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diff --git a/old/gulvm10.txt b/old/gulvm10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8656340 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/gulvm10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8362 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Gulliver of Mars by Edwin Arnold + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Gulliver of Mars + +by Edwin L. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +GULLIVER OF MARS + +by Edwin L. Arnold + + +Original Title: Lieut. Gulliver Jones + + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Dare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic +lieutenant in the republican service have done the incredible +things here set out for the love of a woman--for a chimera +in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness? +At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will laugh, and +cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up +my pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write +it--the pallid splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and +lost is ever before me, and will not be forgotten. The tumult +of the struggle into which that vision led me still +throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping voices of the planet +I ransacked for its sake and the roar of the destruction +which followed me back from the quest drowns all other +sounds in my ears! I must and will write--it relieves me; +read and believe as you list. + +At the moment this story commences I was thinking of grill- +ed steak and tomatoes--steak crisp and brown on both sides, +and tomatoes red as a setting sun! + +Much else though I have forgotten, THAT fact remains +as clear as the last sight of a well-remembered shore in the +mind of some wave-tossed traveller. And the occasion which +produced that prosaic thought was a night well calculated +to make one think of supper and fireside, though the one +might be frugal and the other lonely, and as I, Gulliver +Jones, the poor foresaid Navy lieutenant, with the honoured +stars of our Republic on my collar, and an undeserved +snub from those in authority rankling in my heart, picked +my way homeward by a short cut through the dismalness +of a New York slum I longed for steak and stout, slippers +and a pipe, with all the pathetic keenness of a troubled +soul. + +It was a wild, black kind of night, and the weirdness of +it showed up as I passed from light to light or crossed the +mouths of dim alleys leading Heaven knows to what infernal +dens of mystery and crime even in this latter-day city of ours. +The moon was up as far as the church steeples; large +vapoury clouds scudding across the sky between us and her, +and a strong, gusty wind, laden with big raindrops snarled +angrily round corners and sighed in the parapets like strange +voices talking about things not of human interest. + +It made no difference to me, of course. New York in +this year of grace is not the place for the supernatural +be the time never so fit for witch-riding and the night wind +in the chimney-stacks sound never so much like the last +gurgling cries of throttled men. No! the world was very +matter-of-fact, and particularly so to me, a poor younger +son with five dollars in my purse by way of fortune, a packet +of unpaid bills in my breastpocket, and round my neck a +locket with a portrait therein of that dear buxom, freckled, +stub-nosed girl away in a little southern seaport town +whom I thought I loved with a magnificent affection. Gods! +I had not even touched the fringe of that affliction. + +Thus sauntering along moodily, my chin on my chest and +much too absorbed in reflection to have any nice apprecia- +tion of what was happening about me, I was crossing in +front of a dilapidated block of houses, dating back nearly +to the time of the Pilgrim Fathers, when I had a vague +consciousness of something dark suddenly sweeping by me-- +a thing like a huge bat, or a solid shadow, if such a thing +could be, and the next instant there was a thud and a +bump, a bump again, a half-stifled cry, and then a hurried +vision of some black carpeting that flapped and shook as +though all the winds of Eblis were in its folds, and then +apparently disgorged from its inmost recesses a little man. + +Before my first start of half-amused surprise was over I +saw him by the flickering lamp-light clutch at space as +he tried to steady himself, stumble on the slippery curb, +and the next moment go down on the back of his head +with a most ugly thud. + +Now I was not destitute of feeling, though it had been +my lot to see men die in many ways, and I ran over to that +motionless form without an idea that anything but an +ordinary accident had occurred. There he lay, silent and, as +it turned out afterwards, dead as a door-nail, the strangest +old fellow ever eyes looked upon, dressed in shabby sorrel- +coloured clothes of antique cut, with a long grey beard +upon his chin, pent-roof eyebrows, and a wizened complexion +so puckered and tanned by exposure to Heaven only knew +what weathers that it was impossible to guess his nationality. + +I lifted him up out of the puddle of black blood in +which he was lying, and his head dropped back over my +arm as though it had been fixed to his body with string +alone. There was neither heart-beat nor breath in him, and +the last flicker of life faded out of that gaunt face even as +I watched. It was not altogether a pleasant situation, and +the only thing to do appeared to be to get the dead man +into proper care (though little good it could do him now!) +as speedily as possible. So, sending a chance passer-by +into the main street for a cab, I placed him into it as soon +as it came, and there being nobody else to go, got in with +him myself, telling the driver at the same time to take us to +the nearest hospital. + +"Is this your rug, captain?" asked a bystander just as +we were driving off. + +"Not mine," I answered somewhat roughly. "You don't +suppose I go about at this time of night with Turkey carpets +under my arm, do you? It belongs to this old chap here +who has just dropped out of the skies on to his head; chuck +it on top and shut the door!" And that rug, the very main- +spring of the startling things which followed, was thus care- +lessly thrown on to the carriage, and off we went. + +Well, to be brief, I handed in that stark old traveller +from nowhere at the hospital, and as a matter of curiosity +sat in the waiting-room while they examined him. In five +minutes the house-surgeon on duty came in to see me, and +with a shake of his head said briefly-- + +"Gone, sir--clean gone! Broke his neck like a pipe-stem. +Most strange-looking man, and none of us can even guess at +his age. Not a friend of yours, I suppose?" + +"Nothing whatever to do with me, sir. He slipped on +the pavement and fell in front of me just now, and as a mat- +ter of common charity I brought him in here. Were there +any means of identification on him?" + +"None whatever," answered the doctor, taking out his +notebook and, as a matter of form, writing down my name +and address and a few brief particulars, "nothing what- +ever except this curious-looking bead hung round his neck +by a blackened thong of leather," and he handed me a thing +about as big as a filbert nut with a loop for suspension and +apparently of rock crystal, though so begrimed and dull its +nature was difficult to speak of with certainty. The bead was +of no seeming value and slipped unintentionally into my +waistcoat pocket as I chatted for a few minutes more with +the doctor, and then, shaking hands, I said goodbye, and +went back to the cab which was still waiting outside. + +It was only on reaching home I noticed the hospital +porters had omitted to take the dead man's carpet from the +roof of the cab when they carried him in, and as the cab- +man did not care about driving back to the hospital with it, +and it could not well be left in the street, I somewhat +reluctantly carried it indoors with me. + +Once in the shine of my own lamp and a cigar in my +mouth I had a closer look at that ancient piece of art work +from heaven, or the other place, only knows what ancient +loom. + +A big, strong rug of faded Oriental colouring, it covered +half the floor of my sitting-room, the substance being of a +material more like camel's hair than anything else, and run- +ning across, when examined closely, were some dark fibres +so long and fine that surely they must have come from the +tail of Solomon's favourite black stallion itself. But the +strangest thing about that carpet was its pattern. It was +threadbare enough to all conscience in places, yet the design +still lived in solemn, age-wasted hues, and, as I dragged +it to my stove-front and spread it out, it seemed to me that +it was as much like a star map done by a scribe who had +lately recovered from delirium tremens as anything else. In +the centre appeared a round such as might be taken for +the sun, while here and there, "in the field," as heralds +say, were lesser orbs which from their size and position +could represent smaller worlds circling about it. Between +these orbs were dotted lines and arrow-heads of the oldest +form pointing in all directions, while all the intervening +spaces were filled up with woven characters half-way in +appearance between Runes and Cryptic-Sanskrit. Round the +borders these characters ran into a wild maze, a perfect jungle +of an alphabet through which none but a wizard could +have forced a way in search of meaning. + +Altogether, I thought as I kicked it out straight upon my +floor, it was a strange and not unhandsome article of +furniture--it would do nicely for the mess-room on the +Carolina, and if any representatives of yonder poor old fel- +low turned up tomorrow, why, I would give them a couple +of dollars for it. Little did I guess how dear it would be at +any price! + +Meanwhile that steak was late, and now that the tempor- +ary excitement of the evening was wearing off I fell dull +again. What a dark, sodden world it was that frowned in on +me as I moved over to the window and opened it for the +benefit of the cool air, and how the wind howled about +the roof tops. How lonely I was! What a fool I had been to +ask for long leave and come ashore like this, to curry favour +with a set of stubborn dunderheads who cared nothing +for me--or Polly, and could not or would not understand how +important it was to the best interests of the Service that +I should get that promotion which alone would send me +back to her an eligible wooer! What a fool I was not to +have volunteered for some desperate service instead of wast- +ing time like this! Then at least life would have been +interesting; now it was dull as ditch-water, with wretched +vistas of stagnant waiting between now and that joyful +day when I could claim that dear, rosy-checked girl for +my own. What a fool I had been! + +"I wish, I wish," I exclaimed, walking round the little +room, "I wish I were--" + +While these unfinished exclamations were actually passing +my lips I chanced to cross that infernal mat, and it is +no more startling than true, but at my word a quiver of +expectation ran through that gaunt web--a rustle of antici- +pation filled its ancient fabric, and one frayed corner surged +up, and as I passed off its surface in my stride, the sentence +still unfinished on my lips, wrapped itself about my left leg +with extraordinary swiftness and so effectively that I nearly +fell into the arms of my landlady, who opened the door +at the moment and came in with a tray and the steak +and tomatoes mentioned more than once already. + +It was the draught caused by the opening door, of course, +that had made the dead man's rug lift so strangely-- +what else could it have been? I made this apology to the +good woman, and when she had set the table and closed +the door took another turn or two about my den, con- +tinuing as I did so my angry thoughts. + +"Yes, yes," I said at last, returning to the stove and taking +my stand, hands in pockets, in front of it, "anything were +better than this, any enterprise however wild, any adventure +however desperate. Oh, I wish I were anywhere but here, +anywhere out of this redtape-ridden world of ours! I WISH +I WERE IN THE PLANET MARS!" + +How can I describe what followed those luckless words? +Even as I spoke the magic carpet quivered responsively +under my feet, and an undulation went all round the fringe +as though a sudden wind were shaking it. It humped up +in the middle so abruptly that I came down sitting with a +shock that numbed me for the moment. It threw me on +my back and billowed up round me as though I were in +the trough of a stormy sea. Quicker than I can write it +lapped a corner over and rolled me in its folds like a +chrysalis in a cocoon. I gave a wild yell and made one frantic +struggle, but it was too late. With the leathery strength +of a giant and the swiftness of an accomplished cigar- +roller covering a "core" with leaf, it swamped my efforts, +straightened my limbs, rolled me over, lapped me in fold +after fold till head and feet and everything were gone-- +crushed life and breath back into my innermost being, +and then, with the last particle of consciousness, I felt myself +lifted from the floor, pass once round the room, and finally +shoot out, point foremost, into space through the open +window, and go up and up and up with a sound of rending +atmospheres that seemed to tear like riven silk in one pro- +longed shriek under my head, and to close up in thunder +astern until my reeling senses could stand it no longer. and +time and space and circumstances all lost their meaning +to me. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +How long that wild rush lasted I have no means of judging. +It may have been an hour, a day, or many days, for +I was throughout in a state of suspended animation, but +presently my senses began to return and with them a sensa- +tion of lessening speed, a grateful relief to a heavy pressure +which had held my life crushed in its grasp, without destroy- +ing it completely. It was just that sort of sensation though +more keen which, drowsy in his bunk, a traveller feels when +he is aware, without special perception, harbour is reached +and a voyage comes to an end. But in my case the slowing +down was for a long time comparative. Yet the sensation +served to revive my scattered senses, and just as I was +awakening to a lively sense of amazement, an incredible +doubt of my own emotions, and an eager desire to know +what had happened, my strange conveyance oscillated once +or twice, undulated lightly up and down, like a wood- +pecker flying from tree to tree, and then grounded, bows first, +rolled over several times, then steadied again, and, coming +at last to rest, the next minute the infernal rug opened, quiver- +ing along all its borders in its peculiar way, and humping +up in the middle shot me five feet into the air like a cat +tossed from a schoolboy's blanket. + +As I turned over I had a dim vision of a clear light like +the shine of dawn, and solid ground sloping away below me. +Upon that slope was ranged a crowd of squatting people, +and a staid-looking individual with his back turned stood +nearer by. Afterwards I found he was lecturing all those +sitters on the ethics of gravity and the inherent properties +of falling bodies; at the moment I only knew he was directly +in my line as I descended, and him round the waist I seized, +giddy with the light and fresh air, waltzed him down +the slope with the force of my impetus, and, tripping at +the bottom, rolled over and over recklessly with him sheer +into the arms of the gaping crowd below. Over and over we +went into the thickest mass of bodies, making a way through +the people, until at last we came to a stop in a perfect +mound of writhing forms and waving legs and arms. When +we had done the mass disentangled itself and I was able to +raise my head from the shoulder of someone on whom I +had fallen, lifting him, or her--which was it?--into a +sitting posture alongside of me at the same time, while +the others rose about us like wheat-stalks after a storm, +and edged shyly off, as well as they might. + +Such a sleek, slim youth it was who sat up facing me, +with a flush of gentle surprise on his face, and dapper +hands that felt cautiously about his anatomy for injured +places. He looked so quaintly rueful yet withal so good- +tempered that I could not help bursting into laughter in +spite of my own amazement. Then he laughed too, a sedate, +musical chuckle, and said something incomprehensible, point- +ing at the same time to a cut upon my finger that was bleed- +ing a little. I shook my head, meaning thereby that it was +nothing, but the stranger with graceful solicitude took my +hand, and, after examining the hurt, deliberately tore a +strip of cloth from a bright yellow toga-like garment he +was wearing and bound the place up with a woman's +tenderness. + +Meanwhile, as he ministered, there was time to look about +me. Where was I? It was not the Broadway; it was not +Staten Island on a Saturday afternoon. The night was just +over, and the sun on the point of rising. Yet it was still +shadowy all about, the air being marvellously tepid and +pleasant to the senses. Quaint, soft aromas like the breath of +a new world--the fragrance of unknown flowers, and the +dewy scent of never-trodden fields drifted to my nostrils; +and to my ears came a sound of laughter scarcely more +human than the murmur of the wind in the trees, and a +pretty undulating whisper as though a great concourse of +people were talking softly in their sleep. I gazed about +scarcely knowing how much of my senses or surroundings +were real and how much fanciful, until I presently be- +came aware the rosy twilight was broadening into day, +and under the increasing shine a strange scene was fashion- +ing itself. + +At first it was an opal sea I looked on of mist, shot along +its upper surface with the rosy gold and pinks of dawn. +Then, as that soft, translucent lake ebbed, jutting hills came +through it, black and crimson, and as they seemed to +mount into the air other lower hills showed through the veil +with rounded forest knobs till at last the brightening day dis- +pelled the mist, and as the rosy-coloured gauzy fragments +went slowly floating away a wonderfully fair country lay at +my feet, with a broad sea glimmering in many arms and bays +in the distance beyond. It was all dim and unreal at first, the +mountains shadowy, the ocean unreal, the flowery fields be- +tween it and me vacant and shadowy. + +Yet were they vacant? As my eyes cleared and day +brightened still more, and I turned my head this way and +that, it presently dawned upon me all the meadow cop- +pices and terraces northwards of where I lay, all that blue +and spacious ground I had thought to be bare and vacant, +were alive with a teeming city of booths and tents; now +I came to look more closely there was a whole town upon +the slope, built as might be in a night of boughs and +branches still unwithered, the streets and ways of that city in +the shadows thronged with expectant people moving in +groups and shifting to and fro in lively streams--chatting at +the stalls and clustering round the tent doors in soft, gauzy, +parti-coloured crowds in a way both fascinating and per- +plexing. + +I stared about me like a child at its first pantomime, +dimly understanding all I saw was novel, but more allured +to the colour and life of the picture than concerned with its +exact meaning; and while I stared and turned my finger +was bandaged, and my new friend had been lisping away +to me without getting anything in turn but a shake of +the head. This made him thoughtful, and thereon followed +a curious incident which I cannot explain. I doubt even +whether you will believe it; but what am I to do in that +case? You have already accepted the episode of my com- +ing, or you would have shut the covers before arriving at +this page of my modest narrative, and this emboldens me. +I may strengthen my claim on your credulity by pointing +out the extraordinary marvels which science is teaching you +even on our own little world. To quote a single instance: If +any one had declared ten years ago that it would shortly +be practicable and easy for two persons to converse from +shore to shore across the Atlantic without any intervening +medium, he would have been laughed at as a possibly +amusing but certainly extravagant romancer. Yet that pic- +turesque lie of yesterday is amongst the accomplished facts +of today! Therefore I am encouraged to ask your in- +dulgence, in the name of your previous errors, for the +following and any other instances in which I may appear to +trifle with strict veracity. There is no such thing as the +impossible in our universe! + +When my friendly companion found I could not under- +stand him, he looked serious for a minute or two, then +shortened his brilliant yellow toga, as though he had ar- +rived at some resolve, and knelt down directly in front +of me. He next took my face between his hands, and +putting his nose within an inch of mine, stared into my +eyes with all his might. At first I was inclined to laugh, +but before long the most curious sensations took hold of me. +They commenced with a thrill which passed all up my body, +and next all feeling save the consciousness of the +loud beating of my heart ceased. Then it seemed that boy's +eyes were inside my head and not outside, while along +with them an intangible something pervaded my brain. +The sensation at first was like the application of ether to +the skin--a cool, numbing emotion. It was followed by a +curious tingling feeling, as some dormant cells in my mind +answered to the thought-transfer, and were filled and fertil- +ised! My other brain-cells most distinctly felt the vitalising +of their companions, and for about a minute I experi- +enced extreme nausea and a headache such as comes +from over-study, though both passed swiftly off. I presume +that in the future we shall all obtain knowledge in this way. +The Professors of a later day will perhaps keep shops for +the sale of miscellaneous information, and we shall drop in +and be inflated with learning just as the bicyclist gets his tire +pumped up, or the motorist is recharged with electricity at +so much per unit. Examinations will then become matters of +capacity in the real meaning of that word, and we shall be +tempted to invest our pocket-money by advertisements of +"A cheap line in Astrology," "Try our double-strength, two- +minute course of Classics," "This is remnant day for Trig- +onometry and Metaphysics," and so on. + +My friend did not get as far as that. With him the +process did not take more than a minute, but it was startling +in its results, and reduced me to an extraordinary state of +hypnotic receptibility. When it was over my instructor +tapped with a finger on my lips, uttering aloud as he did +so the words-- + +"Know none; know some; know little; know morel" again +and again; and the strangest part of it is that as he spoke I +did know at first a little, then more, and still more, by swift +accumulation, of his speech and meaning. In fact, when pre- +sently he suddenly laid a hand over my eyes and then let +go of my head with a pleasantly put question as to how +I felt, I had no difficulty whatever in answering him in his +own tongue, and rose from the ground as one gets from a +hair-dresser's chair, with a vague idea of looking round for +my hat and offering him his fee. + +"My word, sir!" I said, in lisping Martian, as I pulled +down my cuffs and put my cravat straight, "that was a +quick process. I once heard of a man who learnt a language +in the moments he gave each day to having his boots +blacked; but this beats all. I trust I was a docile pupil?" + +"Oh, fairly, sir," answered the soft, musical voice of the +strange being by me; "but your head is thick and your brain +tough. I could have taught another in half the time." + +"Curiously enough," was my response, "those are almost +the very words with which my dear old tutor dismissed +me the morning I left college. Never mind, the thing is +done. Shall I pay you anything?" + +"I do not understand." + +"Any honorarium, then? Some people understand one +word and not the other." But the boy only shook his +head in answer. + +Strangely enough, I was not greatly surprised all this +time either at the novelty of my whereabouts or at the +hypnotic instruction in a new language just received. Per- +haps it was because my head still spun too giddily with +that flight in the old rug for much thought; perhaps be- +cause I did not yet fully realise the thing that had happened. +But, anyhow, there is the fact, which, like so many others +in my narrative, must, alas! remain unexplained for the +moment. The rug, by the way, had completely disap- +peared, my friend comforting me on this score, however, +by saying he had seen it rolled up and taken away by one +whom he knew. + +"We are very tidy people here, stranger," he said, "and +everything found Lying about goes back to the Palace store- +rooms. You will laugh to see the lumber there, for few of us +ever take the trouble to reclaim our property." + +Heaven knows I was in no laughing mood when I saw +that enchanted web again! + +When I had lain and watched the brightening scene for +a time, I got up, and having stretched and shaken my +clothes into some sort of order, we strolled down the hill +and joined the light-hearted crowds that twined across the +plain and through the streets of their city of booths. They +were the prettiest, daintiest folk ever eyes looked upon, +well-formed and like to us as could be in the main, but +slender and willowy, so dainty and light, both the men and +the women, so pretty of cheek and hair, so mild of aspect, +I felt, as I strode amongst them, I could have plucked them +like flowers and bound them up in bunches with my belt. +And yet somehow I liked them from the first minute; such a +happy, careless, light-hearted race, again I say, never was +seen before. There was not a stain of thought or care on a +single one of those white foreheads that eddied round me +under their peaked, blossom-like caps, the perpetual smile +their faces wore never suffered rebuke anywhere; their +very movements were graceful and slow, their laughter +was low and musical, there was an odour of friendly, +slothful happiness about them that made me admire whether +I would or no. + +Unfortunately I was not able to live on laughter, as they +appeared to be, so presently turning to my acquaintance, +who had told me his name was the plain monosyllabic An, +and clapping my hand on his shoulder as he stood lost in +sleepy reflection, said, in a good, hearty way, "Hullo, friend +Yellow-jerkin! If a stranger might set himself athwart the +cheerful current of your meditations, may such a one ask +how far 'tis to the nearest wine-shop or a booth where a +thirsty man may get a mug of ale at a moderate reckoning?" + +That gilded youth staggered under my friendly blow as +though the hammer of Thor himself had suddenly lit upon his +shoulder, and ruefully rubbing his tender skin, he turned +on me mild, handsome eyes, answering after a moment, dur- +ing which his native mildness struggled with the pain I +had unwittingly given him-- + +"If your thirst be as emphatic as your greeting, friend +Heavy-fist, it will certainly be a kindly deed to lead you +to the drinking-place. My shoulder tingles with your good- +fellowship," he added, keeping two arms'-lengths clear of me. +"Do you wish," he said, "merely to cleanse a dusty throat, +or for blue or pink oblivion?" + +"Why," I answered laughingly, "I have come a longish +journey since yesterday night--a journey out of count of +all reasonable mileage--and I might fairly plead a dusty +throat as excuse for a beginning; but as to the other things +mentioned, those tinted forgetfulnesses, I do not even know +what you mean." + +"Undoubtedly you are a stranger," said the friendly youth, +eyeing me from top to toe with renewed wonder, "and by +your unknown garb one from afar." + +"From how far no man can say--not even I--but from +very far, in truth. Let that stay your curiosity for the time. +And now to bench and ale-mug, on good fellow!--the short- +est way. I was never so thirsty as this since our water-butts +went overboard when I sailed the southern seas as a tramp +apprentice, and for three days we had to damp our black +tongues with the puddles the night-dews left in the lift +of our mainsail." + +Without more words, being a little awed of me, I thought, +the boy led me through the good-humoured crowd to +where, facing the main road to the town, but a little +sheltered by a thicket of trees covered with gigantic pink +blossoms, stood a drinking-place--a cluster of tables set +round an open grass-plot. Here he brought me a platter of +some light inefficient cakes which merely served to make +hunger more self-conscious, and some fine aromatic wine +contained in a triple-bodied flask, each division containing +vintage of a separate hue. We broke our biscuits, sipped +that mysterious wine, and talked of many things until at +last something set us on the subject of astronomy, a study +I found my dapper gallant had some knowledge of-- +which was not to be wondered at seeing he dwelt under +skies each night set thick above his curly head with tawny +planets, and glittering constellations sprinkled through space +like flowers in May meadows. He knew what worlds +went round the sun, larger or lesser, and seeing this I be- +gan to question him, for I was uneasy in my innermost mind +and, you will remember, so far had no certain knowledge +of where I was, only a dim, restless suspicion that I had +come beyond the ken of all men's knowledge. + +Therefore, sweeping clear the board with my sleeve, and +breaking the wafer cake I was eating, I set down one +central piece for the sun, and, "See here!" I said, "good fel- +low! This morsel shall stand for that sun you have just been +welcoming back with quaint ritual. Now stretch your starry +knowledge to the utmost, and put down that tankard for +a moment. If this be yonder sun and this lesser crumb be +the outermost one of our revolving system, and this the +next within, and this the next, and so on; now if this be so +tell me which of these fragmentary orbs is ours--which of +all these crumbs from the hand of the primordial would +be that we stand upon?" And I waited with an anxiety +a light manner thinly hid, to hear his answer. + +It came at once. Laughing as though the question were +too trivial, and more to humour my wayward fancy than +aught else, that boy circled his rosy thumb about a minute +and brought it down on the planet Mars! + +I started and stared at him; then all of a tremble cried, +"You trifle with me! Choose again--there, see, I will set the +symbols and name them to you anew. There now, on your +soul tell me truly which this planet is, the one here at our +feet?" And again the boy shook his head, wondering at my +eagerness, and pointed to Mars, saying gently as he did +so the fact was certain as the day above us, nothing was +marvellous but my questioning. + +Mars! oh, dreadful, tremendous, unexpected! With a cry +of affright, and bringing my fist down on the table till +all the cups upon it leapt, I told him he lied--lied like a +simpleton whose astronomy was as rotten as his wit-- +smote the table and scowled at him for a spell, then +turned away and let my chin fall upon my breast and +my hands upon my lap. + +And yet, and yet, it might be so! Everything about +me was new and strange, the crisp, thin air I breathed +was new; the lukewarm sunshine new; the sleek, long, ivory +faces of the people new! Yesterday--was it yesterday?--I +was back there--away in a world that pines to know of +other worlds, and one fantastic wish of mine, backed by a +hideous, infernal chance, had swung back the doors of +space and shot me--if that boy spoke true--into the outer +void where never living man had been before: all my wits +about me, all the horrible bathos of my earthly clothing +on me, all my terrestrial hungers in my veins! + +I sprang to my feet and swept my hands across my eyes. +Was that a dream, or this? No, no, both were too real. +The hum of my faraway city still rang in my ears: a swift +vision of the girl I had loved; of the men I had hated; of +the things I had hoped for rose before me, still dazing my +inner eye. And these about me were real people, too; it +was real earth; real skies, trees, and rocks--had the infernal +gods indeed heard, I asked myself, the foolish wish that +started from my lips in a moment of fierce discontent, +and swept me into another sphere, another existence? I +looked at the boy as though he could answer that question, +but there was nothing in his face but vacuous wonder; I +clapped my hands together and beat my breast; it was true; +my soul within me said it was true; the boy had not lied; +the djins had heard; I was just in the flesh I had; my +common human hungers still unsatisfied where never mortal +man had hungered before; and scarcely knowing whether I +feared or not, whether to laugh or cry, but with all the +wonder and terror of that great remove sweeping suddenly +upon me I staggered back to my seat, and dropping my +arms upon the table, leant my head heavily upon them and +strove to choke back the passion which beset me. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +It was the light touch of the boy An upon my shoulder +which roused me. He was bending down, his pretty face +full of concernful sympathy, and in a minute said--know- +ing nothing of my thoughts, of course, + +"It is the wine, stranger, the pink oblivion, it sometimes +makes one feel like that until enough is taken; you stopped +just short of what you should have had, and the next cup +would have been delight--I should have told you." + +"Ay," I answered, glad he should think so, "it was the +wine, no doubt; your quaint drink, sir, tangled up my +senses for the moment, but they are clearer now, and I +am eager past expression to learn a little more of this +strange country I have wandered into." + +"I would rather," said the boy, relapsing again into his +state of kindly lethargy, "that you learnt things as you went, +for talking is work, and work we hate, but today we are +all new and fresh, and if ever you are to ask questions now +is certainly the time. Come with me to the city yonder, and +as we go I will answer the things you wish to know;" and +I went with him, for I was humble and amazed, and, in +truth, at that moment, had not a word to say for myself. + +All the way from the plain where I had awoke to the +walls of the city stood booths, drinking-places, and gardens +divided by labyrinths of canals, and embowered in shrub- +beries that seemed coming into leaf and flower as we looked, +so swift was the process of their growth. These waterways +were covered with skiffs being pushed and rowed in every +direction; the cheerful rowers calling to each other through +the leafy screens separating one lane from another till the +place was full of their happy chirruping. Every booth and +way-side halting-place was thronged with these delicate and +sprightly people, so friendly, so gracious, and withal so pur- +poseless. + +I began to think we should never reach the town itself, +for first my guide would sit down on a green stream-bank, +his feet a-dangle in the clear water, and bandy wit with a +passing boat as though there were nothing else in the world +to think of. And when I dragged him out of that, whisper- +ing in his ear, "The town, my dear boy! the town! I am +all agape to see it," he would saunter reluctantly to a booth +a hundred yards further on and fall to eating strange con- +fections or sipping coloured wines with chance acquaintances, +till again I plucked him by the sleeve and said: "Seth, good +comrade--was it not so you called your city just now?--take +me to the gates, and I will be grateful to you," then on +again down a flowery lane, aimless and happy, wasting my +time and his, with placid civility I was led by that simple +guide. + +Wherever we went the people stared at me, as well +they might, as I walked through them overtopping the tallest +by a head or more. The drinking-cups paused half-way +to their mouths; the jests died away upon their lips; and +the blinking eyes of the drinkers shone with a momentary +sparkle of wonder as their minds reeled down those many- +tinted floods to the realms of oblivion they loved. + +I heard men whisper one to another, "Who is he?"; +"Whence does he come?"; "Is he a tribute-taker?" as I +strolled amongst them, my mind still so thrilled with doubt +and wonder that to me they seemed hardly more than +painted puppets, the vistas of their lovely glades and the +ivory town beyond only the fancy of a dream, and their +talk as incontinent as the babble of a stream. + +Then happily, as I walked along with bent head brood- +ing over the incredible thing that had happened, my com- +panion's shapely legs gave out, and with a sigh of fatigue +he suggested we should take a skiff amongst the many ly- +ing about upon the margins and sail towards the town, +"For," said he, "the breeze blows thitherward, and 'tis a +shame to use one's limbs when Nature will carry us for +nothing!" + +"But have you a boat of your own hereabouts?" I queried; +"for to tell the truth I came from home myself somewhat +poorly provided with means to buy or barter, and if your +purse be not heavier than mine we must still do as poor +men do." + +"Oh!" said An, "there is no need to think of that, no one +here to hire or hire of; we will just take the first skiff we +see that suits us." + +"And what if the owner should come along and find his +boat gone?" + +"Why, what should he do but take the next along the +bank, and the master of that the next again--how else +could it be?" said the Martian, and shrugging my shoulders, +for I was in no great mood to argue, we went down to the +waterway, through a thicket of budding trees underlaid with +a carpet of small red flowers filling the air with a scent +of honey, and soon found a diminutive craft pulled up on +the bank. There were some dainty cloaks and wraps in it +which An took out and laid under a tree. But first he felt +in the pouch of one for a sweetmeat which his fine nostrils, +acute as a squirrel's, told him was there, and taking the lump +out bit a piece from it, afterwards replacing it in the owner's +pocket with the frankest simplicity. + +Then we pushed off, hoisted the slender mast, set the +smallest lug-sail that ever a sailor smiled at, and, myself +at the helm, and that golden youth amidships, away we +drifted under thickets of drooping canes tasselled with yel- +low catkin-flowers, up the blue alley of the water into the +broader open river beyond with its rapid flow and crowd- +ing boats, the white city front now towering clear before us. + +The air was full of sunshine and merry voices; birds were +singing, trees were budding; only my heart was heavy, my +mind confused. Yet why should I be sad, I said to myself +presently? Life beat in my pulses; what had I to fear? +This world I had tumbled into was new and strange, no +doubt, but tomorrow it would be old and familiar; it dis- +credited my manhood to sit brow-bent like that, so with +an effort I roused myself. + +"Old chap!" I said to my companion, as he sat astride +of a thwart slowly chewing something sticky and eyeing +me out of the corner of his eyes with vapid wonder, "tell +me something of this land of yours, or something about +yourself--which reminds me I have a question to ask. It is +a bit delicate, but you look a sensible sort of fellow, and +will take no offence. The fact is, I have noticed as we +came along half your population dresses in all the colours +of the rainbow--'fancy suitings' our tailors could call it at +home--and this half of the census are undoubtedly men and +women. The rub is that the other half, to which you be- +long, all dress alike in YELLOW, and I will be fired from +the biggest gun on the Carolina's main deck if I can tell +what sex you belong to! I took you for a boy in the begin- +ning, and the way you closed with the idea of having a +drink with me seemed to show I was dead on the right +course. Then a little later on I heard you and a friend +abusing our sex from an outside point of view in a way +which was very disconcerting. This, and some other things, +have set me all abroad again, and as fate seems determined +to make us chums for this voyage--why--well, frankly, I +should be glad to know if you be boy or girl? If you are +as I am, no more nor less then--for I like you--there's my +hand in comradeship. If you are otherwise, as those sleek +outlines seem to promise--why, here's my hand again! But +man or woman you must be--come, which is it?" + +If I had been perplexed before, to watch that boy now +was more curious than ever. He drew back from me with +a show of wounded dignity, then bit his lips, and sighed, +and stared, and frowned. "Come," I said laughingly, "speak! +it engenders ambiguity to be so ambiguous of gender! 'Tis +no great matter, yes or no, a plain answer will set us fairly +in our friendship; if it is comrade, then comrade let it be; +if maid, why, I shall not quarrel with that, though it cost +me a likely messmate." + +"You mock me." + +"Not I, I never mocked any one." + +"And does my robe tell you nothing?" + +"Nothing so much; a yellow tunic and becoming enough, +but nothing about it to hang a deduction on. Come! Are +you a girl, after all?" + +"I do not count myself a girl." + +"Why, then, you are the most blooming boy that ever +eyes were set upon; and though 'tis with some tinge of +regret, yet cheerfully I welcome you into the ranks of man- +hood." + +"I hate your manhood, send it after the maidhood; it +fits me just as badly." + +"But An, be reasonable; man or maid you must be." + +"Must be; why?" + +"Why?" Was ever such a question put to a sane mortal +before? I stared at that ambiguous thing before me, and +then, a little wroth to be played with, growled out some- +thing about Martians being all drunk or mad. + +"'Tis you yourself are one or other," said that individual, +by this time pink with anger, "and if you think because +I am what I am you can safely taunt me, you are wrong. +See! I have a sting," and like a thwarted child my com- +panion half drew from the folds of the yellow tunic-dress +the daintiest, most harmless-looking little dagger that was +ever seen. + +"Oh, if it comes to that," I answered, touching the Navy +scabbard still at my hip, and regaining my temper at the +sight of hers, "why, I have a sting also--and twice as long +as yours! But in truth, An, let us not talk of these things; if +something in what I have said has offended nice Martian +scruples I am sorry, and will question no more, leaving my +wonder for time to settle." + +"No," said the other, "it was my fault to be hasty of +offence; I am not so angered once a year. But in truth +your question moves us yellow robes deeply. Did you not +really know that we who wear this saffron tunic are slaves,-- +a race apart, despised by all." + +"'Slaves,' no; how should I know it?" + +"I thought you must understand a thing so fundamental, +and it was that thought which made your questions seem +unkind. But if indeed you have come so far as not to under- +stand even this, then let me tell you once we of this garb +were women--priestesses of the immaculate conceptions of +humanity; guardians of those great hopes and longings +which die so easily. And because we forgot our high station +and took to aping another sex the gods deserted and men +despised us, giving us, in the fierceness of their contempt, +what we asked for. We are the slave ants of the nest, the +work-bees of the hive, come, in truth, of those here who +still be men and women of a sort, but toilers only; un- +known in love, unregretted in death--those who dangle all +children but their own--slaves cursed with the accomplish- +ment of their own ambition." + +There was no doubt poor An believed what she said, +for her attitude was one of extreme dejection while she +spoke, and to cheer her I laughed. + +"Oh! come, it can't be as bad as that. Surely sometimes +some of you win back to womanhood? You yourself do not +look so far gone but what some deed of abnegation, some +strong love if you could but conceive it would set you right +again. Surely you of the primrose robes can sometimes love?" + +Whereat unwittingly I troubled the waters in the placid +soul of that outcast Martian! I cannot exactly describe +how it was, but she bent her head silently for a moment or +two, and then, with a sigh, lifting her eyes suddenly to +mine, said quietly, "Yes, sometimes; sometimes--but very sel- +dom," while for an instant across her face there flashed +the summer lightning of a new hope, a single transient +glance of wistful, timid entreaty; of wonder and delight +that dared not even yet acknowledge itself. + +Then it was my turn to sit silent, and the pause was so +awkward that in a minute, to break it, I exclaimed-- + +"Let's drop personalities, old chap--I mean my dear +Miss An. Tell me something about your people, and let us +begin properly at the top: have you got a king, for instance?" + +To this the girl, pulling herself out of the pleasant slough +of her listlessness, and falling into my vein, answered-- + +"Both yes and no, sir traveller from afar--no chiefly, and +yet perhaps yes. If it were no then it were so, and if yes +then Hath were our king." + +"A mild king I should judge by your uncertainty. In the +place where I came from kings press their individualities +somewhat more clearly on their subjects' minds. Is Hath +here in the city? Does he come to your feasts today?" + +An nodded. Hath was on the river, he had been to see the +sunrise; even now she thought the laughter and singing +down behind the bend might be the king's barge coming +up citywards. "He will not be late," said my companion, +"because the marriage-feast is set for tomorrow in the +palace." + +I became interested. Kings, palaces, marriage-feasts--why, +here was something substantial to go upon; after all +these gauzy folk might turn out good fellows, jolly com- +rades to sojourn amongst--and marriage-feasts reminded +me again I was hungry. + +"Who is it," I asked, with more interest in my tone, +"who gets married?--is it your ambiguous king himself?" + +Whereat An's purple eyes broadened with wonder: then +as though she would not be uncivil she checked herself, +and answered with smothered pity for my ignorance, "Not +only Hath himself, but every one, stranger, they are all +married tomorrow; you would not have them married one +at a time, would you?"--this with inexpressible derision. + +I said, with humility, something like that happened in +the place I came from, asking her how it chanced the +convenience of so many came to one climax at the same mo- +ment. "Surely, An, this is a marvel of arrangement. Where I +dwelt wooings would sometimes be long or sometimes short, +and all maids were not complacent by such universal agree- +ment." + +The girl was clearly perplexed. She stared at me a +space, then said, "What have wooings long or short to do with +weddings? You talk as if you did your wooing first and +then came to marriage--we get married first and woo after- +wards!" + +"'Tis not a bad idea, and I can see it might lend an +ease and certainty to the pastime which our method lacks. +But if the woman is got first and sued subsequently, who +brings you together? Who sees to the essential preliminaries +of assortment?" + +An, looking at my shoes as though she speculated on +the remoteness of the journey I had come if it were measured +by my ignorance, replied, "The urn, stranger, the urn does +that--what else? How it may be in that out-fashioned +region you have come from I cannot tell, but here--'tis so +commonplace I should have thought you must have known +it--we put each new year the names of all womenkind into +an urn and the men draw for them, each town, each village +by itself, and those they draw are theirs; is it conceivable +your race has other methods?" + +I told her it was so--we picked and chose for ourselves, +beseeching the damsels, fighting for them, and holding the +sun of romance was at its setting just where the Martians held +it to rise. Whereat An burst out laughing--a clear, ringing +laugh that set all the light-hearted folk in the nearest boats +laughing in sympathy. But when the grotesqueness of the +idea had somewhat worn off, she turned grave and asked +me if such a fancy did not lead to spite, envy, and bickerings. +"Why, it seems to me," she said, shaking her curly head, +"such a plan might fire cities, desolate plains, and empty +palaces--" + +"Such things have been." + +"Ah! our way is much the better. See!" quoth that gentle +philosopher. "'Here,' one of our women would say, 'am I +to-day, unwed, as free of thought as yonder bird chasing +the catkin down; tomorrow I shall be married, with a whole +summer to make love in, relieved at one bound of all +those uncertainties you acknowledge to, with nothing to +do but lie about on sunny banks with him whom chance +sends me, come to the goal of love without any travelling +to get there.' Why, you must acknowledge this is the per- +fection of ease." + +"But supposing," I said, "chance dealt unkindly to you +from your nuptial urn, supposing the man was not to your +liking, or another coveted him?" To which An answered, +with some shrewdness-- + +"In the first case we should do what we might, being +no worse off than those in your land who had played ill +providence to themselves. In the second, no maid would covet +him whom fate had given to another, it were too fatiguing, +or if such a thing DID happen, then one of them would +waive his claims, for no man or woman ever born was +worth a wrangle, and it is allowed us to barter and change +a little." + +All this was strange enough. I could not but laugh, while +An laughed at the lightest invitation, and thus chatting and +deriding each other's social arrangements we floated idly +townwards and presently came out into the main waterway +perhaps a mile wide and flowing rapidly, as streams will on +the threshold of the spring, with brash or waste of distant +beaches riding down it, and every now and then a broken +branch or tree-stem glancing through waves whose crests a +fresh wind lifted and sowed in golden showers in the inter- +vening furrows. The Martians seemed expert upon the water, +steering nimbly between these floating dangers when they +met them, but for the most part hugging the shore where a +more placid stream better suited their fancies, and for a +time all went well. + +An, as we went along, was telling me more of her strange +country, pointing out birds or flowers and naming them +to me. "Now that," she said, pointing to a small grey owl +who sat reflective on a floating log we were approaching-- +"that is a bird of omen; cover your face and look away, +for it is not well to watch it." + +Whereat I laughed. "Oh!" I answered, "so those ancient +follies have come as far as this, have they? But it is no bird +grey or black or white that can frighten folk where I come +from; see, I will ruffle his philosophy for him," and suiting the +action to the words I lifted a pebble that happened to lie at +the bottom of the boat and flung it at that creature with +the melancholy eyes. Away went the owl, dipping his wings +into the water at every stroke, and as he went wailing out +a ghostly cry, which even amongst sunshine and glitter +made one's flesh creep. + +An shook her head. "You should not have done that," she +said; "our dead whom we send down over the falls come back +in the body of yonder little bird. But he has gone now," she +added, with relief; "see, he settles far up stream upon the +point of yonder rotten bough; I would not disturb him +again if I were you--" + +Whatever more An would have said was lost, for amidst +a sound of flutes and singing round the bend of the river +below came a crowd of boats decked with flowers and gar- +lands, all clustering round a barge barely able to move, so +thick those lesser skiffs pressed upon it. So close those +wherries hung about that the garlanded rowers who sat at +the oars could scarcely pull, but, here as everywhere, it was +the same good temper, the same carelessness of order, as like +a flowery island in the dancing blue water the motley +fleet came up. + +I steered our skiff a space out from the bank to get a +better view, while An clapped her hands together and +laughed. "It is Hath--he himself and those of the palace +with him. Steer a little nearer still, friend--so! between yon +floating rubbish flats, for those with Hath are good to look +at." + +Nothing loth I made out into mid-stream to see that +strange prince go by, little thinking in a few minutes I +should be shaking hands with him, a wet and dripping hero. +The crowd came up, and having the advantage of the wind, +it did not take me long to get a front place in the ruck, +whence I set to work, with republican interest in royalty, +to stare at the man who An said was the head of Martian +society. He did not make me desire to renounce my demo- +cratic principles. The royal fellow was sitting in the centre +of the barge under a canopy and on a throne which was a +mass of flowers, not bunched together as they would have +been with us, but so cunningly arranged that they rose from +the footstool to the pinnacle in a rhythm of colour, a poem +in bud and petals the like of which for harmonious beauty +I could not have imagined possible. And in this fairy den +was a thin, gaunt young man, dressed in some sort of black +stuff so nondescript that it amounted to little more than +a shadow. I took it for granted that a substance of bone +and muscle was covered by that gloomy suit, but it was +the face above that alone riveted my gaze and made me +return the stare he gave me as we came up with re- +doubled interest. It was not an unhandsome face, but ashy +grey in colour and amongst the insipid countenances of the +Martians about him marvellously thoughtful. I do not +know whether those who had killed themselves by learn- +ing ever leave ghosts behind, but if so this was the very +ideal for such a one. At his feet I noticed, when I un- +hooked my eyes from his at last, sat a girl in a loose coral +pink gown who was his very antipode. Princess Heru, for +so she was called, was resting one arm upon his knee at +our approach and pulling a blue convolvulus bud to +pieces--a charming picture of dainty idleness. Anything so +soft, so silken as that little lady was never seen before. Who +am I, a poor quarter-deck loafer, that I should attempt +to describe what poet and painter alike would have failed +to realise? I know, of course, your stock descriptives: the +melting eye, the coral lip, the peachy cheek, the raven tress; +but these were coined for mortal woman--and this was not +one of them. I will not attempt to describe the glorious +tenderness of those eyes she turned upon me presently; +the glowing radiance of her skin; the infinite grace of every +action; the incredible soul-searching harmony of her voice, +when later on I heard it--you must gather something of +these things as I go--suffice it to say that when I saw +her there for the first time in the plenitude of her beauty +I fell desperately, wildly in love with her. + +Meanwhile, even the most infatuated of mortals cannot +stare for ever without saying something. The grating of our +prow against the garlanded side of the royal barge roused me +from my reverie, and nodding to An, to imply I would be +back presently, I lightly jumped on to Hath's vessel, and, +with the assurance of a free and independent American voter, +approached that individual, holding out my palm, and +saying as I did so, + +"Shake hands, Mr. President!" + +The prince came forward at my bidding and extending +his hand for mine. He bowed slow and sedately, in that +peculiar way the Martians have, a ripple of gratified civility +passing up his flesh; lower and lower he bowed, until his +face was over our clasped hands, and then, with simple +courtesy, he kissed my finger-tips! This was somewhat em- +barrassing. It was not like the procedure followed in Courts +nearer to Washington than this one, as far as my reading +went, and, withdrawing my fingers hastily, I turned to the +princess, who had risen, and was eyeing her somewhat +awkwardly, the while wondering what kind of salutation +would be suitable in her case when a startling incident +happened. The river, as said, was full of floating rubbish +brought down from some far-away uplands by a spring freshet +while the royal convoy was making slow progress upstream +and thus met it all bow on. Some of this stuff was heavy +timber, and when a sudden warning cry went up from the +leading boats it did not take my sailor instinct long to guess +what was amiss. Those in front shot side to side, those be- +hind tried to drop back as, bearing straight down on the +royal barge, there came a log of black wood twenty feet long +and as thick as the mainmast of an old three-decker. + +Hath's boat could no more escape than if it had been +planted on a rocky pedestal, garlands and curtains trailing +in the water hung so heavy on it. The gilded paddles of the +slender rowers were so feeble--they had but made a half- +turn from that great javelin's road when down it came upon +them, knocking the first few pretty oarsmen head over heels +and crackling through their oars like a bull through dry +maize stalks. I sprang forward, and snatching a pole from a +half-hearted slave, jammed the end into the head of the log +and bore with all my weight upon it, diverting it a little, and +thereby perhaps saving the ship herself, but not enough. As +it flashed by a branch caught upon the trailing tapestry, +hurling me to the deck, ,and tearing away with it all that +finery. Then the great spar, tossing half its dripping length +into the air, went plunging downstream with shreds of silk +and flowers trailing from it, and white water bubbling in +its rear. + +When I scrambled to my feet all was ludicrous confusion +on board. Hath still stood by his throne--an island in a sea +of disorder--staring at me; all else was chaos. The rowers +and courtiers were kicking and wallowing in the "waist" of +the ship like fish newly shot out of a trawl net, but the +princess was gone. Where was she? I brushed the spray +from my eyes, and stared overboard. She was not in the bub- +bling blue water alongside. Then I glanced aft to where the +log, now fifteen yards away, was splashing through the sun- +shine, and, as I looked, a fair arm came up from underneath +and white fingers clutched convulsively at the sky. What +man could need more? Down the barge I rushed, and drop- +ping only my swordbelt, leapt in to her rescue. The gentle +Martians were too numb to raise a hand in help; but it was +not necessary. I had the tide with me, and gained at +every stroke. Meanwhile that accursed tree, with poor +Heru's skirts caught on a branch, was drowning her at its +leisure; lifting her up as it rose upon the crests, a fair, +helpless bundle, and then sousing her in its fall into the +nether water, where I could see her gleam now and again +like pink coral. + +I redoubled my efforts and got alongside, clutching the +rind of that old stump, and swimming and scrambling, at last +was within reach of the princess. Thereon the log lifted her +playfully to my arms, and when I had laid hold came down, +a crushing weight, and forced us far into the clammy +bosom of Martian sea. Again we came up, coughing and +choking--I tugging furiously at that tangled raiment, and +the lady, a mere lump of sweetness in my other arm-- +then down again with that log upon me and all the noises +of Eblis in my ears. Up and down we went, over and over, +till strength was spent and my ribs seemed breaking; then, +with a last desperate effort, I got a knee against the stem, +and by sheer strength freed my princess--the spiteful timber +made a last ugly thrust at us as it rolled away--and +we were free! + +I turned upon my back, and, sure of rescue now, took +the lady's head upon my chest, holding her sweet, white +fists in mine the while, and, floating, waited for help. + +It came only too quickly. The gallant Martians, when +they saw the princess saved, came swiftly down upon us. +Over the lapping of the water in my ears I heard their sigh- +like cries of admiration and surprise, the rattle of spray on +the canoe sides mingled with the splash of oars, the flitting +shadows of their prows were all about us, and in less time +than it takes to write we were hauled aboard, revived, and +taken to Hath's barge. Again the prince's lips were on my +fingertips; again the flutes and music struck up; and as I +squeezed the water out of my hair, and tried to keep my +eyes off the outline of Heru, whose loveliness shone through +her damp, clinging, pink robe, as if that robe were but a +gauzy fancy, I vaguely heard Hath saying wondrous things +of my gallantry, and, what was more to the purpose, asking +me to come with him and stay that night at the palace. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +They lodged me like a prince in a tributary country that +first night. I was tired. 'Twas a stiff stage I had come the +day before, and they gave me a couch whose ethereal +softness seemed to close like the wings of a bird as I plunged +at its touch into fathomless slumbers. But the next day had +hardly broken when I was awake, and, stretching my limbs +upon the piled silk of a legless bed upon the floor, found +myself in a great chamber with a purple tapestry across the +entrance, and a square arch leading to a flat terrace outside. + +It was a glorious daybreak, making my heart light within +me, the air like new milk, and the colours of the sunrise lay +purple and yellow in bars across my room. I yawned and +stretched, then rising, wrapped a silken quilt about me and +went out into the flat terrace top, wherefrom all the city +could be seen stretched in an ivory and emerald patchwork, +with open, blue water on one side, and the Martian plain +trending away in illimitable distance upon the other. + +Directly underneath in the great square at the bottom of +Hath's palace steps were gathered a concourse of people, +brilliant in many-coloured dresses. They were sitting or +lying about just as they might for all I knew have done +through the warm night, without much order, save that +where the black streaks of inlaid stone marked a carriage- +way across the square none were stationed. While I won- +dered what would bring so many together thus early, there +came a sound of flutes--for these people can do nothing +without piping like finches in a thicket in May--and from +the storehouses half-way over to the harbour there streamed +a line of carts piled high with provender. Down came the +teams attended by their slaves, circling and wheeling into +the open place, and as they passed each group those lazy, +lolling beggars crowded round and took the dole they +were too thriftless to earn themselves. It was strange to see +how listless they were about the meal, even though Provi- +dence itself put it into their hands; to note how the +yellow-girted slaves scudded amongst them, serving out +the loaves, themselves had grown, harvested, and baked; +slipping from group to group, rousing, exhorting, admin- +istering to a helpless throng that took their efforts without +thought or thanks. + +I stood there a long time, one foot upon the coping and +my chin upon my hand, noting the beauty of the ruined +town and wondering how such a feeble race as that which +lay about, breakfasting in the limpid sunshine, could have +come by a city like this, or kept even the ruins of its walls +and buildings from the covetousness of others, until presently +there was a rustle of primrose garments and my friend of +the day before stood by me. + +"Are you rested, traveller?" she questioned in that pretty +voice of hers. + +"Rested ambrosially, An." + +"It is well; I will tell the Government and it will come +up to wash and dress you, afterwards giving you breakfast." + +"For the breakfast, damsel, I shall be grateful, but as +for the washing and dressing I will defend myself to the +last gasp sooner than submit to such administration." + +"How strange! Do you never wash in your country?" + +"Yes, but it is a matter left largely to our own discretion; +so, my dear girl, if you will leave me for a minute or two +in quest of that meal you have mentioned, I will guarantee +to be ready when it comes." + +Away she slipped, with a shrug of her rosy shoulders, to +return presently, carrying a tray covered with a white cloth, +whereon were half a dozen glittering covers whence came +most fragrant odours of cooked things. + +"Why, comrade," I said, sitting down and lifting lid by lid, +for the cold, sweet air outside had made me hungry, "this +is better than was hoped for; I thought from what I saw +down yonder I should have to trot behind a tumbril for +my breakfast, and eat it on my heels amongst your sleepy +friends below." + +An replied, "The stranger is a prince, we take it, in his +own country, and princes fare not quite like common +people, even here." + +"So," I said, my mouth full of a strange, unknown fish, +and a cake soft as milk and white as cotton in the pod. +"Now that makes me feel at home!" + +"Would you have had it otherwise with us?" + +"No! now I come to think of it, it is most natural things +should be much alike in all the corners of the universe; +the splendid simplicity that rules the spheres, works much +the same, no doubt, upon one side of the sun as upon the +other. Yet, somehow--you can hardly wonder at it--yes- +terday I looked to find your world, when I realised where +I had tumbled to, a world of djin and giants; of mad +possibilities over realised, and here I see you dwellers by +the utterly remote little more marvellous than if I had +come amongst you on the introduction of a cheap tourist +ticket, and round some neglected corner of my own distant +world!" + +"I hardly follow your meaning, sir." + +"No, no, of course you cannot. I was forgetting you did +not know! There, pass me the stuff on yonder platter that +looks like caked mud from an anchor fluke, and swells like +breath of paradise, and let me question you;" and while I +sat and drank with that yellow servitor sitting in front of +me, I plied her with questions, just as a baby might who +had come into the world with a full-blown gift of speech. +But though she was ready and willing enough to answer, +and laughed gaily at my quaint ignorance of simple things, +yet there was little water in the well. + +"Had they any kind of crafts or science; any cult of +stars or figures?" But again she shook her head, and said, +"Hath might know, Hath understood most things, but her- +self knew little of either." "Armies or navies?" and again the +Martian shrugged her shoulders, questioning in turn-- + +"What for?" + +"What for!" I cried, a little angry with her engaging +dulness, "Why, to keep that which the strong hand got, and +to get more for those who come next; navies to sweep +yonder blue seas, and armies to ward what they should bring +home, or guard the city walls against all enemies,--for I +suppose, An," I said, putting down my knife as the cheering +thought came on me,--"I suppose, An, you have some en- +emies? It is not like Providence to give such riches as you +possess, such lands, such cities, and not to supply the anti- +dote in some one poor enough to covet them." + +At once the girl's face clouded over, and it was obvious +a tender subject had been chanced upon. She waved her +hand impatiently as though to change the subject, but +I would not be put off. + +"Come," I said, "this is better than breakfast. It was the +one thing--this unknown enemy of yours--wanting to lever +the dull mass of your too peacefulness. What is he like? +How strong? How stands the quarrel between you? I was +a soldier myself before the sea allured me, and love horse +and sword best of all things." + +"You would not jest if you knew our enemy!" + +"That is as it may be. I have laughed in the face of many +a stronger foe than yours is like to prove; but anyhow, give +me a chance to judge. Come, who is it that frightens all the +blood out of your cheeks by a bare mention and may not +be laughed at even behind these substantial walls?" + +"First, then, you know, of course, that long ago this land +of ours was harried from the West." + +"Not I." + +"No!" said An, with a little warmth. "If it comes to that, +you know nothing." + +Whereat I laughed, and, saying the reply was just, vowed +I would not interrupt again; so she wont on saying how +Hath--that interminable Hath!--would know it all better than +she did, but long ago the land was overrun by a people +from beyond the broad, blue waters outside; a people +huge of person, hairy and savage, uncouth, unlettered, +and poor An's voice trembled even to describe them; a +people without mercy or compunction, dwellers in woods, +eaters of flesh, who burnt, plundered, and destroyed all +before them, and had toppled over this city along with +many others in an ancient foray, the horrors of which, +still burnt lurid in her people's minds. + +"Ever since then," went on the girl, "these odious terrors +of the outer land have been a nightmare to us, making +hectic our pleasures, and filling our peace with horrid +thoughts of what might be, should they chance to come +again." + +"'Tis unfortunate, no doubt, lady," I answered. "Yet it +was long ago, and the plunderers are far away. Why not rise +and raid them in turn? To live under such a nightmare is +miserable, and a poet on my side of the ether has said-- + + + "'He either fears his fate too much, + + Or his deserts are small, + + Who will not put it to the touch, + + To win or lose it all.' + +It seems to me you must either bustle and fight again, or +sit tamely down, and by paying the coward's fee for peace, +buy at heavy price, indulgence from the victor." + +"We," said An simply, and with no show of shame, +"would rather die than fight, and so we take the easier +way, though a heavy one it is. Look!" she said, drawing me +to the broad window whence we could get a glimpse of the +westward town and the harbour out beyond the walls. +"Look! see yonder long row of boats with brown sails +hanging loose reefed from every yard ranged all along +the quay. Even from here you can make out the thin +stream of porter slaves passing to and fro between them +and the granaries like ants on a sunny path. Those are +our tax-men's ships, they came yesterday from far out across +the sea, as punctual as fate with the first day of spring, +and two or three nights hence we trust will go again: and +glad shall we be to see them start, although they leave +scupper deep with our cloth, our corn, and gold." + +"Is that what they take for tribute?" + +"That and one girl--the fairest they can find." + +"One--only one! 'Tis very moderate, all things considered." + +"She is for the thither king, Ar-hap, and though only one +as you say, stranger, yet he who loses her is apt sometimes +to think her one too many lost." + +"By Jupiter himself it is well said! If I were that man +I would stir up heaven and hell until I got her back; +neither man, nor beast, nor devil should stay me in my +quest!" As I spoke I thought for a minute An's fingers trembled +a little as she fixed a flower upon my coat, while there +was something like a sigh in her voice as she said-- + +"The maids of this country are not accustomed, sir, +to be so strongly loved." + +By this time, breakfasted and rehabilitated, I was ready +to go forth. The girl swung back the heavy curtain that +served in place of door across the entrance of my chamber, +and leading the way by a corridor and marble steps while +I followed, and whether it was the Martian air or the meal +I know not, but thinking mighty well of myself until we +came presently onto the main palace stairs, which led by +stately flights from the upper galleries to the wide square +below. + +As we passed into the full sunshine--and no sunshine is +so crisply golden as the Martian--amongst twined flowers +and shrubs and gay, quaint birds building in the cornices, +a sleek youth rose slowly from where he had spread his cloak +as couch upon a step and approaching asked-- + +"You are the stranger of yesterday?" + +"Yes," I answered. + +"Then I bring a message from Prince Hath, saying it +would pleasure him greatly if you would eat the morning +meal with him." + +"Why," I answered, "it is very civil indeed, but I have +breakfasted already." + +"And so has Hath," said the boy, gently yawning. "You +see I came here early this morning, but knowing you would +pass sooner or later I thought it would save me the trouble +if I lay down till you came--those quaint people who +built these places were so prodigal of steps," and smiling +apologetically he sank back on his couch and began toying +with a leaf. + +"Sweet fellow," I said, and you will note how I was +getting into their style of conversation, "get back to Hath +when you have rested, give him my most gracious thanks +for the intended courtesy, but tell him the invitation should +have started a week earlier; tell him from me, you nimble- +footed messenger, that I will post-date his kindness and +come tomorrow; say that meanwhile I pray him to send +any ill news he has for me by you. Is the message too bulky +for your slender shoulders?" + +"No," said the boy, rousing himself slowly, "I will take it," +and then he prepared to go. He turned again and said, +without a trace of incivility, "But indeed, stranger, I wish +you would take the message yourself. This is the third flight +of stairs I have been up today." + +Everywhere it was the same friendly indolence. Half the +breakfasters were lying on coloured shawls in groups +about the square; the other half were strolling off--all in +one direction, I noticed--as slowly as could be towards +the open fields beyond; no one was active or had anything +to do save the yellow folk who flitted to and fro fostering +the others, and doing the city work as though it were +their only thought in life. There were no shops in that strange +city, for there were no needs; some booths I saw indeed, +and temple-like places, but hollow, and used for birds and +beasts--things these lazy Martians love. There was no tramp +of busy feet, for no one was busy; no clank of swords or +armour in those peaceful streets, for no one was warlike; no +hustle, for no one hurried; no wide-packed asses nodding +down the lanes, for there was nothing to fill their packs +with, and though a cart sometimes came by with a load +of lolling men and maids, or a small horse, for horses +they had, paced along, itself nearly as lazy as the master +he bore, with trappings sewed over bits of coloured shell +and coral, yet somehow it was all extraordinarily unreal. +It was a city full of the ghosts of the life which once +pulsed through its ways. The streets were peopled, the +chatter of voices everywhere, the singing boys and laughing +girls wandering, arms linked together, down the ways filled +every echo with their merriment, yet somehow it was all +so shallow that again and again I rubbed my eyes, wonder- +ing if I were indeed awake, or whether it were not a pro- +longed sleep of which the tomorrow were still to come. + +"What strikes me as strangest of all, good comrade," I +observed pleasantly to the tripping presence at my elbow, +"is that these countrymen of yours who shirk to climb a +flight of steps, and have palms as soft as rose petals, these +wide ways paved with stones as hard as a usurer's heart." + +An laughed. "The stones were still in their native quar- +ries had it been left to us to seek them; we are like the conies +in the ruins, sir, the inheritors of what other hands have +done." + +"Ay, and undone, I think, as well, for coming along I have +noted axe chippings upon the walls, smudges of ancient fire +and smoke upon the cornices." + +An winced a little and stared uneasily at the walls, mut- +tering below her breath something about trying to hide +with flower garlands the marks they could not banish, but +it was plain the conversation was not pleasing to her. So +unpleasant was talk or sight of woodmen (Thither-folk, +as she called them, in contradiction to the Hither people +about us here), that the girl was clearly relieved when +we were free of the town and out into the open play- +ground of the people. The whole place down there was +a gay, shifting crowd. The booths of yesterday, the ar- +cades, the archways, were still standing, and during the +night unknown hands had redecked them with flowers, +while another day's sunshine had opened the coppice buds so +that the whole place was brilliant past expression. And +here the Hither folk were varying their idleness by a +general holiday. They were standing about in groups, or +lying ranked like new-plucked flowers on the banks, piping +to each other through reeds as soft and melodious as +running water. They were playing inconsequent games and +breaking off in the middle of them like children looking +for new pleasures. They were idling about the drinking +booths, delicately stupid with quaint, thin wines, dealt out +to all who asked; the maids were ready to chevy or be +chevied through the blossoming thickets by anyone who +chanced upon them, the men slipped their arms round slen- +der waists and wandered down the paths, scarce seeming +to care even whose waist it was they circled or into whose +ear they whispered the remainder of the love-tale they +had begun to some one else. And everywhere it was "Hi," +and "Ha," and "So," and "See," as these quaint people +called to one another, knowing each other as familiarly as +ants of a nest, and by the same magic it seemed to me. + +"An," I said presently, when we had wandered an hour +or so through the drifting throng, "have these good country- +men of yours no other names but monosyllabic, nothing to +designate them but these chirruping syllables?" + +"Is it not enough?" answered my companion. "Once in- +deed I think we had longer names, but," she added, smiling, +"how much trouble it saves to limit each one to a single sound. +It is uncivil to one's neighbours to burden their tongues +with double duty when half would do." + +"But have you no patronymics--nothing to show the +child comes of the same source as his father came?" + +"We have no fathers." + +"What! no fathers?" I said, starting and staring at her. + +"No, nor mothers either, or at least none that we remem- +ber, for again, why should we? Mayhap in that strange dis- +trict you come from you keep count of these things, but what +have we to do with either when their initial duty is done. +Look at that painted butterfly swinging on the honey- +laden catkin there. What knows she of the mother who +shed her life into a flowercup and forgot which flower it was +the minute afterwards. We, too, are insects, stranger." + +"And do you mean to say of this great concourse here, +that every atom is solitary, individual, and can claim no kin- +dred with another save the loose bonds of a general fraterni- +ty--a specious idea, horrible, impracticable!" + +Whereat An laughed. "Ask the grasshoppers if it is im- +practicable; ask the little buzzing things of grass and leaves +who drift hither and thither upon each breath of wind, +finding kinsmen never but comrades everywhere--ask them +if it is horrible." + +This made me melancholy, and somehow set me thinking +of the friends immeasurably distant I had left but yesterday. + +What were they doing? Did they miss me? I was to have +called for my pay this afternoon, and tomorrow was to +have run down South to see that freckled lady of mine. +What would she think of my absence? What would she +think if she knew where I was? Gods, it was too mad, too +absurd! I thrust my hands into my pockets in fierce des- +peration, and there they clutched an old dance programme +and an out-of-date check for a New York ferry-boat. I +scowled about on that sunny, helpless people, and laying +my hand bitterly upon my heart felt in the breast-pocket +beneath a packet of unpaid Boston tailors' bills and a note +from my landlady asking if I would let her aunt do my +washing while I was on shore. Oh! what would they all +think of me? Would they brand me as a deserter, a poltroon, +and a thief, letting my name presently sink down in shame +and mystery in the shadowy realm of the forgotten? Dread- +ful thoughts! I would think no more. + +Maybe An had marked my melancholy, for presently she +led me to a stall where in fantastic vases wines of sorts I +have described before were put out for all who came to try +them. There was medicine here for every kind of dulness--not +the gross cure which earthly wine effects, but so nicely +proportioned to each specific need that one could regulate +one's debauch to a hairbreadth, rising through all the +gamut of satisfaction, from the staid contentment coming of +that flask there to the wild extravagances of the further- +most vase. So my stripling told me, running her finger down +the line of beakers carved with strange figures and cased +in silver, each in its cluster of little attendant drinking- +cups, like-coloured, and waiting round on the white napkins +as the shore boats wait to unload a cargo round the +sides of a merchant vessel. + +"And what," I said, after curiously examining each liquor +in turn, "what is that which stands alone there in the +humble earthen jar, as though unworthy of the company of +the others." + +"Oh, that," said my friend, "is the most essential of them +all--that is the wine of recovery, without which all the +others were deadly poisons." + +"The which, lady, looks as if it had a moral attaching +to it." + +"It may have; indeed I think it has, but I have forgotten. +Prince Hath would know! Meanwhile let me give you to +drink, great stranger, let me get you something." + +"Well, then," I laughed, "reach me down an antidote +to fate, a specific for an absent mistress, and forgetful +friends." + +"What was she like?" said An, hesitating a little and +frowning. + +"Nay, good friend," was my answer, "what can that +matter to you?" + +"Oh, nothing, of course," answered that Martian, and while +she took from the table a cup and filled it with fluid I felt +in the pouch of my sword-belt to see if by chance a bit of +money was Iying there, but there was none, only the pips +of an orange poor Polly had sucked and laughingly thrown +at me. + +However, it did not matter. The girl handed me the cup, +and I put my lips to it. The first taste was bitter and +acrid, like the liquor of long-steeped wood. At the second +taste a shiver of pleasure ran through me, and I opened my +eyes and stared hard. The third taste grossness and heavi- +ness and chagrin dropped from my heart; all the com- +plexion of Providence altered in a flash, and a stupid +irresistible joy, unreasoning, uncontrollable took possession +of my fibre. I sank upon a mossy bank and, lolling my +head, beamed idiotically on the lolling Martians all about +me. How long I was like that I cannot say. The heavy +minutes of sodden contentment slipped by unnoticed, un- +umbered, till presently I felt the touch of a wine-cup +at my lips again, and drinking of another liquor dulness +vanished from my mind, my eyes cleared, my heart throbbed; +a fantastic gaiety seized upon my limbs; I bounded to +my feet, and seizing An's two hands in mine, swung that +damsel round in a giddy dance, capering as never dancer +danced before, till spent and weary I sank down again +from sheer lack of breath, and only knew thereafter that +An was sitting by me saying, "Drink! drink stranger, drink +and forget!" and as a third time a cup was pressed to my +lips, aches and pleasures, stupidness and joy, life itself, +seemed +slipping away into a splendid golden vacuity, a hazy epi- +sode of unconscious Elysium, indefinite, and unfathomable. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +When I woke, feeling as refreshed as though I had been +dreaming through a long night, An, seeing me open-eyed, +helped me to my feet, and when I had recovered my senses +a little, asked if we should go on. I was myself again by +this time, so willingly took her hand, and soon came out of +the tangle into the open spaces. I must have been under +the spell of the Martian wines longer than it seemed, for +already it was late in the afternoon, the shadows of trees +were lying deep and far-reaching over the motley crowds +of people. Out here as the day waned they had developed +some sort of method in their sports. In front of us was a +broad, grassy course marked off with garlanded finger-posts, +and in this space rallies of workfolk were taking part in all +manner of games under the eyes of a great concourse of +spectators, doing the Martians' pleasures for them as they +did their labours. An led me gently on, leaning on my arm +heavier, I thought, than she had done in the morning, and +ever and anon turning her gazelle-like eyes upon me with +a look I could not understand. As we sauntered forward +I noticed all about lesser circles where the yellow-girted +ones were drawing delighted laughter from good-tempered +crowds by tricks of sleight-of-hand, and posturing, or toss- +ing gilded cups and balls as though they were catering, +as indeed they were, for outgrown children. Others fluted or +sang songs in chorus to the slow clapping of hands, while +others were doing I knew not what, sitting silent amongst si- +lent spectators who every now and then burst out laughing +for no cause that I could see. But An would not let me +stop, and so we pushed on through the crowd till we +came to the main enclosures where a dozen slaves had run +a race for the amusement of those too lazy to race them- +selves, and were sitting panting on the grass. + +To give them time to get their breath, perhaps, a man +stepped out of the crowd dressed in a dark blue tunic, a +strange vacuous-looking fellow, and throwing down a sheaf +of javelins marched off a dozen paces, then, facing round, +called out loudly he would give sixteen suits of "summer +cloth" to any one who could prick him with a javelin +from the heap. + +"Why," I said in amazement, "this is the best of fools-- +no one could miss from such a distance." + +"Ay but," replied my guide, "he is a gifted one, versed +in mystics." + +I was just going to say a good javelin, shod with iron, +was a stronger argument than any mystic I had ever heard +of could stand, when out of the crowd stepped a youth, and +amid the derisive cheers of his friends chose a reed from +the bundle. He poised it in his hand a minute to get the +middle, then turned on the living target. Whatever else they +might be, these Martians were certainly beautiful as the day- +time. Never had I seen such a perfect embodiment of grace +and elegance as that boy as he stood there for a moment +poised to the throw; the afternoon sunshine warm and +strong on his bunched brown hair, a girlish flush of shyness +on his handsome face, and the sleek perfection of his limbs, +clear cut against the dusky background beyond. And now +the javelin was going. Surely the mystic would think better +of it at the last moment! No! the initiate held his ground +with tight-shut lips and retrospective eyes, and even as I +looked the weapon flew upon its errand. + +"There goes the soul of a fool!" I exclaimed, and as the +words were uttered the spear struck, or seemed to, between +the neck and shoulder, but instead of piercing rose high into +the air, quivering and flashing, and presently turning over, +fell back, and plunged deep into the turf, while a low +murmur of indifferent pleasure went round amongst the +onlookers. + +Thereat An, yawning gently, looked to me and said, "A +strong-willed fellow, isn't he, friend?" + +I hesitated a minute and then asked, "Was it WILL which +turned that shaft?" + +She answered with simplicity, "Why, of course--what +else?" + +By this time another boy had stepped out, and having +chosen a javelin, tested it with hand and foot, then re- +tiring a pace or two rushed up to the throwing mark and +flung it straight and true into the bared bosom of the man. +And as though it had struck a wall of brass, the shaft leapt +back falling quivering at the thrower's feet. Another and +another tried unsuccessfully, until at last, vexed at their +futility, I said, "I have a somewhat scanty wardrobe that +would be all the better for that fellow's summer suiting, by +your leave I will venture a throw against him." + +"It is useless," answered An; "none but one who knows +more magic than he, or is especially befriended by the Fates +can touch him through the envelope he has put on." + +"Still, I think I will try." + +"It is hopeless, I would not willingly see you fail," +whispered the girl, with a sudden show of friendship. + +"And what," I said, bending down, "would you give me +if I succeeded?" Whereat An laughed a little uneasily, and, +withdrawing her hand from mine, half turned away. So I +pushed through the spectators and stepped into the ring. +I went straight up to the pile of weapons, and having chosen +one went over to the mystic. "Good fellow," I cried out os- +tentatiously, trying the sharpness of the javelin-point with +my finger, "where are all of those sixteen summer suits of +yours lying hid?" + +"It matters nothing," said the man, as if he were asleep. + +"Ay, but by the stars it does, for it will vex the quiet +repose +of your soul tomorrow if your heirs should swear they +could not find them." + +"It matters nothing," muttered the will-wrapped visionary. + +"It will matter something if I take you at your word. Come, +friend Purple-jerkin, will you take the council with your +legs and run while there is yet time, or stand up to be +thrown at?" + +"I stand here immoveable in the confidence of my initia- +tion." + +"Then, by thunder, I will initiate you into the mysteries +of a javelin-end, and your blood be on your head." + +The Martians were all craning their necks in hushed +eagerness as I turned to the casting-place, and, poising +the javelin, faced the magician. Would he run at the last +moment? I half hoped so; for a minute I gave him the +chance, then, as he showed no sign of wavering, I drew +my hand back, shook the javelin back till it bent like a reed, +and hurled it at him. + +The Martians' heads turned as though all on one pivot +as the spear sped through the air, expecting no doubt to +see it recoil as others had done. But it took him full in the +centre of his chest, and with a wild wave of arms and a +flutter of purple raiment sent him backwards, and down, +and over and over in a shapeless heap of limbs and flying +raiment, while a low murmur of awed surprise rose from +the spectators. They crowded round him in a dense ring, +as An came flitting to me with a startled face. + +"Oh, stranger," she burst out, "you have surely killed +him!" but more astounded I had broken down his guard +than grieved at his injury. + +"No," I answered smilingly; "a sore chest he may have +tomorrow, but dead he is not, for I turned the lance-point +back as I spun it, and it was the butt-end I threw at him!" + +"It was none the less wonderful; I thought you were a +common man, a prince mayhap, come but from over the +hills, but now something tells me you are more than +that," and she lapsed into thoughtful silence for a time. + +Neither of us were wishful to go back amongst those +who were raising the bruised magician to his legs, but wandered +away instead through the deepening twilight towards the +city over meadows whose damp, soft fragrance loaded the +air with sleepy pleasure, neither of us saying a word till +the dusk deepened and the quick night descended, while +we came amongst the gardened houses, the thousand +lights of an unreal city rising like a jewelled bank before +us, and there An said she would leave me for a time, meet- +ing me again in the palace square later on, "To see Princess +Heru read the destinies of the year." + +"What!" I exclaimed, "more magic? I have been brought +up on more substantial mental stuff than this." + +"Nevertheless, I would advise you to come to the square," +persisted my companion. "It affects us all, and--who knows? +--may affect you more than any." + +Therein poor An was unconsciously wearing the cloak +of prophesy herself, and, shrugging my shoulders good- +humouredly, I kissed her chin, little realising, as I let her +fingers slip from mine, that I should see her no more. + +Turning back alone, through the city, through ways +twinkling with myriad lights as little lamps began to blink +out amongst garlands and flower-decked booths on every +hand, I walked on, lost in varying thoughts, until, fairly +tired and hungry, I found myself outside a stall where +many Martians stood eating and drinking to their hearts' +content. I was known to none of them, and, forgetting +past experience, was looking on rather enviously, when there +came a touch upon my arm, and-- + +"Are you hungry, sir?" asked a bystander. + +"Ay," I said, "hungry, good friend, and with all the zest +which an empty purse lends to that condition." + +"Then here is what you need, sir, even from here the +wine smells good, and the fried fruit would make a mouse's +eye twinkle. Why do you wait?" + +"Why wait? Why, because though the rich man's dinner +goes in at his mouth, the poor man must often be content +to dine through his nose. I tell you I have nothing to +get me a meal with." + +The stranger seemed to speculate on this for a time, +and then he said, "I cannot fathom your meaning, sir. +Buying and selling, gold and money, all these have no mean- +ing to me. Surely the twin blessings of an appetite and +food abundant ready and free before you are enough." + +"What! free is it--free like the breakfast served out +this morning?" + +"Why, of course," said the youth, with mild depreci- +ation; "everything here is free. Everything is his who will +take it, without exception. What else is the good of a co- +herent society and a Government if it cannot provide you +with so rudimentary a thing as a meal?" + +Whereat joyfully I undid my belt, and, without nicely +examining the argument, marched into the booth, and there +put Martian hospitality to the test, eating and drinking, but +this time with growing wisdom, till I was a new man, and +then, paying my leaving with a wave of the hand to the +yellow-girted one who dispensed the common provender, +I sauntered on again, caring little or nothing which way +the road went, and soon across the current of my medita- +tions a peal of laughter broke, accompanied by the piping +of a flute somewhere close at hand, and the next minute +I found myself amid a ring of light-hearted roisterers who +were linking hands for a dance to the music a curly- +headed fellow was making close by. + +They made me join them! One rosey-faced damsel at +the hither end of the chain drew up to me, and, without +a word, slipped her soft, baby fingers into my hand; on +the other side another came with melting eyes, breath like +a bed of violets, and banked-up fun puckering her dainty +mouth. What could I do but give her a hand as well? The +flute began to gurgle anew, like a drinking spout in spring- +time, and away we went, faster and faster each minute, +the boys and girls swinging themselves in time to the tune, +and capering presently till their tender feet were twinkling +over the ground in gay confusion. Faster and faster till, as +the infection of the dance spread even to the outside groups, +I capered too. My word! if they could have seen me +that night from the deck of the old Carolina, how they +would have laughed--sword swinging, coat-tails flying-- +faster and faster, round and round we went, till limbs +could stand no more; the gasping piper blew himself quite +out, and the dance ended as abruptly as it commenced, the +dancers melting away to join others or casting themselves +panting on the turf. + +Certainly these Martian girls were blessed with an in- +gratiating simplicity. My new friend of the violet-scented +breath hung back a little, then after looking at me de- +murely for a minute or two, like a child that chooses a +new playmate, came softly up, and, standing on tiptoe, kissed +me on the cheek. It was not unpleasant, so I turned the +other, whereon, guessing my meaning, without the smallest +hesitation, she reached up again, and pressed her pretty +mouth to my bronzed skin a second time. Then, with a +little sigh of satisfaction, she ran an arm through mine, +saying, "Comrade, from what country have you come? +I never saw one quite like you before." + +"From what country had I come?" Again the frown +dropped down upon my forehead. Was I dreaming--was +I mad? Where indeed had I come from? I stared back +over my shoulder, and there, as if in answer to my thought-- +there, where the black tracery of flowering shrubs waved +in the soft night wind, over a gap in the crumbling ivory +ramparts, the sky was brightening. As I looked into the +centre of that glow, a planet, magnified by the wonderful +air, came swinging up, pale but splendid, and mapped by +soft colours--green, violet, and red. I knew it on the min- +ute, Heaven only knows how, but I knew it, and a des- +perate thrill of loneliness swept over me, a spasm of com- +prehension of the horrible void dividing us. Never did yearn- +ing babe stretch arms more wistfully to an unattainable +mother than I at that moment to my mother earth. All +her meanness and prosaicness was forgotten, all her im- +perfections and shortcomings; it was home, the one tangible +thing in the glittering emptiness of the spheres. All my +soul went into my eyes, and then I sneezed violently, and +turning round, found that sweet damsel whose silky head +nestled so friendly on my shoulder was tickling my nose +with a feather she had picked up. + +Womanlike, she had forgotten all about her first question, +and now asked another, "Will you come to supper with me, +stranger? 'Tis nearly ready, I think." + +"To be able to say no to such an invitation, lady, is +the first thing a young man should learn," I answered lightly; +but then, seeing there was nothing save the most innocent +friendliness in those hazel eyes, I went on, "but that stern +rule may admit of variance. Only, as it chances, I have +just supped at the public expense. If, instead, you would +be a sailor's sweetheart for an hour, and take me to this +show of yours--your princess's benefit, or whatever it is-- +I shall be obliged; my previous guide is hull down over +the horizon, and I am clean out of my reckoning in this +crowd." + +By way of reply, the little lady, light as an elf, took me +by the fingertips, and, gleefully skipping forward, piloted +me through the mazes of her city until we came out into +the great square fronting on the palace, which rose beyond +it like a white chalk cliff in the dull light. Not a taper +showed anywhere round its circumference, but a mysterious +kind of radiance like sea phosphorescence beamed from +the palace porch. All was in such deathlike silence that +the nails in my "ammunition" boots made an unpleasant +clanking as they struck on the marble pavement; yet, by +the uncertain starlight, I saw, to my surprise, the whole +square was thronged with Martians, all facing towards +the porch, as still, graven images, and as voiceless, for +once, as though they had indeed been marble. It was strange +to see them sitting there in the twilight, waiting for I +knew not what, and my friend's voice at my elbow almost +startled me as she said, in a whisper, "The princess knows +you are in the crowd, and desires you to go up upon +the steps near where she will be." + +"Who brought her message?" I asked, gazing vaguely +round, for none had spoken to us for an hour or more. + +"No one," said my companion, gently pushing me up +an open way towards the palace steps left clear by the +sitting Martians. "It came direct from her to me this minute." + +"But how?" I persisted. + +"Nay," said the girl, "if we stop to talk like this we shall +not be placed before she comes, and thus throw a whole +year's knowledge out." + +So, bottling my speculations, I allowed myself to be +led up the first flight of worn, white steps to where, on +the terrace between them and the next flight leading +directly to the palace portico, was a flat, having a circle +about twenty feet across, inlaid upon the marble with darker +coloured blocks. Inside that circle, as I sat down close by +it in the twilight, showed another circle, and then a final +one in whose inmost middle stood a tall iron tripod and +something atop of it covered by a cloth. And all round the +outer circle were magic symbols--I started as I recognised +the meaning of some of them--within these again the inner +circle held what looked like the representations of planets, +ending, as I have said, in that dished hollow made by +countless dancers' feet, and its solitary tripod. Back again, +I glanced towards the square where the great concourse-- +ten thousand of them, perhaps--were sitting mute and +silent in the deepening shadows, then back to the magic +circles, till the silence and expectancy of a strange scene +began to possess me. + +Shadow down below, star-dusted heaven above, and not +a figure moving; when suddenly something like a long- +drawn sigh came from the lips of the expectant multitude, +and I was aware every eye had suddenly turned back +to the palace porch, where, as we looked, a figure, wrapped +in pale blue robes, appeared and stood for a minute, then +stole down the steps with an eagerness in every movement +holding us spellbound. I have seen many splendid pageants +and many sights, each of which might be the talk of a life- +time, but somehow nothing ever so engrossing, so thrilling, +as that ghostly figure in flowing robes stealing across the +piazza in starlight and silence--the princess of a broken +kingdom, the priestess of a forgotten faith coming to her +station to perform a jugglery of which she knew not even +the meaning. It was my versatile friend Heru, and with +quick, incisive steps, her whole frame ambent for the time +with the fervour of her mission, she came swiftly down +to within a dozen yards of where I stood. Heru, indeed, +but not the same princess as in the morning; an inspired +priestess rather, her slim body wrapped in blue and quiver- +ing with emotion, her face ashine with Delphic fire, her hair +loose, her feet bare, until at last when, as she stood within +the limit of the magic circle, her white hands upon her +breast, her eyes flashing like planets themselves in the star- +shine she looked so ghostly and unreal I felt for a minute +I was dreaming. + +Then began a strange, weird dance amongst the im- +agery of the rings, over which my earth planet was begin- +ning to throw a haze of light. At first it was hardly more +than a walk, a slow procession round the twin circumfer- +ences of the centred tripod. But soon it increased to an +extraordinary graceful measure, a cadenced step without +music or sound that riveted my eyes to the dancer. Pres- +ently I saw those mystic, twinkling feet of hers--as the +dance became swifter--were performing a measured round +amongst the planet signs--spelling out something, I knew +not what, with quick, light touch amongst the zodiac figures, +dancing out a soundless invocation of some kind as a dumb +man might spell a message by touching letters. Quicker +and quicker, for minute after minute, grew the dance, +swifter and swifter the swing of the light blue drapery as +the priestess, with eager face and staring eyes, swung pant- +ing round upon her orbit, and redder and redder over the city +tops rose the circumference of the earth. It seemed +to me all the silent multitude were breathing heavily as +we watched that giddy dance, and whatever THEY felt, +all my own senses seemed to be winding up upon that re- +volving figure as thread winds on a spindle. + +"When will she stop?" I whispered to my friend under +my breath. + +"When the earth-star rests in the roof-niche of the temple +it is climbing," she answered back. + +"And then?" + +"On the tripod is a globe of water. In it she will see the +destiny of the year, and will tell us. The whiter the water +stays, the better for us; it never varies from white. But we +must not talk; see! she is stopping." + +And as I looked back, the dance was certainly ebbing +now with such smoothly decreasing undulations, that every +heart began to beat calmer in response. There was a minute +or two of such slow cessation, and then to say she stopped +were too gross a description. Motion rather died away +from her, and the priestess grounded as smoothly as a ship +grounds in fine weather on a sandy bank. There she was +at last, crouched behind the tripod, one corner of the +cloth covering it grasped in her hand, and her eyes fixed on +the shining round just poised upon the distant run. + +Keenly the girl watched it slide into zenith, then the +cloth was snatched from the tripod-top. As it fell it un- +covered a beautiful and perfect globe of clear white glass, +a foot or so in diameter, and obviously filled with the thin- +nest, most limpid water imaginable. At first it seemed to me, +who stood near to the priestess of Mars, with that beaming +sphere directly between us, and the newly risen world, that +its smooth and flawless face was absolutely devoid of sign +or colouring. Then, as the distant planet became stronger in +the magnifying Martian air, or my eyes better accustomed +to that sudden nucleus of brilliancy, a delicate and in- +finitely lovely network of colours came upon it. They were +like the radiant prisms that sometimes flush the surface of +a bubble more than aught else for a time. But as I watched +that mosaic of yellow and purple creep softly to and fro +upon the globe it seemed they slowly took form and +meaning. Another minute or two and they had certainly con- +gealed into a settled plan, and then, as I stared and +wondered, it burst upon me in a minute that I was looking +upon a picture, faithful in every detail, of the world I stood +on; all its ruddy forests, its sapphire sea, both broad and +narrow ones, its white peaked mountains, and unnumbered +islands being mapped out with startling clearness for a +spell upon that beaming orb. + +Then a strange thing happened. Heru, who had been +crouching in a tremulous heap by the tripod, rose stealthily +and passed her hands a few times across the sphere. Colour +and picture vanished at her touch like breath from a mirror. +Again all was clear and pellucid. + +"Now," said my companion, "now listen! For Heru reads +the destiny; the whiter the globe stays the better for us--" +and then I felt her hand tighten on mine with a startled grasp +as the words died away upon her lips. + +Even as the girl spoke, the sphere, which had been beam- +ing in the centre of the silent square like a mighty white +jewel, began to flush with angry red. Redder and redder +grew the gleam--a fiery glow which seemed curdling in +the interior of the round as though it were filled with flame; +redder and redder, until the princess, staring into it, seemed +turned against the jet-black night behind, into a form of +molten metal. A spasm of terror passed across her as she +stared; her limbs stiffened; her frightened hands were clutched +in front, and she stood cowering under that great crimson +nucleus like one bereft of power and life, and lost to every +sense but that of agony. Not a syllable came from her lips, +not a movement stirred her body, only that dumb, stupid +stare of horror, at the something she saw in the globe. +What could I do? I could not sit and see her soul come +out at her frightened eyes, and not a Martian moved a finger +to her rescue; the red shine gleamed on empty faces, tier +above tier, and flung its broad flush over the endless +rank of open-mouthed spectators, then back I looked to +Heru--that winsome little lady for whom, you will re- +member, I had already more than a passing fancy--and +saw with a thrill of emotion that while she still kept her +eyes on the flaming globe like one in a horrible dream her +hands were slowly, very slowly, rising in supplication to +ME! It was not vanity. There was no mistaking the direction +of that silent, imploring appeal. + +Not a man of her countrymen moved, not even black +Hath! There was not a sound in the world, it seemed, +but the noisy clatter of my own shoenails on the marble +flags. In the great red eye of that unholy globe the Martians +glimmered like a picture multitude under the red cliff of +their ruined palace. I glared round at them with contempt +for a minute, then sprang forward and snatched the prin- +cess up. It was like pulling a flower up by the roots. She +was stiff and stark when I lay hold of her, but when I tore +her from the magic ground she suddenly gave a piercing +shriek, and fainted in my arms. + +Then as I turned upon my heels with her upon my breast +my foot caught upon the cloths still wound about the tripod +of the sphere. Over went that implement of a thousand +years of sorcery, and out went the red fire. But little I +cared--the princess was safe! And up the palace steps, +amidst a low, wailing hum of consternation from the re- +covering Martians, I bore that bundle of limp and senseless +loveliness up into the pale shine of her own porch, and +there, laying her down upon a couch, watched her recover +presently amongst her women with a varied assortment of +emotions tingling in my veins. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Beyond the first flutter of surprise, the Martians had +shown no interest in the abrupt termination of the year's +divinations. They melted away, a trifle more silently per- +haps than usual, when I shattered the magic globe, but +with their invariable indifference, and having handed the +reviving Heru over to some women who led her away, +apparently already half forgetful of the things that had +just happened, I was left alone on the palace steps, not +even An beside me, and only the shadow of a passerby +now and then to break the solitude. Whereon a great lone- +liness took hold upon me, and, pacing to and fro along +the ancient terrace with bent head and folded arms, I +bewailed my fate. To and fro I walked, heedless and +melancholy, thinking of the old world, that was so far and +this near world so distant from me in everything making +life worth living, thinking, as I strode gloomily here and +there, how gladly I would exchange these poor puppets and +the mockery of a town they dwelt in, for a sight of my com- +rades and a corner in the poorest wine-shop salon in New +York or 'Frisco; idly speculating why, and how, I came +here, as I sauntered down amongst the glistening, shell-like +fragments of the shattered globe, and finding no answer. +How could I? It was too fair, I thought, standing there in +the open; there was a fatal sweetness in the air, a deadly +sufficiency in the beauty of everything around falling on +the lax senses like some sleepy draught of pleasure. Not a +leaf stirred, the wide purple roof of the sky was unbroken +by the healthy promise of a cloud from rim to rim, the +splendid country, teeming with its spring-time richness, lay +in rank perfection everywhere; and just as rank and sleek +and passionless were those who owned it. + +Why, even I, who yesterday was strong, began to come +under the spell of it. But yesterday the spirit of the old +world was still strong within me, yet how much things +were now changing. The well-strung muscles loosening, +the heart beating a slower measure, the busy mind drowsing +off to listlessness. Was I, too, destined to become like these? +Was the red stuff in my veins to be watered down to +pallid Martian sap? Was ambition and hope to desert me, +and idleness itself become laborious, while life ran to seed +in gilded uselessness? Little did I guess how unnecessary my +fears were, or of the incredible fairy tale of adventure into +which fate was going to plunge me. + +Still engrossed the next morning by these thoughts, I +decided I would go to Hath. Hath was a man--at least they +said so--he might sympathise even though he could not +help, and so, dressing finished, I went down towards the +innermost palace whence for an hour or two had come +sounds of unwonted bustle. Asking for the way occasion- +ally from sleepy folk lolling about the corridors, waiting +as it seemed for their breakfasts to come to them, and +embarrassed by the new daylight, I wandered to and fro +in the labyrinths of that stony ant-heap until I chanced +upon a curtained doorway which admitted to a long cham- +ber, high-roofed, ample in proportions, with colonnades on +either side separated from the main aisle by rows of +flowery figures and emblematic scroll-work, meaning I knew +not what. Above those pillars ran a gallery with many +windows looking out over the ruined city. While at the +further end of the chamber stood three broad steps leading +to a dais. As I entered, the whole place was full of bustling +girls, their yellow garments like a bed of flowers in the +sunlight trickling through the casements, and all intent on +the spreading of a feast on long tables ranged up and +down the hall. The morning light streamed in on the white +cloths. It glittered on the glass and the gold they were +putting on the trestles, and gave resplendent depths of +colour to the ribbon bands round the pillars. All were so +busy no one noticed me standing in the twilight by the +door, but presently, laying a hand on a worker's shoulder, +I asked who they banqueted for, and why such unwonted +preparation? + +"It is the marriage-feast tonight, stranger, and a marvel +you did not know it. You, too, are to be wed." + +"I had not heard of it, damsel; a paternal forethought +of your Government, I suppose? Have you any idea who +the lady is?" + +"How should I know?" she answered laughingly. "That +is the secret of the urn. Meanwhile, we have set you a +place at the table-head near Princess Heru, and tonight +you dip and have your chance like all of them; may luck +send you a rosy bride, and save her from Ar-hap." + +"Ay, now I remember; An told me of this before; Ar-hap +is the sovereign with whom your people have a little +difference, and shares unbidden in the free distribution of +brides to-night. This promises to be interesting; depend on it +I will come; if you will keep me a place where I can hear +the speeches, and not forget me when the turtle soup goes +round, I shall be more than grateful. Now to another matter. +I want to get a few minutes with your President, Prince +Hath. He concentrates the fluid intelligence of this sphere, +I am told. Where can I find him?" + +"He is drunk, in the library, sir!" + +"My word! It is early in the day for that, and a singular +conjunction of place and circumstance." + +"Where," said the girl, "could he safer be? We can +always fetch him if we want him, and sunk in blue ob- +livion he will not come to harm." + +"A cheerful view, Miss, which is worthy of the attention +of our reformers. Nevertheless, I will go to him. I have +known men tell more truth in that state than in any other." + +The servitor directed me to the library, and after deso- +late wanderings up crumbling steps and down mouldering +corridors, sunny and lovely in decay, I came to the im- +mense lumber-shed of knowledge they had told me of, a city +of dead books, a place of dusty cathedral aisles stored with +forgotten learning. At a table sat Hath the purposeless, +enthroned in leather and vellum, snoring in divine content +amongst all that wasted labour, and nothing I could do +was sufficient to shake him into semblance of intelligence. So +perforce I turned away till he should have come to him- +self, and wandering round the splendid litter of a noble +library, presently amongst the ruck of volumes on the +floor, amongst those lordly tomes in tattered green and +gold, and ivory, my eye lit upon a volume propped up +curiously on end, and going to it through the confusion I +saw by the dried fruit rind upon the sticks supporting it, +that the grave and reverend tome was set to catch a mouse! +It was a splendid book when I looked more closely, bound +as a king might bind his choicest treasure, the sweet- +scented leather on it was no doubt frayed; the golden +arabesques upon the covers had long since shed their eyes +of inset gems, the jewelled clasp locking its learning up from +vulgar gaze was bent and open. Yet it was a lordly tome +with an odour of sanctity about it, and lifting it with diffi- +culty, I noticed on its cover a red stain of mouse's blood. +Those who put it to this quaint use of mouse-trap had +already had some sport, but surely never was a mouse +crushed before under so much learning. And while I stood +guessing at what the book might hold within, Heru, the +princess, came tripping in to me, and with the abrupt famili- +arity of her kind, laid a velvet hand upon my wrist, conned +the title over to herself. + +"What does it say, sweet girl?" I asked. "The matter is +learned, by its feel," and that maid, pursing up her pretty +lips, read the title to me--"The Secret of the Gods." + +"The Secret of the Gods," I murmured. "Was it pos- +sible other worlds had struggled hopelessly to come within +the barest ken of that great knowledge, while here the same +was set to catch a mouse with?" + +I said, "Silver-footed, sit down and read me a passage +or two," and propping the mighty volume upon a table +drew a bench before it and pulled her down beside me. + +"Oh! a horrid, dry old book for certain," cried that lady, +her pink fingertips falling as lightly on the musty leaves +as almond petals on March dust. "Where shall I begin? It +is all equally dull." + +"Dip in," was my answer. " 'Tis no great matter where, +but near the beginning. What says the writer of his intention? +What sets he out to prove?" + +"He says that is the Secret of the First Great Truth, +descended straight to him--" + +"Many have said so much, yet have lied." + +"He says that which is written in his book is through +him but not of him, past criticism and beyond cavil. 'Tis all +in ancient and crabbed characters going back to the threshold +of my learning, but here upon this passage-top where they +are writ large I make them out to say, 'ONLY THE MAN +WHO HAS DIED MANY TIMES BEGINS TO LIVE.'" + +"A pregnant passage! Turn another page, and try again; +I have an inkling of the book already." + +"'Tis poor, silly stuff," said the girl, slipping a hand +covertly into my own. "Why will you make me read it? +I have a book on pomatums worth twice as much as this." + +"Nevertheless, dip in again, dear lady. What says the +next heading?" And with a little sigh at the heaviness of her +task, Heru read out: "SOMETIMES THE GODS THEM- +SELVES FORGET THE ANSWERS TO THEIR OWN +RIDDLES." + +"Lady, I knew it! + +"All this is still preliminary to the great matter of the +book, +but the mutterings of the priest who draws back the cur- +tains of the shrine--and here, after the scribe has left +these two yellow pages blank as though to set a space of +reverence between himself and what comes next--here +speaks the truth, the voice, the fact of all life." But "Oh! +Jones," she said, turning from the dusty pages and clasping +her young, milk-warm hands over mine and leaning towards +me until her blushing cheek was near to my shoulder and +the incense of her breath upon me. "Oh! Gulliver Jones," +she said. "Make me read no more; my soul revolts from +the task, the crazy brown letters swim before my eyes. Is +there no learning near at hand that would be pleasanter +reading than this silly book of yours? What, after all," she +said, growing bolder at the sound of her own voice, "what, +after all, is the musty reticence of gods to the whispered +secret of a maid? Jones, splendid stranger for whom all +men stand aside and women look over shoulders, oh, let +me be your book!" she whispered, slipping on to my knee +and winding her arms round my neck till, through the white +glimmer of her single vest, I could feel her heart beating +against mine. "Newest and dearest of friends, put by this +dreary learning and look in my eyes; is there nothing to be +spelt out there?" + +And I was constrained to do as she bid me, for she was +as fresh as an almond blossom touched by the sun, and +looking down into two swimming blue lakes where shyness +and passion were contending--books easy enough, in truth, +to be read, I saw that she loved me, with the unconventional +ardour of her nature. + +It was a pleasant discovery, if its abruptness was em- +barrassing, for she was a maid in a thousand; and half +ashamed and half laughing I let her escalade me, throwing +now and then a rueful look at the Secret of the Gods, +and all that priceless knowledge treated so unworthily. + +What else could I do? Besides, I loved her myself! And +if there was a momentary chagrin at having yonder golden +knowledge put off by this lovely interruption, yet I was +flesh and blood, the gods could wait--they had to wait +long and often before, and when this sweet interpreter was +comforted we would have another try. So it happened I took +her into my heart and gave her the answer she asked for. + +For a long time we sat in the dusky grandeur of the +royal library, my mind revolving between wonder and ad- +miration of the neglected knowledge all about, and the stir- +rings of a new love, while Heru herself, lapsed again into +Martian calm, lay half sleeping on my shoulder, but pre- +sently, unwinding her arms, I put her down. + +"There, sweetheart," I whispered, "enough of this for the +moment; tonight, perhaps, some more, but while we are here +amongst all this lordly litter, I can think of nothing else." +Again I bid her turn the pages, noting as she did so how +each chapter was headed by the coloured configuration of +a world. Page by page we turned of crackling parchment, +until by chance, at the top of one, my eye caught a coloured +round I could not fail to recognise--'twas the spinning but- +ton on the blue breast of the immeasurable that yesterday +I inhabited. "Read here," I cried, clapping my finger +upon the page midway down, where there were some signs +looking like Egyptian writing. "Says this quaint dabbler in +all knowledge anything of Isis, anything of Phra, of Am- +mon, of Ammon Top?" + +"And who was Isis? who Ammon Top?" asked the lady. + +"Nay, read," I answered, and down the page her slender +fingers went awandering till at a spot of knotted signs +they stopped. "Why, here is something about thy Isis," ex- +claimed Heru, as though amused at my perspicuity. "Here, +halfway down this chapter of earth-history, it says," and +putting one pink knee across the other to better prop +the book she read: + +"And the priests of Thebes were gone; the sand stood un- +trampled on the temple steps a thousand years; the wild bees +sang the song of desolation in the ears of Isis; the wild +cats littered in the stony lap of Ammon; ay, another thou- +sand years went by, and earth was tilled of unseen hands +and sown with yellow grain from Paradise, and the thin +veil that separates the known from the unknown was rent, +and men walked to and fro." + +"Go on," I said. + +"Nay," laughed the other, "the little mice in their eager- +ness have been before you--see, all this corner is gnawed +away." + +"Read on again," I said, "where the page is whole; those +sips of knowledge you have given make me thirsty for more. +There, begin where this blazonry of initialed red and gold +looks so like the carpet spread by the scribe for the feet of +a sovereign truth--what says he here?" And she, half +pouting to be set back once more to that task, half won- +dering as she gazed on those magic letters, let her eyes +run down the page, then began: + +"And it was the Beginning, and in the centre void pres- +ently there came a nucleus of light: and the light brightened +in the grey primeval morning and became definite and +articulate. And from the midst of that natal splendour, behind +which was the Unknowable, the life came hitherward; from +the midst of that nucleus undescribed, undescribable, there +issued presently the primeval sigh that breathed the breath +of life into all things. And that sigh thrilled through the +empty spaces of the illimitable: it breathed the breath of +promise over the frozen hills of the outside planets where +the night-frost had lasted without beginning: and the waters +of ten thousand nameless oceans, girding nameless planets, +were stirred, trembling into their depth. It crossed the il- +limitable spaces where the herding aerolites swirl forever +through space in the wake of careering world, and all their +whistling wings answered to it. It reverberated through the +grey wastes of vacuity, and crossed the dark oceans of the +Outside, even to the black shores of the eternal night beyond. + +"And hardly had echo of that breath died away in the +hollow of the heavens and the empty wombs of a million +barren worlds, when the light brightened again, and draw- +ing in upon itself became definite and took form, and +therefrom, at the moment of primitive conception, there +came--" + +And just then, as she had read so far as that, when all +my faculties were aching to know what came next-- +whether this were but the idle scribbling of a vacuous fool, +or something else--there rose the sound of soft flutes and +tinkling bells in the corridors, as seneschals wandered pip- +ing round the palace to call folk to meals, a smell of roast +meat and grilling fish as that procession lifted the curtains +between the halls, and-- + +"Dinner!" shouted my sweet Martian, slapping the cov- +ers of The Secret of the Gods together and pushing the +stately tome headlong from the table. "Dinner! 'Tis worth +a hundred thousand planets to the hungry!" + +Nothing I could say would keep her, and, scarcely know- +ing whether to laugh or to be angry at so unseemly an +interruption, but both being purposeless I dug my hands into +my pockets, and somewhat sulkily refusing Heru's invita- +tion to luncheon in the corridor (Navy rations had not +fitted my stomach for these constant debauches of gos- +samer food), strolled into the town again in no very pleasant +frame of mind. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +It was only at moments like these I had any time to reflect +on my circumstances or that giddy chance which had shot +me into space in this fashion, and, frankly, the opportunities, +when they did come, brought such an extraordinary de- +pressing train of thought, I by no means invited them. +Even with the time available the occasion was always awry +for such reflection. These dainty triflers made sulking as +impossible amongst them as philosophy in a ballroom. When +I stalked out like that from the library in fine mood to +moralise and apostrophise heaven in a way that would no +doubt have looked fine upon these pages, one sprightly dam- +sel, just as the gloomy rhetoric was bursting from my lips, +thrust a flower under my nose whose scent brought on a +violent attack of sneezing, her companions joining hands +and dancing round me while they imitated my agony. Then, +when I burst away from them and rushed down a nar- +row arcade of crumbling mansions, another stopped me in +mid-career, and taking the honey-stick she was sucking from +her lips, put it to mine, like a pretty, playful child. An- +other asked me to dance, another to drink pink oblivion +with her, and so on. How could one lament amongst all +this irritating cheerfulness? + +An might have helped me, for poor An was intelligent for +a Martian, but she had disappeared, and the terrible vacu- +ity of life in the planet was forced upon me when I realised +that possessing no cognomen, no fixed address, or rating, it +would be the merest chance if I ever came across her again. + +Looking for my friendly guide and getting more and +more at sea amongst a maze of comely but similar faces, +I made chance acquaintance with another of her kind who +cheerfully drank my health at the Government's expense, and +chatted on things Martian. She took me to see a funeral +by way of amusement, and I found these people floated their +dead off on flower-decked rafts instead of burying them, +the send-offs all taking place upon a certain swift-flowing +stream, which carried the dead away into the vast region of +northern ice, but more exactly whither my informant +seemed to have no idea. The voyager on this occasion was +old, and this brought to my mind the curious fact that I +had observed few children in the city, and no elders, all, +except perhaps Hath, being in a state of sleek youthfulness. +My new friend explained the peculiarity by declaring Mar- +tians ripened with extraordinary rapidity from infancy to +the equivalent of about twenty-five years of age, with us, +and then remained at that period however long they might +live; Only when they died did their accumulated seasons +come upon them; the girl turning pale, and wringing her pret- +ty hands in sympathetic concern when I told her there was a +land where decrepitude was not so happily postponed. The +Martians, she said, arranged their calendar by the varying +colours of the seasons, and loved blue as an antidote to the +generally red and rusty character of their soil. + +Discussing such things as these we lightly squandered +the day away, and I know of nothing more to note until +the evening was come again: that wonderful purple evening +which creeps over the outer worlds at sunset, a seductive +darkness gemmed with ten thousand stars riding so low in +the heaven they seem scarcely more than mast high. When +that hour was come my friend tiptoed again to my cheek, +and then, pointing to the palace and laughingly hoping fate +would send me a bride "as soft as catkin and as sweet as +honey," slipped away into the darkness. + +Then I remembered all on a sudden this was the con- +nubial evening of my sprightly friends--the occasion when, +as An had told me, the Government constituted itself into +a gigantic matrimonial agency, and, with the cheerful care- +lessness of the place, shuffled the matrimonial pack anew, +and dealt a fresh hand to all the players. Now I had no wish +to avail myself of a sailor's privilege of a bride in every port, +but surely this game would be interesting enough to see, +even if I were but a disinterested spectator. As a matter of +fact I was something more than that, and had been thinking +a good deal of Heru during the day. I do not know +whether I actually aspired to her hand--that were a large +order, even if there had been no suspicion in my mind she +was already bespoke in some vague way by the invisible +Hath, most abortive of princes. But she was undeniably a +lovely girl; the more one thought of her the more she grew +upon the fancy, and then the preference she had shown +myself was very gratifying. Yes, I would certainly see this +quaint ceremonial, even if I took no leading part in it. + +The great centre hall of the palace was full of a radiant +light bringing up its ruined columns and intruding creepers +to the best effect when I entered. Dinner also was just +being served, as they would say in another, and alas! very +distant place, and the whole building thronged with folk. +Down the centre low tables with room for four hundred +people were ranged, but they looked quaint enough since +but two hundred were sitting there, all brand-new bachelors +about to be turned into brand new Benedicts, and taking +it mightily calmly it seemed. Across the hall-top was a raised +table similarly arranged and ornamented; and entering into +the spirit of the thing, and little guessing how stern a reality +was to come from the evening, I sat down in a vacant place +near to the dais, and only a few paces from where the pale, +ghost-eyed Hath was already seated. + +Almost immediately afterwards music began to buzz all +about the hall--music of the kind the people loved which +always seemed to me as though it were exuding from the +tables and benches, so disembodied and difficult it was to +locate; all the sleepy gallants raised their flower-encircled +heads at the same time, seizing their wine-cups, already +filled to the brim, and the door at the bottom of the hall +opening, the ladies, preceded by one carrying a mysterious +vase covered with a glittering cloth, came in. + +Now, being somewhat thirsty, I had already drunk half +the wine in my beaker, and whether it was that draught, +drugged as all Martian wines are, or the sheer loveliness of +the maids themselves, I cannot say, but as the procession +entered, and, dividing, circled round under the colonnades +of the hall, a sensation of extraordinary felicity came over +me--an emotion of divine contentment purged of all gross- +ness--and I stared and stared at the circling loveliness, gos- +samer-clad, flower-girdled, tripping by me with vapid de- +light. Either the wine was budding in my head, or there +was little to choose from amongst them, for had any of those +ladies sat down in the vacant place beside me, I should +certainly have accepted her as a gift from heaven, without +question or cavil. But one after another they slipped by, +modestly taking their places in the shadows until at last +came Princess Heru, and at the sight of her my soul +was stirred. + +She came undulating over the white marble, the loveliness +of her fairy person dimmed but scarcely hidden by a robe +of softest lawn in colour like rose-petals, her eyes aglitter +with excitement and a charming blush upon her face. + +She came straight up to me, and, resting a dainty hand +upon my shoulder, whispered, "Are you come as a spectator +only, dear Mr. Jones, or do you join in our custom tonight?" + +"I came only as a bystander, lady, but the fascination +of the opportunity is deadly--" + +"And have you any preference?"--this in the softest little +voice from somewhere in the nape of my neck. "Strangers +sometimes say there are fair women in Seth." + +"None--till you came; and now, as was said a long time +ago, 'All is dross that is not Helen.' Dearest lady," I ran on, +detaining her by the fingertips and gazing up into those +shy and star-like eyes, "must I indeed put all the hopes +your kindness has roused in me these last few days to a +shuffle in yonder urn, taking my chance with all these lazy +fellows? In that land whereof I was, we would not have +had it so, we loaded our dice in these matters, a strong man +there might have a willing maid though all heaven were +set against him! But give me leave, sweet lady, and I will +ruffle with these fellows; give me a glance and I will barter +my life for your billet when it is drawn, but to stand idly +by and see you won by a cold chance, I cannot do it." + +That lady laughed a little and said, "Men make laws, +dear Jones, for women to keep. It is the rule, and we must +not break it." Then, gently tugging at her imprisoned fingers +and gathering up her skirts to go, she added, "But it might +happen that wit here were better than sword." Then she +hesitated, and freeing herself at last slipped from my side, +yet before she was quite gone half turned again and +whispered so low that no one but I could hear it, "A +golden pool, and a silver fish, and a line no thicker than +a hair!" and before I could beg a meaning of her, had +passed down the hall and taken a place with the other +expectant damsels. + +"A golden pool," I said to myself, "a silver fish, and a +line of hair." What could she mean? Yet that she meant +something, and something clearly of importance, I could +not doubt. "A golden pool, and a silver fish--" I buried +my chin in my chest and thought deeply but without effect +while the preparations were made and the fateful urn, each +maid having slipped her name tablet within, was brought +down to us, covered in a beautiful web of rose-coloured +tissue, and commenced its round, passing slowly from hand to +hand as each of those handsome, impassive, fawn-eyed +gallants lifted a corner of the web in turn and helped +themselves to fate. + +"A golden pool," I muttered, "and a silver fish"--so ab- +sorbed in my own thoughts I hardly noticed the great +cup begin its journey, but when it had gone three or four +places the glitter of the lights upon it caught my eye. It was +of pure gold, round-brimmed, and circled about with a string +of the blue convolvulus, which implies delight to these +people. Ay! and each man was plunging his hand into the +dark and taking in his turn a small notch-edged mother-of- +pearl billet from it that flashed soft and silvery as he turned +it in his hand to read the name engraved in unknown +characters thereon. "Why," I said, with a start, "surely +THIS might be the golden pool and these the silver fish-- +but the hair-fine line? And again I meditated deeply, with all +my senses on the watch. + +Slowly the urn crept round, and as each man took a +ticket from it, and passed it, smiling, to the seneschal behind +him, that official read out the name upon it, and a blushing +damsel slipped from the crowd above, crossing over to the +side of the man with whom chance had thus lightly linked +her for the brief Martian year, and putting her hands in +his they kissed before all the company, and sat down to +their places at the table as calmly as country folk might +choose partners at a village fair in hay-time. + +But not so with me. Each time a name was called I +started and stared at the drawer in a way which should +have filled him with alarm had alarm been possible to the +peace-soaked triflers, then turned to glance to where, +amongst the women, my tender little princess was leaning +against a pillar, with drooping head, slowly pulling a con- +volvulus bud to pieces. None drew, though all were thinking +of her, as I could tell in my fingertips. Keener and keener +grew the suspense as name after name was told and each slim +white damsel skipped to the place allotted her. And all the +time I kept muttering to myself about that "golden pool," +wondering and wondering until the urn had passed half round +the tables and was only some three men up from me--and +then an idea flashed across my mind. I dipped my fingers in +the scented water-basin on the table, drying them carefully +on a napkin, and waiting, outwardly as calm as any, yet +inwardly wrung by those tremors which beset all male +creation in such circumstances. + +And now at last it was my turn. The great urn, blazing +golden, through its rosy covering, was in front, and all eyes +on me. I clapped a sunburnt hand upon its top as though +I would take all remaining in it to myself and stared round +at that company--only her herself I durst not look at! Then, +with a beating heart, I lifted a corner of the web and +slipped my hand into the dark inside, muttering to myself +as I did so, "A golden pool, and a silver fish, and a line no +thicker than a hair." I touched in turn twenty perplexing +tablets and was no whit the wiser, and felt about the sides +yet came to nothing, groping here and there with a rising +despair, until as my fingers, still damp and fine of touch, +went round the sides a second time, yes! there was some- +thing, something in the hollow of the fluting, a thought, a +thread, and yet enough. I took it unseen, lifting it with in- +finite forbearance, and the end was weighted, the other +tablets slipped and rattled as from their midst, hanging +to that one fine virgin hair, up came a pearly billet. I doubted +no longer, but snapped the thread, and showed the tablet, +heard Heru's name, read from it amongst the soft applause +of that luxurious company with all the unconcern I could +muster. + +There she was in a moment, lip to lip with me, before +them all, her eyes more than ever like planets from her +native skies, and only the quick heave of her bosom, slowly +subsiding like a ground swell after a storm, remaining to tell +that even Martian blood could sometimes beat quicker than +usual! She sat down in her place by me in the simplest +way, and soon everything was as merry as could be. The +main meal came on now, and as far as I could see those +Martian gallants had extremely good appetites, though they +drank at first but little, wisely remembering the strength of +their wines. As for me, I ate of fishes that never swam in +earthly seas, and of strange fowl that never flapped a way +through thick terrestrial air, ate and drank as happy as a king, +and falling each moment more and more in love with the +wonderfully beautiful girl at my side who was a real woman +of flesh and blood I knew, yet somehow so dainty, so pink +and white, so unlike other girls in the smoothness of her +outlines, in the subtle grace of each unthinking attitude, +that again and again I looked at her over the rim of my +tankard half fearing she might dissolve into nothing, being +the half-fairy which she was. + +Presently she asked, "Did that deed of mine, the hair in +the urn, offend you, stranger?" + +"Offend me, lady!" I laughed. "Why, had it been the +blackest crime that ever came out of a perverse imagination +it would have brought its own pardon with it; I, least of +all in this room, have least cause to be offended." + +"I risked much for you and broke our rules." + +"Why, no doubt that was so, but 'tis the privilege of your +kind to have some say in this little matter of giving and +taking in marriage. I only marvel that your countrywomen +submit so tamely to the quaintest game of chance I ever +played at. + +"Ay, and it is women's nature no doubt to keep the laws +which others make, as you have said yourself. Yet this rule, +lady, is one broken with more credit than kept, and if +you have offended no one more than me, your penance is +easily done." + +"But I have offended some one," she said, laying her hand +on mine with gentle nervousness in its touch, "one who has +the power to hurt, and enough energy to resent. Hath, up +there at the cross-table, have I offended deeply tonight, for +he hoped to have me, and would have compelled any +other man to barter me for the maid chance assigned +to him; but of you, somehow, he is afraid--I have seen +him staring at you, and changing colour as though he knew +something no one else knows--" + +"Briefly, charming girl," I said, for the wine was be- +ginning to sing in my head, and my eyes were blinking +stupidly--"briefly, Hath hath thee not, and there's an end +of it. I would spit a score of Haths, as these figs are spit +on this golden skewer, before I would relinquish a hair +of your head to him, or to any man," and as everything +about the great hall began to look gauzy and unreal through +the gathering fumes of my confusion, I smiled on that gracious +lady, and began to whisper I know not what to her, and +whisper and doze, and doze-- + +I know not how long afterwards it was, whether a minute +or an hour, but when I lifted my head suddenly from +the lady's shoulder all the place was in confusion, every one +upon their feet, the talk and the drinking ceased, and all +eyes turned to the far doorway where the curtains were just +dropping again as I looked, while in front of them were +standing three men. + +These newcomers were utterly unlike any others--a fright- +ful vision of ugly strength amidst the lolling loveliness all +about. Low of stature, broad of shoulder, hairy, deep-chest- +ed, with sharp, twinkling eyes, set far back under bushy +eyebrows, retreating foreheads, and flat noses in faces tan- +ned to a dusky copper hue by exposure to every kind +of weather that racks the extreme Martian climate they +were so opposite to all about me, so quaint and grim amongst +those mild, fair-skinned folk, that at first I thought they +were but a disordered creation of my fancy. + +I rubbed my eyes and stared and blinked, but no! they +were real men, of flesh and blood, and now they had come +down with as much stateliness as their bandy legs would +admit of, into the full glare of the lights to the centre table +where Hath sat. I saw their splendid apparel, the great strings +of rudely polished gems hung round their hairy necks +and wrists, the cunningly dyed skins of soft-furred animals, +green and red and black, wherewith their limbs were +swathed, and then I heard some one by me whisper in a +frightened tone, "The envoys from over seas." + +"Oh," I thought sleepily to myself, "so these are the +ape-men of the western woods, are they? Those who long +ago vanquished my white-skinned friends and yearly come +to claim their tribute. Jove, what hay they must have made of +them! How those peach-skinned girls must have screamed +and the downy striplings by them felt their dimpled knees +knock together, as the mad flood of barbarians came pour- +ing over from the forest, and long ago stormed their cit- +adels like a stream of red lava, as deadly, as irresistible, +as remorseless!" And I lay asprawl upon my arms on the +table watching them with the stupid indifference I thought +I could so well afford. + +Meanwhile Hath was on foot, pale and obsequious like +others in the presence of those dread ambassadors, but more +collected, I thought. With the deepest bows he welcomed +them, handing them drink in a golden State cup, and when +they had drunk (I heard the liquor running down their +great throats, in the frightened hush, like water in a runnel +on a wet day), they wiped their fierce lips upon their +furry sleeves, and the leader began reciting the tribute for +the year. So much corn, so much wine--and very much it +was--so many thousands ells of cloth and webbing, and so +much hammered gold, and sinah and lar, precious metal +of which I knew nothing as yet; and ever as he went growl- +ing through the list in his harsh animal voice, he refreshed +his memory with a coloured stick whereon a notch was +made for every item, the woodmen not having come as +yet, apparently, to the gentler art of written signs and +symbols. Longer and longer that caravan of unearned +wealth stretched out before my fancy, but at last it was +done, or all but done, and the head envoy, passing the +painted stick to a man behind, folded his bare, sinewy +arms, upon which the red fell bristles as it does upon a +gorilla's, across his ample chest, and, including us all in +one general scowl, turned to Hath as he said-- + +"All this for Ar-hap, the wood-king, my master and yours; +all this, and the most beautiful woman here tonight at your +tables!" + +"An item," I smiled stupidly to myself, for indeed I was +very sleepy and had no nice perception of things, "which +shows his majesty with the two-pronged name is a jolly +fellow after all, and knows wealth is incomplete without the +crown and priming of all riches. I wonder how the Martian +boys will like this postscript," and chin on hand, and eyes +that would hardly stay open, I watched to see what would +happen next. There was a little conversation between the +prince and the ape-man; then I saw Hath the traitor point +in my direction and say-- + +"Since you ask and will be advised, then, mighty sir, +there can be no doubt of it, the most beautiful woman +here tonight is undoubtedly she who sits yonder by him in +blue." + +"A very pretty compliment!" I thought, too dull to see +what was coming quickly, "and handsome of Hath, all things +considered." + +And so I dozed and dozed, and then started, and stared! +Was I in my senses? Was I mad, or dreaming? The drunk- +enness dropped from me like a mantle; with a single, +smothered cry I came to myself and saw that it was all +too true. The savage envoy had come down the hall at Hath's +vindictive prompting, had lifted my fair girl to her feet, and +there, even as I looked, had drawn her, white as death, +into the red circle of his arm, and with one hand under +her chin had raised her sweet face to within an inch of his, +and was staring at her with small, ugly eyes. + +"Yes," said the enjoy, more interestedly than he had +spoken yet, "it will do; the tribute is accepted--for Ar- +hap, my master!" And taking shrinking Heru by the wrist, +and laying a heavy hand upon her shoulder, he was about +to lead her up the hall. + +I was sober enough then. I was on foot in an instant, and +before all the glittering company, before those simpering girls +and pale Martian youths, who sat mumbling their fingers, +too frightened to lift their eyes from off their half-finished +dinners, I sprang at the envoy. I struck him with my clenched +fist on the side of his bullet head, and he let go of Heru, who +slipped insensible from his hairy chest like a white cloud +slipping down the slopes of a hill at sunrise, and turned on +me with a snort of rage. We stared at each other for a minute, +and then I felt the wine fumes roaring in my head; I +rushed at him and closed. It was like embracing a moun- +tain bull, and he responded with a hug that made my ribs +crackle. For a minute we were locked together like that, +swinging here and there, and then getting a hand loose, I +belaboured him so unmercifully that he put his head down, +and that was what I wanted. I got a new hold of him as +we staggered and plunged, roaring the while like the wild +beasts we were, the teeth chattering in the Martian heads +as they watched us, and then, exerting all my strength, +lifted him fairly from his feet and with supreme effort +swung him up, shoulder high, and with a mighty heave +hurled him across the tables, flung that ambassador, whom +no Martian dared look upon, crashing and sprawling through +the gold and silver of the feast, whirled him round with such +a splendid send that bench and trestle, tankards and flagons, +chairs and cloths and candelabras all went down into +thundering chaos with him, and the envoy only stayed +when his sacred person came to harbour amongst the westral +odds and ends, the soiled linen, and dirty platters of our +wedding feast. + +I remember seeing him there on hands and knees, and +then the liquor I had had would not be denied. In vain +I drew my hands across my drooping eyelids, in vain I tried +to master my knees that knocked together. The spell of the +love-drink that Heru, blushing, had held to my lips was on +me. Its soft, overwhelming influence rose like a prismatic +fog between me and my enemy, everything again became +hazy and dreamlike, and feebly calling on Heru, my chin +dropped upon my chest, my limbs relaxed, and I slipped +down in drowsy oblivion before my rival. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +They must have carried me, still under the influence of +wine fumes, to the chamber where I slept that night, for +when I woke the following morning my surroundings were +familiar enough, though a glorious maze of uncertainties +rocked to and fro in my mind. + +Was it a real feast we had shared in overnight, or only a +quaint dream? Was Heru real or only a lovely fancy? And +those hairy ruffians of whom a horrible vision danced before +my waking eyes, were they fancy too? No, my wrists still +ached with the strain of the tussle, the quaint, sad wine +taste was still on my lips--it was all real enough, I decided, +starting up in bed; and if it was real where was the little +princess? What had they done with her? Surely they had +not given her to the ape-men--cowards though they were +they could not have been cowards enough for that. And as +I wondered a keen, bright picture of the hapless maid as +I saw her last blossomed before my mind's eye, the am- +bassadors on either side holding her wrists, and she shrink- +ing from them in horror while her poor, white face turned +to me for rescue in desperate pleading--oh! I must find +her at all costs; and leaping from bed I snatched up those +trousers without which the best of heroes is nothing, and +had hardly got into them when there came the patter of light +feet without and a Martian, in a hurry for once, with half +a dozen others behind him, swept aside the curtains of +my doorway. + +They peeped and peered all about the room, then one +said, "Is Princess Heru with you, sir?" + +"No," I answered roughly. "Saints alive, man, do you +think I would have you tumbling in here over each other's +heels if she were?" + +"Then it must indeed have been Heru," he said, speak- +ing in an awed voice to his fellows, "whom we saw carried +down to the harbour at daybreak by yonder woodmen," and +the pink upon their pretty cheeks faded to nothing at the +suggestion. + +"What!" I roared, "Heru taken from the palace by a +handful of men and none of you infernal rascals--none of +you white-livered abortions lifted a hand to save her--curse +on you a thousand times. Out of my way, you churls!" And +snatching up coat and hat and sword I rushed furiously +down the long, marble stairs just as the short Martian night +was giving place to lavender-coloured light of morning. I +found my way somehow down the deserted corridors where +the air was heavy with aromatic vapours; I flew by cur- +tained niches and chambers where amongst mounds of half- +withered flowers the Martian lovers were slowly waking. +Down into the banquethall I sped, and there in the twilight +was the litter of the feast still about--gold cups and +silver, broken bread and meat, the convolvulus flowers all +turning their pallid faces to the rosy daylight, making pools of +brightness between the shadows. Amongst the litter little +sapphire-coloured finches were feeding, twittering merrily +to themselves as they hopped about, and here and there down +the long tables lay asprawl a belated reveller, his empty +oblivion-phial before him, his curly head upon his arms, +dreaming perhaps of last night's feast and a neglected +bride dozing dispassionate in some distant chamber. But +Heru was not there and little I cared for twittering finches +or sighing damsels. With hasty feet I rushed down the +hall out into the cool, sweet air of the planet morning. + +There I met one whom I knew, and he told me he had +been among the crowd and had heard the woodmen had +gone no farther than the river gate, that Heru was with +them beyond a doubt. I would not listen to more. "Good!" I +shouted. "Get me a horse and just a handful of your sleek +kindred and we will pull the prize from the bear's paw +even yet! Surely," I said, turning to a knot of Martian youths +who stood listening a few steps away, "surely some of you +will come with me at this pinch? The big bullies are +very few; the sea runs behind them; the maid in their clutch +is worth fighting for; it needs but one good onset, five +minutes' gallantry, and she is ours again. Think how fine it +will look to bring her back before yon sleepy fellows have +found their weapons. You, there, with the blue tunic! you +look a proper fellow, and something of a heart should +beat under such gay wrappings, will you come with me?" + +But blue-mantle, biting his thumbs, murmured he had +not breakfasted yet and edged away behind his com- +panions. Wherever I looked eyes dropped and timid hands +fidgeted as their owners backed off from my dangerous en- +thusiasm. There was obviously no help to be had from +them, and meantime the precious moments were flying, so +with a disdainful glance I turned on my heels and set off +alone as hard as I could go for the harbour. + +But it was too late. I rushed through the marketplace where +all was silent and deserted; I ran on to the wharves beyond +and they were empty save for the litter and embers of the +fires Ar-hap's men had made during their stay; I dashed out +to the landing-place, and there at the hythe the last boat- +loads of the villains were just embarking, two boatloads of +them twenty yards from shore, and another still upon the +beach. This latter was careening over as a dusky group +of men lifted aboard to a heap of tumbled silks and stuffs +in the stern such a sweet piece of insensible merchandise +as no man, I at least of all, could mistake. It was Heru her- +self, and the rogues were ladling her on board like so much +sandal-wood or cotton sheeting. I did not wait for more, +but out came my sword, and yielding to a reckless impulse, +for which perhaps last night's wine was as much to blame +as anything, I sprang down the steps and leapt aboard of the +boat just as it was pushed off upon the swift tide. Full of +Bersark rage, I cut one brawny copper-coloured thief down, +and struck another with my fist between the eyes so that +he went headlong into the water, sinking like lead, and deep +into the great target of his neighbour's chest I drove my +blade. Had there been a man beside me, had there been +but two or three of all those silken triflers, too late come +on the terraces above to watch, we might have won. But all +alone what could I do? That last red beast turned on my +blade, and as he fell dragged me half down with him. I +staggered up, and tugging the metal from him turned on +the next. + +At that moment the cause of all the turmoil, roused by +the fighting, came to herself, and sitting up on the piled +plunder in the boat stared round for a moment with a child- +ish horror at the barbarians whose prize she was, then at me, +then at the dead man at my feet whose blood was welling +in a red tide from the wound in his breast. As the full +meaning of the scene dawned upon her she started to her feet, +looking wonderfully beautiful amongst those dusky forms, +and extending her hands to me began to cry in the most +piteous way. I sprang forward, and as I did so saw an ape- +man clap his hairy paw over her mouth and face--it was +like an eclipse of the moon by a red earth-shadow, I +thought at the moment--and drag her roughly back, but +that was about the last I remembered. As I turned to hit +him standing on the slippery thwart, another rogue crept up +behind and let drive with a club he had in hand. The cud- +gel caught me sideways on the head, a glancing shot. I +can recall a blaze of light, a strange medley of sounds in +my ears, and then, clutching at a pile of stuffs as I fell, a +tall bower of spray rising on either hand, and the cool +shock of the blue sea as I plunged headlong in--but noth- +ing after that! + +How long after I know not, but presently a tissue of day- +light crept into my eyes, and I awoke again. It was better +than nothing perhaps, yet it was a poor awakening. The +big sun lay low down, and the day was all but done; so +much I guessed as I rocked in that light with an undulating +movement, and then as my senses returned more fully, +recognised with a start of wonder that I was still in the +water, floating on a swift current into the unknown on an +air-filled pile of silken stuffs which had been pulled down +with me from the boat when I got my ganging from yonder +rascal's mace. It was a wet couch, sodden and chilly, but as +the freshening evening wind blew on my face and the dark- +ening water lapped against my forehead I revived more fully. + +Where had we come to? I turned an aching neck, and all +along on both sides seemed to stretch steep, straight coasts +about a mile or so apart, in the shadow of the setting sun +black as ebony. Between the two the hampered water ran +quickly, with, away on the right, some shallow sandy spits +and islands covered with dwarf bushes--chilly, inhospitable- +looking places they seemed as I turned my eyes upon them; +but he who rides helpless down an evening tide stands out +for no great niceties of landing-place; could I but reach them +they would make at least a drier bed than this of mine, +and at that thought, turning over, I found all my muscles as +stiff as iron, the sinews of my neck and forearms a mass +of agonies and no more fit to swim me to those reedy +swamps, which now, as pain and hunger began to tell, +seemed to wear the aspects of paradise. + +With a groan I dropped back upon my raft and watched +the islands slipping by, while over my feet the southern +sky darkened to purple. There was no help there, but glanc- +ing round away on the left and a few furlongs from me, I +noticed on the surface of the water two converging strands +of brightness, an angle the point of which seemed to be +coming towards me. Nearer it came and nearer, right across +my road, until I could see a black dot at the point, a head +presently developed, then as we approached the ears and +antlers of a swimming stag. It was a huge beast as it +loomed up against the glow, bigger than any mortal stag +ever was--the kind of fellow-traveller no one would willingly +accost, but even if I had wished to get out of its path I +had no power to do so. + +Closer and closer we came, one of us drifting helplessly, +and the other swimming strongly for the islands. When we +were about a furlong apart the great beast seemed to +change its course, mayhap it took the wreckage on which +I floated for an outlying shoal, something on which it could +rest a space in that long swim. Be this as it may, the beast +came hurtling down on me lip deep in the waves, a mighty +brown head with pricked ears that flicked the water from +them now and then, small bright eyes set far back, and +wide palmated antlers on a mighty forehead, like the dead +branches of a tree. What that Martian mountain elk had +hoped for can only be guessed, what he met with was a +tangle of floating finery carrying a numbed traveller on it, +and with a snort of disappointment he turned again. + +It was a poor chance, but better than nothing, and as he +turned I tried to throw a strand of silk I had unwound from +the sodden mass over his branching tines. Quick as thought +the beast twisted his head aside and tossed his antlers so +that the try was fruitless. But was I to lose my only chance +of shore? With all my strength I hurled myself upon him, +missing my clutch again by a hair's-breadth and going head- +long into the salt furrow his chest was turning up. Happily +I kept hold of the web, for the great elk then turned back, +passing between me and the ruck of stuff and getting thereby +the silk under his chin, and as I came gasping to the top once +more round came that dainty wreckage over his back, and +I clutched it, and sooner than it takes to tell I was towing +to the shore as perhaps no one was ever towed before. + +The big beast dragged the ruck like withered weed be- +hind him, bellowing all the time with a voice which made the +hills echo all round; and then, when he got his feet upon +the shallows, rose dripping and mountainous, a very cliff of +black hide and limb against the night shine, and with a +single sweep of his antlers tore the webbing from me, who +lay prone and breathless in the mud, and, thinking it was +his enemy, hurled the limp bundle on the beach, and then, +having pounded it with his cloven feet into formless shreds, +bellowed again victoriously and went off into the dark- +ness of the forests. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +I landed, stiff enough as you will guess, but pleased to be on +shore again. It was a melancholy neighbourhood of low +islands, overgrown with rank grass and bushes, salt water +encircling them, and inside sandy dunes and hummocks with +shallow pools, gleaming ghostly in the retreating daylight, +while beyond these rose the black bosses of what looked like +a forest. Thither I made my way, plunging uncomfortably +through shallows, and tripping over blackened branches +which, lying just below the surface, quivered like snakes +as the evening breeze ruffled each surface, until the ground +hardened under foot, and presently I was standing, hungry +and faint but safe, on dry land again. + +The forest was so close to the sea, one could not advance +without entering it, and once within its dark arcades every +way looked equally gloomy and hopeless. I struggled through +tangles night made more and more impenetrable each min- +ute, until presently I could go no further, and where a dense +canopy of trees overhead gave out for a minute on the +edge of a swampy hollow, I determined to wait for daylight. + +Never was there a more wet or weary traveller, or one +more desperately lonely than he who wrapped himself up +in the miserable insufficiency of his wet rags, and without +fire or supper crept amongst the exposed roots of a tree +growing out of a bank, and prepared to hope grimly for morning. + +Round and round meanwhile was drawn the close screen +of night, till the clearing in front was blotted out, and only +the tree-tops, black as rugged hills one behind the other, +stood out against the heavy purple of the circlet of sky +above. As the evening deepened the quaintest noises began on +every hand--noises so strange and bewildering that as I +cowered down with my teeth chattering, and stared hard into +the impenetrable, they could be likened to nothing but the +crying of all the souls of dead things since the beginning. +Never was there such an infernal chorus as that which +played up the Martian stars. Down there in front, where +hummock grass was growing, some beast squeaked contin- +uously, till I shouted at him, then he stopped a minute, and +began again in entirely another note. Away on the hills two +rival monsters were calling to each other in tones so hollow +they seemed as I listened to penetrate through me, and +echo out of my heart again. Far overhead, gigantic bats were +flitting, the shadow of their wings dimming a dozen universes +at once, and crying to each other in shrill tones that rent +the air like tearing silk. + +As I listened to those vampires discussing their infernal +loves under the stars, from a branch right overhead broke +such a deathly howl from the throat of a wandering forest +cat that everything else was hushed for a moment. All about +a myriad insects were making night giddy with their ghostly +fires, while underground and from the labyrinths of mat- +ted roots came quaint sounds of rustling snakes and forest +pigs, and all the lesser things that dig and scratch and growl. + +Yet I was desperately sleepy, my sword hung heavy as +lead at my side, my eyelids drooped, and so at last I dozed +uneasily for an hour or two. Then, all on a sudden, I came +wide awake with a shock. The night was quieter now; +away in the forest depth strange noises still arose, but +close at hand was a strange hush, like the hush of expecta- +tion, and, listening wonderingly, I was aware of slow, heavy +footsteps coming up from the river, now two or three steps +together, then a pause, then another step or two, and as I +bent towards the approaching thing, staring into the dark- +ness, my strained senses were conscious of another approach, +as like as could be, coming from behind me. On they came, +making the very ground quake with their weight, till I judged +that both were about on the edge of the clearing, two vast +rat-like shadows, but as big as elephants, and bringing a +most intolerable smell of sour slime with them. There, on +the edge of the amphitheatre, each for the first time ap- +peared to become aware of the other's presence--the foot- +steps stopped dead. I could hear the water dripping from +the fur of those giant brutes amongst the shadows and the +deep breathing of the one nearest me, a scanty ten paces +off, but not another sound in the stillness. + +Minute after minute passed, yet neither moved. A half- +hour grew to a full hour, and that hour lengthened amid +the keenest tension till my ears ached with listening, and +my eyes were sore with straining into the blackness. At last +I began to wonder whether those earth-shaking beasts had +not been an evil dream, and was just venturing to stretch +out a cramped leg, and rally myself upon my cowardice, +when, without warning, at my elbow rose the most ear- +piercing scream of rage that ever came from a living throat. +There was a sweeping rush in the darkness which I could +feel but not see, and with a shock the two gladiators met in +the midst of the arena. Over and over they went screaming +and struggling, and slipping and plunging. I could hear +them tearing at each other, and the sharp cries of pain, +first one and then another gave as claw or tooth got home, +and all the time, though the ground was quaking under +their struggles and the air full of horrible uproar, not a +thing was to be seen. I did not even know what manner +of beasts they were who rocked and rolled and tore at each +other's throats, but I heard their teeth snapping, and their +fierce breath in the pauses of the struggle, and could but +wait in a huddle amongst the roots until it was over. To and +fro they went, now at the far side of the dark clearing, +now so close that hot drops of blood from their jaws fell +on my face like rain in the darkness. It seemed as though +the fight would never end, but presently there was more of +worrying in it and less of snapping; it was clear one or the +other had had enough and as I marked this those black shad- +ows came gasping and struggling towards me. There was +a sudden sharp cry, a desperate final tussle--before which +strong trees snapped and bushes were flattened out like +grass, not twenty yards away--and then for a minute all +was silent. + +One of them had killed, and as I sat rooted to the spot I +was forced to listen while his enemy tore him up and ate +him. Many a banquet have I been at, but never an uglier +one than that. I sat in the darkness while the unknown +thing at my feet ripped the flesh from his half-dead rival +in strips, and across the damp night wind came the reek of +that abominable feast--the reek of blood and spilt en- +trails--until I turned away my face in loathing, and was +nearly starting to my feet to venture a rush into the forest +shadows. But I was spellbound, and remained listening to +the heavy munch of blood-stained jaws until presently I was +aware other and lesser feasters were coming. There was a +twinkle of hungry eyes all about the limits of the area, the +shine of green points of envious fire that circled round in +decreasing orbits, as the little foxes and jackals came +crowding in. One fellow took me for a rock, so still I sat, +putting his hot, soft paws upon my knee for a space, and +others passed me so near I could all but touch them. + +The big beast had taken himself off by this time, and +there must have been several hundreds of these newcomers. +A merry time they had of it; the whole place was full of the +green, hurrying eyes, and amidst the snap of teeth and +yapping and quarrelling I could hear the flesh being torn +from the red bones in every direction. One wolf-like individual +brought a mass of hot liver to eat between my feet, but I +gave him a kick, and sent him away much to his surprise. +Gradually, however, the sound of this unholy feast died +away, and, though you may hardly believe it, I fell off into +a doze. It was not sleep, but it served the purpose, and +when in an hour or two a draught of cool air roused me, +I awoke, feeling more myself again. + +Slowly morning came, and the black wall of forest around +became full of purple interstices as the east brightened. Those +glimmers of light between bough and trunk turned to yellow +and red, the day-shine presently stretched like a canopy +from point to point of the treetops on either side of my +sleeping-place, and I arose. + +All my limbs were stiff with cold, my veins emptied by +hunger and wounds, and for a space I had not even +strength to move. But a little rubbing softened my cramped +muscles presently and limping painfully down to the place +of combat, I surveyed the traces of that midnight fight. I +will not dwell upon it. It was ugly and grim; the trampled +grass, the giant footmarks, each enringing its pool of cur- +dled blood; the broken bushes, the grooved mud-slides +where the unknown brutes had slid in deadly embrace; the +hollows, the splintered boughs, their ragged points tufted +with skin and hair--all was sickening to me. Yet so hungry +was I that when I turned towards the odious remnants of +the vanquished--a shapeless mass of abomination--my thou- +ghts flew at once to breakfasting! I went down and in- +spected the victim cautiously--a huge rat-like beast as +far as might be judged from the bare uprising ribs--all +that was left of him looking like the framework of a schooner +yacht. His heart lay amongst the offal, and my knife came +out to cut a meal from it, but I could not do it. Three +times I essayed the task, hunger and disgust contending +for mastery; three times turned back in loathing. At last I +could stand the sight no more, and, slamming the knife up +again, turned on my heels, and fairly ran for fresh air and +the shore, where the sea was beginning to glimmer in the +light a few score yards through the forest stems. There, +once more out on the open, on a pebbly beach, I stripped, +spreading my things out to dry on the stones, and laying +myself down with the lapping of the waves in my ears, +and the first yellow sunshine thawing my limbs, tried to +piece together the hurrying events of the last few days. + +What were my gay Martians doing? Lazy dogs to let me, +a stranger, be the only one to draw sword in defence of +their own princess! Where was poor Heru, that sweet maiden +wife? The thought of her in the hands of the ape-men was +odious. And yet was I not mad to try to rescue, or even to +follow her alone? If by any chance I could get off this +beast-haunted place and catch up with the ravishers, what +had I to look for from them except speedy extinction, and +that likely enough by the most painful process they were +acquainted with? + +The other alternative of going back empty handed was +terribly ignominious. I had lectured the amiable young +manhood of Seth so soundly on the subject of gallantry, and +set them such a good example on two occasions, that it +would be bathos to saunter back, hands in pockets, and con- +fess I knew nothing of the lady's fate and had been +daunted by the first night alone in the forest. Besides, +how dull it would be in that beautiful, tumble-down old +city without Heru, with no expectation day by day of +seeing her sylph-like form and hearing the merry tinkle of +her fairy laughter as she scoffed at the unknown learning col- +lected by her ancestors in a thousand laborious years. No! +I would go on for certain. I was young, in love, and angry, +and before those qualifications difficulties became light. + +Meanwhile, the first essential was breakfast of some kind. +I arose, stretched, put on my half-dried clothes, and mount- +ing a low hummock on the forest edge looked around. +The sun was riding up finely into the sky, and the sea to the +eastward shone for leagues and leagues in the loveliest azure. +Where it rippled on my own beach and those of the low +islands noted over night, a wonderful fire of blue and +red played on the sands as though the broken water were +full of living gems. The sky was full of strange gulls with +long, forked tails, and a lovely little flying lizard with +transparent wings of the palest green--like those of a grass- +hopper--was flitting about picking up insect stragglers. + +All this was very charming, but what I kept saying to +myself was "Streaky rashers and hot coffee: rashers and +coffee and rolls," and, indeed, had the gates of Paradise +themselves opened at that moment I fear my first look down +the celestial streets within would have been for a restaurant. +They did not, and I was just turning away disconsolate +when my eye caught, ascending from behind the next bluff +down the beach, a thin strand of smoke rising into the +morning air. + +It was nothing so much in itself--a thin spiral creeping +upwards mast-high, then flattening out into a mushroom +head--but it meant everything to me. Where there was +fire there must be humanity, and where there was human- +ity--ay, to the very outlayers of the universe--there must +be breakfast. It was a splendid thought; I rushed down +the hillock and went gaily for that blue thread amongst +the reeds. It was not two hundred yards away, and soon +below me was a tiny bay with bluest water frilling a silver +beach, and in the midst of it a fire on a hearth dancing +round a pot that simmered gloriously. But of an owner there +was nothing to be seen. I peered here and there on the shore, +but nothing moved, while out to sea the water was shining +like molten metal with not a dot upon it!--what did it +matter? I laughed as, pleased and hungry, I slipped down +the bank and strode across the sands; it pleased Fate to +play bandy with me, and if it sent me supperless to bed, +why, here was restitution in the way of breakfast. +I took up a morsel of the stuff in the kettle on a handy +stick and found it good--indeed, I knew it at once as a very +dainty mess made from the roots of a herb the Martians great- +ly liked; An had piled my platter with it when we supped +that night in the market-place of Seth, and the sweet white +stuff had melted into my corporal essence, it seemed, with- +out any gross intermediate process of digestion. And here I +was again, hungry, sniffing the fragrant breath of a full +meal and not a soul in sight--I should have been a fool not +to have eaten. So thinking, down I sat, taking the pot from +its place, and when it was a little cool plunging my hands +into it and feasting with as good an appetite as ever a man +had before. + +It was gloriously ambrosial, and deeper and deeper I +went, with the tall stalk of the smoke in front growing +from the hearth-stones like some strange new plant, the plea- +sant sunshine on my back, and never a thought for any- +thing but the task in hand. Deeper and deeper, oblivious +of all else, until to get the very last drops I lifted the pipkin +up and putting back my head drank in that fashion. + +It was only when with a sigh of pleasure I lowered it +slowly again that over the rim as it sank there dawned upon +me the vision of a Martian standing by an empty canoe on +the edge of the water and regarding me with calm amaze- +ment. I was, in fact, so astonished that for a minute the +empty pot stood still before my face, and over its edge we +stared at each other in mute surprise, then with all the dig- +nity that might be I laid the vessel down between my feet +and waited for the newcomer to speak. She was a girl by +her yellow garb, a fisherwoman, it seemed, for in the prow +of her craft was piled a net upon which the scales of fishes +were twinkling--a Martian, obviously, but something more ro- +bust than most of them, a savour of honest work about her +sunburnt face which my pallid friends away yonder were +lacking in, and when we had stared at each other for a few +moments in silence she came forward a step or two and +said without a trace of fear or shyness, "Are you a spirit, +sir? + +"Why," I answered, "about as much, no more and no less, +than most of us." + +"Aye," she said. "I thought you were, for none but spirits +live here upon this island; are you for good or evil?" + +"Far better for the breakfast of which I fear I have robbed +you, but wandering along the shore and finding this pot +boiling with no owner, I ventured to sample it, and it was +so good my appetite got the better of manners." + +The girl bowed, and standing at a respectful distance +asked if I would like some fish as well; she had some, but +not many, and if I would eat she would cook them for me +in a minute--it was not often, she added lightly, she had +met one of my kind before. In fact, it was obvious that +simple person did actually take me for a being of another +world, and was it for me to say she was wrong? So adopt- +ing a dignity worthy of my reputation I nodded gravely to +her offer. She fetched from the boat four little fishes of the +daintiest kind imaginable. They were each about as big as +a hand and pale blue when you looked down upon them, but +so clear against the light that every bone and vein in their +bodies could be traced. These were wrapped just as they +were in a broad, green leaf and then the Martian, taking a +pointed stick, made a hollow in the white ashes, laid them +in side by side, and drew the hot dust over again. + +While they cooked we chatted as though the acquaintance +were the most casual thing in the world, and I found it was +indeed an island we were on and not the mainland, as I +had hoped at first. Seth, she told me, was far away to the +eastward, and if the woodmen had gone by in their ships +they would have passed round to the north-west of where we were. + +I spent an hour or two with that amiable individual, and, +it is to be hoped, sustained the character of a spiritual +visitant with considerable dignity. In one particular at least, +that, namely, of appetite, I did honour to my supposed source, +and as my entertainer would not hear of payment in material +kind, all I could do was to show her some conjuring tricks, +which greatly increased her belief in my supernatural origin, +and to teach her some new hitches and knots, using her +fishing-line as a means of illustration, a demonstration which +called from her the natural observation that we must be +good sailors "up aloft" since we knew so much about cordage, +then we parted. + +She had seen nothing of the woodmen, though she had +heard they had been to Seth and thought, from some niceties +of geographical calculation which I could not follow, they +would have crossed to the north, as just stated, of her island. +There she told me, with much surprise at my desire for the +information, how I might, by following the forest track to +the westward coast, make my way to a fishing village, where +they would give me a canoe and direct me, since such was +my extraordinary wish, to the place where, if anywhere, the +wild men had touched on their way home. + +She filled my wallet with dried honey-cakes and my +mouth with sugar plums from her little store, then down on +her knees went that poor waif of a worn-out civilisation +and kissed my hands in humble farewell, and I, blushing +to be so saluted, and after all but a sailor, got her by the +rosy fingers and lifted her up shoulder high, and getting +one hand under her chin and the other behind her head +kissed her twice upon her pretty cheeks; and so, I say, +we parted. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Off into the forest I went, feeling a boyish elation to be +so free nor taking heed or count of the reckless adventure +before me. The Martian weather for the moment was lovely +and the many-coloured grass lush and soft under foot. Mile +after mile I went, heeding the distance lightly, the air was so +elastic. Now pressing forward as the main interest of my +errand took the upper hand, and remembrance of poor Heru +like a crushed white flower in the red grip of those cruel +ravishers came upon me, and then pausing to sigh with +pleasure or stand agape--forgetful even of her--in wonder +of the unknown loveliness about me. + +And well might I stare! Everything in that forest was +wonderful! There were plants which turned from colour to +colour with the varying hours of the day. While others had +a growth so swift it was dangerous to sit in their neighbour- +hood since the long, succulent tendrils clambering from the +parent stem would weave you into a helpless tangle while +you gazed, fascinated, upon them. There were plants that +climbed and walked; sighing plants who called the winged +things of the air to them with a noise so like to a girl +sobbing that again and again I stopped in the tangled +path to listen. There were green bladder-mosses which +swam about the surface of the still pools like gigantic +frog-broods. There were on the ridges warrior trees burning +in the vindictiveness of a long forgotten cause--a blaze of +crimson scimitar thorns from root to topmost twig; and +down again in the cool hollows were lady-bushes making +twilight of the green gloom with their cloudy ivory blos- +soms and filling the shadows with such a heavy scent that +head and heart reeled with fatal pleasure as one pushed +aside their branches. Every river-bed was full of mighty reeds, +whose stems clattered together when the wind blew like +swords on shields, and every now and then a bit of forest +was woven together with the ropey stems of giant creepers +till no man or beast could have passed save for the paths +which constant use had kept open through the mazes. + +All day long I wandered on through those wonderful +woodlands, and in fact loitered so much over their infinite +marvels that when sundown came all too soon there was +still undulating forest everywhere, vistas of fairy glades on +every hand, peopled with incredible things and echoing +with sounds that excited the ears as much as other things +fascinated the eyes, but no sign of the sea or my fishing +village anywhere. + +It did not matter; a little of the Martian leisureliness was +getting into my blood: "If not today, why then tomorrow," +as An would have said; and with this for comfort I selected +a warm, sandy hollow under the roots of a big tree, made +my brief arrangements for the night, ate some honey cakes, +and was soon sleeping blissfully. + +I woke early next morning, after many hours of interrupted +dreams, and having nothing to do till the white haze had +lifted and made it possible to start again, rested idly a time +on my elbow and watched the sunshine filter into the recesses. + +Very pretty it was to see the thick canopy overhead, by +star-light so impenetrable, open its chinks and fissures as +the searching sun came upon it; to see the pin-hole gaps +shine like spangles presently, the spaces broaden into lesser +suns, and even the thick leafage brighten and shine down on +me with a soft sea-green radiance. The sunward sides of the +tree-stems took a glow, and the dew that ran dripping +down their mossy sides trickled blood-red to earth. Else- +where the shadows were still black, and strange things began +to move in them--things we in our middle-aged world +have never seen the likeness of: beasts half birds, birds half +creeping things, and creeping things which it seemed to me +passed through lesser creations down to the basest life that +crawls without interruption or division. + +It was not for me, a sailor, to know much of such +things, yet some I could not fail to notice. On one grey +branch overhead, jutting from a tree-stem where a patch of +velvet moss made in the morning glint a fairy bed, a won- +derful flower unfolded. It was a splendid bud, ivory white, +cushioned in leaves, and secured to its place by naked white +roots that clipped the branch like fingers of a lady's hand. +Even as I looked it opened, a pale white star, and hung +pensive and inviting on its mossy cushion. From it came such +a ravishing odour that even I, at the further end of the +great scale of life, felt my pulses quicken and my eyes +brighten with cupidity. I was in the very act of climbing +the tree, but before I could move hand or foot two things +happened, whether you take my word for them or no. + +Firstly, up through a glade in the underwood, attracted +by the odour, came an ugly brown bird with a capacious beak +and shining claws. He perched near by, and peeped and +peered until he made out the flower pining on her virgin +stem, whereat off he hopped to her branch and there, with +a cynical chuckle, strutted to and fro between her and +the main stem like an ill genius guarding a fairy princess. + +Surely Heaven would not allow him to tamper with so +chaste a bud! My hand reached for a stone to throw at +him when happened the second thing. There came a gentle +pat upon the woodland floor, and from a tree overhead +dropped down another living plant like to the one above yet +not exactly similar, a male, my instincts told me, in full sol- +itary blossom like her above, cinctured with leaves, and +supported by half a score of thick white roots that worked, +as I looked, like the limbs of a crab. In a twinkling that +parti-coloured gentleman vegetable near me was off to the +stem upon which grew his lady love; running and scram- +bling, dragging the finery of his tasselled petals behind, +it was laughable to watch his eagerness. He got a grip +of the tree and up he went, "hand over hand," root over +root. I had just time to note others of his species had +dropped here and there upon the ground, and were hurry- +ing with frantic haste to the same destination when he +reached the fatal branch, and was straddling victoriously +down it, blind to all but love and longing. That ill-omened +bird who stood above the maiden-flower let him come +within a stalk's length, so near that the white splendour of +his sleeping lady gleamed within arms' reach, then the great +beak was opened, the great claws made a clutch, the gal- +lant's head was yanked from his neck, and as it went +tumbling down the maw of the feathered thing his white +legs fell spinning through space, and lay knotting them- +selves in agony upon the ground for a minute or two before +they relaxed and became flaccid in the repose of death. An- +other and another vegetable suitor made for that fatal tryst, +and as each came up the snap of the brown bird's beak +was all their obsequies. At last no more came, and then that +Nemesis of claws and quills walked over to the girl-flower, +his stomach feathers ruffled with repletion, the green blood +of her lovers dripping from his claws, and pulled her golden +heart out, tore her white limbs one from the other, and +swallowed her piecemeal before my very eyes! Then up in +wrath I jumped and yelled at him till the woods echoed, +but too late to stay his sacrilege. + +By this time the sun was bathing everything in splendour, +and turning away from the wonders about me, I set off at +best pace along the well-trodden path which led without +turning to the west coast village where the canoes were. + +It proved far closer than expected. As a matter of fact the +forest in this direction grew right down to the water's edge; +the salt-loving trees actually overhanging the waves--one of +the pleasantest sights in nature--and thus I came right out +on top of the hamlet before there had been an indication +of its presence. It occupied two sides of a pretty little bay, +the third side being flat land given over to the cultivation of +an enormous species of gourd whose characteristic yellow +flowers and green, succulent leaves were discernible even at +this distance. + +I branched off along the edge of the surf and down a +dainty little flowery path, noticing meanwhile how the whole +bay was filled by hundreds of empty canoes, while scores of +others were drawn up on the strand, and then the first +thing I chanced upon was a group of people--youthful, +of course, with the eternal Martian bloom--and in the +splendid simplicity of almost complete nakedness. My first +idea was that they were bathing, and fixing my eyes on the +tree-tops with great propriety, I gave a warning cough. At +that sound instead of getting to cover, or clothes, all started +up and stood staring for a time like a herd of startled cattle. +It was highly embarrassing; they were right in the path, +a round dozen of them, naked and so little ashamed that +when I edged away modestly they began to run after me. +And the farther they came forward the more I retired, till +we were playing a kind of game of hide-and-seek round +the tree-stems. In the middle of it my heel caught in a root +and down I went very hard and very ignominiously, whereon +those laughing, light-hearted folk rushed in, and with smiles +and jests helped me to my feet. + +"Was I the traveller who had come from Seth?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, then that was well. They had heard such a traveller +was on the road, and had come a little way down the path, +as far as might be without fatigue, to meet him." + +"Would I eat with them?" these amiable strangers asked, +pushing their soft warm fingers into mine and ringing me +round with a circle. "But firstly might they help me out +of my clothes? It was hot, and these things were cumber- +some." As to the eating, I was agreeable enough seeing how +casual meals had been with me lately, but my clothes, +though Heaven knows they were getting horribly ragged +and travel-stained, I clung to desperately. + +My new friends shrugged their dimpled shoulders and, +arguments being tedious, at once squatted round me in the +dappled shade of a big tree and produced their stores of +never failing provisions. After a pleasant little meal taken +thus in the open and with all the simplicity Martians de- +light in, we got to talking about those yellow canoes which +were bobbing about on the blue waters of the bay. + +"Would you like to see where they are grown?" asked +an individual basking by my side. + +"Grown!" I answered with incredulity. "Built, you mean. +Never in my life did I hear of growing boats." + +"But then, sir," observed the girl as she sucked the honey +out of the stalk of an azure convolvulus flower and threw +the remains at a butterfly that sailed across the sunshine, +"you know so little! You have come from afar, from some +barbarous and barren district. Here we undoubtedly grow +our boats, and though we know the Thither folk and such +uncultivated races make their craft by cumbrous methods +of flat planks, yet we prefer our own way, for one thing be- +cause it saves trouble," and as she murmured that all- +sufficient reason the gentle damsel nodded reflectively. + +But one of her companions, more lively for the moment, +tickled her with a straw until she roused, and then said, +"Let us take the stranger to the boat garden now. The cur- +rent will drift us round the bay, and we can come back +when it turns. If we wait we shall have to row in both +directions, or even walk," and again planetary slothfulness +carried the day. + +So down to the beach we strolled and launched one of +the golden-hued skiffs upon the pretty dancing wavelets +just where they ran, lipped with jewelled spray, on the +shore, and then only had I a chance to scrutinise their +material. I patted that one we were upon inside and out. I +noted with a seaman's admiration its lightness, elasticity, +and supreme sleekness, its marvellous buoyancy and fairy- +like "lines," and after some minutes' consideration it sud- +denly flashed across me that it was all of gourd rind. And +as if to supply confirmation, the flat land we were ap- +proaching on the opposite side of the bay was covered by +the characteristic verdure of these plants with a touch here +and there of splendid yellow blossoms, but all of gigantic +proportions. + +"Ay," said a Martian damsel lying on the bottom, and +taking and kissing my hand as she spoke, in the simple- +hearted way of her people, "I see you have guessed how +we make our boats. Is it the same in your distant country?" + +"No, my girl, and what's more, I am a bit uneasy as to +what the fellows on the Carolina will say if they ever hear +I went to sea in a hollowed-out pumpkin, and with a young +lady--well, dressed as you are--for crew. Even now I can- +not imagine how you get your ships so trim and shapely-- +there is not a seam or a patch anywhere, it looks as if +you had run them into a mould." + +"That's just what we have done, sir, and now you will +witness the moulds at work, for here we are," and the little +skiff was pulled ashore and the Martians and I jumped out +on the shelving beach, hauled our boat up high and dry, and +there right over us, like great green umbrellas, spread the +fronds of the outmost garden of this strangest of all ship- +building yards. Briefly, and not to make this part of my story +too long, those gilded boys and girls took me ashore, and +chattering like finches in the evening, showed how they +planted their gourd seed, nourished the gigantic plants as +they grew with brackish water and the burnt ashes; then, +when they flowered, mated the male and female blossoms, +glorious funnels of golden hue big enough for one to live +in; and when the young fruit was of the bigness of an +ordinary bolster, how they slipped it into a double mould +of open reed-work something like the two halves of a walnut- +shell; and how, growing day by day in this, it soon took +every curve and line they chose to give it, even the hanging +keel below, the strengthened bulwarks, and tall prow-piece. +It was so ingenious, yet simple; and I confess I laughed +over my first skiff "on the stalk," and fell to bantering the +Martians, asking whether it was a good season for navies, +whether their Cunarders were spreading nicely, if they could +give me a pinch of barge seed, or a yacht in bud to show +to my friends at home. + +But those lazy people took the matter seriously enough. +They led me down green alleys arched over with huge +melon-like leaves; they led me along innumerable byways, +making me peep and peer through the chequered sunlight +at ocean-growing craft, that had budded twelve months +before, already filling their moulds to the last inch of space. +They told me that when the growing process was sufficiently +advanced, they loosened the casing, and cutting a hole into +the interior of each giant fruit, scooped out all its seed, +thereby checking more advance, and throwing into the +rind strength that would otherwise have gone to reproductive- +ness. They said each fruit made two vessels, but the upper +half was always best and used for long salt-water jour- +neys, the lower piece being but for punting or fishing on +their lakes. They cut them in half while still green, scraped +out the light remaining pulp when dry, and dragged them +down with the minimum of trouble, light as feathers, ten- +acious as steel plate, and already in the form and fashion of +dainty craft from five to twenty feet in length, when the +process was completed. + +By the time we had explored this strangest of ship- +building yards, and I had seen last year's crop on the +stocks being polished and fitted with seats and gear, the sun +was going down; and the Martian twilight, owing to the +comparative steepness of the little planet's sides, being brief, +we strolled back to the village, and there they gave me +harbourage for the night, ambrosial supper, and a deep +draught of the wine of Forgetfulness, under the gauzy spell +of which the real and unreal melted into the vistas of +rosy oblivion, and I slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +With the new morning came fresh energy and a spasm +of conscience as I thought of poor Heru and the shabby +sort of rescuer I was to lie about with these pretty triflers +while she remained in peril. + +So I had a bath and a swim, a breakfast, and, to my +shame be it acknowledged, a sort of farewell merry-go- +round dance on the yellow sands with a dozen young +persons all light-hearted as the morning, beautiful as the +flowers that bound their hair, and in the extremity of +statuesque attire. + +Then at last I got them to give me a sea-going canoe, a +stock of cakes and fresh water; and with many parting in- +junctions how to find the Woodman trail, since I would +not listen to reason and lie all the rest of my life with them +in the sunshine, they pushed me off on my lonely voyage. + +"Over the blue waters!" they shouted in chorus as I dipped +my paddle into the diamond-crested wavelets. "Six hours, +adventurous stranger, with the sun behind you! Then into the +broad river behind the yellow sand-bar. But not the black +northward river! Not the strong, black river, above all things, +stranger! For that is the River of the Dead, by which many +go but none come back. Goodbye!" And waving them adieu, +I sternly turned my eyes from delights behind and faced +the fascination of perils in front. + +In four hours (for the Martians had forgotten in their +calculations that my muscles were something better than +theirs) I "rose" the further shore, and then the question was, +Where ran that westward river of theirs? + +It turned out afterwards that, knowing nothing of their +tides, I had drifted much too far to northward, and con- +sequently the coast had closed up the estuary mouth I +should have entered. Not a sign of an opening showed any- +where, and having nothing whatever for guidance I turned +northward, eagerly scanning an endless line of low cliffs, +as the day lessened, for the promised sand-bar or inlet. + +About dusk my canoe, flying swiftly forward at its own +sweet will, brought me into a bight, a bare, desolate-looking +country with no vegetation save grass and sedge on the +near marshes and stony hills rising up beyond, with others +beyond them mounting step by step to a long line of ridges +and peaks still covered in winter snow. + +The outlook was anything but cheering. Not a trace of +habitation had been seen for a long time, not a single living +being in whose neighbourhood I could land and ask the +way; nothing living anywhere but a monstrous kind of sea- +slug, as big as a dog, battening on the waterside garbage, +and gaunt birds like vultures who croaked on the mud-flats, +and half-spread wings of funereal blackness as they gam- +bolled here and there. Where was poor Heru? Where pink- +shouldered An? Where those wild men who had taken the +princess from us? Lastly, but not least, where was I? + +All the first stars of the Martian sky were strange to me, +and my boat whirling round and round on the current con- +fused what little geography I might otherwise have retained. +It was a cheerless look out, and again and again I cursed +my folly for coming on such a fool's errand as I sat, chin in +hand, staring at a landscape that grew more and more de- +pressing every mile. To go on looked like destruction, to go +back was almost impossible without a guide; and while I +was still wondering which of the two might be the lesser +evil, the stream I was on turned a corner, and in a moment +we were upon water which ran with swift, oily smoothness +straight for the snow-ranges now beginning to loom un- +pleasantly close ahead. + +By this time the night was coming on apace, the last of +the evil-looking birds had winged its way across the red +sunset glare, and though it was clear enough in mid-river +under the banks, now steep and unclimbable, it was already +evening. + +And with the darkness came a wondrous cold breath +from off the ice-fields, blowing through my lowland wrap- +pings as though they were but tissue. I munched a bit of +honey-cake, took a cautious sip of wine, and though I will not +own I was frightened, yet no one will deny that the cir- +cumstances were discouraging. + +Standing up in the frail canoe and looking around, at the +second glance an object caught my eye coming with the +stream, and rapidly overtaking me on a strong sluice of +water. It was a raft of some sort, and something extra- +ordinarily like a sitting Martian on it! Nearer and nearer it +came, bobbing to the rise and fall of each wavelet with the +last icy sunlight touching it up with reds and golds, nearer +and nearer in the deadly hush of that forsaken region, and +then at last so near it showed quite plainly on the purple +water, a raft with some one sitting under a canopy. + +With a thrill of delight I waved my cap aloft and +shouted-- + +"Ship-ahoy! Hullo, messmate, where are we bound to?" + +But never an answer came from that swiftly-passing +stranger, so again I hailed-- + +"Put up your helm, Mr. Skipper; I have lost my bearings, +and the chronometer has run down," but without a pause +or sound that strange craft went slipping by. + +That silence was more than I could stand. It was against +all sea courtesies, and the last chance of learning where +I was passing away. So, angrily the paddle was snatched +from the canoe bottom, and roaring out again-- + +"Stop, I say, you d----- lubber, stop, or by all the gods +I will make you!" I plunged the paddle into the water +and shot my little craft slantingly across the stream to inter- +cept the newcomer. A single stroke sent me into mid-stream, +a second brought me within touch of that strange craft. It +was a flat raft, undoubtedly, though so disguised by flowers +and silk trailers that its shape was difficult to make out. In +the centre was a chair of ceremony bedecked with greenery +and great pale buds, hardly yet withered--oh, where had +I seen such a chair and such a raft before? + +And the riddle did not long remain unanswered. Upon +that seat, as I swept up alongside and laid a sunburnt hand +upon its edge, was a girl, and another look told me she was +dead! + +Such a sweet, pallid, Martian maid, her fair head lolling +back against the rear of the chair and gently moving to and +fro with the rise and fall of her craft. Her face in the pale +light of the evening like carved ivory, and not less passion- +less and still; her arms bare, and her poor fingers still +closed in her lap upon the beautiful buds they had put +into them. I fairly gasped with amazement at the dreadful +sweetness of that solitary lady, and could hardly believe +she was really a corpse! But, alas! there was no doubt of it, +and I stared at her, half in admiration and half in fear; +noting how the last sunset flush lent a hectic beauty to her +face for a moment, and then how fair and ghostly she stood +out against the purpling sky; how her light drapery lifted to +the icy wind, and how dreadfully strange all those soft- +scented flowers and trappings seemed as we sped along side +by side into the country of night and snow. + +Then all of a sudden the true meaning of her being there +burst upon me, and with a start and a cry I looked around. +WE WERE FLYING SWIFTLY DOWN THAT RIVER OF THE DEAD THEY +HAD TOLD ME OF THAT HAS NO OUTLET AND NO RETURNING! + +With frantic haste I snatched up a paddle again and tried +to paddle against the great black current sweeping us for- +ward. I worked until the perspiration stood in beads on my +forehead, and all the time I worked the river, like some +black snake, hissed and twined, and that pretty lady rode +cheerily along at my side. Overhead stars of unearthly bril- +liancy were coming out in the frosty sky, while on either +hand the banks were high and the shadows under them +black as ink. In those shadows now and then I noticed +with a horrible indifference other rafts were travelling, and +presently, as the stream narrowed, they came out and joined +us, dead Martians, budding boys and girls; older voyagers +with their age quickening upon them in the Martian manner, +just as some fruit only ripens after it falls; yellow-girt slaves +staring into the night in front, quite a merry crew all +clustered about I and that gentle lady, and more far +ahead and more behind, all bobbing and jostling forward +as we hurried to the dreadful graveyard in the Martian re- +gions of eternal winter none had ever seen and no one came +to! I cried aloud in my desolation and fear and hid my +face in my hands, while the icy cliffs mocked my cry +and the dead maid, tripping alongside, rolled her head +over, and stared at me with stony, unseeing eyes. + +Well, I am no fine writer. I sat down to tell a plain, un- +varnished tale, and I will not let the weird horror of that +ride get into my pen. We careened forward, I and those +lost Martians, until pretty near on midnight, by which time +the great light-giving planets were up, and never a chance +did Fate give me all that time of parting company with +them. About midnight we were right into the region of snow +and ice, not the actual polar region of the planet, as I +afterwards guessed, but one of those long outliers which +follow the course of the broad waterways almost into fertile +regions, and the cold, though intense, was somewhat modified +by the complete stillness of the air. + +It was just then that I began to be aware of a low, rum- +bling sound ahead, increasing steadily until there could not +be any doubt the journey was nearly over and we were +approaching those great falls An had told me of, over which +the dead tumble to perpetual oblivion. There was no op- +portunity for action, and, luckily, little time for thought. I +remember clapping my hand to my heart as I muttered an im- +perfect prayer, and laughing a little as I felt in my pocket, +between it and that organ, an envelope containing some +corn-plaster and a packet of unpaid tailors' bills. Then I +pulled out that locket with poor forgotten Polly's photo- +graph, and while I was still kissing it fervently, and the +dead girl on my right was jealously nudging my canoe with +the corner of her raft, we plunged into a narrow gully as +black as hell, shot round a sharp corner at a tremendous +pace, and the moment afterwards entered a lake in the +midst of an unbroken amphitheatre of cliffs gleaming in soft +light all round. + +Even to this moment I can recall the blue shine of those +terrible ice crags framing the weird picture in on every +hand, and the strange effect upon my mind as we passed +out of the darkness of the gully down which we had come +into the sepulchral radiance of that place. But though it +fixed with one instantaneous flash its impression on my mind +forever, there was no time to admire it. As we swept on to +the lake's surface, and a glance of light coming over a dip +in the ice walls to the left lit up the dead faces and half- +withered flowers of my fellow-travellers with startling dis- +tinctness, I noticed with a new terror at the lower end of +the lake towards which we were hurrying the water suddenly +disappeared in a cloud of frosty spray, and it was from +thence came the low, ominous rumble which had sounded +up the ravine as we approached. It was the fall, and beyond +the stream dropped down glassy step after step, in wild +pools and rapids, through which no boat could live for a +moment, to a black cavern entrance, where it was swal- +lowed up in eternal night. + +I WOULD not go that way! With a yell such as those +solitudes had probably never heard since the planet was +fashioned out of the void, I seized the paddle again and struck +out furiously from the main current, with the result of post- +poning the crisis for a time, and finding myself bobbing +round towards the northern amphitheatre, where the light +fell clearest from planets overhead. It was like a great ball- +room with those constellations for tapers, and a ghastly +crowd of Martians were doing cotillions and waltzes all +about me on their rafts as the troubled water, icy cold and +clear as glass, eddied us here and there in solemn con- +fusion. On the narrow beaches at the cliff foot were hundreds +of wrecked voyagers--the wall-flowers of that ghostly as- +sembly-room--and I went jostling and twirling round the +circle as though looking for a likely partner, until my brain +spun and my heart was sick. + +For twenty minutes Fate played with me, and then the +deadly suck of the stream got me down again close to +where the water began to race for the falls. I vowed sav- +agely I would not go over them if it could be helped, and +struggled furiously. + +On the left, in shadow, a narrow beach seemed to lie +between the water and the cliff foot; towards it I fought. At +the very first stroke I fouled a raft; the occupant thereof +came tumbling aboard and nearly swamped me. But now +it was a fight for life, so him I seized without ceremony +by clammy neck and leg and threw back into the water. +Then another playful Martian butted the behind part of +my canoe and set it spinning, so that all the stars seemed +to be dancing giddily in the sky. With a yell I shoved him +off, but only to find his comrades were closing round me +in a solid ring as we sucked down to the abyss at ever- +increasing speed. + +Then I fought like a fury, hacking, pushing, and paddling +shorewards, crying out in my excitement, and spinning +and bumping and twisting ever downwards. For every foot +I gained they pushed me on a yard, as though determined +their fate should be mine also. + +They crowded round me in a compact circle, their poor +flower-girt heads nodding as the swift current curtsied their +crafts. They hemmed me in with desperate persistency as we +spun through the ghostly starlight in a swirling mass down +to destruction! And in a minute we were so close to the +edge of the fall I could see the water break into ridges as +it felt the solid bottom give way under it. We were so +close that already the foremost rafts, ten yards ahead, were +tipping and their occupants one by one waving their arms +about and tumbling from their funeral chairs as they shot +into the spray veil and went out of sight under a faint +rainbow that was arched over there, the symbol of peace +and the only lovely thing in that gruesome region. Another +minute and I must have gone with them. It was too late to +think of getting out of the tangle then; the water behind +was heavy with trailing silks and flowers. We were jammed +together almost like one huge float and in that latter fact +lay my one chance. + +On the left was a low ledge of rocks leading back to the +narrow beach already mentioned, and the ledge came out +to within a few feet of where the outmost boat on that +side would pass it. It was the only chance and a poor one, +but already the first rank of my fleet was trembling on the +brink, and without stopping to weigh matters I bounded off +my own canoe on to the raft alongside, which rocked with +my weight like a tea-tray. From that I leapt, with such +hearty good-will as I had never had before, on to a second +and third. I jumped from the footstool of one Martian to +the knee of another, steadying myself by a free use of their +nodding heads as I passed. And every time I jumped a +ship collapsed behind me. As I staggered with my spring +into the last and outermost boat the ledge was still six feet +away, half hidden in a smother of foam, and the rim of the +great fall just under it. Then I drew all my sailor agility +together and just as the little vessel was going bow up over +the edge I leapt from her--came down blinded with spray +on the ledge, rolled over and over, clutched frantically at the +frozen soil, and was safe for the moment, but only a few +inches from the vortex below! + +As soon as I picked myself up and got breath, I walked +shorewards and found, with great satisfaction, that the ledge +joined the shelving beach, and so walked on in the blue +obscurity of the cliff shadow back from the falls in the bare +hope that the beach might lead by some way into the gully +through which we had come and open country beyond. +But after a couple of hundred yards this hope ended as +abruptly as the spit itself in deep water, and there I was, +as far as the darkness would allow me to ascertain, as +utterly trapped as any mortal could be. + +I will not dwell on the next few minutes, for no one +likes to acknowledge that he has been unmanned even for +a space. When those minutes were over calmness and con- +sideration returned, and I was able to look about. + +All the opposite cliffs, rising sheer from the water, were +in light, their cold blue and white surfaces rising far up +into the black starfields overhead. Looking at them intently +from this vantage-point I saw without at first understanding +that along them horizontally, tier above tier, were rows of +objects, like--like--why, good Heavens, they were like men +and women in all sorts of strange postures and positions! +Rubbing my eyes and looking again I perceived with a start +and a strange creepy feeling down my back that they WERE +men and women!--hundreds of them, thousands, all in rows +as cormorants stand upon sea-side cliffs, myriads and myriads +now I looked about, in every conceivable pose and attitude +but never a sound, never a movement amongst the vast +concourse. + +Then I turned back to the cliffs behind me. Yes! they +ere there too, dimmer by reason of the shadows, but there +for certain, from the snowfields far above down, down--good +Heavens! to the very level where I stood. There was one of +them not ten yards away half in and half out of the ice +wall, and setting my teeth I walked over and examined +him. And there was another further in behind as I peered +into the clear blue depth, another behind that one, another +behind him--just like cherries in a jelly. + +It was startling and almost incredible, yet so many +wonderful things had happened of late that wonders were +losing their sharpness, and I was soon examining the cliff +almost as coolly as though it were only some trivial geo- +logical "section," some new kind of petrified sea-urchins +which had caught my attention and not a whole nation in +ice, a huge amphitheatre of fossilised humanity which +stared down on me. + +The matter was simple enough when you came to look +at it with philosophy. The Martians had sent their dead +down here for many thousand years and as they came +they were frozen in, the bands and zones in which they +sat indicating perhaps alternating seasons. Then after Nature +had been storing them like that for long ages some up- +heaval happened, and this cleft and lake opened through +the heart of the preserve. Probably the river once ran far +up there where the starlight was crowning the blue cliffs +with a silver diadem of light, only when this hollow opened +did it slowly deepen a lower course, spreading out in a +lake, and eventually tumbling down those icy steps lose +itself in the dark roots of the hills. It was very simple, +no doubt, but incredibly weird and wonderful to me who +stood, the sole living thing in that immense concourse of dead +humanity. + +Look where I would it was the same everywhere. Those +endless rows of frozen bodies lying, sitting, or standing +stared at me from every niche and cornice. It almost seemed, +as the light veered slowly round, as though they smiled +and frowned at times, but never a word was there amongst +those millions; the silence itself was audible, and save the +dull low thunder of the fall, so monotonous the ear be- +came accustomed to and soon disregarded it, there was not +a sound anywhere, not a rustle, not a whisper broke the +eternal calm of that great caravansary of the dead. + +The very rattle of the shingle under my feet and the jingle +of my navy scabbard seemed offensive in the perfect hush, +and, too awed to be frightened, I presently turned away +from the dreadful shine of those cliffs and felt my way along +the base of the wall on my own side. There was no means +of escape that way, and presently the shingle beach itself +gave out as stated, where the cliff wall rose straight from +the surface of the lake, so I turned back, and finding a grotto +in the ice determined to make myself as comfortable as +might be until daylight came. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Fortunately there was a good deal of broken timber +thrown up at "high-water" mark, and with a stack of +this at the mouth of the little cave a pleasant fire was +soon made by help of a flint pebble and the steel back of +my sword. It was a hearty blaze and lit up all the near +cliffs with a ruddy jumping glow which gave their occu- +pants a marvellous appearance of life. The heat also brought +off the dull rime upon the side of my recess, leaving it +clear as polished glass, and I was a little startled to see, +only an inch or so back in the ice and standing as erect as +ever he had been in life, the figure of an imposing grey +clad man. His arms were folded, his chin dropped upon +his chest, his robes of the finest stuff, the very flowers they +had decked his head with frozen with immortality, and +under them, round his crisp and iron-grey hair, a simple +band of gold with strange runes and figures engraved +upon it. + +There was something very simple yet stately about him, +though his face was hidden and as I gazed long and in- +tently the idea got hold of me that he had been a king over +an undegenerate Martian race, and had stood waiting for the +Dawn a very, very long time. + +I wished a little that he had not been quite so near the +glassy surface of the ice down which the warmth was +bringing quick moisture drops. Had he been back there in +the blue depths where others were sitting and crouching +it would have been much more comfortable. But I was a +sailor, and misfortune makes strange companions, so I piled +up the fire again, and lying down presently on the dry +shingle with my back to him stared moodily at the blaze +till slowly the fatigues of the day told, my eyelids dropped +and, with many a fitful start and turn, at length I slept. + +It was an hour before dawn, the fire had burnt low and +I was dreaming of an angry discussion with my tailor in +New York as to the sit of my last new trousers when a faint +sound of moving shingle caught my quick seaman ear, and +before I could raise my head or lift a hand, a man's +weight was on me--a heavy, strong man who bore me down +with irresistible force. I felt the slap of his ice-cold hand +upon my throat and his teeth in the back of my neck! In an +instant, though but half awake, with a yell of surprise and +anger I grappled with the enemy, and exerting all my strength +rolled him over. Over and over we went struggling to- +wards the fire, and when I got him within a foot or so of it +I came out on top, and, digging my knuckles into his throttle, +banged his head upon the stony floor in reckless rage, +until all of a sudden it seemed to me he was done for. +I relaxed my grip, but the other man never moved. I shook +him again, like a terrier with a rat, but he never resented +it. Had I killed him? How limp and cold he was! And then +all of a sudden an uneasy feeling came upon me. I reached +out, and throwing a handful of dried stuff upon the embers +the fire danced gaily up into the air, and the blaze showed +me I was savagely holding down to the gravel and kneeling on +the chest of that long-dead king from my grotto wall! + +It was the man out of the ice without a doubt. There +was the very niche he had fallen from under the influence +of the fire heat, the very recess, exactly in his shape in every +detail, whence he had stood gazing into vacuity all those +years. I left go my hold, and after the flutter in my heart +had gone down, apologetically set him up against the wall +of the cavern whence he had fallen; then built up the fire +until twirling flames danced to the very roof in the blue +light of dawn, and hobgoblin shadows leapt and capered +about us. Then once more I sat down on the opposite +side of the blaze, resting my chin upon my hands, and stared +into the frozen eyes of that grim stranger, who, with his +chin upon his knees, stared back at me with irresistible, +remorseless steadfastness. + +He was as fresh as if he had died but yesterday, yet +by his clothing and something in his appearance, which +was not that of the Martian of to-day, I knew he might +be many thousand years old. What things he had seen, +what wonders he knew! What a story might be put into +his mouth if I were a capable writer gifted with time and +imagination instead of a poor outcast, ill-paid lieutenant +whose literary wit is often taxed hardly to fill even a log- +book entry! I stared at him so long and hard, and he at me +through the blinking flames, that again I dozed--and dozed-- +and dozed again until at last when I woke in good earnest +it was daylight. + +By this time hunger was very aggressive. The fire was +naught but a circlet of grey ashes; the dead king, still +sitting against the cave-side, looked very blue and cold, +and with an uncomfortable realisation of my position I shook +myself together, picked up and pocketed without much +thought the queer gold circlet that had dropped from +his forehead, and went outside to see what prospect of +escape the new day had brought. + +It was not much. Upriver there was not the remotest +chance. Not even a Niagara steamer could have forged +back against the sluice coming down from the gulch there. +Looking round, the sides of the icy amphitheatre--just +lighting up now with glorious gold and crimson glimmers of +morning--were as steep as a wall face; only back towards +the falls was there a possibility of getting out of the dreadful +trap, so thither I went, after a last look at the poor old king, +along my narrow beach with all the eagerness begotten of +a final chance. Up to the very brink it looked hopeless +enough, but, looking downwards when that was reached, +instead of a sheer drop the slope seemed to be a wild +"staircase" of rocks and icy ledges with here and there a +little patch of sand on a cornice, and far below, five +hundred feet or so, a good big spread of gravel an acre or +two in extent close by where the river plunged out of sight +into the nethermost cavern mouth. + +It was so hopeless up above it, it could not possibly be +worse further down, and there was the ugly black flood +running into the hole to trust myself to as a last resource; +so slipping and sliding I began the descent. + +Had I been a schoolboy with a good breakfast ahead +the incident might have been amusing enough. The travel- +ling was mostly done on the seat of my trousers, which +consequently became caked with mud and glacial loam. +Some was accomplished on hands and knees, with now and +then a bit down a snow slope, in good, honest head-over- +heels fashion. The result was a fine appetite for the next +meal when it should please providence to send it, and an +abrupt arrival on the bottom beach about five minutes after +leaving the upper circles. + +I came to behind a cluster of breast-high rocks, and +before moving took a look round. Judge then of my as- +tonishment and delight at the second glance to perceive +about a hundred yards away a brown object, looking like an +ape in the half light, meandering slowly up the margin of +the water towards me. Every now and then it stopped, +stooping down to pick up something or other from the scum +along the torrent, and it was the fact that these trifles, +whatever they were, were put into a wallet by the vision's +side--not into his mouth--which first made me understand +with a joyful thrill that it was a MAN before me--a real, +living man in this huge chamber of dead horrors! Then again +it flashed across my mind in a luminous moment that +where one man could come, or go, or live, another could +do likewise, and never did cat watch mouse with more con- +centrated eagerness than I that quaint, bent-shouldered +thing hobbling about in the blue morning shadows where +all else was silence. + +Nearer and nearer he came, till so close face and garb +were discernible, and then there could no longer be any +doubt, it was a woodman, an old man, with grizzled +monkey-face, stooping gait, and a shaggy fur cloak, utterly +unlike the airy garments of my Hither folk, who now stood +before me. It gave me quite a start to recognise him there, +for it showed I was in a new land, and since he was going +so cheerfully about his business, whatever it might chance +to be, there must be some way out of this accursed pit in +which I had fallen. So very cautiously I edged out, taking +advantage of all the cover possible until we were only twenty +yards apart, and then suddenly standing up, and putting +on the most affable smile, I called out-- + +"Hullo, mess-mate!" + +The effect was electrical. That quaint old fellow sprang +a yard into air as though a spring had shot him up. Then, +coming down, he stood transfixed at his full height as stiff as +a ramrod, staring at me with incredible wonder. He looked +so funny that in spite of hunger and loneliness I burst out +laughing, whereat the woodman, suddenly recovering his +senses, turned on his heels and set off at his best pace in +the opposite direction. This would never do! I wanted him +to be my guide, philosopher, and friend. He was my sole +visible link with the outside world, so after him I went at +tip-top speed, and catching him up in fifty yards along the +shingle laid hold of his nether garments. Whereat the old +fellow stopping suddenly I shot clean over his back, coming +down on my shoulder in the gravel. + +But I was much younger than he, and in a minute was +in chase again. This time I laid hold of his cloak, and the +moment he felt my grip he slipped the neck-thongs and left +me with only the mangy garment in my hands. Again we +set off, dodging and scampering with all our might upon +that frozen bit of beach. The activity of that old fellow +was marvellous, but I could not and would not lose him. +I made a rush and grappled him, but he tossed his head +round and slipped away once more under my arm, as +though he had been brought up by a Chinese wrestler. Then +he got on one side of a flat rock, I the other, and for +three or four minutes we waltzed round that slab in the +most insane manner. + +But by this time we were both pretty well spent--he with +age and I with faintness from my long fast, and we came +presently to a standstill. + +After glaring at me for a time, the woodman gasped out +as he struggled for breath-- + +"Oh, mighty and dreadful spirit! Oh, dweller in pri- +mordial ice, say from which niche of the cliffs has the breath +of chance thawed you?" + +"Never a niche at all, Mr. Hunter-for-Haddocks'-Eyes," +I answered as soon as I could speak. "I am just a castaway +wrecked last night on this shore of yours, and very grateful +indeed will I be if you can show me the way to some +breakfast first, and afterwards to the outside world." + +But the old fellow would not believe. "Spirits such as you," +he said sullenly, "need no food, and go whither they will by +wish alone." + +"I tell you I am not a spirit, and as hungry as I don't +particularly want to be again. Here, look at the back of my +trousers, caked three inches deep in mud. If I were a spirit, +do you think I would slide about on my coat-tails like that? +Do you think that if I could travel by volition I would slip +down these infernal cliffs on my pants' seat as I have just +done? And as for materialism--look at this fist; it punched +you just now! Surely there was nothing spiritual in that +knock?'' + +"No," said the savage, rubbing his head, "it was a good, +honest rap, so I must take you at your word. If you are +indeed man, and hungry, it will be a charity to feed you; +if you are a spirit, it will at least be interesting to watch +you eat; so sit down, and let's see what I have in my wallet." + +So cross-legged we squatted opposite each other on the +table rock, and, feeling like another Sindbad the Sailor, I +watched my new friend fumble in his bag and lay out at his +side all sorts of odds and ends of string, fish-hooks, chew- +ing-gum, material for making a fire, and so on, until at last +he came to a package (done up, I noted with delight, in a +broad, green leaf which had certainly been growing that +morning), and unrolling it, displayed a lump of dried meat, +a few biscuits, much thicker and heavier than the honey- +cakes of the Hither folk, and something that looked and +smelt like strong, white cheese. + +He signed to me to eat, and you may depend upon it I +was not slow in accepting the invitation. That tough biltong +tasted to me like the tenderest steak that ever came from +a grill; the biscuits were ambrosial; the cheese melted in +my mouth as butter melts in that of the virtuous; but when +the old man finished the quaint picnic by inviting me to +accompany him down to the waterside for a drink, I shook +my head. I had a great respect for dead queens and kings, +I said, but there were too many of them up above to make +me thirsty this morning; my respect did not go to making +me desire to imbibe them in solution! + +Afterwards I chanced to ask him what he had been pick- +ing up just now along the margin, and after looking at +me suspiciously for a minute he asked-- + +"You are not a thief?" On being reassured on that +point he continued: "And you will not attempt to rob me +of the harvest for which I venture into this ghost-haunted +glen, which you and I alone of living men have seen?" + +"No." Whatever they were, I said, I would respect his +earnings. + +"Very well, then," said the old man, "look here! I come +hither to pick up those pretty trifles which yonder lords +and ladies have done with," and plunging his hand into an- +other bag he brought out a perfect fistful of splendid gems +and jewels, some set and some unset. "They wash from the +hands and wrists of those who have lodgings in the crevices +of the falls above," he explained. "After a time the beach +here will be thick with them. Could I get up whence you +came down, they might be gathered by the sackful. Come! +there is an eddy still unsearched, and I will show you how +they lie." + +It was very fascinating, and I and that old man set to work +amongst the gravels, and, to be brief, in half an hour +found enough glittering stuff to set up a Fifth Avenue jewel- +ler's shop. But to tell the truth, now that I had breakfasted, +and felt manhood in my veins again, I was eager to be off, +and out of the close, death-tainted atmosphere of that +valley. Consequently I presently stood up and said-- + +"Look here, old man, this is fine sport no doubt, but just +at present I have a big job on hand--one which will not +wait, and I must be going. See, luck and young eyes have +favoured me; here is twice as much gold and stones as you +have got together--it is all yours without a question if you +will show me the way out of this den and afterwards put me +on the road to your big city, for thither I am bound with +an errand to your king, Ar-hap." + +The sight of my gems, backed, perhaps, with the men- +tion of Ar-hap's name, appealed to the old fellow; and af- +ter a grunt or two about "losing a tide" just when spoil was +so abundant, he accepted the bargain, shouldered his be- +longings, and led me towards the far corner of the beach. + +It looked as if we were walking right against the tower- +ing ice wall, but when we were within a yard or two of it a +narrow cleft, only eighteen inches wide, and wonderfully +masked by an ice column, showed to the left, and into this +we squeezed ourselves, the entrance by which we had come +appearing to close up instantly we had gone a pace or +two, so perfectly did the ice walls match each other. + +It was the most uncanny thoroughfare conceivable--a +sheer, sharp crack in the blue ice cliffs extending from where +the sunlight shone in a dazzling golden band five hundred +feet overhead to where bottom was touched in blue ob- +scurity of the ice-foot. It was so narrow we had to travel +sideways for the most part, a fact which brought my face +close against the clear blue glass walls, and enabled me +from time to time to see, far back in those translucent depths, +more and more and evermore frozen Martians waiting in +stony silence for their release. + +But the fact of facts was that slowly the floor of the cleft +trended upwards, whilst the sky strip appeared to come +downwards to meet it. A mile, perhaps, we growled and +squeezed up that wonderful gully; then with a feeling of +incredible joy I felt the clear, outer air smiting upon me. + + +In my hurry and delight I put my head into the small +of the back of the puffing old man who blocked the way in +front and forced him forward, until at last--before we +expected it--the cleft suddenly ended, and he and I +tumbled headlong over each other on to a glittering, frozen +snowslope; the sky azure overhead, the sunshine warm as +a tepid bath, and a wide prospect of mountain and plain +extending all around. + +So delightful was the sudden change of circumstances that +I became quite boyish, and seizing the old man in my exub- +erance by the hands, dragged him to his feet, and danced +him round and round in a circle, while his ancient hair +flapped about his head, his skin cloak waved from his +shoulders like a pair of dusky wings and half-eaten cakes, +dried flesh, glittering jewels, broken diadems, and golden +finger-rings were flung in an arc about us. We capered till +fairly out of breath, and then, slapping him on the back +shoulder, I asked whose land all this was about us. + +He replied that it was no one's, all waste from verge +to verge. + +"What!" was my exclamation. "All ownerless, and with +so much treasure hidden hereabout! Why, I shall annex it +to my country, and you and I will peg out original settlers' +claims!" And, still excited by the mountain air, I whipped +out my sword, and in default of a star-spangled banner +to plant on the newly-acquired territory, traced in gigantic +letters on the snow-crust--U.S.A. + +"And now," I added, wiping the rime off my blade with +the lappet of my coat, "let us stop capering about here and +get to business. You have promised to put me on the way +to your big city." + +"Come on then," said the little man, gathering up his +property. "This white hillside leads to nowhere; we must +get into the valley first, and then you shall see your road." +And right well that quaint barbarian kept his promise. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +It was half a day's march from those glittering snow- +fields into the low country, and when that was reached I +found myself amongst quite another people. + +The land was no longer fat and flowery, giving every kind +of produce for the asking, but stony for the most part, and, +where we first came on vegetation, overgrown by firs, with +a pine which looked to me like a species which went to +make the coal measures in my dear but distant planet. More +than this I cannot say, for there are no places in the world +like mess-room and quarter-deck for forgetting school learn- +ing. Instead of the glorious wealth of parti-coloured vege- +tation my eyes had been accustomed to lately, here they +rested on infertile stretches of marshland intersected by +moss-covered gravel shoots, looking as though they had +been pushed into the plains in front of extinct glaciers +coming down from the region behind us. On the low hills +away from the sea those sombre evergreen forests with an +undergrowth of moss and red lichens were more variegated +with light foliage, and indeed the pines proved to be but +a fringe to the Arctic ice, giving way rapidly to more +typical Martian vegetation each mile we marched to the +southward. + +As for the inhabitants, they seemed, like my guide, rough, +uncouth fellows, but honest enough when you came to know +them. An introduction, however, was highly desirable. I +chanced upon the first native as he was gathering reindeer- +moss. My companion was some little way behind at the +moment, and when the gentle aborigine saw the stranger +he stared hard for a moment, then, turning on his heels, +with extraordinary swiftness flung at me half a pound of +hard flint stone. Had his aim been a little more careful +this humble narrative had never appeared on the Broadway +bookstalls. As it was, the pebble, missing my head by an +inch or two, splintered into a hundred fragments on a rock +behind, and while I was debating whether a revengeful +rush at the slinger or a strategic advance to the rear were +more advisable, my guide called out to his countryman-- + +"Ho! you base prowler in the morasses; you eater of un- +clean vegetation, do you not see this is a ghost I am con- +ducting, a dweller in the ice cliffs, a spirit ten thousand +years old? Put by your sling lest he wither you with a +glance." And, very reasonably, surprised, the aborigine did +as he was bid and cautiously advanced to inspect me. + +The news soon spread over the countryside that my jewel- +hunter was bringing a live "spook" along with him, con- +siderable curiosity mixed with an awe all to my advantage +characterising the people we met thereafter. Yet the won- +der was not so great as might have been expected, for +these people were accustomed to meeting the tags of lost +races, and though they stared hard, their interest was +chiefly in hearing how, when, and where I had been found, +whether I bit or kicked, or had any other vices, and if I +possessed any commercial value. + +My guide's throat must have ached with the repetition +of the narrative, but as he made the story redound greatly +to his own glory, he put up cheerfully with the hoarseness. +In this way, walking and talking alternately, we travelled +during daylight through a country which slowly lost its +rugged features and became more and more inhabited, the +hardy people living in scattered villages in contradiction to +the debased city-loving Hither folk. + +About nightfall we came to a sea-fishers' hamlet, where, +after the old man had explained my exalted nature and ven- +erable antiquity, I was offered shelter for the night. + +My host was the headman, and I must say his bearing +towards the supernatural was most unaffected. If it had +been an Avenue hotel I could not have found more handsome +treatment than in that reed-thatched hut. They made me +wash and rest, and then were all agog for my history; but +that I postponed, contenting myself with telling them I had +been lately in Seth, and had come thence to see them via the +ice valley--to all of which they listened with the simplicity +of children. Afterwards I turned on them, and openly mar- +velled that so small a geographical distance as there was +between that land and this could make so vast a human +difference. "The truth, O dweller in blue shadows of +primordial ice, is," said the most intelligent of the Thither +folk as we sat over fried deer-steak in his hut that evening, +"we who are MEN, not Peri-zad, not overstayed fairies like +those you have been amongst, are newcomers here on this +shore. We came but a few generations ago from where the +gold curtains of the sun lie behind the westward pine-trees, +and as we came we drove, year by year, those fays, those +spent triflers, back before us. All this land was theirs once, +and more and more towards our old home. You may still +see traces of harbours dug and cities built thousands of +years ago, when the Hither folk were living men and women-- +not their shadows. The big water outside stops us for a +space, but," he added, laughing gruffly and taking a draught +of a strong beer he had been heating by the fire, "King +Ar-hap has their pretty noses between his fingers; he takes +tribute and girls while he gets ready--they say he is nearly +ready this summer, and if he is, it will not be much of an +excuse he will need to lick up the last of those triflers, those +pretences of manhood." + +Then we fell to talking of Ar-hap, his subjects and town, +and I learned the tides had swept me a long way to the +northward of the proper route between the capitals of the +two races, that day they carried me into the Dead-Men's +Ice, as these entertainers of mine called the northern snows. +To get back to the place previously aimed at, where the +woodmen road came out on the seashore, it was necessary +to go either by boat, a roundabout way through a maze +of channels, "as tangled as the grass roots in autumn"; +or, secondly, by a couple of days' marching due southward +across the base of the great peninsula we were on, and +so strike blue water again at the long-sought-for harbour. + +As I lay dozing and dreaming on a pile of strange furs +in the corner of the hut that evening I made up my mind for +the land journey tomorrow, having had enough for the mo- +ment of nautical Martian adventures; and this point settled, +fell again to wondering what made me follow so reckless a +quest in the way I was doing; asking myself again and +again what was gazelle-eyed Heru to me after all, and why +should it matter even as much as the value of a brass waist- +coat button whether Hath had her or Ar-hap? What a fool +I was to risk myself day by day in quaint and dangerous +adventures, wearing out good Government shoe-leather in +other men's quarrels, all for a silly slip of royal girlhood +who, by this time, was probably making herself comfortable +and forgetting both Hath and me in the arms of her +rough new lord. + +And from Heru my mind drifted back dreamily to poor +An, and Seth, the city of fallen magnificence, where the +spent masters of a strange planet now lived on suffer- +ance--the ghosts of their former selves. Where was An, where +the revellers on the morning--so long ago it seemed!--when +first that infernal rug of mine translated a chance wish +into a horrible reality and shot me down here, a stranger +and an outcast? Where was the magic rug itself? Where my +steak and tomato supper? Who had eaten it? Who was +drawing my pay? If I could but find the rug when I got +back to Seth, gods! but I would try if it would not return +whence I had come, and as swiftly, out of all these silly +coils and adventuring. + +So musing, presently the firelight died down, and bulky +forms of hide-wrapped woodmen sleeping on the floor +slowly disappeared in obscurity like ranges of mountains +disappearing in the darkness of night. All those uncouth +forms, and the throb of the sea outside, presently faded +upon my senses, and I slept the heavy sleep of one whose +wakefulness gives way before an imperious physical demand. +All through the long hours of the night, while the waves +outside champed upon the gravels, and the woodmen snored +and grunted uneasily as they simultaneously dreamt of the +day's hunting and digested its proceeds, I slept; and then +when dawn began to break I passed from that heavy stupor +into another and lighter realm, wherein fancy again rose +superior to bodily fatigue, and events of the last few days +passed in procession through my mind. + +I dreamt I was lunching at a fashionable seaside resort +with Polly at my side, and An kept bringing us melons, +which grew so monstrous every time a knife was put into +them that poor Polly screamed aloud. I dreamt I was afloat +on a raft, hotly pursued by my tailor, whose bare and shiny +head--may Providence be good to him!--was garlanded +with roses, while in his fist was a bunch of unpaid bills, the +which he waved aloft, shouting to me to stop. And thus +we danced down an ink-black river until he had chiveyed +me into the vast hall of the Admiralty, where a fearsome +Secretary, whose golden teeth rattled and dropped from +his head with mingled cold and anger, towered above me as +he asked why I was absent from my ship without leave. And +I was just mumbling out excuses while stooping to pick up +his golden dentistry, when some one stirring in the hut +aroused me. I started up on my elbow and looked around. +Where was I? For a minute all was confused and dark. +The heavy mound-like forms of sleeping men, the dim outlines +of their hunting gear upon the walls, the pale sea beyond, +half seen through the open doorway, just turning livid in +the morning light; and then as my eyes grew more ac- +customed to the obscurity, and my stupid senses returned, +I recognised the surroundings, and, with a sigh, remembered +yesterday's adventures. + +However, it would never do to mope; so, rising silently +and picking a way through human lumber on the floor, I +went out and down to the water's edge, where "shore-going" +clothes, as we sailors call them, were slipped off, and I +plunged into the sea for a swim. + +It was a welcome dip, for I needed the plunge physically +and intellectually, but it came to an abrupt conclusion. The +Thither folk apparently had never heard of this form of +enjoyment; to them water stood for drinking or drowning, +nothing else, and since one could not drink the sea, to be in +it meant, even for a ghost, to drown. Consequently, when the +word went round the just rousing villages that "He-on-foot- +from-afar" was adrift in the waves, rescue parties were hur- +riedly organised, a boat launched, and, in spite of all +my kicking and shouting (which they took to be evidence +of my semi-moribund condition), I was speedily hauled +out by hairy and powerful hands, pungent herbs burnt un- +der my nose, and my heels held high in the air in +order that the water might run out of me. It was only with +the greatest difficulty those rough but honest fellows were +eventually got to believe me saved. + +The breakfast I made of grilled deer flesh and a fish not +unlike salmon, however, convinced them of my recovery, and +afterward we parted very good friends; for there was some- +thing in the nature of those rugged barbarians just coming +into the dawn of civilisation that won my liking far more +than the effete gentleness of others across the water. + +When the time of parting came they showed no curiosity +as to my errand, but just gave me some food in a fish-skin +bag, thrust a heavy stone-headed axe into my hand, "in case +I had to talk to a thief on the road," and pointed out on +the southern horizon a forked mountain, under which, they +said, was the harbour and high-road to King Ar-hap's capital. +Then they hugged me to their hairy chests in turn, and let +me go with a traveller's blessing. + +There I was again, all alone, none but my thoughts for +companions, and nothing but youth to excuse the folly in +thus venturing on a reckless quest! + +However, who can gainsay that same youth? The very +spice of danger made my steps light and the way pleasant. +For a mile or two the track was plain enough, through an +undulating country gradually becoming more and more +wooded with vegetation, changing rapidly from Alpine to +sub-tropical. The air also grew warmer, and when the divid- +ing ridge was crossed and a thick forest entered, the +snows and dreadful region of Deadmen's Ice already seemed +leagues and leagues away. + +Probably a warm ocean current played on one side of the +peninsula, while a cold one swept the other, but for sci- +entific aspects of the question I cared little in my joy at +being anew in a soft climate, amongst beautiful flowers and +vivid life again. Mile after mile slipped quickly by as I strode +along, whistling "Yankee Doodle" to myself and revelling +in the change. At one place I met a rough-looking Martian +woodcutter, who wanted to fight until he found I also wanted +to, when he turned very civil and as talkative as a solitary +liver often is when his tongue gets started. He particularly +desired to know where I came from, and, as in the case with +so many other of his countrymen, took it for granted, and +with very little surprise, that I was either a spirit or an +inhabitant of another world. With this idea in his mind he +gave me a curious piece of information, which, unfortunately, +I was never able to follow up. + +"I don't think you can be a spirit," he said, critically +eyeing my clothes, which were now getting ragged and dirty +beyond description. "They are finer-looking things than you, +and I doubt if their toes come through their shoes like +yours do. If you are a wanderer from the stars, you are not +like that other one we have down yonder," and he pointed +to the southward. + +"What!" I asked, pricking my ears in amazement, "an- +other wanderer from the outside world! Does he come +from the earth?"--using the word An had given me to signify +my own planet. + +"No, not from there; from the one that burns blue in +evening between sun and sea. Men say he worked as a +stoker or something of the kind when he was at home, and got +trifling with a volcano tap, and was lapped in hot mud, +and blown out here. My brother saw him about a week ago." + +"Now what you say is down right curious. I thought I +had a monopoly of that kind of business in this sphere of +yours. I should be tremendously interested to see him." + +"No you wouldn't," briefly answered the woodman. "He +is the stupidest fool ever blown from one world to another-- +more stupid to look at than you are. He is a gaseous, +wavey thing, so glum you can't get two words a week out +of him, and so unstable that you never know when you are +with him and when the breeze has drifted him somewhere else." + +I could but laugh and insist, with all respect to the +woodcutter, such an individual were worth the knowing +however unstable his constitution; at which the man shrugged +his shoulders and changed the conversation, as though the +subject were too trivial to be worth much consideration. + +This individual gave me the pleasure of his company until +nearly sundown, and finding I took an interest in things of +the forest, pointed out more curious plants and trees than +I have space to mention. Two of them, however, cling to +my memory very tenaciously. One was a very Circe amongst +plants, the horrible charm of which can never be forgotten. +We were going down a glade when a most ravishing odour +fell upon my nostrils. It was heavenly sweet yet withal +there lurked an incredibly, unexpressibly tempting spice of +wickedness in it. The moment he caught that ambrosial +invitation in the air my woodman spit fiercely on the ground, +and taking a plug of wool from his pouch stuffed his nostrils +up. Then he beckoned me to come away. But the odour +was too ravishing, I was bound to see whence it arose, +and finding me deaf to all warnings, the man reluctantly +turned aside down the enticing trail. We pushed about a +hundred yards through bushes until we came to a little +arena full in sunshine where there were neither birds nor +butterflies, but a death-like hush upon everything. Indeed, +the place seemed shunned in spite of the sodden loveliness +of that scent which monopolised and mounted to my brain +until I was beginning to be drunk with the sheer pleasure of +it. And there in the centre of the space stood a plant not +unlike a tree fern, about six feet high, and crowned by one +huge and lovely blossom. It resembled a vast passion-flower +of incredible splendour. There were four petals, with points +resting on the ground, each six feet long, ivory-white inside, +exquisitely patterned with glittering silver veins. From the +base of these rose upright a gauzy veil of azure filaments of +the same length as the petals, wirelike, yet soft as silk, and +inside them again rested a chalice of silver holding a tiny +pool of limpid golden honey. Circe, indeed! It was from +that cup the scent arose, and my throat grew dry with +longing as I looked at it; my eyes strained through the blue +tendrils towards that liquid nectar, and my giddy senses +felt they must drink or die! I glanced at the woodman +with a smile of drunken happiness, then turned tottering +legs towards the blossom. A stride up the smooth causeway +of white petals, a push through the azure haze, and the +wine of the wood enchantress would be mine--molten am- +ber wine, hotter and more golden than the sunshine; the +fire of it was in my veins, the recklessness of intoxication was +on me, life itself as nothing compared to a sip from that +chalice, my lips must taste or my soul would die, and with +trembling hand and strained face I began to climb. + +But the woodman pulled me back. + +"Back, stranger!" he cried. "Those who drink there never +live again." + +"Blessed oblivion! If I had a thousand lives the price +were still too cheap," and once more I essayed to scramble up. + +But the man was a big fellow, and with nostrils plugged, +and eyes averted from the deadly glamour, he seized me +by the collar and threw me back. Three times I tried, three +times he hurled me down, far too faint and absorbed to heed +the personal violence. Then standing between us, "Look," +he said, "look and learn." + +He had killed a small ape that morning, meaning later +on to take its fur for clothing, and this he now unslung +from his shoulder, and hitching the handle of his axe into the +loose skin at the back of its neck, cautiously advanced to the +witch plant, and gently hoisted the monkey over the blue +palings. The moment its limp, dead feet touched the golden +pool a shudder passed through the plant, and a bird some- +where far back in the forest cried out in horror. Quick as +thought, a spasm of life shot up the tendrils, and like tongues +of blue flame they closed round the victim, lapping his +miserable body in their embrace. At the same time the petals +began to rise, showing as they did so hard, leathery, un- +lovely outer rinds, and by the time the woodman was back +at my side the flower was closed. + +Closer and closer wound the blue tendrils; tighter and +tighter closed the cruel petals with their iron grip, until at +last we heard the ape's bones crackling like dry firewood; +then next his head burst, his brains came oozing through +the crevices, while blood and entrails followed them through +every cranny, and the horrible mess with the overflow of +the chalice curled down the stem in a hundred steaming +rills, till at last the petals locked with an ugly snap upon +their ghastly meal, and I turned away from the sight in dread +and loathing. + +That was plant Number One. + +Plant Number Two was of milder disposition, and won a +hearty laugh for my friendly woodman. In fact, being of a +childlike nature, his success as a professor of botany quite +pleased him, and not content with answering my questions, +he set to work to find new vegetable surprises, greatly +enjoying my wonder and the sense of importance it gave him. + +In this way we came, later on in the day, to a spot where +herbage was somewhat scantier, the grass coarse, and soil +shallow. Here I espied a tree of small size, apparently +withered, but still bearing a few parched leaves on its upper- +most twigs. + +"Now that," quoth the professor, "is a highly curious tree, +and I should like you to make a close acquaintance with it. +It grows from a seed in the course of a single springtime, +perishes in the summer; but a few specimens stand through- +out the winter, provided the situation is sheltered, as this +one has done. If you will kindly go down and shake its stem +I believe you will learn something interesting." + +So, very willing to humour him, away I went to the +tree, which was perfect in every detail, but apparently very +dry, clasped it with both hands, and, pulling myself to- +gether, gave it a mighty shake. The result was instantaneous. +The whole thing was nothing but a skin of dust, whence all +fibre and sap had gone, and at my touch it dissolved into +a cloud of powder, a huge puff of white dust which +descended on me as though a couple of flour-bags had +been inverted over my head; and as I staggered out sneez- +ing and blinking, white as a miller from face to foot, the +Martian burst into a wild, joyous peal of laughter that +made the woods ring again. His merriment was so sincere +I had not the heart to be angry, and soon laughed as loud +as he did; though, for the future, I took his botanical es- +says with a little more caution. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +That woodman friend of mine proved so engaging it was +difficult to get away, and thus when, dusk upon us, and my +object still a long distance off, he asked me to spend the +night at his hut, I gladly assented. + +We soon reached the cabin where the man lived by himself +whilst working in the forest. It was a picturesque little place +on a tree-overhung lagoon, thatched, wattled, and all +about were piles of a pleasant-scented bark, collected for +the purpose of tanning hides, and I could not but marvel +that such a familiar process should be practised identically +on two sides of the universal ether. But as a matter of +fact the similarity of many details of existence here and +there was the most striking of the things I learned whilst +in the red planet. + +Within the hut stood a hearth in the centre of the floor, +whereon a comfortable blaze soon sparkled, and upon the +walls hung various implements, hides, and a store of dried +fruits of various novel kinds. My host, when he had somewhat +disdainfully watched me wash in a rill of water close by, +suggested supper, and I agreed with heartiest good will. + +"Nothing wonderful! Oh, Mr. Blue-coat!" he said, pranc- +ing about as he made his hospitable arrangements. "No fine +meat or scented wine to unlock, one by one, all the doors +of paradise, such as I have heard they have in lands be- +yond the sea; but fare good enough for plain men who eat +but to live. So! reach me down yonder bunch of yellow +aru fruit, and don't upset that calabash, for all my funniest +stories lurk at the bottom of it." + +I did as he bid, and soon we were squatting by the fire +toasting arus on pointed sticks, the doorway closed with a +wattle hurdle, and the black and gold firelight filling the +hut with fantastic shadows. Then when the banana-like +fruit was ready, the man fetched from a recess a loaf of +bread savoured with the dust of dried and pounded fish, +put the foresaid calabash of strong ale to warm, and down +we sat to supper with real woodman appetites. Seldom have +I enjoyed a meal so much, and when we had finished the +fruit and the wheat cake my guide snatched up the great +gourd of ale, and putting it to his lips called out: + +"Here's to you, stranger; here's to your country; here's to +your girl, if you have one, and death to your enemies!" Then +he drank deep and long, and, passed the stuff to me. + +"Here's to you, bully host, and the missus, and the +children, if there are any, and more power to your el- +bow!"--the which gratified him greatly, though probably he +had small idea of my meaning. + +And right merry we were that evening. The host was a +jolly good fellow, and his ale, with a pleasant savour of +mint in it, was the heartiest drink I ever set lips to. We +talked and laughed till the very jackals yapped in sympathy +outside. And when he had told a score of wonderful wood +stories as pungent of the life of these fairy forests as the +aromatic scent of his bark-heaps outside, as iridescent with +the colours of another world as the rainbow bubbles rid- +ing down his starlit rill, I took a turn, and told him of the +commonplaces of my world so far away, whereat he laughed +gloriously again. The greater the commonplace the larger +his joy. The humblest story, hardly calculated to impress a +griffin between watches on the main-deck, was a masterpiece +of wit to that gentle savage; and when I "took off" the +tricks and foibles of some of my superiors--Heaven forgive +me for such treason!--he listened with the exquisite open- +mouthed delight of one who wanders in a brand-new +world of mirth. + +We drank and laughed over that strong beer till the little +owls outside raised their voice in combined accord, and +then the woodman, shaking the last remnant of his sleepy wits +together, and giving a reproachful look at me for finally +passing him the gourd empty to the last drop, rose, threw a +fur on a pile of dead grass at one side of the hut, and bid +me sleep, "for his brain was giddy with the wonders of the +incredible and ludicrous sphere which I had lately in- +habited." + +Slowly the fire died away; slowly the quivering gold and +black arabesques on the walls merged in a red haze as the +sticks dropped into tinder, and the great black outline of +the hairy monster who had thrown himself down by the +embers rose up the walls against that flush like the outline +of a range of hills against a sunset glow. I listened drowsily +for a space to his snoring and the laughing answer of the +brook outside, and then that ambrosial sleep which is the +gentle attendant of hardship and danger touched my tired +eyelids, and I, too, slept. + +My friend was glum the next morning, as they who stay +over-long at the supper flagon are apt to be. He had been +at work an hour on his bark-heaps when I came out into the +open, and it was only by a good deal of diplomacy and +some material help in sorting his faggots that he was got into +a better frame of mind. I could not, however, trust his +mood completely, and as I did not want to end so jovial +a friendship with a quarrel, I hurried through our breakfast +of dry bread, with hard-boiled lizard eggs, and then settling +my reckoning with one of the brass buttons from my coat, +which he immediately threaded, with every evidence of ex- +treme gratification, on a string of trinkets hanging round his +neck, asked him the way to Ar-hap's capital. + +"Your way is easy, friend, as long as you keep to the +straight path and have yonder two-humped mountain in +front. To the left is the sea, and behind the hill runs the canal +and road by which all traffic comes or goes to Ar-hap. +But above all things pass not to the hills right, for no man +goes there; there away the forests are thick as night, and +in their perpetual shadows are the ruins of a Hither city, +a haunted fairy town to which some travellers have been, +but whence none ever returned alive." + +"By the great Jove, that sounds promising! I would like +to see that town if my errand were not so urgent." + +But the old fellow shook his shaggy head and turned a +shade yellower. "It is no place for decent folk," he growled. +"I myself once passed within a mile of its outskirts at dusk, +and saw the unholy little people's lanterned processions +starting for the shrine of Queen Yang, who, tradition says, +killed herself and a thousand babies with her when we +took this land." + +"My word, that was a holocaust! Couldn't I drop in +there to lunch? It would make a fine paper for an anti- +quarian society." + +Again the woodman frowned. "Do as I bid you, son. +You are too young and green to go on ventures by yourself. +Keep to the straight road: shun the swamps and the fairy +forest, else will you never see Ar-hap." + +"And as I have very urgent and very important business +with him, comrade, no doubt your advice is good. I will call +on Princess Yang some other day. And now goodbye! +Rougher but friendlier shelter than you have given me no +man could ask for. I am downright sorry to part with you +in this lonely land. If ever we meet again--" but we never +did! The honest old churl clasped me into his hairy bosom +three times, stuffed my wallet with dry fruit and bread, +and once more repeating his directions, sent me on my +lonely way. + +I confess I sighed while turning into the forest, and looked +back more than once at his retreating form. The loneliness +of my position, the hopelessness of my venture, welled up +in my heart after that good comradeship, and when the hut +was out of sight I went forward down the green grass road, +chin on chest, for twenty minutes in the deepest dejection. +But, thank Heaven, I was born with a tough spirit, and +possess a mind which has learned in many fights to give +brave counsel to my spirit, and thus presently I shook myself +together, setting my face boldly to the quest and the +day's work. + +It was not so clear a morning as the previous one, and a +steamy wind on what at sea I should have called the +starboard bow, as I pressed forward to the distant hill, +had a curiously subduing effect on my thoughts, and filled +the forest glades with a tremulous unreality like to nothing +on our earth, and distinctly embarrassing to a stranger in a +strange land. Small birds in that quaint atmospheric haze +looked like condors, butterflies like giant fowl, and the sim- +plest objects of the forest like the imaginations of a disordered +dream. Behind that gauzy hallucination a fine white mist +came up, and the sun spread out flat and red in the sky, +while the pent-in heat became almost unendurable. + +Still I plodded on, growling to myself that in Christian +latitudes all the evidences would have been held to be- +token a storm before night, whatever they might do here, +but for the most part lost in my own gloomy speculations. +That was the more pity since, in thinking the walk over now, +it seems to me that I passed many marvels, saw many +glorious vistas in those nameless forests, many spreads of +colour, many incidents that, could I but remember them +more distinctly, would supply material for making my fortune +as a descriptive traveller. But what would you? I have +forgotten, and am too virtuous to draw on my imagination, +as it is sometimes said other travellers have done when +picturesque facts were deficient. Yes, I have forgotten all +about that day, save that it was sultry hot, that I took off +my coat and waistcoat to be cooler, carrying them, like +the tramp I was, across my arm, and thus dishevelled +passed some time in the afternoon an encampment of forest +folk, wherefrom almost all the men were gone, and the +women shy and surly. + +In no very social humour myself, I walked round their +woodland village, and on the outskirts, by a brook, just as +I was wishing there were some one to eat my solitary lunch +with, chanced upon a fellow busily engaged in hammering +stones into weapons upon a flint anvil. + +He was an ugly-looking individual at best, yet I was +hard up for company, so I put my coat down, and, seating +myself on a log opposite, proceeded to open my wallet, +and take out the frugal stores the woodman had given me +that morning. + +The man was seated upon the ground holding a stone +anvil between his feet, while with his hands he turned +and chipped with great skill a spear-head he was making out +of flint. It was about the only pastime he had, and his little +yellow eyes gleamed with a craftsman's pleasure, his shaggy +round shoulders were bent over the task, the chips flew +in quick particles, and the wood echoed musically as the arti- +ficer watched the thing under his hands take form and +fashion. Presently I spoke, and the worker looked up, not +too pleased at being thus interrupted. But he was easy of +propitiation, and over a handful of dried raisins communi- +cative. + +How, I asked, knowing a craftsman's craft is often nearest +to his heart, how was it such things as that he chipped +came to be thought of by him and his? Whereon the +woodman, having spit out the raisin-stones and wiped his +fingers on his fur, said in substance that the first weapon +was fashioned when the earliest ape hurled the first stone +in wrath. + +"But, chum," I said, taking up his half-finished spear +and touching the razor-fine edge with admiring caution, +"from hurling the crude pebble to fashioning such as this is +a long stride. Who first edged and pointed the primitive +malice? What man with the soul of a thousand unborn +fighters in him notched and sharpened your natural rock?" + +Whereon the chipper grinned, and answered that, when +the woodmen had found stones that would crack skulls, it +came upon them presently that they would crack nuts as +well. And cracking nuts between two stones one day a flint +shattered, and there on the grass was the golden secret of +the edge--the thing that has made man what he is. + +"Yet again, good fellow," I queried, "even this happy +chance only gives us a weapon, sharp, no doubt, and cal- +culated to do a hundred services for any ten the original +pebble could have done, but still unhandled, small in force, +imperfect--now tell me, which of your amiable ancestors +first put a handle to the fashioned flint, and how he thought +of it?" + +The workman had done his flake by now, and wrapping it +in a bit of skin, put it carefully in his belt before turning +to answer my question. + + "Who made the first handle for the first flint, you of the +many questions? She did--she, the Mother," he suddenly +cried, patting the earth with his brown hand, and working +himself up as he spoke, "made it in her heart for us her +first-born. See, here is such as the first handled weapon that +ever came out of darkness," and he snatched from the +ground, where it had lain hidden under his fox-skin cloak, +a heavy club. I saw in an instant how it was. The club +had been a sapling, and the sapling's roots had grown about +and circled with a splendid grip a lump of native flint. +A woodman had pulled the sapling, found the flint, and +fashioned the two in a moment of happy inspiration, the +one to an axe-head and the other to a handle, as they lay +Nature-welded! + +"This, I say, is the first--the first!" screamed the old +fellow +as though I were contradicting him, thumping the ground +with his weapon, and working himself up to a fury as its +black magic entered his being. "This is the first: with this +I slew Hetter and Gur, and those who plundered my hiding- +places in the woods; with this I have killed a score of others, +bursting their heads, and cracking their bones like dry sticks. +With this--with this--" but here his rage rendered him in- +articulate; he stammered and stuttered for a minute, and +then as the killing fury settled on him his yellow teeth shut +with a sudden snap, while through them his breath rattled +like wind through dead pine branches in December, the +sinews sat up on his hands as his fingers tightened upon the +axe-heft like the roots of the same pines from the ground +when winter rain has washed the soil from beneath them; +his small eyes gleamed like baleful planets; every hair upon +his shaggy back grew stiff and erect--another minute and +my span were ended. + +With a leap from where I sat I flew at that hairy beast, +and sinking my fists deep in his throttle, shook him till his eyes +blazed with delirious fires. We waltzed across the short green- +sward, and in and about the tree-trunks, shaking, pulling, +and hitting as we went, till at last I felt the man's vigour dy- +ing within him; a little more shaking, a sudden twist, and +he was lying on the ground before me, senseless and civil! +That is the worst of some orators, I thought to myself, as +I gloomily gathered up the scattered fragments of my lunch; +they never know when they have said enough, and are too +apt to be carried away by their own arguments. + +That inhospitable village was left behind in full belief +the mountain looming in the south could be reached before +nightfall, while the road to its left would serve as a sure guide +to food and shelter for the evening. But, as it turned out, the +morning's haze developed a strong mist ere the afternoon +was half gone, through which it was impossible to see +more than twenty yards. My hill loomed gigantic for a time +with a tantalising appearance of being only a mile or two +ahead, then wavered, became visionary, and finally disap- +peared as completely as though the forest mist had drunk it +up bodily. + +There was still the road to guide me, a fairly well- +beaten track twining through the glades; but even the best of +highways are difficult in fog, and this one was compli- +cated by various side paths, made probably by hunters or +bark-cutters, and without compass or guide marks it was +necessary to advance with extreme caution, or get helplessly +mazed. + +An hour's steady tramping brought me nowhere in particu- +lar, and stopping for a minute to consider, I picked a few +wild fruit, such as my wood-cutter friend had eaten, from +an overhanging bush, and in so doing slipped, the soil having +now become damp, and in falling broke a branch off. The +incident was only important from what follows. Picking +myself up, perhaps a little shaken by the jolt, I set off again +upon what seemed the plain road, and being by this time +displeased by my surroundings, determined to make a push +for "civilization" before the rapidly gathering darkness set- +tled down. + +Hands in pockets and collar up, I marched forward at a +good round pace for an hour, constantly straining eyes for +a sight of the hill and ears for some indications of living +beings in the deathly hush of the shrouded woods, and at +the end of that time, feeling sure habitations must now be +near, arrived at what looked like a little open space, some- +how seeming rather familiar in its vague outlines. + +Where had I seen such a place before? Sauntering +round the margin, a bush with a broken branch sud- +denly attracted my attention--a broken bush with a long +slide in the mud below it, and the stamp of Navy boots in +the soft turf! I glared at those signs for a moment, then +with an exclamation of chagrin recognised them only too +well--it was the bush whence I had picked the fruit, and +the mark of my fall. An hour's hard walking round some +accursed woodland track had brought me exactly back to +the point I had started from--I was lost! + +It really seemed to get twenty per cent darker as I made +that abominable discovery, and the position dawned in all its +uncomfortable intensity. There was nothing for it but to start +off again, this time judging my direction only by a light +breath of air drifting the mist tangles before it; and therein +I made a great mistake, for the breeze had shifted several +points from the quarter whence it blew in the morning. + +Knowing nothing of this, I went forward with as much +lightheartedness as could be managed, humming a song +to myself, and carefully putting aside thoughts of warmth +and supper, while the dusk increased and the great forest +vegetation seemed to grow ranker and closer at every step + +Another disconcerting thing was that the ground sloped +gradually downwards, not upwards as it should have done, till +it seemed the path lay across the flats of a forest-covered +plain, which did not conform to my wish of striking a road +on the foot-hills of the mountain. However, I plodded on, +drawing some small comfort from the fact that as darkness +came the mist rose from the ground and appeared to con- +dense in a ghostly curtain twenty feet overhead, where it +hung between me and a clear night sky, presently illum- +ined by starlight with the strangest effect. + +Tired, footsore, and dejected, I struggled on a little +further. Oh for a cab, I laughed bitterly to myself. Oh for +even the humble necessary omnibus of civilisation. Oh for +the humblest tuck-shop where a mug of hot coffee and a +snack could be had by a homeless wanderer; and as I +thought and plodded savagely on, collar up, hands in +pockets, through the black tangles of that endless wood, +suddenly the sound of wailing children caught my ear! + +It was the softest, saddest music ever mortal listened to. It +was as though scores of babes in pain were dropping to +sleep on their mothers' breasts, and all hushing their sor- +rows with one accord in a common melancholy chorus. I +stood spell-bound at that elfin wailing, the first sound to break +the deathly stillness of the road for an hour or more, and +my blood tingled as I listened to it. Nevertheless, here +was what I was looking for; where there were weeping +children there must be habitations, and shelter, and--splendid +thought!--supper. Poor little babes! their crying was the +deadliest, sweetest thing in sorrows I ever listened to. If it +was cholic--why, I knew a little of medicine, and in +gratitude for that prospective supper, I had a soul big +enough to cure a thousand; and if they were in disgrace, +and by some quaint Martian fashion had suffered simul- +taneous punishment for baby offences, I would plead for +them. + +In fact, I fairly set off at the run towards the sobbing, +in the black, wet, night air ahead, and, tripping as I ran, +looked down and saw in the filtering starlight that the forest +grass had given place to an ancient roadway, paved with +moss-grown flag-stones, such as they still used in Seth. + +Without stopping to think what that might mean I hur- +ried on, the wailing now right ahead, a tremulous tumult +of gentle grief rising and falling on the night air like the +sound of a sea after a storm; and so, presently, in a minute +or two, came upon a ruined archway spanning the lonely +road, held together by great masses of black-fingered creep- +ers, gaunt and ghostly in the shadows, an extraordinary and +unexpected vision; and as I stopped with a jerk under +that forbidding gateway and glared at its tumbled masonry +and great portals hanging rotten at their hinges, suddenly +the truth flashed upon me. I had taken the forbidden +road after all. I was in the ancient, ghost-haunted city of +Queen Yang! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The dark forest seemed to shut behind as I entered the +gateway of the deserted Hither town, against which my +wood-cutter friend had warned me, while inside the soft +mist hung in the starlight like grey drapery over endless +vistas of ruins. What was I to do? Without all was black +and cheerless, inside there was at least shelter. Wet and +cold, my courage was not to be put down by the stories of a +silly savage; I would go on whatever happened. Besides, +the soft sound of crying, now apparently all about, seemed +companionable, and I had heard so much of ghosts of late, the +sharp edge of fear at their presence was wearing off. + +So in I went: up a broad, decayed street, its flagstones +heaved everywhere by the roots of gnarled trees, and +finding nothing save ruin, tried to rest under a wall. But +the night air was chilly and the shelter poor, so out I came +again, with the wailing in the shadows so close about now that +I stopped, and mustering up courage called aloud: + +"Hullo, you who weep there in the dark, are you living +or dead?" And after a minute from the hollows of the empty +hearths around came the sad little responsive echo: + +"Are you living or dead?" It was very delusive and un- +satisfactory, and I was wondering what to do next when a +slant of warmer wind came up behind me under the mist, +and immediately little tongues of blue flame blossomed with- +out visible cause in every darksome crevice; pale flickers +of miasmic light rising pallid from every lurking nook and +corner in the black desolation as though a thousand lamps +were lit by unseen fingers, and, knee high, floated out +into the thoroughfare where they oscillated gently in airy +grace, and then, forming into procession, began drifting be- +fore the tepid air towards the city centre. At once I thought of +what the woodcutter had seen, but was too wet and sulky +by this time to care. The fascination of the place was on +me, and dropping into rear of the march, I went forward +with it. By this time the wailing had stopped, though now +and then it seemed a dark form moved in the empty door- +ways on either hand, while the mist, parting into gossamers +before the wind, took marvellously human forms in every +alley and lane we passed. + +Thus I, a sodden giant, led by those elfin torches, paced +through the city until we came to an open square with a +great lumber of ruins in the centre all marred and spoiled +by vegetation; and here the lights wavered, and went out +by scores and hundreds, just as the petals drop from spent +flowers, while it seemed, though it may have been only wind +in the rank grass, that the air was full of most plaintive +sighs as each little lamp slipped into oblivion. + +The big pile was a mass of fallen masonry, which, from +the broken pillars all about, might have been a palace or +temple once. I pushed in, but it was as dark as Hades here, +so, after struggling for a time in a labyrinth of chambers, +chose a sandy recess, with some dry herbage by way of +bedding in a corner, and there, thankful at least for shel- +ter, my night's wanderings came to an end and I coiled +myself down, ate a last handful of dry fruit, and, strange +as it may seem, was soon sleeping peacefully. + +I dreamed that night that a woman, with a face as white +as ivory, came and bent over me. She led a babe by either +hand, while behind her were scores of other ones, with +lovely faces, but all as pale as the stars themselves, who +looked and sighed, but said nothing, and when they had +stared their fill, dropped out one by one, leaving a wonderful +blank in the monotony where they had been; but beyond +that dream nothing happened. + +It was a fine morning when I woke again, and ob- +viously broad day outside, the sunshine coming down +through cracks in the old palace roof, and lying in golden +pools on the floor with dazzling effect. + +Rubbing my eyes and sitting up, it took me some time +to get my senses together, and at first an uneasy feeling +possessed me that I was somehow dematerialised and in +an unreal world. But a twinge of cramp in my left arm, +and a healthy sneeze, which frightened a score of bats +overhead nearly out of their senses, was reassuring on this +point, and rubbing away the cramp and staggering to my +feet, I looked about at the strange surroundings. It was +cavernous chaos on every side: magnificent architecture +reduced to the confusion of a debris-heap, only the hollow +chambers being here and there preserved by massive columns +meeting overhead. Into these the yellow light filtered wher- +ever a rent in a cupola or side-wall admitted it, and allured +by the vision of corridors one beyond the other, I presently +set off on a tour of discovery. + +Twenty minutes' scrambling brought me to a place where +the fallen jambs of a fine doorway lay so close together that +there was barely room to pass between them. However, +seeing light beyond, I squeezed through, and I found my- +self in the best-preserved chamber of all--a wide, roomy +hall with a domed roof, a haze of mural paintings on the +walls, and a marble floor nearly hidden in a century of +fallen dust. I stumbled over something at the threshold, +and picking it up, found it was a baby's skull! And there +were more of them now that my eyes became accustomed +to the light. The whole floor was mottled with them--scores +and hundreds of bones and those poor little relics of +humanity jutting out of the sand everywhere. In the hush +of that great dead nursery the little white trophies seemed +inexpressibly pathetic, and I should have turned back +reverently from that chamber of forgotten sorrows but +that something caught my eye in the centre of it. + +It was an oblong pile of white stone, very ill-used and +chipped, wrist-deep in dust, yet when a slant of light came +in from above and fell straight upon it, the marble against +the black gloom beyond blazed like living pearl. It was +dazzling; and shading my eyes and going tenderly over +through the poor dead babes, I looked, and there, full in the +shine, lay a woman's skeleton, still wrapped in a robe of +which little was left save the hard gold embroidery. Her +brown hair, wonderful to say, still lay like lank, dead sea- +weed about her, and amongst it was a fillet crown of plain +iron set with gems such as eye never looked upon before. +There were not many, but enough to make the proud sim- +plicity of that circlet glisten like a little band of fire--a +gleaming halo on her dead forehead infinitely fascinating. At +her sides were two other little bleached human flowers, and +I stood before them for a long time in silent sympathy. + +Could this be Queen Yang, of whom the woodcutter had +told me? It must be--who else? And if it were, what strange +chance had brought me here--a stranger, yet the first to +come, since her sorrow, from her distant kindred? And if it +were, then that fillet belonged of right to Heru, the last rep- +resentative of her kind. Ought I not to take it to her rather +than leave it as spoil to the first idle thief with pluck enough +to deride the mysteries of the haunted city? Long time I +thought over it in the faint, heavy atmosphere of that hall, +and then very gently unwound the hair, lifted the circlet, +and, scarcely knowing what I did, put it in my shoulder-bag. + +After that I went more cheerfully into the outside sun- +shine, and setting my clothes to dry on a stone, took stock +of the situation. The place was, perhaps, not quite so romantic +by day as by night, and the scattered trees, matted by +creepers, with which the whole were overgrown, prevented +anything like an extensive view of the ruined city being ob- +tained. But what gave me great satisfaction was to note +over these trees to the eastward a two-humped mountain, +not more than six or seven miles distant--the very one I +had mislaid the day before. Here was reality and a chance +of getting back to civilisation. I was as glad as if home +were in sight, and not, perhaps, the less so because the hill +meant villages and food; and you who have doubtless lunched +well and lately will please bear in mind I had had nothing +since breakfast the day before; and though this may look +picturesque on paper, in practice it is a painful item in +one's programme. + +Well, I gave my damp clothes but a turn or two more in +the sun, and then, arguing that from the bare ground where +the forest ended half-way up the hill, a wide view would be +obtained, hurried into my garments and set off thither +right gleefully. A turn or two down the blank streets, now +prosaic enough, an easy scramble through a gap in the +crumbling battlements, and there was the open forest again, +with a friendly path well marked by the passage of those +wild animals who made the city their lair trending towards +my landmark. + +A light breakfast of soft green nuts, plucked on the way, +and then the ground began to bend upwards and the +woods to thin a little. With infinite ardour, just before mid- +day, I scrambled on to a bare knoll on the very hillside, +and fell exhausted before the top could be reached. + +But what were hunger or fatigue to the satisfaction of +that moment? There was the sea before me, the clear, strong, +gracious sea, blue leagues of it, furrowed by the white +ridges of some distant storm. I could smell the scent of it even +here, and my sailor heart rose in pride at the companion- +ship of that alien ocean. Lovely and blessed thing! how +often have I turned from the shallow trivialities of the land +and found consolation in the strength of your stately soli- +tudes! How often have I turned from the tinselled presence +of the shore, the infinite pretensions of dry land that make +life a sorry, hectic sham, and found in the black bosom of the +Great Mother solace and comfort! Dear, lovely sea, man- +half of every sphere, as far removed in the sequence of +your strong emotions from the painted fripperies of the +woman-land as pole from pole--the grateful blessing of the +humblest of your followers on you! + +The mere sight of salt water did me good. Heaven knows +our separation had not been long, and many an unkind +slap has the Mother given me in the bygone; yet the mere +sight of her was tonic, a lethe of troubles, a sedative +for tired nerves; and I gazed that morning at the illimitable +blue, the great, unfettered road to everywhere, the ever- +varied, the immutable, the thing which was before every- +thing and shall be last of all, in an ecstasy of affection. + +There was also other satisfaction at hand. Not a mile +away lay a well-defined road--doubtless the one spoken +of by the wood-cutter--and where the track pointed to the +seashore the low roofs and circling smoke of a Thither town- +ship showed. + +There I went hot-footed, and, much too hungry to be +nice in formality, swung up to the largest building on the +waterside quay and demanded breakfast of the man who +was lounging by its doorway chewing a honey reed. He +looked me up and down without emotion, then, falling into +the common mistake, said, + +"This is not a hostel for ghosts, sir. We do not board and +lodge phantoms here; this is a dry fish shop." + +"Thrice blessed trade!" I answered. "Give me some dried +fish, good fellow, or, for the matter of that, dried horse or +dog, or anything mortal teeth can bite through, and I will +show you my tastes are altogether mundane." + +But he shook his head. "This is no place for the likes of +you, who come, mayhap, from the city of Yang or some +other abode of disembodied spirits--you, who come for +mischief and pay harbourage with mischance--is it likely +you could eat wholesome food?" + +"Indeed I could, and plenty of it, seeing I have dined +and breakfasted along the hedges with the blackbirds this +two days. Look here, I will pay in advance. Will that get me +a meal?" and, whipping out my knife, cut off another of +my fast-receding coat buttons. + +The man took it with great interest, as I hoped he +would, the yellow metal being apparently a very scarce +commodity in his part of the planet. + +"Gold?" he asked. + +"Well--ahem! I forgot to ask the man who sewed them +on for me what they were exactly, but it looks like gold, +doesn't it?" + +"Yes," he answered, turning it to and fro admiringly in his +hand, "you are the first ghost I ever knew to pay in ad- +vance, and plenty of them go to and fro through here. Such +a pretty thing is well worth a meal--if, indeed, you can +stomach our rough fare. Here, you woman within," he +called to the lady whom I presume was his wife, "here is +a gentleman from the nether regions who wants some break- +fast and has paid in advance. Give him some of your best, +for he has paid well." + +"And what," said a female voice from inside, "what if I +refused to serve another of these plaguy wanderers you are +always foisting upon me?" + +"Don't mind her tongue, sir. It's the worst part of her, +though she is mighty proud of it. Go in and she will see you +do not come out hungry," and the Thither man returned +calmly to his honey stick. + +"Come on, you Soul-with-a-man's-stomach," growled the +woman, and too hungry to be particular about the tone +of invitation, I strode into the parlour of that strange +refreshment place. The woman was the first I had seen of the +outer race, and better than might have been expected in +appearance. Big, strong, and ruddy, she was a mental shock +after the slender slips of girlhood on the far side of the +water, half a dozen of whom she could have carried off +without effort in her long arms. Yet there was about her +the credential of rough health, the dignity of muscle, an +upright carriage, an animal grace of movement, and withal +a comely though strongly featured face, which pleased me +at once, and later on I had great cause to remember her +with gratitude. She eyed me sulkily for a minute, then her +frown gradually softened, and the instinctive love of the +woman for the supernatural mastered her other feelings. + +"Is that how you looked in another world?" she asked. + +"Yes, exactly, cap to boots. What do you think of the +attire, ma'am?" + +"Not much," replied the good woman frankly. "It could +not have been becoming even when new, and you appear +as though you had taken a muddy road since then. What +did you die of?" + +"I will tell you so much as this, madam--that what I +am like to die of now is hunger, plain, unvarnished hunger, +so, in Heaven's name, get out what you have and let me +fall-to, for my last meal was yesterday morning." + +Whereat, with a shrug of her shoulders at the eccentric- +ities of nether folk, the woman went to the rear of the house, +and presently came back with a meal which showed her +husband had done scant justice to the establishment by +calling it a dry fish shop. It is true, fish supplied the +staple of the repast, as was inevitable in a seaport, but, +like all Martian fish, it was of ambrosial kind, with a savour +about it of wine and sunshine such as no fish on our side +of space can boast of. Then there were cakes, steaming +and hot, vegetables which fitted into the previous course with +exquisite nicety, and, lastly, a wooden tankard of the in- +variable Thither beer to finish off. Such a meal as a hungry +man might consider himself fortunate to meet with any day. + +The woman watched me eat with much satisfaction, and +when I had answered a score of artless questions about +my previous state, or present condition and prospects, more +or less to her satisfaction, she supplied me in turn with some +information which was really valuable to me just then. + +First I learned that Ar-hap's men, with the abducted Heru, +had passed through this very port two days before, and +by this time were probably in the main town, which, it +appeared, was only about twelve hours' rowing up the salt- +water estuary outside. Here was news! Heru, the prize and +object of my wild adventure, close at hand and well. It +brought a whole new train of thoughts, for the last few +days had been so full of the stress of travel, the bare, hard +necessity of getting forward, that the object of my quest, +illogical as it may seem, had gone into the background +before these things. And here again, as I finished the last +cake and drank down to the bottom of the ale tankard, the +extreme folly of the venture came upon me, the madness +of venturing single-handed into the den of the Wood King. +What had I to hope for? What chance, however remote, +was there of successfully wresting that blooming prize from +the arms of her captor? Force was out of the question; +stealth was utterly impractical; as for cajolery, apparently +the sole remaining means of winning back the Princess--why, +one might as well try the persuasion of a penny flute upon +a hungry eagle as seek to rouse Ar-hap's sympathies for +bereaved Hath in that way. Surely to go forward would +mean my own certain destruction, with no advantage, no +help to Heru; and if I was ever to turn back or stop in +the idle quest, here was the place and time. My Hither +friends were behind the sea; to them I could return before +it was too late, and here were the rough but honest Thither +folk, who would doubtless let me live amongst them if +that was to be my fate. One or other alternative were +better than going to torture and death. + +"You seem to take the fate of that Hither girl of yours +mightily to heart, stranger," quoth my hostess, with a touch +of feminine jealousy, as she watched my hesitation. "Do you +know anything of her?" + +"Yes," I answered gloomily. "I have seen her once or +twice away in Seth." + +"Ah, that reminds me! When they brought her up here +from the boats to dry her wet clothes, she cried and called +in her grief for just such a one as you, saying he alone +who struck down our men at her feast could rescue her--" + +"What! Heru here in this room but yesterday! How did +she look? Was she hurt? How had they treated her?" + +My eagerness gave me away. The woman looked at me +through her half-shut eyes a space, and then said, "Oh! sits +the wind in THAT quarter? So you can love as well as eat. +I must say you are well-conditioned for a spirit." + +I got up and walked about the room a space, then, feeling +very friendless, and knowing no woman was ever born who +was not interested in another woman's loves, I boldly drew +my hostess aside and told her about Heru, and that I was in +pursuit of her, dwelling on the girl's gentle helplessness, my +own hare-brained adventure, and frankly asking what sort +of a sovereign Ar-hap was, what the customs of his court +might be, and whether she could suggest any means, tem- +poral or spiritual, by which he might be moved to give +back Heru to her kindred. + +Nor was my confidence misplaced. The woman, as I +guessed, was touched somewhere back in her female heart +by my melting love-tale, by my anxiety and Heru's peril. +Besides, a ghost in search of a fairy lady--and such the +slender folk of Seth were still considered to be by the race +which had supplanted them--this was romance indeed. +To be brief, that good woman proved invaluable. + +She told me, firstly, that Ar-hap was believed to be +away at war, "weekending" as was his custom, amongst +rebellious tribes, and by starting at once up the water, +I should very probably get to the town before he did. Sec- +ondly, she thought if I kept clear of private brawls there +was little chance of my receiving injury, from the people at +all events, as they were accustomed to strange visitors, and +civil enough until they were fired by war. "Sickle cold, +sword hot," was one of their proverbs, meaning thereby +that in peaceful times they were lambs, however lionlike +they might be in contest. + +This was reassuring, but as to recovering the lady, that was +another matter over which the good woman shook her head. +It was ill coming between Ar-hap and his tribute, she said; +still, if I wanted to see Heru once again, this was my op- +portunity, and, for the rest, that chance, which often favours +the enamoured, must be my help. + +Briefly, though I should probably have gone forward +in any case out of sheer obstinacy, had it been to certain +destruction, this better aspect of the situation hastened my +resolution. I thanked the woman for help, and then the man +outside was called in to advise as to the best and speediest +way of getting within earshot of his hairy sovereignty, the +monarch of Thitherland. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The Martian told me of a merchant boat with ten rowers +which was going up to the capital in a couple of hours, and +as the skipper was a friend of his they would no doubt take +me as supercargo, thereby saving the necessity of passenger +fees, which was obviously a consideration with me. It was +not altogether a romantic approach to the dungeon of an +imprisoned beauty, but it was practical, which is often +better if not so pleasant. So the offer was gladly closed +with, and curling myself in a rug of foxskins, for I was +tired with much walking, sailors never being good foot- +gangers, I slept soundly fill they came to tell me it was +time to go on board. + +The vessel was more like a canal barge than anything +else, lean and long, with the cargo piled in a ridge down +the centre as farmers store their winter turnips, the rowers +sitting on either side of this plying oars like dessert-spoons +with long handles, while they chanted a monotonous cadence +of monosyllables: + + + Oh, ho, oh, + + Oh, ho, oh, + + How high, how high. + +and then again after a pause-- + + + How high, how high + + Oh, ho, oh, + + Oh, ho, oh. + +the which was infinitely sleep-provoking if not a refrain of +a high intellectual order. + +I shut my eyes as we pulled away from the wharfs of +that nameless emporium and picked a passage through a +crowd of quaint shipping, wondering where I was, and +asking myself whether I was mentally rising equal to my +extraordinary surroundings, whether I adequately appreci- +ated the immensity of my remove from those other seas on +which I had last travelled, tiller-ropes in hand, piloting a +captain's galley from a wharf. Good heavens, what would +my comrades on my ship say if they could see me now steer- +ing a load of hairy savages up one of those waterways +which our biggest telescopes magnify but to the thickness +of an indication? No, I was not rising equal to the oc- +casion, and could not. The human mind is of but limited +capacity after all, and such freaks of fortune are beyond +its conception. I knew I was where I was, but I knew I +should probably never get the chance of telling of it, and +that no one would ever believe me if I did, and I re- +signed myself to the inevitable with sullen acquiescence, +smothering the wonder that might have been overwhelming +in passing interests of the moment. + +There is little to record of that voyage. We passed through +a fleet of Ar-hap's warships, empty and at anchor in double +line, serviceable half-decked cutters, built of solid timber, +not pumpkin rind it was pleasant to notice, and then the +town dropped away as we proceeded up a stream about +as broad as the Hudson at its widest, and profusely studded +with islands. This water was bitterly salt and joined an- +other sea on the other side of the Martian continent. Yet +it had a pronounced flow against us eastward, this tide +running for three spring months and being followed, I +learned, as ocean temperatures varied, by a flow in the +opposite direction throughout the summer. + +Just at present the current was so strong eastwards, the +moisture beaded upon my rowers' tawny hides as they strug- +gled against it, and their melancholy song dawdled in +"linked sweetness long drawn out," while the swing of their +oars grew longer and longer. Truly it was very hot, far hotter +than was usual for the season, these men declared, and pos- +sibly this robbed me of my wonted energy, and you, gentle +reader, of a description of all the strange things we passed +upon that highway. + +Suffice it to say we spent a scorching afternoon, the +greater part of a stifling night moored under a mud-bank +with a grove of trees on top from which gigantic fire-flies +hung as though the place were illuminated for a garden fete, +and then, rowing on again in the comparatively cool hours +before dawn, turned into a backwater at cock-crow. + +The skipper of our cargo boat roused me just as we +turned, putting under my sleepy nostrils a handful of +toasted beans on a leaf, and a small cup full of something +that was not coffee, but smelt as good as that matutinal +beverage always does to the tired traveller. + +Over our prow was an immense arch of foliage, and under- +neath a long arcade of cool black shadows, sheltering still +water, till water and shadow suddenly ended a quarter of +a mile down in a patch of brilliant colour. It was as peaceful +as could be in the first morning light, and to me over all +there was the inexpressible attraction of the unknown. + +As our boat slipped silently forward up this leafy lane, +a thin white "feather" in her mouth alone breaking the steely +surface of the stream, the men rested from their work and +began, as sailors will, to put on their shore-going clothes, +the while they chatted in low tones over the profits of the +voyage. Overhead flying squirrels were flitting to and fro like +bats, or shelling fruit whereof the husks fell with a pleasant +splash about us, and on one bank a couple of early mothers +were washing their babies, whose smothered protests were +almost the only sound in this morning world. + +Another silent dip or two of the oars and the colour +ahead crystallised into a town. If I said it was like an +African village on a large scale, I should probably give +you the best description in the fewest words. From the very +water's edge up to the crown of a low hill inland, extended +a mass of huts and wooden buildings, embowered and partly +hidden in bright green foliage, with here and there patches +of millet, or some such food plant, and the flowers that grow +everywhere so abundantly in this country. It was all Arcadian +and peaceful enough at the moment, and as we drew near +the men were just coming out to the quays along the har- +bour front, the streets filling and the town waking to busy life. + +A turn to the left through a watergate defended by towers +of wood and mud, and we were in the city harbour itself; +boats of many kinds moored on every side; quaint craft from +the gulfs and bays of Nowhere, full of unheard-of merch- +andise, and manned by strange-faced crews, every vessel +a romance of nameless seas, an epitome of an undiscovered +world, and every moment the scene grew busier as the +breakfast smoke arose, and wharf and gangway set to work +upon the day's labours. + +Our boat--loaded, as it turned out, with spoil from Seth-- +was run to a place of honour at the bottom of the town +square, and was an object of much curiosity to a small crowd +which speedily collected and lent a hand with the mooring +ropes, the while chatting excitedly with the crew about +further tribute and the latest news from overseas. At the +same time a swarthy barbarian, whose trappings showed him +to be some sort of functionary, came down to our "captain," +much wagging of heads and counting of notched sticks +taking place between them. + +I, indeed, was apparently the least interesting item of the +cargo, and this was embarrassing. No hero likes to be ne- +glected, it is fatal to his part. I had said my prayers and +steeled myself to all sorts of fine endurance on the way up, +and here, when it came to the crisis, no one was anxious +to play the necessary villain. They just helped me ashore +civilly enough, the captain nodded his head at me, mutter- +ing something in an indifferent tone to the functionary about a +ghost who had wandered overseas and begged a passage +up the canal; the group about the quay stared a little, but +that was all. + +Once I remember seeing a squatting, life-size heathen +idol hoisted from a vessel's hold and deposited on a sugar-box +on a New York quay. Some ribald passer-by put a battered +felt hat upon Vishnu's sacred curls, and there the poor +image sat, an alien in an indifferent land, a sack across its +shoulders, a "billycock" upon its head, and honoured at most +with a passing stare. I thought of that lonely image as al- +most as lonely I stood on the Thither men's quay, without +the support of friends or heroics, wondering what to do next. + +However, a cheerful disposition is sometimes better than +a banking account, and not having the one I cultivated +the other, sunning myself amongst the bales for a time, and +then, since none seemed interested in me, wandered off into +the town, partly to satisfy my curiosity, and partly in +the vague hope of ascertaining if my princess was really +here, and, if possible, getting sight of her. + +Meanwhile it turned hot with a supernatural, heavy sort +of heat altogether, I overheard passersby exclaiming, out +of the common, and after wandering for an hour through +gardens and endless streets of thatched huts, I was glad +enough to throw myself down in the shadow of some trees +on the outskirts of the great central pile of buildings, a +whole village in itself of beam-built towers and dwelling- +place, suggesting by its superior size that it might actually +be Ar-hap's palace. + +Hotter and hotter it grew, while a curious secondary +sunrise in the west, the like of which I never saw before +seemed to add to the heat, and heavier and heavier my eye- +lids, till I dozed at last, and finally slept uncomfortably for +a time. + +Rousing up suddenly, imagine my surprise to see sitting, +chin on knees, about a yard away, a slender girlish figure, +infinitely out of place in that world of rough barbarians. +Was it possible? Was I dreaming? No, there was no doubt +about it, she was a girl of the Hither folk, slim and pretty, +but with a wonderfully sad look in her gazelle eyes, and +scarcely a sign of the indolent happiness of Seth in the pale +little face regarding me so fixedly. + +"Good gracious, miss," I said, still rubbing my eyes and +doubting my senses, "have you dropped from the skies? You +are the very last person I expected to see in this barbarian +place." + +"And you too, sir. Oh, it is lovely to see one so newly +from home, and free-seeming--not a slave." + +"How did you know I was from Seth?" + +"Oh, that was easy enough," and with a little laugh she +pointed to a pebble lying between us, on which was a piece +of battered sweetmeat in a perforated bamboo box. Poor An +had given me something just like that in a playful mood, +and I had kept it in my pocket for her sake, being, as you +will have doubtless observed, a sentimental young man, and +now I clapped my hand where it should have been, but it +was gone. + +"Yes," said my new friend, "that is yours. I smelt the +sweetmeat coming up the hill, and crossed the grass until I +found you here asleep. Oh, it was lovely! I took it from your +pocket, and white Seth rose up before my swimming eyes, +even at the scent of it. I am Si, well named, for that in our +land means sadness, Si, the daughter of Prince Hath's chief +sweetmeat-maker, so I should know something of such +stuff. May I, please, nibble a little piece?" + +"Eat it all, my lass, and welcome. How came you here? +But I can guess. Do not answer if you would rather not." + +"Ay, but I will. It is not every day I can speak to ears so +friendly as yours. I am a slave, chosen for my luckless +beauty as last year's tribute to Ar-hap." + +"And now?" + +"And now the slave of Ar-hap's horse-keeper, set aside +to make room for a fresher face." + +"And do you know whose face that is?" + +"Not I, a hapless maid sent into this land of horrors, to +bear ignominy and stripes, to eat coarse food and do coarse +work, the miserable plaything of some brute in semi-human +form, with but the one consolation of dying early as we +tribute-women always die. Poor comrade in exile, I only +know her as yet by sympathy." + +"What if I said it was Heru, the princess?" + +The Martian girl sprang to her feet, and clasping her +hands exclaimed, + +"Heru, the Slender! Then the end comes, for it is written +in our books that the last tribute is paid when the best is +paid. Oh, how splendid if she gave herself of free will to this +slavery to end it once for all. Was it so?" + +"I think, Si, your princess could not have known of that +tradition; she did not come willingly. Besides, I am come to +fetch her back, if it may be, and that spoils the look of +sacrifice." + +"You to fetch her back, and from Ar-hap's arms? My +word, Sir Spirit, you must know some potent charms; or, +what is less likely, my countrymen must have amazingly +improved in pluck since I left them. Have you a great army +at hand?" + +But I only shook my head, and, touching my sword, +said that here was the only army coming to rescue Heru. +Whereon the lady replied that she thought my valour did +me more honour than my discretion. How did I propose +to take the princess from her captors? + +"To tell the truth, damsel, that is a matter which will +have to be left to your invention, or the kindness of such +as you. I am here on a hare-brained errand, playing knight- +errant in a way that shocks my common sense. But since +the matter has gone so far I will see it through, or die in +the attempt. Your bully lord shall either give me Heru, +stock, lock, and block, or hang me from a yard-arm. But I +would rather have the lady. Come, you will help me; and, +as a beginning, if she is in yonder shanty get me speech +with her." + +Poor Si's eyes dilated at the peril of the suggestion, and +I saw the sluggish Martian nature at war against her better +feelings. But presently the latter conquered. "I will try," she +said. "What matter a few stripes more or less?" pointing to +her rosy shoulders where red scars crisscross upon one an- +other showed how the Martian girls fared in Ar-hap's palace +when their novelty wore off. "I will try to help you; and if +they kill me for it--why, that will not matter much." And +forthwith in that blazing forenoon under the flickering shadow +of the trees we put our heads together to see what we +might do for Heru. + +It was not much for the moment. Try what we would +that afternoon, I could not persuade those who had charge +of the princess to let me even approach her place of im- +prisonment, but Si, as a woman, was more successful, actually +seeing her for a few moments, and managed to whisper in +her ear that I had come, the Spirit-with-the-gold-buttons- +down-his front, afterwards describing to me in flowing Mar- +tian imagery--but doubtless not more highly coloured than +poor Heru's emotion warranted--how delightedly that lady +had received the news. + +Si also did me another service, presenting me to the +porter's wife, who kept a kind of boarding-house at the +gates of Ar-hap's palace for gentlemen and ladies with +grievances. I had heard of lobbying before, and the pre- +sentation of petitions, though I had never indulged myself +in the pastime; but the crowd of petitioners here, with +petitions as wild and picturesque as their own motley ap- +pearances, was surely the strangest that ever gathered round +a seat of supreme authority. + +Si whispered in the ear of that good woman the nature +of my errand, with doubtless some blandishment of her +own; and my errand being one so much above the vulgar +and so nearly touching the sovereign, I was at once ac- +corded a separate room in the gate-house, whence I could +look down in comparative peace on the common herd of +suitors, and listen to the buzz of their invective as they +practised speeches which I calculated it would take Ar-hap +all the rest of his reign to listen to, without allowing him +any time for pronouncing verdicts on them. + +Here I made myself comfortable, and awaited the return +of the sovereign as placidly as might be. Meanwhile fate +was playing into my feeble hands. + +I have said it was hot weather. At first this seemed but +an outcome of the Martian climate, but as the hours went +by the heat developed to an incredible extent. Also that red +glare previously noted in the west grew in intensity, till, as +the hours slipped by, all the town was staring at it in panting +horror. I have seen a prairie on fire, luckily from the far side +of a comfortably broad river, and have ridden through a pine- +forest when every tree for miles was an uplifted torch, and +pungent yellow smoke rolled down each corrie side in grey +rivers crested with dancing flame. But that Martian glare was +more sombre and terrible than either. + +"What is it?" I asked of poor Si, who came out gasping +to speak to me by the gate-house. + +"None of us know, and unless the gods these Thither +folk believe in are angry, and intend to destroy the world +with yonder red sword in the sky, I cannot guess. Perhaps," +she added, with a sudden flash of inspiration, "it comes by +your machinations for Heru's help." + +"No!" + +"If not by your wish, then, in the name of all you love, set +your wish against it. If you know any incantations suitable +for the occasion, oh, practise them now at once, for look, even +the very grass is withering; birds are dropping from trees; +fishes, horribly bloated, are beginning to float down the +steaming rills; and I, with all others, have a nameless dread +upon me." + +Hotter and hotter it grew, until about sunset the red +blaze upon the sky slowly opened, and showed us for about +half an hour, through the opening a lurid, flame-coloured +meteor far out in space beyond; then the cleft closed +again, and through that abominable red curtain came the +very breath of Hades. + +What was really happening I am not astronomer enough +to say, though on cooler consideration I have come to the +conclusion that our planet, in going out to its summer +pastures in the remoter fields of space, had somehow come +across a wandering lesser world and got pretty well singed +in passing. This is purely my own opinion, and I have not +yet submitted it to the kindly authorities of the Lick Obser- +vatory for verification. All I can say for certain is that in an +incredibly short space of time the face of the country +changed from green to sear, flowers drooped; streams (there +were not many in the neighbourhood apparently) dried up; +fishes died; a mighty thirst there was nothing to quench set- +tled down on man and beast, and we all felt that unless +Providence listened to the prayers and imprecations which +the whole town set to work with frantic zeal to hurl at it, or +that abominable comet in the sky sheered off on another +tack with the least possible delay, we should all be re- +duced to cinders in a very brief space of time. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The evening of the second day had already come, when +Ar-hap arrived home after weekending amongst a tribe +of rebellious subjects. But any imposing State entry which +might have been intended was rendered impossible by the +heat and the threat of that baleful world in the western sky. + +It was a lurid but disordered spectacle which I wit- +nessed from my room in the gate-house just after nightfall. +The returning army had apparently fallen away exhausted +on its march through the town; only some three hundred +of the bodyguard straggled up the hill, limp and sweating, +behind a group of pennons, in the midst of which rode a +horseman whose commanding presence and splendid war +harness impressed me, though I could not make out his +features; a wild, impressionist scene of black outlines, tossing +headgear, and spears glittering and vanishing in front of +the red glare in the sky, but nothing more. Even the dry +throats of the suitors in the courtyard hardly mustered a +husky cry of welcome as the cavalcade trooped into the +enclosure, and then the shadows enfolded them up in +silence, and, too hot and listless to care much what the +morrow brought forth, I threw myself on the bare floor, +tossing and turning in a vain endeavour to sleep until +dawn came once more. + +A thin mist which fell with daybreak drew a veil over +the horrible glare in the west for an hour or two, and +taking advantage of the slight alleviation of heat, I rose +and went into the gardens to enjoy a dip in a pool, making, +with its surrounding jungle of flowers, one of the pleasantest +things about the wood-king's forest citadel. The very earth +seemed scorched and baking underfoot--and the pool was +gone! It had run as dry as a limekiln; nothing remained of +the pretty fall which had fed it but a miserable trickle of +drops from the cascade above. Down beyond the town shone +a gleam of water where the bitter canal steamed and sim- +mered in the first grey of the morning, but up here six months +of scorching drought could not have worked more havoc. The +very leaves were dropping from the trees, and the luxuriant +growths of the day before looked as though a simoon had +played upon them. + +I staggered back in disgust, and found some show of +official activity about the palace. It was the king's custom, it +appeared, to hear petitions and redress wrongs as soon after +his return as possible, but today the ceremony was to be +cut short as his majesty was going out with all his court to +a neighbouring mountain to "pray away the comet," which +by this time was causing dire alarm all through the city. + +"Heaven's own particular blessing on his prayers, my +friend," I said to the man who told me this. "Unless his +majesty's orisons are fruitful, we shall all be cooked like baked +potatoes before nightfall, and though I have faced many +kinds of death, that is not the one I would choose by +preference. Is there a chance of myself being heard at the +throne? Your peculiar climate tempts me to hurry up with +my business and begone if I may." + +"Not only may you be heard, sir, but you are sum- +moned. The king has heard of you somehow, and sent me +to find and bring you into his presence at once." + +"So be it," I said, too hot to care what happened. "I +have no levee dress with me. I lost my luggage check some +time ago, but if you will wait outside I will be with you +in a moment." + +Hastily tidying myself up, and giving my hair a comb, +as though just off to see Mr. Secretary for the Navy, or on +the way to get a senator to push a new patent medicine +for me, I rejoined my guide outside, and together we +crossed the wide courtyard, entered the great log-built +portals of Ar-hap's house, and immediately afterwards found +ourselves in a vast hall dimly lit by rays coming in through +square spaces under the eaves, and crowded on both sides +with guards, courtiers, and supplicants. The heat was tre- +mendous, the odour of Thither men and the ill-dressed +hides they wore almost overpowering. Yet little I recked +for either, for there at the top of the room, seated on a dais +made of rough-hewn wood inlet with gold and covered +with splendid furs, was Ar-hap himself. + +A fine fellow, swarthy, huge, and hairy, at any other +time or place I could have given him due admiration as an +admirable example of the savage on the borderland of grace +and culture, but now I only glanced at him, and then to +where at his side a girl was crouching, a gem of human +loveliness against that dusky setting. It was Heru, my +ravished princess, and, still clad in her diaphanous Hither +robes, her face white with anxiety, her eyes bright as stars, +the embodiment of helpless, flowery beauty, my heart +turned over at sight of her. + +Poor girl! When she saw me stride into the hall she rose +swiftly from Ar-hap's side, clasped her pretty hands, and +giving a cry of joy would have rushed towards me, but +the king laid a mighty paw upon her, under which she +subsided with a shiver as though the touch had blanched +all the life within. + +"Good morning, your majesty," I said, walking boldly up +to the lower step of the dais. + +"Good morning, most singular-looking vagrant from the +Unknown," answered the monarch. "In what way can I +be of service to you?'' + +"I have come about that girl," I said, nodding to where +Heru lay blossoming in the hot gloom like some night- +flowering bud. "I do not know whether your majesty is +aware how she came here, but it is a highly discreditable +incident in what is doubtless your otherwise blameless +reign. Some rough scullions intrusted with the duty of col- +lecting your majesty's customs asked Prince Hath of the +Hither people to point out the most attractive young person +at his wedding feast, and the prince indicated that lady +there at your side. It was a dirty trick, and all the worse +because it was inspired by malice, which is the meanest of +all weaknesses. I had the pleasure of knocking down some +of your majesty's representatives, but they stole the girl +away while I slept, and, briefly, I have come to fetch her +back." + +The monarch had followed my speech, the longest ever +made in my life, with fierce, blinking eyes, and when it +stopped looked at poor shrinking Heru as though for ex- +planation, then round the circle of his awestruck courtiers, +and reading dismay at my boldness in their faces, burst +into a guttural laugh. + +"I suppose you have the great and puissant Hither nation +behind you in this request, Mr. Spirit?" + +"No, I came alone, hoping to find justice here, and, if +not, then prepared to do all I could to make your majesty +curse the day your servants maltreated my friends." + +"Tall words, stranger! May I ask what you propose to +do if Ar-hap, in his own palace, amongst his people and +soldiers, refuses to disgorge a pretty prize at the bidding of +one shabby interloper--muddy and friendless?" + +"What should I do?" + +"Yes," said the king, with a haughty frown. "What would +you do?" + +I do not know what prompted the reply. For a moment +I was completely at a loss what to say to this very obvious +question, and then all on a sudden, remembering they held +me to be some kind of disembodied spirit, by a happy +inspiration, fixing my eyes grimly on the king, I answered, + +"What would I do? Why, I WOULD HAUNT YOU!" + +It may not seem a great stroke of genius here, but the +effect on the Martian was instantaneous. He sat straight up, +his hands tightened, his eyes dilated, and then fidgeting un- +easily, after a minute he beckoned to an over-dressed in- +dividual, whom Heru afterwards told me was the Court +necromancer, and began whispering in his ear. + +After a minute's consultation he turned again, a rather +frightened civility struggling in his face with anger, and +said, "We have no wish, of course, stranger, to offend you +or those who had the honour of your patronage. Perhaps +the princess here was a little roughly handled, and, I con- +fess, if she were altogether as reluctant as she seems, a +lesser maid would have done as well. I could have wooed +this one in Seth, where I may shortly come, and our +espousals would possibly have lent, in the eyes of your +friends, quite a cheerful aspect to my arrival. But my am- +bassadors have had no great schooling in diplomacy; they +have brought Princess Heru here, and how can I hand her +over to one I know nothing of? How do I know you are a +ghost, after all? How do I know you have anything but +a rusty sword and much impertinence to back your as- +tounding claim?" + +"Oh, let it be just as you like," I said, calmly shelling +and eating a nut I had picked up. "Only if you do not +give the maid back, why, then--" And I stopped as though +the sequel were too painful to put into words. + +Again that superstitious monarch of a land thronged with +malicious spirits called up his magician, and, after they +had consulted a moment, turned more cheerfully to me. + +"Look here, Mister-from-Nowhere, if you are really a +spirit, and have the power to hurt as you say, you will have +the power also to go and come between the living and the +dead, between the present and the past. Now I will set you +an errand, and give you five minutes to do it in." + +"Five minutes!" I exclaimed in incautious alarm. + +"Five minutes," said the monarch savagely. "And if in +that time the errand is not done, I shall hold you to be an +impostor, an impudent thief from some scoundrel tribe of +this world of mine, and will make of you an example which +shall keep men's ears tingling for a century or two." + +Poor Heru dropped in a limp and lovely heap at that +dire threat, while I am bound to say I felt somewhat +uncomfortable, not unnaturally when all the circumstances are +considered, but contented myself with remarking, with as +much bravado as could be managed, + +"And now to the errand, Ar-hap. What can I do for +your majesty?" + +The king consulted with the rogue at his elbow, and +then nodding and chuckling in expectancy of his triumph, +addressed me. + +"Listen," he cried, smiting a huge hairy hand upon his +knee, "listen, and do or die. My magician tells me it is record- +ed in his books that once, some five thousand years ago, when +this land belonged to the Hither people, there lived here a +king. It is a pity he died, for he seems to have been a jovial +old fellow; but he did die, and, according to their custom, +they floated him down the stream that flows to the +regions of eternal ice, where doubtless he is at this present +moment, caked up with ten million of his subjects. Now just +go and find that sovereign for me, oh you bold-tongued +dweller in other worlds!" + +"And if I go how am I to know your ancient king, as +you say, amongst ten million others?" + +"That is easy enough," quoth Ar-hap lightly. "You have +only to pass to and fro through the ice mountains, opening the +mouths of the dead men and women you meet, and when +you come to a middle-sized man with a fillet on his head +and a jaw mended with gold, that will be he whom you +look for. Bring me that fillet here within five minutes +and the maid is yours." + +I started, and stared hard in amazement. Was this a +dream? Was the royal savage in front playing with me? By +what incredible chance had he hit upon the very errand I +could answer to best, the very trophy I had brought +away from the grim valley of ice and death, and had still in +my shoulder-bag? No, he was not playing; he was staring +hard in turn, joying in my apparent confusion, and clearly +thinking he had cornered me beyond hope of redemption. + +"Surely your mightiness is not daunted by so simple a +task," scowled the sovereign, playing with the hilt of his +huge hunting-knife, "and all amongst your friends' kindred +too. On a hot day like this it ought to be a pleasant saunter +for a spirit such as yourself." + +"Not daunted," I answered coldly, turning on my heels +towards the door, "only marvelling that your majesty's skull +and your necromancer's could not between them have de- +vised a harder task." + +Out into the courtyard I went, with my heart beating +finely in spite of my assumed indifference; got the bag from +a peg in my sleeping-room, and was back before the log +throne ere four minutes were gone. + +"The old Hither king's compliments to your majesty," I +said, bowing, while a deathly hush fell on all the assembly, +"and he says though your ancestors little liked to hear his +voice while alive, he says he has no objection to giving you +some jaw now he is dead," and I threw down on the floor +the golden circlet of the frozen king. + +Ar-hap's eyes almost started from his head as, with his +courtiers, he glared in silent amazement at that shining +thing while the great drops of fear and perspiration trickled +down his forehead. As for poor Heru, she rose like a spirit +behind them, gazed at the jaw-bone of her mythical an- +cestor, and then suddenly realising my errand was done and +she apparently free, held out her hands, and, with a +tremulous cry, would have come to me. + +But Ar-hap was too quick for her. All the black savage +blood swelled into his veins as he swept her away with one +great arm, and then with his foot gave the luckless jaw a +kick that sent it glittering and spinning through the far +doorway out into the sunshine. + +"Sit down," he roared, "you brazen wench, who are so +eager to leave a king's side for a nameless vagrant's care! +And you, sir," turning to me, and fairly trembling with rage +and dread, "I will not gainsay that you have done the errand +set you, but it might this once be chance that got you +that cursed token, some one happy turn of luck. I will not +yield my prize on one throw of the dice. Another task you +must do. Once might be chance, but such chance comes +not twice." + +"You swore to give me the maid this time." + +"And why should I keep my word to a half-proved spirit +such as you?" + +"There are some particularly good reasons why you +should," I said, striking an attitude which I had once seen +a music-hall dramatist take when he was going to blast +somebody's future--a stick with a star on top of it in his +hand and forty lines of blank verse in his mouth. + +The king writhed, and begged me with a sign to desist. + +"We have no wish to anger you. Do us this other task +and none will doubt that you are a potent spirit, and even +I, Ar-hap, will listen to you." + +"Well, then," I answered sulkily, "what is it to be this +time?" + +After a minute's consultation, and speaking slowly as +though conscious of how much hung on his words, the king +said, + +"Listen! My soothsayer tells me that somewhere there is a +city lost in a forest, and a temple lost in the city, and a +tomb lost in the temple; a city of ghosts and djins given over +to bad spirits, wherefore all human men shun it by day and +night. And on the tomb is she who was once queen there, +and by her lies her crown. Quick! oh you to whom all dis- +tances are nothing, and who see, by your finer essence, into +all times and places. Away to that city! Jostle the memories +of the unclean things that hide in its shadows; ask which +amongst them knows where dead Queen Yang still lies in +dusty state. Get guides amongst your comrade ghosts. Find +Queen Yang, and bring me here in five minutes the bloody +circlet from her hair." + +Then, and then for the first time, I believed the planet +was haunted indeed, and I myself unknowingly under some +strange and watchful influence. Spirits, demons! Oh! what but +some incomprehensible power, some unseen influence shap- +ing my efforts to its ends, could have moved that hairy +barbarian to play a second time into my hands like this, +to choose from the endless records of his world the second +of the two incidents I had touched in hasty travel through it? +I was almost overcome for a minute; then, pulling myself +together, strode forward fiercely, and, speaking so that all +could hear me, cried, "Base king, who neither knows the +capacities of a spirit nor has learned as yet to dread its +anger, see! your commission is executed in a thought, just +as your punishment might be. Heru, come here." And when +the girl, speechless with amazement, had risen and slipped +over to me, I straightened her pretty hair from her fore- +head, and then, in a way which would make my fortune if +I could repeat it at a conjuror's table, whipped poor Yang's +gemmy crown from my pocket, flashed its baleful splendour +in the eyes of the courtiers, and placed it on the tresses of +the first royal lady who had worn it since its rightful owner +died a hundred years before. + +A heavy silence fell on the hall as I finished, and nothing +was heard for a time save Heru sobbing on my breast +and a thirsty baby somewhere outside calling to its mother +for the water that was not to be had. But presently on those +sounds came the fall of anxious feet, and a messenger, +entering the doorway, approached the throne, laid him- +self out flat twice, after which obeisance he proceeded to +remind the king of the morning's ceremonial on a distant hill +to "pray away the comet," telling his majesty that all was +ready and the procession anxiously awaiting him. + +Whereon Ar-hap, obviously very well content to change +the subject, rose, and, coming down from the dais, gave me +his hand. He was a fine fellow, as I have said, strong +and bold, and had not behaved badly for an autocrat, so +that I gripped his mighty fist with great pleasure. + +"I cannot deny, stranger," he said, "that you have done +all that has been asked of you, and the maid is fairly yours. +Yet before you take away the prize I must have some as- +surance of what you yourself will do with her. Therefore, for +the moment, until this horrible thing in the sky which +threatens my people with destruction has gone, let it be truce +between us--you to your lodgings, and the princess back, +unharmed, amongst my women till we meet again." + +"But--" + +"No, no," said the king, waving his hand. "Be content +with your advantage. And now to business more important +than ten thousand silly wenches," and gathering up his robes +over his splendid war-gear the wood king stalked haughtily +from the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Hotter and hotter grew that stifling spell, more and more +languid man and beast, drier and drier the parching earth. + +All the water gave out on the morning after I had +bearded Ar-hap in his den, and our strength went with it. +No earthly heat was ever like it, and it drank our vitality +up from every pore. Water there was down below in the +bitter, streaming gulf, but so noisome that we dared not +even bathe there; here there was none but the faintest trickle. +All discipline was at an end; all desire save such as was +born of thirst. Heru I saw as often as I wished as she lay +gasping, with poor Si at her feet, in the women's verandah; +but the heat was so tremendous that I gazed at her with +lack-lustre eyes, staggering to and fro amongst the court- +yard shadows, without nerve to plot her rescue or strength +to carry out anything my mind might have conceived. + +We prayed for rain and respite. Ar-hap had prayed +with a wealth of picturesque ceremonial. We had all prayed +and cursed by turns, but still the heavens would not relent, +and the rain came not. + +At last the stifling heat and vapour reached an almost +intolerable pitch. The earth reeked with unwholesome hum- +ours no common summer could draw from it, the air was +sulphurous and heavy, while overhead the sky seemed a +tawny dome, from edge to edge of angry clouds, parting +now and then to let us see the red disc threatening us. + +Hour after hour slipped by until, when evening was upon +us, the clouds drew together, and thunder, with a continu- +ous low rumble, began to rock from sky to sky. Fitful showers +of rain, odorous and heavy, but unsatisfying, fell, and birds +and beasts of the woodlands came slinking in to our streets +and courtyards. Ever since the sky first darkened our own +animals had become strangely familiar, and now here were +these wild things of the woods slinking in for companion- +ship, sagheaded and frightened. To me especially they came, +until that last evening as I staggered dying about the streets +or sat staring into the remorseless sky from the steps of +Heru's prison house, all sorts of beasts drew softly in and +crowded about, whether I sat or moved, all asking for the +hope I had not to give them. + +At another time this might have been embarrassing; then +it seemed pure commonplace. It was a sight to see them +slink in between the useless showers, which fell like hot tears +upon us--sleek panthers with lolling tongues; russet-red wood +dogs; bears and sloths from the dark arcades of the remote +forests, all casting themselves down gasping in the palace +shadows; strange deer, who staggered to the garden plots +and lay there heaving their lives out; mighty boars, who +came from the river marshes and silently nozzled a place +amongst their enemies to die in! Even the wolves came off +the hills, and, with bloodshot eyes and tongues that dripped +foam, flung themselves down in my shadow. + +All along the tall stockades apes sat sad and listless, and +on the roof-ridges storks were dying. Over the branches of +the trees, whose leaves were as thin as though we had had +a six months' drought, the toucans and Martian parrots +hung limp and fashionless like gaudy rags, and in the +courtyard ground the corn-rats came up from their tunnels +in the scorching earth to die, squeaking in scores along +under the walls. + +Our common sorrow made us as sociable as though I +were Noah, and Ar-hap's palace mound another Ararat. +Hour after hour I sat amongst all these lesser beasts in +the hot darkness, waiting for the end. Every now and then +the heavy clouds parted, changing the gloom to sudden fiery +daylight as the great red eye in the west looked upon us +through the crevice, and, taking advantage of those gleams, +I would reel across to where, under a spout leading from +a dried rivulet, I had placed a cup to collect the slow and +tepid drops that were all now coming down the reed for +Heru. And as I went back each time with that sickly +spoonful at the bottom of the vessel all the dying beasts +lifted their heads and watched--the thirsty wolves shamb- +ling after me; the boars half sat up and grunted plaintively; +the panthers, too weak to rise, beat the dusty ground with +their tails; and from the portico the blue storks, with +trailing wings, croaked husky greeting. + +But slower and slower came the dripping water, more +and more intolerable the heat. At last I could stand it no +longer. What purpose did it serve to lay gasping like this, +dying cruelly without a hope of rescue, when a shorter way +was at my side? I had not drank for a day and a half. I was +past active reviling; my head swam; my reason was clouded. +No! I would not stand it any longer. Once more I would +take Heru and poor Si the cup that was but a mockery +after all, then fix my sword into the ground and try what +next the Fates had in store for me. + +So once again the leathern mug was fetched and carried +through the prostrate guards to where the Martian girl lay, +like a withered flower, upon her couch. Once again I +moistened those fair lips, while my own tongue was black +and swollen in my throat, then told Si, who had had none all +the afternoon, to drink half and leave half for Heru. Poor Si +put her aching lips to the cup and tilted it a little, then +passed it to her mistress. And Heru drank it all, and Si cried +a few hot tears behind her hands, FOR SHE HAD TAKEN NONE, +and she knew it was her life! + +Again picking a way through the courtyard, scarce notic- +ing how the beasts lifted their heads as I passed, I went +instinctively, cup in hand, to the well, and then hesitated. +Was I a coward to leave Heru so? Ought I not to stay +and see it out to the bitter end? Well, I would compound +with Fate. I would give the malicious gods one more chance. +I would put the cup down again, and until seven drops +had fallen into it I would wait. That there might be no mistake +about it, no sooner was the mug in place under the nozzle +wherefrom the moisture beads collected and fell with infinite +slowness, than my sword, on which I meant to throw my- +self, was bared and the hilt forced into a gaping crack +in the ground, and sullenly contented to leave my fate so, I +sat down beside it. + +I turned grimly to the spout and saw the first drop fall, +then another, and another later on, but still no help came. +There was a long rift in the clouds now, and a glare like +that from an open furnace door was upon me. I had +noticed when I came to the spring how the comet which +was killing us hung poised exactly upon the point of a dis- +tant hill. If he had passed his horrible meridian, if he was +going from us, if he sunk but a hair's breadth before that +seventh drop should fall, I could tell it would mean salvation. + +But the fourth drop fell, and he was big as ever. The fifth +drop fell, and a hot, pleasing nose was thrust into my hand, +and looking down I saw a grey wolf had dragged herself +across the court and was asking with eloquent eyes for the +help I could not give. The sixth drop gathered, and fell; +already the seventh was like a seedling pearl in its place. +The dying wolf yanked affectionately at my hand, but I put +her by and undid my tunic. Big and bright that drop hung +to the spout lip; another minute and it would fall. A beauti- +ful drop, I laughed, peering closely at it, many-coloured, +prismatic, flushing red and pink, a tiny living ruby, hanging +by a touch to the green rim above; enough! enough! The +quiver of an eyelash would unhinge it now; and angry +with the life I already felt was behind me, and turning +in defiant expectation to the new to come, I rose, saw the +red gleam of my sword jutting like a fiery spear from the +cracking soil where I had planted it, then looked once more +at the drop and glanced for the last time at the sullen +red terror on the hill. + +Were my eyes dazed, my senses reeling? I said a space +ago that the meteor stood exactly on the mountain-top and +if it sunk a hair's breadth I should note it; and now, why, +there WAS a flaw in its lower margin, a flattening of the +great red foot that before had been round and perfect. I turned +my smarting eyes away a minute,--saw the seventh drop fall +with a melodious tingle into the cup, then back again,-- +there was no mistake--the truant fire was a fraction less, +it had shrunk a fraction behind the hill even since I looked, +and thereon all my life ran back into its channels, the +world danced before me, and "Heru!" I shouted hoarsely, +reeling back towards the palace, "Heru, 'tis well; the +worst is past!" + +But the little princess was unconscious, and at her feet +was poor Si, quite dead, still reclining with her head in her +hands just as I had left her. Then my own senses gave out, +and dropping down by them I remembered no more. + +I must have lain there an hour or two, for when con- +sciousness came again it was night--black, cool, profound +night, with an inky sky low down upon the tree-tops, and +out of it such a glorious deluge of rain descending swiftly +and silently as filled my veins even to listen to. Eagerly I +shuffled away to the porch steps, down them into the +swimming courtyard, and ankle-deep in the glorious flood, +set to work lapping furiously at the first puddle, drinking +with gasps of pleasure, gasping and drinking again, feeling +my body filling out like the thirsty steaming earth below +me. Then, as I still drank insatiably, there came a gleam +of lightning out of the gloom overhead, a brilliant yellow +blaze, and by it I saw a few yards away a panther drinking +at the same pool as myself, his gleaming eyes low down +like mine upon the water, and by his side two apes, the +black water running in at their gaping mouths, while out +beyond were more pools, more drinking animals. Everything +was drinking. I saw their outlined forms, the gleam shining +on wet skins as though they were cut out in silver against +the darkness, each beast steaming like a volcano as the +Heaven-sent rain smoked from his fevered hide, all drinking +for their lives, heedless of aught else--and then came the +thunder. + +It ran across the cloudy vault as though the very sky +were being ripped apart, rolling in mighty echoes here and +there before it died away. As it stopped, the rain also fell +less heavily for a minute, and as I lay with my face low +down I heard the low, contented lapping of numberless +tongues unceasing, insatiable. Then came the lightning again, +lighting up everything as though it were daytime. The twin +black apes were still drinking, but the panther across the +puddle had had enough; I saw him lift his grateful head +up to the flare; saw the limp red tongue licking the black nose, +the green eyes shining like opals, the water dripping in +threads of diamonds from the hairy tag under his chin and +every tuft upon his chest--then darkness again. + +To and fro the green blaze rocked between the thunder +crashes. It struck a house a hundred yards away, stripping +every shingle from the roof better than a master builder +could in a week. It fell a minute after on a tall tree by +the courtyard gate, and as the trunk burst into white splin- +ters I saw every leaf upon the feathery top turn light side +up against the violet reflection in the sky beyond, and +then the whole mass came down to earth with a thud that +crushed the courtyard palings into nothing for twenty yards +and shook me even across the square. + +Another time I might have stopped to marvel or to watch, +as I have often watched with sympathetic pleasure, the gods +thus at play; but tonight there were other things on hand. +When I had drunk, I picked up an earthen crock, filled it, +and went to Heru. It was a rough drinking-vessel for those +dainty lips, and an indifferent draught, being as much mud +as aught else, but its effect was wonderful. At the first touch +of that turgid stuff a shiver of delight passed through the +drowsy lady. At the second she gave a sigh, and her hand +tightened on my arm. I fetched another crockful, and by +the flickering light rocking to and fro in the sky, took her +head upon my shoulder, like a prodigal new come into +riches, squandering the stuff, giving her to drink and bathing +face and neck till presently, to my delight, the princess's eyes +opened. Then she sat up, and taking the basin from me +drank as never lady drank before, and soon was almost her- +self again. + +I went out into the portico, there snuffing the deep, +strong breath of the fragrant black earth receiving back +into its gaping self what the last few days had taken from it, +while quick succeeding thoughts of escape and flight passed +across my brain. All through the fiery time we had just had +the chance of escaping with the fair booty yonder had been +present. Without her, flight would have been easy enough, +but that was not worth considering for a moment. With +her it was more difficult, yet, as I had watched the wood- +men, accustomed to cool forest shades, faint under the fiery +glare of the world above, to make a dash for liberty seemed +each hour more easy. I had seen the men in the streets drop +one by one, and the spears fall from the hands of guards +about the pallisades; I had seen messengers who came +to and fro collapse before their errands were accomplished, +and the forest women, who were Heru's gaolers, groan and +drop across the thresholds of her prison, until at length +the way was clear--a babe might have taken what he would +from that half-scorched town and asked no man's leave. +Yet what did it avail me? Heru was helpless, my own spirit +burnt in a nerveless frame, and so we stayed. + +But with rain strength came back to both of us. The +guards, lying about like black logs, were only slowly re- +turning to consciousness; the town still slept, and darkness +favoured; before they missed us in the morning light we +might be far on the way back to Seth--a dangerous way +truly, but we were like to tread a rougher one if we stayed. +In fact, directly my strength returned with the cooler air, +I made up my mind to the venture and went to Heru, who +by this time was much recovered. To her I whispered my +plot, and that gentle lady, as was only natural, trembled at +its dangers. But I put it to her that no time could be better +than the present: the storm was going over; morning would +"line the black mantle of the night with a pink dawn of +promise"; before any one stirred we might be far off, shaping +a course by our luck and the stars for her kindred, at +whose name she sighed. If we stayed, I argued, and the +king changed his mind, then death for me, and for Heru +the arms of that surly monarch, and all the rest of her life +caged in these pallisades amongst the uncouth forms about us. + +The lady gave a frightened little shiver at the picture, but +after a moment, laying her head upon my shoulder, an- +swered, "Oh, my guardian spirit and helper in adversity, +I too have thought of tomorrow, and doubt whether that +horror, that great swine who has me, will not invent an excuse +for keeping me. Therefore, though the forest roads are dread- +ful, and Seth very far away, I will come; I give myself +into your hands. Do what you will with me." + +"Then the sooner the better, princess. How soon can +you be prepared?" + +She smiled, and stooping picked up her slippers, saying +as she did so, "I am ready!" + +There were no arrangements to be made. Every instant +was of value. So, to be brief, I threw a dark cloak over the +damsel's shoulders, for indeed she was clad in little more +than her loveliness and the gauziest filaments of a Hither +girl's underwear, and hand in hand led her down the log +steps, over the splashing, ankle-deep courtyard, and into the +shadows of the gateway beyond. + +Down the slope we went; along towards the harbour, +through a score of deserted lanes where nothing was to be +heard but the roar of rain and the lapping of men and +beasts, drinking in the shadows as though they never would +stop, and so we came at last unmolested to the wharf. There I +hid royal Seth between two piles of merchandise, and went +to look for a boat suitable to our needs. There were plenty of +small craft moored to rings along the quay, and selecting +a canoe--it was no time to stand on niceties of property-- +easily managed by a single paddle, I brought it round to +the steps, put in a fresh water-pot, and went for the princess. + +With her safely stowed in the prow, a helpless, sodden +little morsel of feminine loveliness, things began to appear +more hopeful and an escape down to blue water, my only +idea, for the first time possible. Yet I must needs go and +well nigh spoil everything by over-solicitude for my charge. + +Had we pushed off at once there can be no doubt my +credit as a spirit would have been established for all time +in the Thither capital, and the belief universally held that +Heru had been wafted away by my enchantment to the +regions of the unknown. The idea would have gradually grown +into a tradition, receiving embellishments in succeeding gen- +erations, until little wood children at their mother's knees +came to listen in awe to the story of how, once upon a time, +the Sun-god loved a beautiful maiden, and drove his fiery +chariot across the black night-fields to her prison door, scorch- +ing to death all who strove to gainsay him. How she flew +into his arms and drove away before all men's eyes, in +his red car, into the west, and was never seen again--the +foresaid Sun-god being I, Gulliver Jones, a much under- +paid lieutenant in the glorious United States navy, with a +packet of overdue tailors' bills in my pocket, and nothing +lovable about me save a partiality for meddling with +other people's affairs. + +This is how it might have been, but I spoiled a pretty +fairy story and changed the whole course of Martian +history by going back at that moment in search of a wrap +for my prize. Right on top of the steps was a man with a +lantern, and half a glance showed me it was the harbour +master met with on my first landing. + +"Good evening," he said suspiciously. "May I ask what +you are doing on the quay at such an hour as this?" + +"Doing? Oh, nothing in particular, just going out for a +little fishing." + +"And your companion the lady--is she too fond of +fishing?" + +I swore between my teeth, but could not prevent the fel- +low walking to the quay edge and casting his light full upon +the figure of the girl below. I hate people who interfere +with other people's business! + +"Unless I am very much mistaken your fishing friend is +the Hither woman brought here a few days ago as tribute +to Ar-hap." + +"Well," I answered, getting into a nice temper, for I had +been very much harrassed of late, "put it at that. What would +you do if it were so?" + +"Call up my rain-drunk guards, and give you in charge +as a thief caught meddling with the king's property." + +"Thanks, but as my interviews with Ar-hap have al- +ready begun to grow tedious, we will settle this little matter +here between ourselves at once." And without more to-do I +closed with him. There was a brief scuffle and then I got +in a blow upon his jaw which sent the harbour master flying +back head over heels amongst the sugar bales and potatoes. + +Without waiting to see how he fared I ran down the +steps, jumped on board, loosened the rope, and pushed out +into the river. But my heart was angry and sore, for I +knew, as turned out to be the case, that our secret was one +no more; in a short time we should have the savage king +in pursuit, and now there was nothing for it but headlong +flight with only a small chance of getting away to distant +Seth. + +Luckily the harbour master lay insensible until he was +found at dawn, so that we had a good start, and the +moment the canoe passed from the arcade-like approach to +the town the current swung her head automatically seaward, +and away we went down stream at a pace once more filling +me with hope. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +All went well and we fled down the bitter stream of +the Martian gulf at a pace leaving me little to do but +guide our course just clear of snags and promontories on the +port shore. Just before dawn, however, with a thin mist on +the water and flocks of a flamingo-like bird croaking as they +flew southward overhead, we were nearly captured again. + +Drifting silently down on a rocky island, I was having a +drink at the water-pitcher at the moment, while Heru, her +hair beaded with prismatic moisture and looking more ethereal +than ever, sat in the bows timorously inhaling the breath of +freedom, when all on a sudden voices invisible in the mist, +came round a corner. It was one of Ar-hap's war-canoes +toiling up-stream. Heru and I ducked down into the haze +like dab-chicks and held our breath. + +Straight on towards us came the toiling ship, the dip of +oars resonant in the hollow fog and a ripple babbling on +her cutwater plainly discernible. + + + "Oh, oh! + + Hoo, hoo! + + How high, how high!" + +sounded the sleepy song of the rowers till they were loom- +ing right abreast and we could smell their damp hides in +the morning air. Then they stopped suddenly and some one +asked, + +"Is there not something like a boat away on the right?" + +"It is nothing," said another, "but the lees of last night's +beer curdling in your stupid brain." + +"But I saw it move." + +"That must have been in dreams." + +"What is all that talking about?" growled a sleepy voice +of authority from the stern. + +"Bow man, sir, says he can see a boat." + +"And what does it matter if he can? Are we to delay +every time that lazy ruffian spying a shadow makes it an +excuse to stop to yawn and scratch? Go on, you plankful +of lubbers, or I'll give you something worth thinking about!" +And joyfully, oh, so joyfully, we heard the sullen dip of +oars commence again. + +Nothing more happened after that till the sun at length +shone on the little harbour town at the estuary mouth, making +the masts of fishing craft clustering there like a golden reed- +bed against the cool, clean blue of the sea beyond. + +Right glad we were to see it, and keeping now in shadow +of the banks, made all haste while light was faint and mist +hung about to reach the town, finally pushing through the +boats and gaining a safe hiding-place without hostile notice +before it was clear daylight. + +Covering Heru up and knowing well all our chances of +escape lay in expedition, I went at once, in pursuance of a +plan made during the night, to the good dame at what, for +lack of a better name, must still continue to be called the +fish-shop, and finding her alone, frankly told her the salient +points of my story. When she learned I had "robbed the +lion of his prey" and taken his new wife singlehanded +from the dreaded Ar-hap her astonishment was unbounded. +Nothing would do but she must look upon the princess, so +back we went to the hiding-place, and when Heru knew +that on this woman depended our lives she stepped ashore, +taking the rugged Martian hand in her dainty fingers and +begging her help so sweetly that my own heart was moved, +and, thrusting hands in pocket, I went aside, leaving those +two to settle it in their own female way. + +And when I looked back in five minutes, royal Seth had +her arms round the woman's neck, kissing the homely +cheeks with more than imperial fervour, so I knew all was +well thus far, and stopped expectorating at the little fishes +in the water below and went over to them. It was time! We +had hardly spoken together a minute when a couple of +war-canoes filled with men appeared round the nearest +promontory, coming down the swift water with arrow-like +rapidity. + +"Quick!" said the fishwife, "or we are all lost. Into your +canoe and paddle up this creek. It runs out to the sea +behind the town, and at the bar is my man's fishing-boat +amongst many others. Lie hidden there till he comes if you +value your lives." So in we got, and while that good Samaritan +went back to her house we cautiously paddled through a +deserted backwater to where it presently turned through +low sandbanks to the gulf. There were the boats, and we +hid the canoe and lay down amongst them till, soon after, +a man, easily recognised as the husband of our friend, +came sauntering down from the village. + +At first he was sullen, not unreasonably alarmed at the +danger into which his good woman was running him. But +when he set eyes on Heru he softened immediately. Prob- +ably that thick-bodied fellow had never seen so much +female loveliness in so small a bulk in all his life, and, being +a man, he surrendered at discretion. + +"In with you, then," he growled, "since I must needs risk +my neck for a pair of runaways who better deserve to be +hung than I do. In with you both into this fishing-cobble of +mine, and I will cover you with nets while I go for a mast +and sail, and mind you lie as still as logs. The town is already +full of soldiers looking for you, and it will be short shrift for +us all if you are seen." + +Well aware of the fact and now in the hands of destiny, +the princess and I lay down as bidden in the prow, and the +man covered us lightly over with one of those fine meshed +seines used by these people to catch the little fish I had +breakfasted on more than once. + +Materially I could have enjoyed the half-hour which fol- +lowed, since such rest after exertion was welcome, the sun +warm, the lapping of sea on shingle infinitely soothing, and, +above all, Heru was in my arms! How sweet and childlike +she was! I could feel her little heart beating through her +scanty clothing, while every now and then she turned her +gazelle eyes to mine with a trust and admiration infinitely +alluring. Yes! as far as that went I could have lain there with +that slip of maiden royalty for ever, but the fascination of +the moment was marred by the thought of our danger. +What was to prevent these new friends giving us away? +They knew we had no money to recompense them for the +risk they were running. They were poor, and a splendid +reward, wealth itself to them, would doubtless be theirs if +they betrayed us even by a look. Yet somehow I trusted +them as I have trusted the poor before with the happiest +results, and telling myself this and comforting Heru, I lis- +tened and waited. + +Minute by minute went by. It seemed an age since the +fisherman had gone, but presently the sound of voices inter- +rupted the sea's murmur. Cautiously stealing a glance +through a chink imagine my feelings on perceiving half a +dozen of Ar-hap's soldiers coming down the beach straight +towards us! Then my heart was bitter within me, and I +tasted of defeat, even with Heru in my arms. Luckily even +in that moment of agony I kept still, and another peep +showed the men were now wandering about rather aimlessly. +Perhaps after all they did not know of our nearness? Then +they took to horseplay, as idle soldiers will even in Mars, +pelting each other with bits of wood and dead fish, and +thereon I breathed again. + +Nearer they came and nearer, my heart beating fast as +they strolled amongst the boats until they were actually +"larking" round the one next to ours. A minute or two of this, +and another footstep crunched on the pebbles, a quick, +nervous one, which my instinct told me was that of our +returning friend. + +"Hullo old sprat-catcher! Going for a sail?" called out a +soldier, and I knew that the group were all round our boat, +Heru trembling so violently in my breast that I thought she +would make the vessel shake. + +"Yes," said the man gruffly. + +"Let's go with him," cried several voices. "Here, old dried +haddock, will you take us if we help haul your nets for you?" + +"No, I won't. Your ugly faces would frighten all the fish +out of the sea." + +"And yours, you old chunk of dried mahogany, is meant +to attract them no doubt." + +"Let's tie him to a post and go fishing in his boat +ourselves," +some one suggested. Meanwhile two of them began rocking +the cobble violently from side to side. This was awful, and +every moment I expected the net and the sail which our +friend had thrown down unceremoniously upon us would +roll off. + +"Oh, stop that," said the Martian, who was no doubt +quite as well aware of the danger as we were. "The tide's +full, the shoals are in the bay--stop your nonsense, and +help me launch like good fellows." + +"Well, take two of us, then. We will sit on this heap of +nets as quiet as mice, and stand you a drink when we get +back." + +"No, not one of you," quoth the plucky fellow, "and here's +my staff in my hand, and if you don't leave my gear alone +I will crack some of your ugly heads." + +"That's a pity," I thought to myself, "for if they take to +fighting it will be six to one--long odds against our +chances." There was indeed a scuffle, and then a yell of +pain, as though a soldier had been hit across the knuckles; +but in a minute the best disposed called out, "Oh, cease +your fun, boys, and let the fellow get off if he wants to. +You know the fleet will be down directly, and Ar-hap has +promised something worth having to the man who can find +that lost bit of crackling of his. It's my opinion she's in the +town, and I for one would rather look for her than go +haddock fishing any day." + +"Right you are, mates," said our friend with visible relief. +"And, what's more, if you help me launch this boat and +then go to my missus and tell her what you've done, she'll +understand, and give you the biggest pumpkinful of beer +in the place. Ah, she will understand, and bless your soft +hearts and heads while you drink it--she's a cute one is +my missus." + +"And aren't you afraid to leave her with us?" + +"Not I, my daisy, unless it were that a sight of your +pretty face might give her hysterics. Now lend a hand, +your accursed chatter has already cost me half an hour +of the best fishing time." + +"In with you, old buck!" shouted the soldiers; I felt the +fisherman step in, as a matter of fact he stepped in on to +my toes; a dozen hands were on the gunwales: six soldier +yells resounded, it seemed, in my very ears: there was the +grit and rush of pebbles under the keel: a sudden lurch +up of the bows, which brought the fairy lady's honey- +scented lips to mine, and then the gentle lapping of deep blue +waters underneath us! + +There is little more to be said of that voyage. We +pulled until out of sight of the town, then hoisted sail, and, +with a fair wind, held upon one tack until we made an island +where there was a small colony of Hither folk. + +Here our friend turned back. I gave him another gold +button from my coat, and the princess a kiss upon either +cheek, which he seemed to like even more than the button. +It was small payment, but the best we had. Doubtless he got +safely home, and I can but hope that Providence somehow or +other paid him and his wife for a good deed bravely done. + +Those islanders in turn lent us another boat, with a guide, +who had business in the Hither capital, and on the evening +of the second day, the direct route being very short in com- +parison, we were under the crumbling marble walls of Seth. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +It was like turning into a hothouse from a keen winter +walk, our arrival at the beautiful but nerveless city after +my life amongst the woodmen. + +As for the people, they were delighted to have their +princess back, but with the delight of children, fawning +about her, singing, clapping hands, yet asking no questions +as to where she had been, showing no appreciation of our +adventures--a serious offence in my eyes--and, perhaps most +important of all, no understanding of what I may call the +political bearings of Heru's restoration, and how far their +arch enemies beyond the sea might be inclined to attempt +her recovery. + +They were just delighted to have the princess back, and +that was the end of it. Theirs was the joy of a vast nursery +let loose. Flower processions were organised, garlands woven +by the mile, a general order issued that the nation might +stay up for an hour after bedtime, and in the vortex of +that gentle rejoicing Heru was taken from me, and I saw +her no more, till there happened the wildest scene of all +you have shared with me so patiently. + +Overlooked, unthanked, I turned sulky, and when this +mood, one I can never maintain for long, wore off, I threw +myself into the dissipation about me with angry zeal. I am +frankly ashamed of the confession, but I was "a sailor +ashore," and can only claim the indulgences proper to the +situation. I laughed, danced, drank, through the night; I +drank deep of a dozen rosy ways to forgetfulness, till my +mind was a great confusion, full of flitting pictures of love- +liness, till life itself was an illusive pantomime, and my will +but thistle-down on the folly of the moment. I drank with +those gentle roisterers all through their starlit night, and if +we stopped when morning came it was more from weariness +than virtue. Then the yellow-robed slaves gave us the wine +of recovery--alas! my faithful An was not amongst them-- +and all through the day we lay about in sodden happiness. + +Towards nightfall I was myself again, not unfortunately +with the headache well earned, but sufficiently remorseful +to be in a vein to make good resolutions for the future. + +In this mood I mingled with a happy crowd, all purpose- +less and cheerful as usual, but before long began to feel +the influence of one of those drifts, a universal turning in one +direction, as seaweed turns when the tide changes, so char- +acteristic of Martian society. It was dusk, a lovely soft +velvet dusk, but not dark yet, and I said to a yellow-robed +fairy at my side: + +"Whither away, comrade? It is not eight bells yet. Surely +we are not going to be put to bed so early as this?" + +"No," said that smiling individual, "it is the princess. +We are going to listen to Princess Heru in the palace +square. She reads the globe on the terrace again tonight, +to see if omens are propitious for her marriage. She MUST +marry, and you know the ceremony has been unavoidably +postponed so far." + +"Unavoidably postponed?" Yes, Heaven wotted I was +aware of the fact. And was Heru going to marry black +Hath in such a hurry? And after all I had done for her? +It was scarcely decent, and I tried to rouse myself to rage +over it, but somehow the seductive Martian contentment with +any fate was getting into my veins. I was not yet altogether +sunk in their slothful acceptance of the inevitable, but there +was not the slightest doubt the hot red blood in me was turn- +ing to vapid stuff such as did duty for the article in their +veins. I mustered up a half-hearted frown at this unwelcome +intelligence, turning with it on my face towards the slave +girl; but she had slipped away into the throng, so the +frown evaporated, and shrugging my shoulders I said to +myself, "What does it matter? There are twenty others +will do as well for me. If not one, why then obviously an- +other, 'tis the only rational way to think, and at all events +there is the magic globe. That may tell us something." And +slipping my arm round the waist of the first disengaged +girl--we were not then, mind you, in Atlantic City--I kissed +her dimpling cheek unreproached, and gaily followed in +the drift of humanity, trending with a low hum of pleasure +towards the great white terraces under the palace porch. + +How well I knew them! It was just such an evening Heru +had consulted Fate in the same place once before; how much +had happened since then! But there was little time or in- +clination to think of those things now. The whole phantom +city's population had drifted to one common centre. The +crumbling seaward ramparts were all deserted; no soldier +watch was kept to note if angry woodmen came from over +seas; a soft wind blew in from off the brine, but told no tales; +the streets were empty, and, when as we waited far away +in the southern sky the earth planet presently got up, by its +light Heru, herself again, came tripping down the steps to +read her fate. + +They had placed another magic globe under a shroud on +a tripod for her. It stood within the charmed circle upon +the terrace, and I was close by, although the princess +did not see me. + +Again that weird, fantastic dance commenced, the princess +working herself up from the drowsiest undulations to a hur- +ricane of emotion. Then she stopped close by the orb, and +seized the corner of the web covering it. We saw the globe +begin to beam with veiled magnificence at her touch. + +Not an eye wavered, not a thought wandered from her +in all that silent multitude. It was a moment of the keenest +suspense, and just when it was at its height there came a +strange sound of hurrying feet behind the outermost +crowd, a murmur such as a great pack of wolves might +make rushing through snow, while a soft long wail went up +from the darkness. + +Whether Heru understood it or not I cannot say, but +she hesitated a moment, then swept the cloth from the orb +of her fate. + +And as its ghostly, self-emitting light beamed up in the +darkness with weird brilliancy, there by it, in gold and furs +and war panoply, huge, fierce, and lowering, stood--AR-HAP +HIMSELF! + +Ay, and behind him, towering over the crouching Mar- +tians, blocking every outlet and street, were scores and +hundreds of his men. Never was surprise so utter, ambush +more complete. Even I was transfixed with astonishment, +staring with open-mouthed horror at the splendid figure of the +barbarian king as he stood aglitter in the ruddy light, +scowling defiance at the throng around him. So silently had +he come on his errand of vengeance it was difficult to be- +lieve he was a reality, and not some clever piece of stageplay, +some vision conjured up by Martian necromancy. + +But he was good reality. In a minute comedy turned to +tragedy. Ar-hap gave a sign with his hand, whereon all his +men set up a terrible warcry, the like of which Seth had not +heard for very long, and as far as I could make out in the +half light began hacking and hewing my luckless friends with +all their might. Meanwhile the king made at Heru, feeling sure +of her this time, and doubtless intending to make her taste +his vengeance to the dregs; and seeing her handled like +that, and hearing her plaintive cries, wrath took the place +of stupid surprise in me. I was on my feet in a second, +across the intervening space, and with all my force gave +the king a blow upon the jaw which sent even him staggering +backwards. Before I could close again, so swift was the +sequence of events in those flying minutes, a wild mob of +people, victims and executioners in one disordered throng, +was between us. How the king fared I know not, nor +stopped to ask, but half dragging, half carrying Heru through +the shrieking mob, got her up the palace steps and in at +the great doors, which a couple of yellow-clad slaves, more +frightened of the barbarians than thoughtful of the crowd +without, promptly clapped to, and shot the bolts. Thus we +were safe for a moment, and putting the princess on a +couch, I ran up a short flight of stairs and looked out of a +front window to see if there were a chance of succouring those +in the palace square. But it was all hopeless chaos with +the town already beginning to burn and not a show of fight +anywhere which I could join. + +I glared out on that infernal tumult for a moment +or two in an agony of impotent rage, then turned towards +the harbour and saw in the shine of the burning town below +the ancient battlements and towers of Seth begin to gleam out, +like a splendid frost work of living metal clear-cut against +the smooth, black night behind, and never a show of resistance +there either. Ay, and by this time Ar-hap's men were battering +in our gates with a big beam, and somehow, I do not +know how it happened, the palace itself away on the right, +where the dry-as-dust library lay, was also beginning to burn. + +It was hopeless outside, and nothing to be done but to save +Heru, so down I went, and, with the slaves, carried her +away from the hall through a vestibule or two, and into +an anteroom, where some yellow-girt individuals were al- +ready engaged in the suggestive work of tying up pal- +ace plate in bundles, amongst other things, alas! the great +gold love-bowl from which--oh! so long ago--I had drawn +Heru's marriage billet. These individuals told me in tremulous +accents they had got a boat on a secret waterway behind +the palace whence flight to the main river and so, far away +inland, to another smaller but more peaceful city of their +race would be quite practical; and joyfully hearing this news, +I handed over to them the princess while I went to look +for Hath. + +And the search was not long. Dashing into the banquet-hall, +still littered with the remains of a feast, and looking down +its deserted vistas, there at the farther end, on his throne, +clad in the sombre garments he affected, chin on hand, +sedate in royal melancholy, listening unmoved to the sack of +his town outside, sat the prince himself. Strange, gloomy man, +the great dead intelligence of his race shining in his face as +weird and out of place as a lonely sea beacon fading to +nothing before the glow of sunrise, never had he appeared so +mysterious as at that moment. Even in the heat of excitement +I stared at him in amazement, wishing in a hasty thought +the confusion of the past few weeks had given me opportun- +ity to penetrate the recesses of his mind, and therefrom retell +you things better worth listening to than all the incident of +my adventures. But now there was no time to think, scarce +time to act. + +"Hath!" I cried, rushing over to him, "wake up, your +majesty. The Thither men are outside, killing and burning!" + +"I know it." + +"And the palace is on fire. You can smell the reek even +here." + +"Yes." + +"Then what are you going to do?" + +"Nothing." + +"My word, that is a fine proposition for a prince! If you +care nothing for town or palace perhaps you will bestir +yourself for Princess Heru." + +A faint glimmer of interest rose upon the alabaster calm +of his face at that name, but it faded instantly, and he +said quietly, + +"The slaves will save her. She will live. I looked into the +book of her fate yesterday. She will escape, and forget, +and sit at another marriage feast, and be a mother, and give +the people yet one more prince to keep the faint glimmer +of our ancestry alive. I am content." + +"But, d--- it, man, I am not! I take a deal more in- +terest in the young lady than you seem to, and have scoured +half this precious planet of yours on her account, and will +be hanged if I sit idly twiddling my thumbs while her +pretty skin is in danger." But Hath was lost in contempla- +tion of his shoe-strings. + +"Come, sir," I said, shaking his majesty by the shoulder, +"don't be down on your luck. There has been some rivalry +between us, but never mind about that just now. The prin- +cess wants you. I am going to save both her and you, you +must come with her." + +"No." + +"But you SHALL come." + +"No!" + +By this time the palace was blazing like a bonfire and +the uproar outside was terrible. What was I to do? As I +hesitated the arras at the further end of the hall was swept +aside, a disordered mob of slaves bearing bundles and drag- +ging Heru with them rushing down to the door near us. +As Heru was carried swiftly by she stretched her milk-white +arms towards the prince and turned her face, lovely as a +convolvulus flower even in its pallor, upon him. + +It was a heart-moving appeal from a woman with the +heart of a child, and Hath rose to his feet while for a mo- +ment there shone a look of responsible manhood in his eyes. +But it faded quickly; he bowed slowly as though he had +received an address of condolence on the condition of his +empire, and the next moment the frightened slaves, stumbling +under their burdens, had swept poor Heru through the +doorway. + +I glanced savagely round at the curling smoke overhead, +the red tendrils of fire climbing up a distant wall, and +there on a table by us was a half-finished flask of the lovely +tinted wine of forgetfulness. If Hath would not come sober +perhaps he might come drunk. + +"Here," I cried, "drink to tomorrow, your majesty, a sov- +ereign toast in all ages, and better luck next time with these +hairy gentlemen battering at your majesty's doors," and +splashing out a goblet full of the stuff I handed it to him. + +He took it and looked rather lovingly into the limpid +pool, then deliberately poured it on the step in front of +him, and throwing the cup away said pleasantly, + +"Not tonight, good comrade; tonight I drink a deeper +draught of oblivion than that,--and here come my cup- +bearers." + +Even while he spoke the palace gates had given way; +there was a horrible medley of shrieks and cries, a quick +sound of running feet; then again the arras lifted and in +poured a horde of Ar-hap's men-at-arms. The moment they +caught sight of us about a dozen of them, armed with +bows, drew the thick hide strings to their ears and down the +hall came a ravening flight of shafts. One went through +my cap, two stuck quivering in the throne, and one, winged +with owl feather, caught black Hath full in the bosom. + +He had stood out boldly at the first coming of that onset, +arms crossed on breast, chin up, and looking more of a +gentleman than I had ever seen him look before; and +now, stricken, he smiled gravely, then without flinching, +and still eyeing his enemies with gentle calm, his knees un- +locked, his frame trembled, then down he went headlong, +his red blood running forth in rivulets amongst the wine +of oblivion he had just poured out. + +There was no time for sentiment. I shrugged my shoulders, +and turning on my heels, with the woodmen close after +me, sprang through the near doorway. Where was Heru? I +flew down the corridor by which it seemed she had re- +treated, and then, hesitating a moment where it divided in +two, took the left one. This to my chagrin presently began +to trend upwards, whereas I knew Heru was making for +the river down below. + +But it was impossible to go back, and whenever I stopped +in those deserted passages I could hear the wolflike patter of +men's feet upon my trail. On again into the stony laby- +rinths of the old palace, ever upwards, in spite of my desire +to go down, until at last, the pursuers off the track for a +moment, I came to a north window in the palace wall, +and, hot and breathless, stayed to look out. + +All was peace here; the sky a lovely lavender, a promise +of coming morning in it, and a gold-spangled curtain of +stars out yonder on the horizon. Not a soul moved. Below +appeared a sheer drop of a hundred feet into a moat wind- +ing through thickets of heavy-scented convolvulus flowers to +the waterways beyond. And as I looked a skiff with half +a dozen rowers came swiftly out of the darkness of the wall +and passed like a shadow amongst the thickets. In the +prow was all Hath's wedding plate, and in the stern, a faint +vision of unconscious loveliness, lay Heru! + +Before I could lift a finger or call out, even if I had had +a mind to do so, the shadow had gone round a bend, and +a shout within the palace told me I was sighted again. + +On once more, hotly pursued, until the last corridor ended +in two doors leading into a half-lit gallery with open win- +dows at the further end. There was a wilderness of lumber +down the sides of the great garret, and now I come to think +of it more calmly I imagine it was Hath's Lost Property Office, +the vast receptacle where his slaves deposited everything +lazy Martians forgot or left about in their daily life. At that +moment it only represented a last refuge, and into it I dashed, +swung the doors to and fastened them just as the foremost +of Ar-hap's men hurled themselves upon the barrier from +outside. + +There I was like a rat in a trap, and like a rat I made up +my mind to fight savagely to the end, without for a mo- +ment deceiving myself as to what that end must be. Even +up there the horrible roar of destruction was plainly audible +as the barbarians sacked and burned the ancient town, +and I was glad from the bottom of my heart my poor little +princess was safely out of it. Nor did I bear her or hers the +least resentment for making off while there was yet time +and leaving me to my fate--anything else would have been +contrary to Martian nature. Doubtless she would get away, +as Hath had said, and elsewhere drop a few pearly tears +and then over her sugar-candy and lotus-eating forget with +happy completeness--most blessed gift! And meanwhile +the foresaid barbarians were battering on my doors, while over +their heads choking smoke was pouring in in ever-increas- +ing volumes. + +In burst the first panel, then another, and I could see +through the gaps a medley of tossing weapons and wild +faces without. Short shrift for me if they came through, so +in the obstinacy of desperation I set to work to pile old +furniture and dry goods against the barricade. And as they +yelled and hammered outside I screamed back defiance +from within, sweating, tugging, and hauling with the +strength of ten men, piling up the old Martian lumber against +the opening till, so fierce was the attack outside, little was +left of the original doorway and nothing between me and +the beseigers but a rampart of broken woodwork half seen in +a smother of smoke and flames. + +Still they came on, thrusting spears and javelins through +every crevice and my strength began to go. I threw two +tables into a gap, and brained a besieger with a sweet- +meat-seller's block and smothered another, and overturned a +great chest against my barricade; but what was the purpose +of it all? They were fifty to one and my rampart quaked +before them. The smoke was stifling, and the pains of dis- +solution in my heart. They burst in and clambered up the +rampart like black ants. I looked round for still one more +thing to hurl into the breach. My eyes lit on a roll of carpet: +I seized it by one corner meaning to drag it to the door- +way, and it came undone at a touch. + +That strange, that incredible pattern! Where in all the +vicissitudes of a chequered career had I seen such a one +before? I stared at it in amazement under the very spears of +the woodmen in the red glare of Hath's burning palace. Then all +on a sudden it burst upon me that IT WAS THE ACCURSED RUG, +the very one which in response to a careless wish had swept +me out of my own dear world, and forced me to take as wild +a journey into space as ever fell to a man's lot since the +universe was made! + +And in another second it occurred to me that if it had +brought me hither it might take me hence. It was but a +chance, yet worth trying when all other chances were against +me. As Ar-hap's men came shouting over the barricade I threw +myself down upon that incredible carpet and cried from +the bottom of my heart, + +"I wish--I wish I were in New York!" + +Yes! + +A moment of thrilling suspense and then the corners lifted +as though a strong breeze were playing upon them. An- +other moment and they had curled over like an incoming +surge. One swift glance I got at the smoke and flames, the +glittering spears and angry faces, and then fold upon fold, a +stifling, all-enveloping embrace, a lift, a sense of super- +human speed--and then forgetfulness. + +When I came to, as reporters say, I was aware the rug +had ejected me on solid ground and disappeared, forever. +Where was I! It was cool, damp, and muddy. There were +some iron railings close at hand and a street lamp overhead. +These things showed clearly to me, sitting on a doorstep +under that light, head in hand, amazed and giddy--so +amazed that when slowly the recognition came of the in- +credible fact my wish was gratified and I was home again, +the stupendous incident scarcely appealed to my tingling sen- +ses more than one of the many others I had lately undergone. + +Very slowly I rose to my feet, and as like a discreditable +reveller as could be, climbed the steps. The front door was +open, and entering the oh, so familiar hall a sound of voices +in my sitting-room on the right caught my ear. + +"Oh no, Mrs. Brown," said one, which I recognised at +once as my Polly's, "he is dead for certain, and my heart +is breaking. He would never, never have left me so long +without writing if he had been alive," and then came a great +sound of sobbing. + +"Bless your kind heart, miss," said the voice of my land- +lady in reply, "but you don't know as much about young +gentlemen as I do. It is not likely, if he has gone off on the +razzle-dazzle, as I am sure he has, he is going to write every +post and tell you about it. Now you go off to your ma +at the hotel like a dear, and forget all about him till he +comes back--that's MY advice." + +"I cannot, I cannot, Mrs. Brown. I cannot rest by day +or sleep by night for thinking of him; for wondering why +he went away so suddenly, and for hungering for news +of him. Oh, I am miserable. Gully! Gully! Come to me," and +then there were sounds of troubled footsteps pacing to and +fro and of a woman's grief. + +That was more than I could stand. I flung the door open, +and, dirty, dishevelled, with unsteady steps, advanced +into the room. + +"Ahem!" coughed Mrs. Brown, "just as I expected!" + +But I had no eyes for her. "Polly! Polly!" I cried, and +that dear girl, after a startled scream and a glance to make +sure it was indeed the recovered prodigal, rushed over +and threw all her weight of dear, warm, comfortable woman- +hood into my arms, and the moment after burst into a pas- +sion of happy tears down my collar. + +"Humph!" quoth the landlady, "that is not what BROWN +gets when he forgets his self. No, not by any means." + +But she was a good old soul at heart, and, seeing how +matters stood, with a parting glance of scorn in my direction +and a toss of her head, went out of the room, and closed +the door behind her. + +Need I tell in detail what followed? Polly behaved like +an angel, and when in answer to her gentle reproaches I +told her the outlines of my marvellous story she almost be- +lieved me! Over there on the writing-desk lay a whole row +of the unopened letters she had showered upon me during +my absence, and amongst them an official one. We went +and opened it together, and it was an intimation of my +promotion, a much better "step" than I had ever dared to +hope for. + +Holding that missive in my hand a thought suddenly oc- +curred to me. + +"Polly dear, this letter makes me able to maintain you as +you ought to be maintained, and there is still a fortnight +of vacation for me. Polly, will you marry me tomorrow?" + +"No, certainly not, sir." + +"Then will you marry me on Monday?" + +"Do you truly, truly want me to?" + +"Truly, truly." + +"Then, yes," and the dear girl again came blushing into +my arms. + +While we were thus the door opened, and in came her +parents who were staying at a neighbouring hotel while in- +quiries were made as to my mysterious absence. Not un- +naturally my appearance went a long way to confirm suspi- +cions such as Mrs. Brown had confessed to, and, after +they had given me cold salutations, Polly's mother, fixing +gold glasses on the bridge of her nose and eyeing me +haughtily therefrom, observed, + +"And now that you ARE safely at home again, Lieuten- +ant Gulliver Jones, I think I will take my daughter away +with me. Tomorrow her father will ascertain the true state +of her feelings after this unpleasant experience, and sub- +sequently he will no doubt communicate with you on the +subject." This very icily. + +But I was too happy to be lightly put down. + +"My dear madam," I replied, "I am happy to be able to +save her father that trouble. I have already communicated +with this young lady as to the state of her feelings, and as +an outcome I am delighted to be able to tell you we are +to be married on Monday." + +"Oh yes, Mother, it is true, and if you do not want to +make me the most miserable of girls again you will not be +unkind to us." + +In brief, that sweet champion spoke so prettily and +smoothed things so cleverly that I was "forgiven," and later +on in the evening allowed to escort Polly back to her hotel. + +"And oh!" she said, in her charmingly enthusiastic way +when we were saying goodnight, "you shall write a book about +that extraordinary story you told me just now. Only you must +promise me one thing." + +"What is it?" + +"To leave out all about Heru--I don't like that part at all." +This with the prettiest little pout. + +"But, Polly dear, see how important she was to the nar- +rative. I cannot quite do that." + +"Then you will say as little as you can about her?" + +"No more than the story compels me to." + +"And you are quite sure you like me much the best, and +will not go after her again?" + +"Quite sure." + +The compact was sealed in the most approved fashion; +and here, indulgent reader, is the artless narrative that re- +sulted--an incident so incredible in this prosaic latter-day +world that I dare not ask you to believe, and must humbly +content myself with hoping that if I fail to convince yet I +may at least claim the consolation of having amused you. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Gulliver of Mars by Edwin Arnold + diff --git a/old/gulvm10.zip b/old/gulvm10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e41326 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/gulvm10.zip diff --git a/old/gulvm11.txt b/old/gulvm11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..14cb115 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/gulvm11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7136 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Gulliver of Mars by Edwin L. 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At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will +laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my +pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write it--the pallid +splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me, +and will not be forgotten. The tumult of the struggle into which that +vision led me still throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping voices of the +planet I ransacked for its sake and the roar of the destruction which +followed me back from the quest drowns all other sounds in my ears! +I must and will write--it relieves me; read and believe as you list. + +At the moment this story commences I was thinking of grilled steak and +tomatoes--steak crisp and brown on both sides, and tomatoes red as a +setting sun! + +Much else though I have forgotten, THAT fact remains as clear as the +last sight of a well-remembered shore in the mind of some wave-tossed +traveller. And the occasion which produced that prosaic thought was a +night well calculated to make one think of supper and fireside, though +the one might be frugal and the other lonely, and as I, Gulliver Jones, +the poor foresaid Navy lieutenant, with the honoured stars of our Republic +on my collar, and an undeserved snub from those in authority rankling in +my heart, picked my way homeward by a short cut through the dismalness +of a New York slum I longed for steak and stout, slippers and a pipe, +with all the pathetic keenness of a troubled soul. + +It was a wild, black kind of night, and the weirdness of it showed up +as I passed from light to light or crossed the mouths of dim alleys +leading Heaven knows to what infernal dens of mystery and crime even +in this latter-day city of ours. The moon was up as far as the church +steeples; large vapoury clouds scudding across the sky between us and +her, and a strong, gusty wind, laden with big raindrops snarled angrily +round corners and sighed in the parapets like strange voices talking +about things not of human interest. + +It made no difference to me, of course. New York in this year of grace +is not the place for the supernatural be the time never so fit for +witch-riding and the night wind in the chimney-stacks sound never so +much like the last gurgling cries of throttled men. No! the world was +very matter-of-fact, and particularly so to me, a poor younger son with +five dollars in my purse by way of fortune, a packet of unpaid bills +in my breastpocket, and round my neck a locket with a portrait therein +of that dear buxom, freckled, stub-nosed girl away in a little southern +seaport town whom I thought I loved with a magnificent affection. Gods! +I had not even touched the fringe of that affliction. + +Thus sauntering along moodily, my chin on my chest and much too absorbed +in reflection to have any nice appreciation of what was happening about +me, I was crossing in front of a dilapidated block of houses, dating +back nearly to the time of the Pilgrim Fathers, when I had a vague +consciousness of something dark suddenly sweeping by me--a thing like +a huge bat, or a solid shadow, if such a thing could be, and the next +instant there was a thud and a bump, a bump again, a half-stifled cry, +and then a hurried vision of some black carpeting that flapped and shook +as though all the winds of Eblis were in its folds, and then apparently +disgorged from its inmost recesses a little man. + +Before my first start of half-amused surprise was over I saw him by the +flickering lamp-light clutch at space as he tried to steady himself, +stumble on the slippery curb, and the next moment go down on the back +of his head with a most ugly thud. + +Now I was not destitute of feeling, though it had been my lot to see men +die in many ways, and I ran over to that motionless form without an idea +that anything but an ordinary accident had occurred. There he lay, silent +and, as it turned out afterwards, dead as a door-nail, the strangest old +fellow ever eyes looked upon, dressed in shabby sorrel-coloured clothes +of antique cut, with a long grey beard upon his chin, pent-roof eyebrows, +and a wizened complexion so puckered and tanned by exposure to Heaven +only knew what weathers that it was impossible to guess his nationality. + +I lifted him up out of the puddle of black blood in which he was lying, +and his head dropped back over my arm as though it had been fixed to +his body with string alone. There was neither heart-beat nor breath in +him, and the last flicker of life faded out of that gaunt face even as +I watched. It was not altogether a pleasant situation, and the only thing +to do appeared to be to get the dead man into proper care (though little +good it could do him now!) as speedily as possible. So, sending a chance +passer-by into the main street for a cab, I placed him into it as soon +as it came, and there being nobody else to go, got in with him myself, +telling the driver at the same time to take us to the nearest hospital. + +"Is this your rug, captain?" asked a bystander just as we were driving +off. + +"Not mine," I answered somewhat roughly. "You don't suppose I go +about at this time of night with Turkey carpets under my arm, do you? +It belongs to this old chap here who has just dropped out of the skies +on to his head; chuck it on top and shut the door!" And that rug, +the very mainspring of the startling things which followed, was thus +carelessly thrown on to the carriage, and off we went. + +Well, to be brief, I handed in that stark old traveller from nowhere at +the hospital, and as a matter of curiosity sat in the waiting-room while +they examined him. In five minutes the house-surgeon on duty came in +to see me, and with a shake of his head said briefly-- + +"Gone, sir--clean gone! Broke his neck like a pipe-stem. Most +strange-looking man, and none of us can even guess at his age. Not a +friend of yours, I suppose?" + +"Nothing whatever to do with me, sir. He slipped on the pavement and +fell in front of me just now, and as a matter of common charity I brought +him in here. Were there any means of identification on him?" + +"None whatever," answered the doctor, taking out his notebook and, +as a matter of form, writing down my name and address and a few brief +particulars, "nothing whatever except this curious-looking bead hung +round his neck by a blackened thong of leather," and he handed me a thing +about as big as a filbert nut with a loop for suspension and apparently +of rock crystal, though so begrimed and dull its nature was difficult to +speak of with certainty. The bead was of no seeming value and slipped +unintentionally into my waistcoat pocket as I chatted for a few minutes +more with the doctor, and then, shaking hands, I said goodbye, and went +back to the cab which was still waiting outside. + +It was only on reaching home I noticed the hospital porters had omitted to +take the dead man's carpet from the roof of the cab when they carried him +in, and as the cabman did not care about driving back to the hospital with +it, and it could not well be left in the street, I somewhat reluctantly +carried it indoors with me. + +Once in the shine of my own lamp and a cigar in my mouth I had a closer +look at that ancient piece of art work from heaven, or the other place, +only knows what ancient loom. + +A big, strong rug of faded Oriental colouring, it covered half the floor +of my sitting-room, the substance being of a material more like camel's +hair than anything else, and running across, when examined closely, +were some dark fibres so long and fine that surely they must have come +from the tail of Solomon's favourite black stallion itself. But the +strangest thing about that carpet was its pattern. It was threadbare +enough to all conscience in places, yet the design still lived in solemn, +age-wasted hues, and, as I dragged it to my stove-front and spread +it out, it seemed to me that it was as much like a star map done by a +scribe who had lately recovered from delirium tremens as anything else. +In the centre appeared a round such as might be taken for the sun, while +here and there, "in the field," as heralds say, were lesser orbs which +from their size and position could represent smaller worlds circling +about it. Between these orbs were dotted lines and arrow-heads of the +oldest form pointing in all directions, while all the intervening spaces +were filled up with woven characters half-way in appearance between +Runes and Cryptic-Sanskrit. Round the borders these characters ran into +a wild maze, a perfect jungle of an alphabet through which none but a +wizard could have forced a way in search of meaning. + +Altogether, I thought as I kicked it out straight upon my floor, it was +a strange and not unhandsome article of furniture--it would do nicely +for the mess-room on the Carolina, and if any representatives of yonder +poor old fellow turned up tomorrow, why, I would give them a couple of +dollars for it. Little did I guess how dear it would be at any price! + +Meanwhile that steak was late, and now that the temporary excitement of +the evening was wearing off I fell dull again. What a dark, sodden world +it was that frowned in on me as I moved over to the window and opened +it for the benefit of the cool air, and how the wind howled about the +roof tops. How lonely I was! What a fool I had been to ask for long +leave and come ashore like this, to curry favour with a set of stubborn +dunderheads who cared nothing for me--or Polly, and could not or would +not understand how important it was to the best interests of the Service +that I should get that promotion which alone would send me back to her +an eligible wooer! What a fool I was not to have volunteered for some +desperate service instead of wasting time like this! Then at least life +would have been interesting; now it was dull as ditch-water, with wretched +vistas of stagnant waiting between now and that joyful day when I could +claim that dear, rosy-checked girl for my own. What a fool I had been! + +"I wish, I wish," I exclaimed, walking round the little room, "I wish +I were--" + +While these unfinished exclamations were actually passing my lips I +chanced to cross that infernal mat, and it is no more startling than +true, but at my word a quiver of expectation ran through that gaunt +web--a rustle of anticipation filled its ancient fabric, and one frayed +corner surged up, and as I passed off its surface in my stride, the +sentence still unfinished on my lips, wrapped itself about my left leg +with extraordinary swiftness and so effectively that I nearly fell into +the arms of my landlady, who opened the door at the moment and came in +with a tray and the steak and tomatoes mentioned more than once already. + +It was the draught caused by the opening door, of course, that had made +the dead man's rug lift so strangely--what else could it have been? +I made this apology to the good woman, and when she had set the table +and closed the door took another turn or two about my den, continuing +as I did so my angry thoughts. + +"Yes, yes," I said at last, returning to the stove and taking my stand, +hands in pockets, in front of it, "anything were better than this, any +enterprise however wild, any adventure however desperate. Oh, I wish I +were anywhere but here, anywhere out of this redtape-ridden world of ours! +I WISH I WERE IN THE PLANET MARS!" + +How can I describe what followed those luckless words? Even as I spoke +the magic carpet quivered responsively under my feet, and an undulation +went all round the fringe as though a sudden wind were shaking it. +It humped up in the middle so abruptly that I came down sitting with +a shock that numbed me for the moment. It threw me on my back and +billowed up round me as though I were in the trough of a stormy sea. +Quicker than I can write it lapped a corner over and rolled me in its +folds like a chrysalis in a cocoon. I gave a wild yell and made one +frantic struggle, but it was too late. With the leathery strength of a +giant and the swiftness of an accomplished cigar-roller covering a "core" +with leaf, it swamped my efforts, straightened my limbs, rolled me over, +lapped me in fold after fold till head and feet and everything were +gone--crushed life and breath back into my innermost being, and then, +with the last particle of consciousness, I felt myself lifted from the +floor, pass once round the room, and finally shoot out, point foremost, +into space through the open window, and go up and up and up with a +sound of rending atmospheres that seemed to tear like riven silk in +one prolonged shriek under my head, and to close up in thunder astern +until my reeling senses could stand it no longer. and time and space +and circumstances all lost their meaning to me. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +How long that wild rush lasted I have no means of judging. It may +have been an hour, a day, or many days, for I was throughout in a +state of suspended animation, but presently my senses began to return +and with them a sensation of lessening speed, a grateful relief to a +heavy pressure which had held my life crushed in its grasp, without +destroying it completely. It was just that sort of sensation though +more keen which, drowsy in his bunk, a traveller feels when he is aware, +without special perception, harbour is reached and a voyage comes to +an end. But in my case the slowing down was for a long time comparative. +Yet the sensation served to revive my scattered senses, and just as I +was awakening to a lively sense of amazement, an incredible doubt of my +own emotions, and an eager desire to know what had happened, my strange +conveyance oscillated once or twice, undulated lightly up and down, like +a woodpecker flying from tree to tree, and then grounded, bows first, +rolled over several times, then steadied again, and, coming at last to +rest, the next minute the infernal rug opened, quivering along all its +borders in its peculiar way, and humping up in the middle shot me five +feet into the air like a cat tossed from a schoolboy's blanket. + +As I turned over I had a dim vision of a clear light like the shine +of dawn, and solid ground sloping away below me. Upon that slope was +ranged a crowd of squatting people, and a staid-looking individual with +his back turned stood nearer by. Afterwards I found he was lecturing +all those sitters on the ethics of gravity and the inherent properties +of falling bodies; at the moment I only knew he was directly in my line +as I descended, and him round the waist I seized, giddy with the light +and fresh air, waltzed him down the slope with the force of my impetus, +and, tripping at the bottom, rolled over and over recklessly with him +sheer into the arms of the gaping crowd below. Over and over we went +into the thickest mass of bodies, making a way through the people, until +at last we came to a stop in a perfect mound of writhing forms and waving +legs and arms. When we had done the mass disentangled itself and I was +able to raise my head from the shoulder of someone on whom I had fallen, +lifting him, or her--which was it?--into a sitting posture alongside of +me at the same time, while the others rose about us like wheat-stalks +after a storm, and edged shyly off, as well as they might. + +Such a sleek, slim youth it was who sat up facing me, with a flush of +gentle surprise on his face, and dapper hands that felt cautiously about +his anatomy for injured places. He looked so quaintly rueful yet withal +so good-tempered that I could not help bursting into laughter in spite +of my own amazement. Then he laughed too, a sedate, musical chuckle, +and said something incomprehensible, pointing at the same time to a cut +upon my finger that was bleeding a little. I shook my head, meaning +thereby that it was nothing, but the stranger with graceful solicitude +took my hand, and, after examining the hurt, deliberately tore a strip +of cloth from a bright yellow toga-like garment he was wearing and bound +the place up with a woman's tenderness. + +Meanwhile, as he ministered, there was time to look about me. Where +was I? It was not the Broadway; it was not Staten Island on a Saturday +afternoon. The night was just over, and the sun on the point of rising. +Yet it was still shadowy all about, the air being marvellously tepid +and pleasant to the senses. Quaint, soft aromas like the breath of +a new world--the fragrance of unknown flowers, and the dewy scent of +never-trodden fields drifted to my nostrils; and to my ears came a sound +of laughter scarcely more human than the murmur of the wind in the trees, +and a pretty undulating whisper as though a great concourse of people +were talking softly in their sleep. I gazed about scarcely knowing +how much of my senses or surroundings were real and how much fanciful, +until I presently became aware the rosy twilight was broadening into day, +and under the increasing shine a strange scene was fashioning itself. + +At first it was an opal sea I looked on of mist, shot along its upper +surface with the rosy gold and pinks of dawn. Then, as that soft, +translucent lake ebbed, jutting hills came through it, black and crimson, +and as they seemed to mount into the air other lower hills showed +through the veil with rounded forest knobs till at last the brightening +day dispelled the mist, and as the rosy-coloured gauzy fragments went +slowly floating away a wonderfully fair country lay at my feet, with +a broad sea glimmering in many arms and bays in the distance beyond. +It was all dim and unreal at first, the mountains shadowy, the ocean +unreal, the flowery fields between it and me vacant and shadowy. + +Yet were they vacant? As my eyes cleared and day brightened still more, +and I turned my head this way and that, it presently dawned upon me +all the meadow coppices and terraces northwards of where I lay, all +that blue and spacious ground I had thought to be bare and vacant, were +alive with a teeming city of booths and tents; now I came to look more +closely there was a whole town upon the slope, built as might be in a +night of boughs and branches still unwithered, the streets and ways of +that city in the shadows thronged with expectant people moving in groups +and shifting to and fro in lively streams--chatting at the stalls and +clustering round the tent doors in soft, gauzy, parti-coloured crowds +in a way both fascinating and perplexing. + +I stared about me like a child at its first pantomime, dimly understanding +all I saw was novel, but more allured to the colour and life of the +picture than concerned with its exact meaning; and while I stared +and turned my finger was bandaged, and my new friend had been lisping +away to me without getting anything in turn but a shake of the head. +This made him thoughtful, and thereon followed a curious incident which +I cannot explain. I doubt even whether you will believe it; but what +am I to do in that case? You have already accepted the episode of my +coming, or you would have shut the covers before arriving at this page +of my modest narrative, and this emboldens me. I may strengthen my +claim on your credulity by pointing out the extraordinary marvels which +science is teaching you even on our own little world. To quote a single +instance: If any one had declared ten years ago that it would shortly +be practicable and easy for two persons to converse from shore to shore +across the Atlantic without any intervening medium, he would have been +laughed at as a possibly amusing but certainly extravagant romancer. +Yet that picturesque lie of yesterday is amongst the accomplished facts +of today! Therefore I am encouraged to ask your indulgence, in the name +of your previous errors, for the following and any other instances in +which I may appear to trifle with strict veracity. There is no such +thing as the impossible in our universe! + +When my friendly companion found I could not understand him, he looked +serious for a minute or two, then shortened his brilliant yellow toga, +as though he had arrived at some resolve, and knelt down directly in +front of me. He next took my face between his hands, and putting his nose +within an inch of mine, stared into my eyes with all his might. At first +I was inclined to laugh, but before long the most curious sensations took +hold of me. They commenced with a thrill which passed all up my body, +and next all feeling save the consciousness of the loud beating of my +heart ceased. Then it seemed that boy's eyes were inside my head and not +outside, while along with them an intangible something pervaded my brain. +The sensation at first was like the application of ether to the skin--a +cool, numbing emotion. It was followed by a curious tingling feeling, +as some dormant cells in my mind answered to the thought-transfer, and +were filled and fertilised! My other brain-cells most distinctly felt +the vitalising of their companions, and for about a minute I experienced +extreme nausea and a headache such as comes from over-study, though both +passed swiftly off. I presume that in the future we shall all obtain +knowledge in this way. The Professors of a later day will perhaps keep +shops for the sale of miscellaneous information, and we shall drop in +and be inflated with learning just as the bicyclist gets his tire pumped +up, or the motorist is recharged with electricity at so much per unit. +Examinations will then become matters of capacity in the real meaning +of that word, and we shall be tempted to invest our pocket-money by +advertisements of "A cheap line in Astrology," "Try our double-strength, +two-minute course of Classics," "This is remnant day for Trigonometry +and Metaphysics," and so on. + +My friend did not get as far as that. With him the process did not take +more than a minute, but it was startling in its results, and reduced me +to an extraordinary state of hypnotic receptibility. When it was over +my instructor tapped with a finger on my lips, uttering aloud as he did +so the words-- + +"Know none; know some; know little; know morel" again and again; and the +strangest part of it is that as he spoke I did know at first a little, +then more, and still more, by swift accumulation, of his speech and +meaning. In fact, when presently he suddenly laid a hand over my eyes +and then let go of my head with a pleasantly put question as to how I +felt, I had no difficulty whatever in answering him in his own tongue, +and rose from the ground as one gets from a hair-dresser's chair, with +a vague idea of looking round for my hat and offering him his fee. + +"My word, sir!" I said, in lisping Martian, as I pulled down my cuffs +and put my cravat straight, "that was a quick process. I once heard of +a man who learnt a language in the moments he gave each day to having +his boots blacked; but this beats all. I trust I was a docile pupil?" + +"Oh, fairly, sir," answered the soft, musical voice of the strange being +by me; "but your head is thick and your brain tough. I could have taught +another in half the time." + +"Curiously enough," was my response, "those are almost the very words +with which my dear old tutor dismissed me the morning I left college. +Never mind, the thing is done. Shall I pay you anything?" + +"I do not understand." + +"Any honorarium, then? Some people understand one word and not the +other." But the boy only shook his head in answer. + +Strangely enough, I was not greatly surprised all this time either +at the novelty of my whereabouts or at the hypnotic instruction in a +new language just received. Perhaps it was because my head still spun +too giddily with that flight in the old rug for much thought; perhaps +because I did not yet fully realise the thing that had happened. But, +anyhow, there is the fact, which, like so many others in my narrative, +must, alas! remain unexplained for the moment. The rug, by the way, had +completely disappeared, my friend comforting me on this score, however, +by saying he had seen it rolled up and taken away by one whom he knew. + +"We are very tidy people here, stranger," he said, "and everything +found Lying about goes back to the Palace store-rooms. You will laugh +to see the lumber there, for few of us ever take the trouble to reclaim +our property." + +Heaven knows I was in no laughing mood when I saw that enchanted web +again! + +When I had lain and watched the brightening scene for a time, I got up, +and having stretched and shaken my clothes into some sort of order, we +strolled down the hill and joined the light-hearted crowds that twined +across the plain and through the streets of their city of booths. +They were the prettiest, daintiest folk ever eyes looked upon, +well-formed and like to us as could be in the main, but slender and +willowy, so dainty and light, both the men and the women, so pretty of +cheek and hair, so mild of aspect, I felt, as I strode amongst them, I +could have plucked them like flowers and bound them up in bunches with +my belt. And yet somehow I liked them from the first minute; such a +happy, careless, light-hearted race, again I say, never was seen before. +There was not a stain of thought or care on a single one of those white +foreheads that eddied round me under their peaked, blossom-like caps, +the perpetual smile their faces wore never suffered rebuke anywhere; +their very movements were graceful and slow, their laughter was low and +musical, there was an odour of friendly, slothful happiness about them +that made me admire whether I would or no. + +Unfortunately I was not able to live on laughter, as they appeared to +be, so presently turning to my acquaintance, who had told me his name +was the plain monosyllabic An, and clapping my hand on his shoulder +as he stood lost in sleepy reflection, said, in a good, hearty way, +"Hullo, friend Yellow-jerkin! If a stranger might set himself athwart +the cheerful current of your meditations, may such a one ask how far +'tis to the nearest wine-shop or a booth where a thirsty man may get a +mug of ale at a moderate reckoning?" + +That gilded youth staggered under my friendly blow as though the hammer +of Thor himself had suddenly lit upon his shoulder, and ruefully rubbing +his tender skin, he turned on me mild, handsome eyes, answering after a +moment, during which his native mildness struggled with the pain I had +unwittingly given him-- + +"If your thirst be as emphatic as your greeting, friend Heavy-fist, +it will certainly be a kindly deed to lead you to the drinking-place. +My shoulder tingles with your good-fellowship," he added, keeping two +arms'-lengths clear of me. "Do you wish," he said, "merely to cleanse +a dusty throat, or for blue or pink oblivion?" + +"Why," I answered laughingly, "I have come a longish journey since +yesterday night--a journey out of count of all reasonable mileage--and +I might fairly plead a dusty throat as excuse for a beginning; but as +to the other things mentioned, those tinted forgetfulnesses, I do not +even know what you mean." + +"Undoubtedly you are a stranger," said the friendly youth, eyeing me from +top to toe with renewed wonder, "and by your unknown garb one from afar." + +"From how far no man can say--not even I--but from very far, in truth. +Let that stay your curiosity for the time. And now to bench and ale-mug, +on good fellow!--the shortest way. I was never so thirsty as this since +our water-butts went overboard when I sailed the southern seas as a +tramp apprentice, and for three days we had to damp our black tongues +with the puddles the night-dews left in the lift of our mainsail." + +Without more words, being a little awed of me, I thought, the boy led +me through the good-humoured crowd to where, facing the main road to the +town, but a little sheltered by a thicket of trees covered with gigantic +pink blossoms, stood a drinking-place--a cluster of tables set round an +open grass-plot. Here he brought me a platter of some light inefficient +cakes which merely served to make hunger more self-conscious, and some +fine aromatic wine contained in a triple-bodied flask, each division +containing vintage of a separate hue. We broke our biscuits, sipped +that mysterious wine, and talked of many things until at last something +set us on the subject of astronomy, a study I found my dapper gallant +had some knowledge of--which was not to be wondered at seeing he dwelt +under skies each night set thick above his curly head with tawny planets, +and glittering constellations sprinkled through space like flowers in +May meadows. He knew what worlds went round the sun, larger or lesser, +and seeing this I began to question him, for I was uneasy in my innermost +mind and, you will remember, so far had no certain knowledge of where +I was, only a dim, restless suspicion that I had come beyond the ken of +all men's knowledge. + +Therefore, sweeping clear the board with my sleeve, and breaking the +wafer cake I was eating, I set down one central piece for the sun, and, +"See here!" I said, "good fellow! This morsel shall stand for that sun +you have just been welcoming back with quaint ritual. Now stretch your +starry knowledge to the utmost, and put down that tankard for a moment. +If this be yonder sun and this lesser crumb be the outermost one of our +revolving system, and this the next within, and this the next, and so on; +now if this be so tell me which of these fragmentary orbs is ours--which +of all these crumbs from the hand of the primordial would be that we +stand upon?" And I waited with an anxiety a light manner thinly hid, +to hear his answer. + +It came at once. Laughing as though the question were too trivial, +and more to humour my wayward fancy than aught else, that boy circled +his rosy thumb about a minute and brought it down on the planet Mars! + +I started and stared at him; then all of a tremble cried, "You trifle +with me! Choose again--there, see, I will set the symbols and name them +to you anew. There now, on your soul tell me truly which this planet is, +the one here at our feet?" And again the boy shook his head, wondering at +my eagerness, and pointed to Mars, saying gently as he did so the fact was +certain as the day above us, nothing was marvellous but my questioning. + +Mars! oh, dreadful, tremendous, unexpected! With a cry of affright, +and bringing my fist down on the table till all the cups upon it leapt, +I told him he lied--lied like a simpleton whose astronomy was as rotten +as his wit--smote the table and scowled at him for a spell, then turned +away and let my chin fall upon my breast and my hands upon my lap. + +And yet, and yet, it might be so! Everything about me was new and +strange, the crisp, thin air I breathed was new; the lukewarm sunshine +new; the sleek, long, ivory faces of the people new! Yesterday--was it +yesterday?--I was back there--away in a world that pines to know of other +worlds, and one fantastic wish of mine, backed by a hideous, infernal +chance, had swung back the doors of space and shot me--if that boy spoke +true--into the outer void where never living man had been before: all +my wits about me, all the horrible bathos of my earthly clothing on me, +all my terrestrial hungers in my veins! + +I sprang to my feet and swept my hands across my eyes. Was that a dream, +or this? No, no, both were too real. The hum of my faraway city still +rang in my ears: a swift vision of the girl I had loved; of the men I +had hated; of the things I had hoped for rose before me, still dazing +my inner eye. And these about me were real people, too; it was real +earth; real skies, trees, and rocks--had the infernal gods indeed heard, +I asked myself, the foolish wish that started from my lips in a moment of +fierce discontent, and swept me into another sphere, another existence? +I looked at the boy as though he could answer that question, but there +was nothing in his face but vacuous wonder; I clapped my hands together +and beat my breast; it was true; my soul within me said it was true; +the boy had not lied; the djins had heard; I was just in the flesh I +had; my common human hungers still unsatisfied where never mortal man +had hungered before; and scarcely knowing whether I feared or not, +whether to laugh or cry, but with all the wonder and terror of that +great remove sweeping suddenly upon me I staggered back to my seat, +and dropping my arms upon the table, leant my head heavily upon them +and strove to choke back the passion which beset me. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +It was the light touch of the boy An upon my shoulder which roused me. +He was bending down, his pretty face full of concernful sympathy, and +in a minute said--knowing nothing of my thoughts, of course, + +"It is the wine, stranger, the pink oblivion, it sometimes makes one +feel like that until enough is taken; you stopped just short of what you +should have had, and the next cup would have been delight--I should have +told you." + +"Ay," I answered, glad he should think so, "it was the wine, no doubt; +your quaint drink, sir, tangled up my senses for the moment, but they +are clearer now, and I am eager past expression to learn a little more +of this strange country I have wandered into." + +"I would rather," said the boy, relapsing again into his state of kindly +lethargy, "that you learnt things as you went, for talking is work, +and work we hate, but today we are all new and fresh, and if ever you +are to ask questions now is certainly the time. Come with me to the +city yonder, and as we go I will answer the things you wish to know;" +and I went with him, for I was humble and amazed, and, in truth, at that +moment, had not a word to say for myself. + +All the way from the plain where I had awoke to the walls of the city +stood booths, drinking-places, and gardens divided by labyrinths of +canals, and embowered in shrubberies that seemed coming into leaf +and flower as we looked, so swift was the process of their growth. +These waterways were covered with skiffs being pushed and rowed in every +direction; the cheerful rowers calling to each other through the leafy +screens separating one lane from another till the place was full of their +happy chirruping. Every booth and way-side halting-place was thronged +with these delicate and sprightly people, so friendly, so gracious, +and withal so purposeless. + +I began to think we should never reach the town itself, for first my +guide would sit down on a green stream-bank, his feet a-dangle in the +clear water, and bandy wit with a passing boat as though there were +nothing else in the world to think of. And when I dragged him out of +that, whispering in his ear, "The town, my dear boy! the town! I am +all agape to see it," he would saunter reluctantly to a booth a hundred +yards further on and fall to eating strange confections or sipping +coloured wines with chance acquaintances, till again I plucked him by +the sleeve and said: "Seth, good comrade--was it not so you called your +city just now?--take me to the gates, and I will be grateful to you," +then on again down a flowery lane, aimless and happy, wasting my time +and his, with placid civility I was led by that simple guide. + +Wherever we went the people stared at me, as well they might, as I walked +through them overtopping the tallest by a head or more. The drinking-cups +paused half-way to their mouths; the jests died away upon their lips; +and the blinking eyes of the drinkers shone with a momentary sparkle of +wonder as their minds reeled down those many-tinted floods to the realms +of oblivion they loved. + +I heard men whisper one to another, "Who is he?"; "Whence does he come?"; +"Is he a tribute-taker?" as I strolled amongst them, my mind still so +thrilled with doubt and wonder that to me they seemed hardly more than +painted puppets, the vistas of their lovely glades and the ivory town +beyond only the fancy of a dream, and their talk as incontinent as the +babble of a stream. + +Then happily, as I walked along with bent head brooding over the +incredible thing that had happened, my companion's shapely legs gave out, +and with a sigh of fatigue he suggested we should take a skiff amongst +the many lying about upon the margins and sail towards the town, "For," +said he, "the breeze blows thitherward, and 'tis a shame to use one's +limbs when Nature will carry us for nothing!" + +"But have you a boat of your own hereabouts?" I queried; "for to tell +the truth I came from home myself somewhat poorly provided with means +to buy or barter, and if your purse be not heavier than mine we must +still do as poor men do." + +"Oh!" said An, "there is no need to think of that, no one here to hire +or hire of; we will just take the first skiff we see that suits us." + +"And what if the owner should come along and find his boat gone?" + +"Why, what should he do but take the next along the bank, and the master +of that the next again--how else could it be?" said the Martian, and +shrugging my shoulders, for I was in no great mood to argue, we went +down to the waterway, through a thicket of budding trees underlaid with +a carpet of small red flowers filling the air with a scent of honey, and +soon found a diminutive craft pulled up on the bank. There were some +dainty cloaks and wraps in it which An took out and laid under a tree. +But first he felt in the pouch of one for a sweetmeat which his fine +nostrils, acute as a squirrel's, told him was there, and taking the lump +out bit a piece from it, afterwards replacing it in the owner's pocket +with the frankest simplicity. + +Then we pushed off, hoisted the slender mast, set the smallest lug-sail +that ever a sailor smiled at, and, myself at the helm, and that golden +youth amidships, away we drifted under thickets of drooping canes +tasselled with yellow catkin-flowers, up the blue alley of the water into +the broader open river beyond with its rapid flow and crowding boats, +the white city front now towering clear before us. + +The air was full of sunshine and merry voices; birds were singing, +trees were budding; only my heart was heavy, my mind confused. Yet why +should I be sad, I said to myself presently? Life beat in my pulses; +what had I to fear? This world I had tumbled into was new and strange, +no doubt, but tomorrow it would be old and familiar; it discredited my +manhood to sit brow-bent like that, so with an effort I roused myself. + +"Old chap!" I said to my companion, as he sat astride of a thwart +slowly chewing something sticky and eyeing me out of the corner of +his eyes with vapid wonder, "tell me something of this land of yours, +or something about yourself--which reminds me I have a question to ask. +It is a bit delicate, but you look a sensible sort of fellow, and will +take no offence. The fact is, I have noticed as we came along half your +population dresses in all the colours of the rainbow--'fancy suitings' +our tailors could call it at home--and this half of the census are +undoubtedly men and women. The rub is that the other half, to which you +belong, all dress alike in YELLOW, and I will be fired from the biggest +gun on the Carolina's main deck if I can tell what sex you belong to! +I took you for a boy in the beginning, and the way you closed with the +idea of having a drink with me seemed to show I was dead on the right +course. Then a little later on I heard you and a friend abusing our +sex from an outside point of view in a way which was very disconcerting. +This, and some other things, have set me all abroad again, and as fate +seems determined to make us chums for this voyage--why--well, frankly, +I should be glad to know if you be boy or girl? If you are as I am, +no more nor less then--for I like you--there's my hand in comradeship. +If you are otherwise, as those sleek outlines seem to promise--why, +here's my hand again! But man or woman you must be--come, which is it?" + +If I had been perplexed before, to watch that boy now was more curious +than ever. He drew back from me with a show of wounded dignity, then +bit his lips, and sighed, and stared, and frowned. "Come," I said +laughingly, "speak! it engenders ambiguity to be so ambiguous of gender! +'Tis no great matter, yes or no, a plain answer will set us fairly in +our friendship; if it is comrade, then comrade let it be; if maid, why, +I shall not quarrel with that, though it cost me a likely messmate." + +"You mock me." + +"Not I, I never mocked any one." + +"And does my robe tell you nothing?" + +"Nothing so much; a yellow tunic and becoming enough, but nothing about +it to hang a deduction on. Come! Are you a girl, after all?" + +"I do not count myself a girl." + +"Why, then, you are the most blooming boy that ever eyes were set upon; +and though 'tis with some tinge of regret, yet cheerfully I welcome you +into the ranks of manhood." + +"I hate your manhood, send it after the maidhood; it fits me just +as badly." + +"But An, be reasonable; man or maid you must be." + +"Must be; why?" + +"Why?" Was ever such a question put to a sane mortal before? I stared +at that ambiguous thing before me, and then, a little wroth to be played +with, growled out something about Martians being all drunk or mad. + +"'Tis you yourself are one or other," said that individual, by this time +pink with anger, "and if you think because I am what I am you can safely +taunt me, you are wrong. See! I have a sting," and like a thwarted +child my companion half drew from the folds of the yellow tunic-dress +the daintiest, most harmless-looking little dagger that was ever seen. + +"Oh, if it comes to that," I answered, touching the Navy scabbard +still at my hip, and regaining my temper at the sight of hers, "why, +I have a sting also--and twice as long as yours! But in truth, An, +let us not talk of these things; if something in what I have said has +offended nice Martian scruples I am sorry, and will question no more, +leaving my wonder for time to settle." + +"No," said the other, "it was my fault to be hasty of offence; I am not +so angered once a year. But in truth your question moves us yellow +robes deeply. Did you not really know that we who wear this saffron +tunic are slaves,--a race apart, despised by all." + +"'Slaves,' no; how should I know it?" + +"I thought you must understand a thing so fundamental, and it was that +thought which made your questions seem unkind. But if indeed you have +come so far as not to understand even this, then let me tell you once +we of this garb were women--priestesses of the immaculate conceptions of +humanity; guardians of those great hopes and longings which die so easily. +And because we forgot our high station and took to aping another sex +the gods deserted and men despised us, giving us, in the fierceness of +their contempt, what we asked for. We are the slave ants of the nest, +the work-bees of the hive, come, in truth, of those here who still be +men and women of a sort, but toilers only; unknown in love, unregretted +in death--those who dangle all children but their own--slaves cursed +with the accomplishment of their own ambition." + +There was no doubt poor An believed what she said, for her attitude was +one of extreme dejection while she spoke, and to cheer her I laughed. + +"Oh! come, it can't be as bad as that. Surely sometimes some of you +win back to womanhood? You yourself do not look so far gone but what +some deed of abnegation, some strong love if you could but conceive +it would set you right again. Surely you of the primrose robes can +sometimes love?" + +Whereat unwittingly I troubled the waters in the placid soul of that +outcast Martian! I cannot exactly describe how it was, but she bent her +head silently for a moment or two, and then, with a sigh, lifting her +eyes suddenly to mine, said quietly, "Yes, sometimes; sometimes--but +very seldom," while for an instant across her face there flashed the +summer lightning of a new hope, a single transient glance of wistful, +timid entreaty; of wonder and delight that dared not even yet acknowledge +itself. + +Then it was my turn to sit silent, and the pause was so awkward that in +a minute, to break it, I exclaimed-- + +"Let's drop personalities, old chap--I mean my dear Miss An. Tell me +something about your people, and let us begin properly at the top: +have you got a king, for instance?" + +To this the girl, pulling herself out of the pleasant slough of her +listlessness, and falling into my vein, answered-- + +"Both yes and no, sir traveller from afar--no chiefly, and yet perhaps +yes. If it were no then it were so, and if yes then Hath were our king." + +"A mild king I should judge by your uncertainty. In the place where +I came from kings press their individualities somewhat more clearly on +their subjects' minds. Is Hath here in the city? Does he come to your +feasts today?" + +An nodded. Hath was on the river, he had been to see the sunrise; even +now she thought the laughter and singing down behind the bend might be +the king's barge coming up citywards. "He will not be late," said my +companion, "because the marriage-feast is set for tomorrow in the palace." + +I became interested. Kings, palaces, marriage-feasts--why, here was +something substantial to go upon; after all these gauzy folk might turn +out good fellows, jolly comrades to sojourn amongst--and marriage-feasts +reminded me again I was hungry. + +"Who is it," I asked, with more interest in my tone, "who gets +married?--is it your ambiguous king himself?" + +Whereat An's purple eyes broadened with wonder: then as though she would +not be uncivil she checked herself, and answered with smothered pity +for my ignorance, "Not only Hath himself, but every one, stranger, they +are all married tomorrow; you would not have them married one at a time, +would you?"--this with inexpressible derision. + +I said, with humility, something like that happened in the place I came +from, asking her how it chanced the convenience of so many came to one +climax at the same moment. "Surely, An, this is a marvel of arrangement. +Where I dwelt wooings would sometimes be long or sometimes short, and +all maids were not complacent by such universal agreement." + +The girl was clearly perplexed. She stared at me a space, then said, +"What have wooings long or short to do with weddings? You talk as if +you did your wooing first and then came to marriage--we get married +first and woo afterwards!" + +"'Tis not a bad idea, and I can see it might lend an ease and certainty +to the pastime which our method lacks. But if the woman is got first and +sued subsequently, who brings you together? Who sees to the essential +preliminaries of assortment?" + +An, looking at my shoes as though she speculated on the remoteness of +the journey I had come if it were measured by my ignorance, replied, +"The urn, stranger, the urn does that--what else? How it may be in that +out-fashioned region you have come from I cannot tell, but here--'tis so +commonplace I should have thought you must have known it--we put each +new year the names of all womenkind into an urn and the men draw for +them, each town, each village by itself, and those they draw are theirs; +is it conceivable your race has other methods?" + +I told her it was so--we picked and chose for ourselves, beseeching the +damsels, fighting for them, and holding the sun of romance was at its +setting just where the Martians held it to rise. Whereat An burst out +laughing--a clear, ringing laugh that set all the light-hearted folk in +the nearest boats laughing in sympathy. But when the grotesqueness of +the idea had somewhat worn off, she turned grave and asked me if such +a fancy did not lead to spite, envy, and bickerings. "Why, it seems to +me," she said, shaking her curly head, "such a plan might fire cities, +desolate plains, and empty palaces--" + +"Such things have been." + +"Ah! our way is much the better. See!" quoth that gentle philosopher. +"'Here,' one of our women would say, 'am I to-day, unwed, as free of +thought as yonder bird chasing the catkin down; tomorrow I shall be +married, with a whole summer to make love in, relieved at one bound of +all those uncertainties you acknowledge to, with nothing to do but lie +about on sunny banks with him whom chance sends me, come to the goal of +love without any travelling to get there.' Why, you must acknowledge +this is the perfection of ease." + +"But supposing," I said, "chance dealt unkindly to you from your nuptial +urn, supposing the man was not to your liking, or another coveted him?" +To which An answered, with some shrewdness-- + +"In the first case we should do what we might, being no worse off than +those in your land who had played ill providence to themselves. In the +second, no maid would covet him whom fate had given to another, it were +too fatiguing, or if such a thing DID happen, then one of them would +waive his claims, for no man or woman ever born was worth a wrangle, +and it is allowed us to barter and change a little." + +All this was strange enough. I could not but laugh, while An laughed +at the lightest invitation, and thus chatting and deriding each other's +social arrangements we floated idly townwards and presently came out +into the main waterway perhaps a mile wide and flowing rapidly, as +streams will on the threshold of the spring, with brash or waste of +distant beaches riding down it, and every now and then a broken branch +or tree-stem glancing through waves whose crests a fresh wind lifted and +sowed in golden showers in the intervening furrows. The Martians seemed +expert upon the water, steering nimbly between these floating dangers +when they met them, but for the most part hugging the shore where a more +placid stream better suited their fancies, and for a time all went well. + +An, as we went along, was telling me more of her strange country, +pointing out birds or flowers and naming them to me. "Now that," she +said, pointing to a small grey owl who sat reflective on a floating log +we were approaching--"that is a bird of omen; cover your face and look +away, for it is not well to watch it." + +Whereat I laughed. "Oh!" I answered, "so those ancient follies have come +as far as this, have they? But it is no bird grey or black or white that +can frighten folk where I come from; see, I will ruffle his philosophy +for him," and suiting the action to the words I lifted a pebble that +happened to lie at the bottom of the boat and flung it at that creature +with the melancholy eyes. Away went the owl, dipping his wings into +the water at every stroke, and as he went wailing out a ghostly cry, +which even amongst sunshine and glitter made one's flesh creep. + +An shook her head. "You should not have done that," she said; "our +dead whom we send down over the falls come back in the body of yonder +little bird. But he has gone now," she added, with relief; "see, he +settles far up stream upon the point of yonder rotten bough; I would +not disturb him again if I were you--" + +Whatever more An would have said was lost, for amidst a sound of flutes +and singing round the bend of the river below came a crowd of boats +decked with flowers and garlands, all clustering round a barge barely +able to move, so thick those lesser skiffs pressed upon it. So close +those wherries hung about that the garlanded rowers who sat at the oars +could scarcely pull, but, here as everywhere, it was the same good temper, +the same carelessness of order, as like a flowery island in the dancing +blue water the motley fleet came up. + +I steered our skiff a space out from the bank to get a better view, +while An clapped her hands together and laughed. "It is Hath--he +himself and those of the palace with him. Steer a little nearer still, +friend--so! between yon floating rubbish flats, for those with Hath are +good to look at." + +Nothing loth I made out into mid-stream to see that strange prince go by, +little thinking in a few minutes I should be shaking hands with him, +a wet and dripping hero. The crowd came up, and having the advantage +of the wind, it did not take me long to get a front place in the ruck, +whence I set to work, with republican interest in royalty, to stare at +the man who An said was the head of Martian society. He did not make +me desire to renounce my democratic principles. The royal fellow was +sitting in the centre of the barge under a canopy and on a throne which +was a mass of flowers, not bunched together as they would have been +with us, but so cunningly arranged that they rose from the footstool +to the pinnacle in a rhythm of colour, a poem in bud and petals the +like of which for harmonious beauty I could not have imagined possible. +And in this fairy den was a thin, gaunt young man, dressed in some sort of +black stuff so nondescript that it amounted to little more than a shadow. +I took it for granted that a substance of bone and muscle was covered by +that gloomy suit, but it was the face above that alone riveted my gaze +and made me return the stare he gave me as we came up with redoubled +interest. It was not an unhandsome face, but ashy grey in colour and +amongst the insipid countenances of the Martians about him marvellously +thoughtful. I do not know whether those who had killed themselves by +learning ever leave ghosts behind, but if so this was the very ideal for +such a one. At his feet I noticed, when I unhooked my eyes from his at +last, sat a girl in a loose coral pink gown who was his very antipode. +Princess Heru, for so she was called, was resting one arm upon his knee +at our approach and pulling a blue convolvulus bud to pieces--a charming +picture of dainty idleness. Anything so soft, so silken as that little +lady was never seen before. Who am I, a poor quarter-deck loafer, +that I should attempt to describe what poet and painter alike would +have failed to realise? I know, of course, your stock descriptives: +the melting eye, the coral lip, the peachy cheek, the raven tress; +but these were coined for mortal woman--and this was not one of them. +I will not attempt to describe the glorious tenderness of those eyes she +turned upon me presently; the glowing radiance of her skin; the infinite +grace of every action; the incredible soul-searching harmony of her voice, +when later on I heard it--you must gather something of these things as +I go--suffice it to say that when I saw her there for the first time in +the plenitude of her beauty I fell desperately, wildly in love with her. + +Meanwhile, even the most infatuated of mortals cannot stare for ever +without saying something. The grating of our prow against the garlanded +side of the royal barge roused me from my reverie, and nodding to An, to +imply I would be back presently, I lightly jumped on to Hath's vessel, +and, with the assurance of a free and independent American voter, +approached that individual, holding out my palm, and saying as I did so, + +"Shake hands, Mr. President!" + +The prince came forward at my bidding and extending his hand for mine. +He bowed slow and sedately, in that peculiar way the Martians have, +a ripple of gratified civility passing up his flesh; lower and lower he +bowed, until his face was over our clasped hands, and then, with simple +courtesy, he kissed my finger-tips! This was somewhat embarrassing. +It was not like the procedure followed in Courts nearer to Washington +than this one, as far as my reading went, and, withdrawing my fingers +hastily, I turned to the princess, who had risen, and was eyeing her +somewhat awkwardly, the while wondering what kind of salutation would +be suitable in her case when a startling incident happened. The river, +as said, was full of floating rubbish brought down from some far-away +uplands by a spring freshet while the royal convoy was making slow +progress upstream and thus met it all bow on. Some of this stuff was +heavy timber, and when a sudden warning cry went up from the leading +boats it did not take my sailor instinct long to guess what was amiss. +Those in front shot side to side, those behind tried to drop back as, +bearing straight down on the royal barge, there came a log of black wood +twenty feet long and as thick as the mainmast of an old three-decker. + +Hath's boat could no more escape than if it had been planted on a rocky +pedestal, garlands and curtains trailing in the water hung so heavy +on it. The gilded paddles of the slender rowers were so feeble--they +had but made a half-turn from that great javelin's road when down it +came upon them, knocking the first few pretty oarsmen head over heels +and crackling through their oars like a bull through dry maize stalks. +I sprang forward, and snatching a pole from a half-hearted slave, jammed +the end into the head of the log and bore with all my weight upon it, +diverting it a little, and thereby perhaps saving the ship herself, but +not enough. As it flashed by a branch caught upon the trailing tapestry, +hurling me to the deck, and tearing away with it all that finery. +Then the great spar, tossing half its dripping length into the air, went +plunging downstream with shreds of silk and flowers trailing from it, +and white water bubbling in its rear. + +When I scrambled to my feet all was ludicrous confusion on board. +Hath still stood by his throne--an island in a sea of disorder--staring +at me; all else was chaos. The rowers and courtiers were kicking and +wallowing in the "waist" of the ship like fish newly shot out of a trawl +net, but the princess was gone. Where was she? I brushed the spray from +my eyes, and stared overboard. She was not in the bubbling blue water +alongside. Then I glanced aft to where the log, now fifteen yards away, +was splashing through the sunshine, and, as I looked, a fair arm came +up from underneath and white fingers clutched convulsively at the sky. +What man could need more? Down the barge I rushed, and dropping only my +swordbelt, leapt in to her rescue. The gentle Martians were too numb to +raise a hand in help; but it was not necessary. I had the tide with me, +and gained at every stroke. Meanwhile that accursed tree, with poor +Heru's skirts caught on a branch, was drowning her at its leisure; +lifting her up as it rose upon the crests, a fair, helpless bundle, +and then sousing her in its fall into the nether water, where I could +see her gleam now and again like pink coral. + +I redoubled my efforts and got alongside, clutching the rind of that +old stump, and swimming and scrambling, at last was within reach of +the princess. Thereon the log lifted her playfully to my arms, and +when I had laid hold came down, a crushing weight, and forced us far +into the clammy bosom of Martian sea. Again we came up, coughing and +choking--I tugging furiously at that tangled raiment, and the lady, a +mere lump of sweetness in my other arm--then down again with that log +upon me and all the noises of Eblis in my ears. Up and down we went, +over and over, till strength was spent and my ribs seemed breaking; +then, with a last desperate effort, I got a knee against the stem, and +by sheer strength freed my princess--the spiteful timber made a last +ugly thrust at us as it rolled away--and we were free! + +I turned upon my back, and, sure of rescue now, took the lady's head +upon my chest, holding her sweet, white fists in mine the while, and, +floating, waited for help. + +It came only too quickly. The gallant Martians, when they saw the +princess saved, came swiftly down upon us. Over the lapping of the water +in my ears I heard their sigh--like cries of admiration and surprise, +the rattle of spray on the canoe sides mingled with the splash of oars, +the flitting shadows of their prows were all about us, and in less time +than it takes to write we were hauled aboard, revived, and taken to +Hath's barge. Again the prince's lips were on my fingertips; again the +flutes and music struck up; and as I squeezed the water out of my hair, +and tried to keep my eyes off the outline of Heru, whose loveliness shone +through her damp, clinging, pink robe, as if that robe were but a gauzy +fancy, I vaguely heard Hath saying wondrous things of my gallantry, and, +what was more to the purpose, asking me to come with him and stay that +night at the palace. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +They lodged me like a prince in a tributary country that first night. +I was tired. 'Twas a stiff stage I had come the day before, and they +gave me a couch whose ethereal softness seemed to close like the wings +of a bird as I plunged at its touch into fathomless slumbers. But the +next day had hardly broken when I was awake, and, stretching my limbs +upon the piled silk of a legless bed upon the floor, found myself in a +great chamber with a purple tapestry across the entrance, and a square +arch leading to a flat terrace outside. + +It was a glorious daybreak, making my heart light within me, the air +like new milk, and the colours of the sunrise lay purple and yellow in +bars across my room. I yawned and stretched, then rising, wrapped a +silken quilt about me and went out into the flat terrace top, wherefrom +all the city could be seen stretched in an ivory and emerald patchwork, +with open, blue water on one side, and the Martian plain trending away +in illimitable distance upon the other. + +Directly underneath in the great square at the bottom of Hath's palace +steps were gathered a concourse of people, brilliant in many-coloured +dresses. They were sitting or lying about just as they might for all +I knew have done through the warm night, without much order, save that +where the black streaks of inlaid stone marked a carriageway across the +square none were stationed. While I wondered what would bring so many +together thus early, there came a sound of flutes--for these people can +do nothing without piping like finches in a thicket in May--and from the +storehouses half-way over to the harbour there streamed a line of carts +piled high with provender. Down came the teams attended by their slaves, +circling and wheeling into the open place, and as they passed each group +those lazy, lolling beggars crowded round and took the dole they were +too thriftless to earn themselves. It was strange to see how listless +they were about the meal, even though Providence itself put it into +their hands; to note how the yellow-girted slaves scudded amongst them, +serving out the loaves, themselves had grown, harvested, and baked; +slipping from group to group, rousing, exhorting, administering to a +helpless throng that took their efforts without thought or thanks. + +I stood there a long time, one foot upon the coping and my chin upon +my hand, noting the beauty of the ruined town and wondering how such a +feeble race as that which lay about, breakfasting in the limpid sunshine, +could have come by a city like this, or kept even the ruins of its walls +and buildings from the covetousness of others, until presently there was +a rustle of primrose garments and my friend of the day before stood by me. + +"Are you rested, traveller?" she questioned in that pretty voice of hers. + +"Rested ambrosially, An." + +"It is well; I will tell the Government and it will come up to wash and +dress you, afterwards giving you breakfast." + +"For the breakfast, damsel, I shall be grateful, but as for the washing +and dressing I will defend myself to the last gasp sooner than submit +to such administration." + +"How strange! Do you never wash in your country?" + +"Yes, but it is a matter left largely to our own discretion; so, my +dear girl, if you will leave me for a minute or two in quest of that +meal you have mentioned, I will guarantee to be ready when it comes." + +Away she slipped, with a shrug of her rosy shoulders, to return presently, +carrying a tray covered with a white cloth, whereon were half a dozen +glittering covers whence came most fragrant odours of cooked things. + +"Why, comrade," I said, sitting down and lifting lid by lid, for the +cold, sweet air outside had made me hungry, "this is better than was +hoped for; I thought from what I saw down yonder I should have to trot +behind a tumbril for my breakfast, and eat it on my heels amongst your +sleepy friends below." + +An replied, "The stranger is a prince, we take it, in his own country, +and princes fare not quite like common people, even here." + +"So," I said, my mouth full of a strange, unknown fish, and a cake soft +as milk and white as cotton in the pod. "Now that makes me feel at home!" + +"Would you have had it otherwise with us?" + +"No! now I come to think of it, it is most natural things should be much +alike in all the corners of the universe; the splendid simplicity that +rules the spheres, works much the same, no doubt, upon one side of the sun +as upon the other. Yet, somehow--you can hardly wonder at it--yesterday +I looked to find your world, when I realised where I had tumbled to, +a world of djin and giants; of mad possibilities over realised, and here +I see you dwellers by the utterly remote little more marvellous than if +I had come amongst you on the introduction of a cheap tourist ticket, +and round some neglected corner of my own distant world!" + +"I hardly follow your meaning, sir." + +"No, no, of course you cannot. I was forgetting you did not know! There, +pass me the stuff on yonder platter that looks like caked mud from an +anchor fluke, and swells like breath of paradise, and let me question +you;" and while I sat and drank with that yellow servitor sitting in +front of me, I plied her with questions, just as a baby might who had +come into the world with a full-blown gift of speech. But though she +was ready and willing enough to answer, and laughed gaily at my quaint +ignorance of simple things, yet there was little water in the well. + +"Had they any kind of crafts or science; any cult of stars or figures?" +But again she shook her head, and said, "Hath might know, Hath understood +most things, but herself knew little of either." "Armies or navies?" and +again the Martian shrugged her shoulders, questioning in turn-- + +"What for?" + +"What for!" I cried, a little angry with her engaging dulness, "Why, to +keep that which the strong hand got, and to get more for those who come +next; navies to sweep yonder blue seas, and armies to ward what they +should bring home, or guard the city walls against all enemies,--for +I suppose, An," I said, putting down my knife as the cheering thought +came on me,--"I suppose, An, you have some enemies? It is not like +Providence to give such riches as you possess, such lands, such cities, +and not to supply the antidote in some one poor enough to covet them." + +At once the girl's face clouded over, and it was obvious a tender subject +had been chanced upon. She waved her hand impatiently as though to +change the subject, but I would not be put off. + +"Come," I said, "this is better than breakfast. It was the one +thing--this unknown enemy of yours--wanting to lever the dull mass of +your too peacefulness. What is he like? How strong? How stands the +quarrel between you? I was a soldier myself before the sea allured me, +and love horse and sword best of all things." + +"You would not jest if you knew our enemy!" + +"That is as it may be. I have laughed in the face of many a stronger +foe than yours is like to prove; but anyhow, give me a chance to judge. +Come, who is it that frightens all the blood out of your cheeks by a bare +mention and may not be laughed at even behind these substantial walls?" + +"First, then, you know, of course, that long ago this land of ours was +harried from the West." + +"Not I." + +"No!" said An, with a little warmth. "If it comes to that, you know +nothing." + +Whereat I laughed, and, saying the reply was just, vowed I would not +interrupt again; so she wont on saying how Hath--that interminable +Hath!--would know it all better than she did, but long ago the land +was overrun by a people from beyond the broad, blue waters outside; a +people huge of person, hairy and savage, uncouth, unlettered, and poor +An's voice trembled even to describe them; a people without mercy or +compunction, dwellers in woods, eaters of flesh, who burnt, plundered, +and destroyed all before them, and had toppled over this city along with +many others in an ancient foray, the horrors of which, still burnt lurid +in her people's minds. + +"Ever since then," went on the girl, "these odious terrors of the +outer land have been a nightmare to us, making hectic our pleasures, +and filling our peace with horrid thoughts of what might be, should they +chance to come again." + +"'Tis unfortunate, no doubt, lady," I answered. "Yet it was long ago, +and the plunderers are far away. Why not rise and raid them in turn? +To live under such a nightmare is miserable, and a poet on my side of +the ether has said-- + + +"'He either fears his fate too much, + Or his deserts are small, +Who will not put it to the touch, + To win or lose it all.' + +It seems to me you must either bustle and fight again, or sit tamely +down, and by paying the coward's fee for peace, buy at heavy price, +indulgence from the victor." + +"We," said An simply, and with no show of shame, "would rather die +than fight, and so we take the easier way, though a heavy one it is. +Look!" she said, drawing me to the broad window whence we could get +a glimpse of the westward town and the harbour out beyond the walls. +"Look! see yonder long row of boats with brown sails hanging loose reefed +from every yard ranged all along the quay. Even from here you can make +out the thin stream of porter slaves passing to and fro between them and +the granaries like ants on a sunny path. Those are our tax-men's ships, +they came yesterday from far out across the sea, as punctual as fate +with the first day of spring, and two or three nights hence we trust +will go again: and glad shall we be to see them start, although they +leave scupper deep with our cloth, our corn, and gold." + +"Is that what they take for tribute?" + +"That and one girl--the fairest they can find." + +"One--only one! 'Tis very moderate, all things considered." + +"She is for the thither king, Ar-hap, and though only one as you say, +stranger, yet he who loses her is apt sometimes to think her one too +many lost." + +"By Jupiter himself it is well said! If I were that man I would stir +up heaven and hell until I got her back; neither man, nor beast, nor +devil should stay me in my quest!" As I spoke I thought for a minute +An's fingers trembled a little as she fixed a flower upon my coat, +while there was something like a sigh in her voice as she said-- + +"The maids of this country are not accustomed, sir, to be so strongly +loved." + +By this time, breakfasted and rehabilitated, I was ready to go forth. +The girl swung back the heavy curtain that served in place of door across +the entrance of my chamber, and leading the way by a corridor and marble +steps while I followed, and whether it was the Martian air or the meal +I know not, but thinking mighty well of myself until we came presently +onto the main palace stairs, which led by stately flights from the upper +galleries to the wide square below. + +As we passed into the full sunshine--and no sunshine is so crisply golden +as the Martian--amongst twined flowers and shrubs and gay, quaint birds +building in the cornices, a sleek youth rose slowly from where he had +spread his cloak as couch upon a step and approaching asked-- + +"You are the stranger of yesterday?" + +"Yes," I answered. + +"Then I bring a message from Prince Hath, saying it would pleasure him +greatly if you would eat the morning meal with him." + +"Why," I answered, "it is very civil indeed, but I have breakfasted +already." + +"And so has Hath," said the boy, gently yawning. "You see I came here +early this morning, but knowing you would pass sooner or later I thought +it would save me the trouble if I lay down till you came--those quaint +people who built these places were so prodigal of steps," and smiling +apologetically he sank back on his couch and began toying with a leaf. + +"Sweet fellow," I said, and you will note how I was getting into their +style of conversation, "get back to Hath when you have rested, give +him my most gracious thanks for the intended courtesy, but tell him +the invitation should have started a week earlier; tell him from me, +you nimble-footed messenger, that I will post-date his kindness and come +tomorrow; say that meanwhile I pray him to send any ill news he has for +me by you. Is the message too bulky for your slender shoulders?" +` +"No," said the boy, rousing himself slowly, "I will take it," and then he +prepared to go. He turned again and said, without a trace of incivility, +"But indeed, stranger, I wish you would take the message yourself. +This is the third flight of stairs I have been up today." + +Everywhere it was the same friendly indolence. Half the breakfasters +were lying on coloured shawls in groups about the square; the other half +were strolling off--all in one direction, I noticed--as slowly as could +be towards the open fields beyond; no one was active or had anything to +do save the yellow folk who flitted to and fro fostering the others, +and doing the city work as though it were their only thought in life. +There were no shops in that strange city, for there were no needs; +some booths I saw indeed, and temple-like places, but hollow, and used +for birds and beasts--things these lazy Martians love. There was no +tramp of busy feet, for no one was busy; no clank of swords or armour +in those peaceful streets, for no one was warlike; no hustle, for no +one hurried; no wide-packed asses nodding down the lanes, for there +was nothing to fill their packs with, and though a cart sometimes came +by with a load of lolling men and maids, or a small horse, for horses +they had, paced along, itself nearly as lazy as the master he bore, +with trappings sewed over bits of coloured shell and coral, yet somehow +it was all extraordinarily unreal. It was a city full of the ghosts of +the life which once pulsed through its ways. The streets were peopled, +the chatter of voices everywhere, the singing boys and laughing girls +wandering, arms linked together, down the ways filled every echo with +their merriment, yet somehow it was all so shallow that again and again +I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I were indeed awake, or whether it were +not a prolonged sleep of which the tomorrow were still to come. + +"What strikes me as strangest of all, good comrade," I observed pleasantly +to the tripping presence at my elbow, "is that these countrymen of yours +who shirk to climb a flight of steps, and have palms as soft as rose +petals, these wide ways paved with stones as hard as a usurer's heart." + +An laughed. "The stones were still in their native quarries had it +been left to us to seek them; we are like the conies in the ruins, sir, +the inheritors of what other hands have done." + +"Ay, and undone, I think, as well, for coming along I have noted axe +chippings upon the walls, smudges of ancient fire and smoke upon the +cornices." + +An winced a little and stared uneasily at the walls, muttering below her +breath something about trying to hide with flower garlands the marks they +could not banish, but it was plain the conversation was not pleasing +to her. So unpleasant was talk or sight of woodmen (Thither-folk, as +she called them, in contradiction to the Hither people about us here), +that the girl was clearly relieved when we were free of the town and out +into the open playground of the people. The whole place down there was a +gay, shifting crowd. The booths of yesterday, the arcades, the archways, +were still standing, and during the night unknown hands had redecked +them with flowers, while another day's sunshine had opened the coppice +buds so that the whole place was brilliant past expression. And here the +Hither folk were varying their idleness by a general holiday. They were +standing about in groups, or lying ranked like new-plucked flowers on +the banks, piping to each other through reeds as soft and melodious as +running water. They were playing inconsequent games and breaking off in +the middle of them like children looking for new pleasures. They were +idling about the drinking booths, delicately stupid with quaint, thin +wines, dealt out to all who asked; the maids were ready to chevy or be +chevied through the blossoming thickets by anyone who chanced upon them, +the men slipped their arms round slender waists and wandered down the +paths, scarce seeming to care even whose waist it was they circled or into +whose ear they whispered the remainder of the love-tale they had begun +to some one else. And everywhere it was "Hi," and "Ha," and "So," and +"See," as these quaint people called to one another, knowing each other +as familiarly as ants of a nest, and by the same magic it seemed to me. + +"An," I said presently, when we had wandered an hour or so through the +drifting throng, "have these good countrymen of yours no other names but +monosyllabic, nothing to designate them but these chirruping syllables?" + +"Is it not enough?" answered my companion. "Once indeed I think we had +longer names, but," she added, smiling, "how much trouble it saves to +limit each one to a single sound. It is uncivil to one's neighbours to +burden their tongues with double duty when half would do." + +"But have you no patronymics--nothing to show the child comes of the +same source as his father came?" + +"We have no fathers." + +"What! no fathers?" I said, starting and staring at her. + +"No, nor mothers either, or at least none that we remember, for again, +why should we? Mayhap in that strange district you come from you keep +count of these things, but what have we to do with either when their +initial duty is done. Look at that painted butterfly swinging on the +honey-laden catkin there. What knows she of the mother who shed her life +into a flowercup and forgot which flower it was the minute afterwards. +We, too, are insects, stranger." + +"And do you mean to say of this great concourse here, that every atom is +solitary, individual, and can claim no kindred with another save the loose +bonds of a general fraternity--a specious idea, horrible, impracticable!" + +Whereat An laughed. "Ask the grasshoppers if it is impracticable; +ask the little buzzing things of grass and leaves who drift hither and +thither upon each breath of wind, finding kinsmen never but comrades +everywhere--ask them if it is horrible." + +This made me melancholy, and somehow set me thinking of the friends +immeasurably distant I had left but yesterday. + +What were they doing? Did they miss me? I was to have called for my +pay this afternoon, and tomorrow was to have run down South to see that +freckled lady of mine. What would she think of my absence? What would +she think if she knew where I was? Gods, it was too mad, too absurd! +I thrust my hands into my pockets in fierce desperation, and there +they clutched an old dance programme and an out-of-date check for a New +York ferry-boat. I scowled about on that sunny, helpless people, and +laying my hand bitterly upon my heart felt in the breast-pocket beneath +a packet of unpaid Boston tailors' bills and a note from my landlady +asking if I would let her aunt do my washing while I was on shore. +Oh! what would they all think of me? Would they brand me as a deserter, +a poltroon, and a thief, letting my name presently sink down in shame +and mystery in the shadowy realm of the forgotten? Dreadful thoughts! +I would think no more. + +Maybe An had marked my melancholy, for presently she led me to a stall +where in fantastic vases wines of sorts I have described before were put +out for all who came to try them. There was medicine here for every kind +of dulness--not the gross cure which earthly wine effects, but so nicely +proportioned to each specific need that one could regulate one's debauch +to a hairbreadth, rising through all the gamut of satisfaction, from the +staid contentment coming of that flask there to the wild extravagances of +the furthermost vase. So my stripling told me, running her finger down +the line of beakers carved with strange figures and cased in silver, +each in its cluster of little attendant drinking-cups, like-coloured, +and waiting round on the white napkins as the shore boats wait to unload +a cargo round the sides of a merchant vessel. + +"And what," I said, after curiously examining each liquor in turn, +"what is that which stands alone there in the humble earthen jar, as +though unworthy of the company of the others." + +"Oh, that," said my friend, "is the most essential of them all--that is +the wine of recovery, without which all the others were deadly poisons." + +"The which, lady, looks as if it had a moral attaching to it." + +"It may have; indeed I think it has, but I have forgotten. Prince Hath +would know! Meanwhile let me give you to drink, great stranger, let me +get you something." + +"Well, then," I laughed, "reach me down an antidote to fate, a specific +for an absent mistress, and forgetful friends." + +"What was she like?" said An, hesitating a little and frowning. + +"Nay, good friend," was my answer, "what can that matter to you?" + +"Oh, nothing, of course," answered that Martian, and while she took +from the table a cup and filled it with fluid I felt in the pouch of +my sword-belt to see if by chance a bit of money was Iying there, but +there was none, only the pips of an orange poor Polly had sucked and +laughingly thrown at me. + +However, it did not matter. The girl handed me the cup, and I put my +lips to it. The first taste was bitter and acrid, like the liquor of +long-steeped wood. At the second taste a shiver of pleasure ran through +me, and I opened my eyes and stared hard. The third taste grossness +and heaviness and chagrin dropped from my heart; all the complexion of +Providence altered in a flash, and a stupid irresistible joy, unreasoning, +uncontrollable took possession of my fibre. I sank upon a mossy bank +and, lolling my head, beamed idiotically on the lolling Martians all +about me. How long I was like that I cannot say. The heavy minutes of +sodden contentment slipped by unnoticed, unnumbered, till presently I +felt the touch of a wine-cup at my lips again, and drinking of another +liquor dulness vanished from my mind, my eyes cleared, my heart throbbed; +a fantastic gaiety seized upon my limbs; I bounded to my feet, and seizing +An's two hands in mine, swung that damsel round in a giddy dance, capering +as never dancer danced before, till spent and weary I sank down again +from sheer lack of breath, and only knew thereafter that An was sitting +by me saying, "Drink! drink stranger, drink and forget!" and as a third +time a cup was pressed to my lips, aches and pleasures, stupidness and +joy, life itself, seemed slipping away into a splendid golden vacuity, +a hazy episode of unconscious Elysium, indefinite, and unfathomable. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +When I woke, feeling as refreshed as though I had been dreaming through +a long night, An, seeing me open-eyed, helped me to my feet, and when +I had recovered my senses a little, asked if we should go on. I was +myself again by this time, so willingly took her hand, and soon came out +of the tangle into the open spaces. I must have been under the spell +of the Martian wines longer than it seemed, for already it was late in +the afternoon, the shadows of trees were lying deep and far-reaching +over the motley crowds of people. Out here as the day waned they had +developed some sort of method in their sports. In front of us was a +broad, grassy course marked off with garlanded finger-posts, and in +this space rallies of workfolk were taking part in all manner of games +under the eyes of a great concourse of spectators, doing the Martians' +pleasures for them as they did their labours. An led me gently on, +leaning on my arm heavier, I thought, than she had done in the morning, +and ever and anon turning her gazelle-like eyes upon me with a look I +could not understand. As we sauntered forward I noticed all about lesser +circles where the yellow-girted ones were drawing delighted laughter +from good-tempered crowds by tricks of sleight-of-hand, and posturing, +or tossing gilded cups and balls as though they were catering, as indeed +they were, for outgrown children. Others fluted or sang songs in chorus +to the slow clapping of hands, while others were doing I knew not what, +sitting silent amongst silent spectators who every now and then burst out +laughing for no cause that I could see. But An would not let me stop, +and so we pushed on through the crowd till we came to the main enclosures +where a dozen slaves had run a race for the amusement of those too lazy +to race themselves, and were sitting panting on the grass. + +To give them time to get their breath, perhaps, a man stepped out of the +crowd dressed in a dark blue tunic, a strange vacuous-looking fellow, +and throwing down a sheaf of javelins marched off a dozen paces, then, +facing round, called out loudly he would give sixteen suits of "summer +cloth" to any one who could prick him with a javelin from the heap. + +"Why," I said in amazement, "this is the best of fools--no one could +miss from such a distance." + +"Ay but," replied my guide, "he is a gifted one, versed in mystics." + +I was just going to say a good javelin, shod with iron, was a stronger +argument than any mystic I had ever heard of could stand, when out of +the crowd stepped a youth, and amid the derisive cheers of his friends +chose a reed from the bundle. He poised it in his hand a minute to get +the middle, then turned on the living target. Whatever else they might +be, these Martians were certainly beautiful as the daytime. Never had +I seen such a perfect embodiment of grace and elegance as that boy as +he stood there for a moment poised to the throw; the afternoon sunshine +warm and strong on his bunched brown hair, a girlish flush of shyness +on his handsome face, and the sleek perfection of his limbs, clear cut +against the dusky background beyond. And now the javelin was going. +Surely the mystic would think better of it at the last moment! No! the +initiate held his ground with tight-shut lips and retrospective eyes, +and even as I looked the weapon flew upon its errand. + +"There goes the soul of a fool!" I exclaimed, and as the words were +uttered the spear struck, or seemed to, between the neck and shoulder, but +instead of piercing rose high into the air, quivering and flashing, and +presently turning over, fell back, and plunged deep into the turf, while +a low murmur of indifferent pleasure went round amongst the onlookers. + +Thereat An, yawning gently, looked to me and said, "A strong-willed +fellow, isn't he, friend?" + +I hesitated a minute and then asked, "Was it WILL which turned that +shaft?" + +She answered with simplicity, "Why, of course--what else?" + +By this time another boy had stepped out, and having chosen a javelin, +tested it with hand and foot, then retiring a pace or two rushed up to +the throwing mark and flung it straight and true into the bared bosom of +the man. And as though it had struck a wall of brass, the shaft leapt +back falling quivering at the thrower's feet. Another and another tried +unsuccessfully, until at last, vexed at their futility, I said, "I have +a somewhat scanty wardrobe that would be all the better for that fellow's +summer suiting, by your leave I will venture a throw against him." + +"It is useless," answered An; "none but one who knows more magic than +he, or is especially befriended by the Fates can touch him through the +envelope he has put on." + +"Still, I think I will try." + +"It is hopeless, I would not willingly see you fail," whispered the girl, +with a sudden show of friendship. + +"And what," I said, bending down, "would you give me if I succeeded?" +Whereat An laughed a little uneasily, and, withdrawing her hand from mine, +half turned away. So I pushed through the spectators and stepped into +the ring. I went straight up to the pile of weapons, and having chosen +one went over to the mystic. "Good fellow," I cried out ostentatiously, +trying the sharpness of the javelin-point with my finger, "where are +all of those sixteen summer suits of yours lying hid?" + +"It matters nothing," said the man, as if he were asleep. + +"Ay, but by the stars it does, for it will vex the quiet repose of your +soul tomorrow if your heirs should swear they could not find them." + +"It matters nothing," muttered the will-wrapped visionary. + +"It will matter something if I take you at your word. Come, friend +Purple-jerkin, will you take the council with your legs and run while +there is yet time, or stand up to be thrown at?" + +"I stand here immoveable in the confidence of my initiation." + +"Then, by thunder, I will initiate you into the mysteries of a +javelin-end, and your blood be on your head." + +The Martians were all craning their necks in hushed eagerness as I turned +to the casting-place, and, poising the javelin, faced the magician. +Would he run at the last moment? I half hoped so; for a minute I gave him +the chance, then, as he showed no sign of wavering, I drew my hand back, +shook the javelin back till it bent like a reed, and hurled it at him. + +The Martians' heads turned as though all on one pivot as the spear sped +through the air, expecting no doubt to see it recoil as others had done. +But it took him full in the centre of his chest, and with a wild wave +of arms and a flutter of purple raiment sent him backwards, and down, +and over and over in a shapeless heap of limbs and flying raiment, while +a low murmur of awed surprise rose from the spectators. They crowded +round him in a dense ring, as An came flitting to me with a startled face. + +"Oh, stranger," she burst out, "you have surely killed him!" but more +astounded I had broken down his guard than grieved at his injury. + +"No," I answered smilingly; "a sore chest he may have tomorrow, but dead +he is not, for I turned the lance-point back as I spun it, and it was +the butt-end I threw at him!" + +"It was none the less wonderful; I thought you were a common man, a prince +mayhap, come but from over the hills, but now something tells me you +are more than that," and she lapsed into thoughtful silence for a time. + +Neither of us were wishful to go back amongst those who were raising +the bruised magician to his legs, but wandered away instead through +the deepening twilight towards the city over meadows whose damp, soft +fragrance loaded the air with sleepy pleasure, neither of us saying +a word till the dusk deepened and the quick night descended, while +we came amongst the gardened houses, the thousand lights of an unreal +city rising like a jewelled bank before us, and there An said she would +leave me for a time, meeting me again in the palace square later on, +"To see Princess Heru read the destinies of the year." + +"What!" I exclaimed, "more magic? I have been brought up on more +substantial mental stuff than this." + +"Nevertheless, I would advise you to come to the square," persisted +my companion. "It affects us all, and--who knows? --may affect you +more than any." + +Therein poor An was unconsciously wearing the cloak of prophesy herself, +and, shrugging my shoulders good-humouredly, I kissed her chin, little +realising, as I let her fingers slip from mine, that I should see her +no more. + +Turning back alone, through the city, through ways twinkling with +myriad lights as little lamps began to blink out amongst garlands +and flower-decked booths on every hand, I walked on, lost in varying +thoughts, until, fairly tired and hungry, I found myself outside a stall +where many Martians stood eating and drinking to their hearts' content. +I was known to none of them, and, forgetting past experience, was looking +on rather enviously, when there came a touch upon my arm, and-- + +"Are you hungry, sir?" asked a bystander. + +"Ay," I said, "hungry, good friend, and with all the zest which an empty +purse lends to that condition." + +"Then here is what you need, sir, even from here the wine smells good, +and the fried fruit would make a mouse's eye twinkle. Why do you wait?" + +"Why wait? Why, because though the rich man's dinner goes in at his +mouth, the poor man must often be content to dine through his nose. +I tell you I have nothing to get me a meal with." + +The stranger seemed to speculate on this for a time, and then he said, +"I cannot fathom your meaning, sir. Buying and selling, gold and money, +all these have no meaning to me. Surely the twin blessings of an appetite +and food abundant ready and free before you are enough." + +"What! free is it--free like the breakfast served out this morning?" + +"Why, of course," said the youth, with mild depreciation; "everything +here is free. Everything is his who will take it, without exception. +What else is the good of a coherent society and a Government if it cannot +provide you with so rudimentary a thing as a meal?" + +Whereat joyfully I undid my belt, and, without nicely examining the +argument, marched into the booth, and there put Martian hospitality to +the test, eating and drinking, but this time with growing wisdom, till +I was a new man, and then, paying my leaving with a wave of the hand to +the yellow-girted one who dispensed the common provender, I sauntered on +again, caring little or nothing which way the road went, and soon across +the current of my meditations a peal of laughter broke, accompanied by +the piping of a flute somewhere close at hand, and the next minute I +found myself amid a ring of light-hearted roisterers who were linking +hands for a dance to the music a curly-headed fellow was making close by. + +They made me join them! One rosey-faced damsel at the hither end of +the chain drew up to me, and, without a word, slipped her soft, baby +fingers into my hand; on the other side another came with melting eyes, +breath like a bed of violets, and banked-up fun puckering her dainty +mouth. What could I do but give her a hand as well? The flute began +to gurgle anew, like a drinking spout in spring-time, and away we went, +faster and faster each minute, the boys and girls swinging themselves +in time to the tune, and capering presently till their tender feet +were twinkling over the ground in gay confusion. Faster and faster +till, as the infection of the dance spread even to the outside groups, +I capered too. My word! if they could have seen me that night from the +deck of the old Carolina, how they would have laughed--sword swinging, +coat-tails flying--faster and faster, round and round we went, till +limbs could stand no more; the gasping piper blew himself quite out, +and the dance ended as abruptly as it commenced, the dancers melting +away to join others or casting themselves panting on the turf. + +Certainly these Martian girls were blessed with an ingratiating +simplicity. My new friend of the violet-scented breath hung back a +little, then after looking at me demurely for a minute or two, like +a child that chooses a new playmate, came softly up, and, standing on +tiptoe, kissed me on the cheek. It was not unpleasant, so I turned the +other, whereon, guessing my meaning, without the smallest hesitation, +she reached up again, and pressed her pretty mouth to my bronzed skin +a second time. Then, with a little sigh of satisfaction, she ran an +arm through mine, saying, "Comrade, from what country have you come? +I never saw one quite like you before." + +"From what country had I come?" Again the frown dropped down upon my +forehead. Was I dreaming--was I mad? Where indeed had I come from? +I stared back over my shoulder, and there, as if in answer to my +thought--there, where the black tracery of flowering shrubs waved in the +soft night wind, over a gap in the crumbling ivory ramparts, the sky +was brightening. As I looked into the centre of that glow, a planet, +magnified by the wonderful air, came swinging up, pale but splendid, and +mapped by soft colours--green, violet, and red. I knew it on the minute, +Heaven only knows how, but I knew it, and a desperate thrill of loneliness +swept over me, a spasm of comprehension of the horrible void dividing us. +Never did yearning babe stretch arms more wistfully to an unattainable +mother than I at that moment to my mother earth. All her meanness and +prosaicness was forgotten, all her imperfections and shortcomings; it was +home, the one tangible thing in the glittering emptiness of the spheres. +All my soul went into my eyes, and then I sneezed violently, and turning +round, found that sweet damsel whose silky head nestled so friendly on +my shoulder was tickling my nose with a feather she had picked up. + +Womanlike, she had forgotten all about her first question, and now asked +another, "Will you come to supper with me, stranger? 'Tis nearly ready, +I think." + +"To be able to say no to such an invitation, lady, is the first thing +a young man should learn," I answered lightly; but then, seeing there +was nothing save the most innocent friendliness in those hazel eyes, +I went on, "but that stern rule may admit of variance. Only, as it +chances, I have just supped at the public expense. If, instead, you +would be a sailor's sweetheart for an hour, and take me to this show of +yours--your princess's benefit, or whatever it is--I shall be obliged; +my previous guide is hull down over the horizon, and I am clean out of +my reckoning in this crowd." + +By way of reply, the little lady, light as an elf, took me by the +fingertips, and, gleefully skipping forward, piloted me through the +mazes of her city until we came out into the great square fronting on the +palace, which rose beyond it like a white chalk cliff in the dull light. +Not a taper showed anywhere round its circumference, but a mysterious +kind of radiance like sea phosphorescence beamed from the palace porch. +All was in such deathlike silence that the nails in my "ammunition" boots +made an unpleasant clanking as they struck on the marble pavement; yet, +by the uncertain starlight, I saw, to my surprise, the whole square was +thronged with Martians, all facing towards the porch, as still, graven +images, and as voiceless, for once, as though they had indeed been marble. +It was strange to see them sitting there in the twilight, waiting for +I knew not what, and my friend's voice at my elbow almost startled me +as she said, in a whisper, "The princess knows you are in the crowd, +and desires you to go up upon the steps near where she will be." + +"Who brought her message?" I asked, gazing vaguely round, for none had +spoken to us for an hour or more. + +"No one," said my companion, gently pushing me up an open way towards +the palace steps left clear by the sitting Martians. "It came direct +from her to me this minute." + +"But how?" I persisted. + +"Nay," said the girl, "if we stop to talk like this we shall not be +placed before she comes, and thus throw a whole year's knowledge out." + +So, bottling my speculations, I allowed myself to be led up the first +flight of worn, white steps to where, on the terrace between them and +the next flight leading directly to the palace portico, was a flat, +having a circle about twenty feet across, inlaid upon the marble with +darker coloured blocks. Inside that circle, as I sat down close by it +in the twilight, showed another circle, and then a final one in whose +inmost middle stood a tall iron tripod and something atop of it covered by +a cloth. And all round the outer circle were magic symbols--I started as +I recognised the meaning of some of them--within these again the inner +circle held what looked like the representations of planets, ending, +as I have said, in that dished hollow made by countless dancers' feet, +and its solitary tripod. Back again, I glanced towards the square where +the great concourse--ten thousand of them, perhaps--were sitting mute +and silent in the deepening shadows, then back to the magic circles, +till the silence and expectancy of a strange scene began to possess me. + +Shadow down below, star-dusted heaven above, and not a figure moving; +when suddenly something like a long-drawn sigh came from the lips of +the expectant multitude, and I was aware every eye had suddenly turned +back to the palace porch, where, as we looked, a figure, wrapped in pale +blue robes, appeared and stood for a minute, then stole down the steps +with an eagerness in every movement holding us spellbound. I have seen +many splendid pageants and many sights, each of which might be the talk +of a lifetime, but somehow nothing ever so engrossing, so thrilling, +as that ghostly figure in flowing robes stealing across the piazza in +starlight and silence--the princess of a broken kingdom, the priestess +of a forgotten faith coming to her station to perform a jugglery of +which she knew not even the meaning. It was my versatile friend Heru, +and with quick, incisive steps, her whole frame ambent for the time +with the fervour of her mission, she came swiftly down to within a +dozen yards of where I stood. Heru, indeed, but not the same princess +as in the morning; an inspired priestess rather, her slim body wrapped +in blue and quivering with emotion, her face ashine with Delphic fire, +her hair loose, her feet bare, until at last when, as she stood within +the limit of the magic circle, her white hands upon her breast, her eyes +flashing like planets themselves in the starshine she looked so ghostly +and unreal I felt for a minute I was dreaming. + +Then began a strange, weird dance amongst the imagery of the rings, +over which my earth planet was beginning to throw a haze of light. +At first it was hardly more than a walk, a slow procession round the +twin circumferences of the centred tripod. But soon it increased to an +extraordinary graceful measure, a cadenced step without music or sound +that riveted my eyes to the dancer. Presently I saw those mystic, +twinkling feet of hers--as the dance became swifter--were performing +a measured round amongst the planet signs--spelling out something, +I knew not what, with quick, light touch amongst the zodiac figures, +dancing out a soundless invocation of some kind as a dumb man might +spell a message by touching letters. Quicker and quicker, for minute +after minute, grew the dance, swifter and swifter the swing of the light +blue drapery as the priestess, with eager face and staring eyes, swung +panting round upon her orbit, and redder and redder over the city tops +rose the circumference of the earth. It seemed to me all the silent +multitude were breathing heavily as we watched that giddy dance, and +whatever THEY felt, all my own senses seemed to be winding up upon that +revolving figure as thread winds on a spindle. + +"When will she stop?" I whispered to my friend under my breath. + +"When the earth-star rests in the roof-niche of the temple it is +climbing," she answered back. + +"And then?" + +"On the tripod is a globe of water. In it she will see the destiny of the +year, and will tell us. The whiter the water stays, the better for us; +it never varies from white. But we must not talk; see! she is stopping." + +And as I looked back, the dance was certainly ebbing now with such +smoothly decreasing undulations, that every heart began to beat calmer +in response. There was a minute or two of such slow cessation, and then +to say she stopped were too gross a description. Motion rather died away +from her, and the priestess grounded as smoothly as a ship grounds in +fine weather on a sandy bank. There she was at last, crouched behind +the tripod, one corner of the cloth covering it grasped in her hand, +and her eyes fixed on the shining round just poised upon the distant run. + +Keenly the girl watched it slide into zenith, then the cloth was snatched +from the tripod-top. As it fell it uncovered a beautiful and perfect +globe of clear white glass, a foot or so in diameter, and obviously +filled with the thinnest, most limpid water imaginable. At first it +seemed to me, who stood near to the priestess of Mars, with that beaming +sphere directly between us, and the newly risen world, that its smooth +and flawless face was absolutely devoid of sign or colouring. Then, +as the distant planet became stronger in the magnifying Martian air, +or my eyes better accustomed to that sudden nucleus of brilliancy, +a delicate and infinitely lovely network of colours came upon it. +They were like the radiant prisms that sometimes flush the surface of a +bubble more than aught else for a time. But as I watched that mosaic +of yellow and purple creep softly to and fro upon the globe it seemed +they slowly took form and meaning. Another minute or two and they +had certainly congealed into a settled plan, and then, as I stared and +wondered, it burst upon me in a minute that I was looking upon a picture, +faithful in every detail, of the world I stood on; all its ruddy forests, +its sapphire sea, both broad and narrow ones, its white peaked mountains, +and unnumbered islands being mapped out with startling clearness for a +spell upon that beaming orb. + +Then a strange thing happened. Heru, who had been crouching in a +tremulous heap by the tripod, rose stealthily and passed her hands a few +times across the sphere. Colour and picture vanished at her touch like +breath from a mirror. Again all was clear and pellucid. + +"Now," said my companion, "now listen! For Heru reads the destiny; +the whiter the globe stays the better for us--" and then I felt her +hand tighten on mine with a startled grasp as the words died away upon +her lips. + +Even as the girl spoke, the sphere, which had been beaming in the centre +of the silent square like a mighty white jewel, began to flush with +angry red. Redder and redder grew the gleam--a fiery glow which seemed +curdling in the interior of the round as though it were filled with +flame; redder and redder, until the princess, staring into it, seemed +turned against the jet-black night behind, into a form of molten metal. +A spasm of terror passed across her as she stared; her limbs stiffened; +her frightened hands were clutched in front, and she stood cowering under +that great crimson nucleus like one bereft of power and life, and lost +to every sense but that of agony. Not a syllable came from her lips, +not a movement stirred her body, only that dumb, stupid stare of horror, +at the something she saw in the globe. What could I do? I could not +sit and see her soul come out at her frightened eyes, and not a Martian +moved a finger to her rescue; the red shine gleamed on empty faces, +tier above tier, and flung its broad flush over the endless rank of +open-mouthed spectators, then back I looked to Heru--that winsome little +lady for whom, you will remember, I had already more than a passing +fancy--and saw with a thrill of emotion that while she still kept her +eyes on the flaming globe like one in a horrible dream her hands were +slowly, very slowly, rising in supplication to ME! It was not vanity. +There was no mistaking the direction of that silent, imploring appeal. + +Not a man of her countrymen moved, not even black Hath! There was +not a sound in the world, it seemed, but the noisy clatter of my own +shoenails on the marble flags. In the great red eye of that unholy globe +the Martians glimmered like a picture multitude under the red cliff of +their ruined palace. I glared round at them with contempt for a minute, +then sprang forward and snatched the princess up. It was like pulling a +flower up by the roots. She was stiff and stark when I lay hold of her, +but when I tore her from the magic ground she suddenly gave a piercing +shriek, and fainted in my arms. + +Then as I turned upon my heels with her upon my breast my foot caught +upon the cloths still wound about the tripod of the sphere. Over went +that implement of a thousand years of sorcery, and out went the red fire. +But little I cared--the princess was safe! And up the palace steps, +amidst a low, wailing hum of consternation from the recovering Martians, +I bore that bundle of limp and senseless loveliness up into the pale shine +of her own porch, and there, laying her down upon a couch, watched her +recover presently amongst her women with a varied assortment of emotions +tingling in my veins. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Beyond the first flutter of surprise, the Martians had shown no interest +in the abrupt termination of the year's divinations. They melted away, +a trifle more silently perhaps than usual, when I shattered the magic +globe, but with their invariable indifference, and having handed +the reviving Heru over to some women who led her away, apparently +already half forgetful of the things that had just happened, I was +left alone on the palace steps, not even An beside me, and only the +shadow of a passerby now and then to break the solitude. Whereon a +great loneliness took hold upon me, and, pacing to and fro along the +ancient terrace with bent head and folded arms, I bewailed my fate. +To and fro I walked, heedless and melancholy, thinking of the old world, +that was so far and this near world so distant from me in everything +making life worth living, thinking, as I strode gloomily here and there, +how gladly I would exchange these poor puppets and the mockery of a town +they dwelt in, for a sight of my comrades and a corner in the poorest +wine-shop salon in New York or 'Frisco; idly speculating why, and how, +I came here, as I sauntered down amongst the glistening, shell-like +fragments of the shattered globe, and finding no answer. How could I? +It was too fair, I thought, standing there in the open; there was a fatal +sweetness in the air, a deadly sufficiency in the beauty of everything +around falling on the lax senses like some sleepy draught of pleasure. +Not a leaf stirred, the wide purple roof of the sky was unbroken by +the healthy promise of a cloud from rim to rim, the splendid country, +teeming with its spring-time richness, lay in rank perfection everywhere; +and just as rank and sleek and passionless were those who owned it. + +Why, even I, who yesterday was strong, began to come under the spell +of it. But yesterday the spirit of the old world was still strong +within me, yet how much things were now changing. The well-strung +muscles loosening, the heart beating a slower measure, the busy mind +drowsing off to listlessness. Was I, too, destined to become like these? +Was the red stuff in my veins to be watered down to pallid Martian sap? +Was ambition and hope to desert me, and idleness itself become laborious, +while life ran to seed in gilded uselessness? Little did I guess how +unnecessary my fears were, or of the incredible fairy tale of adventure +into which fate was going to plunge me. + +Still engrossed the next morning by these thoughts, I decided I would +go to Hath. Hath was a man--at least they said so--he might sympathise +even though he could not help, and so, dressing finished, I went down +towards the innermost palace whence for an hour or two had come sounds +of unwonted bustle. Asking for the way occasionally from sleepy folk +lolling about the corridors, waiting as it seemed for their breakfasts +to come to them, and embarrassed by the new daylight, I wandered to +and fro in the labyrinths of that stony ant-heap until I chanced upon +a curtained doorway which admitted to a long chamber, high-roofed, +ample in proportions, with colonnades on either side separated from +the main aisle by rows of flowery figures and emblematic scroll-work, +meaning I knew not what. Above those pillars ran a gallery with many +windows looking out over the ruined city. While at the further end of +the chamber stood three broad steps leading to a dais. As I entered, the +whole place was full of bustling girls, their yellow garments like a bed +of flowers in the sunlight trickling through the casements, and all intent +on the spreading of a feast on long tables ranged up and down the hall. +The morning light streamed in on the white cloths. It glittered on the +glass and the gold they were putting on the trestles, and gave resplendent +depths of colour to the ribbon bands round the pillars. All were so busy +no one noticed me standing in the twilight by the door, but presently, +laying a hand on a worker's shoulder, I asked who they banqueted for, +and why such unwonted preparation? + +"It is the marriage-feast tonight, stranger, and a marvel you did not +know it. You, too, are to be wed." + +"I had not heard of it, damsel; a paternal forethought of your Government, +I suppose? Have you any idea who the lady is?" + +"How should I know?" she answered laughingly. "That is the secret +of the urn. Meanwhile, we have set you a place at the table-head near +Princess Heru, and tonight you dip and have your chance like all of them; +may luck send you a rosy bride, and save her from Ar-hap." + +"Ay, now I remember; An told me of this before; Ar-hap is the sovereign +with whom your people have a little difference, and shares unbidden in the +free distribution of brides to-night. This promises to be interesting; +depend on it I will come; if you will keep me a place where I can +hear the speeches, and not forget me when the turtle soup goes round, +I shall be more than grateful. Now to another matter. I want to get +a few minutes with your President, Prince Hath. He concentrates the +fluid intelligence of this sphere, I am told. Where can I find him?" + +"He is drunk, in the library, sir!" + +"My word! It is early in the day for that, and a singular conjunction +of place and circumstance." + +"Where," said the girl, "could he safer be? We can always fetch him if +we want him, and sunk in blue oblivion he will not come to harm." + +"A cheerful view, Miss, which is worthy of the attention of our reformers. +Nevertheless, I will go to him. I have known men tell more truth in +that state than in any other." + +The servitor directed me to the library, and after desolate wanderings +up crumbling steps and down mouldering corridors, sunny and lovely in +decay, I came to the immense lumber-shed of knowledge they had told me +of, a city of dead books, a place of dusty cathedral aisles stored with +forgotten learning. At a table sat Hath the purposeless, enthroned in +leather and vellum, snoring in divine content amongst all that wasted +labour, and nothing I could do was sufficient to shake him into semblance +of intelligence. So perforce I turned away till he should have come +to himself, and wandering round the splendid litter of a noble library, +presently amongst the ruck of volumes on the floor, amongst those lordly +tomes in tattered green and gold, and ivory, my eye lit upon a volume +propped up curiously on end, and going to it through the confusion I saw +by the dried fruit rind upon the sticks supporting it, that the grave +and reverend tome was set to catch a mouse! It was a splendid book when +I looked more closely, bound as a king might bind his choicest treasure, +the sweet-scented leather on it was no doubt frayed; the golden arabesques +upon the covers had long since shed their eyes of inset gems, the jewelled +clasp locking its learning up from vulgar gaze was bent and open. Yet it +was a lordly tome with an odour of sanctity about it, and lifting it +with difficulty, I noticed on its cover a red stain of mouse's blood. +Those who put it to this quaint use of mouse-trap had already had some +sport, but surely never was a mouse crushed before under so much learning. +And while I stood guessing at what the book might hold within, Heru, the +princess, came tripping in to me, and with the abrupt familiarity of her +kind, laid a velvet hand upon my wrist, conned the title over to herself. + +"What does it say, sweet girl?" I asked. "The matter is learned, by +its feel," and that maid, pursing up her pretty lips, read the title to +me--"The Secret of the Gods." + +"The Secret of the Gods," I murmured. "Was it possible other worlds +had struggled hopelessly to come within the barest ken of that great +knowledge, while here the same was set to catch a mouse with?" + +I said, "Silver-footed, sit down and read me a passage or two," and +propping the mighty volume upon a table drew a bench before it and pulled +her down beside me. + +"Oh! a horrid, dry old book for certain," cried that lady, her pink +fingertips falling as lightly on the musty leaves as almond petals on +March dust. "Where shall I begin? It is all equally dull." + +"Dip in," was my answer. " 'Tis no great matter where, but near the +beginning. What says the writer of his intention? What sets he out +to prove?" + +"He says that is the Secret of the First Great Truth, descended straight +to him--" + +"Many have said so much, yet have lied." + +"He says that which is written in his book is through him but not of +him, past criticism and beyond cavil. 'Tis all in ancient and crabbed +characters going back to the threshold of my learning, but here upon +this passage-top where they are writ large I make them out to say, +'ONLY THE MAN WHO HAS DIED MANY TIMES BEGINS TO LIVE.'" + +"A pregnant passage! Turn another page, and try again; I have an inkling +of the book already." + +"'Tis poor, silly stuff," said the girl, slipping a hand covertly into +my own. "Why will you make me read it? I have a book on pomatums worth +twice as much as this." +` +"Nevertheless, dip in again, dear lady. What says the next heading?" +And with a little sigh at the heaviness of her task, Heru read out: +"SOMETIMES THE GODS THEMSELVES FORGET THE ANSWERS TO THEIR OWN RIDDLES." + +"Lady, I knew it! + +"All this is still preliminary to the great matter of the book, but the +mutterings of the priest who draws back the curtains of the shrine--and +here, after the scribe has left these two yellow pages blank as though +to set a space of reverence between himself and what comes next--here +speaks the truth, the voice, the fact of all life." But "Oh! Jones," +she said, turning from the dusty pages and clasping her young, milk-warm +hands over mine and leaning towards me until her blushing cheek was near +to my shoulder and the incense of her breath upon me. "Oh! Gulliver +Jones," she said. "Make me read no more; my soul revolts from the task, +the crazy brown letters swim before my eyes. Is there no learning near +at hand that would be pleasanter reading than this silly book of yours? +What, after all," she said, growing bolder at the sound of her own voice, +"what, after all, is the musty reticence of gods to the whispered secret +of a maid? Jones, splendid stranger for whom all men stand aside and +women look over shoulders, oh, let me be your book!" she whispered, +slipping on to my knee and winding her arms round my neck till, through +the white glimmer of her single vest, I could feel her heart beating +against mine. "Newest and dearest of friends, put by this dreary learning +and look in my eyes; is there nothing to be spelt out there?" + +And I was constrained to do as she bid me, for she was as fresh as an +almond blossom touched by the sun, and looking down into two swimming +blue lakes where shyness and passion were contending--books easy enough, +in truth, to be read, I saw that she loved me, with the unconventional +ardour of her nature. + +It was a pleasant discovery, if its abruptness was embarrassing, for +she was a maid in a thousand; and half ashamed and half laughing I let +her escalade me, throwing now and then a rueful look at the Secret of +the Gods, and all that priceless knowledge treated so unworthily. + +What else could I do? Besides, I loved her myself! And if there was +a momentary chagrin at having yonder golden knowledge put off by this +lovely interruption, yet I was flesh and blood, the gods could wait--they +had to wait long and often before, and when this sweet interpreter was +comforted we would have another try. So it happened I took her into my +heart and gave her the answer she asked for. + +For a long time we sat in the dusky grandeur of the royal library, my +mind revolving between wonder and admiration of the neglected knowledge +all about, and the stirrings of a new love, while Heru herself, lapsed +again into Martian calm, lay half sleeping on my shoulder, but presently, +unwinding her arms, I put her down. + +"There, sweetheart," I whispered, "enough of this for the moment; tonight, +perhaps, some more, but while we are here amongst all this lordly litter, +I can think of nothing else." Again I bid her turn the pages, noting +as she did so how each chapter was headed by the coloured configuration +of a world. Page by page we turned of crackling parchment, until by +chance, at the top of one, my eye caught a coloured round I could not +fail to recognise--'twas the spinning button on the blue breast of +the immeasurable that yesterday I inhabited. "Read here," I cried, +clapping my finger upon the page midway down, where there were some +signs looking like Egyptian writing. "Says this quaint dabbler in all +knowledge anything of Isis, anything of Phra, of Ammon, of Ammon Top?" + +"And who was Isis? who Ammon Top?" asked the lady. + +"Nay, read," I answered, and down the page her slender fingers went +awandering till at a spot of knotted signs they stopped. "Why, here +is something about thy Isis," exclaimed Heru, as though amused at +my perspicuity. "Here, halfway down this chapter of earth-history, +it says," and putting one pink knee across the other to better prop the +book she read: + +"And the priests of Thebes were gone; the sand stood untrampled on the +temple steps a thousand years; the wild bees sang the song of desolation +in the ears of Isis; the wild cats littered in the stony lap of Ammon; +ay, another thousand years went by, and earth was tilled of unseen hands +and sown with yellow grain from Paradise, and the thin veil that separates +the known from the unknown was rent, and men walked to and fro." + +"Go on," I said. + +"Nay," laughed the other, "the little mice in their eagerness have been +before you--see, all this corner is gnawed away." + +"Read on again," I said, "where the page is whole; those sips of knowledge +you have given make me thirsty for more. There, begin where this blazonry +of initialed red and gold looks so like the carpet spread by the scribe +for the feet of a sovereign truth--what says he here?" And she, half +pouting to be set back once more to that task, half wondering as she +gazed on those magic letters, let her eyes run down the page, then began: + +"And it was the Beginning, and in the centre void presently there came a +nucleus of light: and the light brightened in the grey primeval morning +and became definite and articulate. And from the midst of that natal +splendour, behind which was the Unknowable, the life came hitherward; +from the midst of that nucleus undescribed, undescribable, there issued +presently the primeval sigh that breathed the breath of life into +all things. And that sigh thrilled through the empty spaces of the +illimitable: it breathed the breath of promise over the frozen hills of +the outside planets where the night-frost had lasted without beginning: +and the waters of ten thousand nameless oceans, girding nameless planets, +were stirred, trembling into their depth. It crossed the illimitable +spaces where the herding aerolites swirl forever through space in the +wake of careering world, and all their whistling wings answered to it. +It reverberated through the grey wastes of vacuity, and crossed the +dark oceans of the Outside, even to the black shores of the eternal +night beyond. + +"And hardly had echo of that breath died away in the hollow of the +heavens and the empty wombs of a million barren worlds, when the light +brightened again, and drawing in upon itself became definite and took +form, and therefrom, at the moment of primitive conception, there came--" + +And just then, as she had read so far as that, when all my faculties were +aching to know what came next--whether this were but the idle scribbling +of a vacuous fool, or something else--there rose the sound of soft flutes +and tinkling bells in the corridors, as seneschals wandered piping round +the palace to call folk to meals, a smell of roast meat and grilling +fish as that procession lifted the curtains between the halls, and-- + +"Dinner!" shouted my sweet Martian, slapping the covers of The Secret of +the Gods together and pushing the stately tome headlong from the table. +"Dinner! 'Tis worth a hundred thousand planets to the hungry!" + +Nothing I could say would keep her, and, scarcely knowing whether to laugh +or to be angry at so unseemly an interruption, but both being purposeless +I dug my hands into my pockets, and somewhat sulkily refusing Heru's +invitation to luncheon in the corridor (Navy rations had not fitted my +stomach for these constant debauches of gossamer food), strolled into +the town again in no very pleasant frame of mind. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +It was only at moments like these I had any time to reflect on my +circumstances or that giddy chance which had shot me into space in +this fashion, and, frankly, the opportunities, when they did come, +brought such an extraordinary depressing train of thought, I by no means +invited them. Even with the time available the occasion was always awry +for such reflection. These dainty triflers made sulking as impossible +amongst them as philosophy in a ballroom. When I stalked out like that +from the library in fine mood to moralise and apostrophise heaven in a +way that would no doubt have looked fine upon these pages, one sprightly +damsel, just as the gloomy rhetoric was bursting from my lips, thrust a +flower under my nose whose scent brought on a violent attack of sneezing, +her companions joining hands and dancing round me while they imitated +my agony. Then, when I burst away from them and rushed down a narrow +arcade of crumbling mansions, another stopped me in mid-career, and +taking the honey-stick she was sucking from her lips, put it to mine, +like a pretty, playful child. Another asked me to dance, another to +drink pink oblivion with her, and so on. How could one lament amongst +all this irritating cheerfulness? + +An might have helped me, for poor An was intelligent for a Martian, +but she had disappeared, and the terrible vacuity of life in the planet +was forced upon me when I realised that possessing no cognomen, no fixed +address, or rating, it would be the merest chance if I ever came across +her again. + +Looking for my friendly guide and getting more and more at sea amongst +a maze of comely but similar faces, I made chance acquaintance with +another of her kind who cheerfully drank my health at the Government's +expense, and chatted on things Martian. She took me to see a funeral +by way of amusement, and I found these people floated their dead off on +flower-decked rafts instead of burying them, the send-offs all taking +place upon a certain swift-flowing stream, which carried the dead +away into the vast region of northern ice, but more exactly whither my +informant seemed to have no idea. The voyager on this occasion was old, +and this brought to my mind the curious fact that I had observed few +children in the city, and no elders, all, except perhaps Hath, being in +a state of sleek youthfulness. My new friend explained the peculiarity +by declaring Martians ripened with extraordinary rapidity from infancy +to the equivalent of about twenty-five years of age, with us, and then +remained at that period however long they might live; Only when they died +did their accumulated seasons come upon them; the girl turning pale, and +wringing her pretty hands in sympathetic concern when I told her there +was a land where decrepitude was not so happily postponed. The Martians, +she said, arranged their calendar by the varying colours of the seasons, +and loved blue as an antidote to the generally red and rusty character +of their soil. + +Discussing such things as these we lightly squandered the day away, and +I know of nothing more to note until the evening was come again: that +wonderful purple evening which creeps over the outer worlds at sunset, +a seductive darkness gemmed with ten thousand stars riding so low in the +heaven they seem scarcely more than mast high. When that hour was come +my friend tiptoed again to my cheek, and then, pointing to the palace +and laughingly hoping fate would send me a bride "as soft as catkin and +as sweet as honey," slipped away into the darkness. + +Then I remembered all on a sudden this was the connubial evening of my +sprightly friends--the occasion when, as An had told me, the Government +constituted itself into a gigantic matrimonial agency, and, with the +cheerful carelessness of the place, shuffled the matrimonial pack anew, +and dealt a fresh hand to all the players. Now I had no wish to avail +myself of a sailor's privilege of a bride in every port, but surely +this game would be interesting enough to see, even if I were but a +disinterested spectator. As a matter of fact I was something more than +that, and had been thinking a good deal of Heru during the day. I do +not know whether I actually aspired to her hand--that were a large order, +even if there had been no suspicion in my mind she was already bespoke in +some vague way by the invisible Hath, most abortive of princes. But she +was undeniably a lovely girl; the more one thought of her the more she +grew upon the fancy, and then the preference she had shown myself was +very gratifying. Yes, I would certainly see this quaint ceremonial, +even if I took no leading part in it. + +The great centre hall of the palace was full of a radiant light bringing +up its ruined columns and intruding creepers to the best effect when I +entered. Dinner also was just being served, as they would say in another, +and alas! very distant place, and the whole building thronged with folk. +Down the centre low tables with room for four hundred people were ranged, +but they looked quaint enough since but two hundred were sitting there, +all brand-new bachelors about to be turned into brand new Benedicts, and +taking it mightily calmly it seemed. Across the hall-top was a raised +table similarly arranged and ornamented; and entering into the spirit +of the thing, and little guessing how stern a reality was to come from +the evening, I sat down in a vacant place near to the dais, and only a +few paces from where the pale, ghost-eyed Hath was already seated. + +Almost immediately afterwards music began to buzz all about the +hall--music of the kind the people loved which always seemed to me +as though it were exuding from the tables and benches, so disembodied +and difficult it was to locate; all the sleepy gallants raised their +flower-encircled heads at the same time, seizing their wine-cups, already +filled to the brim, and the door at the bottom of the hall opening, +the ladies, preceded by one carrying a mysterious vase covered with a +glittering cloth, came in. + +Now, being somewhat thirsty, I had already drunk half the wine in my +beaker, and whether it was that draught, drugged as all Martian wines are, +or the sheer loveliness of the maids themselves, I cannot say, but as the +procession entered, and, dividing, circled round under the colonnades of +the hall, a sensation of extraordinary felicity came over me--an emotion +of divine contentment purged of all grossness--and I stared and stared +at the circling loveliness, gossamer-clad, flower-girdled, tripping by +me with vapid delight. Either the wine was budding in my head, or there +was little to choose from amongst them, for had any of those ladies sat +down in the vacant place beside me, I should certainly have accepted her +as a gift from heaven, without question or cavil. But one after another +they slipped by, modestly taking their places in the shadows until at +last came Princess Heru, and at the sight of her my soul was stirred. + +She came undulating over the white marble, the loveliness of her fairy +person dimmed but scarcely hidden by a robe of softest lawn in colour +like rose-petals, her eyes aglitter with excitement and a charming blush +upon her face. + +She came straight up to me, and, resting a dainty hand upon my shoulder, +whispered, "Are you come as a spectator only, dear Mr. Jones, or do you +join in our custom tonight?" + +"I came only as a bystander, lady, but the fascination of the opportunity +is deadly--" + +"And have you any preference?"--this in the softest little voice from +somewhere in the nape of my neck. "Strangers sometimes say there are +fair women in Seth." + +"None--till you came; and now, as was said a long time ago, 'All is +dross that is not Helen.' Dearest lady," I ran on, detaining her by +the fingertips and gazing up into those shy and star-like eyes, "must +I indeed put all the hopes your kindness has roused in me these last +few days to a shuffle in yonder urn, taking my chance with all these +lazy fellows? In that land whereof I was, we would not have had it so, +we loaded our dice in these matters, a strong man there might have a +willing maid though all heaven were set against him! But give me leave, +sweet lady, and I will ruffle with these fellows; give me a glance and I +will barter my life for your billet when it is drawn, but to stand idly +by and see you won by a cold chance, I cannot do it." + +That lady laughed a little and said, "Men make laws, dear Jones, for +women to keep. It is the rule, and we must not break it." Then, gently +tugging at her imprisoned fingers and gathering up her skirts to go, +she added, "But it might happen that wit here were better than sword." +Then she hesitated, and freeing herself at last slipped from my side, yet +before she was quite gone half turned again and whispered so low that no +one but I could hear it, "A golden pool, and a silver fish, and a line +no thicker than a hair!" and before I could beg a meaning of her, had +passed down the hall and taken a place with the other expectant damsels. + +"A golden pool," I said to myself, "a silver fish, and a line of hair." +What could she mean? Yet that she meant something, and something clearly +of importance, I could not doubt. "A golden pool, and a silver fish--" +I buried my chin in my chest and thought deeply but without effect while +the preparations were made and the fateful urn, each maid having slipped +her name tablet within, was brought down to us, covered in a beautiful +web of rose-coloured tissue, and commenced its round, passing slowly from +hand to hand as each of those handsome, impassive, fawn-eyed gallants +lifted a corner of the web in turn and helped themselves to fate. + +"A golden pool," I muttered, "and a silver fish"--so absorbed in my own +thoughts I hardly noticed the great cup begin its journey, but when it had +gone three or four places the glitter of the lights upon it caught my eye. +It was of pure gold, round-brimmed, and circled about with a string of +the blue convolvulus, which implies delight to these people. Ay! and +each man was plunging his hand into the dark and taking in his turn a +small notch-edged mother-of-pearl billet from it that flashed soft and +silvery as he turned it in his hand to read the name engraved in unknown +characters thereon. "Why," I said, with a start, "surely THIS might +be the golden pool and these the silver fish--but the hair-fine line? +And again I meditated deeply, with all my senses on the watch. + +Slowly the urn crept round, and as each man took a ticket from it, and +passed it, smiling, to the seneschal behind him, that official read out +the name upon it, and a blushing damsel slipped from the crowd above, +crossing over to the side of the man with whom chance had thus lightly +linked her for the brief Martian year, and putting her hands in his +they kissed before all the company, and sat down to their places at the +table as calmly as country folk might choose partners at a village fair +in hay-time. + +But not so with me. Each time a name was called I started and stared at +the drawer in a way which should have filled him with alarm had alarm +been possible to the peace-soaked triflers, then turned to glance +to where, amongst the women, my tender little princess was leaning +against a pillar, with drooping head, slowly pulling a convolvulus bud +to pieces. None drew, though all were thinking of her, as I could tell +in my fingertips. Keener and keener grew the suspense as name after name +was told and each slim white damsel skipped to the place allotted her. +And all the time I kept muttering to myself about that "golden pool," +wondering and wondering until the urn had passed half round the tables +and was only some three men up from me--and then an idea flashed across +my mind. I dipped my fingers in the scented water-basin on the table, +drying them carefully on a napkin, and waiting, outwardly as calm as +any, yet inwardly wrung by those tremors which beset all male creation +in such circumstances. + +And now at last it was my turn. The great urn, blazing golden, +through its rosy covering, was in front, and all eyes on me. I clapped +a sunburnt hand upon its top as though I would take all remaining in it +to myself and stared round at that company--only her herself I durst not +look at! Then, with a beating heart, I lifted a corner of the web and +slipped my hand into the dark inside, muttering to myself as I did so, +"A golden pool, and a silver fish, and a line no thicker than a hair." +I touched in turn twenty perplexing tablets and was no whit the wiser, +and felt about the sides yet came to nothing, groping here and there with +a rising despair, until as my fingers, still damp and fine of touch, went +round the sides a second time, yes! there was something, something in the +hollow of the fluting, a thought, a thread, and yet enough. I took it +unseen, lifting it with infinite forbearance, and the end was weighted, +the other tablets slipped and rattled as from their midst, hanging to +that one fine virgin hair, up came a pearly billet. I doubted no longer, +but snapped the thread, and showed the tablet, heard Heru's name, read +from it amongst the soft applause of that luxurious company with all +the unconcern I could muster. + +There she was in a moment, lip to lip with me, before them all, her eyes +more than ever like planets from her native skies, and only the quick +heave of her bosom, slowly subsiding like a ground swell after a storm, +remaining to tell that even Martian blood could sometimes beat quicker +than usual! She sat down in her place by me in the simplest way, and soon +everything was as merry as could be. The main meal came on now, and as +far as I could see those Martian gallants had extremely good appetites, +though they drank at first but little, wisely remembering the strength of +their wines. As for me, I ate of fishes that never swam in earthly seas, +and of strange fowl that never flapped a way through thick terrestrial +air, ate and drank as happy as a king, and falling each moment more and +more in love with the wonderfully beautiful girl at my side who was a +real woman of flesh and blood I knew, yet somehow so dainty, so pink and +white, so unlike other girls in the smoothness of her outlines, in the +subtle grace of each unthinking attitude, that again and again I looked +at her over the rim of my tankard half fearing she might dissolve into +nothing, being the half-fairy which she was. + +Presently she asked, "Did that deed of mine, the hair in the urn, offend +you, stranger?" + +"Offend me, lady!" I laughed. "Why, had it been the blackest crime +that ever came out of a perverse imagination it would have brought its +own pardon with it; I, least of all in this room, have least cause to +be offended." + +"I risked much for you and broke our rules." + +"Why, no doubt that was so, but 'tis the privilege of your kind to +have some say in this little matter of giving and taking in marriage. +I only marvel that your countrywomen submit so tamely to the quaintest +game of chance I ever played at. + +"Ay, and it is women's nature no doubt to keep the laws which others +make, as you have said yourself. Yet this rule, lady, is one broken +with more credit than kept, and if you have offended no one more than me, +your penance is easily done." + +"But I have offended some one," she said, laying her hand on mine +with gentle nervousness in its touch, "one who has the power to hurt, +and enough energy to resent. Hath, up there at the cross-table, have +I offended deeply tonight, for he hoped to have me, and would have +compelled any other man to barter me for the maid chance assigned to +him; but of you, somehow, he is afraid--I have seen him staring at you, +and changing colour as though he knew something no one else knows--" + +"Briefly, charming girl," I said, for the wine was beginning to sing in +my head, and my eyes were blinking stupidly--"briefly, Hath hath thee +not, and there's an end of it. I would spit a score of Haths, as these +figs are spit on this golden skewer, before I would relinquish a hair +of your head to him, or to any man," and as everything about the great +hall began to look gauzy and unreal through the gathering fumes of my +confusion, I smiled on that gracious lady, and began to whisper I know +not what to her, and whisper and doze, and doze-- + +I know not how long afterwards it was, whether a minute or an hour, but +when I lifted my head suddenly from the lady's shoulder all the place +was in confusion, every one upon their feet, the talk and the drinking +ceased, and all eyes turned to the far doorway where the curtains were +just dropping again as I looked, while in front of them were standing +three men. + +These newcomers were utterly unlike any others--a frightful vision of +ugly strength amidst the lolling loveliness all about. Low of stature, +broad of shoulder, hairy, deep-chested, with sharp, twinkling eyes, set +far back under bushy eyebrows, retreating foreheads, and flat noses in +faces tanned to a dusky copper hue by exposure to every kind of weather +that racks the extreme Martian climate they were so opposite to all +about me, so quaint and grim amongst those mild, fair-skinned folk, +that at first I thought they were but a disordered creation of my fancy. + +I rubbed my eyes and stared and blinked, but no! they were real men, +of flesh and blood, and now they had come down with as much stateliness +as their bandy legs would admit of, into the full glare of the lights +to the centre table where Hath sat. I saw their splendid apparel, the +great strings of rudely polished gems hung round their hairy necks and +wrists, the cunningly dyed skins of soft-furred animals, green and red +and black, wherewith their limbs were swathed, and then I heard some +one by me whisper in a frightened tone, "The envoys from over seas." + +"Oh," I thought sleepily to myself, "so these are the ape-men of the +western woods, are they? Those who long ago vanquished my white-skinned +friends and yearly come to claim their tribute. Jove, what hay they must +have made of them! How those peach-skinned girls must have screamed and +the downy striplings by them felt their dimpled knees knock together, +as the mad flood of barbarians came pouring over from the forest, and +long ago stormed their citadels like a stream of red lava, as deadly, +as irresistible, as remorseless!" And I lay asprawl upon my arms on +the table watching them with the stupid indifference I thought I could +so well afford. + +Meanwhile Hath was on foot, pale and obsequious like others in the +presence of those dread ambassadors, but more collected, I thought. +With the deepest bows he welcomed them, handing them drink in a golden +State cup, and when they had drunk (I heard the liquor running down their +great throats, in the frightened hush, like water in a runnel on a wet +day), they wiped their fierce lips upon their furry sleeves, and the +leader began reciting the tribute for the year. So much corn, so much +wine--and very much it was--so many thousands ells of cloth and webbing, +and so much hammered gold, and sinah and lar, precious metal of which I +knew nothing as yet; and ever as he went growling through the list in +his harsh animal voice, he refreshed his memory with a coloured stick +whereon a notch was made for every item, the woodmen not having come +as yet, apparently, to the gentler art of written signs and symbols. +Longer and longer that caravan of unearned wealth stretched out before +my fancy, but at last it was done, or all but done, and the head envoy, +passing the painted stick to a man behind, folded his bare, sinewy arms, +upon which the red fell bristles as it does upon a gorilla's, across his +ample chest, and, including us all in one general scowl, turned to Hath +as he said-- + +"All this for Ar-hap, the wood-king, my master and yours; all this, +and the most beautiful woman here tonight at your tables!" + +"An item," I smiled stupidly to myself, for indeed I was very sleepy +and had no nice perception of things, "which shows his majesty with +the two-pronged name is a jolly fellow after all, and knows wealth is +incomplete without the crown and priming of all riches. I wonder how +the Martian boys will like this postscript," and chin on hand, and eyes +that would hardly stay open, I watched to see what would happen next. +There was a little conversation between the prince and the ape-man; +then I saw Hath the traitor point in my direction and say-- + +"Since you ask and will be advised, then, mighty sir, there can be no +doubt of it, the most beautiful woman here tonight is undoubtedly she +who sits yonder by him in blue." + +"A very pretty compliment!" I thought, too dull to see what was coming +quickly, "and handsome of Hath, all things considered." + +And so I dozed and dozed, and then started, and stared! Was I in my +senses? Was I mad, or dreaming? The drunkenness dropped from me like +a mantle; with a single, smothered cry I came to myself and saw that it +was all too true. The savage envoy had come down the hall at Hath's +vindictive prompting, had lifted my fair girl to her feet, and there, +even as I looked, had drawn her, white as death, into the red circle of +his arm, and with one hand under her chin had raised her sweet face to +within an inch of his, and was staring at her with small, ugly eyes. + +"Yes," said the enjoy, more interestedly than he had spoken yet, "it +will do; the tribute is accepted--for Ar-hap, my master!" And taking +shrinking Heru by the wrist, and laying a heavy hand upon her shoulder, +he was about to lead her up the hall. + +I was sober enough then. I was on foot in an instant, and before all the +glittering company, before those simpering girls and pale Martian youths, +who sat mumbling their fingers, too frightened to lift their eyes from off +their half-finished dinners, I sprang at the envoy. I struck him with my +clenched fist on the side of his bullet head, and he let go of Heru, who +slipped insensible from his hairy chest like a white cloud slipping down +the slopes of a hill at sunrise, and turned on me with a snort of rage. +We stared at each other for a minute, and then I felt the wine fumes +roaring in my head; I rushed at him and closed. It was like embracing +a mountain bull, and he responded with a hug that made my ribs crackle. +For a minute we were locked together like that, swinging here and there, +and then getting a hand loose, I belaboured him so unmercifully that +he put his head down, and that was what I wanted. I got a new hold of +him as we staggered and plunged, roaring the while like the wild beasts +we were, the teeth chattering in the Martian heads as they watched us, +and then, exerting all my strength, lifted him fairly from his feet and +with supreme effort swung him up, shoulder high, and with a mighty heave +hurled him across the tables, flung that ambassador, whom no Martian +dared look upon, crashing and sprawling through the gold and silver of +the feast, whirled him round with such a splendid send that bench and +trestle, tankards and flagons, chairs and cloths and candelabras all +went down into thundering chaos with him, and the envoy only stayed when +his sacred person came to harbour amongst the westral odds and ends, +the soiled linen, and dirty platters of our wedding feast. + +I remember seeing him there on hands and knees, and then the liquor I +had had would not be denied. In vain I drew my hands across my drooping +eyelids, in vain I tried to master my knees that knocked together. +The spell of the love-drink that Heru, blushing, had held to my lips +was on me. Its soft, overwhelming influence rose like a prismatic fog +between me and my enemy, everything again became hazy and dreamlike, and +feebly calling on Heru, my chin dropped upon my chest, my limbs relaxed, +and I slipped down in drowsy oblivion before my rival. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +They must have carried me, still under the influence of wine fumes, +to the chamber where I slept that night, for when I woke the following +morning my surroundings were familiar enough, though a glorious maze of +uncertainties rocked to and fro in my mind. + +Was it a real feast we had shared in overnight, or only a quaint dream? +Was Heru real or only a lovely fancy? And those hairy ruffians of whom +a horrible vision danced before my waking eyes, were they fancy too? +No, my wrists still ached with the strain of the tussle, the quaint, +sad wine taste was still on my lips--it was all real enough, I decided, +starting up in bed; and if it was real where was the little princess? +What had they done with her? Surely they had not given her to the +ape-men--cowards though they were they could not have been cowards enough +for that. And as I wondered a keen, bright picture of the hapless maid as +I saw her last blossomed before my mind's eye, the ambassadors on either +side holding her wrists, and she shrinking from them in horror while her +poor, white face turned to me for rescue in desperate pleading--oh! I +must find her at all costs; and leaping from bed I snatched up those +trousers without which the best of heroes is nothing, and had hardly got +into them when there came the patter of light feet without and a Martian, +in a hurry for once, with half a dozen others behind him, swept aside +the curtains of my doorway. + +They peeped and peered all about the room, then one said, "Is Princess +Heru with you, sir?" + +"No," I answered roughly. "Saints alive, man, do you think I would have +you tumbling in here over each other's heels if she were?" + +"Then it must indeed have been Heru," he said, speaking in an awed voice +to his fellows, "whom we saw carried down to the harbour at daybreak by +yonder woodmen," and the pink upon their pretty cheeks faded to nothing +at the suggestion. + +"What!" I roared, "Heru taken from the palace by a handful of men +and none of you infernal rascals--none of you white-livered abortions +lifted a hand to save her--curse on you a thousand times. Out of my +way, you churls!" And snatching up coat and hat and sword I rushed +furiously down the long, marble stairs just as the short Martian night +was giving place to lavender-coloured light of morning. I found my +way somehow down the deserted corridors where the air was heavy with +aromatic vapours; I flew by curtained niches and chambers where amongst +mounds of half-withered flowers the Martian lovers were slowly waking. +Down into the banquethall I sped, and there in the twilight was the litter +of the feast still about--gold cups and silver, broken bread and meat, the +convolvulus flowers all turning their pallid faces to the rosy daylight, +making pools of brightness between the shadows. Amongst the litter +little sapphire-coloured finches were feeding, twittering merrily to +themselves as they hopped about, and here and there down the long tables +lay asprawl a belated reveller, his empty oblivion-phial before him, +his curly head upon his arms, dreaming perhaps of last night's feast +and a neglected bride dozing dispassionate in some distant chamber. +But Heru was not there and little I cared for twittering finches or +sighing damsels. With hasty feet I rushed down the hall out into the +cool, sweet air of the planet morning. + +There I met one whom I knew, and he told me he had been among the crowd +and had heard the woodmen had gone no farther than the river gate, +that Heru was with them beyond a doubt. I would not listen to more. +"Good!" I shouted. "Get me a horse and just a handful of your sleek +kindred and we will pull the prize from the bear's paw even yet! +Surely," I said, turning to a knot of Martian youths who stood listening +a few steps away, "surely some of you will come with me at this pinch? +The big bullies are very few; the sea runs behind them; the maid in their +clutch is worth fighting for; it needs but one good onset, five minutes' +gallantry, and she is ours again. Think how fine it will look to bring +her back before yon sleepy fellows have found their weapons. You, there, +with the blue tunic! you look a proper fellow, and something of a heart +should beat under such gay wrappings, will you come with me?" + +But blue-mantle, biting his thumbs, murmured he had not breakfasted yet +and edged away behind his companions. Wherever I looked eyes dropped +and timid hands fidgeted as their owners backed off from my dangerous +enthusiasm. There was obviously no help to be had from them, and meantime +the precious moments were flying, so with a disdainful glance I turned +on my heels and set off alone as hard as I could go for the harbour. + +But it was too late. I rushed through the marketplace where all was +silent and deserted; I ran on to the wharves beyond and they were empty +save for the litter and embers of the fires Ar-hap's men had made during +their stay; I dashed out to the landing-place, and there at the hythe +the last boat-loads of the villains were just embarking, two boatloads +of them twenty yards from shore, and another still upon the beach. +This latter was careening over as a dusky group of men lifted aboard +to a heap of tumbled silks and stuffs in the stern such a sweet piece +of insensible merchandise as no man, I at least of all, could mistake. +It was Heru herself, and the rogues were ladling her on board like so +much sandal-wood or cotton sheeting. I did not wait for more, but out +came my sword, and yielding to a reckless impulse, for which perhaps last +night's wine was as much to blame as anything, I sprang down the steps and +leapt aboard of the boat just as it was pushed off upon the swift tide. +Full of Bersark rage, I cut one brawny copper-coloured thief down, and +struck another with my fist between the eyes so that he went headlong +into the water, sinking like lead, and deep into the great target of +his neighbour's chest I drove my blade. Had there been a man beside me, +had there been but two or three of all those silken triflers, too late +come on the terraces above to watch, we might have won. But all alone +what could I do? That last red beast turned on my blade, and as he fell +dragged me half down with him. I staggered up, and tugging the metal +from him turned on the next. + +At that moment the cause of all the turmoil, roused by the fighting, came +to herself, and sitting up on the piled plunder in the boat stared round +for a moment with a childish horror at the barbarians whose prize she was, +then at me, then at the dead man at my feet whose blood was welling in a +red tide from the wound in his breast. As the full meaning of the scene +dawned upon her she started to her feet, looking wonderfully beautiful +amongst those dusky forms, and extending her hands to me began to cry in +the most piteous way. I sprang forward, and as I did so saw an ape-man +clap his hairy paw over her mouth and face--it was like an eclipse of the +moon by a red earth-shadow, I thought at the moment--and drag her roughly +back, but that was about the last I remembered. As I turned to hit him +standing on the slippery thwart, another rogue crept up behind and let +drive with a club he had in hand. The cudgel caught me sideways on the +head, a glancing shot. I can recall a blaze of light, a strange medley +of sounds in my ears, and then, clutching at a pile of stuffs as I fell, +a tall bower of spray rising on either hand, and the cool shock of the +blue sea as I plunged headlong in--but nothing after that! + +How long after I know not, but presently a tissue of daylight crept into +my eyes, and I awoke again. It was better than nothing perhaps, yet it +was a poor awakening. The big sun lay low down, and the day was all but +done; so much I guessed as I rocked in that light with an undulating +movement, and then as my senses returned more fully, recognised with +a start of wonder that I was still in the water, floating on a swift +current into the unknown on an air-filled pile of silken stuffs which +had been pulled down with me from the boat when I got my ganging from +yonder rascal's mace. It was a wet couch, sodden and chilly, but as the +freshening evening wind blew on my face and the darkening water lapped +against my forehead I revived more fully. + +Where had we come to? I turned an aching neck, and all along on both +sides seemed to stretch steep, straight coasts about a mile or so apart, +in the shadow of the setting sun black as ebony. Between the two the +hampered water ran quickly, with, away on the right, some shallow sandy +spits and islands covered with dwarf bushes--chilly, inhospitable-looking +places they seemed as I turned my eyes upon them; but he who rides +helpless down an evening tide stands out for no great niceties of +landing-place; could I but reach them they would make at least a drier +bed than this of mine, and at that thought, turning over, I found all +my muscles as stiff as iron, the sinews of my neck and forearms a mass +of agonies and no more fit to swim me to those reedy swamps, which now, +as pain and hunger began to tell, seemed to wear the aspects of paradise. + +With a groan I dropped back upon my raft and watched the islands +slipping by, while over my feet the southern sky darkened to purple. +There was no help there, but glancing round away on the left and a few +furlongs from me, I noticed on the surface of the water two converging +strands of brightness, an angle the point of which seemed to be coming +towards me. Nearer it came and nearer, right across my road, until I +could see a black dot at the point, a head presently developed, then as +we approached the ears and antlers of a swimming stag. It was a huge +beast as it loomed up against the glow, bigger than any mortal stag +ever was--the kind of fellow-traveller no one would willingly accost, +but even if I had wished to get out of its path I had no power to do so. + +Closer and closer we came, one of us drifting helplessly, and the other +swimming strongly for the islands. When we were about a furlong apart the +great beast seemed to change its course, mayhap it took the wreckage on +which I floated for an outlying shoal, something on which it could rest a +space in that long swim. Be this as it may, the beast came hurtling down +on me lip deep in the waves, a mighty brown head with pricked ears that +flicked the water from them now and then, small bright eyes set far back, +and wide palmated antlers on a mighty forehead, like the dead branches of +a tree. What that Martian mountain elk had hoped for can only be guessed, +what he met with was a tangle of floating finery carrying a numbed +traveller on it, and with a snort of disappointment he turned again. + +It was a poor chance, but better than nothing, and as he turned I tried +to throw a strand of silk I had unwound from the sodden mass over his +branching tines. Quick as thought the beast twisted his head aside and +tossed his antlers so that the try was fruitless. But was I to lose my +only chance of shore? With all my strength I hurled myself upon him, +missing my clutch again by a hair's-breadth and going headlong into the +salt furrow his chest was turning up. Happily I kept hold of the web, +for the great elk then turned back, passing between me and the ruck of +stuff and getting thereby the silk under his chin, and as I came gasping +to the top once more round came that dainty wreckage over his back, +and I clutched it, and sooner than it takes to tell I was towing to the +shore as perhaps no one was ever towed before. + +The big beast dragged the ruck like withered weed behind him, bellowing +all the time with a voice which made the hills echo all round; and then, +when he got his feet upon the shallows, rose dripping and mountainous, +a very cliff of black hide and limb against the night shine, and with a +single sweep of his antlers tore the webbing from me, who lay prone and +breathless in the mud, and, thinking it was his enemy, hurled the limp +bundle on the beach, and then, having pounded it with his cloven feet +into formless shreds, bellowed again victoriously and went off into the +darkness of the forests. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +I landed, stiff enough as you will guess, but pleased to be on shore +again. It was a melancholy neighbourhood of low islands, overgrown +with rank grass and bushes, salt water encircling them, and inside sandy +dunes and hummocks with shallow pools, gleaming ghostly in the retreating +daylight, while beyond these rose the black bosses of what looked like +a forest. Thither I made my way, plunging uncomfortably through shallows, +and tripping over blackened branches which, lying just below the surface, +quivered like snakes as the evening breeze ruffled each surface, until +the ground hardened under foot, and presently I was standing, hungry +and faint but safe, on dry land again. + +The forest was so close to the sea, one could not advance without +entering it, and once within its dark arcades every way looked equally +gloomy and hopeless. I struggled through tangles night made more and +more impenetrable each minute, until presently I could go no further, +and where a dense canopy of trees overhead gave out for a minute on the +edge of a swampy hollow, I determined to wait for daylight. + +Never was there a more wet or weary traveller, or one more desperately +lonely than he who wrapped himself up in the miserable insufficiency of +his wet rags, and without fire or supper crept amongst the exposed roots +of a tree growing out of a bank, and prepared to hope grimly for morning. + +Round and round meanwhile was drawn the close screen of night, till +the clearing in front was blotted out, and only the tree-tops, black as +rugged hills one behind the other, stood out against the heavy purple of +the circlet of sky above. As the evening deepened the quaintest noises +began on every hand--noises so strange and bewildering that as I cowered +down with my teeth chattering, and stared hard into the impenetrable, they +could be likened to nothing but the crying of all the souls of dead things +since the beginning. Never was there such an infernal chorus as that +which played up the Martian stars. Down there in front, where hummock +grass was growing, some beast squeaked continuously, till I shouted at +him, then he stopped a minute, and began again in entirely another note. +Away on the hills two rival monsters were calling to each other in tones +so hollow they seemed as I listened to penetrate through me, and echo +out of my heart again. Far overhead, gigantic bats were flitting, the +shadow of their wings dimming a dozen universes at once, and crying to +each other in shrill tones that rent the air like tearing silk. + +As I listened to those vampires discussing their infernal loves under +the stars, from a branch right overhead broke such a deathly howl from +the throat of a wandering forest cat that everything else was hushed for +a moment. All about a myriad insects were making night giddy with their +ghostly fires, while underground and from the labyrinths of matted roots +came quaint sounds of rustling snakes and forest pigs, and all the lesser +things that dig and scratch and growl. + +Yet I was desperately sleepy, my sword hung heavy as lead at my side, +my eyelids drooped, and so at last I dozed uneasily for an hour or two. +Then, all on a sudden, I came wide awake with a shock. The night was +quieter now; away in the forest depth strange noises still arose, but +close at hand was a strange hush, like the hush of expectation, and, +listening wonderingly, I was aware of slow, heavy footsteps coming up from +the river, now two or three steps together, then a pause, then another +step or two, and as I bent towards the approaching thing, staring into +the darkness, my strained senses were conscious of another approach, +as like as could be, coming from behind me. On they came, making the +very ground quake with their weight, till I judged that both were about +on the edge of the clearing, two vast rat-like shadows, but as big as +elephants, and bringing a most intolerable smell of sour slime with them. +There, on the edge of the amphitheatre, each for the first time appeared +to become aware of the other's presence--the footsteps stopped dead. +I could hear the water dripping from the fur of those giant brutes amongst +the shadows and the deep breathing of the one nearest me, a scanty ten +paces off, but not another sound in the stillness. + +Minute after minute passed, yet neither moved. A half-hour grew to a +full hour, and that hour lengthened amid the keenest tension till my +ears ached with listening, and my eyes were sore with straining into +the blackness. At last I began to wonder whether those earth-shaking +beasts had not been an evil dream, and was just venturing to stretch out +a cramped leg, and rally myself upon my cowardice, when, without warning, +at my elbow rose the most ear-piercing scream of rage that ever came +from a living throat. There was a sweeping rush in the darkness which I +could feel but not see, and with a shock the two gladiators met in the +midst of the arena. Over and over they went screaming and struggling, +and slipping and plunging. I could hear them tearing at each other, +and the sharp cries of pain, first one and then another gave as claw or +tooth got home, and all the time, though the ground was quaking under +their struggles and the air full of horrible uproar, not a thing was +to be seen. I did not even know what manner of beasts they were who +rocked and rolled and tore at each other's throats, but I heard their +teeth snapping, and their fierce breath in the pauses of the struggle, +and could but wait in a huddle amongst the roots until it was over. +To and fro they went, now at the far side of the dark clearing, now +so close that hot drops of blood from their jaws fell on my face like +rain in the darkness. It seemed as though the fight would never end, +but presently there was more of worrying in it and less of snapping; +it was clear one or the other had had enough and as I marked this those +black shadows came gasping and struggling towards me. There was a sudden +sharp cry, a desperate final tussle--before which strong trees snapped +and bushes were flattened out like grass, not twenty yards away--and +then for a minute all was silent. + +One of them had killed, and as I sat rooted to the spot I was forced to +listen while his enemy tore him up and ate him. Many a banquet have +I been at, but never an uglier one than that. I sat in the darkness +while the unknown thing at my feet ripped the flesh from his half-dead +rival in strips, and across the damp night wind came the reek of that +abominable feast--the reek of blood and spilt entrails--until I turned +away my face in loathing, and was nearly starting to my feet to venture +a rush into the forest shadows. But I was spellbound, and remained +listening to the heavy munch of blood-stained jaws until presently I +was aware other and lesser feasters were coming. There was a twinkle of +hungry eyes all about the limits of the area, the shine of green points +of envious fire that circled round in decreasing orbits, as the little +foxes and jackals came crowding in. One fellow took me for a rock, +so still I sat, putting his hot, soft paws upon my knee for a space, +and others passed me so near I could all but touch them. + +The big beast had taken himself off by this time, and there must have +been several hundreds of these newcomers. A merry time they had of it; +the whole place was full of the green, hurrying eyes, and amidst the +snap of teeth and yapping and quarrelling I could hear the flesh being +torn from the red bones in every direction. One wolf-like individual +brought a mass of hot liver to eat between my feet, but I gave him a kick, +and sent him away much to his surprise. Gradually, however, the sound +of this unholy feast died away, and, though you may hardly believe it, +I fell off into a doze. It was not sleep, but it served the purpose, +and when in an hour or two a draught of cool air roused me, I awoke, +feeling more myself again. + +Slowly morning came, and the black wall of forest around became full +of purple interstices as the east brightened. Those glimmers of light +between bough and trunk turned to yellow and red, the day-shine presently +stretched like a canopy from point to point of the treetops on either +side of my sleeping-place, and I arose. + +All my limbs were stiff with cold, my veins emptied by hunger and wounds, +and for a space I had not even strength to move. But a little rubbing +softened my cramped muscles presently and limping painfully down to the +place of combat, I surveyed the traces of that midnight fight. I will +not dwell upon it. It was ugly and grim; the trampled grass, the giant +footmarks, each enringing its pool of curdled blood; the broken bushes, +the grooved mud-slides where the unknown brutes had slid in deadly +embrace; the hollows, the splintered boughs, their ragged points tufted +with skin and hair--all was sickening to me. Yet so hungry was I that +when I turned towards the odious remnants of the vanquished--a shapeless +mass of abomination--my thoughts flew at once to breakfasting! I went +down and inspected the victim cautiously--a huge rat-like beast as far +as might be judged from the bare uprising ribs--all that was left of him +looking like the framework of a schooner yacht. His heart lay amongst +the offal, and my knife came out to cut a meal from it, but I could not +do it. Three times I essayed the task, hunger and disgust contending +for mastery; three times turned back in loathing. At last I could stand +the sight no more, and, slamming the knife up again, turned on my heels, +and fairly ran for fresh air and the shore, where the sea was beginning to +glimmer in the light a few score yards through the forest stems. There, +once more out on the open, on a pebbly beach, I stripped, spreading my +things out to dry on the stones, and laying myself down with the lapping +of the waves in my ears, and the first yellow sunshine thawing my limbs, +tried to piece together the hurrying events of the last few days. + +What were my gay Martians doing? Lazy dogs to let me, a stranger, be the +only one to draw sword in defence of their own princess! Where was poor +Heru, that sweet maiden wife? The thought of her in the hands of the +ape-men was odious. And yet was I not mad to try to rescue, or even to +follow her alone? If by any chance I could get off this beast-haunted +place and catch up with the ravishers, what had I to look for from them +except speedy extinction, and that likely enough by the most painful +process they were acquainted with? + +The other alternative of going back empty handed was terribly ignominious. +I had lectured the amiable young manhood of Seth so soundly on the +subject of gallantry, and set them such a good example on two occasions, +that it would be bathos to saunter back, hands in pockets, and confess I +knew nothing of the lady's fate and had been daunted by the first night +alone in the forest. Besides, how dull it would be in that beautiful, +tumble-down old city without Heru, with no expectation day by day of +seeing her sylph-like form and hearing the merry tinkle of her fairy +laughter as she scoffed at the unknown learning collected by her ancestors +in a thousand laborious years. No! I would go on for certain. I was +young, in love, and angry, and before those qualifications difficulties +became light. + +Meanwhile, the first essential was breakfast of some kind. I arose, +stretched, put on my half-dried clothes, and mounting a low hummock on +the forest edge looked around. The sun was riding up finely into the +sky, and the sea to the eastward shone for leagues and leagues in the +loveliest azure. Where it rippled on my own beach and those of the low +islands noted over night, a wonderful fire of blue and red played on +the sands as though the broken water were full of living gems. The sky +was full of strange gulls with long, forked tails, and a lovely little +flying lizard with transparent wings of the palest green--like those of +a grasshopper--was flitting about picking up insect stragglers. + +All this was very charming, but what I kept saying to myself was "Streaky +rashers and hot coffee: rashers and coffee and rolls," and, indeed, had +the gates of Paradise themselves opened at that moment I fear my first +look down the celestial streets within would have been for a restaurant. +They did not, and I was just turning away disconsolate when my eye caught, +ascending from behind the next bluff down the beach, a thin strand of +smoke rising into the morning air. + +It was nothing so much in itself--a thin spiral creeping upwards +mast-high, then flattening out into a mushroom head--but it meant +everything to me. Where there was fire there must be humanity, and where +there was humanity--ay, to the very outlayers of the universe--there +must be breakfast. It was a splendid thought; I rushed down the hillock +and went gaily for that blue thread amongst the reeds. It was not two +hundred yards away, and soon below me was a tiny bay with bluest water +frilling a silver beach, and in the midst of it a fire on a hearth dancing +round a pot that simmered gloriously. But of an owner there was nothing +to be seen. I peered here and there on the shore, but nothing moved, +while out to sea the water was shining like molten metal with not a +dot upon it!--what did it matter? I laughed as, pleased and hungry, +I slipped down the bank and strode across the sands; it pleased Fate to +play bandy with me, and if it sent me supperless to bed, why, here was +restitution in the way of breakfast. I took up a morsel of the stuff +in the kettle on a handy stick and found it good--indeed, I knew it at +once as a very dainty mess made from the roots of a herb the Martians +greatly liked; An had piled my platter with it when we supped that night +in the market-place of Seth, and the sweet white stuff had melted into +my corporal essence, it seemed, without any gross intermediate process +of digestion. And here I was again, hungry, sniffing the fragrant breath +of a full meal and not a soul in sight--I should have been a fool not +to have eaten. So thinking, down I sat, taking the pot from its place, +and when it was a little cool plunging my hands into it and feasting +with as good an appetite as ever a man had before. + +It was gloriously ambrosial, and deeper and deeper I went, with the +tall stalk of the smoke in front growing from the hearth-stones like +some strange new plant, the pleasant sunshine on my back, and never a +thought for anything but the task in hand. Deeper and deeper, oblivious +of all else, until to get the very last drops I lifted the pipkin up +and putting back my head drank in that fashion. + +It was only when with a sigh of pleasure I lowered it slowly again that +over the rim as it sank there dawned upon me the vision of a Martian +standing by an empty canoe on the edge of the water and regarding me +with calm amazement. I was, in fact, so astonished that for a minute +the empty pot stood still before my face, and over its edge we stared +at each other in mute surprise, then with all the dignity that might +be I laid the vessel down between my feet and waited for the newcomer +to speak. She was a girl by her yellow garb, a fisherwoman, it seemed, +for in the prow of her craft was piled a net upon which the scales of +fishes were twinkling--a Martian, obviously, but something more robust +than most of them, a savour of honest work about her sunburnt face which +my pallid friends away yonder were lacking in, and when we had stared +at each other for a few moments in silence she came forward a step or +two and said without a trace of fear or shyness, "Are you a spirit, sir? + +"Why," I answered, "about as much, no more and no less, than most of us." + +"Aye," she said. "I thought you were, for none but spirits live here +upon this island; are you for good or evil?" + +"Far better for the breakfast of which I fear I have robbed you, but +wandering along the shore and finding this pot boiling with no owner, +I ventured to sample it, and it was so good my appetite got the better +of manners." + +The girl bowed, and standing at a respectful distance asked if I would +like some fish as well; she had some, but not many, and if I would eat +she would cook them for me in a minute--it was not often, she added +lightly, she had met one of my kind before. In fact, it was obvious +that simple person did actually take me for a being of another world, +and was it for me to say she was wrong? So adopting a dignity worthy of +my reputation I nodded gravely to her offer. She fetched from the boat +four little fishes of the daintiest kind imaginable. They were each +about as big as a hand and pale blue when you looked down upon them, +but so clear against the light that every bone and vein in their bodies +could be traced. These were wrapped just as they were in a broad, green +leaf and then the Martian, taking a pointed stick, made a hollow in the +white ashes, laid them in side by side, and drew the hot dust over again. + +While they cooked we chatted as though the acquaintance were the most +casual thing in the world, and I found it was indeed an island we were +on and not the mainland, as I had hoped at first. Seth, she told me, +was far away to the eastward, and if the woodmen had gone by in their +ships they would have passed round to the north-west of where we were. + +I spent an hour or two with that amiable individual, and, it is to be +hoped, sustained the character of a spiritual visitant with considerable +dignity. In one particular at least, that, namely, of appetite, I did +honour to my supposed source, and as my entertainer would not hear of +payment in material kind, all I could do was to show her some conjuring +tricks, which greatly increased her belief in my supernatural origin, +and to teach her some new hitches and knots, using her fishing-line +as a means of illustration, a demonstration which called from her the +natural observation that we must be good sailors "up aloft" since we +knew so much about cordage, then we parted. + +She had seen nothing of the woodmen, though she had heard they had been +to Seth and thought, from some niceties of geographical calculation which +I could not follow, they would have crossed to the north, as just stated, +of her island. There she told me, with much surprise at my desire for the +information, how I might, by following the forest track to the westward +coast, make my way to a fishing village, where they would give me a canoe +and direct me, since such was my extraordinary wish, to the place where, +if anywhere, the wild men had touched on their way home. + +She filled my wallet with dried honey-cakes and my mouth with sugar plums +from her little store, then down on her knees went that poor waif of +a worn-out civilisation and kissed my hands in humble farewell, and I, +blushing to be so saluted, and after all but a sailor, got her by the +rosy fingers and lifted her up shoulder high, and getting one hand under +her chin and the other behind her head kissed her twice upon her pretty +cheeks; and so, I say, we parted. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Off into the forest I went, feeling a boyish elation to be so free nor +taking heed or count of the reckless adventure before me. The Martian +weather for the moment was lovely and the many-coloured grass lush and +soft under foot. Mile after mile I went, heeding the distance lightly, +the air was so elastic. Now pressing forward as the main interest of my +errand took the upper hand, and remembrance of poor Heru like a crushed +white flower in the red grip of those cruel ravishers came upon me, +and then pausing to sigh with pleasure or stand agape--forgetful even +of her--in wonder of the unknown loveliness about me. + +And well might I stare! Everything in that forest was wonderful! There +were plants which turned from colour to colour with the varying hours of +the day. While others had a growth so swift it was dangerous to sit in +their neighbourhood since the long, succulent tendrils clambering from +the parent stem would weave you into a helpless tangle while you gazed, +fascinated, upon them. There were plants that climbed and walked; sighing +plants who called the winged things of the air to them with a noise so +like to a girl sobbing that again and again I stopped in the tangled +path to listen. There were green bladder-mosses which swam about the +surface of the still pools like gigantic frog-broods. There were on the +ridges warrior trees burning in the vindictiveness of a long forgotten +cause--a blaze of crimson scimitar thorns from root to topmost twig; +and down again in the cool hollows were lady-bushes making twilight of +the green gloom with their cloudy ivory blossoms and filling the shadows +with such a heavy scent that head and heart reeled with fatal pleasure +as one pushed aside their branches. Every river-bed was full of mighty +reeds, whose stems clattered together when the wind blew like swords on +shields, and every now and then a bit of forest was woven together with +the ropey stems of giant creepers till no man or beast could have passed +save for the paths which constant use had kept open through the mazes. + +All day long I wandered on through those wonderful woodlands, and in fact +loitered so much over their infinite marvels that when sundown came all +too soon there was still undulating forest everywhere, vistas of fairy +glades on every hand, peopled with incredible things and echoing with +sounds that excited the ears as much as other things fascinated the eyes, +but no sign of the sea or my fishing village anywhere. + +It did not matter; a little of the Martian leisureliness was getting +into my blood: "If not today, why then tomorrow," as An would have said; +and with this for comfort I selected a warm, sandy hollow under the roots +of a big tree, made my brief arrangements for the night, ate some honey +cakes, and was soon sleeping blissfully. + +I woke early next morning, after many hours of interrupted dreams, and +having nothing to do till the white haze had lifted and made it possible +to start again, rested idly a time on my elbow and watched the sunshine +filter into the recesses. + +Very pretty it was to see the thick canopy overhead, by star-light so +impenetrable, open its chinks and fissures as the searching sun came +upon it; to see the pin-hole gaps shine like spangles presently, the +spaces broaden into lesser suns, and even the thick leafage brighten and +shine down on me with a soft sea-green radiance. The sunward sides of +the tree-stems took a glow, and the dew that ran dripping down their +mossy sides trickled blood-red to earth. Elsewhere the shadows were +still black, and strange things began to move in them--things we in our +middle-aged world have never seen the likeness of: beasts half birds, +birds half creeping things, and creeping things which it seemed to me +passed through lesser creations down to the basest life that crawls +without interruption or division. + +It was not for me, a sailor, to know much of such things, yet some I +could not fail to notice. On one grey branch overhead, jutting from +a tree-stem where a patch of velvet moss made in the morning glint a +fairy bed, a wonderful flower unfolded. It was a splendid bud, ivory +white, cushioned in leaves, and secured to its place by naked white +roots that clipped the branch like fingers of a lady's hand. Even as I +looked it opened, a pale white star, and hung pensive and inviting on +its mossy cushion. From it came such a ravishing odour that even I, +at the further end of the great scale of life, felt my pulses quicken +and my eyes brighten with cupidity. I was in the very act of climbing +the tree, but before I could move hand or foot two things happened, +whether you take my word for them or no. + +Firstly, up through a glade in the underwood, attracted by the odour, came +an ugly brown bird with a capacious beak and shining claws. He perched +near by, and peeped and peered until he made out the flower pining on +her virgin stem, whereat off he hopped to her branch and there, with a +cynical chuckle, strutted to and fro between her and the main stem like +an ill genius guarding a fairy princess. + +Surely Heaven would not allow him to tamper with so chaste a bud! +My hand reached for a stone to throw at him when happened the second +thing. There came a gentle pat upon the woodland floor, and from a +tree overhead dropped down another living plant like to the one above +yet not exactly similar, a male, my instincts told me, in full solitary +blossom like her above, cinctured with leaves, and supported by half +a score of thick white roots that worked, as I looked, like the limbs +of a crab. In a twinkling that parti-coloured gentleman vegetable +near me was off to the stem upon which grew his lady love; running +and scrambling, dragging the finery of his tasselled petals behind, +it was laughable to watch his eagerness. He got a grip of the tree +and up he went, "hand over hand," root over root. I had just time to +note others of his species had dropped here and there upon the ground, +and were hurrying with frantic haste to the same destination when he +reached the fatal branch, and was straddling victoriously down it, +blind to all but love and longing. That ill-omened bird who stood +above the maiden-flower let him come within a stalk's length, so near +that the white splendour of his sleeping lady gleamed within arms' +reach, then the great beak was opened, the great claws made a clutch, +the gallant's head was yanked from his neck, and as it went tumbling +down the maw of the feathered thing his white legs fell spinning through +space, and lay knotting themselves in agony upon the ground for a minute +or two before they relaxed and became flaccid in the repose of death. +Another and another vegetable suitor made for that fatal tryst, and as +each came up the snap of the brown bird's beak was all their obsequies. +At last no more came, and then that Nemesis of claws and quills walked +over to the girl-flower, his stomach feathers ruffled with repletion, +the green blood of her lovers dripping from his claws, and pulled her +golden heart out, tore her white limbs one from the other, and swallowed +her piecemeal before my very eyes! Then up in wrath I jumped and yelled +at him till the woods echoed, but too late to stay his sacrilege. + +By this time the sun was bathing everything in splendour, and turning away +from the wonders about me, I set off at best pace along the well-trodden +path which led without turning to the west coast village where the +canoes were. + +It proved far closer than expected. As a matter of fact the forest +in this direction grew right down to the water's edge; the salt-loving +trees actually overhanging the waves--one of the pleasantest sights in +nature--and thus I came right out on top of the hamlet before there had +been an indication of its presence. It occupied two sides of a pretty +little bay, the third side being flat land given over to the cultivation +of an enormous species of gourd whose characteristic yellow flowers and +green, succulent leaves were discernible even at this distance. + +I branched off along the edge of the surf and down a dainty little flowery +path, noticing meanwhile how the whole bay was filled by hundreds of empty +canoes, while scores of others were drawn up on the strand, and then the +first thing I chanced upon was a group of people--youthful, of course, +with the eternal Martian bloom--and in the splendid simplicity of almost +complete nakedness. My first idea was that they were bathing, and fixing +my eyes on the tree-tops with great propriety, I gave a warning cough. +At that sound instead of getting to cover, or clothes, all started up +and stood staring for a time like a herd of startled cattle. It was +highly embarrassing; they were right in the path, a round dozen of them, +naked and so little ashamed that when I edged away modestly they began +to run after me. And the farther they came forward the more I retired, +till we were playing a kind of game of hide-and-seek round the tree-stems. +In the middle of it my heel caught in a root and down I went very hard and +very ignominiously, whereon those laughing, light-hearted folk rushed in, +and with smiles and jests helped me to my feet. + +"Was I the traveller who had come from Seth?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, then that was well. They had heard such a traveller was on the +road, and had come a little way down the path, as far as might be without +fatigue, to meet him." + +"Would I eat with them?" these amiable strangers asked, pushing their soft +warm fingers into mine and ringing me round with a circle. "But firstly +might they help me out of my clothes? It was hot, and these things were +cumbersome." As to the eating, I was agreeable enough seeing how casual +meals had been with me lately, but my clothes, though Heaven knows they +were getting horribly ragged and travel-stained, I clung to desperately. + +My new friends shrugged their dimpled shoulders and, arguments being +tedious, at once squatted round me in the dappled shade of a big tree +and produced their stores of never failing provisions. After a pleasant +little meal taken thus in the open and with all the simplicity Martians +delight in, we got to talking about those yellow canoes which were +bobbing about on the blue waters of the bay. + +"Would you like to see where they are grown?" asked an individual basking +by my side. + +"Grown!" I answered with incredulity. "Built, you mean. Never in my +life did I hear of growing boats." + +"But then, sir," observed the girl as she sucked the honey out of the +stalk of an azure convolvulus flower and threw the remains at a butterfly +that sailed across the sunshine, "you know so little! You have come +from afar, from some barbarous and barren district. Here we undoubtedly +grow our boats, and though we know the Thither folk and such uncultivated +races make their craft by cumbrous methods of flat planks, yet we prefer +our own way, for one thing because it saves trouble," and as she murmured +that all-sufficient reason the gentle damsel nodded reflectively. + +But one of her companions, more lively for the moment, tickled her with +a straw until she roused, and then said, "Let us take the stranger to the +boat garden now. The current will drift us round the bay, and we can come +back when it turns. If we wait we shall have to row in both directions, +or even walk," and again planetary slothfulness carried the day. + +So down to the beach we strolled and launched one of the golden-hued +skiffs upon the pretty dancing wavelets just where they ran, lipped +with jewelled spray, on the shore, and then only had I a chance to +scrutinise their material. I patted that one we were upon inside +and out. I noted with a seaman's admiration its lightness, elasticity, +and supreme sleekness, its marvellous buoyancy and fairy-like "lines," +and after some minutes' consideration it suddenly flashed across me that +it was all of gourd rind. And as if to supply confirmation, the flat +land we were approaching on the opposite side of the bay was covered by +the characteristic verdure of these plants with a touch here and there +of splendid yellow blossoms, but all of gigantic proportions. + +"Ay," said a Martian damsel lying on the bottom, and taking and kissing +my hand as she spoke, in the simple-hearted way of her people, "I see +you have guessed how we make our boats. Is it the same in your distant +country?" + +"No, my girl, and what's more, I am a bit uneasy as to what the +fellows on the Carolina will say if they ever hear I went to sea in +a hollowed-out pumpkin, and with a young lady--well, dressed as you +are--for crew. Even now I cannot imagine how you get your ships so +trim and shapely--there is not a seam or a patch anywhere, it looks as +if you had run them into a mould." + +"That's just what we have done, sir, and now you will witness the moulds +at work, for here we are," and the little skiff was pulled ashore and the +Martians and I jumped out on the shelving beach, hauled our boat up high +and dry, and there right over us, like great green umbrellas, spread the +fronds of the outmost garden of this strangest of all ship-building yards. +Briefly, and not to make this part of my story too long, those gilded boys +and girls took me ashore, and chattering like finches in the evening, +showed how they planted their gourd seed, nourished the gigantic plants +as they grew with brackish water and the burnt ashes; then, when they +flowered, mated the male and female blossoms, glorious funnels of golden +hue big enough for one to live in; and when the young fruit was of the +bigness of an ordinary bolster, how they slipped it into a double mould +of open reed-work something like the two halves of a walnut-shell; and +how, growing day by day in this, it soon took every curve and line they +chose to give it, even the hanging keel below, the strengthened bulwarks, +and tall prow-piece. It was so ingenious, yet simple; and I confess I +laughed over my first skiff "on the stalk," and fell to bantering the +Martians, asking whether it was a good season for navies, whether their +Cunarders were spreading nicely, if they could give me a pinch of barge +seed, or a yacht in bud to show to my friends at home. + +But those lazy people took the matter seriously enough. They led me +down green alleys arched over with huge melon-like leaves; they led me +along innumerable byways, making me peep and peer through the chequered +sunlight at ocean-growing craft, that had budded twelve months before, +already filling their moulds to the last inch of space. They told me +that when the growing process was sufficiently advanced, they loosened +the casing, and cutting a hole into the interior of each giant fruit, +scooped out all its seed, thereby checking more advance, and throwing +into the rind strength that would otherwise have gone to reproductiveness. +They said each fruit made two vessels, but the upper half was always best +and used for long salt-water journeys, the lower piece being but for +punting or fishing on their lakes. They cut them in half while still +green, scraped out the light remaining pulp when dry, and dragged them +down with the minimum of trouble, light as feathers, tenacious as steel +plate, and already in the form and fashion of dainty craft from five to +twenty feet in length, when the process was completed. + +By the time we had explored this strangest of ship-building yards, and +I had seen last year's crop on the stocks being polished and fitted with +seats and gear, the sun was going down; and the Martian twilight, owing +to the comparative steepness of the little planet's sides, being brief, +we strolled back to the village, and there they gave me harbourage for the +night, ambrosial supper, and a deep draught of the wine of Forgetfulness, +under the gauzy spell of which the real and unreal melted into the vistas +of rosy oblivion, and I slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +With the new morning came fresh energy and a spasm of conscience as I +thought of poor Heru and the shabby sort of rescuer I was to lie about +with these pretty triflers while she remained in peril. + +So I had a bath and a swim, a breakfast, and, to my shame be it +acknowledged, a sort of farewell merry-go-round dance on the yellow +sands with a dozen young persons all light-hearted as the morning, +beautiful as the flowers that bound their hair, and in the extremity of +statuesque attire. + +Then at last I got them to give me a sea-going canoe, a stock of cakes and +fresh water; and with many parting injunctions how to find the Woodman +trail, since I would not listen to reason and lie all the rest of my +life with them in the sunshine, they pushed me off on my lonely voyage. + +"Over the blue waters!" they shouted in chorus as I dipped my paddle into +the diamond-crested wavelets. "Six hours, adventurous stranger, with the +sun behind you! Then into the broad river behind the yellow sand-bar. +But not the black northward river! Not the strong, black river, above +all things, stranger! For that is the River of the Dead, by which many +go but none come back. Goodbye!" And waving them adieu, I sternly turned +my eyes from delights behind and faced the fascination of perils in front. + +In four hours (for the Martians had forgotten in their calculations that +my muscles were something better than theirs) I "rose" the further shore, +and then the question was, Where ran that westward river of theirs? + +It turned out afterwards that, knowing nothing of their tides, I had +drifted much too far to northward, and consequently the coast had closed +up the estuary mouth I should have entered. Not a sign of an opening +showed anywhere, and having nothing whatever for guidance I turned +northward, eagerly scanning an endless line of low cliffs, as the day +lessened, for the promised sand-bar or inlet. + +About dusk my canoe, flying swiftly forward at its own sweet will, brought +me into a bight, a bare, desolate-looking country with no vegetation save +grass and sedge on the near marshes and stony hills rising up beyond, +with others beyond them mounting step by step to a long line of ridges +and peaks still covered in winter snow. + +The outlook was anything but cheering. Not a trace of habitation had been +seen for a long time, not a single living being in whose neighbourhood I +could land and ask the way; nothing living anywhere but a monstrous kind +of sea-slug, as big as a dog, battening on the waterside garbage, and +gaunt birds like vultures who croaked on the mud-flats, and half-spread +wings of funereal blackness as they gambolled here and there. Where was +poor Heru? Where pink-shouldered An? Where those wild men who had +taken the princess from us? Lastly, but not least, where was I? + +All the first stars of the Martian sky were strange to me, and my boat +whirling round and round on the current confused what little geography +I might otherwise have retained. It was a cheerless look out, and again +and again I cursed my folly for coming on such a fool's errand as I sat, +chin in hand, staring at a landscape that grew more and more depressing +every mile. To go on looked like destruction, to go back was almost +impossible without a guide; and while I was still wondering which of the +two might be the lesser evil, the stream I was on turned a corner, and in +a moment we were upon water which ran with swift, oily smoothness straight +for the snow-ranges now beginning to loom unpleasantly close ahead. + +By this time the night was coming on apace, the last of the evil-looking +birds had winged its way across the red sunset glare, and though it was +clear enough in mid-river under the banks, now steep and unclimbable, +it was already evening. + +And with the darkness came a wondrous cold breath from off the ice-fields, +blowing through my lowland wrappings as though they were but tissue. +I munched a bit of honey-cake, took a cautious sip of wine, and though I +will not own I was frightened, yet no one will deny that the circumstances +were discouraging. + +Standing up in the frail canoe and looking around, at the second glance +an object caught my eye coming with the stream, and rapidly overtaking me +on a strong sluice of water. It was a raft of some sort, and something +extra-ordinarily like a sitting Martian on it! Nearer and nearer it came, +bobbing to the rise and fall of each wavelet with the last icy sunlight +touching it up with reds and golds, nearer and nearer in the deadly +hush of that forsaken region, and then at last so near it showed quite +plainly on the purple water, a raft with some one sitting under a canopy. + +With a thrill of delight I waved my cap aloft and shouted-- + +"Ship-ahoy! Hullo, messmate, where are we bound to?" + +But never an answer came from that swiftly-passing stranger, so again +I hailed-- + +"Put up your helm, Mr. Skipper; I have lost my bearings, and the +chronometer has run down," but without a pause or sound that strange +craft went slipping by. + +That silence was more than I could stand. It was against all sea +courtesies, and the last chance of learning where I was passing away. +So, angrily the paddle was snatched from the canoe bottom, and roaring +out again-- + +"Stop, I say, you d----- lubber, stop, or by all the gods I will +make you!" I plunged the paddle into the water and shot my little +craft slantingly across the stream to intercept the newcomer. A single +stroke sent me into mid-stream, a second brought me within touch of that +strange craft. It was a flat raft, undoubtedly, though so disguised +by flowers and silk trailers that its shape was difficult to make out. +In the centre was a chair of ceremony bedecked with greenery and great +pale buds, hardly yet withered--oh, where had I seen such a chair and +such a raft before? + +And the riddle did not long remain unanswered. Upon that seat, as I +swept up alongside and laid a sunburnt hand upon its edge, was a girl, +and another look told me she was dead! + +Such a sweet, pallid, Martian maid, her fair head lolling back against the +rear of the chair and gently moving to and fro with the rise and fall of +her craft. Her face in the pale light of the evening like carved ivory, +and not less passionless and still; her arms bare, and her poor fingers +still closed in her lap upon the beautiful buds they had put into them. +I fairly gasped with amazement at the dreadful sweetness of that +solitary lady, and could hardly believe she was really a corpse! But, +alas! there was no doubt of it, and I stared at her, half in admiration +and half in fear; noting how the last sunset flush lent a hectic beauty +to her face for a moment, and then how fair and ghostly she stood out +against the purpling sky; how her light drapery lifted to the icy wind, +and how dreadfully strange all those soft-scented flowers and trappings +seemed as we sped along side by side into the country of night and snow. + +Then all of a sudden the true meaning of her being there burst upon me, +and with a start and a cry I looked around. WE WERE FLYING SWIFTLY +DOWN THAT RIVER OF THE DEAD THEY HAD TOLD ME OF THAT HAS NO OUTLET AND +NO RETURNING! + +With frantic haste I snatched up a paddle again and tried to paddle +against the great black current sweeping us forward. I worked until the +perspiration stood in beads on my forehead, and all the time I worked +the river, like some black snake, hissed and twined, and that pretty lady +rode cheerily along at my side. Overhead stars of unearthly brilliancy +were coming out in the frosty sky, while on either hand the banks were +high and the shadows under them black as ink. In those shadows now and +then I noticed with a horrible indifference other rafts were travelling, +and presently, as the stream narrowed, they came out and joined us, +dead Martians, budding boys and girls; older voyagers with their age +quickening upon them in the Martian manner, just as some fruit only +ripens after it falls; yellow-girt slaves staring into the night in front, +quite a merry crew all clustered about I and that gentle lady, and more +far ahead and more behind, all bobbing and jostling forward as we hurried +to the dreadful graveyard in the Martian regions of eternal winter none +had ever seen and no one came to! I cried aloud in my desolation and +fear and hid my face in my hands, while the icy cliffs mocked my cry and +the dead maid, tripping alongside, rolled her head over, and stared at +me with stony, unseeing eyes. + +Well, I am no fine writer. I sat down to tell a plain, unvarnished +tale, and I will not let the weird horror of that ride get into my pen. +We careened forward, I and those lost Martians, until pretty near on +midnight, by which time the great light-giving planets were up, and never +a chance did Fate give me all that time of parting company with them. +About midnight we were right into the region of snow and ice, not the +actual polar region of the planet, as I afterwards guessed, but one +of those long outliers which follow the course of the broad waterways +almost into fertile regions, and the cold, though intense, was somewhat +modified by the complete stillness of the air. + +It was just then that I began to be aware of a low, rumbling sound ahead, +increasing steadily until there could not be any doubt the journey +was nearly over and we were approaching those great falls An had told +me of, over which the dead tumble to perpetual oblivion. There was +no opportunity for action, and, luckily, little time for thought. +I remember clapping my hand to my heart as I muttered an imperfect +prayer, and laughing a little as I felt in my pocket, between it and that +organ, an envelope containing some corn-plaster and a packet of unpaid +tailors' bills. Then I pulled out that locket with poor forgotten Polly's +photograph, and while I was still kissing it fervently, and the dead girl +on my right was jealously nudging my canoe with the corner of her raft, we +plunged into a narrow gully as black as hell, shot round a sharp corner at +a tremendous pace, and the moment afterwards entered a lake in the midst +of an unbroken amphitheatre of cliffs gleaming in soft light all round. + +Even to this moment I can recall the blue shine of those terrible ice +crags framing the weird picture in on every hand, and the strange effect +upon my mind as we passed out of the darkness of the gully down which +we had come into the sepulchral radiance of that place. But though it +fixed with one instantaneous flash its impression on my mind forever, +there was no time to admire it. As we swept on to the lake's surface, +and a glance of light coming over a dip in the ice walls to the left lit +up the dead faces and half-withered flowers of my fellow-travellers with +startling distinctness, I noticed with a new terror at the lower end of +the lake towards which we were hurrying the water suddenly disappeared +in a cloud of frosty spray, and it was from thence came the low, ominous +rumble which had sounded up the ravine as we approached. It was the +fall, and beyond the stream dropped down glassy step after step, in +wild pools and rapids, through which no boat could live for a moment, +to a black cavern entrance, where it was swallowed up in eternal night. + +I WOULD not go that way! With a yell such as those solitudes had +probably never heard since the planet was fashioned out of the void, I +seized the paddle again and struck out furiously from the main current, +with the result of postponing the crisis for a time, and finding myself +bobbing round towards the northern amphitheatre, where the light fell +clearest from planets overhead. It was like a great ballroom with +those constellations for tapers, and a ghastly crowd of Martians were +doing cotillions and waltzes all about me on their rafts as the troubled +water, icy cold and clear as glass, eddied us here and there in solemn +confusion. On the narrow beaches at the cliff foot were hundreds of +wrecked voyagers--the wall-flowers of that ghostly assembly-room--and +I went jostling and twirling round the circle as though looking for a +likely partner, until my brain spun and my heart was sick. + +For twenty minutes Fate played with me, and then the deadly suck of the +stream got me down again close to where the water began to race for +the falls. I vowed savagely I would not go over them if it could be +helped, and struggled furiously. + +On the left, in shadow, a narrow beach seemed to lie between the water and +the cliff foot; towards it I fought. At the very first stroke I fouled +a raft; the occupant thereof came tumbling aboard and nearly swamped me. +But now it was a fight for life, so him I seized without ceremony by +clammy neck and leg and threw back into the water. Then another playful +Martian butted the behind part of my canoe and set it spinning, so that +all the stars seemed to be dancing giddily in the sky. With a yell I +shoved him off, but only to find his comrades were closing round me in +a solid ring as we sucked down to the abyss at ever-increasing speed. + +Then I fought like a fury, hacking, pushing, and paddling shorewards, +crying out in my excitement, and spinning and bumping and twisting +ever downwards. For every foot I gained they pushed me on a yard, +as though determined their fate should be mine also. + +They crowded round me in a compact circle, their poor flower-girt heads +nodding as the swift current curtsied their crafts. They hemmed me in +with desperate persistency as we spun through the ghostly starlight in a +swirling mass down to destruction! And in a minute we were so close to +the edge of the fall I could see the water break into ridges as it felt +the solid bottom give way under it. We were so close that already the +foremost rafts, ten yards ahead, were tipping and their occupants one +by one waving their arms about and tumbling from their funeral chairs as +they shot into the spray veil and went out of sight under a faint rainbow +that was arched over there, the symbol of peace and the only lovely thing +in that gruesome region. Another minute and I must have gone with them. +It was too late to think of getting out of the tangle then; the water +behind was heavy with trailing silks and flowers. We were jammed together +almost like one huge float and in that latter fact lay my one chance. + +On the left was a low ledge of rocks leading back to the narrow beach +already mentioned, and the ledge came out to within a few feet of where +the outmost boat on that side would pass it. It was the only chance and +a poor one, but already the first rank of my fleet was trembling on the +brink, and without stopping to weigh matters I bounded off my own canoe +on to the raft alongside, which rocked with my weight like a tea-tray. +From that I leapt, with such hearty good-will as I had never had before, +on to a second and third. I jumped from the footstool of one Martian +to the knee of another, steadying myself by a free use of their nodding +heads as I passed. And every time I jumped a ship collapsed behind me. +As I staggered with my spring into the last and outermost boat the ledge +was still six feet away, half hidden in a smother of foam, and the rim of +the great fall just under it. Then I drew all my sailor agility together +and just as the little vessel was going bow up over the edge I leapt from +her--came down blinded with spray on the ledge, rolled over and over, +clutched frantically at the frozen soil, and was safe for the moment, +but only a few inches from the vortex below! + +As soon as I picked myself up and got breath, I walked shorewards and +found, with great satisfaction, that the ledge joined the shelving beach, +and so walked on in the blue obscurity of the cliff shadow back from the +falls in the bare hope that the beach might lead by some way into the +gully through which we had come and open country beyond. But after a +couple of hundred yards this hope ended as abruptly as the spit itself +in deep water, and there I was, as far as the darkness would allow me +to ascertain, as utterly trapped as any mortal could be. + +I will not dwell on the next few minutes, for no one likes to acknowledge +that he has been unmanned even for a space. When those minutes were +over calmness and consideration returned, and I was able to look about. + +All the opposite cliffs, rising sheer from the water, were in light, +their cold blue and white surfaces rising far up into the black starfields +overhead. Looking at them intently from this vantage-point I saw without +at first understanding that along them horizontally, tier above tier, +were rows of objects, like--like--why, good Heavens, they were like men +and women in all sorts of strange postures and positions! Rubbing my +eyes and looking again I perceived with a start and a strange creepy +feeling down my back that they WERE men and women!--hundreds of them, +thousands, all in rows as cormorants stand upon sea-side cliffs, myriads +and myriads now I looked about, in every conceivable pose and attitude +but never a sound, never a movement amongst the vast concourse. + +Then I turned back to the cliffs behind me. Yes! they ere there +too, dimmer by reason of the shadows, but there for certain, from the +snowfields far above down, down--good Heavens! to the very level where +I stood. There was one of them not ten yards away half in and half out +of the ice wall, and setting my teeth I walked over and examined him. +And there was another further in behind as I peered into the clear blue +depth, another behind that one, another behind him--just like cherries +in a jelly. + +It was startling and almost incredible, yet so many wonderful things had +happened of late that wonders were losing their sharpness, and I was soon +examining the cliff almost as coolly as though it were only some trivial +geological "section," some new kind of petrified sea-urchins which had +caught my attention and not a whole nation in ice, a huge amphitheatre +of fossilised humanity which stared down on me. + +The matter was simple enough when you came to look at it with philosophy. +The Martians had sent their dead down here for many thousand years and +as they came they were frozen in, the bands and zones in which they +sat indicating perhaps alternating seasons. Then after Nature had been +storing them like that for long ages some upheaval happened, and this +cleft and lake opened through the heart of the preserve. Probably the +river once ran far up there where the starlight was crowning the blue +cliffs with a silver diadem of light, only when this hollow opened did +it slowly deepen a lower course, spreading out in a lake, and eventually +tumbling down those icy steps lose itself in the dark roots of the hills. +It was very simple, no doubt, but incredibly weird and wonderful to me who +stood, the sole living thing in that immense concourse of dead humanity. + +Look where I would it was the same everywhere. Those endless rows +of frozen bodies lying, sitting, or standing stared at me from every +niche and cornice. It almost seemed, as the light veered slowly round, +as though they smiled and frowned at times, but never a word was there +amongst those millions; the silence itself was audible, and save the dull +low thunder of the fall, so monotonous the ear became accustomed to and +soon disregarded it, there was not a sound anywhere, not a rustle, not +a whisper broke the eternal calm of that great caravansary of the dead. + +The very rattle of the shingle under my feet and the jingle of my +navy scabbard seemed offensive in the perfect hush, and, too awed +to be frightened, I presently turned away from the dreadful shine of +those cliffs and felt my way along the base of the wall on my own side. +There was no means of escape that way, and presently the shingle beach +itself gave out as stated, where the cliff wall rose straight from the +surface of the lake, so I turned back, and finding a grotto in the ice +determined to make myself as comfortable as might be until daylight came. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Fortunately there was a good deal of broken timber thrown up at +"high-water" mark, and with a stack of this at the mouth of the little +cave a pleasant fire was soon made by help of a flint pebble and the +steel back of my sword. It was a hearty blaze and lit up all the near +cliffs with a ruddy jumping glow which gave their occupants a marvellous +appearance of life. The heat also brought off the dull rime upon the +side of my recess, leaving it clear as polished glass, and I was a little +startled to see, only an inch or so back in the ice and standing as erect +as ever he had been in life, the figure of an imposing grey clad man. +His arms were folded, his chin dropped upon his chest, his robes of +the finest stuff, the very flowers they had decked his head with frozen +with immortality, and under them, round his crisp and iron-grey hair, +a simple band of gold with strange runes and figures engraved upon it. + +There was something very simple yet stately about him, though his face was +hidden and as I gazed long and intently the idea got hold of me that he +had been a king over an undegenerate Martian race, and had stood waiting +for the Dawn a very, very long time. + +I wished a little that he had not been quite so near the glassy surface +of the ice down which the warmth was bringing quick moisture drops. +Had he been back there in the blue depths where others were sitting and +crouching it would have been much more comfortable. But I was a sailor, +and misfortune makes strange companions, so I piled up the fire again, +and lying down presently on the dry shingle with my back to him stared +moodily at the blaze till slowly the fatigues of the day told, my eyelids +dropped and, with many a fitful start and turn, at length I slept. + +It was an hour before dawn, the fire had burnt low and I was dreaming of +an angry discussion with my tailor in New York as to the sit of my last +new trousers when a faint sound of moving shingle caught my quick seaman +ear, and before I could raise my head or lift a hand, a man's weight was +on me--a heavy, strong man who bore me down with irresistible force. +I felt the slap of his ice-cold hand upon my throat and his teeth in +the back of my neck! In an instant, though but half awake, with a yell +of surprise and anger I grappled with the enemy, and exerting all my +strength rolled him over. Over and over we went struggling towards the +fire, and when I got him within a foot or so of it I came out on top, +and, digging my knuckles into his throttle, banged his head upon the +stony floor in reckless rage, until all of a sudden it seemed to me +he was done for. I relaxed my grip, but the other man never moved. +I shook him again, like a terrier with a rat, but he never resented it. +Had I killed him? How limp and cold he was! And then all of a sudden +an uneasy feeling came upon me. I reached out, and throwing a handful +of dried stuff upon the embers the fire danced gaily up into the air, +and the blaze showed me I was savagely holding down to the gravel and +kneeling on the chest of that long-dead king from my grotto wall! + +It was the man out of the ice without a doubt. There was the very niche +he had fallen from under the influence of the fire heat, the very recess, +exactly in his shape in every detail, whence he had stood gazing into +vacuity all those years. I left go my hold, and after the flutter in +my heart had gone down, apologetically set him up against the wall of +the cavern whence he had fallen; then built up the fire until twirling +flames danced to the very roof in the blue light of dawn, and hobgoblin +shadows leapt and capered about us. Then once more I sat down on the +opposite side of the blaze, resting my chin upon my hands, and stared +into the frozen eyes of that grim stranger, who, with his chin upon his +knees, stared back at me with irresistible, remorseless steadfastness. + +He was as fresh as if he had died but yesterday, yet by his clothing and +something in his appearance, which was not that of the Martian of to-day, +I knew he might be many thousand years old. What things he had seen, +what wonders he knew! What a story might be put into his mouth if I +were a capable writer gifted with time and imagination instead of a poor +outcast, ill-paid lieutenant whose literary wit is often taxed hardly +to fill even a log-book entry! I stared at him so long and hard, and +he at me through the blinking flames, that again I dozed--and dozed--and +dozed again until at last when I woke in good earnest it was daylight. + +By this time hunger was very aggressive. The fire was naught but a +circlet of grey ashes; the dead king, still sitting against the cave-side, +looked very blue and cold, and with an uncomfortable realisation of my +position I shook myself together, picked up and pocketed without much +thought the queer gold circlet that had dropped from his forehead, +and went outside to see what prospect of escape the new day had brought. + +It was not much. Upriver there was not the remotest chance. Not even +a Niagara steamer could have forged back against the sluice coming +down from the gulch there. Looking round, the sides of the icy +amphitheatre--just lighting up now with glorious gold and crimson +glimmers of morning--were as steep as a wall face; only back towards +the falls was there a possibility of getting out of the dreadful trap, +so thither I went, after a last look at the poor old king, along my +narrow beach with all the eagerness begotten of a final chance. Up to +the very brink it looked hopeless enough, but, looking downwards when +that was reached, instead of a sheer drop the slope seemed to be a wild +"staircase" of rocks and icy ledges with here and there a little patch +of sand on a cornice, and far below, five hundred feet or so, a good +big spread of gravel an acre or two in extent close by where the river +plunged out of sight into the nethermost cavern mouth. + +It was so hopeless up above it, it could not possibly be worse further +down, and there was the ugly black flood running into the hole to trust +myself to as a last resource; so slipping and sliding I began the descent. + +Had I been a schoolboy with a good breakfast ahead the incident might +have been amusing enough. The travelling was mostly done on the seat of +my trousers, which consequently became caked with mud and glacial loam. +Some was accomplished on hands and knees, with now and then a bit down +a snow slope, in good, honest head-over-heels fashion. The result was +a fine appetite for the next meal when it should please providence to +send it, and an abrupt arrival on the bottom beach about five minutes +after leaving the upper circles. + +I came to behind a cluster of breast-high rocks, and before moving +took a look round. Judge then of my astonishment and delight at the +second glance to perceive about a hundred yards away a brown object, +looking like an ape in the half light, meandering slowly up the margin +of the water towards me. Every now and then it stopped, stooping down +to pick up something or other from the scum along the torrent, and it +was the fact that these trifles, whatever they were, were put into a +wallet by the vision's side--not into his mouth--which first made me +understand with a joyful thrill that it was a MAN before me--a real, +living man in this huge chamber of dead horrors! Then again it flashed +across my mind in a luminous moment that where one man could come, or go, +or live, another could do likewise, and never did cat watch mouse with +more concentrated eagerness than I that quaint, bent-shouldered thing +hobbling about in the blue morning shadows where all else was silence. + +Nearer and nearer he came, till so close face and garb were discernible, +and then there could no longer be any doubt, it was a woodman, an old man, +with grizzled monkey-face, stooping gait, and a shaggy fur cloak, utterly +unlike the airy garments of my Hither folk, who now stood before me. +It gave me quite a start to recognise him there, for it showed I was in +a new land, and since he was going so cheerfully about his business, +whatever it might chance to be, there must be some way out of this +accursed pit in which I had fallen. So very cautiously I edged out, +taking advantage of all the cover possible until we were only twenty +yards apart, and then suddenly standing up, and putting on the most +affable smile, I called out-- + +"Hullo, mess-mate!" + +The effect was electrical. That quaint old fellow sprang a yard into +air as though a spring had shot him up. Then, coming down, he stood +transfixed at his full height as stiff as a ramrod, staring at me +with incredible wonder. He looked so funny that in spite of hunger +and loneliness I burst out laughing, whereat the woodman, suddenly +recovering his senses, turned on his heels and set off at his best pace +in the opposite direction. This would never do! I wanted him to be my +guide, philosopher, and friend. He was my sole visible link with the +outside world, so after him I went at tip-top speed, and catching him +up in fifty yards along the shingle laid hold of his nether garments. +Whereat the old fellow stopping suddenly I shot clean over his back, +coming down on my shoulder in the gravel. + +But I was much younger than he, and in a minute was in chase again. +This time I laid hold of his cloak, and the moment he felt my grip +he slipped the neck-thongs and left me with only the mangy garment in +my hands. Again we set off, dodging and scampering with all our might +upon that frozen bit of beach. The activity of that old fellow was +marvellous, but I could not and would not lose him. I made a rush and +grappled him, but he tossed his head round and slipped away once more +under my arm, as though he had been brought up by a Chinese wrestler. +Then he got on one side of a flat rock, I the other, and for three or +four minutes we waltzed round that slab in the most insane manner. + +But by this time we were both pretty well spent--he with age and I with +faintness from my long fast, and we came presently to a standstill. + +After glaring at me for a time, the woodman gasped out as he struggled +for breath-- + +"Oh, mighty and dreadful spirit! Oh, dweller in primordial ice, say +from which niche of the cliffs has the breath of chance thawed you?" + +"Never a niche at all, Mr. Hunter-for-Haddocks'-Eyes," I answered as +soon as I could speak. "I am just a castaway wrecked last night on this +shore of yours, and very grateful indeed will I be if you can show me +the way to some breakfast first, and afterwards to the outside world." + +But the old fellow would not believe. "Spirits such as you," he said +sullenly, "need no food, and go whither they will by wish alone." + +"I tell you I am not a spirit, and as hungry as I don't particularly want +to be again. Here, look at the back of my trousers, caked three inches +deep in mud. If I were a spirit, do you think I would slide about on my +coat-tails like that? Do you think that if I could travel by volition +I would slip down these infernal cliffs on my pants' seat as I have just +done? And as for materialism--look at this fist; it punched you just now! +Surely there was nothing spiritual in that knock?'' + +"No," said the savage, rubbing his head, "it was a good, honest rap, +so I must take you at your word. If you are indeed man, and hungry, +it will be a charity to feed you; if you are a spirit, it will at least +be interesting to watch you eat; so sit down, and let's see what I have +in my wallet." + +So cross-legged we squatted opposite each other on the table rock, and, +feeling like another Sindbad the Sailor, I watched my new friend fumble +in his bag and lay out at his side all sorts of odds and ends of string, +fish-hooks, chewing-gum, material for making a fire, and so on, until +at last he came to a package (done up, I noted with delight, in a broad, +green leaf which had certainly been growing that morning), and unrolling +it, displayed a lump of dried meat, a few biscuits, much thicker and +heavier than the honey-cakes of the Hither folk, and something that +looked and smelt like strong, white cheese. + +He signed to me to eat, and you may depend upon it I was not slow in +accepting the invitation. That tough biltong tasted to me like the +tenderest steak that ever came from a grill; the biscuits were ambrosial; +the cheese melted in my mouth as butter melts in that of the virtuous; but +when the old man finished the quaint picnic by inviting me to accompany +him down to the waterside for a drink, I shook my head. I had a great +respect for dead queens and kings, I said, but there were too many of +them up above to make me thirsty this morning; my respect did not go to +making me desire to imbibe them in solution! + +Afterwards I chanced to ask him what he had been picking up just now along +the margin, and after looking at me suspiciously for a minute he asked-- + +"You are not a thief?" On being reassured on that point he continued: +"And you will not attempt to rob me of the harvest for which I venture +into this ghost-haunted glen, which you and I alone of living men +have seen?" + +"No." Whatever they were, I said, I would respect his earnings. + +"Very well, then," said the old man, "look here! I come hither to pick +up those pretty trifles which yonder lords and ladies have done with," +and plunging his hand into another bag he brought out a perfect fistful +of splendid gems and jewels, some set and some unset. "They wash from +the hands and wrists of those who have lodgings in the crevices of the +falls above," he explained. "After a time the beach here will be thick +with them. Could I get up whence you came down, they might be gathered +by the sackful. Come! there is an eddy still unsearched, and I will +show you how they lie." + +It was very fascinating, and I and that old man set to work amongst the +gravels, and, to be brief, in half an hour found enough glittering stuff +to set up a Fifth Avenue jeweller's shop. But to tell the truth, now +that I had breakfasted, and felt manhood in my veins again, I was eager +to be off, and out of the close, death-tainted atmosphere of that valley. +Consequently I presently stood up and said-- + +"Look here, old man, this is fine sport no doubt, but just at present +I have a big job on hand--one which will not wait, and I must be going. +See, luck and young eyes have favoured me; here is twice as much gold and +stones as you have got together--it is all yours without a question if +you will show me the way out of this den and afterwards put me on the +road to your big city, for thither I am bound with an errand to your +king, Ar-hap." + +The sight of my gems, backed, perhaps, with the mention of Ar-hap's name, +appealed to the old fellow; and after a grunt or two about "losing a tide" +just when spoil was so abundant, he accepted the bargain, shouldered +his belongings, and led me towards the far corner of the beach. + +It looked as if we were walking right against the towering ice wall, +but when we were within a yard or two of it a narrow cleft, only eighteen +inches wide, and wonderfully masked by an ice column, showed to the left, +and into this we squeezed ourselves, the entrance by which we had come +appearing to close up instantly we had gone a pace or two, so perfectly +did the ice walls match each other. + +It was the most uncanny thoroughfare conceivable--a sheer, sharp crack +in the blue ice cliffs extending from where the sunlight shone in a +dazzling golden band five hundred feet overhead to where bottom was +touched in blue obscurity of the ice-foot. It was so narrow we had to +travel sideways for the most part, a fact which brought my face close +against the clear blue glass walls, and enabled me from time to time to +see, far back in those translucent depths, more and more and evermore +frozen Martians waiting in stony silence for their release. + +But the fact of facts was that slowly the floor of the cleft trended +upwards, whilst the sky strip appeared to come downwards to meet it. +A mile, perhaps, we growled and squeezed up that wonderful gully; then +with a feeling of incredible joy I felt the clear, outer air smiting +upon me. + +In my hurry and delight I put my head into the small of the back of the +puffing old man who blocked the way in front and forced him forward, +until at last--before we expected it--the cleft suddenly ended, and +he and I tumbled headlong over each other on to a glittering, frozen +snowslope; the sky azure overhead, the sunshine warm as a tepid bath, +and a wide prospect of mountain and plain extending all around. + +So delightful was the sudden change of circumstances that I became quite +boyish, and seizing the old man in my exuberance by the hands, dragged +him to his feet, and danced him round and round in a circle, while +his ancient hair flapped about his head, his skin cloak waved from his +shoulders like a pair of dusky wings and half-eaten cakes, dried flesh, +glittering jewels, broken diadems, and golden finger-rings were flung in +an arc about us. We capered till fairly out of breath, and then, slapping +him on the back shoulder, I asked whose land all this was about us. + +He replied that it was no one's, all waste from verge to verge. + +"What!" was my exclamation. "All ownerless, and with so much treasure +hidden hereabout! Why, I shall annex it to my country, and you and I will +peg out original settlers' claims!" And, still excited by the mountain +air, I whipped out my sword, and in default of a star-spangled banner +to plant on the newly-acquired territory, traced in gigantic letters on +the snow-crust--U.S.A. + +"And now," I added, wiping the rime off my blade with the lappet of my +coat, "let us stop capering about here and get to business. You have +promised to put me on the way to your big city." + +"Come on then," said the little man, gathering up his property. +"This white hillside leads to nowhere; we must get into the valley first, +and then you shall see your road." And right well that quaint barbarian +kept his promise. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +It was half a day's march from those glittering snow-fields into the +low country, and when that was reached I found myself amongst quite +another people. + +The land was no longer fat and flowery, giving every kind of produce +for the asking, but stony for the most part, and, where we first came +on vegetation, overgrown by firs, with a pine which looked to me like +a species which went to make the coal measures in my dear but distant +planet. More than this I cannot say, for there are no places in the +world like mess-room and quarter-deck for forgetting school learning. +Instead of the glorious wealth of parti-coloured vegetation my eyes had +been accustomed to lately, here they rested on infertile stretches of +marshland intersected by moss-covered gravel shoots, looking as though +they had been pushed into the plains in front of extinct glaciers +coming down from the region behind us. On the low hills away from the +sea those sombre evergreen forests with an undergrowth of moss and red +lichens were more variegated with light foliage, and indeed the pines +proved to be but a fringe to the Arctic ice, giving way rapidly to more +typical Martian vegetation each mile we marched to the southward. + +As for the inhabitants, they seemed, like my guide, rough, uncouth +fellows, but honest enough when you came to know them. An introduction, +however, was highly desirable. I chanced upon the first native as he was +gathering reindeer-moss. My companion was some little way behind at the +moment, and when the gentle aborigine saw the stranger he stared hard +for a moment, then, turning on his heels, with extraordinary swiftness +flung at me half a pound of hard flint stone. Had his aim been a little +more careful this humble narrative had never appeared on the Broadway +bookstalls. As it was, the pebble, missing my head by an inch or two, +splintered into a hundred fragments on a rock behind, and while I was +debating whether a revengeful rush at the slinger or a strategic advance +to the rear were more advisable, my guide called out to his countryman-- + +"Ho! you base prowler in the morasses; you eater of unclean vegetation, +do you not see this is a ghost I am conducting, a dweller in the ice +cliffs, a spirit ten thousand years old? Put by your sling lest he wither +you with a glance." And, very reasonably, surprised, the aborigine did +as he was bid and cautiously advanced to inspect me. + +The news soon spread over the countryside that my jewel-hunter was +bringing a live "spook" along with him, considerable curiosity mixed with +an awe all to my advantage characterising the people we met thereafter. +Yet the wonder was not so great as might have been expected, for these +people were accustomed to meeting the tags of lost races, and though +they stared hard, their interest was chiefly in hearing how, when, and +where I had been found, whether I bit or kicked, or had any other vices, +and if I possessed any commercial value. + +My guide's throat must have ached with the repetition of the narrative, +but as he made the story redound greatly to his own glory, he put +up cheerfully with the hoarseness. In this way, walking and talking +alternately, we travelled during daylight through a country which slowly +lost its rugged features and became more and more inhabited, the hardy +people living in scattered villages in contradiction to the debased +city-loving Hither folk. + +About nightfall we came to a sea-fishers' hamlet, where, after the +old man had explained my exalted nature and venerable antiquity, I was +offered shelter for the night. + +My host was the headman, and I must say his bearing towards the +supernatural was most unaffected. If it had been an Avenue hotel I could +not have found more handsome treatment than in that reed-thatched hut. +They made me wash and rest, and then were all agog for my history; but +that I postponed, contenting myself with telling them I had been lately in +Seth, and had come thence to see them via the ice valley--to all of which +they listened with the simplicity of children. Afterwards I turned on +them, and openly marvelled that so small a geographical distance as there +was between that land and this could make so vast a human difference. +"The truth, O dweller in blue shadows of primordial ice, is," said the +most intelligent of the Thither folk as we sat over fried deer-steak +in his hut that evening, "we who are MEN, not Peri-zad, not overstayed +fairies like those you have been amongst, are newcomers here on this +shore. We came but a few generations ago from where the gold curtains +of the sun lie behind the westward pine-trees, and as we came we drove, +year by year, those fays, those spent triflers, back before us. All this +land was theirs once, and more and more towards our old home. You may +still see traces of harbours dug and cities built thousands of years +ago, when the Hither folk were living men and women--not their shadows. +The big water outside stops us for a space, but," he added, laughing +gruffly and taking a draught of a strong beer he had been heating by the +fire, "King Ar-hap has their pretty noses between his fingers; he takes +tribute and girls while he gets ready--they say he is nearly ready this +summer, and if he is, it will not be much of an excuse he will need to +lick up the last of those triflers, those pretences of manhood." + +Then we fell to talking of Ar-hap, his subjects and town, and I learned +the tides had swept me a long way to the northward of the proper route +between the capitals of the two races, that day they carried me into the +Dead-Men's Ice, as these entertainers of mine called the northern snows. +To get back to the place previously aimed at, where the woodmen road came +out on the seashore, it was necessary to go either by boat, a roundabout +way through a maze of channels, "as tangled as the grass roots in autumn"; +or, secondly, by a couple of days' marching due southward across the +base of the great peninsula we were on, and so strike blue water again +at the long-sought-for harbour. + +As I lay dozing and dreaming on a pile of strange furs in the corner of +the hut that evening I made up my mind for the land journey tomorrow, +having had enough for the moment of nautical Martian adventures; and this +point settled, fell again to wondering what made me follow so reckless +a quest in the way I was doing; asking myself again and again what was +gazelle-eyed Heru to me after all, and why should it matter even as +much as the value of a brass waist-coat button whether Hath had her +or Ar-hap? What a fool I was to risk myself day by day in quaint and +dangerous adventures, wearing out good Government shoe-leather in other +men's quarrels, all for a silly slip of royal girlhood who, by this time, +was probably making herself comfortable and forgetting both Hath and me +in the arms of her rough new lord. + +And from Heru my mind drifted back dreamily to poor An, and Seth, the +city of fallen magnificence, where the spent masters of a strange planet +now lived on sufferance--the ghosts of their former selves. Where was +An, where the revellers on the morning--so long ago it seemed!--when +first that infernal rug of mine translated a chance wish into a horrible +reality and shot me down here, a stranger and an outcast? Where was the +magic rug itself? Where my steak and tomato supper? Who had eaten it? Who +was drawing my pay? If I could but find the rug when I got back to Seth, +gods! but I would try if it would not return whence I had come, and as +swiftly, out of all these silly coils and adventuring. + +So musing, presently the firelight died down, and bulky forms of +hide-wrapped woodmen sleeping on the floor slowly disappeared in obscurity +like ranges of mountains disappearing in the darkness of night. All those +uncouth forms, and the throb of the sea outside, presently faded upon my +senses, and I slept the heavy sleep of one whose wakefulness gives way +before an imperious physical demand. All through the long hours of the +night, while the waves outside champed upon the gravels, and the woodmen +snored and grunted uneasily as they simultaneously dreamt of the day's +hunting and digested its proceeds, I slept; and then when dawn began to +break I passed from that heavy stupor into another and lighter realm, +wherein fancy again rose superior to bodily fatigue, and events of the +last few days passed in procession through my mind. + +I dreamt I was lunching at a fashionable seaside resort with Polly +at my side, and An kept bringing us melons, which grew so monstrous +every time a knife was put into them that poor Polly screamed aloud. +I dreamt I was afloat on a raft, hotly pursued by my tailor, whose bare +and shiny head--may Providence be good to him!--was garlanded with roses, +while in his fist was a bunch of unpaid bills, the which he waved aloft, +shouting to me to stop. And thus we danced down an ink-black river until +he had chiveyed me into the vast hall of the Admiralty, where a fearsome +Secretary, whose golden teeth rattled and dropped from his head with +mingled cold and anger, towered above me as he asked why I was absent +from my ship without leave. And I was just mumbling out excuses while +stooping to pick up his golden dentistry, when some one stirring in the +hut aroused me. I started up on my elbow and looked around. Where was +I? For a minute all was confused and dark. The heavy mound-like forms of +sleeping men, the dim outlines of their hunting gear upon the walls, the +pale sea beyond, half seen through the open doorway, just turning livid +in the morning light; and then as my eyes grew more accustomed to the +obscurity, and my stupid senses returned, I recognised the surroundings, +and, with a sigh, remembered yesterday's adventures. + +However, it would never do to mope; so, rising silently and picking +a way through human lumber on the floor, I went out and down to the +water's edge, where "shore-going" clothes, as we sailors call them, +were slipped off, and I plunged into the sea for a swim. + +It was a welcome dip, for I needed the plunge physically and +intellectually, but it came to an abrupt conclusion. The Thither folk +apparently had never heard of this form of enjoyment; to them water stood +for drinking or drowning, nothing else, and since one could not drink the +sea, to be in it meant, even for a ghost, to drown. Consequently, when +the word went round the just rousing villages that "He-on-foot-from-afar" +was adrift in the waves, rescue parties were hurriedly organised, a boat +launched, and, in spite of all my kicking and shouting (which they took +to be evidence of my semi-moribund condition), I was speedily hauled out +by hairy and powerful hands, pungent herbs burnt under my nose, and my +heels held high in the air in order that the water might run out of me. +It was only with the greatest difficulty those rough but honest fellows +were eventually got to believe me saved. + +The breakfast I made of grilled deer flesh and a fish not unlike salmon, +however, convinced them of my recovery, and afterward we parted very +good friends; for there was something in the nature of those rugged +barbarians just coming into the dawn of civilisation that won my liking +far more than the effete gentleness of others across the water. + +When the time of parting came they showed no curiosity as to my errand, +but just gave me some food in a fish-skin bag, thrust a heavy stone-headed +axe into my hand, "in case I had to talk to a thief on the road," and +pointed out on the southern horizon a forked mountain, under which, +they said, was the harbour and high-road to King Ar-hap's capital. +Then they hugged me to their hairy chests in turn, and let me go with +a traveller's blessing. + +There I was again, all alone, none but my thoughts for companions, and +nothing but youth to excuse the folly in thus venturing on a reckless +quest! + +However, who can gainsay that same youth? The very spice of danger made my +steps light and the way pleasant. For a mile or two the track was plain +enough, through an undulating country gradually becoming more and more +wooded with vegetation, changing rapidly from Alpine to sub-tropical. +The air also grew warmer, and when the dividing ridge was crossed and +a thick forest entered, the snows and dreadful region of Deadmen's Ice +already seemed leagues and leagues away. + +Probably a warm ocean current played on one side of the peninsula, while +a cold one swept the other, but for scientific aspects of the question I +cared little in my joy at being anew in a soft climate, amongst beautiful +flowers and vivid life again. Mile after mile slipped quickly by as +I strode along, whistling "Yankee Doodle" to myself and revelling in +the change. At one place I met a rough-looking Martian woodcutter, +who wanted to fight until he found I also wanted to, when he turned +very civil and as talkative as a solitary liver often is when his tongue +gets started. He particularly desired to know where I came from, and, +as in the case with so many other of his countrymen, took it for granted, +and with very little surprise, that I was either a spirit or an inhabitant +of another world. With this idea in his mind he gave me a curious piece +of information, which, unfortunately, I was never able to follow up. + +"I don't think you can be a spirit," he said, critically eyeing my +clothes, which were now getting ragged and dirty beyond description. +"They are finer-looking things than you, and I doubt if their toes come +through their shoes like yours do. If you are a wanderer from the stars, +you are not like that other one we have down yonder," and he pointed to +the southward. + +"What!" I asked, pricking my ears in amazement, "another wanderer from +the outside world! Does he come from the earth?"--using the word An +had given me to signify my own planet. + +"No, not from there; from the one that burns blue in evening between sun +and sea. Men say he worked as a stoker or something of the kind when +he was at home, and got trifling with a volcano tap, and was lapped in +hot mud, and blown out here. My brother saw him about a week ago." + +"Now what you say is down right curious. I thought I had a monopoly of +that kind of business in this sphere of yours. I should be tremendously +interested to see him." + +"No you wouldn't," briefly answered the woodman. "He is the stupidest +fool ever blown from one world to another--more stupid to look at than +you are. He is a gaseous, wavey thing, so glum you can't get two words +a week out of him, and so unstable that you never know when you are with +him and when the breeze has drifted him somewhere else." + +I could but laugh and insist, with all respect to the woodcutter, such +an individual were worth the knowing however unstable his constitution; +at which the man shrugged his shoulders and changed the conversation, +as though the subject were too trivial to be worth much consideration. + +This individual gave me the pleasure of his company until nearly sundown, +and finding I took an interest in things of the forest, pointed out more +curious plants and trees than I have space to mention. Two of them, +however, cling to my memory very tenaciously. One was a very Circe +amongst plants, the horrible charm of which can never be forgotten. +We were going down a glade when a most ravishing odour fell upon my +nostrils. It was heavenly sweet yet withal there lurked an incredibly, +unexpressibly tempting spice of wickedness in it. The moment he caught +that ambrosial invitation in the air my woodman spit fiercely on the +ground, and taking a plug of wool from his pouch stuffed his nostrils up. +Then he beckoned me to come away. But the odour was too ravishing, I was +bound to see whence it arose, and finding me deaf to all warnings, the +man reluctantly turned aside down the enticing trail. We pushed about +a hundred yards through bushes until we came to a little arena full in +sunshine where there were neither birds nor butterflies, but a death-like +hush upon everything. Indeed, the place seemed shunned in spite of +the sodden loveliness of that scent which monopolised and mounted to my +brain until I was beginning to be drunk with the sheer pleasure of it. +And there in the centre of the space stood a plant not unlike a tree +fern, about six feet high, and crowned by one huge and lovely blossom. +It resembled a vast passion-flower of incredible splendour. There were +four petals, with points resting on the ground, each six feet long, +ivory-white inside, exquisitely patterned with glittering silver veins. +From the base of these rose upright a gauzy veil of azure filaments of +the same length as the petals, wirelike, yet soft as silk, and inside +them again rested a chalice of silver holding a tiny pool of limpid +golden honey. Circe, indeed! It was from that cup the scent arose, +and my throat grew dry with longing as I looked at it; my eyes strained +through the blue tendrils towards that liquid nectar, and my giddy senses +felt they must drink or die! I glanced at the woodman with a smile +of drunken happiness, then turned tottering legs towards the blossom. +A stride up the smooth causeway of white petals, a push through the azure +haze, and the wine of the wood enchantress would be mine--molten amber +wine, hotter and more golden than the sunshine; the fire of it was in my +veins, the recklessness of intoxication was on me, life itself as nothing +compared to a sip from that chalice, my lips must taste or my soul would +die, and with trembling hand and strained face I began to climb. + +But the woodman pulled me back. + +"Back, stranger!" he cried. "Those who drink there never live again." + +"Blessed oblivion! If I had a thousand lives the price were still too +cheap," and once more I essayed to scramble up. + +But the man was a big fellow, and with nostrils plugged, and eyes averted +from the deadly glamour, he seized me by the collar and threw me back. +Three times I tried, three times he hurled me down, far too faint and +absorbed to heed the personal violence. Then standing between us, +"Look," he said, "look and learn." + +He had killed a small ape that morning, meaning later on to take its fur +for clothing, and this he now unslung from his shoulder, and hitching +the handle of his axe into the loose skin at the back of its neck, +cautiously advanced to the witch plant, and gently hoisted the monkey +over the blue palings. The moment its limp, dead feet touched the golden +pool a shudder passed through the plant, and a bird somewhere far back +in the forest cried out in horror. Quick as thought, a spasm of life +shot up the tendrils, and like tongues of blue flame they closed round +the victim, lapping his miserable body in their embrace. At the same +time the petals began to rise, showing as they did so hard, leathery, +unlovely outer rinds, and by the time the woodman was back at my side +the flower was closed. + +Closer and closer wound the blue tendrils; tighter and tighter closed +the cruel petals with their iron grip, until at last we heard the ape's +bones crackling like dry firewood; then next his head burst, his brains +came oozing through the crevices, while blood and entrails followed +them through every cranny, and the horrible mess with the overflow of +the chalice curled down the stem in a hundred steaming rills, till at +last the petals locked with an ugly snap upon their ghastly meal, and +I turned away from the sight in dread and loathing. + +That was plant Number One. + +Plant Number Two was of milder disposition, and won a hearty laugh for my +friendly woodman. In fact, being of a childlike nature, his success as +a professor of botany quite pleased him, and not content with answering +my questions, he set to work to find new vegetable surprises, greatly +enjoying my wonder and the sense of importance it gave him. + +In this way we came, later on in the day, to a spot where herbage was +somewhat scantier, the grass coarse, and soil shallow. Here I espied a +tree of small size, apparently withered, but still bearing a few parched +leaves on its uppermost twigs. + +"Now that," quoth the professor, "is a highly curious tree, and I should +like you to make a close acquaintance with it. It grows from a seed +in the course of a single springtime, perishes in the summer; but a +few specimens stand throughout the winter, provided the situation is +sheltered, as this one has done. If you will kindly go down and shake +its stem I believe you will learn something interesting." + +So, very willing to humour him, away I went to the tree, which was +perfect in every detail, but apparently very dry, clasped it with both +hands, and, pulling myself together, gave it a mighty shake. The result +was instantaneous. The whole thing was nothing but a skin of dust, +whence all fibre and sap had gone, and at my touch it dissolved into +a cloud of powder, a huge puff of white dust which descended on me as +though a couple of flour-bags had been inverted over my head; and as +I staggered out sneezing and blinking, white as a miller from face to +foot, the Martian burst into a wild, joyous peal of laughter that made +the woods ring again. His merriment was so sincere I had not the heart +to be angry, and soon laughed as loud as he did; though, for the future, +I took his botanical essays with a little more caution. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +That woodman friend of mine proved so engaging it was difficult to get +away, and thus when, dusk upon us, and my object still a long distance +off, he asked me to spend the night at his hut, I gladly assented. + +We soon reached the cabin where the man lived by himself whilst working in +the forest. It was a picturesque little place on a tree-overhung lagoon, +thatched, wattled, and all about were piles of a pleasant-scented bark, +collected for the purpose of tanning hides, and I could not but marvel +that such a familiar process should be practised identically on two sides +of the universal ether. But as a matter of fact the similarity of many +details of existence here and there was the most striking of the things +I learned whilst in the red planet. + +Within the hut stood a hearth in the centre of the floor, whereon +a comfortable blaze soon sparkled, and upon the walls hung various +implements, hides, and a store of dried fruits of various novel kinds. +My host, when he had somewhat disdainfully watched me wash in a rill of +water close by, suggested supper, and I agreed with heartiest good will. + +"Nothing wonderful! Oh, Mr. Blue-coat!" he said, prancing about as +he made his hospitable arrangements. "No fine meat or scented wine to +unlock, one by one, all the doors of paradise, such as I have heard they +have in lands beyond the sea; but fare good enough for plain men who +eat but to live. So! reach me down yonder bunch of yellow aru fruit, +and don't upset that calabash, for all my funniest stories lurk at the +bottom of it." + +I did as he bid, and soon we were squatting by the fire toasting arus on +pointed sticks, the doorway closed with a wattle hurdle, and the black +and gold firelight filling the hut with fantastic shadows. Then when +the banana-like fruit was ready, the man fetched from a recess a loaf +of bread savoured with the dust of dried and pounded fish, put the +foresaid calabash of strong ale to warm, and down we sat to supper with +real woodman appetites. Seldom have I enjoyed a meal so much, and when +we had finished the fruit and the wheat cake my guide snatched up the +great gourd of ale, and putting it to his lips called out: + +"Here's to you, stranger; here's to your country; here's to your girl, +if you have one, and death to your enemies!" Then he drank deep and long, +and, passed the stuff to me. + +"Here's to you, bully host, and the missus, and the children, if there +are any, and more power to your elbow!"--the which gratified him greatly, +though probably he had small idea of my meaning. + +And right merry we were that evening. The host was a jolly good fellow, +and his ale, with a pleasant savour of mint in it, was the heartiest drink +I ever set lips to. We talked and laughed till the very jackals yapped in +sympathy outside. And when he had told a score of wonderful wood stories +as pungent of the life of these fairy forests as the aromatic scent of +his bark-heaps outside, as iridescent with the colours of another world +as the rainbow bubbles riding down his starlit rill, I took a turn, +and told him of the commonplaces of my world so far away, whereat he +laughed gloriously again. The greater the commonplace the larger his joy. +The humblest story, hardly calculated to impress a griffin between watches +on the main-deck, was a masterpiece of wit to that gentle savage; and +when I "took off" the tricks and foibles of some of my superiors--Heaven +forgive me for such treason!--he listened with the exquisite open-mouthed +delight of one who wanders in a brand-new world of mirth. + +We drank and laughed over that strong beer till the little owls outside +raised their voice in combined accord, and then the woodman, shaking the +last remnant of his sleepy wits together, and giving a reproachful look +at me for finally passing him the gourd empty to the last drop, rose, +threw a fur on a pile of dead grass at one side of the hut, and bid me +sleep, "for his brain was giddy with the wonders of the incredible and +ludicrous sphere which I had lately inhabited." + +Slowly the fire died away; slowly the quivering gold and black arabesques +on the walls merged in a red haze as the sticks dropped into tinder, +and the great black outline of the hairy monster who had thrown himself +down by the embers rose up the walls against that flush like the outline +of a range of hills against a sunset glow. I listened drowsily for +a space to his snoring and the laughing answer of the brook outside, +and then that ambrosial sleep which is the gentle attendant of hardship +and danger touched my tired eyelids, and I, too, slept. + +My friend was glum the next morning, as they who stay over-long at +the supper flagon are apt to be. He had been at work an hour on his +bark-heaps when I came out into the open, and it was only by a good deal +of diplomacy and some material help in sorting his faggots that he was +got into a better frame of mind. I could not, however, trust his mood +completely, and as I did not want to end so jovial a friendship with a +quarrel, I hurried through our breakfast of dry bread, with hard-boiled +lizard eggs, and then settling my reckoning with one of the brass buttons +from my coat, which he immediately threaded, with every evidence of +extreme gratification, on a string of trinkets hanging round his neck, +asked him the way to Ar-hap's capital. + +"Your way is easy, friend, as long as you keep to the straight path +and have yonder two-humped mountain in front. To the left is the sea, +and behind the hill runs the canal and road by which all traffic comes or +goes to Ar-hap. But above all things pass not to the hills right, for no +man goes there; there away the forests are thick as night, and in their +perpetual shadows are the ruins of a Hither city, a haunted fairy town +to which some travellers have been, but whence none ever returned alive." + +"By the great Jove, that sounds promising! I would like to see that +town if my errand were not so urgent." + +But the old fellow shook his shaggy head and turned a shade yellower. +"It is no place for decent folk," he growled. "I myself once passed +within a mile of its outskirts at dusk, and saw the unholy little +people's lanterned processions starting for the shrine of Queen Yang, +who, tradition says, killed herself and a thousand babies with her when +we took this land." + +"My word, that was a holocaust! Couldn't I drop in there to lunch? It +would make a fine paper for an antiquarian society." + +Again the woodman frowned. "Do as I bid you, son. You are too young +and green to go on ventures by yourself. Keep to the straight road: +shun the swamps and the fairy forest, else will you never see Ar-hap." + +"And as I have very urgent and very important business with him, +comrade, no doubt your advice is good. I will call on Princess Yang some +other day. And now goodbye! Rougher but friendlier shelter than you +have given me no man could ask for. I am downright sorry to part with +you in this lonely land. If ever we meet again--" but we never did! +The honest old churl clasped me into his hairy bosom three times, +stuffed my wallet with dry fruit and bread, and once more repeating his +directions, sent me on my lonely way. + +I confess I sighed while turning into the forest, and looked back +more than once at his retreating form. The loneliness of my position, +the hopelessness of my venture, welled up in my heart after that good +comradeship, and when the hut was out of sight I went forward down the +green grass road, chin on chest, for twenty minutes in the deepest +dejection. But, thank Heaven, I was born with a tough spirit, and +possess a mind which has learned in many fights to give brave counsel +to my spirit, and thus presently I shook myself together, setting my +face boldly to the quest and the day's work. + +It was not so clear a morning as the previous one, and a steamy wind on +what at sea I should have called the starboard bow, as I pressed forward +to the distant hill, had a curiously subduing effect on my thoughts, +and filled the forest glades with a tremulous unreality like to nothing +on our earth, and distinctly embarrassing to a stranger in a strange +land. Small birds in that quaint atmospheric haze looked like condors, +butterflies like giant fowl, and the simplest objects of the forest like +the imaginations of a disordered dream. Behind that gauzy hallucination +a fine white mist came up, and the sun spread out flat and red in the sky, +while the pent-in heat became almost unendurable. + +Still I plodded on, growling to myself that in Christian latitudes all +the evidences would have been held to betoken a storm before night, +whatever they might do here, but for the most part lost in my own gloomy +speculations. That was the more pity since, in thinking the walk over +now, it seems to me that I passed many marvels, saw many glorious vistas +in those nameless forests, many spreads of colour, many incidents that, +could I but remember them more distinctly, would supply material for +making my fortune as a descriptive traveller. But what would you? I +have forgotten, and am too virtuous to draw on my imagination, as it +is sometimes said other travellers have done when picturesque facts +were deficient. Yes, I have forgotten all about that day, save that +it was sultry hot, that I took off my coat and waistcoat to be cooler, +carrying them, like the tramp I was, across my arm, and thus dishevelled +passed some time in the afternoon an encampment of forest folk, wherefrom +almost all the men were gone, and the women shy and surly. + +In no very social humour myself, I walked round their woodland village, +and on the outskirts, by a brook, just as I was wishing there were some +one to eat my solitary lunch with, chanced upon a fellow busily engaged +in hammering stones into weapons upon a flint anvil. + +He was an ugly-looking individual at best, yet I was hard up for company, +so I put my coat down, and, seating myself on a log opposite, proceeded +to open my wallet, and take out the frugal stores the woodman had given +me that morning. + +The man was seated upon the ground holding a stone anvil between his feet, +while with his hands he turned and chipped with great skill a spear-head +he was making out of flint. It was about the only pastime he had, and his +little yellow eyes gleamed with a craftsman's pleasure, his shaggy round +shoulders were bent over the task, the chips flew in quick particles, +and the wood echoed musically as the artificer watched the thing under +his hands take form and fashion. Presently I spoke, and the worker +looked up, not too pleased at being thus interrupted. But he was easy +of propitiation, and over a handful of dried raisins communicative. + +How, I asked, knowing a craftsman's craft is often nearest to his heart, +how was it such things as that he chipped came to be thought of by him +and his? Whereon the woodman, having spit out the raisin-stones and +wiped his fingers on his fur, said in substance that the first weapon +was fashioned when the earliest ape hurled the first stone in wrath. + +"But, chum," I said, taking up his half-finished spear and touching the +razor-fine edge with admiring caution, "from hurling the crude pebble to +fashioning such as this is a long stride. Who first edged and pointed +the primitive malice? What man with the soul of a thousand unborn fighters +in him notched and sharpened your natural rock?" + +Whereon the chipper grinned, and answered that, when the woodmen had +found stones that would crack skulls, it came upon them presently that +they would crack nuts as well. And cracking nuts between two stones one +day a flint shattered, and there on the grass was the golden secret of +the edge--the thing that has made man what he is. + +"Yet again, good fellow," I queried, "even this happy chance only gives +us a weapon, sharp, no doubt, and calculated to do a hundred services +for any ten the original pebble could have done, but still unhandled, +small in force, imperfect--now tell me, which of your amiable ancestors +first put a handle to the fashioned flint, and how he thought of it?" + +The workman had done his flake by now, and wrapping it in a bit of skin, +put it carefully in his belt before turning to answer my question. + +"Who made the first handle for the first flint, you of the many +questions? She did--she, the Mother," he suddenly cried, patting the +earth with his brown hand, and working himself up as he spoke, "made +it in her heart for us her first-born. See, here is such as the first +handled weapon that ever came out of darkness," and he snatched from the +ground, where it had lain hidden under his fox-skin cloak, a heavy club. +I saw in an instant how it was. The club had been a sapling, and the +sapling's roots had grown about and circled with a splendid grip a lump +of native flint. A woodman had pulled the sapling, found the flint, +and fashioned the two in a moment of happy inspiration, the one to an +axe-head and the other to a handle, as they lay Nature-welded! + +"This, I say, is the first--the first!" screamed the old fellow as +though I were contradicting him, thumping the ground with his weapon, +and working himself up to a fury as its black magic entered his being. +"This is the first: with this I slew Hetter and Gur, and those who +plundered my hiding-places in the woods; with this I have killed a score +of others, bursting their heads, and cracking their bones like dry sticks. +With this--with this--" but here his rage rendered him inarticulate; +he stammered and stuttered for a minute, and then as the killing fury +settled on him his yellow teeth shut with a sudden snap, while through +them his breath rattled like wind through dead pine branches in December, +the sinews sat up on his hands as his fingers tightened upon the axe-heft +like the roots of the same pines from the ground when winter rain has +washed the soil from beneath them; his small eyes gleamed like baleful +planets; every hair upon his shaggy back grew stiff and erect--another +minute and my span were ended. + +With a leap from where I sat I flew at that hairy beast, and sinking my +fists deep in his throttle, shook him till his eyes blazed with delirious +fires. We waltzed across the short greensward, and in and about the +tree-trunks, shaking, pulling, and hitting as we went, till at last I felt +the man's vigour dying within him; a little more shaking, a sudden twist, +and he was lying on the ground before me, senseless and civil! That is +the worst of some orators, I thought to myself, as I gloomily gathered +up the scattered fragments of my lunch; they never know when they have +said enough, and are too apt to be carried away by their own arguments. + +That inhospitable village was left behind in full belief the mountain +looming in the south could be reached before nightfall, while the road +to its left would serve as a sure guide to food and shelter for the +evening. But, as it turned out, the morning's haze developed a strong +mist ere the afternoon was half gone, through which it was impossible to +see more than twenty yards. My hill loomed gigantic for a time with a +tantalising appearance of being only a mile or two ahead, then wavered, +became visionary, and finally disappeared as completely as though the +forest mist had drunk it up bodily. + +There was still the road to guide me, a fairly well-beaten track twining +through the glades; but even the best of highways are difficult in fog, +and this one was complicated by various side paths, made probably by +hunters or bark-cutters, and without compass or guide marks it was +necessary to advance with extreme caution, or get helplessly mazed. + +An hour's steady tramping brought me nowhere in particular, and +stopping for a minute to consider, I picked a few wild fruit, such +as my wood-cutter friend had eaten, from an overhanging bush, and +in so doing slipped, the soil having now become damp, and in falling +broke a branch off. The incident was only important from what follows. +Picking myself up, perhaps a little shaken by the jolt, I set off again +upon what seemed the plain road, and being by this time displeased by +my surroundings, determined to make a push for "civilization" before +the rapidly gathering darkness settled down. + +Hands in pockets and collar up, I marched forward at a good round pace +for an hour, constantly straining eyes for a sight of the hill and ears +for some indications of living beings in the deathly hush of the shrouded +woods, and at the end of that time, feeling sure habitations must now be +near, arrived at what looked like a little open space, somehow seeming +rather familiar in its vague outlines. + +Where had I seen such a place before? Sauntering round the margin, +a bush with a broken branch suddenly attracted my attention--a broken +bush with a long slide in the mud below it, and the stamp of Navy boots +in the soft turf! I glared at those signs for a moment, then with an +exclamation of chagrin recognised them only too well--it was the bush +whence I had picked the fruit, and the mark of my fall. An hour's hard +walking round some accursed woodland track had brought me exactly back +to the point I had started from--I was lost! + +It really seemed to get twenty per cent darker as I made that abominable +discovery, and the position dawned in all its uncomfortable intensity. +There was nothing for it but to start off again, this time judging +my direction only by a light breath of air drifting the mist tangles +before it; and therein I made a great mistake, for the breeze had shifted +several points from the quarter whence it blew in the morning. + +Knowing nothing of this, I went forward with as much lightheartedness +as could be managed, humming a song to myself, and carefully putting +aside thoughts of warmth and supper, while the dusk increased and the +great forest vegetation seemed to grow ranker and closer at every step + +Another disconcerting thing was that the ground sloped gradually +downwards, not upwards as it should have done, till it seemed the path +lay across the flats of a forest-covered plain, which did not conform to +my wish of striking a road on the foot-hills of the mountain. However, +I plodded on, drawing some small comfort from the fact that as darkness +came the mist rose from the ground and appeared to condense in a ghostly +curtain twenty feet overhead, where it hung between me and a clear night +sky, presently illumined by starlight with the strangest effect. + +Tired, footsore, and dejected, I struggled on a little further. Oh for +a cab, I laughed bitterly to myself. Oh for even the humble necessary +omnibus of civilisation. Oh for the humblest tuck-shop where a mug of +hot coffee and a snack could be had by a homeless wanderer; and as I +thought and plodded savagely on, collar up, hands in pockets, through +the black tangles of that endless wood, suddenly the sound of wailing +children caught my ear! + +It was the softest, saddest music ever mortal listened to. It was as +though scores of babes in pain were dropping to sleep on their mothers' +breasts, and all hushing their sorrows with one accord in a common +melancholy chorus. I stood spell-bound at that elfin wailing, the first +sound to break the deathly stillness of the road for an hour or more, and +my blood tingled as I listened to it. Nevertheless, here was what I was +looking for; where there were weeping children there must be habitations, +and shelter, and--splendid thought!--supper. Poor little babes! their +crying was the deadliest, sweetest thing in sorrows I ever listened to. +If it was cholic--why, I knew a little of medicine, and in gratitude for +that prospective supper, I had a soul big enough to cure a thousand; and +if they were in disgrace, and by some quaint Martian fashion had suffered +simultaneous punishment for baby offences, I would plead for them. + +In fact, I fairly set off at the run towards the sobbing, in the black, +wet, night air ahead, and, tripping as I ran, looked down and saw in +the filtering starlight that the forest grass had given place to an +ancient roadway, paved with moss-grown flag-stones, such as they still +used in Seth. + +Without stopping to think what that might mean I hurried on, the wailing +now right ahead, a tremulous tumult of gentle grief rising and falling on +the night air like the sound of a sea after a storm; and so, presently, +in a minute or two, came upon a ruined archway spanning the lonely road, +held together by great masses of black-fingered creepers, gaunt and +ghostly in the shadows, an extraordinary and unexpected vision; and +as I stopped with a jerk under that forbidding gateway and glared at +its tumbled masonry and great portals hanging rotten at their hinges, +suddenly the truth flashed upon me. I had taken the forbidden road +after all. I was in the ancient, ghost-haunted city of Queen Yang! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The dark forest seemed to shut behind as I entered the gateway of the +deserted Hither town, against which my wood-cutter friend had warned me, +while inside the soft mist hung in the starlight like grey drapery over +endless vistas of ruins. What was I to do? Without all was black and +cheerless, inside there was at least shelter. Wet and cold, my courage +was not to be put down by the stories of a silly savage; I would go on +whatever happened. Besides, the soft sound of crying, now apparently all +about, seemed companionable, and I had heard so much of ghosts of late, +the sharp edge of fear at their presence was wearing off. + +So in I went: up a broad, decayed street, its flagstones heaved everywhere +by the roots of gnarled trees, and finding nothing save ruin, tried to +rest under a wall. But the night air was chilly and the shelter poor, +so out I came again, with the wailing in the shadows so close about now +that I stopped, and mustering up courage called aloud: + +"Hullo, you who weep there in the dark, are you living or dead?" +And after a minute from the hollows of the empty hearths around came +the sad little responsive echo: + +"Are you living or dead?" It was very delusive and unsatisfactory, +and I was wondering what to do next when a slant of warmer wind came up +behind me under the mist, and immediately little tongues of blue flame +blossomed without visible cause in every darksome crevice; pale flickers +of miasmic light rising pallid from every lurking nook and corner in the +black desolation as though a thousand lamps were lit by unseen fingers, +and, knee high, floated out into the thoroughfare where they oscillated +gently in airy grace, and then, forming into procession, began drifting +before the tepid air towards the city centre. At once I thought of what +the woodcutter had seen, but was too wet and sulky by this time to care. +The fascination of the place was on me, and dropping into rear of the +march, I went forward with it. By this time the wailing had stopped, +though now and then it seemed a dark form moved in the empty doorways +on either hand, while the mist, parting into gossamers before the wind, +took marvellously human forms in every alley and lane we passed. + +Thus I, a sodden giant, led by those elfin torches, paced through the +city until we came to an open square with a great lumber of ruins in the +centre all marred and spoiled by vegetation; and here the lights wavered, +and went out by scores and hundreds, just as the petals drop from spent +flowers, while it seemed, though it may have been only wind in the rank +grass, that the air was full of most plaintive sighs as each little lamp +slipped into oblivion. + +The big pile was a mass of fallen masonry, which, from the broken pillars +all about, might have been a palace or temple once. I pushed in, but it +was as dark as Hades here, so, after struggling for a time in a labyrinth +of chambers, chose a sandy recess, with some dry herbage by way of +bedding in a corner, and there, thankful at least for shelter, my night's +wanderings came to an end and I coiled myself down, ate a last handful +of dry fruit, and, strange as it may seem, was soon sleeping peacefully. + +I dreamed that night that a woman, with a face as white as ivory, came +and bent over me. She led a babe by either hand, while behind her were +scores of other ones, with lovely faces, but all as pale as the stars +themselves, who looked and sighed, but said nothing, and when they had +stared their fill, dropped out one by one, leaving a wonderful blank in +the monotony where they had been; but beyond that dream nothing happened. + +It was a fine morning when I woke again, and obviously broad day outside, +the sunshine coming down through cracks in the old palace roof, and +lying in golden pools on the floor with dazzling effect. + +Rubbing my eyes and sitting up, it took me some time to get my senses +together, and at first an uneasy feeling possessed me that I was +somehow dematerialised and in an unreal world. But a twinge of cramp +in my left arm, and a healthy sneeze, which frightened a score of bats +overhead nearly out of their senses, was reassuring on this point, +and rubbing away the cramp and staggering to my feet, I looked about +at the strange surroundings. It was cavernous chaos on every side: +magnificent architecture reduced to the confusion of a debris-heap, only +the hollow chambers being here and there preserved by massive columns +meeting overhead. Into these the yellow light filtered wherever a rent in +a cupola or side-wall admitted it, and allured by the vision of corridors +one beyond the other, I presently set off on a tour of discovery. + +Twenty minutes' scrambling brought me to a place where the fallen +jambs of a fine doorway lay so close together that there was barely +room to pass between them. However, seeing light beyond, I squeezed +through, and I found myself in the best-preserved chamber of all--a +wide, roomy hall with a domed roof, a haze of mural paintings on the +walls, and a marble floor nearly hidden in a century of fallen dust. +I stumbled over something at the threshold, and picking it up, found it +was a baby's skull! And there were more of them now that my eyes became +accustomed to the light. The whole floor was mottled with them--scores +and hundreds of bones and those poor little relics of humanity jutting +out of the sand everywhere. In the hush of that great dead nursery the +little white trophies seemed inexpressibly pathetic, and I should have +turned back reverently from that chamber of forgotten sorrows but that +something caught my eye in the centre of it. + +It was an oblong pile of white stone, very ill-used and chipped, +wrist-deep in dust, yet when a slant of light came in from above and fell +straight upon it, the marble against the black gloom beyond blazed like +living pearl. It was dazzling; and shading my eyes and going tenderly +over through the poor dead babes, I looked, and there, full in the shine, +lay a woman's skeleton, still wrapped in a robe of which little was +left save the hard gold embroidery. Her brown hair, wonderful to say, +still lay like lank, dead seaweed about her, and amongst it was a fillet +crown of plain iron set with gems such as eye never looked upon before. +There were not many, but enough to make the proud simplicity of that +circlet glisten like a little band of fire--a gleaming halo on her dead +forehead infinitely fascinating. At her sides were two other little +bleached human flowers, and I stood before them for a long time in +silent sympathy. + +Could this be Queen Yang, of whom the woodcutter had told me? It must +be--who else? And if it were, what strange chance had brought me here--a +stranger, yet the first to come, since her sorrow, from her distant +kindred? And if it were, then that fillet belonged of right to Heru, +the last representative of her kind. Ought I not to take it to her +rather than leave it as spoil to the first idle thief with pluck enough +to deride the mysteries of the haunted city? Long time I thought over +it in the faint, heavy atmosphere of that hall, and then very gently +unwound the hair, lifted the circlet, and, scarcely knowing what I did, +put it in my shoulder-bag. + +After that I went more cheerfully into the outside sunshine, and +setting my clothes to dry on a stone, took stock of the situation. +The place was, perhaps, not quite so romantic by day as by night, and +the scattered trees, matted by creepers, with which the whole were +overgrown, prevented anything like an extensive view of the ruined +city being obtained. But what gave me great satisfaction was to note +over these trees to the eastward a two-humped mountain, not more than +six or seven miles distant--the very one I had mislaid the day before. +Here was reality and a chance of getting back to civilisation. I was as +glad as if home were in sight, and not, perhaps, the less so because the +hill meant villages and food; and you who have doubtless lunched well and +lately will please bear in mind I had had nothing since breakfast the +day before; and though this may look picturesque on paper, in practice +it is a painful item in one's programme. + +Well, I gave my damp clothes but a turn or two more in the sun, and then, +arguing that from the bare ground where the forest ended half-way up +the hill, a wide view would be obtained, hurried into my garments and +set off thither right gleefully. A turn or two down the blank streets, +now prosaic enough, an easy scramble through a gap in the crumbling +battlements, and there was the open forest again, with a friendly path +well marked by the passage of those wild animals who made the city their +lair trending towards my landmark. + +A light breakfast of soft green nuts, plucked on the way, and then +the ground began to bend upwards and the woods to thin a little. +With infinite ardour, just before midday, I scrambled on to a bare knoll +on the very hillside, and fell exhausted before the top could be reached. + +But what were hunger or fatigue to the satisfaction of that moment? There +was the sea before me, the clear, strong, gracious sea, blue leagues +of it, furrowed by the white ridges of some distant storm. I could +smell the scent of it even here, and my sailor heart rose in pride at +the companionship of that alien ocean. Lovely and blessed thing! how +often have I turned from the shallow trivialities of the land and +found consolation in the strength of your stately solitudes! How often +have I turned from the tinselled presence of the shore, the infinite +pretensions of dry land that make life a sorry, hectic sham, and found +in the black bosom of the Great Mother solace and comfort! Dear, lovely +sea, man--half of every sphere, as far removed in the sequence of your +strong emotions from the painted fripperies of the woman-land as pole +from pole--the grateful blessing of the humblest of your followers on you! + +The mere sight of salt water did me good. Heaven knows our separation +had not been long, and many an unkind slap has the Mother given me in +the bygone; yet the mere sight of her was tonic, a lethe of troubles, +a sedative for tired nerves; and I gazed that morning at the illimitable +blue, the great, unfettered road to everywhere, the ever-varied, the +immutable, the thing which was before everything and shall be last of all, +in an ecstasy of affection. + +There was also other satisfaction at hand. Not a mile away lay a +well-defined road--doubtless the one spoken of by the wood-cutter--and +where the track pointed to the seashore the low roofs and circling smoke +of a Thither township showed. + +There I went hot-footed, and, much too hungry to be nice in formality, +swung up to the largest building on the waterside quay and demanded +breakfast of the man who was lounging by its doorway chewing a honey reed. +He looked me up and down without emotion, then, falling into the common +mistake, said, + +"This is not a hostel for ghosts, sir. We do not board and lodge phantoms +here; this is a dry fish shop." + +"Thrice blessed trade!" I answered. "Give me some dried fish, good +fellow, or, for the matter of that, dried horse or dog, or anything +mortal teeth can bite through, and I will show you my tastes are +altogether mundane." + +But he shook his head. "This is no place for the likes of you, who +come, mayhap, from the city of Yang or some other abode of disembodied +spirits--you, who come for mischief and pay harbourage with mischance--is +it likely you could eat wholesome food?" + +"Indeed I could, and plenty of it, seeing I have dined and breakfasted +along the hedges with the blackbirds this two days. Look here, I will +pay in advance. Will that get me a meal?" and, whipping out my knife, +cut off another of my fast-receding coat buttons. + +The man took it with great interest, as I hoped he would, the yellow +metal being apparently a very scarce commodity in his part of the planet. + +"Gold?" he asked. + +"Well--ahem! I forgot to ask the man who sewed them on for me what they +were exactly, but it looks like gold, doesn't it?" + +"Yes," he answered, turning it to and fro admiringly in his hand, "you +are the first ghost I ever knew to pay in advance, and plenty of them go +to and fro through here. Such a pretty thing is well worth a meal--if, +indeed, you can stomach our rough fare. Here, you woman within," he +called to the lady whom I presume was his wife, "here is a gentleman +from the nether regions who wants some breakfast and has paid in advance. +Give him some of your best, for he has paid well." + +"And what," said a female voice from inside, "what if I refused to serve +another of these plaguy wanderers you are always foisting upon me?" + +"Don't mind her tongue, sir. It's the worst part of her, though she is +mighty proud of it. Go in and she will see you do not come out hungry," +and the Thither man returned calmly to his honey stick. + +"Come on, you Soul-with-a-man's-stomach," growled the woman, and too +hungry to be particular about the tone of invitation, I strode into the +parlour of that strange refreshment place. The woman was the first I +had seen of the outer race, and better than might have been expected in +appearance. Big, strong, and ruddy, she was a mental shock after the +slender slips of girlhood on the far side of the water, half a dozen +of whom she could have carried off without effort in her long arms. +Yet there was about her the credential of rough health, the dignity of +muscle, an upright carriage, an animal grace of movement, and withal a +comely though strongly featured face, which pleased me at once, and later +on I had great cause to remember her with gratitude. She eyed me sulkily +for a minute, then her frown gradually softened, and the instinctive +love of the woman for the supernatural mastered her other feelings. + +"Is that how you looked in another world?" she asked. + +"Yes, exactly, cap to boots. What do you think of the attire, ma'am?" + +"Not much," replied the good woman frankly. "It could not have been +becoming even when new, and you appear as though you had taken a muddy +road since then. What did you die of?" + +"I will tell you so much as this, madam--that what I am like to die of +now is hunger, plain, unvarnished hunger, so, in Heaven's name, get out +what you have and let me fall-to, for my last meal was yesterday morning." + +Whereat, with a shrug of her shoulders at the eccentricities of +nether folk, the woman went to the rear of the house, and presently +came back with a meal which showed her husband had done scant justice +to the establishment by calling it a dry fish shop. It is true, fish +supplied the staple of the repast, as was inevitable in a seaport, but, +like all Martian fish, it was of ambrosial kind, with a savour about it +of wine and sunshine such as no fish on our side of space can boast of. +Then there were cakes, steaming and hot, vegetables which fitted into +the previous course with exquisite nicety, and, lastly, a wooden tankard +of the invariable Thither beer to finish off. Such a meal as a hungry +man might consider himself fortunate to meet with any day. + +The woman watched me eat with much satisfaction, and when I had answered a +score of artless questions about my previous state, or present condition +and prospects, more or less to her satisfaction, she supplied me in turn +with some information which was really valuable to me just then. + +First I learned that Ar-hap's men, with the abducted Heru, had passed +through this very port two days before, and by this time were probably in +the main town, which, it appeared, was only about twelve hours' rowing +up the salt-water estuary outside. Here was news! Heru, the prize +and object of my wild adventure, close at hand and well. It brought +a whole new train of thoughts, for the last few days had been so full +of the stress of travel, the bare, hard necessity of getting forward, +that the object of my quest, illogical as it may seem, had gone into the +background before these things. And here again, as I finished the last +cake and drank down to the bottom of the ale tankard, the extreme folly +of the venture came upon me, the madness of venturing single-handed into +the den of the Wood King. What had I to hope for? What chance, however +remote, was there of successfully wresting that blooming prize from the +arms of her captor? Force was out of the question; stealth was utterly +impractical; as for cajolery, apparently the sole remaining means of +winning back the Princess--why, one might as well try the persuasion of +a penny flute upon a hungry eagle as seek to rouse Ar-hap's sympathies +for bereaved Hath in that way. Surely to go forward would mean my own +certain destruction, with no advantage, no help to Heru; and if I was +ever to turn back or stop in the idle quest, here was the place and time. +My Hither friends were behind the sea; to them I could return before +it was too late, and here were the rough but honest Thither folk, who +would doubtless let me live amongst them if that was to be my fate. +One or other alternative were better than going to torture and death. + +"You seem to take the fate of that Hither girl of yours mightily to +heart, stranger," quoth my hostess, with a touch of feminine jealousy, +as she watched my hesitation. "Do you know anything of her?" + +"Yes," I answered gloomily. "I have seen her once or twice away in Seth." + +"Ah, that reminds me! When they brought her up here from the boats to +dry her wet clothes, she cried and called in her grief for just such a +one as you, saying he alone who struck down our men at her feast could +rescue her--" + +"What! Heru here in this room but yesterday! How did she look? Was +she hurt? How had they treated her?" + +My eagerness gave me away. The woman looked at me through her half-shut +eyes a space, and then said, "Oh! sits the wind in THAT quarter? So +you can love as well as eat. I must say you are well-conditioned for +a spirit." + +I got up and walked about the room a space, then, feeling very friendless, +and knowing no woman was ever born who was not interested in another +woman's loves, I boldly drew my hostess aside and told her about Heru, and +that I was in pursuit of her, dwelling on the girl's gentle helplessness, +my own hare-brained adventure, and frankly asking what sort of a sovereign +Ar-hap was, what the customs of his court might be, and whether she could +suggest any means, temporal or spiritual, by which he might be moved to +give back Heru to her kindred. + +Nor was my confidence misplaced. The woman, as I guessed, was touched +somewhere back in her female heart by my melting love-tale, by my anxiety +and Heru's peril. Besides, a ghost in search of a fairy lady--and such +the slender folk of Seth were still considered to be by the race which +had supplanted them--this was romance indeed. To be brief, that good +woman proved invaluable. + +She told me, firstly, that Ar-hap was believed to be away at war, +"weekending" as was his custom, amongst rebellious tribes, and by starting +at once up the water, I should very probably get to the town before +he did. Secondly, she thought if I kept clear of private brawls there +was little chance of my receiving injury, from the people at all events, +as they were accustomed to strange visitors, and civil enough until they +were fired by war. "Sickle cold, sword hot," was one of their proverbs, +meaning thereby that in peaceful times they were lambs, however lionlike +they might be in contest. + +This was reassuring, but as to recovering the lady, that was another +matter over which the good woman shook her head. It was ill coming +between Ar-hap and his tribute, she said; still, if I wanted to see Heru +once again, this was my opportunity, and, for the rest, that chance, +which often favours the enamoured, must be my help. + +Briefly, though I should probably have gone forward in any case out of +sheer obstinacy, had it been to certain destruction, this better aspect +of the situation hastened my resolution. I thanked the woman for help, +and then the man outside was called in to advise as to the best and +speediest way of getting within earshot of his hairy sovereignty, the +monarch of Thitherland. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The Martian told me of a merchant boat with ten rowers which was going +up to the capital in a couple of hours, and as the skipper was a friend +of his they would no doubt take me as supercargo, thereby saving the +necessity of passenger fees, which was obviously a consideration with me. +It was not altogether a romantic approach to the dungeon of an imprisoned +beauty, but it was practical, which is often better if not so pleasant. +So the offer was gladly closed with, and curling myself in a rug of +foxskins, for I was tired with much walking, sailors never being good +foot-gangers, I slept soundly fill they came to tell me it was time to +go on board. + +The vessel was more like a canal barge than anything else, lean and long, +with the cargo piled in a ridge down the centre as farmers store their +winter turnips, the rowers sitting on either side of this plying oars +like dessert-spoons with long handles, while they chanted a monotonous +cadence of monosyllables: + + +Oh, ho, oh, +Oh, ho, oh, + How high, how high. + +and then again after a pause-- + + How high, how high +Oh, ho, oh, +Oh, ho, oh. + +the which was infinitely sleep-provoking if not a refrain of a high +intellectual order. + +I shut my eyes as we pulled away from the wharfs of that nameless +emporium and picked a passage through a crowd of quaint shipping, +wondering where I was, and asking myself whether I was mentally rising +equal to my extraordinary surroundings, whether I adequately appreciated +the immensity of my remove from those other seas on which I had last +travelled, tiller-ropes in hand, piloting a captain's galley from a wharf. +Good heavens, what would my comrades on my ship say if they could see +me now steering a load of hairy savages up one of those waterways which +our biggest telescopes magnify but to the thickness of an indication? +No, I was not rising equal to the occasion, and could not. The human +mind is of but limited capacity after all, and such freaks of fortune +are beyond its conception. I knew I was where I was, but I knew I +should probably never get the chance of telling of it, and that no one +would ever believe me if I did, and I resigned myself to the inevitable +with sullen acquiescence, smothering the wonder that might have been +overwhelming in passing interests of the moment. + +There is little to record of that voyage. We passed through a fleet +of Ar-hap's warships, empty and at anchor in double line, serviceable +half-decked cutters, built of solid timber, not pumpkin rind it was +pleasant to notice, and then the town dropped away as we proceeded +up a stream about as broad as the Hudson at its widest, and profusely +studded with islands. This water was bitterly salt and joined another +sea on the other side of the Martian continent. Yet it had a pronounced +flow against us eastward, this tide running for three spring months and +being followed, I learned, as ocean temperatures varied, by a flow in +the opposite direction throughout the summer. + +Just at present the current was so strong eastwards, the moisture +beaded upon my rowers' tawny hides as they struggled against it, and +their melancholy song dawdled in "linked sweetness long drawn out," +while the swing of their oars grew longer and longer. Truly it was +very hot, far hotter than was usual for the season, these men declared, +and possibly this robbed me of my wonted energy, and you, gentle reader, +of a description of all the strange things we passed upon that highway. + +Suffice it to say we spent a scorching afternoon, the greater part of a +stifling night moored under a mud-bank with a grove of trees on top from +which gigantic fire-flies hung as though the place were illuminated for +a garden fete, and then, rowing on again in the comparatively cool hours +before dawn, turned into a backwater at cock-crow. + +The skipper of our cargo boat roused me just as we turned, putting under +my sleepy nostrils a handful of toasted beans on a leaf, and a small +cup full of something that was not coffee, but smelt as good as that +matutinal beverage always does to the tired traveller. + +Over our prow was an immense arch of foliage, and underneath a long arcade +of cool black shadows, sheltering still water, till water and shadow +suddenly ended a quarter of a mile down in a patch of brilliant colour. +It was as peaceful as could be in the first morning light, and to me +over all there was the inexpressible attraction of the unknown. + +As our boat slipped silently forward up this leafy lane, a thin white +"feather" in her mouth alone breaking the steely surface of the stream, +the men rested from their work and began, as sailors will, to put on +their shore-going clothes, the while they chatted in low tones over the +profits of the voyage. Overhead flying squirrels were flitting to and +fro like bats, or shelling fruit whereof the husks fell with a pleasant +splash about us, and on one bank a couple of early mothers were washing +their babies, whose smothered protests were almost the only sound in +this morning world. + +Another silent dip or two of the oars and the colour ahead crystallised +into a town. If I said it was like an African village on a large scale, +I should probably give you the best description in the fewest words. +From the very water's edge up to the crown of a low hill inland, extended +a mass of huts and wooden buildings, embowered and partly hidden in +bright green foliage, with here and there patches of millet, or some +such food plant, and the flowers that grow everywhere so abundantly in +this country. It was all Arcadian and peaceful enough at the moment, +and as we drew near the men were just coming out to the quays along the +harbour front, the streets filling and the town waking to busy life. + +A turn to the left through a watergate defended by towers of wood +and mud, and we were in the city harbour itself; boats of many kinds +moored on every side; quaint craft from the gulfs and bays of Nowhere, +full of unheard-of merchandise, and manned by strange-faced crews, every +vessel a romance of nameless seas, an epitome of an undiscovered world, +and every moment the scene grew busier as the breakfast smoke arose, +and wharf and gangway set to work upon the day's labours. + +Our boat--loaded, as it turned out, with spoil from Seth--was run to +a place of honour at the bottom of the town square, and was an object +of much curiosity to a small crowd which speedily collected and lent a +hand with the mooring ropes, the while chatting excitedly with the crew +about further tribute and the latest news from overseas. At the same +time a swarthy barbarian, whose trappings showed him to be some sort +of functionary, came down to our "captain," much wagging of heads and +counting of notched sticks taking place between them. + +I, indeed, was apparently the least interesting item of the cargo, +and this was embarrassing. No hero likes to be neglected, it is fatal +to his part. I had said my prayers and steeled myself to all sorts of +fine endurance on the way up, and here, when it came to the crisis, +no one was anxious to play the necessary villain. They just helped +me ashore civilly enough, the captain nodded his head at me, muttering +something in an indifferent tone to the functionary about a ghost who +had wandered overseas and begged a passage up the canal; the group about +the quay stared a little, but that was all. + +Once I remember seeing a squatting, life-size heathen idol hoisted +from a vessel's hold and deposited on a sugar-box on a New York quay. +Some ribald passer-by put a battered felt hat upon Vishnu's sacred curls, +and there the poor image sat, an alien in an indifferent land, a sack +across its shoulders, a "billycock" upon its head, and honoured at most +with a passing stare. I thought of that lonely image as almost as lonely +I stood on the Thither men's quay, without the support of friends or +heroics, wondering what to do next. + +However, a cheerful disposition is sometimes better than a banking +account, and not having the one I cultivated the other, sunning myself +amongst the bales for a time, and then, since none seemed interested +in me, wandered off into the town, partly to satisfy my curiosity, and +partly in the vague hope of ascertaining if my princess was really here, +and, if possible, getting sight of her. + +Meanwhile it turned hot with a supernatural, heavy sort of heat +altogether, I overheard passersby exclaiming, out of the common, and +after wandering for an hour through gardens and endless streets of +thatched huts, I was glad enough to throw myself down in the shadow of +some trees on the outskirts of the great central pile of buildings, +a whole village in itself of beam-built towers and dwelling-place, +suggesting by its superior size that it might actually be Ar-hap's palace. + +Hotter and hotter it grew, while a curious secondary sunrise in the +west, the like of which I never saw before seemed to add to the heat, +and heavier and heavier my eyelids, till I dozed at last, and finally +slept uncomfortably for a time. + +Rousing up suddenly, imagine my surprise to see sitting, chin on knees, +about a yard away, a slender girlish figure, infinitely out of place +in that world of rough barbarians. Was it possible? Was I dreaming? +No, there was no doubt about it, she was a girl of the Hither folk, +slim and pretty, but with a wonderfully sad look in her gazelle eyes, +and scarcely a sign of the indolent happiness of Seth in the pale little +face regarding me so fixedly. + +"Good gracious, miss," I said, still rubbing my eyes and doubting my +senses, "have you dropped from the skies? You are the very last person +I expected to see in this barbarian place." + +"And you too, sir. Oh, it is lovely to see one so newly from home, +and free-seeming--not a slave." + +"How did you know I was from Seth?" + +"Oh, that was easy enough," and with a little laugh she pointed to a +pebble lying between us, on which was a piece of battered sweetmeat in +a perforated bamboo box. Poor An had given me something just like that +in a playful mood, and I had kept it in my pocket for her sake, being, +as you will have doubtless observed, a sentimental young man, and now +I clapped my hand where it should have been, but it was gone. + +"Yes," said my new friend, "that is yours. I smelt the sweetmeat +coming up the hill, and crossed the grass until I found you here asleep. +Oh, it was lovely! I took it from your pocket, and white Seth rose up +before my swimming eyes, even at the scent of it. I am Si, well named, +for that in our land means sadness, Si, the daughter of Prince Hath's +chief sweetmeat-maker, so I should know something of such stuff. May I, +please, nibble a little piece?" + +"Eat it all, my lass, and welcome. How came you here? But I can guess. +Do not answer if you would rather not." + +"Ay, but I will. It is not every day I can speak to ears so friendly +as yours. I am a slave, chosen for my luckless beauty as last year's +tribute to Ar-hap." + +"And now?" + +"And now the slave of Ar-hap's horse-keeper, set aside to make room for +a fresher face." + +"And do you know whose face that is?" + +"Not I, a hapless maid sent into this land of horrors, to bear ignominy +and stripes, to eat coarse food and do coarse work, the miserable +plaything of some brute in semi-human form, with but the one consolation +of dying early as we tribute-women always die. Poor comrade in exile, +I only know her as yet by sympathy." + +"What if I said it was Heru, the princess?" + +The Martian girl sprang to her feet, and clasping her hands exclaimed, + +"Heru, the Slender! Then the end comes, for it is written in our books +that the last tribute is paid when the best is paid. Oh, how splendid +if she gave herself of free will to this slavery to end it once for all. +Was it so?" + +"I think, Si, your princess could not have known of that tradition; +she did not come willingly. Besides, I am come to fetch her back, +if it may be, and that spoils the look of sacrifice." + +"You to fetch her back, and from Ar-hap's arms? My word, Sir Spirit, +you must know some potent charms; or, what is less likely, my countrymen +must have amazingly improved in pluck since I left them. Have you a +great army at hand?" + +But I only shook my head, and, touching my sword, said that here was +the only army coming to rescue Heru. Whereon the lady replied that +she thought my valour did me more honour than my discretion. How did +I propose to take the princess from her captors? + +"To tell the truth, damsel, that is a matter which will have to be +left to your invention, or the kindness of such as you. I am here +on a hare-brained errand, playing knight-errant in a way that shocks +my common sense. But since the matter has gone so far I will see it +through, or die in the attempt. Your bully lord shall either give me +Heru, stock, lock, and block, or hang me from a yard-arm. But I would +rather have the lady. Come, you will help me; and, as a beginning, +if she is in yonder shanty get me speech with her." + +Poor Si's eyes dilated at the peril of the suggestion, and I saw the +sluggish Martian nature at war against her better feelings. But presently +the latter conquered. "I will try," she said. "What matter a few stripes +more or less?" pointing to her rosy shoulders where red scars crisscross +upon one another showed how the Martian girls fared in Ar-hap's palace +when their novelty wore off. "I will try to help you; and if they kill +me for it--why, that will not matter much." And forthwith in that +blazing forenoon under the flickering shadow of the trees we put our +heads together to see what we might do for Heru. + +It was not much for the moment. Try what we would that afternoon, I could +not persuade those who had charge of the princess to let me even approach +her place of imprisonment, but Si, as a woman, was more successful, +actually seeing her for a few moments, and managed to whisper in her +ear that I had come, the Spirit-with-the-gold-buttons-down-his front, +afterwards describing to me in flowing Martian imagery--but doubtless not +more highly coloured than poor Heru's emotion warranted--how delightedly +that lady had received the news. + +Si also did me another service, presenting me to the porter's wife, +who kept a kind of boarding-house at the gates of Ar-hap's palace for +gentlemen and ladies with grievances. I had heard of lobbying before, +and the presentation of petitions, though I had never indulged myself +in the pastime; but the crowd of petitioners here, with petitions as +wild and picturesque as their own motley appearances, was surely the +strangest that ever gathered round a seat of supreme authority. + +Si whispered in the ear of that good woman the nature of my errand, with +doubtless some blandishment of her own; and my errand being one so much +above the vulgar and so nearly touching the sovereign, I was at once +accorded a separate room in the gate-house, whence I could look down +in comparative peace on the common herd of suitors, and listen to the +buzz of their invective as they practised speeches which I calculated +it would take Ar-hap all the rest of his reign to listen to, without +allowing him any time for pronouncing verdicts on them. + +Here I made myself comfortable, and awaited the return of the sovereign +as placidly as might be. Meanwhile fate was playing into my feeble hands. + +I have said it was hot weather. At first this seemed but an outcome of +the Martian climate, but as the hours went by the heat developed to an +incredible extent. Also that red glare previously noted in the west grew +in intensity, till, as the hours slipped by, all the town was staring at +it in panting horror. I have seen a prairie on fire, luckily from the far +side of a comfortably broad river, and have ridden through a pine-forest +when every tree for miles was an uplifted torch, and pungent yellow smoke +rolled down each corrie side in grey rivers crested with dancing flame. +But that Martian glare was more sombre and terrible than either. + +"What is it?" I asked of poor Si, who came out gasping to speak to me +by the gate-house. + +"None of us know, and unless the gods these Thither folk believe in are +angry, and intend to destroy the world with yonder red sword in the sky, +I cannot guess. Perhaps," she added, with a sudden flash of inspiration, +"it comes by your machinations for Heru's help." + +"No!" + +"If not by your wish, then, in the name of all you love, set your wish +against it. If you know any incantations suitable for the occasion, oh, +practise them now at once, for look, even the very grass is withering; +birds are dropping from trees; fishes, horribly bloated, are beginning +to float down the steaming rills; and I, with all others, have a nameless +dread upon me." + +Hotter and hotter it grew, until about sunset the red blaze upon the +sky slowly opened, and showed us for about half an hour, through the +opening a lurid, flame-coloured meteor far out in space beyond; then +the cleft closed again, and through that abominable red curtain came +the very breath of Hades. + +What was really happening I am not astronomer enough to say, though +on cooler consideration I have come to the conclusion that our planet, +in going out to its summer pastures in the remoter fields of space, had +somehow come across a wandering lesser world and got pretty well singed +in passing. This is purely my own opinion, and I have not yet submitted +it to the kindly authorities of the Lick Observatory for verification. +All I can say for certain is that in an incredibly short space of time +the face of the country changed from green to sear, flowers drooped; +streams (there were not many in the neighbourhood apparently) dried up; +fishes died; a mighty thirst there was nothing to quench settled down on +man and beast, and we all felt that unless Providence listened to the +prayers and imprecations which the whole town set to work with frantic +zeal to hurl at it, or that abominable comet in the sky sheered off on +another tack with the least possible delay, we should all be reduced to +cinders in a very brief space of time. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The evening of the second day had already come, when Ar-hap arrived home +after weekending amongst a tribe of rebellious subjects. But any imposing +State entry which might have been intended was rendered impossible by +the heat and the threat of that baleful world in the western sky. + +It was a lurid but disordered spectacle which I witnessed from my room in +the gate-house just after nightfall. The returning army had apparently +fallen away exhausted on its march through the town; only some three +hundred of the bodyguard straggled up the hill, limp and sweating, +behind a group of pennons, in the midst of which rode a horseman whose +commanding presence and splendid war harness impressed me, though I could +not make out his features; a wild, impressionist scene of black outlines, +tossing headgear, and spears glittering and vanishing in front of the +red glare in the sky, but nothing more. Even the dry throats of the +suitors in the courtyard hardly mustered a husky cry of welcome as the +cavalcade trooped into the enclosure, and then the shadows enfolded them +up in silence, and, too hot and listless to care much what the morrow +brought forth, I threw myself on the bare floor, tossing and turning in +a vain endeavour to sleep until dawn came once more. + +A thin mist which fell with daybreak drew a veil over the horrible glare +in the west for an hour or two, and taking advantage of the slight +alleviation of heat, I rose and went into the gardens to enjoy a dip +in a pool, making, with its surrounding jungle of flowers, one of the +pleasantest things about the wood-king's forest citadel. The very earth +seemed scorched and baking underfoot--and the pool was gone! It had +run as dry as a limekiln; nothing remained of the pretty fall which +had fed it but a miserable trickle of drops from the cascade above. +Down beyond the town shone a gleam of water where the bitter canal +steamed and simmered in the first grey of the morning, but up here six +months of scorching drought could not have worked more havoc. The very +leaves were dropping from the trees, and the luxuriant growths of the +day before looked as though a simoon had played upon them. + +I staggered back in disgust, and found some show of official activity +about the palace. It was the king's custom, it appeared, to hear +petitions and redress wrongs as soon after his return as possible, +but today the ceremony was to be cut short as his majesty was going out +with all his court to a neighbouring mountain to "pray away the comet," +which by this time was causing dire alarm all through the city. + +"Heaven's own particular blessing on his prayers, my friend," I said to +the man who told me this. "Unless his majesty's orisons are fruitful, +we shall all be cooked like baked potatoes before nightfall, and though +I have faced many kinds of death, that is not the one I would choose +by preference. Is there a chance of myself being heard at the throne? +Your peculiar climate tempts me to hurry up with my business and begone +if I may." + +"Not only may you be heard, sir, but you are summoned. The king has +heard of you somehow, and sent me to find and bring you into his presence +at once." + +"So be it," I said, too hot to care what happened. "I have no levee +dress with me. I lost my luggage check some time ago, but if you will +wait outside I will be with you in a moment." + +Hastily tidying myself up, and giving my hair a comb, as though just off +to see Mr. Secretary for the Navy, or on the way to get a senator to push +a new patent medicine for me, I rejoined my guide outside, and together +we crossed the wide courtyard, entered the great log-built portals of +Ar-hap's house, and immediately afterwards found ourselves in a vast +hall dimly lit by rays coming in through square spaces under the eaves, +and crowded on both sides with guards, courtiers, and supplicants. +The heat was tremendous, the odour of Thither men and the ill-dressed +hides they wore almost overpowering. Yet little I recked for either, +for there at the top of the room, seated on a dais made of rough-hewn +wood inlet with gold and covered with splendid furs, was Ar-hap himself. + +A fine fellow, swarthy, huge, and hairy, at any other time or place I +could have given him due admiration as an admirable example of the savage +on the borderland of grace and culture, but now I only glanced at him, and +then to where at his side a girl was crouching, a gem of human loveliness +against that dusky setting. It was Heru, my ravished princess, and, +still clad in her diaphanous Hither robes, her face white with anxiety, +her eyes bright as stars, the embodiment of helpless, flowery beauty, +my heart turned over at sight of her. + +Poor girl! When she saw me stride into the hall she rose swiftly from +Ar-hap's side, clasped her pretty hands, and giving a cry of joy would +have rushed towards me, but the king laid a mighty paw upon her, under +which she subsided with a shiver as though the touch had blanched all +the life within. + +"Good morning, your majesty," I said, walking boldly up to the lower +step of the dais. + +"Good morning, most singular-looking vagrant from the Unknown," answered +the monarch. "In what way can I be of service to you?'' + +"I have come about that girl," I said, nodding to where Heru lay +blossoming in the hot gloom like some night-flowering bud. "I do not +know whether your majesty is aware how she came here, but it is a highly +discreditable incident in what is doubtless your otherwise blameless +reign. Some rough scullions intrusted with the duty of collecting your +majesty's customs asked Prince Hath of the Hither people to point out +the most attractive young person at his wedding feast, and the prince +indicated that lady there at your side. It was a dirty trick, and +all the worse because it was inspired by malice, which is the meanest +of all weaknesses. I had the pleasure of knocking down some of your +majesty's representatives, but they stole the girl away while I slept, +and, briefly, I have come to fetch her back." + +The monarch had followed my speech, the longest ever made in my life, +with fierce, blinking eyes, and when it stopped looked at poor shrinking +Heru as though for explanation, then round the circle of his awestruck +courtiers, and reading dismay at my boldness in their faces, burst into +a guttural laugh. + +"I suppose you have the great and puissant Hither nation behind you in +this request, Mr. Spirit?" + +"No, I came alone, hoping to find justice here, and, if not, then +prepared to do all I could to make your majesty curse the day your +servants maltreated my friends." + +"Tall words, stranger! May I ask what you propose to do if Ar-hap, in his +own palace, amongst his people and soldiers, refuses to disgorge a pretty +prize at the bidding of one shabby interloper--muddy and friendless?" + +"What should I do?" + +"Yes," said the king, with a haughty frown. "What would you do?" + +I do not know what prompted the reply. For a moment I was completely +at a loss what to say to this very obvious question, and then all on a +sudden, remembering they held me to be some kind of disembodied spirit, +by a happy inspiration, fixing my eyes grimly on the king, I answered, + +"What would I do? Why, I WOULD HAUNT YOU!" + +It may not seem a great stroke of genius here, but the effect on the +Martian was instantaneous. He sat straight up, his hands tightened, his +eyes dilated, and then fidgeting uneasily, after a minute he beckoned to +an over-dressed individual, whom Heru afterwards told me was the Court +necromancer, and began whispering in his ear. + +After a minute's consultation he turned again, a rather frightened +civility struggling in his face with anger, and said, "We have no wish, +of course, stranger, to offend you or those who had the honour of your +patronage. Perhaps the princess here was a little roughly handled, and, +I confess, if she were altogether as reluctant as she seems, a lesser +maid would have done as well. I could have wooed this one in Seth, +where I may shortly come, and our espousals would possibly have lent, in +the eyes of your friends, quite a cheerful aspect to my arrival. But my +ambassadors have had no great schooling in diplomacy; they have brought +Princess Heru here, and how can I hand her over to one I know nothing of? +How do I know you are a ghost, after all? How do I know you have anything +but a rusty sword and much impertinence to back your astounding claim?" + +"Oh, let it be just as you like," I said, calmly shelling and eating a +nut I had picked up. "Only if you do not give the maid back, why, then--" +And I stopped as though the sequel were too painful to put into words. + +Again that superstitious monarch of a land thronged with malicious +spirits called up his magician, and, after they had consulted a moment, +turned more cheerfully to me. + +"Look here, Mister-from-Nowhere, if you are really a spirit, and have +the power to hurt as you say, you will have the power also to go and +come between the living and the dead, between the present and the past. +Now I will set you an errand, and give you five minutes to do it in." + +"Five minutes!" I exclaimed in incautious alarm. + +"Five minutes," said the monarch savagely. "And if in that time the +errand is not done, I shall hold you to be an impostor, an impudent +thief from some scoundrel tribe of this world of mine, and will make of +you an example which shall keep men's ears tingling for a century or two." + +Poor Heru dropped in a limp and lovely heap at that dire threat, while I +am bound to say I felt somewhat uncomfortable, not unnaturally when all +the circumstances are considered, but contented myself with remarking, +with as much bravado as could be managed, + +"And now to the errand, Ar-hap. What can I do for your majesty?" + +The king consulted with the rogue at his elbow, and then nodding and +chuckling in expectancy of his triumph, addressed me. + +"Listen," he cried, smiting a huge hairy hand upon his knee, "listen, +and do or die. My magician tells me it is recorded in his books that +once, some five thousand years ago, when this land belonged to the Hither +people, there lived here a king. It is a pity he died, for he seems to +have been a jovial old fellow; but he did die, and, according to their +custom, they floated him down the stream that flows to the regions of +eternal ice, where doubtless he is at this present moment, caked up with +ten million of his subjects. Now just go and find that sovereign for me, +oh you bold-tongued dweller in other worlds!" + +"And if I go how am I to know your ancient king, as you say, amongst +ten million others?" + +"That is easy enough," quoth Ar-hap lightly. "You have only to pass to +and fro through the ice mountains, opening the mouths of the dead men and +women you meet, and when you come to a middle-sized man with a fillet on +his head and a jaw mended with gold, that will be he whom you look for. +Bring me that fillet here within five minutes and the maid is yours." + +I started, and stared hard in amazement. Was this a dream? Was the +royal savage in front playing with me? By what incredible chance had +he hit upon the very errand I could answer to best, the very trophy I +had brought away from the grim valley of ice and death, and had still in +my shoulder-bag? No, he was not playing; he was staring hard in turn, +joying in my apparent confusion, and clearly thinking he had cornered +me beyond hope of redemption. + +"Surely your mightiness is not daunted by so simple a task," scowled +the sovereign, playing with the hilt of his huge hunting-knife, "and all +amongst your friends' kindred too. On a hot day like this it ought to +be a pleasant saunter for a spirit such as yourself." + +"Not daunted," I answered coldly, turning on my heels towards the door, +"only marvelling that your majesty's skull and your necromancer's could +not between them have devised a harder task." + +Out into the courtyard I went, with my heart beating finely in spite +of my assumed indifference; got the bag from a peg in my sleeping-room, +and was back before the log throne ere four minutes were gone. + +"The old Hither king's compliments to your majesty," I said, bowing, +while a deathly hush fell on all the assembly, "and he says though your +ancestors little liked to hear his voice while alive, he says he has no +objection to giving you some jaw now he is dead," and I threw down on +the floor the golden circlet of the frozen king. + +Ar-hap's eyes almost started from his head as, with his courtiers, +he glared in silent amazement at that shining thing while the great +drops of fear and perspiration trickled down his forehead. As for poor +Heru, she rose like a spirit behind them, gazed at the jaw-bone of her +mythical ancestor, and then suddenly realising my errand was done and +she apparently free, held out her hands, and, with a tremulous cry, +would have come to me. + +But Ar-hap was too quick for her. All the black savage blood swelled +into his veins as he swept her away with one great arm, and then with his +foot gave the luckless jaw a kick that sent it glittering and spinning +through the far doorway out into the sunshine. + +"Sit down," he roared, "you brazen wench, who are so eager to leave a +king's side for a nameless vagrant's care! And you, sir," turning to +me, and fairly trembling with rage and dread, "I will not gainsay that +you have done the errand set you, but it might this once be chance that +got you that cursed token, some one happy turn of luck. I will not +yield my prize on one throw of the dice. Another task you must do. +Once might be chance, but such chance comes not twice." + +"You swore to give me the maid this time." + +"And why should I keep my word to a half-proved spirit such as you?" + +"There are some particularly good reasons why you should," I said, +striking an attitude which I had once seen a music-hall dramatist take +when he was going to blast somebody's future--a stick with a star on +top of it in his hand and forty lines of blank verse in his mouth. + +The king writhed, and begged me with a sign to desist. + +"We have no wish to anger you. Do us this other task and none will doubt +that you are a potent spirit, and even I, Ar-hap, will listen to you." + +"Well, then," I answered sulkily, "what is it to be this time?" + +After a minute's consultation, and speaking slowly as though conscious +of how much hung on his words, the king said, + +"Listen! My soothsayer tells me that somewhere there is a city lost in +a forest, and a temple lost in the city, and a tomb lost in the temple; +a city of ghosts and djins given over to bad spirits, wherefore all human +men shun it by day and night. And on the tomb is she who was once queen +there, and by her lies her crown. Quick! oh you to whom all distances are +nothing, and who see, by your finer essence, into all times and places. +Away to that city! Jostle the memories of the unclean things that hide +in its shadows; ask which amongst them knows where dead Queen Yang still +lies in dusty state. Get guides amongst your comrade ghosts. Find Queen +Yang, and bring me here in five minutes the bloody circlet from her hair." + +Then, and then for the first time, I believed the planet was haunted +indeed, and I myself unknowingly under some strange and watchful +influence. Spirits, demons! Oh! what but some incomprehensible power, +some unseen influence shaping my efforts to its ends, could have moved +that hairy barbarian to play a second time into my hands like this, +to choose from the endless records of his world the second of the two +incidents I had touched in hasty travel through it? I was almost overcome +for a minute; then, pulling myself together, strode forward fiercely, +and, speaking so that all could hear me, cried, "Base king, who neither +knows the capacities of a spirit nor has learned as yet to dread its +anger, see! your commission is executed in a thought, just as your +punishment might be. Heru, come here." And when the girl, speechless +with amazement, had risen and slipped over to me, I straightened her +pretty hair from her forehead, and then, in a way which would make my +fortune if I could repeat it at a conjuror's table, whipped poor Yang's +gemmy crown from my pocket, flashed its baleful splendour in the eyes +of the courtiers, and placed it on the tresses of the first royal lady +who had worn it since its rightful owner died a hundred years before. + +A heavy silence fell on the hall as I finished, and nothing was heard +for a time save Heru sobbing on my breast and a thirsty baby somewhere +outside calling to its mother for the water that was not to be had. +But presently on those sounds came the fall of anxious feet, and a +messenger, entering the doorway, approached the throne, laid himself out +flat twice, after which obeisance he proceeded to remind the king of the +morning's ceremonial on a distant hill to "pray away the comet," telling +his majesty that all was ready and the procession anxiously awaiting him. + +Whereon Ar-hap, obviously very well content to change the subject, +rose, and, coming down from the dais, gave me his hand. He was a fine +fellow, as I have said, strong and bold, and had not behaved badly for +an autocrat, so that I gripped his mighty fist with great pleasure. + +"I cannot deny, stranger," he said, "that you have done all that has been +asked of you, and the maid is fairly yours. Yet before you take away the +prize I must have some assurance of what you yourself will do with her. +Therefore, for the moment, until this horrible thing in the sky which +threatens my people with destruction has gone, let it be truce between +us--you to your lodgings, and the princess back, unharmed, amongst my +women till we meet again." + +"But--" + +"No, no," said the king, waving his hand. "Be content with your +advantage. And now to business more important than ten thousand silly +wenches," and gathering up his robes over his splendid war-gear the wood +king stalked haughtily from the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Hotter and hotter grew that stifling spell, more and more languid man +and beast, drier and drier the parching earth. + +All the water gave out on the morning after I had bearded Ar-hap in his +den, and our strength went with it. No earthly heat was ever like it, +and it drank our vitality up from every pore. Water there was down below +in the bitter, streaming gulf, but so noisome that we dared not even bathe +there; here there was none but the faintest trickle. All discipline was +at an end; all desire save such as was born of thirst. Heru I saw as +often as I wished as she lay gasping, with poor Si at her feet, in the +women's verandah; but the heat was so tremendous that I gazed at her with +lack-lustre eyes, staggering to and fro amongst the courtyard shadows, +without nerve to plot her rescue or strength to carry out anything my +mind might have conceived. + +We prayed for rain and respite. Ar-hap had prayed with a wealth of +picturesque ceremonial. We had all prayed and cursed by turns, but +still the heavens would not relent, and the rain came not. + +At last the stifling heat and vapour reached an almost intolerable pitch. +The earth reeked with unwholesome humours no common summer could draw +from it, the air was sulphurous and heavy, while overhead the sky seemed +a tawny dome, from edge to edge of angry clouds, parting now and then +to let us see the red disc threatening us. + +Hour after hour slipped by until, when evening was upon us, the clouds +drew together, and thunder, with a continuous low rumble, began to +rock from sky to sky. Fitful showers of rain, odorous and heavy, but +unsatisfying, fell, and birds and beasts of the woodlands came slinking +in to our streets and courtyards. Ever since the sky first darkened +our own animals had become strangely familiar, and now here were these +wild things of the woods slinking in for companionship, sagheaded and +frightened. To me especially they came, until that last evening as I +staggered dying about the streets or sat staring into the remorseless sky +from the steps of Heru's prison house, all sorts of beasts drew softly +in and crowded about, whether I sat or moved, all asking for the hope +I had not to give them. + +At another time this might have been embarrassing; then it seemed pure +commonplace. It was a sight to see them slink in between the useless +showers, which fell like hot tears upon us--sleek panthers with lolling +tongues; russet-red wood dogs; bears and sloths from the dark arcades of +the remote forests, all casting themselves down gasping in the palace +shadows; strange deer, who staggered to the garden plots and lay there +heaving their lives out; mighty boars, who came from the river marshes +and silently nozzled a place amongst their enemies to die in! Even the +wolves came off the hills, and, with bloodshot eyes and tongues that +dripped foam, flung themselves down in my shadow. + +All along the tall stockades apes sat sad and listless, and on the +roof-ridges storks were dying. Over the branches of the trees, whose +leaves were as thin as though we had had a six months' drought, the +toucans and Martian parrots hung limp and fashionless like gaudy rags, +and in the courtyard ground the corn-rats came up from their tunnels in +the scorching earth to die, squeaking in scores along under the walls. + +Our common sorrow made us as sociable as though I were Noah, and Ar-hap's +palace mound another Ararat. Hour after hour I sat amongst all these +lesser beasts in the hot darkness, waiting for the end. Every now and +then the heavy clouds parted, changing the gloom to sudden fiery daylight +as the great red eye in the west looked upon us through the crevice, and, +taking advantage of those gleams, I would reel across to where, under a +spout leading from a dried rivulet, I had placed a cup to collect the +slow and tepid drops that were all now coming down the reed for Heru. +And as I went back each time with that sickly spoonful at the bottom +of the vessel all the dying beasts lifted their heads and watched--the +thirsty wolves shambling after me; the boars half sat up and grunted +plaintively; the panthers, too weak to rise, beat the dusty ground with +their tails; and from the portico the blue storks, with trailing wings, +croaked husky greeting. + +But slower and slower came the dripping water, more and more intolerable +the heat. At last I could stand it no longer. What purpose did it serve +to lay gasping like this, dying cruelly without a hope of rescue, when +a shorter way was at my side? I had not drank for a day and a half. +I was past active reviling; my head swam; my reason was clouded. No! +I would not stand it any longer. Once more I would take Heru and poor +Si the cup that was but a mockery after all, then fix my sword into the +ground and try what next the Fates had in store for me. + +So once again the leathern mug was fetched and carried through the +prostrate guards to where the Martian girl lay, like a withered flower, +upon her couch. Once again I moistened those fair lips, while my own +tongue was black and swollen in my throat, then told Si, who had had +none all the afternoon, to drink half and leave half for Heru. Poor Si +put her aching lips to the cup and tilted it a little, then passed it +to her mistress. And Heru drank it all, and Si cried a few hot tears +behind her hands, FOR SHE HAD TAKEN NONE, and she knew it was her life! + +Again picking a way through the courtyard, scarce noticing how the +beasts lifted their heads as I passed, I went instinctively, cup in +hand, to the well, and then hesitated. Was I a coward to leave Heru so? +Ought I not to stay and see it out to the bitter end? Well, I would +compound with Fate. I would give the malicious gods one more chance. +I would put the cup down again, and until seven drops had fallen into +it I would wait. That there might be no mistake about it, no sooner was +the mug in place under the nozzle wherefrom the moisture beads collected +and fell with infinite slowness, than my sword, on which I meant to throw +myself, was bared and the hilt forced into a gaping crack in the ground, +and sullenly contented to leave my fate so, I sat down beside it. + +I turned grimly to the spout and saw the first drop fall, then another, +and another later on, but still no help came. There was a long rift +in the clouds now, and a glare like that from an open furnace door was +upon me. I had noticed when I came to the spring how the comet which +was killing us hung poised exactly upon the point of a distant hill. +If he had passed his horrible meridian, if he was going from us, if he +sunk but a hair's breadth before that seventh drop should fall, I could +tell it would mean salvation. + +But the fourth drop fell, and he was big as ever. The fifth drop fell, +and a hot, pleasing nose was thrust into my hand, and looking down I +saw a grey wolf had dragged herself across the court and was asking with +eloquent eyes for the help I could not give. The sixth drop gathered, +and fell; already the seventh was like a seedling pearl in its place. +The dying wolf yanked affectionately at my hand, but I put her by and +undid my tunic. Big and bright that drop hung to the spout lip; another +minute and it would fall. A beautiful drop, I laughed, peering closely at +it, many-coloured, prismatic, flushing red and pink, a tiny living ruby, +hanging by a touch to the green rim above; enough! enough! The quiver of +an eyelash would unhinge it now; and angry with the life I already felt +was behind me, and turning in defiant expectation to the new to come, +I rose, saw the red gleam of my sword jutting like a fiery spear from +the cracking soil where I had planted it, then looked once more at the +drop and glanced for the last time at the sullen red terror on the hill. + +Were my eyes dazed, my senses reeling? I said a space ago that the +meteor stood exactly on the mountain-top and if it sunk a hair's breadth +I should note it; and now, why, there WAS a flaw in its lower margin, a +flattening of the great red foot that before had been round and perfect. +I turned my smarting eyes away a minute,--saw the seventh drop fall +with a melodious tingle into the cup, then back again,--there was no +mistake--the truant fire was a fraction less, it had shrunk a fraction +behind the hill even since I looked, and thereon all my life ran back into +its channels, the world danced before me, and "Heru!" I shouted hoarsely, +reeling back towards the palace, "Heru, 'tis well; the worst is past!" + +But the little princess was unconscious, and at her feet was poor Si, +quite dead, still reclining with her head in her hands just as I had +left her. Then my own senses gave out, and dropping down by them I +remembered no more. + +I must have lain there an hour or two, for when consciousness came +again it was night--black, cool, profound night, with an inky sky low +down upon the tree-tops, and out of it such a glorious deluge of rain +descending swiftly and silently as filled my veins even to listen to. +Eagerly I shuffled away to the porch steps, down them into the swimming +courtyard, and ankle-deep in the glorious flood, set to work lapping +furiously at the first puddle, drinking with gasps of pleasure, gasping +and drinking again, feeling my body filling out like the thirsty steaming +earth below me. Then, as I still drank insatiably, there came a gleam +of lightning out of the gloom overhead, a brilliant yellow blaze, and by +it I saw a few yards away a panther drinking at the same pool as myself, +his gleaming eyes low down like mine upon the water, and by his side +two apes, the black water running in at their gaping mouths, while out +beyond were more pools, more drinking animals. Everything was drinking. +I saw their outlined forms, the gleam shining on wet skins as though they +were cut out in silver against the darkness, each beast steaming like a +volcano as the Heaven-sent rain smoked from his fevered hide, all drinking +for their lives, heedless of aught else--and then came the thunder. + +It ran across the cloudy vault as though the very sky were being ripped +apart, rolling in mighty echoes here and there before it died away. +As it stopped, the rain also fell less heavily for a minute, and as I lay +with my face low down I heard the low, contented lapping of numberless +tongues unceasing, insatiable. Then came the lightning again, lighting +up everything as though it were daytime. The twin black apes were still +drinking, but the panther across the puddle had had enough; I saw him +lift his grateful head up to the flare; saw the limp red tongue licking +the black nose, the green eyes shining like opals, the water dripping +in threads of diamonds from the hairy tag under his chin and every tuft +upon his chest--then darkness again. + +To and fro the green blaze rocked between the thunder crashes. It struck +a house a hundred yards away, stripping every shingle from the roof better +than a master builder could in a week. It fell a minute after on a tall +tree by the courtyard gate, and as the trunk burst into white splinters +I saw every leaf upon the feathery top turn light side up against the +violet reflection in the sky beyond, and then the whole mass came down +to earth with a thud that crushed the courtyard palings into nothing +for twenty yards and shook me even across the square. + +Another time I might have stopped to marvel or to watch, as I have often +watched with sympathetic pleasure, the gods thus at play; but tonight +there were other things on hand. When I had drunk, I picked up an earthen +crock, filled it, and went to Heru. It was a rough drinking-vessel for +those dainty lips, and an indifferent draught, being as much mud as aught +else, but its effect was wonderful. At the first touch of that turgid +stuff a shiver of delight passed through the drowsy lady. At the second +she gave a sigh, and her hand tightened on my arm. I fetched another +crockful, and by the flickering light rocking to and fro in the sky, +took her head upon my shoulder, like a prodigal new come into riches, +squandering the stuff, giving her to drink and bathing face and neck +till presently, to my delight, the princess's eyes opened. Then she +sat up, and taking the basin from me drank as never lady drank before, +and soon was almost herself again. + +I went out into the portico, there snuffing the deep, strong breath of +the fragrant black earth receiving back into its gaping self what the last +few days had taken from it, while quick succeeding thoughts of escape and +flight passed across my brain. All through the fiery time we had just +had the chance of escaping with the fair booty yonder had been present. +Without her, flight would have been easy enough, but that was not worth +considering for a moment. With her it was more difficult, yet, as I +had watched the woodmen, accustomed to cool forest shades, faint under +the fiery glare of the world above, to make a dash for liberty seemed +each hour more easy. I had seen the men in the streets drop one by one, +and the spears fall from the hands of guards about the pallisades; I had +seen messengers who came to and fro collapse before their errands were +accomplished, and the forest women, who were Heru's gaolers, groan and +drop across the thresholds of her prison, until at length the way was +clear--a babe might have taken what he would from that half-scorched town +and asked no man's leave. Yet what did it avail me? Heru was helpless, +my own spirit burnt in a nerveless frame, and so we stayed. + +But with rain strength came back to both of us. The guards, lying +about like black logs, were only slowly returning to consciousness; the +town still slept, and darkness favoured; before they missed us in the +morning light we might be far on the way back to Seth--a dangerous way +truly, but we were like to tread a rougher one if we stayed. In fact, +directly my strength returned with the cooler air, I made up my mind +to the venture and went to Heru, who by this time was much recovered. +To her I whispered my plot, and that gentle lady, as was only natural, +trembled at its dangers. But I put it to her that no time could be better +than the present: the storm was going over; morning would "line the black +mantle of the night with a pink dawn of promise"; before any one stirred +we might be far off, shaping a course by our luck and the stars for her +kindred, at whose name she sighed. If we stayed, I argued, and the king +changed his mind, then death for me, and for Heru the arms of that surly +monarch, and all the rest of her life caged in these pallisades amongst +the uncouth forms about us. + +The lady gave a frightened little shiver at the picture, but after a +moment, laying her head upon my shoulder, answered, "Oh, my guardian +spirit and helper in adversity, I too have thought of tomorrow, and doubt +whether that horror, that great swine who has me, will not invent an +excuse for keeping me. Therefore, though the forest roads are dreadful, +and Seth very far away, I will come; I give myself into your hands. +Do what you will with me." + +"Then the sooner the better, princess. How soon can you be prepared?" + +She smiled, and stooping picked up her slippers, saying as she did so, +"I am ready!" + +There were no arrangements to be made. Every instant was of value. +So, to be brief, I threw a dark cloak over the damsel's shoulders, for +indeed she was clad in little more than her loveliness and the gauziest +filaments of a Hither girl's underwear, and hand in hand led her down +the log steps, over the splashing, ankle-deep courtyard, and into the +shadows of the gateway beyond. + +Down the slope we went; along towards the harbour, through a score of +deserted lanes where nothing was to be heard but the roar of rain and the +lapping of men and beasts, drinking in the shadows as though they never +would stop, and so we came at last unmolested to the wharf. There I +hid royal Seth between two piles of merchandise, and went to look for a +boat suitable to our needs. There were plenty of small craft moored to +rings along the quay, and selecting a canoe--it was no time to stand on +niceties of property--easily managed by a single paddle, I brought it +round to the steps, put in a fresh water-pot, and went for the princess. + +With her safely stowed in the prow, a helpless, sodden little morsel of +feminine loveliness, things began to appear more hopeful and an escape +down to blue water, my only idea, for the first time possible. Yet I must +needs go and well nigh spoil everything by over-solicitude for my charge. + +Had we pushed off at once there can be no doubt my credit as a spirit +would have been established for all time in the Thither capital, and the +belief universally held that Heru had been wafted away by my enchantment +to the regions of the unknown. The idea would have gradually grown into +a tradition, receiving embellishments in succeeding generations, until +little wood children at their mother's knees came to listen in awe to the +story of how, once upon a time, the Sun-god loved a beautiful maiden, and +drove his fiery chariot across the black night-fields to her prison door, +scorching to death all who strove to gainsay him. How she flew into his +arms and drove away before all men's eyes, in his red car, into the west, +and was never seen again--the foresaid Sun-god being I, Gulliver Jones, +a much under-paid lieutenant in the glorious United States navy, with +a packet of overdue tailors' bills in my pocket, and nothing lovable +about me save a partiality for meddling with other people's affairs. + +This is how it might have been, but I spoiled a pretty fairy story and +changed the whole course of Martian history by going back at that moment +in search of a wrap for my prize. Right on top of the steps was a man +with a lantern, and half a glance showed me it was the harbour master +met with on my first landing. + +"Good evening," he said suspiciously. "May I ask what you are doing on +the quay at such an hour as this?" + +"Doing? Oh, nothing in particular, just going out for a little fishing." + +"And your companion the lady--is she too fond of fishing?" + +I swore between my teeth, but could not prevent the fellow walking to the +quay edge and casting his light full upon the figure of the girl below. +I hate people who interfere with other people's business! + +"Unless I am very much mistaken your fishing friend is the Hither woman +brought here a few days ago as tribute to Ar-hap." + +"Well," I answered, getting into a nice temper, for I had been very much +harrassed of late, "put it at that. What would you do if it were so?" + +"Call up my rain-drunk guards, and give you in charge as a thief caught +meddling with the king's property." + +"Thanks, but as my interviews with Ar-hap have already begun to grow +tedious, we will settle this little matter here between ourselves at +once." And without more to-do I closed with him. There was a brief +scuffle and then I got in a blow upon his jaw which sent the harbour +master flying back head over heels amongst the sugar bales and potatoes. + +Without waiting to see how he fared I ran down the steps, jumped on board, +loosened the rope, and pushed out into the river. But my heart was angry +and sore, for I knew, as turned out to be the case, that our secret was +one no more; in a short time we should have the savage king in pursuit, +and now there was nothing for it but headlong flight with only a small +chance of getting away to distant Seth. + +Luckily the harbour master lay insensible until he was found at dawn, +so that we had a good start, and the moment the canoe passed from the +arcade-like approach to the town the current swung her head automatically +seaward, and away we went down stream at a pace once more filling me +with hope. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +All went well and we fled down the bitter stream of the Martian gulf at +a pace leaving me little to do but guide our course just clear of snags +and promontories on the port shore. Just before dawn, however, with a +thin mist on the water and flocks of a flamingo-like bird croaking as +they flew southward overhead, we were nearly captured again. + +Drifting silently down on a rocky island, I was having a drink at the +water-pitcher at the moment, while Heru, her hair beaded with prismatic +moisture and looking more ethereal than ever, sat in the bows timorously +inhaling the breath of freedom, when all on a sudden voices invisible +in the mist, came round a corner. It was one of Ar-hap's war-canoes +toiling up-stream. Heru and I ducked down into the haze like dab-chicks +and held our breath. + +Straight on towards us came the toiling ship, the dip of oars resonant in +the hollow fog and a ripple babbling on her cutwater plainly discernible. + + +Oh, oh! +Hoo, hoo! +How high, how high!" + +sounded the sleepy song of the rowers till they were looming right +abreast and we could smell their damp hides in the morning air. Then they +stopped suddenly and some one asked, + +"Is there not something like a boat away on the right?" + +"It is nothing," said another, "but the lees of last night's beer curdling +in your stupid brain." + +"But I saw it move." + +"That must have been in dreams." + +"What is all that talking about?" growled a sleepy voice of authority +from the stern. + +"Bow man, sir, says he can see a boat." + +"And what does it matter if he can? Are we to delay every time that lazy +ruffian spying a shadow makes it an excuse to stop to yawn and scratch? +Go on, you plankful of lubbers, or I'll give you something worth thinking +about!" And joyfully, oh, so joyfully, we heard the sullen dip of oars +commence again. + +Nothing more happened after that till the sun at length shone on the +little harbour town at the estuary mouth, making the masts of fishing +craft clustering there like a golden reed-bed against the cool, clean +blue of the sea beyond. + +Right glad we were to see it, and keeping now in shadow of the banks, +made all haste while light was faint and mist hung about to reach the +town, finally pushing through the boats and gaining a safe hiding-place +without hostile notice before it was clear daylight. + +Covering Heru up and knowing well all our chances of escape lay in +expedition, I went at once, in pursuance of a plan made during the night, +to the good dame at what, for lack of a better name, must still continue +to be called the fish-shop, and finding her alone, frankly told her the +salient points of my story. When she learned I had "robbed the lion of +his prey" and taken his new wife singlehanded from the dreaded Ar-hap her +astonishment was unbounded. Nothing would do but she must look upon the +princess, so back we went to the hiding-place, and when Heru knew that +on this woman depended our lives she stepped ashore, taking the rugged +Martian hand in her dainty fingers and begging her help so sweetly that +my own heart was moved, and, thrusting hands in pocket, I went aside, +leaving those two to settle it in their own female way. + +And when I looked back in five minutes, royal Seth had her arms round the +woman's neck, kissing the homely cheeks with more than imperial fervour, +so I knew all was well thus far, and stopped expectorating at the little +fishes in the water below and went over to them. It was time! We had +hardly spoken together a minute when a couple of war-canoes filled with +men appeared round the nearest promontory, coming down the swift water +with arrow-like rapidity. + +"Quick!" said the fishwife, "or we are all lost. Into your canoe and +paddle up this creek. It runs out to the sea behind the town, and at +the bar is my man's fishing-boat amongst many others. Lie hidden there +till he comes if you value your lives." So in we got, and while that +good Samaritan went back to her house we cautiously paddled through a +deserted backwater to where it presently turned through low sandbanks +to the gulf. There were the boats, and we hid the canoe and lay down +amongst them till, soon after, a man, easily recognised as the husband +of our friend, came sauntering down from the village. + +At first he was sullen, not unreasonably alarmed at the danger into +which his good woman was running him. But when he set eyes on Heru +he softened immediately. Probably that thick-bodied fellow had never +seen so much female loveliness in so small a bulk in all his life, and, +being a man, he surrendered at discretion. + +"In with you, then," he growled, "since I must needs risk my neck for +a pair of runaways who better deserve to be hung than I do. In with +you both into this fishing-cobble of mine, and I will cover you with +nets while I go for a mast and sail, and mind you lie as still as logs. +The town is already full of soldiers looking for you, and it will be +short shrift for us all if you are seen." + +Well aware of the fact and now in the hands of destiny, the princess and +I lay down as bidden in the prow, and the man covered us lightly over +with one of those fine meshed seines used by these people to catch the +little fish I had breakfasted on more than once. + +Materially I could have enjoyed the half-hour which followed, since +such rest after exertion was welcome, the sun warm, the lapping of sea +on shingle infinitely soothing, and, above all, Heru was in my arms! +How sweet and childlike she was! I could feel her little heart beating +through her scanty clothing, while every now and then she turned her +gazelle eyes to mine with a trust and admiration infinitely alluring. +Yes! as far as that went I could have lain there with that slip of +maiden royalty for ever, but the fascination of the moment was marred +by the thought of our danger. What was to prevent these new friends +giving us away? They knew we had no money to recompense them for the +risk they were running. They were poor, and a splendid reward, wealth +itself to them, would doubtless be theirs if they betrayed us even by +a look. Yet somehow I trusted them as I have trusted the poor before +with the happiest results, and telling myself this and comforting Heru, +I listened and waited. + +Minute by minute went by. It seemed an age since the fisherman had +gone, but presently the sound of voices interrupted the sea's murmur. +Cautiously stealing a glance through a chink imagine my feelings on +perceiving half a dozen of Ar-hap's soldiers coming down the beach +straight towards us! Then my heart was bitter within me, and I tasted of +defeat, even with Heru in my arms. Luckily even in that moment of agony +I kept still, and another peep showed the men were now wandering about +rather aimlessly. Perhaps after all they did not know of our nearness? +Then they took to horseplay, as idle soldiers will even in Mars, pelting +each other with bits of wood and dead fish, and thereon I breathed again. + +Nearer they came and nearer, my heart beating fast as they strolled +amongst the boats until they were actually "larking" round the one next +to ours. A minute or two of this, and another footstep crunched on the +pebbles, a quick, nervous one, which my instinct told me was that of +our returning friend. + +"Hullo old sprat-catcher! Going for a sail?" called out a soldier, +and I knew that the group were all round our boat, Heru trembling so +violently in my breast that I thought she would make the vessel shake. + +"Yes," said the man gruffly. + +"Let's go with him," cried several voices. "Here, old dried haddock, +will you take us if we help haul your nets for you?" + +"No, I won't. Your ugly faces would frighten all the fish out of +the sea." + +"And yours, you old chunk of dried mahogany, is meant to attract them +no doubt." + +"Let's tie him to a post and go fishing in his boat ourselves," some +one suggested. Meanwhile two of them began rocking the cobble violently +from side to side. This was awful, and every moment I expected the net +and the sail which our friend had thrown down unceremoniously upon us +would roll off. + +"Oh, stop that," said the Martian, who was no doubt quite as well aware of +the danger as we were. "The tide's full, the shoals are in the bay--stop +your nonsense, and help me launch like good fellows." + +"Well, take two of us, then. We will sit on this heap of nets as quiet +as mice, and stand you a drink when we get back." + +"No, not one of you," quoth the plucky fellow, "and here's my staff in +my hand, and if you don't leave my gear alone I will crack some of your +ugly heads." + +"That's a pity," I thought to myself, "for if they take to fighting it +will be six to one--long odds against our chances." There was indeed a +scuffle, and then a yell of pain, as though a soldier had been hit across +the knuckles; but in a minute the best disposed called out, "Oh, cease +your fun, boys, and let the fellow get off if he wants to. You know +the fleet will be down directly, and Ar-hap has promised something +worth having to the man who can find that lost bit of crackling of his. +It's my opinion she's in the town, and I for one would rather look for +her than go haddock fishing any day." + +"Right you are, mates," said our friend with visible relief. "And, +what's more, if you help me launch this boat and then go to my missus and +tell her what you've done, she'll understand, and give you the biggest +pumpkinful of beer in the place. Ah, she will understand, and bless your +soft hearts and heads while you drink it--she's a cute one is my missus." + +"And aren't you afraid to leave her with us?" + +"Not I, my daisy, unless it were that a sight of your pretty face might +give her hysterics. Now lend a hand, your accursed chatter has already +cost me half an hour of the best fishing time." + +"In with you, old buck!" shouted the soldiers; I felt the fisherman step +in, as a matter of fact he stepped in on to my toes; a dozen hands were +on the gunwales: six soldier yells resounded, it seemed, in my very ears: +there was the grit and rush of pebbles under the keel: a sudden lurch up +of the bows, which brought the fairy lady's honey-scented lips to mine, +and then the gentle lapping of deep blue waters underneath us! + +There is little more to be said of that voyage. We pulled until out +of sight of the town, then hoisted sail, and, with a fair wind, held +upon one tack until we made an island where there was a small colony of +Hither folk. + +Here our friend turned back. I gave him another gold button from my +coat, and the princess a kiss upon either cheek, which he seemed to like +even more than the button. It was small payment, but the best we had. +Doubtless he got safely home, and I can but hope that Providence somehow +or other paid him and his wife for a good deed bravely done. + +Those islanders in turn lent us another boat, with a guide, who had +business in the Hither capital, and on the evening of the second day, +the direct route being very short in comparison, we were under the +crumbling marble walls of Seth. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +It was like turning into a hothouse from a keen winter walk, our arrival +at the beautiful but nerveless city after my life amongst the woodmen. + +As for the people, they were delighted to have their princess back, +but with the delight of children, fawning about her, singing, clapping +hands, yet asking no questions as to where she had been, showing no +appreciation of our adventures--a serious offence in my eyes--and, +perhaps most important of all, no understanding of what I may call the +political bearings of Heru's restoration, and how far their arch enemies +beyond the sea might be inclined to attempt her recovery. + +They were just delighted to have the princess back, and that was the +end of it. Theirs was the joy of a vast nursery let loose. Flower +processions were organised, garlands woven by the mile, a general +order issued that the nation might stay up for an hour after bedtime, +and in the vortex of that gentle rejoicing Heru was taken from me, and +I saw her no more, till there happened the wildest scene of all you have +shared with me so patiently. + +Overlooked, unthanked, I turned sulky, and when this mood, one I can +never maintain for long, wore off, I threw myself into the dissipation +about me with angry zeal. I am frankly ashamed of the confession, but +I was "a sailor ashore," and can only claim the indulgences proper to +the situation. I laughed, danced, drank, through the night; I drank +deep of a dozen rosy ways to forgetfulness, till my mind was a great +confusion, full of flitting pictures of loveliness, till life itself +was an illusive pantomime, and my will but thistle-down on the folly +of the moment. I drank with those gentle roisterers all through their +starlit night, and if we stopped when morning came it was more from +weariness than virtue. Then the yellow-robed slaves gave us the wine +of recovery--alas! my faithful An was not amongst them--and all through +the day we lay about in sodden happiness. + +Towards nightfall I was myself again, not unfortunately with the headache +well earned, but sufficiently remorseful to be in a vein to make good +resolutions for the future. + +In this mood I mingled with a happy crowd, all purposeless and cheerful +as usual, but before long began to feel the influence of one of those +drifts, a universal turning in one direction, as seaweed turns when +the tide changes, so characteristic of Martian society. It was dusk, +a lovely soft velvet dusk, but not dark yet, and I said to a yellow-robed +fairy at my side: + +"Whither away, comrade? It is not eight bells yet. Surely we are not +going to be put to bed so early as this?" + +"No," said that smiling individual, "it is the princess. We are going to +listen to Princess Heru in the palace square. She reads the globe on the +terrace again tonight, to see if omens are propitious for her marriage. +She MUST marry, and you know the ceremony has been unavoidably postponed +so far." + +"Unavoidably postponed?" Yes, Heaven wotted I was aware of the fact. +And was Heru going to marry black Hath in such a hurry? And after all +I had done for her? It was scarcely decent, and I tried to rouse myself +to rage over it, but somehow the seductive Martian contentment with any +fate was getting into my veins. I was not yet altogether sunk in their +slothful acceptance of the inevitable, but there was not the slightest +doubt the hot red blood in me was turning to vapid stuff such as did duty +for the article in their veins. I mustered up a half-hearted frown at +this unwelcome intelligence, turning with it on my face towards the slave +girl; but she had slipped away into the throng, so the frown evaporated, +and shrugging my shoulders I said to myself, "What does it matter? +There are twenty others will do as well for me. If not one, why then +obviously another, 'tis the only rational way to think, and at all events +there is the magic globe. That may tell us something." And slipping +my arm round the waist of the first disengaged girl--we were not then, +mind you, in Atlantic City--I kissed her dimpling cheek unreproached, +and gaily followed in the drift of humanity, trending with a low hum of +pleasure towards the great white terraces under the palace porch. + +How well I knew them! It was just such an evening Heru had consulted +Fate in the same place once before; how much had happened since then! +But there was little time or inclination to think of those things now. +The whole phantom city's population had drifted to one common centre. +The crumbling seaward ramparts were all deserted; no soldier watch was +kept to note if angry woodmen came from over seas; a soft wind blew +in from off the brine, but told no tales; the streets were empty, and, +when as we waited far away in the southern sky the earth planet presently +got up, by its light Heru, herself again, came tripping down the steps +to read her fate. + +They had placed another magic globe under a shroud on a tripod for her. +It stood within the charmed circle upon the terrace, and I was close by, +although the princess did not see me. + +Again that weird, fantastic dance commenced, the princess working herself +up from the drowsiest undulations to a hurricane of emotion. Then she +stopped close by the orb, and seized the corner of the web covering it. +We saw the globe begin to beam with veiled magnificence at her touch. + +Not an eye wavered, not a thought wandered from her in all that silent +multitude. It was a moment of the keenest suspense, and just when it +was at its height there came a strange sound of hurrying feet behind +the outermost crowd, a murmur such as a great pack of wolves might make +rushing through snow, while a soft long wail went up from the darkness. + +Whether Heru understood it or not I cannot say, but she hesitated a +moment, then swept the cloth from the orb of her fate. + +And as its ghostly, self-emitting light beamed up in the darkness with +weird brilliancy, there by it, in gold and furs and war panoply, huge, +fierce, and lowering, stood--AR-HAP HIMSELF! + +Ay, and behind him, towering over the crouching Martians, blocking every +outlet and street, were scores and hundreds of his men. Never was +surprise so utter, ambush more complete. Even I was transfixed with +astonishment, staring with open-mouthed horror at the splendid figure +of the barbarian king as he stood aglitter in the ruddy light, scowling +defiance at the throng around him. So silently had he come on his errand +of vengeance it was difficult to believe he was a reality, and not some +clever piece of stageplay, some vision conjured up by Martian necromancy. + +But he was good reality. In a minute comedy turned to tragedy. Ar-hap +gave a sign with his hand, whereon all his men set up a terrible warcry, +the like of which Seth had not heard for very long, and as far as I could +make out in the half light began hacking and hewing my luckless friends +with all their might. Meanwhile the king made at Heru, feeling sure of +her this time, and doubtless intending to make her taste his vengeance to +the dregs; and seeing her handled like that, and hearing her plaintive +cries, wrath took the place of stupid surprise in me. I was on my feet +in a second, across the intervening space, and with all my force gave +the king a blow upon the jaw which sent even him staggering backwards. +Before I could close again, so swift was the sequence of events in +those flying minutes, a wild mob of people, victims and executioners in +one disordered throng, was between us. How the king fared I know not, +nor stopped to ask, but half dragging, half carrying Heru through the +shrieking mob, got her up the palace steps and in at the great doors, +which a couple of yellow-clad slaves, more frightened of the barbarians +than thoughtful of the crowd without, promptly clapped to, and shot +the bolts. Thus we were safe for a moment, and putting the princess on a +couch, I ran up a short flight of stairs and looked out of a front window +to see if there were a chance of succouring those in the palace square. +But it was all hopeless chaos with the town already beginning to burn +and not a show of fight anywhere which I could join. + +I glared out on that infernal tumult for a moment or two in an agony +of impotent rage, then turned towards the harbour and saw in the shine +of the burning town below the ancient battlements and towers of Seth +begin to gleam out, like a splendid frost work of living metal clear-cut +against the smooth, black night behind, and never a show of resistance +there either. Ay, and by this time Ar-hap's men were battering in +our gates with a big beam, and somehow, I do not know how it happened, +the palace itself away on the right, where the dry-as-dust library lay, +was also beginning to burn. + +It was hopeless outside, and nothing to be done but to save Heru, +so down I went, and, with the slaves, carried her away from the hall +through a vestibule or two, and into an anteroom, where some yellow-girt +individuals were already engaged in the suggestive work of tying up +palace plate in bundles, amongst other things, alas! the great gold +love-bowl from which--oh! so long ago--I had drawn Heru's marriage billet. +These individuals told me in tremulous accents they had got a boat on a +secret waterway behind the palace whence flight to the main river and so, +far away inland, to another smaller but more peaceful city of their race +would be quite practical; and joyfully hearing this news, I handed over +to them the princess while I went to look for Hath. + +And the search was not long. Dashing into the banquet-hall, still +littered with the remains of a feast, and looking down its deserted +vistas, there at the farther end, on his throne, clad in the sombre +garments he affected, chin on hand, sedate in royal melancholy, listening +unmoved to the sack of his town outside, sat the prince himself. Strange, +gloomy man, the great dead intelligence of his race shining in his face as +weird and out of place as a lonely sea beacon fading to nothing before the +glow of sunrise, never had he appeared so mysterious as at that moment. +Even in the heat of excitement I stared at him in amazement, wishing in a +hasty thought the confusion of the past few weeks had given me opportunity +to penetrate the recesses of his mind, and therefrom retell you things +better worth listening to than all the incident of my adventures. +But now there was no time to think, scarce time to act. + +"Hath!" I cried, rushing over to him, "wake up, your majesty. The Thither +men are outside, killing and burning!" + +"I know it." + +"And the palace is on fire. You can smell the reek even here." + +"Yes." + +"Then what are you going to do?" + +"Nothing." + +"My word, that is a fine proposition for a prince! If you care nothing +for town or palace perhaps you will bestir yourself for Princess Heru." + +A faint glimmer of interest rose upon the alabaster calm of his face at +that name, but it faded instantly, and he said quietly, + +"The slaves will save her. She will live. I looked into the book of +her fate yesterday. She will escape, and forget, and sit at another +marriage feast, and be a mother, and give the people yet one more prince +to keep the faint glimmer of our ancestry alive. I am content." + +"But, d--- it, man, I am not! I take a deal more interest in the young +lady than you seem to, and have scoured half this precious planet +of yours on her account, and will be hanged if I sit idly twiddling +my thumbs while her pretty skin is in danger." But Hath was lost in +contemplation of his shoe-strings. + +"Come, sir," I said, shaking his majesty by the shoulder, "don't be down +on your luck. There has been some rivalry between us, but never mind +about that just now. The princess wants you. I am going to save both +her and you, you must come with her." + +"No." + +"But you SHALL come." + +"No!" + +By this time the palace was blazing like a bonfire and the uproar outside +was terrible. What was I to do? As I hesitated the arras at the further +end of the hall was swept aside, a disordered mob of slaves bearing +bundles and dragging Heru with them rushing down to the door near us. +As Heru was carried swiftly by she stretched her milk-white arms towards +the prince and turned her face, lovely as a convolvulus flower even in +its pallor, upon him. + +It was a heart-moving appeal from a woman with the heart of a child, +and Hath rose to his feet while for a moment there shone a look of +responsible manhood in his eyes. But it faded quickly; he bowed slowly +as though he had received an address of condolence on the condition of +his empire, and the next moment the frightened slaves, stumbling under +their burdens, had swept poor Heru through the doorway. + +I glanced savagely round at the curling smoke overhead, the red tendrils +of fire climbing up a distant wall, and there on a table by us was a +half-finished flask of the lovely tinted wine of forgetfulness. If Hath +would not come sober perhaps he might come drunk. + +"Here," I cried, "drink to tomorrow, your majesty, a sovereign toast in +all ages, and better luck next time with these hairy gentlemen battering +at your majesty's doors," and splashing out a goblet full of the stuff +I handed it to him. + +He took it and looked rather lovingly into the limpid pool, then +deliberately poured it on the step in front of him, and throwing the +cup away said pleasantly, + +"Not tonight, good comrade; tonight I drink a deeper draught of oblivion +than that,--and here come my cup-bearers." + +Even while he spoke the palace gates had given way; there was a horrible +medley of shrieks and cries, a quick sound of running feet; then again the +arras lifted and in poured a horde of Ar-hap's men-at-arms. The moment +they caught sight of us about a dozen of them, armed with bows, drew the +thick hide strings to their ears and down the hall came a ravening flight +of shafts. One went through my cap, two stuck quivering in the throne, +and one, winged with owl feather, caught black Hath full in the bosom. + +He had stood out boldly at the first coming of that onset, arms crossed on +breast, chin up, and looking more of a gentleman than I had ever seen him +look before; and now, stricken, he smiled gravely, then without flinching, +and still eyeing his enemies with gentle calm, his knees unlocked, his +frame trembled, then down he went headlong, his red blood running forth +in rivulets amongst the wine of oblivion he had just poured out. + +There was no time for sentiment. I shrugged my shoulders, and turning +on my heels, with the woodmen close after me, sprang through the near +doorway. Where was Heru? I flew down the corridor by which it seemed +she had retreated, and then, hesitating a moment where it divided in two, +took the left one. This to my chagrin presently began to trend upwards, +whereas I knew Heru was making for the river down below. + +But it was impossible to go back, and whenever I stopped in those deserted +passages I could hear the wolflike patter of men's feet upon my trail. +On again into the stony labyrinths of the old palace, ever upwards, +in spite of my desire to go down, until at last, the pursuers off the +track for a moment, I came to a north window in the palace wall, and, +hot and breathless, stayed to look out. + +All was peace here; the sky a lovely lavender, a promise of coming morning +in it, and a gold-spangled curtain of stars out yonder on the horizon. +Not a soul moved. Below appeared a sheer drop of a hundred feet into +a moat winding through thickets of heavy-scented convolvulus flowers +to the waterways beyond. And as I looked a skiff with half a dozen +rowers came swiftly out of the darkness of the wall and passed like a +shadow amongst the thickets. In the prow was all Hath's wedding plate, +and in the stern, a faint vision of unconscious loveliness, lay Heru! + +Before I could lift a finger or call out, even if I had had a mind to +do so, the shadow had gone round a bend, and a shout within the palace +told me I was sighted again. + +On once more, hotly pursued, until the last corridor ended in two doors +leading into a half-lit gallery with open windows at the further end. +There was a wilderness of lumber down the sides of the great garret, +and now I come to think of it more calmly I imagine it was Hath's +Lost Property Office, the vast receptacle where his slaves deposited +everything lazy Martians forgot or left about in their daily life. +At that moment it only represented a last refuge, and into it I dashed, +swung the doors to and fastened them just as the foremost of Ar-hap's +men hurled themselves upon the barrier from outside. + +There I was like a rat in a trap, and like a rat I made up my mind +to fight savagely to the end, without for a moment deceiving myself +as to what that end must be. Even up there the horrible roar of +destruction was plainly audible as the barbarians sacked and burned +the ancient town, and I was glad from the bottom of my heart my poor +little princess was safely out of it. Nor did I bear her or hers the +least resentment for making off while there was yet time and leaving me +to my fate--anything else would have been contrary to Martian nature. +Doubtless she would get away, as Hath had said, and elsewhere drop a +few pearly tears and then over her sugar-candy and lotus-eating forget +with happy completeness--most blessed gift! And meanwhile the foresaid +barbarians were battering on my doors, while over their heads choking +smoke was pouring in in ever-increas-ing volumes. + +In burst the first panel, then another, and I could see through the +gaps a medley of tossing weapons and wild faces without. Short shrift +for me if they came through, so in the obstinacy of desperation I set +to work to pile old furniture and dry goods against the barricade. +And as they yelled and hammered outside I screamed back defiance from +within, sweating, tugging, and hauling with the strength of ten men, +piling up the old Martian lumber against the opening till, so fierce was +the attack outside, little was left of the original doorway and nothing +between me and the beseigers but a rampart of broken woodwork half seen +in a smother of smoke and flames. + +Still they came on, thrusting spears and javelins through every crevice +and my strength began to go. I threw two tables into a gap, and brained +a besieger with a sweetmeat-seller's block and smothered another, and +overturned a great chest against my barricade; but what was the purpose +of it all? They were fifty to one and my rampart quaked before them. +The smoke was stifling, and the pains of dissolution in my heart. +They burst in and clambered up the rampart like black ants. I looked +round for still one more thing to hurl into the breach. My eyes lit on +a roll of carpet: I seized it by one corner meaning to drag it to the +doorway, and it came undone at a touch. + +That strange, that incredible pattern! Where in all the vicissitudes +of a chequered career had I seen such a one before? I stared at it in +amazement under the very spears of the woodmen in the red glare of Hath's +burning palace. Then all on a sudden it burst upon me that IT WAS THE +ACCURSED RUG, the very one which in response to a careless wish had swept +me out of my own dear world, and forced me to take as wild a journey +into space as ever fell to a man's lot since the universe was made! + +And in another second it occurred to me that if it had brought me hither +it might take me hence. It was but a chance, yet worth trying when all +other chances were against me. As Ar-hap's men came shouting over the +barricade I threw myself down upon that incredible carpet and cried from +the bottom of my heart, + +"I wish--I wish I were in New York!" + +Yes! + +A moment of thrilling suspense and then the corners lifted as though +a strong breeze were playing upon them. Another moment and they had +curled over like an incoming surge. One swift glance I got at the smoke +and flames, the glittering spears and angry faces, and then fold upon +fold, a stifling, all-enveloping embrace, a lift, a sense of super-human +speed--and then forgetfulness. + +When I came to, as reporters say, I was aware the rug had ejected me on +solid ground and disappeared, forever. Where was I! It was cool, damp, +and muddy. There were some iron railings close at hand and a street +lamp overhead. These things showed clearly to me, sitting on a doorstep +under that light, head in hand, amazed and giddy--so amazed that when +slowly the recognition came of the incredible fact my wish was gratified +and I was home again, the stupendous incident scarcely appealed to my +tingling senses more than one of the many others I had lately undergone. + +Very slowly I rose to my feet, and as like a discreditable reveller as +could be, climbed the steps. The front door was open, and entering the +oh, so familiar hall a sound of voices in my sitting-room on the right +caught my ear. + +"Oh no, Mrs. Brown," said one, which I recognised at once as my Polly's, +"he is dead for certain, and my heart is breaking. He would never, +never have left me so long without writing if he had been alive," and +then came a great sound of sobbing. + +"Bless your kind heart, miss," said the voice of my landlady in reply, +"but you don't know as much about young gentlemen as I do. It is not +likely, if he has gone off on the razzle-dazzle, as I am sure he has, +he is going to write every post and tell you about it. Now you go off +to your ma at the hotel like a dear, and forget all about him till he +comes back--that's MY advice." + +"I cannot, I cannot, Mrs. Brown. I cannot rest by day or sleep by +night for thinking of him; for wondering why he went away so suddenly, +and for hungering for news of him. Oh, I am miserable. Gully! Gully! +Come to me," and then there were sounds of troubled footsteps pacing to +and fro and of a woman's grief. + +That was more than I could stand. I flung the door open, and, dirty, +dishevelled, with unsteady steps, advanced into the room. + +"Ahem!" coughed Mrs. Brown, "just as I expected!" + +But I had no eyes for her. "Polly! Polly!" I cried, and that dear +girl, after a startled scream and a glance to make sure it was indeed +the recovered prodigal, rushed over and threw all her weight of dear, +warm, comfortable womanhood into my arms, and the moment after burst +into a passion of happy tears down my collar. + +"Humph!" quoth the landlady, "that is not what BROWN gets when he forgets +his self. No, not by any means." + +But she was a good old soul at heart, and, seeing how matters stood, +with a parting glance of scorn in my direction and a toss of her head, +went out of the room, and closed the door behind her. + +Need I tell in detail what followed? Polly behaved like an angel, and +when in answer to her gentle reproaches I told her the outlines of my +marvellous story she almost believed me! Over there on the writing-desk +lay a whole row of the unopened letters she had showered upon me during +my absence, and amongst them an official one. We went and opened it +together, and it was an intimation of my promotion, a much better "step" +than I had ever dared to hope for. + +Holding that missive in my hand a thought suddenly occurred to me. + +"Polly dear, this letter makes me able to maintain you as you ought +to be maintained, and there is still a fortnight of vacation for me. +Polly, will you marry me tomorrow?" + +"No, certainly not, sir." + +"Then will you marry me on Monday?" + +"Do you truly, truly want me to?" + +"Truly, truly." + +"Then, yes," and the dear girl again came blushing into my arms. + +While we were thus the door opened, and in came her parents who were +staying at a neighbouring hotel while inquiries were made as to my +mysterious absence. Not unnaturally my appearance went a long way to +confirm suspicions such as Mrs. Brown had confessed to, and, after they +had given me cold salutations, Polly's mother, fixing gold glasses on +the bridge of her nose and eyeing me haughtily therefrom, observed, + +"And now that you ARE safely at home again, Lieutenant Gulliver Jones, +I think I will take my daughter away with me. Tomorrow her father will +ascertain the true state of her feelings after this unpleasant experience, +and subsequently he will no doubt communicate with you on the subject." +This very icily. + +But I was too happy to be lightly put down. + +"My dear madam," I replied, "I am happy to be able to save her father +that trouble. I have already communicated with this young lady as to +the state of her feelings, and as an outcome I am delighted to be able +to tell you we are to be married on Monday." + +"Oh yes, Mother, it is true, and if you do not want to make me the most +miserable of girls again you will not be unkind to us." + +In brief, that sweet champion spoke so prettily and smoothed things so +cleverly that I was "forgiven," and later on in the evening allowed to +escort Polly back to her hotel. + +"And oh!" she said, in her charmingly enthusiastic way when we were +saying goodnight, "you shall write a book about that extraordinary story +you told me just now. Only you must promise me one thing." + +"What is it?" + +"To leave out all about Heru--I don't like that part at all." This with +the prettiest little pout. + +"But, Polly dear, see how important she was to the narrative. I cannot +quite do that." + +"Then you will say as little as you can about her?" + +"No more than the story compels me to." + +"And you are quite sure you like me much the best, and will not go after +her again?" + +"Quite sure." + +The compact was sealed in the most approved fashion; and here, indulgent +reader, is the artless narrative that resulted--an incident so incredible +in this prosaic latter-day world that I dare not ask you to believe, +and must humbly content myself with hoping that if I fail to convince +yet I may at least claim the consolation of having amused you. + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Gulliver of Mars by Edwin L. Arnold + diff --git a/old/gulvm11.zip b/old/gulvm11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec0a56a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/gulvm11.zip |