diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-27 10:17:58 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-27 10:17:58 -0800 |
| commit | 3a4c7d9c8b94e8b1857762a2eac9f31e70e90204 (patch) | |
| tree | 2b31c43061440137dec6577d90da192384e823a0 | |
| parent | 0ba10083f10e7fb3ba3499565ab8ebd797049339 (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-0.txt | 8526 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-0.zip | bin | 167053 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h.zip | bin | 1804225 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/60248-h.htm | 11035 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 57917 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_034.jpg | bin | 130663 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_050.jpg | bin | 136546 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_150.jpg | bin | 147453 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_172.jpg | bin | 130713 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_242.jpg | bin | 166001 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_244.jpg | bin | 172160 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_258.jpg | bin | 127075 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_286.jpg | bin | 152938 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_300.jpg | bin | 149436 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_308.jpg | bin | 108405 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg | bin | 99266 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60248-h/images/i_title.jpg | bin | 50488 -> 0 bytes |
20 files changed, 17 insertions, 19561 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1082600 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60248 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60248) diff --git a/old/60248-0.txt b/old/60248-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cea6db3..0000000 --- a/old/60248-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8526 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Messiah of the Cylinder, by Victor Rousseau - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: The Messiah of the Cylinder - -Author: Victor Rousseau - -Illustrator: Joseph Clement Coll - -Release Date: September 7, 2019 [EBook #60248] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MESSIAH OF THE CYLINDER *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - THE MESSIAH OF THE CYLINDER - - -[Illustration: - - I put my feet inside and squeezed down to the bottom - - [_Page 28_] -] - - - - -[Illustration: - - The Messiah - of the - Cylinder - - - by - Victor Rousseau - - Illustrated by - Joseph Clement Coll -] - - CHICAGO - A.C. McCLURG & CO. - 1917 - - - - - Copyright - A. C. McClurg & Co. - 1917 - - - Published October, 1917 - - - _Copyrighted in Great Britain_ - - - _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign - languages, including the Scandinavian._ - - - W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I Over the Coffee Cups 1 - - II The Great Experiment 16 - - III In the Cellar 30 - - IV The Road to London 41 - - V London’s Welcome 53 - - VI The Strangers’ House 66 - - VII Hidden Things 79 - - VIII How the World Was Made Over 89 - - IX The Book 102 - - X The Domed Building 108 - - XI The Goddess of the Temple 122 - - XII The Lords of Misrule 137 - - XIII The Palace of Palms 151 - - XIV The House on the Wall 164 - - XV The Airscouts’ Fortress 174 - - XVI The Messiah’s Annunciation 186 - - XVII The Chapel Underground 198 - - XVIII Sanson 214 - - XIX The Story of the Cylinders 225 - - XX The Sweep of the Net 237 - - XXI Amaranth 247 - - XXII Esther 261 - - XXIII The Heart of the People 271 - - XXIV Lembken 280 - - XXV The Coming of the Cross 292 - - XXVI The Admiral of the Air 302 - - XXVII The New Order 312 - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - I put my feet inside and squeezed down to the bottom _Frontispiece_ - - I made my difficult way toward the stairs 34 - - I glanced from one to another, and met hard, mirthless - eyes, and mouths twisted in sneering mockery 50 - - “Woe to you, accursed city!” he screamed, “Woe to you in - the day of judgment! Woe to your whites and harlots - when the judgment comes!” 150 - - It pulled me through the window-gap and I swung far out - above the Airscouts’ Fortress 172 - - A man near me leaped up and craned his neck, looking - into the gloom 242 - - A tall man with a black beard and a curved sword sheath - that clanked on the stones. I recognized in him - Mehemet, the Turkish commander 244 - - Sanson’s indomitable will flamed out. “I will not - drink!” he cried, and flung the cup to the floor 258 - - The giant leaped out before his followers. “Where is - Lembken?” he roared. “Where are the men?” 286 - - Upon the walls the Guard were swarming toward the - defenders. Out of their midst the Ray artillery - belched 300 - - The giant jaws upon our aircraft gaped. I saw steel - teeth within them 308 - - - - - The Messiah of the Cylinder - - - - - CHAPTER I - OVER THE COFFEE CUPS - - -If I recall the conversation of that evening so minutely as to appear -tedious, I must plead that this was the last occasion on which I saw Sir -Spofforth alive. In such a case, one naturally remembers incidents and -recalls words that otherwise might have been forgotten; besides, here -were the two opposed opinions of life, as old as Christianity, -confronting each other starkly. And, as will be seen, the test was to -come in such manner as only one of us could have imagined. - -I picture old Sir Spofforth as on that evening: courteous, restrained, -yet with the heat of conviction burning in his measured phrases; and -Esther listening with quaint seriousness, turning from her father to -Lazaroff and back, and sometimes to me, as each of us spoke. Outside, in -the moonlight, the shadow of the Institute lay black across the garden -of Sir Spofforth’s house. The dining-room was fragrant with the scent of -the tea-roses that grew beneath the windows. - -The Biological Institute was less than five years old, but the London -smoke, which drifted beyond Croydon, already had darkened the bright-red -bricks to a tolerable terra cotta. The ivy had grown a good way up the -walls. The Institute was accommodating itself to the landscape, as -English buildings had the knack of doing. Lazaroff and I had been there -under Sir Spofforth since the foundation, and there never had been any -others upon the staff, the Institute being organized for specialized -work of narrow scope, though of immense perspective. - -It was devoted to private research into the nature of life, in the -application of the Mendelian law to vertebrates. The millionaire who had -endowed it for this purpose and then died opportunely, had not had time -to hamper us with restrictions. Next to endowing us, his death was, -perhaps, the most imaginative thing that he had ever accomplished. The -Government concerned itself only about our vivisection certificates. But -our animal experimentation was too innocuous for these to be much more -than a safeguard. Carrel’s investigations in New York, a year or two -before, had shown the world that cell and tissue can not only survive -the extinction of the general vital quantity, but, under proper -conditions, proliferate indefinitely. We were investigating tissue life, -and our proceedings were quite innocuous. It will be seen that we -already had gotten away from Mendel, though we did breed Belgian hares, -whose disappearance always caused Esther distress, and we made fanciful -annotations inside ruled margins about “agoutis” and “allelomorphs.” - -I am conscious now that we worked constantly under a sense of -constraint; there was an unnecessary secrecy in all our plans and -actions. Why? I think, when I look back, that it was not because of what -we were doing, but rather of what it might become necessary some day to -do. The work was so near to sacrilege—I mean, we viewed the animal -structure as a mechanism rather than as a temple. That, of course, was -then the way of all biologists; but that, I think, was the cause of our -rather furtive methods. We were hot on the trail of the mystery of life, -and never knew upon what intimacies we might stumble. We sought to -discover how and where consciousness is born out of unconscious tissue -vitality. Lazaroff had the intuition of genius, and his inductions were -amazing. Still, that problem baffled him. - -“Pennell,” I hear him say, “at a certain period of growth, when millions -of cells, working cooperatively, have grouped themselves in certain -patterns, completing the design, consciousness comes into play. Why? Is -it a by-product, the creak that accompanies the wheel? But Nature -produces nothing in vain. Then why should we know that we exist? Why?” - -Lazaroff was a Prussian Pole, I believe, though he spoke half a dozen -languages fluently. Keen and fanatical, daring, inflexible, he seemed to -me the sort of man who would welcome the chance to proclaim a Holy War -for Science and die in the front rank. He had the strange old German -faith that was called monism, and his hope for the human race was as -strong as his contempt for the man of our day. - -“The race is all, Pennell,” I hear him say again. “We of this age, who -pride ourselves on our accomplishments, are only emerging from the dawn -of civilization. We are still encumbered with all the ghostly fears that -obsessed our ancestors of the Stone Age. But others will build the -Temple of Truth upon the foundations that we are rearing. Oh, if I could -have been born a hundred years ahead! For the change is coming fast, -Pennell!” - -And, when I professed to doubt the nearness of that change: “If your -frontal area varied by only five centimeters, Pennell, you would -believe. That is your tragedy, to fall short of the human norm by five -centimeters of missing forehead.” - -I can see his well-proportioned figure, and the mane of black hair -thrown back; the flashing eyes. Animated by religious impulse, Lazaroff -would have gone to the stake as unconcernedly as he would certainly have -burned others. He had invented a system of craniometry by which he -professed to discover the mentality of his subject, and I was his first. - -Certainly the conditions were ideal for our work. We were both young -men, enthusiasts; and Sir Spofforth Moore, our chief, was nearing -eighty. The Trustees had picked him for the post because of his great -name in the medical world. He was an ideal chief. He interfered with us -no more than the Trustees did. He asked for no results. The Institute -existed only for patient research. Yes, the millionaire had certainly -displayed imagination for a millionaire, and it was fortunate that he -died before his hobby, whose inception came to him, I believe, from -reading sensational newspaper articles, grew into an obsession. - -The Trustees refused to accept Sir Spofforth’s resignation when he -became infirm. He lent the Institute dignity and prestige. I doubt -whether he knew much of Mendelism, or had followed the work of the past -five years. He knew little of what we were doing, and initialed our -vouchers without ever demurring. Of course he tried to keep in touch -with us, and I will confess that our routine work was mainly a cover for -the daring plan that Lazaroff had, bit by bit, outlined to me. - -“You see, Pennell,” he explained in self-justification, “the work must -be done. And where are there such opportunities as here? Science cannot -be bound by the provisions of a dead man’s deed. It is not likely that -Sir Spofforth would object, either, but the Trustees might have -intelligence enough to pick up the idea from the quarterly reports if we -were entirely frank, and a biologist with imagination is called a -charlatan. And we must work quickly, while we have this chance. When Sir -Spofforth dies the Trustees will probably pick some fussy little -busybody who will want to poke his nose into everything and take -personal charge. Then—what of our experiment?” - -The idea aroused me to as much enthusiasm as Lazaroff. And yet there was -disappointment in the knowledge that we should never know the results of -it. - -In brief, Lazaroff’s scheme was this: If animal tissues, removed from -the entire organism, can exist in a condition of suspended vitality for -an indefinite time, at a temperature suited to them in conditions which -forbid germ life to flourish, why not the living animal? Lazaroff had -selected three monkeys from among our stock for the experiment. They -were to be sealed each in a vacuum cylinder of special design, and left -for a century. - -“The more I think about the plan, the more enthusiastic I become, -Pennell,” Lazaroff cried. “If the unconscious cell life survives -indefinitely, why not the entire organism plus consciousness?” - -“Much may happen in a hundred years, Lazaroff,” I answered. - -“True, Pennell. But they will never find the vault. Even now, before it -is sealed, it would not be looked for, built as it is into the cellar -wall beneath the freezing-plant. It was to this end, you know, that I -brought down workmen from London, instead of employing local talent. -Well—we shall leave papers. Earthquakes and revolutions may happen -overhead, but a hundred years hence, when the papers are opened, a -search will be made. Our traveling simians will be found by a very -different world, I assure you, Pennell!” - -He had the light of an enthusiast in his eyes, and his mood aroused my -own imagination. - -“What use is that, Lazaroff?” I cried. “We shall not know the results of -our experiment. And what message can monkeys carry to that world -concerning ours? If monkeys, why not men?” - -He looked at me fixedly, smiling ever so little, and I perceived that he -had drawn the expression of that thought out of the depths of my own -mind by his strong will. Now he nodded in approbation. - -“Pennell—” he began, with hesitation, “do you want to know why I myself -do not—?” He stopped. “I am almost ashamed to tell you what it is that -makes me wish to live out my life among my contemporaries,” he -continued. “How strong the primal instincts are in all of us, Arnold! -Nature, with her blind, but perfectly directed will, warring on mind, -and mind rising slowly to dominate her, armed, as she is, with her -dreadful arsenal of a thousand superstitions, instincts, terrors. It is -a fearful battle, Arnold, and many of us fall by the way.” - -He turned aside abruptly, as if he regretted the half-confidence. I -thought I knew what he meant, and I was stirred too. - -We dined that night with Sir Spofforth and Esther in their new house -within a stone’s throw of the Institute. Esther was the only child; her -mother had died during her infancy. We four had been intimates during -the whole five years of the Institute’s existence; strangely alone, we -four, in the busy Surrey town. The memory of that last night is the most -poignant that remains to me. How far away it seems, and how long ago! If -I could have known then that our companionship was ended! - -The argument to which I have referred began after dinner, over our -coffee. It was our usual hour for disputations, but they had never been -so keen, nor Lazaroff so outspoken. Sir Spofforth was a man of the old -school of thought, religious, tolerant, and withal more disquieted than -he himself was aware, by the dominant materialism of the younger men; -and Lazaroff had all the tactlessness of his Jena training. There were -rumors of war with Germany, but Sir Spofforth was too old to adjust his -mind immediately to this conception. He grew heated, as always, on the -cynical scheme of the democratic government, dictated by its greed for -power, to force Ulster beneath an alien yoke, upon the loud and stunning -silence of our English pacifists and lovers of oppressed nations where -their sincerity would be best proved. He deplored the new and dangerous -doctrines that were permeating society, the decay of morals, the loss of -reverence and pride in service. Civilization, he said, seemed dying, and -democracy its murderer. - -“Dying! It is still struggling in its birth throes!” cried Lazaroff -impetuously. “I grant that the democracy of today has proved its -futility. But there is a new democracy to come. We are enslaved by the -traditions of the past, by a worn-out religious system based upon the -primitive animistic notion of a soul. There is the fatal weakness of our -democracy. Science has never found the smallest trace of a soul; on the -contrary, we know beyond doubt that we live in a mechanistic universe of -absolute determinism.” - -I see Sir Spofforth’s tolerant, yet eager look as he answered him. - -“I grant you that the soul is not to be found in the dissecting-room, -Herman,” he answered. “I, as you know, have devoted my life to the -empirical investigation of truth, and I do not decry the method. But you -cannot ignore the interior way of analysis, through the one thing we -know most intimately—consciousness.” - -“A by-product of matter,” answered Lazaroff contemptuously. “Or, if we -want to be precisely true, the sum and substance of cell consciousness.” - -“Well, throw the blame on the cell, then, in the modern fashion,” said -Sir Spofforth, smiling. “I doubt, though, whether you have solved the -one big problem by creating some million smaller ones. On the contrary, -you are postulating a hierarchy of intelligences, quite in the Catholic -fashion. If brain consciousness is not a specialized form of omniscient -consciousness, how does the brainless amoeba find its food and engulf -it, or the vine its supports? If you have robbed us of the abortive hope -of saving the little empire of the brain beyond the change of death—and -I deny even that entirely—some of us have identified consciousness with -a non-material personality functioning through all life and fashioning -it.” - -“Vitalism!” scoffed Lazaroff. - -I watched Esther’s eager face as she looked from one speaker to the -other. Sir Spofforth seemed more agitated than the situation warranted, -and I saw him glance at his daughter a little nervously before he -answered. - -“Herman, I repeat that I have given my life to scientific -investigation,” he replied. “But I have always recognized the validity -of the metaphysical inquiry. I believe Faith and Science have found -their paths convergent. Lodge thinks so, too. Kelvin took that stand. -James, your great psychologist, shifted before he died. Science must -confine her activities within their natural bounds and not seek to play -a pontifical part, or the excesses of the Scholastics will be repeated -in a new and darker age.” - -“I cannot agree with you,” cried Lazaroff vehemently. “An age is dawning -when, relieved from their chains, men will look open-eyed into Nature to -learn her secrets. Today civilization is being choked to death by the -effete, the defective, whom a too benign humanitarianism suffers to live -beneath the shelter of a worn-out faith. The fearful menace of a race of -defectives has laid hold of the popular imagination. Soon we shall -follow the lead of progressive America, and forbid them to propagate -their kind. Here any statesman who dared suggest sterilization would be -hounded from office. But England is awakening. - -“It will go, that relic of degrading, savage superstition called the -soul, the barbarous legacy of the ages enshrined in a hundred fairy -stories. Science will rule. Man will be free. The logical State, finely -conceived by Wells, without its rudimentary appendixes and fish-gills, -will be the nation of the future. For we are outgrowing childish things. -Man is coming of age. If only I could live to see it! But I was born a -century too soon!” - -The expression on Lazaroff’s face at that moment was so singular that I -could not take my eyes away from it. - -“It will be a world of physical and mental perfection, too,” he cried. -“Of free men and women, freely mating, separating when the mating -impulse is dead—” - -“Yes, he is right, Father,” Esther interposed eagerly. “Whatever else -may come, the hour of woman’s liberation is striking.” - -“That hour struck many times in the ancient world, my dear,” her father -answered. “And it brought, not liberation, but slavery.” He turned to -Lazaroff. “You want a world of men and women reared like prize cattle -and governed by laws as mechanistic as your universe,” he said. “Well, -Herman, you have had that world. That was the pre-Christian world. Your -free love, your eugenics has been tried in Rome, in Sparta, in many an -ancient kingdom. And we know what those civilizations were. - -“If you eugenists only knew the dreadful crop of dragon’s teeth that you -are scattering today upon the fertile soil of the unthinking mind! -Because we, fortunately, live in the millennial lull of a transitional -age, you think that human nature has changed; that the fury of the -Crusades will never be renewed in fantastic social wars, and the madness -of religious fratricide in the madness of Science become Faith. All the -old evils are lying low, lurking in the minds of men, ready to spring -forth in all their ancient fury when the wise and illogical compromises, -evolved through centuries of experience, have been discarded. I -sometimes think that Holy Russia has man’s future in her charge. For -without Christianity the moral nature of man will be where it has been -in ages past. Social and economic readjustments leave it unchanged.” - -“A religion of slaves, of the weak and incompetent,” said Lazaroff -loudly. - -“You think, then, that human passions have become emulsified by -education? What a delusion!” - -“Unquestionably. Permit me to refer to myself as an example of the crass -materialist. For I do not believe in anything but matter. Matter is -soul, as Hæckel proves. Yet, I am not on that account a man of base -impulses. I do not want to wound, to kill, to steal, to torture—” - -“Are you quite sure you know yourself, Herman?” - -“But I utterly reject the efficacy of your Christianity, except in this -low order of civilization. It is a dead faith, with its foolish -miracles, its preposterous and unscientific dualism.” - -“And I say,” cried Sir Spofforth, rising out of his chair, “that it is -precisely the Christian norm, the unattainable ideal of Christ, working -in the human heart, that has freed civilization from cruelty and shame. -Why, look backward before Christ lived, and forward: don’t you see that -we are actually indwelling in Him, according to His promise? Think of -the Christians burned as living torches in Nero’s time, and read the -writings of contemporary Romans, men of disciplined lives and a -mentality as great as ours. Read Pliny, Tacitus, Seneca; read of the -hopelessness of life when Rome was at her highest, and see if this -stirred them. Picture Marcus Aurelius, the noble Stoic, presiding over -the amphitheater. Study the manners and morals of Athens when her light -burned most brightly. Contrast a thousand years of man’s abasement, and -try to set the Inquisition against that. - -“Future ages will say this: that nobody, not one of our statesmen saw -the course that had been set when the civil State was first established. -Never before in history had tribe or nation existed but grew up round -the focus of some god. The churchless State is a body without a soul. -Warnings multiply—in France and in America—but who can read them? When -religion goes, the spirit of the race is dying. It is just the ideal of -Christ, enshrined in the minds of a few leaders of character and trained -conviction, that has kept the world on its slow course of progress. And -nothing else saves us from the unstable tyrannies of ancient days.” - -I was so stirred by Sir Spofforth’s eloquence that I clapped my hands -vigorously, although I did not wholly agree with him. Esther was staring -at Lazaroff; she was partly convinced and wanted him to answer her -father. But Lazaroff, ignoring her gaze, scowled at me across the table. - -“So you are of the same mind, are you, Pennell?” he asked, not trying to -disguise his sneer. “And you don’t imagine that it is your missing five -centimeters? Well, I hope that you may have your chance to find out for -yourself. I hope you may, indeed.” He nodded and smiled in a rather evil -fashion. - -“Well, I must really offer you all an apology,” said Sir Spofforth, -penitently. “Enough of these debatable subjects for a week at least. We -two shall never agree on politics or religion, Herman. Let us go -upstairs.” - - - - - CHAPTER II - THE GREAT EXPERIMENT - - -Since Sir Spofforth was a little infirm, and leaned on my arm to make -his slow ascent of the stairs, we entered the drawing-room a full minute -after the others. The room was empty; Esther and Lazaroff had gone into -the big conservatory that opened out of the south side. I heard the -rustle of the girl’s dress as she moved among the palms, and Lazaroff -speaking earnestly in a low voice. - -“Sit down, Arnold,” said Sir Spofforth, subsiding stiffly into his arm -chair. “Thank you, my boy. I feel old age coming swiftly upon me -nowadays. No, I am not self-deceived. It is strange, this sense of the -daily diminution of the physical powers, and not at all unpleasant, -either. It seems familiar, too, as if one had passed through it plenty -of times before. It is something like bedtime, Arnold, but I hope and -believe there will be a tomorrow, for I assure you I have an almost -boyish zest for life, though rather contemplative than energetic for a -while, till I have rested. There is a little forgetfulness of names and -places, but memory seems to become more luminous as it falls back upon -itself. Well, some day you will experience this. You two must carry on -the work of the Institute. Herman is an able fellow, in spite of his -mechanistic notions. But I wonder whether any woman could be happy with -him?” - -He watched me rather keenly as he said that. - -“There’s only one thing makes me want to live a little longer, Arnold,” -he continued, “and that is Esther’s future. It would be a great -satisfaction to me to see her settled happily before I go. Forgive an -old man’s frankness if I say that sometimes I have almost thought you -two cared for each other.” - -“You are quite right in part, sir,” I replied. “I do care for Esther a -good deal.” - -“And she, I am sure, has a very warm feeling for you, Arnold. There is -nobody whom I would rather have for Esther’s husband than yourself.” - -“Well, sir, the fact is, we are not sure that our views are altogether -harmonious,” I confessed. “I am, as you know, rather sceptical about the -newest views for revolutionizing woman’s status, while Esther—” - -“Is a full-fledged suffragist and has exalted notions about the race of -the future. Tush, my boy! Never hold back proposing marriage because of -intellectual differences. The race spirit, sitting up aloft and pulling -the strings, is laughing at you.” - -“But, Sir Spofforth, to be candid, it was not I who held back,” I -answered. - -“Hum! I see!” he answered, nodding his head. Then, very seriously, “My -boy, I want you to win her. It would embitter my last days to see my -daughter the wife of Herman Lazaroff. I have watched and tried to study -him: it isn’t his materialism, Arnold, it’s his infernal will. He’ll -break everything and everybody that conflicts with it when he wakes up -and knows his powers. Now he doesn’t understand himself at all. He can -see nothing interiorly, as good old Swedenborg would say. I tell you, -Herman Lazaroff, able fellow as he is, and splendid brain, is a machine -of devilish energy, and, unfortunately, fashioned for purely destructive -purposes.” - -Like most old men, he had the habit of falling into soliloquy, and -toward the end of his speech his voice dropped, and he spoke rather to -himself than to me. Though I remembered his words afterward, at the time -I regarded his indictment as the prejudice of an octogenarian. He was in -his eightieth year, and there was no doubt his keen mind was failing. I -was searching for a reply when Esther and Lazaroff came back from the -conservatory. - -Esther’s face was flushed and she looked utterly miserable. But I was -amazed to see the expression upon Lazaroff’s. He was deathly white, and -his black eyes seemed to gleam with infernal resolution. At that moment -it did occur to me that Sir Spofforth might be wiser in his judgment -than I. Lazaroff came forward quietly and sat down, and I tried to make -the occasion for conversation. But he, seated motionless and abstracted, -seemed hardly to hear me, and rose from his chair after a few moments, -looking toward Esther, who was standing near the conservatory entrance. -Her brown-colored gown gleamed golden in the lamplight. - -“Sir Spofforth, Miss Esther is interested in our new freezing-plant,” he -said. “I thought, with your permission, that I would take her to see it -lit up by electricity. You’ll come too, Pennell?” - -“Wouldn’t daytime be better, Lazaroff?” I suggested, and I did not know -what was the cause of the vaguely felt distrust that prompted my words. -Certainly I had no fears of any sort, or reason for any. Yet, looking at -Lazaroff’s face, now flushed and somehow sinister, I remembered Sir -Spofforth’s words again. - -“Let us go tonight,” said Esther, and it seemed to me that there was a -note of penitence in her voice, as if she wished to make Lazaroff -amends. - -She came slowly across the room toward us. She looked at Lazaroff—I -thought remorsefully, and at me with an expression of understanding that -I never had seen in her eyes before. My heart leaped up to meet that -message. But that was the instant signal-flash of souls, and the next -moment I detected in her glance the same sense of foreboding that mine -must have shown her. - -It is strange how instantaneously such complexities present themselves -with convincing power. Though the knowledge lay latent in my mind, I am -sure now I was aware that I should never set eyes upon Sir Spofforth, in -life or death, again. - -He rose up slowly. “Don’t be long, my dear,” he said to Esther. “I shall -not wait up for you. Good night, Herman. Good night, Arnold.” He passed -the door and began to ascend the stairs. He turned. “Arnold!” he began. -“No, never mind. I will tell you tomorrow.” - -He never told me. He was gone, and we three went downstairs, out of the -house, and crossed the garden toward the Institute, whose squat form -blocked the view of the road. Croydon, in the distance, hummed like a -huge dynamo. The Bear dipped slantingly above; the wind was shaking down -the fading petals of the rambler roses. I remember the picture more -vividly than I perceived it then; the intense darkness, the white lights -of the distant town, the yellow lamp glow on the short grass, cut off -squarely by the window-sash and trisected by the window-bars. Lazaroff -led the way, walking a little distance in front of us, toward the annex, -a building just completed, in which was the new freezing-plant, with our -few guinea-pigs, and the monkeys that had been bought recently, out of -our own money, for the great experiment. He drew a key from his pocket -and began fumbling with the lock. Esther stopped in the shadows at my -side. - -“He asked me to marry him,” she said. “I told him never—never! That was -the word I used. I used to think that I could care for him, Arnold, but -in that instant I knew—yes, I knew my heart.” - -I knew mine too, and I took her in my arms in the shadow of the -Institute. She lifted her mouth to mine. All the while Lazaroff was -fumbling with the lock. Yet I am sure he was aware, by virtue of that -intuition which tells us all vital things. - -When he had opened the door he turned a switch, and the interior leaped -into view round twenty points of light that pierced the shadows. - -“Come in, Arnold,” he said, turning to me—and I thought there was blood -on his lip. “I will lead, and you and Miss Esther can follow me. Don’t -be alarmed, Miss Esther, if you hear the monkeys screaming. They grow -lonely at night.” - -“Poor little things! How dreadful!” Esther said. - -“We shall not keep them here very long,” Lazaroff answered in -extenuation. He stooped over a cane chair and picked up a warm shawl. -“You will need to put this about you,” he continued, standing back and -leaving me to adjust it about Esther’s shoulders. - -So he had planned to bring her here; his subtle mind had foreseen even -this detail. He left nothing to the unexpected. He lived up to his -principles. - -We passed between two silent dynamos. The freezing-plant was already in -operation, but George, the machinist, went off duty at six, after -stopping the dynamos, and the temperature did not rise much during the -night. It was very cold. The moisture on the brick walls had congealed -to a thin film of ice, and a frosted network covered the ammonia pipes. -Lazaroff stopped in front of a large wooden chest, with a glass door. - -“In this very ordinary-looking icebox we keep our choicest specimens,” -he said to Esther. - -“Don’t open that!” I exclaimed. - -He laughed disagreeably. “I had no intention of doing so,” he answered. -“You applauded Sir Spofforth’s mediaeval vitalistic views tonight, -Pennell, and the transition from the dream to the reality might prove -too disturbing for your peace of mind. Dream on, by permission of those -five missing centimeters. It is such an extinguisher of the soul theory -to see parts of the organism flourishing in perfect health, all ready to -work and grow, devoid of consciousness and brain attachments. We have -two-fifths of a guinea-pig’s heart, Miss Esther, that is yearning to -begin its pulsations as soon as it is placed in a suitable medium.” - -He passed on. Esther’s fingers gripped my wrist tightly. “What an -abominable man!” she whispered. “Arnold—my dear—to think I didn’t know -my mind until an hour ago! When he asked me, something seemed to strip -the mask from his face and the scales from my eyes. I hate him—but I’m -afraid of him, Arnold.” - -I drew her arm through mine and held her hand. Lazaroff preceded us down -a flight of new concrete steps which had just dried. The cellar into -which we descended had been used for storing packing-cases, and we had -always gone down by a short ladder. It was here that the experiment was -to be made. I had been shown nothing of Lazaroff’s preparations. - -The cellar had been paved with concrete since my last visit, and I -thought it looked smaller than formerly. As we went down we heard the -monkeys begin to chatter. Lazaroff switched on a light. I saw a cage of -guinea-pigs close at hand. They squealed and scurried among their straw. -Two monkeys, awakened by the light, put their arms about each other and -grimaced at me. A tiny marmoset stretched out its black, human-like arms -between the bars appealingly. It looked very lonely and child-like as it -blinked at us. What a terrific journey into the future Lazaroff, like -some god, planned for that atom of flesh. - -He stopped at the end of the cellar. I perceived now that the brick wall -was new; it seemed to be an inner wall, bounding a partition; that was -why the cellar looked smaller. The half-dried mortar clung flabbily to -the interstices. - -“Can you find the entrance, Arnold?” asked Lazaroff. - -“The entrance?” The light was not strong, to be sure, but still it -seemed impossible that there could be an ingress into that solid wall. - -Lazaroff touched a brick, and a large mass swung inward, like a door. In -fact, it was a door, with bricks facing it, the outer edge contiguous -with the outer edge of the fixed rows, so that the deception was -perfect. - -“You didn’t tell me that the chamber was completed, Lazaroff!” I -exclaimed in surprise. - -“No, Arnold? Well, but I don’t tell you everything,” he answered. - -We stepped through the doorway, and Lazaroff switched on a tiny light -within. Now I perceived that we were standing in a long and very narrow -space, with cement-faced walls and roof, making the chamber impervious -to sound and light. It was below the level of the ground, and thus, as -Lazaroff had said, earthquakes might happen above, and it would never be -discovered, not even though the annex were pulled down, unless one -blasted out the foundations. - -The sole contents were three large cylinders of metal, looking like -giant thermos bottles. Each was about six feet long—too long for a -monkey, it seemed to me—and had a glass plate in front. Lazaroff drove -his heel against the glass of the nearest cylinder with all his might. - -“It is quite unbreakable, you see,” he said. “It will turn a rifle -bullet. ‘Suffragette glass,’ the maker calls it.” - -“But what are these for?” asked Esther. - -“These, Miss Esther, are to convey three monkeys into the twenty-first -century,” answered Lazaroff. “By instantaneously suspending animation at -a temperature of twenty-five degrees, we hope to maintain the bodily -organism without change until the time for their awakening comes. The -problem is, whether that mysterious by-product of matter called -consciousness will return.” - -“How dreadful!” exclaimed Esther, shuddering. - -“But the temperature will rise, Lazaroff,” I interposed, “and however -carefully your cylinders are made it is impossible to hope to maintain -the internal heat at only twenty-five degrees during a century.” - -“You forget that our monkeys will be sealed in a vacuum,” he answered. -“There is an inner and an outer case of vanadium steel mixed with a -secret composition which will resist even thermite. And even if the -temperature does rise—well, if a homely instance may be allowed—you are -aware that canned beef, as the Americans term it, will remain fresh in -an air-tight tin even in the tropics. That is dead matter, while our -monkeys will be millions of living cells. The vacuum is created by -simply screwing on this cap.” - -“But not a perfect vacuum,” I interposed. “That is impossible.” - -“Sufficiently near to eliminate the aerobic bacilli which flourish on -oxygen, and the infinitesimal amount of that remaining in the cylinder -is probably absorbed and transmuted by the surface capillaries and -lungs, leaving simply carbon dioxide, neon, crypton, et cetera.” - -I examined the cylinder nearest me with interest. A small dial was set -into its cap. Lazaroff anticipated my question. - -“That is the most ingenious part of the mechanism,” he explained. “It is -a hundred-year clock, made specially for me by Jurgensen, of Copenhagen, -and, to salve your conscience, paid for, like the cylinders, out of my -private purse. It runs true to within three-tenths of a second. The -alarm can be set to any year, if necessary. A good alarm clock for lazy -people, Miss Esther. This one, you see, I have already set to a hundred -years ahead. This is at sixty-five; I shall set that to a hundred -presently, for we don’t want one of our monkeys to awaken several -generations ahead of his friends. This one is not set. Now, observe, I -turn the hands on the dials. The large figures are years. The smaller -ones are days. Now as soon as the cap is screwed on, the internal vacuum -causes this lever to fall, catching this cam and starting the mechanism. -We have then a bottled monkey in an indestructible shell, for really I -do not know what could make much impression on steel of this thickness, -which is both resistant and malleable, and fireproof too. It is -impossible, in short, to release the inmate before the appointed time, -and, even then, immediate death would ensue.” - -“Why?” I asked. - -“Because resuscitation must be gradual. I base my hopes upon the chance -that the lungs and heart will automatically resume their functions, -being in their most perfect medium. But if air were admitted before the -bodily machine had become, so to say, synchronized, the swarm of -micro-organisms would make short work of our subject. Besides, the hasty -respiration produced by this rush of air would produce immediate death -by its transformation into carbon dioxide. The air must enter under -slight pressure, in minute quantities, during a period of about ten -days. Very well! As the timepiece gradually runs down, the cap slowly -unscrews, and a tiny quantity of filtered air leaks in. It is so -arranged that, at the exact end of the period, the cap flies off, and -the subject awakes.” - -“Herman,” said Esther, hurriedly, “I don’t like this. It isn’t right. -And I am sure my father does not know about it.” - -“My dear Miss Esther, I assure you that it is a very ordinary scientific -experiment,” Lazaroff answered, laughing. “Come, Arnold,” he added, “why -not get in yourself and try how it feels? You are not afraid?” - -“In my clothes?” - -“Certainly.” - -“Arnold, I don’t want you to get into that thing,” Esther protested. - -“Of course, if our friend is afraid that I am going to screw him up for -a century—” began Lazaroff. - -“I am not at all afraid,” I returned, a little nettled. “How do I get -in?” - -“I’ll have to help you,” Lazaroff answered. “It was not made for a big -man in clothes. Button your coat. Now—put your arms down by your sides.” -He rolled a cylinder upon the floor, and I put my feet inside rather -reluctantly and squeezed down to the bottom. Lazaroff looked at me and -burst into loud laughter. - -“Not much room to turn round, is there?” he said, raising the cylinder -with an effort and standing it on its base again. - -“Come out, Arnold,” pleaded Esther; and I saw that her face was white -with fear. - -But I was quite helpless, and above me I saw Lazaroff, smiling at my -predicament. - -“Now if I were going to be so unkind as to send you into the next -century,” he said, “to be the only animist, with a defective skull, in a -world of vile materialism—” - -“Please, Herman, for my sake!” Esther implored. - -“I should put on the cap,” he said, and fitted it. - -He must have touched some mechanism that I had not seen, for instantly -the cap began to whir on the screw. Through the glass face I caught a -last glimpse of Esther’s terrified eyes. The image blurred and vanished -as my breath dimmed the glass and frosted it. I heard the swift jar of -the cap mechanism end in a jarring click. I gasped for air; there was -none. My head swam, my throat was closed; the blackness was pricked into -flecks of fire. I groped for memory through unconsciousness—and ceased. - - - - - CHAPTER III - IN THE CELLAR - - -I have heard patients, emerging from the chloroform swoon, describe how, -before awakening, they had seemed to view themselves lying unconscious -upon their beds, detailing the posture of their motionless bodies and -inert limbs. In this way, now, I seemed to see myself. - -I am sure that was no dream of the vague borderland between death and -life. I saw the pallid face, so shrunken that the skin clung to the -edged bones, and the dry hair, the pinched lips and waxen hands. I saw -myself as if from some non-spatial point, and with singular -indifference, except that one fragment of knowledge, detached from my -serene omniscience, troubled me. I had to return within that physical -envelope; and behind me lay dim memories, quite untranslatable, but -ineffably rapturous, which made that projected incarnation an event of -dread. - -Vague images of earthly things began to float upward out of the dark, as -it were, symbols of physical life whose meaning remained obscure. I -pictured a spring-board, on which a swimmer stood poised, waiting to -dive into the sea and set the plank behind him quivering, and a large -roll of some material, like a carpet, blocking a cellar door. - -Gradually, through an alternation of dreams and blankness, I began to be -aware of the parched and withered body that cloaked me. The point of -consciousness had shrunk within its earthly envelope. Soon it diffused -itself throughout my members. Now I could translate my symbols into -ideas. That coiled-up substance that blocked the door was my tongue, -fallen back into the throat. And the spring-board on which the swimmer -stood—that was my heart, waiting to beat. And unless and until the -swimmer—I—made that plunge into life’s ocean, it could not. Slowly the -need of physical resurrection urged me onward. - -A thousand darts were stabbing in my flesh, like purgatorial fire. No -motor nerve had yet awakened, but the capillaries, opening, pricked me -like red-hot needles. Faint memories of the past flashed through my -mind, and, though I recalled no intervening period, I was sensible that -those events had happened infinitely long before. - -Suddenly I plunged. I felt as if a sword had pierced my body. I felt the -waters of that living ocean close over my face, and gasped. I breathed. -Simultaneously, with a loud click, the cap of the cylinder flew off, air -rushed in, a stabbing light broke through my closed eyelids; I fainted. - -It was, of course, the gradual unscrewing of the cylinder cap as the -mechanism ran down, and the consequent admission of minute quantities of -oxygen, that had begun to restore me. I must have passed several days in -semi-consciousness before the cylinder opened. When the last thread of -the screw was traversed, the inrush of air caused the respiration to -begin. - -I was breathing when I became conscious once more, and my heart was -straining in my breast. I got my eyes open. There followed hours of -light-tortured delirium, during which I struggled to regain the motor -powers. With infinite endeavor I placed one hand upon the other and -passed it up the wrist and forearm. The muscles were all gone. The ulna -and radius were perfectly distinguishable, and I could encircle either -with my fingers, after I had managed to flex them. I noticed that my -joints creaked like rusty hinges. - -I tried to bend my elbows, and this next grim battle lasted an -incalculable time. Gradually I became aware of some obstacle on each -side of me. Then, for the first time since my awakening, I knew that I -was inside the cylinder. But I did not know that it had fallen upon its -side until it slid forward, and my puny struggles dislodged me and flung -me free into a pool of water. I drew in a deep breath, feeling my lungs -crackle like old parchment, and plunged my face and shoulders beneath -the surface. My skin sucked up the moisture like a sponge, and I -contrived to get a few drops past my swollen tongue. I had just sense -enough and time to turn my face upward before I became unconscious -again. - -I must have slept long, for, on my next awakening, the light was -brighter and still more torturing. Memory began to stir. I recalled my -conversation with Sir Spofforth, our journey into the annex, Lazaroff’s -invitation to me to enter the cylinder. He must have shut me in for a -moment by way of a practical joke, and gone away with Esther, persuading -himself and her that I could free myself and would follow. I tried to -call him. But only a croaking gasp came from my lips. I tried again and -again, gradually regaining the power of vocal utterance. But there came -no answer, and each time that I called, the echoing, hoarse susurrus -brought me nearer to the realization of some terror at hand which I did -not dare to face. - -I looked about me. Beside me lay the cylinder, almost buried in mud. I -was still within the secret vault, but a part of the brick partition had -fallen inward in such a way as to screen the few visible inches of the -steel case that had housed me, so that nobody would have suspected its -presence in the mud of the little chamber. I remembered that there had -been two more; I looked about me, but there was no sign of them. - -Now I began to realize that there had been a considerable change in my -surroundings since I became unconscious. The light which had distressed -me came through a hole in the roof of the adjoining cellar, filtering -thence through the aperture in the broken wall, and was of the dimmest. -In place of the concrete floor there was a swamp of mud, with pools of -water here and there, and the dirt was heaped up in the corners and -against the walls. Moss and splotched fungi grew among the tumbled -bricks, and everywhere were spore stains and microscopic plant growth. - -I was bewildered by these signs of dilapidation everywhere. The -guinea-pigs and monkeys were gone; the cellar was empty, save for some -low, rough planks of wood fitted on trestles and set about the floor. On -the wall at the far end hung something that gradually took form as I -strained my aching eyes to a focus. - -It was a crucifix. The cellar had become a subterranean chapel. The -cross was hewn coarsely of pine, and the figure that hung upon it -grotesquely carven; yet there was the pathos of wistful, ignorant effort -in the workmanship that bespoke the sincerity of the artist. - -[Illustration: - - I made my difficult way toward the stairs -] - -I made my difficult way upon hands and knees through the gap in the -wall, across the mud floor of the cellar, toward the stairs, resting -several times from weariness before I reached my destination. But when I -arrived at the far end, where the stairs should have been, I received a -shock that totally unnerved me. The stairs were gone. In place of them -was a debris of rubble and broken stones, as firmly set as if workmen -had built it into the wall. The mass must have been there for years, -because, out of the thin soil that had drifted in, a little oak tree -sprang, twisting its spindling stem to rear its crown toward the patch -of daylight. - -At last I understood. I had come to realize the fact that my sleep had -been a prolonged one; it might have lasted weeks—even months, I had -thought, as with cataleptics; but an entire century! that idea had been -too incredibly grotesque for consideration. That Sir Spofforth, with -whom, it seemed, I had dined almost yesterday, had gone, ages ago, to -his long home; Lazaroff; Esther, whom I loved; that generations had come -into birth and died ... it seemed too cruel a jest. I wept. I raved and -called for Esther. Surely a hundred years had never passed, turning her -brown hair to gray, lining her gentle face, bringing at last the gift of -death to her, while I lay underground, encased in steel and air! - -I cried aloud in terror. I hammered helplessly upon the walls. Again I -called Esther, Lazaroff, George. There was no answer of any kind. - -Presently a ray of light quivered through the hole, falling upon the -heap of debris that blocked the stairway. The yellow beam moved onward, -and now it bathed the thin branches of the little twisted tree that, by -the aid of those few minutes of sunlight daily, had ventured into life. -It had grown cunningly sidewise, so as to expose the maximum of wood to -the light. I watched the ray till it went out; I wanted to show the -plant to Lazaroff, to ask him whether the mechanics of heliotropism -could suffice to answer the problem of the tree’s brainless -consciousness; and my chagrin that this whim could not be fulfilled -assumed an absurd significance. It was, in fact, the realization of this -loss of responsiveness to the reality of the situation that constantly -urged me to find some way of escape when I might have relapsed otherwise -into an acquiescence which would have brought insanity and death. - -The stairs being gone, I turned my consideration to the cellar roof. To -reach this it would be necessary to drag one of the planks beneath the -hole and scramble up, clinging to the sides with my fingers and bracing -my feet against the wall. This feat was not a difficult one for a normal -man, but for me clearly impossible. I must wait until I became stronger. - -It is a strange thing, but I had not associated the need of waiting with -the idea of food until I found the box of biscuit. I stumbled upon the -box by the accident of scratching my wrist against the edge as I crawled -along the wall. I saw the corner projecting from a mound of earth, and, -scraping some of the dirt away, I lifted the pine-wood lid. - -Inside the box I found a quantity of biscuit which seemed to have been -baked recently. It was crisp, and too hard for me to break. I dipped a -piece in the stagnant water, and, as I swallowed the first morsels, -became aware of my ravenous hunger. - -I can hardly estimate the duration of the imprisonment that followed. It -was of days and nights which succeeded each the other in monotonous -succession, during which, like a hibernating beast, I crouched and -groped within the cellar, dozing and shivering, and gnawing incessantly -at my food. Only those few minutes of sunshine daily saved my reason, I -am convinced now. My evening clothes, which at first had appeared to -have suffered no injury during my century of sleep, had begun to -disintegrate, and hung upon me in tattered fragments. It was a period of -despair, with very little alternating hope. Sometimes I prayed wildly -beneath the crucifix, sometimes, in an access of madness, I cried for -Esther and Lazaroff again. And for whole hours I convinced myself that -this was a dream. - -But my strength returned with amazing swiftness. As in the case of a -typhoid convalescent, every particle of food seemed to build up my body. -I must have put on pounds each day. The barrel framework of my ribs -filled out, the muscles showed their old outlines beneath the skin, the -fluid rushed into the joints and restored their suppleness. And daily I -practiced exercises. I managed to drag one of the benches beneath the -hole at last, and, standing on this, tried often to draw myself up; but -on each occasion my struggles only brought down a shower of earth and -stones, and I resigned myself to a period of further waiting, watching -for dawn like a troglodyte, and for the sun like a fire-worshiper. - -In the end my escape developed in a manner the least imaginable. It -began with my discovery of a second box in another of the mounds. I -opened it hastily, in the greedy anticipation of finding something more -palatable than biscuit. - -Instead of this I found a number of strange batons of wood. They -resembled policemen’s truncheons, but each had a tiny rounded plate of -glass near the head, and there evidently was some sort of mechanism near -the handle, for there was a push-button, fitted with a heavy guard of -brass, so strong that I could not raise it with my fingers. It was -indeed providential that I was unable to do so. - -I carried the strange implement beneath the hole in the roof and laid it -on the bench, intending to examine it more carefully as soon as the sun -appeared. Meanwhile, this being the time for my daily exercise, I -mounted the bench and tried to pull myself up. I failed; yet I detected -a considerable improvement in my muscular power, and, becoming -exhausted, I prepared to descend. Inadvertently, but without -anticipating any serious result, I placed my foot against the truncheon -in such a way as to elevate the guard. - -I heard it click as it rose into position, and, in setting down my foot -again, depressed the push-button. - -The truncheon tipped to the ground, pointing upward. I saw a ray of -blinding light, of intense whiteness tipped with mauve, shoot from the -head, and, with a crash, a shower of stones fell on me, bearing me to -the ground and enveloping me in a cloud of dust. - -I must have lain half stunned for some minutes. I was aroused by feeling -the sunlight on my eyelids. I started to my feet. The hole in the roof -was nearly twice the former size, and a heap of fallen stones and pieces -of brick afforded me a perfect stepway. I was scratched by the falling -debris, but happily the explosion, as I deemed it, seemed to have been -in an upward direction. - -In a moment I was scrambling up the stones. I slipped and clutched and -struggled; I got my head and shoulders in the air and pulled my body -after me; I trod upon leaves; I looked about me. - -I was standing in the midst of what appeared to be an ancient forest of -oak and beech trees, whose bare boughs, covered with snow, shook under a -gray sky above a carpet of withered, snow-spread leaves, and under these -were endless heaps of disintegrating bricks. In vain I looked about me -for the Institute. There was no sign of it, nor of Sir Spofforth’s -house. Nowhere was anything to be seen but the same forest growth, the -dead leaves scurrying before the chill wind, and the vast brick piles. I -had emerged from the cellar into a trackless wilderness. - -And now at last my final doubt, which had bred hope, was gone. I ran -through the forest, on and on, shouting like a madman and beating my -breast, stumbling over the brick heaps that lay everywhere, plunging -through thorny undergrowth, heedless of any course. I must have been -running for ten minutes when my strength failed me, and I collapsed -beside an ancient road, overgrown with shrubs and saplings, yet -discernible in its course between the tall trees that bordered it. -Before me, far away through the vista line, I saw a white bank against -the gray horizon. - -I flung myself upon my face and prayed, with all my will, to die. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - THE ROAD TO LONDON - - -A shadow swept over me, and, looking up, I saw an airplane gliding -noiselessly above; it stopped, hung poised and motionless, and then -dropped slowly and almost vertically into the road, coming to ground -within a dozen yards of where I lay. - -There stepped out a man in a uniform of pale blue, having insewn upon -the breast a piece of white linen, cut to the shape of a swan. He came -toward me with hesitancy, and stood over me, staring at me and at my -clothes with an expression indicative of the greatest bewilderment. - -“Where’s your brass, friend?” he inquired after a few moments, speaking -in a high-pitched, monotonous, and rather nasal tone. He rubbed his -smooth-shaven face in thought. “Where’s your brass?” he repeated. - -I perceived that he wore about his neck a twisted cord whose ends were -tied through the loop of a brass plate, stamped with letters and -figures. - -“For God’s sake tell me what year this is!” I cried. - -At the profane expletive, which had been drawn from me by my anguish, he -recoiled in dismay; he seemed less shocked than frightened; he glanced -about him quickly, and then cast a very searching look at me. But next -he began to smile in a half-humorous, kindly way. - -“You’re one of the escaped defectives, aren’t you?” he inquired. “You -have nothing to fear from me, friend. We airplane scouts have no love -for the Guard. You can go on your way. But where are you lying up? Are -your friends near?” - -“Will you tell me what year this is?” I demanded frantically. - -“Yap, certainly,” he answered. “This is Thirty-seven, Cold Solstice less -five.” He shook his head and began staring at me again. - -I laughed hysterically. “I don’t know what that jargon means,” I -answered, “but I went to sleep in the vault of the Biological Institute -in the year 1915.” - -Perplexity had succeeded alarm. The airscout shook his head again. He -was one of those deliberate, slow-moving men whose resolutions, tardily -made, harden to inflexibility; I recognized the type and found the -individual pleasing. He was a good-looking young fellow of about eight -and twenty, with straight, dark hair and a very frank countenance. He -looked like a sailor, and the rolling, open collar, which fell back, -sailor fashion, revealed a muscular throat, tanned, like his face, to -the color of the bricks around us. - -“I don’t know what to make of you,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t want -to trap you, but you were better off in the art factories. I don’t know -what to do with you.” - -I sprang to my feet, and for an instant I ceased to realize my -predicament. “Will you take me to my friends in London?” I asked. In my -mind was the memory of a university acquaintance who lived in St. John’s -Wood. But then the swift remembrance came back to me, and I hung my head -and groaned. - -“Back to London!” exclaimed the airscout. “But you’ll be put to the -leather vats. Doctor Sanson is furious, and the police are searching for -you everywhere. You’re crazed! What’s the sense of running away from -painting pictures and going back to sweat ten years over the hides?” - -“Take me to London!” I implored. “I have nowhere to go. Perhaps—I don’t -know—” - -I was hoping wildly that somebody whom I had known might still survive. -But by this time I was beginning to pull myself together. I resolved to -wait for his decision. - -“Now, friend,” he said, as if he had made up his mind, “your top got -stuffed making those factory pictures, as was very natural. Now, I think -you had better go back to London, and I’ll take you there, since your -friends have shaken you. But of course it must be the police station. I -can’t risk my own liberty. Once more, are you sure you want to go? If -not, I haven’t seen you.” - -“I’ll go,” I answered indifferently. - -“Yap? Step in, then!” - -I took my seat beside him. It will seem incredible, but I had never -ridden in an airplane before. In my other days only a few had seen these -craft. It was hardly more than six years since the Wrights had flown -when my long sleep began. In spite of my oppression of mind, or perhaps -because the days of horror that I had spent in the cellar produced the -unavoidable reaction, I began to feel the exhilaration of the flight as -we ascended to a height of perhaps a thousand feet and drove northward. -The sensation was that of sitting still and seeing the trees flit by -beneath me, and would have been pleasing but for the intense cold, which -pierced through my rags and numbed me. I perceived that the airplane was -under perfect control, and could be stayed without falling. After a -while I realized that there was no motor. - -My companion saw me looking at the machine. “Improved solar type,” he -said, patting her caressingly. “Better than a bird, isn’t she?” He -turned toward me. “You’ve been sleeping in the wood these three days?” -he asked. “And find the factories best? I don’t score you for that. -Where’s the rest of you? Five, weren’t there? Why didn’t you keep -together? Where’s that bishop of yours?” - -But, seeing that he could elicit no comprehensible answer to his -repeated questions—in truth, I did not know how to reply—he relapsed -into an equal silence. And now the white bank that I had seen on the -horizon began to assume crenellations, which in turn became buildings of -immense height and symmetrical aspect. And I forgot my situation in -admiration and amazement at the panorama that began to unfold beneath -us. - -The county of Surrey appeared to be an extensive forest, ending about a -waste of dismantled brick, the suburbs of old London, which extended on -each side as far as I could see. Then the modern town began: an outer -ring of what I took to be enormous factories and storage warehouses; an -inner ring, no doubt, of residences; and then the nucleus, the most -splendid city that the imagination could have devised. - -London seemed to be smaller than the metropolis of a century ago. I -could see from the height of Hampstead, in the north, to the region of -Dulwich, and from Woolwich to Acton, all clearly defined, like a great -map unrolled beneath me, though I could recognize none of the old -landmarks, save the unchanging Thames. The interior city was laid out in -squares, huge buildings, sometimes enclosing interior courts, occupying -the blocks formed by the parallel and intersecting streets. As we drove -inward from the outskirts, the buildings became higher, but always -uniformly so, the city thus presenting the aspect of a succession of -gigantic steps, until the summit, the square mile comprising the heart, -was reached. - -This consisted of an array of enormous edifices, with fronts perfectly -plain, and evidently constructed of brick-faced steel-work, but all -glistening a dazzling white, which, even at that height, made my eyes -water, and rising uniformly some forty-five or fifty stories. The flat -roofs were occupied by gardens or what I took to be gymnasia, sheltered -beneath tarpaulins. I saw innumerable airplanes at rest, suspended high -above the streets, while others flitted here and there above the roofs, -and a whole fleet lay, as if moored, some distance away, apparently over -the center of the city, above a singular building, which awakened -associations in my mind, though I was unable to name it. - -It had a round dome, being, in fact, the only domed building that I -could see. This covered only the central portion of the enormous -architectural mass, and appeared to float in the air above an aerial -garden, laid out with walks that radiated from a flat building, which -filled the space between the floating dome and the roof beneath it. I -surmised that this must be the new House of Parliament. The entire mass -was surrounded by a double wall, with a roofed space of perhaps ninety -feet from rear to front, castellated. Mounted on this were what appeared -to be a number of large, conical-shaped implements, of great size. Long, -graceful bridges on arches connected this wall with the domed building; -and wall and building glistened from top to base so brilliantly that the -glow seared my eyes like sunlight. - -As we were now flying at a low altitude, I turned my attention to the -streets, which appeared like canyons far beneath. Along these swarmed a -multitude of travelers, dressed in two colors only, white and blue, the -latter vastly predominating. I could see no vehicles, and I imagined, -what proved to be correct, that the streets themselves were moving. Most -of those journeying seemed content to lean back against the railings, -the lowest bars of which projected, forming a continuous seat, and rest. -Nearly all the streets were traveling in the same direction, those that -reversed this movement being small and comparatively empty. From the -presence of what seemed to be iron stanchions, set along the edges of -these moving ways, I surmised that they were roofed with crystal. - -Along the front of the buildings ran single tracks, connecting at -regular intervals with the streets beneath by means of elevators, which -shot up and down continuously, bearing their freight. These tracks were -placed above each other at ten-story intervals, so that there were three -or four rows of these aerial streets, ranging from the ground to the -upper portions of the buildings, all filled with travelers. The -buildings, each comprising an entire block, the elevated streets, with -their graceful bridges flung forth across the chasms, the absence of any -of the old poverty and dirt, and that huge gathering of human beings, -going about their business in so systematic a fashion, fascinated me, -and even aroused my enthusiasm. - -Signs evidently indicated to persons approaching in airships the purpose -of each building and landing-stage, but these were in characters -entirely unintelligible to me. - -My companion stayed the vessel in the air and tapped me on the arm. I -started, to see him regarding me with the same expression of humorous -perplexity. - -“I must put you off here, friend,” he said. “I think I have done the -best I could for you. You would have died in the forest, while -here—well, there’s a chance for you. And it’s better to go to the -leather vats for a few years than to die and go nowhere. I’ll know you -if we meet again. What’s your name?” - -“Arnold Pennell,” I answered, clasping the hand that he held out to me. - -He almost jumped. “Don’t tell that to the Council, unless you want the -Rest Cure,” he said. - -“Don’t tell them my name?” - -“Not both names, friend. You know what I mean. If you don’t know—” He -shrugged his shoulders. “Mine’s Jones,” he said. “My father’s was -Williams. My grandfather’s was Jones again. They say it’s one of our -oldest names—common in the days before civilization. Now down we go.” - -The airplane swooped down and came to rest upon the roof immediately -beneath us. On this I saw a number of men, apparently practicing -gymnastic exercises; and hardly were we at a standstill when two of them -came running up to us. They were clad in blue uniforms resembling that -of the airscout, but instead of a swan each wore a shield-shaped piece -of linen upon his back and breast. - -“What’s this?” they demanded in a breath, pointing at me and bursting -into bellowing laughter. - -“One of your defectives,” answered Jones. “I found him in the forest -while patrolling.” - -They rushed at me and dragged me from the airplane, swiftly patting me -about the body, as if in search of weapons. Satisfied that I was -unarmed, they turned to the airscout. - -“You’ll share the reward!” they cried, again simultaneously. - -“Keep it!” replied the airscout tartly, and rose into the air, waving me -a cordial good-bye. - -They rushed me across the roof through a crowd of other men, similarly -clad, down an elevator, and into the street. They dragged me upon one of -the moving platforms and conveyed me a short distance, descending at the -entrance to one of the innumerable shining buildings, over which was -inscribed something in the same undecipherable letters. - -But, quickly as we had gone, the report of my arrest seemed to have -preceded us, for our way was blocked by a vast and constantly increasing -crowd, that came running up with lively and shameless curiosity, and, -attracted by my rags, I suppose, pressed closely about us and uttered -hoots of laughter. I heard the word “defective” bandied from mouth to -mouth. - -I looked at these people attentively. There were both men and women -present, all wearing clothing of the same pale blue color, which seemed -to be prescribed, although the cut of each garment was to some extent -individual. In effect, the men wore sack suits of a coarsely woven -woolen material, with short, loose trousers fastened with laces about -the ankles, and square-cut coats having wide lapels extending to a -broad, turned-back collar that fell over the shoulders like a sailor’s, -revealing a neckpiece of blue linen. The women’s short skirts reached to -the tops of their high boots, and the fashion seemed to run to large -buttons and loose sleeves. They wore no hats. Upon the breast, near the -shoulder, each person wore a small linen badge, indicative of his -occupation. - -[Illustration: - - I glanced from one to another, and met hard, mirthless eyes, and - mouths twisted in sneering mockery -] - -What disconcerted me was the shrewd, mocking smile upon each face. I -glanced from one to another, seeking to find something of the same -friendly interest that animated me, and met hard, mirthless eyes, and -mouths twisted in sneering mockery. - -Another thing that startled and almost terrified me was the absence of a -certain conventionality of restraint that had ruled everybody in that -other world of mine. For instance, among those gibing at me was a -gray-bearded man who danced before me like a small urchin. Another made -an expressive pantomime of death. A girl stuck out her tongue at me. I -remembered the plaint, that never since the glorious age of Greece had -the code of public morality coincided with that privately held. This we -all knew; the statesman in parliament was not on bowing terms with the -same statesman in the smoking-room. Some said it was Christianity, -others respectability that bound us in this organic hypocrisy; but now -the two codes seemed to have coalesced. A grandfather grimaced at me; a -gray-haired woman put out her foot to trip me; if there had been stones -I think they would have flung them at me. But suddenly a youngish lad in -white appeared, and the crowd, hastening to make a path for him, shrank -back with servile demeanor. Taking advantage of this, my captors, -linking their arms in mine, made a rush forward, scattering the mob -right and left, and bore me through a swinging door into a small -rotunda, in which a number of other policemen were seated with their -blue-clad prisoners. - - - - - CHAPTER V - LONDON’S WELCOME - - -Inside the rotunda a burly man in blue, with the white shield on his -breast, was standing on guard in front of a second swinging door, above -which was painted something in the same strange characters. A few words -to him from my captors apparently secured us precedence, for he stared -at me curiously, opened the door, and bawled to some person inside. I -was pushed into a large courtroom. It contained no seats, however, for -spectators or witnesses. The only occupants were the magistrate and his -clerk, and a group of policemen who lounged at one end of the room, -joking among themselves. The clerk, a little, obsequious man in blue, -was seated at a desk immediately opposite that of his chief, a pompous, -surly fellow in white, wearing about his shoulders a lusterless black -cape, which seemed to be a truncation of the old legal gown. Placing me -on a platform near the clerk’s desk, the two policemen who were in -charge of me stepped forward and began an explanation in low tones which -was not meant to meet my ears, and did not. - -The magistrate started nervously, and, putting his hand beneath his -desk, pulled up a truncheon similar to those that I had seen in the -cellar. He handled this nervously during our interview. - -“Well, what have you to say, you filthy defective?” he shouted at me, -when the police had ended. - -I heard a suppressed chuckle behind me, and then became aware that all -the police had gathered about me, convulsed with amusement at my rags. - -“Stand back, you swine!” bellowed the magistrate. “Give me the Escaped -Defectives Book,” he added, to his clerk. - -The clerk handed up to him a small publication which I could see -contained numerous miniature photographs in color. He began studying it, -looking up at me from time to time. Occasionally, at his nod, one of the -policemen would seize my face and push it into profile. At last the -magistrate thrust the book away petulantly. - -“This isn’t one of them,” he announced to the policemen. “Who are you?” -he continued, glaring at me. “You’re not on the defectives’ list. Where -do you come from? Tell the truth or I’ll commit you to the leathers. Why -are you in masquerade? Where’s your brass? Your print? Your number? Your -district?” - -The clerk wagged his middle finger at me and, drawing a printed form -from a pile, pushed it toward me. I took it, but I could make nothing of -it, for it was in the same unknown characters. - -“I can only read the old-fashioned alphabet,” I said. - -The room echoed with the universal laughter. The magistrate almost -jumped out of his chair. - -“What!” he yelled. “You’re lying! You know you are. You have an accent. -You’re from another province. What’s your game?” - -The clerk, ignoring his superior’s outburst, pulled back the form, and, -taking in his hand a sort of fountain pen, began to fill it in with a -black fluid that dried the instant it touched the paper. - -“Number, district, province, city, print, and brass?” he inquired. He -paused and looked up at me. “Brach or dolicoph? Whorl, loop, or median? -Facial, cephalic, and color indexes? Your Sanson test? Your Binet -rating?” - -But, since I made no attempt to answer these utterly baffling questions, -the clerk ceased to ply me with them and looked up at the magistrate for -instructions. The magistrate, who had been leaning forward, watching me -attentively, now smiled as if he had suddenly grasped the situation. - -“I’ll tell you what you are,” he said, shaking his finger at me. “You’re -a Spanish spy, masquerading as a defective in order to get into the -workshops and corrupt the defectives there.” - -“Now I should call him a Slav,” said the clerk complacently. “He’s a -brach, you see, Boss. And that makes his offense a capital one,” he -added complacently. - -“Put him up for the Council, then,” growled the magistrate. “Standardize -him,” he added to the policemen, “and commit him to the Strangers’ House -pending the Council’s ascription.” - -My captors hurried me away. In the street a large crowd, which had -assembled to see me emerge, greeted me with noisy hooting. And, looking -again into these hard faces, I began to realize that some portentous -change had come over mankind since my long sleep, whose nature I did not -understand; but, whatever it was, it had not made men better. - -However, the moving platform quickly carried us away, and the mob -dwindled, so that when we reached our destination only a nucleus -remained. This, however, followed me persistently, gathering to itself -other idlers, who ran beside me, peering up into my face, and fingering -my tattered clothes, and pulling at the tails of my coat in -half-infantile and half-simian curiosity. - -The building which we entered contained a single large room on the -ground floor, with desks ranged around the walls. Behind each desk a -clerk in blue was seated, either contemplating the scene before him or -listening disdainfully to applications. I was taken to a desk near the -door. One of the policemen now left me, and the other, who had -contrived, without my knowledge, to possess himself of the gold watch -that had been in my pocket for the last century, placed it upon the desk -before the clerk, who came back slowly and resentfully from a fit of -abstraction. - -“Committed stranger?” he inquired. - -“Yap,” said the policeman. “He had this.” - -The clerk stared at the watch, raised it, and let it fall on its face. -The glass splintered, and he jumped in his seat as if a pistol had been -discharged. - -“What is it?” he screamed. - -“It looks like an antique chronometer,” said the policeman, examining it -curiously. “See the twelve hours on the dial.” - -“Well, they aren’t listed,” the clerk grumbled. - -“You lie, you thief,” retorted the policeman. - -With some reluctance, but without resentment, the clerk opened a large -book in a paper cover, closely printed in fine hieroglyphics -interspersed with figures. He turned from place to place until he found -what he was trying not to find. - -“Museum chronometers, first century B.C. Listed at two hektones,” he -mumbled, and began unlocking a drawer. - -“B. C.!” I exclaimed. “What do you mean?” - -He paused in the act of pulling the drawer out and glared at me. - -“I said ‘museum chronometer of the first century before civilization,’ -you fool!” he snarled. “That’s what it is, and that’s what it’s listed -at. Here!” - -Extracting some metal counters from the drawer, which he closed with a -bang, he thrust them toward me. - -“What am I to do with these?” I asked. - -The policeman winked at him, and I caught the word “Spain.” The clerk’s -amazement changed to malignant mirth. - -“The value of your chronometer,” he screamed in my ear, as if I were -deaf. - -“But I don’t intend to sell it,” I retorted. - -A shriek of laughter at my side apprised me that the crowd had gathered -about me. The space about the desk was packed with the same sneering, -mirthless faces, and fifty hands were raised in mimicry or -gesticulation. - -“What a barbarian!” murmured a young woman with a typewriter badge on -her shoulder. - -The clerk looked at her and winked maliciously. Then he addressed me -again. - -“If you don’t understand now, you will before the Council ends ascribing -you,” he said. “However, I’ll explain. Your museum chronometer, not -being an object of necessity, is the property of this Province. This is -a civilized country, and you can’t have hoard-property here, whatever -you can do in Spain. Strangers’ effects are bought by the Province at -their listed value, and your chronometer is listed at two hundred labor -units, or ones—in other words, if you have ever heard of the metric -system, two hektones.” - -“Ah, give him the Rest Cure!” said the girl with the typewriter badge, -swinging about and stalking away contemptuously. - -I picked up the metal counters and began examining them. They were -crudely made, and without milled edges. Two of them appeared to be of -aluminum; on one side was an ant in relief, and under it the -inscription, - - LABOR COMMON - 37 - -on the other side, in bold letters, were the words, - - HALF HEKTONE - FIFTY ONES - -There were two smaller pieces, of a yellowish-gray, each stamped, - - TWENTY-FIVE ONES - -It did not take me more than a moment’s calculation to see that if the -hektone was a hundred units of currency, or labor hours, I had only a -hektone and a half instead of two. I told the clerk of the deficiency. - -“Don’t lie! Sign that!” he shouted, pushing an inkpad and printed form -toward me. - -“I shall not sign, and I shall bring this theft to the attention -of—Doctor Sanson,” I said, suddenly recollecting the name. - -It was a chance shot, but its effect was extraordinary. The mob, which -had begun to jostle me, suddenly scurried away in the greatest -confusion. The clerk turned white; he picked up the money with trembling -fingers. - -“Why, that is so!” he exclaimed. “It was a mistake, Boss. I didn’t mean -it. I’m sorry. I—I thought you were a blue,” he muttered, looking up at -me beseechingly. And he returned me a whole half-hektone too much. - -I tossed this back to him and returned no answer. I was looking about -for a pen with which to sign the receipt when the policeman took hold of -my thumb in a comically obsequious manner and pressed the inkpad against -it. So I made my mark upon the paper. - -In the corridor outside he turned toward me humbly. - -“Are you a trapper, Boss?” he asked. - -“A what?” - -“A switch. A wipe. I mean a council watcher.” - -“A spy, you mean?” I asked. “Certainly not.” - -He shook his head in perplexity, and seemed uncertain whether to believe -me or not. “He thought you were,” he said. “That was an old list he -used. You should have had more. Of course I couldn’t get in bad with him -by telling you, but you’d have had nothing if I hadn’t stood up for you. -Isn’t that worth something, Boss?” - -I offered him one of the smaller pieces, rather in fear of giving -offense, but he pocketed it at once, and then, with a new aggressiveness -toward the gathering crowd, took me upstairs to the Strangers’ Bureau. -Here I was stripped and examined by two physicians, and photographed in -three positions; my finger prints were taken, and the three indexes. -Then a dapper little clerk in blue passed a tape measure in several ways -about my head and beckoned to me mysteriously to come to his desk. - -“It’s too bad,” he exclaimed. - -“What is too bad?” I inquired. - -“The difference is five centimeters, and—well, I’m afraid you’re a -brach. I’d like to help you out, but—well, if I can—” - -The meaning of the word suddenly revealed itself to me. “You mean my -head is brachycephalic?” I asked. - -“There is, unfortunately, no doubt,” he answered, and, coming closer -under the pretense of measuring me again, began to whisper. “You know, -the measure is flexible,” he said, glancing furtively about him. “The -revising clerk passes all my measurements without referring back to the -doctors. There’s an understanding between us. Now I could get you into -the dolicoph class—” - -“The longheads?” - -“Yes,” he murmured, looking at me with an expression of mutual -understanding. - -“But what advantage would that be to me?” I inquired. - -“They say,” he whispered, “that the Council is going to penalize the -brachs several points. It is Doctor Sanson’s new theory, you know, that -the brachs are more defective than the dolicophs. Now I’d risk making -you a dolicoph for—would it be worth a hektone to you?” - -I flushed with indignation. “Do you suppose I am going to bribe you—?” I -began loudly. - -The clerk leaped back. “This subject is a brach!” he yelled, and gave -the figures to a clerk at the next desk, who made a note on a form and -looked at me with intense disgust. - -So I was set down as broad-headed. Then I was made to sit before a Binet -board, containing wooden blocks of various shapes, which had to be set -in corresponding holes within a period timed on a stop-watch. Word -associations followed, a childish game at which I had played during the -course of my medical training; we had regarded this as one of those -transitory fads born in Germany and conveyed to us through the American -medium, which came and went and left no by-products except a little -wasted enthusiasm on the part of our younger men. I accomplished both -tasks easily, and I thought the physicians seemed disappointed. - -Finally I received a suit of bluish-gray color, the strangers’ uniform, -I was informed, and a pair of high, soft shoes. A metal badge, stamped -with letters and figures, was hung about my neck by a cord, and I was -turned over to the charge of a blue-clad, grizzled man of shortish -stature, with a kindly look in the eyes that strongly affected me. For I -realized by now that all these persons about me, all whom I had seen, -with whom I had conversed, had lacked something more than good-will; -they gave me the impression of being animated machines, reservoirs of -intense energy, and yet not ... what? I could not determine them. - -There was a patient humility about his bearing, and yet, I fancied, a -sort of stubborn power, a consciousness of some secret strength that -radiated from him. - -He came up to me after conversing with the doctors, blue-clad men with -white capes about their shoulders, all of whom had eyed me curiously -during their speech with him. - -“I am the District Strangers’ Guard,” he said to me. “You are a -foreigner, I understand, and waiting to be ascribed by the Council. It -is not necessary to make any explanation to me. I am the guard, and -nothing more, and it is my task to provide you with food and lodging in -the Strangers’ House until you are sent for, S6 1845.” - -“I beg your pardon?” I asked, before I realized that he was addressing -me by the number on the brass badge that hung from my neck. - -“My pardon?” he answered, looking at me with a puzzled expression. “That -is an antique word, is it not?” - -“I mean, I did not know the significance of these numbers,” I replied. - -“Your brass,” he said, still more bewildered. “That is, of course, your -temporary number until the Council assigns you to your proper place in -the community. It means, as you must be aware, Stranger of the Sixth -District. My unofficial name is David. What is yours, friend?” - -He almost jumped when I told him, and glanced nervously about him. We -had just passed through the doorway, and he drew me to one side, looking -at me in a most peculiar manner. - -“You must know only one name is legal in this Province,” he whispered. -“Surely you will not hazard everything by such bravado. I mean—” - -He checked himself and searched my eyes, as if he could not understand -whether my ignorance was assumed or real. - -“Arnold,” he said suddenly, as if he had reached a swift and hazardous -decision, “you are to be my private guest. If you are assuming ignorance -for safety, you shall learn that there is nothing to fear from me. And -when you trust me, you shall give me the news of Paul and all our -friends. If you are actually a Spaniard—no, tell me nothing—it is -essential that you should learn what all our inmates know, before you go -to the Council. Doctor Sanson is not tolerant of strangers unless they -learn to conform.... I shall help you in every way that is possible. The -Bureau Head has asked me to watch you carefully. It is a special order -from headquarters. There is some rumor about you ... but it will be all -right in my own apartment.” - -I felt too heartbroken more than to thank him briefly. The sense of my -isolation in this new world swept over me with poignant power. David -must have guessed something of my feeling, for he said nothing more. We -halted for a moment at the entrance to the building, and he pulled a -watch from his pocket. I saw that the dial, which was not faced with -glass, and had the hands inset, was divided into ten main sections, each -comprising ten smaller ones. - -“Ten hours and seventy-four,” he said. “We dine at one-fifty. -Seventy-six minutes to get home.” - - - - - CHAPTER VI - THE STRANGERS’ HOUSE - - -During my brief journeys through the streets earlier in the day I had -been too conscious of my surprise and perplexity to examine my -surroundings with any concentration of mind. Now, standing on the middle -platform of what seemed to be one of the principal streets and traveled -at a speed of about eight miles an hour, I looked about me with -increasing astonishment. I do not know which attracted my attention -more, the crowds or the buildings. I asked David for information as we -proceeded, stating that I was unable to read the signs, as I was -acquainted only with the old alphabet. Seeing his incredulity, I added: - -“When you are willing, I shall be glad to tell you my history, though I -shall hardly hope to be believed. For the present, let me say that I -know nothing at all of your modern civilization.” - -“But surely in Russia—” David began, and checked himself. Thereafter he -seemed to admit the possibility that I was not dissembling, and to -consider me as a bona fide traveler from some interior Russian province. - -“Our writing is syllabic,” he said. “We have gone the round of the -circle and now make the syllable the unit instead of the letter, as the -Assyrians did, and the Chinese.” - -“And what is the purpose of this blue paint on the buildings?” I asked, -shielding my eyes from the dazzling, blue-white luster. - -“Blue?” repeated David in surprise. - -“There—and there.” - -“Why, that is glow, of course,” he answered. “Surely you are not -color-blind, Arnold? Or can it be that in—where you came from they have -only the old seven colors in the spectrum?” - -“From red to violet.” - -He shook his head and looked at me whimsically. “We have had nine for at -least twenty years,” he said. “Mull, below red, and glow, above violet; -what our ancestors called ultra-violet and believed to be invisible, -though it was staring them in the face everywhere all the time. There -used to be a theory that the color sense has developed with -civilization. Don’t make any reference to that color-blindness of yours, -Arnold,” he continued, after a brief pause. - -It occurred to me that he had not explained the choice of this color, -though he had named it. - -“Here is the Bureau of Statistics,” he went on, as we traveled past -another of the interminable buildings. “This is the Bureau of Prints and -Indexes; there are more than a thousand million records within. This is -the Bureau of Economics; this of Pedigrees and Relationships; this of -Defective Germ-Plasm; and this is our Sixth District School.” - -The streets were scrupulously clean; they occupied only the central part -of the space between the fronts of the buildings, that which would have -been called the pavement formerly, being used as resting and lounging -places. - -“Here is our district store,” he added. “Would you like to look inside?” - -I assented, and we stepped off the moving portion of the street into an -open space surrounded by telephone funnels, at which small groups of men -and women were listening. As he halted, a loud voice began calling: - -“Latest news! Rain is expected. Don’t forget Freedom Day! Muster for -your amusement in Picnic Park, or the Council will make it hot for you! -The escaped defectives all caught and sent to the leathers. A foreign -spy captured this morning after a desperate resistance and now under -guard. The miserable defective has confessed, involving numerous others. -He is a low-class brach and a filthy degenerate. Boss Lembken is on the -job. Praise him!” - -“Hurrah!” shouted the mob. - -“Come,” said David, plucking me by the sleeve. - -It was only then I realized that the reference was to me. I must have -uttered an indignant exclamation, for he drew me away hurriedly. - -“Hush! You must keep your tongue guarded in public,” he whispered. “One -can hear at both ends of the telephone.” - -“But it is a lie!” I said indignantly. “Who can spread such news as -that, and why?” - -I noticed that one or two people were watching me curiously. Then, -glancing up, I was amazed to see my face outlined upon a screen beneath -a hood that formed a dark circle around it. It was an execrable -caricature, designed to arouse hate and contempt; and yet the likeness -was plainly discernible. - -Somehow David got me away. “It will be all right,” he kept repeating. -“It doesn’t mean anything. See, here is our store.” - -Bewildered, I allowed him to lead me toward the entrance of a large -building, before which a woman sat within a cage of crystal. - -“Change pieces!” she cried at intervals, in a high-pitched voice. -“Change pieces or show brasses!” - -“We change our money here,” David explained. “Purchases of more than -half a hektone are made on the credit system. Our brasses are -identification checks. The district clearing-house keeps the complete -record of each citizen’s financial status.” - -I had expected to see all the products of the world spread out within. I -found, instead, only a single sample of each kind of merchandise, the -goods themselves being stored in warehouses. Seeing an excellent blue -overcoat of fine cheviot, I paid thirty ones for it, and David ordered a -similar coat to be sent to me at the Strangers’ House. - -“Watch the street!” he said, as we emerged. - -I perceived the passengers scrambling off the moving portion of the -roadway. A moment later the track began to travel in the opposite -direction. - -“We reverse our streets according to the stream of travel,” said David. -“The mechanism is controlled by solar power, transmitted from the -Vosges.” - -We journeyed for some five and twenty minutes by the new reckoning—what -would have been a quarter of an hour. We changed streets frequently, and -it seemed to me, although I could not be sure of it, that David -purposely selected a roundabout route. At length, we stopped in front of -a large building of the uniform height and style. Upon the front was -sculptured a man in a laborer’s blouse with a protecting hand laid upon -the head of one who cowered before him—presumably the stranger. - -“I shall take you in by the basement and internal elevator,” said David, -“so as to give you a glimpse of our traffic system.” - -We had passed numbers of subway entrances, with gentle ramps descending -into clean, white-walled passages, along which I had seen an endless -series of trucks proceeding on single rails. Beneath the Strangers’ -House I saw the termination of a branch line; and, as we stood watching, -a porter in blue seized a small truck which had detached itself from the -rail, and, with a slight push, sent it spinning into a goods elevator. - -“Gyroscopic action,” explained David. “Above this is the House kitchen, -connecting with the district sub-kitchen by means of a two-foot tube.” - -And every now and then he would stop in the midst of his explanations -and cast that searching look at me, as if to inquire whether I could be -ignorant of all this. - -We stepped into an elevator, David pressed a button, and the cage shot -up to the top story. Opposite us was a door with a bell at the side, as -in the old-fashioned apartment. David rang, and the door opened, -revealing a girl about eighteen years of age, who looked at me with -parted lips and an expression that was unmistakably fear. - -“Arnold, this is my daughter Elizabeth,” said David, kissing her. -“Arnold is under our special care,” he continued. “He comes from a very -distant city outside the Federation, and is waiting to be ascribed. He -knows no more about civilization than if he had just awakened after a -sleep of a century.” - -The girl shot a quick, dubious, searching glance at me. I met it -steadily, and she turned her eyes away. Again she looked at me, and my -gaze apparently reassured her, for she gave me her hand in a very -unaffected manner, and we went through a living-room into a simply -furnished dining-room. It much resembled one of my own century, except -that the furniture was in good taste; the curves and spirals and volutes -of our machine-carved chairs and tables were gone; the wall was of a -plain gray, without paper or pictures; the carpet was plain, and the -absence of curls and twists even on the handles of the cutlery was -extraordinarily restful. Between the two rooms was a small enclosed -space containing a telephone funnel with knobs and levers disposed about -it, and a dumb-waiter. The table linen was of a peculiar lusterless -black. Looking out of the window, I saw that the uppermost street ran -past it, and occasionally the hatless head of a pedestrian appeared. - -“Anything new to you, Arnold?” inquired my host, as we took our places -at the table. - -“Principally the color of the table linen,” I answered. “Black seems -strange to me.” - -“Black! Do you call that black?” asked David in surprise. “Why, that is -mull, and not at all like black to me. For my part I prefer the -old-fashioned white, but two years ago, when the plans to dress us in -mull instead of blue were rescinded, the Wool and Linen bosses had -accumulated a large quantity of mull goods in the warehouses on -speculation, the loss of which would have hurt them badly—so we were -asked to use mull-colored table linen.” - -“Do you like chicken?” inquired Elizabeth. “It is of last year’s -freezing, and I got it as a special favor, for the supply for 34–5 is -not yet exhausted, and they are supposed not to draw on the new cellars. -If father had told me that he was going to bring home a guest—” - -“But I didn’t know it myself,” said David. “Of course, I could have -telephoned, but—” - -“Never do that!” exclaimed Elizabeth impetuously; and I saw the look of -fear upon her face again. - -A bell sounded, the shaft door clicked open, and a tray lay in the -orifice. Elizabeth carried it to the table, and a well-cooked meal was -smoking before us. - -“You may be surprised to know that this tea was made two miles away,” -said David, “in the district sub-kitchen. It came to us at seventy miles -an hour. Before we had the gyroscopic attachments, fluids were -occasionally spilled.” - -“And how do you clean the apartment?” I asked Elizabeth. - -“In the old-fashioned way,” she answered, smiling. “I am an expert with -the solar vacuum and duster.” - -“I believe our friend is accustomed to the existence of a servant -class,” said David, laughing at me. - -But there was a subdued melancholy about him, as well as about -Elizabeth. The sense of it, and the constraint it bred, grew on me -momentarily. After dinner the dishes were sent down the shaft, and David -handed me a typical twentieth-century cigar. - -“In a sense, this is one of our compromises,” he said, as we sat down in -the adjoining room. “Doctor Sanson wants to forbid the use of nicotine -as impairing the productive efficiency of the race. But the Council -thinks the narcotic has a restraining influence—” - -He broke off as Elizabeth looked at him rather significantly. - -“I understand, then, that the old tendencies toward the illogical and -the unnecessary have not been entirely conquered?” I asked. - -“No, no!” said David emphatically. “Private apartments, for instance, -instead of the phalanstery. And then the tabloid floods! The human -stomach still demands bulk as well as nutriment. Still, it is claimed -that with education—” - -“Do you remember the legend of the man who educated his ass to live on a -single straw a day?” asked Elizabeth. - -We laughed; but I was still conscious of the restraint. - -“Then, of course, people are too lazy, when hungry, to weigh their food -and calculate it in calories,” David continued. “Doctor Sanson is -fighting the abuse of protein. He claims that its decrease will set free -more workers to apply themselves to more productive labor instead of -food-raising, and will also lengthen the productive life of the -individual. But we are still protein gluttons.” - -“The chicken—” interposed Elizabeth. - -It seemed to me that the girl had some serious purpose in her -interruptions. I was beginning to realize that she still feared me; I -wondered why. - -“And you may have observed that the eternal feminine has baffled Doctor -Sanson’s desire to abolish the skirt,” continued David. “In fact, human -nature seems to flow on in much the same old way beneath the surface of -civilization. I am inclined to think that our economic changes have not -seriously amended it.” - -“Father, if you are going to talk like a heretic, I shall leave you!” -exclaimed Elizabeth, rising. - -She left the room, and David followed her. Presently he came back alone. - -“Arnold,” he began, seating himself and knocking the ashes from his -cigar, “my daughter is troubled about my frankness with you. You know -there is a period of necessary restraint just now, owing to the final -adjustment being incomplete. Some of the oldest men remember the former -régime. The Council is strict, and—in short, Arnold, I am putting my own -safety in your hands because I trust you, and also because—” He broke -off in confusion. “You need to know so much before you face the -Council,” he resumed. “Arnold, some time I will receive your confidence, -and then—well, this misunderstanding will be cleared away.” - -I shook his hand warmly. “I suppose I am not permitted to leave the -apartment?” I asked. - -“By all means. Go where you will. Your gray uniform shows you to be an -unascribed stranger, and every policeman has your photograph in his -thumb-book by now. Only, remember that you must decline to enter into -conversation with anyone who may accost you. Please remember this point -scrupulously, for your own sake. But, Arnold, do you know, I think you -can spend the rest of your day very profitably in learning to read.” - -“Learn in a day?” - -“To some extent. There are only thirty-five principal characters, and -all the sub-characters are readily discernible as coming under these -heads. I believe Elizabeth has an old spelling-book, and she will be -delighted to instruct you.” - -The idea aroused his enthusiasm, and a few minutes later Elizabeth had -begun to give me my lesson. By supper time I had already mastered the -elements, and we continued to study in the evening under the soft solar -light, which, issuing from small, shaded, glass-covered apertures in the -walls, made the room as bright as day. - -Soon after dinner the dumb-waiter shaft clicked open and a package lay -there. Inside was my overcoat. - -At least, it was meant for me. But instead of the fine cheviot, I -discovered a wretched mixture of cotton and shoddy. I was indignant. - -David advised me to do nothing. “A stranger sometimes gets poor -service,” he explained. - -“It is a deliberate fraud, then?” I demanded. - -He placed his hand restrainingly on my arm. “Is it worth while -quarreling with the Wool Boss before you go to the Council?” he asked. - -He went on to explain that each industry was autonomous, and had its own -boss, elected annually by the workers, in theory, but for life in -practice. The Wool Boss, like the other bosses, received one per cent -upon the value of every article made by his department. - -“At present our social organization is a little upset,” he explained -again. “When the Russian troubles are ended we shall resume our normal -life. There will be more spaciousness, more freedom ... liberty will be -enlarged....” - -We went to bed early. I was grateful to discover that the old-fashioned -bed had not been sent into limbo. But then the bed, of course, antedates -history. - -David apologized for mentioning bedtime. - -“Nine is the curfew hour,” he explained. “At nine-half the solar light -goes out. It is only a temporary restriction until—” Again he checked -himself. - -I mused so long that the solar light, which flooded the bedroom within -and made London a vivid picture in a black frame without, was suddenly -turned off, leaving me to grope my way into bed in the darkness. I lay -thinking of Esther, who had died so long ago, and I knew that when the -first bewilderment of the new life had passed away my loss would seem as -unbearable as before. I was as helpless as a savage in this fantastic -city. It seemed incredible that I had been groping in the cellar that -same morning. - -I thought of Elizabeth and the terrified look in her eyes; I heard a -city clock strike ten, and, an hour later, one, and it was long before I -remembered that ten was midnight; my last resolve was to try to forget -my former life and fling myself with all my power into the new. At last -I fell asleep, to be awakened by the sun shining into my eyes along a -canyon that stretched between the high buildings as far as I could see. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - HIDDEN THINGS - - -It was not until a week had passed that the first stimulus of the -amazing life into which I had been plunged abated, leaving me a prey to -melancholy reflections. The memory of Esther, which I had tried so hard -to put away, began to recur incessantly. I felt shut off from humanity, -a survival from a generation whose memory, even, had become legendary. - -They seemed to understand my feelings, although they could not know -their cause, and tried to keep me from brooding. By tacit understanding -no references were made to my past. They accepted me as a stranger, and -yet there was the same latent suspicion on Elizabeth’s part. And I could -not help seeing that some heavy grief or apprehension hung over them. -And I felt that I was an intruder upon it. At night I would hear David -pacing his room for hours, and sometimes a groan would break from his -lips. - -He gave me to understand that the summons to appear before the Council -might be delayed for days or weeks. It was always presented -unexpectedly, and always peremptory, he said. During the week following -my arrival at the Strangers’ House I never went out alone. Whenever I -made the suggestion, David either volunteered to accompany me or found -some excuse to detain me. In particular, he requested me to stay within -doors during the four hours when he was at the Bureau, in the morning. - -Finally I became almost exasperated. “You have told me that I am free,” -I protested. - -“And you are free, Arnold,” he answered. “It is for your own sake that I -make this request of you. There are hidden things, shadows against the -sunlight of our civilization, and transitory, I hope, which you would -hardly understand. You must learn them by degrees, Arnold. To me they -have seemed necessary in this transitional epoch; but they are hard, -Arnold; hard to endure.” - -And he sighed in so melancholy a fashion that I suspected one of those -shadows rested on his own home. - -Yes, there were hidden things, and I got no nearer the heart of them, -although I had hints as to their nature. For instance, there was the -Animal Vivisection Bureau. I wondered why David spoke of the Animal -Vivisection Bureau, and not of the Vivisection Bureau. - -I never had realized before how large a share animals played in our -lives. The horse, I was told, had not existed in the British Province -for a generation. Cats disappeared when the rodent virus was invented, -and were now only to be found in a wild state in the woods. There seemed -to be no dogs, and I did not ask David about them. - -There was no social life at all. The other inmates of the Strangers’ -House were lodged on the different floors and ate in common, living -under the watchful care of the deputies, who occasionally came to David -for advice or instructions. Our only neighbor on the top floor was a -little woman with two children who had come from a northern city and -intended to return as soon as passes for leaving London, which had been -stopped, were again issued. Inspectors from the Children’s Bureau -visited her nearly every day, always leaving her in a condition of -terror, as I inferred from a remark dropped by Elizabeth. Her husband -had dropped dead in the street two months before. David told me that -these sudden deaths were common, and were considered a triumph for -medical science. - -And yet I knew that David had visitors after the solar lights went out. -My room was at the end of the apartment near the street; but I heard -strangers tiptoe along the passage, and whispered colloquies in David’s -room. My host would appear abstracted the next morning, and watch me -very thoughtfully. At such times I felt more than ever an intruder in -the household. - -Yes, it was a world Lazaroff would have appreciated, could he have had -his wish fulfilled, to be born into it. Would his viewpoint have -changed, I wondered? It was a world from which all the amenities and -charities of life seemed to have been banished. I tried to lead up to -that subject in my talks with David, but he appeared unable to -understand me. - -Was it an atheistic world? I had not ventured to question David about -this. But I knew that there was no Sunday upon the calendar, and that -the tenth day was the civil holiday. That day had fallen already, and -endless crowds had marched through the streets, to the music of bands, -to play-places in waste spots outside London. The Council supervised the -games, which were compulsory. Of all the paternal regulations of the -Council, this seemed to me the most arbitrary and oppressive. - -“We have to keep the people under discipline,” David explained. “Once -they were allowed to wander at will; but they tore up the trees and -flowers and strewed paper and broken bottles everywhere.” - -That was true. I remembered the public fields of my own age. I recalled -how one writer had seen in them a complete indictment of democracy -itself. - -I was amazed and alarmed increasingly by what I saw in my journeys about -the town with David: the large brass tags that gave each person his -label, the occupation badges, the insolence of the whites, passing with -bodyguards of blues who elbowed all out of their way. And once there -came a frantic scramble to make a passage for a tall, black-bearded man -in a dark-blue uniform, who passed in the midst of his retinue with -clanking sword. - -I had noticed these men in uniform about the streets. They strode like -conquerors amid a servile populace. I learned that the tall man was -Mehemet, a Turk in command of an international force, the bodyguard of -Sanson, and devoted to him. - -Perhaps it was as well that, before my enlightenment came, I completed a -cursory survey of the new civilization. At my request David took me to -one of the public schools. I was astonished to discover that no history -prior to 1945 was taught, and no geography. The greater part of the -curriculum was devoted to scientific and economic subjects. So great had -been the progress in knowledge that, on opening some of the text-books, -I discovered that I was quite unable to understand them. - -I learned that Oxford and Cambridge had disappeared, with the old public -schools, in 1945, after a revolution, the anger of the people having -been kindled against them on account of their moral influence and the -distinctive stamp of character that they produced. To prevent tutors of -personality from imparting to their pupils the elements of humane -tradition, David told me, the text-books were so written as to eliminate -entirely the personal element in instruction, a reform that the prophet -Wells had urged rather furiously, and perhaps invidiously, in his own -century. - -“The Council shapes each citizen’s education from the cradle to the -workshop,” said David. “It is very anxious to secure precision of -knowledge. For instance, it is a criminal offense for mothers to teach -their children fairy stories. It is the duty of the inspectors to -question children rigorously, in order to ascertain whether they are -acquainted with any of this unscientific, heretical folk-lore.” - -“Which has doubtless all perished,” I said. - -“On the contrary,” he answered, “an immense quantity of it has come down -to us, practically unchanged, through all the revolutions of the past -century, and not only that but new tales have arisen. The authorities -are at their wits’ end to discover who is responsible for the existence -of this masonic secret among the younger generation.” - -From the school we went to the workshop. On the way home we stopped at -one of the open-air moving picture shows, and saw two or three -dramatized versions of public affairs. Ingenious mechanism synchronized -the movements of the figures upon the screen, which were in stereoscopic -relief, with speeches made through the telephone funnels. These, David -said, took the place of newspapers when the socialized State destroyed -the printed news-sheet by the simple process of killing the advertising. - -We also looked inside the district art gallery. None of the pictures -antedated the year 1978, and each illustrated some phase of the new -civilization in an educational way. I must not forget to say that later -I found a novel in David’s home, which Elizabeth must have read in her -schoolgirl days. The scene was laid in the early twentieth century, and -the story dealt with the adventures of a young man of property, -depicting the romance of his care-free life. A moral at the end, and -copious footnotes, inserted by the Council’s order, drew attention to -the improvement in the human lot since that barbarous period. - -So, day by day, I waited, and my eyes were opened more and more to my -environment. Daily I expected the Council summons that did not come, and -daily the constraint grew. I was thinking of suggesting to David that I -should be located among the other strangers in place of continuing to -accept his hospitality; but before I could decide to approach him an -incident occurred which revealed to me the existence of conditions -which, unintelligible though they were, made me decide to approach David -again with a view to a mutual understanding. - -David was at the Strangers’ Bureau and would not return for at least two -hours. Under Elizabeth’s instruction I had made swift progress in -understanding the combinations of syllables that make up the written -language. I had just begun, in fact, to master the ingenious Brebœuf -system, whereby the simpler of the syllables have been combined to form -the written speech of four of the five Provinces. David had told me that -the Council’s inability to enforce the invented language Spekezi as the -universal tongue, had been one of the severest shocks that the new -civilization had received. Then came Brebœuf with his universal syllabic -symbols. - -Now, if the written language were merely pictorial, it could have been -used to represent all the languages on earth. But since it is syllabic, -and therefore depicts words instead of ideas, it was a supreme -achievement to have invented a written language adapted to four tongues. -The Brebœuf system is based, of course, upon the common Latin and -Sanskrit elements. Brebœuf, who was one of the last of the classical -scholars, was rewarded, as is well known, by being freed from the -defectives’ art factories in his old age, and pensioned. - -However, it was not my purpose to touch upon this matter. My interest -was beginning to flag, and I was paying more attention to Elizabeth than -to the lesson. I was trying to trace in her features some elusive -resemblance to Esther. I was wondering whether I could ever become a -normal citizen of this strange world. Suddenly the telephone funnel -shouted Elizabeth’s name. - -She sprang from her chair and rushed into her bedroom, which was next to -the external elevator shaft. Her expression and gestures alarmed me so -greatly that I ran after her. When I reached her door I saw her standing -in the middle of the room, deathly white, and clenched in her hand was a -knife, which she was aiming at her heart. - -I ran into the room and wrested the weapon from her grasp. She fell upon -the floor unconscious. All the while this was happening the funnel was -shouting stridently, “Elizabeth!” “Elizabeth!” together with the string -of letters and figures that completed her nomenclature. - -I went to the funnel and lied to the voice. “She is not here,” I said. - -“Then tell her, when she returns, that the price of the dress will be -five units more, on account of the new wool schedule,” the voice -responded. - -Such was the half-comic ending of what had nearly been a tragedy. I -revived the girl and explained the matter to her, but for some time she -remained in a condition approaching collapse. When she began to regain -consciousness she wept hysterically. - -It was only the fear of causing David anxiety that enabled her to resume -her accustomed demeanor by the time he returned. She begged me to make -no mention of the matter to him, and I agreed on condition that she -would never use the knife except in the last extremity. But I was -working in the dark, for, though she consented to the bargain, when I -begged her to tell me what it was she feared, she remained mute, shaking -her head and closing her mouth obstinately. - -“Will you not trust me, Elizabeth?” I pleaded. - -Then, to my surprise, she looked accusingly at me. “Will you trust me?” -she asked. “Will you not trust my father and me? Haven’t you news of -Paul?” Her expression was indescribably beseeching. - -“We don’t know who you are,” she went on rapidly. “My father trusts -everybody. But I know your assumed ignorance is impossible. You don’t -trust us, Arnold, and you are playing with us. You have been here three -weeks and the Council has not sent for you. If you were what you claim -to be you would know your danger. Trust us, and, if you are what we -hoped you were, tell me about Paul. Is he safe? Is he well?” - -“I never heard of him,” I stammered. “I—” - -She looked at me with reproach and glided quietly away. I heard her sigh -mournfully. And still I groped in a fog of mystery and could learn -nothing. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE OVER - - -David possessed a small library of books, nearly all of a scientific -nature. Among them, however, I found two histories, and, in spite of -their obvious bias and violent character, I was enabled to understand -what had happened in the world since my long sleep began. - -I learned of the great war that had begun a few days after I entered the -cylinder, when Russia and the democracies of Europe stamped out German -autocracy and laid the foundations of democratic government. I learned -how this democratic spirit burst out in 1945, when all the experiences -of the social order, accumulated by mankind since the dawn of history -were jettisoned, with all their lessons and all their warnings. - -It was extraordinary to me that none of us had realized the changes -which had been impending. Warnings there had been, as there always are. -They were the decay of parliamentary government in all lands, the -breaking down of tradition and authority in every phase; only there was -nobody to heed them. Then, previously, whether by acknowledgment or in -spite of denial, society had always been founded on servile labor. The -harnessing of the tides, and, later, the control of solar power, threw -millions out of employment, millions of hungry men with time to think -and nothing to reverence. - -The book said that the movement could have been stayed by wise measures. -But it was doubtful, for a frenzy for change was spreading like wildfire -over the civilized world. Now only Spain, restored Russia, and -monarchical and prosperous South America resisted it, among Occidental -nations. - -I read that in 1945 democracy initiated the millennium by bursting all -the dykes. Millions were slain. London, Paris, Berlin, New York, -Chicago, Winnipeg were burned to ashes, with scores of other cities. -Peace was restored fifteen years later by a few military chiefs who came -into power owing to the universal exhaustion. At that time whole -populations were turning cannibal. All organized industries had been -destroyed. The path for reconstruction was clear. - -Men called that the period of reaction, but it might have been the -period of reconciliation. Both sides failed in the ensuing years; the -mob, because it lacked idealism; the leaders, because they failed to -recognize the unassailable truth in the old Socialist propaganda, that -the era of machinery and of an inexhaustible supply of industrial power -had made the systematization of production inevitable. With half the -people workless, it was ridiculous that they should suffer and starve -because they could not buy the goods rotting in the stuffed warehouses. -The system did not fall because it was ridiculous, however, but because -it had become unworkable. Production had to be for use, not profit. When -profit went, rent had to go, and interest, that leech of society, so -long forbidden by the Catholic Church, and no doubt the direst result of -the Reformation. Failure to realize this need dragged down the old order -in 1978. It fell forever, and with it died all hope of a civilization -built on that of the past. - -It was then that the writings of the great Wells, since called the -Prophet, were discovered and proved the inspiration of the new order. In -place of the illogical instinct of nations there was to be a New -Republic, based on pure reason, and shining with facets of unanswerable -facts. The world was to forget its past as thoroughly as it had -forgotten the Stone Age. The new revolution was led by Sanson, I -gathered, and swiftly conquered. There ensued two years of worse anarchy -than before. India was lost to Britain, and became a democracy, -convulsed with civil strife. Our savage wards reverted to barbarism. -Australia fell to China. All the world’s archives were destroyed. -Picture galleries went up in flames; statues were smashed to pieces; -monuments were blasted. The Parthenon perished, the British Museum, the -Louvre; east of the Bosphorus there remained hardly a memorial of the -past, except St. Peter’s and Cologne Cathedral. But, at the end of the -two years, the five Provinces of Britain, France, Skandogermania, Italy, -and Hungary found themselves the nucleus of the future Federation of -Man, under a pure democracy. - -Here, amid fulsome plaudits, the tale ended; but I went to David to ask -him for some more particulars. He had seen me reading, and I think he -had been prepared for my question. - -“I shall be glad to explain anything, Arnold,” he said. - -“I have been reading about the new Federation,” I said. “England is, -then, no longer independent? And the United States? And Russia and -Spain?” - -He smiled. “Of course, if you do not know these things, Arnold—” he -began. “But surely you are at least aware of the history of your own -country?” - -“I know nothing,” I answered. - -“Well, then, the United States is an independent nation. We have made -proposals for a union, but the bosses have not yet come to terms. Spain -stamped out her revolution. We were on the point of compelling her to -come in when she discovered the secret of the Glow Ray, which would have -made the effort unremunerative.” - -“What is this Ray?” - -“It is a combustion by old light, stored solar energy being transmitted -for that and all other power purposes from the great solar works on the -Vosges Mountains. Its invention made the old warfare obsolete. Our -small-arms are miniature Ray mirrors, charged with a single unit; our -big ordnance is supplied from the Vosges by cable connection. The Ray -destroys everything that it encounters, not protected by the glow paint -which you may have observed on the fronts of our buildings. This is the -last and greatest of the coal tar discoveries, and its manufacture is -based upon the exact relationship between the disintegrating glow rays -and an exact color having a fixed number of vibrations. - -“Russia,” he continued, “crushed her revolution, too, as she had crushed -earlier anarchistic outbreaks. But though she has discovered the glow -paint, she has not the Ray. The Federation is consequently at war with -her, for her antiquated ideals make her a menace to civilization. -Besides, we need her wheat-fields. We have an army of ten thousand men, -two from each of the five Provinces, and have cooped up the young Tsar, -Alexander, with his army of a million men, in Tula. His surrender is -expected daily.” - -“Ten thousand against a million?” - -“Yes, with the Ray. However, even ten thousand were difficult to secure, -though the pay of each soldier is five units hourly. Twelve men have -been killed already. That is the weak point in our civilization, Arnold. -In spite of daily lectures by the most gifted orators that the Council -can obtain, showing that the desire for immortality is an inherited -perversion, and that we are immortal anyway, in the germ-plasm, man is -unwilling to die. In time the Council hopes, by reason and education, to -rid men of this ancient terror.” - -“What is the ethical basis of our government?” I asked. - -“Science, which alone survived the destruction of knowledge. The -scientific books were saved from the twelve million tons of printed -paper, chiefly from the British Museum shelves, that burned for twelve -days upon Blackheath; and from the contents of the Bibliotheque -Nationale that heated Paris during an entire month. - -“A commission quickly synthesized the discoveries of earlier -investigators. World councils of scientists laid down the dogmas of -universal knowledge in the Vienna Creed, which was adopted without -dissentients after those who objected had been put to death. The famous -quarrel whether Force is of the same substance as Matter, or a like -substance, was decided here. The Sames conquered the Similars, by virtue -of a proclamation from Boss Rose. - -“We know now that Science has given Nature’s complete and final -revelation to mankind. We tolerate no heresies, no independent judgment. -In vital matters toleration means only a dead faith. The Modernist idea -of criticizing the basic principles of our Science becomes a capital -offense, if preached, because the Boss is himself the repository of all -knowledge, and the pronouncements of Boss Lembken supreme. It is not -that we are bigoted, you understand. It is, indeed, suggested that -Science unfolds like a flower, revealing herself in larger scope to each -generation. But new discoveries can only be adaptations of what is -already known.” - -I almost thought that there was irony in his tone; but he met my gaze -steadily, challengingly, as if to say, “If these are not your views, -declare them.” - -“One thing I want to know is this,” I said. “The history books make no -mention of the blues and the whites. On what do you base the division of -the State into these two groups of citizens?” - -“That is Doctor Sanson’s doing,” he answered. “The blues are the -defectives, the whites the perfect specimens of the race. The whites -alone are admitted to posts of responsibility. But most of them prefer -not to labor, and live in seclusion upon State pensions for the sake of -the race. - -“This is considered Doctor Sanson’s crowning achievement for humanity,” -David continued. “Before his advent to power, defectives had been living -among the normal population since the dawn of history unrecognized. We -have now an intricate system of points of deficiency whereby they can be -detected infallibly, based partly upon heredity, partly on measurements, -partly craniometry and the Binet-Sanson tests. - -“Doctor Sanson has long been anxious to pass his sterilization measure, -but he has been unable to persuade the Council to face the fierce, -ignorant, popular resentment that it would incur, although this practice -is of respectable antiquity in China and the Mohammedan world, and was -reintroduced to the Occident by progressive America a whole century ago. -Of course, the morons and all below a certain grading are not allowed to -reproduce their kind; but Sanson wishes to include the high-grade -defectives also. However, that would reduce the total productivity, and -thus the question bristles with difficulties.” - -As I listened to all this jargon I felt more and more bewildered. - -“You appear to have created a new aristocracy, then, based on physical -perfection,” I said. - -“No, there you are wrong, Arnold,” said David. “Our democracy will never -endure hereditary privileges. What it has introduced is hereditary -disabilities. We simply disqualify from the white, or normal class, the -ninety-five per cent who are below the standard. It was progressive -America that first conceived the plan of raising man to the level of the -hound and the blooded horse. - -“Yet,” he continued, “defectives do crop up, even among the offspring of -the whites. They are hard to discover; but by the Sanson tests we can -discover defectives who are, to all appearance, flawless. This class -exists especially among those of unusual mental power, which is in -itself a stigma of deficiency. Then there are the men who write our -books and paint our pictures in the art factories. They present an -anarchical longing for personal license. But they are isolated and never -allowed to mingle with the world. Yes, there are odd kinks in the human -brain. For instance, there still exists a preposterous sense of -nationality, which is being remedied by a system of forced emigration. -The Prophet Wells did not entirely estimate in its exactness the -tenacity of this illogical notion. - -“Then there was that extraordinary outbreak, the Name War. Who could -have anticipated that human beings would object to being classified -under letters and numbers, for the sake of statistical simplicity? Yet a -misguided fifty thousand chose to meet death rather than give up their -names. However, Britain is said to be the province of compromises, and -it was agreed that the whites should retain two names, and the blues -one.” - -“But surely,” I said, “the people did not vote for these restrictions?” - -“You do not understand our system of government, Arnold. Naturally there -can be no voting in matters of science, sanitation, or statistics. Yet, -even here there is an indirect control, for our rulers, who are whites, -are elected by ballot annually, by the high-grade defectives of both -sexes. The Federal Council, which is not now in session, meets once a -year in London, the capital, and consists of five lay bosses, of whom -Lembken is chief, and five Science bosses under Sanson. You will -appreciate the stability of our government when I tell you that for -twenty years every nominated boss has been re-elected.” - -I was almost certain of an undertone of irony in his words now. - -“You see,” he continued, “non-votes are counted as ayes. Then those -opposing the Council must give their reason, which is filed in the -Bureau of Complaints. And again all such objections have been found to -be invalid, since they have invariably been made by undetected morons, -who have been sent to the workshops for life in consequence. Every -applicant at the Bureau of Complaints is examined by physicians. That -was Sanson’s idea.” - -A most ingenious one. Suddenly I became sure that David was testing me; -the whole tenor of his conversation had been ironical, hesitating, -perhaps, and carefully weighed, lest he was running into danger, but -corresponding in no wise to his convictions. But why was he afraid of -me? - -“Who is this Doctor Sanson?” I asked him. - -To my surprise his voice dropped, and, before answering, he cast a -cautious glance toward the telephone funnel. Then, rising, he stuffed a -sofa cover into it. - -“An illegal act,” he said, reseating himself. “If that were known I -should be liable to forced labor in the leather factories for several -years. Now, Arnold, you see my faith in you. Well, then, I cannot answer -you. He is a man of superhuman powers, more feared than any man has ever -been feared. There is a popular belief that he was born a thousand years -ago, and has wandered from land to land, waiting for the new age to -dawn. The Christians called him Antichrist. Nothing has ever been -learned as to his origin. He appeared like a conqueror, about the year -1980, to lead the hosts of the revolution to victory.” - -“He is the ruler?” - -David shook his head. “Boss Lembken is the titular head. But all know -that Sanson is supreme, although he chooses to let Boss Lembken hold the -reins of power. He could do anything, make any laws he wished, become -supreme ruler of earth. He is believed to be immortal, and to have the -power of renewing his youth whenever he wishes. Arnold, the people -believe that he can bestow immortality upon them and overcome their last -enemy, death. That is the secret of their terror of him. And—” - -His voice sank to a whisper: - -“You have come at a critical time. For this expectancy has set a date. -None knows how the rumor started, but during the next few months, ‘soon -after the Cold Solstice,’ the prophecy runs, a Messiah is to come to -earth, ignorant of his destiny. When he learns it he will offer mankind -its ancient liberty. Sanson will offer immortality in place of it. Then -will come the most titanic of all struggles, and the result is not -known.” - -His voice quavered and ceased. And, staring at him, incredulous at -first, I realized that David was repeating no foolish, popular tale, but -what he himself believed. - -Even Science had not succeeded in banishing faith from the hearts of -men. She had made it superstition instead. My brain reeled as the -dreadful picture David had drawn came home to me. - -“David,” I exclaimed impulsively, “you are an educated man and an -intelligent one. Why do you not wear the white uniform? Surely you are -not a defective?” - -“Yes,” he replied. “Under the Sanson law. My father had epileptic -seizures in his youth. He had to hide—but some day I will tell you about -that. It penalizes me twelve points, and Elizabeth six, thank God!” - -And, just as the airscout’s face had expressed fear at my own expletive, -so David recoiled in horror at the word that had burst from his lips. - -“Arnold,” he said, taking me by the arm, “there is a book—an illegal -book, to possess which would mean death. I am going to lend it to -you—and after you have read it you can tell me your story.” - - - - - CHAPTER IX - THE BOOK - - -I found the book beneath my pillow. David had been afraid to hand it to -me, and I was not surprised. For assuredly the anonymous author would -have received the utmost penalty from the Council. - -He was a Christian, and he took the ground that democracy, in itself -bad, had become impossible when the atheistic deism of the eighteenth -century pervaded the minds of the voting masses and took the form of -Hæckel’s materialism and that of his school of thinkers. - -He claimed that, so far from indicating the spread of enlightenment, it -was due to national decay, and had always preceded periods of national -reconstruction, instancing Rome and Athens, and the America of a century -ago, where democracy had become incompatible with free speech and -assembly, an independent judiciary, and a broad and secure freedom. - -Written for circulation among those opposed to the Sanson régime, it was -a fervent prayer for the deliverance of the world. In it I gathered more -of the meaning of the new civilization than I had learned from David. - -I read that the War of the Nations was caused by one thing alone: the -breaking down of Christianity in Germany, and the revival of the old -pagan doctrines, with the ensuing challenge against all that humanity -had built up during two thousand years. - -But in that period of ferments only a few had seen this meaning. The -challenge had been interpreted as one of aristocracy against democracy, -largely because democracy, then in the saddle, was the creed of the -loudest publicists. For this the writer Wells, known posthumously as -“The Prophet,” a man whose penetrating judgment and synthetic mind were -fogged by class consciousness, was largely responsible. - -The hope of democracy was fair in those after-years, when nations, -purged by their ordeal of blood, revived the noble hopes of liberty. Men -would have sacrificed everything for their brethren during that first -decade of peace. There was a splendid spiritual awakening among the -nations. Democracy was the young, smiling god, the guardian of universal -peace. - -If only, the writer said, that spiritual enlargement had been joined to -Christian faith. But the backwash of nineteenth century atheism swamped -it. The doctrines of materialism were rooted in the masses. The German -virus could not be rooted out without trained leadership and ideals. I -recalled Sir Spofforth’s words when I read that. “It must not happen -again!” all men had said, when at last peace triumphed. No, not if the -spirit of Christ, governing all men, had drawn them into brotherhood. -But what if insults had been heaped upon the German people? What hope of -peace was there when hate such as this ruled in the mind of the leader -of the new faith? - -Instead of Christ, these blind philosophers set up their democratic god. -They labelled war “dynastic,” and believed democracy would destroy it. -Had they not used their eyes? Did they not know that war was the -embodiment of hate? Had they never looked on a mob, shouting for war, or -was human nature to be changed by education, and through prosperity, so -that no nation would ever again gather to itself false doctrines, with -hate, and scorn, and pride, and go forth to destroy? - -As every century produced its dominant illusion, so now in the twentieth -this singular delusion of a democracy progressing through graded virtue -unto a perfect day possessed the race. And here the writer paused to -draw another instance from America, not, as he was painstaking to -explain, because her inhabitants were different from other men, but -because they were the same. - -He showed how decadence had spread exactly as democracy had spread. He -told of the two counties of Ohio where investigation showed the -inhabitants to have sold their votes universally—merchants and -clergymen, professional men and laborers. Corruption radiated from the -English-speaking centers. Law, principle, and integrity had gone first -in New England and the South, in the withered branches of Anglo-Saxondom -that had broken from the bough. One by one all the traditions of civic -honesty had died; and if life was still tolerable in the early twentieth -century, when justice was a byword and faith in public men had almost -ceased, it was because the State was still largely an abstraction and -people could still keep aloof from politics. - -All the while there existed the same pitiable belief that this democracy -would some day become honest, all-good, all-wise; but this was democracy -and the fruits of it, and nowhere had it had a fairer chance to -inaugurate the millennium. And the same mob that ran blindly after its -blind leaders, responsive to every prejudice, to the old Moloch of -race-hatred and the old Mammon of dishonesty, would, had it been -allowed, have followed an ideal with its fund of inexhaustible loyalty -and self-sacrifice. - -Men had not changed. The Amazon and Congo valleys were drenched with the -blood of murdered natives, and democracy yawned, just as the blood of -Polish women and children, massacred by State troops, cried from the -Colorado mining camps. In former days Christian orders arose to uphold -justice and to keep down the devil in man. When Christendom was one, -labor guilds had arisen under Catholic auspices whereby all men could -live in freedom; now the Pope, impotent, could only issue an encyclical -against that oppression of labor which, in its turn, begot hatred and -war. The sword of Justice had been snapped in the scabbard. - -Was this the hope of the world, he asked, this barren, Christless -democracy? How many hearts had it broken? How many idealists had -sacrificed themselves before this idol, dying with blind faith in a -deity that devoured its votaries? Was there no higher hope? Were -millions of colored men and women in America to be born forever, black -cattle without hope, and die without a part in life? Had not the race at -last turned on itself, when the eugenics madness thrust the sword into -the heart of every family and made life a more loathsome slavery than -any the world had known? What a sinister end to human hopes! - -The persecutions of the mob always struck to degrade humanity. And when -England developed, in proportion to her democracy, the same corruption -as the United States, the same lack of loyalty and public sense, the -same violence and the same vindictiveness, that was suspected which -happened afterward—that the same types of men would rise to leadership, -and her faithful, loyal heroes vanish like smoke in a gale. - -And all the time the remedy was at hand; no Moloch of hate, no -stock-farm theory of human bodies, but the principles of Christ, imposed -to save the world by leaders who had abdicated their responsibility. The -mob could never understand the need of abstract justice nor subordinate -greed to duty. But for some ideal, however dimly seen, it could obey and -sacrifice itself with matchless zeal, even to death. - -Truly the Prophet Wells had prophesied of the years to come: “Not only -will moral standards be shifting and uncertain, admitting of -physiologically sound menages of very variable status, but also vice and -depravity, in every form that is not absolutely penal, will be practiced -in every grade of magnificence, and condoned.” - -A shadow fell across the book. I looked up and saw David. He had been -glancing over my shoulder as I read, unconscious of him; and he had -reached these words with me. - -His eyes flashed, he shook his fist in vehemence of passion. “No, -Arnold!” he cried. “We’ll fight as long as we live to remain something -better than the beasts; if life is a lie, or a dream, we’ll fight for -that!” - - - - - CHAPTER X - THE DOMED BUILDING - - -“Arnold! Arnold!” - -The funnel in the room was calling me, not in its customary strident -tones, but with a muffled, intimate appeal. - -David was at the Bureau, and Elizabeth had gone out on one of her -infrequent journeys. It was as if the voice knew I was alone, for it had -never spoken to me before, and had never called in that particular tone -of intimacy and understanding. - -“Arnold, I am your friend,” the voice continued. “You will come to no -good in the Strangers’ House. Go out quietly by the external elevator at -once and proceed toward the Temple, where everything will be explained -to you.” - -My bewilderment changed to intense expectancy. The Temple was, I knew, -the domed building that seemed to dominate London; I had seen it from -afar each time David and I had gone out together, and each time David -had seemed sedulously to avoid approaching it, proceeding and returning -in a circuitous manner. - -“See for yourself the heritage of the new civilization,” the voice -continued. “Do not allow yourself to be made a prisoner by those who -wish you no good. Go out at once by the external elevator. Turn to the -right. Walk slowly. Look about you. Your friends are watching you.” - -I went out and descended the building by the external elevator. A minute -later I was upon the traveling street, feeling like a runaway schoolboy, -and animated by an intense desire to solve the secret that lay before -me. - -Presently, remembering that I was to proceed slowly, I had the curiosity -to step off the traveling platform into a large, open space on which a -crowd was seated. I took my post beside one of the funnels that -surrounded it, and saw that I was at one of the moving picture -performances. Spelling out the title upon the curtain, I understood that -news from Russia was to be given. - -There was none of that blur of vision which was a common defect of the -old-fashioned pictures, and the words spoken from the funnels -synchronized so perfectly with the actions on the screen that the -illusion was complete. Upon the parapet of the fortress reared by our -besieging troops I saw machines with conical tops, faced with large, -glow-painted shields. As I watched, there rushed across the field of -vision a number of men of the most degraded, savage aspect, armed with -long swords, which they brandished furiously, while the funnels yelled -like demons. - -“These are the Russian savages, filthy defectives who are attacking the -army of the Federation,” announced the funnel at my side, in such a -personal way that I started, imagining for a moment that someone had -spoken to me. - -As the horde neared the fortress a short command was uttered, and from -each of the conical machines a glare of light shot forth. The Russians -wilted and crumpled up. They did not fall; they were rather consumed -like lead dropped into fire, and the next line wilted too as the Ray -caught them, tumbling in charred masses upon the bodies of their -companions. Higher and higher rose the dreadful pyramid of mortality, -until the field was empty. - -“The victory of Science over Superstition,” announced each funnel -simultaneously. “The Russians do not possess the Ray. They are degraded -outcasts, refuse from the pre-civilization period, starving in Tula, and -will all die unless they surrender soon. What a pity to have to destroy -so much potential productivity! It is the Tsar’s fault. He is a dirty -moron, full of germ life, and has never produced a hektone in his life. -We shall next see him before the Council. Boss Lembken is on the job. -Praise him!” - -“Hurrah” yelled the spectators, rising in their seats to cheer. - -The curtain darkened, and the next scene of the drama was displayed. It -was laid in the Council Hall; but inasmuch as the Council was not in -session, and the Tsar was not yet captured, it possessed a certain -unreality for me which the audience did not seem to share. With -considerable interest I watched the ten about the Council table. At the -head sat a figure of enormous girth, dressed in white, with a black, or -probably mull robe about the shoulders. The face, appalling in its -grossness, must be that of Lembken, titular ruler of the Federation, a -fat old man with huge paunch and shrunken throat, on which the sagging -cheeks hung like a dewlap. A fit head for such a people! - -Beside him sat a man of about the same age, perhaps sixty years, but -lithe and lean and muscular, and with the keenest, cruelest face that I -ever had seen. His whitening hair was brushed back from his forehead, -and his expression was so full of sinister and malignant power that I -knew this could be none other than Sanson, the devil of this devil’s -world, who ruled the superstitious multitude by the terror of “Science -become Faith,” as old Sir Spofforth had so aptly phrased it. - -And, as I looked at him, I seemed to see the features of Herman -Lazaroff, as he might have been in his old age. There was the same -self-confidence, become arrogance, and self-assertion grown with power, -the same demoniac energy and will, trained by its use upon a servile -multitude. Thus Lazaroff might have been, if he could have had his wish -to live again. - -What struck me, as I gazed upon the strong, clean-shaven faces about the -Council board, was that they seemed to reproduce the aspect and gestures -of the degenerate emperors of Rome. Was history repeating itself; a -state-fed mob, state-governed industries, the fist of autocracy beneath -the glove of impotent democracy, and those terrific incarnations of -cruelty and insane pride in power? - -I saw the Tsar, a dwarfish, wretched figure in a tinsel crown, dragged, -groveling, to Lembken’s feet, while Lembken assumed an attitude of -inflexibility; and then once more the curtain darkened. - -“Praise your Boss!” hooted the funnels. “He is the people’s friend. -That’s how he deals with kings! He shows no mercy to the people’s -enemies. The Tsar is a low-grade moron. His heredity is horrible. He -cannot pass Test 1 upon the Binet board. He is a wretched brach, and -will now work in the leathers till he dies, producing for you.” - -“Hurrah!” screamed the spectators. “Out with him! To the Rest Cure!” - -And the absurdity of the display came home to none except myself. These -citizens were in deadly earnest. How shrewd the mind that had contrived -a pabulum so well calculated to appeal to the mob palate! The contrived -crudeness, the planned abuse betrayed an intimate and assured -acquaintance with the people’s psychology. - -“Praise louder!” whispered the intimate voice beside me. “Why do you not -praise when the others do?” - -And then I realized that the funnel was speaking to me! Nobody else had -heard, nobody else was meant to hear. I knew that the funnels had a -tele-photophonic attachment whereby one could see as well as hear. -Somewhere, then, the person who had spoken to me that morning was -watching and playing with me. For an instant I felt caught in a trap. - -“You do not seem to be an admirer of Boss Lembken,” said a voice upon my -other side; and I swung around to see a little, sallow man in blue, with -a plank badge on his shoulder, indicating that he was a carpenter. “I -see you are a stranger,” he continued, with a glance at my gray uniform. -“What do you think of London?” - -“I have not seen much of it as yet,” I answered, remembering David’s -warning. - -“Ah, you are diplomatic,” he returned suavely. “One has to be diplomatic -in these days, do you not think? You are of the same opinion as many of -us, only you lack the courage to say it, that certain features of our -civilization are over-developed. Now let us take Doctor Sanson, for -instance—do you not consider that he is pushing his prosecution of -morons to undue lengths? Has he not, in other words, a mania about -them?” - -“I think,” I answered, hotly, “that a man whose chief amusement consists -in torturing his fellow-men needs to have his own mentality -investigated.” - -“A worthy sentiment,” answered the little man, nodding his head briskly. -“In short, you are with us on that subject. And as for Lembken?” - -“I know nothing of him,” I answered shortly. - -“No, of course not. You are wise not to commit yourself,” said the -little man eagerly. “One must not pass judgment without investigation. -But still, our democracy has, in some respects, retained the features of -the old despotisms, do you not think? And then, do you consider that the -people are really omnipotent?” - -He cocked his head as he spoke, and he had the objectionable habit of -thrusting his face forward, so that he had been forcing me, step by -step, around the circumference of a circle. - -“The truth is, you say, we are actually in a condition of slavery,” he -persisted. “We are no better off than our ancestors, for all our boast -of civilization. Is that not so, to your way of thinking?” - -“You are very quick,” I answered, “to put words into my mouth before I -speak them.” - -“But you think them. Don’t you think them?” he urged, cocking his head -again and watching me with intense eagerness. - -The little man had ceased crowding me, and suddenly I saw that he had -contrived to have me speak almost into the mouth of the funnel. It was -only then that the meaning of his pertinacity and of his repulsive trade -grew clear to me. - -“Take yourself away!” I cried in anger. - -“Oh, certainly! By all means! Yap, yap, if you wish it,” he answered, -drawing back and watching me with a sarcastic smile. - -I went upon my way, filled with indignation. I wondered whether the -Council was watching me before summoning me, and why they attributed so -much importance to my views. I stared about me at the streets and the -crowds, the dazzling fronts of the high buildings, and even then I half -believed that this was a dream. Life could not have grown so accursed as -this. - -Before I became aware of it I had drawn near to the domed building, -toward which the street was running. The houses suddenly fell away, and -the splendid structure, which had seemed to float above the house-tops -elusively, revealed itself to me. I was near the summit of a rather -steep hill, whose superior portion consisted of a smooth glacis composed -of neatly-jointed stones, across which the converging streets moved -toward the castellated fortification, each terminating before a gate in -this wall. The gate in front of me was composed of huge blocks of stone, -probably with a steel foundation, and swung upon thin hinges of some -metal that must have had enormous tensile strength. It was open and, -like the fortification, was covered with glow paint or plaster, a -dazzling mirror, now white, now blue, and bright as sunlight. Above the -wall were the great conical, glow-painted Ray guns. - -I passed through the gateway under a massive arch. Now I saw that the -double wall enclosed a barracks or circular fortress, surrounding the -inner courtyard, and connected with the dome by long bridges, stretched -upon arches. The court within was laid out in grass plots, and was most -spacious. - -I stood still and gazed in admiration at the stupendous architectural -scheme of the great building that occupied the center of the circular -space. The dome covered only a small portion of the entire mass, and on -each side was a succession of halls and porticos, approached between -Corinthian columns, and, I thought, intercommunicating. The part -immediately beneath the dome appeared to be of older date than the rest, -and formed the nucleus of the complete conception. - -As I stood staring in astonishment, suddenly I knew what the domed -building was. It was St. Paul’s Cathedral; but the cross was gone. - -My wonder grew as I watched it. The dome designed by Sir Christopher -Wren remained intact; yet it no longer rested on the summit, but seemed -to soar, supported on numerous low pillars, and, twenty feet beneath it, -on a flat under-roof, was a garden of luxuriating palm trees, and -therefore presumably enclosed by invisible crystal walls. I saw the -gorgeous coloring of tropical flowers, and scarlet creepers that twined -around the trunks of old trees. What a magnificent pleasure-ground for -the Council of the Federated Provinces, high up above the London streets -in the December weather! - -An elderly, bent man in blue, with the sign of a hammer on his shoulder, -came slowly toward me. - -“Can one obtain a permit to go to the Council garden?” I inquired of -him. - -He stopped and looked dully at me. “Eh?” he inquired. - -“I want to go up and see the aerial garden,” I responded, pointing. - -“You want to go up there?” he exclaimed, and then began to chuckle. He -slapped first one knee and then the other. - -“Ho! Ho!” he roared. “That’s good. But listen! You don’t know who you’re -talking to. My daughter lives up there. I’ll never see her again, but I -like to walk here and look up and think about my luck. It gives me -standing. I’ve got to earn a hektone and a quarter monthly, haven’t I? -But I tell you I don’t earn fifty ones a month, and I lay off when I -want to, and there’s not a Labor Boss dares say a word to me. And down I -go on the register for my hektone and a quarter every month, as sure as -the sun rises.” - -His hard, shrewd laughter convulsed him again, and he slapped his legs -and leered at me. Then he drew closer to me and laid his hand on my arm -confidentially. - -“You’ve heard of this new freedom the people are whispering about?” he -asked, glancing apprehensively about him. “They’re never satisfied, the -people aren’t. They want to get back to the old, bad ways of a hundred -years ago, when there wasn’t food to go around, and the rich sucked the -poor men dry. I’ve read about those days. But the people are forgetting. -Sanson will crush them when they’re ready to break out. Do you know what -they want? Do you? Do you? - -“They want God back again, after we’ve put him down. They want their -heaven after their rotten hides are turned into fertilizer. I know. I -know those Christians. London’s full of them today. The defective shops -are full of them. They’re talking and planning for an uprising that will -turn back the hands of the clock. But Sanson will oust them when he gets -ready. He’ll give them the Rest Cure. - -“They say there’s a Messiah coming to mate the Temple goddess and bring -back the old, bad days. Do you know what Sanson means to do? He’s going -to mate her himself. And then he’s going to make us all immortal. We’ll -have our heaven on earth then, and keep our bodies too. What’s the use -of a heaven when you haven’t a body to enjoy it with? Sanson will make -us all young again. We don’t want freedom, we want immortality.” - -I was so astonished by his gabbling that I remained silent after he had -ended, not knowing how to answer him. He began scanning me slowly from -my feet upward. - -“You’re a stranger,” he said, with slow suspicion. - -“Yes,” I replied. “Now tell me how I can go up to the Council garden.” - -“Garden,” he replied, in apparent stupefaction. “Don’t you know that’s -Boss Lembken’s palace? That’s the People’s House, where Boss Lembken -lives. People can’t go up there. Don’t you know that’s the People’s -House? Who are you?” - -Suddenly he started back and a malignant look came over his face. - -“You’re a wipe!” he shrieked. “You want to trap me and send me to the -Comfortable Bedroom because I’m too old to work. Never a month passes -but I put up my hektone and a quarter. Look on the register. You want to -switch an old man who minds his own business and puts up his hektone and -a quarter, you rotten moron!” - -His old face worked with fear and excitement, and he raised his fist in -a threatening manner; then, suddenly changing his intention, he swung on -his heel and hurried away toward the gate. I saw him glance back -furtively at me and then increase his speed. - -As I turned to look at him I perceived that a small wooden gate on the -interior side of the circular fortification stood partly open, and -inside I saw a troop of the international guards at drill. - -I crossed the court and came to a halt before the Corinthian columns -that I had seen; and now I perceived that the pedestal of each contained -a bas-relief, a conventionalized figure beneath which was engraved a -tribute to some great leader of mankind. The engravings were in the old -Roman characters, which seemed to have been retained on statues, coins, -and brasses, just as we in our day still inscribed coins and statue -pedestals in Latin. I walked around the columns, reading these -inscriptions. - -The first that caught my eye was in honor of Darwin, and read simply, -“The Father of Civilization.” - -The next was to Karl Marx. “He interpreted history in the light of -materialism, and gave us the social State, with food for all,” I read. - -There was one in honor of Wells, “the Prophet of the Race.” - -There was one to Weismann, “who gave us immortality, not in a ghostly -heaven, but in the germ-plasm.” - -The next was to Mendel, who had “interpreted man’s destiny in terms of -the pea.” Poor, patient, toiling Abbot, what were you doing in this -galaxy? - -And there was one to Nietzsche, “the scourge of Jesus of Nazareth, a -peasant god.” - - - - - CHAPTER XI - THE GODDESS OF THE TEMPLE - - -The man in blue with the machine badge on his shoulder, who was waiting -for me at the entrance, surveyed me with a smile of tolerant amusement. - -“You are now at the heart of civilization,” he began. “Let me act as -your guide, for I see that you are a stranger. Is it not wonderful to -contemplate that here, upon a space of a few hektares, man has erected a -monument that shall endure forever! This wing,” he added, “is Doctor -Sanson’s domain, while Boss Lembken exercises his priestly function from -the People’s House, under the dome.” - -He led me within the portico and through a swing door on the north side -of the building. I found myself within a circular chamber like a -hospital theater, with marble seats rising almost to the roof around a -small central platform, on which were a crystal table, a large silver -tank, and a cabinet with glass doors, through which I could see surgical -appliances. - -“This is the Animal Vivisection Bureau,” said my guide. “It is not open -to the public while demonstrations are being given. The Council does not -permit the laity to acquire medical knowledge. We have several hundred -dogs constantly kenneled beneath, in the sound-proof rooms; they are -born there and, in general, die here.” - -“You use only dogs?” I asked. - -“At present, yes. Their trustfulness and docility make them the best -subjects, for we are demonstrating to our classes the nature and -symptoms of pain. Now here—” - -I followed him through another swing door into a similar room, but at -least twice the size. - -“This is the Vivisection Bureau,” he continued, taking his stand beside -a table of reddish marble mottled with blue veins, with a cup-like -depression at the head. “The people call it, jocularly, of course, the -Rest Cure Home. You can guess why. Criminals and other suitable subjects -are never lacking for experimentation. Doctor Sanson is said to be -making investigations which will prove of a revolutionary nature. Then, -the supply of moron children appears to be inexhaustible. Again, of -course, there is the annual Surgeons’ Day, when we round up the -populace. The date being movable, the ignorant are kept in a state of -wholesome apprehension. But let us follow that throng.” - -Through the glass of the swing door I perceived a large crowd pouring -into another part of the building, following in the wake of an old man, -perhaps eighty years of age, who was being conducted by two of the -blue-coated guards. Behind him trailed a little rat-faced man in blue, -who glanced furtively about him with a smile of bravado. We went with -the mob into a third chamber. - -It was about the size of the second, and in the center was a large -structure of steel, with a swing door. The brass rail which surrounded -it kept back the spectators, who lined it, heaving and staring, and -uttering loud exclamations of interest and delight. The room was filled -with the nauseating stench of an anaesthetic. - -One of the guards raised a drop-bar in the rail, and the old man passed -through and walked with firm steps toward the steel structure. His white -beard drifted over his breast, his blue eyes were fixed hard, and he had -the poise of complete resignation. At the door he turned and addressed -the spectators. - -“It’s a bad world, and I am glad to go out of it,” he said. “I remember -when the world was Christian. It was a better world then.” - -He passed through, and the anaesthetic fumes suddenly became -intensified. I heard the creak as of a chair inside the structure, a -sigh, and the soft dabbing of a wet sponge. That was all, and the mob, -struck silent, began to shuffle, and then to murmur. I saw the rat-faced -man slinking away. - -“This,” said my guide, “is popularly called the Comfortable Bedroom. The -old man can no longer produce his hektone and a quarter monthly, and his -grandson, who has the right to take over the burden, has just been -mated. Most of our old qualify for life in senility, but no doubt he -dissipated his credit margin in youth. Again, many prefer to go this -way. Now if he had been a woman he would have been accredited thirty -hektones for each child supplied to the State. That is Doctor Sanson’s -method of assuring productivity.” - -But I broke from the man in horror, forcing my passage through the -crowd, which was dispersing already. I ran on through hall after hall, -approaching the central part of the building, until I was again blocked -by a crowd, this time of young men and women in blue, who were reading a -lengthy list of letters and figures, suspended high in the center of -this chamber. Most of these young people were in pairs, and, as they -read, they nudged each other and exchanged facetious phrases. - -But one pair I saw who, with clasped hands, turned wretchedly away and -passed back slowly toward the entrance. - -“This is more cheerful than the Comfortable Bedroom,” murmured a voice -at my side. - -The new speaker was a dapper young fellow with a small, pert mustache -and an air of insinuating familiarity. He placed his hand upon my arm to -detain me as I started to move away. - -“The kindly Council, which relieves old age of the burden of life, also -provides that the life to come shall be as efficient for productivity as -possible,” he said. “I see you are a stranger and may not know that -these young people are here to learn the names of their mates.” - -“Do you mean that the Council decides whom each man or woman is to -marry?” I asked. - -“To mate? Yap, in ordinary cases. There is no mating for one-fourth of -the population—that is to say, those of the morons whose germ-plasm -contains impure dominants, and who are yet capable of sufficient -productivity to be permitted to reach maturity. Grade 2, the ordinary -defectives, who number another fourth of the people, are at present -mated, though Doctor Sanson will soon abolish this practice. The sexes -of this class are united in accordance with their Sanson rating, with a -view to eliminating the dominants.” - -“And these are defectives of what you call Grade 2?” I asked. - -“No, these are all Grade 1 defectives,” he answered, regarding me with -amusement. “Defectives such as us. We number forty-five per cent of the -population and form the average type. They are free to choose within -limits. The Council prepares periodically lists of young men and young -women in whom the deficiencies are recessive, and those on one side of -the list may mate with any of those upon the other side. Monogamy is, -however, frowned upon. I suppose you, in your country, never heard of -this plan?” - -“Yes, it used to be called the totem, or group marriage, and was -confined to the most degraded savages on earth, the Aborigines of -Australia,” I answered. But the little man, who had evidently not heard -of Australia, only looked at me blankly. A rush of people toward the -next hall carried us apart, and, not loath to lose my companion, I -followed the crowd, to find myself in the immense central auditorium, -within which orators were addressing the people from various platforms. - -Upon that nearest me a lecturer was holding forth with the enthusiasm of -some Dominican of old. - -“Produce! Produce!” he yelled, with wild gesticulations. “Out with the -unproductive who cannot create a hektone and a quarter monthly! Out with -the moron! Out with the defective! Out with the unadaptable! Out with -the weak! Out with him who denies the consubstantiality of Force and -Matter! No compromise! Sterilize, sterilize, as Doctor Sanson demands of -you! There are defectives in the shops today, spreading the moron -doctrines of Christianity. There are asymmetries and variations from the -Sanson norm, cunningly concealed, legacies of malformations from -degenerate ancestors, impure germ-plasm that menaces the future of the -human race. Let us support Sanson, citizens! Go through the city with -sickle and pruning-hook for the perfect race of the future, in the name -of democracy! Praise the great Boss!” - -“Hurrah!” shrieked the mob enthusiastically. - -“Will you not go up and see the Temple goddess?” whispered a voice in my -ear. - -I started, but I could not discern the speaker. I looked up. On either -side of the auditorium a high staircase of gleaming marble led to a -gallery which surrounded it. Doors were set in the wall of this in many -places, and above were more stairs and more galleries, tier above tier. -At the head of each stairway one of the guards was posted. He stood -there like a statue, picturesque in his blue uniform, which made a -splotch of color against the white marble wall. - -“Go up and ask no questions,” whispered somebody on my other side; and -again I turned quickly, but none of those near me seemed to have spoken. - -I went up the stairway, passing the guard, who did not stop or question -me. As I stopped in the gallery, high above the auditorium, a door -opened, and there came out a man of extreme age, dressed in white, with -a gold ant badge on either shoulder. He propped himself upon a staff, -and stood blinking and leering at me, and wagging his head like a -grotesque idol. - -“A stranger!” he exclaimed. “So you have come to see the goddess of the -Ant Temple! Would you like to stand upon the altar platform and see her -face to face? It only costs one hektone, but it is customary to offer a -gratuity to the assistant priest.” - -I thrust the money into the shaking hand that he stretched out to me. At -that moment I did not know whether I was still free, or whether this was -that peremptory summons to the Council of which David had warned me. I -realized that the spies who had dogged my path were all links in some -subtle scheme. - -The old man preceded me into a large room on the south side of the -auditorium, beyond which I saw another door. This seemed to be a -robing-room for the priests, for white garments with the gold ant badge -hung from the walls, which were covered with mirrors, from each of which -the horrible old face grimaced at me. - -“You are to go through that door,” said the old man, pointing to the far -end of the room. “It is a great privilege to look upon the face of the -goddess. Not everyone may do so, but you are not an ordinary man, are -you?” - -He shot a penetrating glance at me. - -“Thus the Messiah will look upon her when he comes,” he continued. “At -least, so runs the prophecy, and remember, you may be he, for it is -foretold that he will come unknowing his mission. But wait!”—for I was -hastening toward the door—“you must put on a priest’s robes. It is not -proper for a layman to look upon the goddess.” - -He indicated a white robe with the ant badge that hung on a table beside -me. - -“Don’t be in a hurry,” he mumbled. “It is a great pleasure to me to talk -with strangers from remote countries. Where do you come from? You look -like a man of the last century, come back to life. How the barbarians of -that period would stare if they could see our civilization!” - -“What is this Temple?” I inquired. “Do men worship an ant, and are you -its priest?” - -He chuckled and leered at me. “Oh, no, I am a very humble old man,” he -answered. “I am only an assistant priest. Boss Lembken is the Chief -Priest. And you ask about the Ant? The people worship it, but it is not -known whether they see it as the symbol of labor, or whether they think -it is a god. The religious ideas of the people were always a confused -and chaotic jumble, even in the old days of Christianity. But the Ant is -only the transition stage from God to Matter. We know there is no God, -nothing but Matter, and man is born of Matter and destined to be -resolved into it. But the people are still ignorant, and it keeps them -calm, to have an ant to pray to. Besides, if there were not the Ant they -would turn to Christianity again and set back the clock of progress. - -“I remember Christianity well. In my young days it used to be a power. I -used to go to church,” he cackled. “Not that I believed in God, any more -than the rest. Only the aristocrats and the intellectuals did that. I -didn’t believe in the Devil either, but I do now. Do you know the -Devil’s name? It is human nature.” - -I remained speechless beneath the spell that the wretch cast over me. - -“Yes, the Devil is human nature,” he resumed. “For it would thwart -progress forever, groveling before its idol of a soul. But already, when -I was a young man, only the intellectuals believed in Christianity. Once -it had been the masses. But Science proved that there was nothing but -Matter, and the momentum of the materialistic impulse was too strong for -the reviving faith. The aristocrats should have guarded their faith -instead of letting the people rise to control. But they were fools. They -set up in little rival bodies when Christ prayed for them to be one. -They permitted divorce when He said no. They tried to compromise with -Him, all except Rome and barbarous Russia, and that is why St. Peter’s -still stands as a Cathedral while St. Paul’s is the Ant Temple. I -remember it all. - -“Christ knew. He knew they would go under if they tried to sail with the -wind. When Science said there were no miracles they cut out the -miracles. And when the visionary Myers made his generation think there -might be miracles after all, they put some of them back again, but very -cautiously. They didn’t know that the people weren’t going to follow -them into rationalism and then out again. Nobody was going to believe -when the leaders themselves didn’t believe. - -“When He taught them how to heal the sick they preferred to mix His -prescription with drugs. They couldn’t believe in one thing and they -couldn’t believe in the other. He told them to leave Caesar’s things to -Caesar, and they went into politics. They tried to bargain with -Socialism when it became strong, but it wouldn’t have anything to do -with them. Then they preached housing reform and a good living, when He -praised poverty and told them to preach resignation. They couldn’t obey -in anything; they thought they knew better; they tried to follow the -times after they split into pieces; of course they went under.” - -“Is there no Christianity anywhere?” I asked. - -“In your native Russia,” he jeered. “In St. Peter’s, because the Italian -Province segregates the evil to keep it under observation. In Cologne, -because the bishop learned the secret of the Ray. And in the defectives’ -shops. They say they have the Scriptures hidden in there, but the -Council has put dozens to the torture and has never found them. It is -hard to clear the human mind of its inherited rubbish. After the -Revolution, Christianity continued to be taught among other myths. But -it aroused anti-social instincts. Christians were the enemies of human -progress. They used to go into the Rest Cure Home and ask to be -vivisected in place of the wretched morons there. You can’t build up a -progressive civilization out of people like that. So the teaching was -made a capital offense. That was after we burned the bishops.” - -“What!” I cried. - -“Death by burning came to us from the great trans-Atlantic democracy, -you know,” he said, leering at me. “Europe had forgotten it. But we set -up the stakes again. I saw Archbishop Tremont, of York, and the Roman -Catholic Archbishop of Westminster burned side by side in the ruins of -Westminster Hall. Then there was Bonham, of London, and Bethany, of -Manchester, and Dean Cross, of Chichester; we put them in plaster of -paris and unslaked lime first. The morons could have fled to -Skandogermania, which was not free then. But they went, all three, into -the Council Hall, and preached to the Council. That was in Boss Rose’s -time. So they had to go. And they blessed us while their bones were -crackling. You can’t make a progressive nation out of people like that.” - -I hurried toward the door. I pushed it open, and it swung back -noiselessly behind me. - -Within the vastness of the Temple I heard a murmur rise, a wail of -misery that made the ensuing silence more dreadful still. For here I -encountered only thick gloom and emptiness, and soundless space, as -though some veil of awful silence had been drawn before the tabernacle -of an evil god. My knees shook as I advanced, clutching the rail beside -my hand. - -I found myself upon a slender bridge that seemed to span the vault. It -widened in the center to a small, square, stone-paved enclosure, like a -flat altar-top, surrounded by a close-wrought grille that gleamed like -gold. I halted here, and, looking down, saw, far beneath, a throng whose -white faces stared upward like masks. Again that chant arose, and now I -heard its burden: - -“We are immortal in the germ-plasm; make us immortal in the body before -we die.” - -Then something beneath me began to assume shape as my eyes grew used to -the obscurity. It was a great ant of gold, five hundred tons of it, -perhaps, erected on a great pedestal of stone; where should have been -the altar of the Savior of the world, there the abominable insect -crawled, with its articulated, smooth body, and one antenna upraised. - -The symbol was graven clear. This was the aspiration of mankind, and to -this we had come, through Science that would not look within, through a -feminism that had sought new, and the progressive aims of ethical -doctrinaires that had discarded the old safeguards; Christ’s light yoke -of well-tried moral laws, sufficient to centuries; through all the -fanatic votaries of a mechanistic creed; polygamy and mutilation, and -all the shameful things from which the race had struggled through -suffering upward. All the old evils which we had thought exorcised -forever had crept in on us again, out of the shadows where they had lain -concealed. - -I stood there, sick with horror, clinging to the rail. - -How far from gentle St. Francis and St. Catherine, and all the gracious -spirits of the dead and derided ages, progress had moved! Were those -things false and forgotten, those saintly ideals which had shone like -lamps of faith through the night of the world? Was this the truth and -were those nothing? - -I heard a sobbing in the shadows beneath. I looked down and perceived, -immediately before the Ant, an aged man prostrate. He muttered; and, -though I heard no words that I could understand, I realized that, in his -blind, helpless way, he was groping toward the godhead. - -Then I looked up and saw something that sent the blood throbbing through -my head and drew my voice from me in gasping breaths. - -At the edge of the platform on which I stood, out of the gloom, loomed -the round body of the second cylinder. And inside, through the face of -unbroken glass, I saw the sleeping face of Esther, my love of a century -ago. - -The cap of the cylinder was half unscrewed. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE LORDS OF MISRULE - - -I saw her eyelids quiver and half unclose an instant, and, though there -was no other sign of awakening upon the mask-like face of sleep, I knew -she lived. The indicators upon the dials showed that five days remained -before the opening of the cylinder. And, as I stared through the glass -plate, so horror-struck and shaken, some power seemed to take possession -of me and make me very calm. An immense elation succeeded fear and -rendered it impotent. Esther was restored to me. We had not slept -through that whole century not to meet at last. - -How many years we two had lain side by side within our cylinders, down -in the vault, I could not know. Yet there had been a sweetness behind -those misty memories of my awakening as if our spirits had been in -contact during those hundred years of helpless swoon. - -The eyelids quivered again. But for the emaciation and the dreadful -pallor I might have thought she was only lightly sleeping, and would -awaken at my call. The love in my heart surged up triumphantly. For her -sake I meant to play the man before the Council. - -I meant to go there now. I think my instinct must have been the courage -born of hopelessness, such as that which had carried the bishops to -their death. For only a desperate stroke could win me Esther; and such a -stroke must be made, should be made. With steady steps I returned to the -priests’ room. - -The dotard was waiting for me, and he came forward, smiling and blinking -into my face, searing my soul with eyes as hard as agates. - -“I am going to the Council,” I said quietly. - -He looked at me in terror. He seized me by the arm. - -“No, no, no!” he exclaimed. “You are to go to your friends. The Council -is not in session.” - -“It is in session. I have been held for it.” - -“You don’t understand. That is the Provincial Council. This is a matter -for the Federal Council, and Sanson is not your friend. Don’t you -understand now? Sanson is working on the problem of immortality and -doesn’t suspect. Boss Lembken is your friend. Don’t you know he is your -friend?” - -“No,” I answered contemptuously. - -The old man clutched me in extreme agitation. - -“If you are headstrong you will go to ruin,” he cried. “Boss Lembken is -your friend. He sent for you. Not Sanson. Boss Lembken discovered who -you were while Sanson was dreaming over his victims. If Sanson knew he -would get you into his power and overthrow the priesthood. He means to -destroy the Ant and have no god. He is going to mate the goddess when -she awakens—” - -He saw me start and clench my fists, and a deep-drawn “Ah!” of relief -came from his lips. For I had betrayed my identity beyond all doubt; and -it was to make sure of this that I had been sent into the Temple. I -could see it all now. - -“Now listen to me,” he said, coming near and thrusting his repulsive old -face into mine. “Boss Lembken wants you. He wants to help you and give -you power. But he was not sure of you; and so he had to use craft and -caution. When the Messiah comes Lembken will overthrow Sanson and make -the world free again. It was Lembken who sent for you.” - -He was becoming incoherent with fright at my obduracy. - -“The People’s House is above the Temple,” he continued. “Boss Lembken -lives there. He has a beautiful palace. You will be happy there. And -Sanson has no palace and no delights. He wants nothing except to -vivisect the morons. So you will not want to go to Sanson. He can offer -you nothing. We must be cautious, and if he is in the Council Hall we -must wait till he has gone, for he controls the Guard, and if he saw you -he would have you seized. That is why I gave you a priest’s -robes—because Sanson dares not stop the priests, who are under Lembken. -Come with me, then.” - -I accompanied him out into the gallery above the auditorium, in which -the orators were still declaiming to a lessening crowd. Sanson or -Lembken, it mattered little to me. I felt enmeshed in some plot whose -meaning was incomprehensible. But I meant to win Esther. I walked like a -somnambulist, feeling that the dream might dissolve at any moment. A -shaft from the western sun struck blood-red on a window. A pigeon that -had perched among the columns fluttered to the ground. Above me I saw -tier upon tier of galleries. - -We ascended the marble stairway, the guards making no attempt to stop -us, nor were we challenged. I noticed that they were armed with Ray -rods, similar to those that I had seen in the cellar; and they raised -them in salutation as we passed. - -We ascended flight after flight, and always the guards posted at the top -of each saluted us and stepped aside. We passed across a little covered -bridge and presently entered a small rotunda, in which a dozen guards -were seated, sipping coffee and chatting in low tones. Behind them was -an immensely high door marked in large letters - - COUNCIL HALL - -To the right and left of it were smaller doors. - -We entered the door on the right, and the priest, stopping, whispered to -me: - -“You must make no sound. If Sanson is in Council he must not discover -us.” - -I found myself in a small room, with the inevitable door at the farther -end. Upon one side were two apertures in the wall, disclosed by sliding -panels that moved noiselessly—spy-holes, each as large as the bottom of -a teacup. The priest stooped before one and I looked through the other. - -The immense Council Hall was dim, and it took a few moments for my eyes -to grow accustomed to the obscurity. Then I saw at the distant end a -raised platform, on which stood two high chairs, like thrones. - -There were three men upon this platform, one occupying each chair, and -the third standing. - -One was unmistakably Lembken, the obese old boss of the Federation. He -wore a trailing gown of white, with a short mull cape about his -shoulders, and there were golden ants—as I discovered afterward—stamped -all over the fabric. He was lying rather than standing, and his feet -rested upon a stool. He was smiling in evil fashion, and he was stout to -the verge of disease. I could not see his face distinctly. - -Upon the second throne sat a man with a fanatic’s face and a square -beard of black that swept his breast. He had a large ant badge on either -shoulder of his white gown, and on one finger was an immensely heavy -ring of gold that projected beyond the knuckles. This was the Deputy -Chief Priest. - -Standing between the two in the shadows, lolling back half-insolently -against Boss Lembken’s chair, to whisper in his ear, and again turning -to the priest, was Sanson. I could not mistake the whitening hair -brushed back, the gestures of intense pride and power, though I could -hardly see the face. He wore a tight tunic of white, without a badge, -and he bore himself with a complete absence of self-consciousness. There -was not a trace of pose in the completeness of that manifested -personality, with its alert poise, cat-like and tense, as if each nerve -and sinew had been disciplined to serve the master-soul within. - -As I watched I heard a strident, metallic voice call in loud tones: - -“Wait till the Goddess awakens and the Messiah comes! He’ll make an end -of Sanson and his cruelties, and give us freedom again!” - -Now I perceived that behind Sanson and between the two thrones stood a -telephone funnel, attached to some mechanism. It was from this that the -voice had issued. It was followed by the clacking sound of a riband of -paper being run off a reel. Sanson stepped back, picked up the riband, -and ran it through his fingers, glancing at it indifferently. - -“The speaker lives in District 9, Block 47, but we do not yet know his -name. A trapper is watching,” said the voice in the funnel. - -A bell rang, the door on the left of the Council Hall was opened by a -guard, and a girl of about eighteen entered. She was robed in white and -on her shoulder was the sign of a palm tree. She stood before Boss -Lembken’s throne with downcast face and clasped hands, trembling -violently. - -“They sent for me,” she said in a low voice. - -I saw the smile deepen on Lembken’s face. He sat leering at her; then he -shifted each foot down from the stool and gathered himself, puffing, -upon his feet. He put his hand under her chin and raised it, looking -into her face. The girl twisted herself away, screamed and began running -toward the door. - -“Let me go home! Please—please!” she cried. - -The guard at the door placed one hand over her mouth and dragged her, -struggling, through a small door behind the funnel, which I had not -seen. - -I clenched my fists; only the thought of Esther held me where I was. - -“Ascribe the heretics,” said Lembken to the deputy priest, and puffed -out behind the guard. - -Sanson stepped backward and touched the funnel mechanism, which -instantly began to scream. - -“Heresy in the paper shops!” it howled. “Examine District 5. They say -there is a God. Weed out the morons there!” - -The writing mechanism began to clack again. I saw the paper riband coil -like a snake along the floor between the thrones. Sanson stopped the -machine, which was beginning to screech once more. He moved to the -vacant throne and sat down. - -Again the bell tinkled, and there came in a man of about thirty years, -in blue, leading a little boy by the hand. He looked about him in -bewilderment, and then, seeing the priest, flung himself on his knees -and pressed his lips to the hem of his robe. - -“It is not true that I am a heretic, as they say,” he babbled. “I -believe in Science Supreme, and Force and Matter, coexistent and -consubstantial, according to the Vienna Creed, and in the Boss, the -Keeper of Knowledge. That man dies as the beast dies. And that we are -immortal in the germ-plasm, through our descendants. I believe in -Darwin, Hæckel, and Wells, who brought us to enlightenment—” - -“That boy is a moron!” screamed Sanson, interrupting the man’s -parrot-rote by leaping from his chair. - -He dragged the child from the father, switched on the solar light, and -set him down, peering into his face. He took the child’s head between -his hands and scanned it. His expression was transformed; he looked like -a madman. And then I realized that the man was really mad; a madman -ruled the world, as in the time of Caligula. - -The father crept humbly toward Sanson; he was shaking pitiably. - -“He is a Grade 2 defective,” he whispered. “You don’t take Grade 2 from -the parents. He is Grade 2—the doctors said so—” He repeated this over -and over, standing with hands clasped and staring eyes. - -“I say he is a moron!” Sanson shouted. “The doctors are fools. He is a -brach. Look at that index and that angle! Look at the cranium, -asymmetrical here—and here! The fingers flex too far apart, a proof of -deficiency. The ears project at different angles, my eighth stigma of -degeneracy. He is a moron of the third grade, and must go to the Vivi—” - -With an unhuman scream the father leaped at Sanson and flung him to the -ground, snatched up the boy in his arms and began running toward the -door. From his throne the priest looked on impassively; it was no -business of his. The guard appeared. - -But before the man reached the guard at the door Sanson had leaped to -his feet and pulled a Ray rod from his tunic. He pointed it. I heard the -catch click. A stream of blinding, purple-white light flashed forth. I -heard the carpet rip as if a sword had slashed it. A chip of wood flew -high into the air. On the floor lay two charred, unrecognizable bodies. - -I confess my only impulse then was of fear. How could I confront that -devil, or Lembken, in his hell, when for Esther’s sake I must be -cautious and wise? I plunged toward the farther door. The priest caught -at me, but I shook him off and flung him, stunned, to the floor. I -opened the door and rushed through. - -I was amazed to find myself upon a long, slender bridge that spanned the -central court of the vast structure. I stopped, bewildered, not knowing -where to turn, and the whole scene burned itself upon my brain in an -instant. - -The immense mass was divided into four separate buildings. The Council -Hall, from which I had emerged, was on the southern side, and, looking -beyond it, I saw the Thames, winding like a silver riband into the -distance. Facing me was the north wing, by which I had entered, -containing the Vivisection Bureau and other halls of nameless horrors, -with Sanson’s quarters. On my left hand the Temple towered high over me. -Above my head I saw the outlines of the noble dome, and the palm trees -behind their crystal walls. A blood-red creeper trailed down through a -chink in the wall. - -Upon my right was a massive fortress that I had not hitherto perceived, -floating above which was a whole fleet of airships, evidently the same -that I had seen when I flew into London. There must have been more than -a hundred of them, ranging from tiny scoutplanes to huge monsters with -glow shields about them, projecting conical machines like those that -studded the top of the enclosing wall, but smaller. On their prows were -great jaws of steel, in some cases closed, in others distended, fifteen -feet of projecting jaw and mandible, capable, as it looked, of crushing -steel plate like eggshells. - -The bridge on which I stood ran from the Council Hall to the wing where -Sanson dwelled. A bridge from the Temple building ran straight to the -fortress of the airships at right angles to this, the two thus crossing, -forming a little enclosed space in the center. At various spots, bridges -from the enclosing fortress crossed the court and entered the pile of -buildings. And the whole concept was so beautiful that even then I -stopped to gaze. - -But I did not know whither to turn. In front of me, where the bridge -entered Sanson’s wing, a guard stood watching me. As I approached the -central place where the two bridges met he raised his Ray rod with a -threatening gesture. - -I turned to the right. Here, where the bridge from the Temple entered -the fort of the airships, I saw an airscout in blue, with the white swan -on his breast, watching me. Again I stopped. My mind was awhirl with the -horrors that I had seen; I could not think! I did not know what to do. -All exit seemed barred to me except that whereby I had come. - -Beneath me lay the court, a broad expanse of white, inlaid with -geometrical figures of green grass. On it crawled tiny figures in blue. -I was halfway between the court below and the Temple dome above; yet -everything was so still that the voices below came up to me. - -A group had gathered, chattering excitedly, about something that lay -hard by the Temple entrance. As they moved this way and that I saw that -it had been a woman. She had been young; her garments had been white; -there was a gold palm on a torn-off fragment that a gust of wind drove -up toward me. I caught at it, but it went sailing past and fluttered -down in the central court between the buildings. - -I saw the spectators look up toward the aerial gardens. The blood-red -creeping vine now swung from an open crystal door. That paradise of -tropic beauty, those flame-colored flowers were such as blossom in hell. - -The crystal door above me clashed to and reopened as the wind caught it. -It seemed to clang rhythmically, like a clear tocsin, high up beneath -the dome, a bell of doom to warn the blood-stained city. Again it -sounded like a workman’s hammer; and the silence that covered everything -made the sounds more ominous and dread, as if Fate were hammering out -the minutes remaining before she slashed her thread. - -An old man pushed his way through the gathering crowd. He peered into -the white face, and wrung his hands, and wept, and his voice rose in a -high, penetrating wail. - -“It’ll all be ended,” I heard him cry. “I can’t work now. I can’t make -up my time. I’ve spent my credit margin. I’m old and outed and done -with. I’ll have to go to the Comfortable Bedroom.” - -It was the old man whom I had seen earlier that day. The crowd jeered -and pressed forward, those who were behind craning their necks and -rising on their toes to see the joint spectacle of death and grief. The -old man shook his gnarled fist at his dead daughter. - -“You’ve killed me,” he sobbed in rage. “Why couldn’t you have stayed up -there till Sanson has made us all immortal? I’m going to the Comfortable -Bedroom now, and my body will die like a beast’s, and I’ll be ended.” - -And he broke into atrocious curses, while the crowd screamed with -delight and mocked his passion. - -The little gate on the inner side of the fort opened, and a troop of the -Guard emerged, carrying a stretcher. At the sight of them the mob -scuttled away. The guards picked up the body and carried it within the -gate. One began scattering sand. - -Out of the crowd leaped an old man with flowing hair and beard. He stood -out in the court and shook his fist toward the Temple dome. - -“Woe to you, accursed city!” he screamed. “Woe to you in the day of -judgment! Woe to your whites and harlots when the judgment comes!” - -The crystal door banged and clashed open. A woman in white put out her -hand and closed it. A latch-click pricked the air. The sun gilded the -dome and turned it to a ball of fire. Down in the court the madman cried -unceasingly. - -[Illustration: - - “Woe to you, accursed city!” he screamed. “Woe to you in the day of - judgment! Woe to your whites and harlots when the judgment comes!” -] - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - THE PALACE OF PALMS - - -The sun dipped behind the western buildings, and the glare of the glow -on fort and Temple and encircling wall was like phosphorescent fire. I -saw the guards stirring in their enclosure. The Airscouts’ Fortress -shone, hard and brilliant, against the sky. - -I gathered my wits together. I had seen the hidden things, and, because -I knew of none other to whom to turn, I resolved to appeal to David. -Esther, the prey of these insane degenerates when she awakened ... -David’s own secret troubles ... could we not aid each other? Might not -two men accomplish something in these evil days? - -I turned to the right across the bridge that led to the Airscouts’ -Fortress. The sentinel stood still, watching me. He raised his Ray rod, -not to threaten me, but to salute, and I remembered that the airscouts -had no love for the Guard, and hence must be under Lembken’s control. He -took me for a priest. But the weapon shook in his hand, and the -astonishment upon his face matched that on mine. I recognized the man -Jones, who had brought me to London. - -“I want to leave this hell!” I cried. “Which way? Which way?” - -“You want—you want—?” he stammered. - -“The Strangers’ House. I am lost here—” - -He looked at me in utter perplexity. - -“Help me!” I pleaded. “Show me the way!” - -The door behind him opened, and there stepped out a man of about fifty -years, dressed in white, with a golden swan on each shoulder. Jones -stepped aside and saluted him. The newcomer approached me. His hard, -clean-shaven face was impenetrable, and his eyes burned with a dull -fire. Behind him crept a second figure; it was the old priest. - -“There he is! Seize him!” he shrieked. - -The first man laid his hand on my shoulder. “I am Air-Admiral Hancock,” -he said. “You are to accompany me to Boss Lembken.” - -I went with him across the bridge into a doorway set in the west side of -the Temple building. I expected again to see the vast interior beneath -me, but we entered a narrow corridor and stepped into a small automatic -elevator. In a moment we had shot up and halted inside the Palace -entrance. Hancock opened the door of the cage. - -We were standing in a spacious hall, bare, save for the hanging -tapestries and heavy Persian rugs on the mosaic floor. It was half dark, -and there was a perfume that made my head swim. Before the curtained -aperture opposite us stood a negro boy, with a Ray rod in his hand. As -we approached he threw the curtain aside and saluted us. - -There were soft solar lights in the next room, which was rose-red, and -decorated and furnished in the style of Louis Quatorze. Another negro -stood in the doorway opposite; he, too, saluted and threw the curtain -back. - -The third room was enameled in blue. The blue lights gave it an -unearthly aspect, which was increased by the baroque style of its -ornamentation. The perfume was stronger. - -The negro at the door of the fourth room was a giant. He wore the -uniform of an eighteenth century grenadier. His scarlet coat and white -pigtail formed vivid spots against the dull-gold curtain. The room -within was dark. We waited on the threshold. - -At first I could see nothing. Then, gradually, the outlines of the room -came into sight. There were low divans and rugs, and mirrors on every -wall multiplied them. I heard a rasping sound, and a blotch of crimson -and green became a brilliant macaw that scraped its way with its sharp -claws from end to end of a horizontal perch. Behind it I now saw the -white gleam of Lembken’s robe; then the couch on which he lay; then the -girl who crouched, fanning him, at his feet; then the rotund form of the -old man, the sharp eyes and the heavy jowl with the pendulous cheeks. - -“I have executed your orders, Boss,” said the Air-Admiral. - -The old man rose upon his feet heavily and came puffing up to us. His -heavy soft hands wandered about my robes, patting me here and there, -while he puffed and snorted like some sea monster. - -“You haven’t a knife or a Ray rod?” he inquired suspiciously. “You -haven’t anything to harm me? I am an old, weak man. I am the people’s -friend, and yet many want to kill me.” - -He seemed to satisfy himself with the result of his inspection, and -withdrew to his couch, picking up a Ray rod and resting it across his -knee. - -He dismissed Hancock and the girl. She rose to her feet briskly, with a -mechanical smile. She was about twenty years old, it seemed to me, but -there was a hardness and cruelty about her mouth that shocked me, and -the soul behind the mask of youth seemed centuries old. - -“Amaranth wanted to stay, to hear what I was going to say to you,” said -Lembken, “but I make everybody mind his own business in the People’s -House. Besides, she might have fallen in love with you. I like to have -good-looking people about me.” He looked at me and at the Ray rod, and -then at me again; then, with a petulant gesture, he sent the weapon -flying across the room. - -“There! You see I trust you!” he said, smiling. “Sit down beside me. We -understand each other, so we will be frank. Men such as we are above -deceptions. You ought to be about a hundred and twenty-eight years old!” - -He spoke jocularly, and yet I could see that he wished to be sure I was -the man he sought. Evidently he knew my history. He heaved a sigh of -immense satisfaction when I acquiesced. - -“I was not sure it was you,” he said. “One has to be cautious when so -much depends on it. And Sanson was beginning to suspect, but he does not -know that I discovered Lazaroff’s papers. Sanson does not know -everything, you see, Arnold. What do you think of his Rest Cure, as the -people term it? It is his, not mine, you know.” - -“I think he is Satan himself,” I answered quickly. Yet I was not sure -that I preferred this perfumed degenerate to Sanson, with his maniac -cruelty. - -A smile crept over the flabby face. Lembken looked pleased. He placed -his hand upon my shoulder. - -“A classical scholar,” he said. “You refer to the mythical ruler of the -infernal realms. Assuredly we shall soon understand each other. Sanson -is a strong man. When I meet strong men I let them be as strong as they -want to be. They break themselves to pieces. In a democracy like ours -there is no room for strong men. Sanson doesn’t understand that. He -thinks the Mayor of the Palace is going to step into the shoes of the -Roi Fainéant. But the Roi Fainéant always wins—if he sits still. I am -the Roi Fainéant.” - -I was so amazed at the strange psychology he was disclosing that I found -no answer ready. I knew he was dissembling some deep-laid purpose, but -why he had need of me I could not imagine. And the man’s affectation of -good-will almost began to delude me. - -“Do you like David’s daughter?” he began, so suddenly that I started. -“Ah!” he continued, shaking his finger waggishly, “one seldom sees a -woman approximating so closely to the Sanson norm. There is an -attachment, if I know young men. How would you like her for your own? I -hit the mark, then?” - -Before I could reply he was on another tack. - -“Now, there is Hancock,” he resumed. “He is a Christian, and ought to go -to the defectives’ shops, according to the law Sanson made. But I don’t -care. I would just as soon have Christianity as the Ant, or Mormonism, -as they have in America. I don’t like tyranny. If I had my way everyone -would be perfectly free. Sanson doesn’t see that he has embittered the -people. He is harrying them with his laws, and they blame me. I am the -people’s friend.” - -With a sudden, hoarse scream the macaw flew from the bar and perched on -Lembken’s shoulder, where she sat, preening her plumage and croaking at -me. “The people’s friend,” she screamed, and broke into choking -laughter. - -“So you see it is entirely to your interest to help me and not Sanson,” -Lembken continued. “Reasonable men cement their friendships with -self-interest. Come, let me look at you.” - -He touched some switch near him, and the room was illuminated with a -blaze of solar light. The golden ants upon his robes leaped into view. -He turned on the divan heavily and stared into my face. - -“Yes, I can trust you,” he said in approbation. “Well, Sanson will learn -his error in four days’ time. You shall live here with me and have a -life of pleasure. You need never think about the world below. We do -exactly what we please; that is my rule in the People’s House.” - -“The People’s House!” screamed the macaw, leaving his shoulder and -fluttering back to her perch, from which she surveyed us coldly, head on -one side. “The People’s House! The people’s friend!” she alternated, in -a muttering diminuendo. - -“My head aches today,” said Lembken petulantly. “That is why I am -sitting here. There has been an accident: one of our ladies fell down -through an open door. It made my head ache.” - -I knew he lied when he spoke of an accident. I knew that she had thrown -herself down. The lie brought back my mind to its focus; and in that -instant my lips were sealed, and my half-formed intent to throw myself -on Lembken’s mercy, pleading for Esther and our love, died. - -“So we shall talk tomorrow,” Lembken continued. “For the present you are -one of us. You see your interest lies in joining us, and the part you -have to play in return will be short and not difficult for a man of your -discernment. That small part will be paid, four days hence—” - -I was sure that it concerned Esther now. “And will be all, and afterward -your life will be free from all laws and bonds. You never need leave the -People’s House unless you want to. Here everyone does as he pleases. -Come, Arnold, I will show you the gardens.” - -He stood up, puffing, and gave me his arm like an old friend. The man’s -manners were fascinating. I could well understand how he had worked his -way to power. There was the good-fellowship of the twentieth-century -demagogue, but there was more; there was discernment and culture; and -there was more still; there was a corrupting influence about his candor -that seemed to strike its deadly roots down into my moral nature and -shrivel it. - -We passed out through the empty rooms. The Palace was level with the -Temple roof; there were no steps. There was no stairway at all, for the -whole structure, which seemed to extend from side to side of the vast -roof, consisted of a single story. We passed out between two giant -negroes, who stood like ebony statues. And now I saw that the four rooms -in which I had been, comprised only the smallest portion of the -building, which was set out irregularly, receding here to leave space -for a little lawn, projecting there, evidently to enclose a garden. And -I discovered why the interior was so dark; there were no windows—at -least, on this side of the Palace. - -It was a fairyland. I thought of the old palaces at Capri. Here, high -above the swarming streets, a man might take his pleasure in ease -indeed. The crystal walls must have been sound-proof, for not a murmur -from below reached us. I heard the music of bubbling brooks, the cries -of birds among the trees, the faint tinkle of a guitar or mandolin -struck somewhere in the recesses of the ramified buildings. - -We were traversing a graveled path that ran between the Palace and the -crystal wall. Looking down, I could see the glow circle of the fortress. -It had grown dark; the lights which lit our way, that I had thought -daylight, were from the solar vents, concealed so skilfully that they -shed a soft, diffused radiance everywhere, as of afternoon. We turned -the angle of the building, and I stopped short and looked in involuntary -admiration at the scene before me. - -We might have stepped into the heart of some Amazonian forest, for we -were in a tangled wilderness of palms and other tropical trees. The air -was filled with the scent of orange flowers, and in a grove near me -clusters of the bright fruit hung from the weighted boughs. From the -dank earth sprang clusters of exotic, flaming flowers, and ferns. Huge -vines knotted themselves about the trunks of trees, through whose -recesses flew flocks of brilliantly plumaged birds. The path became a -trail, meandering between the trees and crossing rushing brooklets. The -vast concavity of the dome above was like an arched heaven of blue, -studded with golden stars. - -“What do you think of the People’s House, Arnold?” Lembken inquired, -turning heavily upon me. - -“It is a paradise,” I answered. - -I was amazed to see two tears roll down his cheeks. It was the same -strange yielding to emotional impulse that I had discerned before. So -might Nero have wept over his fiddle. - -“It is the reward of those who are the chosen of the people,” he -answered. “It will be your reward, Arnold. You must dream over this -tonight, and tomorrow we will make our compact. I have reserved quarters -for you. You will meet nobody you do not wish to meet. That is the chief -charm of the People’s House; we meet only for our festivities; otherwise -we are quite free. Come, Arnold!” - -The scene, the atmosphere, the fearful personality of Lembken seemed to -appeal to some being in me whose hideous presence I had never suspected. -A deadly inertia of the spirit was conquering me. Esther, my love of a -hundred years, became in memory elusive as a dream to me. The sensuous -appeal of this wonderland swept over me. - -We had threaded the recesses of the groves, passing secluded arbors of -twisted vines, pergolas and rustic cottages about which clung the -scarlet trumpets of pomegranate flowers; now the crystal walls came into -sight again, and, as we approached, a gust of wind blew the door open. -Instantly, to divert my senses from that soul-destroying dominance, -there rushed in, the murmurs of the city, the voices of the multitude -below, and, above all, clear and distinct, the wild accents of the -whitebeard, who had denounced the pleasure-palace that afternoon. - -“Woe to you, London, when your whitecoats sit with their harlots in the -high places! Woe! Woe!” - -I could not see him; through the door I saw only the circle of the -enclosing walls, a luminous orb beneath, and the glare of the huge Ray -guns; beyond were the mighty buildings. Lembken put out his hand and -closed the door. The voices were cut off into silence. I glanced at him, -but his brow was untroubled and serene. - -He led me across a little, shelving lawn, through a small gateway. There -was nobody in the tiny close, surrounded by a high marble wall. There -were no windows in the little house before me. It might have held two -rooms. - -“Three rooms,” said Lembken, as if he had read my thoughts. “Good night, -Arnold. Remember, we do what we like to do in the People’s House. There -are no laws, no bonds. Dream of this paradise that shall be yours, and -open the third door softly.” - -He left me. I pushed the first door open and entered. - -It was a bedroom, furnished in the conventional style which had not -changed appreciably during the century, but all in ebony or teak, and -luxurious almost beyond conception. The floor was covered with a -thick-piled Bokhara rug, of red and ivory, and exquisite texture. - -I passed through the inevitable swing door. The second room was fitted -as a combination library and dining-room. There was an ebony bookcase, -filled with magnificently bound books, a sideboard on which stood wines -and distilled liquors, a heavy dining-table, armchairs. - -This room had a window, and, looking out, I was surprised to see beneath -me the bridge that led to the Airscouts’ Fortress, and, at the end of -it, a figure in blue, the white swan on his breast brilliant in the -glare of the solar light over his head. - -I passed on. But instead of the swing door the further wall contained a -door of heavy, iron-bound wood, with bolts of steel. Then I remembered -Lembken’s words: “Open the third door softly.” - -The bolts moved in their sockets with hardly a sound. I drew them; I -opened the door and passed into a tiny chamber. - -A girl in white, with the palm badge upon her shoulder, was standing -there. The room had been dark; the sudden influx of the solar light from -the library showed me the pallid face and blazing eyes of her whom I had -least thought to see before me—Elizabeth! - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - THE HOUSE ON THE WALL - - -She stared at me with eyes that seemed to see nothing; and then a look -of recognition came into them, and a twitching smile upon her lips. She -put her arms out and came unsteadily toward me. She threw her right arm -back. I caught her hand as it swung downward, and the dagger’s razor -edge grazed my shoulder. - -The next moment she was fighting like a trapped panther. I could not -have imagined that such strength and fierceness existed in any woman. -She twisted her wrists out of my grasp time and again, and we wrestled -for the dagger till the blood from my slashed fingers fouled my priest’s -robe. Each of the stabbing blows she dealt so wildly would have driven -the dagger in to the hilt. - -I grappled with her, caught her right arm at last, and forced it upward, -but we swayed to and fro for nearly a minute before I mastered her. Even -then she had one last surprise in store, for, when she saw that she was -beaten, she drew her dagger hand quickly backward, and I seized the -point of the blade within an inch of her breast. I forced her fingers -open brutally, and the steel fell to the floor. Then she wrested herself -away, and crouched in the corner, watching me, motionless, but still -ready to leap. Her gasping breaths were the only sound in the room. - -“Elizabeth!” I cried. “I am not here to harm you. Look at me; listen to -me!” - -Her eyes were fixed on my face in terror that precluded speech. How she -watched me! Only once did her glance waver, and that was toward the -dagger on the floor. I kicked it backward with my heel. - -“Elizabeth, listen to me!” I implored her. “I did not know that you were -here, and I do not know how you came here. I want to help you. I want to -take you home to David!” - -“Ah!” she said, shuddering. “This is what you whites call a romance in -the style of the first century B.C., a fashionable pastime, to dress -yourselves as blues or grays and worm your way into the homes of your -prospective victims, in order to study them, and see whether they suit -your taste and are worth adding to your collection. I have read of that -in the Council factory novels. But there was never any romance in it to -me. So I appeared to suit you, after my father had taken you into his -home so trustingly? You deceived him; but you never deceived me.” - -I saw her glance turn to the dagger again. - -“Elizabeth, you are talking nonsense,” I said, with an affectation of -brusqueness. “Let us sit down in the next room, and I propose a compact. -You shall take the dagger, provided you do not attempt to harm yourself -with it till you have heard me. Is that agreed?” - -She scrutinized me for half a minute. Then she nodded. I preceded her -into the library with an affectation of indifference which I was far -from feeling, for I heard her stoop to pick the dagger up, and wondered -each instant whether I was about to feel the point between my shoulders. -However, my faith appeared to inspire her with a measure of confidence, -for she followed me into the middle room and consented to sit down. - -But when I faced her, toying with the blade and all aquiver with the -reaction from the terrific nerve-tension, I could hardly find words to -utter. Whatever purpose Lembken might have in using me, I had the full -measure of his mind. He had thought that my three weeks spent in David’s -house had inspired me with a passion for the girl; and he had brought -her here, to leave her helpless in my power, a lure to bind me to his -interests beyond the possibility of double-dealing. - -Before I could begin, Elizabeth collapsed. She began to weep without -restraint. I could only wait till she grew more composed. I stared out -through the window, looking down toward the Airscouts’ Fortress, whose -roof rose perhaps twenty feet beneath me. - -I saw the sentry with the swan badge, pacing below. Above him was the -luminous wall of the fortress, and over it, floating in the air, was a -host of ghostly shapes, airplanes encased in their phosphorescent glow -armor, which, as I watched them, rose one by one into the air, circled, -and flitted noiselessly away toward the south, like bubbles blown by -children. - -It could not have been late, for curfew had not come into operation, and -London was ablaze with the solar light; but the crowds had gone home and -everything was quite still. As I withdrew from the window Elizabeth rose -and came timidly toward me. - -“Arnold, have I done you a wrong?” she whispered. - -“You misunderstood me,” I answered. “But you could not have thought -otherwise. If we understand each other now we can help each other—isn’t -that so?” - -She seized me by both arms and gazed into my face with an imploring, -pitiful appeal that wrung my heart. - -“Then I thank God,” she said, “for that impulse which held me from -self-destruction. Arnold, do you remember that promise I made to you one -day? I remembered it; I remembered it, and it was that alone which -stayed my hand this afternoon, when the emissary from Lembken came, and -there was only the one barred door between us, and I stood behind it, -with the knife at my breast. Then I resolved to keep my promise to you, -and to let them bring me here, and—to kill Lembken—but it was you! When -you disappeared from the Strangers’ House this morning we feared for -your safety. We thought you had been seized or lured away. Then my -father was summoned on some pretext back to the Strangers’ Bureau, and -the airscout came—Lembken’s man. I thought I was for Lembken—” - -She broke off, and I took her hands in mine. - -“Elizabeth,” I said, “my dear, I do not understand anything of what you -tell me. How could they bring you here against your will?” - -She looked at me in amazement. - -“No, I see you do not understand,” she answered. “And yet you are -dressed as a priest. I cannot tell you now. But the airscout who had -been sent for me was sorry when he saw that I was not willing, like most -women. He took the knife from me, but afterward he let me keep it; he -was kind and promised to carry the news to Jones, our friend. The -airscouts are disloyal to Lembken, and hate his cruelty, but he dared -not disobey. We went by scoutplane from the roof, and Lembken’s women -took me and clothed me in this dress of palms, and carried me here, -laughing at me. They did not find the knife. I hid that; I meant to -serve the Province and the world by killing Lembken. But then I saw you, -Arnold, and—and—” - -She burst into a new storm of weeping. I drew her to me and placed her -head on my shoulder. I felt a cold, burning fire of resolution in my -heart which never disappeared. Something, some spiritual door was opened -in me. I became part of the wretchedness of the world and suffered its -sorrows; pleasure seemed the worst part of life then. I think, too, I -loved Esther the better because of that compassion. - -When at last Elizabeth raised her head I was struck by the -transformation in her appearance. It seemed the reflection of my own -determination. I had put forth my will and conquered, and her own seemed -one with mine. - -“I am going to save you, Elizabeth,” I said. “You are not destined for -this earthly hell.” - -“Arnold, are you yourself in danger here?” she asked. - -“Only of hell-fire,” I answered. - -“You must save yourself and not think of me,” she said. - -I bade her sit down, and went back to the entrance of the little house. -I had half expected that the door would have been locked, but it stood -open, having become unhasped, and the sickly odor of the pervading -perfume clung to the warm, stale air. I crossed the close to the gate -that led into the garden of palms, and stood there in hesitation. - -The solar lights had been turned off, and all was dark, except for -varicolored lanterns twinkling among the trees. Yet I was aware of souls -peopling that darkness. I heard the tinkle of stringed instruments; I -had the sense of hidden beings in the undergrowth. If hell can wear the -mask of beauty, surely it did that night. - -I crossed the lawn and began to skirt the graveled path that extended -before me, working my way toward the front of the Palace. The squat, -white building glittered against the darkness. Nobody stirred at the -entrance; there were no lights, but always I had the sense of something -watching me. - -At last I saw the crystal walls on the west side, and, beyond them, the -phosphorescence of the glow buildings. I stood in hesitancy. On my right -stood the thickets; on my left the crystal ended in a stone wall. There -was no egress except through the Palace itself. Lembken left nothing to -surprise. - -As I turned I heard the rustle of stealthy footsteps near me. A red -spark drew my eyes along the vista of the orange trees, whose perfumed -flowers dispelled the cloying odor of the scented night. I saw a Mænad’s -face, framed in a leopard skin, peering at me above a bank of hibiscus. -I thought I recognized the girl Amaranth; but it vanished with the dying -of the spark, and subdued laughter followed it. - -All that was evil in the world seemed to have its focus there. I felt -it, breathed it, once more its psychic dominance oppressed me heavily. I -saw with sudden intuition why, in a world less stable, witches were -burned, how passionately the souls of simple men fought for their -heritage of truth and law. This was the negation of life, of all that -struggling life that aspired upward, and set its heel upon the serpent’s -head. Old myths, made real in this new light, flashed into memory. - -I hurried back to the close and fastened the gate behind me. The sweat -was dripping from my forehead when I regained the safety of the little -house. I burst from the first room into the second. - -Elizabeth was not there. - -I ran into the third room. She was not there, either. Terror gripped me. -Had she been lured away during the few minutes of my absence? It seemed -impossible. She would have died there. - -Then my eyes fell on something that hung outside the window, dangling, -as it seemed, from a fixed point above. It was a rope ladder, and moving -outward. As I watched, I saw it begin to rise in a succession of short -jerks. - -I grasped it with my hands. It pulled me from the floor. I clung to it, -striving to get my feet upon the rungs. It drew me to the level of the -window, but I would not let go. It pulled me through the window-gap, and -I swung far out above the Airscouts’ Fortress. Over me I saw the dark -outlines of an unshielded scoutplane, high in the air. - -I swung by my hands at the rope’s end, like the weight of a pendulum, -making great transverse sweeps that carried me high above the bridge, -from end to end of the fortress roof. I saw the courts revolve beneath -me. I swept from the crystal wall out into nothingness, and London was a -reeling dance of phosphorescent maze. Then the ladder began to descend. -I felt the roof of the fortress touch my feet, wrenched my numbed hands -away, and fell. A moment later the airplane dropped beside me as -noiselessly as an alighting bird, and two men sprang from it and seized -me. - -One was the airscout Jones. He caught me by both arms and forced me -backward. But the other leaped at my throat. It was David; and he would -have strangled me, had not Jones pulled him away. - -Then, to my vast relief, Elizabeth ran forward, interposing herself -between us. “Arnold is not to blame!” she cried. “He tried to save me!” - -[Illustration: - - It pulled me through the window-gap, and I swung far out above the - Airscouts’ Fortress -] - -David’s hands fell to his sides. The airscout caught me by the arms and -pulled me toward an elevator entrance. He forced me into the cage, the -others following, and we descended a few feet, emerging into a small, -bare room with walls of unsquared stone. - -Jones sent the elevator up and pulled the door of the shaft to. - -“Now you can speak. You have five minutes to explain yourself,” he said. -He pulled a Ray rod from his tunic and looked at David, who nodded. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - THE AIRSCOUTS’ FORTRESS - - -So I told them my story from the beginning. I spoke of the days of the -Institute and Lazaroff’s experiment, of my awakening within the cylinder -at the end of a century of sleep, my flight from the cellar and my -discovery by Jones. I continued, telling of my first bewilderment in -London, of David’s kindness which had saved my reason, described my -summons that morning and the relays of spies who had led me to the -Temple. When I narrated my discovery of the cylinder containing Esther’s -living body I raised my eyes to David’s and perceived that I was no -longer in the position of a prisoner awaiting death. - -David’s aspect had changed; he was trembling violently and struggling to -speak. He looked fearfully at me, and Jones was hardly less moved. Then -Elizabeth slipped her hand into mine. - -“We believe you, Arnold,” she said. - -Three times David attempted to speak while I was sketching briefly the -remainder of my story up to the point of my encounter with Elizabeth, -and each time his voice failed him. - -“Arnold, forgive me,” he managed to say at last. “We know that every -word you have told us is true, if only you had told me before! But I see -how incredible you must have thought your story. Now listen to me! - -“The horrors of this government will not last much longer. Plans are -well under way to make an end of democracy and restore liberty to the -world. You have unwittingly placed a wonderful weapon in our hands. No -man can be neutral in such times. Now, Arnold, you have to make a -decision which will affect not yourself only, but all of us, Britain, -the Federation, and the race of men. You must choose your party.” He -turned to Jones. “He must be told nothing until the time arrives,” he -continued, assuming a tone of authority. “You will say nothing—nor you, -Elizabeth.” - -He turned to me again. - -“Arnold,” he said, “you must make your choice now. Lembken needs you for -reasons which are patent to us, thanks to your statement. If you go back -to him he can give you power and liberty to lord it over the people -until the quick day of reckoning arrives. If you join us you must become -an outlaw and an associate in the most desperate endeavor, play a -leading part and share our dangers.” - -“How can you doubt me?” I asked. “I am with you, now, and at all times.” - -David held up his hand. “Wait!” he said. “You must first understand our -situation, and why we are here tonight.” - -“It is not necessary, David,” I answered. - -“Yes, it is necessary. Because you do not know the depth of our -intolerable bondage. I am going to tell you of my own life, that you may -judge. - -“I begin with my father. As I told you, he was epileptic in youth. He -outgrew the attacks, and because the Liberal government never dared to -enforce the Defectives’ Law which it passed in 1930, he was able to -marry, much later, a girl to whom he had been engaged for many years. -They had lived quietly in what was then called Wales, in a rural -community that had somehow managed to escape the excesses which began in -1945. - -“But my father was a marked man, because he was on the secret -defectives’ list, and a Conservative. A few weeks after his marriage the -storm of revolution burst over Dolgelly. The army of clerks and civil -officers that followed the troops of the victorious democracy raked the -country fine for victims. With his young bride my father fled to the -mountains, where I was born, and they existed there, heaven knows how, -till an opportunity arrived for flight abroad. When the restoration came -he returned, and rebuilt his ruined home. - -“My father was a student of history, and he knew that the peace which -had descended over the distracted country was only a lull in the storm -of violence. He resolved to teach me all the old knowledge, which had -fallen into decay. He wanted me to play a leading part in political -life, as his forebears had done. But the second revolution was upon us -when I was a youth of nineteen. Fortunately, my parents were both dead. - -“The mob started burning defectives then. For many there was the chance -of submission to the new government, nominally under Boss Rose, which -Sanson was constructing; but there was none for me, since epilepsy was -then, owing to the ephemeral theory of some forgotten scientist, -regarded as the unpardonable sin. I managed to escape to Denmark, and -spent the next sixteen years upon the Continent, wandering from place to -place as the Federation came into being. I married a Swiss lady at -Lausanne, where Elizabeth was born. We had to fly by night, when the -child was a week old. My wife could not survive the journey over the -mountain passes in the middle of winter. She died in what was called -Austria, two days after our arrival there. With Elizabeth I continued my -flight eastward, and found refuge in Greece. - -“I said that the mob had begun to burn defectives. But the Council -changed that. The word ‘productivity’ was the new fetish, and, seeing -that the murder of half the population would decrease the output, the -Council resolved to imprison defectives in the workshops for life -instead. But even this did not work. In 1999 Boss Rose became alarmed at -the depopulation caused by the universal terror. Men denounced their -brothers for small rewards, and wives their husbands, when they grew -tired of them. Men and women were crossing the North Sea in tiny skiffs, -or perishing in the waves, flying into the glens of Scotland, organizing -in bands and living a hunted life within the forests that had begun to -cover the country. Boss Rose issued an amnesty decree. Defectives who -returned and were able to produce a hektone and a quarter monthly were -not to be proscribed. I returned to Britain and secured employment in -the Strangers’ Bureau, which had just been established, a post for which -my education and experiences abroad qualified me. - -“Ten years ago Boss Rose fell under an assassin’s dagger. The Council, -under the influence of Sanson, issued a decree that no faith was to be -kept with defectives. Sanson, then supreme behind the mask of Lembken, -began to harry the people. It was then he introduced his system of -mating under Council supervision.” - -“It is abominable!” I cried. - -“Yet, like all our institutions, it has its roots far back in the past,” -said David, “and only needed the abandonment of the Christian ethic to -spring full-fledged into existence. The Prophet Wells foreshadowed it, -as did also Ellen Key; and on this point the followers of Galton joined -the Socialist government in a concerted attack upon monogamy. This, in -fact, has been the crux of the old battle between Socialism and the -Church: on the one hand the old ideal of the family as the unit of -society, and marriage an indissoluble bond; on the other the individual, -free from responsibility and seeking his own fancied freedom. Even in -the Prophet’s time America had practically abandoned monogamy, while the -anti-social propaganda was being secretly carried on by the teaching of -what was called sex hygiene in the schools. When the churches -compromised with divorce, Protestantism finally collapsed, and flung -half the civilized world back into paganism.” - -“It was said that the children—” I began. - -“The answer was State rearing, Arnold, as had been urged by many men and -some women of liberal and progressive minds. We tried that in 2002. -Elizabeth was torn from me. For six months we had public crèches in -every city. There was much public dissatisfaction, though the children -were not taken from their mothers till they had been weaned. That was -the time when the Guard was formed, consisting of Janissaries trained -from youth by the Council and pledged to them. However, what caused the -abandonment of the crèche system was a quite unexpected happening. -Despite the utmost care, despite a process of automatic feeding in -germ-proof incubators, which made it impossible for any of the little -inmates to lack the advantages of the latest hygienic theories, the -children died. - -“This phenomenon was never explained satisfactorily, and the mortality, -which ranged from eighty to ninety per cent, shocked the Province -profoundly, for it meant an intolerable lessening in the productivity of -the next generation. The children were returned to their parents. -Elizabeth, who was above the age curve of maximum mortality, came back -to me, and, in spite of rigorous inspection by the officials of the -Children’s Bureau, I have managed to keep her. - -“But I must be brief, Arnold. I have told you that it was decreed no -faith was to be kept with defectives. The net was cast over all who, -trusting to the proclamation, had returned from the forests and waste -places, and from abroad. Gradually they were sorted out and ascribed. -Many records of heredity had disappeared during the Revolution, but they -had my father’s in the Bureau of Pedigrees and Relationships. Since then -I have waited in suspense daily. They know it, and, if I have not been -condemned to the workshops, it is through Lembken’s favor, for he was -head of the Strangers’ Bureau before the assassination of Boss Rose, and -I worked under him.” - -“But is there no law?” I cried. “Is there no charter of liberty at all?” - -“Why, yes, Arnold. We still have Magna Charta, and Habeas Corpus, and -many other documents, and occasionally these are invoked. There is an -old man in the paper shops who has appealed against imprisonment and -carried his case through twenty or thirty courts since he was shut up as -a boy, and if he lives long enough his appeal will come before the -Council. But you see, Arnold, one of the first acts of the victorious -democracy was to institute the election and the recall of judges. - -“They think I fear for my own liberty,” he continued, beginning to pace -the floor. “They do not know—happily they do not know.” - -Then he went on to tell me that which concerned the girl’s arrest that -afternoon. - -It appeared that Elizabeth was one of those very few who were physically -almost perfect, and, as such, she had been in danger of being placed on -the list of those who were to enter the harems of the whites. David’s -sole hope of saving her lay in the fact that she was penalized six -points because her grandfather had had epileptic seizures. But she -approximated so closely to the Sanson norm—and the child had been -innocent enough to head the district list of those qualifying in -mentality by examination upon the Binet board—that there had been little -hope for her. This fear had been increased by the fact that Lembken had -seen Elizabeth, and had recently summoned her and her father to the -Council Hall, under the pretext of wishing to confer some favor upon an -old subordinate. - -Now I gathered in the last threads of the skein. David had returned from -the Strangers’ Bureau that afternoon to find the apartment empty. Jones -had conveyed the news to him, and had secreted him in the Airscouts’ -Fortress, pending a plan of rescue, a task which was only rendered -possible through the disaffection of Lembken’s airscouts. Jones had seen -me in my priest’s robes, and the two had come to the natural conclusion -that I had been a spy, playing one of the romantic parts in fashion -among the whites, and approved in the Council’s novels, in order to see -Elizabeth before selecting her. We had been discovered at the window, -the position of the little house had given Jones the opportunity of -rescuing the girl with his scoutplane, and, but for my return while the -rope still dangled before the aperture, I should never have known the -secret of Elizabeth’s disappearance. No wonder David had flown at my -throat. - -“Now, we must act at once,” said David. “We are going to seek refuge in -the forests where our friends are hiding. Jones will carry us there -tonight when he starts in his scoutplane on patrol duty. It is a -difficult problem to pass the night patrol. But Jones can get us -through. And now, Arnold, what is your decision?” - -“I made it long ago,” I answered. - -“You are with us?” - -“Indeed, I am.” - -David wrung my hand hard. “You have decided wisely,” he said, “and by -your decision you have taken the only means possible to save the woman -you love. For the Sanson régime is crumbling, and your presence means, -what you cannot yet imagine, to the cause of liberty. We have five -thousand outlaws and fugitives from the defectives’ shops, scattered in -secret hiding places about London. We have made Ray rods in the shops -and have secreted provisions. Tonight the heads of the movement are to -assemble—” - -“In the cellar where I lay so long!” I exclaimed, with sudden intuition. -“And Jones had been there with Ray rods when he found me!” - -“Correct,” answered Jones, in his laconic manner. - -“We remain here until midnight,” said David. “Then Jones will take us -when he starts to relieve the first patrol.” - -“Be assured that I am with you to the end,” I said. And I swore that I -would do all in my power, so long as I had life and liberty, to fight -for human freedom. And as I swore I had a vision of the girl, mangled -and crushed upon the stones beneath that tropical, aerial hell beneath -the noble dome of England’s shameful temple. - -I think the resolution in my manner must have enkindled David’s hopes, -for he put out his hand and caught mine again, and wrung and held it. - -“You do not know, Arnold, how necessary you are to us,” he said. “But -tonight you shall be told. I am old, Arnold, and I have little courage. -I have lived through too many changes and frustrated hopes. I had grown -used and resigned to things that had come to seem unchangeable. The -freedom of my youth was only a dream to me. Sometimes I doubted whether -men had ever been free. It was your surprise, your ignorance, then the -indignation which you thought I did not see that made me begin to -understand my own degradation. And it was today’s events that gave me -heart to work with all my might for the cause to which I had only -languidly adhered. I have been one of the revolutionary committee for -months, and now I shall fight whole-heartedly, and you with me.” - -“David,” I said with sudden conviction, “you are a Christian.” - -His eyes suddenly seemed to blaze. “I am!” he cried. “As we all are. I -have temporized with evil all these years, but now I cannot do so any -more. The hope of the world can never be crushed out; it is spreading -everywhere. All of us are enlisted under that flag that was raised on -the Mount two thousand years ago. We see that without Christ, life is -intolerable. I knew your faith from the first, Arnold, although I dared -not speak, I knew it at the beginning because I thought you were a -Russian. That was why I befriended you. We know our own!” he cried -triumphantly. - -Elizabeth put one arm about her father’s neck and extended her free hand -to me. I clasped it, and then the airscout’s; and so we pledged -ourselves. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - THE MESSIAH’S ANNUNCIATION - - -Jones left us and came back with some food. Upon his arm he carried a -stranger’s uniform, which he handed to me. - -“You cannot wear those robes,” he said. “Take this. It should fit you; -it belonged to one of our recruits who was ascribed last week and has -not yet returned it to the Wool Stores.” - -I was glad to see the last of the priest’s robes. He carried them away, -promising to return for us in an hour. Elizabeth made us eat, but we had -little heart to do so. At her insistence, however, we made the best -display of appetite that was possible. - -The room was only faintly illumined by the reflected solar light that -issued up the elevator shaft. With it there mounted the sound of the -voices of the airscouts in their barracks below. Sometimes the elevator -rushed by, arousing a thrill of fear in each of us. - -David drew me toward him and began speaking softly. - -“You know nothing of Paul,” he said. “His name is Paul Llewellyn—for we -observe Sanson’s laws no longer. He was to have mated Elizabeth.” - -“Married?” - -“Yes, married, before the Cold Solstice. His grandfather was my father’s -steward at Dolgelly. Our families remained in touch through all the -civil turmoil, and he is the last of his, as Elizabeth is the last of -mine. He was given the name Paul, the father retaining the family name, -which was to alternate in each generation, as is the custom nowadays. -That law of Sanson’s must be one of the first to go. It aimed, of -course, to destroy the vestiges of the family that remained. - -“Paul was a Grade 1 defective, and we felt sure that Elizabeth would -come under the same classification, so that they would be free to mate. -They were waiting for the lists to be published, but Elizabeth had not -been ascribed when the last list went up, and meanwhile Paul was sent to -the defectives’ shops. Arnold, did you ever hear of the doctrine called -Apostolic Succession?” - -“Of course, David.” - -“That the functions of the priesthood are transmitted by the laying on -of hands? The English Church possessed the tradition, and it has never -been lost, though most of our people attach, I am afraid, some magical -idea to the ancient rite. Our bishop is a poor, illiterate old man, a -machinist by trade, but Bonham laid his hands on him before he was -burned in Westminster Hall. Bishop Alfred was to have blessed the union. -A week before Fruit Equinox, Paul was taken in the bishop’s home by -Sanson’s spies. Both were condemned to life imprisonment in the -defectives’ shops as Christians. Both escaped among the last batch of -fugitives. Elizabeth hopes to meet Paul tonight.” - -“And I hope so, with all my heart,” I answered. - -The cage stopped at the door and Jones came in. - -“We can go now. The last of the scoutplanes has gone,” he said. - -We went up to the roof. Deep night was over and about us. The -phosphorescent fronts of the glow-painted buildings gave London the -aspect of long lines of parallel and intersecting palisades of ghostly -light; but the glow paint illumined nothing, and the deep canyons of the -streets were of velvety blackness. The white circle of the fortress wall -surrounded us. Outside the region of the glow, London was an -indistinguishable blurred shadow, save where the searchlights from the -departing scoutplanes illumined it. They hovered in a long line above -the city, their position only discernible from the white searchrays that -emanated from them as they swept the city below. Slowly they made their -way into the southern distance. - -I groped for reality in this succession of bewildering scenes, and -hardly found it. Rain began to fall, spattering on the crystal walls of -the adjacent gardens, in which the flickering colored lights still -twinkled. My face was wet with it. I was thinking of the old days, when -life was free: Sir Spofforth’s rain-swept garden, the scent of Esther’s -tea-roses, and the hum of the ungainly, noisy town of Croydon that last -evening. I saw Esther’s face vividly upon the velvet screen of the -night. - -Elizabeth’s hand stole into mine. - -“You are our hope, Arnold. You can inspire us to victory,” she -whispered. - -Jones had gotten the scoutplane ready, and the vessel now rested on the -flat roof, as a bird on its perching place. It was a little craft, even -smaller than my memory of it had been, and it carried no Ray shield to -betray its presence. Jones drew David aside and held a whispered -colloquy with him. - -“We are about ready,” he said, as they came back to us. “I’ve shifted -the searchlight to the rear socket to balance the extra weight. She’ll -carry us. I’ll have time to take you to your destination and report for -scout duty when Hancock comes the round. But if I fly with the -searchlight showing, any of the planes may signal me to stop—” - -He rubbed his chin, and the old irresolution came upon his face. - -“If I fly dark it’s a leather vat offense,” he added. “And the -battleplanes would fire on us.” - -He paused and rubbed his chin again. - -“I’ll fly dark,” he said, and so settled the matter firmly in his own -mind. And, his mind thus made up, I knew nothing would change it. - -There was some difficulty in disposing of us. Finally Jones placed us -three in the double seat, Elizabeth in the center and David and I on -either side of her. He himself squatted upon the chassis before us, the -wheel in his hands. He touched the starting lever with his right foot, -and the craft rose heavily into the air, straining beneath her burden. -In spite of the counterbalance of the searchlight behind, the nose of -the plane dipped constantly, so that our flight was a succession of -abrupt ascents and declinations. - -It was freezing cold up in the air. Gradually we ascended, till I felt -the fresh wind from the Thames estuary beat on my face. Presently the -south was cleft by flaming serpents, with eyes of fire. - -“The food airvans from France,” said David, pointing. - -Now we soared over the outlying factories and warehouses. A huge, -glow-painted building sprang into view out of the shadows below. - -“The defectives’ workshops for this district,” David continued. “Yonder -is the Council’s art factory.” - -The darkness in front of us began to be studded with long parallelograms -of dazzling glow, set at wide intervals, each capped with the conical -Ray guns. From these, extending fanwise toward the ground, appearing -pink in contrast with the glow’s intensely purple white, the -searchlights wavered. - -Jones halted the scoutplane. “The battleplanes,” he said, pointing. -“They are posted nightly around London now. You know the reason, David?” - -David started and placed his hand in inquiry upon the airscout’s -shoulder. Jones’s voice sank to a whisper. - -“It is the merest rumor among our men,” he said. “One reads it in their -faces rather than hears it spoken, for we are afraid of one another. One -can be sure that Sanson has his spies among us. But the scoutplanes are -sufficient to patrol London and detect fugitives, and if the -battleplanes are sent out there is hope the rumor may be true. If the -Tsar has broken out from Tula—” - -“Thank God!” said David in a tense whisper. - -“He will overrun Skandogermania in a week, for it is as disaffected as -Britain. The airscouts there will go over to him. There is no force to -stop him, except our planes and the Guard.” - -I saw the joy on David’s face. Could barbarous Russia indeed bring -freedom to the Western World? - -“It is only a rumor,” continued Jones. “A rumor, you understand, David, -backed by the presence of the battleplane squadron around the city -nightly, words let fall in the People’s House, retailed by gossiping -servants, the sudden summons last night of Air-Admiral Hancock—” - -“But the Russians have been slaughtered in thousands!” I exclaimed. “I -saw the picture upon the screen.” - -Jones laughed and David smiled. - -“Those pictures are for the people,” said the airscout. “They were taken -by night inside the fortress here. The Guard dressed for the part.” - -“Still, how could the Russians win without the Ray?” asked David -doubtfully. - -“I can answer that,” I said. “All history shows that no weapon is strong -enough to conquer men who are ready to die for a right idea against an -evil one. Ideas are stronger than the deadliest arm man has contrived. -That has always been so and always will be so.” - -Again Elizabeth’s hand crept into mine. “You must tell our people that, -Arnold,” she said. “You know the secret of stirring them.” - -“But Hancock will stand by Lembken?” inquired David. - -“Yap, and will hold at least a quarter of our men to him,” said Jones. -“He will serve Lembken through Sanson, so long as Sanson remains loyal. -If Sanson turns against Lembken to seize the supreme power, Hancock will -fight him to the death. Sanson sent the Air-Admiral’s son to the Rest -Cure as a moron, years ago, when Hancock was unknown. Sanson doesn’t -remember it, but Hancock remembers.” - -I shuddered. “Why, then, is not Hancock with us?” I asked. - -“There are traditions of loyalty in his family,” answered Jones. -“Hancock is queer. Now we go up. Hold fast.” - -The scoutplane creaked and rocked and plunged like a ship in a gale as, -foot by foot, he jerked her head into the higher air. The gleaming glow -parallelograms of the battleplanes seemed to shoot downward as we soared -above them. We had passed them when, like some black air monster, a -large, dark plane glided beneath us. I felt our scoutplane thrill as she -shot upward, so suddenly that she rose almost to the perpendicular, -jerking us back against the uprights. - -Jones was straining madly at the wheel, and I realized that the dark -plane was in pursuit of us. I saw her swoop out of the night, missing us -by a yard. She disappeared. I heard the divided air hiss as she -approached again, and the next instant the blinding searchlight -enveloped us, and a voice hailed us, piping thin through the frosty -night. Then the light was astern, and groping impotently beneath us as -we rose to a higher level. Jones strained at the vertical rudder, -pushing the plane’s nose up and still upward, battling like a -weather-beaten bird against the wind. - -Again the searchlight found us, and then, out of the heart of it, -turning the keen white glare to a baby pink that fringed it, there -hissed a light ten times more brilliant, snapping and crackling, into -the void. Jones veered, still mounting. The dazzling light flared out -again. The upright that I held snapped in my hand. I slipped in my seat, -but David reached out and held me. - -Once more the Ray flash came, but under us. The darkness and our pilot’s -courage had saved us. The searchlight groped far underneath. Our -scoutplane dipped, soared, dipped, caught the wind, and we volplaned at -furious speed for miles down a gradient of cushiony air. - -I felt Elizabeth tremble, and placed my arms around her to hold her. -Jones stayed the plane and clapped his numbed hands together, whistling -through his teeth. He jerked his head around. The moon was beginning to -rise; it was a little lighter, and I saw that his face was dripping wet. - -“A thread of an escape!” he said. “If she had struck us fair with the -Ray we’d have buckled up like paper. Snapped one upright, didn’t it?” - -There was a cut of two inches in the steel—a clean cut, and the edges -fused as if from fire. - -“That was Hancock’s dispatchplane,” said Jones. “He carries no light. -But—the voice didn’t sound like Hancock’s.” - -“Are we safe now?” asked David, looking back to where the shrunken -figures of the battleplanes were ranged behind us on the horizon. - -“Safe long ago,” said Jones. “But it was touch-and-go while I was trying -to top that southeaster. He lost us at the summit, though, and he -couldn’t have caught us on that down-grade.” - -We started again, traveling more slowly, at a lower altitude, and -planing downward until I heard the wind in the tree boughs and saw the -glistening snow beneath. We brushed the top-most twigs. The scoutplane -flitted backward and forward, seeking the old road. - -“I ought to know it in the dark,” said Jones. “I don’t want to turn on -the searchlight if I can help it.” - -To and fro we went like a fluttering bird, until the cleft of the road -appeared among the trees. Then we dropped softly to the ground. I was -almost too cramped and cold to move. With difficulty I descended and -helped Elizabeth out. David followed, and we three stood chafing our -hands and stamping until the circulation was restored. - -Jones leaned forward from the airplane. “I’ll run her into the trees in -case anyone comes along and sees her,” he said. - -“We shall not see you until—?” asked David. - -“I’m not going back,” answered the airscout. “Not after this night’s -work. You’ll see me in ten minutes.” - -“You are going to join us?” inquired David, joyfully. “Is it—do you mean -Hancock knew you?” - -“No. That wasn’t Hancock, either. I know who it was—at least, I think I -know. No, I’ve had enough of the Twin Bosses, after Elizabeth’s -adventures. Put me down as the first airscout who went over.” - -David grasped him by the hand and shook it warmly. Jones whistled again, -drew back, and the scoutplane rose to the tops of the trees, beat about, -and vanished. - -David turned to me. “Arnold, are you prepared for a great and stunning -revelation?” he asked. - -“Yes, he is prepared,” answered Elizabeth for me. - -We set off through the trees along a small, well-worn trail, until the -crumbling bricks beneath us heaped themselves into a mound, and I saw -the ruined foundations of the Institute before me, and the hole in the -cellar roof. A sentinel leaped out at us. - -“For man?” he asked, leveling a Ray rod. - -“And freedom,” answered David. - -The sentinel called, and in a moment a crowd came rushing up a short -ladder, wild-looking men with beards and hanging hair, all dressed in -tatters and rags, a woman or two, and a youth who ran forward with a cry -and caught Elizabeth in his arms. I saw the happiness they shared. - -David led me to a tall old man with bowed shoulders and a ragged white -beard that spread fanwise across his breast. His hands were seared and -twisted like those of one who has lived years of hardest toil, and the -staff on which he leaned had a crooked handle. - -“Bishop Alfred,” he said, “this is the Messiah who was to come.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - THE CHAPEL UNDERGROUND - - -In the subterranean chapel, lit by rushlights that sent the shadows -scurrying and made fantastically unreal the eager faces and the -dissolving groups that clustered now around me, now around David, and -again gathered about the tall old bishop with his peasant’s face and -child’s eyes, David told them my tale, and then in turn told me the -legend that I had brought so wonderfully to fulfillment. - -The more bewildered I appeared, the stronger grew their faith, for the -legend foretold that I was to come unknown to myself, and with no -expectation of my own mission. They saw the cylinder, and there was none -who doubted. - -There were some thirty men and women present, of whom a dozen formed an -inner council which had already formulated the plans for the new -government. Some were delegates from outlaw bands in the recesses of the -forests, some, like David, fugitives from the government bureaux, and -three or four, Paul among them, those who had most recently escaped from -the defectives’ shops. There were representatives of various trades, who -had come from London at imminent risk, intending to return: one from the -traffic guild I noticed in particular, a giant of a man with a black -beard as crisp as an Assyrian king’s, who said that, at his signal, his -guild would rise and fling themselves, to a man, upon the Guard. - -It was a touching reunion. Two generations had gone by while men -remained in ignorance of all that we and our ancestors had known: -popular freedom, public rights, liberty to choose their trades, the -sanctity of family life, and, above all, the absence of the galling -inquisition and atrocious tyranny of Science run mad. - -The elder men remembered with horror the period of the revolutions, in -which a man would have given all that he had for life and bread. They -regarded the epoch that had preceded this as the dark age of the world, -much, I think, as we, in our turn, looked back upon the freer age before -the Reformation. They had a misty tradition of a century in which men -starved, in which the rich oppressed the poor and the poor dwelled in -foul, sunless tenements and dressed in rags. - -That tradition was true, and of the Moyen Age, before these things, of -course they knew nothing. Now all had bread to eat, and light and air; -but they lived in a world with neither hope nor joy, resource nor -initiative, nor happiness in labor, in which one cherished the home ties -furtively, while over their children always hung the menace of the -defectives’ workshops, or the horrors of the Temple. And on them preyed -the privileged caste of whites, taking toll of their daughters, lording -it as judges and bureau bosses, in the name of Science emanating from a -madman’s brain. - -I began to gather, to my relief, that only the very ignorant believed -that the Messiah would be a supernatural being. There was superstition -enough hidden in the hearts of all, for faith, denied, creeps in, in -strange guises; but the world awaited, rather, the inevitable leader who -must come to set free a people grown over-ripe for freedom. For the -horrors of the new civilization had reached the point where men had -grown reckless of life. Everywhere was the anticipation of the -approaching change, and even Sanson must have seen that neither his -Guard nor his great Ray artillery could save his crumbling power. -Science had overplayed her part when she had bankrupted human hearts. - -Everywhere the deep sense of intolerable wrong was spreading. And -although not even the very old remembered the time when Christianity was -a living faith, yet the hopes of all hinged on it. There was no other -hope for the world but the same Light that lit the darkness in the most -shameful days of Rome’s high civilization. So they had enrolled -themselves beneath that ancient banner of human freedom; dozens had died -under torture rather than disclose the hiding place of their treasured -Scriptures—of such parts as had come down to them, rewritten in the new -syllabic characters. There was a rich harvest to come from many a -martyr’s blood. - -So, then, there had filtered down through the years the faith that in -2015, or seven and thirty years after the institution of the new era, a -Messiah was to arise and restore freedom to man. It had begun with the -discovery of the cylinder that contained Esther’s body, somewhere about -the middle of the preceding century, and after the first revolutionary -outbreak. - -In some manner unknown the cylinder had made its appearance in the -world. At first it was believed that it contained only the embalmed body -of a woman, within a case fashioned so cunningly that none could open -it. But later the rumor spread that at the end of a certain time the -case would open of itself, and the woman awaken and come forth. - -I inferred that Sanson, in spite of Lembken’s statement to me, had -obtained access to Lazaroff’s papers, and had shrewdly resolved to turn -the popular legend to his own use by placing the date of the fulfillment -of the prophecy. He set the cylinder within the Temple and diffused the -report that, when Esther awakened, they two would rule the world -together and offer immortality to man. - -The cylinder had, then, first appeared about 1950. It had become the -symbol of the Revolution—Freedom sleeping. It had been carried before -marching armies. It had been a rallying point for the defeated. Men had -fought and died over it. It had been struck by unnumbered bullets. It -had been lost and regained upon a dozen battlefields. Then it had -vanished with the inauguration of the reactionary régime, to appear once -more, the inspiration of new hopes, when Sanson sprang to his -leadership, like a god, about the year 1980. - -And all this while I had been sleeping within the vault, as heedless of -the passing years as Esther in her undreamed of journeyings. That I had -escaped notice was due, no doubt, to the single fact that the wall of -the vault had fallen in and hidden my cylinder from sight, embedded, as -it was, in mud up to the neck. Those who had read of me in the papers -might not have prosecuted their search hard, thinking that the cylinder -had been removed already. - -As the years went by an amplification of the legend had spread until it -grew to be a rooted popular belief that the Messiah who was to come -would issue from a second cylinder. That was the reason why neither -David nor Jones, nor any in the cellar doubted me. - -Old Bishop Alfred grasped my hands in his. “This is not chance, but a -wonderful sign from God,” he said. “To think that while we met here you -lay within that case a few feet from us! I have doubted and dreaded, as -all have, but nothing can daunt me now. We shall win freedom, we shall -have our two names again.” - -David whispered to me that, grown a little childish with age, the poor -old man longed for the day when he could assume the ancient episcopal -pomp. To sign himself, Alfred London, was his life’s dream, and he had -vowed that till that day came his family name should never pass his -lips. - -After I had heard the story we kneeled in prayer, and the Bishop read to -us from the syllabic version of the Bible, as it was known. It comprised -only a few portions of the Old Testament, chiefly parts of Isaiah which -some scribe had thought prophetic and necessary to be saved. Of the -Synoptic Gospels there existed only a few fragments, too, but there was -the “Sermon on the Mount” from the “Beatitudes” to the end, and the -whole of the magnificent “Gospel According to St. John,” together with -most of “Acts” and “Corinthians,” debased to some extent, and containing -interpolations that had crept in, but on the whole faithful to the -original. Though the entire Bible has, of course, been recovered, I am -convinced, and many agree with me, that the world has gained -immeasurably by the removal of the scaffolding of the Temple of Truth -during more than two generations. Never again will literal -interpretation be placed upon Old Testament mythology, the poetic -allegory of “Creation and the Fall,” or the chronology that offered the -life cycles of tribes as the events of one man’s life; nor will the -warrior god, Jehovah, be considered anything but an incompletely -discerned aspect of the divine. - -Afterward, at David’s urging, I rose to speak. I hardly knew what I -should say, but, as I stood in hesitation before the meeting some -Pentecostal power seemed to lay hold of me, and a torrent of impassioned -words broke from my lips, till I felt all minds and hearts enkindled -from the flame in mine. I spoke of the old, free world, of old, -illogical, and cherished customs, preserved through centuries, uniting -men in a fellowship that logic could not give; of ideals and traditions -carried onward from age to age, ennobling faith and strengthening a -nation’s soul; of pride of family other than that of pedigreed stock; of -initiative and resourcefulness, charity and good-will for weak as well -as strong; of a ruling class bound by its traditions to public service, -and open to all below who had the character and gifts to enter it. - -But one thing I could not explain; when Bishop Alfred, rising, -incredulous that the weak should have been protected, that they aroused -pity instead of wrath, inquired, if we had really had this Christian -use, why we had lost it. - -When I ended I came back to myself, to find that I was standing -tongue-tied before them. I heard a sigh ascend from every lip; and then -they were about me, falling upon their knees, grasping my hands, -imploring me to accept their service and devotion. Elizabeth was weeping -happily. - -“I knew, Arnold,” she said. - -Then the revolutionary committee took their seats upon the benches and, -while the rest gathered about them, proceeded to consider the reports -brought in. It was an informal meeting, hampered by none of those rules -made by democracy for the restriction of free speech, and conducted with -earnestness and quiet decorum. Man after man rose up and made his -report, the leaders of the guilds pledging so many, describing their -enthusiasm, stating the number of Ray rods in his possession, and -pledging absolute obedience to instructions. - -Then I was acquainted, as succinctly as possible, with the progress of -the movement. It was known that during the next few days Sanson meant to -address the people in the Temple, using some anniversary celebration as -his occasion. He was universally credited with the plan to effect a -_coup d’etat_, deposing Lembken and assuming the rulership of the -Federation. He had attached the Guard to him with favors and gifts, so -that intense hatred existed between it and Lembken’s airscouts. There -was thus a triangular contest between Sanson, Lembken, and the -revolutionaries; and the fear was that, if the airscouts were split by -faction, the Guard would overwhelm them and establish Sanson in -Lembken’s place, making a greater tyranny still. - -It was, therefore, debated whether it might be possible, as unhappily it -seemed necessary, to make some terms with Lembken that should ensure -Sanson’s overthrow. - -“We have gained one piece of priceless information from you, Arnold,” -said David. “We know now that Sanson’s plans relate to the awakening of -Esther. Five days is almost too short a period for our plans to mature; -yet we know that Sanson’s coup must synchronize with the opening of the -cylinder. It is believed that he has actually made some discovery, not, -of course, of immortality, but for prolonging life, which he intends to -offer the populace, should any champion, posing as the Messiah, come -forth to challenge him. That will be a test such as has never yet been -made in the world’s history, the choice between liberty and immortality, -so-called. And it will be difficult for the multitude to choose the -former and to reject the latter.” - -“If the people have the choice they will choose wisely,” said Elizabeth, -from within Paul’s arm. “Have no doubt as to that.” - -“How do you know?” asked David. - -“Because they want the love that is their birthright,” she answered -boldly, “and love knows it is immortal and does not fear death.” - -I saw the committee leader smile, and there came upon his face a very -affecting look. An elderly man, a member of the privileged caste, he had -voluntarily laid aside the white robes of his order and taken to the -forests, to organize the beginnings of the Revolution. As he spoke, the -detailed scheme began to be clear to me, and I understood that the -rulers of the world were matched by no mean antagonists. - -First he alluded to the belief, already current among all the -revolutionary bands, that the Federation’s troops had been overwhelmed -before Tula, and that the Tsar’s forces were already pouring through -Skandogermania to seize the battleplanes from the disaffected airscouts -in Hamburg and Stockholm and launch them against London. It was believed -that the Council must be in desperate straits to have had recourse to -the moving picture lie, as worthless as the falsehood that the escaped -defectives had been retaken. - -What seemed to me a psychological confirmation of this report was the -circumstance asserted by him, that the torture of heretics, the -activities of the vivisectionists, and the weeding out of morons were -proceeding with unexampled rigor. For tyranny always becomes most cruel -when it approaches its downfall, by inspiring terror, to create -submission. - -“You have heard,” continued the old man, “how Lembken lured Arnold to -the People’s House. Lembken knows who he is. Then he must be aware of -Sanson’s plans and is plotting to use Arnold in a counterstroke. - -“He is old and obese and pleasure-loving. But you must not forget that -he rose to power by the most cunning craft, inspiring, as he undoubtedly -did, the murder of Boss Rose, and buying over the airscouts. Sanson -underrates the old fox, but Lembken has his ear to the ground all the -while he is supposed to be roystering in his devil’s palace. Now, -friends, we can despise no weapon that will aid our cause. If we have to -use Lembken, as the lesser evil, in order to unite the airscouts under -Hancock against Sanson—” - -“Never!” shouted the black-bearded leader of the traffic guild. “He has -taken—taken—taken—” - -The giant broke down and covered his face with his hands. - -“My daughter,” he raved, raising his face with the tears streaming down -his cheeks, and clenching his enormous hands. “Only today—today—I would -not desert the cause, or I should have forced my way into the People’s -House and killed him—” - -I thanked God, the father did not know that I had seen her in the -Council Hall. - -The old leader got up and put his arm about the giant’s shoulder. - -“But for the sake of freedom you will consent,” he said. - -The other threw back his head. “Yes—for the cause, yes,” he answered -quietly, and moved away. He stood with head drooping upon his breast, -like some huge statue. I understood then the strength of the enmity to -the government. No Ray artillery could withstand such a wild passion as -the deviltries of Science had awakened. - -“I can only offer the outlines of my plan,” resumed the old man, -returning to his place, “because, at such a time, we must trust as much -to the spontaneous instincts of our people as to a detailed scheme which -may go wrong. But it seems to me that it is essential first to enter -into communication with Lembken. We will offer him his palace, perhaps, -and an untroubled life hereafter. It is a hard compromise, but there -seems no other way, for Sanson must be destroyed, and everything depends -on Hancock. - -“Five days hence, when Sanson summons the people into the Temple, as -many as possible of our men will assemble there, with Ray rods beneath -their tunics. Arnold will advance and challenge Sanson. We shall spring -forward, seize him, possess ourselves of the cylinder, assume possession -of the Temple buildings, and set up our government. Meanwhile the -airscouts will take possession of the barracks and Ray artillery.” - -Here I interposed. “Is this the only way?” I asked. “Are there not -annual elections? Would it not be possible—” - -I was unprepared for the outburst of bitter laughter that answered me. - -“Do you really believe, Arnold,” asked David, “that anything can be done -like that? Even in your other life, history—the history that is not -taught—informs me that the election of popular representatives had -become farcical, especially in the home of democracy, America, through -the refusal to permit unauthorized candidacies, through the demand for -large sums of money to be deposited as a preliminary, by ballots drowned -with names of unknown men, representing nobody knew whom, and fifteen to -twenty feet in length; by ruffians at the polls—a device much used in -Rome when she started on the democratic down-grade that led to tyranny; -by stuffed ballots and lying counts, and voting machines ... in short, -Arnold, we have so far improved upon those crude devices that the ballot -is now the strongest weapon in our masters’ hands. And when freedom has -been restored it will never be seen again. We shall never count heads, -except among small bodies of committees, and the days of so-called -representative government will never recur so long as men remain free.” - -It was evident that his words had touched their imaginations in some way -unknown to me, for they sprang to their feet and cheered him wildly. I -learned afterward that all the laws, the most subversive of human -rights, all the most fearful promulgations of Sanson were put to the -farcical test of public approbation. The democratic State had killed -itself, as it always does, but the shell remained to protect the tyranny -that followed, as it always does, too. - -Before the noise had quite subsided, Jones, who had come in quietly, -stood up in the midst of the assembly. - -“The plan to seize the Ray artillery is impossible,” he said bluntly. - -“Why?” demanded a dozen voices. - -“Because the small Ray guns upon the battleplanes are useless against -the glow paint on the Guards’ fortress, and the Guards’ great Ray -artillery will pick off our battleplanes one by one as they expose their -unprotected parts while evolving in the air. It is impossible to protect -the parts of a plane around the solar storage batteries, because the -glow rays disturb their action. Then, again, when each of our men has -discharged his Ray rod, where is he to replenish it without access to -the solar storage within the Guards’ fortress? Even our airplanes, with -their week’s supply, have to be replenished there.” - -“Hold a battleplane where we can gain access to it, so that the rods can -be recharged from its supply.” - -“Not practicable,” said Jones. - -“If each man has three Ray rods, he can kill three of Sanson’s men.” - -“But unless you take the fortress the Ray artillery can make a desert of -London.” - -“What would you do, then?” asked the committee leader. - -“Cut the solar supply cables.” - -“Twelve feet underground, in steel and concrete?” - -“No. At the heart of the world’s power system,” said the airscout. “In -the Vosges. It is not impossible. The Ray artillery there is not -carefully guarded; the early nights are dark. Make Sanson’s Ray guns -useless at a stroke, and then storm the fortress in the old way, man -against man.” - -I saw the face of the black-bearded leader redden with blood. “Yes!” he -cried, “that is the way.” - -“And then we shall have two names again and life will be free,” said -Bishop Alfred, musing. “Two names, as our fathers had.” - -All caught the enthusiasm. The committee leader held up his hand for -silence. “Wait! Who will go?” he demanded. - -“I can. I will,” replied Jones, boldly. “I was born there. My father was -a Frenchman, removed to England because he cherished national -aspirations. I will succeed or die there.” - -“Where will you get the airplane?” - -“I have it here,” said Jones, as simply as if he could produce it from -his pocket. - -Again the mad clamor burst forth. Jones, as the first airscout to come -over, filled all with enthusiasm, and belief in our success. - -“And who will go to Lembken as our emissary?” asked the committee leader -presently. - -“I will,” I answered. - -David started toward me. “No! The risk is too great,” he cried. “We need -you in the Temple on the appointed day. We need your leadership for the -sake of the cause. If Lembken refuses, or tricks you, all will be lost.” - -I answered rather sadly. “You forget,” I said, “that I, too, have all I -hold dear at stake. For this cause, too, I shall succeed or die.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - SANSON - - -For a long time I could not persuade them to let me go. But I pleaded so -hard and set out the arguments so forcibly that at last I persuaded -them. For it was clear that if Lembken, realizing that his power was -waning, should accept our offer, then my plan was the wisest; and, if he -refused, our desperate chance would lose but little by my death. - -It was even possible that the rôle for which he had cast me was the same -that I was to play for the Cause. He had meant to use me against Sanson; -and the more I thought of it the stronger grew my conviction that he had -meant to have me challenge Sanson in the Temple. - -So, one by one, the opposing arguments ended, and the committee leader -gave me my instructions. - -“You must evade the battleplanes and enter London afoot,” he said. “You -will proceed to the People’s House, demand admission, and offer Lembken -our terms: his palace, honors, wealth and pleasures. If he accepts you -will return to us bearing his acceptance in the form of writing, that we -may have a hold on him to use with Sanson, should he betray us -afterward. If you are detected by the searchlights before you reach -London, you will be taken before Hancock, to whom you will make your -demand for an interview with his chief. A messenger will remain posted -near this meeting place in order to convey you to us on your return, -wherever we may be. Now, God be with you, Arnold!” - -I think they understood the turmoil in my heart, for they were very -considerate, and troubled me with no more suggestions than these. For -myself, I confess that the thought of Esther’s peril obliterated from my -mind nearly all other considerations, and, in truth, I cared more for -her safety than for the Cause. I could do nothing till the time of her -awakening came; but, when she awakened, I meant to be at her side. - -The rushlights were blown out, and we bade each other adieu at the -cellar entrance, and separated. Many of those who were present had -traveled miles through the forests in order to attend the meeting. It -had been arranged that David and Elizabeth should make their quarters -with the band commanded by the leader, to which the bishop and Paul -belonged. I was to accompany them as far as the old road, where our -paths divided. - -When we reached it, Elizabeth turned and, putting her hands upon my -shoulders, looked very earnestly at me. - -“Arnold,” she said, “the day is near when we four shall be friends in a -happier world. God bless you and protect the woman you love.” - -I pressed her hands. Then David grasped my own in his. - -“Good-bye, Arnold,” he said. “The Providence that brought you to me will -act to save us all.” - -And he, too, was gone. I waited at the edge of the old road, watching -them disappear among the trees. The last thing that I saw was the -bishop’s white beard, a spot in the darkness. Then I was alone, with the -London road before me, and a mission as desperate as any that was ever -undertaken, and as pregnant with possibilities. - -I do not know how long I had been traveling, whether five minutes or -twenty, nor whether I walked or ran. I became conscious of a soft -whistling in the air, and, glancing up, saw a dark airplane, black -against the risen moon. - -I sprang from the road and hid myself in the underbrush. - -The airplane dipped, passed me, and dipped again, with the purpose, -evidently, of alighting in the road. It passed beyond my sight, flying -low, and veering from side to side as its occupant examined the ground -for a resting place. - -As I rose to continue my journey I heard a low hail among the trees. I -started around, to see the old bishop approaching me at a jog-trot. He -came up panting, and stood before me, holding his pastoral staff against -his breast. - -“Did you see the airplane?” he asked, following the road with his eyes. - -“What are you doing here, Bishop Alfred?” I asked in astonishment, for -there was an expression of supreme, benignant happiness upon his face. -“Are you alone?” - -“Yes, alone,” he answered, smiling. “I left them quietly. They would not -have let me go. I followed you until I saw the airplane. I am going to -Lembken in your place.” - -“But you will be put to death!” I cried. “Surely, you know—” - -“Yes, but that is all right,” he answered. “It is three years now since -any priest was burned for the faith. I have been thinking about it for a -long time. Now I am ready. I am going into the People’s House to preach -the Gospel. I—I ran away from David,” he added, chuckling at the success -of his maneuver. - -I threatened and pleaded in vain, for the old man’s face had the -joyousness of a child’s. - -“It’s no use talking, Arnold,” he said, patting my arm affectionately. -“I am a stubborn man when my mind is made up, and it is made up now. I -have thought about it a long time. You see, I am the last bishop in -England. I am not a learned man, but the Lord Bishop of London”—how -happily he said that!—“laid hands on me an hour before they burned him -in Westminster Hall. Now it is right that I should follow him and take -on martyrdom. It will give inspiration to the people. It will be a -wonderful encouragement to them to see me among the fagots. I have -prayed the Lord to give me strength, because I am a cowardly old man, -and He has done so. I should like to consecrate my successor before I -die. But the Russians will take care of that, and it is fitter that they -should renew the line in England. They will be here in a few days to -save the world, and then we shall all be one.” - -“How do you know?” I cried. - -“It is given to me to know,” he answered, wagging his white head. “So -there is no longer any reason why I should not go into the People’s -House and bear testimony to the truth. You can go back now. I will carry -your message to Lembken before I die.” - -Before I could restrain him he had started off along the road, and his -quick jog-trot gave him almost as much speed as my scrambling, wild -pursuit. I caught him, however, a hundred yards away. - -“Bishop Alfred, you must go back to your friends,” I said. “Your idea is -nonsense. There is no need to sacrifice yourself.” - -He shook his head and detached himself. I stumbled over a projecting -root, and when I was on my feet again I saw the old man another fifty -yards away. Once more I was approaching him. And then I halted suddenly -and drew back among the trees, for just beyond the bend in the road lay -the dark airplane, and the old man had stopped beside it, evidently -waiting to be taken in. - -However, since he continued to wait there, I advanced noiselessly toward -it, with the hope of rescuing him, until I realized that the dark -airplane was empty. - -The occupant had left it, but for what reason, or where he had gone, I -could not surmise. - -I was just where the old road joined with a small, twisting path that -struck back among the trees. Some instinct cautioned me to silence. If I -had spoken ... but I did not speak, and then, among the trees, following -the crooked trail not fifty paces away, I saw the aviator, walking with -head bent downward, evidently unconscious of human proximity. - -I held my breath in terror lest the old man should speak. But he stood -motionless as a statue beside the dark airplane; he seemed wrapt in a -reverie. The hope arose of saving him. That was Hancock’s airplane; his -fate, then, lay with Hancock, and Lembken had told me that the -Air-Admiral was a Christian. Surely he would take pity on the old, -childish man. He knew me. I might appeal to him.... - -The twisting track, which had hidden him from my eyes, brought him into -view once more, clear against the low moon that made the moving figure a -silhouette against its circle. I crept up, until suddenly I reeled and -nearly fell, overcome by the magnitude of my discovery. For this was not -Air-Admiral Hancock, but Hugo Sanson, the madman who ruled the -Federation! - -For a few moments I was powerless to stir. A raiding beast of night went -rustling through the trees behind me. I heard an owl hoot. I lurked like -some savage in the underbrush, and everything went from my memory, save -Esther in peril, and Sanson, the evil genius of humanity, powerless in -my hands if I could spring on him and strangle him before he had time to -draw his Ray rod. - -Then the tracking instinct awoke in me. I began stalking him as -stealthily as any moccasined redskin followed his quarry. He was now -only twenty paces away, and his walk showed that he suspected no danger. - -It was a trail unknown to me, and I could only follow in patience. It -wound to right and then to left, until at last it blended in a wider -trail. And then I knew where I was. We were on the road that led to the -cellar. - -The scattered bricks became the heaping piles. I crouched low. Almost -upon this site Sir Spofforth’s house had stood. There, where the beeches -waved their leafless arms had been Esther’s tea-roses. And here were -briers, sprung, perhaps, from those. It did not need these remembrances -to make my resolution firm. - -Sanson was going down. If he had gone there an hour earlier he would -have walked alone into the presence of men who had a thousand deaths -laid up against him. But Fate had saved him for me! - -For an instant the thought occurred to me that possibly Sanson, -acquainted with the details of the popular conspiracy, had come to offer -terms against Lembken. But I dismissed that thought as impossible. -Sanson would hardly have come there for such a purpose; at least, he -would have come with the Guard. - -The short ladder had been removed and hidden among the trees, but Sanson -seemed to know the way intimately. Lying upon my face among the bricks, -I saw Sanson enter the cellar, holding in one hand a little solar light. -He passed through the gap in the wall into the vault. - -I made my own descent with infinite care, taking pains to dislodge no -stone that might betray my presence. Now I was in the cellar on hands -and knees, watching Sanson as he moved to and fro inside the inner -chamber. My brain was working like a mill—and yet I did not know wholly -what I should do. If I killed Sanson, could I be sure that his death -would set Esther free? Could I seize him and exact terms from him? Then -there was a certain difficulty in springing upon the man quickly enough -to prevent him from drawing his Ray rod; and there was the innate -revulsion against choking a man to death. - -As I deliberated, Fate seemed to solve my problem, for my fingers -touched and closed about a smooth object that lay on the ground. For a -moment I thought it was the branch of a tree. But no branch grew so -smooth. A polished stave? It had been fashioned and grooved.... It was a -Ray rod. - -If I had doubted my mission I ceased to do so in that moment. I felt -along the weapon in the darkness, from the brass guard, which stood up, -leaving the button unprotected, to the little glass bulb near the head, -through which the destroying Ray would stream. I raised the Ray rod and -aimed it. - -The solar light moved in the vault, and the shadow cast by the wall went -back and forth as Sanson tramped to and fro. He was muttering to -himself. He passed across the gap, and the little light shone on me. But -he did not look toward me, and then he was behind the wall again and the -light vanished. - -Next time he passed I would fire. Yet I did not fire, and back and -forth, and forth and back he tramped, talking to himself as any lesser -man might have done. I had no compunction at all; I would have killed -him as I would have killed a deadly snake; and yet, so diabolical was -the fascination he exercised over me, I could not press the button. - -I gathered my resolution together. I would fire when he passed the gap -again. No, the next time. Well, the next, then. My fingers tightened on -the handle. I saw Sanson emerge, the spark of light in his hand. The -tight, white tunic was in the center of the gap. Now! I pressed the -button, aiming at his heart. - -The glass of the Ray rod grew fiery red. The button seared my hand, and -a smell of charred wood filled my nostrils. I dropped the weapon, and it -fell clattering to the ground. Sanson was standing in the gap, unharmed. - -My Ray rod was the one that I had unwittingly discharged on the occasion -when I scrambled for the cellar roof. It had given me life then; it -seemed now to have brought me death. Of course it was useless till it -had been recharged; now it emitted only the red-mull rays: heat, not -cold combustion. - -Sanson had halted as I aimed. Now, at the sound of the falling Ray rod -he sprang forward and turned his solar light on me. His poise was a -crouching leopard’s. In his left hand he held the light, and in his -right was his own Ray rod, covering me. - -I looked at him, I stared at him, I rose upon my feet and staggered to -him. Something in his poise, the whitening hair, brushed back, something -in the man’s soul that the years could not conceal reminded me.... I -stood looking into the face of Herman Lazaroff! - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - THE STORY OF THE CYLINDERS - - -“So it was you, Arnold,” said Sanson quietly. “Well ... what do you -think of Sir Spofforth’s theories now?” - -All my hatred and fear of him had died in that blinding revelation. -Bewilderment so intense that it made all which had occurred since my -awakening dim, a sense of pathos and futility at once deprived me of my -fears and robbed him of his power; and we might have been the -fellow-workers of the old days again, discussing the problem of -consciousness. - -He seated himself on the mud mound, and his voice was as casual as if we -had just returned to the laboratory after escorting Esther home. And -indeed I could with great difficulty only convince myself that I had not -fallen asleep and dreamed this nightmare. - -“You see, it has all come to pass, Arnold,” said Sanson, twirling the -Ray rod idly between his fingers. “A world such as I foretold—a world -set free. Enlightenment where there was ignorance; the soul delusion -banished from the minds of all but the most foolish; the menace of the -defective still with us, but greatly shrunken; the logical State so -wonderfully conceived by Wells, with Science supreme, and almost a world -citizenship. It is a glorious free world, Arnold, to which humanity has -fallen heir, and the fight for it has been a stupendous one. And it is a -world of my creation! I have done what Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon -failed to do; I have brought humanity under one sway, out of the -darkness into light, out of ignorance to knowledge. I have set man, poor -plantigrade, on his feet firmly. He looks up to the skies, not in the -blind and foolish hope of bodiless immortality, but knowing himself the -free heir of the ages. Wasn’t it worth the battle, Arnold?” - -My sense of pity deepened. Surely there can be no worse fate for any man -than to accomplish his desires! I thought of all the unknown idealists -who had given their lives to the accomplishment of great projects and -failed, achieving nothing—inventors, dreamers, a gray, fantasmal legion -whose lost hopes ranged back from age to age; and I saw how their works -were blessed and their failures glorified in contrast. - -“Yes, I thought that it must be you as soon as I examined the sheets -from the Strangers’ Bureau,” continued Sanson, in his matter-of-fact -manner. But it seemed so incredible that the cylinder had erred that I -allowed my pressing duties to let me forget my impulse to take immediate -action. Unfortunately, while we were fellow-workers I did not take your -finger prints, but I had, of course, observed your characteristic -indexes, and also, if you remember, you were kind enough to my fad to -permit me to take your cranial measurements. I did not think that there -could exist two heads like yours, combined with those indexes, within a -single century. For your occipital region is excellent, approximating my -norm, while your frontal area is that of a moron. In short, you are a -typical Grade 2 defective, Arnold—essentially so; and I have no doubt -that, thanks to your five centimeters of asymmetrical frontal -development, you have emerged into this universe of reality still -clinging fondly and affectionately to your dualistic soul theory. - -“But never mind!” he continued, smiling rather grimly. “I have no -intention of handing you over to Lembken’s ridiculous priests to be -tried for heresy. There will be no more priests after a little while. -The public mind is now ripe enough for the abolition of this stupid -compromise of the transition period from God to Matter. One more animist -will do little harm in a world in which they are still far from -uncommon. And then, I am not a man of cruel impulses, Arnold, and I do -not want to penalize you for having come into a world in which you are -an anachronism. So you have spent three weeks in London?” he ended, -scrutinizing me sharply. - -“Yes.” - -“And came back by night to see your birthplace, I suppose,” he said -maliciously. “I don’t know how you escaped the battleplanes. Unless they -are growing slack.... I found one scoutplane without its searchlight -working, and shall send its commander to the leather vats if I discover -him ... well, Arnold,” he resumed, “I could not believe that you had -come out of your cylinder before your time. You came within an ace of -disrupting my work, my world, if you only knew it—you with your missing -five centimeters! I put implicit faith in Jurgensen’s mechanism, and, as -it proves, I was to blame. I came here tonight to see if you could -really be gone.” - -“You knew that I was here?” - -“Why not, Arnold, since I put you here?” he returned, looking at me in a -quizzical manner. “I have paid you periodical visits during the last -five and thirty years. You looked charming in your sleep, Arnold! The -fact is, it was a difficult situation. There was no way of destroying -you, even if I had been so minded. I might have buried you ten feet -underground, or thrown you into the sea, I suppose, but the men who -moved you would have betrayed me unless I murdered them—in short, it was -a problem how to dispose of you without violating my naturally humane -impulses. So I did the best thing—covered the cylinder with mud and let -you lie here. - -“That Jurgensen timepiece was splendidly contrived, Arnold,” he -continued. “Too splendidly, in fact, for in the haste of sealing you I -left the pointer six months ahead of time, as well as with Esther. It -has perhaps occurred to you that you went to sleep in June and awoke in -December?” - -It had not occurred to me, but I made no answer to his sneering -question. - -“In fact, Jurgensen gave me a six months’ leeway on his hundred-years -clock, and the complication of figures prevented me from discovering it. -I moved the pointer to the end of the dial, assuming that the last point -was a hundred, and not a hundred and a half. And then, Arnold, there was -another most regrettable mistake. You remember that you were sealed up -quickly, and rather impulsively, so to say? I found that, in hurriedly -capping you down, I forgot entirely to add twenty-four days upon the -smaller dial for the leap-years; and so you returned that much ahead of -Esther. It was a very bungled arrangement excusable in you, but not in -me.” - -“Lazaroff!” I began, and then corrected myself with an apology as I saw -his brows contract. “Sanson—” - -“Thank you,” he replied ironically. - -“You will at least answer two or three questions, will you not?” I -pleaded. “How did you induce Esther to enter the second cylinder? Why -did you trick me? And how have you contrived to outlive the century -without appearing more than half your age? I think my questions -pardonable.” - -“I shall answer them all,” said Sanson. “I may tell you that it was -never my plan to send our monkeys ahead of us into this world. I meant -to go, Arnold. But unexpectedly there came into my life something -against which I had made no provision. In other words, absurd as it -sounds, I fell in love. Then I planned to take Esther with me. But this -plan, too, was changed, for, to be quite frank, I gathered that she -preferred you to me. I then conceived the entertaining idea of taking -you both with me, so that our rivalry might be renewed in a world where -your advantages of personality would be counterbalanced by my power. -Arnold, I never for an instant doubted that I should stand where I stand -today. So, having persuaded you to enter the cylinder—and how I laughed -at your imbecile complaisance—I invited Esther to follow you. There was -no difficulty. On the contrary, she could hardly be convinced that I was -in earnest. However, I speedily convinced her by the simple process of -putting on the cap. Then, since the cylinders can be manipulated from -within, I myself entered the third.” - -“You, Sanson!” I gasped. “You, too, have slept a hundred years?” - -His look became envenomed, and the quick gust of passion that came upon -him was, to my mind, evidence of a mentality unbalanced by unrestrained -authority. - -“Arnold,” he cried, “would you believe that an end so carefully planned, -so mastered in each detail, could be thwarted by an instant’s lack of -balance? You remember that, of the three cylinders, one was already set -a century ahead? That, save for the six months’ leeway that existed on -all the dials, and was, therefore, immaterial—that one, calculated to -the utmost nicety, leap-years and all, was the one I had selected for -myself already. That was the one Esther entered. The dial upon the -second cylinder I set in your presence, but omitted the four and twenty -days. That was your cylinder. And the third—mine—do you remember?—was -set to sixty-five. - -“I removed this cylinder to a second vault of which you do not know. I -awoke in 1980. Arnold, I entered it and forgot the dial! When I -recovered strength—and I had supplied some food products to last me -during that brief period of recovery—I hurried to this vault. I found -only your cylinder, behind the fallen bricks. When I saw that you still -slept I thought your mechanism had gone wrong. Then, going back to -examine my cylinder, I realized the truth. I, who had loved Esther with -all my power, and vowed with all my will to win her, I, a young man of -twenty-five, must wait for five and thirty years before she awakened. -When my time came to claim her I would be old. O, Esther, what I have -endured during these years!” - -The baffled love of half a life-span overcame him. I watched him, almost -as shaken. The tyrant of half the world, greater than any man had been -since the days when the Caesars reigned, he had bound himself to a more -awful law than any he could contrive. It wrung my heart even then, the -man’s grim hopes and long enduring love, checked by so slight a chance. - -“I found Esther was gone,” continued Sanson presently, rising and -beginning to pace the vault. “I might have re-entered my cylinder, but I -did not know whether she survived in hers. I knew my ambitions claimed -me, and my duty to save humanity and raise it up from the ape. Even she -had to yield to that sacred and pitiful impulse. I learned soon that the -cylinder which contained her had been discovered and adopted as a symbol -of freedom. I found the world aflame and flung myself into the heart of -the revolution. By will I made myself the master of men. In six months -my dominance was unquestioned. I could have become supreme, but I chose -to work through others, that I might have the leisure to devote myself -to my plans for the regeneration of man. I have succeeded; I have made -the world better, Arnold, and I have made it free. But now, when at last -the reward of my long toil approaches, when at last I can show Esther -what I have achieved for her, and lay the world at her feet, I am an old -man, and the prize has turned to ashes.” - -His grief conquered him again, and he paced the vault like a madman, -weeping with all the abandonment of one who is above the need of -conventional repressions. I remembered the antics of the crowd that -followed me to the court. Sanson’s grief was as unrestrained as their -malice. But I was brought back from pity by the realization of this new -and dreadful complication. Sanson loved Esther still. And he had worked -for her. I recalled her immature feminist views. He had believed her -youthful impatience of authority rested upon as firm a conviction as his -beliefs! He thought he had freed humanity. And all the uncountable -wrongs of earth had been heaped up by him as a love-offering to lay at -Esther’s feet. - -I flung my prudence away. I clasped him by the hands. - -“Sanson,” I pleaded, “don’t you see, don’t you understand what the world -is today? Each age has its own cruelties and wrongs; but, if poverty has -been abolished, have you not set a heavier yoke upon men’s necks? Their -children torn from them, the death-house for the old, the vivisection -table—” - -“That is all true, Arnold,” he answered, “and sometimes, even now, that -old, inherited weakness that men termed conscience stirs in me. That -fatal atavistic folly!—for what is death, after all? A painless end, a -placid journey into nothingness, a resolution of the material atoms into -new forms, which shall, in turn, create that consciousness men used to -term a soul. Their children? Bah! Arnold, through suffering we win -upward. In the world-nation that is to come, the narrow, selfish -instinct called parental love—a trick of Nature to ensure the rearing of -the race—will not exist. It will have served its purpose. All I have -done is nothing in comparison with the great secret now almost within my -grasp. That is the meaning of the vivisection table—the research work -that will enable me to offer man immortality!” - -I recoiled in horror at the sight of the fearful fanaticism upon his -face. - -“Yes, it is that, Arnold, which I am almost ready to bestow upon the -world!” he cried triumphantly. “The old problem of consciousness and -tissue life on which we worked so long has practically been solved by -means at my disposal in a civilized world. Then we shall live indeed. -There will be no requirement that knowledge should progress painfully -through the inheritance of our fathers’ labors. We ourselves shall climb -the ladder of omniscience. The fit shall live forever, and we shall weed -out the moron and defective without scruple, preserving a race of mortal -slaves to labor for us in the factories and in the fields, holding them -subdued by the threatened loss of that life which we shall control and -permit to them so long as they are obedient. That is the noble climax of -man’s aspirations. Immortal life, in these bodies of ours, and Esther -mine, not for a span, but for eternity!” - -I believed him—I could not help but believe. Can anything be impossible, -so long as man is gifted with free will for good and evil? Must he not -have the ladder to scale Olympus, and thereby learn of heights beyond? I -flung myself upon my knees before Sanson, like some poor father pleading -for his son’s life, and implored him to draw back. As he stood watching -me I babbled about the terror in the world, the boon of death, the -long-linked chain of humanity, bound all together as a spiritual unit, -which he would sever. I reminded him of the old days under Sir -Spofforth, of the old, free world we had lost. How had he bettered it? I -think I moved him, too, though, when I ended, he was regarding me with a -cold smile of negation. - -“You want me to turn back, Arnold,” he said. “Once there was a time when -I hesitated. But ... can even that God of yours turn back? Come with me, -Arnold, and for the sake of the old friendship to which you have -appealed I will give you power. Defective as you are, you shall live -your life to the full capacity of your talent. You shall not suffer -because you came so unkindly into this world of ours. If your mind turns -toward pleasures such as that foul defective Lembken enjoys, they shall -be yours. If not, then you shall work with me as you used to do. When I -and Esther rule the world together, immortal as the fabled gods, you -shall sit at our feet and be our confidant.” - -That I hoped still to win Esther had never entered the man’s mind. The -sublimity of his egotism was the measure of his blindness. Just as he -had entered the cellar, so self-absorbed that he had failed to see the -benches and the crucifix, nor dreamed that here, where his evil dreams -began, their end was planned, so, now, he did not see. The devilish will -that had carried him thus far would bring him to destruction. - -At my hands, if I played the part shrewdly. But I lost all self-command. - -“Though you have all the world at your feet, Sanson,” I cried, “you can -never hold me to obedience, nor Esther either. I love her, and we shall -both die before we yield!” - -For an instant I saw his face before me, twisted with all the passions -of his thwarted will; then I saw the blinding white light leap from his -Ray rod as he fired at me. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - THE SWEEP OF THE NET - - -“I am not at all afraid,” I retorted, nettled at Lazaroff’s sneer, “but -how do I get in?” - -A dog was yelping somewhere outside the Institute, and all the dogs in -Croydon seemed to have taken up its challenge. It was difficult for me -to make my voice audible above the uproar. - -“I am not at all afraid,” I repeated, “but—” - -I was back in the cellar with Esther and Lazaroff, and we were examining -the cylinders. As I looked about me, I seemed to be in the cylinder -still, but gradually it expanded, until it became a vast hall, dark, -save for a little window near the ceiling, through whose half-opaque -crystal a little light filtered in dimly. - -Lazaroff seemed to have aged. He wore a white beard, and his touch was -very gentle as he bathed my face with water. As I stared at him he -became ... somebody whom I had once known ... Bishop Alfred! - -“Now you are better,” said the old man, with his child-like smile. - -I put my hand up to my aching head. There was a scarred groove along the -top of the scalp, where the glow ray had plowed its passage. I began to -remember now. - -The howling of the dogs broke out afresh. The din was terrific, and the -mournful tones of the poor animals’ cries made the place a pandemonium. - -“Arnold!” whispered a soft voice at my side. - -Elizabeth was kneeling there, and David stood behind her. Next to David -stood the little woman who had been our neighbor in the Strangers’ -House, and a multitude of men and women, and children, too, watched me -through the gloom. - -“Where am I? Who are all these?” I asked. Then, lighting upon a more -momentous question, “How long have I been here?” - -“Three days, Arnold,” whispered Elizabeth. - -“Then in two days—two days—” I gasped. - -“No, Arnold, tomorrow is the day,” interposed David, coming up to me -softly. “Sanson has proclaimed a meeting in the Temple at sunrise, and -it is now late afternoon. We are all in his trap. He must have found -you, taken you unaware, and fired at you, but afterward he changed his -mind and brought you here in his dispatchplane, where he found Bishop -Alfred awaiting him, and Elizabeth and myself, who had gone back to find -him. I bought a few days’ respite by surrender, and there was even -pleasure in the thought that my daughter will not meet her fate in -Lembken’s palace.” - -“Where, then?” I asked, struggling painfully up. - -“In the Vivisection Bureau—with these,” he answered, indicating the -assemblage. - -“Where are we, David?” I cried in anguish. - -“Beneath it. In the vaults where Sanson keeps his morons, Christians, -criminals, and dogs, to await the table.” - -I was upon my feet raving like a madman, making my way round the vault, -striking my fists against the damp stone walls, crazed with the thought -of Esther. They followed me, and some laid their hands on me in -restraint, but I thrust them away. They thought I could not bear to -share their wretched fate. But the nearness of the crisis, the thought -of Esther in Sanson’s power deprived me of my senses. - -The vault was an enormous one, the only access being at the far end, by -means of an oak gate, heavily barred. In this further portion were -chained, all along the walls, the dogs destined for the experimental -work above. As I drew near the gate the howling broke forth afresh. It -steadied me; I came back to my senses; somebody was at my side, clasping -my arm and speaking a few timid words in my ear. - -I swung around and caught at the little woman who had been our neighbor. -She had her children with her, and the three held each other closely, as -if their last hour had begun. - -“What are you doing here?” I asked. - -I did not know David was near, but at the words he clasped me in his -arms. - -“She is here, Arnold,” he answered, “because the last act of terrorism -has brought her. Sanson’s reason has left him, and he has flung his net -wide over London for victims. He has gathered everyone: morons, -Christians, criminals, suspects. She taught her children fairy stories. -The inspectors had long suspected it, and they terrified the little girl -into admission by threatening to kill the mother. They were then -adjudged morons. The mother pleaded to be allowed to accompany them to -the table, alleging that her father had been color-blind. Her prayer was -granted; she is going, Arnold; we all are going—” - -“No,” said the old bishop in a regretful tone, “not one of us is going. -You see,” he added in explanation, “the Russians are in Stockholm, and -it will not be long before they arrive in London to free the world. That -is why Sanson lost his self-control. He knows. He wants to finish his -enemies at home before they come.” - -“How do you know?” demanded David, while everyone grew still and -listened. - -“It is given to me to know,” said Bishop Alfred simply, beaming and -rubbing his hands. “I should like to have followed my dear master, the -Lord Bishop of London, to the fagots, but none of us will go to the -tables now, and we shall all have our two names again.” - -David drew me aside. “Arnold,” he said, “this situation would have -robbed stronger men of their wits. I am afraid that our case is -hopeless. One of the Guard, who knows me, has told me that Sanson is -preparing for a holocaust of victims tomorrow, to celebrate his coup. He -will stop at nothing to appease his blood thirst. Arnold, all our people -know who you are. For their sake you must lead and show them how to die, -as the first Christians died. It is hard, my dear boy—” - -I knew he was not thinking of death, but of my tragedy. - -“Your capture has rendered our plans abortive,” he went on. “But still -there may be some hope unguessed by us. Unto the last we will not impugn -God’s power. Now, my friends,” he added, turning toward the crowd, which -circulated in the vault slowly, always following me, “let us show the -Guard where our strength lies.” - -In the gloom of the vast vault, above the howling of the dogs, the hymn -was raised, old Bishop Alfred leading, in a voice singularly sweet, -although in speech the tones were broken. All kneeled. - -Afterward David spoke briefly. He reminded us of the brave traditions of -martyrdom and its happy expectancy. We were going to face our fate -together, strengthened by our companionship and in the knowledge that -our death would create a revulsion of sentiment that would sweep Sanson -from power and restore Christianity to the world. They cried out their -approval, and there was no face but reflected David’s dauntless -resolution. Then it was as if some soul of merriment swept over us all. -I saw strangers embracing, there was clapping of hands, and the -concluding hymn was shouted so joyously that a slit in the little window -overhead was thrust back, and I saw the face of a sentinel stare in on -us with something of superstitious awe. - -The glass must have been sound-proof, like that which enclosed Lembken’s -gardens, for, as the slit was pushed back, I heard the cries of the -multitude in the courts above: - -“Sanson! Sanson! Sanson!” they howled. “Out with the Christian morons! -To the Rest Cure! The Rest Cure!” - -The slit was pushed into place, cutting off all sound. Darkness was -falling. The little light within the vault faded. Gradually the voices -died away. Sometimes a hymn would be started, but mostly we sat silent -now, and even the dogs ceased howling, and only stirred and whined at -intervals. I heard the little woman’s children whimper, and fancied her -motherly face bent over them as she quieted their fears. I only felt -Elizabeth’s presence, and that of David, good, fatherly man, on whom I -leaned more than he knew. At last the only sounds were the bishop’s -mumbling voice, as he talked to himself, and the staccato tapping of his -stick on the stone floors. - -[Illustration: - - A man near me leaped up and craned his neck, looking into the gloom -] - -“They are coming,” I heard him say. “They are gathering up the Stockholm -fleets. They will be here—” - -“Who?” I burst out. - -“The Russians,” he answered gently. “See them coming; big men, with -bloody crosses on their breasts.” - -A man near me leaped up and craned his neck, looking into the gloom. One -or two cried out at the old bishop’s words, and some listened and -whispered eagerly. Time passed. Most of the prisoners slept. I was still -too sick and dizzy from my wound; I waited in a sort of apathy, and I -seemed to see Esther within the opening cylinder, and Sanson, creeping -like a foul beast of prey toward her. - -I had been dozing. I started up at the sound of bolts being withdrawn, -the heavy door at the far end of the vault was opened, and flashing -lights shone in on us. The dogs, awakened, began to howl again. There -was the stamping of heavy boots upon the stones, and a detachment of the -Guard appeared before us. - -They numbered seven. Six of them were privates, carrying solar torches -and Ray rods; and in their midst stood a tall man with a black beard and -a curved sword sheath that clanked on the stones. I recognized in him -Mehemet, the Turkish commander. - -Some, who had slept and mercifully forgotten all, sat up in -bewilderment, others leaped up, thinking the hour had come. As we stood -blinking at the lights, Mehemet spoke a few words, and the soldiers -flashed their torches into our faces until they lighted on mine. Then -Mehemet stepped forward and laid his hand on my shoulder, and drew me -toward him; and the soldiers closed about us. - -David sprang toward them. - -“You shall not take him alone!” he cried. “Let us go with him, every one -of us. We shall go to death together.” - -And others sprang forward too, clamoring, beseeching. “Take us all!” -they cried. “Take us together!” - -Mehemet shrugged his shoulders and turned away. The captives flung -themselves before the soldiers, who hesitated. - -It was then that the old bishop, who had never ceased to mumble, I -think, came quietly up to us. - -“It is all right. Let him go,” he said gently. “He will come to no -harm.” - -[Illustration: - - A tall man with a black beard and a curved sword sheath that clanked - on the stones. - - I recognized in him Mehemet the Turkish commander -] - -“It is my orders,” said Mehemet, looking with respect at Bishop Alfred. -“I have come for him alone.” - -Half quieted by the bishop’s intervention, my fellow-prisoners ceased to -offer forcible resistance. But they wept and prayed, and David grasped -me by the hand. - -“We shall be together in spirit, Arnold!” he cried. “God be with you. -God be with you.” He flung his arms about me, and the guards, touched by -the scene, permitted him to accompany me as far as the door. They picked -their way carefully by the light of their torches, to avoid treading on -the dogs, which crept to their feet or strained, yelping, upon their -chains. At the door I found Elizabeth. - -“We shall be with you in your hour, Arnold!” she said, embracing me and -fighting back her sobs valiantly. “We shall all think of you tomorrow.” - -The crowd dispersed. The last thing that I saw was the white, terrified, -maternal face of the little woman, as she clutched her children to her -breast, and, over her, the bishop’s pastoral staff, held up as if to -shield her. - -The door was closed behind me, and the soldiers shot the bolts home. In -front of me was a flight of winding concrete stairs, dividing at a -central space into two portions that ran right and left respectively. We -took the left. I expected to emerge into the Vivisection Bureau, to see -the eager students of the medical school, and Sanson, the presiding -devil, there. But instead I saw a gate above me; a guard unlocked it. -Then I found myself standing alone beside Mehemet, in the interior court -between the Temple and the Airscouts’ Fortress, between the Science Wing -and the Council Building. - -High above me the bridges crossed, spanning the gulf in whose recess we -stood. I saw once more the palms against the upreared crystal walls. - -As I watched I saw the battleplanes take their flight once more, one by -one, from the roof of the Airscouts’ Fortress, rising into the dark -night like luminous balloons. In the distance London glowed like day. - -Behind us, in the outer courts, a multitude was shrieking curses upon -the Christians; and, for the first time, I heard threats against -Lembken, and realized that Sanson’s plans were made for that coup which -I was never to see. - -“We are going to Sanson?” I asked Mehemet, nerving myself for his -affirmative reply. - -He spat. “The jackal!” he said. “Sooner would I become a Christian than -serve such spawn. We are going to the People’s House.” - -Evidently Sanson did not know that the main prop of his new house had -fallen. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - AMARANTH - - -I stepped out of the elevator into a part of the Palace that I had not -seen before. The room into which the waiting negro ushered me was -completely dark, though a thin line of light at the further end showed -me that there was a lighted room beyond. - -I strained my eyes, striving to penetrate the gloom. I took a few steps -forward, stretching out my hands to feel if any obstacle were in the -way. Looking back, I could not even discern the heavy curtain that had -dropped soundlessly behind me. - -I knew that there was someone in the room, and that it was not Lembken. -I waited; I heard the rustle of a woman’s garment. Then swiftly the room -was flooded with the soft solar light. - -It was bare, except for the rugs and a low divan pushed against one -wall, with a little table beside it. Everything was of the color of -gold: the walls, the ceiling, the rugs upon the floor. And before me, -clothed from head to foot in a sheer, trailing garment of dull gold, -stood the girl Amaranth. - -Her dark hair was bound back in a loose Grecian knot, her sandaled feet -gleamed white on the gold fabric under them; she stretched out her white -arms to me and, taking me by the hand, led me to the divan and placed me -at her side. - -“Poor Arnold!” she began in a caressing tone, “you have suffered so much -in your ignorance and your desire to help your friends. But all your -troubles are ended now, and your friends shall not be harmed. Do you -think you can love me, Arnold?” - -She looked at me with neither boldness nor hesitation, and then, folding -her arms, drummed her sandal heels against the foot of the divan. - -“Are you not lucky, Arnold, to have won my love!” she continued. “I gave -my love to you from the moment when I first saw you enter the room in -which I sat with Lembken, looking so stern, so resolute, like one of -those adventurous heroes of the twentieth century of whom we read in our -romances. That is why I made Lembken tell Mehemet to bring you here. He -was so hurt by your departure that I think he would have let his plans -go to ruin rather than himself plead with you. He is very sensitive and -kind. - -“You are not afraid to love me, Arnold?” she continued, looking at me -with curious scrutiny. “You need not be afraid. Lembken has grown tired -of me, so I must find another. He has taken a fancy to Coral, my blue, -an absurd little yellow-haired thing. You shall see her.” - -She clapped her hands twice, and a door opened, apparently a part of the -wall. A fair-haired girl, dressed in a loose blue tunic and Zouave -trousers, entered, carrying a tray on which were two golden winecups. - -Amaranth took the nearest cup in her hands, touched the rim with her -lips, and held it out to me. - -“Drink with me, Arnold,” she said. - -But I would not drink, lest the corruption of the wine should dull me -and disarm my strength in the spell of that enervating hell. I handed -back the cup to her. - -Amaranth looked at me for an instant with quivering lips. Then she burst -into tears and hurled the cup at the maid. She flung the other also. The -first missed its mark and fell against the base of the wall, where it -shed its ruby contents in a widening stain. The second cup struck the -maid’s cheek and cut it, and the wine drenched the blue tunic. - -The maid smiled, biting her lips, stooped down, picked up both cups, -and, placing them on the tray, departed silently. Amaranth sobbed as if -her heart was broken. Then suddenly she turned and flung her arms about -me. - -“Arnold, I love you!” she cried. “You saw her? She is Lembken’s favorite -now, that yellow-haired fool with the blue eyes like saucers. Lembken -means us for each other. Can you not love me?” - -I sat in silence, trying to pick my path cautiously through the mists of -bewildering doubt. Amaranth unclasped her arms from about my neck, and -her face assumed a look of mockery. - -“Oh, I know!” she said, “it is that Elizabeth of yours whom you think -you love. And you think you can only love one at a time, in your -romantic twentieth-century way. Well, I will match myself against her. -You shall bring her here, Arnold, and I will fight her for you, and I -will be your blue and she shall be your white, and I will serve you -obediently till I have won your heart. Look on me, Arnold! See how -beautiful I am! For I was born here; I am Boss Rose’s daughter, and I -have never left the People’s House. Look at the whiteness of my skin! -The sun has never shone on it. Look at my lips, Arnold! Put your mouth -to my cheek—it is as soft as the bloom upon a nectarine. Do you think, -then, I am afraid to match myself against your Elizabeth?” - -She smiled contemptuously, and tilted back her head, and clasped her -hands behind it, and watched me through her lashes. Yet I detected a -resource of feverish resolve in her; and I knew that she and I, Mehemet, -Sanson, were that night weaving the threads in a fabric upon the loom of -destiny, and that each word we spoke flashed like the thread-bearing -shuttle over it. - -So, piecing my words together with infinite care, because the lives of -Esther and all those who were dear to me hung on them, I answered her: - -“Forgive my sullen mood. You have promised that my friends shall go -free; yet they expect to die at sunrise, and it is hard to be at ease. -How can I save them?” - -Amaranth unclasped her hands and turned to me with a quick gesture of -penitence. - -“Ah, it was wrong of me to speak of love first, when you have such a -burden of sorrow, Arnold!” she answered. “I had forgotten that men’s -minds are troubled in the world below. Here we are free and have no -cares, except how we shall take our pleasures. And to think that you -left us to help your friends, when Lembken would have done everything -you wished! - -“Now I will set your mind at rest. Lembken has already given the command -that your friends shall live until Sanson has spoken in the Temple, and -when he has spoken he will no longer have power—if you obey Lembken. But -he was deeply hurt by your leaving him, for he is very sensitive to -unkindness, and so he asked me to speak to you on his behalf. Now, if -you act loyally, you may save your friends and the world. Tomorrow there -will be an end to all of Sanson’s mad schemes of tyranny. Mehemet and -his guards have abandoned him. Lembken knows everything; he knows all -the desperate plans his poor people have made, and his heart is wrung -for them.” - -She paused, and placing her hand on mine, looked very earnestly at me. - -“Arnold, you know that Sanson has been poisoning the people’s minds -against Lembken, in pursuance of his plan to depose him,” she continued. -“So your part, which will be detailed to you later, will be to enter the -Temple tomorrow among the priests. You will defend Lembken against -Sanson. You will remind the people how they elected him from year to -year, because he was their friend. Tell them he has not changed. And in -return liberty shall be established and the hated Guard disbanded. -Lembken asks only for his dignity and wealth, and his friends in the -People’s House. He is growing old, Arnold, and desires power no more.” - -She watched me with that centuries-old look, and in my heart I knew I -had not fathomed hers. This was what I had meant to propose. Yet—yet I -doubted her. - -“It is agreed, then,” she cried gaily, “and now you will be one of us. -It is past midnight, Arnold, and in a few short hours you shall be -hidden in the priests’ room to be coached for your part. Till then—” - -She ceased suddenly, as the sound of voices came from the room beyond -the further door. She slipped from the divan. - -“Sanson has been with Lembken,” she whispered. “He is coming this way. -Arnold, do you want to see your enemy broken? That will be a glorious -beginning to this first night of ours, and afterwards we shall go to the -revels in the garden. I shall be proud of you, Arnold, for now the girls -are taunting me because Lembken is tired of me. How I shall be envied! -But come here quickly!” - -She took me to the door in the wall through which the girl Coral had -come. At a distance of a few paces it was invisible. I wondered how many -more such doors were set in the walls of Lembken’s palace. - -“You shall listen here,” she said, “I trust you Arnold. You will not -lose your self-control and enter, no matter what you hear? Ah, I shall -test your love for that Elizabeth! But I trust you, and the beginning of -this night’s masque shall be the humbling of your enemy. Stay here until -I call you!” - -She thrust me behind the door and withdrew, closing it. I heard the -rustle of her garment as she crossed the room—then nothing. - -I found myself standing in a dim corridor that ran as far as I could see -in either direction. The nameless horror of the Palace overcame me, and -it was with a strong effort that I controlled my wild impulse of flight. - -As I stood there I heard the sound of stealthy footsteps, and, looking -up, saw the maid Coral coming softly toward me. She was carrying the -tray, with two full winecups, and she stopped beside me and set it down -on the carpet. - -She stood looking at me. Her eyes were blazing with anger, and her slim -body shook under the blue tunic. But on her mouth was the same set smile -that I had seen when she picked up the cups. - -She said nothing, but, placing her hand against the door, opened it an -inch or two without the slightest sound. At that moment I heard a door -opened, the rustle of Amaranth’s robe, and a lithe tread on the floor. - -Sanson spoke. “I have said all that there is to say,” he answered. “Why -do you plead with me? Do you think a woman can plead with me where -Lembken failed? He shall have his honors and residence here—no more.” - -“But spare your prisoners, Sanson,” said Amaranth softly. “Spare Arnold. -For my sake,” she said, pleading. - -Sanson spoke curtly. “All Christians and all morons must be tomorrow’s -sacrifice to the new era,” he answered. - -“Do not go, Sanson,” Amaranth besought him, as he moved away from her. -“Listen to me! You, who are so merciless and cruel, why do you not take -all?” - -“I have all that I need,” he said impatiently. “What more?” - -“Why have you spared Lembken? Why do you not slay him and rule with us? -We hate him. He is a tyrant, and you know the fate of his women when -they have ceased to please. You who have made yourself the master of the -world, for whose sight we throng the sides of the crystal walls as you -cross the courts below—why have you refused the pleasures that are for -the world’s masters?” - -He stood still; I fancied that he was looking at her, trying to measure -his problem in the balances once more. Coral cast a glance at me. The -smile was still on her face, but she nodded her head thoughtfully, as if -she, too, had her problem. - -“Listen, Sanson,” continued Amaranth fiercely, “when Boss Rose climbed -to power he built the People’s House and made it a pleasure-palace for -the world’s elect. Then he died under a murderer’s dagger, and Lembken, -who had long envied him, came to rule in his place. He, too, has lived -his time. Now he is broken. You, the next ruler of the world—why do you -not do as he did? We are tired of him. We want another lord, Sanson.” - -I knew that she was clinging to him as she had clung to me. I did not -look at Coral, but I knew that she was still smiling. - -“You can set us free, Sanson,” continued Amaranth gently. “You can rid -us of our tyrant.” - -The murmuring voice went on and on, and Sanson made no answer. - -“You have not entered the People’s House for seven years until tonight. -Do you think we have forgotten that you exist? Do you think we have not -wondered why the master of the world has left us to the whims of that -fat old man? Sit by me, Sanson. Do you not see how you have toiled while -Lembken has taken his ease? You have waited so long for one woman. Oh, -yes, I know; all a great man’s secrets are known everywhere, though he -thinks them in sanctuary, securely guarded. You can take her—but take us -too. Live your life, Sanson! Save us and reign over us! Take me, -Sanson—” - -I heard the man breathe as if in a trance. That strange pity which he -inspired in me awoke again. All the long tragedy of his life, the vigil -of five and thirty years, the love that must prove vain—I realized it -all. For this vain love he had ensnared the world, and now the world -leaped at him to ensnare him. Devil as he was, in will his life had -been, in one respect, a hero’s. - -“Drink with me, Sanson,” I heard Amaranth murmur. “You do not know the -taste of wine. A pledge to our love. A pledge to our lives!” - -She was conquering. The tyrant of the world was almost prostrate at the -feet of this girl of twenty years. Attila’s fate was to be his. I heard -him groan in bitterness of conflict. - -Amaranth clapped twice. Instantly the girl Coral stooped down, pushing -me fiercely from the door, and, taking up the tray, went in. Amaranth -took the brimming winecup and touched it with her lips. - -“Drink, Sanson!” she murmured. - -I was watching them now. I saw Sanson rise and raise the cup in his -hand. He did not drink, neither did he reject it, but stood like one in -a daze, all movement inhibited by the fierceness of that inner struggle. -Amaranth seized the second cup from the tray, leaped from the couch, and -raised it on high. - -“To our love, Sanson!” she cried, and drained it. - -At that moment the jagged cut on the girl Coral’s face grew red with -blood again. - -Coral stood holding the tray, and she looked at Amaranth and smiled. She -stood like a tinted statue. - -Sanson was still standing in front of the divan. He had not drunk; he -held the cup in his hand and was himself as immobile as a statue. - -“Will you not drink the pledge that I have drunk?” asked Amaranth, -laying her fingers lightly on his arm and leaning toward him. - -And I had underestimated Sanson after all. Now, at the moment of -surrender, his indomitable will flamed out, seeming to possess his body -and mold each feature, every muscle to its unconquerable resolve. - -“I will not drink!” he cried, and flung the cup to the floor. - -He turned and strode from the room like the conqueror he was. He passed -the curtain, which fell behind him. He had won his hardest battle, taken -unaware, fighting against a cunning ambush; and I knew now that hardly -an earthly enemy could conquer him. - -I was in the room now, for there was no need to hide myself any longer. -I watched Amaranth, who, as statuesque as Sanson had been, stood looking -after him. A minute passed. - -Suddenly she wheeled about and clapped her hands to her side. She -staggered; a spasm of pain crossed her face, and she looked searchingly -at Coral. The maid in the blue tunic looked back at her, smiling. - -Their eyes did not waver until Amaranth swayed backward and fell on the -divan. A scream broke from her lips, and then another; a third; she -wrung her hands and moaned. - -I kneeled before her. “What is it, Amaranth?” I cried. - -[Illustration: - - Sanson’s indomitable will flamed out. “I will not drink!” he cried, - and flung the cup to the floor -] - -She raised herself and looked wildly at me. Her face was ashen pale, the -features pinched; dark rings had crept beneath her eyes. - -“She gave me the—wrong cup,” she whispered. - -I tried to go for aid, but Amaranth clung to me. “There is no hope,” she -sobbed. “I must die. Stay with me, Arnold!” - -Her head fell back and she breathed heavily. I turned and saw Coral -beside me, a smiling, waxen doll, the new queen of the harem by the -dying one. - -“Go!” I thundered at her. - -She shrugged her shoulders daintily and went, leaving the winecups on -the floor. - -Amaranth’s hand trembled upon my sleeve. I bent over her. Her eyes fixed -themselves on mine. - -“Put your hand under me,” she muttered; “raise me. All is lost now. -Sanson has beaten Lembken, and everything is ended. Save your Elizabeth -if you can.” - -She drew my face toward hers and spoke in panting accents: - -“It was Lembken’s plot. He learned that Sanson held you in the vaults. -His case was desperate. He asked Mehemet’s aid. Mehemet said he—his men -would not desert Sanson while he lived, but if he died they would follow -him for Lembken. I was to poison Sanson and thus win over the Guard. I -was to drug you only, and keep you out of the way. Lembken liked you; he -would not let you be killed. He has been communicating with the American -bosses. The plan—the plan—” - -She gathered her strength with a last effort of will. - -“The plan was of long standing. Events hastened it. Mehemet knew it. -Britain was to have a God again, Mehemet’s God, and the American Mormons -were to unite with us, for their faith is nearly the same. The people -would have a god, and this would unite all nations against the Christian -Russians. They are in Stockholm. The American battleplanes are on their -way to help us against them. When Sanson was dead the guards were to -join the airscouts. Now you must go. Save your Elizabeth. Kill Sanson. I -can say no more. Escape—” - -She muttered something that I could not hear, and then her eyes, which -had closed, reopened and wavered on mine again. - -“I loved you, Arnold,” she said in a weak, clear voice. “I’m glad I died -before I lost you. I used to wish I had been born in other days ... the -twentieth-century days, when ... women were different ... all different -... men mated one only ... give the people those days again if you beat -Sanson, Arnold.” - -She tried to stretch out her hands to me. Her eyelids quivered, and she -sighed very deeply. - -I saw a crimson stain upon my hands. It was the wine from Sanson’s -winecup. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - ESTHER - - -I left the dead girl on the divan and went into the hall. My head ached, -and I was still dizzy from my wound, but I had grown suddenly composed, -and all my perplexities had vanished in the face of Esther’s imminent -need of me. - -There was nobody in the hall. The negroes were gone, and the palm -gardens were dark and seemed deserted. Silence had descended everywhere. -Withal it was the silence of hushed voices, I knew, and not of -emptiness. Within those walls, in hidden rooms, lurked those who waited -yet for the death agony of the man who had already escaped the baited -trap. - -I wondered whether Sanson had bought the attendants, if he had come -alone, whether the fear of him forbade an ambush in case Amaranth’s plot -should fail. He had evidently gone down in the elevator, for it was not -in the cage, but it came up to me when I pressed the button, and I -descended, stopping at the first door I saw, which must, I knew, give -access to the Temple. - -The corridor into which I stepped was as empty as the palace hall above. -The airscouts who should have been on duty here were gone. I did not -realize that I had formed no plans and felt no fear until I found my way -unopposed. Before me was a door, leading into one of the numerous small -rooms through which one entered the Temple, and at my side was a little -window, through which the cries of the mob beneath were borne to me -fitfully on the gusty air. - -I stopped and looked out. The sky was thick with battleplanes. No longer -at their stations about the city, they cruised hither and thither, -approaching one another and retiring in a manner seemingly confused and -aimless. Sometimes a group would gather as if conferring, forming a -polygon of light with changing sides as they maneuvered; and presently a -single impulse seemed to animate them all, for, like a flock of wheeling -birds, they swung around and sailed off together, till they were only -pin-points of light in the southwest. - -Beneath me the courts were packed with a vast multitude that had -assembled for the morrow’s ceremonies. Looking down on them, I saw that -they were held back by two lines of the guards, armed with Ray rods, -drawn up before the Temple. - -They jostled and swayed and howled fearlessly, as if they knew the -imminence of change; yet their cries were not all against the Christians -and the morons, nor yet against Lembken, nor all for Sanson. I tried to -fancy that among them were groups of our few thousand, gathered out of -the forests to play their rôle at dawn. - -Yet for the moment Sanson had triumphed. I thought upon how little hung -the fate of the world. A palace women’s intrigue, the jealousy of a -girl, a cup of wine, and Lembken’s schemes were broken. - -Then it came to me that the conical, glow-painted Ray guns on the -encircling wall were trained no longer outward but inward, dominating -the Temple courts and all the multitude within them. And in a flash of -comprehension I saw the scheme of Sanson. If the people rejected him on -the morrow he meant to kill all those within the walls, all human beings -inside the circle of the fortress, confident that thereby he would -destroy all his enemies. He meant to level the Temple and the palace -above, the Council Hall, the Airscouts’ Fortress, involving everything -in one colossal ruin which he would bestride—the unchallenged master of -the Federation. - -This done, the Russian fleet would be attacked and destroyed, and with -it the last obstacle to world dominion. - -I saw this with one flash of intuition. Perhaps I lingered in all for -forty seconds beside the window. It was hardly longer, for the thought -of Esther drove me through the doorway in front of me. I found myself -within the dark, enormous area of the Temple. - -I was in a circular gallery surrounded by a brass railing, which ran -high up around the interior. The only light was the faint reflection -from a single solar bulb that shone across the gulf. Beneath it I could -discern the shining, golden surface of the Ant. - -I felt my way around the gallery, working toward the light, which seemed -to descend as I approached it, until, standing immediately above it, I -looked down and saw it shining an unknown distance beneath. It showed -now the uplifted antenna of the idol, the edge of the stone altar in the -center of the bridge that spanned the Temple, and the round body of the -cylinder, which seemed to hang in space above it. - -I had entered the Temple upon a floor one stage too high, and there was -no way down from the gallery; it would be necessary to go back to the -elevator and descend to a lower level, that of the bridges that spanned -the interior court. - -But that was too dangerous, and I could wait no longer. I estimated that -the light was five and twenty feet below. I swung from the brass rail -and dropped into space. It was a mad plunge in the dark toward that -slender bridge a hundred feet above the Temple floor. But fortune was -with me, for I struck the golden grille around the altar-stone and -tumbled inside, rising upon my feet with only a bruise or two. - -The grille was about four feet high, and the ends formed gates which, -when opened, made the altar-stone one with the two bridge spans that -extended to meet it from either side of the building. It formed thus a -sort of keystone in aspect, though not architecturally, since it did not -support the spans, which seemed to be on the principle of the -cantilever. I saw now that the stone was suspended by steel chains from -the roof, and over it, hung by two finer ones, was the cylinder. - -Presently I could grasp the meaning of the mechanism. Cylinder and stone -altar were in counterpoise, so that, when the first was drawn up, the -second would descend from between the spans to the level of the Ant’s -pedestal, forming, as it were, a sacrificial stone immediately before -the idol, disrupting the continuity of the bridges also, and leaving a -gap between them. - -But I spared no thoughts on this. I looked through the cylinder’s face -of glass, and, though I saw but the dimmest outlines there, I knew that -I had found Esther again, and that there were to be no more partings, so -long as we both lived. - -I do not know what follies I committed there, for I forgot everything -but her. Forgotten was the imminent danger, remembered only our reunion. -I flung my arms about the iron case and called to her, telling her of my -love, as if she heard me. I came back to sanity at length to find myself -kneeling before the case upon the stone, with the tears raining down my -cheeks. - -It was a mad wooing of a sleeping woman upon that giant slab, swung by -its chains from the vault above, and vibrant under me. Each movement set -the heavy mass to trembling as the chains quivered, and the cylinder, -too, danced before me, like some steel marionette. - -I stretched my hands up, feeling for the cylinder cap. It was still on -the neck, but it had almost reached the end of the thread and moved -under my fingers. I could not see the figures upon the dial, but I knew -that Esther’s awakening was not many hours away. - -I twisted the cap between my fingers. I could dislodge it. If I did so -... Lazaroff had told me that would bring death, but surely not when -there remained only a few short hours before the awakening. Air must -have been entering in measurable quantities during some days. And, even -if Esther died—better that than to awaken in Sanson’s arms! - -It was a terrific choice. I hesitated only a few moments, but they were -a century of agony to me. Then I set my fingers to the cap, wrenched it -free, and flung it from me. It tinkled upon the stones beneath. And, -hardly venturing to breathe, I clung to the cylinder and waited. - -No sound came from within. I clung and tried to place my ear against the -opening. - -At last, in maddened resolution, I swung the cylinder toward me by the -chains, tilting it downward until I got purchase upon it. I bore with my -full weight upon the metal edge. I plunged my arms within. I felt the -heavy coils of Esther’s hair, her eyelids, cheek, and chin; I placed my -hands beneath her arms and drew her forth. How I contrived it I do not -know, for platform and cylinder rocked fearfully as they swung; but in a -moment, it seemed, I held her light and wasted body against my own. And -we were on the rocking altar-stone together, while the cylinder swung -rhythmically above, passing our heads in steady, sweeping flights as I -crouched with Esther in my arms behind the golden grille. - -I pressed my lips to hers, I chafed her hands and pleaded with her to -awake. And presently, as if in answer to my prayer, I heard a sigh so -faint that I could scarcely dare believe I heard it. - -A deeper sigh, a sobbing breath—she lived; and with amazed, awed -happiness I felt her thin arms grope instinctively toward my neck. She -knew! - -I kneeled beside her on the altar-stone, listening with choked sobs and -wildly beating heart to the words that came from her lips in faltering -whispers: - -“Herman! What have you done? You have killed him! Then kill me, too! I -don’t want to live! Murderer! Kill me! O Arnold, my love, to think that -neither of us knew!” - -Then: - -“Yes, I love him, Herman, and I have told him so. You were too late to -prevent that. I saw your heart tonight. Kill me, I say! Yes, I am ready -a thousand times to go where Arnold has gone. Be sure that I shall -follow him, through any hell of your devising!” - -So Esther whispered, living over again those minutes of dreadful anguish -that she must have passed in the cellar after Lazaroff had put the cap -on my cylinder and driven me on that strange voyage of mine. The little -solar light shone on Esther’s brown gown, turning it golden. And I -remembered—with how strange a pang—the night when she had worn that gown -in the drawing-room of Sir Spofforth’s house. - -“Esther,” I whispered, bending over her, “it is I. It is Arnold.” - -I saw her eyelids quiver half open, but I knew that she could not see -me. She moaned. I interposed my body between her and the light. - -“You have been ill, dearest Esther,” I said. “But now everything is -well. You know me, Esther?” - -“Arnold,” she whispered, “I have been with you all the time. I dreamed -... Herman had sent you ... a hundred years away.” - -She became unconscious the next moment. I knew the mighty grip of that -first sleep. It was in truth twin brother to death, for, with my head -against her breast, I could discern hardly the slightest stirring. But -she lived; all was well. And now the need of saving her came over me. I -caught her into my arms—she weighed no more than a small child—and -hurried across the bridge. I believed that the outer door upon this -lower level communicated with the bridge over the interior court that -led to the Airscouts’ Fortress. - -I traversed the little room and pushed the swing door open. Before me -was an elevator shaft, evidently that up which I had made my first -journey to Lembken’s palace. But as I emerged into the corridor I saw, -not ten paces away, their backs toward me, two of the Guard. - -I was too late. The Guard had occupied the posts vacated by the -airscouts. The Temple and all the approaches to Lembken’s palace were in -Sanson’s hands. - -They had not seen or heard me, and in a moment I had withdrawn within -the little room. There still remained one chance. By crossing the bridge -again and passing through the priests’ robing-room on the other side of -the Temple, I could reach all parts of the buildings. Perhaps there were -no sentries in the gallery above the auditorium. I knew how vain the -hope was, but there was none other. - -I carried Esther upon the bridge again. As I was about to set foot upon -the altar-stone, which still rocked slightly, I fancied that the bridges -themselves were moving. I leaped on the stone, stumbling against the -grille. One moment I hesitated, to assure myself that Esther still -breathed. A piece of her brown dress had come away and broke like burned -paper in my hand. I raised her higher in my arms, so that her head -rested against my shoulder, and opened the grille gate to step upon the -farther span. - -That moment of delay had ended all my hopes. There was no second span. -For swiftly, noiselessly, the span was swinging away from me, pivoting -upon its further end. It was already too far away for me to make the -leap, encumbered as I was with Esther. I glanced backward in horror. The -span that I had crossed was moving also, acting in unison. They vanished -in the gloom at the sides of the Temple. - -I stood with Esther in my arms upon the altar-slab, poised on that -unsteady resting place high in the Temple void. There was no refuge -anywhere. Over me was the vault; far underneath the Ant with its -gleaming, upraised tentacle. - -As I stood there the little solar light went out. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE - - -The Temple was profoundly dark. Crouched on the swinging stone, helpless -in Sanson’s power, I was not conscious of fear. Rather, a melancholy -regret possessed me that this was the end, as it inevitably must be. A -hundred years of separation, the knowledge of each other’s love—no more; -and all had gone for nothing. Yet, there was cause for happiness that -this much had been granted me, to die with Esther; and the loss of all -hope brought calmness to my spirit and acceptance of the inevitable. - -It may have been two hours later when I heard the cries of the mob once -more. I heard the tramp of feet upon stone; and then, through every -swinging door below, invisible forms came trooping in until they covered -the whole of the vast floor. They shouted against the Christians in an -unceasing pandemonium, and the walls and hollow roof re-echoed that -infernal din until another spirit that underlay the mob fury, something -of awed expectancy, swept over the concourse, and the last shout died -down, and a new and dreadful silence arose. - -It lasted minutes, perhaps, broken only by the stir of feet on the -floor, the rustle of robes, the sighs that whispered through the -darkness; then, out of that silence a low chant began. It was that -dreadful chant that I had heard before, crooned first by a few and then -by many, tossed back and forth from side to side of the Temple floor, -until all caught it up and made the walls echo with it: - -“We are immortal in the germ-plasm; make us immortal in the body before -we die.” - -There was a dreadful melody, one of those tunes that seem to rise -spontaneously to a people’s lips as the outpouring of its aspirations. -Again and again that dreadful, hopeless chant rose from below, swelled -into a din, and died. - -Then shouts broke out again as the mob spirit seized upon some who had -assembled there: - -“Make us immortal in these bodies of ours!” - -“Make us immortal, Sanson!” - -“Give me eternal life!” raved the cracked voice of an aged man; and that -blasphemy against Nature seemed to shock the mob into silence, until -once more the low chant swelled and echoed and died away in wailing -overtones of helplessness. - -Suddenly a single solar light flashed at one side of the Temple, and, -high above the multitude, where the end of the bridge span rested -against the curve of the wall, I perceived Sanson. He was standing alone -upon the drawn-back span, which, shadowy and vague, gave him the aspect -of a figure poised in the air. - -He was a master of stage-craft. It even awed me, that calculated effect -of the dark Temple and the crowd, invisible each to his neighbor; and -the hypnotic _mise en scène_ of the solitary figure aloft beneath the -single light. I, too, felt the contagion of the universal expectation. - -Sanson uttered no word, but stretched one arm out and pointed across the -Temple. Then I heard the tramp of men coming from the direction of the -elevator shafts; and suddenly a second light burned across the vast void -of the dark. - -Upon the second span, now dimly visible, drawn back against the wall -opposite Sanson, I saw the prisoners from the vaults, marshaled under -the charge of the Guard. There, at the extreme edge, Elizabeth stood, a -slender, virginal figure, her hands clasped over her bosom; at her side -David, behind them the patriarchal figure of Bishop Alfred. Behind him -were ranged the other victims of Sanson’s rage. They, too, under that -single light, seemed to be poised in air. - -At the sight of them, hysteria swept the minds of the mob into frenzy. - -“The Christians!” they screamed. “Kill them! Kill them! Out with the -dogs who hold their bodies cheap! To the Rest Cure! Ah—h!” - -The groaning end was drawn out as the vibration of a G-string. The air -was heavy and foul with hate; I felt it as something ponderable. - -A woman’s voice rang shrill through the Temple, and the devil that -goaded her had raised his head now after two thousand years of stupor. -He returned into a world that had forgotten him since the first shapings -of Europe’s peoples began, out of the deepest place in hell. - -“Sacrifice them!” she shrieked. “A human sacrifice upon the -altar-stone!” - -The whistling, strident voices of the mob answered her: “Sacrifice them! -A human sacrifice!” - -Surely Sanson’s stage-craft was working well. He stood there, facing his -victims across the void. He raised his hand, and every voice was -stilled. - -“I have called you together, citizens, upon this day,” he said, -“because, as you once chose freedom in place of bondage, so, now, the -time has come to choose again. I have given you liberty, I have given -you peace, I have enlightened you and raised you to man’s true dignity. -The Christians used to say that man was half ape and half that mythical -vertebrate known as the angel. I have driven the ape out of you and made -you all angel. That is to say, all man, standing on his own feet, not -leaning against imaginary gods to prop him. It has been a difficult -battle, for all the vested evils in the world have fought against me. -But I have won: your God, your Christ, the superstitious, stubborn heart -of man have yielded. Now the old order is ripe to perish everlastingly. -There remains one more enemy—” - -“Death!” screamed the shrill woman’s voice. “Make us immortal in our -beautiful bodies, Sanson! Give us life, everlasting life!” - -“The Ant,” pursued the speaker patiently. - -It was an unexpected anticlimax. The crowd groaned in disappointment, -and the silence that followed was of unutterable grief. That Sanson -would bestow his boon upon them, all had believed. Nor had they -anticipated Sanson’s declaration. For the idolatrous symbol, which was -all they knew of worship, had possessed itself of their imaginations, -their aspirations had cleaved to it, and, as must be, what had begun as -a symbol had ended as a god. - -Sanson was too shrewd not to see immediately that he had struck the -wrong note. He swung himself about, facing the captives on the opposite -span, and his voice reverberated through the Temple. - -“You have demanded sacrifices, human sacrifices,” he cried, “and you -shall have them, but not in honor of the Ant. There is no Ant, no God. -But there is Freedom, hidden within the cylinder where she has lain -since the beginnings of time, waiting for this day to dawn, now ready to -emerge into a world set free. To her we sacrifice!” - -He stood there, a dramatic figure, the incarnation of rebellious pride, -Lucifer defying God, or some old Titan in revolt against Olympus. But, -as he paused, the cracked voice of the old bishop piped through the -Temple. - -“But I can give you eternal life, my people,” he cried clearly. “I have -the Word that alone can set you free. It is the same that Bonham spoke -to you in Westminster Hall while he was burning. You heard him and went -home, and some were afraid, some wondered, and some forgot; but that -Word never dies, and it will be told soon in a million homes, because, -by God’s mercy, the Russians are at hand to set you free.” - -The deep-breathed “Ah!” that followed was not of hate but of fear. -Something was stirring in the hearts of the multitude, molding them -against knowledge and will. I felt it, too: a mighty spiritual power, a -Light that clove the darkness. I saw the old bishop stand out at the end -of the span and shake his clenched hand at Sanson, silent, opposite. - -“You cannot raise one finger save by the will of Him whom you deny, -Sanson!” he said. “You are not going to make any sacrifices. You, who -have raised your will against heaven, this night your soul will be -required of you!” - -The sense of something imminent and mighty shook my limbs. I stood up, -clinging against the grille. There was no sound in all the Temple. -Protagonists in the eternal drama, the bishop and Sanson faced each -other. - -Suddenly I perceived that the solar light above the bishop had moved. It -had moved outward; and now it was approaching me. And the light above -Sanson was moving, too. I understood what was happening. Sanson had -quietly given the command for the bridges to be swung together. - -An instant later the little lights that crossed the gloom were -dissipated as ten thousand more flashed out, illumining the vast -interior of the Temple. I saw the packed multitudes below, thousands on -thousands, their faces upturned, each with the same stamp of fear on it, -as if the same workman had carved the features. I saw the groins and -arches, the gallery above me, filled with the Guard; Sanson upon one -nearing bridge, his Guard about him, too; upon the other, David, -Elizabeth of the slender figure and the clasped hands, and Bishop Alfred -and the rest of the prisoners. I waited, my arms about Esther. - -Once more I heard a single sigh float upward. Then the woman’s voice -that had shrieked before cried piercingly: - -“The Messiah has come, who is to make us free!” - -I saw Sanson stiffen and catch at the rail of the nearing bridge. I saw -David, now only an arm’s length from me, staring incredulous; Elizabeth -with wide-open eyes, the bishop’s calm face, the Guard like carven -effigies. - -Then, as if the power that held the populace in unison were suddenly -dissolved, they broke from their places. They sprang with frantic, -exultant cries toward the Ant; they formed a dozen human chains that -reared themselves above the pedestal, dissolved, and poured over the -golden idol. Among them I saw clusters of men—our men—with Ray rods in -their hands. They poured out into the rooms that lined the passages. -They swarmed up pillars and reached out hands to the captives. They -howled at Sanson, whose bodyguard, closing about him, formed an -impenetrable defense. The conspiracy had not miscarried. - -But all were shouting at me, and the fanatic spirit of hate that Sanson -had evoked seemed to have recoiled and turned on him to his destruction. - -Suddenly the approaching spans stood still. They remained motionless, -each end some three feet from me. Then, slowly, they began to recede. - -“Jump, Arnold!” I heard David scream above the uproar. - -I saw the plan to isolate me there, where none could reach me, helpless -in the mid-Temple. I gathered Esther high in my arms, stepped back, and -sprang; I felt myself falling. Still clutching Esther with one hand, I -groped in blindness with the other. I struck the edge of the span. Hands -held me; hands pulled Esther free; I stood among our friends, and behind -us already the Guard was beaten backward. - -I saw the tattered outlaws’ figures everywhere. Only around Sanson were -the Guard still potent. He saw the situation; he knew his power was -crumbling as Lembken’s had crumbled; and, pushing his bodyguard aside, -strode forward and held up his hand for silence. Even then—so great was -his power—at the gesture, all motion in the Temple ceased; I saw -arrested Ray rods, not yet discharged, held stiffly, limbs halted in -air, necks craned toward the speaker and immobile. - -“Choose, then!” Sanson called in words that rang like a trumpet’s blast. -“It is your supreme moment. Will you have your Messiah or will you have -my gift—immortality?” - -“Give us God!” screamed the woman’s voice; and then a thousand and ten -thousand answered him: - -“Give us God!” - -“The God of Bonham!” - -“Our fathers’ God, Whom we denied.” - -The people had answered truly in the supreme moment, as they must -always, that the world may not cease. For, in the words of Renan, “the -heart of the common people is the great reservoir of the self-devotion -and resignation by which alone the world can be saved.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - LEMBKEN - - -The maneuvers of our party had been so skilfully planned and carried out -so surely that the Temple fell into our hands almost immediately. -Entering upon that side which faced the Airscouts’ Fortress, our men had -surprised and overpowered the guards posted about the elevators, and -driven them in flight toward the Science Wing, into which Sanson -withdrew to rally them about him. - -The Council Hall and offices beneath it were occupied as quickly. -Including the Airscouts’ Fortress, we had thus three-fourths of the -quadrilateral in our possession; but the Guard held the Science Wing in -strength, and, of course, the surrounding wall, armed with the Ray -artillery and commanding everything within it. - -The change of fortune was so swift that I could hardly grasp its -significance immediately. Carrying Esther, and surrounded by a frenzied -mob, I was dragged from the bridge to the corridor of the elevators, -between Elizabeth and David, pent up among five hundred men, some -carrying Ray rods and trying to force their way through the Temple in -the direction of the Science Wing, others returning, realizing the -impossibility of pushing through the crowds, and others, merely -spectators, unarmed, who had gone mad with delirious joy. The confusion -was indescribable, and, to make it worse, these people seemed to look to -me for leadership, while I was caught in the throng and helpless. -Precious moments were passing. - -Into the mob burst a man heading a little group of revolutionists. - -“Follow me!” he shouted. “To the Science Wing! Capture the bridges! -Follow me!” - -As he spoke the Temple lights went out. I was not yet clear of the -bridge. Inch by inch I struggled onward, but in the darkness the -confusion was still more undisciplined; and while the oncoming party -still fought for a foothold I heard a rending, straining sound behind -me, a crash of wood, and a mighty fall that set the whole building -echoing. Shouts, oaths, and groans came from below; the span on which we -stood shook from the concussion. - -There was no need to ask what had occurred. Sanson had cut down the -farther half of the bridge, securing himself against attack from the -upper floor of the Temple. - -Then a voice, bellowing with rage and ferocity, arose: - -“Follow me! Seize the elevators! To Lembken! To the People’s House!” - -The mob broke and dissolved, carrying me with it into the corridor. I -saw the leader with the Assyrian beard heading the rush for the elevator -shafts. He carried all with him. But the shafts were empty; the -elevators had been drawn up. There followed howls of fury. - -“Lembken!” shrieked the mob. “Out with him! Out with the defective!” - -It was queer, that word; but one impulse animated all. They plunged -after their leader, scrambling up the ironwork of the interior, and -clinging there like flies as they worked their way upward. The little -band of disciplined men alone stood still, and their chief turned to me -with a wry look. - -“We are too late,” he said. “Sanson has got his men together. We shall -have to storm the Wing from below. Half our men have joined in that mad -attack on Lembken, who is helpless, whereas Sanson—” - -He shrugged his shoulders in despair. Then David turned to me. - -“You must bring them back, Arnold,” he said. “They will obey and follow -you. Leave Esther—” - -He saw the look on my face, and began to plead with me. “It is your -duty, Arnold,” he cried. “All will be lost unless you can draw off our -men from the Palace. I will protect her with my life.” He bent down and -looked into Esther’s face, and an expression of amazement came upon his -own. It occurred to me afterward that he had never believed that Esther -really lived. But at the time only the thought of this flickered through -my brain, and it yielded to more urgent ones. - -“They will follow you!” cried David. - -I hesitated no longer. I placed Esther’s unconscious body in Elizabeth’s -arms, and, without stopping to glance at her, lest it sap my resolution, -I plunged into the shaft and began to scramble upward. - -Somehow I reached the summit. I fell upon my hands within the Palace. -The mob was swarming everywhere, in every room, it seemed, and through -the gardens. I ran out under the dome. The winter sun shone through a -gray fog, a blood-red ball of fire. - -The yelling mob swept through the groves. Its fury was unleashed, and -the remembered wrongs of years impelled it to universal destruction. I -saw at the first glance that these men were beyond the power of -argument. With their bare hands they tore up palms and tossed them down -into the courts through jagged holes in the transparent walls. They tore -the panes out of their settings, twisting the thin, un-splintering glass -until it writhed everywhere, coiled, crystal snakes among the uprooted -flowers. They spared nothing. The yellow orange spheres gleamed in the -rank grass. The scent of orange flowers was choking. - -I ran among them, calling on them to follow me back, for the sake of our -cause, to join their comrades, hard pressed by Sanson. Most of them did -not seem to hear me; some raised their heads from their work, stared at -me for a moment, and resumed their wild task of ruin. It came to me then -that I was unknown to them. Not one in a hundred of these men had seen -my face more than a moment or two upon the altar platform. - -I turned and ran through the Palace rooms, still calling, and still -unheeded. The mob was sweeping onward like an avalanche. They had torn -the costly hangings from the walls. From the blue rooms, mull rooms, red -rooms, purple rooms, all the baroque, fantastic, and depraved trappings -of Lembken’s gleaning were heaped into great rolls at which the furious -army hacked and tore. In one place it was venting its rage upon a heap -of masquerade clothing. Pieces were flung from man to man, and some, -tearing great rents in garments, thrust their heads through them and -continued in the pursuit, with skirts about their shoulders and leopard -skins about their bodies. A tun of wine had overturned and spilled, and -the contents crept like a rivulet along the floor, seeping from room to -room. The conduit that fed the artificial brooks, being slashed, poured -out a muddy stream that dogged our heels, befouling the slashed rugs and -tattered coverlets. And ever the cries became more furious. - -The mob was yelling with one universal voice. Palm trees were hurled -from man to man, clods of earth clung to walls, mud spattered -everything. I followed, breathless, imploring, pleading in vain. No one -paid me the least attention. Some, indeed, scowled at me, but the spirit -of destruction, seizing them before the words were framed on their lips, -hurled them along. They swept me with them. At the head was the giant, -bellowing in frantic wrath. The mob followed him, hypnotized; and he, -armed with a spiked stanchion which he must have wrenched from some -portion of the wall supports, dashed the weapon in furious assault -against each door, and shattered it, leading the chase down every -corridor of the bewildering place, returning, hot on the scent, -dog-like, and the great arms thrashing the club from side to side. - -The Palace was enormous. We had not covered half of it, and we had seen -no one. But, as we ran, shouts came from another party behind us, roars -mingled with shrieks, and, keening above all clamor, I heard that -bloodhound cry that breaks from human throats when the death hunt draws -near to its finale. - -With an answering roar our mob turned and sprang toward its victims, -smashing down doors and wrenching weapons from legs of tables and -woodwork of the walls. The quarry was found. Like bolting hares they -turned and scuttled into the small, hidden room, where they cowered, -women and negro eunuchs, still dressed in the masquerade of the revels -that Lembken had held that night even while his empire was breaking from -his hand. Horned women, women in dominoes, in striped and spotted hides, -Elizabethans wearing hooped skirts and huge, starched neck frills, -Victorian girls with parasols and corseted bodies, a motley, cowering -crew, less abject only than the cringing blacks, eyed their pursuers -with terror-stricken looks that sought their eyes for pity and found -only hatred. - -The giant leaped out before his followers and whirled his spiked club. -“Where is Lembken?” he roared. “Where are his men?” All the while his -eyes searched the women’s faces; but he did not find her whom he sought. - -“There are no men,” a frightened woman gasped. “There were never any but -Lembken. We have never seen any others in our lives.” - -He had lied to me, then, when he spoke of his friends. How long would he -have endured me there before the poisoned cup came to me? I felt my own -hate and wrath become implacable as that of the mob. - -[Illustration: - - The giant leaped out before his followers. “Where is Lembken?” he - roared. “Where are the men?” -] - -The giant clutched at a cringing negro boy and pulled him from his -knees. “Where is he?” he shouted. - -The boy was tongue-tied with fear. But a girl stepped forth bravely. -“That way!” she said, pointing toward a door. - -The mob whirled through in a torrent, following the Assyrian-bearded -giant. I heard their shouts grow fainter. The women bolted, scattering -through the dismantled rooms, seeking some other refuge. But one of them -stopped and then came toward me quickly. - -“She lied! He is there,” she whispered, pointing toward a wall. “Kill -him, but whisper my name in his ear before he dies.” - -I looked at the girl and recognized Coral, the maid who had supplanted -Amaranth. I turned quickly toward the wall, and my eyes discovered the -hidden door, flush with the wall. I burst it open and ran through. - -I raced along a winding passage, hearing the mob’s cries far away as -they ran on the false scent they had taken up. I emerged suddenly upon a -little platform fronting a part of the crystal wall that was still -standing in the rear of the Palace. The mob had not yet found the -approaches to this secret refuge. - -A glass gateway within the wall stood open, and outside, at rest in the -air, I saw the dark airplane, with Hancock at the wheel. And at the -gate, hesitating to set his feet upon the narrow plank that led to -safety, was Lembken. His arms were filled with bundles, and on his -shoulder a monkey perched, mouthing and gibbering. At his side kneeled a -young girl, with hands clasped, urging Lembken to flight. - -The old man heard me and turned around. I saw Hancock start forward, -raise a Ray rod, and aim it at me. But Lembken stood in the way, and he -could not fire. - -The girl leaped at me, clutching me by the arms with surprising -strength, and crying to Lembken to fly. But the obese old man only -stared into my face. Fear seemed to have paralyzed him. He did not -remember me, but my presence seemed to awaken some association in his -mind, and, as I watched, I saw it flash into consciousness. - -“Jacquette!” he screamed in a tremulous falsetto. “I have forgotten her. -I must go back for her.” - -He scrambled past me, and the girl, releasing me, ran after him. I -followed. On we ran, till Lembken turned into a tiny room, once meant to -be a hiding place, no doubt, but now doorless and bare. Again I heard -the shouting. The mob was drawing near. - -On a perch beside the entrance sat the gaudy macaw, head on one side, -preening her plumage. - -“The people’s friend!” she cackled. “The people’s friend! -Friend—friend—friend—friend—frien—” - -With a cry of delight Lembken snatched at her. She fluttered to his -shoulder. He turned, and, with monkey and bird against his sagging -cheeks, he began to make his way along the passage. As he ran I saw -another corridor at right angles to this, and, at the end, daylight and -the waste of uprooted palms. The mob was sweeping past. They saw him; -they howled and dashed to cut off his flight. - -Lembken saw them, doubled back, dashing in panic from room to room. The -mob was everywhere about him, searching for him, blocking all exits; -their howls were a continuous sound. - -They were upon him. Lembken fell on his knees and pulled a Ray rod from -his robes. With shaking, nerveless fingers he forced up the guard. He -held it to his breast; but it fell from his hand. - -“Kill me!” he muttered to the girl. - -She flung her arms about him; and thus the mob found them. - -The giant leaped at them. His bellowings shook the walls. He sprang for -Lembken, caught him by the throat, and forced his head upward. I saw the -loose spike in his hand. The monkey chattered, the parrot stretched out -her neck and snapped, shrieking her phrases. Between the men the frail -girl wrestled, dashing her weak fists into the giant’s face. - -The roaring mob choked the narrow corridor on either side. “Death to -him!” they shrieked. “Death! Death!” - -The old man caught the words upon his tongue and screamed. - -“Not death!” he yelped. “I’m Lembken. I can’t die. I never thought of -death—dying—going nowhere—nowhere—nothing—I want to live—” - -He cowered behind the girl, thrusting her between himself and his enemy. -So furious were her struggles that she forced the giant away. She dashed -her fists into his eyes again and again, until he turned on her and -gripped her by the wrists, twisting her backward. He looked into her -face for the first time. - -“Let him go!” she screamed. “Don’t hurt him. He is old—he is old—he has -done no harm—he is the people’s friend—he has told me so—I love him—” - -The giant dropped her wrists and staggered back. His horror-painted face -became a tragic mask. He moaned, and his hands groped impotently in the -air for something that he failed to find. It was not the blood in his -eyes that blinded him. For this was she whom he had sought, torn from -his home, the last to share Lembken’s favor, the child whom I had seen -dragged from the Council Hall, her innocent child’s heart loyal in his -last hour to the only lover she knew. - -It wrung my heart, the pity of it: this blossom of love that sprang from -that festering, rank soil of human baseness. - -The next instant the mob swept over us. They seized their prey and -stamped out the life beneath their feet. I saw the quivering body tossed -high in the air and dashed from wall to wall, trampled on, hacked, and -torn. I saw it poised against the crystal walls, saw the dark airplane -swoop to safety amid a hail of Ray fire; and then the air was filled -with zig-zag flashes of blinding light. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - THE COMING OF THE CROSS - - -I stood with a small group of our men beneath the dome, where Lembken’s -gardens had been. The havoc that had been wrought is almost -indescribable. The beauty molded by the most cunning hands in Europe had -been obliterated in one short hour. The gardens were a waste of uprooted -trees and trampled earth, while from the broken conduit a dozen muddy -streams were pouring like high waterfalls upon the courts below. The -Palace was a mass of wreckage, in which the mob still moved, shouting -for fire to finish the work of destruction. - -I had been recognized at last, and we were searching for our men among -the rabble, gathering the nucleus of a force to render aid to our party, -hard-pressed, below. I had managed to achieve something at last: I had -detailed a dozen men with Ray rods to guard the women. That was all I -could accomplish. - -The ground about the Temple was already strewn with blackened, twisted -figures. From the conical Ray guns on the enclosing walls swept sheets -of blinding flame, a soundless cannonade that pecked at the interstices -in the walls of the Temple and of the Airscouts’ Fortress, seeking for -some unpainted spot between the blocks of stone, some small, abraded -surface where the cold Rays might find lodgment. I heard the crumbling -of disintegrating mortar and saw fragments of stone flying from cornice -and pediment. Soon gaps would open and the whole splendid pile tumble -into a heap of shapeless ruins. - -The Rays flashed to and fro like brilliant lightning. I was half -blinded; all I could discern was that Sanson still held the Science -Wing, from whose windows the Guard were picking off our men beneath -them. I surmised from the shouting that we were attacking the Wing from -the ground floor of the Temple. - -We had gathered most of our men together, and we plunged for the -elevator shafts and scrambled down. My pulses hammered with fear as I -entered the corridor below. But there stood David, and Elizabeth kneeled -beside him, with Esther’s head in her lap. She looked at me and smiled -with so brave an effort that I realized her own anxiety. Somewhere in -the deadly tumult Paul was fighting, unless, indeed, he lay among those -shapeless masses that strewed the courts. - -Our men swept by me and poured along the corridor toward the bridge. - -“I have fulfilled my promise, Arnold,” said David. “Now I must take -Elizabeth within the shelter of the Airscouts’ Fortress, and you will -follow with Esther. Then each of us must do his best to rally parties to -the assault. All is not going well, Arnold. Our Ray rods are emptying -fast, and the storage batteries within the Airscouts’ Fortress have been -destroyed, so that we cannot recharge them; the attack upon the lower -level of the Wing has failed. Sanson has placed a Ray gun there. All -hangs upon the battleplanes, and they have not returned.” - -He put his arm about his daughter and hurried her toward the bridge, -while I picked up Esther, still plunged in that first sleep, and -followed him. I saw him lead Elizabeth to safety, but as I was about to -follow, a sheet of purple light swept past me, tearing a stanchion from -the bridge and knocking down a part of the brick house on the wall -above, where Lembken had taken me that night of our first meeting. - -A gun was playing on the bridge. It was impossible to cross at present. -I drew back, waiting. - -Then a babel of cries broke out on the opposite side, so fierce and wild -that, grasping Esther more tightly, I rushed to a window at the further -end of the corridor, commanding a view of the exterior courts. The long -bridges were packed with our men, making a mad sortie to scale the -enclosing walls. Streaks of light, pitiably thin, flashed from their Ray -rods, and, with exultant shouts, the Guard sprang forward to meet them. -They were dragging lighter Ray guns behind them. For an instant it -seemed as if the revolutionists would scale the walls before the heavy -Ray artillery could be reaimed at them. The foremost files of the -opposing forces clashed and surged and swayed in a rain of meteor -flashes. The blackened corpses heaped the bridges, hung, toppled over, -and went to swell the heaps below. Then, with a renewed outburst of -shouting, the Guard drove back the attack and placed their guns. - -The blinding flashes swept the bridges, playing like ribands of silvery -blue along the course of their discharge. Everywhere along the bridges -swarmed the stampede of flight, checked where the Rays caught the -fugitives and twisted them into charred lumps, sweeping away the -superstructure also, and the bridge rails. I saw one bridge go down, as -a deflected Ray wrenched it from its piers. It spewed its burden upon -the stones below, and from among the dead, little figures leaped up and -began to run for refuge toward the Council Wing; and there a blast from -a Ray gun found them, and the heavy doors crumbled upon them, and wood -and men were ground into the same pulpy blackness. The Ray had found the -weak spots of the great buildings, and from the Temple top huge stones -came crashing down, rebounding along the courts and splintering into -fragments. Clouds of dust rose up like smoke from conflagrations. - -The flowing tide of the Guard’s victory rolled on unchecked. Their -shouts were frightful. They held the courts, now piled with debris from -the buildings above them. I ran with Esther back toward the bridge, -crossed it, and gained the shelter of the Airscouts’ Fortress. Before me -was a flight of stone steps; I ran up, shouting. Nobody answered me. I -gained the summit and found myself alone there. - -Looking down from the roof I saw that the Guard were swarming in the -Temple. They had regained that; they had driven our men from the -Airscouts’ Fortress, on which I stood, trapped, since it was impossible -to cross the courts. Where were our forces? I saw the locust cloud of -attack break against the doors of the offices beneath the Council Hall. -That was our last stronghold. The Ray flashes played on the walls, but -they held fast. - -Then out of the south a flock of giant birds came wheeling. They swooped -toward us and resolved themselves into the airplane fleet. They dipped -their luminous wings and circled around us, and a mazy pattern of light -shot downward upon the ranks of the Guard. - -The battleplanes had settled their differences, and three-fourths of -them had returned to fight for us. - -I saw the Guard race back for their sheltering walls. The Ray artillery -shot upward to meet the challenge of the battleplanes. To and fro -overhead wheeled the great shining birds in soundless duel. The conflict -appeared the more frightful because of this silence. Only those at the -guns knew what was happening. - -But presently, as the flock wheeled, I saw one tower like a shot -pheasant and then tumble. It plunged into the court and lay, a shapeless -mass, upon the stones. The Ray gun had found its defenseless parts as it -maneuvered. A second battleplane came hurtling down. It struck the -Temple wall, seemed to cling there like a bat, and, fluttering like a -dying thing, plunged to the stones beside its shattered mate. - -The Guard was winning. The enclosing walls stood fast. Our last hope -seemed to be gone. The sun was dipping into the west. - -I dared not carry Esther through that fire-swept zone. It was my plan, -should Sanson’s men reoccupy the Airscouts’ Fortress, to seek refuge -within the little, half-secret room where Jones had hidden us. Meanwhile -I waited on the roof, behind the glow-painted shield of a single empty -airplane that was resting there. Twilight fell, and the soundless fight -went on. The battleplanes were circling higher, and their fire was -utterly ineffective. I judged, from its growing infrequency, that their -solar batteries were becoming emptied. Meanwhile our men, pent in the -council offices, waited for the finale. - -Hourly our situation grew more desperate. Another battleplane went down. -The game was in Sanson’s hands after all. Our only chance had been in -the surprise, and the mad rush to the People’s House and the confusion -in the Temple had spoiled all plans and allowed our enemy to concentrate -his men. Where was he, I wondered. - -Suddenly shouts broke out again from the walls, and were caught up and -echoed back from the Council Hall. Southward, high in the sky, -pin-points of light appeared, like vagrant stars, which became larger, -wheeled, extended. - -The Guard cheered frantically. I heard the cry “America!” - -If this was the Mormon fleet, come to aid Lembken, there was no doubt -with which side it would join. Perhaps the Guard knew already that -Sanson had outwitted Lembken and outbid him for its support. - -The airfleet shot upward, drew together, and a single light, detaching -itself, flew like a rocket upward, moving in the direction of the -oncoming battleplanes, which seemed to hang poised above, like a new -group of Pleiades. The rocket’s apparent speed dwindled, until it seemed -to move as slowly as any star. I saw a second light shoot downward, -detaching itself from those clustered orbs, to meet it. I held my -breath, as all must have done, for not a Ray was fired, nor was there -any sound as the fate of the world hung upon those nearing points. They -circled about each other, a binary star; they moved together; and -suddenly they plunged downward, the whole oncoming fleet following them, -and the roar of a thousand throats rang from the Council Hall: - -“The Russians! The Russians! The Tsar! The Tsar!” - -The lights grew larger and resolved themselves into the glow -parallelograms again, and the great fleet of battleplanes descended -toward the wall. Again the pattern of light interplayed with the -answering fire from the Ray artillery of the Guard. - -The new squadron was armed with Rays almost as strong, taken in -Stockholm, and worked by Swedish gunners. Searchlights and glow rays -blended in heliotrope and pink and blue, playing about the walls, -carrying the most murderous death that man had ever devised. And it -appeared incredible that death lay hidden within that warp and woof of -color that intercrossed through space, blending and twisting, and -forming a thousand patterns upon the night. Once a battleplane, caught -as she wheeled, came crashing down; but the next moment the persistent -Ray found an unprotected place in the walls at last, and hammered at it, -dislodging mortar and stones, till, with a mighty roar, a tower fell -toppling into the court, leaving a great breach in the Guard’s fortress. - -Instantly two battleplanes lit like great birds, and behind their -shields a score of men swarmed out, carrying swords and Ray shields, -interlocked. The line swept onward, to encounter the Ray rods of the -defense. I saw it crumple and twist. But other battleplanes had alighted -along the breach, and everywhere small groups were forming between the -Ray guns, which could not be aimed before they were attacked, the -gunners sabered, and the great conical machines made useless. The valor -which had overthrown the Federation’s troops before Tula was not -helpless here. - -But from each wing a blast of fire caught the downward swooping -battleplanes and crumpled them. No attack could live before that -devastating crossfire. I saw the groups of swordsmen wither, fall back, -until the bodies heaped before them, on which they planted their glow -shields, formed an impregnable rampart. But the artillery was retaken, -the battleplanes, surprised and broken in the ebb-tide of defeat, were -piled in indistinguishable heaps within the courts. The Guard turned the -artillery upon the stubborn line that mounted the breach. Once more the -fortune of the day was turning. - -[Illustration: - - Upon the walls the Guard were swarming toward the defenders. Out of - their midst the Ray artillery belched -] - -I saw the ragged figures of our men run from the Council Hall across the -courts. Then the Guard about Sanson in the Science Wing streamed forth -to meet them. The Ray rods flashed, and the ghastly murder began once -more. - -Upon the walls the Guard were swarming toward the defenders. Out of -their midst the Ray artillery belched. It found the chinks among the -shields, and a sheet of white flame swept through the Russians’ ranks. -Their wall of interlocked shields had carried them into death’s jaws, -but now the jaws were closing. I closed my eyes in anguish. - -I opened them in darkness. - -There was no flash from the conical guns, which glittered in impotence -upon the walls. For an instant I did not understand. The next I knew. -Jones had cut the supply cables in the Vosges Mountains. He had kept his -promise, and in the moment of defeat. - -The same mad exultation seized all. I heard the new note of victory as -our men from the Council Hall bore back the defeated remnants of -Sanson’s army. I saw the Russians leap from behind their shields and -swarm into the fortress; saw the flash of their swords against the -spurting fire of the Ray rods; saw the defeated Guard fly through the -courts, to meet death there. - -Then I stood face to face with Sanson. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - THE ADMIRAL OF THE AIR - - -I saw defeat written upon his face, but there was no sign of fear. He -stood alone, unarmed, confronting me, and if he had fled when he saw -that his cause was lost I do him the justice to believe it was his -undaunted will which drove him to flight, that he might plan new havoc -for the world. - -No chance remained for him. By the glare of the searchlights I saw the -last vestige of rout end at the Temple doors. Trapped and surrounded, -the Guard begged for quarter. This was accorded them; but instantly the -prisoners were lost to sight in the presence of the enormous multitudes -that came from London, swarming into the courts. - -Sanson’s gaze shifted from my face to Esther’s, and, as if she felt the -man’s presence, she stirred, and her eyelids unclosed. - -“Arnold!” she whispered. - -“Yes, dear,” I answered, bending over her. - -“I dreamed that—they had run up the annex thirty stories, Arnold, and -painted it shining white.” - -“You must sleep and dream no more,” I told her. She murmured and her -eyelids closed. Again the kindly unconsciousness of sleep held her. - -I placed her against the anchored airplane and turned to Sanson. He was -facing me with that strange and half-quizzical look that I remembered so -well. It had in it more of humanity than the expression of any other of -his moods. - -“Arnold,” he said softly, “if I were an ignorant man I might be tempted -to believe that there is a God, sometimes.” - -And that was his way also, to speak of other things in moments of -imminent alarm. - -“Why?” I inquired. - -“Because He is so merciful to His defectives, Arnold. To think that you, -with your missing five centimeters, should have defeated me! - -“Come,” he continued, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “A truce for a -few minutes. A truce, for the sake of our old friendship. You are not to -blame for your share in this night’s ruin of civilization. You were the -victim of circumstances. And then—you are a defective and could not -understand. Arnold, I have never had any friend but you. And sometimes I -feel the need of one. Even the gods felt that, and I am far from a god, -though, later, perhaps....” - -He broke off and resumed, after a short pause: - -“Join me. Here is my frank proposal: join me, and, since indeed I would -not hold any woman against her will, if Esther chooses you she shall be -yours. This night has undone the labor of many years, but those that are -past are but as a drop of water in an ocean to those which are to come. -I have the secret of immortal life at last—not ghostly life in some -gold-decorated heaven, but life in the flesh. I will bestow the gift on -you—” - -“Let it die with you,” I answered passionately. - -He laughed. - -“This night’s work, which seems so wonderful to you, is but an episode,” -he said. “Come with me to America, Arnold. In six months I can build up -my world anew. I shall be less scrupulous and humane in the future with -this miserable mob. No moron shall live, no defective go free. I have -resolved that. Man can rise only by crushing out weakness and setting -himself upon the necks of those who were born to serve. In six months -America will be mine; in twelve, the world. From this time onward it is -a battle to the death against all that retards the human race.” - -His features flushed with the energy of his voice. I looked at him, -almost in admiration. I was dumfounded at the audacity of his designs. -Trapped here, a prisoner upon the fortress roof, his life already gone -when he was found, this man of sixty years planned his universal empire. -He was mad, beyond doubt, mad enough to dream impossible things and make -them his in his brain’s fertile kingdom; and it was such madness as -moves mountains. - -“Sanson, I will do this much for you,” I said. “I will hide you from the -mob’s fury in a little room near this roof, so that you may not be torn -in pieces. I will assure you a fair trial at the hands of the new -government. That is all I can promise.” - -Would this dream vanish in the realization of fact? I saw his face fall, -as if he had come to understand his position at last. - -“Where is it?” he said presently. He spoke slowly, and in a bewildered -manner, as if he were still struggling with his dreams. - -I took him by the arm and led him to the elevator entrance. “It is a -little room under the roof,” I said. “The elevator passes it, but it is -hardly more than a hole in the wall. One would not look for you there.” - -I pressed the button, but of course the elevator did not ascend, since -the solar power was cut off. - -Sanson withdrew his arm from mine. I saw him assume a listening -attitude. “Arnold!” he cried weakly, “they are coming! Listen!” - -As I relaxed my guard, he dealt me a buffet that sent me flying down the -empty shaft. - -I had a confused consciousness of falling through space, of clutching at -the shaft walls; and then I was upon my knees, bruised and staring up at -the light overhead. - -Fortunately the elevator had stopped a few feet from the top. Still -dazed, I sprang to my feet and began scrambling up the ironwork. At last -I staggered out upon the roof once more. I saw a dozen Sansons, each of -whom carried Esther in his arms. - -I tried to force reality into these visions, to snatch the living Sanson -from among that crowd of ghosts. But they had sprung into the dozen -airplanes that lay upon the swaying roof top. A touch of the starting -lever, a half turn of the wheel, and as my power of vision came back to -me I saw Sanson rise with Esther into the air. He held her on the seat -against him, the arm that encircled her controlling the wheel, and he -was gone into the heart of the giant moon that was just rising in the -east, blood-red behind her veil of clouds. - -I stared after him. The airplane was rapidly diminishing in size. He had -outwitted me at the last, by one of those clumsy tricks he loved, such -as a schoolboy plays. - -I staggered toward the edge. I was minded to fling myself down on the -stones below. One more victim of the day’s work would mean nothing, and -doubtless David and Elizabeth believed that I had died long ago. I -tottered upon the brink; but then a shadow glided toward me, and a small -airplane stopped at my side. It was unshielded, and at the prow was a -pair of the elongated jaws. Air-Admiral Hancock leaned out of it toward -me. - -“Where is Sanson?” he asked quietly. “He was here. He was seen here.” - -I pointed into the west, where the parallelogram of light was -diminishing to an irregular star. I leaped into the plane beside him. -“Take me with you!” I cried. “He has stolen Esther—the goddess of the -cylinder.” - -Hancock said nothing but touched the lever. Instantly we shot upward and -raced like a swallow across the void, skimming and dipping as the wind -caught us and the heavy prow plunged through the unequal air-banks. - -The buildings drew together beneath us. The shouts of the multitude grew -faint and died. The luminous point in the west grew larger, and against -the sky, now whitened by the rising moon, I saw the dark body between -the glow lines, as one sees a ship at sea from a mountain top. Sanson -was heading southward, perhaps with the intent of reaching France and -rallying the forces of the Federation there. We mounted higher. The -forests stretched beneath us. Always we mounted. I cast a glance at -Hancock’s face. There was a look on it that boded ill for Sanson. I was -trying to remember something that Jones had told me about him, but my -own anxious thoughts beat down the elusive memory. I, too, felt that -there would be no mercy for Sanson when the accounts were squared. - -Would anyone have mercy? I saw the answer to that question swiftly, for, -looking back, I saw two lanes of airships, strung out behind, like -flying geese, converging toward our leadership. Battleplanes, -scoutplanes, dark against the brightening heaven, came hot on the chase. -They were in pursuit of the common enemy of the human race, and there -was none among them, no man in London but had some outrage to avenge. - -We mounted higher through the bitter cold. My hands were numb, but -Hancock kept his wheel, seated there, a grim, immovable, resolute -figure. Now we burst into the heart of a fierce, rocking snowstorm, -which blotted out the fugitive; but by some instinct Hancock seemed to -know his course, and he held it surely till we rose above the storm and -saw the glow parallelogram nearer. - -Sanson rose too. He must have sighted us and resolved to test his -endurance against ours. We were in air so rarefied that I was choking -for breath. The moon rode high; dawn was not far away. We were rushing -toward the sea, which lay, a blur of inky blackness, underneath, edged -by the white line of the chalk cliffs of the south shore. We were -gaining steadily. - -[Illustration: - - The giant jaws upon our aircraft gaped. I saw steel teeth within them -] - -But Sanson did not mean to cross the Channel. I do not know what new -scheme he had conceived; perhaps he meant to turn and seek some English -city where he could defy the new order and reorganize the old. He -wheeled; and the long line of the pursuing planes, struggling upward, -wheeled together, trying to cut off his flight. He mounted still and -struck out eastward. But, with a furious downward swoop Hancock drove in -toward him. I could see Sanson sitting at the wheel, his arm still -clasping Esther. He stopped in the air and waited for our approach. - -“What do you want?” he shouted. - -The tone of Hancock’s voice was implacable. “My son, Sanson,” he -answered. - -He wheeled away, and, as he turned placed his hand on a lever. The giant -jaws upon our aircraft gaped. I saw steel teeth within them. We dashed -for Sanson with terrific force. I shouted in horror, laying my fingers -upon Hancock’s sleeve and pointing to Esther. But Hancock did not seem -to hear or feel me, perhaps he had never known that I was there; all his -mind seemed intent on the accomplishment of his deadly purpose. He drove -home before his enemy could evade his course, and like a hawk we -plunged, struck Sanson’s vessel amidships, and smashed through steel and -glow shield. - -One instant, in the dead interval of the stopped momentum, we rested -motionless together, the gaping jaws choked with their meal and fast -within the heart of Sanson’s plane. I flung myself across the side, -grasped Esther, held her in my arms, and dragged her across our bows. -Then Hancock leaped at Sanson’s throat. - -Our airplane tipped, righted herself, and drifted away. I did not know -how to steer or guide, but Hancock must automatically have locked the -mechanism to the halt, for we drifted idly, balancing upon the wind. -Watching, I saw the two struggling in Sanson’s plane. - -She shuddered as she hung poised there, mortally gashed, yet fighting -still for her dominion of the air. She quivered from prow to stern, and -then, of her own accord, shot upward. Up she went till she was but a -dark blot in the sky. Then from above something came falling toward the -earth, plunged like a projectile, and disappeared. - -I saw a tiny figure standing on the doomed airplane alone, and, -infinitely small though it appeared, I knew that it was Sanson. I -fancied I could see the man’s proud bearing; I thought his arms were -folded across his breast. The moonlight gilded him, and others have told -me that he seemed to ride through the air resplendent, as if -transfigured by some demoniac power. - -He stood like Lucifer, high above all the world, over his wrecked -dominion. I picture his disdain, and the contempt for man with which he -shrouded himself in that last moment. The world had broken him in the -end, but his colossal spirit could never be quenched. - -Then the air vessel plunged into the moon’s heart and vanished. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - THE NEW ORDER - - -Three months have passed. It is Easter Day, and we have only begun to -struggle with the difficulties before us. - -But we are working with a faith that will overcome all obstacles. All -the world is at work, for the same impulse was felt simultaneously in -every land. The Mormon airplanes never arrived, because, practically at -the same hour, America rose in revolt against her masters. And the -Sanson régime has been swept away forever. - -We were rescued from our airplane by the airscouts who had followed us, -and brought back to London. Our friends, who had thought us dead, were -overjoyed at our return. It was a wonderful reunion, with not a shadow -to mar it, for Paul had passed uninjured through the fighting and was -there to welcome us. And gradually, when she awoke, we broke the news of -everything to Esther. - -The amazing thing about it was that she was much more calm in learning -the truth than we were in telling it. She accepted our statements almost -as commonplaces of history. - -I call to mind the second huge public gathering on the day after the -Revolution, when the dread of massacre had proved unfounded. The -populace had been taught to believe that the Russians were blood-thirsty -savages, instead of which we discovered child-like enthusiasts. It was a -shock to most of us to discover that they considered themselves -Crusaders, upon a mission to restore Christ to the world. I recall -vividly the great red crosses on the breasts of their white uniforms, -the icon banners that are still flapping everywhere; then the people’s -wonder and terror at the horses; lastly the young Tsar’s entrance into -the capital, to attend the reconsecration of the Temple, and the amazing -influence of kingship upon a crowd that had never known reverence or -loyalty, except through fear. - -Then the universal joy at the release of all the inmates of the -defectives and moron shops, the tears and shouts that accompanied the -restoration to their families, of those who had been believed lost -forever; husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, -friends and friends. No one was afraid to be glad. It was as if a dark -cloud had rolled away and disclosed the sun. - -And the astonishment and enthusiasm as the people listened to the -teachings of Christianity. After three months there are still crowds at -all the street corners, hearing the doctrines and the story of Christ -from priests and missionaries. - -And Bishop Alfred: at the consecration, when, stepping forward to -declare himself, he found, to his surprise and dismay, that the secret -of his surname, which he had vowed never to reveal until that day, had -passed forever from his own memory. And how proudly he redeemed himself -with his ancient title, Alfred London. - -There is so much to do, and only a tithe of it has been begun. Indeed, -it would have been impossible, but for the agreement that the old -national boundaries should be restored, and each State work out its -problems independently. Then there was the question as to the -composition of the new government, and it was resolved that the -committee should avail themselves to the utmost of the established -order, eliminating all cruelties. Thus, for the present, because no -better scheme can come forth, ready-made, from human brains, the -socialized State will continue. It would be impossible to go back to the -old days of competition, and we shall never return to those days of -squalor, poverty, and destitution, recognizing that, if ever revolution -was justified, our fathers’ was against the commercial greed of a -materialistic world. - -The hardest part of this problem will be to steer a course between the -corruption of Social Democracy and the tyranny of Social Autocracy. But -we have an ideal in the separation of wealth from power, the latter to -be the attribute of the few who are born and fit to rule, the former the -possession of the bulk of the nation. Whatever our judges, their office -will be for life, and they will be appointed and not elected. - -In time custom will crystallize into laws again; but, since the existing -laws were too cruel to survive, and the old are too arbitrary and -antiquated to be renewed, we choose to exist law-free rather than live -by paper schemes. - -But if we are tolerant and lax, so that we resemble more a benevolent -anarchy than an organized State, we have set our faces like flint -against two things. First of these comes divorce. It will be recognized -under no circumstances whatever; and so far is this from being -considered tyrannous that the vast bulk of the people never desired it. -In the old days it was the shameful privilege of a small caste -alone—that same caste that, by abandoning its duties and -responsibilities and cutting free from the Catholic conception of -civilization, brought down the old order. We are convinced that the -permanence of the marriage bond is the foundation of every society of -free people. - -The second is eugenics. Looking back, we see how this madness over-ran -the world until, within a century from the time of its inception, it had -enslaved humanity. The theory of Galton, that because the -university-trained son of a distinguished man became distinguished, -while the illiterate son of a burglar died unknown, ability is -inherited, may have appealed powerfully to our ancestors, but to us it -is symptomatic of that inability to reason which we think characterized -the twentieth century. Eugenics was the natural product of a time which, -steeped in materialism, laughed at the belief in a human soul, or its -concomitant, that each soul needed to work out its earthly pilgrimage in -a body adapted to its abilities. But even from the material viewpoint we -see that the movement was fallacious. We know that the proportion of -those afflicted with inherited maladaptations has remained constant -through history; moreover, since there was no human norm, the demands of -the eugenists increased continually, till they had bound nine-tenths of -the world to their hideous Juggernaut car. - -So the first act after our victory was to burn the Bureaux of Prints and -Indexes and Pedigrees and Relationships. That was our only vandalism. - -But more than everything we hold to Christianity as the foundation of -our State. We see now that the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were -the worst since pagan times. Our ancestors read, without qualms, of -negroes burned at the stake, of equatorial nations massacred, not in -excess of misplaced zeal, as heretics, but only for—rubber! We know that -without Christian ethics human nature is back in the days of Rome, -Bagdad, and Carthage. We hope that there will be established, as in the -olden days, Christian orders of young men, who shall serve three years -in them before they come of age, bound by the triple vow, to fight these -renascent wrongs wherever they can be found. - -Having found truth once more, we are not greatly troubled by doctrines. -The critical investigation which destroyed the Protestant theory of the -Bible’s literal inspiration has only strengthened the older claim of the -universal Church to be herself the repository of truth. Not rejecting -the claims of criticism, we feel the living truth of Christianity so far -to transcend its theological garb that, if the formula has been -misstated, many would revise it. The consensus of opinion is, however, -that the minds which drew up the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds arrived as -nearly as possible at a correct formula. - -But the Visible Church is humble in her hour of success. She feels no -triumph. Reverently, penitently, at the huge consecration meeting in the -Temple her leaders asked for guidance and inspiration. At present -sectarianism inspires in us the same horror that schism inspired -centuries ago. The first act was to reunite the ancient Greek and -English churches by omitting from the Creed that clause beginning -“proceeding from,” which had, it was felt, no significance that was -essential. The next will be to negotiate with the Vatican for union. But -the stupendous difficulties of this reconciliation are acknowledged. - -The Age of Faith is coming back to the world, and, as in that splendid -twelfth century, when it was in its zenith, there is a sense of youth in -us. We feel that we are upon the threshold of a new epoch, uniting the -triumphs of every preceding age. It is an age of joy, and will be -vitalized by that art which, since the Reformation, has been sundered -from human life. Its first achievement will be the magnificent cathedral -that is to rise upon the site of the old Ant Temple. It will be a new -world indeed. We know each age has its own cruelties and wrongs: the -Inquisition of the sixteenth century; religious massacres in the -seventeenth; in the nineteenth factory slavery and the prisons with -their silent cells. We do not hope greatly to lessen this sum of -suffering. There will be injustice always, new wrongs will arise, new -evils that must be fought; but we believe the Christian norm will always -remain with us as a corrective. - -Tomorrow bands of axemen are to leave London to settle Kent and Surrey. -Paul and Elizabeth are to go, and later Esther and I intend to follow -them. David will join us when he can be spared from his work in the -government. - -It is Easter Day, and in the consecrated Temple I hear the anthem rise: - -“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the -feast: - -“Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness: -but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. - -“Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: death hath no more -dominion over him.” - -The crowds in the great courts are kneeling. I kneel with Esther among -them. We know that the sacrifice has leavened the world with truth that -shall never pass away. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as - printed. - 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Messiah of the Cylinder, by Victor Rousseau - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MESSIAH OF THE CYLINDER *** - -***** This file should be named 60248-0.txt or 60248-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/2/4/60248/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/60248-0.zip b/old/60248-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ff8ba7d..0000000 --- a/old/60248-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h.zip b/old/60248-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 88b2762..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/60248-h.htm b/old/60248-h/60248-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 581eefd..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/60248-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11035 +0,0 @@ -<!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" /> - <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Messiah of the Cylinder, by Victor Rousseau</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } - h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; } - h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; } - .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; - text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; - border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; - font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } - p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } - .fss { font-size: 75%; } - .large { font-size: large; } - .xlarge { font-size: x-large; } - .small { font-size: small; } - .ol_1 li {padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; } - ol.ol_1 {padding-left: 0; margin-left: 2.78%; margin-top: .5em; - margin-bottom: .5em; list-style-type: decimal; } - div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } - hr.pb { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 1em; } - @media handheld { hr.pb { display: none; } } - .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } - .figcenter { clear: both; max-width: 100%; margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; } - div.figcenter p { text-align: center; text-indent: 0; } - .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } - .id001 { width:30%; } - .id002 { width:60%; } - @media handheld { .id001 { margin-left:35%; width:30%; } } - @media handheld { .id002 { margin-left:20%; width:60%; } } - .ic001 { width:100%; } - .ig001 { width:100%; } - .table0 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; } - .nf-center { text-align: center; } - .nf-center-c0 { text-align: left; margin: 0.5em 0; } - p.drop-capa0_0_6 { text-indent: -0em; } - p.drop-capa0_0_6:first-letter { float: left; margin: 0.100em 0.100em 0em 0em; - font-size: 250%; line-height: 0.6em; text-indent: 0; } - @media handheld { - p.drop-capa0_0_6 { text-indent: 0; } - p.drop-capa0_0_6:first-letter { float: none; margin: 0; font-size: 100%; } - } - .c000 { margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c001 { margin-top: 4em; } - .c002 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } - .c003 { margin-top: 2em; } - .c004 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 4em; } - .c005 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em; } - .c006 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; } - .c007 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; } - .c008 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; text-indent: -1em; - padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; } - .c009 { vertical-align: bottom; text-align: right; } - .c010 { margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } - .c011 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } - .c012 { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } - .c013 { margin-top: 1em; } - div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; - border:1px solid silver; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; font-family: Georgia, serif; - } - .covernote { visibility: hidden; display: none; } - div.tnotes p { text-align:left; } - @media handheld { .covernote { visibility: visible; display: block;} } - .section { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } - .ol_1 li {font-size: .9em; } - @media handheld {.ol_1 li {padding-left: 1em; text-indent: 0em; } } - body {font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; } - table {font-size: .9em; } - .figcenter {font-size: .9em; } - div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; } - div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } - .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; - margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } - .right {text-align: right; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0em; - width: 50%; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's The Messiah of the Cylinder, by Victor Rousseau - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: The Messiah of the Cylinder - -Author: Victor Rousseau - -Illustrator: Joseph Clement Coll - -Release Date: September 7, 2019 [EBook #60248] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MESSIAH OF THE CYLINDER *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='section ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>THE MESSIAH OF THE CYLINDER</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div id='Frontispiece' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_frontispiece.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>I put my feet inside and squeezed down to the bottom<br /><br /><span class='right'>[<em>Page <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></em>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='titlepage'> - -<div> - <h1 class='c002'>The Messiah<br /> <span class='xlarge'>of the</span><br /> Cylinder</h1> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_title.jpg' alt='by Victor Rousseau Illustrated by Joseph Clement Coll' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div>CHICAGO</div> - <div><span class='large'>A.C. McCLURG & CO.</span></div> - <div>1917</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>Copyright</div> - <div>A. C. McClurg & Co.</div> - <div>1917</div> - <div class='c003'>Published October, 1917</div> - <div class='c003'><em>Copyrighted in Great Britain</em></div> - <div class='c003'><em>All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian.</em></div> - <div class='c003'>W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='CONTENTS'> - <tr> - <th class='c005'><span class='small'>CHAPTER</span></th> - <th class='c006'> </th> - <th class='c007'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></th> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>I</td> - <td class='c006'>Over the Coffee Cups</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>II</td> - <td class='c006'>The Great Experiment</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_16'>16</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>III</td> - <td class='c006'>In the Cellar</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_30'>30</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>IV</td> - <td class='c006'>The Road to London</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_41'>41</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>V</td> - <td class='c006'>London’s Welcome</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>VI</td> - <td class='c006'>The Strangers’ House</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_66'>66</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>VII</td> - <td class='c006'>Hidden Things</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_79'>79</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>VIII</td> - <td class='c006'>How the World Was Made Over</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>IX</td> - <td class='c006'>The Book</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_102'>102</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>X</td> - <td class='c006'>The Domed Building</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_108'>108</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XI</td> - <td class='c006'>The Goddess of the Temple</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_122'>122</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XII</td> - <td class='c006'>The Lords of Misrule</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XIII</td> - <td class='c006'>The Palace of Palms</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XIV</td> - <td class='c006'>The House on the Wall</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_164'>164</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XV</td> - <td class='c006'>The Airscouts’ Fortress</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XVI</td> - <td class='c006'>The Messiah’s Annunciation</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_186'>186</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XVII</td> - <td class='c006'>The Chapel Underground</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_198'>198</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XVIII</td> - <td class='c006'>Sanson</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XIX</td> - <td class='c006'>The Story of the Cylinders</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_225'>225</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XX</td> - <td class='c006'>The Sweep of the Net</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_237'>237</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXI</td> - <td class='c006'>Amaranth</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_247'>247</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXII</td> - <td class='c006'>Esther</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_261'>261</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXIII</td> - <td class='c006'>The Heart of the People</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_271'>271</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXIV</td> - <td class='c006'>Lembken</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_280'>280</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXV</td> - <td class='c006'>The Coming of the Cross</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_292'>292</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXVI</td> - <td class='c006'>The Admiral of the Air</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_302'>302</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXVII</td> - <td class='c006'>The New Order</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#Page_312'>312</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='ILLUSTRATIONS'> - <tr> - <th class='c008'></th> - <th class='c009'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></th> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>I put my feet inside and squeezed down to the bottom</td> - <td class='c009'><em><a href='#Frontispiece'>Frontispiece</a></em></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>I made my difficult way toward the stairs</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>I glanced from one to another, and met hard, mirthless eyes, and mouths twisted in sneering mockery</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>“Woe to you, accursed city!” he screamed, “Woe to you in the day of judgment! Woe to your whites and harlots when the judgment comes!”</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>It pulled me through the window-gap and I swung far out above the Airscouts’ Fortress</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_172'>172</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>A man near me leaped up and craned his neck, looking into the gloom</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_242'>242</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>A tall man with a black beard and a curved sword sheath that clanked on the stones. I recognized in him Mehemet, the Turkish commander</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>Sanson’s indomitable will flamed out. “I will not drink!” he cried, and flung the cup to the floor</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_258'>258</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>The giant leaped out before his followers. “Where is Lembken?” he roared. “Where are the men?”</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_286'>286</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>Upon the walls the Guard were swarming toward the defenders. Out of their midst the Ray artillery belched</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_300'>300</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c008'>The giant jaws upon our aircraft gaped. I saw steel teeth within them</td> - <td class='c009'><a href='#Page_308'>308</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='section ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>The Messiah of the Cylinder</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER I<br /> <span class='large'>OVER THE COFFEE CUPS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>If I recall the conversation of that evening so -minutely as to appear tedious, I must plead that -this was the last occasion on which I saw Sir Spofforth -alive. In such a case, one naturally remembers -incidents and recalls words that otherwise might have -been forgotten; besides, here were the two opposed -opinions of life, as old as Christianity, confronting -each other starkly. And, as will be seen, the test -was to come in such manner as only one of us could -have imagined.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I picture old Sir Spofforth as on that evening: -courteous, restrained, yet with the heat of conviction -burning in his measured phrases; and Esther -listening with quaint seriousness, turning from her -father to Lazaroff and back, and sometimes to me, -as each of us spoke. Outside, in the moonlight, -the shadow of the Institute lay black across the garden -of Sir Spofforth’s house. The dining-room was -fragrant with the scent of the tea-roses that grew -beneath the windows.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>The Biological Institute was less than five years -old, but the London smoke, which drifted beyond -Croydon, already had darkened the bright-red -bricks to a tolerable terra cotta. The ivy had grown -a good way up the walls. The Institute was accommodating -itself to the landscape, as English buildings -had the knack of doing. Lazaroff and I had -been there under Sir Spofforth since the foundation, -and there never had been any others upon the -staff, the Institute being organized for specialized -work of narrow scope, though of immense perspective.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was devoted to private research into the nature -of life, in the application of the Mendelian law to -vertebrates. The millionaire who had endowed it -for this purpose and then died opportunely, had not -had time to hamper us with restrictions. Next to -endowing us, his death was, perhaps, the most imaginative -thing that he had ever accomplished. The -Government concerned itself only about our vivisection -certificates. But our animal experimentation -was too innocuous for these to be much more than -a safeguard. Carrel’s investigations in New York, -a year or two before, had shown the world that cell -and tissue can not only survive the extinction of the -general vital quantity, but, under proper conditions, -proliferate indefinitely. We were investigating tissue -life, and our proceedings were quite innocuous. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>It will be seen that we already had gotten away from -Mendel, though we did breed Belgian hares, whose -disappearance always caused Esther distress, and -we made fanciful annotations inside ruled margins -about “agoutis” and “allelomorphs.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I am conscious now that we worked constantly -under a sense of constraint; there was an unnecessary -secrecy in all our plans and actions. Why? I -think, when I look back, that it was not because of -what we were doing, but rather of what it might -become necessary some day to do. The work was so -near to sacrilege—I mean, we viewed the animal -structure as a mechanism rather than as a temple. -That, of course, was then the way of all biologists; -but that, I think, was the cause of our rather furtive -methods. We were hot on the trail of the mystery -of life, and never knew upon what intimacies we -might stumble. We sought to discover how and -where consciousness is born out of unconscious tissue -vitality. Lazaroff had the intuition of genius, -and his inductions were amazing. Still, that problem -baffled him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pennell,” I hear him say, “at a certain period of -growth, when millions of cells, working cooperatively, -have grouped themselves in certain patterns, -completing the design, consciousness comes into play. -Why? Is it a by-product, the creak that accompanies -the wheel? But Nature produces nothing in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>vain. Then why should we know that we exist? -Why?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Lazaroff was a Prussian Pole, I believe, though -he spoke half a dozen languages fluently. Keen and -fanatical, daring, inflexible, he seemed to me the -sort of man who would welcome the chance to proclaim -a Holy War for Science and die in the front -rank. He had the strange old German faith that was -called monism, and his hope for the human race was -as strong as his contempt for the man of our day.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The race is all, Pennell,” I hear him say again. -“We of this age, who pride ourselves on our accomplishments, -are only emerging from the dawn of -civilization. We are still encumbered with all the -ghostly fears that obsessed our ancestors of the -Stone Age. But others will build the Temple of -Truth upon the foundations that we are rearing. -Oh, if I could have been born a hundred years -ahead! For the change is coming fast, Pennell!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, when I professed to doubt the nearness of -that change: “If your frontal area varied by only -five centimeters, Pennell, you would believe. That -is your tragedy, to fall short of the human norm -by five centimeters of missing forehead.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I can see his well-proportioned figure, and the -mane of black hair thrown back; the flashing eyes. -Animated by religious impulse, Lazaroff would have -gone to the stake as unconcernedly as he would certainly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>have burned others. He had invented a system -of craniometry by which he professed to discover -the mentality of his subject, and I was his -first.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Certainly the conditions were ideal for our work. -We were both young men, enthusiasts; and Sir Spofforth -Moore, our chief, was nearing eighty. The -Trustees had picked him for the post because of his -great name in the medical world. He was an ideal -chief. He interfered with us no more than the -Trustees did. He asked for no results. The Institute -existed only for patient research. Yes, the -millionaire had certainly displayed imagination for -a millionaire, and it was fortunate that he died before -his hobby, whose inception came to him, I -believe, from reading sensational newspaper articles, -grew into an obsession.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The Trustees refused to accept Sir Spofforth’s -resignation when he became infirm. He lent the -Institute dignity and prestige. I doubt whether he -knew much of Mendelism, or had followed the work -of the past five years. He knew little of what we -were doing, and initialed our vouchers without ever -demurring. Of course he tried to keep in touch with -us, and I will confess that our routine work was -mainly a cover for the daring plan that Lazaroff -had, bit by bit, outlined to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You see, Pennell,” he explained in self-justification, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>“the work must be done. And where are -there such opportunities as here? Science cannot -be bound by the provisions of a dead man’s deed. -It is not likely that Sir Spofforth would object, -either, but the Trustees might have intelligence -enough to pick up the idea from the quarterly reports -if we were entirely frank, and a biologist with -imagination is called a charlatan. And we must -work quickly, while we have this chance. When -Sir Spofforth dies the Trustees will probably pick -some fussy little busybody who will want to poke -his nose into everything and take personal charge. -Then—what of our experiment?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The idea aroused me to as much enthusiasm as -Lazaroff. And yet there was disappointment in the -knowledge that we should never know the results -of it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>In brief, Lazaroff’s scheme was this: If animal -tissues, removed from the entire organism, can -exist in a condition of suspended vitality for an indefinite -time, at a temperature suited to them in conditions -which forbid germ life to flourish, why not -the living animal? Lazaroff had selected three -monkeys from among our stock for the experiment. -They were to be sealed each in a vacuum cylinder -of special design, and left for a century.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The more I think about the plan, the more enthusiastic -I become, Pennell,” Lazaroff cried. “If -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>the unconscious cell life survives indefinitely, why -not the entire organism plus consciousness?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Much may happen in a hundred years, Lazaroff,” -I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“True, Pennell. But they will never find the -vault. Even now, before it is sealed, it would not be -looked for, built as it is into the cellar wall beneath -the freezing-plant. It was to this end, you know, -that I brought down workmen from London, instead -of employing local talent. Well—we shall -leave papers. Earthquakes and revolutions may happen -overhead, but a hundred years hence, when the -papers are opened, a search will be made. Our traveling -simians will be found by a very different world, -I assure you, Pennell!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He had the light of an enthusiast in his eyes, and -his mood aroused my own imagination.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What use is that, Lazaroff?” I cried. “We shall -not know the results of our experiment. And what -message can monkeys carry to that world concerning -ours? If monkeys, why not men?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked at me fixedly, smiling ever so little, and -I perceived that he had drawn the expression of -that thought out of the depths of my own mind by -his strong will. Now he nodded in approbation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pennell—” he began, with hesitation, “do you -want to know why I myself do not—?” He -stopped. “I am almost ashamed to tell you what it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>is that makes me wish to live out my life among my -contemporaries,” he continued. “How strong the -primal instincts are in all of us, Arnold! Nature, -with her blind, but perfectly directed will, warring -on mind, and mind rising slowly to dominate her, -armed, as she is, with her dreadful arsenal of a thousand -superstitions, instincts, terrors. It is a fearful -battle, Arnold, and many of us fall by the way.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He turned aside abruptly, as if he regretted the -half-confidence. I thought I knew what he meant, -and I was stirred too.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We dined that night with Sir Spofforth and Esther -in their new house within a stone’s throw of the Institute. -Esther was the only child; her mother had -died during her infancy. We four had been intimates -during the whole five years of the Institute’s -existence; strangely alone, we four, in the busy Surrey -town. The memory of that last night is the most -poignant that remains to me. How far away it -seems, and how long ago! If I could have known -then that our companionship was ended!</p> - -<p class='c011'>The argument to which I have referred began -after dinner, over our coffee. It was our usual hour -for disputations, but they had never been so keen, -nor Lazaroff so outspoken. Sir Spofforth was a -man of the old school of thought, religious, tolerant, -and withal more disquieted than he himself was -aware, by the dominant materialism of the younger -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>men; and Lazaroff had all the tactlessness of his -Jena training. There were rumors of war with -Germany, but Sir Spofforth was too old to adjust -his mind immediately to this conception. He grew -heated, as always, on the cynical scheme of the -democratic government, dictated by its greed for -power, to force Ulster beneath an alien yoke, upon -the loud and stunning silence of our English pacifists -and lovers of oppressed nations where their sincerity -would be best proved. He deplored the new -and dangerous doctrines that were permeating society, -the decay of morals, the loss of reverence and -pride in service. Civilization, he said, seemed dying, -and democracy its murderer.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Dying! It is still struggling in its birth throes!” -cried Lazaroff impetuously. “I grant that the democracy -of today has proved its futility. But there -is a new democracy to come. We are enslaved by -the traditions of the past, by a worn-out religious -system based upon the primitive animistic notion of -a soul. There is the fatal weakness of our democracy. -Science has never found the smallest trace of a soul; -on the contrary, we know beyond doubt that we live -in a mechanistic universe of absolute determinism.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I see Sir Spofforth’s tolerant, yet eager look as -he answered him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I grant you that the soul is not to be found in -the dissecting-room, Herman,” he answered. “I, as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>you know, have devoted my life to the empirical -investigation of truth, and I do not decry the method. -But you cannot ignore the interior way of analysis, -through the one thing we know most intimately—consciousness.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A by-product of matter,” answered Lazaroff contemptuously. -“Or, if we want to be precisely true, -the sum and substance of cell consciousness.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, throw the blame on the cell, then, in the -modern fashion,” said Sir Spofforth, smiling. “I -doubt, though, whether you have solved the one big -problem by creating some million smaller ones. On -the contrary, you are postulating a hierarchy of intelligences, -quite in the Catholic fashion. If brain consciousness -is not a specialized form of omniscient -consciousness, how does the brainless amoeba find its -food and engulf it, or the vine its supports? If you -have robbed us of the abortive hope of saving the -little empire of the brain beyond the change of death—and -I deny even that entirely—some of us have -identified consciousness with a non-material personality -functioning through all life and fashioning it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Vitalism!” scoffed Lazaroff.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I watched Esther’s eager face as she looked from -one speaker to the other. Sir Spofforth seemed more -agitated than the situation warranted, and I saw -him glance at his daughter a little nervously before -he answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>“Herman, I repeat that I have given my life to -scientific investigation,” he replied. “But I have -always recognized the validity of the metaphysical -inquiry. I believe Faith and Science have found -their paths convergent. Lodge thinks so, too. Kelvin -took that stand. James, your great psychologist, -shifted before he died. Science must confine her -activities within their natural bounds and not seek to -play a pontifical part, or the excesses of the Scholastics -will be repeated in a new and darker age.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I cannot agree with you,” cried Lazaroff vehemently. -“An age is dawning when, relieved from -their chains, men will look open-eyed into Nature to -learn her secrets. Today civilization is being choked -to death by the effete, the defective, whom a too benign -humanitarianism suffers to live beneath the -shelter of a worn-out faith. The fearful menace of -a race of defectives has laid hold of the popular -imagination. Soon we shall follow the lead of progressive -America, and forbid them to propagate their -kind. Here any statesman who dared suggest sterilization -would be hounded from office. But England -is awakening.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It will go, that relic of degrading, savage superstition -called the soul, the barbarous legacy of the -ages enshrined in a hundred fairy stories. Science -will rule. Man will be free. The logical State, -finely conceived by Wells, without its rudimentary -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>appendixes and fish-gills, will be the nation of the -future. For we are outgrowing childish things. Man -is coming of age. If only I could live to see it! But -I was born a century too soon!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The expression on Lazaroff’s face at that moment -was so singular that I could not take my eyes away -from it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It will be a world of physical and mental perfection, -too,” he cried. “Of free men and women, -freely mating, separating when the mating impulse -is dead—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, he is right, Father,” Esther interposed -eagerly. “Whatever else may come, the hour of -woman’s liberation is striking.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That hour struck many times in the ancient -world, my dear,” her father answered. “And it -brought, not liberation, but slavery.” He turned to -Lazaroff. “You want a world of men and women -reared like prize cattle and governed by laws as -mechanistic as your universe,” he said. “Well, Herman, -you have had that world. That was the pre-Christian -world. Your free love, your eugenics has -been tried in Rome, in Sparta, in many an ancient -kingdom. And we know what those civilizations -were.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If you eugenists only knew the dreadful crop of -dragon’s teeth that you are scattering today upon the -fertile soil of the unthinking mind! Because we, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>fortunately, live in the millennial lull of a transitional -age, you think that human nature has changed; -that the fury of the Crusades will never be renewed -in fantastic social wars, and the madness of religious -fratricide in the madness of Science become -Faith. All the old evils are lying low, lurking in the -minds of men, ready to spring forth in all their -ancient fury when the wise and illogical compromises, -evolved through centuries of experience, have -been discarded. I sometimes think that Holy Russia -has man’s future in her charge. For without -Christianity the moral nature of man will be where -it has been in ages past. Social and economic readjustments -leave it unchanged.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A religion of slaves, of the weak and incompetent,” -said Lazaroff loudly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You think, then, that human passions have become -emulsified by education? What a delusion!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Unquestionably. Permit me to refer to myself -as an example of the crass materialist. For I do not -believe in anything but matter. Matter is soul, as -Hæckel proves. Yet, I am not on that account a man -of base impulses. I do not want to wound, to kill, -to steal, to torture—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you quite sure you know yourself, -Herman?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I utterly reject the efficacy of your Christianity, -except in this low order of civilization. It -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>is a dead faith, with its foolish miracles, its preposterous -and unscientific dualism.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And I say,” cried Sir Spofforth, rising out of -his chair, “that it is precisely the Christian norm, the -unattainable ideal of Christ, working in the human -heart, that has freed civilization from cruelty and -shame. Why, look backward before Christ lived, -and forward: don’t you see that we are actually -indwelling in Him, according to His promise? Think -of the Christians burned as living torches in Nero’s -time, and read the writings of contemporary Romans, -men of disciplined lives and a mentality as -great as ours. Read Pliny, Tacitus, Seneca; read -of the hopelessness of life when Rome was at her -highest, and see if this stirred them. Picture Marcus -Aurelius, the noble Stoic, presiding over the amphitheater. -Study the manners and morals of Athens -when her light burned most brightly. Contrast a -thousand years of man’s abasement, and try to set -the Inquisition against that.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Future ages will say this: that nobody, not one -of our statesmen saw the course that had been set -when the civil State was first established. Never -before in history had tribe or nation existed but grew -up round the focus of some god. The churchless -State is a body without a soul. Warnings multiply—in -France and in America—but who can read them? -When religion goes, the spirit of the race is dying. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>It is just the ideal of Christ, enshrined in the minds -of a few leaders of character and trained conviction, -that has kept the world on its slow course of progress. -And nothing else saves us from the unstable -tyrannies of ancient days.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was so stirred by Sir Spofforth’s eloquence that -I clapped my hands vigorously, although I did not -wholly agree with him. Esther was staring at -Lazaroff; she was partly convinced and wanted him -to answer her father. But Lazaroff, ignoring her -gaze, scowled at me across the table.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So you are of the same mind, are you, Pennell?” -he asked, not trying to disguise his sneer. “And -you don’t imagine that it is your missing five centimeters? -Well, I hope that you may have your -chance to find out for yourself. I hope you may, -indeed.” He nodded and smiled in a rather evil -fashion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I must really offer you all an apology,” -said Sir Spofforth, penitently. “Enough of these -debatable subjects for a week at least. We two shall -never agree on politics or religion, Herman. Let -us go upstairs.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER II<br /> <span class='large'>THE GREAT EXPERIMENT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Since Sir Spofforth was a little infirm, and -leaned on my arm to make his slow ascent of -the stairs, we entered the drawing-room a full minute -after the others. The room was empty; Esther -and Lazaroff had gone into the big conservatory that -opened out of the south side. I heard the rustle of -the girl’s dress as she moved among the palms, and -Lazaroff speaking earnestly in a low voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sit down, Arnold,” said Sir Spofforth, subsiding -stiffly into his arm chair. “Thank you, my boy. I -feel old age coming swiftly upon me nowadays. No, -I am not self-deceived. It is strange, this sense of -the daily diminution of the physical powers, and -not at all unpleasant, either. It seems familiar, too, -as if one had passed through it plenty of times -before. It is something like bedtime, Arnold, but -I hope and believe there will be a tomorrow, for I -assure you I have an almost boyish zest for life, -though rather contemplative than energetic for a -while, till I have rested. There is a little forgetfulness -of names and places, but memory seems to -become more luminous as it falls back upon itself. -Well, some day you will experience this. You two -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>must carry on the work of the Institute. Herman -is an able fellow, in spite of his mechanistic notions. -But I wonder whether any woman could be happy -with him?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He watched me rather keenly as he said that.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There’s only one thing makes me want to live a -little longer, Arnold,” he continued, “and that is -Esther’s future. It would be a great satisfaction to -me to see her settled happily before I go. Forgive -an old man’s frankness if I say that sometimes I -have almost thought you two cared for each other.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are quite right in part, sir,” I replied. “I -do care for Esther a good deal.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And she, I am sure, has a very warm feeling for -you, Arnold. There is nobody whom I would rather -have for Esther’s husband than yourself.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, sir, the fact is, we are not sure that our -views are altogether harmonious,” I confessed. “I -am, as you know, rather sceptical about the newest -views for revolutionizing woman’s status, while -Esther—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is a full-fledged suffragist and has exalted notions -about the race of the future. Tush, my boy! -Never hold back proposing marriage because of intellectual -differences. The race spirit, sitting up aloft -and pulling the strings, is laughing at you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But, Sir Spofforth, to be candid, it was not I -who held back,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>“Hum! I see!” he answered, nodding his head. -Then, very seriously, “My boy, I want you to win -her. It would embitter my last days to see my -daughter the wife of Herman Lazaroff. I have -watched and tried to study him: it isn’t his materialism, -Arnold, it’s his infernal will. He’ll break -everything and everybody that conflicts with it when -he wakes up and knows his powers. Now he doesn’t -understand himself at all. He can see nothing -interiorly, as good old Swedenborg would say. I -tell you, Herman Lazaroff, able fellow as he is, and -splendid brain, is a machine of devilish energy, and, -unfortunately, fashioned for purely destructive -purposes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Like most old men, he had the habit of falling -into soliloquy, and toward the end of his speech his -voice dropped, and he spoke rather to himself than -to me. Though I remembered his words afterward, -at the time I regarded his indictment as the prejudice -of an octogenarian. He was in his eightieth -year, and there was no doubt his keen mind was failing. -I was searching for a reply when Esther and -Lazaroff came back from the conservatory.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Esther’s face was flushed and she looked utterly -miserable. But I was amazed to see the expression -upon Lazaroff’s. He was deathly white, and his -black eyes seemed to gleam with infernal resolution. -At that moment it did occur to me that Sir Spofforth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>might be wiser in his judgment than I. Lazaroff -came forward quietly and sat down, and I tried to -make the occasion for conversation. But he, seated -motionless and abstracted, seemed hardly to hear -me, and rose from his chair after a few moments, -looking toward Esther, who was standing near the -conservatory entrance. Her brown-colored gown -gleamed golden in the lamplight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sir Spofforth, Miss Esther is interested in our -new freezing-plant,” he said. “I thought, with your -permission, that I would take her to see it lit up by -electricity. You’ll come too, Pennell?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Wouldn’t daytime be better, Lazaroff?” I suggested, -and I did not know what was the cause of the -vaguely felt distrust that prompted my words. Certainly -I had no fears of any sort, or reason for any. -Yet, looking at Lazaroff’s face, now flushed and -somehow sinister, I remembered Sir Spofforth’s -words again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let us go tonight,” said Esther, and it seemed to -me that there was a note of penitence in her voice, -as if she wished to make Lazaroff amends.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She came slowly across the room toward us. -She looked at Lazaroff—I thought remorsefully, -and at me with an expression of understanding that -I never had seen in her eyes before. My heart leaped -up to meet that message. But that was the instant -signal-flash of souls, and the next moment I detected -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>in her glance the same sense of foreboding that mine -must have shown her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It is strange how instantaneously such complexities -present themselves with convincing power. -Though the knowledge lay latent in my mind, I am -sure now I was aware that I should never set eyes -upon Sir Spofforth, in life or death, again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He rose up slowly. “Don’t be long, my dear,” -he said to Esther. “I shall not wait up for you. -Good night, Herman. Good night, Arnold.” He -passed the door and began to ascend the stairs. He -turned. “Arnold!” he began. “No, never mind. -I will tell you tomorrow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He never told me. He was gone, and we three -went downstairs, out of the house, and crossed the -garden toward the Institute, whose squat form -blocked the view of the road. Croydon, in the distance, -hummed like a huge dynamo. The Bear -dipped slantingly above; the wind was shaking down -the fading petals of the rambler roses. I remember -the picture more vividly than I perceived it then; -the intense darkness, the white lights of the distant -town, the yellow lamp glow on the short grass, cut -off squarely by the window-sash and trisected by -the window-bars. Lazaroff led the way, walking a -little distance in front of us, toward the annex, a -building just completed, in which was the new freezing-plant, -with our few guinea-pigs, and the monkeys -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>that had been bought recently, out of our own money, -for the great experiment. He drew a key from his -pocket and began fumbling with the lock. Esther -stopped in the shadows at my side.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“He asked me to marry him,” she said. “I told -him never—never! That was the word I used. I -used to think that I could care for him, Arnold, but -in that instant I knew—yes, I knew my heart.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I knew mine too, and I took her in my arms in -the shadow of the Institute. She lifted her mouth -to mine. All the while Lazaroff was fumbling -with the lock. Yet I am sure he was aware, -by virtue of that intuition which tells us all vital -things.</p> - -<p class='c011'>When he had opened the door he turned a switch, -and the interior leaped into view round twenty points -of light that pierced the shadows.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come in, Arnold,” he said, turning to me—and -I thought there was blood on his lip. “I will lead, -and you and Miss Esther can follow me. Don’t -be alarmed, Miss Esther, if you hear the monkeys -screaming. They grow lonely at night.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Poor little things! How dreadful!” Esther -said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We shall not keep them here very long,” Lazaroff -answered in extenuation. He stooped over a -cane chair and picked up a warm shawl. “You will -need to put this about you,” he continued, standing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>back and leaving me to adjust it about Esther’s -shoulders.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he had planned to bring her here; his subtle -mind had foreseen even this detail. He left nothing -to the unexpected. He lived up to his principles.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We passed between two silent dynamos. The -freezing-plant was already in operation, but George, -the machinist, went off duty at six, after stopping -the dynamos, and the temperature did not rise much -during the night. It was very cold. The moisture -on the brick walls had congealed to a thin film of ice, -and a frosted network covered the ammonia pipes. -Lazaroff stopped in front of a large wooden chest, -with a glass door.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In this very ordinary-looking icebox we keep -our choicest specimens,” he said to Esther.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Don’t open that!” I exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He laughed disagreeably. “I had no intention of -doing so,” he answered. “You applauded Sir Spofforth’s -mediaeval vitalistic views tonight, Pennell, -and the transition from the dream to the reality -might prove too disturbing for your peace of mind. -Dream on, by permission of those five missing centimeters. -It is such an extinguisher of the soul theory -to see parts of the organism flourishing in perfect -health, all ready to work and grow, devoid of consciousness -and brain attachments. We have two-fifths -of a guinea-pig’s heart, Miss Esther, that is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>yearning to begin its pulsations as soon as it is placed -in a suitable medium.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He passed on. Esther’s fingers gripped my wrist -tightly. “What an abominable man!” she whispered. -“Arnold—my dear—to think I didn’t -know my mind until an hour ago! When he asked -me, something seemed to strip the mask from his -face and the scales from my eyes. I hate him—but -I’m afraid of him, Arnold.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I drew her arm through mine and held her hand. -Lazaroff preceded us down a flight of new concrete -steps which had just dried. The cellar into which -we descended had been used for storing packing-cases, -and we had always gone down by a short ladder. -It was here that the experiment was to be -made. I had been shown nothing of Lazaroff’s -preparations.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The cellar had been paved with concrete since my -last visit, and I thought it looked smaller than formerly. -As we went down we heard the monkeys -begin to chatter. Lazaroff switched on a light. I -saw a cage of guinea-pigs close at hand. They -squealed and scurried among their straw. Two -monkeys, awakened by the light, put their arms -about each other and grimaced at me. A tiny marmoset -stretched out its black, human-like arms between -the bars appealingly. It looked very lonely -and child-like as it blinked at us. What a terrific -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>journey into the future Lazaroff, like some god, -planned for that atom of flesh.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stopped at the end of the cellar. I perceived -now that the brick wall was new; it seemed to be an -inner wall, bounding a partition; that was why the -cellar looked smaller. The half-dried mortar clung -flabbily to the interstices.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Can you find the entrance, Arnold?” asked -Lazaroff.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The entrance?” The light was not strong, to be -sure, but still it seemed impossible that there could -be an ingress into that solid wall.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Lazaroff touched a brick, and a large mass swung -inward, like a door. In fact, it was a door, with -bricks facing it, the outer edge contiguous with the -outer edge of the fixed rows, so that the deception -was perfect.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You didn’t tell me that the chamber was completed, -Lazaroff!” I exclaimed in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, Arnold? Well, but I don’t tell you everything,” -he answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We stepped through the doorway, and Lazaroff -switched on a tiny light within. Now I perceived -that we were standing in a long and very narrow -space, with cement-faced walls and roof, making -the chamber impervious to sound and light. It was -below the level of the ground, and thus, as Lazaroff -had said, earthquakes might happen above, and it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>would never be discovered, not even though the -annex were pulled down, unless one blasted out the -foundations.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The sole contents were three large cylinders of -metal, looking like giant thermos bottles. Each was -about six feet long—too long for a monkey, it -seemed to me—and had a glass plate in front. -Lazaroff drove his heel against the glass of the -nearest cylinder with all his might.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is quite unbreakable, you see,” he said. “It -will turn a rifle bullet. ‘Suffragette glass,’ the maker -calls it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But what are these for?” asked Esther.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“These, Miss Esther, are to convey three monkeys -into the twenty-first century,” answered Lazaroff. -“By instantaneously suspending animation at a temperature -of twenty-five degrees, we hope to maintain -the bodily organism without change until the time -for their awakening comes. The problem is, whether -that mysterious by-product of matter called consciousness -will return.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How dreadful!” exclaimed Esther, shuddering.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But the temperature will rise, Lazaroff,” I interposed, -“and however carefully your cylinders are -made it is impossible to hope to maintain the internal -heat at only twenty-five degrees during a century.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You forget that our monkeys will be sealed in a -vacuum,” he answered. “There is an inner and an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>outer case of vanadium steel mixed with a secret -composition which will resist even thermite. And -even if the temperature does rise—well, if a homely -instance may be allowed—you are aware that -canned beef, as the Americans term it, will remain -fresh in an air-tight tin even in the tropics. That is -dead matter, while our monkeys will be millions of -living cells. The vacuum is created by simply screwing -on this cap.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But not a perfect vacuum,” I interposed. “That -is impossible.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sufficiently near to eliminate the aerobic bacilli -which flourish on oxygen, and the infinitesimal -amount of that remaining in the cylinder is probably -absorbed and transmuted by the surface capillaries -and lungs, leaving simply carbon dioxide, neon, -crypton, et cetera.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I examined the cylinder nearest me with interest. -A small dial was set into its cap. Lazaroff anticipated -my question.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That is the most ingenious part of the mechanism,” -he explained. “It is a hundred-year clock, -made specially for me by Jurgensen, of Copenhagen, -and, to salve your conscience, paid for, like the cylinders, -out of my private purse. It runs true to -within three-tenths of a second. The alarm can be -set to any year, if necessary. A good alarm clock -for lazy people, Miss Esther. This one, you see, I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>have already set to a hundred years ahead. This is -at sixty-five; I shall set that to a hundred presently, -for we don’t want one of our monkeys to awaken -several generations ahead of his friends. This one -is not set. Now, observe, I turn the hands on the -dials. The large figures are years. The smaller -ones are days. Now as soon as the cap is screwed -on, the internal vacuum causes this lever to fall, -catching this cam and starting the mechanism. We -have then a bottled monkey in an indestructible shell, -for really I do not know what could make much -impression on steel of this thickness, which is both -resistant and malleable, and fireproof too. It is impossible, -in short, to release the inmate before the -appointed time, and, even then, immediate death -would ensue.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because resuscitation must be gradual. I base -my hopes upon the chance that the lungs and heart -will automatically resume their functions, being in -their most perfect medium. But if air were admitted -before the bodily machine had become, so to say, -synchronized, the swarm of micro-organisms would -make short work of our subject. Besides, the hasty -respiration produced by this rush of air would produce -immediate death by its transformation into -carbon dioxide. The air must enter under slight -pressure, in minute quantities, during a period of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>about ten days. Very well! As the timepiece gradually -runs down, the cap slowly unscrews, and a tiny -quantity of filtered air leaks in. It is so arranged -that, at the exact end of the period, the cap flies off, -and the subject awakes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Herman,” said Esther, hurriedly, “I don’t like -this. It isn’t right. And I am sure my father does -not know about it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My dear Miss Esther, I assure you that it is a -very ordinary scientific experiment,” Lazaroff answered, -laughing. “Come, Arnold,” he added, “why -not get in yourself and try how it feels? You are -not afraid?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In my clothes?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, I don’t want you to get into that thing,” -Esther protested.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course, if our friend is afraid that I am going -to screw him up for a century—” began Lazaroff.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am not at all afraid,” I returned, a little nettled. -“How do I get in?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll have to help you,” Lazaroff answered. “It -was not made for a big man in clothes. Button your -coat. Now—put your arms down by your sides.” -He rolled a cylinder upon the floor, and I put my feet -inside rather reluctantly and squeezed down to the -bottom. Lazaroff looked at me and burst into loud -laughter.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>“Not much room to turn round, is there?” he said, -raising the cylinder with an effort and standing it -on its base again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come out, Arnold,” pleaded Esther; and I saw -that her face was white with fear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But I was quite helpless, and above me I saw -Lazaroff, smiling at my predicament.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now if I were going to be so unkind as to send -you into the next century,” he said, “to be the only -animist, with a defective skull, in a world of vile -materialism—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Please, Herman, for my sake!” Esther implored.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I should put on the cap,” he said, and fitted it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He must have touched some mechanism that I had -not seen, for instantly the cap began to whir on the -screw. Through the glass face I caught a last -glimpse of Esther’s terrified eyes. The image -blurred and vanished as my breath dimmed the glass -and frosted it. I heard the swift jar of the cap -mechanism end in a jarring click. I gasped for air; -there was none. My head swam, my throat was -closed; the blackness was pricked into flecks of fire. -I groped for memory through unconsciousness—and -ceased.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER III<br /> <span class='large'>IN THE CELLAR</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>I have heard patients, emerging from the chloroform -swoon, describe how, before awakening, -they had seemed to view themselves lying unconscious -upon their beds, detailing the posture of their -motionless bodies and inert limbs. In this way, now, -I seemed to see myself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I am sure that was no dream of the vague borderland -between death and life. I saw the pallid face, -so shrunken that the skin clung to the edged bones, -and the dry hair, the pinched lips and waxen hands. -I saw myself as if from some non-spatial point, -and with singular indifference, except that one -fragment of knowledge, detached from my serene -omniscience, troubled me. I had to return within -that physical envelope; and behind me lay dim -memories, quite untranslatable, but ineffably rapturous, -which made that projected incarnation an -event of dread.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Vague images of earthly things began to float upward -out of the dark, as it were, symbols of physical -life whose meaning remained obscure. I pictured a -spring-board, on which a swimmer stood poised, -waiting to dive into the sea and set the plank behind -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>him quivering, and a large roll of some material, like -a carpet, blocking a cellar door.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Gradually, through an alternation of dreams and -blankness, I began to be aware of the parched and -withered body that cloaked me. The point of consciousness -had shrunk within its earthly envelope. -Soon it diffused itself throughout my members. Now -I could translate my symbols into ideas. That coiled-up -substance that blocked the door was my tongue, -fallen back into the throat. And the spring-board -on which the swimmer stood—that was my heart, -waiting to beat. And unless and until the swimmer—I—made -that plunge into life’s ocean, it could -not. Slowly the need of physical resurrection urged -me onward.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A thousand darts were stabbing in my flesh, like -purgatorial fire. No motor nerve had yet awakened, -but the capillaries, opening, pricked me like red-hot -needles. Faint memories of the past flashed through -my mind, and, though I recalled no intervening -period, I was sensible that those events had happened -infinitely long before.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Suddenly I plunged. I felt as if a sword had -pierced my body. I felt the waters of that living -ocean close over my face, and gasped. I breathed. -Simultaneously, with a loud click, the cap of the cylinder -flew off, air rushed in, a stabbing light broke -through my closed eyelids; I fainted.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>It was, of course, the gradual unscrewing of the -cylinder cap as the mechanism ran down, and the -consequent admission of minute quantities of oxygen, -that had begun to restore me. I must have -passed several days in semi-consciousness before the -cylinder opened. When the last thread of the screw -was traversed, the inrush of air caused the respiration -to begin.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was breathing when I became conscious once -more, and my heart was straining in my breast. I -got my eyes open. There followed hours of light-tortured -delirium, during which I struggled to regain -the motor powers. With infinite endeavor I placed -one hand upon the other and passed it up the wrist -and forearm. The muscles were all gone. The -ulna and radius were perfectly distinguishable, and -I could encircle either with my fingers, after I had -managed to flex them. I noticed that my joints -creaked like rusty hinges.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I tried to bend my elbows, and this next grim -battle lasted an incalculable time. Gradually I became -aware of some obstacle on each side of me. -Then, for the first time since my awakening, I knew -that I was inside the cylinder. But I did not know -that it had fallen upon its side until it slid forward, -and my puny struggles dislodged me and flung me -free into a pool of water. I drew in a deep breath, -feeling my lungs crackle like old parchment, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>plunged my face and shoulders beneath the surface. -My skin sucked up the moisture like a sponge, -and I contrived to get a few drops past my swollen -tongue. I had just sense enough and time to -turn my face upward before I became unconscious -again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I must have slept long, for, on my next awakening, -the light was brighter and still more torturing. Memory -began to stir. I recalled my conversation with -Sir Spofforth, our journey into the annex, Lazaroff’s -invitation to me to enter the cylinder. He must have -shut me in for a moment by way of a practical joke, -and gone away with Esther, persuading himself and -her that I could free myself and would follow. I -tried to call him. But only a croaking gasp came -from my lips. I tried again and again, gradually -regaining the power of vocal utterance. But there -came no answer, and each time that I called, the -echoing, hoarse susurrus brought me nearer to the -realization of some terror at hand which I did not -dare to face.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I looked about me. Beside me lay the cylinder, -almost buried in mud. I was still within the secret -vault, but a part of the brick partition had fallen -inward in such a way as to screen the few visible -inches of the steel case that had housed me, so -that nobody would have suspected its presence in -the mud of the little chamber. I remembered that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>there had been two more; I looked about me, but -there was no sign of them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Now I began to realize that there had been a considerable -change in my surroundings since I became -unconscious. The light which had distressed me -came through a hole in the roof of the adjoining -cellar, filtering thence through the aperture in the -broken wall, and was of the dimmest. In place of -the concrete floor there was a swamp of mud, with -pools of water here and there, and the dirt was -heaped up in the corners and against the walls. -Moss and splotched fungi grew among the tumbled -bricks, and everywhere were spore stains and microscopic -plant growth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was bewildered by these signs of dilapidation -everywhere. The guinea-pigs and monkeys were -gone; the cellar was empty, save for some low, rough -planks of wood fitted on trestles and set about the -floor. On the wall at the far end hung something -that gradually took form as I strained my aching -eyes to a focus.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a crucifix. The cellar had become a subterranean -chapel. The cross was hewn coarsely of -pine, and the figure that hung upon it grotesquely -carven; yet there was the pathos of wistful, ignorant -effort in the workmanship that bespoke the sincerity -of the artist.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_034.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>I made my difficult way toward the stairs</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>I made my difficult way upon hands and knees -through the gap in the wall, across the mud floor -of the cellar, toward the stairs, resting several -times from weariness before I reached my destination. -But when I arrived at the far end, where the -stairs should have been, I received a shock that -totally unnerved me. The stairs were gone. In -place of them was a debris of rubble and broken -stones, as firmly set as if workmen had built it into -the wall. The mass must have been there for years, -because, out of the thin soil that had drifted in, a -little oak tree sprang, twisting its spindling stem -to rear its crown toward the patch of daylight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At last I understood. I had come to realize the -fact that my sleep had been a prolonged one; it -might have lasted weeks—even months, I had -thought, as with cataleptics; but an entire century! -that idea had been too incredibly grotesque for consideration. -That Sir Spofforth, with whom, it -seemed, I had dined almost yesterday, had gone, -ages ago, to his long home; Lazaroff; Esther, whom -I loved; that generations had come into birth and -died ... it seemed too cruel a jest. I wept. I -raved and called for Esther. Surely a hundred years -had never passed, turning her brown hair to gray, -lining her gentle face, bringing at last the gift of -death to her, while I lay underground, encased in -steel and air!</p> - -<p class='c011'>I cried aloud in terror. I hammered helplessly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>upon the walls. Again I called Esther, Lazaroff, -George. There was no answer of any kind.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Presently a ray of light quivered through the hole, -falling upon the heap of debris that blocked the stairway. -The yellow beam moved onward, and now it -bathed the thin branches of the little twisted tree -that, by the aid of those few minutes of sunlight -daily, had ventured into life. It had grown cunningly -sidewise, so as to expose the maximum of -wood to the light. I watched the ray till it went out; -I wanted to show the plant to Lazaroff, to ask him -whether the mechanics of heliotropism could suffice -to answer the problem of the tree’s brainless consciousness; -and my chagrin that this whim could not -be fulfilled assumed an absurd significance. It was, -in fact, the realization of this loss of responsiveness -to the reality of the situation that constantly urged -me to find some way of escape when I might have -relapsed otherwise into an acquiescence which would -have brought insanity and death.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The stairs being gone, I turned my consideration -to the cellar roof. To reach this it would be necessary -to drag one of the planks beneath the hole and -scramble up, clinging to the sides with my fingers -and bracing my feet against the wall. This feat was -not a difficult one for a normal man, but for me -clearly impossible. I must wait until I became -stronger.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>It is a strange thing, but I had not associated the -need of waiting with the idea of food until I found -the box of biscuit. I stumbled upon the box by the -accident of scratching my wrist against the edge as -I crawled along the wall. I saw the corner projecting -from a mound of earth, and, scraping some of -the dirt away, I lifted the pine-wood lid.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Inside the box I found a quantity of biscuit which -seemed to have been baked recently. It was crisp, -and too hard for me to break. I dipped a piece in -the stagnant water, and, as I swallowed the first morsels, -became aware of my ravenous hunger.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I can hardly estimate the duration of the imprisonment -that followed. It was of days and nights -which succeeded each the other in monotonous succession, -during which, like a hibernating beast, I -crouched and groped within the cellar, dozing and -shivering, and gnawing incessantly at my food. Only -those few minutes of sunshine daily saved my reason, -I am convinced now. My evening clothes, which -at first had appeared to have suffered no injury during -my century of sleep, had begun to disintegrate, -and hung upon me in tattered fragments. It was a -period of despair, with very little alternating hope. -Sometimes I prayed wildly beneath the crucifix, -sometimes, in an access of madness, I cried for -Esther and Lazaroff again. And for whole hours I -convinced myself that this was a dream.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>But my strength returned with amazing swiftness. -As in the case of a typhoid convalescent, every -particle of food seemed to build up my body. I -must have put on pounds each day. The barrel -framework of my ribs filled out, the muscles showed -their old outlines beneath the skin, the fluid rushed -into the joints and restored their suppleness. And -daily I practiced exercises. I managed to drag one -of the benches beneath the hole at last, and, standing -on this, tried often to draw myself up; but on each -occasion my struggles only brought down a shower -of earth and stones, and I resigned myself to a period -of further waiting, watching for dawn like a troglodyte, -and for the sun like a fire-worshiper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>In the end my escape developed in a manner the -least imaginable. It began with my discovery of a -second box in another of the mounds. I opened it -hastily, in the greedy anticipation of finding something -more palatable than biscuit.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Instead of this I found a number of strange batons -of wood. They resembled policemen’s truncheons, -but each had a tiny rounded plate of glass near the -head, and there evidently was some sort of mechanism -near the handle, for there was a push-button, -fitted with a heavy guard of brass, so strong that I -could not raise it with my fingers. It was indeed -providential that I was unable to do so.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I carried the strange implement beneath the hole -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>in the roof and laid it on the bench, intending to -examine it more carefully as soon as the sun appeared. -Meanwhile, this being the time for my daily -exercise, I mounted the bench and tried to pull myself -up. I failed; yet I detected a considerable improvement -in my muscular power, and, becoming exhausted, -I prepared to descend. Inadvertently, but -without anticipating any serious result, I placed my -foot against the truncheon in such a way as to elevate -the guard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I heard it click as it rose into position, and, in -setting down my foot again, depressed the push-button.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The truncheon tipped to the ground, pointing -upward. I saw a ray of blinding light, of intense -whiteness tipped with mauve, shoot from the head, -and, with a crash, a shower of stones fell on me, -bearing me to the ground and enveloping me in a -cloud of dust.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I must have lain half stunned for some minutes. -I was aroused by feeling the sunlight on my eyelids. -I started to my feet. The hole in the roof was -nearly twice the former size, and a heap of fallen -stones and pieces of brick afforded me a perfect -stepway. I was scratched by the falling debris, but -happily the explosion, as I deemed it, seemed to -have been in an upward direction.</p> - -<p class='c011'>In a moment I was scrambling up the stones. I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>slipped and clutched and struggled; I got my head -and shoulders in the air and pulled my body after -me; I trod upon leaves; I looked about me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was standing in the midst of what appeared to -be an ancient forest of oak and beech trees, whose -bare boughs, covered with snow, shook under a gray -sky above a carpet of withered, snow-spread leaves, -and under these were endless heaps of disintegrating -bricks. In vain I looked about me for the Institute. -There was no sign of it, nor of Sir Spofforth’s -house. Nowhere was anything to be seen but the -same forest growth, the dead leaves scurrying before -the chill wind, and the vast brick piles. I had -emerged from the cellar into a trackless wilderness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And now at last my final doubt, which had bred -hope, was gone. I ran through the forest, on and on, -shouting like a madman and beating my breast, stumbling -over the brick heaps that lay everywhere, plunging -through thorny undergrowth, heedless of any -course. I must have been running for ten minutes -when my strength failed me, and I collapsed beside -an ancient road, overgrown with shrubs and saplings, -yet discernible in its course between the tall -trees that bordered it. Before me, far away through -the vista line, I saw a white bank against the gray -horizon.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I flung myself upon my face and prayed, with all -my will, to die.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <span class='large'>THE ROAD TO LONDON</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>A shadow swept over me, and, looking up, I -saw an airplane gliding noiselessly above; it -stopped, hung poised and motionless, and then -dropped slowly and almost vertically into the road, -coming to ground within a dozen yards of where -I lay.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There stepped out a man in a uniform of pale -blue, having insewn upon the breast a piece of white -linen, cut to the shape of a swan. He came toward -me with hesitancy, and stood over me, staring at me -and at my clothes with an expression indicative of -the greatest bewilderment.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where’s your brass, friend?” he inquired after -a few moments, speaking in a high-pitched, monotonous, -and rather nasal tone. He rubbed his smooth-shaven -face in thought. “Where’s your brass?” he -repeated.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I perceived that he wore about his neck a twisted -cord whose ends were tied through the loop of a -brass plate, stamped with letters and figures.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“For God’s sake tell me what year this is!” I cried.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At the profane expletive, which had been drawn -from me by my anguish, he recoiled in dismay; he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>seemed less shocked than frightened; he glanced -about him quickly, and then cast a very searching -look at me. But next he began to smile in a half-humorous, -kindly way.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You’re one of the escaped defectives, aren’t -you?” he inquired. “You have nothing to fear from -me, friend. We airplane scouts have no love for the -Guard. You can go on your way. But where are -you lying up? Are your friends near?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Will you tell me what year this is?” I demanded -frantically.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yap, certainly,” he answered. “This is Thirty-seven, -Cold Solstice less five.” He shook his head -and began staring at me again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I laughed hysterically. “I don’t know what that -jargon means,” I answered, “but I went to sleep in -the vault of the Biological Institute in the year 1915.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Perplexity had succeeded alarm. The airscout -shook his head again. He was one of those deliberate, -slow-moving men whose resolutions, tardily -made, harden to inflexibility; I recognized the type -and found the individual pleasing. He was a good-looking -young fellow of about eight and twenty, -with straight, dark hair and a very frank countenance. -He looked like a sailor, and the rolling, open -collar, which fell back, sailor fashion, revealed a -muscular throat, tanned, like his face, to the color -of the bricks around us.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>“I don’t know what to make of you,” he said -thoughtfully. “I don’t want to trap you, but you -were better off in the art factories. I don’t know -what to do with you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I sprang to my feet, and for an instant I ceased -to realize my predicament. “Will you take me to my -friends in London?” I asked. In my mind was the -memory of a university acquaintance who lived in -St. John’s Wood. But then the swift remembrance -came back to me, and I hung my head and groaned.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Back to London!” exclaimed the airscout. “But -you’ll be put to the leather vats. Doctor Sanson is -furious, and the police are searching for you everywhere. -You’re crazed! What’s the sense of running -away from painting pictures and going back -to sweat ten years over the hides?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Take me to London!” I implored. “I have nowhere -to go. Perhaps—I don’t know—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was hoping wildly that somebody whom I had -known might still survive. But by this time I was -beginning to pull myself together. I resolved to -wait for his decision.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now, friend,” he said, as if he had made up his -mind, “your top got stuffed making those factory pictures, -as was very natural. Now, I think you had -better go back to London, and I’ll take you there, -since your friends have shaken you. But of course -it must be the police station. I can’t risk my own -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>liberty. Once more, are you sure you want to go? -If not, I haven’t seen you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll go,” I answered indifferently.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yap? Step in, then!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I took my seat beside him. It will seem incredible, -but I had never ridden in an airplane before. In -my other days only a few had seen these craft. It -was hardly more than six years since the Wrights -had flown when my long sleep began. In spite of -my oppression of mind, or perhaps because the days -of horror that I had spent in the cellar produced the -unavoidable reaction, I began to feel the exhilaration -of the flight as we ascended to a height of perhaps a -thousand feet and drove northward. The sensation -was that of sitting still and seeing the trees flit by -beneath me, and would have been pleasing but for -the intense cold, which pierced through my rags and -numbed me. I perceived that the airplane was under -perfect control, and could be stayed without falling. -After a while I realized that there was no motor.</p> - -<p class='c011'>My companion saw me looking at the machine. -“Improved solar type,” he said, patting her caressingly. -“Better than a bird, isn’t she?” He turned -toward me. “You’ve been sleeping in the wood -these three days?” he asked. “And find the factories -best? I don’t score you for that. Where’s the rest -of you? Five, weren’t there? Why didn’t you keep -together? Where’s that bishop of yours?”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>But, seeing that he could elicit no comprehensible -answer to his repeated questions—in truth, I did -not know how to reply—he relapsed into an equal -silence. And now the white bank that I had seen -on the horizon began to assume crenellations, which -in turn became buildings of immense height and symmetrical -aspect. And I forgot my situation in admiration -and amazement at the panorama that began -to unfold beneath us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The county of Surrey appeared to be an extensive -forest, ending about a waste of dismantled brick, -the suburbs of old London, which extended on each -side as far as I could see. Then the modern town -began: an outer ring of what I took to be enormous -factories and storage warehouses; an inner ring, no -doubt, of residences; and then the nucleus, the most -splendid city that the imagination could have -devised.</p> - -<p class='c011'>London seemed to be smaller than the metropolis -of a century ago. I could see from the height of -Hampstead, in the north, to the region of Dulwich, -and from Woolwich to Acton, all clearly defined, -like a great map unrolled beneath me, though I could -recognize none of the old landmarks, save the unchanging -Thames. The interior city was laid out -in squares, huge buildings, sometimes enclosing -interior courts, occupying the blocks formed by the -parallel and intersecting streets. As we drove inward -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>from the outskirts, the buildings became -higher, but always uniformly so, the city thus presenting -the aspect of a succession of gigantic steps, -until the summit, the square mile comprising the -heart, was reached.</p> - -<p class='c011'>This consisted of an array of enormous edifices, -with fronts perfectly plain, and evidently constructed -of brick-faced steel-work, but all glistening a dazzling -white, which, even at that height, made my eyes -water, and rising uniformly some forty-five or fifty -stories. The flat roofs were occupied by gardens -or what I took to be gymnasia, sheltered beneath -tarpaulins. I saw innumerable airplanes at rest, -suspended high above the streets, while others flitted -here and there above the roofs, and a whole fleet lay, -as if moored, some distance away, apparently over -the center of the city, above a singular building, -which awakened associations in my mind, though I -was unable to name it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It had a round dome, being, in fact, the only -domed building that I could see. This covered only -the central portion of the enormous architectural -mass, and appeared to float in the air above an aerial -garden, laid out with walks that radiated from a flat -building, which filled the space between the floating -dome and the roof beneath it. I surmised that this -must be the new House of Parliament. The entire -mass was surrounded by a double wall, with a roofed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>space of perhaps ninety feet from rear to front, -castellated. Mounted on this were what appeared -to be a number of large, conical-shaped implements, -of great size. Long, graceful bridges on arches -connected this wall with the domed building; -and wall and building glistened from top to base -so brilliantly that the glow seared my eyes like -sunlight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As we were now flying at a low altitude, I turned -my attention to the streets, which appeared like -canyons far beneath. Along these swarmed a multitude -of travelers, dressed in two colors only, white -and blue, the latter vastly predominating. I could -see no vehicles, and I imagined, what proved to be -correct, that the streets themselves were moving. -Most of those journeying seemed content to lean -back against the railings, the lowest bars of which -projected, forming a continuous seat, and rest. -Nearly all the streets were traveling in the same -direction, those that reversed this movement being -small and comparatively empty. From the presence -of what seemed to be iron stanchions, set along the -edges of these moving ways, I surmised that they -were roofed with crystal.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Along the front of the buildings ran single tracks, -connecting at regular intervals with the streets beneath -by means of elevators, which shot up and down -continuously, bearing their freight. These tracks -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>were placed above each other at ten-story intervals, -so that there were three or four rows of these aerial -streets, ranging from the ground to the upper portions -of the buildings, all filled with travelers. The -buildings, each comprising an entire block, the elevated -streets, with their graceful bridges flung forth -across the chasms, the absence of any of the old poverty -and dirt, and that huge gathering of human -beings, going about their business in so systematic -a fashion, fascinated me, and even aroused my -enthusiasm.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Signs evidently indicated to persons approaching -in airships the purpose of each building and landing-stage, -but these were in characters entirely unintelligible -to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>My companion stayed the vessel in the air and -tapped me on the arm. I started, to see him regarding -me with the same expression of humorous -perplexity.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I must put you off here, friend,” he said. “I -think I have done the best I could for you. You -would have died in the forest, while here—well, -there’s a chance for you. And it’s better to go to -the leather vats for a few years than to die and go -nowhere. I’ll know you if we meet again. What’s -your name?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold Pennell,” I answered, clasping the hand -that he held out to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>He almost jumped. “Don’t tell that to the Council, -unless you want the Rest Cure,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Don’t tell them my name?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not both names, friend. You know what I -mean. If you don’t know—” He shrugged his -shoulders. “Mine’s Jones,” he said. “My father’s -was Williams. My grandfather’s was Jones again. -They say it’s one of our oldest names—common -in the days before civilization. Now down we -go.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The airplane swooped down and came to rest upon -the roof immediately beneath us. On this I saw a -number of men, apparently practicing gymnastic -exercises; and hardly were we at a standstill when -two of them came running up to us. They were clad -in blue uniforms resembling that of the airscout, but -instead of a swan each wore a shield-shaped piece of -linen upon his back and breast.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s this?” they demanded in a breath, pointing -at me and bursting into bellowing laughter.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“One of your defectives,” answered Jones. “I -found him in the forest while patrolling.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>They rushed at me and dragged me from the airplane, -swiftly patting me about the body, as if in -search of weapons. Satisfied that I was unarmed, -they turned to the airscout.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You’ll share the reward!” they cried, again -simultaneously.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>“Keep it!” replied the airscout tartly, and rose -into the air, waving me a cordial good-bye.</p> - -<p class='c011'>They rushed me across the roof through a crowd -of other men, similarly clad, down an elevator, and -into the street. They dragged me upon one of the -moving platforms and conveyed me a short distance, -descending at the entrance to one of the innumerable -shining buildings, over which was inscribed something -in the same undecipherable letters.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But, quickly as we had gone, the report of my -arrest seemed to have preceded us, for our way was -blocked by a vast and constantly increasing crowd, -that came running up with lively and shameless -curiosity, and, attracted by my rags, I suppose, -pressed closely about us and uttered hoots of laughter. -I heard the word “defective” bandied from -mouth to mouth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I looked at these people attentively. There were -both men and women present, all wearing clothing -of the same pale blue color, which seemed to be prescribed, -although the cut of each garment was to -some extent individual. In effect, the men wore sack -suits of a coarsely woven woolen material, with short, -loose trousers fastened with laces about the ankles, -and square-cut coats having wide lapels extending to -a broad, turned-back collar that fell over the shoulders -like a sailor’s, revealing a neckpiece of blue -linen. The women’s short skirts reached to the tops -of their high boots, and the fashion seemed to run -to large buttons and loose sleeves. They wore no -hats. Upon the breast, near the shoulder, each person -wore a small linen badge, indicative of his -occupation.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_050.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>I glanced from one to another, and met hard, mirthless eyes, and mouths twisted in sneering mockery</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>What disconcerted me was the shrewd, mocking -smile upon each face. I glanced from one to another, -seeking to find something of the same friendly interest -that animated me, and met hard, mirthless eyes, -and mouths twisted in sneering mockery.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Another thing that startled and almost terrified -me was the absence of a certain conventionality of -restraint that had ruled everybody in that other -world of mine. For instance, among those gibing -at me was a gray-bearded man who danced before -me like a small urchin. Another made an expressive -pantomime of death. A girl stuck out her tongue at -me. I remembered the plaint, that never since the -glorious age of Greece had the code of public morality -coincided with that privately held. This we all -knew; the statesman in parliament was not on bowing -terms with the same statesman in the smoking-room. -Some said it was Christianity, others respectability -that bound us in this organic hypocrisy; but -now the two codes seemed to have coalesced. A -grandfather grimaced at me; a gray-haired woman -put out her foot to trip me; if there had been stones -I think they would have flung them at me. But -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>suddenly a youngish lad in white appeared, and the -crowd, hastening to make a path for him, shrank -back with servile demeanor. Taking advantage of -this, my captors, linking their arms in mine, made a -rush forward, scattering the mob right and left, and -bore me through a swinging door into a small rotunda, -in which a number of other policemen were -seated with their blue-clad prisoners.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER V<br /> <span class='large'>LONDON’S WELCOME</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Inside the rotunda a burly man in blue, with the -white shield on his breast, was standing on guard -in front of a second swinging door, above which -was painted something in the same strange characters. -A few words to him from my captors apparently -secured us precedence, for he stared at me curiously, -opened the door, and bawled to some person -inside. I was pushed into a large courtroom. It -contained no seats, however, for spectators or witnesses. -The only occupants were the magistrate -and his clerk, and a group of policemen who lounged -at one end of the room, joking among themselves. -The clerk, a little, obsequious man in blue, was seated -at a desk immediately opposite that of his chief, a -pompous, surly fellow in white, wearing about his -shoulders a lusterless black cape, which seemed to -be a truncation of the old legal gown. Placing me -on a platform near the clerk’s desk, the two policemen -who were in charge of me stepped forward and -began an explanation in low tones which was not -meant to meet my ears, and did not.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The magistrate started nervously, and, putting his -hand beneath his desk, pulled up a truncheon similar -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>to those that I had seen in the cellar. He handled -this nervously during our interview.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, what have you to say, you filthy defective?” -he shouted at me, when the police had ended.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I heard a suppressed chuckle behind me, and then -became aware that all the police had gathered about -me, convulsed with amusement at my rags.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Stand back, you swine!” bellowed the magistrate. -“Give me the Escaped Defectives Book,” he added, -to his clerk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The clerk handed up to him a small publication -which I could see contained numerous miniature -photographs in color. He began studying it, looking -up at me from time to time. Occasionally, at -his nod, one of the policemen would seize my face -and push it into profile. At last the magistrate thrust -the book away petulantly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This isn’t one of them,” he announced to the -policemen. “Who are you?” he continued, glaring -at me. “You’re not on the defectives’ list. Where -do you come from? Tell the truth or I’ll commit -you to the leathers. Why are you in masquerade? -Where’s your brass? Your print? Your number? -Your district?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The clerk wagged his middle finger at me and, -drawing a printed form from a pile, pushed it toward -me. I took it, but I could make nothing of it, for -it was in the same unknown characters.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>“I can only read the old-fashioned alphabet,” I -said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The room echoed with the universal laughter. -The magistrate almost jumped out of his chair.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What!” he yelled. “You’re lying! You know -you are. You have an accent. You’re from another -province. What’s your game?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The clerk, ignoring his superior’s outburst, pulled -back the form, and, taking in his hand a sort of -fountain pen, began to fill it in with a black fluid that -dried the instant it touched the paper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Number, district, province, city, print, and -brass?” he inquired. He paused and looked up at -me. “Brach or dolicoph? Whorl, loop, or median? -Facial, cephalic, and color indexes? Your Sanson -test? Your Binet rating?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But, since I made no attempt to answer these utterly -baffling questions, the clerk ceased to ply me -with them and looked up at the magistrate for instructions. -The magistrate, who had been leaning -forward, watching me attentively, now smiled as if -he had suddenly grasped the situation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll tell you what you are,” he said, shaking his -finger at me. “You’re a Spanish spy, masquerading -as a defective in order to get into the workshops and -corrupt the defectives there.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now I should call him a Slav,” said the clerk -complacently. “He’s a brach, you see, Boss. And -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>that makes his offense a capital one,” he added complacently.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Put him up for the Council, then,” growled the -magistrate. “Standardize him,” he added to the -policemen, “and commit him to the Strangers’ House -pending the Council’s ascription.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>My captors hurried me away. In the street a large -crowd, which had assembled to see me emerge, -greeted me with noisy hooting. And, looking again -into these hard faces, I began to realize that some -portentous change had come over mankind since my -long sleep, whose nature I did not understand; but, -whatever it was, it had not made men better.</p> - -<p class='c011'>However, the moving platform quickly carried us -away, and the mob dwindled, so that when we -reached our destination only a nucleus remained. -This, however, followed me persistently, gathering -to itself other idlers, who ran beside me, peering up -into my face, and fingering my tattered clothes, and -pulling at the tails of my coat in half-infantile and -half-simian curiosity.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The building which we entered contained a single -large room on the ground floor, with desks ranged -around the walls. Behind each desk a clerk in blue -was seated, either contemplating the scene before -him or listening disdainfully to applications. I was -taken to a desk near the door. One of the policemen -now left me, and the other, who had contrived, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>without my knowledge, to possess himself of the -gold watch that had been in my pocket for the last -century, placed it upon the desk before the clerk, -who came back slowly and resentfully from a fit of -abstraction.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Committed stranger?” he inquired.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yap,” said the policeman. “He had this.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The clerk stared at the watch, raised it, and let it -fall on its face. The glass splintered, and he jumped -in his seat as if a pistol had been discharged.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is it?” he screamed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It looks like an antique chronometer,” said the -policeman, examining it curiously. “See the twelve -hours on the dial.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, they aren’t listed,” the clerk grumbled.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You lie, you thief,” retorted the policeman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>With some reluctance, but without resentment, -the clerk opened a large book in a paper cover, -closely printed in fine hieroglyphics interspersed with -figures. He turned from place to place until he -found what he was trying not to find.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Museum chronometers, first century <span class='fss'>B.C.</span> Listed -at two hektones,” he mumbled, and began unlocking -a drawer.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“B. C.!” I exclaimed. “What do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He paused in the act of pulling the drawer out -and glared at me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I said ‘museum chronometer of the first century -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>before civilization,’ you fool!” he snarled. “That’s -what it is, and that’s what it’s listed at. Here!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Extracting some metal counters from the drawer, -which he closed with a bang, he thrust them toward -me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What am I to do with these?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The policeman winked at him, and I caught the -word “Spain.” The clerk’s amazement changed to -malignant mirth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The value of your chronometer,” he screamed in -my ear, as if I were deaf.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I don’t intend to sell it,” I retorted.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A shriek of laughter at my side apprised me that -the crowd had gathered about me. The space about -the desk was packed with the same sneering, mirthless -faces, and fifty hands were raised in mimicry or -gesticulation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What a barbarian!” murmured a young woman -with a typewriter badge on her shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The clerk looked at her and winked maliciously. -Then he addressed me again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If you don’t understand now, you will before the -Council ends ascribing you,” he said. “However, -I’ll explain. Your museum chronometer, not being -an object of necessity, is the property of this Province. -This is a civilized country, and you can’t have -hoard-property here, whatever you can do in Spain. -Strangers’ effects are bought by the Province at their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>listed value, and your chronometer is listed at two -hundred labor units, or ones—in other words, if -you have ever heard of the metric system, two -hektones.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, give him the Rest Cure!” said the girl with -the typewriter badge, swinging about and stalking -away contemptuously.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I picked up the metal counters and began examining -them. They were crudely made, and without -milled edges. Two of them appeared to be of aluminum; -on one side was an ant in relief, and under it -the inscription,</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>LABOR COMMON</div> - <div>37</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>on the other side, in bold letters, were the words,</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>HALF HEKTONE</div> - <div>FIFTY ONES</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>There were two smaller pieces, of a yellowish-gray, -each stamped,</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>TWENTY-FIVE ONES</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>It did not take me more than a moment’s calculation -to see that if the hektone was a hundred units -of currency, or labor hours, I had only a hektone and -a half instead of two. I told the clerk of the -deficiency.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>“Don’t lie! Sign that!” he shouted, pushing an -inkpad and printed form toward me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I shall not sign, and I shall bring this theft to -the attention of—Doctor Sanson,” I said, suddenly -recollecting the name.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a chance shot, but its effect was extraordinary. -The mob, which had begun to jostle me, suddenly -scurried away in the greatest confusion. The -clerk turned white; he picked up the money with -trembling fingers.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, that is so!” he exclaimed. “It was a mistake, -Boss. I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I—I -thought you were a blue,” he muttered, looking up -at me beseechingly. And he returned me a whole -half-hektone too much.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I tossed this back to him and returned no answer. -I was looking about for a pen with which to sign the -receipt when the policeman took hold of my thumb -in a comically obsequious manner and pressed the -inkpad against it. So I made my mark upon the -paper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>In the corridor outside he turned toward me -humbly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you a trapper, Boss?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A what?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A switch. A wipe. I mean a council watcher.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A spy, you mean?” I asked. “Certainly not.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He shook his head in perplexity, and seemed uncertain -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>whether to believe me or not. “He thought -you were,” he said. “That was an old list he used. -You should have had more. Of course I couldn’t -get in bad with him by telling you, but you’d have -had nothing if I hadn’t stood up for you. Isn’t that -worth something, Boss?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I offered him one of the smaller pieces, rather in -fear of giving offense, but he pocketed it at once, -and then, with a new aggressiveness toward the -gathering crowd, took me upstairs to the Strangers’ -Bureau. Here I was stripped and examined by two -physicians, and photographed in three positions; my -finger prints were taken, and the three indexes. -Then a dapper little clerk in blue passed a tape measure -in several ways about my head and beckoned to -me mysteriously to come to his desk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s too bad,” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is too bad?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The difference is five centimeters, and—well, -I’m afraid you’re a brach. I’d like to help you out, -but—well, if I can—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The meaning of the word suddenly revealed itself -to me. “You mean my head is brachycephalic?” I -asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There is, unfortunately, no doubt,” he answered, -and, coming closer under the pretense of measuring -me again, began to whisper. “You know, the measure -is flexible,” he said, glancing furtively about him. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>“The revising clerk passes all my measurements -without referring back to the doctors. There’s an -understanding between us. Now I could get you -into the dolicoph class—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The longheads?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” he murmured, looking at me with an expression -of mutual understanding.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But what advantage would that be to me?” I -inquired.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They say,” he whispered, “that the Council is -going to penalize the brachs several points. It is -Doctor Sanson’s new theory, you know, that the -brachs are more defective than the dolicophs. Now -I’d risk making you a dolicoph for—would it be -worth a hektone to you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I flushed with indignation. “Do you suppose I -am going to bribe you—?” I began loudly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The clerk leaped back. “This subject is a brach!” -he yelled, and gave the figures to a clerk at the next -desk, who made a note on a form and looked at me -with intense disgust.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So I was set down as broad-headed. Then I was -made to sit before a Binet board, containing wooden -blocks of various shapes, which had to be set in corresponding -holes within a period timed on a stop-watch. -Word associations followed, a childish game -at which I had played during the course of my medical -training; we had regarded this as one of those -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>transitory fads born in Germany and conveyed to us -through the American medium, which came and -went and left no by-products except a little wasted -enthusiasm on the part of our younger men. I -accomplished both tasks easily, and I thought the -physicians seemed disappointed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Finally I received a suit of bluish-gray color, the -strangers’ uniform, I was informed, and a pair of -high, soft shoes. A metal badge, stamped with -letters and figures, was hung about my neck by a -cord, and I was turned over to the charge of a blue-clad, -grizzled man of shortish stature, with a kindly -look in the eyes that strongly affected me. For I -realized by now that all these persons about me, all -whom I had seen, with whom I had conversed, had -lacked something more than good-will; they gave -me the impression of being animated machines, reservoirs -of intense energy, and yet not ... what? -I could not determine them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was a patient humility about his bearing, -and yet, I fancied, a sort of stubborn power, a consciousness -of some secret strength that radiated -from him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He came up to me after conversing with the doctors, -blue-clad men with white capes about their -shoulders, all of whom had eyed me curiously during -their speech with him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am the District Strangers’ Guard,” he said -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>to me. “You are a foreigner, I understand, and -waiting to be ascribed by the Council. It is not -necessary to make any explanation to me. I am the -guard, and nothing more, and it is my task to provide -you with food and lodging in the Strangers’ -House until you are sent for, S6 1845.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I beg your pardon?” I asked, before I realized -that he was addressing me by the number on the -brass badge that hung from my neck.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My pardon?” he answered, looking at me with -a puzzled expression. “That is an antique word, -is it not?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I mean, I did not know the significance of these -numbers,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Your brass,” he said, still more bewildered. -“That is, of course, your temporary number until -the Council assigns you to your proper place in the -community. It means, as you must be aware, -Stranger of the Sixth District. My unofficial name -is David. What is yours, friend?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He almost jumped when I told him, and glanced -nervously about him. We had just passed through -the doorway, and he drew me to one side, looking -at me in a most peculiar manner.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You must know only one name is legal in this -Province,” he whispered. “Surely you will not hazard -everything by such bravado. I mean—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He checked himself and searched my eyes, as if -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>he could not understand whether my ignorance was -assumed or real.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” he said suddenly, as if he had reached -a swift and hazardous decision, “you are to be my -private guest. If you are assuming ignorance for -safety, you shall learn that there is nothing to fear -from me. And when you trust me, you shall give -me the news of Paul and all our friends. If you -are actually a Spaniard—no, tell me nothing—it is -essential that you should learn what all our inmates -know, before you go to the Council. Doctor Sanson -is not tolerant of strangers unless they learn to conform.... -I shall help you in every way that is -possible. The Bureau Head has asked me to watch -you carefully. It is a special order from headquarters. -There is some rumor about you ... but it -will be all right in my own apartment.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I felt too heartbroken more than to thank him -briefly. The sense of my isolation in this new world -swept over me with poignant power. David must -have guessed something of my feeling, for he said -nothing more. We halted for a moment at the entrance -to the building, and he pulled a watch from -his pocket. I saw that the dial, which was not faced -with glass, and had the hands inset, was divided into -ten main sections, each comprising ten smaller ones.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ten hours and seventy-four,” he said. “We dine -at one-fifty. Seventy-six minutes to get home.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <span class='large'>THE STRANGERS’ HOUSE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>During my brief journeys through the streets -earlier in the day I had been too conscious of -my surprise and perplexity to examine my surroundings -with any concentration of mind. Now, standing -on the middle platform of what seemed to be one -of the principal streets and traveled at a speed of -about eight miles an hour, I looked about me with -increasing astonishment. I do not know which attracted -my attention more, the crowds or the buildings. -I asked David for information as we proceeded, -stating that I was unable to read the signs, -as I was acquainted only with the old alphabet. Seeing -his incredulity, I added:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“When you are willing, I shall be glad to tell you -my history, though I shall hardly hope to be believed. -For the present, let me say that I know nothing at -all of your modern civilization.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But surely in Russia—” David began, and -checked himself. Thereafter he seemed to admit -the possibility that I was not dissembling, and to -consider me as a bona fide traveler from some interior -Russian province.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Our writing is syllabic,” he said. “We have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>gone the round of the circle and now make the syllable -the unit instead of the letter, as the Assyrians -did, and the Chinese.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And what is the purpose of this blue paint on the -buildings?” I asked, shielding my eyes from the dazzling, -blue-white luster.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Blue?” repeated David in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There—and there.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, that is glow, of course,” he answered. -“Surely you are not color-blind, Arnold? Or can -it be that in—where you came from they have only -the old seven colors in the spectrum?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“From red to violet.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He shook his head and looked at me whimsically. -“We have had nine for at least twenty years,” he -said. “Mull, below red, and glow, above violet; -what our ancestors called ultra-violet and believed -to be invisible, though it was staring them in the face -everywhere all the time. There used to be a theory -that the color sense has developed with civilization. -Don’t make any reference to that color-blindness of -yours, Arnold,” he continued, after a brief pause.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It occurred to me that he had not explained the -choice of this color, though he had named it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here is the Bureau of Statistics,” he went on, -as we traveled past another of the interminable buildings. -“This is the Bureau of Prints and Indexes; -there are more than a thousand million records -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>within. This is the Bureau of Economics; this -of Pedigrees and Relationships; this of Defective -Germ-Plasm; and this is our Sixth District School.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The streets were scrupulously clean; they occupied -only the central part of the space between the fronts -of the buildings, that which would have been called -the pavement formerly, being used as resting and -lounging places.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here is our district store,” he added. “Would -you like to look inside?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I assented, and we stepped off the moving portion -of the street into an open space surrounded by telephone -funnels, at which small groups of men and -women were listening. As he halted, a loud voice -began calling:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Latest news! Rain is expected. Don’t forget -Freedom Day! Muster for your amusement in Picnic -Park, or the Council will make it hot for you! -The escaped defectives all caught and sent to the -leathers. A foreign spy captured this morning after -a desperate resistance and now under guard. The -miserable defective has confessed, involving numerous -others. He is a low-class brach and a filthy -degenerate. Boss Lembken is on the job. Praise -him!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hurrah!” shouted the mob.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come,” said David, plucking me by the sleeve.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was only then I realized that the reference was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>to me. I must have uttered an indignant exclamation, -for he drew me away hurriedly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hush! You must keep your tongue guarded in -public,” he whispered. “One can hear at both ends -of the telephone.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But it is a lie!” I said indignantly. “Who can -spread such news as that, and why?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I noticed that one or two people were watching -me curiously. Then, glancing up, I was amazed to -see my face outlined upon a screen beneath a -hood that formed a dark circle around it. It was -an execrable caricature, designed to arouse hate -and contempt; and yet the likeness was plainly -discernible.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Somehow David got me away. “It will be all -right,” he kept repeating. “It doesn’t mean anything. -See, here is our store.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Bewildered, I allowed him to lead me toward the -entrance of a large building, before which a woman -sat within a cage of crystal.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Change pieces!” she cried at intervals, in a high-pitched -voice. “Change pieces or show brasses!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We change our money here,” David explained. -“Purchases of more than half a hektone are made on -the credit system. Our brasses are identification -checks. The district clearing-house keeps the complete -record of each citizen’s financial status.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I had expected to see all the products of the world -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>spread out within. I found, instead, only a single -sample of each kind of merchandise, the goods themselves -being stored in warehouses. Seeing an excellent -blue overcoat of fine cheviot, I paid thirty ones -for it, and David ordered a similar coat to be sent to -me at the Strangers’ House.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Watch the street!” he said, as we emerged.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I perceived the passengers scrambling off the moving -portion of the roadway. A moment later the -track began to travel in the opposite direction.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We reverse our streets according to the stream -of travel,” said David. “The mechanism is controlled -by solar power, transmitted from the -Vosges.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>We journeyed for some five and twenty minutes -by the new reckoning—what would have been a -quarter of an hour. We changed streets frequently, -and it seemed to me, although I could not be sure -of it, that David purposely selected a roundabout -route. At length, we stopped in front of a large -building of the uniform height and style. Upon the -front was sculptured a man in a laborer’s blouse with -a protecting hand laid upon the head of one who -cowered before him—presumably the stranger.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I shall take you in by the basement and internal -elevator,” said David, “so as to give you a glimpse -of our traffic system.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>We had passed numbers of subway entrances, with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>gentle ramps descending into clean, white-walled -passages, along which I had seen an endless series of -trucks proceeding on single rails. Beneath the -Strangers’ House I saw the termination of a branch -line; and, as we stood watching, a porter in blue -seized a small truck which had detached itself from -the rail, and, with a slight push, sent it spinning into -a goods elevator.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Gyroscopic action,” explained David. “Above -this is the House kitchen, connecting with the district -sub-kitchen by means of a two-foot tube.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And every now and then he would stop in the -midst of his explanations and cast that searching -look at me, as if to inquire whether I could be ignorant -of all this.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We stepped into an elevator, David pressed a -button, and the cage shot up to the top story. Opposite -us was a door with a bell at the side, as in the -old-fashioned apartment. David rang, and the door -opened, revealing a girl about eighteen years of age, -who looked at me with parted lips and an expression -that was unmistakably fear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, this is my daughter Elizabeth,” said -David, kissing her. “Arnold is under our special -care,” he continued. “He comes from a very distant -city outside the Federation, and is waiting to be -ascribed. He knows no more about civilization than -if he had just awakened after a sleep of a century.”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>The girl shot a quick, dubious, searching glance -at me. I met it steadily, and she turned her eyes -away. Again she looked at me, and my gaze apparently -reassured her, for she gave me her hand in a -very unaffected manner, and we went through a -living-room into a simply furnished dining-room. It -much resembled one of my own century, except that -the furniture was in good taste; the curves and -spirals and volutes of our machine-carved chairs and -tables were gone; the wall was of a plain gray, without -paper or pictures; the carpet was plain, and the -absence of curls and twists even on the handles of -the cutlery was extraordinarily restful. Between the -two rooms was a small enclosed space containing a -telephone funnel with knobs and levers disposed -about it, and a dumb-waiter. The table linen was of -a peculiar lusterless black. Looking out of the window, -I saw that the uppermost street ran past it, -and occasionally the hatless head of a pedestrian -appeared.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Anything new to you, Arnold?” inquired my -host, as we took our places at the table.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Principally the color of the table linen,” I answered. -“Black seems strange to me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Black! Do you call that black?” asked David -in surprise. “Why, that is mull, and not at all like -black to me. For my part I prefer the old-fashioned -white, but two years ago, when the plans to dress us -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>in mull instead of blue were rescinded, the Wool and -Linen bosses had accumulated a large quantity of -mull goods in the warehouses on speculation, the -loss of which would have hurt them badly—so we -were asked to use mull-colored table linen.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you like chicken?” inquired Elizabeth. “It is -of last year’s freezing, and I got it as a special favor, -for the supply for 34–5 is not yet exhausted, and -they are supposed not to draw on the new cellars. -If father had told me that he was going to bring -home a guest—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I didn’t know it myself,” said David. “Of -course, I could have telephoned, but—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never do that!” exclaimed Elizabeth impetuously; -and I saw the look of fear upon her face again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A bell sounded, the shaft door clicked open, and a -tray lay in the orifice. Elizabeth carried it to the -table, and a well-cooked meal was smoking before us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You may be surprised to know that this tea was -made two miles away,” said David, “in the district -sub-kitchen. It came to us at seventy miles an hour. -Before we had the gyroscopic attachments, fluids -were occasionally spilled.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And how do you clean the apartment?” I asked -Elizabeth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In the old-fashioned way,” she answered, smiling. -“I am an expert with the solar vacuum and -duster.”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>“I believe our friend is accustomed to the existence -of a servant class,” said David, laughing at me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But there was a subdued melancholy about him, -as well as about Elizabeth. The sense of it, and the -constraint it bred, grew on me momentarily. After -dinner the dishes were sent down the shaft, and -David handed me a typical twentieth-century cigar.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In a sense, this is one of our compromises,” he -said, as we sat down in the adjoining room. “Doctor -Sanson wants to forbid the use of nicotine as impairing -the productive efficiency of the race. But -the Council thinks the narcotic has a restraining -influence—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He broke off as Elizabeth looked at him rather -significantly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I understand, then, that the old tendencies toward -the illogical and the unnecessary have not been -entirely conquered?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, no!” said David emphatically. “Private -apartments, for instance, instead of the phalanstery. -And then the tabloid floods! The human stomach -still demands bulk as well as nutriment. Still, it is -claimed that with education—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you remember the legend of the man who -educated his ass to live on a single straw a day?” -asked Elizabeth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We laughed; but I was still conscious of the -restraint.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>“Then, of course, people are too lazy, when -hungry, to weigh their food and calculate it in calories,” -David continued. “Doctor Sanson is fighting -the abuse of protein. He claims that its decrease -will set free more workers to apply themselves to -more productive labor instead of food-raising, and -will also lengthen the productive life of the individual. -But we are still protein gluttons.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The chicken—” interposed Elizabeth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It seemed to me that the girl had some serious -purpose in her interruptions. I was beginning to -realize that she still feared me; I wondered why.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And you may have observed that the eternal -feminine has baffled Doctor Sanson’s desire to abolish -the skirt,” continued David. “In fact, human -nature seems to flow on in much the same old way -beneath the surface of civilization. I am inclined -to think that our economic changes have not seriously -amended it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Father, if you are going to talk like a heretic, I -shall leave you!” exclaimed Elizabeth, rising.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She left the room, and David followed her. Presently -he came back alone.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” he began, seating himself and knocking -the ashes from his cigar, “my daughter is -troubled about my frankness with you. You know -there is a period of necessary restraint just now, -owing to the final adjustment being incomplete. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>Some of the oldest men remember the former régime. -The Council is strict, and—in short, Arnold, I am -putting my own safety in your hands because I trust -you, and also because—” He broke off in confusion. -“You need to know so much before you face -the Council,” he resumed. “Arnold, some time I -will receive your confidence, and then—well, this -misunderstanding will be cleared away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I shook his hand warmly. “I suppose I am not -permitted to leave the apartment?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“By all means. Go where you will. Your gray -uniform shows you to be an unascribed stranger, and -every policeman has your photograph in his thumb-book -by now. Only, remember that you must -decline to enter into conversation with anyone who -may accost you. Please remember this point scrupulously, -for your own sake. But, Arnold, do you -know, I think you can spend the rest of your day -very profitably in learning to read.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Learn in a day?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To some extent. There are only thirty-five principal -characters, and all the sub-characters are readily -discernible as coming under these heads. I believe -Elizabeth has an old spelling-book, and she will be -delighted to instruct you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The idea aroused his enthusiasm, and a few minutes -later Elizabeth had begun to give me my lesson. -By supper time I had already mastered the elements, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>and we continued to study in the evening under the -soft solar light, which, issuing from small, shaded, -glass-covered apertures in the walls, made the room -as bright as day.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Soon after dinner the dumb-waiter shaft clicked -open and a package lay there. Inside was my overcoat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At least, it was meant for me. But instead of the -fine cheviot, I discovered a wretched mixture of cotton -and shoddy. I was indignant.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David advised me to do nothing. “A stranger -sometimes gets poor service,” he explained.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is a deliberate fraud, then?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He placed his hand restrainingly on my arm. “Is -it worth while quarreling with the Wool Boss before -you go to the Council?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He went on to explain that each industry was -autonomous, and had its own boss, elected annually -by the workers, in theory, but for life in practice. -The Wool Boss, like the other bosses, received one -per cent upon the value of every article made by his -department.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“At present our social organization is a little -upset,” he explained again. “When the Russian -troubles are ended we shall resume our normal -life. There will be more spaciousness, more freedom -... liberty will be enlarged....”</p> - -<p class='c011'>We went to bed early. I was grateful to discover -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>that the old-fashioned bed had not been sent into -limbo. But then the bed, of course, antedates -history.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David apologized for mentioning bedtime.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nine is the curfew hour,” he explained. “At -nine-half the solar light goes out. It is only a temporary -restriction until—” Again he checked -himself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I mused so long that the solar light, which flooded -the bedroom within and made London a vivid picture -in a black frame without, was suddenly turned off, -leaving me to grope my way into bed in the darkness. -I lay thinking of Esther, who had died so long ago, -and I knew that when the first bewilderment of the -new life had passed away my loss would seem as -unbearable as before. I was as helpless as a savage -in this fantastic city. It seemed incredible that I had -been groping in the cellar that same morning.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I thought of Elizabeth and the terrified look in -her eyes; I heard a city clock strike ten, and, an hour -later, one, and it was long before I remembered that -ten was midnight; my last resolve was to try to forget -my former life and fling myself with all my -power into the new. At last I fell asleep, to be -awakened by the sun shining into my eyes along -a canyon that stretched between the high buildings -as far as I could see.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <span class='large'>HIDDEN THINGS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>It was not until a week had passed that the first -stimulus of the amazing life into which I had -been plunged abated, leaving me a prey to melancholy -reflections. The memory of Esther, which I -had tried so hard to put away, began to recur incessantly. -I felt shut off from humanity, a survival -from a generation whose memory, even, had become -legendary.</p> - -<p class='c011'>They seemed to understand my feelings, although -they could not know their cause, and tried to keep -me from brooding. By tacit understanding no references -were made to my past. They accepted me as -a stranger, and yet there was the same latent suspicion -on Elizabeth’s part. And I could not help -seeing that some heavy grief or apprehension hung -over them. And I felt that I was an intruder upon it. -At night I would hear David pacing his room for -hours, and sometimes a groan would break from his -lips.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He gave me to understand that the summons to -appear before the Council might be delayed for days -or weeks. It was always presented unexpectedly, -and always peremptory, he said. During the week -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>following my arrival at the Strangers’ House I -never went out alone. Whenever I made the suggestion, -David either volunteered to accompany me -or found some excuse to detain me. In particular, -he requested me to stay within doors during the four -hours when he was at the Bureau, in the morning.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Finally I became almost exasperated. “You have -told me that I am free,” I protested.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And you are free, Arnold,” he answered. “It is -for your own sake that I make this request of you. -There are hidden things, shadows against the sunlight -of our civilization, and transitory, I hope, which -you would hardly understand. You must learn them -by degrees, Arnold. To me they have seemed necessary -in this transitional epoch; but they are hard, -Arnold; hard to endure.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And he sighed in so melancholy a fashion that I -suspected one of those shadows rested on his own -home.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Yes, there were hidden things, and I got no nearer -the heart of them, although I had hints as to their -nature. For instance, there was the Animal Vivisection -Bureau. I wondered why David spoke of the -Animal Vivisection Bureau, and not of the Vivisection -Bureau.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I never had realized before how large a share animals -played in our lives. The horse, I was told, had -not existed in the British Province for a generation. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>Cats disappeared when the rodent virus was invented, -and were now only to be found in a wild state in the -woods. There seemed to be no dogs, and I did not -ask David about them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was no social life at all. The other inmates -of the Strangers’ House were lodged on the different -floors and ate in common, living under the watchful -care of the deputies, who occasionally came to David -for advice or instructions. Our only neighbor on -the top floor was a little woman with two children -who had come from a northern city and intended to -return as soon as passes for leaving London, which -had been stopped, were again issued. Inspectors -from the Children’s Bureau visited her nearly every -day, always leaving her in a condition of terror, as -I inferred from a remark dropped by Elizabeth. Her -husband had dropped dead in the street two months -before. David told me that these sudden deaths -were common, and were considered a triumph for -medical science.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And yet I knew that David had visitors after the -solar lights went out. My room was at the end of -the apartment near the street; but I heard strangers -tiptoe along the passage, and whispered colloquies -in David’s room. My host would appear abstracted -the next morning, and watch me very thoughtfully. -At such times I felt more than ever an intruder in -the household.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>Yes, it was a world Lazaroff would have appreciated, -could he have had his wish fulfilled, to be born -into it. Would his viewpoint have changed, I wondered? -It was a world from which all the amenities -and charities of life seemed to have been banished. -I tried to lead up to that subject in my talks with -David, but he appeared unable to understand me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Was it an atheistic world? I had not ventured to -question David about this. But I knew that there -was no Sunday upon the calendar, and that the tenth -day was the civil holiday. That day had fallen -already, and endless crowds had marched through -the streets, to the music of bands, to play-places in -waste spots outside London. The Council supervised -the games, which were compulsory. Of all the -paternal regulations of the Council, this seemed to -me the most arbitrary and oppressive.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We have to keep the people under discipline,” -David explained. “Once they were allowed to wander -at will; but they tore up the trees and flowers -and strewed paper and broken bottles everywhere.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>That was true. I remembered the public fields of -my own age. I recalled how one writer had seen -in them a complete indictment of democracy itself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was amazed and alarmed increasingly by what I -saw in my journeys about the town with David: the -large brass tags that gave each person his label, the -occupation badges, the insolence of the whites, passing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>with bodyguards of blues who elbowed all out of -their way. And once there came a frantic scramble -to make a passage for a tall, black-bearded man in a -dark-blue uniform, who passed in the midst of his -retinue with clanking sword.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I had noticed these men in uniform about the -streets. They strode like conquerors amid a servile -populace. I learned that the tall man was Mehemet, -a Turk in command of an international force, the -bodyguard of Sanson, and devoted to him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Perhaps it was as well that, before my enlightenment -came, I completed a cursory survey of the new -civilization. At my request David took me to one of -the public schools. I was astonished to discover that -no history prior to 1945 was taught, and no geography. -The greater part of the curriculum was -devoted to scientific and economic subjects. So great -had been the progress in knowledge that, on opening -some of the text-books, I discovered that I was -quite unable to understand them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I learned that Oxford and Cambridge had disappeared, -with the old public schools, in 1945, after -a revolution, the anger of the people having been -kindled against them on account of their moral influence -and the distinctive stamp of character that they -produced. To prevent tutors of personality from -imparting to their pupils the elements of humane -tradition, David told me, the text-books were so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>written as to eliminate entirely the personal element -in instruction, a reform that the prophet Wells had -urged rather furiously, and perhaps invidiously, in -his own century.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The Council shapes each citizen’s education from -the cradle to the workshop,” said David. “It is very -anxious to secure precision of knowledge. For instance, -it is a criminal offense for mothers to teach -their children fairy stories. It is the duty of the -inspectors to question children rigorously, in order -to ascertain whether they are acquainted with any -of this unscientific, heretical folk-lore.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Which has doubtless all perished,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“On the contrary,” he answered, “an immense -quantity of it has come down to us, practically unchanged, -through all the revolutions of the past -century, and not only that but new tales have arisen. -The authorities are at their wits’ end to discover who -is responsible for the existence of this masonic secret -among the younger generation.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>From the school we went to the workshop. On the -way home we stopped at one of the open-air moving -picture shows, and saw two or three dramatized versions -of public affairs. Ingenious mechanism synchronized -the movements of the figures upon the -screen, which were in stereoscopic relief, with -speeches made through the telephone funnels. These, -David said, took the place of newspapers when the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>socialized State destroyed the printed news-sheet by -the simple process of killing the advertising.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We also looked inside the district art gallery. -None of the pictures antedated the year 1978, and -each illustrated some phase of the new civilization -in an educational way. I must not forget to say that -later I found a novel in David’s home, which Elizabeth -must have read in her schoolgirl days. The -scene was laid in the early twentieth century, and -the story dealt with the adventures of a young man -of property, depicting the romance of his care-free -life. A moral at the end, and copious footnotes, -inserted by the Council’s order, drew attention to the -improvement in the human lot since that barbarous -period.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So, day by day, I waited, and my eyes were opened -more and more to my environment. Daily I expected -the Council summons that did not come, and -daily the constraint grew. I was thinking of suggesting -to David that I should be located among the -other strangers in place of continuing to accept his -hospitality; but before I could decide to approach -him an incident occurred which revealed to me the -existence of conditions which, unintelligible though -they were, made me decide to approach David again -with a view to a mutual understanding.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David was at the Strangers’ Bureau and would not -return for at least two hours. Under Elizabeth’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>instruction I had made swift progress in understanding -the combinations of syllables that make up the -written language. I had just begun, in fact, to master -the ingenious Brebœuf system, whereby the simpler -of the syllables have been combined to form the -written speech of four of the five Provinces. David -had told me that the Council’s inability to enforce -the invented language Spekezi as the universal -tongue, had been one of the severest shocks that the -new civilization had received. Then came Brebœuf -with his universal syllabic symbols.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Now, if the written language were merely pictorial, -it could have been used to represent all the languages -on earth. But since it is syllabic, and therefore -depicts words instead of ideas, it was a supreme -achievement to have invented a written language -adapted to four tongues. The Brebœuf system is -based, of course, upon the common Latin and Sanskrit -elements. Brebœuf, who was one of the last of -the classical scholars, was rewarded, as is well -known, by being freed from the defectives’ art -factories in his old age, and pensioned.</p> - -<p class='c011'>However, it was not my purpose to touch upon -this matter. My interest was beginning to flag, and -I was paying more attention to Elizabeth than to the -lesson. I was trying to trace in her features some -elusive resemblance to Esther. I was wondering -whether I could ever become a normal citizen of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>this strange world. Suddenly the telephone funnel -shouted Elizabeth’s name.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She sprang from her chair and rushed into her -bedroom, which was next to the external elevator -shaft. Her expression and gestures alarmed me so -greatly that I ran after her. When I reached her -door I saw her standing in the middle of the room, -deathly white, and clenched in her hand was a knife, -which she was aiming at her heart.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I ran into the room and wrested the weapon from -her grasp. She fell upon the floor unconscious. All -the while this was happening the funnel was shouting -stridently, “Elizabeth!” “Elizabeth!” together -with the string of letters and figures that completed -her nomenclature.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I went to the funnel and lied to the voice. “She -is not here,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then tell her, when she returns, that the price of -the dress will be five units more, on account of the -new wool schedule,” the voice responded.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Such was the half-comic ending of what had -nearly been a tragedy. I revived the girl and explained -the matter to her, but for some time -she remained in a condition approaching collapse. -When she began to regain consciousness she wept -hysterically.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was only the fear of causing David anxiety that -enabled her to resume her accustomed demeanor by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>the time he returned. She begged me to make no -mention of the matter to him, and I agreed on condition -that she would never use the knife except -in the last extremity. But I was working in the -dark, for, though she consented to the bargain, -when I begged her to tell me what it was she feared, -she remained mute, shaking her head and closing her -mouth obstinately.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Will you not trust me, Elizabeth?” I pleaded.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, to my surprise, she looked accusingly at me. -“Will you trust me?” she asked. “Will you not trust -my father and me? Haven’t you news of Paul?” -Her expression was indescribably beseeching.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We don’t know who you are,” she went on rapidly. -“My father trusts everybody. But I know -your assumed ignorance is impossible. You don’t -trust us, Arnold, and you are playing with us. You -have been here three weeks and the Council has not -sent for you. If you were what you claim to be -you would know your danger. Trust us, and, if you -are what we hoped you were, tell me about Paul. Is -he safe? Is he well?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I never heard of him,” I stammered. “I—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She looked at me with reproach and glided quietly -away. I heard her sigh mournfully. And still I -groped in a fog of mystery and could learn nothing.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <span class='large'>HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE OVER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>David possessed a small library of books, nearly -all of a scientific nature. Among them, however, -I found two histories, and, in spite of their -obvious bias and violent character, I was enabled to -understand what had happened in the world since -my long sleep began.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I learned of the great war that had begun a few -days after I entered the cylinder, when Russia and -the democracies of Europe stamped out German -autocracy and laid the foundations of democratic -government. I learned how this democratic spirit -burst out in 1945, when all the experiences of the -social order, accumulated by mankind since the dawn -of history were jettisoned, with all their lessons -and all their warnings.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was extraordinary to me that none of us had -realized the changes which had been impending. -Warnings there had been, as there always are. They -were the decay of parliamentary government in all -lands, the breaking down of tradition and authority -in every phase; only there was nobody to heed them. -Then, previously, whether by acknowledgment or in -spite of denial, society had always been founded on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>servile labor. The harnessing of the tides, and, later, -the control of solar power, threw millions out of -employment, millions of hungry men with time to -think and nothing to reverence.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The book said that the movement could have been -stayed by wise measures. But it was doubtful, for -a frenzy for change was spreading like wildfire over -the civilized world. Now only Spain, restored Russia, -and monarchical and prosperous South America -resisted it, among Occidental nations.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I read that in 1945 democracy initiated the millennium -by bursting all the dykes. Millions were -slain. London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Chicago, -Winnipeg were burned to ashes, with scores of other -cities. Peace was restored fifteen years later by a -few military chiefs who came into power owing to -the universal exhaustion. At that time whole populations -were turning cannibal. All organized industries -had been destroyed. The path for reconstruction -was clear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Men called that the period of reaction, but it might -have been the period of reconciliation. Both sides -failed in the ensuing years; the mob, because it lacked -idealism; the leaders, because they failed to recognize -the unassailable truth in the old Socialist propaganda, -that the era of machinery and of an inexhaustible -supply of industrial power had made the systematization -of production inevitable. With half the people -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>workless, it was ridiculous that they should suffer -and starve because they could not buy the goods rotting -in the stuffed warehouses. The system did not -fall because it was ridiculous, however, but because -it had become unworkable. Production had to be for -use, not profit. When profit went, rent had to go, -and interest, that leech of society, so long forbidden -by the Catholic Church, and no doubt the direst result -of the Reformation. Failure to realize this need -dragged down the old order in 1978. It fell forever, -and with it died all hope of a civilization built on -that of the past.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was then that the writings of the great Wells, -since called the Prophet, were discovered and proved -the inspiration of the new order. In place of the -illogical instinct of nations there was to be a New -Republic, based on pure reason, and shining with -facets of unanswerable facts. The world was to -forget its past as thoroughly as it had forgotten the -Stone Age. The new revolution was led by Sanson, -I gathered, and swiftly conquered. There ensued -two years of worse anarchy than before. India was -lost to Britain, and became a democracy, convulsed -with civil strife. Our savage wards reverted to -barbarism. Australia fell to China. All the world’s -archives were destroyed. Picture galleries went up -in flames; statues were smashed to pieces; monuments -were blasted. The Parthenon perished, the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>British Museum, the Louvre; east of the Bosphorus -there remained hardly a memorial of the past, except -St. Peter’s and Cologne Cathedral. But, at the end -of the two years, the five Provinces of Britain, -France, Skandogermania, Italy, and Hungary found -themselves the nucleus of the future Federation of -Man, under a pure democracy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Here, amid fulsome plaudits, the tale ended; but -I went to David to ask him for some more particulars. -He had seen me reading, and I think he had -been prepared for my question.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I shall be glad to explain anything, Arnold,” he -said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have been reading about the new Federation,” -I said. “England is, then, no longer independent? -And the United States? And Russia and Spain?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He smiled. “Of course, if you do not know these -things, Arnold—” he began. “But surely you are at -least aware of the history of your own country?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I know nothing,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, then, the United States is an independent -nation. We have made proposals for a union, but -the bosses have not yet come to terms. Spain -stamped out her revolution. We were on the point -of compelling her to come in when she discovered the -secret of the Glow Ray, which would have made the -effort unremunerative.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is this Ray?”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>“It is a combustion by old light, stored solar -energy being transmitted for that and all other power -purposes from the great solar works on the Vosges -Mountains. Its invention made the old warfare -obsolete. Our small-arms are miniature Ray mirrors, -charged with a single unit; our big ordnance is -supplied from the Vosges by cable connection. The -Ray destroys everything that it encounters, not protected -by the glow paint which you may have observed -on the fronts of our buildings. This is the -last and greatest of the coal tar discoveries, and its -manufacture is based upon the exact relationship -between the disintegrating glow rays and an exact -color having a fixed number of vibrations.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Russia,” he continued, “crushed her revolution, -too, as she had crushed earlier anarchistic outbreaks. -But though she has discovered the glow paint, she has -not the Ray. The Federation is consequently at war -with her, for her antiquated ideals make her a -menace to civilization. Besides, we need her wheat-fields. -We have an army of ten thousand men, two -from each of the five Provinces, and have cooped -up the young Tsar, Alexander, with his army of a -million men, in Tula. His surrender is expected -daily.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ten thousand against a million?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, with the Ray. However, even ten thousand -were difficult to secure, though the pay of each soldier -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>is five units hourly. Twelve men have been -killed already. That is the weak point in our civilization, -Arnold. In spite of daily lectures by the most -gifted orators that the Council can obtain, showing -that the desire for immortality is an inherited perversion, -and that we are immortal anyway, in the -germ-plasm, man is unwilling to die. In time the -Council hopes, by reason and education, to rid men -of this ancient terror.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the ethical basis of our government?” -I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Science, which alone survived the destruction of -knowledge. The scientific books were saved from -the twelve million tons of printed paper, chiefly from -the British Museum shelves, that burned for twelve -days upon Blackheath; and from the contents of the -Bibliotheque Nationale that heated Paris during an -entire month.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A commission quickly synthesized the discoveries -of earlier investigators. World councils of scientists -laid down the dogmas of universal knowledge in the -Vienna Creed, which was adopted without dissentients -after those who objected had been put to death. -The famous quarrel whether Force is of the same -substance as Matter, or a like substance, was decided -here. The Sames conquered the Similars, by virtue -of a proclamation from Boss Rose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We know now that Science has given Nature’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>complete and final revelation to mankind. We tolerate -no heresies, no independent judgment. In vital -matters toleration means only a dead faith. The -Modernist idea of criticizing the basic principles of -our Science becomes a capital offense, if preached, -because the Boss is himself the repository of all -knowledge, and the pronouncements of Boss Lembken -supreme. It is not that we are bigoted, you -understand. It is, indeed, suggested that Science -unfolds like a flower, revealing herself in larger -scope to each generation. But new discoveries can -only be adaptations of what is already known.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I almost thought that there was irony in his -tone; but he met my gaze steadily, challengingly, -as if to say, “If these are not your views, declare -them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“One thing I want to know is this,” I said. “The -history books make no mention of the blues and the -whites. On what do you base the division of the -State into these two groups of citizens?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That is Doctor Sanson’s doing,” he answered. -“The blues are the defectives, the whites the perfect -specimens of the race. The whites alone are admitted -to posts of responsibility. But most of them prefer -not to labor, and live in seclusion upon State pensions -for the sake of the race.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This is considered Doctor Sanson’s crowning -achievement for humanity,” David continued. “Before -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>his advent to power, defectives had been living -among the normal population since the dawn of history -unrecognized. We have now an intricate system -of points of deficiency whereby they can be -detected infallibly, based partly upon heredity, partly -on measurements, partly craniometry and the Binet-Sanson -tests.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Doctor Sanson has long been anxious to pass his -sterilization measure, but he has been unable to persuade -the Council to face the fierce, ignorant, popular -resentment that it would incur, although this practice -is of respectable antiquity in China and the Mohammedan -world, and was reintroduced to the Occident -by progressive America a whole century ago. Of -course, the morons and all below a certain grading -are not allowed to reproduce their kind; but Sanson -wishes to include the high-grade defectives also. -However, that would reduce the total productivity, -and thus the question bristles with difficulties.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I listened to all this jargon I felt more and -more bewildered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You appear to have created a new aristocracy, -then, based on physical perfection,” I said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, there you are wrong, Arnold,” said David. -“Our democracy will never endure hereditary privileges. -What it has introduced is hereditary disabilities. -We simply disqualify from the white, or -normal class, the ninety-five per cent who are below -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>the standard. It was progressive America that first -conceived the plan of raising man to the level of the -hound and the blooded horse.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yet,” he continued, “defectives do crop up, even -among the offspring of the whites. They are hard to -discover; but by the Sanson tests we can discover -defectives who are, to all appearance, flawless. This -class exists especially among those of unusual mental -power, which is in itself a stigma of deficiency. Then -there are the men who write our books and paint our -pictures in the art factories. They present an anarchical -longing for personal license. But they are -isolated and never allowed to mingle with the world. -Yes, there are odd kinks in the human brain. For -instance, there still exists a preposterous sense of -nationality, which is being remedied by a system of -forced emigration. The Prophet Wells did not entirely -estimate in its exactness the tenacity of this -illogical notion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then there was that extraordinary outbreak, the -Name War. Who could have anticipated that human -beings would object to being classified under letters -and numbers, for the sake of statistical simplicity? -Yet a misguided fifty thousand chose to meet death -rather than give up their names. However, Britain -is said to be the province of compromises, and it was -agreed that the whites should retain two names, and -the blues one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>“But surely,” I said, “the people did not vote for -these restrictions?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You do not understand our system of government, -Arnold. Naturally there can be no voting in -matters of science, sanitation, or statistics. Yet, -even here there is an indirect control, for our rulers, -who are whites, are elected by ballot annually, by the -high-grade defectives of both sexes. The Federal -Council, which is not now in session, meets once a -year in London, the capital, and consists of five lay -bosses, of whom Lembken is chief, and five Science -bosses under Sanson. You will appreciate the stability -of our government when I tell you that -for twenty years every nominated boss has been -re-elected.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was almost certain of an undertone of irony in -his words now.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You see,” he continued, “non-votes are counted -as ayes. Then those opposing the Council must give -their reason, which is filed in the Bureau of Complaints. -And again all such objections have been -found to be invalid, since they have invariably been -made by undetected morons, who have been sent to -the workshops for life in consequence. Every applicant -at the Bureau of Complaints is examined by -physicians. That was Sanson’s idea.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>A most ingenious one. Suddenly I became sure -that David was testing me; the whole tenor of his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>conversation had been ironical, hesitating, perhaps, -and carefully weighed, lest he was running into danger, -but corresponding in no wise to his convictions. -But why was he afraid of me?</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who is this Doctor Sanson?” I asked him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>To my surprise his voice dropped, and, before -answering, he cast a cautious glance toward the -telephone funnel. Then, rising, he stuffed a sofa -cover into it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“An illegal act,” he said, reseating himself. “If -that were known I should be liable to forced labor -in the leather factories for several years. Now, -Arnold, you see my faith in you. Well, then, I cannot -answer you. He is a man of superhuman powers, -more feared than any man has ever been feared. -There is a popular belief that he was born a thousand -years ago, and has wandered from land to land, -waiting for the new age to dawn. The Christians -called him Antichrist. Nothing has ever been learned -as to his origin. He appeared like a conqueror, about -the year 1980, to lead the hosts of the revolution to -victory.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“He is the ruler?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>David shook his head. “Boss Lembken is the titular -head. But all know that Sanson is supreme, -although he chooses to let Boss Lembken hold the -reins of power. He could do anything, make any -laws he wished, become supreme ruler of earth. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>is believed to be immortal, and to have the power -of renewing his youth whenever he wishes. Arnold, -the people believe that he can bestow immortality -upon them and overcome their last enemy, death. -That is the secret of their terror of him. And—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His voice sank to a whisper:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You have come at a critical time. For this -expectancy has set a date. None knows how the -rumor started, but during the next few months, ‘soon -after the Cold Solstice,’ the prophecy runs, a Messiah -is to come to earth, ignorant of his destiny. -When he learns it he will offer mankind its ancient -liberty. Sanson will offer immortality in place of it. -Then will come the most titanic of all struggles, and -the result is not known.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His voice quavered and ceased. And, staring at -him, incredulous at first, I realized that David was -repeating no foolish, popular tale, but what he himself -believed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Even Science had not succeeded in banishing faith -from the hearts of men. She had made it superstition -instead. My brain reeled as the dreadful picture -David had drawn came home to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“David,” I exclaimed impulsively, “you are an -educated man and an intelligent one. Why do you -not wear the white uniform? Surely you are not a -defective?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” he replied. “Under the Sanson law. My -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>father had epileptic seizures in his youth. He had to -hide—but some day I will tell you about that. It -penalizes me twelve points, and Elizabeth six, thank -God!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, just as the airscout’s face had expressed fear -at my own expletive, so David recoiled in horror at -the word that had burst from his lips.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” he said, taking me by the arm, “there -is a book—an illegal book, to possess which would -mean death. I am going to lend it to you—and -after you have read it you can tell me your story.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <span class='large'>THE BOOK</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>I found the book beneath my pillow. David -had been afraid to hand it to me, and I was not -surprised. For assuredly the anonymous author -would have received the utmost penalty from the -Council.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He was a Christian, and he took the ground that -democracy, in itself bad, had become impossible -when the atheistic deism of the eighteenth century -pervaded the minds of the voting masses and took -the form of Hæckel’s materialism and that of his -school of thinkers.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He claimed that, so far from indicating the spread -of enlightenment, it was due to national decay, and -had always preceded periods of national reconstruction, -instancing Rome and Athens, and the America -of a century ago, where democracy had become incompatible -with free speech and assembly, an independent -judiciary, and a broad and secure freedom.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Written for circulation among those opposed to -the Sanson régime, it was a fervent prayer for the -deliverance of the world. In it I gathered more of -the meaning of the new civilization than I had -learned from David.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>I read that the War of the Nations was caused -by one thing alone: the breaking down of Christianity -in Germany, and the revival of the old pagan -doctrines, with the ensuing challenge against all that -humanity had built up during two thousand years.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But in that period of ferments only a few had -seen this meaning. The challenge had been interpreted -as one of aristocracy against democracy, -largely because democracy, then in the saddle, was -the creed of the loudest publicists. For this the -writer Wells, known posthumously as “The -Prophet,” a man whose penetrating judgment and -synthetic mind were fogged by class consciousness, -was largely responsible.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The hope of democracy was fair in those after-years, -when nations, purged by their ordeal of blood, -revived the noble hopes of liberty. Men would have -sacrificed everything for their brethren during that -first decade of peace. There was a splendid spiritual -awakening among the nations. Democracy was -the young, smiling god, the guardian of universal -peace.</p> - -<p class='c011'>If only, the writer said, that spiritual enlargement -had been joined to Christian faith. But the backwash -of nineteenth century atheism swamped it. -The doctrines of materialism were rooted in the -masses. The German virus could not be rooted out -without trained leadership and ideals. I recalled -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>Sir Spofforth’s words when I read that. “It must -not happen again!” all men had said, when at last -peace triumphed. No, not if the spirit of Christ, -governing all men, had drawn them into brotherhood. -But what if insults had been heaped upon -the German people? What hope of peace was -there when hate such as this ruled in the mind of the -leader of the new faith?</p> - -<p class='c011'>Instead of Christ, these blind philosophers set up -their democratic god. They labelled war “dynastic,” -and believed democracy would destroy it. Had they -not used their eyes? Did they not know that war -was the embodiment of hate? Had they never -looked on a mob, shouting for war, or was human -nature to be changed by education, and through prosperity, -so that no nation would ever again gather to -itself false doctrines, with hate, and scorn, and pride, -and go forth to destroy?</p> - -<p class='c011'>As every century produced its dominant illusion, -so now in the twentieth this singular delusion of a -democracy progressing through graded virtue unto a -perfect day possessed the race. And here the writer -paused to draw another instance from America, not, -as he was painstaking to explain, because her inhabitants -were different from other men, but because they -were the same.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He showed how decadence had spread exactly as -democracy had spread. He told of the two counties -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>of Ohio where investigation showed the inhabitants -to have sold their votes universally—merchants and -clergymen, professional men and laborers. Corruption -radiated from the English-speaking centers. -Law, principle, and integrity had gone first in New -England and the South, in the withered branches of -Anglo-Saxondom that had broken from the bough. -One by one all the traditions of civic honesty had -died; and if life was still tolerable in the early twentieth -century, when justice was a byword and faith -in public men had almost ceased, it was because the -State was still largely an abstraction and people -could still keep aloof from politics.</p> - -<p class='c011'>All the while there existed the same pitiable belief -that this democracy would some day become honest, -all-good, all-wise; but this was democracy and the -fruits of it, and nowhere had it had a fairer chance -to inaugurate the millennium. And the same mob -that ran blindly after its blind leaders, responsive to -every prejudice, to the old Moloch of race-hatred and -the old Mammon of dishonesty, would, had it been -allowed, have followed an ideal with its fund of -inexhaustible loyalty and self-sacrifice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Men had not changed. The Amazon and Congo -valleys were drenched with the blood of murdered -natives, and democracy yawned, just as the blood -of Polish women and children, massacred by State -troops, cried from the Colorado mining camps. In -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>former days Christian orders arose to uphold justice -and to keep down the devil in man. When Christendom -was one, labor guilds had arisen under Catholic -auspices whereby all men could live in freedom; now -the Pope, impotent, could only issue an encyclical -against that oppression of labor which, in its turn, -begot hatred and war. The sword of Justice had -been snapped in the scabbard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Was this the hope of the world, he asked, this -barren, Christless democracy? How many hearts -had it broken? How many idealists had sacrificed -themselves before this idol, dying with blind faith -in a deity that devoured its votaries? Was there no -higher hope? Were millions of colored men and -women in America to be born forever, black cattle -without hope, and die without a part in life? Had -not the race at last turned on itself, when the eugenics -madness thrust the sword into the heart of every -family and made life a more loathsome slavery than -any the world had known? What a sinister end to -human hopes!</p> - -<p class='c011'>The persecutions of the mob always struck to -degrade humanity. And when England developed, -in proportion to her democracy, the same corruption -as the United States, the same lack of loyalty and -public sense, the same violence and the same vindictiveness, -that was suspected which happened afterward—that -the same types of men would rise to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>leadership, and her faithful, loyal heroes vanish like -smoke in a gale.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And all the time the remedy was at hand; no -Moloch of hate, no stock-farm theory of human -bodies, but the principles of Christ, imposed to save -the world by leaders who had abdicated their responsibility. -The mob could never understand the need -of abstract justice nor subordinate greed to duty. -But for some ideal, however dimly seen, it could -obey and sacrifice itself with matchless zeal, even -to death.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Truly the Prophet Wells had prophesied of the -years to come: “Not only will moral standards be -shifting and uncertain, admitting of physiologically -sound menages of very variable status, but also vice -and depravity, in every form that is not absolutely -penal, will be practiced in every grade of magnificence, -and condoned.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>A shadow fell across the book. I looked up and -saw David. He had been glancing over my shoulder -as I read, unconscious of him; and he had reached -these words with me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>His eyes flashed, he shook his fist in vehemence -of passion. “No, Arnold!” he cried. “We’ll fight -as long as we live to remain something better than -the beasts; if life is a lie, or a dream, we’ll fight for -that!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER X<br /> <span class='large'>THE DOMED BUILDING</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>“Arnold! Arnold!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The funnel in the room was calling me, not -in its customary strident tones, but with a muffled, -intimate appeal.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David was at the Bureau, and Elizabeth had gone -out on one of her infrequent journeys. It was as if -the voice knew I was alone, for it had never spoken -to me before, and had never called in that particular -tone of intimacy and understanding.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, I am your friend,” the voice continued. -“You will come to no good in the Strangers’ House. -Go out quietly by the external elevator at once and -proceed toward the Temple, where everything will -be explained to you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>My bewilderment changed to intense expectancy. -The Temple was, I knew, the domed building that -seemed to dominate London; I had seen it from afar -each time David and I had gone out together, and -each time David had seemed sedulously to avoid -approaching it, proceeding and returning in a circuitous -manner.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“See for yourself the heritage of the new civilization,” -the voice continued. “Do not allow yourself -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>to be made a prisoner by those who wish you no -good. Go out at once by the external elevator. Turn -to the right. Walk slowly. Look about you. Your -friends are watching you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I went out and descended the building by the -external elevator. A minute later I was upon the -traveling street, feeling like a runaway schoolboy, -and animated by an intense desire to solve the secret -that lay before me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Presently, remembering that I was to proceed -slowly, I had the curiosity to step off the traveling -platform into a large, open space on which a crowd -was seated. I took my post beside one of the funnels -that surrounded it, and saw that I was at one of the -moving picture performances. Spelling out the title -upon the curtain, I understood that news from Russia -was to be given.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was none of that blur of vision which was -a common defect of the old-fashioned pictures, and -the words spoken from the funnels synchronized so -perfectly with the actions on the screen that the illusion -was complete. Upon the parapet of the fortress -reared by our besieging troops I saw machines with -conical tops, faced with large, glow-painted shields. -As I watched, there rushed across the field of vision -a number of men of the most degraded, savage aspect, -armed with long swords, which they brandished -furiously, while the funnels yelled like demons.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>“These are the Russian savages, filthy defectives -who are attacking the army of the Federation,” announced -the funnel at my side, in such a personal -way that I started, imagining for a moment that -someone had spoken to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As the horde neared the fortress a short command -was uttered, and from each of the conical machines -a glare of light shot forth. The Russians -wilted and crumpled up. They did not fall; they -were rather consumed like lead dropped into fire, -and the next line wilted too as the Ray caught them, -tumbling in charred masses upon the bodies of their -companions. Higher and higher rose the dreadful -pyramid of mortality, until the field was empty.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The victory of Science over Superstition,” announced -each funnel simultaneously. “The Russians -do not possess the Ray. They are degraded outcasts, -refuse from the pre-civilization period, starving in -Tula, and will all die unless they surrender soon. -What a pity to have to destroy so much potential -productivity! It is the Tsar’s fault. He is a dirty -moron, full of germ life, and has never produced a -hektone in his life. We shall next see him before -the Council. Boss Lembken is on the job. Praise -him!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hurrah” yelled the spectators, rising in their -seats to cheer.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The curtain darkened, and the next scene of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>drama was displayed. It was laid in the Council -Hall; but inasmuch as the Council was not in session, -and the Tsar was not yet captured, it possessed a -certain unreality for me which the audience did not -seem to share. With considerable interest I watched -the ten about the Council table. At the head sat a -figure of enormous girth, dressed in white, with a -black, or probably mull robe about the shoulders. -The face, appalling in its grossness, must be that of -Lembken, titular ruler of the Federation, a fat old -man with huge paunch and shrunken throat, on -which the sagging cheeks hung like a dewlap. A fit -head for such a people!</p> - -<p class='c011'>Beside him sat a man of about the same age, perhaps -sixty years, but lithe and lean and muscular, -and with the keenest, cruelest face that I ever had -seen. His whitening hair was brushed back from -his forehead, and his expression was so full of sinister -and malignant power that I knew this could be -none other than Sanson, the devil of this devil’s -world, who ruled the superstitious multitude by the -terror of “Science become Faith,” as old Sir Spofforth -had so aptly phrased it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, as I looked at him, I seemed to see the features -of Herman Lazaroff, as he might have been in -his old age. There was the same self-confidence, -become arrogance, and self-assertion grown with -power, the same demoniac energy and will, trained -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>by its use upon a servile multitude. Thus Lazaroff -might have been, if he could have had his wish to -live again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>What struck me, as I gazed upon the strong, clean-shaven -faces about the Council board, was that they -seemed to reproduce the aspect and gestures of the -degenerate emperors of Rome. Was history repeating -itself; a state-fed mob, state-governed industries, -the fist of autocracy beneath the glove of impotent -democracy, and those terrific incarnations of -cruelty and insane pride in power?</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the Tsar, a dwarfish, wretched figure in a -tinsel crown, dragged, groveling, to Lembken’s feet, -while Lembken assumed an attitude of inflexibility; -and then once more the curtain darkened.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Praise your Boss!” hooted the funnels. “He is -the people’s friend. That’s how he deals with kings! -He shows no mercy to the people’s enemies. The -Tsar is a low-grade moron. His heredity is horrible. -He cannot pass Test 1 upon the Binet board. -He is a wretched brach, and will now work in the -leathers till he dies, producing for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hurrah!” screamed the spectators. “Out with -him! To the Rest Cure!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And the absurdity of the display came home to -none except myself. These citizens were in deadly -earnest. How shrewd the mind that had contrived -a pabulum so well calculated to appeal to the mob -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>palate! The contrived crudeness, the planned abuse -betrayed an intimate and assured acquaintance with -the people’s psychology.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Praise louder!” whispered the intimate voice -beside me. “Why do you not praise when the others -do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And then I realized that the funnel was speaking -to me! Nobody else had heard, nobody else was -meant to hear. I knew that the funnels had a tele-photophonic -attachment whereby one could see as -well as hear. Somewhere, then, the person who had -spoken to me that morning was watching and playing -with me. For an instant I felt caught in a trap.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You do not seem to be an admirer of Boss Lembken,” -said a voice upon my other side; and I swung -around to see a little, sallow man in blue, with a plank -badge on his shoulder, indicating that he was a carpenter. -“I see you are a stranger,” he continued, -with a glance at my gray uniform. “What do you -think of London?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have not seen much of it as yet,” I answered, -remembering David’s warning.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, you are diplomatic,” he returned suavely. -“One has to be diplomatic in these days, do you not -think? You are of the same opinion as many of us, -only you lack the courage to say it, that certain features -of our civilization are over-developed. Now -let us take Doctor Sanson, for instance—do you not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>consider that he is pushing his prosecution of morons -to undue lengths? Has he not, in other words, a -mania about them?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I think,” I answered, hotly, “that a man whose -chief amusement consists in torturing his fellow-men -needs to have his own mentality investigated.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A worthy sentiment,” answered the little man, -nodding his head briskly. “In short, you are with us -on that subject. And as for Lembken?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I know nothing of him,” I answered shortly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, of course not. You are wise not to commit -yourself,” said the little man eagerly. “One must -not pass judgment without investigation. But still, -our democracy has, in some respects, retained the -features of the old despotisms, do you not think? -And then, do you consider that the people are really -omnipotent?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He cocked his head as he spoke, and he had the -objectionable habit of thrusting his face forward, -so that he had been forcing me, step by step, around -the circumference of a circle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The truth is, you say, we are actually in a condition -of slavery,” he persisted. “We are no better -off than our ancestors, for all our boast of civilization. -Is that not so, to your way of thinking?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are very quick,” I answered, “to put words -into my mouth before I speak them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But you think them. Don’t you think them?” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>he urged, cocking his head again and watching me -with intense eagerness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The little man had ceased crowding me, and suddenly -I saw that he had contrived to have me speak -almost into the mouth of the funnel. It was only -then that the meaning of his pertinacity and of his -repulsive trade grew clear to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Take yourself away!” I cried in anger.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, certainly! By all means! Yap, yap, if you -wish it,” he answered, drawing back and watching -me with a sarcastic smile.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I went upon my way, filled with indignation. I -wondered whether the Council was watching me before -summoning me, and why they attributed so -much importance to my views. I stared about me -at the streets and the crowds, the dazzling fronts -of the high buildings, and even then I half believed -that this was a dream. Life could not have grown so -accursed as this.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Before I became aware of it I had drawn near to -the domed building, toward which the street was -running. The houses suddenly fell away, and the -splendid structure, which had seemed to float above -the house-tops elusively, revealed itself to me. I -was near the summit of a rather steep hill, whose -superior portion consisted of a smooth glacis composed -of neatly-jointed stones, across which the converging -streets moved toward the castellated fortification, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>each terminating before a gate in this wall. -The gate in front of me was composed of huge blocks -of stone, probably with a steel foundation, and swung -upon thin hinges of some metal that must have had -enormous tensile strength. It was open and, like -the fortification, was covered with glow paint or -plaster, a dazzling mirror, now white, now blue, and -bright as sunlight. Above the wall were the great -conical, glow-painted Ray guns.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I passed through the gateway under a massive -arch. Now I saw that the double wall enclosed a -barracks or circular fortress, surrounding the inner -courtyard, and connected with the dome by long -bridges, stretched upon arches. The court within -was laid out in grass plots, and was most spacious.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I stood still and gazed in admiration at the stupendous -architectural scheme of the great building -that occupied the center of the circular space. The -dome covered only a small portion of the entire mass, -and on each side was a succession of halls and porticos, -approached between Corinthian columns, and, -I thought, intercommunicating. The part immediately -beneath the dome appeared to be of older date -than the rest, and formed the nucleus of the complete -conception.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I stood staring in astonishment, suddenly I -knew what the domed building was. It was St. -Paul’s Cathedral; but the cross was gone.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>My wonder grew as I watched it. The dome designed -by Sir Christopher Wren remained intact; -yet it no longer rested on the summit, but seemed -to soar, supported on numerous low pillars, and, -twenty feet beneath it, on a flat under-roof, was a -garden of luxuriating palm trees, and therefore presumably -enclosed by invisible crystal walls. I saw -the gorgeous coloring of tropical flowers, and scarlet -creepers that twined around the trunks of old -trees. What a magnificent pleasure-ground for the -Council of the Federated Provinces, high up above -the London streets in the December weather!</p> - -<p class='c011'>An elderly, bent man in blue, with the sign of a -hammer on his shoulder, came slowly toward me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Can one obtain a permit to go to the Council -garden?” I inquired of him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stopped and looked dully at me. “Eh?” he -inquired.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I want to go up and see the aerial garden,” I -responded, pointing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You want to go up there?” he exclaimed, and -then began to chuckle. He slapped first one knee -and then the other.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ho! Ho!” he roared. “That’s good. But listen! -You don’t know who you’re talking to. My daughter -lives up there. I’ll never see her again, but I like to -walk here and look up and think about my luck. It -gives me standing. I’ve got to earn a hektone and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>a quarter monthly, haven’t I? But I tell you I don’t -earn fifty ones a month, and I lay off when I want to, -and there’s not a Labor Boss dares say a word to me. -And down I go on the register for my hektone and -a quarter every month, as sure as the sun rises.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His hard, shrewd laughter convulsed him again, -and he slapped his legs and leered at me. Then he -drew closer to me and laid his hand on my arm -confidentially.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You’ve heard of this new freedom the people are -whispering about?” he asked, glancing apprehensively -about him. “They’re never satisfied, the people -aren’t. They want to get back to the old, bad -ways of a hundred years ago, when there wasn’t -food to go around, and the rich sucked the poor men -dry. I’ve read about those days. But the people -are forgetting. Sanson will crush them when they’re -ready to break out. Do you know what they want? -Do you? Do you?</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They want God back again, after we’ve put him -down. They want their heaven after their rotten -hides are turned into fertilizer. I know. I know -those Christians. London’s full of them today. The -defective shops are full of them. They’re talking -and planning for an uprising that will turn back the -hands of the clock. But Sanson will oust them when -he gets ready. He’ll give them the Rest Cure.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They say there’s a Messiah coming to mate the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>Temple goddess and bring back the old, bad days. -Do you know what Sanson means to do? He’s going -to mate her himself. And then he’s going to make -us all immortal. We’ll have our heaven on earth -then, and keep our bodies too. What’s the use of -a heaven when you haven’t a body to enjoy it with? -Sanson will make us all young again. We don’t -want freedom, we want immortality.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was so astonished by his gabbling that I remained -silent after he had ended, not knowing how -to answer him. He began scanning me slowly from -my feet upward.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You’re a stranger,” he said, with slow suspicion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” I replied. “Now tell me how I can go up -to the Council garden.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Garden,” he replied, in apparent stupefaction. -“Don’t you know that’s Boss Lembken’s palace? -That’s the People’s House, where Boss Lembken -lives. People can’t go up there. Don’t you know -that’s the People’s House? Who are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Suddenly he started back and a malignant look -came over his face.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You’re a wipe!” he shrieked. “You want to trap -me and send me to the Comfortable Bedroom because -I’m too old to work. Never a month passes -but I put up my hektone and a quarter. Look on the -register. You want to switch an old man who minds -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>his own business and puts up his hektone and a quarter, -you rotten moron!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His old face worked with fear and excitement, -and he raised his fist in a threatening manner; then, -suddenly changing his intention, he swung on his -heel and hurried away toward the gate. I saw him -glance back furtively at me and then increase his -speed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I turned to look at him I perceived that a -small wooden gate on the interior side of the -circular fortification stood partly open, and inside -I saw a troop of the international guards at -drill.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I crossed the court and came to a halt before the -Corinthian columns that I had seen; and now I perceived -that the pedestal of each contained a bas-relief, -a conventionalized figure beneath which was -engraved a tribute to some great leader of mankind. -The engravings were in the old Roman characters, -which seemed to have been retained on statues, -coins, and brasses, just as we in our day still -inscribed coins and statue pedestals in Latin. I -walked around the columns, reading these inscriptions.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The first that caught my eye was in honor of -Darwin, and read simply, “The Father of Civilization.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The next was to Karl Marx. “He interpreted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>history in the light of materialism, and gave us the -social State, with food for all,” I read.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was one in honor of Wells, “the Prophet of -the Race.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was one to Weismann, “who gave us immortality, -not in a ghostly heaven, but in the germ-plasm.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The next was to Mendel, who had “interpreted -man’s destiny in terms of the pea.” Poor, patient, -toiling Abbot, what were you doing in this galaxy?</p> - -<p class='c011'>And there was one to Nietzsche, “the scourge of -Jesus of Nazareth, a peasant god.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <span class='large'>THE GODDESS OF THE TEMPLE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>The man in blue with the machine badge on his -shoulder, who was waiting for me at the entrance, -surveyed me with a smile of tolerant amusement.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are now at the heart of civilization,” he -began. “Let me act as your guide, for I see that -you are a stranger. Is it not wonderful to contemplate -that here, upon a space of a few hektares, man -has erected a monument that shall endure forever! -This wing,” he added, “is Doctor Sanson’s domain, -while Boss Lembken exercises his priestly function -from the People’s House, under the dome.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He led me within the portico and through a swing -door on the north side of the building. I found -myself within a circular chamber like a hospital -theater, with marble seats rising almost to the roof -around a small central platform, on which were a -crystal table, a large silver tank, and a cabinet with -glass doors, through which I could see surgical -appliances.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This is the Animal Vivisection Bureau,” said -my guide. “It is not open to the public while demonstrations -are being given. The Council does not permit -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>the laity to acquire medical knowledge. We -have several hundred dogs constantly kenneled beneath, -in the sound-proof rooms; they are born -there and, in general, die here.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You use only dogs?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“At present, yes. Their trustfulness and docility -make them the best subjects, for we are demonstrating -to our classes the nature and symptoms of pain. -Now here—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I followed him through another swing door into -a similar room, but at least twice the size.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This is the Vivisection Bureau,” he continued, -taking his stand beside a table of reddish marble mottled -with blue veins, with a cup-like depression at -the head. “The people call it, jocularly, of course, the -Rest Cure Home. You can guess why. Criminals -and other suitable subjects are never lacking for experimentation. -Doctor Sanson is said to be making -investigations which will prove of a revolutionary -nature. Then, the supply of moron children appears -to be inexhaustible. Again, of course, there is the -annual Surgeons’ Day, when we round up the populace. -The date being movable, the ignorant are kept -in a state of wholesome apprehension. But let us -follow that throng.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Through the glass of the swing door I perceived a -large crowd pouring into another part of the building, -following in the wake of an old man, perhaps -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>eighty years of age, who was being conducted by two -of the blue-coated guards. Behind him trailed a -little rat-faced man in blue, who glanced furtively -about him with a smile of bravado. We went with -the mob into a third chamber.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was about the size of the second, and in the -center was a large structure of steel, with a swing -door. The brass rail which surrounded it kept back -the spectators, who lined it, heaving and staring, and -uttering loud exclamations of interest and delight. -The room was filled with the nauseating stench of -an anaesthetic.</p> - -<p class='c011'>One of the guards raised a drop-bar in the rail, -and the old man passed through and walked with -firm steps toward the steel structure. His white -beard drifted over his breast, his blue eyes were -fixed hard, and he had the poise of complete resignation. -At the door he turned and addressed the -spectators.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s a bad world, and I am glad to go out of it,” -he said. “I remember when the world was Christian. -It was a better world then.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He passed through, and the anaesthetic fumes suddenly -became intensified. I heard the creak as of a -chair inside the structure, a sigh, and the soft dabbing -of a wet sponge. That was all, and the mob, -struck silent, began to shuffle, and then to murmur. -I saw the rat-faced man slinking away.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>“This,” said my guide, “is popularly called the -Comfortable Bedroom. The old man can no longer -produce his hektone and a quarter monthly, and his -grandson, who has the right to take over the burden, -has just been mated. Most of our old qualify for -life in senility, but no doubt he dissipated his credit -margin in youth. Again, many prefer to go this way. -Now if he had been a woman he would have been -accredited thirty hektones for each child supplied -to the State. That is Doctor Sanson’s method of -assuring productivity.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But I broke from the man in horror, forcing my -passage through the crowd, which was dispersing -already. I ran on through hall after hall, approaching -the central part of the building, until I was again -blocked by a crowd, this time of young men and -women in blue, who were reading a lengthy list of -letters and figures, suspended high in the center of -this chamber. Most of these young people were in -pairs, and, as they read, they nudged each other and -exchanged facetious phrases.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But one pair I saw who, with clasped hands, turned -wretchedly away and passed back slowly toward the -entrance.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This is more cheerful than the Comfortable Bedroom,” -murmured a voice at my side.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The new speaker was a dapper young fellow with -a small, pert mustache and an air of insinuating -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>familiarity. He placed his hand upon my arm to -detain me as I started to move away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The kindly Council, which relieves old age of the -burden of life, also provides that the life to come -shall be as efficient for productivity as possible,” he -said. “I see you are a stranger and may not know -that these young people are here to learn the names -of their mates.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you mean that the Council decides whom each -man or woman is to marry?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To mate? Yap, in ordinary cases. There is no -mating for one-fourth of the population—that is to -say, those of the morons whose germ-plasm contains -impure dominants, and who are yet capable of sufficient -productivity to be permitted to reach maturity. -Grade 2, the ordinary defectives, who number another -fourth of the people, are at present mated, -though Doctor Sanson will soon abolish this practice. -The sexes of this class are united in accordance -with their Sanson rating, with a view to eliminating -the dominants.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And these are defectives of what you call Grade -2?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, these are all Grade 1 defectives,” he answered, -regarding me with amusement. “Defectives -such as us. We number forty-five per cent of -the population and form the average type. They are -free to choose within limits. The Council prepares -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>periodically lists of young men and young women -in whom the deficiencies are recessive, and those on -one side of the list may mate with any of those upon -the other side. Monogamy is, however, frowned -upon. I suppose you, in your country, never heard -of this plan?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, it used to be called the totem, or group marriage, -and was confined to the most degraded savages -on earth, the Aborigines of Australia,” I answered. -But the little man, who had evidently not -heard of Australia, only looked at me blankly. A -rush of people toward the next hall carried us apart, -and, not loath to lose my companion, I followed the -crowd, to find myself in the immense central auditorium, -within which orators were addressing the -people from various platforms.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Upon that nearest me a lecturer was holding -forth with the enthusiasm of some Dominican of old.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Produce! Produce!” he yelled, with wild gesticulations. -“Out with the unproductive who cannot -create a hektone and a quarter monthly! Out with -the moron! Out with the defective! Out with the -unadaptable! Out with the weak! Out with him -who denies the consubstantiality of Force and Matter! -No compromise! Sterilize, sterilize, as Doctor -Sanson demands of you! There are defectives in -the shops today, spreading the moron doctrines of -Christianity. There are asymmetries and variations -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>from the Sanson norm, cunningly concealed, legacies -of malformations from degenerate ancestors, -impure germ-plasm that menaces the future of the -human race. Let us support Sanson, citizens! Go -through the city with sickle and pruning-hook for -the perfect race of the future, in the name of democracy! -Praise the great Boss!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hurrah!” shrieked the mob enthusiastically.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Will you not go up and see the Temple goddess?” -whispered a voice in my ear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I started, but I could not discern the speaker. I -looked up. On either side of the auditorium a high -staircase of gleaming marble led to a gallery which -surrounded it. Doors were set in the wall of this in -many places, and above were more stairs and more -galleries, tier above tier. At the head of each stairway -one of the guards was posted. He stood there -like a statue, picturesque in his blue uniform, which -made a splotch of color against the white marble -wall.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Go up and ask no questions,” whispered somebody -on my other side; and again I turned quickly, -but none of those near me seemed to have spoken.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I went up the stairway, passing the guard, who -did not stop or question me. As I stopped in the -gallery, high above the auditorium, a door opened, -and there came out a man of extreme age, dressed in -white, with a gold ant badge on either shoulder. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>propped himself upon a staff, and stood blinking and -leering at me, and wagging his head like a grotesque -idol.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A stranger!” he exclaimed. “So you have come -to see the goddess of the Ant Temple! Would you -like to stand upon the altar platform and see her -face to face? It only costs one hektone, but it is -customary to offer a gratuity to the assistant priest.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I thrust the money into the shaking hand that he -stretched out to me. At that moment I did not know -whether I was still free, or whether this was that -peremptory summons to the Council of which David -had warned me. I realized that the spies who had -dogged my path were all links in some subtle -scheme.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old man preceded me into a large room on the -south side of the auditorium, beyond which I saw -another door. This seemed to be a robing-room -for the priests, for white garments with the gold -ant badge hung from the walls, which were covered -with mirrors, from each of which the horrible old -face grimaced at me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are to go through that door,” said the old -man, pointing to the far end of the room. “It is a -great privilege to look upon the face of the goddess. -Not everyone may do so, but you are not an ordinary -man, are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He shot a penetrating glance at me.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>“Thus the Messiah will look upon her when he -comes,” he continued. “At least, so runs the prophecy, -and remember, you may be he, for it is foretold -that he will come unknowing his mission. But -wait!”—for I was hastening toward the door—“you -must put on a priest’s robes. It is not proper -for a layman to look upon the goddess.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He indicated a white robe with the ant badge that -hung on a table beside me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Don’t be in a hurry,” he mumbled. “It is a great -pleasure to me to talk with strangers from remote -countries. Where do you come from? You look -like a man of the last century, come back to life. -How the barbarians of that period would stare if -they could see our civilization!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is this Temple?” I inquired. “Do men -worship an ant, and are you its priest?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He chuckled and leered at me. “Oh, no, I am a -very humble old man,” he answered. “I am only -an assistant priest. Boss Lembken is the Chief -Priest. And you ask about the Ant? The people -worship it, but it is not known whether they see it -as the symbol of labor, or whether they think it is a -god. The religious ideas of the people were always -a confused and chaotic jumble, even in the old days -of Christianity. But the Ant is only the transition -stage from God to Matter. We know there is no -God, nothing but Matter, and man is born of Matter -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>and destined to be resolved into it. But the people -are still ignorant, and it keeps them calm, to have -an ant to pray to. Besides, if there were not the Ant -they would turn to Christianity again and set back -the clock of progress.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I remember Christianity well. In my young -days it used to be a power. I used to go to church,” -he cackled. “Not that I believed in God, any more -than the rest. Only the aristocrats and the intellectuals -did that. I didn’t believe in the Devil either, -but I do now. Do you know the Devil’s name? It -is human nature.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I remained speechless beneath the spell that the -wretch cast over me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, the Devil is human nature,” he resumed. -“For it would thwart progress forever, groveling -before its idol of a soul. But already, when I was a -young man, only the intellectuals believed in Christianity. -Once it had been the masses. But Science -proved that there was nothing but Matter, and the -momentum of the materialistic impulse was too -strong for the reviving faith. The aristocrats should -have guarded their faith instead of letting the people -rise to control. But they were fools. They set up -in little rival bodies when Christ prayed for them -to be one. They permitted divorce when He said no. -They tried to compromise with Him, all except Rome -and barbarous Russia, and that is why St. Peter’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>still stands as a Cathedral while St. Paul’s is the Ant -Temple. I remember it all.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Christ knew. He knew they would go under if -they tried to sail with the wind. When Science said -there were no miracles they cut out the miracles. -And when the visionary Myers made his generation -think there might be miracles after all, they put some -of them back again, but very cautiously. They didn’t -know that the people weren’t going to follow them -into rationalism and then out again. Nobody was -going to believe when the leaders themselves didn’t -believe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“When He taught them how to heal the sick they -preferred to mix His prescription with drugs. They -couldn’t believe in one thing and they couldn’t believe -in the other. He told them to leave Caesar’s -things to Caesar, and they went into politics. They -tried to bargain with Socialism when it became -strong, but it wouldn’t have anything to do with -them. Then they preached housing reform and a -good living, when He praised poverty and told them -to preach resignation. They couldn’t obey in anything; -they thought they knew better; they tried to -follow the times after they split into pieces; of course -they went under.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is there no Christianity anywhere?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In your native Russia,” he jeered. “In St. -Peter’s, because the Italian Province segregates the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>evil to keep it under observation. In Cologne, because -the bishop learned the secret of the Ray. And -in the defectives’ shops. They say they have the -Scriptures hidden in there, but the Council has put -dozens to the torture and has never found them. It -is hard to clear the human mind of its inherited rubbish. -After the Revolution, Christianity continued -to be taught among other myths. But it aroused anti-social -instincts. Christians were the enemies of -human progress. They used to go into the Rest -Cure Home and ask to be vivisected in place of the -wretched morons there. You can’t build up a progressive -civilization out of people like that. So the -teaching was made a capital offense. That was -after we burned the bishops.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What!” I cried.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Death by burning came to us from the great -trans-Atlantic democracy, you know,” he said, leering -at me. “Europe had forgotten it. But we set -up the stakes again. I saw Archbishop Tremont, of -York, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster -burned side by side in the ruins of Westminster -Hall. Then there was Bonham, of London, -and Bethany, of Manchester, and Dean Cross, of -Chichester; we put them in plaster of paris and unslaked -lime first. The morons could have fled to -Skandogermania, which was not free then. But they -went, all three, into the Council Hall, and preached -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>to the Council. That was in Boss Rose’s time. So -they had to go. And they blessed us while their -bones were crackling. You can’t make a progressive -nation out of people like that.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I hurried toward the door. I pushed it open, and -it swung back noiselessly behind me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Within the vastness of the Temple I heard a murmur -rise, a wail of misery that made the ensuing -silence more dreadful still. For here I encountered -only thick gloom and emptiness, and soundless space, -as though some veil of awful silence had been drawn -before the tabernacle of an evil god. My knees shook -as I advanced, clutching the rail beside my hand.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I found myself upon a slender bridge that seemed -to span the vault. It widened in the center to a small, -square, stone-paved enclosure, like a flat altar-top, -surrounded by a close-wrought grille that gleamed -like gold. I halted here, and, looking down, saw, -far beneath, a throng whose white faces stared upward -like masks. Again that chant arose, and now -I heard its burden:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are immortal in the germ-plasm; make us -immortal in the body before we die.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then something beneath me began to assume -shape as my eyes grew used to the obscurity. It -was a great ant of gold, five hundred tons of it, perhaps, -erected on a great pedestal of stone; where -should have been the altar of the Savior of the world, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>there the abominable insect crawled, with its articulated, -smooth body, and one antenna upraised.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The symbol was graven clear. This was the -aspiration of mankind, and to this we had come, -through Science that would not look within, through -a feminism that had sought new, and the progressive -aims of ethical doctrinaires that had discarded the -old safeguards; Christ’s light yoke of well-tried -moral laws, sufficient to centuries; through all the -fanatic votaries of a mechanistic creed; polygamy -and mutilation, and all the shameful things from -which the race had struggled through suffering upward. -All the old evils which we had thought exorcised -forever had crept in on us again, out of the -shadows where they had lain concealed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I stood there, sick with horror, clinging to the rail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>How far from gentle St. Francis and St. Catherine, -and all the gracious spirits of the dead and -derided ages, progress had moved! Were those things -false and forgotten, those saintly ideals which had -shone like lamps of faith through the night of the -world? Was this the truth and were those nothing?</p> - -<p class='c011'>I heard a sobbing in the shadows beneath. I -looked down and perceived, immediately before the -Ant, an aged man prostrate. He muttered; and, -though I heard no words that I could understand, I -realized that, in his blind, helpless way, he was groping -toward the godhead.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>Then I looked up and saw something that sent the -blood throbbing through my head and drew my voice -from me in gasping breaths.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At the edge of the platform on which I stood, out -of the gloom, loomed the round body of the second -cylinder. And inside, through the face of unbroken -glass, I saw the sleeping face of Esther, my love of -a century ago.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The cap of the cylinder was half unscrewed.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <span class='large'>THE LORDS OF MISRULE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>I saw her eyelids quiver and half unclose an instant, -and, though there was no other sign of -awakening upon the mask-like face of sleep, I knew -she lived. The indicators upon the dials showed that -five days remained before the opening of the cylinder. -And, as I stared through the glass plate, so -horror-struck and shaken, some power seemed to -take possession of me and make me very calm. An -immense elation succeeded fear and rendered it impotent. -Esther was restored to me. We had not -slept through that whole century not to meet at last.</p> - -<p class='c011'>How many years we two had lain side by side -within our cylinders, down in the vault, I could not -know. Yet there had been a sweetness behind those -misty memories of my awakening as if our spirits -had been in contact during those hundred years of -helpless swoon.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The eyelids quivered again. But for the emaciation -and the dreadful pallor I might have thought -she was only lightly sleeping, and would awaken at -my call. The love in my heart surged up triumphantly. -For her sake I meant to play the man -before the Council.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>I meant to go there now. I think my instinct -must have been the courage born of hopelessness, -such as that which had carried the bishops to their -death. For only a desperate stroke could win me -Esther; and such a stroke must be made, should be -made. With steady steps I returned to the priests’ -room.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The dotard was waiting for me, and he came forward, -smiling and blinking into my face, searing my -soul with eyes as hard as agates.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am going to the Council,” I said quietly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked at me in terror. He seized me by the -arm.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, no, no!” he exclaimed. “You are to go to -your friends. The Council is not in session.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is in session. I have been held for it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You don’t understand. That is the Provincial -Council. This is a matter for the Federal Council, -and Sanson is not your friend. Don’t you understand -now? Sanson is working on the problem of -immortality and doesn’t suspect. Boss Lembken is -your friend. Don’t you know he is your friend?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” I answered contemptuously.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old man clutched me in extreme agitation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If you are headstrong you will go to ruin,” he -cried. “Boss Lembken is your friend. He sent for -you. Not Sanson. Boss Lembken discovered who -you were while Sanson was dreaming over his victims. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>If Sanson knew he would get you into his -power and overthrow the priesthood. He means to -destroy the Ant and have no god. He is going to -mate the goddess when she awakens—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He saw me start and clench my fists, and a deep-drawn -“Ah!” of relief came from his lips. For I -had betrayed my identity beyond all doubt; and it -was to make sure of this that I had been sent into -the Temple. I could see it all now.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now listen to me,” he said, coming near and -thrusting his repulsive old face into mine. “Boss -Lembken wants you. He wants to help you and -give you power. But he was not sure of you; and -so he had to use craft and caution. When the Messiah -comes Lembken will overthrow Sanson and -make the world free again. It was Lembken who -sent for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He was becoming incoherent with fright at my -obduracy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The People’s House is above the Temple,” he -continued. “Boss Lembken lives there. He has a -beautiful palace. You will be happy there. And -Sanson has no palace and no delights. He wants -nothing except to vivisect the morons. So you will -not want to go to Sanson. He can offer you nothing. -We must be cautious, and if he is in the Council -Hall we must wait till he has gone, for he controls -the Guard, and if he saw you he would have you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>seized. That is why I gave you a priest’s robes—because -Sanson dares not stop the priests, who are -under Lembken. Come with me, then.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I accompanied him out into the gallery above the -auditorium, in which the orators were still declaiming -to a lessening crowd. Sanson or Lembken, it -mattered little to me. I felt enmeshed in some plot -whose meaning was incomprehensible. But I meant -to win Esther. I walked like a somnambulist, feeling -that the dream might dissolve at any moment. A -shaft from the western sun struck blood-red on a -window. A pigeon that had perched among the columns -fluttered to the ground. Above me I saw tier -upon tier of galleries.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We ascended the marble stairway, the guards making -no attempt to stop us, nor were we challenged. -I noticed that they were armed with Ray rods, similar -to those that I had seen in the cellar; and they -raised them in salutation as we passed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We ascended flight after flight, and always the -guards posted at the top of each saluted us and -stepped aside. We passed across a little covered -bridge and presently entered a small rotunda, in -which a dozen guards were seated, sipping coffee -and chatting in low tones. Behind them was an -immensely high door marked in large letters</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>COUNCIL HALL</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c012'>To the right and left of it were smaller doors.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>We entered the door on the right, and the priest, -stopping, whispered to me:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You must make no sound. If Sanson is in Council -he must not discover us.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I found myself in a small room, with the inevitable -door at the farther end. Upon one side were two -apertures in the wall, disclosed by sliding panels that -moved noiselessly—spy-holes, each as large as the -bottom of a teacup. The priest stooped before one -and I looked through the other.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The immense Council Hall was dim, and it took -a few moments for my eyes to grow accustomed to -the obscurity. Then I saw at the distant end a raised -platform, on which stood two high chairs, like -thrones.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There were three men upon this platform, one -occupying each chair, and the third standing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>One was unmistakably Lembken, the obese old -boss of the Federation. He wore a trailing gown -of white, with a short mull cape about his shoulders, -and there were golden ants—as I discovered afterward—stamped -all over the fabric. He was lying -rather than standing, and his feet rested upon a stool. -He was smiling in evil fashion, and he was stout to -the verge of disease. I could not see his face -distinctly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Upon the second throne sat a man with a fanatic’s -face and a square beard of black that swept his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>breast. He had a large ant badge on either shoulder -of his white gown, and on one finger was an immensely -heavy ring of gold that projected beyond -the knuckles. This was the Deputy Chief Priest.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Standing between the two in the shadows, lolling -back half-insolently against Boss Lembken’s chair, to -whisper in his ear, and again turning to the priest, -was Sanson. I could not mistake the whitening hair -brushed back, the gestures of intense pride and -power, though I could hardly see the face. He wore -a tight tunic of white, without a badge, and he bore -himself with a complete absence of self-consciousness. -There was not a trace of pose in the completeness -of that manifested personality, with its alert -poise, cat-like and tense, as if each nerve and sinew -had been disciplined to serve the master-soul within.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I watched I heard a strident, metallic voice call -in loud tones:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Wait till the Goddess awakens and the Messiah -comes! He’ll make an end of Sanson and his cruelties, -and give us freedom again!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Now I perceived that behind Sanson and between -the two thrones stood a telephone funnel, attached -to some mechanism. It was from this that the voice -had issued. It was followed by the clacking sound -of a riband of paper being run off a reel. Sanson -stepped back, picked up the riband, and ran it -through his fingers, glancing at it indifferently.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>“The speaker lives in District 9, Block 47, but we -do not yet know his name. A trapper is watching,” -said the voice in the funnel.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A bell rang, the door on the left of the Council -Hall was opened by a guard, and a girl of about -eighteen entered. She was robed in white and on -her shoulder was the sign of a palm tree. She stood -before Boss Lembken’s throne with downcast face -and clasped hands, trembling violently.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They sent for me,” she said in a low voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the smile deepen on Lembken’s face. He -sat leering at her; then he shifted each foot down -from the stool and gathered himself, puffing, upon -his feet. He put his hand under her chin and raised -it, looking into her face. The girl twisted herself -away, screamed and began running toward the -door.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let me go home! Please—please!” she cried.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The guard at the door placed one hand over her -mouth and dragged her, struggling, through a small -door behind the funnel, which I had not seen.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I clenched my fists; only the thought of Esther -held me where I was.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ascribe the heretics,” said Lembken to the deputy -priest, and puffed out behind the guard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson stepped backward and touched the funnel -mechanism, which instantly began to scream.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Heresy in the paper shops!” it howled. “Examine -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>District 5. They say there is a God. Weed out -the morons there!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The writing mechanism began to clack again. I -saw the paper riband coil like a snake along the floor -between the thrones. Sanson stopped the machine, -which was beginning to screech once more. He -moved to the vacant throne and sat down.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Again the bell tinkled, and there came in a man -of about thirty years, in blue, leading a little boy by -the hand. He looked about him in bewilderment, -and then, seeing the priest, flung himself on his -knees and pressed his lips to the hem of his robe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is not true that I am a heretic, as they say,” he -babbled. “I believe in Science Supreme, and Force -and Matter, coexistent and consubstantial, according -to the Vienna Creed, and in the Boss, the Keeper -of Knowledge. That man dies as the beast dies. -And that we are immortal in the germ-plasm, -through our descendants. I believe in Darwin, -Hæckel, and Wells, who brought us to enlightenment—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That boy is a moron!” screamed Sanson, interrupting -the man’s parrot-rote by leaping from his -chair.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He dragged the child from the father, switched -on the solar light, and set him down, peering into -his face. He took the child’s head between his hands -and scanned it. His expression was transformed; he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>looked like a madman. And then I realized that the -man was really mad; a madman ruled the world, as -in the time of Caligula.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The father crept humbly toward Sanson; he was -shaking pitiably.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“He is a Grade 2 defective,” he whispered. “You -don’t take Grade 2 from the parents. He is Grade 2—the -doctors said so—” He repeated this over and -over, standing with hands clasped and staring eyes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I say he is a moron!” Sanson shouted. “The -doctors are fools. He is a brach. Look at that index -and that angle! Look at the cranium, asymmetrical -here—and here! The fingers flex too far apart, a -proof of deficiency. The ears project at different -angles, my eighth stigma of degeneracy. He is a -moron of the third grade, and must go to the -Vivi—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With an unhuman scream the father leaped at Sanson -and flung him to the ground, snatched up the -boy in his arms and began running toward the door. -From his throne the priest looked on impassively; it -was no business of his. The guard appeared.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But before the man reached the guard at the door -Sanson had leaped to his feet and pulled a Ray rod -from his tunic. He pointed it. I heard the catch -click. A stream of blinding, purple-white light -flashed forth. I heard the carpet rip as if a sword -had slashed it. A chip of wood flew high into the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>air. On the floor lay two charred, unrecognizable -bodies.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I confess my only impulse then was of fear. How -could I confront that devil, or Lembken, in his hell, -when for Esther’s sake I must be cautious and wise? -I plunged toward the farther door. The priest caught -at me, but I shook him off and flung him, stunned, -to the floor. I opened the door and rushed through.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was amazed to find myself upon a long, slender -bridge that spanned the central court of the vast -structure. I stopped, bewildered, not knowing where -to turn, and the whole scene burned itself upon my -brain in an instant.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The immense mass was divided into four separate -buildings. The Council Hall, from which I had -emerged, was on the southern side, and, looking -beyond it, I saw the Thames, winding like a silver -riband into the distance. Facing me was the north -wing, by which I had entered, containing the Vivisection -Bureau and other halls of nameless horrors, -with Sanson’s quarters. On my left hand the Temple -towered high over me. Above my head I saw the -outlines of the noble dome, and the palm trees behind -their crystal walls. A blood-red creeper trailed -down through a chink in the wall.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Upon my right was a massive fortress that I had -not hitherto perceived, floating above which was a -whole fleet of airships, evidently the same that I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>had seen when I flew into London. There must -have been more than a hundred of them, ranging -from tiny scoutplanes to huge monsters with glow -shields about them, projecting conical machines like -those that studded the top of the enclosing wall, but -smaller. On their prows were great jaws of steel, -in some cases closed, in others distended, fifteen feet -of projecting jaw and mandible, capable, as it looked, -of crushing steel plate like eggshells.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bridge on which I stood ran from the Council -Hall to the wing where Sanson dwelled. A bridge -from the Temple building ran straight to the fortress -of the airships at right angles to this, the two thus -crossing, forming a little enclosed space in the center. -At various spots, bridges from the enclosing fortress -crossed the court and entered the pile of buildings. -And the whole concept was so beautiful that even -then I stopped to gaze.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But I did not know whither to turn. In front of -me, where the bridge entered Sanson’s wing, a guard -stood watching me. As I approached the central -place where the two bridges met he raised his Ray -rod with a threatening gesture.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I turned to the right. Here, where the bridge -from the Temple entered the fort of the airships, I -saw an airscout in blue, with the white swan on his -breast, watching me. Again I stopped. My mind -was awhirl with the horrors that I had seen; I could -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>not think! I did not know what to do. All exit -seemed barred to me except that whereby I had come.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Beneath me lay the court, a broad expanse of -white, inlaid with geometrical figures of green grass. -On it crawled tiny figures in blue. I was halfway -between the court below and the Temple dome above; -yet everything was so still that the voices below came -up to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A group had gathered, chattering excitedly, about -something that lay hard by the Temple entrance. As -they moved this way and that I saw that it had been -a woman. She had been young; her garments had -been white; there was a gold palm on a torn-off fragment -that a gust of wind drove up toward me. I -caught at it, but it went sailing past and fluttered -down in the central court between the buildings.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the spectators look up toward the aerial -gardens. The blood-red creeping vine now swung -from an open crystal door. That paradise of tropic -beauty, those flame-colored flowers were such as -blossom in hell.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The crystal door above me clashed to and reopened -as the wind caught it. It seemed to clang rhythmically, -like a clear tocsin, high up beneath the dome, a -bell of doom to warn the blood-stained city. Again -it sounded like a workman’s hammer; and the -silence that covered everything made the sounds -more ominous and dread, as if Fate were hammering -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>out the minutes remaining before she slashed -her thread.</p> - -<p class='c011'>An old man pushed his way through the gathering -crowd. He peered into the white face, and -wrung his hands, and wept, and his voice rose in a -high, penetrating wail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’ll all be ended,” I heard him cry. “I can’t work -now. I can’t make up my time. I’ve spent my credit -margin. I’m old and outed and done with. I’ll have -to go to the Comfortable Bedroom.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was the old man whom I had seen earlier that -day. The crowd jeered and pressed forward, those -who were behind craning their necks and rising on -their toes to see the joint spectacle of death and grief. -The old man shook his gnarled fist at his dead -daughter.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You’ve killed me,” he sobbed in rage. “Why -couldn’t you have stayed up there till Sanson has -made us all immortal? I’m going to the Comfortable -Bedroom now, and my body will die like a beast’s, -and I’ll be ended.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And he broke into atrocious curses, while the -crowd screamed with delight and mocked his passion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The little gate on the inner side of the fort opened, -and a troop of the Guard emerged, carrying a -stretcher. At the sight of them the mob scuttled -away. The guards picked up the body and carried -it within the gate. One began scattering sand.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>Out of the crowd leaped an old man with flowing -hair and beard. He stood out in the court and shook -his fist toward the Temple dome.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Woe to you, accursed city!” he screamed. “Woe -to you in the day of judgment! Woe to your whites -and harlots when the judgment comes!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The crystal door banged and clashed open. A -woman in white put out her hand and closed it. A -latch-click pricked the air. The sun gilded the dome -and turned it to a ball of fire. Down in the court -the madman cried unceasingly.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_150.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>“Woe to you, accursed city!” he screamed. “Woe to you in the day of judgment! Woe to your whites and harlots when the judgment comes!”</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <span class='large'>THE PALACE OF PALMS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>The sun dipped behind the western buildings, -and the glare of the glow on fort and Temple -and encircling wall was like phosphorescent fire. I -saw the guards stirring in their enclosure. The -Airscouts’ Fortress shone, hard and brilliant, against -the sky.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I gathered my wits together. I had seen the hidden -things, and, because I knew of none other to -whom to turn, I resolved to appeal to David. Esther, -the prey of these insane degenerates when she -awakened ... David’s own secret troubles ... -could we not aid each other? Might not two men -accomplish something in these evil days?</p> - -<p class='c011'>I turned to the right across the bridge that led to -the Airscouts’ Fortress. The sentinel stood still, -watching me. He raised his Ray rod, not to threaten -me, but to salute, and I remembered that the airscouts -had no love for the Guard, and hence must -be under Lembken’s control. He took me for a -priest. But the weapon shook in his hand, and the -astonishment upon his face matched that on mine. -I recognized the man Jones, who had brought me -to London.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>“I want to leave this hell!” I cried. “Which way? -Which way?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You want—you want—?” he stammered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The Strangers’ House. I am lost here—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked at me in utter perplexity.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Help me!” I pleaded. “Show me the way!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The door behind him opened, and there stepped -out a man of about fifty years, dressed in white, -with a golden swan on each shoulder. Jones stepped -aside and saluted him. The newcomer approached -me. His hard, clean-shaven face was impenetrable, -and his eyes burned with a dull fire. Behind him -crept a second figure; it was the old priest.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There he is! Seize him!” he shrieked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The first man laid his hand on my shoulder. “I -am Air-Admiral Hancock,” he said. “You are to -accompany me to Boss Lembken.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I went with him across the bridge into a doorway -set in the west side of the Temple building. I expected -again to see the vast interior beneath me, but -we entered a narrow corridor and stepped into a -small automatic elevator. In a moment we had shot -up and halted inside the Palace entrance. Hancock -opened the door of the cage.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We were standing in a spacious hall, bare, save for -the hanging tapestries and heavy Persian rugs on the -mosaic floor. It was half dark, and there was a perfume -that made my head swim. Before the curtained -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>aperture opposite us stood a negro boy, with a Ray -rod in his hand. As we approached he threw the -curtain aside and saluted us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There were soft solar lights in the next room, -which was rose-red, and decorated and furnished in -the style of Louis Quatorze. Another negro stood in -the doorway opposite; he, too, saluted and threw the -curtain back.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The third room was enameled in blue. The blue -lights gave it an unearthly aspect, which was increased -by the baroque style of its ornamentation. -The perfume was stronger.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The negro at the door of the fourth room was a -giant. He wore the uniform of an eighteenth century -grenadier. His scarlet coat and white pigtail -formed vivid spots against the dull-gold curtain. -The room within was dark. We waited on the -threshold.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At first I could see nothing. Then, gradually, the -outlines of the room came into sight. There were -low divans and rugs, and mirrors on every wall multiplied -them. I heard a rasping sound, and a blotch -of crimson and green became a brilliant macaw that -scraped its way with its sharp claws from end to end -of a horizontal perch. Behind it I now saw the white -gleam of Lembken’s robe; then the couch on which -he lay; then the girl who crouched, fanning him, at -his feet; then the rotund form of the old man, the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>sharp eyes and the heavy jowl with the pendulous -cheeks.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have executed your orders, Boss,” said the Air-Admiral.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old man rose upon his feet heavily and -came puffing up to us. His heavy soft hands -wandered about my robes, patting me here and -there, while he puffed and snorted like some sea -monster.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You haven’t a knife or a Ray rod?” he inquired -suspiciously. “You haven’t anything to harm me? -I am an old, weak man. I am the people’s friend, -and yet many want to kill me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He seemed to satisfy himself with the result of his -inspection, and withdrew to his couch, picking up a -Ray rod and resting it across his knee.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He dismissed Hancock and the girl. She rose to -her feet briskly, with a mechanical smile. She was -about twenty years old, it seemed to me, but there -was a hardness and cruelty about her mouth that -shocked me, and the soul behind the mask of youth -seemed centuries old.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Amaranth wanted to stay, to hear what I was -going to say to you,” said Lembken, “but I make -everybody mind his own business in the People’s -House. Besides, she might have fallen in love with -you. I like to have good-looking people about me.” -He looked at me and at the Ray rod, and then at me -<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>again; then, with a petulant gesture, he sent the -weapon flying across the room.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There! You see I trust you!” he said, smiling. -“Sit down beside me. We understand each other, so -we will be frank. Men such as we are above deceptions. -You ought to be about a hundred and twenty-eight -years old!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He spoke jocularly, and yet I could see that he -wished to be sure I was the man he sought. Evidently -he knew my history. He heaved a sigh of -immense satisfaction when I acquiesced.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I was not sure it was you,” he said. “One has -to be cautious when so much depends on it. And -Sanson was beginning to suspect, but he does not -know that I discovered Lazaroff’s papers. Sanson -does not know everything, you see, Arnold. What -do you think of his Rest Cure, as the people term it? -It is his, not mine, you know.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I think he is Satan himself,” I answered quickly. -Yet I was not sure that I preferred this perfumed -degenerate to Sanson, with his maniac cruelty.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A smile crept over the flabby face. Lembken -looked pleased. He placed his hand upon my -shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A classical scholar,” he said. “You refer to the -mythical ruler of the infernal realms. Assuredly we -shall soon understand each other. Sanson is a strong -man. When I meet strong men I let them be as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>strong as they want to be. They break themselves -to pieces. In a democracy like ours there is no room -for strong men. Sanson doesn’t understand that. -He thinks the Mayor of the Palace is going to step -into the shoes of the Roi Fainéant. But the Roi -Fainéant always wins—if he sits still. I am the Roi -Fainéant.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was so amazed at the strange psychology he was -disclosing that I found no answer ready. I knew he -was dissembling some deep-laid purpose, but why -he had need of me I could not imagine. And the -man’s affectation of good-will almost began to -delude me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you like David’s daughter?” he began, so -suddenly that I started. “Ah!” he continued, shaking -his finger waggishly, “one seldom sees a woman -approximating so closely to the Sanson norm. There -is an attachment, if I know young men. How -would you like her for your own? I hit the mark, -then?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Before I could reply he was on another tack.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now, there is Hancock,” he resumed. “He is a -Christian, and ought to go to the defectives’ shops, -according to the law Sanson made. But I don’t care. -I would just as soon have Christianity as the Ant, or -Mormonism, as they have in America. I don’t like -tyranny. If I had my way everyone would be perfectly -free. Sanson doesn’t see that he has embittered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>the people. He is harrying them with his laws, -and they blame me. I am the people’s friend.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With a sudden, hoarse scream the macaw flew -from the bar and perched on Lembken’s shoulder, -where she sat, preening her plumage and croaking -at me. “The people’s friend,” she screamed, and -broke into choking laughter.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So you see it is entirely to your interest to help -me and not Sanson,” Lembken continued. “Reasonable -men cement their friendships with self-interest. -Come, let me look at you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He touched some switch near him, and the room -was illuminated with a blaze of solar light. The -golden ants upon his robes leaped into view. He -turned on the divan heavily and stared into my -face.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I can trust you,” he said in approbation. -“Well, Sanson will learn his error in four days’ time. -You shall live here with me and have a life of pleasure. -You need never think about the world below. -We do exactly what we please; that is my rule in the -People’s House.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The People’s House!” screamed the macaw, leaving -his shoulder and fluttering back to her perch, -from which she surveyed us coldly, head on one side. -“The People’s House! The people’s friend!” she -alternated, in a muttering diminuendo.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My head aches today,” said Lembken petulantly. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>“That is why I am sitting here. There has been an -accident: one of our ladies fell down through an -open door. It made my head ache.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I knew he lied when he spoke of an accident. I -knew that she had thrown herself down. The lie -brought back my mind to its focus; and in that -instant my lips were sealed, and my half-formed -intent to throw myself on Lembken’s mercy, pleading -for Esther and our love, died.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So we shall talk tomorrow,” Lembken continued. -“For the present you are one of us. You see your -interest lies in joining us, and the part you have to -play in return will be short and not difficult for a -man of your discernment. That small part will be -paid, four days hence—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was sure that it concerned Esther now. “And -will be all, and afterward your life will be free from -all laws and bonds. You never need leave the -People’s House unless you want to. Here everyone -does as he pleases. Come, Arnold, I will show -you the gardens.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stood up, puffing, and gave me his arm like an -old friend. The man’s manners were fascinating. -I could well understand how he had worked his way -to power. There was the good-fellowship of the -twentieth-century demagogue, but there was more; -there was discernment and culture; and there was -more still; there was a corrupting influence about his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>candor that seemed to strike its deadly roots down -into my moral nature and shrivel it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We passed out through the empty rooms. The -Palace was level with the Temple roof; there were -no steps. There was no stairway at all, for the whole -structure, which seemed to extend from side to side -of the vast roof, consisted of a single story. We -passed out between two giant negroes, who stood -like ebony statues. And now I saw that the four -rooms in which I had been, comprised only the smallest -portion of the building, which was set out irregularly, -receding here to leave space for a little lawn, -projecting there, evidently to enclose a garden. And -I discovered why the interior was so dark; there were -no windows—at least, on this side of the Palace.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a fairyland. I thought of the old palaces at -Capri. Here, high above the swarming streets, a -man might take his pleasure in ease indeed. The -crystal walls must have been sound-proof, for not a -murmur from below reached us. I heard the music -of bubbling brooks, the cries of birds among the -trees, the faint tinkle of a guitar or mandolin struck -somewhere in the recesses of the ramified buildings.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We were traversing a graveled path that ran -between the Palace and the crystal wall. Looking -down, I could see the glow circle of the fortress. -It had grown dark; the lights which lit our way, that -I had thought daylight, were from the solar vents, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>concealed so skilfully that they shed a soft, diffused -radiance everywhere, as of afternoon. We turned -the angle of the building, and I stopped short -and looked in involuntary admiration at the scene -before me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We might have stepped into the heart of some -Amazonian forest, for we were in a tangled wilderness -of palms and other tropical trees. The air was -filled with the scent of orange flowers, and in a grove -near me clusters of the bright fruit hung from the -weighted boughs. From the dank earth sprang clusters -of exotic, flaming flowers, and ferns. Huge -vines knotted themselves about the trunks of trees, -through whose recesses flew flocks of brilliantly -plumaged birds. The path became a trail, meandering -between the trees and crossing rushing brooklets. -The vast concavity of the dome above was like an -arched heaven of blue, studded with golden stars.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What do you think of the People’s House, -Arnold?” Lembken inquired, turning heavily upon -me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is a paradise,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was amazed to see two tears roll down his cheeks. -It was the same strange yielding to emotional impulse -that I had discerned before. So might Nero have -wept over his fiddle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is the reward of those who are the chosen of -the people,” he answered. “It will be your reward, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>Arnold. You must dream over this tonight, and -tomorrow we will make our compact. I have reserved -quarters for you. You will meet nobody you -do not wish to meet. That is the chief charm of the -People’s House; we meet only for our festivities; -otherwise we are quite free. Come, Arnold!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The scene, the atmosphere, the fearful personality -of Lembken seemed to appeal to some being in me -whose hideous presence I had never suspected. A -deadly inertia of the spirit was conquering me. -Esther, my love of a hundred years, became in memory -elusive as a dream to me. The sensuous appeal -of this wonderland swept over me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We had threaded the recesses of the groves, passing -secluded arbors of twisted vines, pergolas and -rustic cottages about which clung the scarlet trumpets -of pomegranate flowers; now the crystal walls -came into sight again, and, as we approached, a gust -of wind blew the door open. Instantly, to divert -my senses from that soul-destroying dominance, -there rushed in, the murmurs of the city, the voices -of the multitude below, and, above all, clear and distinct, -the wild accents of the whitebeard, who had -denounced the pleasure-palace that afternoon.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Woe to you, London, when your whitecoats sit -with their harlots in the high places! Woe! Woe!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I could not see him; through the door I saw only -the circle of the enclosing walls, a luminous orb -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>beneath, and the glare of the huge Ray guns; beyond -were the mighty buildings. Lembken put out his -hand and closed the door. The voices were cut off -into silence. I glanced at him, but his brow was -untroubled and serene.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He led me across a little, shelving lawn, through -a small gateway. There was nobody in the tiny close, -surrounded by a high marble wall. There were no -windows in the little house before me. It might have -held two rooms.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Three rooms,” said Lembken, as if he had read -my thoughts. “Good night, Arnold. Remember, -we do what we like to do in the People’s House. -There are no laws, no bonds. Dream of this paradise -that shall be yours, and open the third door -softly.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He left me. I pushed the first door open and -entered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a bedroom, furnished in the conventional -style which had not changed appreciably during the -century, but all in ebony or teak, and luxurious -almost beyond conception. The floor was covered -with a thick-piled Bokhara rug, of red and ivory, -and exquisite texture.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I passed through the inevitable swing door. The -second room was fitted as a combination library and -dining-room. There was an ebony bookcase, filled -with magnificently bound books, a sideboard on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>which stood wines and distilled liquors, a heavy -dining-table, armchairs.</p> - -<p class='c011'>This room had a window, and, looking out, I was -surprised to see beneath me the bridge that led to the -Airscouts’ Fortress, and, at the end of it, a figure in -blue, the white swan on his breast brilliant in the -glare of the solar light over his head.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I passed on. But instead of the swing door the -further wall contained a door of heavy, iron-bound -wood, with bolts of steel. Then I remembered Lembken’s -words: “Open the third door softly.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bolts moved in their sockets with hardly a -sound. I drew them; I opened the door and passed -into a tiny chamber.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A girl in white, with the palm badge upon her -shoulder, was standing there. The room had been -dark; the sudden influx of the solar light from the -library showed me the pallid face and blazing eyes -of her whom I had least thought to see before me—Elizabeth!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XIV<br /> <span class='large'>THE HOUSE ON THE WALL</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>She stared at me with eyes that seemed to see -nothing; and then a look of recognition came -into them, and a twitching smile upon her lips. She -put her arms out and came unsteadily toward me. -She threw her right arm back. I caught her hand -as it swung downward, and the dagger’s razor edge -grazed my shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The next moment she was fighting like a trapped -panther. I could not have imagined that such -strength and fierceness existed in any woman. She -twisted her wrists out of my grasp time and again, -and we wrestled for the dagger till the blood from -my slashed fingers fouled my priest’s robe. Each -of the stabbing blows she dealt so wildly would -have driven the dagger in to the hilt.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I grappled with her, caught her right arm at last, -and forced it upward, but we swayed to and fro -for nearly a minute before I mastered her. Even -then she had one last surprise in store, for, when -she saw that she was beaten, she drew her dagger -hand quickly backward, and I seized the point of the -blade within an inch of her breast. I forced her -fingers open brutally, and the steel fell to the floor. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>Then she wrested herself away, and crouched in the -corner, watching me, motionless, but still ready to -leap. Her gasping breaths were the only sound in -the room.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Elizabeth!” I cried. “I am not here to harm -you. Look at me; listen to me!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Her eyes were fixed on my face in terror that precluded -speech. How she watched me! Only once -did her glance waver, and that was toward the dagger -on the floor. I kicked it backward with my -heel.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Elizabeth, listen to me!” I implored her. “I did -not know that you were here, and I do not know -how you came here. I want to help you. I want to -take you home to David!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah!” she said, shuddering. “This is what you -whites call a romance in the style of the first century -<span class='fss'>B.C.</span>, a fashionable pastime, to dress yourselves as -blues or grays and worm your way into the homes -of your prospective victims, in order to study them, -and see whether they suit your taste and are worth -adding to your collection. I have read of that in -the Council factory novels. But there was never -any romance in it to me. So I appeared to suit -you, after my father had taken you into his home -so trustingly? You deceived him; but you never -deceived me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw her glance turn to the dagger again.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>“Elizabeth, you are talking nonsense,” I said, with -an affectation of brusqueness. “Let us sit down in -the next room, and I propose a compact. You shall -take the dagger, provided you do not attempt to -harm yourself with it till you have heard me. Is that -agreed?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She scrutinized me for half a minute. Then she -nodded. I preceded her into the library with an -affectation of indifference which I was far from -feeling, for I heard her stoop to pick the dagger up, -and wondered each instant whether I was about to -feel the point between my shoulders. However, my -faith appeared to inspire her with a measure of confidence, -for she followed me into the middle room -and consented to sit down.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But when I faced her, toying with the blade and -all aquiver with the reaction from the terrific nerve-tension, -I could hardly find words to utter. Whatever -purpose Lembken might have in using me, I had -the full measure of his mind. He had thought that -my three weeks spent in David’s house had inspired -me with a passion for the girl; and he had brought -her here, to leave her helpless in my power, a lure -to bind me to his interests beyond the possibility of -double-dealing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Before I could begin, Elizabeth collapsed. She -began to weep without restraint. I could only wait -till she grew more composed. I stared out through -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>the window, looking down toward the Airscouts’ -Fortress, whose roof rose perhaps twenty feet -beneath me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the sentry with the swan badge, pacing -below. Above him was the luminous wall of the -fortress, and over it, floating in the air, was a host -of ghostly shapes, airplanes encased in their phosphorescent -glow armor, which, as I watched them, -rose one by one into the air, circled, and flitted noiselessly -away toward the south, like bubbles blown by -children.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It could not have been late, for curfew had not -come into operation, and London was ablaze with the -solar light; but the crowds had gone home and everything -was quite still. As I withdrew from the window -Elizabeth rose and came timidly toward me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, have I done you a wrong?” she whispered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You misunderstood me,” I answered. “But you -could not have thought otherwise. If we understand -each other now we can help each other—isn’t that -so?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She seized me by both arms and gazed into my -face with an imploring, pitiful appeal that wrung -my heart.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then I thank God,” she said, “for that impulse -which held me from self-destruction. Arnold, do -you remember that promise I made to you one day? -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>I remembered it; I remembered it, and it was that -alone which stayed my hand this afternoon, when the -emissary from Lembken came, and there was only -the one barred door between us, and I stood behind it, -with the knife at my breast. Then I resolved to keep -my promise to you, and to let them bring me here, -and—to kill Lembken—but it was you! When you -disappeared from the Strangers’ House this morning -we feared for your safety. We thought you had -been seized or lured away. Then my father was -summoned on some pretext back to the Strangers’ -Bureau, and the airscout came—Lembken’s man. I -thought I was for Lembken—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She broke off, and I took her hands in mine.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Elizabeth,” I said, “my dear, I do not understand -anything of what you tell me. How could they bring -you here against your will?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She looked at me in amazement.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I see you do not understand,” she answered. -“And yet you are dressed as a priest. I cannot tell -you now. But the airscout who had been sent for -me was sorry when he saw that I was not willing, like -most women. He took the knife from me, but afterward -he let me keep it; he was kind and promised to -carry the news to Jones, our friend. The airscouts -are disloyal to Lembken, and hate his cruelty, but he -dared not disobey. We went by scoutplane from the -roof, and Lembken’s women took me and clothed me -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>in this dress of palms, and carried me here, laughing -at me. They did not find the knife. I hid that; I -meant to serve the Province and the world by killing -Lembken. But then I saw you, Arnold, and—and—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She burst into a new storm of weeping. I drew -her to me and placed her head on my shoulder. I -felt a cold, burning fire of resolution in my heart -which never disappeared. Something, some spiritual -door was opened in me. I became part of the -wretchedness of the world and suffered its sorrows; -pleasure seemed the worst part of life then. I think, -too, I loved Esther the better because of that compassion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>When at last Elizabeth raised her head I was -struck by the transformation in her appearance. It -seemed the reflection of my own determination. I -had put forth my will and conquered, and her own -seemed one with mine.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am going to save you, Elizabeth,” I said. “You -are not destined for this earthly hell.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, are you yourself in danger here?” she -asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Only of hell-fire,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You must save yourself and not think of me,” -she said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I bade her sit down, and went back to the entrance -of the little house. I had half expected that the door -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>would have been locked, but it stood open, having -become unhasped, and the sickly odor of the pervading -perfume clung to the warm, stale air. I crossed -the close to the gate that led into the garden of palms, -and stood there in hesitation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The solar lights had been turned off, and all was -dark, except for varicolored lanterns twinkling -among the trees. Yet I was aware of souls peopling -that darkness. I heard the tinkle of stringed instruments; -I had the sense of hidden beings in the undergrowth. -If hell can wear the mask of beauty, surely -it did that night.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I crossed the lawn and began to skirt the graveled -path that extended before me, working my way -toward the front of the Palace. The squat, white -building glittered against the darkness. Nobody -stirred at the entrance; there were no lights, but -always I had the sense of something watching me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At last I saw the crystal walls on the west side, -and, beyond them, the phosphorescence of the glow -buildings. I stood in hesitancy. On my right stood -the thickets; on my left the crystal ended in a stone -wall. There was no egress except through the Palace -itself. Lembken left nothing to surprise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I turned I heard the rustle of stealthy footsteps -near me. A red spark drew my eyes along the -vista of the orange trees, whose perfumed flowers -dispelled the cloying odor of the scented night. I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>saw a Mænad’s face, framed in a leopard skin, peering -at me above a bank of hibiscus. I thought I recognized -the girl Amaranth; but it vanished with the -dying of the spark, and subdued laughter followed it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>All that was evil in the world seemed to have its -focus there. I felt it, breathed it, once more its -psychic dominance oppressed me heavily. I saw with -sudden intuition why, in a world less stable, witches -were burned, how passionately the souls of simple -men fought for their heritage of truth and law. This -was the negation of life, of all that struggling life -that aspired upward, and set its heel upon the serpent’s -head. Old myths, made real in this new light, -flashed into memory.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I hurried back to the close and fastened the gate -behind me. The sweat was dripping from my forehead -when I regained the safety of the little house. -I burst from the first room into the second.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Elizabeth was not there.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I ran into the third room. She was not there, -either. Terror gripped me. Had she been lured -away during the few minutes of my absence? It -seemed impossible. She would have died there.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then my eyes fell on something that hung outside -the window, dangling, as it seemed, from a fixed -point above. It was a rope ladder, and moving outward. -As I watched, I saw it begin to rise in a succession -of short jerks.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>I grasped it with my hands. It pulled me from the -floor. I clung to it, striving to get my feet upon -the rungs. It drew me to the level of the window, -but I would not let go. It pulled me through the -window-gap, and I swung far out above the Airscouts’ -Fortress. Over me I saw the dark outlines -of an unshielded scoutplane, high in the air.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I swung by my hands at the rope’s end, like the -weight of a pendulum, making great transverse -sweeps that carried me high above the bridge, from -end to end of the fortress roof. I saw the courts -revolve beneath me. I swept from the crystal wall -out into nothingness, and London was a reeling dance -of phosphorescent maze. Then the ladder began to -descend. I felt the roof of the fortress touch my -feet, wrenched my numbed hands away, and fell. -A moment later the airplane dropped beside me as -noiselessly as an alighting bird, and two men sprang -from it and seized me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>One was the airscout Jones. He caught me by -both arms and forced me backward. But the other -leaped at my throat. It was David; and he would -have strangled me, had not Jones pulled him away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, to my vast relief, Elizabeth ran forward, -interposing herself between us. “Arnold is not to -blame!” she cried. “He tried to save me!”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_172.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>It pulled me through the window-gap, and I swung far out above the Airscouts’ Fortress</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>David’s hands fell to his sides. The airscout -caught me by the arms and pulled me toward an elevator -entrance. He forced me into the cage, the -others following, and we descended a few feet, -emerging into a small, bare room with walls of -unsquared stone.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Jones sent the elevator up and pulled the door of -the shaft to.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now you can speak. You have five minutes to -explain yourself,” he said. He pulled a Ray rod -from his tunic and looked at David, who nodded.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XV<br /> <span class='large'>THE AIRSCOUTS’ FORTRESS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>So I told them my story from the beginning. I -spoke of the days of the Institute and Lazaroff’s -experiment, of my awakening within the cylinder -at the end of a century of sleep, my flight from the -cellar and my discovery by Jones. I continued, telling -of my first bewilderment in London, of David’s -kindness which had saved my reason, described my -summons that morning and the relays of spies who -had led me to the Temple. When I narrated my discovery -of the cylinder containing Esther’s living -body I raised my eyes to David’s and perceived that -I was no longer in the position of a prisoner awaiting -death.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David’s aspect had changed; he was trembling -violently and struggling to speak. He looked fearfully -at me, and Jones was hardly less moved. Then -Elizabeth slipped her hand into mine.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We believe you, Arnold,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Three times David attempted to speak while I was -sketching briefly the remainder of my story up to the -point of my encounter with Elizabeth, and each time -his voice failed him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, forgive me,” he managed to say at last. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>“We know that every word you have told us is true, -if only you had told me before! But I see how incredible -you must have thought your story. Now -listen to me!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The horrors of this government will not last -much longer. Plans are well under way to make an -end of democracy and restore liberty to the world. -You have unwittingly placed a wonderful weapon in -our hands. No man can be neutral in such times. -Now, Arnold, you have to make a decision which will -affect not yourself only, but all of us, Britain, the -Federation, and the race of men. You must choose -your party.” He turned to Jones. “He must be -told nothing until the time arrives,” he continued, -assuming a tone of authority. “You will say nothing—nor -you, Elizabeth.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He turned to me again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” he said, “you must make your choice -now. Lembken needs you for reasons which are -patent to us, thanks to your statement. If you go -back to him he can give you power and liberty to lord -it over the people until the quick day of reckoning -arrives. If you join us you must become an outlaw -and an associate in the most desperate endeavor, play -a leading part and share our dangers.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How can you doubt me?” I asked. “I am with -you, now, and at all times.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>David held up his hand. “Wait!” he said. “You -<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>must first understand our situation, and why we are -here tonight.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is not necessary, David,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, it is necessary. Because you do not -know the depth of our intolerable bondage. I am -going to tell you of my own life, that you may -judge.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I begin with my father. As I told you, he was -epileptic in youth. He outgrew the attacks, and -because the Liberal government never dared to enforce -the Defectives’ Law which it passed in 1930, -he was able to marry, much later, a girl to whom he -had been engaged for many years. They had lived -quietly in what was then called Wales, in a rural -community that had somehow managed to escape -the excesses which began in 1945.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But my father was a marked man, because he -was on the secret defectives’ list, and a Conservative. -A few weeks after his marriage the storm of revolution -burst over Dolgelly. The army of clerks and -civil officers that followed the troops of the victorious -democracy raked the country fine for victims. With -his young bride my father fled to the mountains, -where I was born, and they existed there, heaven -knows how, till an opportunity arrived for flight -abroad. When the restoration came he returned, -and rebuilt his ruined home.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My father was a student of history, and he knew -<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>that the peace which had descended over the distracted -country was only a lull in the storm of violence. -He resolved to teach me all the old knowledge, -which had fallen into decay. He wanted me -to play a leading part in political life, as his forebears -had done. But the second revolution was upon us -when I was a youth of nineteen. Fortunately, my -parents were both dead.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The mob started burning defectives then. For -many there was the chance of submission to the new -government, nominally under Boss Rose, which Sanson -was constructing; but there was none for me, -since epilepsy was then, owing to the ephemeral -theory of some forgotten scientist, regarded as the -unpardonable sin. I managed to escape to Denmark, -and spent the next sixteen years upon the Continent, -wandering from place to place as the Federation -came into being. I married a Swiss lady at Lausanne, -where Elizabeth was born. We had to fly -by night, when the child was a week old. My wife -could not survive the journey over the mountain -passes in the middle of winter. She died in what was -called Austria, two days after our arrival there. -With Elizabeth I continued my flight eastward, and -found refuge in Greece.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I said that the mob had begun to burn defectives. -But the Council changed that. The word ‘productivity’ -was the new fetish, and, seeing that the murder -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>of half the population would decrease the output, -the Council resolved to imprison defectives in the -workshops for life instead. But even this did not -work. In 1999 Boss Rose became alarmed at the -depopulation caused by the universal terror. Men -denounced their brothers for small rewards, and -wives their husbands, when they grew tired of them. -Men and women were crossing the North Sea in tiny -skiffs, or perishing in the waves, flying into the glens -of Scotland, organizing in bands and living a hunted -life within the forests that had begun to cover the -country. Boss Rose issued an amnesty decree. -Defectives who returned and were able to produce a -hektone and a quarter monthly were not to be proscribed. -I returned to Britain and secured employment -in the Strangers’ Bureau, which had just been -established, a post for which my education and experiences -abroad qualified me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ten years ago Boss Rose fell under an assassin’s -dagger. The Council, under the influence of Sanson, -issued a decree that no faith was to be kept with -defectives. Sanson, then supreme behind the mask -of Lembken, began to harry the people. It was then -he introduced his system of mating under Council -supervision.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is abominable!” I cried.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yet, like all our institutions, it has its roots far -back in the past,” said David, “and only needed the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>abandonment of the Christian ethic to spring full-fledged -into existence. The Prophet Wells foreshadowed -it, as did also Ellen Key; and on this point -the followers of Galton joined the Socialist government -in a concerted attack upon monogamy. This, in -fact, has been the crux of the old battle between Socialism -and the Church: on the one hand the old ideal -of the family as the unit of society, and marriage an -indissoluble bond; on the other the individual, free -from responsibility and seeking his own fancied freedom. -Even in the Prophet’s time America had practically -abandoned monogamy, while the anti-social -propaganda was being secretly carried on by the -teaching of what was called sex hygiene in the -schools. When the churches compromised with divorce, -Protestantism finally collapsed, and flung half -the civilized world back into paganism.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It was said that the children—” I began.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The answer was State rearing, Arnold, as had -been urged by many men and some women of liberal -and progressive minds. We tried that in 2002. Elizabeth -was torn from me. For six months we had -public crèches in every city. There was much public -dissatisfaction, though the children were not taken -from their mothers till they had been weaned. That -was the time when the Guard was formed, consisting -of Janissaries trained from youth by the Council -and pledged to them. However, what caused the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>abandonment of the crèche system was a quite unexpected -happening. Despite the utmost care, despite a -process of automatic feeding in germ-proof incubators, -which made it impossible for any of the little -inmates to lack the advantages of the latest hygienic -theories, the children died.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This phenomenon was never explained satisfactorily, -and the mortality, which ranged from eighty -to ninety per cent, shocked the Province profoundly, -for it meant an intolerable lessening in the productivity -of the next generation. The children were returned -to their parents. Elizabeth, who was above -the age curve of maximum mortality, came back to -me, and, in spite of rigorous inspection by the officials -of the Children’s Bureau, I have managed to -keep her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I must be brief, Arnold. I have told you -that it was decreed no faith was to be kept with -defectives. The net was cast over all who, trusting -to the proclamation, had returned from the forests -and waste places, and from abroad. Gradually they -were sorted out and ascribed. Many records of -heredity had disappeared during the Revolution, but -they had my father’s in the Bureau of Pedigrees and -Relationships. Since then I have waited in suspense -daily. They know it, and, if I have not been condemned -to the workshops, it is through Lembken’s -favor, for he was head of the Strangers’ Bureau -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>before the assassination of Boss Rose, and I worked -under him.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But is there no law?” I cried. “Is there no -charter of liberty at all?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, yes, Arnold. We still have Magna Charta, -and Habeas Corpus, and many other documents, and -occasionally these are invoked. There is an old man -in the paper shops who has appealed against imprisonment -and carried his case through twenty or thirty -courts since he was shut up as a boy, and if he lives -long enough his appeal will come before the Council. -But you see, Arnold, one of the first acts of the victorious -democracy was to institute the election and -the recall of judges.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They think I fear for my own liberty,” he continued, -beginning to pace the floor. “They do not -know—happily they do not know.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he went on to tell me that which concerned -the girl’s arrest that afternoon.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It appeared that Elizabeth was one of those very -few who were physically almost perfect, and, as -such, she had been in danger of being placed on the -list of those who were to enter the harems of the -whites. David’s sole hope of saving her lay in the -fact that she was penalized six points because her -grandfather had had epileptic seizures. But she -approximated so closely to the Sanson norm—and -the child had been innocent enough to head the district -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>list of those qualifying in mentality by examination -upon the Binet board—that there had been -little hope for her. This fear had been increased by -the fact that Lembken had seen Elizabeth, and had -recently summoned her and her father to the Council -Hall, under the pretext of wishing to confer some -favor upon an old subordinate.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Now I gathered in the last threads of the skein. -David had returned from the Strangers’ Bureau that -afternoon to find the apartment empty. Jones had -conveyed the news to him, and had secreted him in -the Airscouts’ Fortress, pending a plan of rescue, a -task which was only rendered possible through the -disaffection of Lembken’s airscouts. Jones had seen -me in my priest’s robes, and the two had come to the -natural conclusion that I had been a spy, playing one -of the romantic parts in fashion among the whites, -and approved in the Council’s novels, in order to see -Elizabeth before selecting her. We had been discovered -at the window, the position of the little house -had given Jones the opportunity of rescuing the girl -with his scoutplane, and, but for my return while the -rope still dangled before the aperture, I should never -have known the secret of Elizabeth’s disappearance. -No wonder David had flown at my throat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now, we must act at once,” said David. “We -are going to seek refuge in the forests where our -friends are hiding. Jones will carry us there tonight -<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>when he starts in his scoutplane on patrol duty. It -is a difficult problem to pass the night patrol. But -Jones can get us through. And now, Arnold, what is -your decision?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I made it long ago,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are with us?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Indeed, I am.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>David wrung my hand hard. “You have decided -wisely,” he said, “and by your decision you have -taken the only means possible to save the woman you -love. For the Sanson régime is crumbling, and your -presence means, what you cannot yet imagine, to the -cause of liberty. We have five thousand outlaws and -fugitives from the defectives’ shops, scattered in -secret hiding places about London. We have made -Ray rods in the shops and have secreted provisions. -Tonight the heads of the movement are to -assemble—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In the cellar where I lay so long!” I exclaimed, -with sudden intuition. “And Jones had been there -with Ray rods when he found me!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Correct,” answered Jones, in his laconic manner.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We remain here until midnight,” said David. -“Then Jones will take us when he starts to relieve -the first patrol.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Be assured that I am with you to the end,” I -said. And I swore that I would do all in my power, -so long as I had life and liberty, to fight for human -<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>freedom. And as I swore I had a vision of the girl, -mangled and crushed upon the stones beneath that -tropical, aerial hell beneath the noble dome of England’s -shameful temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I think the resolution in my manner must have -enkindled David’s hopes, for he put out his hand -and caught mine again, and wrung and held it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You do not know, Arnold, how necessary you are -to us,” he said. “But tonight you shall be told. I am -old, Arnold, and I have little courage. I have lived -through too many changes and frustrated hopes. I -had grown used and resigned to things that had come -to seem unchangeable. The freedom of my youth -was only a dream to me. Sometimes I doubted -whether men had ever been free. It was your surprise, -your ignorance, then the indignation which you -thought I did not see that made me begin to understand -my own degradation. And it was today’s -events that gave me heart to work with all my might -for the cause to which I had only languidly adhered. -I have been one of the revolutionary committee for -months, and now I shall fight whole-heartedly, and -you with me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“David,” I said with sudden conviction, “you are -a Christian.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His eyes suddenly seemed to blaze. “I am!” he -cried. “As we all are. I have temporized with evil -all these years, but now I cannot do so any more. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>The hope of the world can never be crushed out; it is -spreading everywhere. All of us are enlisted under -that flag that was raised on the Mount two thousand -years ago. We see that without Christ, life is intolerable. -I knew your faith from the first, Arnold, -although I dared not speak, I knew it at the beginning -because I thought you were a Russian. That -was why I befriended you. We know our own!” -he cried triumphantly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Elizabeth put one arm about her father’s neck and -extended her free hand to me. I clasped it, and then -the airscout’s; and so we pledged ourselves.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XVI<br /> <span class='large'>THE MESSIAH’S ANNUNCIATION</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Jones left us and came back with some food. -Upon his arm he carried a stranger’s uniform, -which he handed to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You cannot wear those robes,” he said. “Take -this. It should fit you; it belonged to one of our -recruits who was ascribed last week and has not yet -returned it to the Wool Stores.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was glad to see the last of the priest’s robes. He -carried them away, promising to return for us in an -hour. Elizabeth made us eat, but we had little heart -to do so. At her insistence, however, we made the -best display of appetite that was possible.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The room was only faintly illumined by the reflected -solar light that issued up the elevator shaft. -With it there mounted the sound of the voices of the -airscouts in their barracks below. Sometimes the -elevator rushed by, arousing a thrill of fear in each -of us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David drew me toward him and began speaking -softly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You know nothing of Paul,” he said. “His name -is Paul Llewellyn—for we observe Sanson’s laws no -longer. He was to have mated Elizabeth.”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>“Married?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, married, before the Cold Solstice. His -grandfather was my father’s steward at Dolgelly. -Our families remained in touch through all the civil -turmoil, and he is the last of his, as Elizabeth is the -last of mine. He was given the name Paul, the -father retaining the family name, which was to alternate -in each generation, as is the custom nowadays. -That law of Sanson’s must be one of the first to go. -It aimed, of course, to destroy the vestiges of the -family that remained.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Paul was a Grade 1 defective, and we felt sure -that Elizabeth would come under the same classification, -so that they would be free to mate. They were -waiting for the lists to be published, but Elizabeth -had not been ascribed when the last list went up, and -meanwhile Paul was sent to the defectives’ shops. -Arnold, did you ever hear of the doctrine called -Apostolic Succession?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course, David.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That the functions of the priesthood are transmitted -by the laying on of hands? The English -Church possessed the tradition, and it has never been -lost, though most of our people attach, I am afraid, -some magical idea to the ancient rite. Our bishop -is a poor, illiterate old man, a machinist by trade, but -Bonham laid his hands on him before he was burned -in Westminster Hall. Bishop Alfred was to have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>blessed the union. A week before Fruit Equinox, -Paul was taken in the bishop’s home by Sanson’s -spies. Both were condemned to life imprisonment -in the defectives’ shops as Christians. Both escaped -among the last batch of fugitives. Elizabeth hopes -to meet Paul tonight.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And I hope so, with all my heart,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The cage stopped at the door and Jones came in.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We can go now. The last of the scoutplanes has -gone,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We went up to the roof. Deep night was over -and about us. The phosphorescent fronts of the -glow-painted buildings gave London the aspect of -long lines of parallel and intersecting palisades of -ghostly light; but the glow paint illumined nothing, -and the deep canyons of the streets were of velvety -blackness. The white circle of the fortress wall surrounded -us. Outside the region of the glow, London -was an indistinguishable blurred shadow, save where -the searchlights from the departing scoutplanes -illumined it. They hovered in a long line above the -city, their position only discernible from the white -searchrays that emanated from them as they swept -the city below. Slowly they made their way into -the southern distance.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I groped for reality in this succession of bewildering -scenes, and hardly found it. Rain began to fall, -spattering on the crystal walls of the adjacent gardens, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>in which the flickering colored lights still -twinkled. My face was wet with it. I was thinking -of the old days, when life was free: Sir Spofforth’s -rain-swept garden, the scent of Esther’s tea-roses, -and the hum of the ungainly, noisy town of Croydon -that last evening. I saw Esther’s face vividly upon -the velvet screen of the night.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Elizabeth’s hand stole into mine.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are our hope, Arnold. You can inspire us -to victory,” she whispered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Jones had gotten the scoutplane ready, and the -vessel now rested on the flat roof, as a bird on its -perching place. It was a little craft, even smaller -than my memory of it had been, and it carried no -Ray shield to betray its presence. Jones drew David -aside and held a whispered colloquy with him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are about ready,” he said, as they came back -to us. “I’ve shifted the searchlight to the rear socket -to balance the extra weight. She’ll carry us. I’ll -have time to take you to your destination and report -for scout duty when Hancock comes the round. But -if I fly with the searchlight showing, any of the -planes may signal me to stop—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He rubbed his chin, and the old irresolution came -upon his face.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If I fly dark it’s a leather vat offense,” he added. -“And the battleplanes would fire on us.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He paused and rubbed his chin again.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>“I’ll fly dark,” he said, and so settled the matter -firmly in his own mind. And, his mind thus made -up, I knew nothing would change it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was some difficulty in disposing of us. -Finally Jones placed us three in the double seat, -Elizabeth in the center and David and I on either -side of her. He himself squatted upon the chassis -before us, the wheel in his hands. He touched the -starting lever with his right foot, and the craft rose -heavily into the air, straining beneath her burden. -In spite of the counterbalance of the searchlight -behind, the nose of the plane dipped constantly, so -that our flight was a succession of abrupt ascents -and declinations.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was freezing cold up in the air. Gradually we -ascended, till I felt the fresh wind from the Thames -estuary beat on my face. Presently the south was -cleft by flaming serpents, with eyes of fire.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The food airvans from France,” said David, -pointing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Now we soared over the outlying factories and -warehouses. A huge, glow-painted building sprang -into view out of the shadows below.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The defectives’ workshops for this district,” -David continued. “Yonder is the Council’s art -factory.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The darkness in front of us began to be studded -with long parallelograms of dazzling glow, set at -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>wide intervals, each capped with the conical Ray -guns. From these, extending fanwise toward the -ground, appearing pink in contrast with the glow’s -intensely purple white, the searchlights wavered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Jones halted the scoutplane. “The battleplanes,” -he said, pointing. “They are posted nightly around -London now. You know the reason, David?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>David started and placed his hand in inquiry upon -the airscout’s shoulder. Jones’s voice sank to a -whisper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is the merest rumor among our men,” he said. -“One reads it in their faces rather than hears it -spoken, for we are afraid of one another. One can -be sure that Sanson has his spies among us. But -the scoutplanes are sufficient to patrol London and -detect fugitives, and if the battleplanes are sent out -there is hope the rumor may be true. If the Tsar -has broken out from Tula—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank God!” said David in a tense whisper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“He will overrun Skandogermania in a week, for -it is as disaffected as Britain. The airscouts there -will go over to him. There is no force to stop him, -except our planes and the Guard.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the joy on David’s face. Could barbarous -Russia indeed bring freedom to the Western World?</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is only a rumor,” continued Jones. “A rumor, -you understand, David, backed by the presence of the -battleplane squadron around the city nightly, words -<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>let fall in the People’s House, retailed by gossiping -servants, the sudden summons last night of Air-Admiral -Hancock—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But the Russians have been slaughtered in thousands!” -I exclaimed. “I saw the picture upon the -screen.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Jones laughed and David smiled.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Those pictures are for the people,” said the airscout. -“They were taken by night inside the fortress -here. The Guard dressed for the part.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Still, how could the Russians win without the -Ray?” asked David doubtfully.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can answer that,” I said. “All history shows -that no weapon is strong enough to conquer men who -are ready to die for a right idea against an evil one. -Ideas are stronger than the deadliest arm man has -contrived. That has always been so and always -will be so.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Again Elizabeth’s hand crept into mine. “You -must tell our people that, Arnold,” she said. “You -know the secret of stirring them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But Hancock will stand by Lembken?” inquired -David.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yap, and will hold at least a quarter of our men -to him,” said Jones. “He will serve Lembken -through Sanson, so long as Sanson remains loyal. -If Sanson turns against Lembken to seize the -supreme power, Hancock will fight him to the death. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>Sanson sent the Air-Admiral’s son to the Rest Cure -as a moron, years ago, when Hancock was unknown. -Sanson doesn’t remember it, but Hancock remembers.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I shuddered. “Why, then, is not Hancock with -us?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There are traditions of loyalty in his family,” -answered Jones. “Hancock is queer. Now we go -up. Hold fast.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The scoutplane creaked and rocked and plunged -like a ship in a gale as, foot by foot, he jerked her -head into the higher air. The gleaming glow parallelograms -of the battleplanes seemed to shoot downward -as we soared above them. We had passed -them when, like some black air monster, a large, dark -plane glided beneath us. I felt our scoutplane thrill -as she shot upward, so suddenly that she rose almost -to the perpendicular, jerking us back against the -uprights.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Jones was straining madly at the wheel, and I -realized that the dark plane was in pursuit of us. I -saw her swoop out of the night, missing us by a yard. -She disappeared. I heard the divided air hiss as she -approached again, and the next instant the blinding -searchlight enveloped us, and a voice hailed us, -piping thin through the frosty night. Then the light -was astern, and groping impotently beneath us as we -rose to a higher level. Jones strained at the vertical -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>rudder, pushing the plane’s nose up and still upward, -battling like a weather-beaten bird against the wind.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Again the searchlight found us, and then, out of -the heart of it, turning the keen white glare to a baby -pink that fringed it, there hissed a light ten times -more brilliant, snapping and crackling, into the void. -Jones veered, still mounting. The dazzling light -flared out again. The upright that I held snapped -in my hand. I slipped in my seat, but David reached -out and held me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Once more the Ray flash came, but under us. The -darkness and our pilot’s courage had saved us. The -searchlight groped far underneath. Our scoutplane -dipped, soared, dipped, caught the wind, and we volplaned -at furious speed for miles down a gradient of -cushiony air.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I felt Elizabeth tremble, and placed my arms -around her to hold her. Jones stayed the plane and -clapped his numbed hands together, whistling -through his teeth. He jerked his head around. The -moon was beginning to rise; it was a little lighter, -and I saw that his face was dripping wet.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A thread of an escape!” he said. “If she had -struck us fair with the Ray we’d have buckled up like -paper. Snapped one upright, didn’t it?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was a cut of two inches in the steel—a -clean cut, and the edges fused as if from fire.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That was Hancock’s dispatchplane,” said Jones. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>“He carries no light. But—the voice didn’t sound -like Hancock’s.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are we safe now?” asked David, looking back -to where the shrunken figures of the battleplanes -were ranged behind us on the horizon.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Safe long ago,” said Jones. “But it was touch-and-go -while I was trying to top that southeaster. -He lost us at the summit, though, and he couldn’t -have caught us on that down-grade.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>We started again, traveling more slowly, at a -lower altitude, and planing downward until I heard -the wind in the tree boughs and saw the glistening -snow beneath. We brushed the top-most twigs. The -scoutplane flitted backward and forward, seeking the -old road.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I ought to know it in the dark,” said Jones. “I -don’t want to turn on the searchlight if I can help it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>To and fro we went like a fluttering bird, until the -cleft of the road appeared among the trees. Then -we dropped softly to the ground. I was almost -too cramped and cold to move. With difficulty I -descended and helped Elizabeth out. David followed, -and we three stood chafing our hands and stamping -until the circulation was restored.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Jones leaned forward from the airplane. “I’ll run -her into the trees in case anyone comes along and -sees her,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We shall not see you until—?” asked David.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>“I’m not going back,” answered the airscout. -“Not after this night’s work. You’ll see me in ten -minutes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are going to join us?” inquired David, joyfully. -“Is it—do you mean Hancock knew you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No. That wasn’t Hancock, either. I know who -it was—at least, I think I know. No, I’ve had -enough of the Twin Bosses, after Elizabeth’s adventures. -Put me down as the first airscout who went -over.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>David grasped him by the hand and shook it -warmly. Jones whistled again, drew back, and the -scoutplane rose to the tops of the trees, beat about, -and vanished.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David turned to me. “Arnold, are you prepared -for a great and stunning revelation?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, he is prepared,” answered Elizabeth for me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We set off through the trees along a small, well-worn -trail, until the crumbling bricks beneath us -heaped themselves into a mound, and I saw the -ruined foundations of the Institute before me, and -the hole in the cellar roof. A sentinel leaped out -at us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“For man?” he asked, leveling a Ray rod.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And freedom,” answered David.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The sentinel called, and in a moment a crowd came -rushing up a short ladder, wild-looking men with -beards and hanging hair, all dressed in tatters and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>rags, a woman or two, and a youth who ran forward -with a cry and caught Elizabeth in his arms. I saw -the happiness they shared.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David led me to a tall old man with bowed -shoulders and a ragged white beard that spread fanwise -across his breast. His hands were seared and -twisted like those of one who has lived years of -hardest toil, and the staff on which he leaned had -a crooked handle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Bishop Alfred,” he said, “this is the Messiah who -was to come.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XVII<br /> <span class='large'>THE CHAPEL UNDERGROUND</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>In the subterranean chapel, lit by rushlights that -sent the shadows scurrying and made fantastically -unreal the eager faces and the dissolving -groups that clustered now around me, now around -David, and again gathered about the tall old bishop -with his peasant’s face and child’s eyes, David told -them my tale, and then in turn told me the legend -that I had brought so wonderfully to fulfillment.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The more bewildered I appeared, the stronger -grew their faith, for the legend foretold that I was -to come unknown to myself, and with no expectation -of my own mission. They saw the cylinder, and -there was none who doubted.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There were some thirty men and women present, -of whom a dozen formed an inner council which had -already formulated the plans for the new government. -Some were delegates from outlaw bands in -the recesses of the forests, some, like David, fugitives -from the government bureaux, and three or four, -Paul among them, those who had most recently -escaped from the defectives’ shops. There were -representatives of various trades, who had come -from London at imminent risk, intending to return: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>one from the traffic guild I noticed in particular, a -giant of a man with a black beard as crisp as an -Assyrian king’s, who said that, at his signal, his -guild would rise and fling themselves, to a man, upon -the Guard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a touching reunion. Two generations had -gone by while men remained in ignorance of all that -we and our ancestors had known: popular freedom, -public rights, liberty to choose their trades, the -sanctity of family life, and, above all, the absence -of the galling inquisition and atrocious tyranny of -Science run mad.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The elder men remembered with horror the period -of the revolutions, in which a man would have given -all that he had for life and bread. They regarded -the epoch that had preceded this as the dark age of -the world, much, I think, as we, in our turn, looked -back upon the freer age before the Reformation. -They had a misty tradition of a century in which -men starved, in which the rich oppressed the poor -and the poor dwelled in foul, sunless tenements and -dressed in rags.</p> - -<p class='c011'>That tradition was true, and of the Moyen Age, -before these things, of course they knew nothing. -Now all had bread to eat, and light and air; but they -lived in a world with neither hope nor joy, resource -nor initiative, nor happiness in labor, in which one -cherished the home ties furtively, while over their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>children always hung the menace of the defectives’ -workshops, or the horrors of the Temple. And on -them preyed the privileged caste of whites, taking -toll of their daughters, lording it as judges and -bureau bosses, in the name of Science emanating -from a madman’s brain.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I began to gather, to my relief, that only the very -ignorant believed that the Messiah would be a supernatural -being. There was superstition enough hidden -in the hearts of all, for faith, denied, creeps in, in -strange guises; but the world awaited, rather, the -inevitable leader who must come to set free a people -grown over-ripe for freedom. For the horrors of -the new civilization had reached the point where men -had grown reckless of life. Everywhere was the -anticipation of the approaching change, and even -Sanson must have seen that neither his Guard nor -his great Ray artillery could save his crumbling -power. Science had overplayed her part when she -had bankrupted human hearts.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Everywhere the deep sense of intolerable wrong -was spreading. And although not even the very old -remembered the time when Christianity was a living -faith, yet the hopes of all hinged on it. There was -no other hope for the world but the same Light that -lit the darkness in the most shameful days of Rome’s -high civilization. So they had enrolled themselves -beneath that ancient banner of human freedom; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>dozens had died under torture rather than disclose -the hiding place of their treasured Scriptures—of -such parts as had come down to them, rewritten in -the new syllabic characters. There was a rich harvest -to come from many a martyr’s blood.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So, then, there had filtered down through the years -the faith that in 2015, or seven and thirty years after -the institution of the new era, a Messiah was to arise -and restore freedom to man. It had begun with the -discovery of the cylinder that contained Esther’s -body, somewhere about the middle of the preceding -century, and after the first revolutionary outbreak.</p> - -<p class='c011'>In some manner unknown the cylinder had made -its appearance in the world. At first it was believed -that it contained only the embalmed body of a -woman, within a case fashioned so cunningly that -none could open it. But later the rumor spread that -at the end of a certain time the case would open of -itself, and the woman awaken and come forth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I inferred that Sanson, in spite of Lembken’s statement -to me, had obtained access to Lazaroff’s papers, -and had shrewdly resolved to turn the popular legend -to his own use by placing the date of the fulfillment -of the prophecy. He set the cylinder within the -Temple and diffused the report that, when Esther -awakened, they two would rule the world together -and offer immortality to man.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The cylinder had, then, first appeared about 1950. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>It had become the symbol of the Revolution—Freedom -sleeping. It had been carried before marching -armies. It had been a rallying point for the -defeated. Men had fought and died over it. It had -been struck by unnumbered bullets. It had been lost -and regained upon a dozen battlefields. Then it had -vanished with the inauguration of the reactionary -régime, to appear once more, the inspiration of new -hopes, when Sanson sprang to his leadership, like a -god, about the year 1980.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And all this while I had been sleeping within the -vault, as heedless of the passing years as Esther in -her undreamed of journeyings. That I had escaped -notice was due, no doubt, to the single fact that the -wall of the vault had fallen in and hidden my cylinder -from sight, embedded, as it was, in mud up to the -neck. Those who had read of me in the papers might -not have prosecuted their search hard, thinking that -the cylinder had been removed already.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As the years went by an amplification of the legend -had spread until it grew to be a rooted popular belief -that the Messiah who was to come would issue from -a second cylinder. That was the reason why neither -David nor Jones, nor any in the cellar doubted me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Old Bishop Alfred grasped my hands in his. -“This is not chance, but a wonderful sign from -God,” he said. “To think that while we met here -you lay within that case a few feet from us! I have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>doubted and dreaded, as all have, but nothing can -daunt me now. We shall win freedom, we shall have -our two names again.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>David whispered to me that, grown a little childish -with age, the poor old man longed for the day when -he could assume the ancient episcopal pomp. To -sign himself, Alfred London, was his life’s dream, -and he had vowed that till that day came his family -name should never pass his lips.</p> - -<p class='c011'>After I had heard the story we kneeled in prayer, -and the Bishop read to us from the syllabic version -of the Bible, as it was known. It comprised only a -few portions of the Old Testament, chiefly parts of -Isaiah which some scribe had thought prophetic and -necessary to be saved. Of the Synoptic Gospels -there existed only a few fragments, too, but there -was the “Sermon on the Mount” from the “Beatitudes” -to the end, and the whole of the magnificent -“Gospel According to St. John,” together with most -of “Acts” and “Corinthians,” debased to some extent, -and containing interpolations that had crept in, but -on the whole faithful to the original. Though the -entire Bible has, of course, been recovered, I am -convinced, and many agree with me, that the world -has gained immeasurably by the removal of the -scaffolding of the Temple of Truth during more than -two generations. Never again will literal interpretation -be placed upon Old Testament mythology, the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>poetic allegory of “Creation and the Fall,” or the -chronology that offered the life cycles of tribes as -the events of one man’s life; nor will the warrior -god, Jehovah, be considered anything but an incompletely -discerned aspect of the divine.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Afterward, at David’s urging, I rose to speak. I -hardly knew what I should say, but, as I stood in -hesitation before the meeting some Pentecostal power -seemed to lay hold of me, and a torrent of impassioned -words broke from my lips, till I felt all minds -and hearts enkindled from the flame in mine. I -spoke of the old, free world, of old, illogical, and -cherished customs, preserved through centuries, -uniting men in a fellowship that logic could not give; -of ideals and traditions carried onward from age to -age, ennobling faith and strengthening a nation’s -soul; of pride of family other than that of pedigreed -stock; of initiative and resourcefulness, charity and -good-will for weak as well as strong; of a ruling -class bound by its traditions to public service, and -open to all below who had the character and gifts to -enter it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But one thing I could not explain; when Bishop -Alfred, rising, incredulous that the weak should have -been protected, that they aroused pity instead of -wrath, inquired, if we had really had this Christian -use, why we had lost it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>When I ended I came back to myself, to find that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>I was standing tongue-tied before them. I heard a -sigh ascend from every lip; and then they were about -me, falling upon their knees, grasping my hands, -imploring me to accept their service and devotion. -Elizabeth was weeping happily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I knew, Arnold,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the revolutionary committee took their seats -upon the benches and, while the rest gathered about -them, proceeded to consider the reports brought in. -It was an informal meeting, hampered by none of -those rules made by democracy for the restriction -of free speech, and conducted with earnestness and -quiet decorum. Man after man rose up and made -his report, the leaders of the guilds pledging so many, -describing their enthusiasm, stating the number of -Ray rods in his possession, and pledging absolute -obedience to instructions.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then I was acquainted, as succinctly as possible, -with the progress of the movement. It was known -that during the next few days Sanson meant to -address the people in the Temple, using some anniversary -celebration as his occasion. He was universally -credited with the plan to effect a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup d’etat</span></i>, -deposing Lembken and assuming the rulership of the -Federation. He had attached the Guard to him with -favors and gifts, so that intense hatred existed -between it and Lembken’s airscouts. There was thus -a triangular contest between Sanson, Lembken, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>the revolutionaries; and the fear was that, if the airscouts -were split by faction, the Guard would overwhelm -them and establish Sanson in Lembken’s -place, making a greater tyranny still.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was, therefore, debated whether it might be -possible, as unhappily it seemed necessary, to make -some terms with Lembken that should ensure Sanson’s -overthrow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We have gained one piece of priceless information -from you, Arnold,” said David. “We know -now that Sanson’s plans relate to the awakening of -Esther. Five days is almost too short a period for -our plans to mature; yet we know that Sanson’s coup -must synchronize with the opening of the cylinder. -It is believed that he has actually made some discovery, -not, of course, of immortality, but for prolonging -life, which he intends to offer the populace, -should any champion, posing as the Messiah, come -forth to challenge him. That will be a test such as -has never yet been made in the world’s history, the -choice between liberty and immortality, so-called. -And it will be difficult for the multitude to choose -the former and to reject the latter.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If the people have the choice they will choose -wisely,” said Elizabeth, from within Paul’s arm. -“Have no doubt as to that.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you know?” asked David.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because they want the love that is their birthright,” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>she answered boldly, “and love knows it is -immortal and does not fear death.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the committee leader smile, and there came -upon his face a very affecting look. An elderly man, -a member of the privileged caste, he had voluntarily -laid aside the white robes of his order and taken to -the forests, to organize the beginnings of the Revolution. -As he spoke, the detailed scheme began to be -clear to me, and I understood that the rulers of the -world were matched by no mean antagonists.</p> - -<p class='c011'>First he alluded to the belief, already current -among all the revolutionary bands, that the Federation’s -troops had been overwhelmed before Tula, -and that the Tsar’s forces were already pouring -through Skandogermania to seize the battleplanes -from the disaffected airscouts in Hamburg and -Stockholm and launch them against London. It was -believed that the Council must be in desperate straits -to have had recourse to the moving picture lie, as -worthless as the falsehood that the escaped defectives -had been retaken.</p> - -<p class='c011'>What seemed to me a psychological confirmation -of this report was the circumstance asserted by him, -that the torture of heretics, the activities of the -vivisectionists, and the weeding out of morons were -proceeding with unexampled rigor. For tyranny -always becomes most cruel when it approaches its -downfall, by inspiring terror, to create submission.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>“You have heard,” continued the old man, “how -Lembken lured Arnold to the People’s House. -Lembken knows who he is. Then he must be aware -of Sanson’s plans and is plotting to use Arnold in -a counterstroke.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“He is old and obese and pleasure-loving. But -you must not forget that he rose to power by the most -cunning craft, inspiring, as he undoubtedly did, the -murder of Boss Rose, and buying over the airscouts. -Sanson underrates the old fox, but Lembken -has his ear to the ground all the while he is supposed -to be roystering in his devil’s palace. Now, -friends, we can despise no weapon that will aid our -cause. If we have to use Lembken, as the lesser -evil, in order to unite the airscouts under Hancock -against Sanson—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never!” shouted the black-bearded leader of the -traffic guild. “He has taken—taken—taken—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The giant broke down and covered his face with -his hands.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My daughter,” he raved, raising his face with -the tears streaming down his cheeks, and clenching -his enormous hands. “Only today—today—I -would not desert the cause, or I should have -forced my way into the People’s House and killed -him—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I thanked God, the father did not know that I had -seen her in the Council Hall.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>The old leader got up and put his arm about the -giant’s shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But for the sake of freedom you will consent,” -he said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The other threw back his head. “Yes—for the -cause, yes,” he answered quietly, and moved away. -He stood with head drooping upon his breast, like -some huge statue. I understood then the strength -of the enmity to the government. No Ray artillery -could withstand such a wild passion as the deviltries -of Science had awakened.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can only offer the outlines of my plan,” resumed -the old man, returning to his place, “because, at such -a time, we must trust as much to the spontaneous -instincts of our people as to a detailed scheme which -may go wrong. But it seems to me that it is essential -first to enter into communication with Lembken. -We will offer him his palace, perhaps, and an -untroubled life hereafter. It is a hard compromise, -but there seems no other way, for Sanson -must be destroyed, and everything depends on -Hancock.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Five days hence, when Sanson summons the -people into the Temple, as many as possible of our -men will assemble there, with Ray rods beneath -their tunics. Arnold will advance and challenge -Sanson. We shall spring forward, seize him, possess -ourselves of the cylinder, assume possession of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>Temple buildings, and set up our government. -Meanwhile the airscouts will take possession of the -barracks and Ray artillery.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Here I interposed. “Is this the only way?” I -asked. “Are there not annual elections? Would it -not be possible—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was unprepared for the outburst of bitter -laughter that answered me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you really believe, Arnold,” asked David, -“that anything can be done like that? Even in your -other life, history—the history that is not taught—informs -me that the election of popular representatives -had become farcical, especially in the home of -democracy, America, through the refusal to permit -unauthorized candidacies, through the demand for -large sums of money to be deposited as a preliminary, -by ballots drowned with names of unknown men, -representing nobody knew whom, and fifteen to -twenty feet in length; by ruffians at the polls—a device -much used in Rome when she started on the democratic -down-grade that led to tyranny; by stuffed -ballots and lying counts, and voting machines ... -in short, Arnold, we have so far improved upon those -crude devices that the ballot is now the strongest -weapon in our masters’ hands. And when freedom -has been restored it will never be seen again. We -shall never count heads, except among small bodies -of committees, and the days of so-called representative -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>government will never recur so long as men -remain free.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was evident that his words had touched their -imaginations in some way unknown to me, for they -sprang to their feet and cheered him wildly. I -learned afterward that all the laws, the most subversive -of human rights, all the most fearful promulgations -of Sanson were put to the farcical test of -public approbation. The democratic State had killed -itself, as it always does, but the shell remained -to protect the tyranny that followed, as it always -does, too.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Before the noise had quite subsided, Jones, who -had come in quietly, stood up in the midst of the -assembly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The plan to seize the Ray artillery is impossible,” -he said bluntly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why?” demanded a dozen voices.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because the small Ray guns upon the battleplanes -are useless against the glow paint on the Guards’ -fortress, and the Guards’ great Ray artillery will -pick off our battleplanes one by one as they expose -their unprotected parts while evolving in the air. -It is impossible to protect the parts of a plane around -the solar storage batteries, because the glow rays -disturb their action. Then, again, when each of our -men has discharged his Ray rod, where is he to -replenish it without access to the solar storage within -<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>the Guards’ fortress? Even our airplanes, with their -week’s supply, have to be replenished there.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hold a battleplane where we can gain access -to it, so that the rods can be recharged from its -supply.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not practicable,” said Jones.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If each man has three Ray rods, he can kill three -of Sanson’s men.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But unless you take the fortress the Ray artillery -can make a desert of London.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What would you do, then?” asked the committee -leader.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Cut the solar supply cables.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Twelve feet underground, in steel and concrete?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No. At the heart of the world’s power system,” -said the airscout. “In the Vosges. It is not impossible. -The Ray artillery there is not carefully -guarded; the early nights are dark. Make Sanson’s -Ray guns useless at a stroke, and then storm the -fortress in the old way, man against man.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the face of the black-bearded leader redden -with blood. “Yes!” he cried, “that is the way.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And then we shall have two names again and -life will be free,” said Bishop Alfred, musing. “Two -names, as our fathers had.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>All caught the enthusiasm. The committee leader -held up his hand for silence. “Wait! Who will -go?” he demanded.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>“I can. I will,” replied Jones, boldly. “I was -born there. My father was a Frenchman, removed -to England because he cherished national aspirations. -I will succeed or die there.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where will you get the airplane?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have it here,” said Jones, as simply as if he -could produce it from his pocket.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Again the mad clamor burst forth. Jones, as the -first airscout to come over, filled all with enthusiasm, -and belief in our success.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And who will go to Lembken as our emissary?” -asked the committee leader presently.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” I answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David started toward me. “No! The risk is too -great,” he cried. “We need you in the Temple on -the appointed day. We need your leadership for the -sake of the cause. If Lembken refuses, or tricks -you, all will be lost.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I answered rather sadly. “You forget,” I said, -“that I, too, have all I hold dear at stake. For this -cause, too, I shall succeed or die.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> <span class='large'>SANSON</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>For a long time I could not persuade them to -let me go. But I pleaded so hard and set out -the arguments so forcibly that at last I persuaded -them. For it was clear that if Lembken, realizing -that his power was waning, should accept our offer, -then my plan was the wisest; and, if he refused, our -desperate chance would lose but little by my death.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was even possible that the rôle for which he had -cast me was the same that I was to play for the -Cause. He had meant to use me against Sanson; -and the more I thought of it the stronger grew my -conviction that he had meant to have me challenge -Sanson in the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So, one by one, the opposing arguments ended, and -the committee leader gave me my instructions.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You must evade the battleplanes and enter London -afoot,” he said. “You will proceed to the -People’s House, demand admission, and offer Lembken -our terms: his palace, honors, wealth and pleasures. -If he accepts you will return to us bearing his -acceptance in the form of writing, that we may have -a hold on him to use with Sanson, should he betray -us afterward. If you are detected by the searchlights -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>before you reach London, you will be taken -before Hancock, to whom you will make your -demand for an interview with his chief. A messenger -will remain posted near this meeting place -in order to convey you to us on your return, wherever -we may be. Now, God be with you, Arnold!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I think they understood the turmoil in my heart, -for they were very considerate, and troubled me with -no more suggestions than these. For myself, I confess -that the thought of Esther’s peril obliterated -from my mind nearly all other considerations, and, -in truth, I cared more for her safety than for the -Cause. I could do nothing till the time of her -awakening came; but, when she awakened, I meant -to be at her side.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The rushlights were blown out, and we bade each -other adieu at the cellar entrance, and separated. -Many of those who were present had traveled miles -through the forests in order to attend the meeting. -It had been arranged that David and Elizabeth -should make their quarters with the band commanded -by the leader, to which the bishop and Paul -belonged. I was to accompany them as far as the -old road, where our paths divided.</p> - -<p class='c011'>When we reached it, Elizabeth turned and, putting -her hands upon my shoulders, looked very earnestly -at me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” she said, “the day is near when we four -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>shall be friends in a happier world. God bless you -and protect the woman you love.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I pressed her hands. Then David grasped my own -in his.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good-bye, Arnold,” he said. “The Providence -that brought you to me will act to save us all.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And he, too, was gone. I waited at the edge of -the old road, watching them disappear among the -trees. The last thing that I saw was the bishop’s -white beard, a spot in the darkness. Then I was -alone, with the London road before me, and a mission -as desperate as any that was ever undertaken, -and as pregnant with possibilities.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I do not know how long I had been traveling, -whether five minutes or twenty, nor whether I walked -or ran. I became conscious of a soft whistling in the -air, and, glancing up, saw a dark airplane, black -against the risen moon.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I sprang from the road and hid myself in the -underbrush.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The airplane dipped, passed me, and dipped again, -with the purpose, evidently, of alighting in the road. -It passed beyond my sight, flying low, and veering -from side to side as its occupant examined the -ground for a resting place.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I rose to continue my journey I heard a low -hail among the trees. I started around, to see the old -bishop approaching me at a jog-trot. He came up -<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>panting, and stood before me, holding his pastoral -staff against his breast.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Did you see the airplane?” he asked, following -the road with his eyes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What are you doing here, Bishop Alfred?” I -asked in astonishment, for there was an expression -of supreme, benignant happiness upon his face. “Are -you alone?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, alone,” he answered, smiling. “I left them -quietly. They would not have let me go. I followed -you until I saw the airplane. I am going to -Lembken in your place.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But you will be put to death!” I cried. “Surely, -you know—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, but that is all right,” he answered. “It is -three years now since any priest was burned for the -faith. I have been thinking about it for a long time. -Now I am ready. I am going into the People’s House -to preach the Gospel. I—I ran away from David,” -he added, chuckling at the success of his maneuver.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I threatened and pleaded in vain, for the old man’s -face had the joyousness of a child’s.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s no use talking, Arnold,” he said, patting my -arm affectionately. “I am a stubborn man when -my mind is made up, and it is made up now. I have -thought about it a long time. You see, I am the last -bishop in England. I am not a learned man, but -the Lord Bishop of London”—how happily he said -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>that!—“laid hands on me an hour before they -burned him in Westminster Hall. Now it is right -that I should follow him and take on martyrdom. It -will give inspiration to the people. It will be a wonderful -encouragement to them to see me among the -fagots. I have prayed the Lord to give me strength, -because I am a cowardly old man, and He has done -so. I should like to consecrate my successor before -I die. But the Russians will take care of that, and -it is fitter that they should renew the line in England. -They will be here in a few days to save the world, and -then we shall all be one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you know?” I cried.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is given to me to know,” he answered, wagging -his white head. “So there is no longer any reason -why I should not go into the People’s House and -bear testimony to the truth. You can go back -now. I will carry your message to Lembken before -I die.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Before I could restrain him he had started off -along the road, and his quick jog-trot gave him -almost as much speed as my scrambling, wild -pursuit. I caught him, however, a hundred yards -away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Bishop Alfred, you must go back to your -friends,” I said. “Your idea is nonsense. There is -no need to sacrifice yourself.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He shook his head and detached himself. I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>stumbled over a projecting root, and when I was on -my feet again I saw the old man another fifty yards -away. Once more I was approaching him. And -then I halted suddenly and drew back among the -trees, for just beyond the bend in the road lay the -dark airplane, and the old man had stopped beside -it, evidently waiting to be taken in.</p> - -<p class='c011'>However, since he continued to wait there, I -advanced noiselessly toward it, with the hope of -rescuing him, until I realized that the dark airplane -was empty.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The occupant had left it, but for what reason, or -where he had gone, I could not surmise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was just where the old road joined with a small, -twisting path that struck back among the trees. -Some instinct cautioned me to silence. If I had -spoken ... but I did not speak, and then, among -the trees, following the crooked trail not fifty -paces away, I saw the aviator, walking with head -bent downward, evidently unconscious of human -proximity.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I held my breath in terror lest the old man should -speak. But he stood motionless as a statue beside -the dark airplane; he seemed wrapt in a reverie. -The hope arose of saving him. That was Hancock’s -airplane; his fate, then, lay with Hancock, and -Lembken had told me that the Air-Admiral was a -Christian. Surely he would take pity on the old, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>childish man. He knew me. I might appeal to -him....</p> - -<p class='c011'>The twisting track, which had hidden him from -my eyes, brought him into view once more, clear -against the low moon that made the moving figure -a silhouette against its circle. I crept up, until suddenly -I reeled and nearly fell, overcome by the magnitude -of my discovery. For this was not Air-Admiral -Hancock, but Hugo Sanson, the madman -who ruled the Federation!</p> - -<p class='c011'>For a few moments I was powerless to stir. A -raiding beast of night went rustling through the trees -behind me. I heard an owl hoot. I lurked like some -savage in the underbrush, and everything went from -my memory, save Esther in peril, and Sanson, the -evil genius of humanity, powerless in my hands if I -could spring on him and strangle him before he had -time to draw his Ray rod.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the tracking instinct awoke in me. I began -stalking him as stealthily as any moccasined redskin -followed his quarry. He was now only twenty -paces away, and his walk showed that he suspected -no danger.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a trail unknown to me, and I could only -follow in patience. It wound to right and then to -left, until at last it blended in a wider trail. And then -I knew where I was. We were on the road that led -to the cellar.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>The scattered bricks became the heaping piles. I -crouched low. Almost upon this site Sir Spofforth’s -house had stood. There, where the beeches waved -their leafless arms had been Esther’s tea-roses. And -here were briers, sprung, perhaps, from those. It -did not need these remembrances to make my resolution -firm.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson was going down. If he had gone there -an hour earlier he would have walked alone into the -presence of men who had a thousand deaths laid up -against him. But Fate had saved him for me!</p> - -<p class='c011'>For an instant the thought occurred to me that -possibly Sanson, acquainted with the details of the -popular conspiracy, had come to offer terms against -Lembken. But I dismissed that thought as impossible. -Sanson would hardly have come there for -such a purpose; at least, he would have come with -the Guard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The short ladder had been removed and hidden -among the trees, but Sanson seemed to know the -way intimately. Lying upon my face among the -bricks, I saw Sanson enter the cellar, holding in one -hand a little solar light. He passed through the gap -in the wall into the vault.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I made my own descent with infinite care, taking -pains to dislodge no stone that might betray my -presence. Now I was in the cellar on hands and -knees, watching Sanson as he moved to and fro inside -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>the inner chamber. My brain was working like -a mill—and yet I did not know wholly what I should -do. If I killed Sanson, could I be sure that his death -would set Esther free? Could I seize him and exact -terms from him? Then there was a certain difficulty -in springing upon the man quickly enough to prevent -him from drawing his Ray rod; and there was the -innate revulsion against choking a man to death.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I deliberated, Fate seemed to solve my problem, -for my fingers touched and closed about a -smooth object that lay on the ground. For a moment -I thought it was the branch of a tree. But no branch -grew so smooth. A polished stave? It had been -fashioned and grooved.... It was a Ray rod.</p> - -<p class='c011'>If I had doubted my mission I ceased to do so in -that moment. I felt along the weapon in the darkness, -from the brass guard, which stood up, leaving -the button unprotected, to the little glass bulb near -the head, through which the destroying Ray would -stream. I raised the Ray rod and aimed it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The solar light moved in the vault, and the shadow -cast by the wall went back and forth as Sanson -tramped to and fro. He was muttering to himself. -He passed across the gap, and the little light shone -on me. But he did not look toward me, and then he -was behind the wall again and the light vanished.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Next time he passed I would fire. Yet I did not -fire, and back and forth, and forth and back he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>tramped, talking to himself as any lesser man might -have done. I had no compunction at all; I would -have killed him as I would have killed a deadly -snake; and yet, so diabolical was the fascination he -exercised over me, I could not press the button.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I gathered my resolution together. I would fire -when he passed the gap again. No, the next time. -Well, the next, then. My fingers tightened on the -handle. I saw Sanson emerge, the spark of light in -his hand. The tight, white tunic was in the center of -the gap. Now! I pressed the button, aiming at his -heart.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The glass of the Ray rod grew fiery red. The -button seared my hand, and a smell of charred wood -filled my nostrils. I dropped the weapon, and it fell -clattering to the ground. Sanson was standing in -the gap, unharmed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>My Ray rod was the one that I had unwittingly -discharged on the occasion when I scrambled for the -cellar roof. It had given me life then; it seemed now -to have brought me death. Of course it was useless -till it had been recharged; now it emitted only the -red-mull rays: heat, not cold combustion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson had halted as I aimed. Now, at the sound -of the falling Ray rod he sprang forward and turned -his solar light on me. His poise was a crouching -leopard’s. In his left hand he held the light, and in -his right was his own Ray rod, covering me.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>I looked at him, I stared at him, I rose upon my -feet and staggered to him. Something in his poise, -the whitening hair, brushed back, something in the -man’s soul that the years could not conceal reminded -me.... I stood looking into the face of Herman -Lazaroff!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XIX<br /> <span class='large'>THE STORY OF THE CYLINDERS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>“So it was you, Arnold,” said Sanson quietly. -“Well ... what do you think of Sir Spofforth’s -theories now?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>All my hatred and fear of him had died in that -blinding revelation. Bewilderment so intense that it -made all which had occurred since my awakening -dim, a sense of pathos and futility at once deprived -me of my fears and robbed him of his power; and -we might have been the fellow-workers of the old -days again, discussing the problem of consciousness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He seated himself on the mud mound, and his -voice was as casual as if we had just returned to the -laboratory after escorting Esther home. And indeed -I could with great difficulty only convince myself -that I had not fallen asleep and dreamed this -nightmare.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You see, it has all come to pass, Arnold,” said -Sanson, twirling the Ray rod idly between his fingers. -“A world such as I foretold—a world set -free. Enlightenment where there was ignorance; -the soul delusion banished from the minds of all but -the most foolish; the menace of the defective still -with us, but greatly shrunken; the logical State so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>wonderfully conceived by Wells, with Science supreme, -and almost a world citizenship. It is a -glorious free world, Arnold, to which humanity has -fallen heir, and the fight for it has been a stupendous -one. And it is a world of my creation! I have done -what Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon failed to -do; I have brought humanity under one sway, out -of the darkness into light, out of ignorance to knowledge. -I have set man, poor plantigrade, on his feet -firmly. He looks up to the skies, not in the blind and -foolish hope of bodiless immortality, but knowing -himself the free heir of the ages. Wasn’t it worth -the battle, Arnold?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>My sense of pity deepened. Surely there can be -no worse fate for any man than to accomplish his -desires! I thought of all the unknown idealists who -had given their lives to the accomplishment of great -projects and failed, achieving nothing—inventors, -dreamers, a gray, fantasmal legion whose lost hopes -ranged back from age to age; and I saw how their -works were blessed and their failures glorified in -contrast.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I thought that it must be you as soon as I -examined the sheets from the Strangers’ Bureau,” -continued Sanson, in his matter-of-fact manner. -But it seemed so incredible that the cylinder had -erred that I allowed my pressing duties to let me -forget my impulse to take immediate action. Unfortunately, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>while we were fellow-workers I did not -take your finger prints, but I had, of course, observed -your characteristic indexes, and also, if you -remember, you were kind enough to my fad to permit -me to take your cranial measurements. I did not -think that there could exist two heads like yours, -combined with those indexes, within a single century. -For your occipital region is excellent, approximating -my norm, while your frontal area is that of a moron. -In short, you are a typical Grade 2 defective, Arnold—essentially -so; and I have no doubt that, thanks -to your five centimeters of asymmetrical frontal development, -you have emerged into this universe of -reality still clinging fondly and affectionately to your -dualistic soul theory.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But never mind!” he continued, smiling rather -grimly. “I have no intention of handing you over -to Lembken’s ridiculous priests to be tried for heresy. -There will be no more priests after a little while. -The public mind is now ripe enough for the abolition -of this stupid compromise of the transition period -from God to Matter. One more animist will do little -harm in a world in which they are still far from -uncommon. And then, I am not a man of cruel impulses, -Arnold, and I do not want to penalize you -for having come into a world in which you are an -anachronism. So you have spent three weeks in -London?” he ended, scrutinizing me sharply.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And came back by night to see your birthplace, -I suppose,” he said maliciously. “I don’t know how -you escaped the battleplanes. Unless they are growing -slack.... I found one scoutplane without its -searchlight working, and shall send its commander -to the leather vats if I discover him ... well, Arnold,” -he resumed, “I could not believe that you -had come out of your cylinder before your time. -You came within an ace of disrupting my work, my -world, if you only knew it—you with your missing -five centimeters! I put implicit faith in Jurgensen’s -mechanism, and, as it proves, I was to blame. I -came here tonight to see if you could really be gone.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You knew that I was here?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why not, Arnold, since I put you here?” he returned, -looking at me in a quizzical manner. “I have -paid you periodical visits during the last five and -thirty years. You looked charming in your sleep, -Arnold! The fact is, it was a difficult situation. -There was no way of destroying you, even if I had -been so minded. I might have buried you ten feet -underground, or thrown you into the sea, I suppose, -but the men who moved you would have betrayed -me unless I murdered them—in short, it was a -problem how to dispose of you without violating my -naturally humane impulses. So I did the best thing—covered -the cylinder with mud and let you lie here.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>“That Jurgensen timepiece was splendidly contrived, -Arnold,” he continued. “Too splendidly, in -fact, for in the haste of sealing you I left the pointer -six months ahead of time, as well as with Esther. -It has perhaps occurred to you that you went to -sleep in June and awoke in December?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>It had not occurred to me, but I made no answer -to his sneering question.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In fact, Jurgensen gave me a six months’ leeway -on his hundred-years clock, and the complication of -figures prevented me from discovering it. I moved -the pointer to the end of the dial, assuming that the -last point was a hundred, and not a hundred and a -half. And then, Arnold, there was another most -regrettable mistake. You remember that you were -sealed up quickly, and rather impulsively, so to say? -I found that, in hurriedly capping you down, I forgot -entirely to add twenty-four days upon the smaller -dial for the leap-years; and so you returned that -much ahead of Esther. It was a very bungled arrangement -excusable in you, but not in me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Lazaroff!” I began, and then corrected myself -with an apology as I saw his brows contract. -“Sanson—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” he replied ironically.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You will at least answer two or three questions, -will you not?” I pleaded. “How did you induce -Esther to enter the second cylinder? Why did you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>trick me? And how have you contrived to outlive -the century without appearing more than half your -age? I think my questions pardonable.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I shall answer them all,” said Sanson. “I may -tell you that it was never my plan to send our monkeys -ahead of us into this world. I meant to go, -Arnold. But unexpectedly there came into my life -something against which I had made no provision. -In other words, absurd as it sounds, I fell in love. -Then I planned to take Esther with me. But this -plan, too, was changed, for, to be quite frank, I -gathered that she preferred you to me. I then conceived -the entertaining idea of taking you both with -me, so that our rivalry might be renewed in a world -where your advantages of personality would be counterbalanced -by my power. Arnold, I never for an instant -doubted that I should stand where I stand today. -So, having persuaded you to enter the cylinder—and -how I laughed at your imbecile complaisance—I -invited Esther to follow you. There was no difficulty. -On the contrary, she could hardly be convinced -that I was in earnest. However, I speedily -convinced her by the simple process of putting on the -cap. Then, since the cylinders can be manipulated -from within, I myself entered the third.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You, Sanson!” I gasped. “You, too, have slept -a hundred years?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His look became envenomed, and the quick gust -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>of passion that came upon him was, to my mind, evidence -of a mentality unbalanced by unrestrained -authority.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” he cried, “would you believe that an -end so carefully planned, so mastered in each detail, -could be thwarted by an instant’s lack of balance? -You remember that, of the three cylinders, one was -already set a century ahead? That, save for the six -months’ leeway that existed on all the dials, and was, -therefore, immaterial—that one, calculated to the -utmost nicety, leap-years and all, was the one I had -selected for myself already. That was the one -Esther entered. The dial upon the second cylinder I -set in your presence, but omitted the four and twenty -days. That was your cylinder. And the third—mine—do -you remember?—was set to sixty-five.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I removed this cylinder to a second vault of which -you do not know. I awoke in 1980. Arnold, -I entered it and forgot the dial! When I recovered -strength—and I had supplied some food products -to last me during that brief period of recovery—I -hurried to this vault. I found only your cylinder, -behind the fallen bricks. When I saw that -you still slept I thought your mechanism had gone -wrong. Then, going back to examine my cylinder, -I realized the truth. I, who had loved Esther with -all my power, and vowed with all my will to win her, -I, a young man of twenty-five, must wait for five -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>and thirty years before she awakened. When my -time came to claim her I would be old. O, Esther, -what I have endured during these years!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The baffled love of half a life-span overcame him. -I watched him, almost as shaken. The tyrant of half -the world, greater than any man had been since the -days when the Caesars reigned, he had bound himself -to a more awful law than any he could contrive. -It wrung my heart even then, the man’s grim hopes -and long enduring love, checked by so slight a chance.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I found Esther was gone,” continued Sanson -presently, rising and beginning to pace the vault. -“I might have re-entered my cylinder, but I did not -know whether she survived in hers. I knew my -ambitions claimed me, and my duty to save humanity -and raise it up from the ape. Even she had to yield -to that sacred and pitiful impulse. I learned soon -that the cylinder which contained her had been discovered -and adopted as a symbol of freedom. I -found the world aflame and flung myself into the -heart of the revolution. By will I made myself the -master of men. In six months my dominance was -unquestioned. I could have become supreme, but I -chose to work through others, that I might have the -leisure to devote myself to my plans for the regeneration -of man. I have succeeded; I have made the -world better, Arnold, and I have made it free. But -now, when at last the reward of my long toil -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>approaches, when at last I can show Esther what I -have achieved for her, and lay the world at her feet, I -am an old man, and the prize has turned to ashes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His grief conquered him again, and he paced the -vault like a madman, weeping with all the abandonment -of one who is above the need of conventional -repressions. I remembered the antics of the crowd -that followed me to the court. Sanson’s grief was -as unrestrained as their malice. But I was brought -back from pity by the realization of this new and -dreadful complication. Sanson loved Esther still. -And he had worked for her. I recalled her immature -feminist views. He had believed her youthful -impatience of authority rested upon as firm a conviction -as his beliefs! He thought he had freed -humanity. And all the uncountable wrongs of earth -had been heaped up by him as a love-offering to lay -at Esther’s feet.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I flung my prudence away. I clasped him by the -hands.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sanson,” I pleaded, “don’t you see, don’t you -understand what the world is today? Each age has -its own cruelties and wrongs; but, if poverty has been -abolished, have you not set a heavier yoke upon -men’s necks? Their children torn from them, the -death-house for the old, the vivisection table—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That is all true, Arnold,” he answered, “and -sometimes, even now, that old, inherited weakness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>that men termed conscience stirs in me. That fatal -atavistic folly!—for what is death, after all? A -painless end, a placid journey into nothingness, a -resolution of the material atoms into new forms, -which shall, in turn, create that consciousness men -used to term a soul. Their children? Bah! Arnold, -through suffering we win upward. In the -world-nation that is to come, the narrow, selfish -instinct called parental love—a trick of Nature to -ensure the rearing of the race—will not exist. It -will have served its purpose. All I have done is -nothing in comparison with the great secret now -almost within my grasp. That is the meaning of the -vivisection table—the research work that will enable -me to offer man immortality!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I recoiled in horror at the sight of the fearful -fanaticism upon his face.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, it is that, Arnold, which I am almost ready -to bestow upon the world!” he cried triumphantly. -“The old problem of consciousness and tissue life on -which we worked so long has practically been solved -by means at my disposal in a civilized world. Then -we shall live indeed. There will be no requirement -that knowledge should progress painfully through -the inheritance of our fathers’ labors. We ourselves -shall climb the ladder of omniscience. The fit shall -live forever, and we shall weed out the moron and -defective without scruple, preserving a race of mortal -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>slaves to labor for us in the factories and in the -fields, holding them subdued by the threatened loss -of that life which we shall control and permit to -them so long as they are obedient. That is the noble -climax of man’s aspirations. Immortal life, in these -bodies of ours, and Esther mine, not for a span, but -for eternity!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I believed him—I could not help but believe. -Can anything be impossible, so long as man is gifted -with free will for good and evil? Must he not have -the ladder to scale Olympus, and thereby learn of -heights beyond? I flung myself upon my knees -before Sanson, like some poor father pleading for -his son’s life, and implored him to draw back. As -he stood watching me I babbled about the terror in -the world, the boon of death, the long-linked chain -of humanity, bound all together as a spiritual unit, -which he would sever. I reminded him of the old -days under Sir Spofforth, of the old, free world we -had lost. How had he bettered it? I think I moved -him, too, though, when I ended, he was regarding -me with a cold smile of negation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You want me to turn back, Arnold,” he said. -“Once there was a time when I hesitated. But ... -can even that God of yours turn back? Come with -me, Arnold, and for the sake of the old friendship -to which you have appealed I will give you power. -Defective as you are, you shall live your life to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>full capacity of your talent. You shall not suffer -because you came so unkindly into this world of ours. -If your mind turns toward pleasures such as that -foul defective Lembken enjoys, they shall be yours. -If not, then you shall work with me as you used to do. -When I and Esther rule the world together, immortal -as the fabled gods, you shall sit at our feet and be -our confidant.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>That I hoped still to win Esther had never entered -the man’s mind. The sublimity of his egotism -was the measure of his blindness. Just as he had -entered the cellar, so self-absorbed that he had failed -to see the benches and the crucifix, nor dreamed that -here, where his evil dreams began, their end was -planned, so, now, he did not see. The devilish will -that had carried him thus far would bring him to -destruction.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At my hands, if I played the part shrewdly. But -I lost all self-command.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Though you have all the world at your feet, -Sanson,” I cried, “you can never hold me to obedience, -nor Esther either. I love her, and we shall -both die before we yield!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>For an instant I saw his face before me, twisted -with all the passions of his thwarted will; then I saw -the blinding white light leap from his Ray rod as -he fired at me.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XX<br /> <span class='large'>THE SWEEP OF THE NET</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>“I am not at all afraid,” I retorted, nettled at -Lazaroff’s sneer, “but how do I get in?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>A dog was yelping somewhere outside the Institute, -and all the dogs in Croydon seemed to have -taken up its challenge. It was difficult for me to -make my voice audible above the uproar.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am not at all afraid,” I repeated, “but—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was back in the cellar with Esther and Lazaroff, -and we were examining the cylinders. As I looked -about me, I seemed to be in the cylinder still, but -gradually it expanded, until it became a vast hall, -dark, save for a little window near the ceiling, -through whose half-opaque crystal a little light filtered -in dimly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Lazaroff seemed to have aged. He wore a white -beard, and his touch was very gentle as he bathed my -face with water. As I stared at him he became -... somebody whom I had once known ... -Bishop Alfred!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now you are better,” said the old man, with his -child-like smile.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I put my hand up to my aching head. There was -a scarred groove along the top of the scalp, where -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>the glow ray had plowed its passage. I began to -remember now.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The howling of the dogs broke out afresh. The -din was terrific, and the mournful tones of the poor -animals’ cries made the place a pandemonium.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold!” whispered a soft voice at my side.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Elizabeth was kneeling there, and David stood -behind her. Next to David stood the little woman -who had been our neighbor in the Strangers’ House, -and a multitude of men and women, and children, -too, watched me through the gloom.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where am I? Who are all these?” I asked. -Then, lighting upon a more momentous question, -“How long have I been here?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Three days, Arnold,” whispered Elizabeth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then in two days—two days—” I gasped.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, Arnold, tomorrow is the day,” interposed -David, coming up to me softly. “Sanson has proclaimed -a meeting in the Temple at sunrise, and it -is now late afternoon. We are all in his trap. He -must have found you, taken you unaware, and fired -at you, but afterward he changed his mind and -brought you here in his dispatchplane, where he -found Bishop Alfred awaiting him, and Elizabeth -and myself, who had gone back to find him. I -bought a few days’ respite by surrender, and there -was even pleasure in the thought that my daughter -will not meet her fate in Lembken’s palace.”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>“Where, then?” I asked, struggling painfully up.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In the Vivisection Bureau—with these,” he answered, -indicating the assemblage.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are we, David?” I cried in anguish.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Beneath it. In the vaults where Sanson keeps -his morons, Christians, criminals, and dogs, to await -the table.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was upon my feet raving like a madman, making -my way round the vault, striking my fists against -the damp stone walls, crazed with the thought of -Esther. They followed me, and some laid their -hands on me in restraint, but I thrust them away. -They thought I could not bear to share their wretched -fate. But the nearness of the crisis, the thought of -Esther in Sanson’s power deprived me of my senses.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The vault was an enormous one, the only access -being at the far end, by means of an oak gate, heavily -barred. In this further portion were chained, all -along the walls, the dogs destined for the experimental -work above. As I drew near the gate the -howling broke forth afresh. It steadied me; I came -back to my senses; somebody was at my side, clasping -my arm and speaking a few timid words in my -ear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I swung around and caught at the little woman -who had been our neighbor. She had her children -with her, and the three held each other closely, as -if their last hour had begun.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>“What are you doing here?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I did not know David was near, but at the words -he clasped me in his arms.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She is here, Arnold,” he answered, “because the -last act of terrorism has brought her. Sanson’s reason -has left him, and he has flung his net wide over -London for victims. He has gathered everyone: -morons, Christians, criminals, suspects. She taught -her children fairy stories. The inspectors had long -suspected it, and they terrified the little girl into -admission by threatening to kill the mother. They -were then adjudged morons. The mother pleaded to -be allowed to accompany them to the table, alleging -that her father had been color-blind. Her prayer -was granted; she is going, Arnold; we all are -going—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” said the old bishop in a regretful tone, -“not one of us is going. You see,” he added in explanation, -“the Russians are in Stockholm, and it -will not be long before they arrive in London to free -the world. That is why Sanson lost his self-control. -He knows. He wants to finish his enemies at home -before they come.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you know?” demanded David, while -everyone grew still and listened.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is given to me to know,” said Bishop Alfred -simply, beaming and rubbing his hands. “I should -like to have followed my dear master, the Lord -<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>Bishop of London, to the fagots, but none of us -will go to the tables now, and we shall all have our -two names again.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>David drew me aside. “Arnold,” he said, “this -situation would have robbed stronger men of their -wits. I am afraid that our case is hopeless. One -of the Guard, who knows me, has told me that Sanson -is preparing for a holocaust of victims tomorrow, -to celebrate his coup. He will stop at nothing to -appease his blood thirst. Arnold, all our people know -who you are. For their sake you must lead and -show them how to die, as the first Christians died. -It is hard, my dear boy—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I knew he was not thinking of death, but of my -tragedy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Your capture has rendered our plans abortive,” -he went on. “But still there may be some hope -unguessed by us. Unto the last we will not impugn -God’s power. Now, my friends,” he added, turning -toward the crowd, which circulated in the vault -slowly, always following me, “let us show the Guard -where our strength lies.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>In the gloom of the vast vault, above the howling -of the dogs, the hymn was raised, old Bishop Alfred -leading, in a voice singularly sweet, although in -speech the tones were broken. All kneeled.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Afterward David spoke briefly. He reminded us -of the brave traditions of martyrdom and its happy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>expectancy. We were going to face our fate together, -strengthened by our companionship and in -the knowledge that our death would create a revulsion -of sentiment that would sweep Sanson from -power and restore Christianity to the world. They -cried out their approval, and there was no face but -reflected David’s dauntless resolution. Then it was -as if some soul of merriment swept over us all. I -saw strangers embracing, there was clapping of -hands, and the concluding hymn was shouted so -joyously that a slit in the little window overhead -was thrust back, and I saw the face of a sentinel stare -in on us with something of superstitious awe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The glass must have been sound-proof, like that -which enclosed Lembken’s gardens, for, as the slit -was pushed back, I heard the cries of the multitude -in the courts above:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sanson! Sanson! Sanson!” they howled. “Out -with the Christian morons! To the Rest Cure! The -Rest Cure!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The slit was pushed into place, cutting off all -sound. Darkness was falling. The little light within -the vault faded. Gradually the voices died away. -Sometimes a hymn would be started, but mostly we -sat silent now, and even the dogs ceased howling, -and only stirred and whined at intervals. I heard -the little woman’s children whimper, and fancied -her motherly face bent over them as she quieted their -fears. I only felt Elizabeth’s presence, and that of -David, good, fatherly man, on whom I leaned more -than he knew. At last the only sounds were the -bishop’s mumbling voice, as he talked to himself, -and the staccato tapping of his stick on the stone -floors.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_242.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A man near me leaped up and craned his neck, looking into the gloom</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>“They are coming,” I heard him say. “They are -gathering up the Stockholm fleets. They will be -here—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who?” I burst out.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The Russians,” he answered gently. “See them -coming; big men, with bloody crosses on their -breasts.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>A man near me leaped up and craned his neck, -looking into the gloom. One or two cried out at -the old bishop’s words, and some listened and whispered -eagerly. Time passed. Most of the prisoners -slept. I was still too sick and dizzy from my wound; -I waited in a sort of apathy, and I seemed to see -Esther within the opening cylinder, and Sanson, -creeping like a foul beast of prey toward her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I had been dozing. I started up at the sound of -bolts being withdrawn, the heavy door at the far end -of the vault was opened, and flashing lights shone in -on us. The dogs, awakened, began to howl again. -There was the stamping of heavy boots upon the -stones, and a detachment of the Guard appeared -before us.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>They numbered seven. Six of them were privates, -carrying solar torches and Ray rods; and in -their midst stood a tall man with a black beard and -a curved sword sheath that clanked on the stones. -I recognized in him Mehemet, the Turkish commander.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Some, who had slept and mercifully forgotten all, -sat up in bewilderment, others leaped up, thinking -the hour had come. As we stood blinking at the -lights, Mehemet spoke a few words, and the soldiers -flashed their torches into our faces until they lighted -on mine. Then Mehemet stepped forward and laid -his hand on my shoulder, and drew me toward him; -and the soldiers closed about us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>David sprang toward them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You shall not take him alone!” he cried. “Let us -go with him, every one of us. We shall go to death -together.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And others sprang forward too, clamoring, beseeching. -“Take us all!” they cried. “Take us -together!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mehemet shrugged his shoulders and turned away. -The captives flung themselves before the soldiers, -who hesitated.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was then that the old bishop, who had never -ceased to mumble, I think, came quietly up to us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is all right. Let him go,” he said gently. “He -will come to no harm.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_244.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A tall man with a black beard and a curved sword sheath that clanked on the stones.<br /><br />I recognized in him Mehemet the Turkish commander</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>“It is my orders,” said Mehemet, looking with -respect at Bishop Alfred. “I have come for him -alone.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Half quieted by the bishop’s intervention, my -fellow-prisoners ceased to offer forcible resistance. -But they wept and prayed, and David grasped me -by the hand.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We shall be together in spirit, Arnold!” he -cried. “God be with you. God be with you.” He -flung his arms about me, and the guards, touched -by the scene, permitted him to accompany me as far -as the door. They picked their way carefully by -the light of their torches, to avoid treading on the -dogs, which crept to their feet or strained, yelping, -upon their chains. At the door I found Elizabeth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We shall be with you in your hour, Arnold!” she -said, embracing me and fighting back her sobs valiantly. -“We shall all think of you tomorrow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The crowd dispersed. The last thing that I saw -was the white, terrified, maternal face of the little -woman, as she clutched her children to her breast, -and, over her, the bishop’s pastoral staff, held up as -if to shield her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The door was closed behind me, and the soldiers -shot the bolts home. In front of me was a flight of -winding concrete stairs, dividing at a central space -into two portions that ran right and left respectively. -We took the left. I expected to emerge into the Vivisection -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>Bureau, to see the eager students of the medical -school, and Sanson, the presiding devil, there. -But instead I saw a gate above me; a guard unlocked -it. Then I found myself standing alone -beside Mehemet, in the interior court between the -Temple and the Airscouts’ Fortress, between the Science -Wing and the Council Building.</p> - -<p class='c011'>High above me the bridges crossed, spanning the -gulf in whose recess we stood. I saw once more the -palms against the upreared crystal walls.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I watched I saw the battleplanes take their -flight once more, one by one, from the roof of the -Airscouts’ Fortress, rising into the dark night like -luminous balloons. In the distance London glowed -like day.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Behind us, in the outer courts, a multitude was -shrieking curses upon the Christians; and, for the -first time, I heard threats against Lembken, and -realized that Sanson’s plans were made for that coup -which I was never to see.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are going to Sanson?” I asked Mehemet, -nerving myself for his affirmative reply.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He spat. “The jackal!” he said. “Sooner would -I become a Christian than serve such spawn. We -are going to the People’s House.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Evidently Sanson did not know that the main -prop of his new house had fallen.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XXI<br /> <span class='large'>AMARANTH</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>I stepped out of the elevator into a part of the -Palace that I had not seen before. The room into -which the waiting negro ushered me was completely -dark, though a thin line of light at the further end -showed me that there was a lighted room beyond.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I strained my eyes, striving to penetrate the gloom. -I took a few steps forward, stretching out my hands -to feel if any obstacle were in the way. Looking -back, I could not even discern the heavy curtain that -had dropped soundlessly behind me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I knew that there was someone in the room, and -that it was not Lembken. I waited; I heard the -rustle of a woman’s garment. Then swiftly the -room was flooded with the soft solar light.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was bare, except for the rugs and a low divan -pushed against one wall, with a little table beside it. -Everything was of the color of gold: the walls, the -ceiling, the rugs upon the floor. And before me, -clothed from head to foot in a sheer, trailing garment -of dull gold, stood the girl Amaranth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Her dark hair was bound back in a loose Grecian -knot, her sandaled feet gleamed white on the gold -fabric under them; she stretched out her white arms -<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>to me and, taking me by the hand, led me to the divan -and placed me at her side.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Poor Arnold!” she began in a caressing tone, -“you have suffered so much in your ignorance and -your desire to help your friends. But all your troubles -are ended now, and your friends shall not be -harmed. Do you think you can love me, Arnold?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She looked at me with neither boldness nor hesitation, -and then, folding her arms, drummed her sandal -heels against the foot of the divan.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you not lucky, Arnold, to have won my -love!” she continued. “I gave my love to you from -the moment when I first saw you enter the room in -which I sat with Lembken, looking so stern, so resolute, -like one of those adventurous heroes of the -twentieth century of whom we read in our romances. -That is why I made Lembken tell Mehemet to bring -you here. He was so hurt by your departure that I -think he would have let his plans go to ruin rather -than himself plead with you. He is very sensitive -and kind.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are not afraid to love me, Arnold?” she -continued, looking at me with curious scrutiny. -“You need not be afraid. Lembken has grown tired -of me, so I must find another. He has taken a fancy -to Coral, my blue, an absurd little yellow-haired -thing. You shall see her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She clapped her hands twice, and a door opened, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>apparently a part of the wall. A fair-haired girl, -dressed in a loose blue tunic and Zouave trousers, -entered, carrying a tray on which were two golden -winecups.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Amaranth took the nearest cup in her hands, -touched the rim with her lips, and held it out to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Drink with me, Arnold,” she said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But I would not drink, lest the corruption of the -wine should dull me and disarm my strength in the -spell of that enervating hell. I handed back the cup -to her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Amaranth looked at me for an instant with quivering -lips. Then she burst into tears and hurled the -cup at the maid. She flung the other also. The first -missed its mark and fell against the base of the wall, -where it shed its ruby contents in a widening stain. -The second cup struck the maid’s cheek and cut it, -and the wine drenched the blue tunic.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The maid smiled, biting her lips, stooped down, -picked up both cups, and, placing them on the tray, -departed silently. Amaranth sobbed as if her heart -was broken. Then suddenly she turned and flung -her arms about me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, I love you!” she cried. “You saw her? -She is Lembken’s favorite now, that yellow-haired -fool with the blue eyes like saucers. Lembken means -us for each other. Can you not love me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I sat in silence, trying to pick my path cautiously -<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>through the mists of bewildering doubt. Amaranth -unclasped her arms from about my neck, and her -face assumed a look of mockery.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I know!” she said, “it is that Elizabeth of -yours whom you think you love. And you think you -can only love one at a time, in your romantic twentieth-century -way. Well, I will match myself against -her. You shall bring her here, Arnold, and I will -fight her for you, and I will be your blue and she -shall be your white, and I will serve you obediently -till I have won your heart. Look on me, Arnold! -See how beautiful I am! For I was born here; I -am Boss Rose’s daughter, and I have never left the -People’s House. Look at the whiteness of my skin! -The sun has never shone on it. Look at my lips, -Arnold! Put your mouth to my cheek—it is as -soft as the bloom upon a nectarine. Do you think, -then, I am afraid to match myself against your -Elizabeth?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She smiled contemptuously, and tilted back her -head, and clasped her hands behind it, and watched -me through her lashes. Yet I detected a resource of -feverish resolve in her; and I knew that she and I, -Mehemet, Sanson, were that night weaving the -threads in a fabric upon the loom of destiny, and -that each word we spoke flashed like the thread-bearing -shuttle over it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So, piecing my words together with infinite care, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>because the lives of Esther and all those who were -dear to me hung on them, I answered her:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Forgive my sullen mood. You have promised -that my friends shall go free; yet they expect to die -at sunrise, and it is hard to be at ease. How can I -save them?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Amaranth unclasped her hands and turned to me -with a quick gesture of penitence.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, it was wrong of me to speak of love first, -when you have such a burden of sorrow, Arnold!” -she answered. “I had forgotten that men’s minds -are troubled in the world below. Here we are free -and have no cares, except how we shall take our -pleasures. And to think that you left us to help -your friends, when Lembken would have done everything -you wished!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now I will set your mind at rest. Lembken has -already given the command that your friends shall -live until Sanson has spoken in the Temple, and when -he has spoken he will no longer have power—if you -obey Lembken. But he was deeply hurt by your -leaving him, for he is very sensitive to unkindness, -and so he asked me to speak to you on his behalf. -Now, if you act loyally, you may save your friends -and the world. Tomorrow there will be an end to all -of Sanson’s mad schemes of tyranny. Mehemet and -his guards have abandoned him. Lembken knows -everything; he knows all the desperate plans his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>poor people have made, and his heart is wrung for -them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She paused, and placing her hand on mine, looked -very earnestly at me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold, you know that Sanson has been poisoning -the people’s minds against Lembken, in pursuance -of his plan to depose him,” she continued. -“So your part, which will be detailed to you later, -will be to enter the Temple tomorrow among -the priests. You will defend Lembken against Sanson. -You will remind the people how they elected -him from year to year, because he was their friend. -Tell them he has not changed. And in return -liberty shall be established and the hated Guard -disbanded. Lembken asks only for his dignity -and wealth, and his friends in the People’s House. -He is growing old, Arnold, and desires power no -more.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She watched me with that centuries-old look, and -in my heart I knew I had not fathomed hers. This -was what I had meant to propose. Yet—yet I -doubted her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is agreed, then,” she cried gaily, “and now -you will be one of us. It is past midnight, Arnold, -and in a few short hours you shall be hidden in the -priests’ room to be coached for your part. Till -then—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She ceased suddenly, as the sound of voices came -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>from the room beyond the further door. She slipped -from the divan.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sanson has been with Lembken,” she whispered. -“He is coming this way. Arnold, do you want to see -your enemy broken? That will be a glorious beginning -to this first night of ours, and afterwards we -shall go to the revels in the garden. I shall be proud -of you, Arnold, for now the girls are taunting me -because Lembken is tired of me. How I shall be -envied! But come here quickly!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She took me to the door in the wall through which -the girl Coral had come. At a distance of a few -paces it was invisible. I wondered how many -more such doors were set in the walls of Lembken’s -palace.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You shall listen here,” she said, “I trust you -Arnold. You will not lose your self-control and -enter, no matter what you hear? Ah, I shall test -your love for that Elizabeth! But I trust you, and -the beginning of this night’s masque shall be the -humbling of your enemy. Stay here until I call -you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She thrust me behind the door and withdrew, -closing it. I heard the rustle of her garment as she -crossed the room—then nothing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I found myself standing in a dim corridor that -ran as far as I could see in either direction. The -nameless horror of the Palace overcame me, and it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>was with a strong effort that I controlled my wild -impulse of flight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I stood there I heard the sound of stealthy footsteps, -and, looking up, saw the maid Coral coming -softly toward me. She was carrying the tray, with -two full winecups, and she stopped beside me and set -it down on the carpet.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She stood looking at me. Her eyes were blazing -with anger, and her slim body shook under the blue -tunic. But on her mouth was the same set smile -that I had seen when she picked up the cups.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She said nothing, but, placing her hand against the -door, opened it an inch or two without the slightest -sound. At that moment I heard a door opened, the -rustle of Amaranth’s robe, and a lithe tread on the -floor.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson spoke. “I have said all that there is to -say,” he answered. “Why do you plead with me? -Do you think a woman can plead with me where -Lembken failed? He shall have his honors and residence -here—no more.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But spare your prisoners, Sanson,” said Amaranth -softly. “Spare Arnold. For my sake,” she -said, pleading.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson spoke curtly. “All Christians and all -morons must be tomorrow’s sacrifice to the new era,” -he answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do not go, Sanson,” Amaranth besought him, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>as he moved away from her. “Listen to me! You, -who are so merciless and cruel, why do you not take -all?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have all that I need,” he said impatiently. -“What more?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why have you spared Lembken? Why do you -not slay him and rule with us? We hate him. He is -a tyrant, and you know the fate of his women when -they have ceased to please. You who have made -yourself the master of the world, for whose sight we -throng the sides of the crystal walls as you cross the -courts below—why have you refused the pleasures -that are for the world’s masters?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stood still; I fancied that he was looking at -her, trying to measure his problem in the balances -once more. Coral cast a glance at me. The smile -was still on her face, but she nodded her head -thoughtfully, as if she, too, had her problem.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Listen, Sanson,” continued Amaranth fiercely, -“when Boss Rose climbed to power he built the -People’s House and made it a pleasure-palace for the -world’s elect. Then he died under a murderer’s -dagger, and Lembken, who had long envied him, -came to rule in his place. He, too, has lived his time. -Now he is broken. You, the next ruler of the world—why -do you not do as he did? We are tired of -him. We want another lord, Sanson.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I knew that she was clinging to him as she had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>clung to me. I did not look at Coral, but I knew -that she was still smiling.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You can set us free, Sanson,” continued Amaranth -gently. “You can rid us of our tyrant.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The murmuring voice went on and on, and Sanson -made no answer.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You have not entered the People’s House for -seven years until tonight. Do you think we have -forgotten that you exist? Do you think we have -not wondered why the master of the world has left -us to the whims of that fat old man? Sit by me, -Sanson. Do you not see how you have toiled while -Lembken has taken his ease? You have waited so -long for one woman. Oh, yes, I know; all a great -man’s secrets are known everywhere, though he -thinks them in sanctuary, securely guarded. You -can take her—but take us too. Live your life, -Sanson! Save us and reign over us! Take me, -Sanson—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I heard the man breathe as if in a trance. That -strange pity which he inspired in me awoke again. -All the long tragedy of his life, the vigil of five and -thirty years, the love that must prove vain—I realized -it all. For this vain love he had ensnared the -world, and now the world leaped at him to ensnare -him. Devil as he was, in will his life had been, in -one respect, a hero’s.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Drink with me, Sanson,” I heard Amaranth murmur. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>“You do not know the taste of wine. A pledge -to our love. A pledge to our lives!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She was conquering. The tyrant of the world was -almost prostrate at the feet of this girl of twenty -years. Attila’s fate was to be his. I heard him -groan in bitterness of conflict.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Amaranth clapped twice. Instantly the girl Coral -stooped down, pushing me fiercely from the door, -and, taking up the tray, went in. Amaranth took -the brimming winecup and touched it with her lips.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Drink, Sanson!” she murmured.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was watching them now. I saw Sanson rise and -raise the cup in his hand. He did not drink, neither -did he reject it, but stood like one in a daze, all movement -inhibited by the fierceness of that inner struggle. -Amaranth seized the second cup from the tray, -leaped from the couch, and raised it on high.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To our love, Sanson!” she cried, and drained it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At that moment the jagged cut on the girl Coral’s -face grew red with blood again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Coral stood holding the tray, and she looked at -Amaranth and smiled. She stood like a tinted statue.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson was still standing in front of the divan. -He had not drunk; he held the cup in his hand and -was himself as immobile as a statue.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Will you not drink the pledge that I have drunk?” -asked Amaranth, laying her fingers lightly on his -arm and leaning toward him.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>And I had underestimated Sanson after all. Now, -at the moment of surrender, his indomitable will -flamed out, seeming to possess his body and mold -each feature, every muscle to its unconquerable -resolve.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will not drink!” he cried, and flung the cup to -the floor.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He turned and strode from the room like the conqueror -he was. He passed the curtain, which fell -behind him. He had won his hardest battle, taken -unaware, fighting against a cunning ambush; and I -knew now that hardly an earthly enemy could conquer -him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was in the room now, for there was no need to -hide myself any longer. I watched Amaranth, who, -as statuesque as Sanson had been, stood looking after -him. A minute passed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Suddenly she wheeled about and clapped her hands -to her side. She staggered; a spasm of pain crossed -her face, and she looked searchingly at Coral. The -maid in the blue tunic looked back at her, smiling.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Their eyes did not waver until Amaranth swayed -backward and fell on the divan. A scream broke -from her lips, and then another; a third; she wrung -her hands and moaned.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I kneeled before her. “What is it, Amaranth?” -I cried.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_258.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>Sanson’s indomitable will flamed out. “I will not drink!” he cried, and flung the cup to the floor</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>She raised herself and looked wildly at me. Her -face was ashen pale, the features pinched; dark rings -had crept beneath her eyes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She gave me the—wrong cup,” she whispered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I tried to go for aid, but Amaranth clung to me. -“There is no hope,” she sobbed. “I must die. Stay -with me, Arnold!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Her head fell back and she breathed heavily. I -turned and saw Coral beside me, a smiling, waxen -doll, the new queen of the harem by the dying one.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Go!” I thundered at her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She shrugged her shoulders daintily and went, -leaving the winecups on the floor.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Amaranth’s hand trembled upon my sleeve. I -bent over her. Her eyes fixed themselves on mine.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Put your hand under me,” she muttered; “raise -me. All is lost now. Sanson has beaten Lembken, -and everything is ended. Save your Elizabeth if you -can.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She drew my face toward hers and spoke in panting -accents:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It was Lembken’s plot. He learned that Sanson -held you in the vaults. His case was desperate. He -asked Mehemet’s aid. Mehemet said he—his men -would not desert Sanson while he lived, but if he -died they would follow him for Lembken. I was -to poison Sanson and thus win over the Guard. I was -to drug you only, and keep you out of the way. -Lembken liked you; he would not let you be killed. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>He has been communicating with the American -bosses. The plan—the plan—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She gathered her strength with a last effort of will.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The plan was of long standing. Events hastened -it. Mehemet knew it. Britain was to have a God -again, Mehemet’s God, and the American Mormons -were to unite with us, for their faith is nearly the -same. The people would have a god, and this would -unite all nations against the Christian Russians. -They are in Stockholm. The American battleplanes -are on their way to help us against them. When -Sanson was dead the guards were to join the airscouts. -Now you must go. Save your Elizabeth. -Kill Sanson. I can say no more. Escape—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She muttered something that I could not hear, and -then her eyes, which had closed, reopened and wavered -on mine again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I loved you, Arnold,” she said in a weak, clear -voice. “I’m glad I died before I lost you. I used -to wish I had been born in other days ... the -twentieth-century days, when ... women were -different ... all different ... men mated one -only ... give the people those days again if you -beat Sanson, Arnold.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She tried to stretch out her hands to me. Her -eyelids quivered, and she sighed very deeply.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw a crimson stain upon my hands. It was the -wine from Sanson’s winecup.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XXII<br /> <span class='large'>ESTHER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>I left the dead girl on the divan and went into -the hall. My head ached, and I was still dizzy -from my wound, but I had grown suddenly composed, -and all my perplexities had vanished in the -face of Esther’s imminent need of me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was nobody in the hall. The negroes were -gone, and the palm gardens were dark and seemed -deserted. Silence had descended everywhere. -Withal it was the silence of hushed voices, I knew, -and not of emptiness. Within those walls, in hidden -rooms, lurked those who waited yet for the death -agony of the man who had already escaped the -baited trap.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I wondered whether Sanson had bought the attendants, -if he had come alone, whether the fear of -him forbade an ambush in case Amaranth’s plot -should fail. He had evidently gone down in the -elevator, for it was not in the cage, but it came up -to me when I pressed the button, and I descended, -stopping at the first door I saw, which must, I knew, -give access to the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The corridor into which I stepped was as empty as -the palace hall above. The airscouts who should -<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>have been on duty here were gone. I did not realize -that I had formed no plans and felt no fear until I -found my way unopposed. Before me was a door, -leading into one of the numerous small rooms -through which one entered the Temple, and at my -side was a little window, through which the cries -of the mob beneath were borne to me fitfully on the -gusty air.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I stopped and looked out. The sky was thick with -battleplanes. No longer at their stations about the -city, they cruised hither and thither, approaching -one another and retiring in a manner seemingly confused -and aimless. Sometimes a group would gather -as if conferring, forming a polygon of light with -changing sides as they maneuvered; and presently -a single impulse seemed to animate them all, for, like -a flock of wheeling birds, they swung around and -sailed off together, till they were only pin-points -of light in the southwest.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Beneath me the courts were packed with a vast -multitude that had assembled for the morrow’s ceremonies. -Looking down on them, I saw that they -were held back by two lines of the guards, armed -with Ray rods, drawn up before the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>They jostled and swayed and howled fearlessly, -as if they knew the imminence of change; yet their -cries were not all against the Christians and the -morons, nor yet against Lembken, nor all for -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>Sanson. I tried to fancy that among them were -groups of our few thousand, gathered out of the -forests to play their rôle at dawn.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Yet for the moment Sanson had triumphed. I -thought upon how little hung the fate of the world. -A palace women’s intrigue, the jealousy of a girl, -a cup of wine, and Lembken’s schemes were -broken.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then it came to me that the conical, glow-painted -Ray guns on the encircling wall were trained no -longer outward but inward, dominating the Temple -courts and all the multitude within them. And in a -flash of comprehension I saw the scheme of Sanson. -If the people rejected him on the morrow he meant -to kill all those within the walls, all human beings -inside the circle of the fortress, confident that thereby -he would destroy all his enemies. He meant to level -the Temple and the palace above, the Council Hall, -the Airscouts’ Fortress, involving everything in one -colossal ruin which he would bestride—the unchallenged -master of the Federation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>This done, the Russian fleet would be attacked and -destroyed, and with it the last obstacle to world -dominion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw this with one flash of intuition. Perhaps I -lingered in all for forty seconds beside the window. -It was hardly longer, for the thought of Esther drove -me through the doorway in front of me. I found -<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>myself within the dark, enormous area of the -Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was in a circular gallery surrounded by a brass -railing, which ran high up around the interior. The -only light was the faint reflection from a single -solar bulb that shone across the gulf. Beneath it I -could discern the shining, golden surface of the -Ant.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I felt my way around the gallery, working toward -the light, which seemed to descend as I approached it, -until, standing immediately above it, I looked down -and saw it shining an unknown distance beneath. It -showed now the uplifted antenna of the idol, the -edge of the stone altar in the center of the bridge -that spanned the Temple, and the round body of the -cylinder, which seemed to hang in space above it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I had entered the Temple upon a floor one stage -too high, and there was no way down from the gallery; -it would be necessary to go back to the elevator -and descend to a lower level, that of the bridges that -spanned the interior court.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But that was too dangerous, and I could wait no -longer. I estimated that the light was five and -twenty feet below. I swung from the brass rail and -dropped into space. It was a mad plunge in the dark -toward that slender bridge a hundred feet above the -Temple floor. But fortune was with me, for I struck -the golden grille around the altar-stone and tumbled -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>inside, rising upon my feet with only a bruise or two.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The grille was about four feet high, and the ends -formed gates which, when opened, made the altar-stone -one with the two bridge spans that extended -to meet it from either side of the building. It formed -thus a sort of keystone in aspect, though not architecturally, -since it did not support the spans, which -seemed to be on the principle of the cantilever. I -saw now that the stone was suspended by steel chains -from the roof, and over it, hung by two finer ones, -was the cylinder.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Presently I could grasp the meaning of the mechanism. -Cylinder and stone altar were in counterpoise, -so that, when the first was drawn up, the second -would descend from between the spans to the -level of the Ant’s pedestal, forming, as it were, a -sacrificial stone immediately before the idol, disrupting -the continuity of the bridges also, and leaving a -gap between them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But I spared no thoughts on this. I looked through -the cylinder’s face of glass, and, though I saw but the -dimmest outlines there, I knew that I had found -Esther again, and that there were to be no more partings, -so long as we both lived.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I do not know what follies I committed there, for -I forgot everything but her. Forgotten was the -imminent danger, remembered only our reunion. I -flung my arms about the iron case and called to her, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>telling her of my love, as if she heard me. I came -back to sanity at length to find myself kneeling before -the case upon the stone, with the tears raining down -my cheeks.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a mad wooing of a sleeping woman upon -that giant slab, swung by its chains from the vault -above, and vibrant under me. Each movement set -the heavy mass to trembling as the chains quivered, -and the cylinder, too, danced before me, like some -steel marionette.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I stretched my hands up, feeling for the cylinder -cap. It was still on the neck, but it had almost -reached the end of the thread and moved under my -fingers. I could not see the figures upon the dial, -but I knew that Esther’s awakening was not many -hours away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I twisted the cap between my fingers. I could -dislodge it. If I did so ... Lazaroff had told -me that would bring death, but surely not when -there remained only a few short hours before the -awakening. Air must have been entering in -measurable quantities during some days. And, -even if Esther died—better that than to awaken in -Sanson’s arms!</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was a terrific choice. I hesitated only a few -moments, but they were a century of agony to me. -Then I set my fingers to the cap, wrenched it free, -and flung it from me. It tinkled upon the stones -<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>beneath. And, hardly venturing to breathe, I clung -to the cylinder and waited.</p> - -<p class='c011'>No sound came from within. I clung and tried to -place my ear against the opening.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At last, in maddened resolution, I swung the cylinder -toward me by the chains, tilting it downward -until I got purchase upon it. I bore with my full -weight upon the metal edge. I plunged my arms -within. I felt the heavy coils of Esther’s hair, her -eyelids, cheek, and chin; I placed my hands beneath -her arms and drew her forth. How I contrived it I -do not know, for platform and cylinder rocked fearfully -as they swung; but in a moment, it seemed, I -held her light and wasted body against my own. And -we were on the rocking altar-stone together, while -the cylinder swung rhythmically above, passing our -heads in steady, sweeping flights as I crouched with -Esther in my arms behind the golden grille.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I pressed my lips to hers, I chafed her hands and -pleaded with her to awake. And presently, as if in -answer to my prayer, I heard a sigh so faint that I -could scarcely dare believe I heard it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A deeper sigh, a sobbing breath—she lived; and -with amazed, awed happiness I felt her thin arms -grope instinctively toward my neck. She knew!</p> - -<p class='c011'>I kneeled beside her on the altar-stone, listening -with choked sobs and wildly beating heart to the -words that came from her lips in faltering whispers:</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>“Herman! What have you done? You have -killed him! Then kill me, too! I don’t want to live! -Murderer! Kill me! O Arnold, my love, to think -that neither of us knew!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I love him, Herman, and I have told him -so. You were too late to prevent that. I saw your -heart tonight. Kill me, I say! Yes, I am ready a -thousand times to go where Arnold has gone. Be -sure that I shall follow him, through any hell of your -devising!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Esther whispered, living over again those minutes -of dreadful anguish that she must have passed -in the cellar after Lazaroff had put the cap on my -cylinder and driven me on that strange voyage of -mine. The little solar light shone on Esther’s brown -gown, turning it golden. And I remembered—with -how strange a pang—the night when she had worn -that gown in the drawing-room of Sir Spofforth’s -house.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Esther,” I whispered, bending over her, “it is I. -It is Arnold.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw her eyelids quiver half open, but I knew -that she could not see me. She moaned. I interposed -my body between her and the light.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You have been ill, dearest Esther,” I said. “But -now everything is well. You know me, Esther?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” she whispered, “I have been with you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>all the time. I dreamed ... Herman had sent -you ... a hundred years away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>She became unconscious the next moment. I knew -the mighty grip of that first sleep. It was in truth -twin brother to death, for, with my head against her -breast, I could discern hardly the slightest stirring. -But she lived; all was well. And now the need of -saving her came over me. I caught her into my -arms—she weighed no more than a small child—and -hurried across the bridge. I believed that the -outer door upon this lower level communicated with -the bridge over the interior court that led to the Airscouts’ -Fortress.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I traversed the little room and pushed the swing -door open. Before me was an elevator shaft, evidently -that up which I had made my first journey to -Lembken’s palace. But as I emerged into the corridor -I saw, not ten paces away, their backs toward -me, two of the Guard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I was too late. The Guard had occupied the posts -vacated by the airscouts. The Temple and all the -approaches to Lembken’s palace were in Sanson’s -hands.</p> - -<p class='c011'>They had not seen or heard me, and in a moment -I had withdrawn within the little room. There still -remained one chance. By crossing the bridge again -and passing through the priests’ robing-room on the -other side of the Temple, I could reach all parts of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>the buildings. Perhaps there were no sentries in the -gallery above the auditorium. I knew how vain the -hope was, but there was none other.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I carried Esther upon the bridge again. As I was -about to set foot upon the altar-stone, which still -rocked slightly, I fancied that the bridges themselves -were moving. I leaped on the stone, stumbling -against the grille. One moment I hesitated, to assure -myself that Esther still breathed. A piece of her -brown dress had come away and broke like burned -paper in my hand. I raised her higher in my arms, -so that her head rested against my shoulder, and -opened the grille gate to step upon the farther span.</p> - -<p class='c011'>That moment of delay had ended all my hopes. -There was no second span. For swiftly, noiselessly, -the span was swinging away from me, pivoting upon -its further end. It was already too far away for me -to make the leap, encumbered as I was with Esther. -I glanced backward in horror. The span that I had -crossed was moving also, acting in unison. They -vanished in the gloom at the sides of the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I stood with Esther in my arms upon the altar-slab, -poised on that unsteady resting place high in -the Temple void. There was no refuge anywhere. -Over me was the vault; far underneath the Ant with -its gleaming, upraised tentacle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I stood there the little solar light went out.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> <span class='large'>THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>The Temple was profoundly dark. Crouched on -the swinging stone, helpless in Sanson’s power, -I was not conscious of fear. Rather, a melancholy -regret possessed me that this was the end, as it inevitably -must be. A hundred years of separation, the -knowledge of each other’s love—no more; and all -had gone for nothing. Yet, there was cause for -happiness that this much had been granted me, to -die with Esther; and the loss of all hope brought -calmness to my spirit and acceptance of the -inevitable.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It may have been two hours later when I heard the -cries of the mob once more. I heard the tramp of -feet upon stone; and then, through every swinging -door below, invisible forms came trooping in until -they covered the whole of the vast floor. They -shouted against the Christians in an unceasing pandemonium, -and the walls and hollow roof re-echoed -that infernal din until another spirit that underlay -the mob fury, something of awed expectancy, swept -over the concourse, and the last shout died down, -and a new and dreadful silence arose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It lasted minutes, perhaps, broken only by the stir -<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>of feet on the floor, the rustle of robes, the sighs that -whispered through the darkness; then, out of that -silence a low chant began. It was that dreadful -chant that I had heard before, crooned first by a few -and then by many, tossed back and forth from -side to side of the Temple floor, until all caught it up -and made the walls echo with it:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are immortal in the germ-plasm; make us -immortal in the body before we die.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was a dreadful melody, one of those tunes -that seem to rise spontaneously to a people’s lips as -the outpouring of its aspirations. Again and again -that dreadful, hopeless chant rose from below, -swelled into a din, and died.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then shouts broke out again as the mob spirit -seized upon some who had assembled there:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Make us immortal in these bodies of ours!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Make us immortal, Sanson!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Give me eternal life!” raved the cracked voice of -an aged man; and that blasphemy against Nature -seemed to shock the mob into silence, until once more -the low chant swelled and echoed and died away in -wailing overtones of helplessness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Suddenly a single solar light flashed at one side of -the Temple, and, high above the multitude, where the -end of the bridge span rested against the curve of -the wall, I perceived Sanson. He was standing alone -upon the drawn-back span, which, shadowy and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>vague, gave him the aspect of a figure poised in the -air.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He was a master of stage-craft. It even awed me, -that calculated effect of the dark Temple and the -crowd, invisible each to his neighbor; and the hypnotic -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mise en scène</span></i> of the solitary figure aloft beneath -the single light. I, too, felt the contagion of the -universal expectation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson uttered no word, but stretched one arm out -and pointed across the Temple. Then I heard the -tramp of men coming from the direction of the elevator -shafts; and suddenly a second light burned -across the vast void of the dark.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Upon the second span, now dimly visible, drawn -back against the wall opposite Sanson, I saw the prisoners -from the vaults, marshaled under the charge of -the Guard. There, at the extreme edge, Elizabeth -stood, a slender, virginal figure, her hands clasped -over her bosom; at her side David, behind them the -patriarchal figure of Bishop Alfred. Behind him -were ranged the other victims of Sanson’s rage. -They, too, under that single light, seemed to be poised -in air.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At the sight of them, hysteria swept the minds of -the mob into frenzy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The Christians!” they screamed. “Kill them! -Kill them! Out with the dogs who hold their bodies -cheap! To the Rest Cure! Ah—h!”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>The groaning end was drawn out as the vibration -of a G-string. The air was heavy and foul with hate; -I felt it as something ponderable.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A woman’s voice rang shrill through the Temple, -and the devil that goaded her had raised his head -now after two thousand years of stupor. He returned -into a world that had forgotten him since the -first shapings of Europe’s peoples began, out of the -deepest place in hell.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sacrifice them!” she shrieked. “A human sacrifice -upon the altar-stone!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The whistling, strident voices of the mob answered -her: “Sacrifice them! A human sacrifice!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Surely Sanson’s stage-craft was working well. -He stood there, facing his victims across the void. -He raised his hand, and every voice was stilled.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have called you together, citizens, upon this -day,” he said, “because, as you once chose freedom in -place of bondage, so, now, the time has come to -choose again. I have given you liberty, I have given -you peace, I have enlightened you and raised you to -man’s true dignity. The Christians used to say that -man was half ape and half that mythical vertebrate -known as the angel. I have driven the ape out of -you and made you all angel. That is to say, all man, -standing on his own feet, not leaning against imaginary -gods to prop him. It has been a difficult battle, -for all the vested evils in the world have fought -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>against me. But I have won: your God, your Christ, -the superstitious, stubborn heart of man have yielded. -Now the old order is ripe to perish everlastingly. -There remains one more enemy—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Death!” screamed the shrill woman’s voice. -“Make us immortal in our beautiful bodies, Sanson! -Give us life, everlasting life!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The Ant,” pursued the speaker patiently.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was an unexpected anticlimax. The crowd -groaned in disappointment, and the silence that followed -was of unutterable grief. That Sanson would -bestow his boon upon them, all had believed. Nor -had they anticipated Sanson’s declaration. For the -idolatrous symbol, which was all they knew of worship, -had possessed itself of their imaginations, their -aspirations had cleaved to it, and, as must be, what -had begun as a symbol had ended as a god.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson was too shrewd not to see immediately that -he had struck the wrong note. He swung himself -about, facing the captives on the opposite span, and -his voice reverberated through the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You have demanded sacrifices, human sacrifices,” -he cried, “and you shall have them, but not in honor -of the Ant. There is no Ant, no God. But there is -Freedom, hidden within the cylinder where she has -lain since the beginnings of time, waiting for this -day to dawn, now ready to emerge into a world set -free. To her we sacrifice!”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>He stood there, a dramatic figure, the incarnation -of rebellious pride, Lucifer defying God, or some old -Titan in revolt against Olympus. But, as he paused, -the cracked voice of the old bishop piped through -the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I can give you eternal life, my people,” he -cried clearly. “I have the Word that alone can set -you free. It is the same that Bonham spoke to you in -Westminster Hall while he was burning. You heard -him and went home, and some were afraid, some -wondered, and some forgot; but that Word never -dies, and it will be told soon in a million homes, -because, by God’s mercy, the Russians are at hand to -set you free.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The deep-breathed “Ah!” that followed was not of -hate but of fear. Something was stirring in the -hearts of the multitude, molding them against knowledge -and will. I felt it, too: a mighty spiritual -power, a Light that clove the darkness. I saw the old -bishop stand out at the end of the span and shake his -clenched hand at Sanson, silent, opposite.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You cannot raise one finger save by the will of -Him whom you deny, Sanson!” he said. “You are -not going to make any sacrifices. You, who have -raised your will against heaven, this night your soul -will be required of you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The sense of something imminent and mighty -shook my limbs. I stood up, clinging against the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>grille. There was no sound in all the Temple. Protagonists -in the eternal drama, the bishop and Sanson -faced each other.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Suddenly I perceived that the solar light above -the bishop had moved. It had moved outward; and -now it was approaching me. And the light above -Sanson was moving, too. I understood what was -happening. Sanson had quietly given the command -for the bridges to be swung together.</p> - -<p class='c011'>An instant later the little lights that crossed the -gloom were dissipated as ten thousand more flashed -out, illumining the vast interior of the Temple. I -saw the packed multitudes below, thousands on thousands, -their faces upturned, each with the same stamp -of fear on it, as if the same workman had carved the -features. I saw the groins and arches, the gallery -above me, filled with the Guard; Sanson upon one -nearing bridge, his Guard about him, too; upon the -other, David, Elizabeth of the slender figure and the -clasped hands, and Bishop Alfred and the rest of the -prisoners. I waited, my arms about Esther.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Once more I heard a single sigh float upward. -Then the woman’s voice that had shrieked before -cried piercingly:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The Messiah has come, who is to make us free!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw Sanson stiffen and catch at the rail of the -nearing bridge. I saw David, now only an arm’s -length from me, staring incredulous; Elizabeth with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>wide-open eyes, the bishop’s calm face, the Guard -like carven effigies.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, as if the power that held the populace in -unison were suddenly dissolved, they broke from -their places. They sprang with frantic, exultant -cries toward the Ant; they formed a dozen human -chains that reared themselves above the pedestal, dissolved, -and poured over the golden idol. Among -them I saw clusters of men—our men—with Ray -rods in their hands. They poured out into the rooms -that lined the passages. They swarmed up pillars -and reached out hands to the captives. They howled -at Sanson, whose bodyguard, closing about him, -formed an impenetrable defense. The conspiracy -had not miscarried.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But all were shouting at me, and the fanatic spirit -of hate that Sanson had evoked seemed to have -recoiled and turned on him to his destruction.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Suddenly the approaching spans stood still. They -remained motionless, each end some three feet from -me. Then, slowly, they began to recede.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Jump, Arnold!” I heard David scream above the -uproar.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the plan to isolate me there, where none -could reach me, helpless in the mid-Temple. I gathered -Esther high in my arms, stepped back, and -sprang; I felt myself falling. Still clutching Esther -with one hand, I groped in blindness with the other. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>I struck the edge of the span. Hands held me; hands -pulled Esther free; I stood among our friends, and -behind us already the Guard was beaten backward.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the tattered outlaws’ figures everywhere. -Only around Sanson were the Guard still potent. He -saw the situation; he knew his power was crumbling -as Lembken’s had crumbled; and, pushing his bodyguard -aside, strode forward and held up his hand -for silence. Even then—so great was his power—at -the gesture, all motion in the Temple ceased; I -saw arrested Ray rods, not yet discharged, held -stiffly, limbs halted in air, necks craned toward the -speaker and immobile.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Choose, then!” Sanson called in words that rang -like a trumpet’s blast. “It is your supreme moment. -Will you have your Messiah or will you have my -gift—immortality?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Give us God!” screamed the woman’s voice; and -then a thousand and ten thousand answered him:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Give us God!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The God of Bonham!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Our fathers’ God, Whom we denied.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The people had answered truly in the supreme -moment, as they must always, that the world may not -cease. For, in the words of Renan, “the heart of the -common people is the great reservoir of the self-devotion -and resignation by which alone the world -can be saved.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> <span class='large'>LEMBKEN</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>The maneuvers of our party had been so skilfully -planned and carried out so surely that the -Temple fell into our hands almost immediately. Entering -upon that side which faced the Airscouts’ -Fortress, our men had surprised and overpowered -the guards posted about the elevators, and driven -them in flight toward the Science Wing, into which -Sanson withdrew to rally them about him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The Council Hall and offices beneath it were -occupied as quickly. Including the Airscouts’ Fortress, -we had thus three-fourths of the quadrilateral -in our possession; but the Guard held the Science -Wing in strength, and, of course, the surrounding -wall, armed with the Ray artillery and commanding -everything within it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The change of fortune was so swift that I could -hardly grasp its significance immediately. Carrying -Esther, and surrounded by a frenzied mob, I was -dragged from the bridge to the corridor of the elevators, -between Elizabeth and David, pent up among -five hundred men, some carrying Ray rods and trying -to force their way through the Temple in the -direction of the Science Wing, others returning, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>realizing the impossibility of pushing through the -crowds, and others, merely spectators, unarmed, who -had gone mad with delirious joy. The confusion -was indescribable, and, to make it worse, these people -seemed to look to me for leadership, while I was -caught in the throng and helpless. Precious moments -were passing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Into the mob burst a man heading a little group of -revolutionists.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Follow me!” he shouted. “To the Science Wing! -Capture the bridges! Follow me!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>As he spoke the Temple lights went out. I was -not yet clear of the bridge. Inch by inch I struggled -onward, but in the darkness the confusion was still -more undisciplined; and while the oncoming party -still fought for a foothold I heard a rending, straining -sound behind me, a crash of wood, and a mighty -fall that set the whole building echoing. Shouts, -oaths, and groans came from below; the span on -which we stood shook from the concussion.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was no need to ask what had occurred. -Sanson had cut down the farther half of the bridge, -securing himself against attack from the upper floor -of the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then a voice, bellowing with rage and ferocity, -arose:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Follow me! Seize the elevators! To Lembken! -To the People’s House!”</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>The mob broke and dissolved, carrying me with it -into the corridor. I saw the leader with the Assyrian -beard heading the rush for the elevator shafts. He -carried all with him. But the shafts were empty; the -elevators had been drawn up. There followed howls -of fury.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Lembken!” shrieked the mob. “Out with him! -Out with the defective!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was queer, that word; but one impulse animated -all. They plunged after their leader, scrambling up -the ironwork of the interior, and clinging there like -flies as they worked their way upward. The little -band of disciplined men alone stood still, and their -chief turned to me with a wry look.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are too late,” he said. “Sanson has got his -men together. We shall have to storm the Wing -from below. Half our men have joined in that -mad attack on Lembken, who is helpless, whereas -Sanson—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He shrugged his shoulders in despair. Then David -turned to me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You must bring them back, Arnold,” he said. -“They will obey and follow you. Leave Esther—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He saw the look on my face, and began to plead -with me. “It is your duty, Arnold,” he cried. “All -will be lost unless you can draw off our men from -the Palace. I will protect her with my life.” He -bent down and looked into Esther’s face, and an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>expression of amazement came upon his own. It -occurred to me afterward that he had never believed -that Esther really lived. But at the time only the -thought of this flickered through my brain, and it -yielded to more urgent ones.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They will follow you!” cried David.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I hesitated no longer. I placed Esther’s unconscious -body in Elizabeth’s arms, and, without stopping -to glance at her, lest it sap my resolution, -I plunged into the shaft and began to scramble -upward.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Somehow I reached the summit. I fell upon my -hands within the Palace. The mob was swarming -everywhere, in every room, it seemed, and through -the gardens. I ran out under the dome. The winter -sun shone through a gray fog, a blood-red ball of -fire.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The yelling mob swept through the groves. Its -fury was unleashed, and the remembered wrongs of -years impelled it to universal destruction. I saw at -the first glance that these men were beyond the power -of argument. With their bare hands they tore up -palms and tossed them down into the courts through -jagged holes in the transparent walls. They tore the -panes out of their settings, twisting the thin, un-splintering -glass until it writhed everywhere, coiled, -crystal snakes among the uprooted flowers. They -spared nothing. The yellow orange spheres gleamed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>in the rank grass. The scent of orange flowers was -choking.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I ran among them, calling on them to follow me -back, for the sake of our cause, to join their comrades, -hard pressed by Sanson. Most of them did -not seem to hear me; some raised their heads from -their work, stared at me for a moment, and resumed -their wild task of ruin. It came to me then that I -was unknown to them. Not one in a hundred of -these men had seen my face more than a moment or -two upon the altar platform.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I turned and ran through the Palace rooms, still -calling, and still unheeded. The mob was sweeping -onward like an avalanche. They had torn the costly -hangings from the walls. From the blue rooms, mull -rooms, red rooms, purple rooms, all the baroque, -fantastic, and depraved trappings of Lembken’s -gleaning were heaped into great rolls at which the -furious army hacked and tore. In one place it was -venting its rage upon a heap of masquerade clothing. -Pieces were flung from man to man, and some, tearing -great rents in garments, thrust their heads -through them and continued in the pursuit, with -skirts about their shoulders and leopard skins about -their bodies. A tun of wine had overturned and -spilled, and the contents crept like a rivulet along -the floor, seeping from room to room. The conduit -that fed the artificial brooks, being slashed, poured -<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>out a muddy stream that dogged our heels, befouling -the slashed rugs and tattered coverlets. And ever -the cries became more furious.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The mob was yelling with one universal voice. -Palm trees were hurled from man to man, clods of -earth clung to walls, mud spattered everything. I -followed, breathless, imploring, pleading in vain. No -one paid me the least attention. Some, indeed, -scowled at me, but the spirit of destruction, seizing -them before the words were framed on their lips, -hurled them along. They swept me with them. At -the head was the giant, bellowing in frantic wrath. -The mob followed him, hypnotized; and he, armed -with a spiked stanchion which he must have -wrenched from some portion of the wall supports, -dashed the weapon in furious assault against each -door, and shattered it, leading the chase down every -corridor of the bewildering place, returning, hot on -the scent, dog-like, and the great arms thrashing the -club from side to side.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The Palace was enormous. We had not covered -half of it, and we had seen no one. But, as we ran, -shouts came from another party behind us, roars -mingled with shrieks, and, keening above all -clamor, I heard that bloodhound cry that breaks from -human throats when the death hunt draws near to -its finale.</p> - -<p class='c011'>With an answering roar our mob turned and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>sprang toward its victims, smashing down doors -and wrenching weapons from legs of tables and -woodwork of the walls. The quarry was found. -Like bolting hares they turned and scuttled into the -small, hidden room, where they cowered, women and -negro eunuchs, still dressed in the masquerade of the -revels that Lembken had held that night even while -his empire was breaking from his hand. Horned -women, women in dominoes, in striped and spotted -hides, Elizabethans wearing hooped skirts and huge, -starched neck frills, Victorian girls with parasols -and corseted bodies, a motley, cowering crew, less -abject only than the cringing blacks, eyed their pursuers -with terror-stricken looks that sought their -eyes for pity and found only hatred.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The giant leaped out before his followers and -whirled his spiked club. “Where is Lembken?” he -roared. “Where are his men?” All the while his -eyes searched the women’s faces; but he did not find -her whom he sought.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There are no men,” a frightened woman gasped. -“There were never any but Lembken. We have -never seen any others in our lives.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He had lied to me, then, when he spoke of his -friends. How long would he have endured me there -before the poisoned cup came to me? I felt my own -hate and wrath become implacable as that of the mob.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_286.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>The giant leaped out before his followers. “Where is Lembken?” he roared. “Where are the men?”</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>The giant clutched at a cringing negro boy and -pulled him from his knees. “Where is he?” he -shouted.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The boy was tongue-tied with fear. But a girl -stepped forth bravely. “That way!” she said, pointing -toward a door.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The mob whirled through in a torrent, following -the Assyrian-bearded giant. I heard their shouts -grow fainter. The women bolted, scattering through -the dismantled rooms, seeking some other refuge. -But one of them stopped and then came toward me -quickly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She lied! He is there,” she whispered, pointing -toward a wall. “Kill him, but whisper my name in -his ear before he dies.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I looked at the girl and recognized Coral, the -maid who had supplanted Amaranth. I turned -quickly toward the wall, and my eyes discovered the -hidden door, flush with the wall. I burst it open -and ran through.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I raced along a winding passage, hearing the mob’s -cries far away as they ran on the false scent they -had taken up. I emerged suddenly upon a little platform -fronting a part of the crystal wall that was still -standing in the rear of the Palace. The mob had not -yet found the approaches to this secret refuge.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A glass gateway within the wall stood open, and -outside, at rest in the air, I saw the dark airplane, -with Hancock at the wheel. And at the gate, hesitating -<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>to set his feet upon the narrow plank that led -to safety, was Lembken. His arms were filled with -bundles, and on his shoulder a monkey perched, -mouthing and gibbering. At his side kneeled a -young girl, with hands clasped, urging Lembken to -flight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old man heard me and turned around. I saw -Hancock start forward, raise a Ray rod, and aim it -at me. But Lembken stood in the way, and he could -not fire.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The girl leaped at me, clutching me by the arms -with surprising strength, and crying to Lembken to -fly. But the obese old man only stared into my face. -Fear seemed to have paralyzed him. He did not -remember me, but my presence seemed to awaken -some association in his mind, and, as I watched, I -saw it flash into consciousness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Jacquette!” he screamed in a tremulous falsetto. -“I have forgotten her. I must go back for her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He scrambled past me, and the girl, releasing me, -ran after him. I followed. On we ran, till Lembken -turned into a tiny room, once meant to be a -hiding place, no doubt, but now doorless and bare. -Again I heard the shouting. The mob was drawing -near.</p> - -<p class='c011'>On a perch beside the entrance sat the gaudy -macaw, head on one side, preening her plumage.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The people’s friend!” she cackled. “The people’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>friend! Friend—friend—friend—friend—frien—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With a cry of delight Lembken snatched at her. -She fluttered to his shoulder. He turned, and, with -monkey and bird against his sagging cheeks, he began -to make his way along the passage. As he ran I saw -another corridor at right angles to this, and, at the -end, daylight and the waste of uprooted palms. The -mob was sweeping past. They saw him; they -howled and dashed to cut off his flight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Lembken saw them, doubled back, dashing in panic -from room to room. The mob was everywhere about -him, searching for him, blocking all exits; their -howls were a continuous sound.</p> - -<p class='c011'>They were upon him. Lembken fell on his knees -and pulled a Ray rod from his robes. With shaking, -nerveless fingers he forced up the guard. He held -it to his breast; but it fell from his hand.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Kill me!” he muttered to the girl.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She flung her arms about him; and thus the mob -found them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The giant leaped at them. His bellowings shook -the walls. He sprang for Lembken, caught him by -the throat, and forced his head upward. I saw the -loose spike in his hand. The monkey chattered, the -parrot stretched out her neck and snapped, shrieking -her phrases. Between the men the frail girl wrestled, -dashing her weak fists into the giant’s face.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>The roaring mob choked the narrow corridor on -either side. “Death to him!” they shrieked. “Death! -Death!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old man caught the words upon his tongue -and screamed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not death!” he yelped. “I’m Lembken. I -can’t die. I never thought of death—dying—going -nowhere—nowhere—nothing—I want to -live—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He cowered behind the girl, thrusting her between -himself and his enemy. So furious were her struggles -that she forced the giant away. She dashed -her fists into his eyes again and again, until he turned -on her and gripped her by the wrists, twisting her -backward. He looked into her face for the first -time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let him go!” she screamed. “Don’t hurt him. -He is old—he is old—he has done no harm—he is -the people’s friend—he has told me so—I love -him—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The giant dropped her wrists and staggered back. -His horror-painted face became a tragic mask. He -moaned, and his hands groped impotently in the air -for something that he failed to find. It was not the -blood in his eyes that blinded him. For this was she -whom he had sought, torn from his home, the last -to share Lembken’s favor, the child whom I had seen -dragged from the Council Hall, her innocent child’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>heart loyal in his last hour to the only lover she -knew.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It wrung my heart, the pity of it: this blossom of -love that sprang from that festering, rank soil of -human baseness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The next instant the mob swept over us. They -seized their prey and stamped out the life beneath -their feet. I saw the quivering body tossed high in -the air and dashed from wall to wall, trampled on, -hacked, and torn. I saw it poised against the crystal -walls, saw the dark airplane swoop to safety amid -a hail of Ray fire; and then the air was filled with -zig-zag flashes of blinding light.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XXV<br /> <span class='large'>THE COMING OF THE CROSS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>I stood with a small group of our men beneath -the dome, where Lembken’s gardens had been. -The havoc that had been wrought is almost indescribable. -The beauty molded by the most cunning hands -in Europe had been obliterated in one short hour. -The gardens were a waste of uprooted trees and -trampled earth, while from the broken conduit a -dozen muddy streams were pouring like high waterfalls -upon the courts below. The Palace was a mass -of wreckage, in which the mob still moved, shouting -for fire to finish the work of destruction.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I had been recognized at last, and we were searching -for our men among the rabble, gathering the -nucleus of a force to render aid to our party, hard-pressed, -below. I had managed to achieve something -at last: I had detailed a dozen men with Ray -rods to guard the women. That was all I could -accomplish.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The ground about the Temple was already strewn -with blackened, twisted figures. From the conical -Ray guns on the enclosing walls swept sheets of -blinding flame, a soundless cannonade that pecked at -the interstices in the walls of the Temple and of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>Airscouts’ Fortress, seeking for some unpainted spot -between the blocks of stone, some small, abraded -surface where the cold Rays might find lodgment. I -heard the crumbling of disintegrating mortar and -saw fragments of stone flying from cornice and pediment. -Soon gaps would open and the whole splendid -pile tumble into a heap of shapeless ruins.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The Rays flashed to and fro like brilliant lightning. -I was half blinded; all I could discern was -that Sanson still held the Science Wing, from whose -windows the Guard were picking off our men beneath -them. I surmised from the shouting that we -were attacking the Wing from the ground floor of -the Temple.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We had gathered most of our men together, and -we plunged for the elevator shafts and scrambled -down. My pulses hammered with fear as I entered -the corridor below. But there stood David, and -Elizabeth kneeled beside him, with Esther’s head in -her lap. She looked at me and smiled with so brave -an effort that I realized her own anxiety. Somewhere -in the deadly tumult Paul was fighting, unless, -indeed, he lay among those shapeless masses that -strewed the courts.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Our men swept by me and poured along the corridor -toward the bridge.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have fulfilled my promise, Arnold,” said David. -“Now I must take Elizabeth within the shelter of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>the Airscouts’ Fortress, and you will follow with -Esther. Then each of us must do his best to rally -parties to the assault. All is not going well, Arnold. -Our Ray rods are emptying fast, and the storage -batteries within the Airscouts’ Fortress have been -destroyed, so that we cannot recharge them; the -attack upon the lower level of the Wing has failed. -Sanson has placed a Ray gun there. All hangs upon -the battleplanes, and they have not returned.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He put his arm about his daughter and hurried -her toward the bridge, while I picked up Esther, still -plunged in that first sleep, and followed him. I saw -him lead Elizabeth to safety, but as I was about to -follow, a sheet of purple light swept past me, tearing -a stanchion from the bridge and knocking down a -part of the brick house on the wall above, where -Lembken had taken me that night of our first -meeting.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A gun was playing on the bridge. It was impossible -to cross at present. I drew back, waiting.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then a babel of cries broke out on the opposite -side, so fierce and wild that, grasping Esther more -tightly, I rushed to a window at the further end of -the corridor, commanding a view of the exterior -courts. The long bridges were packed with our men, -making a mad sortie to scale the enclosing walls. -Streaks of light, pitiably thin, flashed from their -Ray rods, and, with exultant shouts, the Guard -<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>sprang forward to meet them. They were dragging -lighter Ray guns behind them. For an instant it -seemed as if the revolutionists would scale the walls -before the heavy Ray artillery could be reaimed at -them. The foremost files of the opposing forces -clashed and surged and swayed in a rain of meteor -flashes. The blackened corpses heaped the bridges, -hung, toppled over, and went to swell the heaps -below. Then, with a renewed outburst of shouting, -the Guard drove back the attack and placed their -guns.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The blinding flashes swept the bridges, playing like -ribands of silvery blue along the course of their -discharge. Everywhere along the bridges swarmed -the stampede of flight, checked where the Rays -caught the fugitives and twisted them into charred -lumps, sweeping away the superstructure also, and -the bridge rails. I saw one bridge go down, as a deflected -Ray wrenched it from its piers. It spewed its -burden upon the stones below, and from among the -dead, little figures leaped up and began to run for -refuge toward the Council Wing; and there a blast -from a Ray gun found them, and the heavy doors -crumbled upon them, and wood and men were -ground into the same pulpy blackness. The Ray had -found the weak spots of the great buildings, and -from the Temple top huge stones came crashing -down, rebounding along the courts and splintering -<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>into fragments. Clouds of dust rose up like smoke -from conflagrations.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The flowing tide of the Guard’s victory rolled on -unchecked. Their shouts were frightful. They held -the courts, now piled with debris from the buildings -above them. I ran with Esther back toward the -bridge, crossed it, and gained the shelter of the Airscouts’ -Fortress. Before me was a flight of stone -steps; I ran up, shouting. Nobody answered me. I -gained the summit and found myself alone there.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Looking down from the roof I saw that the Guard -were swarming in the Temple. They had regained -that; they had driven our men from the Airscouts’ -Fortress, on which I stood, trapped, since it was -impossible to cross the courts. Where were our -forces? I saw the locust cloud of attack break -against the doors of the offices beneath the Council -Hall. That was our last stronghold. The Ray -flashes played on the walls, but they held fast.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then out of the south a flock of giant birds came -wheeling. They swooped toward us and resolved -themselves into the airplane fleet. They dipped their -luminous wings and circled around us, and a mazy -pattern of light shot downward upon the ranks of the -Guard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The battleplanes had settled their differences, and -three-fourths of them had returned to fight for us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw the Guard race back for their sheltering -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>walls. The Ray artillery shot upward to meet the -challenge of the battleplanes. To and fro overhead -wheeled the great shining birds in soundless duel. -The conflict appeared the more frightful because of -this silence. Only those at the guns knew what was -happening.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But presently, as the flock wheeled, I saw one -tower like a shot pheasant and then tumble. It -plunged into the court and lay, a shapeless mass, -upon the stones. The Ray gun had found its defenseless -parts as it maneuvered. A second battleplane -came hurtling down. It struck the Temple -wall, seemed to cling there like a bat, and, fluttering -like a dying thing, plunged to the stones beside its -shattered mate.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The Guard was winning. The enclosing walls -stood fast. Our last hope seemed to be gone. The -sun was dipping into the west.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I dared not carry Esther through that fire-swept -zone. It was my plan, should Sanson’s men reoccupy -the Airscouts’ Fortress, to seek refuge within the -little, half-secret room where Jones had hidden us. -Meanwhile I waited on the roof, behind the glow-painted -shield of a single empty airplane that was -resting there. Twilight fell, and the soundless fight -went on. The battleplanes were circling higher, and -their fire was utterly ineffective. I judged, from its -growing infrequency, that their solar batteries were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>becoming emptied. Meanwhile our men, pent in the -council offices, waited for the finale.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Hourly our situation grew more desperate. Another -battleplane went down. The game was in -Sanson’s hands after all. Our only chance had been -in the surprise, and the mad rush to the People’s -House and the confusion in the Temple had spoiled -all plans and allowed our enemy to concentrate his -men. Where was he, I wondered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Suddenly shouts broke out again from the walls, -and were caught up and echoed back from the Council -Hall. Southward, high in the sky, pin-points of -light appeared, like vagrant stars, which became -larger, wheeled, extended.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The Guard cheered frantically. I heard the cry -“America!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>If this was the Mormon fleet, come to aid Lembken, -there was no doubt with which side it would -join. Perhaps the Guard knew already that Sanson -had outwitted Lembken and outbid him for its -support.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The airfleet shot upward, drew together, and a -single light, detaching itself, flew like a rocket upward, -moving in the direction of the oncoming battleplanes, -which seemed to hang poised above, like a -new group of Pleiades. The rocket’s apparent speed -dwindled, until it seemed to move as slowly as any -star. I saw a second light shoot downward, detaching -<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>itself from those clustered orbs, to meet it. I -held my breath, as all must have done, for not a Ray -was fired, nor was there any sound as the fate of the -world hung upon those nearing points. They circled -about each other, a binary star; they moved together; -and suddenly they plunged downward, the whole -oncoming fleet following them, and the roar of a -thousand throats rang from the Council Hall:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The Russians! The Russians! The Tsar! The -Tsar!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The lights grew larger and resolved themselves -into the glow parallelograms again, and the great -fleet of battleplanes descended toward the wall. -Again the pattern of light interplayed with the answering -fire from the Ray artillery of the Guard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The new squadron was armed with Rays almost -as strong, taken in Stockholm, and worked by Swedish -gunners. Searchlights and glow rays blended in -heliotrope and pink and blue, playing about the walls, -carrying the most murderous death that man had -ever devised. And it appeared incredible that death -lay hidden within that warp and woof of color that -intercrossed through space, blending and twisting, -and forming a thousand patterns upon the night. -Once a battleplane, caught as she wheeled, came -crashing down; but the next moment the persistent -Ray found an unprotected place in the walls at last, -and hammered at it, dislodging mortar and stones, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>till, with a mighty roar, a tower fell toppling into -the court, leaving a great breach in the Guard’s -fortress.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Instantly two battleplanes lit like great birds, and -behind their shields a score of men swarmed out, -carrying swords and Ray shields, interlocked. The -line swept onward, to encounter the Ray rods of the -defense. I saw it crumple and twist. But other battleplanes -had alighted along the breach, and everywhere -small groups were forming between the Ray -guns, which could not be aimed before they were -attacked, the gunners sabered, and the great conical -machines made useless. The valor which had overthrown -the Federation’s troops before Tula was not -helpless here.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But from each wing a blast of fire caught the -downward swooping battleplanes and crumpled them. -No attack could live before that devastating crossfire. -I saw the groups of swordsmen wither, fall -back, until the bodies heaped before them, on which -they planted their glow shields, formed an impregnable -rampart. But the artillery was retaken, the -battleplanes, surprised and broken in the ebb-tide of -defeat, were piled in indistinguishable heaps within -the courts. The Guard turned the artillery upon the -stubborn line that mounted the breach. Once more -the fortune of the day was turning.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_300.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>Upon the walls the Guard were swarming toward the defenders. Out of their midst the Ray artillery belched</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>I saw the ragged figures of our men run from the -Council Hall across the courts. Then the Guard -about Sanson in the Science Wing streamed forth to -meet them. The Ray rods flashed, and the ghastly -murder began once more.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Upon the walls the Guard were swarming toward -the defenders. Out of their midst the Ray artillery -belched. It found the chinks among the shields, -and a sheet of white flame swept through the Russians’ -ranks. Their wall of interlocked shields had -carried them into death’s jaws, but now the jaws -were closing. I closed my eyes in anguish.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I opened them in darkness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There was no flash from the conical guns, which -glittered in impotence upon the walls. For an instant -I did not understand. The next I knew. Jones -had cut the supply cables in the Vosges Mountains. -He had kept his promise, and in the moment of -defeat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The same mad exultation seized all. I heard the -new note of victory as our men from the Council -Hall bore back the defeated remnants of Sanson’s -army. I saw the Russians leap from behind their -shields and swarm into the fortress; saw the flash of -their swords against the spurting fire of the Ray -rods; saw the defeated Guard fly through the courts, -to meet death there.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then I stood face to face with Sanson.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> <span class='large'>THE ADMIRAL OF THE AIR</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>I saw defeat written upon his face, but there -was no sign of fear. He stood alone, unarmed, -confronting me, and if he had fled when he saw that -his cause was lost I do him the justice to believe it -was his undaunted will which drove him to flight, -that he might plan new havoc for the world.</p> - -<p class='c011'>No chance remained for him. By the glare of the -searchlights I saw the last vestige of rout end at the -Temple doors. Trapped and surrounded, the Guard -begged for quarter. This was accorded them; but -instantly the prisoners were lost to sight in the presence -of the enormous multitudes that came from -London, swarming into the courts.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson’s gaze shifted from my face to Esther’s, -and, as if she felt the man’s presence, she stirred, -and her eyelids unclosed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold!” she whispered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, dear,” I answered, bending over her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I dreamed that—they had run up the annex -thirty stories, Arnold, and painted it shining white.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You must sleep and dream no more,” I told her. -She murmured and her eyelids closed. Again the -kindly unconsciousness of sleep held her.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>I placed her against the anchored airplane and -turned to Sanson. He was facing me with that -strange and half-quizzical look that I remembered -so well. It had in it more of humanity than the -expression of any other of his moods.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Arnold,” he said softly, “if I were an ignorant -man I might be tempted to believe that there is a -God, sometimes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And that was his way also, to speak of other things -in moments of imminent alarm.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because He is so merciful to His defectives, -Arnold. To think that you, with your missing five -centimeters, should have defeated me!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come,” he continued, clapping his hand on my -shoulder. “A truce for a few minutes. A truce, for -the sake of our old friendship. You are not to blame -for your share in this night’s ruin of civilization. -You were the victim of circumstances. And then—you -are a defective and could not understand. -Arnold, I have never had any friend but you. And -sometimes I feel the need of one. Even the gods -felt that, and I am far from a god, though, later, -perhaps....”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He broke off and resumed, after a short pause:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Join me. Here is my frank proposal: join me, -and, since indeed I would not hold any woman -against her will, if Esther chooses you she shall be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>yours. This night has undone the labor of many -years, but those that are past are but as a drop of -water in an ocean to those which are to come. I -have the secret of immortal life at last—not ghostly -life in some gold-decorated heaven, but life in the -flesh. I will bestow the gift on you—”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let it die with you,” I answered passionately.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He laughed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This night’s work, which seems so wonderful -to you, is but an episode,” he said. “Come with me -to America, Arnold. In six months I can build up -my world anew. I shall be less scrupulous and -humane in the future with this miserable mob. No -moron shall live, no defective go free. I have resolved -that. Man can rise only by crushing out -weakness and setting himself upon the necks of those -who were born to serve. In six months America -will be mine; in twelve, the world. From this time -onward it is a battle to the death against all that -retards the human race.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>His features flushed with the energy of his voice. -I looked at him, almost in admiration. I was dumfounded -at the audacity of his designs. Trapped -here, a prisoner upon the fortress roof, his life -already gone when he was found, this man of sixty -years planned his universal empire. He was mad, -beyond doubt, mad enough to dream impossible -things and make them his in his brain’s fertile kingdom; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>and it was such madness as moves mountains.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sanson, I will do this much for you,” I said. -“I will hide you from the mob’s fury in a little room -near this roof, so that you may not be torn in pieces. -I will assure you a fair trial at the hands of the new -government. That is all I can promise.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Would this dream vanish in the realization of -fact? I saw his face fall, as if he had come to understand -his position at last.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where is it?” he said presently. He spoke -slowly, and in a bewildered manner, as if he were -still struggling with his dreams.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I took him by the arm and led him to the elevator -entrance. “It is a little room under the roof,” I -said. “The elevator passes it, but it is hardly more -than a hole in the wall. One would not look for -you there.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I pressed the button, but of course the elevator -did not ascend, since the solar power was cut off.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson withdrew his arm from mine. I saw him -assume a listening attitude. “Arnold!” he cried -weakly, “they are coming! Listen!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>As I relaxed my guard, he dealt me a buffet that -sent me flying down the empty shaft.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I had a confused consciousness of falling through -space, of clutching at the shaft walls; and then I -was upon my knees, bruised and staring up at the -light overhead.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>Fortunately the elevator had stopped a few feet -from the top. Still dazed, I sprang to my feet and -began scrambling up the ironwork. At last I -staggered out upon the roof once more. I saw -a dozen Sansons, each of whom carried Esther in -his arms.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I tried to force reality into these visions, to snatch -the living Sanson from among that crowd of ghosts. -But they had sprung into the dozen airplanes that -lay upon the swaying roof top. A touch of the -starting lever, a half turn of the wheel, and as my -power of vision came back to me I saw Sanson rise -with Esther into the air. He held her on the seat -against him, the arm that encircled her controlling -the wheel, and he was gone into the heart of the -giant moon that was just rising in the east, blood-red -behind her veil of clouds.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I stared after him. The airplane was rapidly -diminishing in size. He had outwitted me at the -last, by one of those clumsy tricks he loved, such as -a schoolboy plays.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I staggered toward the edge. I was minded to -fling myself down on the stones below. One more -victim of the day’s work would mean nothing, and -doubtless David and Elizabeth believed that I had -died long ago. I tottered upon the brink; but then -a shadow glided toward me, and a small airplane -stopped at my side. It was unshielded, and at the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>prow was a pair of the elongated jaws. Air-Admiral -Hancock leaned out of it toward me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where is Sanson?” he asked quietly. “He was -here. He was seen here.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>I pointed into the west, where the parallelogram -of light was diminishing to an irregular star. I -leaped into the plane beside him. “Take me with -you!” I cried. “He has stolen Esther—the goddess -of the cylinder.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Hancock said nothing but touched the lever. Instantly -we shot upward and raced like a swallow -across the void, skimming and dipping as the wind -caught us and the heavy prow plunged through the -unequal air-banks.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The buildings drew together beneath us. The -shouts of the multitude grew faint and died. The -luminous point in the west grew larger, and against -the sky, now whitened by the rising moon, I saw -the dark body between the glow lines, as one sees -a ship at sea from a mountain top. Sanson was -heading southward, perhaps with the intent of -reaching France and rallying the forces of the Federation -there. We mounted higher. The forests -stretched beneath us. Always we mounted. I cast -a glance at Hancock’s face. There was a look on -it that boded ill for Sanson. I was trying to remember -something that Jones had told me about -him, but my own anxious thoughts beat down the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>elusive memory. I, too, felt that there would be no -mercy for Sanson when the accounts were squared.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Would anyone have mercy? I saw the answer -to that question swiftly, for, looking back, I saw two -lanes of airships, strung out behind, like flying geese, -converging toward our leadership. Battleplanes, -scoutplanes, dark against the brightening heaven, -came hot on the chase. They were in pursuit of -the common enemy of the human race, and there -was none among them, no man in London but had -some outrage to avenge.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We mounted higher through the bitter cold. My -hands were numb, but Hancock kept his wheel, seated -there, a grim, immovable, resolute figure. Now we -burst into the heart of a fierce, rocking snowstorm, -which blotted out the fugitive; but by some instinct -Hancock seemed to know his course, and he held it -surely till we rose above the storm and saw the glow -parallelogram nearer.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Sanson rose too. He must have sighted us and -resolved to test his endurance against ours. We were -in air so rarefied that I was choking for breath. -The moon rode high; dawn was not far away. We -were rushing toward the sea, which lay, a blur of -inky blackness, underneath, edged by the white line -of the chalk cliffs of the south shore. We were -gaining steadily.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_308.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>The giant jaws upon our aircraft gaped. I saw steel teeth within them</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>But Sanson did not mean to cross the Channel. -I do not know what new scheme he had conceived; -perhaps he meant to turn and seek some English city -where he could defy the new order and reorganize -the old. He wheeled; and the long line of the pursuing -planes, struggling upward, wheeled together, -trying to cut off his flight. He mounted still and -struck out eastward. But, with a furious downward -swoop Hancock drove in toward him. I could -see Sanson sitting at the wheel, his arm still clasping -Esther. He stopped in the air and waited for -our approach.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What do you want?” he shouted.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The tone of Hancock’s voice was implacable. “My -son, Sanson,” he answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He wheeled away, and, as he turned placed his -hand on a lever. The giant jaws upon our aircraft -gaped. I saw steel teeth within them. We dashed -for Sanson with terrific force. I shouted in horror, -laying my fingers upon Hancock’s sleeve and pointing -to Esther. But Hancock did not seem to hear -or feel me, perhaps he had never known that I was -there; all his mind seemed intent on the accomplishment -of his deadly purpose. He drove home before -his enemy could evade his course, and like a hawk -we plunged, struck Sanson’s vessel amidships, and -smashed through steel and glow shield.</p> - -<p class='c011'>One instant, in the dead interval of the stopped -momentum, we rested motionless together, the gaping -<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>jaws choked with their meal and fast within -the heart of Sanson’s plane. I flung myself across -the side, grasped Esther, held her in my arms, and -dragged her across our bows. Then Hancock leaped -at Sanson’s throat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Our airplane tipped, righted herself, and drifted -away. I did not know how to steer or guide, but -Hancock must automatically have locked the mechanism -to the halt, for we drifted idly, balancing upon -the wind. Watching, I saw the two struggling in -Sanson’s plane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She shuddered as she hung poised there, mortally -gashed, yet fighting still for her dominion of the -air. She quivered from prow to stern, and then, -of her own accord, shot upward. Up she went till -she was but a dark blot in the sky. Then from -above something came falling toward the earth, -plunged like a projectile, and disappeared.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I saw a tiny figure standing on the doomed airplane -alone, and, infinitely small though it appeared, -I knew that it was Sanson. I fancied I could see -the man’s proud bearing; I thought his arms were -folded across his breast. The moonlight gilded him, -and others have told me that he seemed to ride -through the air resplendent, as if transfigured by -some demoniac power.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stood like Lucifer, high above all the world, -over his wrecked dominion. I picture his disdain, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>and the contempt for man with which he shrouded -himself in that last moment. The world had broken -him in the end, but his colossal spirit could never -be quenched.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the air vessel plunged into the moon’s heart -and vanished.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span> - <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> <span class='large'>THE NEW ORDER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Three months have passed. It is Easter Day, -and we have only begun to struggle with the -difficulties before us.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But we are working with a faith that will overcome -all obstacles. All the world is at work, for -the same impulse was felt simultaneously in every -land. The Mormon airplanes never arrived, because, -practically at the same hour, America rose in revolt -against her masters. And the Sanson régime has -been swept away forever.</p> - -<p class='c011'>We were rescued from our airplane by the airscouts -who had followed us, and brought back to -London. Our friends, who had thought us dead, -were overjoyed at our return. It was a wonderful -reunion, with not a shadow to mar it, for Paul had -passed uninjured through the fighting and was there -to welcome us. And gradually, when she awoke, -we broke the news of everything to Esther.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The amazing thing about it was that she was much -more calm in learning the truth than we were in -telling it. She accepted our statements almost as -commonplaces of history.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I call to mind the second huge public gathering -<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>on the day after the Revolution, when the dread of -massacre had proved unfounded. The populace had -been taught to believe that the Russians were blood-thirsty -savages, instead of which we discovered -child-like enthusiasts. It was a shock to most of -us to discover that they considered themselves Crusaders, -upon a mission to restore Christ to the world. -I recall vividly the great red crosses on the breasts -of their white uniforms, the icon banners that are -still flapping everywhere; then the people’s wonder -and terror at the horses; lastly the young Tsar’s entrance -into the capital, to attend the reconsecration -of the Temple, and the amazing influence of kingship -upon a crowd that had never known reverence -or loyalty, except through fear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the universal joy at the release of all the -inmates of the defectives and moron shops, the tears -and shouts that accompanied the restoration to their -families, of those who had been believed lost forever; -husbands and wives, parents and children, -brothers and sisters, friends and friends. No one -was afraid to be glad. It was as if a dark cloud -had rolled away and disclosed the sun.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And the astonishment and enthusiasm as the -people listened to the teachings of Christianity. -After three months there are still crowds at all the -street corners, hearing the doctrines and the story -of Christ from priests and missionaries.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>And Bishop Alfred: at the consecration, when, -stepping forward to declare himself, he found, to -his surprise and dismay, that the secret of his surname, -which he had vowed never to reveal until -that day, had passed forever from his own memory. -And how proudly he redeemed himself with his -ancient title, Alfred London.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There is so much to do, and only a tithe of it has -been begun. Indeed, it would have been impossible, -but for the agreement that the old national boundaries -should be restored, and each State work out -its problems independently. Then there was the -question as to the composition of the new government, -and it was resolved that the committee should -avail themselves to the utmost of the established -order, eliminating all cruelties. Thus, for the present, -because no better scheme can come forth, ready-made, -from human brains, the socialized State will -continue. It would be impossible to go back to the -old days of competition, and we shall never return -to those days of squalor, poverty, and destitution, -recognizing that, if ever revolution was justified, -our fathers’ was against the commercial greed of a -materialistic world.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The hardest part of this problem will be to steer -a course between the corruption of Social Democracy -and the tyranny of Social Autocracy. But we have -an ideal in the separation of wealth from power, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>the latter to be the attribute of the few who are born -and fit to rule, the former the possession of the -bulk of the nation. Whatever our judges, their -office will be for life, and they will be appointed and -not elected.</p> - -<p class='c011'>In time custom will crystallize into laws again; -but, since the existing laws were too cruel to survive, -and the old are too arbitrary and antiquated -to be renewed, we choose to exist law-free rather -than live by paper schemes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But if we are tolerant and lax, so that we resemble -more a benevolent anarchy than an organized State, -we have set our faces like flint against two things. -First of these comes divorce. It will be recognized -under no circumstances whatever; and so far is this -from being considered tyrannous that the vast bulk -of the people never desired it. In the old days it -was the shameful privilege of a small caste alone—that -same caste that, by abandoning its duties and -responsibilities and cutting free from the Catholic -conception of civilization, brought down the old -order. We are convinced that the permanence of -the marriage bond is the foundation of every society -of free people.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The second is eugenics. Looking back, we see -how this madness over-ran the world until, within a -century from the time of its inception, it had enslaved -humanity. The theory of Galton, that because the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>university-trained son of a distinguished man became -distinguished, while the illiterate son of a burglar -died unknown, ability is inherited, may have -appealed powerfully to our ancestors, but to us it -is symptomatic of that inability to reason which we -think characterized the twentieth century. Eugenics -was the natural product of a time which, steeped -in materialism, laughed at the belief in a human soul, -or its concomitant, that each soul needed to work -out its earthly pilgrimage in a body adapted to its -abilities. But even from the material viewpoint we -see that the movement was fallacious. We know that -the proportion of those afflicted with inherited maladaptations -has remained constant through history; -moreover, since there was no human norm, the demands -of the eugenists increased continually, till they -had bound nine-tenths of the world to their hideous -Juggernaut car.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the first act after our victory was to burn the -Bureaux of Prints and Indexes and Pedigrees and -Relationships. That was our only vandalism.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But more than everything we hold to Christianity -as the foundation of our State. We see now that -the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were the worst -since pagan times. Our ancestors read, without -qualms, of negroes burned at the stake, of equatorial -nations massacred, not in excess of misplaced zeal, -as heretics, but only for—rubber! We know that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>without Christian ethics human nature is back in -the days of Rome, Bagdad, and Carthage. We hope -that there will be established, as in the olden days, -Christian orders of young men, who shall serve three -years in them before they come of age, bound by -the triple vow, to fight these renascent wrongs wherever -they can be found.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Having found truth once more, we are not greatly -troubled by doctrines. The critical investigation -which destroyed the Protestant theory of the Bible’s -literal inspiration has only strengthened the older -claim of the universal Church to be herself the repository -of truth. Not rejecting the claims of criticism, -we feel the living truth of Christianity so far -to transcend its theological garb that, if the formula -has been misstated, many would revise it. The consensus -of opinion is, however, that the minds which -drew up the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds arrived as -nearly as possible at a correct formula.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But the Visible Church is humble in her hour of -success. She feels no triumph. Reverently, penitently, -at the huge consecration meeting in the -Temple her leaders asked for guidance and inspiration. -At present sectarianism inspires in us the same -horror that schism inspired centuries ago. The first -act was to reunite the ancient Greek and English -churches by omitting from the Creed that clause -beginning “proceeding from,” which had, it was felt, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>no significance that was essential. The next will be -to negotiate with the Vatican for union. But the -stupendous difficulties of this reconciliation are acknowledged.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The Age of Faith is coming back to the world, -and, as in that splendid twelfth century, when it was -in its zenith, there is a sense of youth in us. We -feel that we are upon the threshold of a new epoch, -uniting the triumphs of every preceding age. It is -an age of joy, and will be vitalized by that art which, -since the Reformation, has been sundered from -human life. Its first achievement will be the magnificent -cathedral that is to rise upon the site of the -old Ant Temple. It will be a new world indeed. -We know each age has its own cruelties and wrongs: -the Inquisition of the sixteenth century; religious -massacres in the seventeenth; in the nineteenth factory -slavery and the prisons with their silent cells. -We do not hope greatly to lessen this sum of suffering. -There will be injustice always, new wrongs -will arise, new evils that must be fought; but we believe -the Christian norm will always remain with -us as a corrective.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Tomorrow bands of axemen are to leave London -to settle Kent and Surrey. Paul and Elizabeth are -to go, and later Esther and I intend to follow them. -David will join us when he can be spared from his -work in the government.</p> - -<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>It is Easter Day, and in the consecrated Temple -I hear the anthem rise:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore -let us keep the feast:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven -of malice and wickedness: but with the unleavened -bread of sincerity and truth.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: -death hath no more dominion over him.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The crowds in the great courts are kneeling. I -kneel with Esther among them. We know that -the sacrifice has leavened the world with truth that -shall never pass away.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c013' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</h2> -</div> - <ol class='ol_1 c003'> - <li>Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - - </li> - <li>Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Messiah of the Cylinder, by Victor Rousseau - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MESSIAH OF THE CYLINDER *** - -***** This file should be named 60248-h.htm or 60248-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/2/4/60248/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - - </body> - <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57c on 2019-09-07 05:12:44 GMT --> -</html> diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6f8e6a5..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_034.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_034.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 42e3bbb..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_034.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_050.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_050.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 50baf4d..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_050.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_150.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_150.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 96e3bb3..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_150.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_172.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_172.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 345b66e..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_172.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_242.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_242.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b06f4d4..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_242.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_244.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_244.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 19540b2..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_244.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_258.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_258.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 86b9cfc..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_258.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_286.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_286.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index df6c31c..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_286.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_300.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_300.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index dc4ce01..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_300.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_308.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_308.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 77898e7..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_308.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a9ddf6b..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60248-h/images/i_title.jpg b/old/60248-h/images/i_title.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2cfa28f..0000000 --- a/old/60248-h/images/i_title.jpg +++ /dev/null |
