or rests, for I could extract +nothing more from Yva, who appeared to me to have her orders on the point. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did Oro ever talk of what I had seemed to see in his company, although he +continued from time to time to visit me at night. But now our conversation was +of other matters. As Bastin had discovered, by some extraordinary gift he had +soon learned how to read the English language, although he never spoke a single +word in that tongue. Among our reference books that we brought from the yacht, +was a thin paper edition of the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>, which he +borrowed when he discovered that it contained compressed information about the +various countries of the world, also concerning almost every other matter. My +belief is that within a month or so that marvelous old man not only read this +stupendous work from end to end, but that he remembered everything of interest +which it contained. At least, he would appear and show the fullest acquaintance +with certain subjects or places, seeking further light from me concerning them, +which very often I was quite unable to give him. +</p> + +<p> +An accident, as it chanced, whereof I need not set out the details, caused me +to discover that his remarkable knowledge was limited. Thus, at one period, he +knew little about any modern topic which began with a letter later in the +alphabet than, let us say, C. A few days afterwards he was acquainted with +those up to F, or G; and so on till he reached Z, when he appeared to me to +know everything, and returned the book. Now, indeed, he was a monument of +learning, very ancient and very new, and with some Encyclopedia-garnered facts +or deductions of what had happened between. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, he took to astronomical research, for more than once we saw him +standing on the rock at night studying the heavens. On one of these occasions, +when he had the two metal plates, of which I have spoken, in his hands, I +ventured to approach and ask what he did. He replied that he was checking his +calculations that he found to be quite correct, an exact period of two hundred +and fifty thousand years having gone by since he laid himself down to sleep. +Then, by aid of the plates, he pointed out to me certain alterations that had +happened during that period in the positions of some of the stars. +</p> + +<p> +For instance, he showed me one which, by help of my glasses, I recognised as +Sirius, and remarked that two hundred and fifty thousand years ago it was +further away and much smaller. Now it was precisely in the place and of the +size which he had predicted, and he pointed to it on his prophetic map. Again +he indicated a star that the night-glass told me was Capella, which, I suppose, +is one of the most brilliant stars in the sky, and showed me that on the map he +had made two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, it did not exist, as then it +was too far north to appear thereon. Still, he observed, the passage of this +vast period of time had produced but little effect upon the face of the +heavens. To the human eye the majority of the stars had not moved so very far. +</p> + +<p> +“And yet they travel fast, O Humphrey,” he said. “Consider +then how great is their journey between the time they gather and that day when, +worn-out, once more they melt to vaporous gas. You think me long-lived who +compared to them exist but a tiny fraction of a second, nearly all of which I +have been doomed to pass in sleep. And, Humphrey, I desire to live—I, who +have great plans and would shake the world. But my day draws in; a few brief +centuries and I shall be gone, and—whither, whither?” +</p> + +<p> +“If you lived as long as those stars, the end would be the same, +Oro.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but the life of the stars is very long, millions of millions of +years; also, after death, they reform, as other stars. But shall I reform as +another Oro? With all my wisdom, I do not know. It is known to Fate +only—Fate-the master of worlds and men and the gods they +worship—Fate, whom it may please to spill my gathered knowledge, to be +lost in the sands of Time.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that you are great,” I said, “and have lived long +and learned much. Yet the end of it is that your lot is neither worse nor +better than that of us creatures of an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is so, Humphrey. Presently you will die, and within a few centuries I +shall die also and be as you are. You believe that you will live again +eternally. It may be so because you <i>do</i> believe, since Fate allows Faith +to shape the future, if only for a little while. But in me Wisdom has destroyed +Faith and therefore I must die. Even if I sleep again for tens of thousands of +years, what will it help me, seeing that sleep is unconsciousness and that I +shall only wake again to die, since sleep does not restore to us our +youth?” +</p> + +<p> +He ceased, and walked up and down the rock with a troubled mien. Then he stood +in front of me and said in a triumphant voice: +</p> + +<p> +“At least, while I live I will rule, and then let come what may come. I +know that you do not believe, and the first victory of this new day of mine +shall be to make you believe. I have great powers and you shall see them at +work, and afterwards, if things go right, rule with me for a little while, +perhaps, as the first of my subjects. Hearken now; in one small matter my +calculations, made so long ago, have gone wrong. They showed me that at this +time a day of earthquakes, such as those that again and again have rocked and +split the world, would recur. But now it seems that there is an error, a tiny +error of eleven hundred years, which must go by before those earthquakes +come.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you sure,” I suggested humbly, “that there is not also +an error in those star-maps you hold?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure, Humphrey. Some day, who knows? You may return to your world +of modern men who, I gather, have knowledge of the great science of astronomy. +Take now these maps with which I have done, and submit them to the most learned +of those men, and let them tell you whether I was right or wrong in what I +wrote upon this metal two hundred and fifty thousand years ago. Whatever else +is false, at least the stars in their motions can never die.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he handed me the maps and was gone. I have them today, and if ever this +book is published, they will appear with it, that those who are qualified may +judge of them and of the truth or otherwise of Oro’s words. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +From that night forward for quite a long time I saw Oro no more. Nor indeed did +any of us, since for some reason of his own he forbade us to visit the +underground city of Nyo. Oddly enough, however, he commanded Yva to bring down +the spaniel, Tommy, to be with him from time to time. When I asked her why, she +said it was because he was lonely and desired the dog’s companionship. It +seemed to us very strange that this super-man, who had the wisdom of ten +Solomons gathered in one within his breast, should yet desire the company of a +little dog. What then was the worth of learning and long life, or, indeed, of +anything? Well, Solomon himself asked the question ages since, and could give +no answer save that all is vanity. +</p> + +<p> +I noted about this time that Yva began to grow very sad and troubled; indeed, +looking at her suddenly on two or three occasions, I saw that her beautiful +eyes were aswim with tears. Also, I noted that always as she grew sadder she +became, in a sense, more human. In the beginning she was, as it were, far away. +One could never forget that she was the child of some alien race whose eyes had +looked upon the world when, by comparison, humanity was young; at times, +indeed, she might have been the denizen of another planet, strayed to earth. +Although she never flaunted it, one felt that her simplest word hid secret +wisdom; that to her books were open in which we could not read. Moreover, as I +have said, occasionally power flamed out of her, power that was beyond our ken +and understanding. +</p> + +<p> +Yet with all this there was nothing elfish about her, nothing uncanny. She was +always kind, and, as we could feel, innately good and gentle-hearted, just a +woman made half-divine by gifts and experience that others lack. She did not +even make use of her wondrous beauty to madden men, as she might well have done +had she been so minded. It is true that both Bastin and Bickley fell in love +with her, but that was only because all with whom she had to do must love her, +and then, when she told them that it might not be, it was in such a fashion +that no soreness was left behind. They went on loving her, that was all, but as +men love their sisters or their daughters; as we conceive that they may love in +that land where there is no marrying or giving in marriage. +</p> + +<p> +But now, in her sadness, she drew ever nearer to us, and especially to myself, +more in tune with our age and thought. In truth, save for her royal and +glittering loveliness in which there was some quality which proclaimed her of +another blood, and for that reserve of hidden power which at times would look +out of her eyes or break through her words, she might in most ways have been +some singularly gifted and beautiful modern woman. +</p> + +<p> +The time has come when I must speak of my relations with Yva and of their +climax. As may have been guessed, from the first I began to love her. While the +weeks went on that love grew and grew, until it utterly possessed me, although +for a certain reason connected with one dead, at first I fought against it. Yet +it did not develop quite in the fashion that might have been expected. There +was no blazing up of passion’s fire; rather was there an ever-increasing +glow of the holiest affection, till at last it became a lamp by which I must +guide my feet through life and death. This love of mine seemed not of earth but +from the stars. As yet I had said nothing to her of it because in some way I +felt that she did not wish me to do so, felt also that she was well aware of +all that passed within my heart, and desired, as it were, to give it time to +ripen there. Then one day there came a change, and though no glance or touch of +Yva’s told me so, I knew that the bars were taken down and that I might +speak. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +It was a night of full moon. All that afternoon she had been talking to Bastin +apart, I suppose about religion, for I saw that he had some books in his hand +from which he was expounding something to her in his slow, earnest way. Then +she came and sat with us while we took our evening meal. I remember that mine +consisted of some of the Life-water which she had brought with her and fruit, +for, as I think I have said, I had acquired her dislike to meat, also that she +ate some plantains, throwing the skins for Tommy to fetch and laughing at his +play. When it was over, Bastin and Bickley went away together, whether by +chance or design I do not know, and she said to me suddenly: +</p> + +<p> +“Humphrey, you have often asked me about the city Pani, of which a little +portion of the ruins remains upon this island, the rest being buried beneath +the waters. If you wish I will show you where our royal palace was before the +barbarians destroyed it with their airships. The moon is very bright, and by it +we can see.” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded, for, knowing what she meant, somehow I could not answer her, and we +began the ascent of the hill. She explained to me the plan of the palace when +we reached the ruins, showing me where her own apartments had been, and the +rest. It was very strange to hear her quietly telling of buildings which had +stood and of things that had happened over two hundred and fifty thousand years +before, much as any modern lady might do of a house that had been destroyed a +month ago by an earthquake or a Zeppelin bomb, while she described the details +of a disaster which now frightened her no more. I think it was then that for +the first time I really began to believe that in fact Yva had lived all those +æons since and been as she still appeared. +</p> + +<p> +We passed from the palace to the ruins of the temple, through what, as she +said, had been a pleasure-garden, pointing out where a certain avenue of rare +palms had grown, down which once it was her habit to walk in the cool of the +day. Or, rather, there were two terraced temples, one dedicated to Fate like +that in the underground city of Nyo, and the other to Love. Of the temple to +Fate she told me her father had been the High Priest, and of the temple to Love +she was the High Priestess. +</p> + +<p> +Then it was that I understood why she had brought me here. +</p> + +<p> +She led the way to a marble block covered with worn-out carvings and almost +buried in the debris. This, she said, was the altar of offerings. I asked her +what offerings, and she replied with a smile: +</p> + +<p> +“Only wine, to signify the spirit of life, and flowers to symbolise its +fragrance,” and she laid her finger on a cup-like depression, still +apparent in the marble, into which the wine was poured. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, I gathered that there was nothing coarse or bacchanalian about this +worship of a prototype of Aphrodite; on the contrary, that it was more or less +spiritual and ethereal. We sat down on the altar stone. I wondered a little +that she should have done so, but she read my thought, and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes we change our faiths, Humphrey, or perhaps they grow. Also, +have I not told you that sacrifices were offered on this altar?” and she +sighed and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +I do not know which was the sweeter, the smile or the sigh. +</p> + +<p> +We looked at the water glimmering in the crater beneath us on the edge of which +we sat. We looked at heaven above in which the great moon sailed royally. Then +we looked into each other’s eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“I love you,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“I know it,” she answered gently. “You have loved me from the +first, have you not? Even when I lay asleep in the coffin you began to love me, +but until you dreamed a certain dream you would not admit it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yva, what was the meaning of that dream?” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot say, Humphrey. But I tell you this. As you will learn in time, +one spirit may be clothed in different garments of the flesh.” +</p> + +<p> +I did not understand her, but, in some strange way, her words brought to my +mind those that Natalie spoke at the last, and I answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Yva, when my wife lay dying she bade me seek her elsewhere, for +certainly I should find her. Doubtless she meant beyond the shores of +death—or perhaps she also dreamed.” +</p> + +<p> +She bent her head, looking at me very strangely. +</p> + +<p> +“Your wife, too, may have had the gift of dreams, Humphrey. As you dream +and I dream, so mayhap she dreamed. Of dreams, then, let us say no more, since +I think that they have served their purpose, and all three of us +understand.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I stretched out my arms, and next instant my head lay upon her perfumed +breast. She lifted it and kissed me on the lips, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“With this kiss again I give myself to you. But oh! Humphrey, do not ask +too much of the god of my people, Fate,” and she looked me in the eyes +and sighed. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” I asked, trembling. +</p> + +<p> +“Many, many things. Among them, that happiness is not for mortals, and +remember that though my life began long ago, I am mortal as you are, and that +in eternity time makes no difference.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if so, Yva, what then? Do we meet but to part?” +</p> + +<p> +“Who said it? Not I. Humphrey, I tell you this. Nor earth, nor heaven, +nor hell have any bars through which love cannot burst its way towards reunion +and completeness. Only there must be love, manifested in many shapes and at +many times, but ever striving to its end, which is not of the flesh. Aye, love +that has lost itself, love scorned, love defeated, love that seems false, love +betrayed, love gone astray, love wandering through the worlds, love asleep and +living in its sleep, love awake and yet sleeping; all love that has in it the +germ of life. It matters not what form love takes. If it be true I tell you +that it will win its way, and in the many that it has seemed to worship, still +find the one, though perchance not here.” +</p> + +<p> +At her words a numb fear gripped my heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Not here? Then where?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Ask your dead wife, Humphrey. Ask the dumb stars. Ask the God you +worship, for I cannot answer, save in one word—Somewhere! Man, be not +afraid. Do you think that such as you and I can be lost in the aching abysms of +space? I know but little, yet I tell you that we are its rulers. I tell you +that we, too, are gods, if only we can aspire and believe. For the doubting and +timid there is naught. For those who see with the eyes of the soul and stretch +out their hands to grasp there is all. Even Bastin will tell you this.” +</p> + +<p> +“But,” I said, “life is short. Those worlds are far away, and +you are near.” +</p> + +<p> +She became wonderful, mysterious. +</p> + +<p> +“Near I am far,” she said; “and far I am near, if only this +love of yours is strong enough to follow and to clasp. And, Humphrey, it needs +strength, for here I am afraid that it will bear little of such fruit as men +desire to pluck.” +</p> + +<p> +Again terror took hold of me, and I looked at her, for I did not know what to +say or ask. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen,” she went on. “Already my father has offered me to +you in marriage, has he not, but at a price which you do not understand? +Believe me, it is one that you should never pay, since the rule of the world +can be too dearly bought by the slaughter of half the world. And if you would +pay it, I cannot.” +</p> + +<p> +“But this is madness!” I exclaimed. “Your father has no +powers over our earth.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would that I could think so, Humphrey. I tell you that he has powers +and that it is his purpose to use them as he has done before. You, too, he +would use, and me.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, if so, Yva, we are lords of ourselves. Let us take each other while +we may. Bastin is a priest.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lords of ourselves! Why, for ought I know, at this very moment Oro +watches us in his thought and laughs. Only in death, Humphrey, shall we pass +beyond his reach and become lords of ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is monstrous!” I cried. “There is the boat, let us fly +away.” +</p> + +<p> +“What boat can bear us out of stretch of the arm of the old god of my +people, Fate, whereof Oro is the high priest? Nay, here we must wait our +doom.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doom,” I said—“doom? What then is about to +happen?” +</p> + +<p> +“A terrible thing, as I think, Humphrey. Or, rather, it will not +happen.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not, if it must?” +</p> + +<p> +“Beloved,” she whispered, “Bastin has expounded to me a new +faith whereof the master-word is Sacrifice. The terrible thing will not happen +<i>because of sacrifice!</i> Ask me no more.” +</p> + +<p> +She mused a while, seated there in the moonlight upon the ancient altar of +sacrifice, the veil she wore falling about her face and making her mysterious. +Then she threw it back, showing her lovely eyes and glittering hair, and +laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“We have still an earthly hour,” she said; “therefore let us +forget the far, dead past and the eternities to come and be joyful in that +hour. Now throw your arms about me and I will tell you strange stories of lost +days, and you shall look into my eyes and learn wisdom, and you shall kiss my +lips and taste of bliss—you, who were and are and shall be—you, the +beloved of Yva from the beginning to the end of Time.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br /> +The Command</h2> + +<p> +I think that both Bastin and Bickley, by instinct as it were, knew what had +passed between Yva and myself and that she had promised herself to me. They +showed this by the way in which they avoided any mention of her name. Also they +began to talk of their own plans for the future as matters in which I had no +part. Thus I heard them discussing the possibility of escape from the island +whereof suddenly they seemed to have grown weary, and whether by any means two +men (two, not three) could manage to sail and steer the lifeboat that remained +upon the wreck. In short, as in all such cases, the woman had come between; +also the pressure of a common loss caused them to forget their differences and +to draw closer together. I who had succeeded where they both had failed, was, +they seemed to think, out of their lives, so much that our ancient intimacy had +ended. +</p> + +<p> +This attitude hurt me, perhaps because in many respects the situation was +awkward. They had, it is true, taken their failures extremely well, still the +fact remained that both of them had fallen in love with the wonderful creature, +woman and yet more than woman, who had bound herself to me. How then could we +go on living together, I in prospective possession of the object that all had +desired, and they without the pale? +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, they were jealous in another and quite a different fashion because +they both loved me in their own ways and were convinced that I who had hitherto +loved them, henceforward should have no affection left to spare, since surely +this Glittering Lady, this marvel of wisdom and physical perfections would take +it all. Of course they were in error, since even if I could have been so base +and selfish, this was no conduct that Yva would have wished or even suffered. +Still that was their thought. +</p> + +<p> +Mastering the situation I reflected a little while and then spoke straight out +to them. +</p> + +<p> +“My friends,” I said, “as I see that you have guessed, Yva +and I are affianced to each other and love each other perfectly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Arbuthnot,” said Bastin, “we saw that in your face, and +in hers as she bade us good night before she went into the cave, and we +congratulate you and wish you every happiness.” +</p> + +<p> +“We wish you every happiness, old fellow,” chimed in Bickley. He +paused a while, then added, “But to be honest, I am not sure that I +congratulate you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not, Bickley?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not for the reason that you may suspect, Arbuthnot, I mean not because +you have won where we have lost, as it was only to be expected that you would +do, but on account of something totally different. I told you a while ago and +repetition is useless and painful. I need only add therefore that since then my +conviction has strengthened and I am sure, sorry as I am to say it, that in +this matter you must prepare for disappointment and calamity. That woman, if +woman she really is, will never be the wife of mortal man. Now be angry with me +if you like, or laugh as you have the right to do, seeing that like Bastin and +yourself, I also asked her to marry me, but something makes me speak what I +believe to be the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Like Cassandra,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, like Cassandra who was not a popular person.” At first I was +inclined to resent Bickley’s words—who would not have been in the +circumstances? Then of a sudden there rushed in upon my mind the conviction +that he spoke the truth. In this world Yva was not for me or any man. Moreover +she knew it, the knowledge peeped out of every word she spoke in our passionate +love scene by the lake. She was aware, and subconsciously I was aware, that we +were plighting our troth, not for time but for eternity. With time we had +little left to do; not for long would she wear the ring I gave her on that holy +night. +</p> + +<p> +Even Bastin, whose perceptions normally were not acute, felt that the situation +was strained and awkward and broke in with a curious air of forced +satisfaction: +</p> + +<p> +“It’s uncommonly lucky for you, old boy, that you happen to have a +clergyman in your party, as I shall be able to marry you in a respectable +fashion. Of course I can’t say that the Glittering Lady is as yet +absolutely converted to our faith, but I am certain that she has absorbed +enough of its principles to justify me in uniting her in Christian +wedlock.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered, “she has absorbed its principles; she told +me as much herself. Sacrifice, for instance,” and as I spoke the word my +eyes filled with tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Sacrifice!” broke in Bickley with an angry snort, for he needed a +vent to his mental disturbance. “Rubbish. Why should every religion +demand sacrifice as savages do? By it alone they stand condemned.” +</p> + +<p> +“Because as I think, sacrifice is the law of life, at least of all life +that is worth the living,” I answered sadly enough. “Anyhow I +believe you are right, Bickley, and that Bastin will not be troubled to marry +us.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t mean,” broke in Bastin with a horrified air, +“that you propose to dispense—” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Bastin, I don’t mean that. What I mean is that it comes upon +me that something will prevent this marriage. Sacrifice, perhaps, though in +what shape I do not know. And now good night. I am tired.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +That night in the chill dead hour before the dawn Oro came again. I woke up to +see him seated by my bed, majestic, and, as it seemed to me, lambent, though +this may have been my imagination. +</p> + +<p> +“You take strange liberties with my daughter, Barbarian, or she takes +strange liberties with you, it does not matter which,” he said, regarding +me with his calm and terrible eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you presume to call me Barbarian?” I asked, avoiding the +main issue. +</p> + +<p> +“For this reason, Humphrey. All men are the same. They have the same +organs, the same instincts, the same desires, which in essence are but two, +food and rebirth that Nature commands; though it is true that millions of years +before I was born, as I have learned from the records of the Sons of Wisdom, it +was said that they were half ape. Yet being the same there is between them a +whole sea of difference, since some have knowledge and others none, or little. +Those who have none or little, among whom you must be numbered, are Barbarians. +Those who have much, among whom my daughter and I are the sole survivors, are +the Instructed.” +</p> + +<p> +“There are nearly two thousand millions of living people in this +world,” I said, “and you name all of them Barbarians?” +</p> + +<p> +“All, Humphrey, excepting, of course, myself and my daughter who are not +known to be alive. You think that you have learned much, whereas in truth you +are most ignorant. The commonest of the outer nations, when I destroyed them, +knew more than your wisest know today.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are mistaken, Oro; since then we have learned something of the +soul.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” he exclaimed, “that interests me and perhaps it is +true. Also, if true it is very important, as I have told you before—or +was it Bastin? If a man has a soul, he lives, whereas even we Sons of Wisdom +die, and in Death what is the use of Wisdom? Because you can believe, you have +souls and are therefore, perhaps, heirs to life, foolish and ignorant as you +are today. Therefore I admit you and Bastin to be my equals, though Bickley, +who like myself believes nothing, is but a common chemist and doctor of +disease.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you bow to Faith, Oro?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and I think that my god Fate also bows to Faith. Perhaps, indeed, +Faith shapes Fate, not Fate, Faith. But whence comes that faith which even I +with all my learning cannot command? Why is it denied to me and given to you +and Bastin?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because as Bastin would tell you, it is a gift, though one that is never +granted to the proud and self-sufficient. Become humble as a child, Oro, and +perchance you too may acquire faith.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how shall I become humble?” +</p> + +<p> +“By putting away all dreams of power and its exercise, if such you have, +and in repentance walking quietly to the Gates of Death,” I replied. +</p> + +<p> +“For you, Humphrey, who have little or none of these things, that may be +easy. But for me who have much, if not all, it is otherwise. You ask me to +abandon the certain for the uncertain, the known for the unknown, and from a +half-god communing with the stars, to become an earthworm crawling in mud and +lifting blind eyes towards the darkness of everlasting night.” +</p> + +<p> +“A god who must die is no god, half or whole, Oro; the earthworm that +lives on is greater than he.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mayhap. Yet while I endure I will be as a god, so that when night comes, +if come it must, I shall have played my part and left my mark upon this little +world of ours. Have done!” he added with a burst of impatience. +“What will you of my daughter?” +</p> + +<p> +“What man has always willed of woman—herself, body and soul.” +</p> + +<p> +“Her soul perchance is yours, if she has one, but her body is mine to +give or withhold. Yet it can be bought at a price,” he added slowly. +</p> + +<p> +“So she told me, Oro.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can guess what she told you. Did I not watch you yonder by the lake +when you gave her a ring graved with the signs of Life and Everlastingness? The +question is, will you pay the price?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so; the question is—what is the price?” +</p> + +<p> +“This; to enter my service and henceforth do my will—without debate +or cavil.” +</p> + +<p> +“For what reward, Oro?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yva and the dominion of the earth while you shall live, neither more nor +less.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what is your will?” +</p> + +<p> +“That you shall learn in due course. On the second night from this I +command the three of you to wait upon me at sundown in the buried halls of Nyo. +Till then you see no more of Yva, for I do not trust her. She, too, has powers, +though as yet she does not use them, and perchance she would forget her oaths, +and following some new star of love, for a little while vanish with you out of +my reach. Be in the sepulchre at the hour of sundown on the second day from +this, all three of you, if you would continue to live upon the earth. +Afterwards you shall learn my will and make your choice between Yva with +majesty and her loss with death.” +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly he was gone. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Next morning I told the others what had passed, and we talked the matter over. +The trouble was, of course, that Bickley did not believe me. He had no faith in +my alleged interviews with Oro, which he set down to delusions of a +semi-mesmeric character. This was not strange, since it appeared that on the +previous night he had watched the door of my sleeping-place until dawn broke, +which it did long after Oro had departed, and he had not seen him either come +or go, although the moon was shining brightly. +</p> + +<p> +When he told me this I could only answer that all the same he had been there +as, if he could speak, Tommy would have been able to certify. As it chanced the +dog was sleeping with me and at the first sound of the approach of someone, +woke up and growled. Then recognising Oro, he went to him, wagged his tail and +curled himself up at his feet. +</p> + +<p> +Bastin believed my story readily enough, saying that Oro was a peculiar person +who no doubt had ways of coming and going which we did not understand. His +point was, however, that he did not in the least wish to visit Nyo any more. +The wonders of its underground palaces and temples had no charms for him. Also +he did not think he could do any good by going, since after “sucking him +as dry as an orange” with reference to religious matters “that old +vampire-bat Oro had just thrown him away like the rind,” and, he might +add, “seemed no better for the juice he had absorbed.” +</p> + +<p> +“I doubt,” continued Bastin, “whether St. Paul himself could +have converted Oro, even if he performed miracles before him. What is the use +of showing miracles to a man who could always work a bigger one himself?” +</p> + +<p> +In short, Bastin’s one idea, and Bickley’s also for the matter of +that, was to get away to the main island and thence escape by means of the +boat, or in some other fashion. +</p> + +<p> +I pointed out that Oro had said we must obey at the peril of our lives; indeed +that he had put it even more strongly, using words to the effect that if we did +not he would kill us. +</p> + +<p> +“I’d take the risk,” said Bickley, “since I believe +that you dreamt it all, Arbuthnot. However, putting that aside, there is a +natural reason why you should wish to go, and for my own part, so do I in a +way. I want to see what that old fellow has up his extremely long sleeve, if +there is anything there at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, if you ask me, Bickley,” I answered, “I believe it is +the destruction of half the earth, or some little matter of that sort.” +</p> + +<p> +At this suggestion Bickley only snorted, but Bastin said cheerfully: +</p> + +<p> +“I dare say. He is bad enough even for that. But as I am quite convinced +that it will never be allowed, his intentions do not trouble me.” +</p> + +<p> +I remarked that he seemed to have carried them out once before. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! you mean the Deluge. Well, no doubt there was a deluge, but I am +sure that Oro had no more to do with it than you or I, as I think I have said +already. Anyhow it is impossible to leave you to descend into that hole alone. +I suggest, therefore, that we should go into the sepulchre at the time which +you believe Oro appointed, and see what happens. If you are not mistaken, the +Glittering Lady will come there to fetch us, since it is quite certain that we +cannot work the lift or whatever it is, alone. If you are mistaken we can just +go back to bed as usual.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that’s the best plan,” said Bickley, shortly, after +which the conversation came to an end. +</p> + +<p> +All that day and the next I watched and waited in vain for the coming of Yva, +but no Yva appeared. I even went as far as the sepulchre, but it was as empty +as were the two crystal coffins, and after waiting a while I returned. Although +I did not say so to Bickley, to me it was evident that Oro, as he had said, was +determined to cut off all communication between us. +</p> + +<p> +The second day drew to its close. Our simple preparations were complete. They +consisted mainly in making ready our hurricane lamps and packing up a little +food, enough to keep us for three or four days if necessary, together with some +matches and a good supply of oil, since, as Bastin put it, he was determined +not to be caught like the foolish virgins in the parable. +</p> + +<p> +“You see,” he added, “one never knows when it might please +that old wretch to turn off the incandescent gas or electric light, or whatever +it is he uses to illumine his family catacombs, and then it would be awkward if +we had no oil.” +</p> + +<p> +“For the matter of that he might steal our lamps,” suggested +Bickley, “in which case we should be where Moses was when the light went +out.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have considered that possibility,” answered Bastin, “and +therefore, although it is a dangerous weapon to carry loaded, I am determined +to take my revolver. If necessary I shall consider myself quite justified in +shooting him to save our lives and those of thousands of others.” +</p> + +<p> +At this we both laughed; somehow the idea of Bastin trying to shoot Oro struck +us as intensely ludicrous. Yet that very thing was to happen. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +It was a peculiarly beautiful sunset over the southern seas. To the west the +great flaming orb sank into the ocean, to the east appeared the silver circle +of the full moon. To my excited fancy they were like scales hanging from the +hand of a materialised spirit of calm. Over the volcano and the lake, over the +island with its palm trees, over the seas beyond, this calm brooded. Save for a +few travelling birds the sky was empty; no cloud disturbed its peace; the world +seemed steeped in innocence and quiet. +</p> + +<p> +All these things struck me, as I think they did the others, because by the +action of some simultaneous thought it came to our minds that very probably we +were looking on them for the last time. It is all very well to talk of the +Unknown and the Infinite whereof we are assured we are the heirs, but that does +not make it any easier for us to part with the Known and the Finite. The +contemplation of the wonders of Eternity does not conceal the advantages of +actual and existent Time. In short there is no one of us, from a sainted +archbishop down to a sinful suicide, who does not regret the necessity of +farewell to the pleasant light and the kindly race of men wherewith we are +acquainted. +</p> + +<p> +For after all, who can be quite certain of the Beyond? It may be splendid, but +it will probably be strange, and from strangeness, after a certain age, we +shrink. We know that all things will be different there; that our human +relationships will be utterly changed, that perhaps sex which shapes so many of +them, will vanish to be replaced by something unknown, that ambitions will lose +their hold of us, and that, at the best, the mere loss of hopes and fears will +leave us empty. So at least we think, who seek not variation but continuance, +since the spirit must differ from the body and that thought alarms our +intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +At least some of us think so; others, like Bickley, write down the future as a +black and endless night, which after all has its consolations since, as has +been wisely suggested, perhaps oblivion is better than any memories. Others +again, like Bastin, would say of it with the Frenchman, <i>plus ça change, plus +c’est la même chose</i>. Yet others, like Oro, consider it as a realm of +possibilities, probably unpleasant and perhaps non-existent; just this and +nothing more. Only one thing is certain, that no creature which has life +desires to leap into the fire and from the dross of doubts, to resolve the +gold—or the lead—of certainty. +</p> + +<p> +“It is time to be going,” said Bastin. “In these skies the +sun seems to tumble down, not to set decently as it does in England, and if we +wait any longer we shall be late for our appointment in the sepulchre. I am +sorry because although I don’t often notice scenery, everything looks +rather beautiful this evening. That star, for instance, I think it is called +Venus.” +</p> + +<p> +“And therefore one that Arbuthnot should admire,” broke in Bickley, +attempting to lighten matters with a joke. “But come on and let us be rid +of this fool’s errand. Certainly the world is a lovely place after all, +and for my part I hope that we haven’t seen the last of it,” he +added with a sigh. +</p> + +<p> +“So do I,” said Bastin, “though of course, Faith teaches us +that there are much better ones beyond. It is no use bothering about what they +are like, but I hope that the road to them doesn’t run through the hole +that the old reprobate, Oro, calls Nyo.” +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes later we started, each of us carrying his share of the +impedimenta. I think that Tommy was the only really cheerful member of the +party, for he skipped about and barked, running backwards and forwards into the +mouth of the cave, as though to hurry our movements. +</p> + +<p> +“Really,” said Bastin, “it is quite unholy to see an animal +going on in that way when it knows that it is about to descend into the bowels +of the earth. I suppose it must like them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! no,” commented Bickley, “it only likes what is in +them—like Arbuthnot. Since that little beast came in contact with the +Lady Yva, it has never been happy out of her company.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think that is so,” said Bastin. “At any rate I have +noticed that it has been moping for the last two days, as it always does when +she is not present. It even seems to like Oro who gives me the creeps, perhaps +because he is her father. Dogs must be very charitable animals.” +</p> + +<p> +By now we were in the cave marching past the wrecks of the half-buried +flying-machines, which Bickley, as he remarked regretfully, had never found +time thoroughly to examine. Indeed, to do so would have needed more digging +than we could do without proper instruments, since the machines were big and +deeply entombed in dust. +</p> + +<p> +We came to the sepulchre and entered. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Bickley, seating himself on the edge of one of the +coffins and holding up his lamp to look about him, “this place seems +fairly empty. No one is keeping the assignation, Arbuthnot, although the sun is +well down.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke the words Yva stood before us. Whence she came we did not see, for +all our backs were turned at the moment of her arrival. But there she was, +calm, beautiful, radiating light. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> +In the Temple of Fate</h2> + +<p> +Yva glanced at me, and in her eyes I read tenderness and solicitude, also +something of inquiry. It seemed to me as though she were wondering what I +should do under circumstances that might, or would, arise, and in some secret +fashion of which I was but half conscious, drawing an answer from my soul. Then +she turned, and, smiling in her dazzling way, said: +</p> + +<p> +“So, Bickley, as usual, you did not believe? Because <i>you</i> did not +see him, therefore the Lord Oro, my father, never spoke with Humphrey. As +though the Lord Oro could not pass you without your knowledge, or, perchance, +send thoughts clothed in his own shape to work his errand.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know that I did not believe Arbuthnot’s story?” +Bickley asked in a rather cross voice and avoiding the direct issue. “Do +you also send thoughts to work <i>your</i> errands clothed in your own shape, +Lady Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“Alas! not so, though perhaps I could if I might. It is very simple, +Bickley. Standing here, I heard you say that although the sun was well down +there was no one to meet you as Humphrey had expected, and from those words and +your voice I guessed the rest.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your knowledge of the English language is improving fast, Lady Yva. +Also, when I spoke, you were not here.” +</p> + +<p> +“At least I was very near, Bickley, and these walls are thinner than you +think,” she answered, contemplating what seemed to be solid rock with +eyes that were full of innocence. “Oh! friend,” she went on +suddenly, “I wonder what there is which will cause you to believe that +you do not know all; that there exist many things beyond the reach of your +learning and imagination? Well, in a day or two, perhaps, even you will admit +as much, and confess it to me—elsewhere,” and she sighed. +</p> + +<p> +“I am ready to confess now that much happens which I do not understand at +present, because I have not the key to the trick,” he replied. +</p> + +<p> +Yva shook her head at him and smiled again. Then she motioned to all of us to +stand close to her, and, stooping, lifted Tommy in her arms. Next moment that +marvel happened which I have described already, and we were whirling downwards +through space, to find ourselves in a very little time standing safe in the +caves of Nyo, breathless with the swiftness of our descent. How and on what we +descended neither I nor the others ever learned. It was and must remain one of +the unexplained mysteries of our great experience. +</p> + +<p> +“Whither now, Yva?” I asked, staring about me at the radiant +vastness. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord Oro would speak with you, Humphrey. Follow. And I pray you all +do not make him wrath, for his mood is not gentle.” +</p> + +<p> +So once more we proceeded down the empty streets of that underground abode +which, except that it was better illuminated, reminded me of the Greek +conception of Hades. We came to the sacred fountain over which stood the +guardian statue of Life, pouring from the cups she held the waters of Good and +Ill that mingled into one health-giving wine. +</p> + +<p> +“Drink, all of you,” she said; “for I think before the sun +sets again upon the earth we shall need strength, every one of us.” +</p> + +<p> +So we drank, and she drank herself, and once more felt the blood go dancing +through our veins as though the draught had been some nectar of the gods. Then, +having extinguished the lanterns which we still carried, for here they were +needless, and we wished to save our oil, we followed her through the great +doors into the vast hall of audience and advanced up it between the endless, +empty seats. At its head, on the dais beneath the arching shell, sat Oro on his +throne. As before, he wore the jewelled cap and the gorgeous, flowing robes, +while the table in front of him was still strewn with sheets of metal on which +he wrote with a pen, or stylus, that glittered like a diamond or his own fierce +eyes. Then he lifted his head and beckoned to us to ascend the dais. +</p> + +<p> +“You are here. It is well,” he said, which was all his greeting. +Only when Tommy ran up to him he bent down and patted the dog’s head with +his long, thin hand, and, as he did so, his face softened. It was evident to me +that Tommy was more welcome to him than were the rest of us. +</p> + +<p> +There was a long silence while, one by one, he searched us with his piercing +glance. It rested on me, the last of the three of us, and from me travelled to +Yva. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder why I have sent for you?” he said at length, with a +mirthless laugh. “I think it must be that I may convince Bickley, the +sceptic, that there are powers which he does not understand, but that I have +the strength to move. Also, perhaps, that your lives may be spared for my own +purposes in that which is about to happen. Hearken! My labours are finished; my +calculations are complete,” and he pointed to the sheets of metal before +him that were covered with cabalistic signs. “Tomorrow I am about to do +what once before I did and to plunge half the world in the deeps of ocean and +lift again from the depths that which has been buried for a quarter of a +million years.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which half?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“That is my secret, Physician, and the answer to it lies written here in +signs you cannot read. Certain countries will vanish, others will be spared. I +say that it is my secret.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Oro, if you could do what you threaten, you would drown hundreds +of millions of people.” +</p> + +<p> +“If I could do! If I could do!” he exclaimed, glaring at Bickley. +“Well, tomorrow you shall see what I can do. Oh! why do I grow angry with +this fool? For the rest, yes, they must drown. What does it matter? Their end +will be swift; some few minutes of terror, that is all, and in one short +century every one of them would have been dead.” +</p> + +<p> +An expression of horror gathered on Bastin’s face. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you really mean to murder hundreds of millions of people?” he +asked, in a thick, slow voice. +</p> + +<p> +“I have said that I intend to send them to that heaven or that hell of +which you are so fond of talking, Preacher, somewhat more quickly than +otherwise they would have found their way thither. They have disappointed me, +they have failed; therefore, let them go and make room for others who will +succeed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you are a greater assassin than any that the world has bred, or +than all of them put together. There is nobody as bad, even in the Book of +Revelation!” shouted Bastin, in a kind of fury. “Moreover, I am not +like Bickley. I know enough of you and your hellish powers to believe that what +you plan, that you can do.” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe it also,” sneered Oro. “But how comes it that the +Great One whom you worship does not prevent the deed, if He exists, and it be +evil?” +</p> + +<p> +“He <i>will</i> prevent it!” raved Bastin. “Even now He +commands me to prevent it, and I obey!” Then, drawing the revolver from +his pocket, he pointed it at Oro’s breast, adding: “Swear not to +commit this crime, or I will kill you!” +</p> + +<p> +“So the man of peace would become a man of blood,” mused Oro, +“and kill that <i>I</i> may not kill for the good of the world? Why, what +is the matter with that toy of yours, Preacher?” and he pointed to the +pistol. +</p> + +<p> +Well might he ask, for as he spoke the revolver flew out of Bastin’s +hand. High into the air it flew, and as it went discharged itself, all the six +chambers of it, in rapid succession, while Bastin stood staring at his arm and +hand which he seemed unable to withdraw. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you still threaten me with that outstretched hand, Preacher?” +mocked Oro. +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t move it,” said Bastin; “it seems turned to +stone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be thankful that you also are not turned to stone. But, because your +courage pleases me, I will spare you, yes, and will advance you in my New +Kingdom. What shall you be? Controller of Religions, I think, since all the +qualities that a high priest should have are yours—faith, fanaticism and +folly.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is very strange,” said Bastin, “but all of a sudden my +arm and hand are quite well again. I suppose it must have been ‘pins and +needles’ or something of that sort which made me throw away the pistol +and pull the trigger when I didn’t mean to do so.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he went to fetch that article which had fallen beyond the dais, and quite +forgot his intention of executing Oro in the interest of testing its mechanism, +which proved to be destroyed. To his proposed appointment he made no illusion. +If he comprehended what was meant, which I doubt, he took it as a joke. +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken all of you,” said Oro, lifting his head suddenly, for +while Bastin recovered the revolver he had been brooding. “The great +thing which I shall do tomorrow must be witnessed by you because thereby only +can you come to understand my powers. Also yonder where I bring it about in the +bowels of the earth, you will be safer than elsewhere, since when and perhaps +before it happens, the whole world will heave and shake and tremble, and I know +not what may chance, even in these caves. For this reason also, do not forget +to bring the little hound with you, since him least of all of you would I see +come to harm, perhaps because once, hundreds of generations ago as you reckon +time, I had a dog very like to him. Your mother loved him much, Yva, and when +she died, this dog died also. He lies embalmed with her on her coffin yonder in +the temple, and yesterday I went to look at both of them. The beasts are +wonderfully alike, which shows the everlastingness of blood.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused a while, lost in thought, then continued: “After the deed is +done I’ll speak with you and you shall choose, Strangers, whether you +will die your own masters, or live on to serve me. Now there is one problem +that is left to me to solve—whether I can save a certain land—do +not ask which it is, Humphrey, though I see the question in your eyes—or +must let it go with the rest. I only answer you that I will do my best because +you love it. So farewell for a while, and, Preacher, be advised by me and do +not aim too high again.” +</p> + +<p> +“It doesn’t matter where I aim,” answered Bastin sturdily, +“or whether I hit or miss, since there is something much bigger than me +waiting to deal with you. The countries that you think you are going to destroy +will sleep quite as well tomorrow as they do tonight, Oro.” +</p> + +<p> +“Much better, I think, Preacher, since by then they will have left sorrow +and pain and wickedness and war far behind them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where are we to go?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lady Yva will show you,” he answered, waving his hand, and +once more bent over his endless calculations. +</p> + +<p> +Yva beckoned to us and we turned and followed her down the hall. She led us to +a street near the gateway of the temple and thence into one of the houses. +There was a portico to it leading to a court out of which opened rooms somewhat +in the Pompeian fashion. We did not enter the rooms, for at the end of the +court were a metal table and three couches also of metal, on which were spread +rich-looking rugs. Whence these came I do not know and never asked, but I +remember that they were very beautiful and soft as velvet. +</p> + +<p> +“Here you may sleep,” she said, “if sleep you can, and eat of +the food that you have brought with you. Tomorrow early I will call you when it +is time for us to start upon our journey into the bowels of the earth.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t want to go any deeper than we are,” said Bastin +doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“I think that none of us want to go, Bastin,” she answered with a +sigh. “Yet go we must. I pray of you, anger the Lord Oro no more on this +or any other matter. In your folly you tried to kill him, and as it chanced he +bore it well because he loves courage. But another time he may strike back, and +then, Bastin—” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not afraid of him,” he answered, “but I do not like +tunnels. Still, perhaps it would be better to accompany you than to be left in +this place alone. Now I will unpack the food.” +</p> + +<p> +Yva turned to go. +</p> + +<p> +“I must leave you,” she said, “since my father needs my help. +The matter has to do with the Force that he would let loose tomorrow, and its +measurements; also with the preparation of the robes that we must wear lest it +should harm us in its leap.” +</p> + +<p> +Something in her eyes told me that she wished me to follow her, and I did so. +Outside the portico where we stood in the desolate, lighted street, she halted. +</p> + +<p> +“If you are not afraid,” she said, “meet me at midnight by +the statue of Fate in the great temple, for I would speak with you, Humphrey, +where, if anywhere, we may be alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will come, Yva.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know the road, and the gates are open, Humphrey.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she gave me her hand to kiss and glided away. I returned to the others and +we ate, somewhat sparingly, for we wished to save our food in case of need, and +having drunk of the Life-water, were not hungry. Also we talked a little, but +by common consent avoided the subject of the morrow and what it might bring +forth. +</p> + +<p> +We knew that terrible things were afoot, but lacking any knowledge of what +these might be, thought it useless to discuss them. Indeed we were too +depressed, so much so that even Bastin and Bickley ceased from arguing. The +latter was so overcome by the exhibition of Oro’s powers when he caused +the pistol to leap into the air and discharge itself, that he could not even +pluck up courage to laugh at the failure of Bastin’s efforts to do +justice on the old Super-man, or rather to prevent him from attempting a +colossal crime. +</p> + +<p> +At length we lay down on the couches to rest, Bastin remarking that he wished +he could turn off the light, also that he did not in the least regret having +tried to kill Oro. Sleep seemed to come to the others quickly, but I could only +doze, to wake up from time to time. Of this I was not sorry, since whenever I +dropped off dreams seemed to pursue me. For the most part they were of my dead +wife. She appeared to be trying to console me for some loss, but the strange +thing was that sometimes she spoke with her own voice and sometimes with +Yva’s, and sometimes looked at me with her own eyes and sometimes with +those of Yva. I remember nothing else about these dreams, which were very +confused. +</p> + +<p> +After one of them, the most vivid of all, I awoke and looked at my watch. It +was half-past eleven, almost time for me to be starting. The other two seemed +to be fast asleep. Presently I rose and crept down the court without waking +them. Outside the portico, which by the way was a curious example of the +survival of custom in architecture, since none was needed in that weatherless +place, I turned to the right and followed the wide street to the temple +enclosure. Through the pillared courts I went, my footsteps, although I walked +as softly as I could, echoing loudly in that intense silence, through the great +doors into the utter solitude of the vast and perfect fane. +</p> + +<p> +Words can not tell the loneliness of that place. It flowed over me like a sea +and seemed to swallow up my being, so that even the wildest and most dangerous +beast would have been welcome as a companion. I was as terrified as a child +that wakes to find itself deserted in the dark. Also an uncanny sense of +terrors to come oppressed me, till I could have cried aloud if only to hear the +sound of a mortal voice. Yonder was the grim statue of Fate, the Oracle of the +Kings of the Sons of Wisdom, which was believed to bow its stony head in answer +to their prayers. I ran to it, eager for its terrible shelter, for on either +side of it were figures of human beings. Even their cold marble was company of +a sort, though alas! over all frowned Fate. +</p> + +<p> +Let anyone imagine himself standing alone beneath the dome of St. Paul’s; +in the centre of that cathedral brilliant with mysterious light, and stretched +all about it a London that had been dead and absolutely unpeopled for tens of +thousands of years. If he can do this he will gather some idea of my physical +state. Let him add to his mind-picture a knowledge that on the following day +something was to happen not unlike the end of the world, as prognosticated by +the Book of Revelation and by most astronomers, and he will have some idea of +my mental perturbations. Add to the mixture a most mystic yet very real love +affair and an assignation before that symbol of the cold fate which seems to +sway the universes down to the tiniest detail of individual lives, and he may +begin to understand what I, Humphrey Arbuthnot, experienced during my vigil in +this sanctuary of a vanished race. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed long before Yva came, but at last she did come. I caught sight of her +far away beyond the temple gate, flitting through the unholy brightness of the +pillared courts like a white moth at night and seeming quite as small. She +approached; now she was as a ghost, and then drawing near, changed into a +living, breathing, lovely woman. I opened my arms, and with something like a +sob she sank into them and we kissed as mortals do. +</p> + +<p> +“I could not come more quickly,” she said. “The Lord Oro +needed me, and those calculations were long and difficult. Also twice he must +visit the place whither we shall go tomorrow, and that took time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it is close at hand?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Humphrey, be not foolish. Do you not remember, who have travelled with +him, that Oro can throw his soul afar and bring it back again laden with +knowledge, as the feet of a bee are laden with golden dust? Well, he went and +went again, and I must wait. And then the robes and shields; they must be +prepared by his arts and mine. Oh! ask not what they are, there is no time to +tell, and it matters nothing. Some folk are wise and some are foolish, but all +which matters is that within them flows the blood of life and that life breeds +love, and that love, as I believe, although Oro does not, breeds immortality. +And if so, what is Time but as a grain of sand upon the shore?” +</p> + +<p> +“This, Yva; it is ours, who can count on nothing else.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Humphrey, if I thought that, no more wretched creature would breathe +tonight upon this great world.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” I asked, growing fearful, more at her manner +and her look than at her words. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, nothing, except that Time is so very short. A kiss, a touch, a +little light and a little darkness, and it is gone. Ask my father Oro who has +lived a thousand years and slept for tens of thousands, as I have, and he will +say the same. It is against Time that he fights; he who, believing in nothing +beyond, will inherit nothing, as Bastin says; he to whom Time has brought +nothing save a passing, blood-stained greatness, and triumph ending in darkness +and disaster, and hope that will surely suffer hope’s eclipse, and power +that must lay down its coronet in dust.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what has it brought to you, Yva, beyond a fair body and a soul of +strength?” +</p> + +<p> +“It has brought a spirit, Humphrey. Between them the body and the soul +have bred a spirit, and in the fires of tribulation from that spirit has been +distilled the essence of eternal love. That is Time’s gift to me, and +therefore, although still he rules me here, I mock at Fate,” and she +waved her hand with a gesture of defiance at the stern-faced, sexless effigy +which sat above us, the sword across its knees. +</p> + +<p> +“Look! Look!” she went on in a swelling voice of music, pointing to +the statues of the dotard and the beauteous woman. “They implore Fate, +they worship Fate. <i>I</i> do not implore, <i>I</i> do not worship or ask a +sign as even Oro does and as did his forefathers. <i>I</i> rise above and +triumph. As Fate, the god of my people, sets his foot upon the sun, so I set my +foot upon Fate, and thence, like a swimmer from a rock, leap into the waters of +Immortality.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at her whose presence, as happened from time to time, had grown +majestic beyond that of woman; I studied her deep eyes which were full of +lights, not of this world, and I grew afraid. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” I asked. “Yva, you talk like one who has +finished with life.” +</p> + +<p> +“It passes,” she answered quickly. “Life passes like breath +fading from a mirror. So should all talk who breathe beneath the sun.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Yva, but if you went and left me still breathing on that mocking +glass—” +</p> + +<p> +“If so, what of it? Will not your breath fade also and join mine where +all vapours go? Or if it were yours that faded and mine that remained for some +few hours, is it not the same? I think, Humphrey, that already you have seen a +beloved breath melt from the glass of life,” she added, looking at me +earnestly. +</p> + +<p> +I bowed my head and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and therefore I am ashamed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! why should you be ashamed, Humphrey, who are not sure but that two +breaths may yet be one breath? How do you know that there is a difference +between them?” +</p> + +<p> +“You drive me mad, Yva. I cannot understand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor can I altogether, Humphrey. Why should I, seeing that I am no more +than woman, as you are no more than man? I would always have you remember, +Humphrey, that I am no spirit or sorceress, but just a woman—like her you +lost.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at her doubtfully and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Women do not sleep for two hundred thousand years. Women do not take +dream journeys to the stars. Women do not make the dead past live again before +the watcher’s eyes. Their hair does not glimmer in the dusk nor do their +bodies gleam, nor have they such strength of soul or eyes so wonderful, or +loveliness so great.” +</p> + +<p> +These words appeared to distress her who, as it seemed to me, was above all +things anxious to prove herself woman and no more. +</p> + +<p> +“All these qualities are nothing, Humphrey,” she cried. “As +for the beauty, such as it is, it comes to me with my blood, and with it the +glitter of my hair which is the heritage of those who for generations have +drunk of the Life-water. My mother was lovelier than I, as was her mother, or +so I have heard, since only the fairest were the wives of the Kings of the +Children of Wisdom. For the rest, such arts as I have spring not from magic, +but from knowledge which your people will acquire in days to come, that is, if +Oro spares them. Surely you above all should know that I am only woman,” +she added very slowly and searching my face with her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, Yva? During the little while that we have been together I have seen +much which makes me doubt. Even Bickley the sceptic doubts also.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will tell you, though I am not sure that you will believe me.” +She glanced about her as though she were frightened lest someone should +overhear her words or read her thoughts. Then she stretched out her hands and +drawing my head towards her, put her lips to my ear and whispered: +</p> + +<p> +“Because once you saw me <i>die</i>, as women often die—giving life +for life.” +</p> + +<p> +“I saw <i>you</i> die?” I gasped. +</p> + +<p> +She nodded, then continued to whisper in my ear, not in her own voice, but +another’s: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Go where you seem called to go, far away. Oh! the wonderful place in +which you will find me, not knowing that you have found me. Good-bye for a +little while; only for a little while, my own, my own!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +I knew the voice as I knew the words, and knowing, I think that I should have +fallen to the ground, had she not supported me with her strong arms. +</p> + +<p> +“Who told you?” I stammered. “Was it Bickley or Bastin? They +knew, though neither of them heard those holy words.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not Bickley nor Bastin,” she answered, shaking her head, +“no, nor you yourself, awake or sleeping, though once, by the lake +yonder, you said to me that when a certain one lay dying, she bade you seek her +elsewhere, for certainly you would find her. Humphrey, I cannot say who told me +those words because I do not know. <i>I think they are a memory, +Humphrey!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“That would mean that you, Yva, are the same as one who was—not +called Yva.” +</p> + +<p> +“The same as one who was called <i>Natalie</i>, Humphrey,” she +replied in solemn accents. “One whom you loved and whom you lost.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you think that we live again upon this earth?” +</p> + +<p> +“Again and yet again, until the time comes for us to leave the earth for +ever. Of this, indeed, I am sure, for that knowledge was part of the secret +wisdom of my people.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you were not dead. You only slept.” +</p> + +<p> +“The sleep was a death-sleep which went by like a flash, yes, in an +instant, or so it seemed. Only the shell of the body remained preserved by +mortal arts, and when the returning spirit and the light of life were poured +into it again, it awoke. But during this long death-sleep, that spirit may have +spoken through other lips and that light may have shone through other eyes, +though of these I remember nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then that dream of our visit to a certain star may be no dream?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think no dream, and you, too, have thought as much.” +</p> + +<p> +“In a way, yes, Yva. But I could not believe and turned from what I held +to be a phantasy.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was natural, Humphrey, that you should not believe. Hearken! In this +temple a while ago I showed you a picture of myself and of a man who loved me +and whom I loved, and of his death at Oro’s hands. Did you note anything +about that man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Bickley did,” I answered. “Was he right?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think that he was right, since otherwise I should not have loved you, +Humphrey.” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember nothing of that man, Yva.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is probable that you would not, since you and he are very far apart, +while between you and him flow wide seas of death, wherein are set islands of +life; perhaps many of them. But I remember much who seem to have left him but a +very little while ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“When you awoke in your coffin and threw your arms about me, what did you +think, Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought <i>you</i> were that man, Humphrey.” +</p> + +<p> +There was silence between us and in that silence the truth came home to me. +Then there before the effigy of Fate and in the desolate, glowing temple we +plighted anew our troth made holy by a past that thus so wonderfully lived +again. +</p> + +<p> +Of this consecrated hour I say no more. Let each picture it as he will. A glory +as of heaven fell upon us and in it we dwelt a space. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“Beloved,” she whispered at length in a voice that was choked as +though with tears, “if it chances that we should be separated again for a +little while, you will not grieve over much?” +</p> + +<p> +“Knowing all I should try not to grieve, Yva, seeing that in truth we +never can be parted. But do you mean that I shall die?” +</p> + +<p> +“Being mortal either of us might seem to die, Humphrey,” and she +bent her head as though to hide her face. “You know we go into dangers +this day.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does Oro really purpose to destroy much of the world and has he in truth +the power, Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“He does so purpose and most certainly he has the power, +unless—unless some other Power should stay his hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“What other power, Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! perhaps that which you worship, that which is called Love. The love +of man may avert the massacre of men. I hope so with all my heart. Hist! Oro +comes. I feel, I know that he comes, though not in search of us who are very +far from his thought tonight. Follow me. Swiftly.” +</p> + +<p> +She sped across the temple to where a chapel opened out of it, which was full +of the statues of dead kings, for here was the entrance to their burial vault. +We reached it and hid behind the base of one of these statues. By standing to +our full height, without being seen we still could see between the feet of the +statue that stood upon a pedestal. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Then Oro came. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> +The Chariot of the Pit</h2> + +<p> +Oro came and of necessity alone. Yet there was that in his air as he advanced +into the temple, which suggested a monarch surrounded by the pomp and panoply +of a great court. He marched, his head held high, as though heralds and +pursuivants went in front of him, as though nobles surrounded him and guards or +regiments followed after him. Let it be admitted that he was a great figure in +his gorgeous robes, with his long white beard, his hawk-like features, his tall +shape and his glittering eyes, which even at that distance I could see. Indeed +once or twice I thought that he glanced out of the corners of them towards the +chapel where we were hid. But this I think was fancy. For as Yva said, his +thoughts were set elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +He reached the statue of Fate and stood for a while contemplating it and the +suppliant figures on either side, as though he were waiting for his invisible +court to arrange itself. Then he doffed his jewelled cap to the effigy, and +knelt before it. Yes, Oro the Ancient, the Super-man, the God, as the early +peoples of the earth fancied such a being, namely, one full of wrath, revenge, +jealousy, caprice and power, knelt in supplication to this image of stone which +he believed to be the home of a spirit, thereby showing himself to be after all +not so far removed from the savages whose idol Bastin had destroyed. More, in a +clear and resonant voice which reached us even across that great space, he put +up his prayer. It ran something as follows, for although I did not understand +the language in which he spoke Yva translated it to me in a whisper: +</p> + +<p> +“God of the Sons of Wisdom, God of the whole earth, only God to whom must +bow every other Power and Dominion, to thee I, Oro the Great King, make prayer +and offer sacrifice. Twenty times ten thousand years and more have gone by +since I, Oro, visited this, thy temple and knelt before this, thy living +effigy, yet thou, ruler of the world, dost remember the prayer I made and the +sacrifice I offered. The prayer was for triumph over my enemies and the +sacrifice a promise of the lives of half of those who in that day dwelt upon +the earth. Thou heardest the prayer, thou didst bow thy head and accept the +sacrifice. Yea, the prayer was granted and the sacrifice was made, and in it +were counted the number of my foes. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I slept. Through countless generations I slept on and at my side +was the one child of my body that was left to me. What chanced to my spirit and +to hers during that sleep, thou knowest alone, but doubtless they went forth to +work thy ends. +</p> + +<p> +“At the appointed time which thou didst decree, I awoke again and found +in my house strangers from another land. In the company of one of those whose +spirit I drew forth, I visited the peoples of the new earth, and found them +even baser and more evil than those whom I had known. Therefore, since they +cannot be bettered. I purpose to destroy them also, and on their wreck to +rebuild a glorious empire, such as was that of the Sons of Wisdom at its prime. +</p> + +<p> +“A sign! O Fate, ruler of the world, give me a sign that my desire shall +be fulfilled.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused, stretching out his arms and staring upwards. While he waited I felt +the solid rock on which I stood quiver and sway beneath my feet so that Yva and +I clung to each other lest we should fall. This chanced also. The shock of the +earth tremor, for such without doubt it was, threw down the figures of the +ancient man and the lovely woman which knelt as though making prayers to Fate, +and shook the marble sword from off its knees. As it fell Oro caught it by the +hilt, and, rising, waved it in triumph. +</p> + +<p> +“I thank thee, God of my people from the beginning,” he cried. +“Thou hast given to me, thy last servant, thine own sword and I will use +it well. For these worshippers of thine who have fallen, thou shalt have +others, yes, all those who dwell in the new world that is to be. My daughter +and the man whom she has chosen to be the father of the kings of the earth, and +with him his companions, shall be the first of the hundreds of millions that +are to follow, for they shall kiss thy feet or perish. Thou shalt set thy foot +upon the necks of all other gods; thou shalt rule and thou alone, and, as of +old, Oro be thy minister.” +</p> + +<p> +Still holding the sword, he flung himself down as though in an ecstasy, and was +silent. +</p> + +<p> +“I read the omen otherwise,” whispered Yva. “The worshippers +of Fate are overthrown. His sword of power is fallen, but not into the hands +that clasped it, and he totters on his throne. A greater God asserts dominion +of the world and this Fate is but his instrument.” +</p> + +<p> +Oro rose again. +</p> + +<p> +“One prayer more,” he cried. “Give me life, long life, that I +may execute thy decrees. By word or gesture show me a sign that I shall be +satisfied with life, a year for every year that I have lived, or twain!” +</p> + +<p> +He waited, staring about him, but no token came; the idol did not speak or bow +its head, as Yva had told me it was wont to do in sign of accepted prayer, how, +she knew not. Only I thought I heard the echo of Oro’s cries run in a +whisper of mockery round the soaring dome. +</p> + +<p> +Once more Oro flung himself upon his knees and began to pray in a veritable +agony. +</p> + +<p> +“God of my forefathers, God of my lost people, I will hide naught from +thee,” he said. “I who fear nothing else, fear death. The +priest-fool yonder with his new faith, has spoken blundering words of judgment +and damnation which, though I do not believe them, yet stick in my heart like +arrows. I will stamp out his faith, and with this ancient sword of thine drive +back the new gods into the darkness whence they came. Yet what if some water of +Truth flows through the channel of his leaden lips, and what if because I have +ruled and will rule as thou didst decree, therefore, in some dim place of +souls, I must bear these burdens of terror and of doom which I have bound upon +the backs of others! Nay, it cannot be, for what power is there in all the +universe that dares to make a slave of Oro and to afflict him with stripes? +</p> + +<p> +“Yet this can be and mayhap will be, that presently I lose my path in the +ways of everlasting darkness, and become strengthless and forgotten as are +those who went before me, while my crown of Power shines on younger brows. +Alas! I grow old, since æons of sleep have not renewed my strength. My time is +short and yet I would not die as mortals must. Oh! God of my people, whom I +have served so well, save me from the death I dread. For I would not die. Give +me a sign; give me the ancient, sacred sign!” +</p> + +<p> +So he spoke, lifting his proud and splendid head and watching the statue with +wide, expectant eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou dost not answer,” he cried again. “Wouldst thou desert +me, Fate? Then beware lest I set up some new god against thee and hurl thee +from thine immemorial throne. While I live I still have powers, I who am the +last of thy worshippers, since it seems that my daughter turns her back on +thee. I will get me to the sepulchre of the kings and take counsel with the +dust of that wizard who first taught me wisdom. Even from the depths of death +he must come to my call clad in a mockery of life, and comfort me. A little +while yet I will wait, and if thou answer not, then Fate, soon I’ll tear +the sceptre from thy hand, and thou shalt join the company of dead gods.” +And throwing aside the sword, again Oro laid down his head upon the ground and +stretched out his arms in the last abasement of supplication. +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” whispered Yva, “while there is yet time. Presently he +will seek this place to descend to the sepulchre, and if he learns that we have +read his heart and know him for a coward deserted of his outworn god, surely he +will blot us out. Come, and be swift and silent.” +</p> + +<p> +We crept out of the chapel, Yva leading, and along the circle of the great dome +till we reached the gates. Here I glanced back and perceived that Oro, looking +unutterably small in that vastness, looking like a dead man, still lay +outstretched before the stern-faced, unanswering Effigy which, with all his +wisdom, he believed to be living and divine. Perhaps once it was, but if so its +star had set for ever, like those of Amon, Jupiter and Baal, and he was its +last worshipper. +</p> + +<p> +Now we were safe, but still we sped on till we reached the portico of our +sleeping place. Then Yva turned and spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“It is horrible,” she said, “and my soul sickens. Oh, I thank +the Strength which made it that I have no desire to rule the earth, and, being +innocent of death, do not fear to die and cross his threshold.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it is horrible,” I answered. “Yet all men fear +death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not when they have found love, Humphrey, for that I think is his true +name, and, with it written on his brow, he stands upon the neck of Fate who is +still my father’s god.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he is not yours, Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay. Once it was so, but now I reject him; he is no longer mine. As Oro +threatens, and perchance dare do in his rage, I have broken his chain, though +in another fashion. Ask me no more; perhaps one day you will learn the path I +trod to freedom.” +</p> + +<p> +Then before I could speak, she went off: +</p> + +<p> +“Rest now, for within a few hours I must come to lead you and your +companions to a terrible place. Yet whatever you may see or hear, be not +afraid, Humphrey, for I think that Oro’s god has no power over you, +strong though he was, and that Oro’s plans will fail, while I, who too +have knowledge, shall find strength to save the world.” +</p> + +<p> +Then of a sudden, once again she grew splendid, almost divine; no more a woman +but as it were an angel. Some fire of pure purpose seemed to burn up in her and +to shine out of her eyes. Yet she said little. Only this indeed: +</p> + +<p> +“To everyone, I think, there comes the moment of opportunity when choice +must be made between what is great and what is small, between self and its +desires and the good of other wanderers in the way. This day that moment may +draw near to you or me, and if so, surely we shall greet it well. Such is +Bastin’s lesson, which I have striven to learn.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she flung her arms about me and kissed me on the brow as a mother might, +and was gone. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Strangely enough, perhaps because of my mental exhaustion, for what I had +passed through seemed to overwhelm me so that I could no longer so much as +think with clearness, even after all that I have described I slept like a child +and awoke refreshed and well. +</p> + +<p> +I looked at my watch to find that it was now eight o’clock in the morning +in this horrible place where there was neither morn, nor noon, nor night, but +only an eternal brightness that came I knew not whence, and never learned. +</p> + +<p> +I found that I was alone, since Bickley and Bastin had gone to fill our bottles +with the Life-water. Presently they returned and we ate a little; with that +water to drink one did not need much food. It was a somewhat silent meal, for +our circumstances were a check on talk; moreover, I thought that the others +looked at me rather oddly. Perhaps they guessed something of my midnight visit +to the temple, but if so they thought it wisest to say nothing. Nor did I +enlighten them. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after we had finished Yva appeared. She was wonderfully quiet and +gentle in her manner, calm also, and greeted all of us with much sweetness. Of +our experiences during the night she said no word to me, even when we were +alone. One difference I noticed about her, however; that she was clothed in +garments such as I had never seen her wear before. They were close fitting, +save for a flowing cape, and made of some grey material, not unlike a coarse +homespun or even asbestos cloth. Still they became her very well, and when I +remarked upon them, all she answered was that part of our road would be rough. +Even her feet were shod with high buskins of this grey stuff. +</p> + +<p> +Presently she touched Bastin on the shoulder and said that she would speak with +him apart. They went together into one of the chambers of that dwelling and +there remained for perhaps the half of an hour. It was towards the end of this +time that in the intense silence I heard a crash from the direction of the +temple, as though something heavy had fallen to the rocky floor. Bickley also +heard this sound. When the two reappeared I noticed that though still quite +calm, Yva looked radiant, and, if I may say so, even more human and womanly +than I had ever seen her, while Bastin also seemed very happy. +</p> + +<p> +“One has strange experiences in life, yes, very strange,” he +remarked, apparently addressing the air, which left me wondering to what +particular experience he might refer. Well, I thought that I could guess. +</p> + +<p> +“Friends,” said Yva, “it is time for us to be going and I am +your guide. You will meet the Lord Oro at the end of your journey. I pray you +to bring those lamps of yours with you, since all the road is not lightened +like this place.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should like to ask,” said Bickley, “whither we go and for +what object, points on which up to the present we have had no definite +information.” +</p> + +<p> +“We go, friend Bickley, deep into the bowels of the world, far deeper, I +think, than any mortal men have gone hitherto, that is, of your race.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we shall perish of heat,” said Bickley, “for with every +thousand feet the temperature rises many degrees.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so. You will pass through a zone of heat, but so swiftly that if you +hold your breath you will not suffer overmuch. Then you will come to a place +where a great draught blows which will keep you cool, and thence travel on to +the end.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but to what end, Lady Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“That you will see for yourselves, and with it other wondrous +things.” +</p> + +<p> +Here some new idea seemed to strike her, and after a little hesitation she +added: +</p> + +<p> +“Yet why should you go? Oro has commanded it, it is true, but I think +that at the last he will forget. It must be decided swiftly. There is yet time. +I can place you in safety in the sepulchre of Sleep where you found us. Thence +cross to the main island and sail away quickly in your boat out into the great +sea, where I believe you will find succour. Know that after disobeying him, you +must meet Oro no more lest it should be the worse for you. If that be your +will, let us start. What say you?” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at me. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Yva, that I am willing to go if you come with us. Not +otherwise.” +</p> + +<p> +“I say,” said Bickley, “that I want to see all this +supernatural rubbish thoroughly exploded, and that therefore I should prefer to +go on with the business.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I say,” said Bastin, “that my most earnest desire is to +be clear of the whole thing, which wearies and perplexes me more than I can +tell. Only I am not going to run away, unless you think it desirable to do so +too, Lady Yva. I want you to understand that I am not in the least afraid of +the Lord Oro, and do not for one moment believe that he will be allowed to +bring about disaster to the world, as I understand is his wicked object. +Therefore on the whole I am indifferent and quite prepared to accept any +decision at which the rest of you may arrive.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be it understood,” said Yva with a little smile when Bastin had +finished his sermonette, “that I must join my father in the bowels of the +earth for a reason which will be made plain afterwards. Therefore, if you go we +part, as I think to meet no more. Still my advice is that you should +go.”<a href="#fn-1" name="fnref-1" id="fnref-1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-1" id="fn-1"></a> <a href="#fnref-1">[1]</a> +It is fortunate that we did not accept Yva’s offer. Had we done so we +should have found ourselves shut in, and perished, as shall be told.—H. +A. +</p> + +<p> +To this our only answer was to attend to the lighting of our lamps and the +disposal of our small impedimenta, such as our tins of oil and water bottles. +Yva noted this and laughed outright. +</p> + +<p> +“Courage did not die with the Sons of Wisdom,” she said. +</p> + +<p> +Then we set out, Yva walking ahead of us and Tommy frisking at her side. +</p> + +<p> +Our road led us through the temple. As we passed the great gates I started, for +there, in the centre of that glorious building, I perceived a change. The +statue of Fate was no more! It lay broken upon the pavement among those +fragments of its two worshippers which I had seen shaken down some hours +before. +</p> + +<p> +“What does this mean?” I whispered to Yva. “I have felt no +other earthquake.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know,” she answered, “or if I know I may not say. +Yet learn that no god can live on without a single worshipper, and, in a +fashion, that idol was alive, though this you will not believe.” +</p> + +<p> +“How very remarkable,” said Bastin, contemplating the ruin. +“If I were superstitious, which I am not, I should say that this +occurrence was an omen indicating the final fall of a false god. At any rate it +is dead now, and I wonder what caused it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I felt an earth tremor last night,” said Bickley, “though it +is odd that it should only have affected this particular statue. A thousand +pities, for it was a wonderful work of art.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I remembered and reminded Bickley of the crash which we had heard while +Yva and Bastin were absent on some secret business in the chamber. +</p> + +<p> +Walking the length of the great church, if so it could be called, we came to an +apse at the head of it where, had it been Christian, the altar would have +stood. In this apse was a little open door through which we passed. Beyond it +lay a space of rough rock that looked as though it had been partially prepared +for the erection of buildings and then abandoned. All this space was lighted, +however, like the rest of the City of Nyo, and in the same mysterious way. Led +by Yva, we threaded our path between the rough stones, following a steep +downward slope. Thus we walked for perhaps half a mile, till at length we came +to the mouth of a huge pit that must, I imagine, have lain quite a thousand +feet below the level of the temple. +</p> + +<p> +I looked over the edge of this pit and shrank back terrified. It seemed to be +bottomless. Moreover, a great wind rushed up it with a roaring sound like to +that of an angry sea. Or rather there were two winds, perhaps draughts would be +a better term, if I may apply it to an air movement of so fierce and terrible a +nature. One of these rushed up the pit, and one rushed down. Or it may have +been that the up rush alternated with the down rush. Really it is impossible to +say. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this place?” I asked, clinging to the others and shrinking +back in alarm from its sheer edge and bottomless depth, for that this was +enormous we could see by the shaft of light which flowed downwards farther than +the eye could follow. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a vent up and down which air passes from and to the central +hollows of the earth,” Yva answered. “Doubtless in the beginning +through it travelled that mighty force which blew out these caves in the heated +rocks, as the craftsman blows out glass.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand,” said Bastin. “Just like one blows out a +bubble on a pipe, only on a larger scale. Well, it is very interesting, but I +have seen enough of it. Also I am afraid of being blown away.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear that you must see more,” answered Yva with a smile, +“since we are about to descend this pit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean that we are to go down that hole, and if so, how? I +don’t see any lift, or moving staircase, or anything of that sort.” +</p> + +<p> +“Easily and safely enough, Bastin. See.” +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke a great flat rock of the size of a small room appeared, borne +upwards, as I suppose, by the terrific draught which roared past us on its +upward course. When it reached the lip of the shaft, it hung a little while, +then moved across and began to descend with such incredible swiftness that in a +few seconds it had vanished from view. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” said Bastin, with his eyes almost starting out of his head, +“that’s the lift, is it? Well, I tell you at once I don’t +like the look of the thing. It gives me the creeps. Suppose it tilted.” +</p> + +<p> +“It does not tilt,” answered Yva, still smiling. “I tell you, +Bastin, that there is naught to fear. Only yesterday, I rode this rock and +returned unharmed.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is all very well, Lady Yva, but you may know how to balance it; +also when to get on and off.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you are afraid, Bastin, remain here until your companions return. +They, I think, will make the journey.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley and I intimated that we would, though to tell the truth, if less frank +we were quite as alarmed as Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I’ll come too. I suppose one may as well die this way as any +other, and if anything were to happen to them and I were left alone, it would +be worse still.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then be prepared,” said Yva, “for presently this air-chariot +of ours will return. When it appears and hangs upon the edge, step on to it and +throw yourselves upon your faces and all will be well. At the foot of the shaft +the motion lessens till it almost stops, and it is easy to spring, or even +crawl to the firm earth.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she stooped down and lifted Tommy who was sniffing suspiciously at the +edge of the pit, his long ears blown straight above his head, holding him +beneath her left arm and under her cloak, that he might not see and be +frightened. +</p> + +<p> +We waited a while in silence, perhaps for five or six minutes, among the most +disagreeable, I think, that I ever passed. Then far down in the brightness +below appeared a black speck that seemed to grow in size as it rushed upwards. +</p> + +<p> +“It comes,” said Yva. “Prepare and do as I do. Do not spring, +or run, lest you should go too far. Step gently on to the rock and to its +centre, and there lie down. Trust in me, all of you.” +</p> + +<p> +“There’s nothing else to do,” groaned Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +The great stone appeared and, as before, hung at the edge of the pit. Yva +stepped on to it quietly, as she did so, catching hold of my wrist with her +disengaged hand. I followed her feeling very sick, and promptly sat down. Then +came Bickley with the air of the virtuous hero of a romance walking a +pirate’s plank, and also sat down. Only Bastin hesitated until the stone +began to move away. Then with an ejaculation of “Here goes!” he +jumped over the intervening crack of space and landed in the middle of us like +a sack of coal. Had I not been seated really I think he would have knocked me +off the rock. As it was, with one hand he gripped me by the beard and with the +other grasped Yva’s robe, of neither of which would he leave go for quite +a long time, although we forced him on to his face. The lantern which he held +flew from his grasp and descended the shaft on its own account. +</p> + +<p> +“You silly fool!” exclaimed Bickley whose perturbation showed +itself in anger. “There goes one of our lamps.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hang the lamp!” muttered the prostrate Bastin. “We +shan’t want it in Heaven, or the other place either.” +</p> + +<p> +Now the stone which had quivered a little beneath the impact of Bastin, +steadied itself again and with a slow and majestic movement sailed to the other +side of the gulf. There it felt the force of gravity, or perhaps the weight of +the returning air pressed on it, which I do not know. At any rate it began to +fall, slowly at first, then more swiftly, and afterwards at an incredible pace, +so that in a few seconds the mouth of the pit above us grew small and presently +vanished quite away. I looked up at Yva who was standing composedly in the +midst of our prostrate shapes. She bent down and called in my ear: +</p> + +<p> +“All is well. The heat begins, but it will not endure for long.” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded and glanced over the edge of the stone at Bastin’s lantern which +was sailing alongside of us, till presently we passed it. Bastin had lit it +before we started, I think in a moment of aberration, and it burned for quite a +long while, showing like a star when the shaft grew darker as it did by +degrees, a circumstance that testifies to the excellence of the make, which is +one advertised not to go out in any wind. Not that we felt wind, or even +draught, perhaps because we were travelling with it. +</p> + +<p> +Then we entered the heat zone. About this there was no doubt, for the +perspiration burst out all over me and the burning air scorched my lungs. Also +Tommy thrust his head from beneath the cloak with his tongue hanging out and +his mouth wide open. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold your breaths!” cried Yva, and we obeyed until we nearly +burst. At least I did, but what happened to the others I do not know. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately it was soon over and the air began to grow cool again. By now we +had travelled an enormous distance, it seemed to be miles on miles, and I +noticed that our terrific speed was slackening, also that the shaft grew more +narrow, till at length there were only a few feet between the edge of the stone +and its walls. The result of this, or so I supposed, was that the compressed +air acted as a buffer, lessening our momentum, till at length the huge stone +moved but very slowly. +</p> + +<p> +“Be ready to follow me,” cried Yva again, and we rose to our feet, +that is, Bickley and I did, but poor Bastin was semi-comatose. The stone +stopped and Yva sprang from it to a rock platform level with which it lay. We +followed, dragging Bastin between us. As we did so something hit me gently on +the head. It was Bastin’s lamp, which I seized. +</p> + +<p> +“We are safe. Sit down and rest,” said Yva, leading us a few paces +away. +</p> + +<p> +We obeyed and presently by the dim light saw the stone begin to stir again, +this time upwards. In another twenty seconds it was away on its never-ending +journey. +</p> + +<p> +“Does it always go on like that?” said Bastin, sitting up and +staring after it. +</p> + +<p> +“Tens of thousands of years ago it was journeying thus, and tens of +thousands of years hence it will still be journeying, or so I think,” she +replied. “Why not, since the strength of the draught never changes and +there is nothing to wear it except the air?” +</p> + +<p> +Somehow the vision of this huge stone, first loosed and set in motion by heaven +knows what agency, travelling from aeon to aeon up and down that shaft in +obedience to some law I did not understand, impressed my imagination like a +nightmare. Indeed I often dream of it to this day. +</p> + +<p> +I looked about me. We were in some cavernous place that could be but dimly +seen, for here the light that flowed down the shaft from the upper caves where +it was mysteriously created, scarcely shone, and often indeed was entirely cut +off, when the ever-journeying stone was in the narrowest parts of the passage. +I could see, however, that this cavern stretched away both to right and left of +us, while I felt that from the left, as we sat facing the shaft, there drew +down a strong blast of fresh air which suggested that somewhere, however far +away, it must open on to the upper world. For the rest its bottom and walls +seemed to be smooth as though they had been planed in the past ages by the +action of cosmic forces. Bickley noticed this the first and pointed it out to +me. We had little time to observe, however, for presently Yva said: +</p> + +<p> +“If you are rested, friends, I pray you light those lamps of yours, since +we must walk a while in darkness.” +</p> + +<p> +We did and started, still travelling downhill. Yva walked ahead with me and +Tommy who seemed somewhat depressed and clung close to our heels. The other two +followed, arguing strenuously about I know not what. It was their way of +working off irritation and alarms. +</p> + +<p> +I asked Yva what was about to happen, for a great fear oppressed me. +</p> + +<p> +“I am not sure, Beloved,” she answered in a sweet and gentle voice, +“who do not know all Oro’s secrets, but as I think, great things. +We are now deep in the bowels of the world, and presently, perhaps, you will +see some of its mighty forces whereof your ignorant races have no knowledge, +doing their everlasting work.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then how is it that we can breathe here?” I asked. “Because +this road that we are following connects with the upper air or used to do so, +since once I followed it. It is a long road and the climb is steep, but at last +it leads to the light of the blessed sun, nor are there any pitfalls in the +path. Would that we might tread it together, Humphrey,” she added with +passion, “and be rid of mysteries and the gloom, or that light which is +worse than gloom.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” I asked eagerly. “Why should we not turn and +flee?” +</p> + +<p> +“Who can flee from my father, the Lord Oro?” she replied. “He +would snare us before we had gone a mile. Moreover, if we fled, by tomorrow +half the world must perish.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how can we save it by not flying, Yva?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, Humphrey, yet I think it will be saved, perchance by +sacrifice. That is the keystone of your faith, is it not? Therefore if it is +asked of you to save the world, you will not shrink from it, will you, +Humphrey?” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope not,” I replied, without enthusiasm, I admit. Indeed it +struck me that a business of this sort was better fitted to Bastin than to +myself, or at any rate to his profession. I think she guessed my thoughts, for +by the light of the lamp I saw her smile in her dazzling way. Then after a +swift glance behind her, she turned and suddenly kissed me, as she did so +calling down everlasting blessings on my head and on my spirit. There was +something very wonderful about this benediction of Yva’s and it thrilled +me through and through, so that to it I could make no answer. +</p> + +<p> +Next moment it was too late to retreat, for our narrowing passage turned and we +found ourselves in a wondrous place. I call it wondrous because of it we could +see neither the beginning nor the end, nor the roof, nor aught else save the +rock on which we walked, and the side or wall that our hands touched. Nor was +this because of darkness, since although it was not illuminated like the upper +caverns, light of a sort was present. It was a very strange light, consisting +of brilliant and intermittent flashes, or globes of blue and lambent flame +which seemed to leap from nowhere into nowhere, or sometimes to hang poised in +mid air. +</p> + +<p> +“How odd they are,” said the voice of Bastin behind me. “They +remind me of those blue sparks which jump up from the wires of the tramways in +London on a dark night. You know, don’t you, Bickley? I mean when the +conductor pulls round that long stick with an iron wheel on the top of +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nobody but you could have thought of such a comparison, Bastin,” +answered Bickley. “Still, multiplied a thousandfold they are not +unlike.” +</p> + +<p> +Nor indeed were they, except that each blue flash was as big as the full moon +and in one place or another they were so continuous that one could have read a +letter by their light. Also the effect of them was ghastly and most unnatural, +terrifying, too, since even their brilliance could not reveal the extent of +that gigantic hollow in the bowels of the world wherein they leapt to and fro +like lightnings, or hung like huge, uncanny lanterns. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>CHAPTER XXV.<br /> +Sacrifice</h2> + +<p> +“The air in this place must be charged with some form of electricity, but +the odd thing is that it does not seem to harm us,” said Bickley in a +matter-of-fact fashion as though he were determined not to be astonished. +</p> + +<p> +“To me it looks more like marsh fires or St. Elmo lights, though how +these can be where there is no vapour, I do not know,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +As I spoke a particularly large ball of flame fell from above. It resembled a +shooting star or a meteor more than anything else that I had ever seen, and +made me wonder whether we were not perhaps standing beneath some inky, unseen +sky. +</p> + +<p> +Next moment I forgot such speculations, for in its blue light, which made him +terrible and ghastly, I perceived Oro standing in front of us clad in a long +cloak. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me!” said Bastin, “he looks just like the devil, +doesn’t he, and now I come to think of it, this isn’t at all a bad +imitation of hell.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know it is an imitation?” asked Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Because whatever might be the case with you, Bickley, if it were, the +Lady Yva and I should not be here.” +</p> + +<p> +Even then I could not help smiling at this repartee, but the argument went no +further for Oro held up his hand and Yva bent the knee in greeting to him. +</p> + +<p> +“So you have come, all of you,” he said. “I thought that +perhaps there were one or two who would not find courage to ride the flying +stone. I am glad that it is not so, since otherwise he who had shown himself a +coward should have had no share in the rule of that new world which is to be. +Therefore I chose yonder road that it might test you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then if you will be so good as to choose another for us to return by, I +shall be much obliged to you, Oro,” said Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know that if I did it would not be more terrible, Preacher? +How do you know indeed that this is not your last journey from which there is +no return?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course I can’t be sure of anything, Oro, but I think the +question is one which you might more appropriately put to yourself. According +to your own showing you are now extremely old and therefore your end is likely +to come at any moment. Of course, however, if it did you would have one more +journey to make, but it wouldn’t be polite for me to say in what +direction.” +</p> + +<p> +Oro heard, and his splendid, icy face was twisted with sudden rage. Remembering +the scene in the temple where he had grovelled before his god, uttering +agonised, unanswered prayers for added days, I understood the reason of his +wrath. It was so great that I feared lest he should kill Bastin (who only a few +hours before, be it remembered, had tried to kill <i>him</i>) then and there, +as doubtless he could have done if he wished. Fortunately, if he felt it; the +impulse passed. +</p> + +<p> +“Miserable fool!” he said. “I warn you to keep a watch upon +your words. Yesterday you would have slain me with your toy. Today you stab me +with your ill-omened tongue. Be fearful lest I silence it for ever.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not in the least fearful, Oro, since I am sure that <i>you</i> +can’t hurt me at all any more than I could hurt you last night because, +you see, it wasn’t permitted. When the time comes for me to die, I shall +go, but <i>you</i> will have nothing to do with that. To tell the truth, I am +very sorry for you, as with all your greatness, your soul is of the earth, +earthy, also sensual and devilish, as the Apostle said, and, I am afraid, very +malignant, and you will have a great deal to answer for shortly. Yours +<i>won’t</i> be a happy deathbed, Oro, because, you see, you glory in +your sins and don’t know what repentance means.” +</p> + +<p> +I must add that when I heard these words I was filled with the most unbounded +admiration for Bastin’s fearless courage which enabled him thus to beard +this super-tyrant in his den. So indeed were we all, for I read it in +Yva’s face and heard Bickley mutter: +</p> + +<p> +“Bravo! Splendid! After all there is something in faith!” +</p> + +<p> +Even Oro appreciated it with his intellect, if not with his heart, for he +stared at the man and made no answer. In the language of the ring, he was quite +“knocked out” and, almost humbly, changed the subject. +</p> + +<p> +“We have yet a little while,” he said, “before that happens +which I have decreed. Come, Humphrey, that I may show you some of the marvels +of this bubble blown in the bowels of the world,” and he motioned to us +to pick up the lanterns. +</p> + +<p> +Then he led us away from the wall of the cavern, if such it was, for a distance +of perhaps six or seven hundred paces. Here suddenly we came to a great groove +in the rocky floor, as broad as a very wide roadway, and mayhap four feet in +depth. The bottom of this groove was polished and glittered; indeed it gave us +the impression of being iron, or other ore which had been welded together +beneath the grinding of some immeasurable weight. Just at the spot where we +struck the groove, it divided into two, for this reason. +</p> + +<p> +In its centre the floor of iron, or whatever it may have been, rose, the +fraction of an inch at first, but afterwards more sharply, and this at a spot +where the groove had a somewhat steep downward dip which appeared to extend +onwards I know not how far. +</p> + +<p> +Following along this central rise for a great way, nearly a mile, I should +think, we observed that it became ever more pronounced, till at length it ended +in a razor-edge cliff which stretched up higher than we could see, even by the +light of the electrical discharges. Standing against the edge of this cliff, we +perceived that at a distance from it there were now <i>two</i> grooves of about +equal width. One of these ran away into the darkness on our right as we faced +the sharp edge, and at an ever-widening angle, while the other, at a similar +angle, ran into the darkness to the left of the knife of cliff. That was all. +</p> + +<p> +No, there were two more notable things. Neither of the grooves now lay within +hundreds of yards of the cliff, perhaps a quarter of a mile, for be it +remembered we had followed the rising rock between them. To put it quite +clearly, it was exactly as though one line of rails had separated into two +lines of rails, as often enough they do, and an observer standing on high +ground between could see them both vanishing into tunnels to the right and +left, but far apart. +</p> + +<p> +The second notable thing was that the right-hand groove, where first we saw it +at the point of separation, was not polished like the left-hand groove, +although at some time or other it seemed to have been subjected to the pressure +of the same terrific weight which cut its fellow out of the bed of rock or +iron, as the sharp wheels of a heavily laden wagon sink ruts into a roadway. +</p> + +<p> +“What does it all mean, Lord Oro?” I asked when he had led us back +to the spot where the one groove began to be two grooves, that is, a mile or so +away from the razor-edged cliff. +</p> + +<p> +“This, Humphrey,” he answered. “That which travels along +yonder road, when it reaches this spot on which we stand, follows the left-hand +path which is made bright with its passage. Yet, could a giant at that moment +of its touching this exact spot on which I lay my hand, thrust it with +sufficient strength, it would leave the left-hand road and take the right-hand +road.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if it did, what then; Lord Oro?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then within an hour or so, when it had travelled far enough upon its +way, the balance of the earth would be changed, and great things would happen +in the world above, as once they happened in bygone days. Now do you +understand, Humphrey?” +</p> + +<p> +“Good Heavens! Yes, I understand now,” I answered. “But +fortunately there is no such giant.” +</p> + +<p> +Oro broke into a mocking laugh and his grey old face lit up with a fiendish +exultation, as he cried: +</p> + +<p> +“Fool! I, Oro, am that giant. Once in the dead days I turned the balance +of the world from the right-hand road which now is dull with disuse, to the +left-hand road which glitters so brightly to your eyes, and the face of the +earth was changed. Now again I will turn it from the left-hand road to the +right-hand road in which for millions of years it was wont to run, and once +more the face of the earth shall change, and those who are left living upon the +earth, or who in the course of ages shall come to live upon the new earth, must +bow down to Oro and take him and his seed to be their gods and kings.” +</p> + +<p> +When I heard this I was overwhelmed and could not answer. Also I remembered a +certain confused picture which Yva had shown to us in the Temple of Nyo. But +supported by his disbelief, Bickley asked: +</p> + +<p> +“And how often does the balance of which you speak come this way, Lord +Oro?” +</p> + +<p> +“Once only in many years; the number is my secret, Bickley,” he +replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Then there is every reason to hope that it will not trouble us,” +remarked Bickley with a suspicion of mockery in his voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think so, you learned Bickley?” asked Oro. “If so, I +do not. Unless my skill has failed me and my calculations have gone awry, that +Traveller of which I tell should presently be with us. Hearken now! What is +that sound we hear?” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke there reached our ears the first, far-off murmurs of a dreadful +music. I cannot describe it in words because that is impossible, but it was +something like to the buzz of a thousand humming-tops such as are loved by +children because of their weird song. +</p> + +<p> +“Back to the wall!” cried Oro triumphantly. “The time is +short!” +</p> + +<p> +So back we went, Oro pausing a while behind and overtaking us with long, +determined strides. Yva led us, gliding at my side and, as I thought, now and +again glanced at my face with a look that was half anxious and half pitiful. +Also twice she stooped and patted Tommy. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the wall, though not quite at the spot whence we had started to +examine the grooved roads. At least I think this was so, since now for the +first time I observed a kind of little window in its rocky face. It stood about +five feet from its floor level, and was perhaps ten inches square, not more. In +short, except for its shape it resembled a ship’s porthole rather than a +window. Its substance appeared to be talc, or some such material, and inches +thick, yet through it, after Oro had cast aside some sort of covering, came a +glare like that of a search-light. In fact it was a search-light so far as +concerned one of its purposes. +</p> + +<p> +By this window or porthole lay a pile of cloaks, also four objects which looked +like Zulu battle shields cut in some unknown metal or material. Very deftly, +very quietly, Yva lifted these cloaks and wrapped one of them about each of us, +and while she was thus employed I noticed that they were of a substance very +similar to that of the gown she wore, which I have described, but harder. Next +she gave one of the metal-like shields to each of us, bidding us hold them in +front of our bodies and heads, and only to look through certain slits in them +in which were eyepieces that appeared to be of the same horny stuff as the +searchlight window. Further, she commanded us to stand in a row with our backs +against the rock wall, at certain spots which she indicated with great +precision, and whatever we saw or heard on no account to move. +</p> + +<p> +So there we stood, Bickley next to me, and beyond him Bastin. Then Yva took the +fourth shield, as I noted a much larger one than ours, and placed herself +between me and the search-light or porthole. On the other side of this was Oro +who had no shield. +</p> + +<p> +These arrangements took some minutes and during that time occupied all our +attention. When they were completed, however, our curiosity and fear began to +reassert themselves. I looked about me and perceived that Oro had his right +hand upon what seemed to be a rough stone rod, in shape not unlike that with +which railway points are moved. He shouted to us to stand still and keep the +shields over our faces. Then very gently he pressed upon the lever. The +porthole sank the fraction of an inch, and instantly there leapt from it a most +terrific blaze of lightning, which shot across the blackness in front and, as +lightning does, revealed far, far away another wall, or rather cliff, like that +against which we leant. +</p> + +<p> +“All works well,” exclaimed Oro in a satisfied voice, lifting his +hand from the rod, “and the strength which I have stored will be more +than enough.” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the humming noise came nearer and grew in volume. +</p> + +<p> +“I say,” said Bickley, “as you know, I have been sceptical, +but I don’t like this business. Oro, what are you going to do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sink half the world beneath the seas,” said Oro, “and raise +up that which I drowned more than two thousand centuries ago. But as you do not +believe that I have this power, Bickley, why do you ask such questions?” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>I</i> believe that you have it, which was why I tried to shoot you +yesterday,” said Bastin. “For your soul’s sake I beg you to +desist from an attempt which I am sure will not succeed, but which will +certainly involve your eternal damnation, since the failure will be no fault of +yours.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I spoke also, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“I implore you, Lord Oro, to let this business be. I do not know exactly +how much or how little you can do, but I understand that your object is to slay +men by millions in order to raise up another world of which you will be the +absolute king, as you were of some past empire that has been destroyed, either +through your agency or otherwise. No good can come of such ambitions. Like +Bastin, for your soul’s sake I pray you to let them be.” +</p> + +<p> +“What Humphrey says I repeat,” said Yva. “My Father, although +you know it not, you seek great evil, and from these hopes you sow you will +harvest nothing save a loss of which you do not dream. Moreover, your plans +will fail. Now I who am, like yourself, of the Children of Wisdom, have spoken, +for the first and last time, and my words are true. I pray you give them +weight, my Father.” +</p> + +<p> +Oro heard, and grew furious. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” he said. “Are you against me, every one, and my own +daughter also? I would lift you up, I would make you rulers of a new world; I +would destroy your vile civilisations which I have studied with my eyes, that I +may build better! To you, Humphrey, I would give my only child in marriage that +from you may spring a divine race of kings! And yet you are against me and set +up your puny scruples as a barrier across my path of wisdom. Well, I tread them +down, I go on my appointed way. But beware how you try to hold me back. If any +one of you should attempt to come between me and my ends, know that I will +destroy you all. Obey or die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, he has had his chance and he won’t take it,” said +Bastin in the silence that followed. “The man must go to the devil his +own way and there is nothing more to be said.” +</p> + +<p> +I say the silence, but it was no more silent. The distant humming grew to a +roar, the roar to a hellish hurricane of sound which presently drowned all +attempts at ordinary speech. +</p> + +<p> +Then bellowing like ten millions of bulls, at length far away there appeared +something terrible. I can only describe its appearance as that of an attenuated +mountain on fire. When it drew nearer I perceived that it was more like a +ballet-dancer whirling round and round upon her toes, or rather all the +ballet-dancers in the world rolled into one and then multiplied a million times +in size. No, it was like a mushroom with two stalks, one above and one below, +or a huge top with a point on which it spun, a swelling belly and another point +above. But what a top! It must have been two thousand feet high, if it was an +inch, and its circumference who could measure? +</p> + +<p> +On it came, dancing, swaying and spinning at a rate inconceivable, so that it +looked like a gigantic wheel of fire. Yet it was not fire that clothed it but +rather some phosphorescence, since from it came no heat. Yes, a phosphorescence +arranged in bands of ghastly blue and lurid red, with streaks of other colours +running up between, and a kind of waving fringe of purple. +</p> + +<p> +The fire-mountain thundered on with a voice like to that of avalanches or of +icebergs crashing from their parent glaciers to the sea. Its terrific aspect +was appalling, and its weight caused the solid rock to quiver like a leaf. +Watching it, we felt as ants might feel at the advent of the crack of doom, for +its mere height and girth and size overwhelmed us. We could not even speak. The +last words I heard were from the mouth of Oro who screamed out: +</p> + +<p> +“Behold the balance of the World, you miserable, doubting men, and behold +me change its path—turning it as the steersman turns a ship!” +</p> + +<p> +Then he made certain signs to Yva, who in obedience to them approached the +porthole or search-light to which she did something that I could not +distinguish. The effect was to make the beam of light much stronger and +sharper, also to shift it on to the point or foot of the spinning mountain and, +by an aiming of the lens from time to time, to keep it there. +</p> + +<p> +This went on for a while, since the dreadful thing did not travel fast +notwithstanding the frightful speed of its revolutions. I should doubt indeed +if it advanced more quickly than a man could walk; at any rate so it seemed to +us. But we had no means of judging its real rate of progress whereof we knew as +little as we did of the course it followed in the bowels of the earth. Perhaps +that was spiral, from the world’s deep heart upwards, and this was the +highest point it reached. Or perhaps it remained stationary, but still +spinning, for scores or hundreds of years in some central powerhouse of its +own, whence, in obedience to unknown laws, from time to time it made these +terrific journeys. +</p> + +<p> +No one knows, unless perhaps Oro did, in which case he kept the information to +himself, and no one will ever know. At any rate there it was, travelling +towards us on its giant butt, the peg of the top as it were, which, hidden in a +cloud of friction-born sparks that enveloped it like the cup of a curving +flower of fire, whirled round and round at an infinite speed. It was on this +flaming flower that the search-light played steadily, doubtless that Oro might +mark and measure its monstrous progress. +</p> + +<p> +“He is going to try to send the thing down the right-hand path,” I +shouted into Bickley’s ear. +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t be done! Nothing can shift a travelling weight of tens of +millions of tons one inch,” Bickley roared back, trying to look +confident. +</p> + +<p> +Clearly, however, Yva thought that it could be done, for of a sudden she cast +down her shield and, throwing herself upon her knees, stretched out her hands +in supplication to her father. I understood, as did we all, that she was +imploring him to abandon his hellish purpose. He glared at her and shook his +head. Then, as she still went on praying, he struck her across the face with +his hand and pushed her to her feet again. My blood boiled as I saw it and I +think I should have sprung at him, had not Bickley caught hold of me, shouting, +“Don’t, or he will kill her and us too.” +</p> + +<p> +Yva lifted her shield and returned to her station, and in the blue discharges +which now flashed almost continuously, and the phosphorescent glare of the +advancing mountain, I saw that though her beautiful face worked beneath the +pain of the blow, her eyes remained serene and purposeful. Even then I +wondered—what was the purpose shining through them. Also I wondered if I +was about to be called upon to make that sacrifice of which she had spoken, and +if so, how. Of one thing I was determined—that if the call came it should +not find me deaf. Yet all the while I was horribly afraid. +</p> + +<p> +At another sign from Oro, Yva did something more to the lens—again, being +alongside of her, I could not see what it was. The beam of light shifted and +wandered till, far away, it fell exactly upon that spot where the rock began to +rise into the ridge which separated the two grooves or roads and ended in the +razor-edged cliff. Moreover I observed that Oro, who left it the last of us, +had either placed something white to mark this first infinitesimal bulging of +the floor of the groove, or had smeared it with chalk or shining pigment. I +observed also what I had not been able to see before, that a thin white line +ran across the floor, no doubt to give the precise direction of this painted +rise of rock, and that the glare of the search-light now lay exactly over that +line. +</p> + +<p> +The monstrous, flaming gyroscope fashioned in Nature’s workshop, for such +without doubt it was, was drawing near, emitting as it came a tumult of sounds +which, with the echoes that they caused, almost over-whelmed our senses. Poor +little Tommy, already cowed, although he was a bold-natured beast, broke down +entirely, and I could see from his open mouth that he was howling with terror. +He stared about him, then ran to Yva and pawed at her, evidently asking to be +taken into her arms. She thrust him away, almost fiercely, and made signs to me +to lift him up and hold him beneath my shield. This I did, reflecting sadly +that if I was to be sacrificed, Tommy must share my fate. I even thought of +passing him on to Bickley, but had no time. Indeed I could not attract his +attention, for Bickley was staring with all his eyes at the nightmare-like +spectacle which was in progress about us. Indeed no nightmare, no wild +imagination of which the mind of man is capable, could rival the aspect of its +stupendous facts. +</p> + +<p> +Think of them! The unmeasured space of blackness threaded by those globes of +ghastly incandescence that now hung a while and now shot upwards, downwards, +across, apparently without origin or end, like a stream of meteors that had +gone mad. Then the travelling mountain, two thousand feet in height, or more, +with its enormous saucer-like rim painted round with bands of lurid red and +blue, and about its grinding foot the tulip bloom of emitted flame. Then the +fierce-faced Oro at his post, his hand upon the rod, waiting, remorseless, to +drown half of this great world, with the lovely Yva standing calm-eyed like a +saint in hell and watching me above the edge of the shield which such a saint +might bear to turn aside the fiery darts of the wicked. And lastly we three men +flattened terror-stricken, against the wall. +</p> + +<p> +Nightmare! Imagination! No, these pale before that scene which it was given to +our human eyes to witness. +</p> + +<p> +And all the while, bending, bowing towards us—away from us—making +obeisance to the path in front as though in greeting, to the path behind as +though in farewell; instinct with a horrible life, with a hideous and gigantic +grace, that titanic Terror whirled onwards to the mark of fate. +</p> + +<p> +At the moment nothing could persuade me that it was not alive and did not know +its awful mission. Visions flashed across my mind. I thought of the peoples of +the world sleeping in their beds, or going about their business, or engaged +even in the work of war. I thought of the ships upon the seas steaming steadily +towards their far-off ports. Then I thought of what presently might happen to +them, of the tremors followed by convulsions, of the sudden crashing down of +cities, such as we had seen in the picture Yva showed us in the Temple, of the +inflow of the waters of the deep piled up in mighty waves, of the woe and +desolation as of the end of the world, and of the quiet, following death. So I +thought and in my heart prayed to the great Arch-Architect of the Universe to +stretch out His Arm to avert this fearsome ruin of His handiwork. +</p> + +<p> +Oro glared, his thin fingers tightened their grip upon the rod, his hair and +long beard seemed to bristle with furious and delighted excitement. The +purple-fringed rim of the Monster had long overshadowed the whited patch of +rock; its grinding foot was scarce ten yards away. Oro made more signs to Yva +who, beneath the shelter of her shield, again bent down and did something that +I could not see. Then, as though her part were played, she rose, drew the grey +hood of her cloak all about her face so that her eyes alone remained visible, +took one step towards me and in the broken English we had taught her, called +into my ear. +</p> + +<p> +“Humphrey, God you bless! Humphrey, we meet soon. Forget not me!” +</p> + +<p> +She stepped back again before I could attempt to answer, and next instant with +a hideous, concentrated effort, Oro bending himself double, thrust upon the +rod, as I could see from his open mouth, shouting while he thrust. +</p> + +<p> +At the same moment, with a swift spring, Yva leapt immediately in front of the +lens or window, so that the metallic shield with which she covered herself +pressed against its substance. +</p> + +<p> +Simultaneously Oro flung up his arms as though in horror. +</p> + +<p> +Too late! The shutter fell and from behind it there sprang out a rush of living +flame. It struck on Yva’s shield and expanded to right and left. The +insulated shield and garments that she wore seemed to resist it. For a fraction +of time she stood there like a glowing angel, wrapped in fire. +</p> + +<p> +Then she was swept outwards and upwards and at a little distance dissolved like +a ghost and vanished from our sight. +</p> + +<p> +Yva was ashes! Yva was gone! The sacrifice was consummated! +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +And not in vain! Not in vain! On her poor breast she had received the full +blast of that hellish lightning flash. Yet whilst destroying, it turned away +from her, seeking the free paths of the air. So it came about that its +obstructed strength struck the foot of the travelling gyroscope, diffused and +did not suffice to thrust it that one necessary inch on which depended the fate +of half the world, or missing it altogether, passed away on either side. Even +so the huge, gleaming mountain rocked and trembled. Once, twice, thrice, it +bowed itself towards us as though in majestic homage to greatness passed away. +For a second, too, its course was checked, and at the check the earth quaked +and trembled. Yes, then the world shook, and the blue globes of fire went out, +while I was thrown to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +When they returned again, the flaming monster was once more sailing +majestically upon its way and <i>down the accustomed left-hand path!</i> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Indeed the sacrifice was not in vain. The world shook—but Yva had saved +the world! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.<br /> +Tommy</h2> + +<p> +I lay still a while, on my back as I had fallen, and beneath the shield-like +defence which Yva had given to me. Notwithstanding the fire-resisting, +metalised stuff of which it was made, I noted that it was twisted and almost +burnt through. Doubtless the stored-up electricity or earth magnetism, or +whatever it may have been that had leapt out of that hole, being diffused by +the resistance with which it was met, had grazed me with its outer edge, and +had it not been for the shield and cloak, I also should have been burned up. I +wished, oh! how I wished that it had been so. Then, by now all must have +finished and I should have known the truth as to what awaits us beyond the +change: sleep, or dreams, or perchance the fullest life. Also I should not have +learned alone. +</p> + +<p> +Lying there thus, idly, as though in a half-sleep, I felt Tommy licking my +face, and throwing my arm about the poor little frightened beast, I watched the +great world-balance as it retreated on its eternal journey. At one time its +vast projecting rim had overshadowed us and almost seemed to touch the cliff of +rock against which we leant. I remember that the effect of that shining arch a +thousand feet or so above our heads was wonderful. It reminded me of a canopy +of blackest thunder clouds supported upon a framework of wheeling rainbows, +while beneath it all the children of the devil shouted together in joy. I noted +this effect only a few seconds before Yva spoke to me and leapt into the path +of the flash. +</p> + +<p> +Now, however, it was far away, a mere flaming wheel that became gradually +smaller, and its Satanic voices were growing faint. As I have said, I watched +its disappearance idly, reflecting that I should never look upon its like +again; also that it was something well worth going forth to see. Then I became +aware that the humming, howling din had decreased sufficiently to enable me to +hear human voices without effort. Bastin was addressing Bickley—like +myself they were both upon the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“Her translation, as you may have noticed, Bickley, if you were not too +frightened, was really very remarkable. No doubt it will have reminded you, as +it did me, of that of Elijah. She had exactly the appearance of a person going +up to Heaven in a vehicle of fire. The destination was certainly the same, and +even the cloak she wore added a familiar touch and increased the +similarity.” +</p> + +<p> +“At any rate it did not fall upon you,” answered Bickley with +something like a sob, in a voice of mingled awe and exasperation. “For +goodness’ sake! Bastin, stop your Biblical parallels and let us adore, +yes, let us adore the divinest creature that the earth has borne!” +</p> + +<p> +Never have I loved Bickley more than when I heard him utter those words. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Divinest’ is a large term, Bickley, and one to which I +hesitate to subscribe, remembering as I do certain of the prophets and the +Early Fathers with all their faults, not of course to mention the Apostles. +But—” here he paused, for suddenly all three of us became aware of +Oro. +</p> + +<p> +He also has been thrown to the ground by the strength of the prisoned forces +which he gathered and loosed upon their unholy errand, but, as I rejoiced to +observe, had suffered from them much more than ourselves. Doubtless this was +owing to the fact that he had sprung forward in a last wild effort to save his +daughter, or to prevent her from interfering with his experiment, I know not +which. As a result his right cheek was much scorched, his right arm was +withered and helpless, and his magnificent beard was half burnt off him. +Further, very evidently he was suffering from severe shock, for he rocked upon +his feet and shook like an aspen leaf. All this, however, did not interfere +with the liveliness of his grief and rage. +</p> + +<p> +There he stood, a towering shape, like a lightning-smitten statue, and cursed +us, especially Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +“My daughter has gone!” he cried, “burned up by the fiery +power that is my servant. Nothing remains of her but dust, and, Priest, this is +your doing. You poisoned her heart with your childish doctrines of mercy and +sacrifice, and the rest, so that she threw herself into the path of the flash +to save some miserable races that she had never even known.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused exhausted, whereon Bastin answered him with spirit: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Oro, she being a holy woman, has gone where you will never follow +her. Also it is your own fault since you should have listened to her entreaties +instead of boxing her ears like the brute you are.” +</p> + +<p> +“My daughter is gone,” went on Oro, recovering his strength, +“and my great designs are ruined. Yet only for a while,” he added, +“for the world-balance will return again, if not till long after your +life-spans are done.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you don’t doctor yourself, Lord Oro,” said Bickley, also +rising, “I may tell you as one who understands such things, that most +likely it will be after your life-span is done also. Although their effect may +be delayed, severe shocks from burns and over-excitement are apt to prove fatal +to the aged.” +</p> + +<p> +Oro snarled at him; no other word describes it. +</p> + +<p> +“And there are other things, Physician,” he said, “which are +apt to prove fatal to the young. At least now you will no longer deny my +power.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not so sure,” answered Bickley, “since it seems that +there is a greater Power, namely that of a woman’s love and +sacrifice.” +</p> + +<p> +“And a greater still,” interrupted Bastin, “Which put those +ideas into her head.” +</p> + +<p> +“As for you, Humphrey,” went on Oro, “I rejoice to think that +you at least have lost two things that man desires above all other +things—the woman you sought and the future kingship of the world.” +</p> + +<p> +I stood up and faced him. +</p> + +<p> +“The first I have gained, although how, you do not understand, +Oro,” I answered. “And of the second, seeing that it would have +come through you, on your conditions, I am indeed glad to be rid. I wish no +power that springs from murder, and no gifts from one who answered his +daughter’s prayer with blows.” +</p> + +<p> +For a moment he seemed remorseful. +</p> + +<p> +“She vexed me with her foolishness,” he said. Then his rage blazed +up again: +</p> + +<p> +“And it was you who taught it to her,” he went on. “You are +guilty, all three of you, and therefore I am left with none to serve me in my +age; therefore also my mighty schemes are overthrown.” +</p> + +<p> +“Also, Oro, if you speak truth, therefore half the world is saved,” +I added quietly, “and one has left it of whom it was unworthy.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think that these civilisations of yours, as you are pleased to call +them, are saved, do you?” he sneered. “Yet, even if Bickley were +right and I should die and become powerless, I tell you that they are already +damned. I have studied them in your books and seen them with my eyes, and I say +that they are rotten before ever they are ripe, and that their end shall be the +end of the Sons of Wisdom, to die for lack of increase. That is why I would +have saved the East, because in it alone there is increase, and thence alone +can rise the great last race of man which I would have given to your children +for an heritage. Moreover, think not that you Westerners have done with wars. I +tell you that they are but begun and that the sword shall eat you up, and what +the sword spares class shall snatch from class in the struggle for supremacy +and ease.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus he spoke with extraordinary and concentrated bitterness that I confess +would have frightened me, had I been capable of fear, which at the moment I was +not. Who is afraid when he has lost all? +</p> + +<p> +Nor was Bastin alarmed, if for other reasons. +</p> + +<p> +“I think it right to tell you, Oro,” he said, “that the only +future you need trouble about is your own. God Almighty will look after the +western civilisations in whatever way He may think best, as you may remember He +did just now. Only I am sure you won’t be here to see how it is +done.” +</p> + +<p> +Again fury blazed in Oro’s eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“At least I will look after you, you half-bred dogs, who yap out +ill-omened prophecies of death into my face. Since the three of you loved my +daughter whom you brought to her doom, and were by her beloved, if differently, +I think it best that you should follow on her road. How? That is the question? +Shall I leave you to starve in these great caves?—Nay, look not towards +the road of escape which doubtless she pointed out to you, for, as Humphrey +knows, I can travel swiftly and I will make sure that you find it blocked. Or +shall I—” and he glanced upwards at the great globes of wandering +fire, as though he purposed to summon them to be our death, as doubtless he +could have done. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not care what you do,” I answered wearily. “Only I +would beg you to strike quickly. Yet for my friends I am sorry, since it was I +who led them on this quest, and for you, too, Tommy,” I added, looking at +the poor little hound. “You were foolish, Tommy,” I went on, +“when you scented out that old tyrant in his coffin, at least for our own +sake.” +</p> + +<p> +Indeed the dog was terribly scared. He whined continually and from time to time +ran a little way and then returned to us, suggesting that we should go from +this horror-haunted spot. Lastly, as though he understood that it was Oro who +kept us there, he went to him and jumping up, licked his hand in a beseeching +fashion. +</p> + +<p> +The super-man looked at the dog and as he looked the rage went out of his face +and was replaced by something resembling pity. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not wish the beast to die,” he muttered to himself in low +reflective tones, as though he thought aloud, “for of them all it alone +liked and did not fear me. I might take it with me but still it would perish of +grief in the loneliness of the caves. Moreover, she loved it whom I shall see +no more; yes, Yva—” as he spoke the name his voice broke a little. +“Yet if I suffer them to escape they will tell my story to the world and +make me a laughingstock. Well, if they do, what does it matter? None of those +Western fools would believe it; thinking that they knew all; like Bickley they +would mock and say that they were mad, or liars.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Tommy licked his hand, but more confidently, as though instinct told him +something of what was passing in Oro’s mind. I watched with an idle +wonder, marvelling whether it were possible that this merciless being would +after all spare us for the sake of the dog. +</p> + +<p> +So, strange to say, it came about, for suddenly Oro looked up and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Get you gone, and quickly, before my mood changes. The hound has saved +you. For its sake I give you your lives, who otherwise should certainly have +died. She who has gone pointed out to you, I doubt not, a road that runs to the +upper air. I think that it is still open. Indeed,” he added, closing his +eyes for a moment, “I see that it is still open, if long and difficult. +Follow it, and should you win through, take your boat and sail away as swiftly +as you can. Whether you die or live I care nothing, but my hands will be clean +of your blood, although yours are stained with Yva’s. Begone! and my +curse go with you.” +</p> + +<p> +Without waiting for further words we went to fetch our lanterns, water-bottles +and bag of food which we had laid down at a little distance. As we approached +them I looked up and saw Oro standing some way off. The light from one of the +blue globes of fire which passed close above his head, shone upon him and made +him ghastly. Moreover, it seemed to me as though approaching death had written +its name upon his malevolent countenance. +</p> + +<p> +I turned my head away, for about his aspect in those sinister surroundings +there was something horrible, something menacing and repellent to man and of +him I wished to see no more. Nor indeed did I, for when I glanced in that +direction again Oro was gone. I suppose that he had retreated into the shadows +where no light played. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +We gathered up our gear, and while the others were relighting the lanterns, I +walked a few paces forward to the spot where Yva had been dissolved in the +devouring fire. Something caught my eye upon the rocky floor. I picked it up. +It was the ring, or rather the remains of the ring that I had given her on that +night when we declared our love amidst the ruins by the crater lake. She had +never worn it on her hand but for her own reasons, as she told me, suspended it +upon her breast beneath her robe. It was an ancient ring that I had bought in +Egypt, fashioned of gold in which was set a very hard basalt or other black +stone. On this was engraved the <i>ank</i> or looped cross, which was the +Egyptian symbol of Life, and round it a snake, the symbol of Eternity. The gold +was for the most part melted, but the stone, being so hard and protected by the +shield and asbestos cloak, for such I suppose it was, had resisted the fury of +the flash. Only now it was white instead of black, like a burnt onyx that had +known the funeral pyre. Indeed, perhaps it was an onyx. I kissed it and hid it +away, for it seemed to me to convey a greeting and with it a promise. +</p> + +<p> +Then we started, a very sad and dejected trio. Leaving with a shudder that vast +place where the blue lights played eternally, we came to the shaft up and down +which the travelling stone pursued its endless path, and saw it arrive and +depart again. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder he did not send us that way,” said Bickley, pointing to +it. +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure I am very glad it never occurred to him,” answered +Bastin, “for I am certain that we could not have made the journey again +without our guide, Yva.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at him and he ceased. Somehow I could not bear, as yet, to hear her +beloved name spoken by other lips. +</p> + +<p> +Then we entered the passage that she pointed out to us, and began a most +terrible journey which, so far as we could judge, for we lost any exact count +of time, took us about sixty hours. The road, it is true, was smooth and +unblocked, but the ascent was fearfully steep and slippery; so much so that +often we were obliged to pull each other up it and lie down to rest. +</p> + +<p> +Had it not been for those large, felt-covered bottles of Life-water, I am sure +we should never have won through. But this marvelous elixir, drunk a little at +a time, always re-invigorated us and gave us strength to push on. Also we had +some food, and fortunately our spare oil held out, for the darkness in that +tunnel was complete. Tommy became so exhausted that at length we must carry him +by turns. He would have died had it not been for the water; indeed I thought +that he was going to die. +</p> + +<p> +After our last rest and a short sleep, however, he seemed to begin to recover, +and generally there was something in his manner which suggested to us that he +knew himself to be not far from the surface of the earth towards which we had +crawled upwards for thousands upon thousands of feet, fortunately without +meeting with any zone of heat which was not bearable. +</p> + +<p> +We were right, for when we had staggered forward a little further, suddenly +Tommy ran ahead of us and vanished. Then we heard him barking but where we +could not see, since the tunnel appeared to take a turn and continue, but this +time on a downward course, while the sound of the barks came from our right. We +searched with the lanterns which were now beginning to die and found a little +hole almost filled with fallen pieces of rock. We scooped these away with our +hands, making an aperture large enough to creep through. A few more yards and +we saw light, the blessed light of the moon, and in it stood Tommy barking +hoarsely. Next we heard the sound of the sea. We struggled on desperately and +presently pushed our way through bushes and vegetation on to a steep declivity. +Down this we rolled and scrambled, to find ourselves at last lying upon a sandy +beach, whilst above us the full moon shone in the heavens. +</p> + +<p> +Here, with a prayer of thankfulness, we flung ourselves down and slept. +</p> + +<p> +If it had not been for Tommy and we had gone further along the tunnel, which I +have little doubt stretched on beneath the sea, where, I wonder, should we have +slept that night? +</p> + +<p> +When we woke the sun was shining high in the heavens. Evidently there had been +rain towards the dawn, though as we were lying beneath the shelter of some +broad-leaved tree, from it we had suffered little inconvenience. Oh! how +beautiful, after our sojourn in those unholy caves, were the sun and the sea +and the sweet air and the raindrops hanging on the leaves. +</p> + +<p> +We did not wake of ourselves; indeed if we had been left alone I am sure that +we should have slept the clock round, for we were terribly exhausted. What woke +us was the chatter of a crowd of Orofenans who were gathered at a distance from +the tree and engaged in staring at us in a frightened way, also the barks of +Tommy who objected to their intrusion. Among the people I recognised our old +friend the chief Marama by his feather cloak, and sitting up, beckoned to him +to approach. After a good deal of hesitation he came, walking delicately like +Agag, and stopping from time to time to study us, as though he were not sure +that we were real. +</p> + +<p> +“What frightens you, Marama?” I asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“You frighten us, O Friend-from-the-Sea. Whence did you and the Healer +and the Bellower come and why do your faces look like those of ghosts and why +is the little black beast so large-eyed and so thin? Over the lake we know you +did not come, for we have watched day and night; moreover there is no canoe +upon the shore. Also it would not have been possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” I asked idly. +</p> + +<p> +“Come and see,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +Rising stiffly we emerged from beneath the tree and perceived that we were at +the foot of the cliff against which the remains of the yacht had been borne by +the great tempest. Indeed there it was within a couple of hundred yards of us. +</p> + +<p> +Following Marama we climbed the sloping path which ran up the cliff and +ascended a knoll whence we could see the lake and the cone of the volcano in +its centre. At least we used to be able to see this cone, but now, at any rate +with the naked eye, we could make out nothing, except a small brown spot in the +midst of the waters of the lake. +</p> + +<p> +“The mountain which rose up many feet in that storm which brought you to +Orofena, Friend-from-the-Sea, has now sunk till only the very top of it is to +be seen,” said Marama solemnly. “Even the Rock of Offerings has +vanished beneath the water, and with it the house that we built for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, affecting no surprise. “But when did that +happen?” +</p> + +<p> +“Five nights ago the world shook, Friend-from-the-Sea, and when the sun +rose we saw that the mouth of the cave which appeared on the day of your +coming, had vanished, and that the holy mountain itself had sunk deep, so that +now only the crest of it is left above the water.” +</p> + +<p> +“Such things happen,” I replied carelessly. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Friend-from-the-Sea. Like many other marvels they happen where you +and your companions are. Therefore we beg you who can arise out of the earth +like spirits, to leave us at once before our island and all of us who dwell +thereon are drowned beneath the ocean. Leave us before we kill you, if indeed +you be men, or die at your hands if, as we think, you be evil spirits who can +throw up mountains and drag them down, and create gods that slay, and move +about in the bowels of the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is our intention, for our business here is done,” I answered +calmly. “Come now and help us to depart. But first bring us food. Bring +it in plenty, for we must victual our boat.” +</p> + +<p> +Marama bowed and issued the necessary orders. Indeed food sufficient for our +immediate needs was already there as an offering, and of it we ate with +thankfulness. +</p> + +<p> +Then we boarded the ship and examined the lifeboat. Thanks to our precautions +it was still in very fair order and only needed some little caulking which we +did with grass fibre and pitch from the stores. After this with the help of the +Orofenans who worked hard in their desperate desire to be rid of us, we drew +the boat into the sea, and provisioned her with stores from the ship, and with +an ample supply of water. Everything being ready at last, we waited for the +evening wind which always blew off shore, to start. As it was not due for half +an hour or more, I walked back to the tree under which we had slept and tried +to find the hole whence we had emerged from the tunnel on to the face of the +cliff. +</p> + +<p> +My hurried search proved useless. The declivity of the cliff was covered with +tropical growth, and the heavy rain had washed away every trace of our descent, +and very likely filled the hole itself with earth. At any rate, of it I could +discover nothing. Then as the breeze began to blow I returned to the boat and +here bade adieu to Marama, who gave me his feather cloak as a farewell gift. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, Friend-from-the-Sea,” he said to me. “We are glad +to have seen you and thank you for many things. But we do not wish to see you +any more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, Marama,” I answered. “What you say, we echo. At +least you have now no great lump upon your neck and we have rid you of your +wizards. But beware of the god Oro who dwells in the mountain, for if you anger +him he will sink your island beneath the sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“And remember all that I have taught you,” shouted Bastin. +</p> + +<p> +Marama shivered, though whether at the mention of the god Oro, of whose powers +the Orofenans had so painful a recollection, or at the result of Bastin’s +teachings, I do not know. And that was the last we shall ever see of each other +in this world. +</p> + +<p> +The island faded behind us and, sore at heart because of all that we had found +and lost again, for three days we sailed northward with a fair and steady wind. +On the fourth evening by an extraordinary stroke of fortune, we fell in with an +American tramp steamer, trading from the South Sea Islands to San Francisco. To +the captain, who treated us very kindly, we said simply that we were a party of +Englishmen whose yacht had been wrecked on a small island several hundreds of +miles away, of which we knew neither the name, if it had one, nor the position. +</p> + +<p> +This story was accepted without question, for such things often happen in those +latitudes, and in due course we were landed at San Francisco, where we made +certain depositions before the British Consul as to the loss of the yacht +<i>Star of the South</i>. Then we crossed America, having obtained funds by +cable, and sailed for England in a steamer flying the flag of the United +States. +</p> + +<p> +Of the great war which made this desirable I do not speak since it has nothing, +or rather little, to do with this history. In the end we arrived safely at +Liverpool, and thence travelled to our homes in Devonshire. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Thus ended the history of our dealings with Oro, the super-man who began his +life more than two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, and with his daughter, +Yva, whom Bastin still often calls the Glittering Lady. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.<br /> +Bastin Discovers a Resemblance</h2> + +<p> +There is little more to tell. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after our return Bickley, like a patriotic Englishman, volunteered for +service at the front and departed in the uniform of the R.A.M.C. Before he left +he took the opportunity of explaining to Bastin how much better it was in such +a national emergency as existed, to belong to a profession in which a man could +do something to help the bodies of his countrymen that had been broken in the +common cause, than to one like his in which it was only possible to pelt them +with vain words. +</p> + +<p> +“You think that, do you, Bickley?” answered Bastin. “Well, I +hold that it is better to heal souls than bodies, because, as even you will +have learned out there in Orofena, they last so much longer.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not certain that I learned anything of the sort,” said +Bickley, “or even that Oro was more than an ordinary old man. He said +that he had lived a thousand years, but what was there to prove this except his +word, which is worth nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“There was the Lady Yva’s word also, which is worth a great deal, +Bickley.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but she may have meant a thousand moons. Further, as according to +her own showing she was still quite young, how could she know her +father’s age?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so, Bickley. But all she actually said was that she was of the +same age as one of our women of twenty-seven, which may have meant two hundred +and seventy for all I know. However, putting that aside you will admit that +they had both slept for two hundred and fifty thousand years.” +</p> + +<p> +“I admit that they slept, Bastin, because I helped to awaken them, but +for how long there is nothing to show, except those star maps which are +probably quite inaccurate.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are not inaccurate,” I broke in, “for I have had them +checked by leading astronomers who say that they show a marvelous knowledge of +the heavens as these were two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, and are +today.” +</p> + +<p> +Here I should state that those two metal maps and the ring which I gave to Yva +and found again after the catastrophe, were absolutely the only things +connected with her or with Oro that we brought away with us. The former I would +never part with, feeling their value as evidence. Therefore, when we descended +to the city Nyo and the depths beneath, I took them with me wrapped in cloth in +my pocket. Thus they were preserved. Everything else went when the Rock of +Offerings and the cave mouth sank beneath the waters of the lake. +</p> + +<p> +This may have happened either in the earth tremor, which no doubt was caused by +the advance of the terrific world-balance, or when the electric power, though +diffused and turned by Yva’s insulated body, struck the great +gyroscope’s travelling foot with sufficient strength, not to shift it +indeed on to the right-hand path as Oro had designed, but still to cause it to +stagger and even perhaps to halt for the fraction of a second. Even this pause +may have been enough to cause convulsions of the earth above; indeed, I +gathered from Marama and other Orofenans that such convulsions had occurred on +and around the island at what must have corresponded with that moment of the +loosing of the force. +</p> + +<p> +This loss of our belongings in the house of the Rock of Offerings was the more +grievous because among them were some Kodak photographs which I had taken, +including portraits of Oro and one of Yva that was really excellent, to say +nothing of pictures of the mouth of the cave and of the ruins and crater lake +above. How bitterly I regret that I did not keep these photographs in my pocket +with the map-plates. +</p> + +<p> +“Even if the star-maps are correct, still it proves nothing,” said +Bickley, “since possibly Oro’s astronomical skill might have +enabled him to draw that of the sky at any period, though I allow this is +impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +“I doubt his taking so much trouble merely to deceive three wanderers who +lacked the knowledge even to check them,” I said. “But all this +misses the point, Bickley. However long they had slept, that man and woman did +arise from seeming death. They did dwell in those marvelous caves with their +evidences of departed civilisations, and they did show us that fearful, +world-wandering gyroscope. These things we saw.” +</p> + +<p> +“I admit that we saw them, Arbuthnot, and I admit that they are one and +all beyond human comprehension. To that extent I am converted, and, I may add, +humbled,” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“So you ought to be,” exclaimed Bastin, “seeing that you +always swore that there was nothing in the world that is not capable of a +perfectly natural explanation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of which all these things may be capable, Bastin, if only we held the +key.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Bickley, but how do you explain what the Lady Yva did? I may +tell you now what she commanded me to conceal at the time, namely, that she +became a Christian; so much so that by her own will, I baptised and confirmed +her on the very morning of her sacrifice. Doubtless it was this that changed +her heart so much that she became willing, of course without my knowledge, to +leave everything she cared for,” here he looked hard at me, “and +lay down her life to save the world, half of which she believed was about to be +drowned by Oro. Now, considering her history and upbringing, I call this a +spiritual marvel, much greater than any you now admit, and one you can’t +explain, Bickley.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I cannot explain, or, at any rate, I will not try,” he +answered, also staring hard at me. “Whatever she believed, or did not +believe, and whatever would or would not have happened, she was a great and +wonderful woman whose memory I worship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so, Bickley, and now perhaps you see my point, that what you +describe as mere vain words may also be helpful to mankind; more so, indeed, +than your surgical instruments and pills.” +</p> + +<p> +“You couldn’t convert Oro, anyway,” exclaimed Bickley, with +irritation. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Bickley; but then I have always understood that the devil is beyond +conversion because he is beyond repentance. You see, I think that if that old +scoundrel was not the devil himself, at any rate he was a bit of him, and, if I +am right, I am not ashamed to have failed in his case.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even Oro was not utterly bad, Bastin,” I said, reflecting on +certain traits of mercy that he had shown, or that I dreamed him to have shown +in the course of our mysterious midnight journeys to various parts of the +earth. Also I remembered that he had loved Tommy and for his sake had spared +our lives. Lastly, I do not altogether wonder that he came to certain hasty +conclusions as to the value of our modern civilisations. +</p> + +<p> +“I am very glad to hear it, Humphrey, since while there is a spark left +the whole fire may burn up again, and I believe that to the Divine mercy there +are no limits, though Oro will have a long road to travel before he finds it. +And now I have something to say. It has troubled me very much that I was +obliged to leave those Orofenans wandering in a kind of religious +twilight.” +</p> + +<p> +“You couldn’t help that,” said Bickley, “seeing that if +you had stopped, by now you would have been wandering in religious +light.” +</p> + +<p> +“Still, I am not sure that I ought not to have stopped. I seem to have +deserted a field that was open to me. However, it can’t be helped, since +it is certain that we could never find that island again, even if Oro has not +sunk it beneath the sea, as he is quite capable of doing, to cover his tracks, +so to speak. So I mean to do my best in another field by way of +atonement.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are not going to become a missionary?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“No, but with the consent of the Bishop, who, I think, believes that my +<i>locum</i> got on better in the parish than I do, as no doubt was the case, +I, too, have volunteered for the Front, and been accepted as a chaplain of the +201st Division.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, that’s mine!” said Bickley. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it? I am very glad, since now we shall be able to pursue our pleasant +arguments and to do our best to open each other’s minds.” +</p> + +<p> +“You fellows are more fortunate than I am,” I remarked. “I +also volunteered, but they wouldn’t take me, even as a Tommy, although I +misstated my age. They told me, or at least a specialist whom I saw did +afterwards, that the blow I got on the head from that sorcerer’s +boy—” +</p> + +<p> +“I know, I know!” broke in Bickley almost roughly. “Of +course, things might go wrong at any time. But with care you may live to old +age.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry to hear it,” I said with a sigh, “at least I +think I am. Meanwhile, fortunately there is much that I can do at home; indeed +a course of action has been suggested to me by an old friend who is now in +authority.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Once more Bickley and Bastin in their war-stained uniforms were dining at my +table and on the very night of their return from the Front, which was +unexpected. Indeed Tommy nearly died of joy on hearing their voices in the +hall. They, who played a worthy part in the great struggle, had much to tell +me, and naturally their more recent experiences had overlaid to some extent +those which we shared in the mysterious island of Orofena. Indeed we did not +speak of these until, just as they were going away, Bastin paused beneath a +very beautiful portrait of my late wife, the work of an artist famous for his +power of bringing out the inner character, or what some might call the soul, of +the sitter. He stared at it for a while in his short-sighted way, then said: +“Do you know, Arbuthnot, it has sometimes occurred to me, and never more +than at this moment, that although they were different in height and so on, +there was a really curious physical resemblance between your late wife and the +Lady Yva.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered. “I think so too.” +</p> + +<p> +Bickley also examined the portrait very carefully, and as he did so I saw him +start. Then he turned away, saying nothing. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Such is the summary of all that has been important in my life. It is, I admit, +an odd story and one which suggests problems that I cannot solve. Bastin deals +with such things by that acceptance which is the privilege and hall-mark of +faith; Bickley disposes, or used to dispose, of them by a blank denial which +carries no conviction, and least of all to himself. +</p> + +<p> +What is life to most of us who, like Bickley, think ourselves learned? A round, +short but still with time and to spare wherein to be dull and lonesome; a +fateful treadmill to which we were condemned we know not how, but apparently +through the casual passions of those who went before us and are now forgotten, +causing us, as the Bible says, to be born in sin; up which we walk wearily we +know not why, seeming never to make progress; off which we fall outworn we know +not when or whither. +</p> + +<p> +Such upon the surface it appears to be, nor in fact does our ascertained +knowledge, as Bickley would sum it up, take us much further. No prophet has yet +arisen who attempted to define either the origin or the reasons of life. Even +the very Greatest of them Himself is quite silent on this matter. We are +tempted to wonder why. Is it because life as expressed in the higher of human +beings, is, or will be too vast, too multiform and too glorious for any +definition which we could understand? Is it because in the end it will involve +for some, if not for all, majesty on unfathomed majesty, and glory upon +unimaginable glory such as at present far outpass the limits of our thought? +</p> + +<p> +The experiences which I have recorded in these pages awake in my heart a hope +that this may be so. Bastin is wont, like many others, to talk in a light +fashion of Eternity without in the least comprehending what he means by that +gigantic term. It is not too much to say that Eternity, something without +beginning and without end, and involving, it would appear, an everlasting +changelessness, is a state beyond human comprehension. As a matter of fact we +mortals do not think in constellations, so to speak, or in æons, but by the +measures of our own small earth and of our few days thereon. We cannot really +conceive of an existence stretching over even one thousand years, such as that +which Oro claimed and the Bible accords to a certain early race of men, +omitting of course his two thousand five hundred centuries of sleep. And yet +what is this but one grain in the hourglass of time, one day in the lost record +of our earth, of its sisters the planets and its father the sun, to say nothing +of the universes beyond? +</p> + +<p> +It is because I have come in touch with a prolonged though perfectly finite +existence of the sort, that I try to pass on the reflections which the fact of +it awoke in me. There are other reflections connected with Yva and the marvel +of her love and its various manifestations which arise also. But these I keep +to myself. They concern the wonder of woman’s heart, which is a microcosm +of the hopes and fears and desires and despairs of this humanity of ours +whereof from age to age she is the mother. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +H<small>UMPHREY</small> A<small>RBUTHNOT</small>. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>NOTE By J. R. Bickley, M.R.C.S.</h2> + +<p> +Within about six months of the date on which he wrote the last words of this +history of our joint adventures, my dear friend, Humphrey Arbuthnot, died +suddenly, as I had foreseen that probably he would do, from the results of the +injury he received in the island of Orofena. +</p> + +<p> +He left me the sole executor to his will, under which he divided his property +into three parts. One third he bequeathed to me, one third (which is strictly +tied up) to Bastin, and one third to be devoted, under my direction, to the +advancement of Science. +</p> + +<p> +His end appears to have been instantaneous, resulting from an effusion of blood +upon the brain. When I was summoned I found him lying dead by the writing desk +in his library at Fulcombe Priory. He had been writing at the desk, for on it +was a piece of paper on which appear these words: “<i>I have seen her. +I</i>—” There the writing ends, not stating whom he thought he had +seen in the moments of mental disturbance or delusion which preceded his +decease. +</p> + +<p> +Save for certain verbal corrections, I publish this manuscript without comment +as the will directs, only adding that it sets out our mutual experiences very +faithfully, though Arbuthnot’s deductions from them are not always my +own. +</p> + +<p> +I would say also that I am contemplating another visit to the South Sea +Islands, where I wish to make some further investigations. I dare say, however, +that these will be barren of results, as the fountain of Life-water is buried +for ever, nor, as I think, will any human being stand again in the Hades-like +halls of Nyo. It is probable also that it would prove impossible to rediscover +the island of Orofena, if indeed that volcanic land still remains above the +waters of the deep. +</p> + +<p> +Now that he is a very wealthy man, Bastin talks of accompanying me for purposes +quite different from my own, but on the whole I hope he will abandon this idea. +I may add that when he learned of his unexpected inheritance he talked much of +the “deceitfulness of riches,” but that he has not as yet taken any +steps to escape their golden snare. Indeed he now converses of his added +“opportunities of usefulness,” I gather in connection with +missionary enterprise. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +J. R. B<small>ICKLEY</small>. +</p> + +<p> +<i>P.S</i>.—I forgot to state that the spaniel Tommy died within three +days of his owner. The poor little beast was present in the room at the time of +Arbuthnot’s passing away, and when found seemed to be suffering from +shock. From that moment Tommy refused food and finally was discovered quite +dead and lying by the body on Marama’s feather cloak, which Arbuthnot +often used as a dressing-gown. As Bastin raised some religious objections, I +arranged without his knowledge that the dog’s ashes should rest not far +from those of the master and mistress whom it loved so well. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +J.R.B. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1368 ***</div> +</body> + +</html> + + |