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diff --git a/8673.txt b/8673.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..783ade3 --- /dev/null +++ b/8673.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7893 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Columbus of Space, by Garrett P. Serviss + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Columbus of Space + +Author: Garrett P. Serviss + +Posting Date: August 25, 2012 [EBook #8673] +Release Date: August, 2005 +First Posted: July 31, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COLUMBUS OF SPACE *** + + + + +Produced by Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + A COLUMBUS OF SPACE + + BY GARRETT P. SERVISS + + + +[Illustration: "Standing on the steps ... was a creature shaped like a +man, but more savage than a gorilla."] + + + TO THE READERS OF + JULES VERNE'S ROMANCES + THIS STORY IS DEDICATED + + +Not because the author flatters himself that he can walk in the Footsteps +of that Immortal Dreamer, but because, like Jules Verne, he believes that +the World of Imagination is as legitimate a Domain of the Human Mind as +the World of Fact. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. A MARVELOUS INVENTION + + II. A TRIP OF TERROR + + III. THE PLANETARY LIMITED + + IV. THE CAVERNS OF VENUS + + V. OFF FOR THE SUN LANDS + + VI. LOST IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS + + VII. THE CHILDREN OF THE SUN + + VIII. LANGUAGE WITHOUT SPEECH + + IX. AN AMAZING METROPOLIS + + X. IMPRISONMENT AND A WONDERFUL ESCAPE + + XI. BEFORE THE THRONE OF VENUS + + XII. MORE MARVELS + + XIII. WE FALL INTO TROUBLE AGAIN + + XIV. THE SUN GOD + + XV. AT THE MERCY OF FEARFUL ENEMIES + + XVI. DREADFUL CREATURES OF THE GLOOM + + XVII. EARTH MAGIC ON VENUS + +XVIII. WILD EDEN + + XIX. THE SECRET OF THE CAR + + XX. THE CORYBANTIA OF THE SUN + + XXI. THE EARTH + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +"Standing on the steps ... was a creature shaped like a man, but more +savage than a gorilla" + +"We were in the heart of the _Crystal Mountains!_" + +"'Who and what are you, and whence do you come?'" + +"It curled itself over the edge of the hovering air ship and drew it +down" + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +A MARVELOUS INVENTION + +I am a hero worshiper; an insatiable devourer of biographies; and I say +that no man in all the splendid list ever equaled Edmund Stonewall. You +smile because you have never heard his name, for, until now, his +biography has not been written. And this is not truly a biography; it is +only the story of the crowning event in Stonewall's career. + +Really it humbles one's pride of race to see how ignorant the world is of +its true heroes. Many a man who cuts a great figure in history is, after +all, a poor specimen of humanity, slavishly following old ruts, destitute +of any real originality, and remarkable only for some exaggeration of the +commonplace. But in the case of Edmund Stonewall the world cannot be +blamed for its ignorance, because, as I have already said, his story +remains to be written, and hitherto it has been guarded as a profound +secret. + +I do not wish to exaggerate; yet I cannot avoid seeming to do so in +simply telling the facts. If Stonewall's proceedings had become +Matter of common knowledge the world would have been--I must speak +plainly--revolutionized. He held in his hands the means of realizing the +wildest dreams of power, wealth, and human mastery over the forces of +nature, that any enthusiast ever treasured in his prophetic soul. It was +a part of his originality that he never entertained the thought of +employing his advantage in any such way. His character was entirely free +from the ordinary forms of avidity. He cared nothing for wealth in +itself, and as little for fame. All his energies were concentrated upon +the attainment of ends which nobody but himself would have regarded as of +any practical importance. Thus it happened that, having made an invention +which would have put every human industry upon a new footing, and +multiplied beyond the limits of calculation the activities and +achievements of mankind, this extraordinary person turned his back upon +the colossal fortune which he had but to stretch forth his hand and +grasp, refused to seize the unlimited power which his genius had laid at +his feet, and used his unparalleled discovery for a purpose so eccentric, +so wildly unpractical, so utterly beyond the pale of waking life, that to +any ordinary man he must have seemed a lunatic lost in an endless dream +of bedlam. And to this day I cannot, without a nervous thrill, think how +the desire of all the ages, the ideal that has been the loadstar for +thousands of philosophers, savants, inventors, prophets, and dreamers, +was actually realized upon the earth; and yet of all its fifteen hundred +million inhabitants but a single one knew it, possessed it, controlled +it--and he would not reveal it, but hoarded and used his knowledge for +the accomplishment of the craziest design that ever took shape in a human +brain. + +Now, to be more specific. Of Stonewall's antecedents I know very little. +I only know that, in a moderate way, he was wealthy, and that he had no +immediate family ties. He was somewhere near thirty years of age, and +held the diploma of one of our oldest universities. But he was not, in a +general way, sociable, and I never knew him to attend any of the reunions +of his former classmates, or to show the slightest interest in any of the +events or functions of society, although its doors were open to him +through some distant relatives who were widely connected in New York, and +who at times tried to draw him into their circle. He would certainly have +adorned it, but it had no attraction for him. Nevertheless he was a +member of the Olympus Club, where he frequently spent his evenings. But +he made very few acquaintances even there, and I believe that except +myself, Jack Ashton, Henry Darton, and Will Church, he had no intimates. +And we knew him only at the club. There, when he was alone with us, he +sometimes partly opened up his mind, and we were charmed by his variety +of knowledge and the singularity of his conversation. I shall not +disguise the fact that we thought him extremely eccentric, although the +idea of anything in the nature of insanity never entered our heads. We +knew that he was engaged in recondite researches of a scientific nature, +and that he possessed a private laboratory, although none of us had ever +entered it. Occasionally he would speak of some new advance of science, +throwing a flood of light by his clear expositions upon things of which +we should otherwise have remained profoundly ignorant. His imagination +flashed like lightning over the subject of his talk, revealing it at the +most unexpected angles, and often he roused us to real enthusiasm for +things the very names of which we almost forgot amidst the next day's +occupations. + +There was one subject on which he was particularly +eloquent--radioactivity; that most strange property of matter whose +discovery had been the crowning glory of science in the closing decade of +the nineteenth century. None of us really knew anything about it except +what Stonewall taught us. If some new incomprehensible announcement +appeared in the newspapers we skipped it, being sure that Edmund would +make it all clear at the club in the evening. He made us understand, in a +dim way, that some vast, tremendous secret lay behind it all. I recall +his saying, on one occasion, not long before the blow fell: + +"Listen to this! Here's Professor Thomson declaring that a single grain +of radium contains in its padlocked atoms energy enough to lift a million +tons three hundred yards high. Professor Thomson is too modest in his +estimates, and he hasn't the ghost of an idea how to get at that energy. +Neither has Professor Rutherford, nor Lord Kelvin; _but somebody will get +at it, just the same_." + +He positively thrilled us when he spoke thus, for there was a look in his +eyes which seemed to penetrate depths unfathomable to our intelligence. +Yet we had not the faintest conception of what was really passing in his +mind. If we had understood it, if we had caught a single clear glimpse of +the workings of his intellect, we should have been appalled. And if we +had known how close we stood to the verge of an abyss of mystery about to +be lighted by such a gleam as had never before been emitted from the +human spirit, I believe that we would have started from our chairs and +fled in dismay. + +But we understood nothing, except that Edmund was indulging in one of his +eccentric dreams, and Jack, in his large, careless, good-natured way +broke in with: + +"Well, Edmund, suppose _you_ could 'get at it,' as you say; what would +you do with it?" + +Stonewall's eyes gleamed for a moment, and then he replied, with a +curious emphasis: + +"I might do what Archimedes dreamed of." + +None of us happened to remember what it was that Archimedes had dreamed, +and the subject was dropped. + +For a considerable time afterwards we saw nothing of Stonewall. He did +not come to the club, and we were beginning to think of looking him up, +when one evening, quite unexpectedly, he dropped in, wearing an unusually +cheerful expression. We had greatly missed him, and we now greeted him +with effusion. His animation impressed us all, and he had no sooner +shaken hands than he said, with suppressed excitement in his voice: + +"Well, I've 'got at it.'" + +"Got at what?" drawled Jack. + +"The inter-atomic energy. I've got it under control." + +"The deuce you have!" said Jack. + +"Yes, I've arrived where a certain professor dreamed of being when he +averred that 'when man knows that every breath of air he draws has +contained within itself force enough to drive the workshops of the world +he will find out some day, somehow, some way of tapping that energy.' The +thing is done, for I've tapped it!" + +We stared at one another, not knowing what to say, except Jack, who, +inspired by the spirit of mischief, drawled out: + +"Ah, yes, I remember. Well then, Edmund, as I asked you before, what are +you going to do with it?" + +There was not really any thought among us of poking fun at Edmund; we +respected and admired him far too much for that; nevertheless, catching +the infection of banter from Jack, we united in demanding, in a manner +which I can now see must have appeared most provoking: + +"Why, yes, Edmund, tell us what you are going to do with it." + +And then Jack added fuel by mockingly, though with perfectly good-natured +intention, taking Edmund by the hand and swinging him in front of us +with: + +"Gentlemen, Archimedes junior." + +Stonewall's eyes flashed and his cheek darkened, but for a moment he said +nothing. Presently, with a return of his former affability, he said: + +"I wish you would come over to the laboratory and let me show you what I +am going to do." + +Of course we instantly assented. Nothing could have pleased us better +than this invitation, for we had long been dying to see the inside of +Edmund's laboratory. We all got our hats and started out with him. We +knew where he lived, occupying a whole house though he was a bachelor, +but none of us had ever seen the inside of it, and our curiosity was on +the _qui vive_. He led us through a handsome hallway and a rear apartment +directly into the back yard, half of which we were surprised to find +inclosed and roofed over, forming a huge shanty, like a workshop. Edmund +opened the door of the shanty and ushered us in. + +A remarkable object at once concentrated our attention. In the center of +the place was the queerest-looking thing that you can well imagine. I can +hardly describe it. It was round and elongated like a boiler, with +bulging ends, and seemed to be made of polished steel. Its total length +was about eighteen feet, and its width ten feet. Edmund approached it and +opened a door in the end, which was wide and high enough for us to enter +without stooping or crowding. + +"Step in, gentlemen," he said, and unhesitatingly we obeyed him, all +except Church, who for some unknown reason remained outside, and when we +looked for him had disappeared. + +Edmund turned on a bright light, and we found ourselves in an +oblong chamber, beautifully fitted up with polished woodwork, and +leather-cushioned seats running round the sides. Many metallic knobs and +handles shone on the walls. + +"Sit down," said Edmund, "and I will tell you what I have got here." + +He stepped to the door and called again for Church but there was no +answer. We concluded that, thinking the thing would be too deep to be +interesting, he had gone back to the club. That was not what he had done, +as you will learn later, but he never regretted what he did do. Getting +no response from Church, Edmund finally sat down with us on one of the +leather-covered benches, and began his explanation. + +"As I was telling you at the club," he said, "I've solved the mystery of +the atoms. I'm sure you'll excuse me from explaining my method" (there +was a little raillery in his manner), "but at least you can understand +the plain statement that I've got unlimited power at my command. These +knobs and handles that you see are my keys for turning it on and off, and +controlling it as I wish. Mark you, this power comes right out of the +heart of what we call matter; the world is chock full of it. We have +known that it was there at least ever since radioactivity was discovered, +but it looked as though human intelligence would never be able to set it +free from its prison. Nevertheless I have not only set it free, but I am +able to control it as perfectly as if it were steam from a boiler, or an +electric current from a dynamo." + +Jack, who was as unscientific a person as ever lived, yawned, and Edmund +noticed it. But he showed no irritation, merely smiling, and saying, with +a wink at me and Henry: + +"Even this seems to be rather too deep, so perhaps I had better show you, +instead of telling you, what I mean. Excuse me a moment." + +He stepped out of the door, and we remained seated. We heard a noise +outside like the opening of a barn door, and immediately Edmund +reappeared and closed the door of the chamber in which we were. We +watched him with growing curiosity. With a singular smile he pressed a +knob on the wall, and instantly we felt that the chamber was rising in +the air. It rocked a little like a boat in wavy water. We were startled, +of course, but not alarmed. + +"Hello!" exclaimed Jack. "What kind of a balloon is this?" + +"It's something more than a balloon," was Edmund's reply, and as he spoke +he touched another knob, and we felt the car, as I must now call it, come +to rest. Then Edmund opened a shutter at one side, and we all sprang up +to look out. Below us we saw roofs and the tops of two trees standing at +the side of the street. + +"We're about a hundred feet up," said Edmund quietly. "What do you think +of it now?" + +"Wonderful! wonderful!" we exclaimed in a breath. And I continued: + +"And do you say that it is inter-atomic energy that does this?" + +"Nothing else in the world," returned Edmund. + +But bantering Jack must have his quip: + +"By the way, Edmund," he demanded, "what was it that Archimedes dreamed? +But no matter; you've knocked him silly. Now, what are you going to do +with your atomic balloon?" + +Edmund's eyes flashed: + +"You'll see in a minute." + +The scene out of the window was beautiful, and for a moment we all +remained watching it. The city lights were nearly all below our level, +and away off over the New Jersey horizon I noticed the planet Venus, near +to setting, but as brilliant as a diamond. I am fond of star-gazing, and +I called Edmund's attention to the planet as he happened to be standing +next to me. + +"Lovely, isn't she?" he said with enthusiasm. "The finest world in the +solar system, and what a strange thing that she should have one side +always day and the other always night." + +I was surprised by his exhibition of astronomic lore, for I had never +known that he had given any attention to the subject, but a minute later +the incident was forgotten as Edmund suddenly pushed us back from the +window and closed the shutter. + +"Going down again so soon?" asked Jack. + +Edmund smiled. "Going," he said simply, and put his hand to one of the +knobs. Immediately we felt ourselves moving very slowly. + +"That's right, Edmund," put in Jack again, "let us down easy; I don't +like bumps." + +We expected at each instant to feel the car touch the cradle in which it +had evidently rested, but never were three mortals so mistaken. What +really did happen can better be described in the words of Will Church, +who, you will remember, had disappeared at the beginning of our singular +adventure. I got the account from him long afterwards. He had written it +out carefully and put it away in a safe, as a sort of historic document. +Here is Church's narrative, omitting the introduction, which read like a +law paper: + +"When we went over from the club to Stonewall's house, I dropped behind +the others, because the four of them took up the whole width of the +sidewalk. Stonewall was talking to them, and my attention was attracted +by something uncommon in his manner. He had an indefinable carriage of +the head which suggested to me the suspicion that everything was not just +as it should be. I don't mean that I thought him crazy, or anything of +that kind, but I felt that he had some scheme in his mind to fool us. + +"I bitterly repented, after things turned out as they did, that I had not +whispered a word to the others. But that would have been difficult, and, +besides, I had no idea of the seriousness of the affair. Nevertheless, I +determined to stay out of it, so that the laugh should not be on me at +any rate. Accordingly when the others entered the car I stayed outside, +and when Stonewall called me I did not answer. + +"When he came out to open the roof of the shed, he did not see me in the +shadow where I stood. The opening of the roof revealed the whole scheme +in a flash. I had had no suspicion that the car was any kind of a +balloon, and even after he had so significantly thrown the roof open, and +then entered the car and closed the door, I was fairly amazed to see the +thing began to rise without the slightest noise, and as if it were +enchanted. It really looked diabolical as it floated silently upward and +passed through the opening, and the sight gave me a shiver. + +"But I was greatly relieved when it stopped at a height of a hundred feet +or so, and then I said to myself that I should have been less of a fool +if I had stayed with the others, for now they would have the laugh on me +alone. Suddenly, while I watched, expecting every moment to see them drop +down again, for I supposed that it was merely an experiment to show that +the thing would float, the car started upward, very slowly at first, but +increasing its speed until it had attained an elevation of perhaps five +hundred feet. There it hung for a moment, like some mail-clad monster +glinting in the quavering light of the street arcs, and then, without +warning, made a dart skyward. For a minute it circled like a strange bird +taking its bearings, and finally rushed off westward until I lost sight +of it behind some tall buildings. I ran into the house to reach the +street, but found the outer door locked, and not a person visible. I +called but nobody came. Returning to the yard I discovered a place where +I could get over the fence, and so I escaped into the street. Immediately +I searched the sky for the mysterious car, but could see no sign of it. +They were gone! I almost sank upon the pavement in a state of helpless +excitement, which I could not have explained to myself if I had stopped +to reason; for why, after all, should I take the thing so tragically. But +something within me said that all was wrong. A policeman happened to +pass. + +"'Officer! officer!' I shouted, 'have you seen it?' + +"'Seen what?' asked the blue-coat, twirling his club. + +"'The car--the balloon,' I stammered. + +"'Balloon in your head! You're drunk. Get long out o' here!' + +"I realized the impossibility of explaining the matter to him, and +running back to the place where I had got over the fence I climbed into +the yard and entered the shed. Fortunately the policeman paid no further +attention to my movements after I left him. I sat down on the empty +cradle and stared up through the opening in the roof, hoping against hope +to see them coming back. It must have been midnight before I gave up my +vigil in despair, and went home, sorely puzzled, and blaming myself for +having kept my suspicions unuttered. I finally got to sleep, but I had +horrible dreams. + +"The next day I was up early looking through all the papers in the hope +of finding something about the car. But there was not a word. I watched +the news columns for several days without result. Whenever the coast was +clear I haunted Stonewall's yard, but the fatal shed yawned empty, and +there was not a soul about the house. I cannot describe my feelings. My +friends seemed to have been snatched away by some mysterious agency, and +the horror of the thing almost drove me crazy. I felt that I was, in a +manner, responsible for their disappearance. + +"One day my heart sank at the sight of a cousin of Jack Ashton's +motioning to me in the street. He approached, with a troubled look. 'Mr. +Church,' he said, 'I think you know me; can you tell me what has become +of Jack? I haven't seen him for several days.' What could I say? Still +believing that they would soon come back, I invented, on the spur of the +moment, a story that Jack, with a couple of intimate friends, had gone +off on a hunting expedition. I took a little comfort in the reflection +that my friends, like myself, were bachelors, and consequently at liberty +to disappear if they chose. + +"But when more than a week had passed with out any news of them I was +thrown into despair. I had to give up all hope. Remembering how near we +were to the coast, I concluded that they had drifted out over the sea and +gone down. It was hard for me, after the lie I had told, to let out the +truth to such of their friends as I knew, but I had to do it. Then the +police took the matter in hand and ransacked Stonewall's laboratory and +the shanty without finding anything to throw light on the mystery. It was +a newspaper sensation for a few days, but as nothing came of it everybody +soon forgot all about it--all except me. I was left to my loneliness and +my regrets. + +"A year has now passed with no news from them. I write this on the +anniversary of their departure. My friends, I know, are dead--somewhere! +Oh, what an experience it has been! When your friends die and are buried +it is hard enough but when they disappear in a flash and leave no +token--! It is almost beyond endurance!" + + + +CHAPTER II + + +A TRIP OF TERROR + +I take up the story at the point where I dropped it to introduce Church's +narrative. + +As minute after minute elapsed and we continued in motion we changed our +minds about the descent, and concluded that the inventor was going to +give us a much longer ride than we had anticipated. We were startled and +puzzled but not really alarmed, for the car traveled so smoothly that it +gave one a sense of confidence. On the other hand, we felt a little +indignation that Edmund should treat us like a lot of boys, without wills +of our own. No doubt we had provoked him, though unintentionally, but +this was going too far on his part. I am sure we were all hot with this +feeling and presently Jack flamed out: + +"Look here, Edmund," he exclaimed, dropping his customary good-natured +manner, "this is carrying things with a pretty high hand. It's a good +deal like kidnapping, it seems to me. I didn't give you permission to +carry me off in this way, and I want to know what you mean by it and what +you are about. I've no objection to making a little trip in your car, +which is certainly mighty comfortable, but first I'd like to be asked +whether I want to go or no." + +Edmund shrugged his shoulders and made no reply. He was very busy just +then with the metallic knobs. Suddenly we were jerked off our feet as if +we had been in a trolley driven by a green motorman. Edmund also would +have fallen if he had not clung to one of the handles. We felt that we +were spinning through the air at a fearful speed. Still Edmund uttered +not a word, but while we staggered upon our feet, and steadied ourselves +with hands and knees on the leather-cushioned benches like so many +drunken men, he continued pulling and pushing at his knobs. Finally the +motion became more regular and it was evident that the car had slowed +down from its wild rush. + +"Excuse me," said Edmund, then, quite in his natural manner, "the thing +is new yet and I've got to learn the stops by experience. But there's no +occasion for alarm." + +But our indignation had grown hotter with the shake-up that we had just +had, and as usual Jack was spokesman for it: + +"Maybe there is no occasion for alarm," he said excitedly, "but will you +be kind enough to answer my question, and tell us what you're about and +where we are going?" + +And Henry, too, who was ordinarily as mute as a clam, broke out still +more hotly: + +"See here! I've had enough of this thing! Just go down and let me out. I +won't be carried off so, against my will and knowledge." + +By this time Edmund appeared to have got things in the shape he wanted, +and he turned to face us. He always had a magnetism that was +inexplicable, and now we felt it as never before. His features were +perfectly calm, but there was a light in his eyes that seemed electric. +As if disdaining to make a direct reply to the heated words of Jack and +Henry he began in a quiet voice: + +"It was my first intention to invite you to accompany me on a very +interesting expedition. I knew that none of you had any ties of family or +business to detain you, and I felt sure that you would readily consent. +In case you should not, however, I had made up my mind to go alone. But +you provoked me more than you knew, probably, at the club, and after we +had entered the car, and, being myself hot-tempered, I determined to +teach you a lesson. I have no intention, however, of abducting you. It is +true that you are in my power at present, but if you now say that you do +not wish to be concerned in what I assure you will prove the most +wonderful enterprise ever undertaken by human beings, I will go back to +the shed and let you out." + +We looked at one another, in doubt what to reply until Jack, who, with +all his impulsiveness had more of the milk of human kindness in his heart +than anyone else I ever knew, seized Edmund's hand and exclaimed: + +"All right, old boy, bygones are bygones; I'm with you. Now what do you +fellows say?" + +"I'm with you, too," I cried, yielding to the spur of Jack's enthusiasm +and moved also by an intense curiosity. "I say go ahead." + +Henry was more backward. But his curiosity, too, was aroused, and at +length he gave in his voice with the others. + +Jack swung his hat. + +"Three cheers, then, for the modern Archimedes! You won't take that amiss +now Edmund." + +We gave the cheers, and I could see that Edmund was immensely pleased. + +"And now," Jack continued, "tell us all about it. Where are we going?" + +"Pardon me, Jack," was Edmund's reply, "but I'd rather keep that for a +surprise. You shall know everything in good time; or at least everything +that you can understand," he added, with a slightly malicious smile. + +Feeling a little more interest than the others, perhaps, in the +scientific aspects of the business, I asked Edmund to tell us something +more about the nature of his wonderful invention. He responded with great +good humor, but rather in the manner of a schoolmaster addressing pupils +who, he knows, cannot entirely follow him. + +"These knobs and handles on the walls," he said, "control the driving +power, which, as I have told you, comes from the atoms of matter which I +have persuaded to unlock their hidden forces. I push or turn one way and +we go ahead, or we rise; I push or turn another way and we stop, or go +back. So I concentrate the atomic force just as I choose. It makes us go, +or it carries us back to earth, or it holds us motionless, according to +the way I apply it. The earth is what I kick against at present, and what +I hold fast by; but any other sufficiently massive body would serve the +same purpose. As to the machinery, you'd need a special education in +order to understand it. You'd have to study the whole subject from the +bottom up, and go through all the experiments that I have tried. I +confess that there are some things the fundamental reason of which I +don't understand myself. But I know how to apply and control the power, +and if I had Professor Thomson and Professor Rutherford here, I'd make +them open their eyes. I wish I had been able to kidnap them." + +"That's a confession that, after all, you've kidnapped us," put in Jack, +smiling. + +"If you insist upon stating it in that way--yes," replied Edmund, smiling +also. "But you know that now you've consented." + +"Perhaps you'll treat us to a trip to Paris," Jack persisted. + +"Better than that," was the reply. "Paris is only an ant-hill in +comparison with what you are going to see." + +And so, indeed, it turned out! + +Finally all got out their pipes, and we began to make ourselves at home, +for truly, as far as luxurious furniture was concerned, we were as +comfortable as at the Olympus Club, and the motion of the strange craft +was so smooth and regular that it soothed us like an anodyne. It was only +those unnamed, subtle senses which man possesses almost without being +aware of their existence that assured us that we were in motion at all. + +After we had smoked for an hour or so, talking and telling stories quite +in the manner of the club, Edmund suddenly asked, with a peculiar smile: + +"Aren't you a little surprised that this small room is not choking full +of smoke? You know that the shutters are tightly closed." + +"By Jo," exclaimed Jack, "that's so! Why here we've been pouring out +clouds like old Vesuvius for an hour with no windows open, and yet the +air is as clear as a bell." + +"The smoke," said Edmund impressively, "has been turned into atomic +energy to speed us on our way. I'm glad you're all good smokers, for that +saves me fuel. Look," he continued, while we, amazed, stared at him, +"those fellows there have been swallowing your smoke, and glad to get +it." + +He pointed at a row of what seemed to be grinning steel mouths, barred +with innumerable black teeth, and half concealed by a projecting ledge at +the bottom of the wall opposite the entrance, and as I looked I was +thrilled by the sight of faint curls of smoke disappearing within their +gaping jaws. + +"They are omnivorous beasts," said Edmund. "They feed on the carbon from +your breath, too. Rather remarkable, isn't it, that every time you expel +the air from your lungs you help this car to go?" + +None of us knew what to say; our astonishment was beyond speech. We began +to look askance at Edmund, with creeping sensations about the spine. A +formless, unacknowledged fear of him entered our souls. It never occurred +to us to doubt the truth of what he had said. We knew him too well for +that; and, then, were we not here, flying mysteriously through the air in +a heavy metallic car that had no apparent motive power? For my part, +instead of demanding any further explanations, I fell into a hazy reverie +on the marvel of it all; and Jack and Henry must have been seized the +same way, for not one of us spoke a word, or asked a question; while +Edmund, satisfied, perhaps, with the impression he had made, kept equally +quiet. + +Thus another hour passed, and all of us, I think, had fallen into a doze, +when Edmund aroused us by saying: + +"I'll have to keep the first watch, and all the others, too, this night." + +"So then we're not going to land to-night?" + +"No, not to-night, and you may as well turn in. You see that I have +prepared good, comfortable bunks, and I think you'll make out very well." + +As Edmund spoke he lifted the tops from some of the benches along the +walls, and revealed excellent beds, ready for occupancy. + +"I believe that I have forgotten nothing that we shall really need," he +added. "Beds, arms, instruments, books, clothing, furs, and good things +to eat." + +Again we looked at one another in surprise, but nobody spoke, although +the same thought probably occurred to each--that this promised to be a +pretty long trip, judging from the preparations. Arms! What in the world +should we need of arms? Was he going to the Rocky Mountains for a bear +hunt? And clothing, and furs! + +But we were really sleepy, and none of us was very long in taking Edmund +at his word and leaving him to watch alone. He considerately drew a shade +over the light, and then noiselessly opened a shutter and looked out. +When I saw that, I was strongly tempted to rise and take a look myself, +but instead I fell asleep. My dreams were disturbed by visions of the +grinning nondescripts at the foot of the wall, which transformed +themselves into winged dragons, and remorselessly pursued me through the +measureless abysses of space. + +When I woke, windows were open on both sides of the car, and brilliant +sunshine was streaming in through one of them. Henry was still asleep, +Jack was yawning in his bunk, and Edmund stood at one of the windows +staring out. I made a quick toilet, and hastened to Edmund's side. + +"Good morning," he said heartily, taking my hand. "Look out here, and +tell me what you think of the prospect." + +As I put my face close to the thick but very transparent glass covering +the window, my heart jumped into my mouth! + +"In Heaven's name, where are we?" I cried out. + +Jack, hearing my agitated exclamation, jumped out of his bunk and ran to +the window also. He gasped as he gazed out, and truly it was enough to +take away one's breath! + +We appeared to be at an infinite elevation, and the sky, as black as ink, +was ablaze with stars, although the bright sunlight was streaming into +the opposite window behind us. I could see nothing of the earth. +Evidently we were too high for that. + +"It must lie away down under our feet," I murmured half aloud, "so that +even the horizon has sunk out of sight. Heavens, what a height!" + +I had that queer uncontrollable qualm that comes to every one who finds +himself suddenly on the edge of a soundless deep. + +Presently I became aware that straight before us, but afar off, was a +most singular appearance in the sky. At first glance I thought that it +was a cloud, round and mottled, But it was strangely changeless in form, +and it had an unvaporous look. + +"Phew!" whistled Jack, suddenly catching sight of it and fixing his eyes +in a stare, "what's _that?_" + +"_That's the earth!_" + +It was Edmund who spoke, looking at us with a quizzical smile. A shock +ran through my nerves, and for an instant my brain whirled. I saw that it +was the truth that he had uttered, for, as sure as I sit here, his words +had hardly struck my ears when the great cloud rounded out and hardened, +the deception vanished, and I recognized, as clearly as ever I saw them +on a school globe, the outlines of Asia and the Pacific Ocean! + +In a second I had become too weak to stand, and I sank trembling upon a +bench. But Jack, whose eyes had not accommodated themselves as rapidly as +mine to the gigantic perspective, remained at the window, exclaiming: + +"Fiddlesticks! What are you trying to give us? The earth is down below, I +reckon." + +But in another minute he, too, saw it as it really was, and his +astonishment equaled mine. In fact he made so much noise about it that he +awoke Henry, who, jumping out of bed, came running to see, and when we +had explained to him where we were, sank upon a seat with a despairing +groan and covered his face. Our astonishment and dismay were too great to +permit us quickly to recover our self-command, but after a while Jack +seized Edmund's arm, and demanded: + +"For God's sake, tell us what you've been doing." + +"Nothing that ought to appear very extraordinary," answered Edmund, with +uncommon warmth. "If men had not been fools for so many ages they might +have done this, and more than this long ago. It's enough to make one +ashamed of his race! For countless centuries, instead of grasping the +power that nature had placed at the disposal of their intelligence, they +have idled away their time gabbling about nothing. And even since, at +last, they have begun to do something, look at the time that they have +wasted upon such petty forces as steam and 'electricity,' burning whole +mines of coal and whole lakes of oil, and childishly calling upon winds +and tides and waterfalls to help them, when they had under their thumbs +the limitless energy of the atoms, and no more understood it than a baby +understands what makes its whistle scream! It's inter-atomic force that +has brought us out here, and that is going to carry us a great deal +farther." + +We simply listened in silence; for what could we say? The facts were more +eloquent than any words, and called for no commentary. Here we _were_, +out in the middle of space; and _there_ was the earth, hanging on +nothing, like a summer cloud. At least we knew where we were if we didn't +quite understand how we had got there. + +Seeing us speechless, Edmund resumed in a different tone: + +"We made a fairly good run during the night. You must be hungry by this +time, for you've slept late; suppose we have breakfast." + +So saying, he opened a locker, took out a folding table, covered it +with a white cloth, turned on something resembling a little electric +range, and in a few minutes had ready as appetizing a breakfast of eggs +and as good a cup of coffee as I ever tasted. It is one of the +compensations of human nature that it is able to adjust itself to the +most unheard-of conditions provided only that the inner man is not +neglected. The smell of breakfast would almost reconcile a man to +purgatory--anyhow it reconciled us for the time being to our unparalleled +situation, and we ate and drank, and indulged in as cheerful good +comradeship as that of a fishing party in the wilderness after a big +morning's catch. + +When the breakfast was finished we began to chat and smoke, which +reminded me of those gulping mouths under the wainscot, and I leaned down +to catch a glimpse of their rows of black fangs, thinking to ask Edmund +for further explanation about them; but the sight gave me a shiver, and I +felt the hopelessness of trying to understand their function. + +Then we took a turn at looking out of the window to see the earth. Edmund +furnished us with binoculars which enabled us to recognize many +geographical features of our planet. The western shore of the Pacific was +now in plain sight, and a few small spots, near the edge of the ocean, we +knew to be Japan and the Philippines. The snowy Himalayas showed as a +crinkling line, and a huge white smudge over the China Sea indicated +where a storm was raging and where good ships, no doubt, were battling +with the tossing waves. + +After a time I noticed that Edmund was continually going from one window +to the other and looking out with an air of anxiety. He seemed to be +watching for something, and there was a look of mingled expectation and +apprehension in his eyes. He had a peephole at the forward end of the car +and another in the floor, and these he frequently visited. I now recalled +that even while we were at breakfast he had seemed uneasy and +occasionally left his seat to look out. At last I asked him: + +"What are you looking for, Edmund?" + +"Meteors." + +"Meteors, out here!" + +"Of course. You're something of an astronomer; don't you know that they +hang about all the planets? They didn't give me any rest last night. I +was on tender hooks all the time while you were sleeping. I was half +inclined to call one of you to help me. We passed some pretty ugly +fellows while you slept, I can tell you! You know that this is an +unexplored sea that we are navigating, and I don't want to run on the +rocks." + +"But we seem to be a good way off from the earth now," I remarked, "and +there ought not to be much danger." + +"It's not as dangerous as it was, but there may be some of them yet +around here. I'll feel safer when we have put a few more million miles +behind us." + +_A few more million miles!_ We all stood aghast when we heard the words. +We had, indeed, imagined that the earth looked as if it might be a +million miles away, but, then, it was merely a passing impression, which +had given us no sense of reality; but now when we heard Edmund say that +we actually had traveled such a distance, the idea struck us with +overwhelming force. + +"In the name of all that's good, Edmund," cried Jack, "at what rate are +we traveling, then?" + +"Just at present," Edmund replied, glancing at an indicator, "we're +making twenty miles a second." + +_Twenty miles a second!_ Our excited nerves had another shock. + +"Why," I exclaimed, "that's faster than the earth moves in its orbit!" + +"Yes, a trifle faster; but I'll probably have to work up to a little +better speed in order to get where I want to go before our goal begins to +run away from us." + +"Ah, there you are," said Jack. "That's what I wanted to know. What is +our goal? Where are we going?" + +Before Edmund could reply we all sprang to our feet in affright. A loud +grating noise had broken upon our ears. At the same instant the car gave +a lurch, and a blaze of the most vicious lightning streamed through a +window. + +"Confound the things!" shouted Edmund, springing to the window, and then +darting to one of his knobs and beginning to twist it with all his force. + +In a second we were sprawling on the floor--all except Edmund, who kept +his hold on the knob. Our course had been changed with amazing quickness, +and our startled eyes beheld a huge misshapen object darting past the +window. + +"Here comes another!" cried Edmund, again seizing the knob. + +I had managed to get my face to the window, and I certainly thought that +we were done for. Apparently only a few rods away, and rushing straight +at the car, was a vast black mass, shaped something like a dumb-bell, +with ends as big as houses, tumbling over and over, and threatening us +with annihilation. If it hit us, as it seemed sure that it would do, I +knew that we should never return to the earth, unless in the form of +pulverized ashes! + + + +CHAPTER III + + +THE PLANETARY LIMITED + +But Edmund had seen the meteor sooner than I, and as quick as thought he +swerved the car, and threw us all off our feet once more. But we should +have been thankful if he had broken our heads, since he had saved us from +instant destruction. + +The danger, however, was not yet passed. Scarcely had the immense +dumb-bell (which Edmund declared must have been composed of solid iron, +so great was its effect on his needles) disappeared, before there came +from outside a blaze so fierce that it fairly slapped our lids shut. + +"A collision!" Edmund exclaimed. "The thing has struck another big +meteor, and they are exchanging fiery compliments." + +He threw himself flat on the floor, and stared out of the peephole. Then +he jumped to his feet and gave us another tumble. + +"They're all about us," he faltered, breathless with exertion; then, +having drawn a deep inspiration, he continued: "We're like a boat in a +raging freshet, with rocks, tree trunks, and cakes of ice threatening it +on all sides. But we'll get out of it. The car obeys its helm as if it +appreciated the danger. Why, I got away from that last fellow by setting +up atomic reaction against it, as a boatman pushes with his pole." + +Even in the midst of our terror we could not but admire our leader. His +resources seemed boundless, and our confidence in him grew with every +escape. While he kept guard at the peepholes we watched for meteors from +the windows. We must have come almost within striking distance of a +thousand in the course of an hour, but Edmund decided not to diminish +our speed, for he said that he could control the car quicker when it was +under full headway. + +So on we rushed, dodging the things like a crow in a flock of pestering +jays, and we really enjoyed the excitement. It was more fascinating sport +than shooting rapids in a careening skiff, and at last we grew so +confident in the powers of our car and its commander that we were rather +sorry when the last meteor passed, and we found ourselves once more in +open, unimpeded space. + +After that the time passed quietly. We ate our meals and went to bed and +rose as regularly as if we had been at home. In one respect, however, +things were very different from what they were on the earth. We had no +night! The sun shone continually, although the sky was black and always +glittering with stars. None of us needed to be told by our conductor that +this was due to the fact that we no longer had the shadow of the earth to +make night for us when the sun was behind it. The sun was now never +behind the earth, or any other great opaque body, and when we wished to +sleep we made an artificial night, for our special use, by closing all +the shutters. And there was no atmosphere about us to diffuse the +sunlight, and so to hide the stars. We kept count of the days by the aid +of a calendar clock; there seemed to be nothing that Edmund had +forgotten. And it was a delightful experience, the wonder of which grew +upon us hour by hour. It was too marvelous, too incredible, to be +believed, and yet--_there we were!_ + +Once the idea suddenly came to me that it was astonishing that we had not +long ago perished for lack of oxygen. I understood, of course, from what +Edmund had said, that the mysterious machines along the wall absorbed the +carbonic acid, but we must be constantly using up the oxygen. When I put +my difficulty before Edmund he laughed. + +"That's the easiest thing of all," he said. "Look here." + +He threw open a little grating. + +"In there," he continued, "there's an apparatus which manufactures just +enough oxygen to keep the air in good condition. It is supplied with +materials to last a month, which will be much longer than this expedition +will take." + +"There you are again," exclaimed Jack. "I was asking you about that when +we ran into those pesky meteors. What _is_ this expedition? Where are we +going, anyway?" + +"Well," Edmund replied, "since we have become pretty good shipmates, I +don't see any objection to telling you. We are going to Venus." + +"Going to Venus!" we all cried in a breath. + +"To be sure. Why not? We've got the proper sort of conveyance, haven't +we?" + +There was no denying that. Our conveyance had already brought us some +millions of miles out into space; why, indeed, should it not be able to +carry us to Venus, or any other planet? + +"How far is it to Venus?" asked Jack. + +"When we quit the earth," Edmund answered, "Venus was rapidly approaching +inferior conjunction. You know what that is," addressing me, "it's when +the planet comes between the sun and the earth. The distance from the +earth is not always the same at such a conjunction, but I figured out +that on this occasion, after allowing for the circuit we should have to +make, there would be just twenty-seven million miles to travel. At an +average speed of twenty miles a second we could do that distance in +fifteen days, fourteen and one half hours. But, of course, I had to lose +some time going slow through the earth's atmosphere, for otherwise the +car would have taken fire, like a meteor, on account of the friction. +Then, too, I shall have to slow up on entering the atmosphere of Venus, +which appears to be very deep and dense; so, upon the whole, I don't +count on landing upon Venus in less than sixteen days from the time of +our departure. We've already been out five days, and within eleven more I +expect to introduce you to the inhabitants of another world." + +The inhabitants of another world! Again Edmund had thrown out an idea +which took us all aback. + +"Do you believe there are any inhabitants on Venus?" I asked at length. + +"Certainly. I know there are." + +"For sure," put in Jack, stretching out his legs and pulling at his pipe. +"Who'd go twenty-seven million miles to pay a visit if he didn't know +there was somebody at home?" + +"Then that's what you put the arms aboard for," I remarked. + +"Yes, but I hope we shall not have to use them." + +"Strikes me that this is a sort of pirate ship," said Jack. "But what +kind of arms have you got, Edmund?" + +For answer Edmund threw open a locker and showed us a gleaming array of +automatic guns and pistols and even some cutlasses. + +"Decidedly piratical!" exclaimed the incorrigible Jack. "You'd better +hoist the black flag. But, see here, Edmund, with all this inter-atomic +energy that you talk about, why in the world didn't you invent something +new--something that would just knock the Venustians silly, and blow their +old planet up if necessary? Automatic arms are pretty good at home, on +that unprogressive earth that you have spurned with your heels, but +they'll likely be rather small pumpkins on Venus." + +"I didn't prepare anything else," Edmund replied, "because, in the first +place, I was too busy with more important things, and in the second place +because I don't really anticipate that we shall have any use for arms. I +only took these as a precaution." + +"You mean to try moral suasion, I suppose," drawled Jack. "Well, anyhow, +I hope they'll be glad to see us, and since it is Venus that we are going +to visit, I don't look for much fighting. I'm glad you made it Venus +instead of Mars, Edmund, for, from all I've heard of Mars with its +fourteen-foot giants, I don't think I should like to try the pirate +business in that direction." + +We all laughed at Jack's fancies; but there was something tremendously +thrilling in the idea. Think of landing on another world! Think of +meeting inhabitants there! Really, it made one's head spin. + +"Confound it, this is all a dream," I said to myself. "I'm on my back in +bed with a nightmare. I'll kick myself awake." + +But do what I would I could make no dream of it. On the contrary, I felt +that I had never been quite so much awake in all my life before. + +After a while we all settled down to take the thing in earnest. And then +the charm of it began to master our imaginations. We talked over the +prospects in all their aspects. Edmund said little, and Henry nothing, +but Jack and I were stirred to the bottom of our romantic souls. Henry +was different. He had no romance in his make-up. He always looked at the +money in a thing. To his mind, going to Venus was playing the fool, when +we had at our command the means of owning the earth. + +"Edmund," he said, after mumbling for a while under his breath, "this is +the most utter tomfoolery that ever I heard of. Here you've got an +invention that would revolutionize mechanics, and instead of utilizing it +you rush off into space on a hairbrained adventure. You might have been +twenty times a billionaire inside of a year if you had stayed at home and +developed the thing. Why, it's folly; pure, beastly folly! Going to +Venus! What can you make on Venus?" + +Edmund only smiled. After a little he said: + +"Well, I'm sorry for you, Henry. But then you're cut out on the ordinary +pattern. But cheer up. When we go back, perhaps I'll let you take out a +patent, and you can make the billions. For my part, Venus is more +interesting to me than all the money you could pile up between the +Atlantic Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. Why," he continued, warming up, +and straightening with a certain pride which he had, "am I not the +Columbus of Space?--And you my lieutenants," he added, with a smile. + +"Right you are," cried Jack enthusiastically. "The Columbus of Space, +that's the ticket! Where's old Archimedes now? Buried, by Jo! _He_ +couldn't go to Venus! And what need we care for your billionaires?" + +Edmund patted Jack on the back, and I rather sympathized with his +enthusiasm myself. + +The time ran on, and we watched anxiously the day-hand of the calendar +clock. Soon it had marked a week; then ten days; then a fortnight. We +knew we must be getting very close to our goal, yet up to this time +neither Jack, nor Henry, nor I had caught a glimpse of Venus. Edmund, +however, had seen it, but he told us that in order to do so he had been +obliged to alter our course because the planet was directly in the eye of +the sun. In consequence of the change of course we were now approaching +Venus from the east--flanking her, so to speak--and Edmund described her +appearance as that of an enormous crescent. Finally he invited us to take +a look for ourselves. + +I shall never forget that first view! It was only a glimpse, for Edmund +was nervous about meteors again, and would allow us only a moment at the +peephole because he wished to be continually on the watch himself. But, +brief as was the view, that vast gleaming sickle hanging in the black sky +was the most tremendous thing I ever looked upon! + +Soon afterwards Edmund changed the course again, and then we saw her no +more. We had not come upon the swarms of meteors that Edmund had expected +to find lurking about the planet, and he said that he now felt safe in +running into her shadow, and making a landing on her night hemisphere. +You will allow me to remind you that Schiaparelli had long before found +out that Venus doesn't turn on her axis once every twenty-four hours, +like the earth, but keeps always the same face to the sun; the +consequence being that she has perpetual day on one side and perpetual +night on the other. I asked Edmund why he should not rather land on the +daylight side; but he replied that his plan was safer, and that we could +easily go from one side to the other whenever we chose. It didn't turn +out to be so easy after all, but that is another part of the story. + +"I hardly expect to find any inhabitants on the night side," Edmund +remarked, "for it must be fearfully cold there--too cold for life to +exist, perhaps; but I have provided against that as far as we are +concerned. Still, one can never tell. There _may_ be inhabitants there, +and at any rate I am going to find out. If there are none, we'll just +stop long enough to take a look at things, and then the car will quickly +transport us to the daylight hemisphere, where life certainly exists. By +landing on the uninhabited side, you see, we shall have a chance to +reconnoiter a little, and can approach the inhabitants on the other side +so much the more safely." + +"That sounds all right enough," said Jack, "but if Venus is correctly +named, I'm for getting where the inhabitants are as quick as possible." + +When we swung round into the shadow of the planet we got her between the +sun and ourselves, and as she completely hid the sun, we now had +perpetual night about the car. Out of the peephole she looked like a +stupendous black circle, blacker than the sky itself, but round the rim +was a beautiful ring of light. + +"That's her atmosphere," Edmund explained, "lighted up by the sun from +behind. But, for the life of me, I cannot tell what those immense flames +mean." + +He referred to a vast circle of many-colored spires that blazed and +flickered like a burning rainbow at the inner edge of the ring of light. +It was one of the most awful, and yet beautiful, sights that I had ever +gazed upon. + +"That's something altogether outside my calculations," Edmund added. "I +can't account for it at all." + +"Perhaps they are already celebrating our arrival with fireworks," +suggested Jack, always ready to take the humorous view of everything. + +"That's not fire," Edmund responded earnestly. "But what it is I confess +I can't imagine. We'll find out, however, for I haven't come all this +distance to be scared off." + +And here I must try to explain a very curious thing which had puzzled our +senses, though not our understanding (because Edmund had promptly +explained it), throughout the voyage, and that was--levitation. On our +first day out from the earth, we began to notice the remarkable ease with +which we handled things, and the strange tendency we had to bump into one +another because we seemed to be all the time employing more strength than +was necessary and almost to be able to walk on air. Jack declared that he +felt as if his head had become a toy balloon. + +"It's the lack of weight," said Edmund. "Every time we double our +distance from the earth we lose another three quarters of our weight. If +I had thought to bring along a spring dynamometer, I could have shown +you, Jack, that when we were 4,000 miles above the earth's surface the +200 good pounds with which you depress the scales at home had diminished +to 50, and that when we had passed about 150,000 miles into space you +weighed no more than a couple of ounces. From that point on, it has been +the attraction of the sun to which we have owed whatever weight we had, +and the floor of the car has been toward the sun, because, at that +distance from the earth, the latter ceases to exercise the master force, +and the pull of the sun becomes greater than the earth's. But as we +approach Venus the latter begins to restore our weight, and when we +arrive on her surface we shall weigh about four fifths as much as when we +started from the earth." + +"But I don't look as if I had lost any avoirdupois," said Jack, glancing +at his round limbs. "And when you give us a fling I seem to strike pretty +hard, though in other respects I confess I do feel a good deal like an +angel." + +"Ah," said Edmund, laughing, "that's the _inertia of mass_. Your mass is +the same, although your weight has almost disappeared. Weight depends +upon the distance from the attracting body, but mass is independent of +everything." + +"Do you mean to say that angels are massive?" + +"They may be as massive as they like provided they keep well away from +great centers of gravitation." + +"But Venus is such a center--then there can't be any angels there." + +"I hope to find something better than angels," was Edmund's smiling +reply. + +Now, as we drew near to Venus, the truth of Edmund's statements became +apparent. We felt that our weight was returning, and our muscular +activity sinking back to the normal again. We imagined that every minute +we could feel our feet pressing more heavily upon the floor. + +Our approach was so rapid that the immense black circle grew visibly +minute by minute. Soon it was so large that we could no longer see its +boundaries through the peephole in the floor. + +"We're now within a thousand miles," said Edmund, "and must be close to +the upper limits of the atmosphere. I'll have to slow down, or else we'll +be burnt up by the heat of friction." + +He proceeded to slow down a little more rapidly than was comfortable. It +was jerk after jerk, as he dropped off the power, and put on the brakes, +but at last we got down to the speed of a fast express train. Soon we +were so close that the surface of the planet became dimly visible, simply +from the starlight. We were now settling down very cautiously, and +presently we began to notice curious shafts of light which appeared to +issue from the ground, as if the surface beneath us had been sprinkled +with iron founderies. + +"Aha!" cried Edmund, "I believe there _are_ inhabitants on this side +after all. Those lights don't come from volcanoes. I'm going to make for +the nearest one, and we'll soon know what they are." + +Accordingly we steered for one of the gleaming shafts. It was a thrilling +moment, I can tell you--that when we first saw another world than ours +under our feet! As we approached the light it threw a pale illumination +on the ground around. Everything appeared to be perfectly flat and level. +It was like dropping down at night upon a vast prairie. But the features +of the landscape were indistinguishable in the gloom. Edmund boldly +continued to approach until we were within a hundred feet of the shaft of +light, which we could now perceive issued directly from the ground. +Suddenly, with the slightest perceptible bump, we touched the soil, and +the car came to rest. We had landed on Venus! + +"It's unquestionably frightfully cold outside," said Edmund, "and we'll +now put on these things." + +He dragged out of one of his many lockers four suits of thick fur +garments, and as many pairs of fur gloves, together with caps and shields +for the face, leaving only narrow openings for the eyes. When we had got +them on we looked like so many Esquimaux. Finally Edmund handed each of +us a pair of small automatic pistols, telling us to put them where they +would be handy in our side pockets. + +"Boarders all!" cried the irrepressible Jack. "Pirates, do your duty!" + +Our preparations being made, we opened the door. The air that rushed in +almost hardened us into icicles! + +"It won't hurt you," said Edmund in a whisper. "It can't be down to +absolute zero on account of the dense atmosphere. You'll get used to it +in a few minutes. Come on." + +His whispering gave us a sense of imminent danger, but nevertheless we +followed as he led the way straight toward the shaft of light. On nearing +it we saw that it came out of an irregularly round hole in the ground. +When we got yet nearer we were astonished to see rough steps which led +down into the pit. The next instant we were frozen in our tracks! For a +moment my heart stopped beating. + +Standing on the steps, just below the level of the ground, and intently +watching us, with eyes as big and luminous as moons, was a creature +shaped like a man, but more savage than a gorilla! + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +THE CAVERNS OF VENUS + +For two or three minutes the creature continued to stare at us, +motionless; and we stared at him. It was so dramatic that it makes my +nerves tingle now when I think of it. His eyes alone were enough to +harrow up your soul. Huge beyond belief, round and luminous as full +moons, they were filled with the phosphorescent greenish-yellow glare +that sometimes appears in the expanded pupils of a cat or a wild beast. +The great hairy head was black, but the stocky body was as white as a +polar bear. The arms were apelike and very long and muscular, and the +entire aspect of the creature betokened immense strength and activity. + +Edmund was the first to recover from the stupor of surprise, and +instantly he did a thing so apparently absurd but so marvelous in its +calculated effect that no brain but his could have conceived it. It +shakes me at once with laughter and recollected terror when I recall it. + +"WELL, HELLO YOU!" he called out in a voice of such stentorian power that +we jumped as at a thunderclap. The effect on the strange brute was +electric. A film shot across the big eyes, he leaped into the air, +uttering a squeak that was ridiculous, coming from an animal of such size +and strength, and instantly disappeared, tumbling down the steps. + +But we were as much frightened as the ugly monster himself. We stared at +Edmund, speechless in our amazement. Never could I have believed it +possible for such a voice to issue from the human throat. It was not the +voice of our friend, nor the voice of a man at all, but an indescribable +clangor; and the words I have quoted had been scarcely distinguishable, +so shattered were they by the crash of sound that whirled them into our +astonished ears. Edmund, seeing us gaping in speechless wonder, laughed +with such an appearance of hearty enjoyment as I had never known him to +exhibit--and his merriment produced another thunderous explosion that +shook the air. + +Then the truth burst upon me, and I exclaimed: + +"It's the atmosphere!" + +I had not spoken very loudly, but the words seemed to reverberate in my +mouth, as if to testify to the correctness of my explanation. + +"Yes," said Edmund, taking pains to moderate his voice, "you've hit it, +it's the atmosphere. I had calculated on an effect of the kind, but the +reality exceeds all that I had anticipated. Spectroscopic analysis as +well as telescopic appearances demonstrated long ago that the atmosphere +of Venus was extraordinarily extensive and dense, from which fact I +inferred that we should encounter some wonderful acoustic phenomena here, +and this was in my mind when, on stepping out of the car, I addressed you +in a whisper. The reaction even of the whisper on my organs of speech +told me that I was right, and showed me what to expect if the full power +of the voice were used. When we caught sight of the creature at the top +of the pit I had no desire to shoot him, and I saw that he was too +powerful to be captured alive. In a second I had decided what to do. It +ran through my mind that, in a world where the density, and probably +something also in the peculiar constitution of the air, had the effect of +vastly magnifying sound, the phonetic and acoustic organs of the +inhabitants would be modified, and that the sounds uttered by them would +be much fainter than those that we are accustomed to hear from living +creatures on the earth. That being so, I argued that a very great and +heavy sound coming from a strange animal would produce in the creature +before us a paralyzing terror. You have seen that it did so. I expect +that this will give us an immense advantage to begin with. We have +already inspired so great a fear that I believe that we can now safely +follow the creature into its habitation, and encounter without danger any +of its congeners that may be there. Nevertheless, I shall not ask you to +run any risks, and I will alone descend into the pit." + +"If you do, may I be hanged for sheep stealing!" + +You will guess at once that it was Jack who had spoken thus. + +"No, sir," he continued, "if you go, we all go. Isn't that so, boys?" + +In answer to an appeal thus put, neither Henry nor myself could have hung +back even if we had had the disposition to do so. But I believe that we +all instinctively felt that our place was by Edmund's side, wherever he +might choose to go. + +"Go ahead, then, Edmund," Jack added, seeing that we consented, "we're +with you." And then his enthusiasm taking fire, as usual, he exclaimed: +"Hurrah! Columbus forever! We've conquered a hemisphere with a blank +shot." + +And so we began our descent into the mysterious pit. The strange light +that came from it, and formed a shaft in the dense atmosphere above like +sunlight in a haymow, was accompanied by a considerable degree of heat, +which was very grateful to our lungs after the frigid plunge that we had +taken from the comfortable car. As we descended, the temperature +continually rose until we were glad to throw off our Arctic togs, and +leave them on a shelf of rock to await our return. But, fortunately, we +did not forget to take the pistols from the pockets before leaving the +garments. I am very uncertain what would have been the future course of +our history if we had neglected this precaution. + +It was an awful hole for depth. The steps, rudely cut, wound round and +round the sides like those in a cathedral tower, but the pit was not +perfectly circular. It looked like a natural formation, such as the +vertical entrance to a limestone cavern, or the throat of a sleeping +volcano. But whatever the nature of the pit might be, I was convinced +that the steps were of artificial origin. They were reasonably regular in +height and broad enough for two, or even three, persons to go abreast. + +When we had descended perhaps as much as two hundred feet, we suddenly +found ourselves in a broad cavern with a surprisingly level floor. The +temperature had been steadily rising all the time, and here it was as +warm as in an ordinary living room. The cavern appeared to be about +twenty yards broad and eight or ten feet in height, with a flat roof of +rock. It was dimly illuminated by a small heap of what seemed to be hard +coal, burning in a very roughly constructed brazier, which, as far as +looks went, one would have said was constructed of iron. + +You will imagine our surprise upon seeing these things. The appearance of +the gorilla-like beast with the awful eyes had certainly not led us to +anticipate the finding in his lair of any such evidences of human +intelligence, and we stood fast in our tracks for a minute or two, nobody +speaking a word. Then Edmund said: + +"This is far better than I hoped. I had not thought about caverns, though +I ought to have foreseen the probability of something of the kind. It is +hard to drive out life as long as a world has solid foundations, and air +for breathing. I shall be greatly surprised now if these creatures do not +turn out to be at least as intelligent as our African or Australian +savages." + +"But," said I, "the fellow that we saw surely cannot have more +intelligence than a beast. There must be some more highly developed +creatures living here." + +"I'm not so sure of that," Edmund responded. "Looks go for nothing in +such a case. He had arms and hands, and his brain may be well organized." + +"If his brain is as big as his eyes," Jack put in, "he ought to be able +to give odds to old Solomon and beat him easy. My, but I'd like to see +their spectacles--if they ever wear any!" + +Jack's humor recalled us from our meditation, and we began to look about +more carefully. There was not a living creature in sight, but over in a +corner I detected a broad hole, down which the steps continued to +descend. + +"Here's the way," said Edmund, discovering the steps at the same moment. +"Down we go." + +He again led the way, and we resumed the descent. As we stumbled along +downward we began to talk of a strange but agreeable odor which we had +noticed in the cavern. Edmund said that it was due, perhaps, to some +peculiar quality of the atmosphere. + +"I think," he continued, "that it is heavily charged with oxygen. You +have noticed that none of us feels the slightest fatigue, notwithstanding +the precipitancy of our long descent." + +I reflected that this might also be the cause of our rising courage, for +I was sure that not one of us felt the slightest fear in thus pushing on +toward dangers of whose nature we could form no idea. The steps, +precisely like those above, wound round and round and led us down I +should say as much as three hundred feet before we entered another +cavern, larger and loftier than the first. + +And there we found them! + +There was never another such sight! It made our blood run cold once more, +rather with surprise than fear, though the latter quickly followed. + +Ranged along the farther side of the cavern, and visible in the light of +another glowing heap in the center, were as many as thirty of those huge +hairy creatures, standing shoulder to shoulder, their great eyes glaring +like bull's-eye lanterns. But the thing that filled us with terror was +their motions. + +You have read, with thrilling nerves, how a huge cobra, reared on his +coils, sways his terrible head from side to side before striking. Well, +all those black heads before us were swaying in unison, but with a +sickening circular movement, which was regularly reversed in direction. +Three times by the right and then three times by the left those heads +circled, in rhythmic cadence, while the luminous eyes seemed to leave +phosphorescent rings in the air, intersecting one another in consequence +of the rapidity of the motion. + +It was such a spectacle as I had never beheld in the wildest dream. It +was baleful. It was the charm of the serpent fascinating his terrified +prey. In an instant I felt my brain turning, and I staggered in spite of +my utmost efforts. A kind of paralysis stiffened my limbs. + +Presently, all moving together, and uttering a hissing, whistling sound, +they began slowly to approach us, keeping in line, each shaggy leg lifted +at the same moment, like so many soldiers on parade, while the heads +continued to swing, and the glowing eyes to cut linked circles in the +air. But for Edmund we should certainly have been lost. Standing a little +to the fore, he spoke to us over his shoulder, in a low voice: + +"Take out your pistols, but don't shoot unless they make a rush. Then +kill as many as you can. I'll knock over the leader in the center, and I +think that will be enough." + +We could as easily have stirred our arms if we had been marble statues, +but he promptly raised his pistol, and the explosion followed on the +instant. The report was like an earthquake. It shocked us into our senses +and almost out of them again. The weight of the air and the confinement +of the cavern magnified and concentrated the sound so that it was awful +beyond belief. The fellow in the center was hurled back as if shot from a +catapult, and the others fell at flat as he, and lay there groveling, +their big eyes filming and swaying, but no longer in unison. + +The charm was broken, and as we saw our fearful enemies prostrate, our +courage returned at a bound. + +"I thought as much," said Edmund coolly. "But I'm sorry now that I aimed +at that fellow; the sound alone would have sufficed. It was not necessary +to take life. However, we should probably have had to come to it +eventually, and now we have them thoroughly cowed. Our safety consists in +keeping them terrified." + +Thus speaking, Edmund boldly approached the groveling row, and pushed +with his foot the furry body of the one he had shot. The bullet had gone +through his head. At Edmund's approach the creatures sank lower on the +rocky floor, and those nearest him turned up their moon eyes with an +expression of submission and supplication that was grotesque. He motioned +us to join him and, imitating him, we began to pat and smooth the +shrinking bodies until, understanding that we would not hurt them, they +gradually acquired confidence. + +In the meantime the crowd in the cavern increased, others coming in +through side passages, and exhibiting the utmost astonishment at the +spectacle which greeted them. It was clear that those who had taken part +in the opening scene imparted to the newcomers a knowledge of the +situation of affairs, and we could see that our prestige was thoroughly +established. It remained to utilize our advantage, and we looked to +Edmund to show how it should be done. He was equal to the undertaking, +but I shall not trouble you with the details of his diplomacy. Let it +suffice to say that by a combination of gentleness and firmness he +quickly reduced almost the entire population of the caverns (for, as we +afterwards discovered, there were a dozen or more of these underground +dwellings connected by horizontal passages through the rocks) into +subjection to his will. I say "almost," because, as you will see in a +little while, there were certain members of this extraordinary community +who possessed a spirit of independence too strong to be so easily +subdued. + +As we became better acquainted with the cave dwellers we found that they +were by no means as savage as they looked. Their appearance was certainly +grotesque, and even unaccountable. Why, for instance, should their heads +have been covered with coarse black disordered hair while their bodies, +from the neck down, were almost beautiful with a natural raiment of +golden white, as soft as silk and as brilliant as floss? I never could +explain it, and Edmund was no less puzzled by this peculiarity. The +immense size of their eyes did not seem astonishing after we began to +reflect upon the consequences of the relative lack of light in their +world. It was but a natural adjustment to their environment; with such +eyes they could see in the dark better than cats. Their feet were bare +and covered on the soles with thick soft skin, while the insides of their +long hands were almost as white and delicate as those of a human being. + +Their intelligence was sufficiently demonstrated by the construction of +the hundreds of rocky steps leading from the caverns to the surface of +the ground, and by their employment of fire, and manufacture of the +metallic braziers which contained it. But this was not all. We found that +in some of the winding passages connecting the caverns they cultivated +food. It consisted entirely of vegetables of various kinds, and all +unlike any that I ever saw on the earth. Water dripped from the roofs of +these particular passages, and the almost colorless vegetation thrived +there with astonishing luxuriance. They had many simple ways of cooking +their food, and it was evident that they possessed some form of salt, +though we did not discover the deposit from which they must have drawn +it. They collected water in cisterns hollowed in the rock. + +Although we still had abundance of food in the car, Edmund insisted on +trying theirs, and it proved to be very palatable. + +"This is fortunate, though hardly surprising," said Edmund. "If we had +found the food on Venus uneatable, we should indeed have been in a fine +fix. While we remain here we will eat as the natives eat, and save our +own supplies for future need." + +The only brute animals that we saw in the caverns were some doglike +creatures, about as large as terriers, but very furry, which showed the +utmost terror whenever we appeared. + +One of the first things that we discovered outside the main cavern where +we had made our debut was the burial ground of the community. This +happened when they came to dispose of the fellow that Edmund had shot. +They formed a regular procession, which greatly impressed us, and we +followed them as they bore the body through several winding ways into a +large cavern, at a considerable distance from any of the others. Here +they had dug a grave, and, to our astonishment, there appeared to be +something resembling a religious ceremony connected with the interment. +And then, for the first time, we distinguished the females from the +others. But a still greater surprise awaited us. It was no less than +plain evidence of regular family relationship. + +As the body was lowered into the grave one of the females approached with +every sign of distress and sorrow. Jack declared that he saw tears +running down her hairy cheeks. She held two little ones by the hand, and +this spectacle produced an astonishing effect upon Edmund, revealing an +entirely new side of his character. I have told you that he expressed +regret for having killed the fellow in the cavern, but now, at the sight +before him, he seemed filled with remorse. + +"I wish I had never come here!" he said bitterly. "The first thing I have +done is to kill an inoffensive and intelligent creature." + +"Intelligent, perhaps," said Jack, "but inoffensive--not by a long shot! +Where'd we have been if you hadn't killed him? They'd have made mincemeat +of us." + +"No," replied Edmund, sorrowfully shaking his head, "it wasn't necessary. +The noise would have sufficed; and I ought to have known it." + +"Why didn't you shout, then? That scared the first one," put in Henry, +whose soul, it must be said, was not overflowing with sympathy. + +"I did what I thought was best at the moment," Edmund replied, with a +broken voice. "They were so many and so threatening that I imagined my +voice alone might not be effective. But I'm sorry, sorry!" + +"Henry, you're a fool!" cried the sympathetic Jack. "Come now, Edmund," +he continued, kindly laying a hand on his shoulder, "what you did was the +only thing under heaven that could have been done. You're wrong to blame +yourself. By Jo, if you hadn't done it I would!" + +But Edmund only shook his head, as if refusing to be comforted. It was +the first sign of weakness that we had seen in our incomparable leader, +but I am sure it only increased our respect for him--at least that's true +of Jack and me. After that I noticed that Edmund was far more gentle than +before in his relations with the people of the caverns. + +Not long after this painful incident we made a discovery of extreme +interest. It was nothing less than a big smithy! Edmund had foretold that +we should find something of the kind. + +"Those braziers and cooking pots," he had said, "and the tools that must +have been needed to build the steps and to dig their graves, prove that +they know how to work in iron. If it is not done in these caverns, then +they get it from some other similar community. But I think it likely that +we shall come upon some signs of the work hereabouts." + +"Maybe they import it from Pittsburg," was the remark that fun-loving +Jack could not refrain from making. + +"Well, you'll see," said Edmund. + +And, as I have already told you, he was right. We did find the smithy, +with several stout fellows pounding out rude tools with equally rude +hammers of iron. Of course we could ask them no questions, for their +language was only a kind of squeak, and they seemed to converse mostly by +means of expressive signs. But Edmund was not long in drawing his +conclusions. + +"This," he said, after closely examining the metal, "is native iron. +There's nothing remarkable in the fact that it should be here. All the +solid planets, as you know" (turning to me), "are very largely composed +of iron, and Venus, being nearer the center of the system, may have +proportionally more of it than the earth. And these fellows have found +out its usefulness, and how to work it. There's nothing surprising in +that, either, for some of our savages have done as much on the earth. Now +I'll make another prediction--we are going to find coal here. That is +inevitable, since we know that they burn it in the caverns. I shouldn't +wonder if it were close at hand, from the look of these rocks." + +He approached the wall of the cavern containing the smithy, and +immediately exclaimed: + +"Look here! Here it is!" + +And sure enough, on joining him we saw a seam of as fine anthracite as +Pennsylvania ever produced. + +"A Carboniferous Age on Venus!" Edmund continued. "What do you think of +that? But, of course, it was sure to be so; all the planets that are old +enough have been through practically the same stages. Think of it! The +plants that gave origin to this coal must have flourished here when Venus +still rotated on her axis rapidly enough to have day and night succeeding +one another on all sides of her, for now no vegetation except the +insignificant plants that grow in these caverns can live on this +hemisphere. And think, too, of the countless ages that must have been +consumed in slowing down her rotation by the friction of her ocean +tides." + +"Has Venus got any oceans?" asked Jack. + +"I haven't a doubt of it; but we shall find none on this side, although +they must once have been here." + +We all mused for a time on the subject that Edmund had started, when +suddenly his face lighted up with the greatest animation, and he +exclaimed, but as if speaking to himself rather than to us: + +"Capital! It couldn't have happened better!" + +"What's capital?" drawled Jack. + +"Why, this smithy, and these Tubal Cains here. Unconsciously they have +solved for me a problem that has given me considerable trouble. Almost as +soon as we got acquainted with the people of the caverns the idea +occurred to me that I should like to take some of them with us when we +visit the other hemisphere. There are many interesting observations that +their presence on that side of Venus would give rise to, and, besides, +they might be of great use to us. Of course I meant to bring them back to +their home. But the puzzling question has been how to transport them. The +car has a full load already." + +"They've got good legs; make 'em walk," said Jack. + +Edmund burst into a laugh. + +"Why, Jack," he asked, "how far do you think it is to the other side of +Venus?" + +"I don't know," said Jack, "but I suppose it's not very far round her. +How far is it?" + +"Five thousand miles, at least, to the edge of the sunlit hemisphere." + +Jack whistled. + +"By Jo! I wouldn't have believed it." + +"Well, it's a fact," said Edmund, "and of course I don't propose to take +several months to make the journey. Now the sight of these fellows at +work has shown me just how it can be done in short order. It's this way: +I'll have iron sleds made, put the natives that I propose to take along +upon them, hitch them by wire cables, which luckily I've got, to the car, +and away we'll spin. The power of the car is practically unlimited, and, +as you have observed, the ground is as flat and smooth as a prairie, and, +moreover, is coated with an icy covering." + +Jack glowed with enthusiasm over this project, and was about to indulge +in one of his characteristic outbreaks, when there came an interruption +which ended in a drama that put silver streaks among my coal-black locks! +Some one came in where we were and called off the workmen, who went out +with the others in great haste. Of course we followed at their heels. On +reaching the principal cavern, we found a singular scene. Two natives, +whom we had never seen before, were evidently in charge of some kind of a +ceremony. They wore tall, conical hats made of polished metal and covered +with hieroglyphics, and carried staves of iron in their hands. + +"Priests," Edmund immediately whispered. "Now we'll see something +interesting." + +The "priests" marshaled all the others, numbering several hundreds, into +a long column, and then began a slow, solemn march up the steps. The +leaders produced a squeaking music by blowing into the ends of their +staves. Women were mingled with men, and even the children were there, +too. We followed at the tail of the procession, our curiosity at the +highest pitch. At the rate we went it must have taken nearly an hour to +mount the steps, but at last all emerged in the open air, where the cold +struck to our marrow. The natives didn't seem to mind it, but we ran back +and donned our furs. Then we re-ascended and stepped out into the Arctic +night, finding the crowd assembled not far from the entrance to the +cavern. The frosty sky was ablaze with stars, and directly overhead shone +a planet of amazing size and splendor with a little one beside it. + +"The earth and the moon!" exclaimed Edmund. + +I cannot describe the flood of feeling that went over me at that sight! +But in a moment Edmund interrupted my meditation by saying, in a quick, +nervous way: + +"_Look at that!_" + +The natives had formed themselves in a circle with the two priests +standing alone in the center. All but these two had dropped on their +knees, while the leaders, elevating their long arms toward the zenith, +gazed upward, uttering a kind of chant in their queer, squeaking voices. + +"Don't you see what they're about?" demanded Edmund, twitching me +irritably by the sleeve. "They're worshipping the earth!" + +It was the truth--the amazing truth! They were worshipping our planet in +the sky! And, indeed, she looked worth worshipping. Never have I seen so +splendid a star. She was twenty times as bright as the most brilliant +planet that any terrestrial astronomer ever beheld; and the moon, glowing +beside her like an attendant, redoubled the beauty of the sight. + +"It's just the moment of the conjunction," said Edmund. "This is their +religion; the earth is their goddess, and when she is nearest and +brightest they perform this ceremony in her honor. I wouldn't have missed +this for a world." + +Suddenly the two priests began to pirouette, and as they whirled more and +more rapidly, their huge glowing eyes made phosphorescent circles in the +gloom like those that had so alarmed and fascinated us in the cavern. +They gyrated round the ring of worshipers with accelerated speed, and all +those poor creatures fell under the fascination and drooped with heads to +the ground. Now for the first time I caught sight of an oblong object +rising a couple of feet above the ground in the center of the circle. I +was wondering what it might be when the spinning priests, who had +gradually drawn closer to the ring of worshipers, dived into the circle, +and, catching each a native in his arms, ran with their captives to the +curious object that I have just described. + +"It's a sacrificial stone!" exclaimed Edmund. "They're going to kill them +as an offering to the earth and her child the moon." + +I was frozen with horror at the sight, but just as the second priest +reached the altar, where the first victim had already been pinned with +the sharp point of the sacrificial staff, his captive, suddenly +recovering his senses, and terrified by the awful fate confronting him, +uttered a cry, wrenched himself loose, and, running like the wind, leaped +over the circle and disappeared in the darkness. The fugitive passed +close by us, and Jack shouted as he darted past: + +"Good boy!" + +The enraged priest was after him like lightning, and as he came near us +his awful eyes seemed to emit actual flames. But the runner had vanished. +Without an instant's hesitation the priest shot out his great arm and +caught _me_ by the throat! In another second I felt myself carried in a +bound, as if a tiger had seized me, over the drooping heads of the +worshipers and toward the horrible altar. + + + +CHAPTER V + + +OFF FOR THE SUN LANDS + +Dreadful as the moment was, I did not lose my senses. On the contrary, my +mind was fearfully clear and active. There was not a horror that I +missed. The strength and agility of my captor were astounding. I could no +more have struggled with him than with a lion. Only one thing flashed +upon me to do; I yelled with all the strength of my lungs. But they had +become accustomed to our voices now, and the maddened creature was so +intent upon his fell purpose that a cannon-shot would not have diverted +him from it. + +He got me to the altar, where the preceding victim already lay with his +heart torn out, and, pressing me against it with all his bestial force, +raised the pointed staff to transfix me. With dying eyes I saw the earth +gleaming, magnificent, directly over my head, and my heart bounded with +unreasoning hope at the sight. It was my mother planet, powerful to save! + +All this passed in a second, while the dreadful spear was poised for its +work. Even in that fraction of time I noticed the bunching muscles of the +murderer's hairy arm, and then I pressed my eyes shut. + +_Bang!_ + +Something touched me, and I felt the warm blood gushing. Then I knew no +more. + + * * * * * + +In the midst of a dream of boyhood scenes a murmur of familiar voices +awoke me. I opened my eyes, but as I could not make out where I was, +closed them again. + +Then I heard Edmund saying: + +"He's coming out all right." + +Thereupon, I reopened my eyes, but still the scene puzzled me. I saw +Edmund's face, and behind those of Jack and Henry, wearing anxious looks. +But this was not my room! It seemed to be a cave, with faint firelight +reflections on the walls. + +"Where am I?" I asked. + +"Back in the cavern, and coming along all right," said Edmund. + +Back in the cavern! What did he mean? Then, suddenly, memory returned. + +"So he didn't sacrifice me!" I cried. + +"Not on your life!" Jack's hearty voice responded. "Edmund was too quick +for that." + +"But only by a fraction of a second!" said Edmund, smiling. + +"What happened, then?" I asked, my recollections coming back stronger and +stronger. + +"A mighty good shot happened," said Jack. "The best I ever saw." + +I looked inquiringly at Edmund. He saw that I could bear it, and he +began: + +"When that fellow snatched you up and leaped inside the circle I had my +furs wrapped so closely around me, not anticipating any danger, that for +quite ten seconds I was unable to get out my pistol. I tore the garment +open just in time, for already he was pressing you against the accursed +altar with his spear poised. I didn't waste any time finding my aim, but +even as it was the iron point had touched you when the bullet crashed +through his brain. The shock swerved the weapon a little and you were +only wounded in the shoulder. You got a scratch which might have been +serious but for your Arctic coat. The fellow fell dead beside you, and +under the circumstances I felt compelled to shoot the other one also, for +he was insane with the delirium of their bloody rite, and I knew that our +lives would never be safe if he remained ready for mischief. + +"I'm sorry to have had to begin killing right and left again, but I guess +that's the lot of all invaders, wherever they may go. It's the second +lesson for these savages, and I believe it will prove final. When their +priests were dead and the others had no fight in them, even if they had +intended any harm to us. Nobody knows to what those chaps might have led +them, and my conscience is easy this time." + +"How long have I been here?" I asked. + +"Two days by the calendar clock?" replied Jack. + +"Yes, two days," Edmund assented. "I never saw a man so knocked out by a +shock, for the wound wasn't much; I fixed that up in five minutes. But I +don't blame you. In your place I should have been scared to the bottom of +my soul also. But look at yourself." + +He held a pocket mirror before me, and then I saw that my hair was +streaked with gray! + +"But we haven't been idle in the meanwhile," Edmund went on. "I've got +two sleds nearly completed, and to-morrow at midnight--earth time--I mean +to set out for the sunny lands of Venus." + +"How in the world could you have worked so fast?" I asked in surprise. + +"Because I had certain tools in the car which vastly facilitated the +operation; but I must admit that the savage blacksmiths worked well, too, +and showed surprising intelligence in comprehending my directions. +Perhaps that was because I had learned their language." + +"Learned their language!" I exclaimed, staring in amazement. + +"Well, perhaps that's putting it a little too strong; but I have learned +enough to establish a pretty good understanding with them. There's +nothing like working together to make intelligent creatures comprehend +one another." + +"But what kind of a language is it, then?" I asked. + +"A language to make your hair stand on end," put in Jack. "The language +that ghosts speak, I reckon! Not that I understand the least little bit +of it, but I judge from what Edmund says." + +With increasing bewilderment I looked at our leader. He smiled, and then +looked thoughtful for a moment before again speaking. At last he said: + +"It's a subject that I may be better able to discuss after I have learned +more about it. All I can say at present is that it appears to be a kind +of telepathy. You know that their voices seem hardly more cultivated, or +capable of regular articulation, than those of mere brutes; and, besides, +they have a certain horror of sound. These smiths wear coverings over +their ears to minify the noise of their hammering. Yet they are able to +converse, partly by physical signs, but more, I am sure, by some means +which they possess of transferring thought without the mediation of any +senses familiar to us. Sometimes I imagine that their extraordinary eyes +play a large part in the phenomenon. But, however that may be, they +certainly are able to read some of my thoughts, when we are in close +relations and working together. One of them is especially gifted in this +way, and what do you think? I have discovered his name!" + +"Now, Edmund--" I began incredulously. + +"Yes," he persisted, "it's a fact. You are to remember that they do +interchange some of their ideas by means of sounds, and they have certain +words, among which I am disposed to think are their individual +designations. One of these words particularly attracted my attention +because I observed that it was always addressed to the person I have just +spoken of, and I finally concluded that it was his name. As near as I can +imitate it, it sounds something like 'Juba.' So that's what I call him, +and he's going to be the chief of the party that I propose to take with +us. His services may be invaluable to us." + +A great deal more was said on this curious subject, but since we did not +arrive at a complete understanding of it until after we had reached the +other side of the planet, I shall postpone any further explanation to the +chapters which will be devoted to our astonishing adventures on that part +of Venus. + +My wound, as Edmund had said, was very slight, and the effects of the +shock having passed off during the period of my unconsciousness, I was +soon busy with the others in making the final preparations for our +departure. The sleds were, of course, very rude affairs, but they were +also very strong. Among the innumerable stores which Edmund's foresight +had led him to put into the car were a number of exceedingly strong but +light metallic cables. With these the two sleds were hitched, one behind +the other, and a line about a hundred feet long connected them with the +car. The latter could thus rise to a considerable height without lifting +the sleds from the ground. + +The sleds were provisioned from the stores of the natives, and we also +took some of their food in the car, not only to eke out our own but +because we had come to like it. + +Edmund had already chosen the fellows who were to accompany us, and among +them were two of the smiths besides Juba. In all they were eight. How he +succeeded in persuading them I do not know, but not the slightest +objection was apparent on their part, or on the part of their compatriots +in the caverns. We were all ready at the predetermined time, and the +scene at our departure was a strange one. + +At least five hundred natives had assembled in a furry crowd around the +entrance to the caverns to see us off. When we started, the fellows on +the sleds, being unused to the motion, clung together like so many +awkward white bears taking a ride in the circus. Their friends stood +about the ill-omened sacrificial altar, waving their long arms, while +their huge eyes goggled in the starlight. + +Jack, in a burst of enthusiasm, fired four or five parting shots from his +pistol. As the reports crashed through the heavy air, you should have +seen the crowd vanish down the hole! The sight made me wince, for they +must have gone down like a cataract, all heaped together. But they were +tough, and I trust no heads were broken. The effect on the eight fellows +on the sleds came near being disastrous. I expected to see them leap off +and run, which no doubt they would have done if Edmund had not taken, for +other reasons, the precaution to tie them fast. But they strained at +their bonds, and squealed in terror. + +"Give me your pistol!" commanded Edmund, in a voice of thunder, and with +blazing eyes. + +Jack was almost twice his size, but he handed over the pistol with the +air of a rebuked schoolboy. + +"When you learn how to use it, I'll give it back to you," said Edmund +sternly, and that closed the incident. + +Then we began gradually to put on speed, and as the ground was icy smooth +and entirely unobstructed, we were soon traveling at the rate of sixty +miles an hour. The plan of the sleds worked like magic, and after their +first terror had passed away it was plain to be seen that the natives +enjoyed the new sensation immensely. And, indeed, it was a glorious spin! + +But in a little while a danger developed which we had not thought of. It +arose from the existence of other caverns whose mouths opened upon the +plain. To have precipitated the sleds into these would have been fatal. +Luckily, shafts of light issued from all of them, and warned by these, we +managed to avoid the danger. But it was not entirely passed before we had +traveled at least a hundred miles. It was like an immense city of prairie +dogs without mounds. The cavern that we had discovered on our arrival was +evidently situated on the outskirts of the group, and now we were passing +through the center of it. Occasionally we saw a huge white form disappear +in one of the holes as we swiftly approached, but that was all we beheld +of the inhabitants. But the spectacle of the shafts of light rising all +around us was amazing. When we were in the midst of it Edmund hesitated +for a moment, muttering that we had been too hasty and should have +remained longer to study the peculiarities of this wonderful world of +night; but finally he decided to keep on, and soon afterwards we saw the +last of the caverns. Then, as there appeared to be no obstructions of any +kind, the speed was worked up to a hundred miles an hour. Going straight +ahead as we did, there was no danger of the sleds being overturned. + +Having, as Edmund had calculated, about five thousand miles to go before +reaching the edge of the sun-illuminated hemisphere, it was evident that, +at our present rate of progress, we should arrive there in a little over +two days by the calendar clock. We guided our course by the stars, and +for me one of the most interesting things was to see the earth sinking +toward the horizon, accompanied by the stars, as if the heavens were +revolving in a direction opposed to our line of travel. We smoked and +talked and ate and slept in the old way, while the marvelous mouths in +the wall resumed their strange deglutition. Thus the time passed, without +ennui, until, unexpectedly, a new phenomenon captured our attention. + +Ahead, through the peephole, Edmund had descried again the flaming spires +which had so astonished us on our approach to Venus. But now their +appearance was splendid and imposing beyond words. Above them rose an arc +of pearly light which grew higher every hour. And with the arc of light +rose the flames also. At the same time they seemed to spread to the right +and the left, until they were simultaneously visible from both of the +side windows of the car. Their colors were wonderful--red, green, purple, +orange--all the hues of the prism. + +"There is the old mystery again," exclaimed Edmund, "and I can no more +explain it now than I could when we first saw it on nearing the planet. +The arc of light above is natural enough; it's simply the dawn. The sun +never rises on this side of Venus, but it will rise for us because we are +approaching it, and the light is the first indication that we are getting +near enough to the border between day and night for some of the sun's +rays to be bent over the horizon by refraction. But those flames! See how +steady they are as a whole, and yet how they change color like a slowly +turning prism." + +"Don't, for God's sake, run us into a conflagration," said Jack. "I'm +ready to believe anything of this topsy-turvy old planet, and I shouldn't +be surprised if the other side is all fire as this one is all frost. I +can stand these hairy beasts, but I'll be hanged if I want to be +introduced among salamanders." + +"That's not real fire," said Edmund. "When we get a little nearer we can +see what it is. In the meantime I'll try to think it out." + +The result of Edmund's meditations, when he announced it to us, an hour +later, awoke as much amazement in our minds as anything that had yet +occurred. He had been sitting silent in his corner, occasionally taking a +glimpse through the peephole, or one of the windows, when suddenly he +slapped his thigh, and springing to his feet, exclaimed: + +"They're mountains of crystal!" + +"Mountains of crystal!" we echoed. + +"Nothing else in the world, and I am ashamed not to have foreseen the +thing. It's plain enough when you come to think about it. Remember that +Venus being a world lying half in the daylight and half in the night, is +necessarily as hot on one side as it is cold on the other. All of the +clouds and floating vapors are on the day side, where the sunbeams act. +The heated air charged with moisture rises over the sunward hemisphere, +and flows off above, on all sides, toward the night side, while from the +latter cold air flows in beneath to take its place. Along the junction of +the two hemispheres the clouds and moisture are condensed by the intense +cold, and fall in ceaseless snowstorms. This snow descending for ages has +piled up in mountainous masses whose height may be increased in some +places by real mountain ranges buried beneath. The atmospheric moisture +cannot pass very far into the night hemisphere without being condensed, +and so it is all arrested within a ring, or band, extending completely +around the planet, and marking the division between perpetual day and +perpetual night. The appearance of gigantic flames is produced by the +sunbeams striking these mountains of ice and snow from behind and +breaking into prismatic fire." + +We listened to this explanation, so simple and yet so wonderful, with +mingled feelings of astonishment and admiration. And then we turned again +to regard the phenomenon, which now, with our nearer approach, had become +splendid and awful beyond description. + +In a few minutes Edmund addressed us again. "I foresee now," he said, +"considerable trouble for us. There has been a warning of that, too, if I +had but heeded it. I've noticed for some time that a wind, getting +gradually stronger, has been following us, sometimes dying out and then +coming on again stronger than before. It is likely that this wind gets to +be a perfect hurricane in the neighborhood of those strange mountains. It +is the back suction, caused, as I have already told you, by the rising of +the heated air on the sunny side of the planet. It may play the deuce +with us when we get into the midst of it. I shall have to be cautious." + +He immediately reduced the speed to not more than ten miles an hour, and +at once we noticed the wind of which he had spoken. It came now in great +gusts from behind, rapidly increasing in frequency and fury. Soon it was +strong enough to drive the sleds without any pull upon the cable, and +sometimes they were forced directly under the car, and even ahead of it, +the natives clinging to one another in the utmost terror. Edmund managed +to govern the motions of the car for a time, holding it back against the +storm, but as he confessed, this was a contingency he had made no +provision for, and eventually we became almost as helpless as a ship in a +typhoon. + +"Of course I could cut loose from the sleds and run right out of this," +said Edmund, "but that would never do. I've taken them into my service +and I'm bound to look out for them. If there was room for them in the car +it would be all right. Let's see. Yes! I've got it. I'll fetch up the +sleds and fasten them underneath the car, like baskets to a balloon, and +so carry the whole thing. There's plenty of power; it's only room that's +wanting." + +No sooner said than done with Edmund. By this time we were getting into +the ice, huge hills of which surrounded us. Edmund dropped the car in the +lee of one of these strange hummocks. Here the force of the wind was +broken, and the sky directly over us was free from clouds, but a short +distance ahead we could see them whirling and tumbling in mighty masses +of tumultuous vapor. Lashing the two sleds together we attached them +about ten feet below the bottom of the car. Then the natives, who had +been unbound, and had stood looking on in utter bewilderment, were +securely fastened on the sleds. We entered the car and the power was +turned on. + +"We'll rise straight up," said Edmund, "and as soon as we are out of the +wind current we will sail over the mountains and come down on the other +side as nice as you please. Strange that I didn't think of carrying the +sleds in this way to begin with." + +It was a beautiful program that Edmund had outlined, and we had complete +confidence in our leader's ability to carry it through; but it didn't +work as expected. Even his genius had met its match this time. + +No sooner had we risen out of the protection of the hill of ice than the +hurricane caught us. It was a blast of such power and ferocity that in an +instant it had the car spinning like a teetotum, and then it shot us +ahead, banging the sleds against the car as if they had been tassels. It +is a wonder of wonders that the poor creatures on them were not flung +off, but fortunately we had taken particular pains with their lashings, +and as for knocks, they could stand them like so many bears. + +In the course of twenty minutes we must have traveled twice as many +miles, perfectly helpless to arrest our mad rush because, Edmund said, +the atomic reaction partly refused to work, and he could not rise as he +had expected to do. We were pitched hither and thither, and were +sprawling on the floor more than half the time. The noise was awful, and +nobody tried to speak after Edmund had shouted his single communication +about the power, which would have filled us with dismay if we had had +leisure to think. + +The shutters were open, and suddenly I saw through one of the windows a +sight which I thought must surely be my last. The car had been sweeping +through a dense cloud of boiling vapors, and these had without warning +split open before my eyes--and there, almost in contact with the car, was +a glittering precipice of solid ice, gleaming with wicked blue flashes, +and we were rushing upon it as if shot out of a cannon! + +The next instant came a terrific shock, which I thought must have crushed +the car like an eggshell, and down we fell--down and down! + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +LOST IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS + +If we had seen the danger earlier, and had not been so tumbled about by +the pitching of the car, it is possible that Edmund would have prevented +the collision, in spite of the partial disablement of his apparatus. The +blow against the precipice of ice was not as severe as it had seemed to +me, and the car was not smashed; but the fall was terrible! There was +only one thing which saved us from destruction. At the base of the mighty +cliff against which the wind had hurled the car an immense deposit of +snow had collected, and into this we plunged. We were all thrown together +in a heap, the car and the sleds being entangled with the wire ropes. + +Fortunately the stout glass windows were not broken, and after we had +struggled to our feet Edmund managed to open the door. Before emerging he +bade us put on our furs, but even with them we found the cold outside all +but unendurable. Yet the natives paid no attention to it. Not one of them +was seriously hurt, although they were firmly attached to the sleds, and +unable to undo their fastenings. We set them loose, and then began +seriously to examine the situation. + +Above us towered the vertical precipice disappearing in the whirling +clouds, and the wind drove square against it with the roar of Niagara. +The air was filled with snow and ice dust, and at intervals we could not +see objects three feet away from our noses. Our poor furry companions +huddled together, and being of no use to themselves or us, suffered more +from the noise, and from the terror inspired by the snow than from any +injuries that they had received. + +"We've got to get out of this mighty quick," shouted Edward. "Hustle now +and repair ship." + +We got to work at once, Juba aiding us a little under Edmund's direction, +and soon we had the sleds out of the tangle and properly attached. Then +we replaced the natives on their seats, and entered the car. Edmund began +to fumble with his apparatus. After some ten minutes' work he said, in an +evasive way, that the damage was not serious enough to prevent the +working of the car, but I thought I caught an expression of extreme +anxiety in his face. Still, his manner indicated that he considered +himself master of the situation. + +"You notice," he said, "that this wind is variable, and there lies our +chance. When the blasts weaken, the air springs back from the face of the +cliff and then whirls round to the right. I've no doubt that there is a +passage in that direction through which the wind finds its way behind +this icy mountain, and if we can get there, too, we shall undoubtedly +find at least partial shelter. I'm going to take advantage of the first +lull." + +It worked out just as he had predicted. As the wind surged back after a +particularly vicious rush against the great blue cliff, we cut loose and +went sailing up into it, rushing past the glittering wall so swiftly that +it made our heads swim. In two or three minutes we rounded a corner, and +then found ourselves in a kind of atmospheric eddy, where the car simply +spun round and round, with the sleds whirling below it. + +"Now for it!" shouted Edmund. "Hang on!" + +He touched a knob, and instantly we rose with immense speed. We must have +shot up a couple of thousand feet, when the wind, coming over the top of +the icy barrier we had just flanked, caught us again, and swept us off on +a horizontal course. Then, suddenly, the air cleared all round about, as +if a magic broom had swept away the clouds. The spectacle that was +revealed--but why try to describe it! No language could do it. Yet I must +tell you what we saw. + +We were in the heart of the _Crystal Mountains!_ They towered round us on +every side, and stretched away in interminable ranges of shining +pinnacles. Such shapes! Such colors! Such flashing and blazing of +gigantic rainbows and prisms! There were mountains that looked to my +amazed eyes as lofty as Mont Blanc, and as massive, every solid mile of +which was composed of crystalline ice, refracting and reflecting the +sunbeams with iridescent splendor. For now we could begin to see a part +of the orb of the sun itself, prodigious in size, and poised on the edge +of the gem-glittering horizon, where the jeweled summits split its beams +into a thousand haloes. + +There was one mighty peak, still ahead of us, but toward which we were +rushed sidewise by the wind, which surpassed all the others in +marvelousness. It towered majestically above our level--a superb, +stupendous, coruscating _Alp of Light_! On every side it darted blinding +rays of a hundred splendid hues, as if a worldful of emeralds, rubies, +sapphires, and diamonds had been heaped together in one gigantic pile and +transfused with a sunburst. Even Edmund was for a moment speechless with +astonishment at this wildly magnificent sight. But presently he spoke, +very calmly, though what he said changed our amazement to terror. + +"The trouble with the apparatus is very serious. I am unable to make the +car rise higher. It will no longer react against an obstacle. We are +entirely at the mercy of the wind. If it carries us against that +glittering devil no power under heaven can save us." + +If my hair had not whitened before it surely would have whitened now! + +[Illustration: "We were in the heart of the _Crystal Mountains_!"] + +When we were swept against the first icy precipice the danger had come +unexpectedly, out of a concealing cloud, and anticipation was swallowed +up in the event. But now we had to bear the fearful strain of +expectation, with the paralyzing knowledge that nothing that we could do +could aid us in the least. I thought that even Edmund's face paled with +fear. + +On we rushed, still borne sidewise, so that the spectacle was burned into +our eyes, as, with the fascination of impending death, we gazed helpless +out of the window. Now we were upon it! Instinctively I threw myself +backward; but the blow did not come. Instead there was a wild rush of ice +crystals sweeping the thick glass. + +"Look!" shouted Edmund. "We are safe! See how the particles of ice are +swept from the face of the peak by the tempest. They leap toward us, and +are then whirled round the mountain. The compacted air forms a buffer. We +may yet touch the precipice, but the wind, having free vent on both +sides, will carry us one way or the other without a serious shock." + +He had hardly finished speaking, in a voice that had risen to a shriek +with the effort to make himself heard, when the crisis came. We did just +touch a projecting ridge, but the wind, howling past it, carried us in an +instant round the obstruction. + +"Scared ourselves for nothing," said Edmund, in a quieter voice, as the +roar died down. "We were really as safe all the time as a boat in a deep +rapid. The velocity of the current sheered us off." + +Our hearts beat more steadily again, but there was a greater danger, of +which he had warned us, but which we had not had time to contemplate. I, +at least, began to think of it with dismay when the scintillant peak was +left behind, and I saw Edmund again working away at his machinery. +Presently it was manifest that we were rapidly sinking. + +"What's the matter?" I cried. "We seem to be going down." + +"So we are," he replied quietly, "and I fear that we shall not go up +again very soon. The power is failing all the time. It will be pretty +hard to have to stop indefinitely in this frightful place, but I am +afraid that that is our destiny." + +Lost and helpless in these mountains of ice and this world of gloom and +storm! The thought was too terrible to be entertained. Yet it was forced +into our minds even more by our leader's manner than by his words. Not +one of us failed to comprehend its meaning, and it was characteristic +that, while talkative Jack now said not a word, uncommunicative Henry +burst into a brief fury of denunciation. I was startled by the energy of +his words: + +"Edmund Stonewall," he cried, agitating his arms, "you have brought me to +my death with your infernal invention! May you be--" + +But he never finished the sentence. His face turned as white as a sheet, +and he sank in a heap upon the floor. + +"Poor fellow," said Edmund, pityingly. "Would to God that he instead of +Church had remained at home. But I'll get him and all of us out of this +trouble; only give me a little time." + +In a few minutes Jack and I had restored Henry to his senses, but he was +as weak as a child, and remained lying on one of the cushioned benches. +In the meantime the car descended until at last it rested upon the snow +in a deep valley, where we were protected from the wind. In this profound +depression a kind of twilight prevailed, for the sun, which we had +glimpsed when we were on the level of the peaks, was at least thirty +degrees below our present horizon. Henry having recovered his nerve, we +all got out of the car, unloosed the natives, and began to look about us. + +The scene was more disheartening than ever. All about towered the crystal +mountains, their bases leaden-hued and formless in the ghostly gloom, +while their middle parts showed deep gleams of ultramarine, brightening +to purple higher up, and a few aspiring peaks behind us sparkled +brilliantly where the sunlight touched them. It was such a spectacle as +the imagination could not have conceived, and I have often tried in vain +to reproduce it satisfactorily in my own mind. + +Was there ever such a situation as ours? Cast away in a place wild and +wonderful beyond description, millions of miles from all human aid and +sympathy, millions of miles from the world that had given us birth! I +could, in bitterness of spirit, have laughed at the suggestion that there +was any hope for us. And yet, at that very moment, not only was there +hope, but there was even the certainty of deliverance. But, unknown to +us, it lay in the brain of the incomparable man who had brought us +hither. + +I have told you that it was twilight in the valley where we lay. But +when, as frequently happened, tempests of snow burst over the mountains, +and choked the air about us, the twilight turned to deepest night, and we +had to illumine the lamps in the car. By great good fortune, Edmund said, +enough power remained to furnish us with light and heat, and now I looked +upon those mysterious black-tusked muzzles in the car with a new +sentiment, praying that they would not turn to mouths of death. + +The natives, being used to darkness, needed no artificial illumination. +In fact, we had observed that whenever the sunlight had streamed over +them their great eyes were almost blinded, and they suffered cruelly from +an affliction so completely outside of all their experience. Edmund now +began to speak to us of this, saying that he ought to have foreseen and +provided against it. + +"I shall try to find some means of affording protection to their eyes +when we arrive in the sunlit hemisphere," he said. "It must be my first +duty." + +We heard these words with a thrill of hope. + +"Then you think that we shall escape?" I asked. + +"Of course we shall escape," he replied cheerfully. "I give you my word +for it, but do not ask me for any particulars yet. The exact means I have +not yet found, but find them I will. We may have to stay where we are for +a considerable time, and our companions must be made comfortable. Even +under their furry skins they'll suffer from this kind of weather." + +Following his directions we took a lot of extra furs from the car, and +constructed a kind of tent, under which the natives could huddle on the +sleds. There being but little wind in the valley, this was not so +difficult an undertaking as it may seem. And the poor fellows were very +glad of the shelter, for some of them were shivering, since, not knowing +what to do, they were less active than ourselves. No sooner were they +housed than they fell to eating ravenously. Both the car and the sleds +had been abundantly provisioned, so that there was no immediate fear of a +famine among us. + +Inside the car we soon had things organized very much as they were during +our voyage from the earth. We read, talked, and smoked to our hearts' +content, almost forgetting the icy mountains that tottered over us, and +the howling tempest which, with hardly an intermission, tore through the +cloud-choked air a thousand or two thousand feet above our heads. We +talked of our adventure with the meteors, which seemed an event of long +ago, and then we talked of home--home twenty-six million miles away! In +fact, it may have been thirty millions by this time, for Edmund had told +us that Venus, having passed conjunction while we were at the caverns, +was now receding from the earth. + +But while we thus strove to kill the time and banish thoughts of our +actual situation, Edmund sat apart much of the time absorbed in thought, +and we respected his privacy, knowing that our only chance of escape lay +in him. One day (I speak always of "days," because we religiously counted +the passage of time by our clock) he issued alone from the car and was +absent a long time, so that we began to be concerned, and, going outside +looked everywhere for signs of him. At length, to our infinite relief, he +appeared stumbling and crawling along the foot of an icy mountain. As he +drew nearer we saw that he was smiling, and as soon as he was within easy +earshot he called out: + +"It's all right. I've found the solution." + +Then upon joining us he continued: + +"We'll get out all right, but we shall have to be patient for a while +longer." + +"What is it?" we asked eagerly. "What have you found out?" + +"Peter," he said, turning to me, "you know what libration means; well, +it's libration that is going to save us. As Venus travels round the sun +she turns just once on her axis in making a complete circuit, the +consequence being, as you already know, that she has one side on which +the sun never rises while the other half is in perpetual daylight. But, +since her orbit is not a perfect circle, she travels a little faster than +the average during about half of her year and a little slower during the +other half, but, at the same time, her steady rotation on her axis never +varies. This produces the phenomenon that is called libration, the result +of which is that, along the border between the day and night hemispheres +there is a narrow strip where the sun rises and sets once in each of her +years, which are about two hundred and twenty-five of our days in length. +Within this strip the sun shines continuously for about sixteen weeks, +gradually rising during eight weeks and sinking during the following +eight. Then, during the next sixteen weeks, the strip lies in unceasing +night. + +"Now the kind fates have willed that we should fall just within this +lucky strip. By the utmost good fortune after we passed the blazing peak +which so nearly wrecked us, we were carried on by the wind so far, before +the ascensional power of the car gave out, that we descended on the +sunward side of the crest of the range. The sun is now just beginning to +rise on the part of the strip where we are, and it will get higher for +several weeks to come. The result will be that a great melting of ice and +snow will occur here, and in this deep valley a river will form, flowing +off toward the sunward hemisphere, exactly where we want to go. I shall +take advantage of the torrent that will flow here and float down with it +until we are out of the labyrinth. It's our only chance, for we couldn't +possibly clamber over the hummocky ice and drag the car with us." + +"Why not leave the car here?" asked Henry. + +Edmund looked at him and smiled. + +"Do you want to stay on Venus all your life?" he asked. "I thought you +didn't like it well enough for that. How could we ever get back to the +earth without the car? I can repair the mechanism as soon as I can find +certain substances, which I am sure exist on this planet as well as on +the earth. But it is no use looking for them in this icy wilderness. No, +we can never abandon the car. We must take it with us, and the only +possible way to transport it is with the aid of the coming river." + +"But how will you manage to float?" I asked. + +"The car, being air-tight, will float like a buoy." + +"But the natives, will you abandon them?" + +"God forbid. I'll contrive a way for them." + +The effects of libration on Venus were not new to me, but they were to +Jack and Henry, who had never studied such things, and they expressed +much doubt about Edmund's plan, but I had confidence in it from the +beginning, and it turned out just as he had predicted, as things always +did. Every twenty-four hours we saw, with thankful hearts, that the sun +had perceptibly risen, and as it rose, the sky gradually cleared, while +the sunbeams, falling uninterruptedly, grew hotter and hotter. Soon we no +longer had any use for furs, or for artificial heat. At the same time the +melting of the ice began. It formed, in fact, a new danger, by bringing +down avalanches into the valley, yet we watched the process joyously, +since it fell so entirely within Edmund's program. While we were awaiting +the flood, Edmund had prepared screens to protect the eyes of the +natives. + +We were just at the bottom of the trough of the valley, near its head. It +wound away before us, turning out of sight beyond an icy bulwark. Streams +were soon pouring down from the heights all around, and uniting, they +formed a little torrent, which flowed swiftly over the smooth, hard ice. +Edmund now completed his plan. + +"I'll take Juba in the car with us," he said. "There's just room for him. +As for the others, we'll fasten the sleds on each side of the car, which +will be buoyant enough to float them, and they'll have to take their +chances outside." + +We made the final arrangements while the little torrent was swelling to a +river. Before it became too broad and deep we managed to place the car +across the center of its course, the sleds forming outriders. Then all +took their places and waited. Higher and higher rose the waters, while +avalanches, continually increasing in size and number, thundered down the +heights, and vast cataracts leaped and poured from the precipices. It was +a mercy that we were so situated that the avalanches could not reach the +car. But we received some pretty hard knocks before the stream became +deep and steady enough to float us off. Shall I ever forget that moment? + +There came a sudden wave, forced onward by a great slide of ice, which +lifted car and sleds on its crest, and away we went! The car proved more +buoyant than I had believed possible. The sleds, fastened on each side, +tended to give it extra stability, and it did not sink deeper than the +middle of the windows. The latter, though formed of very thick glass, +might have been broken by the tossing ice if they had not been divided +into small panes separated by bars of steel, which projected a few inches +outside. + +"I made that arrangement for meteors," said Edmund, "but I never thought +that they would have to be defended against ice." + +The increasing force of the current sent us spinning down the valley with +accelerated speed. We swept round the nearest ice peak on the left, and +as we passed under its projecting buttresses a fearful roar above +informed us that an avalanche of unexampled magnitude had been unchained. +We could not withdraw our eyes from the window on that side of the car, +and almost instantly immense masses of ice appeared crashing into the +water, throwing it over us in floods and half drowning the unfortunate +wretches on the sleds. Still, they clung on, fastened together, and we +could do nothing to aid them. The uproar grew worse, and the ice came +plunging down faster and faster, accompanied with a deluge of water from +the heights above. The car pitched and rolled until we were all flung off +our feet. Poor Juba was a picture of abject terror. He hung moaning to a +bench, his huge eyes aglow with fright. + +Suddenly the car seemed to be lifted clear from the water, and then it +fell back again and was submerged, so that we were buried in night. +Slowly we rose to the surface, and Edmund, springing to a window, +shouted: + +"They're gone! Heaven have pity on them--and on me!" + +In spite of their fastenings the water had swept every living soul from +the sled on the left. We rushed to the other window. It was the same +story there--the sled on that side was also empty. I saw a furry body +tossed in the torrent alongside, but in a second it disappeared beneath +the raging water. At the same time Edmund exclaimed: + +"God forgive us for bringing those poor creatures here only to meet their +death!" + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE CHILDREN OF THE SUN + +But the situation was too critical to permit us to think of the +unfortunates whose death we had undoubtedly caused. There seemed less +than an even chance of our getting through with our own lives. As we +tossed and whirled onward the water rose yet higher, and blocks of ice +assailed us on all sides. First the sled on the left was torn loose; then +the other followed it, leaving the car to fight its battle alone. But the +loss of the sleds was a good thing now that their occupants were gone, +for it eased off the weight and the car rose much higher in the water. +Moreover, it gave way more readily when pressed by the ice. To be sure, +it rolled more than before, but still, being well ballasted, it did not +turn turtle, and most of the time we were able to keep on our feet by +holding fast to the inside window bars. + +Once we took a terrible plunge, over a vertical fall of not less than +twenty or thirty feet. But the water below the fall was very deep, a +profound hole having been quickly scooped out in the unfathomable ice +beneath, so that we did not strike bottom, as I had feared, but came +bobbing to the top again like a cork. Below this fall there was a very +long series of rapids, extending, it seemed, for miles upon miles, and we +shot down them with the speed of an express train, lurching from side to +side, and colliding with hundreds of ice floes. It must not be supposed +that we went through this experience without suffering any injuries. On +the contrary, our hands were all bleeding, our faces cut, Henry had one +eye closed by a blow, and our clothing, for we were not wearing our +Arctic outfit, was badly used up. Yet none of our injuries was really +serious, although we looked as if we had just come out of the toughest +kind of a street brawl. + +But there is no use in prolonging the story of this awful ride. It seemed +to us to last for days upon days, though, in fact, the worst of it was +over within twelve hours after we were lifted from our moorings in the +valley. The tumbling stream gradually broadened out as it left the region +of the high mountains, and then we found ourselves in a district covered +with icy hills of no great elevation. But we could still see, by glances, +as the stream curved this way and that, the glittering peaks behind. It +was an appalling thing to watch many of the nearer hills as they suddenly +sank, collapsed, and disappeared, like pinnacles of loaf sugar melting +and falling to pieces in a basin of water. + +Edmund said that all of the ice-hills and mounds through which we were +passing no doubt owed their existence to pressure from behind, in the +belt where the sun never rose, and where the ice was piled up in actual +mountains. These foothills were, in fact, enormous glaciers thrust out +toward the sunward hemisphere. + +After a long time the now broad river widened yet more until it became a +great lake, or bay. The surface of the planet around appeared nearly +level, and, as far as we could see, was mostly covered by the water. Here +vast fields of ice floated, and the water was not muddy, as it would have +been if it had passed over soil, but of crystal purity and wonderfully +blue in places where shafts of sunlight penetrated to great depths--for +now the sun was high above the horizon ahead, and shining in an almost +clear sky. Presently we began to notice the wind again. It came fitfully, +first from one quarter and then another, rapidly increasing until, at +times, it rose into a tempest. It lifted the water in huge combing waves, +but the car rode them like a lifeboat. + +"There is peril for us in this," said Edmund, at last. "We are being +carried by the current into a region where the contending winds may play +havoc. It is the place where the hot air from the sunward side begins to +be chilled and to descend, meeting the colder air from the night side. It +must form a veritable belt of storms, which may be as difficult to pass, +circumstanced as we are, as the crystal mountains themselves." + +"Suppose it should turn out that there is nothing but an ocean on this +side of the planet," I suggested. + +"That I believe to be impossible," Edmund responded. "This hemisphere +must be, as a whole, broken up into highlands and depressions. The +geological formation of the other side, as far as I could make it out +from the appearance of the rocks in the caverns, indicates that Venus has +undergone the same experience of upheavals and fracturings of the crust +that the earth has been through. If that is true of one side it must be +true of the other also, for during a large part of these geological +changes she undoubtedly rotated rapidly on her axis like the earth." + +"But we traveled five thousand miles on the other side without +encountering anything but a frozen prairie," I objected. + +"True enough, and yet I would lay a wager that all of that side of the +planet is not equally level. Remember the vast plains of Russia and +Siberia." + +"Well," put in Jack, whose spirits were beginning to revive, "if there's +a shore somewheres, let's find it. I want to see the other kind of +inhabitants. These that we've met don't accord with my ideas of Venus." + +"We shall find them," responded Edmund, "and I think I can promise you +that they will not disappoint your expectations." + +Yet there seemed to be nothing in our present situation to warrant the +confidence expressed by our leader's words and manner. The current that +had carried us out of the crystal mountains gradually disappeared in a +vast waste of waters, and we were driven hither and thither by the +tempestuous wind. Its force increased hour by hour, and at last the sky, +which at brief intervals had been clear and exquisitely blue, became +choked with black clouds, sweeping down upon the face of the waters, and +often whirled into great _trombes_ by the tornadic blasts. Several times +the car was deluged by waterspouts, and once it was actually lifted up +into the air by the mighty suction. An ordinary vessel would not have +lived five minutes in that hell of winds and waters. But the car, if it +had been built for this kind of navigation, could not have behaved +better. + +I do not know how long all this lasted. It grew worse and worse. +Sometimes a flood of rain fell, and then would come a storm of lightning, +and a downpour of gigantic hailstones that rattled upon the steel shell +of the car like a rain of bullets from a battery of machine guns. Half +the time one window or the other was submerged by the waves, and when we +got an opportunity to glance out, we saw nothing but torn streamers of +cloud whipping the face of the waters. But when the change came at last, +it was as sudden as the dropping of a curtain. The clouds broke away, a +soft light filled the atmosphere, the waves ceased to break and rolled in +long undulations, and a marvelous dome appeared overhead. + +That dome, at its first dramatic appearance, was one of the most +astonishing things that we saw in the whole course of our adventures. It +was not a cerulean vault like that which covers the earth in halcyon +weather, but an indescribably soft, pinkish-gray concavity that seemed +nearer than the sky and yet farther than the clouds. Here and there, far +beneath it, but still at a vast elevation, floated delicate gauzy +curtains, tinted like sheets of mother-of-pearl. The sun was no longer +visible, but the air was filled with a delicious luminousness, which +bathed the eyes as if it had been an ethereal liquid. + +Below each window was a steel ledge, broad enough to stand on, with +convenient hold-fasts for the hands. These had evidently been prepared +for some such contingency, and Edmund, throwing open the windows, invited +us to go outside. We gladly accepted the invitation, and all, except +Juba, issued into the open air. The temperature was that of an early +spring day, and the air was splendidly fresh and stimulating. The rolling +of the car had now nearly ceased, and we had no difficulty in maintaining +our positions. For a long while we admired, and talked of, the great dome +overhead, which drew our attention, for the time, from the sea that had +so strangely brought us hither. + +"There," said Edmund, pointing to the dome, "is the inside of the shell +of cloud whose exterior, gleaming in the sunshine, baffles our +astronomers in their efforts to see the surface of Venus. I believe that +we shall find the whole of this hemisphere covered by it. It is a shield +for the inhabitants against the fervors of an unsetting sun. Its presence +prevents their real world from being seen from outside." + +"Well," said Jack, laughing, "I never heard before that Venus was fond of +a veil." + +"Not only can they not be seen," continued Edmund, "but they cannot +themselves see beyond the screen that covers them." + +"Worse and worse!" exclaimed Jack. "The astronomers have certainly made a +mistake in naming this bashful planet Venus." + +We continued for a long time to gaze at the great dome, admiring the +magnificent play of iridescent colors over its vast surface, until +suddenly Jack, who had gone to the other side of the car, called out to +us: + +"Come here and tell me what this is." + +We hurried to his side and were astonished to see a number of glittering +objects which appeared to be floating in the atmosphere. They were +arranged in an almost straight row, at an elevation of perhaps two +thousand feet, and were apparently about three miles away. After a few +moments of silence, Edmund said, in his quiet way: + +"Those are air ships." + +"Air ships!" + +"Yes, surely. An exploring expedition, I shouldn't wonder. I anticipated +something of that kind. You know already how dense the atmosphere of +Venus is. It follows that balloons, and all sorts of machines for aerial +navigation, can float much more easily here than over the earth. I was +prepared to find the inhabitants of Venus skilled in such things, and I'm +not surprised by what we see." + +"Venus with wings!" cried Jack. "Now, Edmund, that sounds more like it. I +guess we've struck the right planet after all." + +"But," I said, "you spoke of an exploring expedition. How in the world do +you make that out?" + +"It seems perfectly natural to me," replied Edmund. "Remember the two +sides of the planet, so wonderfully different from one another. If we on +the earth are so curious about the poles of our planet, simply because +they are unlike other parts of the world, don't you think that the +inhabitants of Venus should be at least equally curious concerning a +whole hemisphere of their world, which differs _in toto_ from the half on +which they live?" + +"That does seem reasonable," I assented. + +"Of course it's reasonable, and I imagine that we, ourselves, are about +to be submitted to investigation." + +"By Jo!" exclaimed Jack, running his hands through his hair, and +smoothing his torn and rumpled garments, "then we must make ready for +inspection. But I'm afraid we won't do much honor to old New York. Can I +get a shave aboard your craft, Edmund?" + +"Oh, yes," Edmund replied, laughing. "I didn't forget soap and razors." + +But Jack would have had no time to make his toilet even if he had +seriously thought of it. The strange objects in the air approached with +great rapidity, and we soon saw that Edmund had correctly divined their +nature. They were certainly air ships, and I was greatly interested in +the observation that they seemed to be constructed somewhat upon the +principles upon which our inventors were then working on the earth. But +they were neither aeroplanes nor balloons. They bore a resemblance to +mechanical birds, and seemed to be sustained and forced ahead by a +wing-like action. + +This, of course, did not escape Edmund's notice. + +"Look," he said admiringly, "how easily and gracefully they fly. Perhaps +with our relatively light atmosphere we shall never be able to do that +on the earth; but no matter," he added, with a flush, "for with the +inter-atomic energy at our command, we shall have no need to imitate the +birds." + +"Perhaps they have made that discovery here, too," I suggested. + +"No, it is evident that they have not, else they would not be employing +mechanical means of flight. Once let me get the car fixed up and we'll +give them a surprise." + +"Yes, and if you had used common sense," growled Henry, nursing his +injured eye, "you would not be here fooling away your time and ours, and +risking our lives every minute, but you'd be making millions and +revolutionizing life at home." + +"And where'd the Columbus of Space be then?" demanded Jack. "Hanged if +Edmund is not right! I'd rather be here meeting these doves of Venus than +grinding out dollars on the earth. And can't we go back and scoop in the +money when we get ready?" + +The discussion went no further, for, by this time, two of the air ships +were close at hand. And now we perceived, for the first time, the beings +that they carried. Our surprise at the sight was even greater than that +which we had experienced upon meeting the inhabitants of the dark +hemisphere. The latter were extraordinary--but we were looking for +extraordinary things. Indeed they were, except for certain peculiarities, +much more like some members of our own race than we should have deemed +possible. How great, then, was our astonishment upon seeing the two air +ships apparently in charge of _real human beings_! + +At least that was our first impression. In the midst of the strange +apparatus, which evidently fulfilled the function of wings for the air +ships, we saw decks, spacious enough to contain twenty persons, and +surmounted with deck houses, and along the railings inclosing the decks +were gathered the crews, among whom we believed that we could recognize +their officers. The two vessels had approached within a hundred yards +before being suddenly arrested. Then they settled gracefully down upon +the water, where they floated like swans. + +At first, as I have said, the resemblance of their crews to inhabitants +of the earth seemed complete. One would have said that we had met a +yachting party, composed of tall, well-formed, light-complexioned, +yellow-haired Englishmen, the pick of their race. At a distance their +dress alone appeared strange, though it, too, might easily be imitated on +the earth. As well as I can describe it, it bore some resemblance, in +general effect, to the draperies of a Greek statue, and it was specially +remarkable for the harmonious blending of soft hues in its texture. + +During a space of at least five minutes we gazed at them, and they at us. +Probably their surprise was greater than ours, because we had been on the +lookout for strange sights, being, of our own volition, in a foreign +world, while they could have had no expectation of such an encounter, +even if, as Edmund had conjectured, they were engaged in exploration. We +could read their astonishment in their gesticulations. Slowly the car and +the nearer of the two air ships drifted closer together. When we were +within less than fifty yards of one another, Jack suddenly called out: + +"A woman! By Jo, it's Venus herself!" + +His excited voice rang like a rattle of musketry in the heavy air, and +the beings on the air ship started back in alarm. But although, like the +inhabitants of the dark hemisphere, they were, evidently, unaccustomed +to hearing sounds of such forcefulness issue from a living creature no +larger than themselves, they were not faint-hearted, and the air ship did +not, as we half expected it would, take flight. The momentary commotion +was quickly quieted, and our visitors continued their inspection. All of +us immediately recognized the personage whom Jack had singled out as the +subject of his startling exclamation. It was clear that he had rightly +guessed her sex, and she appeared worthy of his admiring designation. +Even at the distance of a hundred feet we could see that she was very +beautiful. Her complexion was light, with a flame upon the cheeks; her +hair a chestnut blond; and her large, round eyes were sapphire blue, and +seemed to radiate a light of their own. This last statement (about the +eyes) must not be taken for a conventional exaggeration, such as writers +of fiction employ in describing heroines who never existed. On the +contrary, it expresses a literal fact; and moreover, as the reader will +see further on, this peculiarity of the eyes was shared, in varying +degrees, by all these people of Venus, and was connected with the most +amazing of all our discoveries on that planet. I should say here that, +while the eyes of the inhabitants of the day side were larger than ours, +they did not, in respect of size, resemble the extraordinary organs of +vision possessed by the compatriots of Juba. + +In a few minutes we became aware that the beautiful creature we had been +admiring was not the only representative of the female sex on the air +ship. Several others surrounded her, and the fact quickly became manifest +that they recognized her as a superior. Still more surprising was the +discovery, which we were not long in making, that she was actually the +commander of the craft. We could see that the orders which determined its +movements emanated from her. + +"Amazons!" exclaimed Jack, taking pains this time to moderate his voice. +"And what a queen they've got!" + +During all this time the car and the air ship were slowly drifting nearer +to one another, drawn by that strange attraction which seems to affect +inanimate things when in close neighborhood, and when they were not more +than fifteen yards apart the personage we had been watching slowly lifted +her arm, revealing a glittering bracelet, and, with an ineffably winning +smile, made a gesture which said plainer than any words could have done: + +"Welcome, strangers." + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +LANGUAGE WITHOUT SPEECH + +"That breaks the ice," said the irrepressible Jack. "We're introduced! Now +for the conquest of Venus." + +We had all instinctively returned the smile of our beautiful +interlocutor, with bows and gestures of amity, and it looked as though we +might soon be within touch of her hand, for the vessels continued to +drift nearer, when suddenly Juba clambered out of the window and stood +beside us, his moon eyes blinking in the unaccustomed light. The greatest +agitation was immediately manifest among the crowd on the deck of the air +ship. They seemed to be even more startled than they had been by the +sound of Jack's voice. They interchanged looks, and, apparently, a few +words, spoken in very low voices, and glanced from Juba to us in a way +which plainly showed that they were astonished at our being together. + +Edmund, whose perspicacity never deserted him, immediately penetrated +their thoughts. + +"It is clear," he said, "that these people recognize Juba as an +inhabitant of the dark hemisphere, while, as to us, they are puzzled, and +all the more so now that Juba has made his appearance. I think it certain +that they have never actually met any representative of Juba's race +before, but no doubt he bears, to their eyes, ethnological +characteristics which escape our discernment, and it is likely that +tradition has handed down to them facts about the inhabitants of the +other side of their planet which accord with his appearance." + +"Then, they must conclude that we have come from the other side, and +brought Juba along as a captive," I said. + +"Undoubtedly." + +"And what must they think of us--that we are inhabitants of the dark +hemisphere also?" + +"What else can they think?" + +I do not know into what train of speculation this might have led us if a +new incident had not suddenly changed the current of our thoughts. +Unnoticed by us the second air ship had drawn near. Signals were +interchanged between it and the first, and we observed that she who +seemed to be the commander in chief gave orders that the second air ship +should lay us aboard. The order was no sooner given than executed, and we +found ourselves face to face with a dozen of the blond-haired natives, +led by one who was clearly their captain. The deck of the air ship +touched the side of the car, and, as if instinctively recognizing our +leader, the captain laid his hand on Edmund's arm, but with a smile which +gave assurance that no violence was intended. + +"Come," said Edmund, in a low voice, "it is best that we should go aboard +their craft. We are in their hands, and luckily so, for they will take us +where we want to go." + +Accordingly, all, including Juba, passed upon the deck of the air ship. +You will readily imagine the intensity of interest with which we studied +the faces and forms of those whom I will call our captors. Now that we +were in contact with them we could better observe their resemblances to, +and differences from, ourselves. In all the main features of body they +were human beings, but of a somewhat superior stature. Noses and mouths +were small and delicate; hair long, silken, and either light gold or rich +chestnut in color; skin white and smooth; ears small and peculiarly +formed, with a curious mobility; and eyes large, round, invariably light +blue, and possessing that strange luminousness of which I have already +spoken. One could not look directly into these eyes without a certain +shrinking, for some wonderful power seemed to radiate from them, and one +had the feeling that the intelligence behind them could dip to the bottom +of his mind. We were gently treated and could perceive no indication of +peril to ourselves. Nevertheless, we were glad to feel our pistols in our +pockets. There were seats on the deck to which we were civilly conducted, +but Edmund refused to sit. + +"I must see the commander herself," he whispered. "These are only +subordinates, and I cannot deal with them. It will not do to leave the +car here at the mercy of the waves. I must find the means of making them +understand that it is to go with us." + +Accordingly, he approached the captain, and we watched him with beating +hearts, not being able to divine what an attempt to dictate terms on our +part might lead to. Jack shook his head, and put his hand on his pistol, +which Edmund had restored to him while we were in the ice mountains. + +"I'll drop the jackanapes in his tracks if he shows up ugly," he said. + +"You'd better keep quiet," I whispered, "and don't let them see your +weapon. They appear to have no arms, and you should trust to Edmund to +manage the affair. When he gives the word it will be time enough to begin +shooting." + +Jack grumbled, but kept the pistol in his pocket, although he did not +withdraw his hand from it. + +I have already told you how, at the caverns, Edmund had discovered that +the inhabitants there possessed a means of converse which he likened to +telepathy, and from what I had seen of the people here I was convinced +that they had the same mysterious power, and probably in a higher degree. +To be sure, they used words occasionally, but for the most part they +communed together in some other way. I felt sure that Edmund was now +about to apply what he had learned, and his actions quickly demonstrated +that my conjecture was well founded. Just what he did, I do not know, but +the result of his conference was promptly apparent. + +The first air ship had withdrawn a short distance when the other boarded +the car, but now the two mutually approached until it was possible to +step from one deck to the other. As soon as they touched, Edmund was +conducted by the captain, at whose side he had remained standing, to the +presence of the important personage whom Jack had begun to designate as +the queen. We remained where we were, watching with all eyes, while Jack +persisted in keeping his hand on the pistol in his pocket. A crowd +immediately surrounded Edmund and we were unable to see exactly what went +on, a fact that rendered Jack so much the more impatient. But it turned +out that there was no cause for alarm. In about ten minutes the crowd +opened and Edmund appeared. Uninterfered with, he came to the edge of the +deck, close by us, and said: + +"It is all arranged. The car will be towed by one of the air ships. I am +to stay here and you will remain where you are until we reach our +destination." + +"Have you had a talk with her?" asked Jack. + +"Not in any language that you understand," Edmund responded, smiling. +"But I have made good use of what I learned in the caverns. These people +are intellectually vastly superior to the others, and, as I guessed, they +possess a more perfect command of the sort of telepathy that I told you +about. I have not found much difficulty in making my wish understood, and +your amazon is a very obliging person. It is only necessary to be +discreet and we shall have no trouble." + +"But why are you to be separated from us?" asked Jack anxiously. "That +looks bad, for it is exactly what they would do if they meant to kill us +one at a time." + +"Why should they kill us?" retorted Edmund. + +"And why should we be separated?" persisted Jack. "I tell you, Edmund, I +don't like it." + +"Very well, then," Edmund said, after a moment's thought; "if that's the +way you feel about it, I'll see what I can do. It will be another +exercise for me in this new kind of language. But, mark this, if I +succeed in persuading the chieftainess to keep us together, you will have +to acknowledge that your fears were groundless. Perhaps it's worth trying +on that very account." + +He disappeared from our eyes again--for as soon as he approached their +leader the people of the air ship crowded close around as if to afford +her protection--and, after another ten minutes' conference, came back +smiling to the edge of the deck. + +"Dismiss your fears, friend Jack," he said cheerfully. "You are all to +come aboard here with me. So you see there could have been no thought of +treachery; but I'm glad that we are not to be separated, and I thank you +for your solicitude on my account. I'm sure that the original +arrangement was made only because of lack of room aboard this craft, and +you'll see that that was the reason." + +He was right, for immediately half a dozen of the crew of the principal +air ship were sent aboard ours while we were transferred to take their +place. + +We now had an opportunity to study the countenance of the "amazon" +commander, and we found her to be an even more remarkable personage than +she had appeared at a distance. Of the beauty of her features and form I +shall say no more, but about her eyes I could write a chapter. The +pupils, widely expanded amidst their circles of sky-blue iris, seemed to +speak. I can describe the impression that they made in no other way. I no +longer wondered at Edmund's ability to converse with her, for I felt +that, with a little instruction, and more of our leader's mental +penetration, I could do it myself. At times I shrank from encountering +her gaze, for I verily believed that she read my inmost thoughts. And I +could see that _thought came out of her eyes_, but it escaped all my +efforts to grasp it; it was too evanescent, or I was too dull. Sometimes +I imagined that the meaning was at the threshold of comprehension, but +yet it evaded me, like forgotten words whose general sense dimly +irradiates the mind, while they refuse to take a definite shape, and keep +flitting just beyond the reach of memory. Still, charity and good will +shone out so plainly that anybody could read them, and I do not know how +to express the feeling that came over me at this evidence of friendliness +exhibited by an inhabitant of a world so far from our own. It was as if a +dim sense of ultimate fraternity bound her to us. Jack's enthusiasm, as +you may guess, was without bounds, and strangely enough it rendered him +almost speechless. + +"By Jo!" he kept repeating to himself in an undertone, without venturing +upon any further expression of his feelings. + +Henry, as usual, was silent, but I know that he felt the influence no +less than the rest of us. Edmund, too, said nothing, but it was plain +that he was continually studying the phenomenon, and I felt sure that his +analytic mind would find a more complete explanation than we yet +possessed. Of course you are not to suppose that the power that I have +been trying to describe was peculiar to this woman. On the contrary, as I +have already intimated, it was common to all of them; but with her it +seemed to have reached a higher development, and, what was of special +interest, she alone exhibited a marked benevolence toward us. + +The car was attached by a cable to the air ship that we had just quitted, +and our voyage into a new unknown began. The other air ships, which had +been hovering about, moved up into line, and, with the exception of the +one which towed the car, all rose to an elevation of perhaps a thousand +feet, and moved rapidly away from a row of dark clouds which we could now +see low on the horizon behind. We found the air ship splendidly fitted +up, with everything that could contribute to the comfort of its inmates. +And what a voyage it was! "Yachting on Venus," as Jack called it. We sat +on the deck, with a pleasant breeze, produced by the swift, steady +motion, fanning our faces; the temperature was delightful; the air was +wonderfully stimulating; the light, softly and evenly diffused from the +great shell-like dome of the sky, seemed to bewitch the eyesight; and the +sea beneath us, reflecting the dome, was a marvel of refluent colors. + +We had left the calendar clock in the car, but, with our watches, which +we had never ceased to wind up regularly, we were able to measure the +time. The voyage lasted about seventy-two hours, but could, perhaps, have +been performed in less time if we had not been somewhat delayed by the +towing of the car. They had on the air ship ingenious clocks, driven by +weights, and governed by pendulums, but the divisions of time were unlike +ours, and there was nothing corresponding to our days. This, of course, +arose from the fact that there was never any night, and, being unable to +see either sun or stars, they had no measure of the year. With them time +was simply endless duration, with no return in cycles. + +"What interests me most," said Edmund, "is the fact that they should have +established any chronological measure at all. It would puzzle some of our +metaphysicians on the earth to account for the origin of their sense of +time. To me it seems evident that the consciousness of duration is +fundamental in all intelligent life, and does not necessarily demand +natural recurrences, like the succession of day and night, and the +passage of sun and stars across the meridian, to give it birth. Did you +ever read St. Augustine's reply to the question, 'What is time'--'I know +if you don't ask me'?" + +"If they haven't any years," said Jack, "how do they know when they are +old enough to die?" + +"They have the years, but no measure for them," replied Edmund, and then +added quizzically, "Perhaps they _don't_ die." + +"Well, I shouldn't wonder," Jack returned, "for this seems to me to be +Paradise for sure." + +When we felt sleepy, we imitated the natives themselves, and, just as we +had done during the voyage from the earth, created an artificial night by +shutting ourselves up in the cabins that had been assigned to us. Rest +was taken by all of them in this manner as regularly as it is taken at +night on the earth. + +One subject which we frequently discussed during the voyage was the +astonishing resemblance of our hosts to the _genus homo_. Influenced by +speculations which I had read at home about the probable unlikeness to +one another of the inhabitants of different planets, I was particularly +insistent upon this point, and declared that the facts as we found them +were utterly inexplicable. + +"Not at all," Edmund averred. "It is perfectly natural, and quite as I +expected. Venus resembles the earth in composition, in form, in physical +constitution, and in subordination to the sun, the great ruler of the +entire system. Here are the same chemical elements, and the same laws of +matter. The human type is manifestly the highest possible that could be +developed with such materials to work upon. Why, then, should you be +surprised to find that it prevails here as well as upon our planet? +Intelligent life could find no more suitable abode than in a human body. +The details are simply varied in accordance with the environment--a +principle that works on the earth also." + +I was not altogether satisfied with the reasoning--but as to the facts, +we had to believe our eyes. + +Palatable food was served to us, and during the waking time Edmund was +frequently engaged in his mysterious conversation with the "queen." +Within forty-eight hours after we had set out in the air ship, he came to +us, wearing one of his enigmatic smiles, and said: + +"I've got another aphroditic word for you to remember. It is the name of +our hostess--Ala." + +We were not so much surprised by this news as we should have been but for +what had occurred at the caverns, where he had discovered the patronymic +of Juba. + +"Good!" cried Jack, "it's a fine name. I was going to call her Aphrodite, +myself, but this is better as well as shorter." + +"But, Edmund," I said, "how does it happen that these people, if they +converse by 'telepathy' as you say, and as I fully believe, nevertheless +occasionally use sounds and words? I should think it would be all one +thing or all the other." + +"Think a moment," he replied. "Is it so with us? Do we not use signs and +gestures as well as words? And what do we mean by 'silent converse,' when +mind speaks to mind and soul to soul without the intervention of spoken +language? We have the potentiality of telepathic intercommunication, but +we have not yet developed it into a kinetic form as these people have +done. Ah, when will men begin to appreciate _what mind means?_" + +I made no reply, and after a moment's musing, he continued: + +"I suspect that here, too, speech preceded the higher form of converse, +and that the spoken language remains only as a survival, presenting +certain advantages for particular cases. But we shall learn more as time +goes on." + +There was no disputing Edmund's conclusions. He was the greatest accepter +and defender of facts as he found them that I have ever known. + +It was written that before this voyage ended we should have another phase +of language without speech presented for our wonderment. It came about +near the end of the trip. We were standing apart in a group, greatly +interested and excited by the discovery, which had just been made, of +land ahead. Far in advance we could see a curving, yellow shore line, +and, dim in the distance behind it, a range of mountains. Edmund had just +called our attention to these, with the remark that now I must admit that +he had reasoned correctly about the existence of elevated regions on this +side of Venus, when Jack, always the first to note a new phenomenon, +exclaimed: + +"Hurrah! Here they come! We're going to have a royal reception." + +He pointed toward the land in a different direction from that in which we +had been gazing, and immediately we beheld an extraordinary assemblage of +air ships, perhaps ten miles off, but rapidly making toward us. More were +coming up from behind, as if rising out of the land, and soon they +resembled flocks of large birds all converging to a common center. In a +little while they became almost innumerable, but their number soon ceased +to be as great a cause of surprise to us as their peculiar appearance. +Viewed with our binoculars they showed an infinite variety of shapes and +sizes. Chinese kites could not, for a moment, be compared in +grotesqueness with the forms which many of them presented. Some soared in +vast circles at a great height, with the steady flight of eagles; others +spread out to right and left, as if to flank us on either hand; and in +the center, directly ahead, about a hundred advanced in column deployed +in a semicircle, each keeping its place with the precision of a soldier +in line of battle. + +As we continued to gaze, fascinated by the splendor and strangeness of +the spectacle, suddenly the air was filled with fluttering colors. I do +not mean flags and streamers, but _colors in the air itself_! Colors the +most exquisite that ever the eye looked upon! They changed, flickered, +melted, brightened, flowed over one another in iridescent waves, mingled, +separated, turned the whole atmosphere into a spectral kaleidoscope. And +it was evident that, in some inexplicable way, the approaching squadrons +were the sources of this marvelous display. Presently from the craft that +carried us, answering colors flashed out, as if the air around us had +suddenly been changed to crystal with a thousand quivering rainbows shot +through it, their beautiful arches shifting and interchanging so rapidly +that the eye could not follow them. + +Then I began to notice that all this incessant play of colors was based +upon an unmistakable rhythm. I can think of no better way to describe it +than to say that it was as if a great organ should send forth from its +keys harmonic vibrations consisting not of concordant sounds but of even +more perfectly related undulations of color. The permutations and +combinations of this truly chromatic scale were marvelous and magical in +their infinite variety. It thrilled us with awe and wonder. But none was +so rapt as Edmund himself. He gazed as if his soul were in his eyes, and +finally he turned to us, with a strange look, and said, almost under his +breath: + +"This, too, is language, and more than that--it is music!" + +"Impossible!" I exclaimed. + +"No, not impossible, since it _is_. They are not only exchanging +intelligence in this way, but we are being greeted with a great anthem +played in the heaven itself!" + +There was the force of enthusiastic conviction in Edmund's words, and we +could only look at him, and at one another, in silent astonishment. + +"Oh, what a people! What a people!" he muttered. "And yet I am not +surprised. I dimly fore-read this in Ala's eyes." + +Even Jack's levity was subdued for the time, but after a while he said to +me with a shrug, half in earnest, half in derision: + +"Well, this Yankee-doodling in the air gets me! I'd prefer a little plain +English and the Old Folks at Home." + +After about ten minutes the display ceased as suddenly as it had begun, +and the nearer of the approaching air craft began to circle around us. +Finally one of them ran so close alongside that an officer of high rank, +for such he seemed to be, leaped aboard us, and was quickly at Ala's +side. There was a rapid interchange of communications between them, and +then the newcomer was, I may say, presented. Ala led him to where we were +standing, and I could read in his eyes the astonishment that the sight of +such strangers produced in him. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +AN AMAZING METROPOLIS + +If I should undertake to describe in detail all the events that now +followed in rapid succession, this history would take a lifetime to +write. I must choose only the more significant facts. + +The newcomer, whose remarkable face had immediately impressed me, and not +altogether favorably, proved to be a personage of very great importance, +second only, as we could see, to Ala herself. And, what was particularly +important for us, he showed none of her friendly disposition. I do not +mean to suggest that he seemed inclined to any active hostility, but +evidently we were, in his eyes, no better than savages, and consequently +entitled to no special consideration, and especially to no favors. Jack, +who, with all his careless ways, had a penetrating mind for the +perception of character, whispered to me, within five minutes after the +fellow came aboard: + +"If that galoot had his way, we'd make our entry in irons. Mark my words, +there's mischief in him. Hang him! I'm going to keep my pistol handy when +he's around." + +Edmund, who happened to overhear Jack's remark, interposed: + +"See here, Master Jack, this is no time to be talking of pistols. I trust +that we are done with shooting." + +We were not done with it; but that comes later. + +It was not long before Edmund had discovered a name for the newcomer +also; he called him Ingra. It was singular, he said, that all the names +seemed to be characterized by the prevalence of vowels sounds, but he +thought it likely that this arose from the greater ease with which they +could be enunciated. They were like Spanish words, which are the easiest +of all for foreigners, and probably also for natives, to pronounce. + +After we reached the coast we descended to the ground, at Edmund's +request, I believe, because he wished to superintend the loading of the +car upon one of the largest air ships, and it was an unforgettable sight +to watch him managing the work as coolly and effectively as if he had +been in charge of a gang of workmen at home! And, while I looked, I found +myself again doubting if, after all, this was not a dream. The workers +hurrying about, Edmund following them, pointing, objecting, urging and +directing, with his derby hat, which had come through all our adventures +(though somewhat damaged), stuck on the back of his head--and all this on +the planet Venus! No! I could not be awake. But yet I was. + +When we started again, we were escorted by a hundred air ships, forming a +complete circle about us. Now I noticed, what had escaped attention +during the extraordinary atmospheric display, viz., that these craft were +painted in colors that I should call gorgeous if they had not been so +perfectly harmonious and pleasing. Every one looked like the careful +creation of an artist, and the variety of tints exhibited was incredible. +Our own air ship, and its consorts, on the other hand, were very plain in +their decorations. I called Edmund's attention to this and immediately he +said: + +"Remember what I told you--this has been an exploring expedition, and the +craft taking part in it have been fitted up for rough work. That reminds +me that I have not yet made the inquiries that I intended on that +subject. I shall go to Ala now and see what I can learn." + +She was standing on the deck near the other end, with Ingra beside her. +As Edmund approached them, Jack nudged me: + +"Look at that fellow," he said. "Wasn't I right?" + +There was no doubt about it; Ingra scowled and showed every sign of +displeasure at Edmund's presence. But Ala greeted him graciously, and, +apparently, Ingra did not dare to interfere. I could see that Jack was +grasping his pistol again, but I did not anticipate that there would be +any occasion to use it. Nevertheless, I watched them closely for a time, +hoping to discover Edmund's method of reading her meaning; as to her +comprehension of his I had no question about that. But I got no light on +the subject, and, as it soon became evident, even to Jack, that there was +no danger this time, we fell to examining the land over which we were +passing. + +We flew at a height of about two thousand feet, so that the range of +vision was very wide. The sea behind us curved into the land in three +great scallops, separated by acuminate promontories, whose terminal +bluffs of sand were as yellow as gold. Away ahead the line of mountains, +that we had noticed before, appeared as a dark sierra, and between it and +the sea the country seemed to be very little broken by hills. Large +forests were visible, but from our elevation it was impossible to tell +whether the trees composing them bore any resemblance to terrestrial +forms. The open land was about equally divided in area between bare +yellowish soil (or what we took to be soil) and bright green expanses +whose color suggested vegetation. Scattered here and there we saw what +appeared to be habitations, but we could not be sure of their nature; +and, upon the whole, the land seemed to us to be very thinly populated. + +Many birds accompanied us in our flight, frequently alighting on the deck +and other parts of the air ship. They were remarkably tame, allowing us +to approach them closely, and we were delighted by their beautiful +plumage and their singular forms. This reminds me to say that the motion +of the craft was extremely curious--a kind of gentle rising and falling, +which was very agreeable when once we were accustomed to it, and which +resembled what one would suppose to be the movement of a bird in flight. +This, of course, arose from the structure of the air ship, which, as I +have before said, seemed to be modeled, as far as its motive parts were +concerned, upon the principle of wings rather than of simple aeroplanes. +But the mechanism was very complicated, and I never arrived at a full +comprehension of it. + +Edmund remained a long time in conference with Ala, Ingra staying +constantly with them, and when he had apparently finished his +"conversation" we were surprised to see them begin a tour of inspection +of the air ship, finally descending into the interior. This greatly +excited Jack, who was for following them at once. + +"I can't be easy," he declared. "Nobody can tell what may happen to him +if they get him alone." + +But I succeeded in persuading him that there could be no danger, and that +we ought to trust to Edmund's discretion. They were gone so long, +however, that at last I became anxious myself, and was on the point of +suggesting to Jack that we try to find them, when they reappeared, and +Edmund at once came to us, his face irradiated with smiles. + +"I have plenty of news for you," he said, as soon as he had joined us. +"Never in my life have I spent two hours more delightfully. In the first +place, I have found out practically all that I wished to know about this +expedition, and, second, I have thoroughly examined the mechanism of the +ship. Its complication is only apparent, and the management of it is so +simple that a single man can pilot it easily. I could do it myself." + +We did not appreciate at the time what the knowledge that Edmund had thus +acquired meant for us. + +"Well, what about the expedition?" asked Jack. "And where are we going?" + +"From what I can make out," replied Edmund musingly, "Ala is really what +you called her, Jack, a queen. But such a queen! If we had some like her +on the earth, monarchy might not be such a bad thing after all. She is a +_savant_." + +"Bluestocking," put in Jack. "This is a new kind of amazon." + +Edmund did not smile. + +"I am in earnest," he continued. "Of course you understand that most of +my conclusions are really based upon inference. I cannot grasp all that +she tries to tell me, but her gestures are so speaking, and her eyes so +full of a kind of meaning which seems to force its way into my mind, I +cannot tell how, that I am virtually sure of the correctness of my +interpretation. The expedition, which I am certain was planned by her, +was intended to explore the outskirts of the dark hemisphere. Perhaps +they meant to penetrate within it, but, if so, the stormy belt that we +crossed was too serious an obstacle for them to overcome. Our +encountering them was the greatest stroke of good fortune that we have +yet had. It places us right at the center of affairs." + +"Where are they going now?" + +"Evidently back to their starting point; which is likely to be a great +city--the capital and metropolis, most probably. The more I think of it +the stronger becomes my conviction that Ala is really, at least in power +and influence, a queen. And you can see for yourselves that it must be a +great and rich empire that she rules, for remember the extraordinary +reception with which she was greeted, the innumerable air ships, the +splendor of everything." + +"But are we to be well treated? Is there no danger for us in accompanying +them?" + +"If there were danger, it would be hard for us to escape from it now; but +why should there be danger? We did not kill the Esquimaux that our polar +explorers brought from the Arctic regions, and for these people, we are a +greater curiosity than ever the Esquimaux, or the Pygmies of Africa, were +for us. Instead of encountering any danger, I anticipate that we shall be +very well treated." + +"Perhaps they'll put us in a cage," said Jack, with a ludicrous grimace, +"and tote us about as a great moral show for children. If there's a +Barnum on Venus, our fate is sealed." + +Jack's humorous suggestion struck home, for there seemed to be +probability behind it, and Henry groaned, while, for my part, I confess +that I felt rather uncomfortable over the prospect. But Edmund did not +pursue the conversation, and soon we fell to regarding again the +landscape beneath and far around us. We were gradually nearing the +mountains, although they were still distant, and presently we caught +sight of what resembled, as much as anything, gigantic cobwebs glittering +with dew, and rising out of the plain between us and the mountains. + +"There, Edmund," said Jack, "there's another chance to exercise your +genius for explaining mysteries. What are those things?" + +Edmund watched the objects for several minutes before replying. At length +he said, with the decision characteristic of him: + +"Palaces." + +Jack burst out laughing. + +"Castles in Spain, I reckon," he said. "But, really, Edmund, what do you +think they can be?" + +"I have already told you, palaces, or castles, if you prefer." + +"You are serious?" I asked. + +"Perfectly so. They cannot be anything else." + +Seeing our astonishment and incredulity, Edmund added: + +"Since they retain their places, it is evident that they are edifices of +some kind, attached to the ground. But their great height and aerial +structure indicate that they are erected in the air--floating, I should +say, but firmly anchored at the bottom. Really, I cannot see anything +astonishing about it; it accords with everything else that we have seen. +Your minds are too hidebound to terrestrial analogies, and you do not +give your imaginations sufficient play with the new materials that are +here offered. + +"This atmosphere," he continued, after a pause, "is exactly suited for +such things. It is a region of atmospheric calm. If we were not moving, +you would hardly feel a breeze, and I doubt if there is ever a high wind +here. To build their habitations in the air and make them float like +gossamers--could any idea be more beautiful than that, or more in harmony +with the nature of this planet, which is the favorite of the sun, for +first he inundates it with a splendor unknown to the earth, and then +generously covers it with a gorgeous screen of cloud which cuts off his +scorching beams but suffers the light to pass, filtered to opalescent +ether?" + +When Edmund spoke like that, as he sometimes did, suffusing his words +with the fervor of his imagination, even Henry, I believe, felt his soul +lifted to unaccustomed heights. We hung upon his lips, and, without a +word, waited for him to continue. Presently he murmured, in an undertone: + +"Yes, all this I foresaw in my dream. A world of crystal, houses that +seemed not made with hands, reaching toward heaven, and a people, +beautiful beyond compare, dwelling in the aerial home of birds"; and +then, addressing us, in his ordinary tones: "You will see that the +capital, which we are unquestionably approaching, is to a large extent +composed of this airy architecture." + +And it turned out to be as he had said--when, indeed, was it ever +otherwise? As we drew nearer, the aerial structures which we had first +seen began to tower up to an amazing height, just perceptibly swaying and +undulating with the gentle currents of air that flowed through their +traceried lattices, while behind them began to loom an immense number of +floating towers, rising stage above stage, like the steel monsters of New +York before they have received their outer coverings, but incomparably +lighter in appearance, and more delicate and graceful; truly fairy +constructions, bespangled with countless brilliant points. Yet nearer, +and we could see cables attached to the higher structures, and running +downward as if anchored to the ground beneath, but the ground itself we +could not see, because now we had dropped lower in the air, and a long +hill rose between us and the fairy towers, whose slight sinuous motion, +affecting so many together, produced a trifling sense of dizziness as we +gazed. Still nearer, and we believed that we could see people in the +buoyant towers. A minute later there was no doubt about their presence, +for the _colors_ broke forth, and that marvelous interchange of chromatic +signals, which had so astonished us as we drew near the coast, was +resumed. + +"It is my belief," said Edmund, "that, notwithstanding the buoyancy of +the heavy atmosphere, those structures cannot be maintained at such +elevations without mechanical aid. You will see when we get nearer that +every stage is furnished with some means of support, probably vertical +screws reacting upon the air." + +Again he had guessed right, for in a little while we were near enough to +see the screws, working in a maze of motion, like the wings of a +multitude of insects. The resemblance was increased by their gauzy +structure, and, as they turned, they flashed and glittered as if +enameled. (The supernatant structures that they maintained were, as we +afterwards ascertained, framed of hollow beams and trusses--a kind of +bamboo, of great strength and lightness.) + +Now we rose over the intervening hill, and as we did so a cry burst from +our lips. A vast city made its appearance as by magic, a magnified +counterpart of the aerial city above it. Put all the glories of +Constantinople, Damascus, Cairo, and Bombay, with all their spires, +towers, minarets, and domes together, and multiply their splendor a +thousand times, and yet your imagination will be unable to picture the +scene of enchantment on which our eyes rested. + +"It is the capital of Venus," exclaimed Edmund. "There can be nothing +greater than this!" + +It must, indeed, be the capital, for in the midst of it rose an edifice +of unparalleled splendor, which could only be the palace of a mighty +monarch. Above this magnificent building, which gleamed with metallic +reflections, although it was as light and airy in construction as +frostwork, rose the loftiest of the aerial towers, a hundred, two +hundred--I cannot tell you how many stories in height, for I never +succeeded in counting them. + +The other air ships now dropped back, and ours alone approached this +stupendous tower, making apparently for its principal landing stage. +Along the sides of the tower a multitude of small air ships ran up and +down, stopping at various stages to discharge their living cargoes. + +"Elevators," said Edmund. + +Glancing round we saw that similar scenes were occurring at all the +towers. They were filling up with people, and the continual rising and +descending of the little craft that bore them, the holiday aspect of the +gay colors everywhere displayed, and the brilliancy of the whole +spectacle moved us beyond words. But the most astonishing scene still +awaited us. + +Just before our vessel reached the landing stage, the enormous tower, +from foot to apex, broke out with all the hues of the rainbow, like an +enchanted rose tree covered with millions of brilliant flowers at the +touch of a wand. The effect was overwhelming. The air became tremulous +with rippling colors, whose vibrant waves, with quick succession of +concordant tints afforded to the eye an exquisite pleasure akin to that +which the ear receives from a carillon of bells. Our companions, and the +people crowded on the towers, seemed to be transported with ecstatic +delight. + +"Again the music of the spectrum!" cried Edmund. "The diapason of color! +It is their national hymn, or the hymn of their race, written on a +prismatic, instead of a sonometric, staff. And, mark me, this has a +significance beyond your conjectures!" + +I believe that our enjoyment of this astonishing spectacle was hardly +less than that of the natives themselves, but the pleasure was suddenly +broken off by a tragedy that struck cold to our hearts. + +We had nearly touched the landing, when we observed that a discussion was +going on between Ala and Ingra, and it quickly became evident that we +were the subject of it. Before we could exchange a word, they approached +us, and Ingra, in a threatening manner, laid his hand on Edmund's +shoulder. In a second Jack had his pistol covering Ingra. Edmund saw the +motion, and struck Jack's arm aside, but the weapon exploded, and, +clutching her breast, Ala fell at our feet! + + + +CHAPTER X + + +IMPRISONMENT AND A WONDERFUL ESCAPE + +The shock of this terrible accident, the full import of which must have +flashed simultaneously through the mind of every one of us, drove the +blood from Edmund's face, while Jack staggered, uttering a pitiful moan, +Henry collapsed, and I stood trembling in every limb. The report of the +pistol produced upon the natives the effect that was to have been +expected. Ingra sprang backward with a cry like that of a startled beast, +and many upon the deck fell prostrate, either through terror or the +effect of collision with one another in their wild flight. What occurred +among the waiting crowd on the tower I do not precisely know, but a wind +of fear seemed to pass through the air--a weird, heart-quaking _shadow of +sound_. + +For a few moments, I believe, no one but ourselves understood what had +happened to Ala. Ingra may have thought, if he thought at all in his +terror and surprise, that she had fallen as the result of nervous shock. +This moment of paralysis on the part of those whom we had now to regard +as our enemies, whatever they may have been before, afforded the +opportunity for escape--if there had been any way to escape. But we were +completely trapped; there was no direction in which we could flee. Yet I +doubt if the thought of flight occurred to any of us. Certainly it did +not to Edmund, who was the first to recover his self-command. + +"_We have shot down our only friend!_" he said with terrible emphasis, +and, as he spoke, he lifted Ala in his arms and laid her on a seat. Her +breast was stained with blood. + +At the sight of this, a flash of comprehension passed over the features +of Ingra; then, instantly, his face changed to a look of fury, and he +sprang upon Edmund. With trembling hand, I tried to draw my pistol, but +before I could get it from my pocket there was a rush, a hairy form +darted past me, and Ingra lay sprawling on his back. Over him, with foot +planted on his breast, stood the burly form of Juba, with his muscular +arms uplifted, and his enormous eyes blazing fire! + +God only knows what would have happened next, but at this instant Ala--to +my amazement, for I had thought that the bullet had gone through her +heart--rose to an upright posture, and made a commanding gesture, which +arrested those who were now hurrying to take a part in the scene. All, +natives as well as ourselves, stood as motionless as stone. Her face was +pale and her eyes were wonderful to look upon. With a gasp of +thankfulness, I noticed that the blood on her breast was but a narrow +streak Juba, staring at her, slowly withdrew his foot from his prostrate +opponent, and Ingra first sat up, and then got upon his feet. Ala, who +had been seated, rose at the same moment, and looked Ingra straight in +the face. I saw Edmund glancing from one to the other, and I knew he was +trying to follow the communication that was taking place between them. + +The general sense of it I could follow, myself. Ingra, metaphorically, +stormed and Ala commanded. That she was defending us was plain, and it +was but natural that my admiration for this wonderful woman should rise +to the highest pitch. I thanked God, in my heart, that her wound could be +no more than a scratch--and yet it was a wound, inflicted upon the person +of her who, there could be no doubt, was the ruler of a powerful empire. +It was less majesty, or worse, and she, herself, might not be able to +protect us against its consequences. + +At last, it became evident that a decision had been made. Ala turned to +us with a smile, which we took for an assurance of encouragement, at +least, and started to leave the deck. Edmund instantly stepped in front +of her, and pointed to the stain of blood, with a gesture and a look +which meant, at the same time, an inquiry as to the nature of the wound +and an expression of the wish to do something to repair the injury. She +shook her head and smiled again, in a manner which clearly said that the +hurt was not serious and that she understood that it was an accident. +Then, surrounded by her female attendants, she passed out of our sight in +the crowd on the landing. Edmund turned to us: + +"We shall probably get out of it all right," he said, "but not without +some difficulty. They will surely imprison us. Make no resistance. Leave +all to me. Jack's pistol will, no doubt, be seized, but if the rest of +you keep yours concealed, they may not search for them, as they know +nothing about the weapons." + +Edmund had spoken hurriedly, and had hardly finished when a dozen stout +fellows, under Ingra's directions, took us in charge, Juba included, and +we were led from the deck, through the vast throng on the platform, who +made room for our passage, while devouring us with curious, though +frightened eyes. In a minute we embarked on one of the "elevators," and +made a thrillingly rapid descent. Arrived at the bottom, we were +conducted, through long, stone-walled passages, into a veritable dungeon. +And there they left us. I wondered if this had been done at Ala's order, +or in defiance of her wishes. After all, I reflected, what claim have we +upon her? + +In the absolute darkness where we now found ourselves, we remained silent +for a minute or two, feeling about for one another, until the quiet voice +of Edmund said: + +"Fortune still favors us." + +As he spoke, a light dazzled our eyes. He had turned on a pocket electric +lamp. We looked about and found that we were in a square chamber, about +fifteen feet on a side, with walls of heavy stone. + +"They make things solid enough down here," said Jack, with some return of +his usual spirits, "however airy and fairy they may be above." + +"All the better for us," returned Edmund enigmatically. + +Henry sank upon the floor, the picture of dejection and despair. I +expected another outbreak from him, but he spoke not a word. His heart +was too full for utterance, and I pitied him so much that I tried to +reanimate his spirits. + +"Come, now," I said, "don't take it this way, man. Have confidence in +Edmund. He has never yet been beaten." + +"I reckon he's got his hands full this time," put in Jack. "What do you +think, Edmund, can your atomic energy bore a hole through these walls?" + +"If I had it here, you'd see," Edmund replied. "But there's no occasion +to worry, we'll come out all right." + +It was his unfailing remark when in difficulties, and somehow it always +enheartened us. Juba, more accustomed to such situations, seemed the +least disturbed member of the party. He rolled his huge eyes around the +apartment once or twice, and then lay down on the floor, and seemed at +once to fall asleep. + +"That's a good idea of Juba's," said Edmund, smiling; "it's a long time +since we have had a nap. Let's all try a little sleep. I may dream of +some way out of this." + +It was a fact that we were all exhausted for want of sleep, and, in spite +of our situation, I soon fell into deep slumber, as peaceful as if I had +been in my bed at home. Edmund had turned out the lamp, and the silence +and darkness were equally profound. + +I dreamt that I was at the Olympus Club on the point of trumping an ace, +when a flash of light in the eyes awoke me. I started up and found Edmund +standing over me. The others were all on their feet. Edmund immediately +whispered: + +"Come quietly; I've found a way out." + +"What have you found?" + +"Something extremely simple. This is no prison cell, but a part of what +appears to be the engine rooms--probably it is an unused storeroom. They +have put us here for convenience, trusting more to the darkness than to +the lock, for the corridors outside are as black as Erebus and as crooked +as a labyrinth." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because, while you were all asleep, I made an exploration. The lock was +nothing; the merest tyro could pick it. Fortunately they never guessed +that I had a lamp. In this world of daylight, it is not likely that +pocket lamps have ever been thought of. Just around the corner, there is +another door opening into a passage that leads by a power house. That +passage gives access to a sort of garage of air craft, and when I stole +into it five minutes ago, there was not a soul in sight. We'll simply +slip in there, and if I can't run away with one of those fliers, then I'm +no engineer. To tell the truth, I'm not altogether sure that it is wise +for us to escape, for I have a feeling that Ala will help us; still, when +Providence throws one a rope, it's best, perhaps, to test its strength. +Come on, now, and make no noise." + +Accompanied by Juba, we stepped noiselessly outside, extinguishing the +light, and, led by Edmund, passed what he had called the power house, +where we saw several fellows absorbed in their work, lighted somehow from +above. Then we slipped into the "garage." Here light entered from +without, through a large opening at the side. There may have been twenty +small air ships resting on cradles. Edmund selected one, which he +appeared to have examined in advance, and motioning us to step upon its +little deck, he began to manipulate the mechanism as confidently as if it +had been his own invention. + +"You see that I did not waste my time in examining the air ship that +brought us," he whispered, and never before had I admired and trusted him +as I did now. In less than a minute after we had stepped aboard, we were +circling in the air outside. We rose with stunning rapidity, swooping +away in a curve like an eagle. + +At this instant we were seen! + +There was a quick flashing of signals, and two air craft shot into sight +above us. + +"Now for a chase!" cried Edmund, actually laughing with exultation. + +We darted upward, curving aside to avoid the pursuers. And then they +swooped after us. We rose so rapidly that within a couple of seconds we +were skirting the upper part of the great tower. Then others saw us, and +joined in the chase. Jack's spirits soared with the excitement: + +"Sorry to take rogue's leave of these Venuses," he exclaimed. "But no +dungeons for us, if you please." + +"We're not away, yet," said Edmund over his shoulder; and, indeed, we +were not! + +The air ships swarmed out on every side like hornets; the atmosphere +seemed full of them. I gave up all hope of escape, but Edmund was like a +racer who hears the thud of hoofs behind him. He put on more and more +speed until we were compelled to hang on to anything within reach in +order to save ourselves from being blown off by the wind which we made, +or whirled overboard on sharp turns. + +Crash! We had run straight into a huge craft that persisted in getting in +our way. She dipped and rolled like a floating log. I saw the fellows on +her tumble over one another, as we shot by, and I glanced anxiously to +see if any had gone overboard. We could afford to do no killing if we +could avoid it; for, in case of recapture, that would be another +indictment against us. I saw no one falling from the discomfited air +ship, and I felt reassured. Occupied as he was, dodging and turning, +Edmund did not cease to address a few words to us occasionally. + +"There's just one chance to beat them," he said, "and only one. I'm going +to try it as soon as I can get out of this press." + +I had no notion of what he meant, but a few minutes later I divined his +intention. I had observed that all the while he was working higher and +higher, and this, as you will presently see, was the key to his plan. + +Up and up we shot, Edmund making the necessary circles as short as +possible, and so recklessly did he turn on the speed that it really began +to look as if we might get away after all. Two thirds of our pursuers +were now far below our level, but none showed a disposition to give up +the chase, and those which were yet above tried to cross our bow. While I +saw that Edmund's idea was to hold a skyward course, I was far from +guessing the particular reason he had for doing so, and, finally, Jack, +who comprehended it still less, exclaimed: + +"See here, Edmund, if you keep on going up instead of running off in one +direction or another, they'll corner you in the middle of the sky. Don't +you see how they have circled out on all sides so as to surround us? Then +when we get as high as we can go, they'll simply close in, and we'll be +trapped." + +"Oh, no, we won't," Edmund replied. + +"I don't see why." + +"Because they can't go as high as we can." + +"The deuce they can't! I guess they understand these ships as well as you +do." + +"Can a fish live out of water?" asked Edmund, laughing. + +"What's that got to do with it?" + +"Why, it's plain enough. These people are used to breathing an atmosphere +surcharged with oxygen and twice as dense as that of the earth. It +doesn't trouble our breathing, simply giving us more energy; but we can +live where they would gasp for breath. Air impossibly rare for them is +all right for us, and that's what I am in search of, and we shall find it +if we can get high enough." + +The beauty and simplicity of this unexpected plan struck us all with +admiration, and Jack, his doubts instantly turning to enthusiasm, cried: + +"By Jo, Edmund, you're a trump! I'd like to get a gaff into the gills of +that catfish, Ingra, when he begins to blow. By Jo, I'd pickle him and +make a present of him to the Museum of Natural History. '_Catfishia +Venusensis_, presented by Jack Ashton, Esq.'--how'd that look on a label, +hey?" + +And Jack hugged himself with delight over his conceit. + +In a short time the accuracy of Edmund's conjecture became apparent. Our +pursuers, one by one, dropped off. Their own strategy, to which Jack had +called attention, was simply a playing into our hands. They had really +thought to catch us in the center of a contracting circle, when, to their +amazement, we rose straight up into air so rare that they could not live +in it. Edmund roared with laughter when he saw the assured success of his +maneuver. + +But there was one thing which even he had overlooked, and it struck to +our hearts when we became aware of it. Poor, faithful Juba, who had so +recently proved his devotion to us, could endure this rare air no better +than our pursuers. Already, unnoticed in the excitement, he had fallen +upon the deck, where he lay gasping. + +"Good God, he's dying!" exclaimed Jack. + +"He shall not die!" responded Edmund, setting his lips, and turning to +his machinery. + +"But, you're not going back down there!" + +"I'll run beyond the edge of the circle, and drop down far enough to +revive him. Then we can keep dodging up and down just out of their reach, +and so be out of danger both ways." + +No sooner said than done. We ran rapidly on a horizontal course until we +had cleared the air ships below, and then dropped like a shot. Juba came +to his senses in a few moments after we entered the denser air. But now +our pursuers, thinking, no doubt, that we had found it impracticable to +remain where they knew they could not go, began to close in upon us. I +reflected that here was the only mistake that Edmund had made--I mean the +bringing along with us of the natives of the dark hemisphere. It was only +their presence that had prevented us from sailing triumphantly over the +crystal mountains; it was because of them that we had wrecked the car; +and now it was Juba who baffled our best chance of escape. And yet--and I +am glad to be able to say it--I could not regret his presence, for had he +not made himself one of us; had he not proved himself entitled to all the +privileges of comradeship? + +But Henry (I am sorry to write it) did not share these feelings. + +"Edmund," he said, "why do you insist upon endangering our lives for the +sake of this--this--animal here?" + +Never have I beheld such a blaze of anger as that which burst from +Edmund's eyes as he turned upon Henry: + +"You cowardly brute!" he shouted. "I ought to throw you overboard!" + +He seemed about to execute his threat, dropping the controller from his +hand as he spoke, and Henry, with ashen face, ran from him like a madman. +I caught him in my arms, fearing that he would tumble overboard in his +fright, and Edmund, instantly recovering his composure, turned back to +his work. + +Finding Juba sufficiently recovered, although yet weak and almost +helpless, he rose again, but more cautiously than before. And now our +pursuers, plainly believing that these maneuvers could have but one +ending, began to set their net, and I could not help admiring their plan, +which would surely have succeeded if they had not made a fundamental +error in their calculations, but one for which they were not to blame. +There was such a multitude of their craft, fresh ones coming up all the +while, that they were able to form themselves into the shape of a huge +bag net, the edge of which was carried as high as they dared to go, while +the sides and receding bottom were composed of air ships so numerous that +they were packed almost as closely as meshes. Edmund laughed again as he +looked down into this immense net. + +"No, no," he shouted. "We're no gudgeons! You'll have to do better than +that!" + +"See here, Edmund," Jack suddenly exclaimed, "why don't you make off and +leave them? By keeping just above their reach we could easily escape." + +"_And leave the car?_" was the reply. + +"By Jo," returned Jack, "I never thought of that. But, then, what did you +run away for at all?" + +"Because," said Edmund quietly, "I thought it better to parley than to +lie in prison." + +"Parley! How are you going to parley?" + +"That remains to be seen; but I guess we'll manage it." + +We were now, as far as I could estimate, five or six miles high. When we +were highest, the great cloud dome seemed to be but a little way above +our heads, and I thought, at first, that Edmund intended to run up into +it and thus conceal our movements. The highest of our pursuers were about +half a mile below us. They circled about, and were evidently parleying on +their own account, for waves of color flowed all about them, making a +spectacle so brilliant and beautiful that sometimes I almost forgot our +critical situation in watching it. + +"I suppose you'll play them a prismatic symphony," said Henry mockingly. + +I looked at him in surprise. Evidently his fear of Edmund had vanished; +no doubt because he knew in his heart the magnanimity of our great +leader. + +"Who knows?" Edmund replied. "I've no doubt the materials are aboard, and +if I had been here a month, I'd probably try it. As things stand, we +shall have to resort to other methods." + +While we were talking, Edmund did not relax his vigilance, and two or +three times, when he had dropped to a lesser elevation for Juba's sake, +he baffled a dash of the enemy. At last we noticed a movement in the +crowd which betokened something of importance, and in a moment we saw +what it was. A splendid air ship, by far the most beautiful that we had +yet seen, was swiftly approaching from below. + +"It's the queen," said Edmund. "I thought she'd come." + +The approaching ship made its way straight toward us, and, without the +slightest hesitation, Edmund dropped down to meet it. Those who had been +our pursuers now made no attempt to interfere with us; they recognized +the presence of a superior authority. Soon we were so near that we could +recognize Ala, who looked like Cleopatra in her barge on the charmed +waves of Cydnus. Beside her, to the intense disappointment of Jack and +myself, stood Ingra. + +"Confound him!" growled Jack. "He's always got to have his oar in the +puddle. Blamed if I'm not sorry Edmund spoiled my aim. I'd have had his +scalp to hang up at the Olympus to be smoked at!" + +Of what now occurred, I can give no detailed account, because it was all +beyond my comprehension. We approached almost within touch, and then +Edmund stood forth, fearless and splendid as Caesar, and conducted his +"parley." When it was over, there was a flashing of aerial colors between +Ala's ship and the others, and then all, including ours, set out to +return to the capital. After a while Edmund, who had been very +thoughtful, turned to us and said: + +"You can make your minds easy. Of course you'll understand there is a +certain amount of guesswork in what I tell you, but you can depend upon +the correctness of my general conclusions. I believe that I have made it +perfectly clear that we intended no harm, and that we are not dangerous +characters. At least Ala understands it perfectly. As for Ingra, perhaps +he doesn't want to understand it. I can't make out the cause of his +enmity, but it is certain that he doesn't like us, and if it all depended +upon him, it would go hard with us. I believe that we shall have to stand +a trial of some kind, but remember that we've got a powerful advocate. I +don't regret our running off, for, as I anticipated, it afforded us the +opportunity to establish some sort of terms. The mere fact that we return +willingly when they know that we might have fled beyond their reach +should count in our favor, for, as I have always insisted, these are +highly intelligent people, with civilized ideas. If I had not been sure +of that I should have continued the flight and depended upon some other +means of recovering the car--or constructing a new one." + +We had become so much accustomed to accept Edmund's decisions as final +that none of us thought of objecting to what he had done; unless it might +have been Henry, but he kept his thoughts to himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +BEFORE THE THRONE OF VENUS + +While we were dropping down toward the city, with a great fleet of air +ships attending, Edmund opened his mind upon another curious difficulty +besetting us. + +"You, of course, noted," he said, "how close we approached at one time to +the cloud dome. The existence of that sky screen is a circumstance which +may possibly be decisive in the determination of our fate." + +"Favorable or unfavorable?" I asked. + +"Unfavorable, for this reason. If these people could be made to +understand that we are visitors from another world, and not inhabitants +of the other side of their own planet, they might treat us with greater +consideration, and even with a certain superstitious deference. The +imagination is doubtless as active with them as with terrestrial beings, +and if you can once touch the imagination, even of the most intelligent +and instructed persons, you can do almost anything you choose with them. +But how am I to convey to them any idea of this kind? Seeing neither sun, +nor moon, nor stars, they can have no conception of such a thing as +another world than their own." + +"Couldn't you persuade them," said Jack, "that we come from the upper +side of the cloud dome? You could pretend that it's very fine living up +there--plenty of sunshine and good air." + +Edmund laughed. + +"I'm afraid, Jack, that they are too intelligent to believe that a person +of your avoirdupois could walk on the clouds. You're not quite angelic +enough for that. I'm sure that they know perfectly well what the dome +consists of." + +"The presence of Juba with us is another difficulty," I suggested. "If, +as you suppose, they recognize certain racial characteristics in him, +which convince them that he belongs to the other side of Venus, then they +are sure to believe that we belong there, too." + +"Certainly. But I must find some way round the difficulty. I depend upon +the intelligence of Ala. If she had been killed, nothing could have saved +us. We have had an unpleasant escape from something too closely +resembling the misfortune of Oedipus." + +In the meanwhile, we reached the capital and disembarked on the great +tower. To our intense surprise and delight, instead of being reconducted +to prison, we were led into a magnificent apartment, with open arches +facing toward the distant mountains, and a repast was spread before us. +Juba, to our great contentment, was allowed to accompany us. I think that +Jack was the most pleased member of the party at the sight of the food. +We sat at a round table, and I observed that the eatables consisted, as +with Juba's people, exclusively of vegetables, except that there were +birds, of species unknown to us, but of most exquisite flavor, and a +light, white wine, the most delicious that I ever tasted. + +When we had finished eating, we fell to admiring the view, and Jack +pulled out his pipe, and, aided by Edmund's pocket lamp, which possessed +an attachment for cigar lighting, began to smoke, leaning back +luxuriously in his seat, with as much nonchalance as if he had been in +the smoking room at the Olympus. I think I may say that we all exhibited +a _sang froid_ amidst our novel surroundings that would have astonished +us if we had stopped to analyze our feelings, but in that respect Jack +was often the coolest member of the party, although he had not the iron +nerves of Edmund. On this occasion, he was not long in producing a +sensation. No sooner had the smoke begun to curl from his lips than the +attendants in the room were thrown into a state of laughable +consternation. Evidently they thought, like the servant of Walter +Raleigh, that the smoke must come from an internal fire. Their looks +showed alarm as well as astonishment. + +"Keep your pipe concealed," whispered Edmund. "Take a few strong whiffs, +and hide it in your pocket before they observe whence the smoke really +comes. This may do us some good; it will, at least, serve to awake their +imagination, and that is what we need." + +Jack did as requested, first filling his mouth with smoke, and then +slowly letting it out in puffs that more and more astonished the +onlookers, who kept at a respectful distance, and excitedly discussed the +phenomenon. Suddenly, Jack, with characteristic mobility of thought, +turned to Edmund and demanded: + +"Edmund, why didn't those fellows shoot us when we were running away? +There were enough of them to bring us down with the wildest sort of +shooting." + +"They didn't shoot," was the reply, "because they had nothing to shoot +with. I have made up my mind that they are an unwarlike people. I don't +believe that they have the slightest idea what a gun is. Yet they are no +cowards, and they'll fight if there is need of fighting, and no doubt +they have weapons of some kind; only they are not natural slaughterers +like ourselves, and I shouldn't be surprised if war is unknown on Venus. + +"All the same," said Jack, "I wish I had my pistol back. I tried to hide +it, but those fellows had their eyes on it, and it's confiscated. I'm +glad you think they don't know how to use it." + +"And I'm glad," returned Edmund, "that you haven't got your pistol. +You've been altogether too handy with it. Now," he continued, "let us +consider our situation. You see at a glance that we have gained a great +deal as a result of the parley; the way we have just been treated here +shows plainly enough that we shall, at least, have a fair trial, and we +couldn't have counted on that before. You can never make people listen to +reason against their inclination unless you hold certain advantages, and +our advantage was that we clearly had it in our power to continue our +flight. My only anxiety now is in regard to the means of holding them to +the agreement--for agreement it certainly was--and of impressing them not +only with a conviction of our innocence but with a sense of our reserve +power, and the more mysterious I can make that power seem to them, the +better. That is why I welcomed even the incident of Jack's smoking. We +shall surely be arraigned before a court of some kind, and I imagine that +we shall not have long to wait. What I wish particularly is that all of +you shall desist from every thought of resistance, and follow strictly +such instructions as I may have occasion to give you." + +He had hardly ceased speaking when a number of official-looking persons +entered the room where we were. + +"Here come the cops," said Jack. "Now for the police court." + +He was not very far wrong. We were gravely conducted to one of the little +craft which served for elevators, and after a rapid descent, were led +through a maze of passages terminating in a vast and splendid apartment, +apparently perfectly square in plan, and at least three hundred feet on a +side. It was half filled with a brilliant throng, in which our entry +caused a sensation. Light entered through lofty windows on all four +sides. The floor seemed to be of a rose-colored marble, with inlaid +diapering of lapis lazuli, and the walls and ceiling were equally rich. +But that which absolutely fascinated the eye in this great apartment was +a huge circle high on the wall opposite the entrance door, like a great +clock face, or the rose window of a cathedral, from which poured +trembling streams of colored light. + +"Chromatic music, once more," said Edmund, in a subdued voice. "Do you +know, that has a strange effect upon my spirits, situated as we are. It +is a prelude that may announce our fate; it might reveal to us the +complexion of our judges, if I could but read its meaning." + +"It is too beautiful to spell tragedy," I said. + +"Ah, who knows? What is so fascinating as tragedy for those who are only +lookers-on?" + +"But, Edmund," I protested, "why do you, who are always the most hopeful, +now fall into despondency?" + +"I am not desponding," he replied, straightening up. "But this soundless +music thrills me with its mysterious power, and sometimes it throws me +into dejection, though I cannot tell why. To me, when what I firmly +believe was the great anthem of this wonderful race, was played in the +sky with spectral harmonies, there was, underlying all its mystic beauty, +an infinite sadness, an impending sense of something tragic and +terrible." + +I was deeply surprised and touched by Edmund's manner, and would have +questioned him further, but we were interrupted by the officials, who now +led us across the vast apartment and to the foot of a kind of throne +which stood directly under the great clock face. Then, for the first +time, we recognized Ala, seated on the throne. Beside her was a person of +majestic stature, with features like those of a statue of Zeus, and long +curling hair of snowy whiteness. The severity of his aspect struck cold +to my heart, but Ala's countenance was smiling and full of encouragement. +As we were led to our places a hush fell upon the throng of attendants, +and the colors ceased to play from the circle. + +"Orchestra stopped," whispered the irrepressible Jack. "Curtain rises." + +The pause that followed brought a fearful strain upon my nerves, but in a +moment it was broken by Ala, who fixed her eyes upon Edmund's face as he +stood a little in advance of the rest of us. He returned her regard +unflinchingly. Every trace of the feeling which he had expressed to me +was gone. He stood erect, confident, masterful, and as I looked, I felt a +thrill of pride in him, pride in his genius which had brought us hither, +pride in our mother earth--for were we not her far-wandering children? + +[Illustration: "'Who and what are you, and whence do you come?'"] + +I summoned all my powers in the effort to understand the tongueless +speech which I knew was issuing from Ala's eyes. And I did understand it! +Although there was not a sound, I would almost have sworn that my ears +heard the words: + +"Who and what are you, and whence do you come?" + +Breathlessly I awaited Edmund's answer. He slowly lifted his hand and +pointed upward. He was, then, going at once to proclaim our origin from +another world; to throw over us the aegis of the earth! + +The critical experiment had begun, and I shivered at the thought that +here they knew no earth; here no flag could protect us. I saw perplexity +and surprise in Ala's eyes and in those of the stern Zeus beside her. +Suddenly a derisive smile appeared on the latter's lips, while Ala's +confusion continued. God! Were we to fail at the very beginning? + +Edmund calmly repeated his gesture, but it met with no response; no +indication appeared to show that it awakened any feeling other than +uncomprehending astonishment in one of his judges and derision in the +other. And then, with a start, I caught sight of Ingra, standing close +beside the throne, his face made more ugly by the grin which overspread +it. + +I was almost wild; I opened my mouth to cry I know not what, when there +was a movement behind, and Juba stepped to Edmund's side, dropped on his +knees, rose again, and fixed his great eyes upon the judges! + +My heart bounded at the thoughts which now raced through my brain. Juba +belonged to their world, however remote the ancestral connection might +be; he possessed at least the elements of their unspoken language; and +_it might be a tradition among his people, who we knew worshipped the +earth-star, that it was a brighter world than theirs_. Had Edmund's +gesture suddenly suggested to his mind the truth concerning us--a truth +which the others had not his means of comprehending--and could he now +bear effective testimony in our favor? + +With what trembling anxiety I watched his movements! Edmund, too, looked +at him with mingled surprise and interest in his face. Presently he +raised his long arm, as Edmund had done, and pointed upward. A momentary +chill of disappointment ran through me--could he do no more than that? +But he _did_ more. Half unconsciously I had stepped forward where I could +see his face. _His eyes were speaking._ I knew it. And, thank God! there +was a gleam of intelligence answering him from the eyes of our judges. + +He had made his point; he had suggested to them a thought of which they +had never dreamed! + +They did not thoroughly comprehend him; I could see that, for he must +have been for them like one speaking a different dialect, to say nothing +of the fundamental difficulty of the idea that he was trying to convey, +but yet the meaning did not escape, and as he continued his strange +communication, the wonder spread from face to face, for it was not only +the judges who had grasped the general sense of what he was telling them. +Even at that critical moment there came over me a feeling of admiration +for a language like this; a truly universal language, not limited by +rules of speech or hampered by grammatical structure. At length it became +evident that Juba had finished, but he continued standing at Edmund's +side. + +Ala and her white-headed companion looked at one another, and I tried to +read their thoughts. In her face, I believed that I could detect every +sign of hope for us. Occasionally she glanced with a smile at Edmund. But +the old judge was more implacable, or more incredulous. There was no +kindness in his looks, and slowly it became clear that Ala and he were +opposed in their opinion. + +Suddenly she placed her hand upon her breast, where the bullet must have +grazed her, and made an energetic gesture, including us in its sweep, +which I interpreted to mean that she had no umbrage against those who had +unintentionally injured her. It was plain that she insisted upon this +point, making it a matter personal to herself, and my hopes rose when I +thought that I detected signs of yielding on the part of the other. At +this moment, when the decision seemed to hang in the balance, a new +element was introduced into the case with dramatic suddenness and +overwhelming force. + +For several minutes I had seen nothing of Ingra, but my thoughts had been +too much occupied with more important things to take heed of his +movements. Now he appeared at the left of the throne, leading a file of +fellows bearing a burden. They went direct to the foot of the throne, and +deposited their burden within a yard of the place where Edmund was +standing. They drew off a covering, and I could not repress a cry of +consternation. + +It was the body of one of their compatriots, and a glance at it sufficed +to show the manner in which death had been inflicted. It had been crushed +in a way which could probably mean nothing else than a fearful fall. The +truth flashed upon me like a gleaming sword. The victim must have been +precipitated from the air ship which we had struck at the beginning of +our flight! + +And there stood our enemy, Ingra, with exultation written on his +features. He had made a master stroke, like a skillful prosecutor. + +"Hang him!" I heard Jack mutter between his teeth. "Oh, if I only had my +pistol!" + +"Then you would make matters a hundred times worse," I whispered. "Keep +your head, and remember Edmund's injunction." + +The behavior of the latter again awoke my utmost admiration. +Contemptuously turning his back upon Ingra, he faced Ala and old Zeus, +and as their regards mingled, I knew well what he was trying to express. +This time, since his meaning involved no conception lying utterly beyond +their experience, he was more successful. He told them that the death of +this person was a fact hitherto unknown to us, and that, like the injury +to Ala, it had been inflicted without our volition. I believed that this +plea, too, was accepted as valid by Ala; but not so with the other. He +understood it perfectly, and he rejected it on the instant. My reason +told me that nothing else could have been expected of him, for, truly, +this was drawing it rather strong--to claim twice in succession immunity +for evils which had undeniably originated from us. + +Our case looked blacker and blacker, as it became evident that the +opposition between our two judges had broken out again, and was now more +decided than before. The features of the old man grew fearfully stern, +and he rejected all the apparent overtures of Ala. He had been willing to +pardon the injury and insult to her person, since she herself insisted +upon pardon, but now the affair was entirely different. Whether purposely +or not, we had caused the death of a subject of the realm, and he was not +to be swerved aside from what he regarded as his duty. My nerves shook at +the thought that we knew absolutely nothing about the social laws of this +people, and that, among them, the rule of an eye for an eye, and blood +for blood, might be more inviolable than it had ever been on the earth. + +As the discussion proceeded, with an intensity which spoken words could +not have imparted to it, Ala's cheeks began to glow, and her eyes to +glitter with strange light. One could see the resistance in them rising +to passion, and, at last, as the aged judge again shook his head, with +greater emphasis than ever, she rose, as if suddenly transformed. The +majestic splendor of her countenance was thrilling. Lifting her jeweled +arm with an imperious gesture, she commanded the attendants to remove the +bier, and was instantly obeyed. Then she beckoned to Edmund, and without +an instant's hesitation, he stepped upon the lower stage of the throne. +With the stride of a queen, she descended to his side, and, resting her +hand on his shoulder, looked about her with a manner which said, as no +words could have done: + +"It is the power of my protection which encircles him!" + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +MORE MARVELS + +It was not until long afterwards that we fully comprehended all that Ala +had done in that simple act; but I will tell you now what it meant. By +the unwritten law of this realm of Venus, she, as queen, had the right to +interpose between justice and its victim, and such interposition was +always expressed in the way which we had witnessed. It was a right rarely +exercised, and probably few then present had ever before seen it put into +action. The sensation which it caused was, in consequence, exceedingly +great, and a murmur of astonishment arose from the throng in the great +apartment, and hundreds pressed around the throne, staring at us and at +the queen. The majestic look which had accompanied her act gradually +faded, and her features resumed their customary expression of kindness. +The old judge had risen as she stepped from her place beside him, and he +seemed as much astonished as any onlooker. His hands trembled, he shook +his head, and a single word came from his mouth, pronounced with a +curious emphasis. Ala turned to him, with a new defiance in her eyes, +before which his opposition seemed to wither, and he sank back into his +seat. + +But there was at least one person present who accepted the decision with +a bad grace--Ingra. He had been sure of victory in his incomprehensible +persecution of us, he had played a master card, and now his +disappointment was written upon his face. With surprise, I saw Ala +approach him, smiling, and I was convinced that she was trying to +persuade him to cease his opposition. There was a gentleness in her +manner--almost a deference--which grated upon my feelings, while Jack's +disgust could find no words sufficient to express itself: + +"Beauty and the beast!" he growled. "By Jo, if _he's_ got any influence +over her, I'm sorry for her." + +"Well, well, don't worry about him," I said. "He's played his hand and +lost, and if you were in his place, you wouldn't feel any better about +it." + +"No, I'd go and hang myself, and that's what he ought to do. But isn't +_she_ a queen, though!" + +Ala now resumed her place upon the throne, and issued orders which +resulted in our being conducted to apartments that were set aside for us +in the palace. There were four connecting rooms, and Juba had one of +them. But we immediately assembled in the chief apartment, which had been +assigned to Edmund. There was much more deference in the manner of our +attendants than we had observed before, and as soon as they left us we +fell to discussing the recent events. Jack's first characteristic act was +joyously to slap Juba on the back: + +"Bully old boy!" he exclaimed. "Edmund, where'd we have been without +Juba?" + +"I ought to have foreseen that," said Edmund. "If I had been as wise as I +sometimes think myself, I'd have arranged the thing differently. Of +course it should have been obvious all the while that Juba would be our +trump card. I dimly saw that, but I ought to have instructed him in +advance. As it was, his own intelligence did the business. He understood +my claim to an origin outside this planet, when they could not. It must +have come over him all at a flash." + +"But do you think that they understand it now?" I asked. + +"To a certain extent, yes. But it is an utterly new idea to them, and all +the better for us that it is so. It is so much the more mysterious; so +much the more effective with the imagination. But this is not the end of +it; they will want to know more--especially Ala--and now that Juba has +broken the ice, it will be comparatively easy to fortify the new opinion +which they have conceived of us." + +"But Ingra nearly wrecked it all," I remarked. + +"Yes, that was a stunning surprise. How devilish cunning the fellow is; +and how inexplicable his antipathy to us." + +"I believe that it is a kind of jealousy," I said. + +"A kind of natural cussedness, _I_ guess," put in Jack. + +"Why should he be jealous?" asked Edmund. + +"I don't know, exactly; but you know we are not simple barbarians in +their eyes, and Ingra may have conceived a prejudice against us, somehow, +on that very account." + +"Very unlikely," Edmund returned, "but we shall find out all about it in +time; in the meanwhile, do nothing to prejudice him further, for he is a +power that we have got to reckon with." + +The conversation then turned upon the mysterious language that had been +employed at what we called the trial. I expressed the admiration which I +had felt for such a means of communication when I had observed the effect +that Juba had been able to produce. + +"Yes," said Edmund, "it seems as wonderful as it is beautiful, but there +is no reason why it should not have been acquired by the inhabitants of +the earth. We have the elements, not merely in what we call telepathy, or +mind reading, but in our everyday converse. Try it yourself, and you will +be astonished at what the eyes, the looks, are able to convey. Even +abstract ideas are not beyond their reach. Often we abandon speech for +this better method of conveying our meaning. How many a turn in the +history of mankind has depended upon the unspoken diplomacy of the eyes; +how many a crisis in our personal lives is determined, not by words, but +by looks." + +"That's right," said Jack, "more matches are made with eyes than with +lips." + +Edmund smiled and continued: "There's nothing really mysterious about it. +It has a purely physical basis, and only needs attention and development +to become the most perfect mode of mental communication that intellectual +beings could possibly possess." + +"And the music and language of color?" I asked. "How has that been +developed?" + +"As naturally as the silent speech. We have it, and we feel it, in +pictures, in flower gardens, and in landscapes; only with us it is a +frozen music. Living music exists on the earth only in the form of +sonorous vibrations because we have not developed our sense of the +harmony of colors except when they lie dead and motionless before us. A +great painting by Raphael or Turner is to one of these color hymns of +Venus like a printed score, which merely suggests its harmonies, compared +with the same composition when poured forth from a perfect instrument +under the fingers of a master player." + +"Well, Edmund," interposed Jack, "I've no doubt it's all as you say, and +I'd like to know just enough of their speechless speech to tell Ingra +what he ought to hear; and if I understood their music, I'd play him a +dead march, sure." + +"But," continued Edmund, disregarding Jack's interruption, "mark me, +there's something else behind all this. I have a dim foreglimpse of it, +and if we have luck, we'll know more before long." + +I find that the enthusiasm which these wonderful memories arouse, as they +flood back into my mind, is leading me to dwell upon too many details, +and I must sum up in fewer words the story of the events which +immediately followed our acquittal, although it involves some of the most +astonishing discoveries that we made in the world of Venus. + +As Edmund had surmised, Ala lost no time in seeking more light upon the +mystery surrounding us. Within twenty-four hours after the dramatic scene +in the hall of judgment, we were summoned before her, in a splendid +apartment, which was apparently an audience chamber, where we found her +surrounded by several of her female attendants, as well as by what seemed +to be high officers of the court; and among them, to our displeasure, was +Ingra. He, in fact, appeared to be the most respected and important +personage there, next to the queen herself, and he kept close by her +side. Edmund glanced at him, and half turning to us, shook his head. I +took his meaning to be that we were not to manifest any annoyance over +Ingra's presence. + +The queen was very gracious, and seats were offered to us. Immediately +she began to question Edmund, as I could see; but with all my efforts I +could make out nothing of what was "said." But Juba evidently was able to +follow much of the conversation, in which he manifested the liveliest +interest. The conference lasted about an hour, and at its conclusion, we +retired to our apartments. There we eagerly questioned Edmund concerning +what had occurred. + +He seemed to be greatly impressed and pleased. He told us that he had +learned more than he had communicated, but that he had succeeded, as he +believed, in making clearer to Ala our celestial origin. Still, he +doubted if she fully comprehended it, while as for Ingra, he was sure +that the fellow rejected our claim entirely, and persisted in regarding +us as inhabitants of the dark hemisphere. + +"Bosh!" cried Jack. "He's too stupid to understand anything above the +level of his nose, and I'd like to flatten that for him!" + +"No," said Edmund, "he's not stupid, but I'm afraid he's malicious. If he +were a little more stupid, it would be the better for us." + +"But does Ala comprehend the difference between us and Juba--I mean in +regard to origin?" I asked. + +"I think so. In fact Juba bears unmistakable signs that he is of their +world, although so different in physical appearance. His remarkable +comprehension of their method of mental communication is alone sufficient +to stamp him as ancestrally one of them. And yet," Edmund continued, +musing, "think of the vast stretch of ages that separates the inhabitants +of the two sides of this planet, the countless eons of evolution that +have brought about the differences now existing! I am delighted to +find that Ala has some understanding of all this. She has had good +teachers--do not smile--for what you have seen of their mechanical +achievements proves that science exists and is cultivated here; and from +her savants she has learned--what our astronomers have deduced--that +formerly Venus turned rapidly on her axis, and had days and nights +swiftly succeeding one another. But they do not know the scientific +reasons as completely as we do. With them this is knowledge based largely +upon tradition, 'ancestral voices' echoing down through periods of time +so vast that our most ancient legends seem but tales of yesterday. +Whatever may be the measure of man's antiquity on the earth, I am certain +that here intellectual life has existed for millions upon millions of +years, and its history stretches back beyond the time when the brake of +tidal friction had so far destroyed the rotation of the planet that its +surface became permanently divided between the reigns of day and night." + +I listened with amazement and could not help exclaiming: + +"But, Edmund, how could you learn all this in so short a time?" + +"Because," he replied, smiling, "the language of the mind, unhampered by +dragging words and blundering sentences, plays back and forth with the +quickness of thought. There is another thing, too, which I have learned, +a thing so amazing that it daunts me. I have found, I believe, the +explanation of that minor note of infinite sadness which, as I told you, +I always feel, even in the most joyous-seeming paeans of their color +music. I think it is due to their forereaching science, which assures +them that this world has entered upon the last stage of its existence +which began with the arrest of its axial rotation, and which will end +with the total extinction of life through the evaporation of all the +waters under the never-setting sun, and the consequent complete +desiccation of this now so beautiful land." + +"But," I objected, "you have said that they never see the sun." + +"That was, I believe, a mistake, I am sure that they never see the stars +or the planets, but I think that sometimes they see the sun, or, at least +that there is a tradition of its having been seen. The whole thing is yet +obscure to me, but I have received an inkling of something very, very +strange in that regard." + +"Then, Ala may think that it is from the sun that we claim to come," I +said, disregarding his last remark, which had a significance which even +he could not then have appreciated. + +"I am not sure; we must wait for further light. But I have still another +communication not so instinct with mystery. We are to be shown the +sources of their mechanical power--the means by which they run all their +motors." + +"Hurrah," cried Jack. "Now, that's something I like! I can understand a +machine--if you don't ask me to run it--but as for this talking through +the eyes, and playing Jim Crow with rainbows, it's too much for me." + +It was not many hours later when we were conducted by Ala, accompanied as +usual by the inevitable Ingra, and a brilliant cortege of attendants, +upon our first excursion through the capital. We embarked in a gorgeous +air ship, and flying low at first, skirted the roofs of the innumerable +houses which constituted the bulk of the city resting on the ground. The +oriental magnificence of the views which we caught in the winding streets +and frequent squares crowded with people, excited our interest to the +utmost. But we kept on without descending or stopping until, at length, +we passed the limits of the immense metropolis, and, flying more rapidly, +and at a greater elevation, soon approached what, at a distance, appeared +to be a waterfall, greater than Niagara, pouring out of the air! + +"What marvel can this be?" I asked. + +"A fountain," responded Edmund. + +"A cataract turned upside down," exclaimed Jack. "Well, I've ceased to be +surprised at anything I see here. I wouldn't be astonished now to find +that their whole old planet was hollow, and full of gnomes, or whatever +you call 'em." + +When we got nearer we saw that Edmund's description was substantially +correct. The vast mass of water gushed from the top of a broad plateau, +in the form of a gigantic vertical fountain, with a roar so stupendous +that Ala and her attendants immediately covered their ears with +protectors, and we should not have been sorry to follow their example, +for our eardrums were almost burst by the billowing force of the sound +waves. The water shot upward four or five hundred feet with geyser-like +plumes reaching a thousand feet, and then descended in floods on all +sides. But the slope of the ground was such that eventually it was all +collected in a river, which flowed away with great swiftness, past the +distant city, and disappeared in the direction of the sea from which we +had come. The solid column of rising water must have been, at its base, +three hundred feet in diameter! + +But our amazement was redoubled when we recognized, at various points of +vantage, squat, metallic towers of enormous strength, which caught the +descending water, allowing it to issue in roaring torrents from their +bases. + +"Those," shouted Edmund in our ears, "are power houses. I knew already +that these people had learned the mechanical uses of electricity; and if +we have seen no electric lights as yet, it is because, in a world of +perpetual daylight, they have little or no use for them. They employ the +power for other purposes." + +"But how do you account for this incredible fountain?" I asked. + +"It must be due to geological causes, if I may use a terrestrial term. +You observe that the land all has a slope hitherward from the distant +range of mountains, and that between us and the sea there is a chain of +hills. The metropolis lies at the lower edge of a vast basin, and it must +be that the relatively porous surface, over many thousands of square +miles, is underlain by an almost unbroken shell of rock, impermeable to +water. The result is that the drainage of this whole immense region, +after being collected under ground, flows together to this point, where +the existence of a huge vent in the upper layer offers it a way of +escape, and it comes spouting out of the great crater with the +consequences which you behold." + +Many objections to Edmund's theory occurred to my mind; but he spoke so +confidently, the course of things on this strange planet had so often +followed his indications, and I felt myself so incapable of suggesting a +more satisfactory hypothesis, that I made no reply, as a geologist, +perhaps, would have done. At any rate the wonderful phenomenon existed +before our eyes, explanation or no explanation. We learned afterwards +that the river formed by the giant fountain passed through a gap in the +hills to the seaward, and the more I reflected upon Edmund's idea the +more acceptable I found it. + +A great deal of the water was led away from the foot of the plateau out +of which the fountain issued by ditches constructed to irrigate the rich +gardens surrounding the metropolis and the open agricultural country for +many miles around. At the queen's invitation, although she did not +accompany us, we inspected one of the power houses, and Edmund found the +greatest delight in studying the details of the enormous dynamos and the +system of cables by which, quite in our own manner, the electric power +was conveyed to the city. We noticed that everywhere the most ingenious +devices were employed for killing noise. + +"I knew we should find all this," said Edmund--"although I did not +precisely anticipate the form that the natural supply of energy would +take--as soon as I saw the aerial screws that give buoyancy to the great +towers. In fact, I foresaw it as soon as I found, in inspecting the +machinery of the air ship which brought us from the sea, that their +motors were driven by storage batteries. It was obvious, then, that they +had some extraordinary source of energy." + +"Oh, of course, you knew it all!" muttered Henry under his breath. "But +if you were as omniscient as you think yourself, you'd not be in this +fool's paradise." + +"What's that you're saying?" demanded Jack, partly catching the import of +Henry's remark, and beginning to ruffle his feathers. + +"Oh, nothing," mumbled Henry, and I shook my head at Jack to keep quiet. +We all felt at times Edmund's assumption of superiority, but Jack and I +were willing to put up with it as one of the privileges of genius. If +Edmund had not believed in himself, he would never have brought us +through. And besides, we always found that he was right, and if he +sometimes spoke rather boastingly of his knowledge and foresight, at +least it was real knowledge and genuine foresight. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +WE FALL INTO TROUBLE AGAIN + +It was not long after our visit to the marvelous fountain when Jack +proposed to me that he and I should make a little excursion on our own +account in the city. Edmund was absent at the moment, engaged in some +inquiries which interested him, under the guidance of Ala and her +customary attendants. I forget why Jack and I had stayed behind, since +both Juba and Henry had accompanied Edmund, but it was probably because +we wished to make some necessary repairs to our garments for I confess +that I shared a little of the coquettishness of Jack in that matter. At +any rate, we grew weary of being alone, and decided to venture just a +little way in search of adventure. We calculated that the tower of the +palace, which was so conspicuous, would serve us as a landmark, and that +there was no danger of getting lost. + +Nobody interfered with us at our departure, as we had feared they might, +and in a short time we had become so absorbed in the strange spectacles +of the narrow streets, lined with shops and filled with people on foot, +while small air ships continually passed just above the roofs, that we +forgot the necessity of keeping our landmark constantly in view, and were +lost without knowing it. + +One thing which immediately struck us was the entire absence of beasts of +burden--nothing like horses or mules did we see. There were not even +dogs, although, as I have told you, some canine-like animals dwelt with +the people of the caverns. Everybody went either on foot or in air ships. +There were no carriages, except a kind of palanquin, some running on +wheels and others borne by hand. + +"I should think they would have autos," said Jack, "with all their +science and ingenuity which Edmund admires so much." + +But there was not a sign of anything resembling an auto; the silence of +the crowded streets was startling, and made the scene more dreamlike. +Everybody appeared to be shod with some noise-absorbing material. We +strolled along, turning corners with blissful carelessness, staring and +being stared at (for, of course, everybody knew who we were), peering +into open doors and the gaping fronts of bazaars, chattering like a +couple of boys making their first visit to a city, and becoming every +moment more hopelessly, though unconsciously, lost, and more interested +by what we saw. The astonishing display of pleasing colors and the +brilliancy of everything fascinated us. I had never seen anything +comparable to this in beauty, variety, and richness. We passed a market +where we saw some of the bright-plumaged birds that we had eaten at our +first repast hung up for sale. They had a way of serving these birds at +table with the brilliant feathers of the head and neck still attached, as +if they found a gratification even at their meals in seeing beautiful +colors before them. + +Other shops were filled with birds in gilded cages, which we should have +taken for songsters but for the fact that, although crowds gathered about +and regarded them with mute admiration, not a sound issued from their +throats--at least we heard none. A palanquin stopped at one of these +shops, and a lady alighted and bought three beautiful birds which she +carried away in their cages, watching them with every indication of the +utmost pleasure, which we ascribed to the splendor of their plumage and +the gracefulness of their forms. As a crowd watched the transaction +without interference on the part of the shopkeeper, or evidence of +annoyance on that of the lady, we took the liberty of a close look +ourselves. Then we saw their money. + +"Good, yellow gold," whispered Jack. + +Such, indeed, it seemed to be. The lady took the money, which consisted +of slender rings, chased with strange characters, from a golden purse, +and the whole transaction seemed so familiar that we might well have +believed ourselves to be witnessing a purchase in a bazaar of Cairo or +Damascus. This scene led to a desire on Jack's part to buy something +himself. + +"If I only had some of their money," he said, "I'd like to get some +curiosities to carry home. I wonder if they'd accept these?" and he drew +from his pocket some gold and silver coins. + +"No doubt they'd be glad to have a few as keepsakes," I said. + +"By Jo! I think I'll try it," said Jack, "but not here. I'm not a bird +fancier myself. Let's look a little farther." + +We wandered on, getting more and more interested, and followed by a +throng of curious natives, who treated us, I must say, much more +respectfully than we should have been treated in similar circumstances at +home. Many of the things we saw, I cannot describe, because there is +nothing to liken them to, but all were as beautiful as they were strange. +At last we found a shop whose contents struck Jack's fancy. The place +differed from any that we had yet seen; it was much larger, and more +richly fitted up than the others, and there were no counters, the things +that it contained being displayed on the inner walls, while a single +keeper, of a grave aspect, and peculiarly attired, all in black, occupied +a seat at the back. The objects on view were apparently ornaments to be +hung up, as we hang plaques on the wall. They were of both gold and +silver, and in some the two metals were intermixed, with pleasing +effects. What seemed singular was the fact that the _motif_ of the +ornaments was always the same, although greatly varied in details of +execution. As near as I could make it out, the intention appeared to be +to represent a sunburst. There was invariably a brilliant polished boss +in the center, sometimes set with a jewel, and surrounding rays of +crinkled form, which plunged into a kind of halo that encircled the +entire work. The idea was commonplace, and it did not occur to me amidst +my admiration of the extreme beauty of the workmanship that there was any +cause for surprise in the finding of a sunburst represented here. Jack +was enthusiastic. + +"That's the ticket for me," he said. "How would one of those things look +hanging over the fireplace of old Olympus? You bet I'm going to persuade +the old chap to exchange one for a handful of good solid American money." + +I happened to glance behind us while Jack was scooping his pocket, and +was surprised to see that the crowd of idlers, which had been following +us, had dispersed. Looking out of the doorway, I saw some of them +furtively regarding us from a respectful distance. I twitched Jack by the +sleeve: + +"See here," I said, "there's some mistake about this. I don't believe +that this is a shop. You'd better be careful, or we may make a bad +break." + +"Oh, pshaw!" he replied; "it's a shop all right, or if it isn't exactly a +shop that old duffer will be glad to get a little good money for one of +his gimcracks." + +My suspicion that all was not right was not allayed when I noticed that +the old man, whose complexion differed from the prevailing tone here, and +who was specially remarkable by the possession of an eagle-beaked nose, a +peculiarity that I had not before observed among these people, began to +frown as Jack brusquely approached him. But I could not interfere before +Jack had thrown a handful of coin in his lap, and, reaching up, had put +his hand upon one of the curious sunbursts, saying: + +"I guess this will suit; what do you say, Peter?" + +Instantly the old fellow sprang to his feet, sending the coins rolling +over the polished floor, and with eyes ablaze with anger, seized Jack by +the throat. I sprang to his aid, but in a second four stout fellows, +darting out of invisible corners, grappled us, and before we could make +any effective resistance, they had our arms firmly bound behind our +backs! Jack exerted all his exceptional strength to break loose, but in +vain. + +"I tried to stop you, Jack--" I began, in a tone of annoyance, but +immediately he cut me off: + +"This is on _me_, Peter; don't you worry. _You_ haven't done anything." + +"I'm afraid it's on all of us," I replied. "The whole party, Edmund and +all, may have to suffer for our heedlessness." + +"Fiddlesticks," he returned. "I haven't got his old ornament, but he's +got my coin. This looks like a skin game to me. What in thunder did he +hang the things up for if he didn't want to sell 'em?" + +"But I told you this wasn't a shop." + +"No, I see it isn't; it's a trap for suckers, I guess." + +Jack's indignation grew hotter as we were dragged out into the street, +and followed by a crush of people drawn to the scene, were hurried along, +we knew not whither. In fact, his indignation swallowed up the alarm +which he ought to have experienced, and which I felt in full force. I +beat my brains in vain to find some explanation for the merciless +severity with which we were treated so out of all proportion to the +venial fault that had unconsciously been committed, and my perplexity +grew when I saw in the faces of the crowd surrounding us, and running to +keep up, a look of horror, as if we had been guilty of an unspeakable +crime. We were too much hurried and jolted by our captors to address one +another, and in a short time we were widely separated, Jack being led, or +rather dragged, ahead, as if to prevent any communication between us. +Once in a while, to my regret, I observed him exerting all his force to +break his bonds and slinging his custodians about; but he could not get +away, and at last, to my infinite comfort, he ceased to struggle, and +went along as quietly as the rapid pace would permit. + +Presently an air ship swooped down from above, and alighted in a little +square which we had just entered. Immediately we were taken aboard, with +small regard to our comfort, and the air ship rose rapidly, and bore off +in the direction of the great tower of the palace which we could now see. +Upon our arrival we were taken through the inevitable labyrinth of +corridors, and finally found ourselves in a place that was entirely new +to us. + +It was a round chamber, perhaps two hundred feet in diameter, lighted, +like the Roman Pantheon, by a huge circular opening in the vaulted roof, +through which I caught a glimpse of the pearl-tinted cloud dome, which +seemed infinitely remote. No opposition was made when I pushed ahead in +order to be at Jack's side, and as a throng quickly hedged us round, our +conductors released their hold, although our arms remained bound. When at +last we stood fast we were in front of a rich dais, containing a +thronelike seat occupied by a personage attired in black, the first +glimpse of whose face gave me such a shock as I had not experienced since +the priest of the earth-worshipers seized me for his prey. I have never +seen anything remotely resembling that face. It was without beard, and of +a ghastly paleness. It was seen only in profile, except when, with a +lightning-like movement, it turned, for the fraction of a second, toward +us, and was instantly averted again. It made my nerves creep to look at +it. The nose was immense, resembling a huge curved beak, and the eyes, as +black and glittering as jet, were roofed with shaggy brows, and seemed +capable of seeing crosswise. + +Sometimes one side of the face and sometimes the other was presented, the +transition being effected by two instantaneous jerks, with a slight pause +between, during which the terrible eyes transfixed us. At such moments +the creature--though he bore the form of a man--seemed to project his +dreadful countenance toward the object of his inspection like a monstrous +bird stretching forth its neck toward its prey. The effect was +indescribable, terrifying, paralyzing! The eyes glowed like fanned +embers. + +"In God's name," gasped Jack, leaning his trembling shoulder upon me, +"what is it?" + +I was, perhaps, more unmanned than he, and could make no reply. + +Then there was a movement in the throng surrounding us, and the old man +of the sunbursts appeared before the throne, and, after dropping on his +knees and rising again, indicated us with his long finger, and, as was +plain, made some serious accusation. The face turned upon us again with a +longer gaze than usual, and we literally shrank from it. Then its owner +rose from his seat, towering up, it seemed, to a height of full seven +feet, shot his hand out with a gesture of condemnation, and instantly sat +down again and averted his countenance. There seemed to have been a world +of meaning in this brief act to those who could comprehend it. We were +seized, even more roughly than before, and dragged from the chamber, and +at the end of a few minutes found ourselves thrown into a dungeon, where +there was not the slightest glimmer of light, and the door was locked +upon us. + +It was a long time before either of us summoned up the courage to speak. +At length I said faintly: + +"Jack, I'm afraid it's all over with us. We must have done something +terrible, though I cannot imagine what it was." + +But Jack, after his manner, was already recovering his spirits, and he +replied stoutly: + +"Nonsense, Peter, we're all right, as Edmund says. Wait till he comes and +he'll fix it." + +"But how can he know what has happened? And what could he do if he did? +More likely they will all be condemned along with us." + +Jack felt around in the dark and got me by the hand, giving it a hearty +pressure. + +"Remember Ala," he said. "She's our friend, or Edmund's, and they'll +bring us out of this. You want to brace up." + +"Remember Ingra!" I responded with a shiver, and I could feel Jack start +at the words. + +"Hang him!" he muttered. "If I'd only finished him when I had the drop!" + +After that neither spoke. If Jack's thoughts were blacker than mine he +must have wished for his pistol to blow out his own brains. At no time +since our arrival on the planet had I felt so depressed. I had no courage +left; could see no lightening of the gloom anywhere. In the horror of the +darkness which enveloped us, the _horror of space_ came over my spirit. +One feels a little of that sometimes when the breadth of an ocean +separates him from home, and from all who really care for him--but what +is the Atlantic or the Pacific to millions upon millions of leagues of +interplanetary space! To be cast away among the inhabitants of another +world than one's own! To have lost, as we had done (for in that moment of +despair I was _sure_ Edmund could never repair the car), the only +possible means of return! To have offended, just _because_ we were +strangers, and _could_ not know better, some incomprehensible social law +of this strange people, who owned not a drop of the blood of our race, or +of any race whatsoever dwelling on the earth! To lie under the +condemnation of that goblin face, without the possibility of pleading +even the mercy that our hearts instinctively grant to the smallest mite +of fellow life on our own planet! To be alone! friendless! forsaken! +condemned!--in a far-off, kinless world! I could have fallen down in +idolatry before a grain of sand from the shore of the Atlantic! + +In the murkiest depth of my despair a sound roused me with a shock that +made my heart ache. In a moment the door opened, light streamed in, and +Edmund stood there. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE SUN GOD + +Strangely enough, I, who have an exceptional memory for spoken words, +cannot, by any effort, recall what Edmund said, as his face beamed in +upon us. I have only a confused recollection that he spoke, and that his +words had a marvelous effect upon my broken spirit. But I can see, as if +it were yet before me, the smile that illumined his features. My heart +bounded with joy, as if a messenger had come straight from the earth +itself, bearing a reprieve whose authority could not be called in +question. + +Jack's joy was no less than mine, although he had not suffered mentally +as I had done. And the sight of Ala was hardly less reassuring to us, but +to find Ingra, too, present was somewhat of a shock to our confidence in +speedy delivery from trouble. And, in fact, we were not at once +delivered. We had to spend many weary hours yet in our dark prison, but +they were rendered less gloomy by Edmund's assurance that he would save +us. The confidence that he always inspired seems to me to have been +another mark of his genius. We had an instinct that he could do in any +circumstances what was impossible to ordinary men. + +At last the welcome moment came, and we were led forth, free, and +rejoined Edmund, Henry, and Juba in our apartments. Then, for the first, +we learned what we had done, and how narrow had been our escape from a +terrible doom. It was a new chapter of wonder that Edmund opened before +us. I shall tell it in his own words. + +"When I returned to the palace and found you missing I was greatly +wrought up. Immediately I applied to Ala for aid in finding you. She was +quickly informed of all the circumstances of your arrest, and I saw at +once, by the expression of her features, that it was a matter of the +utmost gravity. I was not reassured by Ingra's evident joy. I could read +in his face the pleasure that the news gave him, and I perceived that +there was again opposition between him and Ala, and that she was trying, +with less success than I hoped for, to bring him round to her view. + +"With no little trouble I finally discovered the nature of your offense. +I understood it the more readily because I had already begun to suspect +the existence among these people of a strange form of idolatry, in some +respects akin to the earth-worship of the cavern dwellers. I have told +you that certain things had led me to think that they occasionally see +the sun here. It is a phenomenon of excessive rarity, and whole +generations sometimes pass without its recurrence. It is due to an +opening which at irregular periods forms for a brief space of time in the +cloud dome. I imagine that it may be in some way connected with sunspots, +but here they have no notion of its cause, and look upon it as entirely +miraculous. + +"Whenever this rare event occurs it gives rise to extraordinary religious +excitement, and ceremonies concerning which there is some occult mystery +that I have not yet penetrated. I suspect that the ceremonies are not +altogether unlike the Bacchanalian festivals of ancient Greece. At any +rate the momentary appearance of the sun at these times is regarded as +the avatar of a supreme god, and their whole religious system is based +upon it. So universal and profound is the superstition to which it gives +rise that the most instructed persons among them are completely under its +dominion. The eagle-beaked individual who condemned you, and whom I have +since seen, is the chief priest of this superstition, and within his +sphere his power is unlimited. It is solely to the belief--which, through +Ala, I have succeeded in impressing upon him--that we are _children of +the sun_ that I owe the success of my efforts in your behalf. Without +that you would surely have been sacrificed, and we with you. + +"One of the forms which this superstition takes is a belief that the +anger of the sun god can be mollified by offerings of images, made in his +likeness, which are first consecrated by the chief priest, and then hung +up on the walls of certain small temples, which are scattered through the +city, and are always kept open to the air under the guard of a minor +priest and his attendants. A whole family, as I understand it, deems +itself protected by one of these images, which are made by artists who +never touch any other work, and which are only granted to those who have +undergone a painful series of purifications in the great temple. The +preliminary ceremonies finished, the images are suspended, and at certain +times those to whom they belong go and kneel and pray before them, as +before their guardian saints." + +"What a fool I was not to understand it," I murmured. + +"You will understand now," Edmund continued, "how serious was Jack's +offense in insulting a priest, and laying impious hands upon a sacred +image, belonging, no doubt, to a family whose antiquity of descent would +make our oldest pedigrees on the earth seem as ephemeral as the existence +of a May fly; for I am convinced that here life has gone on, +uninterrupted by wars and changes of dynasty, for untold ages. + +"It is a marvel that you escaped, for already they were preparing the +awful sacrifice. The chief priest was amazed when an interposition was +made on your behalf. Such a thing had never been known, and, as I have +said, it was only by acting upon his superstition that I succeeded, with +Ala's assistance, in obtaining a reprieve. As the case stands, we find +ourselves occupying a dangerous eminence, which it may be difficult for +us to maintain. I must beseech you to be on your guard, and to act only +under my direction. It is all the more serious for us because I am +convinced that Ingra has no faith whatever in the legend which protects +us. He persists in believing that we are simply interlopers from the dark +hemisphere, and the opposition between him and Ala has now become so +sharp that he would gladly witness our destruction. I am sure that he +will do his utmost to unmask us, and thus send us to our death." + +"But--" I began. + +"Wait a moment," said Edmund, "I have not yet finished. I must now tell +you who Ingra is. _He is the destined consort of Ala._ That explains his +influence over her. From what I can make out, it appears that he is of +the royal blood, and that the marriage of the queen is arranged, not by +her preference, but by an unwritten law, administered by the chief +priest. She has no choice in the matter." + +"I should say not," broke in Jack. "She never would have chosen that +jackanapes! If you hadn't spoiled my aim I'd have relieved her of the +burden." + +"Not another word of that!" said Edmund severely. "In no manner, not even +by a look, are you ever to express your dislike of him. And remember, you +must govern your very thoughts, for here they lie open, as legible as +print." + +"Hang me," growled Jack, "if I like a world where a man can't even think +his own thoughts because his mind goes bare! Take me back where you have +to speak before you are understood." + +"When you have wicked thoughts don't look them in the eyes," said Edmund, +half smiling, "and then you will run no danger. It is through the eyes +that they read. Now, to resume what I was saying, I am more than ever +anxious to recover the car, and to find the materials that will enable me +to repair its machinery. With it in our possession, and in good shape, we +shall be in a position to run away whenever it may seem necessary to do +so, and in the meantime to impose our legend upon them by the possession +of so apparently miraculous a means of conveying ourselves through space. +It will be overwhelming proof of the truth of our assertion of an origin +outside their world, and perhaps, upon the whole, it is just as well that +they should think that we belong to the sun, of whose existence they have +some knowledge, rather than to the earth, of which they know nothing, in +spite of the inkling that Juba succeeded in conveying to them." + +"The car is here, isn't it?" I asked. + +"Yes, it is in the great tower, but it is useless in its present +condition." + +"And what materials do you want to find?" + +"Primarily nothing but uranium. They understand chemistry here. They have +the apparatus that I need, but they do not know how to use it as I do. +The uranium certainly exists somewhere. They mine gold and silver, and +other things, and when I can find their mines, without exciting their +suspicion, and can get the use of a laboratory in secret, I shall soon +have what I need. But I must be very circumspect, for it would not do to +let them perceive that chemistry really lies at the basis of our miracle. +It is this necessity for secrecy which troubles me most. But I shall find +a way." + +"For God's sake, find it quick," Henry burst out. "And then get away from +this accursed planet." + +Edmund looked at him a moment before replying: + +"We shall go when the necessity for going arises, and not before. We have +not yet seen all the interesting things of this world." + +I believe that even Jack and I shared to some extent Henry's +disappointment on hearing this announcement. We should have been glad to +know that we were to start on the return journey as soon as the car was +in shape to transport us. But the event proved that Edmund's instinct +was, as usual, right, and that the things which were yet to be seen and +experienced were well worth the fearful risk we ran in remaining. + +While Edmund undertook the delicate inquiries which were necessary in +order to determine the direction that his search for uranium should take, +and to enable him to conduct his chemical processes without awaking +suspicion as to his real purpose, we were left much of the time in charge +of a party of attendants who, by his intercession, had been selected to +act as our guides when we wished to examine the wonders of the palace and +the capital. Sometimes he accompanied us; but more often he was with Ala +and her suite, including her uneludable satellite, Ingra. + +"I bless my stars that he doesn't favor _us_ with his delightful +company," was Jack's comment, when he saw Ingra tagging along after Ala +and Edmund. + +I privately believed that Ingra had his spies among our attendants, but I +was careful not to mention my suspicions to Jack. + +But, oh, the delight of those excursions! Those streets; and those aerial +towers, which rose like forests of coral in a gulf of liquid ether! They +shine often in my dreams. A thousand times I have tried to put into +words, simply for my own satisfaction, a description of the things that +we saw, and the impressions that they made on my mind--but it is +impossible. I understand now why the tales of travelers into strange +lands never convey a tithe of what is in the writers' minds; they +simply cannot; the necessary words and analogies do not exist. I can only +use general terms, ransacking the vocabulary of adjectives--"beautiful," +"wonderful," "fascinating," "marvelous," "indescribable," "magical," +"enchanting," "amazing," "inexplicable," "_sans pareil_"--what you +will--but all that says nothing except to my own mind. Only the language +of Venus could describe the charms and the wonders of Venus! + +There was one thing, however, which was sufficiently comprehensible--_the +great library_. Edmund was not with us when we paid our first visit to +it; but he had predicted its existence during one of our conversations, +when we were talking of the silent language. + +"This people," he had said, "has a great history behind it, extending +over periods which would amaze our disinterrers of human antiquity, but +an intelligent race cannot make history without also keeping records of +it. Tradition alone, handed on from mind to mind, would not answer their +requirements. The possession of the power to communicate thought without +spoken language does not presuppose a power of memory any more perfect +than we have. The brain forgets, the imagination misleads, with them as +with us, and consequently they must have books of some kind--which +implies a written or printed language. It is probable that this language +does not correspond with the very meager one of which we occasionally +hear them pronounce a few words. The latter is, I am convinced, used only +for names and interjections, and sometimes to call the attention of the +person addressed, while the former must be a rich and carefully +elaborated system of literary expression, which may not be phonetic at +all. We shall find that this is so; and there are unquestionably +libraries--probably a great imperial library--devoted to history and +science. There must be schools also." + +Thus Edmund had spoken, and thus we found it to be. The great library was +in a building separate from the palace. It was admirably lighted from +without, and its nature was apparent the moment we were led into it. The +"books" were long scrolls, which might have been taken for parchment or +papyrus, and the characters written on them resembled those of the +Chinese language, but worked out in exquisite colors, which might +themselves have had a meaning. The rolls were kept in proper receptacles +under the charge of librarians, and we saw many grave persons at desks +poring over them. Absolute silence reigned, and as I gazed at the scene I +found admiration for this extraordinary people taking the place of the +prejudice which I had recently been led to feel against them. + +Jack, unusually impressed, whispered to me that Edmund must have been +playing us some Hindoo bedevilment trick, for he could not believe that +we were actually in a foreign world. The same impression came over me. +This was too earthlike; too much as if, instead of being on the planet +Venus, we had been transported to some land of antique civilization in +our own world. But, after all, we _knew where we were_, and as the +realization of that fact came to us we could only stare with increasing +astonishment at the scene before us. I may say here that Edmund +subsequently visited this great library, and also some of the schools, +and I know that he made notes of what he discovered and learned in them, +with the purpose, as I supposed, of writing upon the subject after his +return. But the expected book, which would have supplemented and +clarified much of what I have undertaken to tell, with but a half +understanding of what we saw, never appeared. + +Our wonderful excursions came to an end when Edmund at length announced +that he had obtained the information he needed, and that we were about to +make a trip to some of the mines of Venus. + +"I have discovered," he said, "that Venus is exceedingly rich in the +precious metals, as well as in iron and lead. They mine them all, and +we shall visit the mines under Ala's escort. My real purpose, of +course, is to find uranium, of whose properties, strangely--and for us +luckily--enough, they seem to have no knowledge. Nevertheless, they are +capital chemists as far as they go, and possess laboratories provided +with all that I shall need. They refine the metals at the mines +themselves, so that I am sure of finding everything necessary to do my +work right on the ground. The substance which I obtain from uranium is so +concentrated that I can carry in my pocket all that will be required to +repair the damage done to the transformers in the car. A careful +examination, which I have made of the car, proves that the terrific +shocks the machinery suffered in the crystal mountains caused an atomic +readjustment which destroyed the usefulness of the material in the +transformers, and while I might, by laboratory treatment, possibly +restore its properties, I think it safer to obtain an entirely fresh +supply. We shall start with the queen's ship within a few hours; so you +had better make your preparations at once." + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +AT THE MERCY OF FEARFUL ENEMIES + +If we could have foreseen what was to happen during this trip, even +Edmund, I believe, would have shrunk from undertaking it. But we all +embarked upon it gladly, because we had conceived the highest +expectations of the delight that it would afford us; and at the news that +we were to visit mines of gold richer than any on the earth, Henry +exhibited the first enthusiasm that he had shown since our departure from +home. + +Embarked on Ala's splendid "yacht," as Jack called it, and attended by +her usual companions, we rapidly left the city behind, and sped away +toward the purple mountains, so often seen in the distance. The voyage +was a long one, but at length we drew near the foothills, and beheld the +mountains towering into peaks behind. Lofty as they looked, there was no +snow on their summits. We now descended where plumes of smoke had for +some time attracted our attention, and found ourselves at one of the +mines. It was a gold mine. The processes of extracting the ore, +separating the metal, etc., were conducted with remarkable silence, but +they showed a knowledge of metallurgy that would have amazed us if we had +not already seen so much of the capacity of this people. Yet similarly to +the scene in the library, its earth-likeness was startling. + +"This sort of thing is uncanny," said Jack, as we were led through the +works. "It makes me creep to see them doing things just as we do them at +home, except that they are so quiet about it. If everything was different +from our ways it would seem more natural." + +"Anyhow," I replied, "we may take it as a great compliment to ourselves, +for it shows that we have found out ways of doing things which cannot be +improved even in Venus." + +I should like to describe in detail the wonders of this mine, but I have +space for only a few words about it. It was, Edmund learned, the richest +on the planet, and was the exclusive property of the government, +furnishing the larger part of its revenues, which were not comparable +with those of a great terrestrial nation because of the absence of all +the expenditures required by war. No fleets and no armies existed here, +and no tariffs were needed where commerce was free. This great mine was +the Laurium of Venus. The display of gold in the vaults connected with it +exceeded a hundredfold all that the most imaginative historian has ever +written of the treasures of Montezuma and Atahualpa. Henry's eyes fairly +shone as he gazed upon it, and he could not help saying to Edmund: + +"You might have had riches equal to this if you had stayed at home and +developed your discovery." + +Edmund contemptuously shrugged his shoulders, and turned away without a +word. + +We were afterwards conducted to a silver mine, which we also inspected, +and finally to a lead mine in another part of the hills. This was in +reality the goal at which Edmund had been aiming, for he had told us that +uranium was sometimes found in association with lead. Our joy was very +great when, after a long inspection, he informed us that he had +discovered uranium, and that it now remained only to submit it to certain +operations in a laboratory in order to prepare the substance that was to +give renewed life to those lilliputian monsters in the car, which fed +upon men's breath and begot power illimitable. + +"I must now contrive," said Edmund, "to get admission to the laboratory +connected with the mine, and to do my work without letting them suspect +what I am about." + +He managed it somehow, as he managed all things that he undertook, and +within forty-eight hours after our arrival he was hard at work, evidently +exciting the admiration of the native chemists by the knowledge and skill +which he displayed. At first they crowded around him so that he was +hampered in his efforts to conceal the real object of his labors; but at +last they left him comparatively alone, and I could see by his expression +whenever I visited the laboratory that things were going to his liking. +But the work was long and delicate. Edmund had to fabricate secretly some +of the chemical apparatus he needed, destroying it as fast as it served +its purpose, so that weeks of time rolled by before he had what he called +the "thimbleful of omnipotence" that was to make us masters of our fate. +As fast as he produced it he put it in a metal box, shaped like a +snuffbox, and covertly he showed it to us. It consisted of brilliant +black grains, finer than millet seeds. + +"Every one of those minute grains," he told us, "is packed with as much +potential energy as that of a ton's weight suspended a mile above the +earth." + +But while the little box was being gradually filled with crystallized +powder, we, who could lend no aid in the fabrication of Edmund's miracle, +improved the opportunity to make acquaintance with the beauties of the +surrounding country. Ala had returned to the capital, leaving an air ship +at our disposal, and, of all persons in the world, _Ingra in command_! We +refused all invitations to accompany him in the air ship, preferring to +make our excursions on foot, accompanied at first by some of the +attendants that Ala had left. Edmund did not share our fears that Ingra +meditated mischief. + +"He doesn't dare," was his reply to all our representations. But nothing +could induce Jack and me to trust to Ingra's tender mercies. + +Among the favorite spots which we had found to visit in the neighborhood +of the mine was a little knoll crowned with a group of the most beautiful +trees that I ever saw, and washed at its base by a brook of exquisitely +transparent water which tinkled over a bed of white and clear-yellow +pebbles, sparkling like jewels. More than once at the beginning I fished +some of them out in the belief that they were nuggets of pure gold +polished by the water. In a pool under the translucent shadow of the +overhanging trees played small fish so splendid in their varied hues that +they looked like miniature rainbows darting about beneath the water. +Birds of vivid color sometimes flitted among the branches overhead. There +was but one "rainy day" while we were at the mine; all the rest of the +time not a cloud appeared under the great dome, and a scented zephyr +continually drew down from the mountains and fanned us. Here, then, we +passed many hours and many days, chatting of our adventures and our +chances, drowsily happy in the pure physical enjoyment which this +charming spot afforded. + +When at last Edmund informed us that his box was full, and he was ready +to return to the capital, we would not let him go without first +conducting him to our little paradise. All together, then, with the +exception of Juba, who, by some interference of an overlooking +providence, was left at the mine, we set out in the highest spirits to be +for once our leader's leaders in the exploration of some of the charms of +Venus. Edmund was no less delighted than we had been with the place, and +yielding to its somnolent influences we were soon stretched side by side +on the spreading roots of a giant tree, and sleeping the sleep of +sensuous languor. + +Our waking was as terrible as it was sudden. I heard a cry, and at the +same instant felt an irresistible hand grasping me by the throat. As I +opened my eyes I saw that the whole party were prisoners. Nearby an air +ship was quivering, as, held in leash, it lightly touched the ground; and +a dozen gigantic fellows, whipping our hands behind our backs, hurried us +aboard, the great mechanical bird, which instantly rose, describing a +circle that carried us above the treetops. I did not try to struggle, for +I felt how vain would be any effort that I could make. + +Glancing about me, the very first features I recognized were those of +Ingra. At last he had us in his power! + +I looked at Edmund, but his face was set in thought, and he did not +return my glance. Henry, as usual, had plunged into silent hopelessness, +and Jack was a picture of mingled rage and despair. Although we were +loosely fastened side by side to a rail on the deck, neither of us spoke +for perhaps half an hour. In the meantime the air ship rose to a height +greater than that of the nearby mountains, and then more slowly +approached them. At last it began to circle, as if an uncertainty +concerning the route to be chosen had arisen, and I observed, for we +could look all about in spite of our bonds, that Ingra and one who +appeared to be his lieutenant were engaged in an animated discussion. +They pointed this way and that, and the debate grew every moment more +earnest. This continued for a long time, while the ship hovered, running +slowly in the wide circles. We could not then know how much this +hesitation meant for us. If Ingra had been as rapid in his decision now +as he was in the act of taking us prisoners, this history would never +have been written. I watched Edmund, and saw that his attention was +absorbed by what our captors were about, and even in that emergency I +felt a touch of comfort through my unfailing confidence in our leader. + +Finally a decision seemed to have been reached, and we set off over the +crest of the range. As its huge peaks towered behind us and we descended +nearer the ground, my heart sank again, for now we were cut off from the +world beyond, and in the improbable event of any pursuit, how could the +pursuers know what course we had taken, or where to look for us? And, +then, who would pursue? Juba could do nothing, Ala was far away at the +capital, even supposing that she should be disposed to set out in search +of us, and hours, perhaps days, must elapse before she could be informed +of what had happened. Not even when Jack and I were in the dungeon had +our case seemed so desperate. + +But how the gods repent when they have sunk men in the blackest pit of +despair, sending them a messenger of hope to steady their hearts! + +Good fortune had willed that we should be so placed upon the deck that we +faced most easily sternward. Suddenly, as I gazed despondently at the +serrated horizon receding in the distance, a thrill ran through my nerves +at the sight of a dark speck in the sky, which seemed to float over one +of the highest peaks. A second look assured me that it was moving; a +third gave birth to the wild thought that it was in chase. Then I turned +to Edmund and whispered: + +"There is something coming behind us." + +"Very well, do nothing to attract attention," he returned. "I have seen +it. They are following us." + +I said nothing to Jack or Henry, who had not yet caught sight of the +object; but I could not withdraw my eyes from it. Sometimes I persuaded +myself that it was growing larger, and then, with the intensity of my +gaze, it blurred and seemed to fade. At last Jack spied it, and +instantly, in his impetuous way, he exclaimed: + +"Edmund! Look there!" + +His voice drew Ingra's attention, and immediately the latter observed the +direction of our glances, and himself saw the growing speck. He turned +with flushed face to his lieutenant and in a trice the vessel began +fairly to leap through the air. + +"Ah, Jack," said Edmund reproachfully, but yet kindly, "if only you could +always think before you speak! It is certain from Ingra's alarm that we +are pursued by somebody whom he does not wish to meet. Most likely it is +the queen, although it seems impossible that she could so quickly have +learned of our mishap. Peter and I have been watching that object, which +is unquestionably an air ship, in silence for the last twenty minutes, +during which it has perceptibly gained upon us. But for your lack of +caution it might have come within winning distance before it was +discovered by Ingra, but now--" + +The rebuke was deserved, perhaps, but yet I wished that Edmund had not +given it, so painful was the impression that it made upon Jack's +generous heart. His countenance was convulsed, and a tear rolled down his +cheek--all the more pitiful to see because his arms were pinioned, and he +could do nothing to conceal his agitation. Edmund was stricken with +remorse when he saw the effect of his words. + +"Jack," he said, "forgive me; I am sorry from the bottom of my heart. I +should not have blamed you for a little oversight, when I alone am to +blame for the misfortunes of us all." + +"All right, Edmund, all right," returned Jack in his usual cheerful +tones. "But, see here, I don't admit that you are to blame for anything. +We're all in this boat together and hanged if we won't get out of it +together, too, and you'll be the man to fetch us out." + +Edmund smiled sadly, and shook his head. + +Meanwhile Ingra, with the evident intention of concealing the movements +of the vessel, dropped her so low that we hardly skipped the tops of the +trees that we were passing over, for now we had entered a wide region of +unbroken forest. Still that black dot followed straight in our wake, and +I easily persuaded myself that it was yet growing larger. Edmund declared +that I was right, and expressed his surprise, for we were now flying at +the greatest speed that could be coaxed out of the motors. Suddenly a +shocking thought crossed my mind. I tried to banish it, fearing that +Ingra might read it in my eyes, and act upon it. Suppose that he should +hurl us overboard! It was in his power to do so, and it seemed a quick +and final solution. But he showed no intention to do anything of the +kind. He may have had good reasons for refraining, but, at the time I +could only ascribe his failure to take a summary way out of his +difficulty to a protecting hand which guarded us even in this extremity. + +On we rushed through the humming air, and still the pursuing speck chased +us. And minute by minute it became more distinct against the background +of the great cloud dome. Presently Edmund called our attention to +something ahead. + +"There," he said, "is Ingra's hope and our despair." + +I turned my head and saw that in front the sky was very dark. Vast clouds +seemed to be rolling up and obscuring the dome. Already there was a +twilight gloom gathering about us. + +"This," said Edmund, "is apparently the edge of what we may call the +temperate zone, which must be very narrow, surrounding in a circle the +great central region that lies under the almost vertical sun. The clouds +ahead indicate the location of a belt of contending air currents, +resembling that which we crossed after floating out of the crystal +mountains. Having entered them, we shall be behind a curtain where our +enemy can work his will with us." + +Was it knowledge of this fact which had restrained Ingra from throwing us +overboard? Was he meditating for us a more dreadful fate? + +It was, indeed, a land of shadow which we now began to enter, and we +could see that ahead of us the general inclination of the ground was +downward. I eagerly glanced back to see if the pursuers were yet in +sight. Yes! There was the speck, grown so large now that there could be +no doubt that it was an air ship, driven at its highest speed. But we had +entered so far under the curtain that the greater part of the dome was +concealed, the inky clouds hanging like a penthouse roof far behind. We +could plainly perceive the chasers; but could they see us? I tried to +hope that they could, but reason was against it. Still they were +evidently holding the course. + +But even this hope faded when Ingra cunningly changed our course, turning +abruptly to the left in the gloom. He knew, then, that we were invisible +to the pursuers. But not content with one change, he doubled like a +hunted fox. We watched for the effect of these maneuvers upon those +behind us, and to our intense disappointment, though not to our surprise, +we saw that they were continuing straight ahead. They surely could not +have seen us, and even if they anticipated Ingra's ruse, how could they +baffle it, and find our track again? At last the spreading darkness +swallowed up the arc of illuminated sky behind, and then we were alone in +the gloom. + +This, you will understand, was not the deep night of the other side of +the planet; it was rather a dusky twilight, and as our eyes became +accustomed to it, we could begin to discern something of the character of +our surroundings. We flew within a hundred yards of the ground, which +appeared to be perfectly flat, and soon we were convinced by the +pitchy-black patches which frequently interrupted the continuity of the +umbrageous surface beneath, that it was sprinkled with small bodies of +water--in short, a gigantic Dismal Swamp, or Everglade. I need hardly say +that it was Edmund who first drew this inference, and when its full +meaning burst upon my mind I shuddered at the hellish design which Ingra +evidently entertained. Plainly, he meant to throw us into the morass, +either to drown in the foul water, whose miasma now assailed our +nostrils, or to starve amidst the fens! But his real intention, as you +will perceive in a little while, was yet more diabolical. + +The bird ship stooped lower, just skimming the tops of strange trees, the +most horrible vegetable forms that I have ever beheld. And then, without +warning, we were seized and pushed overboard, while the vessel, making a +broad swoop, quickly disappeared. Henry alone uttered a loud cry as we +fell. + +We crashed through the clammy branches and landed close together in a +swamp. Fortunately the water was not deep, and we were able to struggle +upon our feet and make our way to a comparatively dry open place, perhaps +half an acre in extent. No sooner were we all safe on the land than I +noticed Edmund struggling violently and then he exclaimed: + +"Here, quick! Hold a hand here!" + +As he spoke he backed up to me. + +"Take a match from this box which I have twisted out of my pocket, and +while I hold the box, scratch it, and hold the flame against the bonds +around my wrists." + +I managed to get out a match, and scratched it. But the match broke. +Edmund, with the skill of a prestidigitator, got out another match, and +pushed it into my fingers. It failed again. + +"It's got to be done!" he said. "Here, Jack, you try." + +Again he extracted a match, as Jack backed up in my place. Whether his +hands happened to be less tightly bound, or whether luck favored him, +Jack, on a second attempt, succeeded in illuminating a match. + +"Don't lose it," urged Edmund, as the light flashed out; "burn the cord." + +Jack tried. The smell of burning flesh arose, but Edmund did not wince. +In a few seconds the match went out. + +"Another!" said Edmund, and the operation was repeated. A dozen separate +attempts of this kind had been made, and I believe that I felt the pain +inflicted by them more than Edmund did, when, making a tremendous effort, +he burst the charred cord. His hands and wrists must have been fearfully +burned, but he paid no attention to that. In a flash he had out his knife +and cut us all loose. It was a mercy that they had not noticed the flame +of the matches from the air ship, for if they had, unquestionably Ingra +would have returned and made an end of us. + +After our release we stood a few moments in silence, awaiting our +leader's next move. Presently a sonorous sign startled us, followed by a +sticky, tramping sound. + +"In God's name, what's that?" exclaimed Jack. + +[Illustration: "It curled itself over the edge of the hovering air ship +and drew it down."] + +"We'll see," said Edmund quietly, and threw open his pocket lantern. + +As the light streamed out there was a rustle in the branches above us, +and the form of an air ship pushed into view. + +Ingra! + +No, it was not Ingra! Thank God, there was the bushy head of Juba visible +on the deck as the ship drifted over us! And near him stood Ala and a +half dozen attendants. + +As one man we shouted, but the sound had not ceased to echo when, out of +the horrible tangle about us, rose, with a swift, sinuous motion, a +monstrous anacondalike arm, flesh pink in the electric beam, but covered +with spike-edged spiracles! It curled itself over the edge of the +hovering air ship and drew it down. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +DREADFUL CREATURES OF THE GLOOM + +The deck of the air ship was tipped up at an angle of forty-five degrees +by the pressure, and with inarticulate cries most of those on board +tumbled off, some falling into the water and some disappearing amidst the +tangled vegetation. Ala was visible, as the machine sank lower, and +crashed through the branches, clinging to an upright on the sloping deck, +while Juba, who hung on like a huge baboon, was helping her to maintain +her place. + +Almost at the same moment I caught sight of the head of the monstrous +animal which had caused the disaster. It was as massive as that of an +elephant or mammoth; and the awful arm resembled a trunk, but was of +incredible size. Moreover, it was covered with sucking mouths or disks. +The creature apparently had four eyes ranged round the conical front of +the head where it tapered into the trunk, and two of these were visible, +huge, green, and deadly bright in the gleam of the lantern. + +For a moment we all stood as if petrified; then the great arm was thrown +with a movement quick as lightning round both Ala and Juba as they clung +to the upright! My heart shot into my mouth, but before the animal could +haul in its prey, a series of terrific reports rattled like the discharge +of a machine gun at my ear. The monstrous arm released the victims, and +waved in agony, breaking the thick, clammy branches of the vegetation, +and the vast head disappeared. Edmund had fired all the ten shots in his +automatic pistol with a single pressure of the double trigger and an +unvarying aim, directed, no doubt, at one of the creature's eyes. + +"Quick!" he shouted, as the air ship, relieved from the stress, righted +itself; "climb aboard." + +The vessel had sunk so low, and the vegetation was so crowded about it, +that we had no great difficulty in obeying his commands. He was the last +aboard, and instantly he grasped the controlling apparatus, and we rose +out of the tangle. We could hear the wounded monster thrashing in the +swamp, but saw only the reflection of its movements in the commotion of +the branches. + +I had expected that Edmund would immediately fly at top speed away from +the dreadful place, but, instead, as soon as we were at a safe elevation, +he brought the air ship to a hover, circling slowly above the +comparatively open spot of dry ground at the edge of the swamp. + +"We cannot leave the poor fellows who have fallen overboard," he said, as +quietly as if he had been safely aboard his own car. "We must stay here +and find them." + +Soon their cries came to our ears, and turning down the light of the +lantern we saw five of them collected together on the solid ground, and +gesticulating to us in an agony of terror. Edmund swept the ship around +until we were directly over the poor fellows, and then allowed it to +settle until it rested on the ground beside them. I trembled with +apprehension at this bold maneuver, but Edmund was as steady as a rock. +Ala instantly comprehended his intention, and encouraged her followers, +who were all but paralyzed with fright, to clamber aboard. A momentary +communication of the eyes took place between Edmund and Ala, and I +understood that he was demanding if all had been found. + +There was another--and not a trace of him could be seen. + +"We must wait a moment," said Edmund, reloading the chamber of his pistol +while he spoke. "I'll look about for him." + +"In God's name, Edmund! You don't think of going down there!" + +"But I do," he said firmly, and before I could put my hand on his arm he +had dropped from the deck. The gigantic creature that he had wounded was +still thrashing about a little distance off, occasionally making horrible +sounds, but Edmund seemed to have no fear. We saw him, with amazement, +walk collectedly round the ground encircled by the swamp, peering into +the tangle, and frequently uttering a call. But his search was vain, and +after five minutes of the most intense nervous strain that I ever +endured, I thanked Heaven for seeing him return in safety, and come +slowly aboard. There was another consultation with Ala, which evidently +related to the ability of the engineer of the ship to resume his +functions. This had a satisfactory result, for the fellow took his place, +and the vessel finally quitted the ground. But, at Edmund's request, it +rose only to a moderate height, and then began again to circle about. He +would not yet give up the search. + +We flew in widening circles, Edmund keeping his lantern directed toward +the ground, and the full horror of these interminable morasses now became +plain. I was in a continual shudder at the evidence of Ingra's pitiless +scheme for our destruction. He had meant that we should be the prey of +the unspeakable inhabitants of the fens, and had believed that there was +no possibility of escape from them. We became aware that there was a +great variety of them in the swamps and thickets beneath through the +noises that they made--heart-quaking cries, squealing sounds, gruntings, +and, most trying of all, a loud, piercing whistle whose sibilant +pulsations penetrated the ear like thrusts of a needle. I pictured to +myself a colossal serpent as the most probable author of this terrifying +sound, but the error of my fancy was demonstrated by a tragedy which +shook even Edmund's iron nerves. + +Always circling, and always watching what was below by the light of the +lantern, which was of extraordinary power for so small an instrument, we +saw occasionally a curling trunk uplifted above the vegetation, as if its +owner imagined that the strange light playing on the branches was some +delicate prey that could be grasped, and sometimes a gliding form whose +details escaped detection, when, upon passing over a relatively open +place, like that where our adventure had occurred, a blood-curdling sight +met our eyes. + +Directly ahead, in the focus of the reflector of the lantern, and not +more than a hundred feet distant, stood a prodigious black creature, on +eight legs, rolling something in its mandibles, which were held close to +what seemed to be its mouth. + +"Good Lord!" cried Jack. "It's a tarantula as big as a buffalo!" + +"It has caught the missing man!" said Edmund. "Look!" + +He pointed to a shred of garment dangling on a thorny branch. I felt sick +at heart, and I heard a groan from Jack. After all, these people were +like us, and our feelings would not have been more keenly agitated if the +victim had been a descendant of Adam. + +"He is beyond all help," I faltered. + +"But he can be avenged," said Edmund, in a tone that I had never heard +him use before. + +As he spoke he whipped out his pistol, and crash! crash! crash! sounded +the hurrying shots. As their echo ceased, the giant arachnid dropped his +prey, and then there came from him--clear, piercing, quivering through +our nerves--that arrowy whistle that had caused us to shudder as we +unwillingly listened to it darting out of the gloom of the impenetrable +thickets. + +Then, to our horror, the creature, which, if touched at all by the shots, +had not been seriously injured, picked up its prey and bounded away in +the darkness. Edmund instantly turned to Ala, and I knew as well as if he +had spoken, what his demand was. He wished to follow, and his wish was +obeyed. We swooped ahead, and in a minute we saw the creature again. It +had stopped on another oasis of dry land, and it still carried its +dreadful burden. Its head was toward us, and it appeared to be watching +our movements. Its battery of eyes glittered wickedly, and I noticed the +bristle of stiff hairs, like wires, that covered its body and legs. + +Again Edmund fired upon it, and again it uttered its stridulous pipe of +defiance, or fear, and leaped away in the tangle. We sped in pursuit, and +when we came upon it for the third time it had stopped in an opening so +narrow that the bow of the air ship almost touched it before we were +aware of its presence. This time its prey was no longer visible. There +was no question now that its attitude meant defiance. Cold shivers ran +all over me as, with fascinated eyes, I gazed at its dreadful form. It +seemed to be gathering itself for a spring, and I shrank away in terror. + +Crash! bang! bang! bang! sounded the shots once more, and in the midst of +them there came a blinding tangle of bristled, jointed legs that thrashed +the deck, a thud that shook the air ship to its center, and a cry from +Jack, who fell on his back with a crimson line across his face. + +"Give me your pistol!" shouted Edmund, snatching my arm. + +I hardly know how I got it out of my pocket, I was so unnerved, but it +was no sooner in Edmund's hand than he was leaning over the side of the +deck and pouring out the shots. When the pistol was emptied he +straightened up, and said simply: + +"_That_ devil is ended." + +Then he turned to where Jack lay on the deck. We all bent over him with +anxious hearts, even Ala sharing our solicitude. He had lost his senses, +but a drop from Edmund's flask immediately brought him round, and he rose +to his feet. + +"I'm all right," he said, with a rather sickly smile; "but," drawing his +hand across his brow and cheek, "he got me here, and I thought it was a +hot iron. Where is he now?" + +"Dead," said Edmund. + +"Jo, I'd have liked to finish him myself!" + +We were worried by the appearance of the wound, like a long, deep +scratch, on Jack's face, but, of course, we said nothing about our +worriment to him. Edmund bound it up, as best he could, and it afterwards +healed, but it took a long time about it, and left a mark that never +disappeared. There was probably a little poison in it. + +Edmund himself needed the attention of a surgeon, for his wrists had been +cruelly burned by the matches, but he would not allow us to speak of his +sufferings, and putting on some slight bandages, he declared that it was +time now to get out of this wilderness of horrors. He communicated with +Ala, and in a few minutes we were speeding, at a high elevation, toward +the land of the opaline dome. So far above the morasses we no longer +heard the brute voices of its terrible inhabitants, nor saw the swaying +of the branches as they looked about in search of prey. + +"This," said Edmund, "exceeds everything that I could have imagined. I do +not know in what classification to put any of the strange beasts that we +have seen. They can only be likened to the monsters of the early dawn on +the earth, in the age of the dinosaurs. But they are _sui generis_, and +would make our anatomists and paleontologists stare. I am only surprised +that we have encountered no flying dragons here." + +"But was it really a--a giant spider that captured Ala's man?" I asked +with a shudder. + +"God knows what it was! It had the form of a spider, and it leaped like +one. If it had been armored I could never have killed it. I think the +shock of its impact against the air ship helped to finish it." + +It was only after we had issued from under the curtain of twilight that +we learned the story of the chase which had brought our salvation. Edmund +first obtained it from Ala and Juba, filling out the outlines of their +wordless narrative with his ready power of interpretation, and then he +told it to us." + +"We owe our lives to Juba," he said. "Ala had just returned to the mine +from the capital when our abduction took place. Juba, who had wandered +out on our track, saw from a distance the seizure, and a few minutes +afterwards Ala's air ship arrived. He instantly communicated the facts to +her, and without losing an instant the chase was begun. Ingra's delay in +choosing his course was the thing that saved us. They knew that they must +not lose sight of us for an instant, and their motors were driven to +their highest capacity. Fortunately, Ala's vessel is one of the +speediest, and they were able to gain on us from the start. Slowly they +drew up until the border of the twilight zone was reached. Then as we +entered under the clouds we were swallowed from the sight of all except +Juba. But for his wonderful eyes, there would have been no hope of +continuing the chase. He had lived all his life in a land of darkness and +now he began to feel himself at home. Throwing off the shades which he +has worn since our arrival, he had no difficulty in following the +movements of Ingra, even after our vessel had completely faded from the +view of all the others. So, without abating their fearful speed, they +plunged into the gloom straight upon our track. The nose of the +bloodhound is not more certain in the chase than were Juba's eyes in that +terrible flight through the darkness. When Ingra changed his course and +doubled, Juba saw the maneuver and turned the dodge against its inventor, +for now Ingra could not see them, and did not know that they were still +on his track. They cut off the corners, and gained so rapidly that they +were close at hand when Ingra rose from the swamp after pitching us +overboard. They had heard Henry's cry, which served to tell them what had +happened, and to direct them to the spot. But even Juba could not discern +us in the midst of the vegetation, and it was the sudden flashing out of +our lamp which revealed our location when they were about to pass +directly over us." + +I need not say with what breathless attention we listened to this +remarkable story, which Edmund's scientific imagination had constructed +out of the bones of fact that he had been able to gather. + +"Jo," said Jack, "our luck is simply outlandish!" + +Then he broke out in one of his fits of enthusiasm. Slapping Juba on the +shoulder, he danced around him, laughing joyously, and exclaiming: + +"Bully old boy! Oh, you're a trump! Wait till I get you in New York, and +I'll give you the time of your life! Eh, Edmund, won't we make him a +member of Olympus? Golly, won't he make a sensation!" + +And Jack hugged himself again with delight. His reference to home threw +us into a musing. At length I asked: + +"Shall we ever see the earth again, Edmund?" + +"Why, of course we shall," he replied heartily. "I have the material I +need, and it only remains to repair the car. I shall set about it the +moment we reach the capital. Do you know," he continued, "this adventure +has undoubtedly been a benefit to us." + +"How so?" + +"By increasing our prestige. They have seen the terrible power of the +pistols. They have seen us conquer monsters that they must have regarded +as invincible. When they see what the car can do, even Ingra will begin +to fear us, and to think that we are more than mortal." + +"But what will Ala think of Ingra now?" + +"Ah, I cannot tell; but, at any rate, he cannot have strengthened himself +in her regard, for it is plain that she, at least, has no desire to see +us come to harm. But he is a terrible enemy still, and we must continue +to be on our guard against him." + +"I should think that he would hardly dare to show himself now," I +remarked. + +"Don't be too sure of that. After all, we are interlopers here, and he +has all the advantages of his race and his high rank. Ala is interested +in us because she has, I believe I may say, a philosophical mind, with a +great liking for scientific knowledge. It was she who planned and +personally conducted the expedition toward the dark hemisphere. From me +she has learned a little. She appreciates our knowledge and our powers, +and would ask nothing better than to learn more about us and from us. Her +prompt pursuit and interference to save us when she must have understood, +perfectly, Ingra's design, shows that she will go far to protect us; but +we must not presume too much on her ability to continue her protection, +nor even on her unvarying disposition to do so. For the present, however, +I think that we are safe, and I repeat that our position has been +strengthened. Ingra made a great mistake. He should have finished us out +of hand." + +"His leaving us to be devoured by those fearful creatures showed an +inexplicable cruelty on his part; he chose the most horrible death he +could think of for us," I said. + +"Oh, I don't know," replied Edmund. "Did you ever see a laughing boy +throw flies into a spider's den? It is my idea that he simply wished to +have us disappear mysteriously, and then _he_ would never have offered an +explanation, unless it might have been the malicious suggestion that we +had suddenly decamped to return to the world we pretended to have come +from. And but for Ala's unexpected return to the mine he would have +succeeded. No doubt his crew were pledged to secrecy." + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +EARTH MAGIC ON VENUS + +We were no sooner installed again at the capital than Edmund began his +"readjustment of the atomic energies." + +"Blessed if I know what he means," said Jack; "but he gets the goods, and +that's enough for me." + +In reality I did not understand it any better than Jack did, only I had +more knowledge than he of the nature of the forces that Edmund employed. +We went with him to the place in the great tower where the car had been +stored, and where it seemed to be regarded with a good deal of +superstitious awe. But they had not yet the least idea of its marvelous +powers. We were preparing for them the greatest surprise of their lives, +and our impatience to see the effect that would be produced when we made +our first flight grew by day, while Edmund, shut up alone in the car, +labored away at his task. + +"I wonder what they think he is doing in there," I said, the third day +after our return, as we sat on a balcony of the floating tower, with our +feet nonchalantly elevated on a railing, and our eyes drinking in the +magnificent prospect of the vast city, as brilliant in variegated colors +as a flower garden, while a soft breeze, that gently swayed the gigantic +gossamer, soothed us like a perfumed fan. + +"Worshipping the sun god, I reckon," laughed Jack. "But, see here, Peter, +what do you make of this religion of theirs, anyway?" + +"I don't know what to make of it," I replied. "But if the sun really does +appear to them once in a lifetime, or so, as Edmund thinks, it seems to +me natural enough that they should worship it. We have done more +surprising things of the kind on the earth." + +"Not civilized people like these." + +"Oh, yes. The Egyptians were civilized, and the Romans, and they +worshipped all sorts of strange things that struck their fancy. And what +can you say to the Greeks--they were civilized enough, and look what a +collection of gods they had." + +"But the wise heads among them didn't really believe in their gods." + +"I'm not sure of that; at any rate they had to pretend that they +believed. No doubt there were some who secretly scoffed at the popular +belief, and it may be the same here. I shouldn't wonder if Ingra were one +of the scoffers. Edmund has a great opinion of his intelligence, and if +he really doesn't believe in the thing, he is all the more dangerous for +us, because you know that now we are depending a good deal on their +superstition for our safety." + +"But Ala is very intelligent, a regular wonder, I should think, from what +Edmund says; and yet she accepts their superstition as gospel." + +"Lucky for us that she does believe," I said. "But there's some great +mystery behind all this; Edmund has convinced me of that. We don't begin +to understand it yet, and there are moments when I think that Edmund is +afraid of the whole thing. He seems dimly to foresee some catastrophe +connected with it, though what it may be I cannot imagine, and I think he +doesn't know himself." + +Henry listened to our conversation without proffering a remark--quite the +regular thing with him--and at this point Jack, yielding to the +overpowering sense of well-being, and the soothing influence of the +delicious air and delightful view, closed his eyes for a nap. + +Presently Edmund came and roused us all up with the remark that he had +finished his work. Jack was instantly on his feet: + +"Hurrah!" he exclaimed. "Now for another trip that will open the eyes of +these Venusians. Where shall we go, Edmund?" + +"We shall go nowhere just at present. I want first to make sure by a +trial trip that everything is in perfect shape. For that purpose I shall +wait for the hours of repose when there will be nobody to watch us." + +I must here explain more fully what I have already said--that in this +land of unceasing daylight, everybody took repose as regularly as on the +earth. That is a necessity for all physical organisms. When they slept, +they retired into darkened chambers, and passed several hours in peaceful +slumber. We had learned the time when this periodical need for sleep +seized upon the entire population, and although, naturally, there were a +few wide-awakes who kept "late hours," yet within a certain time after +the habitual hour for repose had arrived it was a rare thing to see +anybody stirring. We had, then, only to wait until "the solemn dead of +night" came on in order that Edmund might try his experiment with almost +a certainty of not being observed. This was the easier, since latterly +there had been no guard kept over our movements. We were not confined in +any way, and could go and come as we pleased. Evidently, if anybody +thought of such a thing as an attempt to escape on our part, they trusted +to the fact that we had no means of getting away, for after our first +exploit of that kind, all the air ships were carefully guarded, and +placed beyond our reach. As to the car, there was nothing about it to +suggest that it could fly, and probably they took it simply for some kind +of boat, since they had seen us employ it only in navigating the sea. I +have often thought, with wonder, of their unsuspiciousness in permitting +Edmund to spend so much time alone and undisturbed in the car. Possibly, +there was something in Jack's suggestion, that they supposed it to be +connected with our religious observances. Anyhow, so it was; and I can +only ascribe the fact to the kindness of that overlooking Power which so +often interfered in our behalf, making it no disparagement of our claim +upon its protection that we had abandoned our mother earth and ventured +so far away into space! + +One thing decidedly in our favor was that, since our return from the mine +(the adventure in the land of bogs and monsters was, as far as Edmund +could ascertain, unknown at the capital, except by those who had taken +part in it), we had been accustomed to pass the hours of repose in the +tower. We should thus be close to the car when we got ready to start. +Another equally favorable circumstance--and perhaps it was even more +important--was the absence of Ingra, who, either because he did not care +just now to face Ala, or because he had gone off somewhere after throwing +us to the animals and was not yet aware of our escape, had not shown +himself. If he had been present it might not have been so easy for Edmund +to make his preparations. + +Never had the great city seemed to me so long in quieting down for its +periodical rest as on this occasion. After all was deserted in the +streets below, people were still moving about on the tower, and it did +seem as if they had taken a fit of wakefulness expressly to annoy us and +interfere with our plans. We kept stealing out of our sleeping room, and +looking cautiously about, for at least two hours, but always there was +some one stirring in the immediate neighborhood. At last a tall fellow, +who had been standing an interminable time at the rail directly in front +of the storage place of the car, and whom Jack had half seriously +threatened to throttle if he stood there any longer, turned and went +yawning away. No sooner was he out of sight than Edmund led the way, and +with the slightest possible noise, aided by Juba, who was as strong as +three men, we got the car out on the platform. I was in a fever lest +there should be a squeak from the little wheels that carried it. But they +ran as still as rubber. + +"Get in," whispered Edmund; and we obeyed him with alacrity. + +Would it go? + +Even Edmund could not answer that question. He pulled a knob, and I held +my breath. There was the slightest perceptible tremor. Was it going to +balk? No, thank Heaven! It was under way. In a few seconds we were off +the tower in the free air. Edmund pressed a button, and the speed +instantly increased. The gorgeous tower seemed to be flying away from us +like a soap bubble. Jack, in ecstasy, could hardly repress a cheer. + +"Hurrah, if you want to,"' said Edmund. + +"They won't hear you, and now I don't care if they do. The apparatus is +all right, and we'll give them something to wake up for. My only anxiety +was lest they should witness a failure, which might have led to +disagreeable consequences. There must be no dropping of knives in our +juggling." + +"Good!" cried Jack. "Then let's give 'em a salute." + +Edmund smiled and nodded his head: + +"The guns are in the locker," he said. + +Jack had one of the automatic rifles out in a hurry. + +"Shoot high," said Edmund, "and off toward the open country. The +projectiles fly far, and I guess we can take the risk." + +He threw both windows open, and Jack aimed skyward and began to pull the +trigger. + +Bang! bang! bang! Heavens, what a noise it was! The car must have seemed +a flying volcano. And it woke them up! The sleeping city poured forth its +millions to gaze and wonder. Surely they had never heard such a +thundering. Within five minutes we saw them on the roofs and in the +towers. Many were staring at us through a kind of opera glasses which +they had. Then from a dozen aerial pavilions the colors broke forth and +quivered through the air. + +"Saluting us!" exclaimed Jack, delighted. + +"Asking one another questions, rather," said Edmund. + +They certainly asked enough of them, and I wondered what answers they +returned. + +"Probably they think we're off for good," said I. + +"And aren't we?" asked Henry anxiously. + +"Not yet," Edmund replied, and Henry's countenance fell. + +The car turned and approached the great tower again. We swept round it +within a hundred yards, and could see the amazement in the faces that +watched us. But if they were astonished they were not terror-stricken. +Within ten minutes twenty air ships were swiftly approaching us. Edmund +allowed them to come within a few yards, and then darted away, rushed +round the whole city like a flying cloud, and finally rose straight up +with dizzying velocity, which made the vast metropolis shrink to a +colored patch, as if we had been viewing it through the wrong end of a +telescope. + +"I'll go right up through the cloud dome now," he said. "Nothing could +more impress them with a sense of our power than that; and when we come +back again they will know that we have no fear, and the very act will be +a proof of origin from the sky." + +When we were in the midst of the mighty curtain of vapor, I was +interested in noticing the peculiar quality of the light that surrounded +us. We seemed to be immersed in a rose-pink mist. + +"I do not understand," I said to Edmund, "how this dome is maintained at +so great an elevation, and in apparent independence of the rain clouds +which sometimes form beneath. No rain ever falls from the dome itself, +and yet it consists of true clouds." + +"I think," he replied, "that the dome is due to vapors which assemble at +a general level of condensation, and do not form raindrops, partly +because of the absence of dust to serve as nuclei at this great height, +and partly because of some peculiar electrical condition of the air, +arising from the relative nearness of Venus to the sun, which prevents +the particles of vapor from gathering into drops heavy enough to fall. +You will observe that there is a peculiar inner circulation in the vapor +surrounding us, marked by ascending and descending currents which are +doubtless limited by the upper and lower surfaces of the dome. The true +rain clouds form in the space beneath the dome, where there seems to be +an independent circulation of the winds." + +On entering the cloud vault Edmund had closed the windows, explaining +that it was not merely the humidity which led him to do so, but the +diminishing density of the air which, when we had risen considerably +above the dome, would become too rare for comfortable breathing. In a +little while his conjecture about a peculiar electrical condition was +justified by a pale-blue mist which seemed to fill the air in the car; +but we felt no effects and the mechanism was not disturbed. Owing to our +location on Venus, still at a long distance from the center of the +sunward hemisphere, the sun was not directly overhead, but inclined at a +large angle to the vertical, so that when we began to approach the upper +surface of the vault, and the vapor thinned out, we saw through one of +the windows a pulsating patch of light, growing every moment brighter and +more distinct, until as we shot out of the clouds it instantly sharpened +into a huge round disk of blinding brilliance. + +"The sun! The sun!" we cried. + +We had not seen it for months. When it had gleamed out for a short time +during our drift across the water from the land of ice into the belt of +tempests, we had been too much occupied with our safety to pay attention +to it; but now the wonder of it awed us. Four times as large and four +times as bright and hot as it appears from the earth, its rays seemed to +smite with terrific energy. Juba, wearing his eye shades, shrank into a +corner and hid his face. + +"It is well that we are protected by the walls of the car and the thick +glass windows," said Edmund, "for I do not doubt that there are solar +radiations in abundance here which scarcely affect us on the earth, but +which might prove dangerous or even mortal if we were exposed to their +full force." + +Even at the vast elevation which we had now attained there was still +sufficient air to diffuse the sunlight, so that only a few of the +brightest stars could be glimpsed. Below us the spectacle was magnificent +and utterly unparalleled. There lay the immense convex shield of Venus, +more dazzling than snow, and as soft in appearance as the finest wool. We +gazed and gazed in silent admiration, until suddenly Henry, who had shown +less enthusiasm over the view than the rest of us, said, in a doleful +voice: + +"And now that we are here--free, free, where we can do as we like--with +all means at our command--oh! why will you return to that accursed +planet? Edmund, in the name of God, I beseech you, go back to the earth! +Go now! For the love of Heaven do not drag us into danger again! Go home! +Oh, go home!" + +The appeal was pitiful in its intensity of feeling, and a shade of +hesitation appeared on Edmund's face. If it had been Jack or I, I believe +that he would have yielded. But he slowly shook his head, saying in a +sympathetic tone: + +"I am sorry, Henry, that you feel that way. But I _cannot_ leave this +planet yet. Have patience for a little while and then we will go home." + +I doubt whether afterwards, Edmund himself did not regret that he had +refused to grant Henry's prayer. If we had gone now when it was in our +power to go without interference, we should have been spared the most +tragic and heart-rending event of all that occurred during the course of +our wandering. But Edmund seemed to feel the fascination of Venus as a +moth feels that of the candle flame. + +When we emerged again on the lower side of the dome we were directly over +the capital. We had been out of view for at least three hours, but many +were still gazing skyward, toward the point where the car had +disappeared, and when we came into sight once more there were signs of +the utmost agitation. The prismatic signals began to flash from tower to +tower, conveying the news of the reappearance of the car, and as we drew +near we saw the crowds reassembling on every point of vantage. We went +out on the window ledges to watch the display. + +"Perhaps they think that we have been paying a visit to the sun," I +suggested. + +"Well, if they do I shall not undeceive them," said Edmund, "although it +goes against the grain to make any pretense of the kind. Ala, +particularly, is so intelligent, and has so genuine a desire for +knowledge, that if I could only cause her to comprehend the real truth it +would afford me one of the greatest pleasures of my life." + +"I hope old Beak Nose is getting his fill of this show," put in Jack. +"He'll be likely to treat us with more respect after this. By the way, I +wonder what's become of my money. I think I'll sue out a writ of replevin +in the name of the sun to recover it." + +Nobody replied to Jack's sally, and the car rapidly approached the great +tower. + +"Are you going to land there?" I asked. + +"I certainly shall," Edmund responded with decision. + +"But they'll seize the car!" exclaimed Henry in affright. + +"No, they won't. They are too much afraid of it." + +Any further discussion was prevented by a sight which arrested the eyes +of all of us. On the principal landing of the tower, whence we had +departed with the car, stood Ala with her suite, and by her side was +Ingra! + +His sudden apparition was a great surprise, as well as a great +disappointment, for we had felt sure that he was not in the city, and I, +at least, had persuaded myself that he might be in disgrace for his +attempt on our lives. Yet here he was, apparently on terms of confidence +with her whom we had regarded as our only sure friend. + +"Hang him!" exclaimed Jack. "There he is! By Jo, if Edmund had only +invented a noiseless gun of forty million atom power, I'd rid Venus of +_him_, in the two-billionth part of a second!" + +"Keep quiet," said Edmund, sternly, "and remember what I now tell you; in +no way, by look or act, is any one of us to indicate to him the slightest +resentment for what he did. Ignore him, as if you had never seen him." + +By this time the car had nearly touched the landing. Edmund stepped +inside a moment and brought it completely to rest, anchoring it, as he +whispered to me, by "atomic attraction." When the throng on the tower saw +the car stop dead still, just in contact with the landing, but manifestly +supported by nothing but the air--no wings, no aeroplanes, no screws, no +mechanism of any kind visible--there arose the first _voice of a crowd_ +that we had heard on the planet. It fairly made me jump, so unexpected, +and so contrary to all that we had hitherto observed, was the sound. And +this multitudinous voice itself had a quality, or timbre, that was unlike +any sound that had ever entered my ears. Thin, infantine, low, yet +multiplied by so many mouths to a mighty volume, it was fearful to listen +to. But it lasted only a moment; it was simply a universal ejaculation, +extorted from this virtually speechless people by such a marvel as they +had never dreamed of looking upon. But even this burst of astonishment, +as Edmund afterwards pointed out, was really a tribute to their +intelligence, since it showed that they had instantly appreciated both +the absence of all mechanical means of supporting the car and the fact +that here was something that implied a power infinitely exceeding any +that they possessed. And to have produced in a world where aerial +navigation was the common, everyday means of conveyance, such a sensation +by a performance in the _air_ was an enormous triumph for us! + +No sooner had we gathered at the door of the car to step out upon the +platform than an extraordinary thing occurred. The front of the crowd +receded into the form of a semicircle, of which the point where we stood +marked the center, and in the middle of the curve, slightly in advance of +the others, stood forth the tall form of the eagle-beaked high priest +with the terrible face, flanked on one side by Ala and on the other by +the Jovelike front of the aged judge before whom our first arraignment +had taken place. Directly behind Ala stood Ingra. The contrast between +the three principal personages struck my eye even in that moment of +bewilderment--Ala stately, blonde, and beautiful as a statue of her own +Venus; the high priest ominous and terrifying in aspect, even now when we +felt that he was honoring us; and the great judge, with his snow-white +hair and piercing eyes, looking like a god from Olympus. + +"Do you note the significance of that arrangement?" Edmund asked, nudging +me. "Ala, the queen, yields the place of honor to the high priest. That +indicates that our reception is essentially a religious one, and proves +that our flight sunward has had the expected effect. Now we have the head +of the religious order on our side. Human nature, if I may use such a +term, is the same in whatever world you find it. Touch the imagination +with some marvel and you awaken superstition; arouse superstition and you +can do what you like." + +It would be idle for me to attempt to describe our reception because +Edmund himself could only make shrewd guesses as to the meaning of what +went on, and you would probably not be particularly interested in his +conjectures. Suffice it to say that when it was over, we felt that, for a +time at least, we were virtually masters of the situation. + +Only one thing troubled my mind--what did Ingra think and what would he +do? At any rate, he, too, for the time being, seemed to have been carried +away with the general feeling of wonder, and narrowly as I watched him I +could detect in his features no sign of a wish to renew his persecution. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +WILD EDEN + +The next day after our return from the trip above the cloud dome, and our +astonishing reception (you will, of course, understand the sense in which +I use the term "day"), Edmund sprang another surprise upon us. + +"I have persuaded Ala," he said, "to make a trip in the car." + +"You don't mean it!" + +"Oh, yes, and I am sure she will be delighted." + +"But she is not going alone?" + +"Surely no; she will be accompanied by one of her women--and by Ingra." + +"_Ingra_!" + +"Of course. Did you suppose that he would consent to be left behind? Ala +herself would refuse to go without him." + +"Then," I said, with deep disappointment, "he has resumed all his +influence over her." + +"I'm not sure he ever lost it," returned Edmund. "You forget his rank, +and his position as her destined consort. Whatever we do we have got to +count him in." + +Jack raged inwardly, but said nothing. For my part, I almost wished +Jack's bullet had not gone astray at that first memorable shooting. + +"Now," Edmund continued, "the car, as you know, has but a limited amount +of room. I do not wish to crowd it uncomfortably, but I can take six +persons. Ala's party comprises three, so there is room for just two +besides myself. You will have to draw lots." + +"Is Juba included in the drawing?" + +"Yes, and I'm half inclined to take him anyway, and let you three draw +for the one place remaining." + +"You can count me out," said Henry. "If there is another to stay with me +I prefer to remain." + +"Very well," said Edmund, "then Peter and Jack can draw lots." + +"Since we can't all go," said Jack, "and since that fellow is to be of +the party, I'll stay with Henry." + +So it was settled without an appeal to chance, and I went with Edmund and +Juba. As usual Edmund immediately put his project into execution. It +showed an astonishing confidence in us that Ala should consent to make +such a trip, and that her people, and especially Ingra, should assent to +it, and I could not sufficiently wonder at the fact. But we were now at +the summit of favor and influence, and it is impossible to guess what +thoughts may have been in their minds. At any rate, it showed how +completely Edmund had established himself in Ala's esteem, and I suspect +that her woman's curiosity had played a large part in the decision. There +was another thing which astonished me yet more, and, in fact, awakened a +good deal of apprehension in my mind. I could not but wonder that Edmund, +after all the precautions that he had previously taken, should now think +of admitting these people into the car, where they could witness his +manipulations of the mechanism. I spoke to him about it. "Rest your mind +easy about that," he said. "Now that everything goes like a charm, they +will suspect nothing. It will be all a complete mystery to them. Even the +gods used natural agencies when they visited the earth without shaking +the belief of mankind in them. I employ no force of which they have the +least idea, and if they see me touch a button, or pull a knob, what can +that convey to their minds except an impression of mysterious power?" + +I said no more, but I was not convinced, and the sequel proved that, for +once, Edmund had made a serious mistake, the more amazing because he had +been the first to detect the exceptional intelligence and shrewdness of +Ingra. But, no doubt, in the exultation of his recent triumph, he counted +upon the strength of the superstitious regard in which we were held. + +Our departure from the tower was the signal for the assembling of great +crowds of spectators again, and we sailed away with the utmost _eclat_. +Ala at once showed all the eager excitement of a child over so novel and +enjoyable an experience. The motion of the car was entirely unlike that +of the air ships. Perfectly steady, it skimmed along at a speed which +filled her with amazement and delight. The city, with its towers, seemed +to fly away from us by magic, and the trees and fields beneath ran into +streaming lines. The windows were thrown wide open, and all stood by +them, watching the scene. Finally Ala wished to go out on the window +ledges, where one was perfectly secure if he kept a firm hold on the +supports. Edmund was most of the time with us outside, only stepping +within when he wished to change the course. I thought that he showed a +disposition to conceal his manipulations as much as possible, as if what +I had said had made an impression. But all were so much occupied with +their novel sensations that, for the time at least, there was no danger +of their taking note of anything else. + +I believe that it must have been some intimation from Ala which finally +led Edmund to hold his course toward the mountains, but in a direction +different from that which led to the mines. When he had once chosen this +direction he worked up the speed to fully a hundred miles an hour, and +all were compelled to go inside on account of the wind created by our +rush through the air. We held on thus for five hours. During this time +Edmund spread a repast made up of dishes chosen from the supplies in the +car, and, of course, utterly strange to our guests. They found them to +their taste, however, and were delighted with Edmund's entertainment. We +spent a long time at our little table, and I was surprised at the variety +of delicious things which Edmund managed to extract from his stores. +There was even some champagne, and I noticed that Edmund urged it upon +Ingra, who, nothing loth, drank enough to make him decidedly tipsy, a +fact which was not surprising since we had found that the wines of Venus +were very light, and but slightly alcoholized. + +At length we began to approach what proved to be the goal of our journey. +Before us spread a vast extent of forest composed of trees of the most +beautiful forms and foliage. Some towered up to a great height, spreading +their pendulous branches over the less aspiring forms, like New England +elms; others were low and bushy, and afire with scarlet blossoms, whose +perfume filled the air; a few resembled gigantic grasses or great timothy +stems, surmounted with nodding plumes of golden leaves, streaming out +like gilt gonfalons in the breeze; but there was one species, as tall and +massive as oaks, and scattered everywhere through the forest, that I +could liken to nothing but enormous rose bushes in the full bloom of +June. When we began to pass above this strange woodland, Ala made some +communication to Edmund which caused him to slow down the movement of the +car. By almost imperceptible touches he controlled the motive power, and +presently we came to rest above a delightful glade, where a small stream +ran at the foot of a gravelly slope, crowned with grass and overhung by +trees. + +Here the car was allowed to settle gently upon the ground, and all +alighted. Ingra, over whom the influence of the champagne had been +growing, tottered on his legs in a way that would have filled Jack with +uncontrollable delight, but Edmund gravely helped him out of the car and +steadied him to a seat on the soft turf under the tree. I saw Ala +regarding Ingra with a puzzled look, and no wonder, for Edmund had been +careful that no one else should take enough of the wine to produce more +than the slightest exhilaration of spirits. It is possible that Edmund +had plied Ingra with the idea of rendering him less observant, and it +probably had that effect; but it resulted, as you will see presently, in +a revelation which finally put Edmund on guard against the very danger to +which he had seemed so insensible when I mentioned it to him before our +start. + +The place where we now were was, beyond comparison, the most charming +that we had yet seen. A very Eden it seemed, wild, splendid, and remote +from all cultivation. The air was loaded with indescribable fragrance +shed from the thousands of strange blossoms that depended from trees and +shrubs, and starred the rich grass. I learned afterwards from Edmund, who +had it from Ala, that the spot was famous for its beauty and other +attractions, and was sometimes visited in air ships from the capital. But +for them, what took us but a few hours was a trip extending over several +days of time. One would have said that the forest was imbedded in a +garden of the most extraordinary orchids. The shapes of some of the +flowers were so fantastic that it seemed impossible that Nature could +have produced them. And their colors were no less unparalleled, +inimitable, and incredible. + +The flowery bank on which we had chosen our resting place was removed a +few yards from the spot where the car rested, and the latter was hidden +from view by intervening branches and huge racemes of gorgeous flowers, +hanging like embroidered curtains about us. A peculiarity of the place +was that little zephyr-like breezes seemed to haunt it, coming one could +not tell whence, and they stirred the hanging blossoms, keeping them in +almost continual rhythmic motion. The effect was wonderfully charming, +but I observed that Ala was especially influenced by it. She sat with her +maid beside her, and fixed her eyes, with an expression of ecstasy, upon +the swinging flowers. I whispered to Edmund to regard her singular +absorption. But he had already noticed it, and seemed to be puzzling his +brain with thoughts that it suggested to him. + +Thus as we sat, the leaves of a tree over our heads were lightly stirred, +and a bird, adorned with long plumes more beautiful than those of a bird +of paradise, alighted on a branch, and began to ruffle its iridescent +feathers in a peculiar way. With every movement waves of color seemed to +flow over it, merging and dissolving in the most marvelous manner. As +soon as this bird appeared, Ala gave it all her attention, and the +pleasure which she experienced in watching it was reflected upon her +countenance. She seemed positively enraptured. After a few moments the +conviction came to me that she was _listening!_ Her whole attitude +expressed it. And yet not an audible sound came from the bird. At last I +whispered to Edmund: + +"Edmund, I believe that Ala hears something which we do not." + +"Of course she does," was his reply. "There is music here, such music as +was never heard on earth. That bird is _singing_, but our ears are not +attuned to its strain. You know the peculiarity of this atmosphere with +regard to sound, and that all of these people have a horror of loud +noises. But their ears detect sounds which are beyond the range of the +vibrations that affect ours. If you will observe the bird closely you +will perceive that there is a slight movement of its throat. But that is +not the greatest wonder, by any means. I am satisfied that there is _a +direct relation here between sounds and colors_. The swaying of the +flowers in the breeze and the rhythmic motion of the bird's plumage +produce harmonious combinations and recombinations of colors which are +transformed into sounds as exquisite as those of the world of insects. A +cluster of blossoms, when the wind stirs them, shake out a kind of +aeolian melody, and it was that which so entranced Ala a few moments ago. +She hears it still, but now it is mastered by the more perfect harmonies +that come from the bird, partly from its throat but more from the +agitation of its delicate feathers." + +You may imagine the wonder with which I listened to this. It immediately +recalled what Jack and I had observed at the shop of the bird fancier, +and when the lady carried off her seemingly mute pets in the palanquin. + +"But," I said, after a moment of reflection, "how can such a thing be? To +me it seems surely impossible." + +"I can only try to explain it by an analogy," said Edmund. "You know how, +by a telephone, sounds are first transmuted into electric vibrations and +afterwards reshaped into sonorous waves. You know, also, that we have +used a ray of light to send telephonic messages, through the +sensitiveness of a certain metal which changes its electric resistance in +accord with the intensity of the light that strikes it. Thus with a beam +of light we can reproduce the human voice. Well, what we have done +awkwardly and tentatively by the aid of imperfect mechanical +contrivances, Nature has here accomplished perfectly through the peculiar +composition of the air and some special adjustment of the auditory +apparatus of this people. + +"Light and sound, color and music, are linked for them in a manner +entirely beyond our comprehension. It is plain to me now that the music +of color which we witnessed at the capital, was something far more +complete and wonderful than I then imagined. Together with the pleasure +which they derive from the harmonic combinations of shifting hues, they +drink in, at the same time, the delight arising from sounds which are +associated with, and, in many cases, awakened by, those very colors. It +is probable that all their senses are far more fully, though more +delicately, developed than ours. The perfume of these wonderful flowers +is probably more delightful to Ala than to us. As there are sounds which +they hear though inaudible to us, and colors visible to them which lie +beyond the range of our vision, so there may be vibrations affecting the +olfactory nerves which make no impression upon our sense of smell." + +"Well, well," I exclaimed, "this seems appropriate to Venus." + +"Yes," said Edmund with a smile, "it is appropriate; and yet I am not +sure that some day we may not arrive at something of the kind on the +earth." + +I was about to ask him what he meant when there came an exciting +interruption. Ingra, who had fallen more and more under the influence of +the champagne, had stumbled to the other side of the little glade, +virtually unnoticed, and Juba had wandered out of sight. Suddenly there +came from the direction of the car the sound of a struggle mingled with +inarticulate cries. We sprang to our feet, and, running to the car, found +both Ingra and Juba inside it. The former had his hands on one of the +knobs controlling the mechanism, and Juba had grasped him round the waist +and was trying to drag him away. Ingra was resisting with all his +strength, and uttering strange noises, whose sense, if they had any, we, +of course, did not comprehend. Just as we reached the door, Juba +succeeded in wrenching his opponent from his hold, and immediately gave +him a fling which sent him clear out of the car, tumbling in a heap at +our feet. Juba's eyes were ablaze with a dangerous light, but the moment +he encountered Edmund's gaze he quietly walked away and sat down on the +bank. Ala was immediately by our side, and I thought that I could read +embarrassment as well as surprise in her looks. Fortunately the knob that +Ingra had grasped had been thrown out of connection; else he and Juba +might have made an involuntary voyage through space. + +We picked up Ingra, found a seat for him, and Edmund, going down to the +brook, filled a pocket flask with water and flung it in the fellow's +face. This was repeated several times with the effect of finally +straightening out his muddled senses sufficiently to warrant us in +embarking for the return trip. All the way home Ingra was in a sulky +mood, like any terrestrial drunkard after a debauch, but he kept his eyes +on all Edmund's movements with an expression of cunning, which he had not +sufficient self-command to conceal, and which could leave no doubt in our +minds as to the nature of the quest which had led him into the car. As to +Juba--although his interference had been of no practical benefit, since +Ingra, especially in his present state, could surely have made no +discovery of any importance--the devotion which he had again shown to our +interests endeared him the more to us. Ala's manner showed that she was +deeply chagrined, and thus our trip, which had opened so joyously, ended +in gloom, and we were glad when the car again touched the platform, and +our guests departed. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +THE SECRET OF THE CAR + +Jack and Henry were overjoyed to see us again, for after our departure +they had fallen into a despondent mood, and began to imagine all sorts of +evil. + +"Jo!" was Jack's greeting; "I never was so glad to see anybody in my +life. Edmund, don't you ever go off and leave any of us alone again." + +"I'll never leave you again," responded Edmund. "You can count on that." + +Then we told them the story of what we had seen, and of what had happened +in the wild Eden that we had visited. They were not so much interested in +the most wonderful thing of all--the combination of sound and color--as +they were in the conduct of Ingra. Jack laughed until he was tired over +Ingra's drunkenness, but he drew a long face when he heard of the +adventure in the car. + +"Edmund," he said earnestly, "I am beginning to be of Henry's opinion; +you had better get away from here without losing a moment." + +"No," said Edmund, "we'll not go yet. The time hasn't come to run away. +What difference does it make even if Ingra does suspect that the car is +moved by some mechanism instead of by pure magic? He could not understand +it if I should explain it to him." + +"But you have said that he is extraordinarily intelligent." + +"So he is, but his intelligence is limited by the world he lives in, and +while there are many marvelous things here, nobody has the slightest +conception of inter-atomic force. They have never heard even of +radioactivity. At the same time I don't mean that they shall go nosing +about the car. I'll take care of that." + +"But," said Jack, "it grinds me to see that brute Ingra get off scot-free +after trying to murder us. And what has he got against us, anyway? But +for him we should never have had any trouble. He was against us from the +beginning." + +"I don't think he was particularly _against_ us at the start," said +Edmund. "Only he was for treating us with less consideration than Ala was +disposed to show. But after the first accidental shooting, and the +drubbing that Juba gave him, naturally his prejudices were aroused, and +he could hardly be blamed for thinking us dangerous. Then, when he found +himself defeated, and his wishes disregarded, on all sides, he began to +hate us. It is easy enough to account for his feelings. Now, since our +recent astonishing triumph, being himself incredulous about our celestial +origin, he will try to undermine us by showing that our seeming miracle +is no miracle at all." + +"And you gave him the chance by taking him in the car!" I could not help +exclaiming. + +"Yes," said Edmund, with a smile. "I admit that I made a mistake. I +counted too much upon the influence of the sense of mystery. But it will +come out all right." + +"I doubt it," I persisted. "He will never rest now until he has found out +the secret." + +Nothing more was said on the subject, but Edmund was careful not to leave +the car unguarded. It was always kept afloat, though in contact with the +landing. The expenditure of energy needed to keep it thus anchored +without support was, Edmund assured us, insignificant in comparison with +the quantity stored in his mysterious batteries. + +We were not long in finding, on all sides, evidence that our trip up +through the cloud dome had been a master stroke, and that the presumable +incredulity of Ingra with regard to our claims was not shared by others. +He might have his intimates, who entertained prejudices against us +resembling his own, but if so we saw nothing of them. In fact, Ingra was +much less in evidence than before, but I did not feel reassured by that; +on the contrary, it made me all the more fearful of some plot on his +part, and Jack was decidedly of my opinion. + +"Hang him!" he said, "he's up to some mischief, and I know it. Much as I +detest him, I'd rather have him _in_ sight than _out_, just now. He makes +me feel like a snake in a bush; if he'd only show his ugly head, or +spring his rattle, I'd be more comfortable." + +But the kindness and deference with which we were treated, and the new +wonders that were shown to us in the capital, gradually drove Ingra from +our minds. Now we were permitted to enter the temples without opposition, +our presence there according with our new character of "children of the +sun." We saw the worship that was offered before the solar images by +family parties, and attended, as favored guests, the periodical +ceremonies in the great temple. Edmund confessed that the high priest +greatly embarrassed him by staring into his eyes, and plainly assuming +that he knew things of which he was profoundly ignorant. + +"The hardest thing I ever undertook," he said, "is to hold my mind in +suspense during these trying interviews, when he endeavors to read the +depths of my soul, and I to throw a veil over them which he cannot +penetrate." + +In some way, Edmund discovered that the high priest and all the priests +connected with the sun worship (and they certainly bore a family +likeness) belonged to a special race, whose roots ran back into the most +remote antiquity, and about whose persons clung a sacredness that placed +them, in some respects, above the royal family itself. We frequently +visited the great library, where Edmund undertook a study of the language +of the printed rolls, though what he made of it I never clearly +understood. I do not think that he succeeded in deciphering any of it. He +also spent much time studying their mechanics and engineering, for which +he professed great admiration. + +But most interesting of all to us was what Edmund himself accomplished. I +have told you of his remark about the color-sound music, viz., that he +thought it not impossible that even human senses might be enabled to +appreciate it. Well, he actually realized that wildly improbable dream! +He fitted up a laboratory of his own in which he labored sometimes for +twenty hours at a stretch, and at last he brought to us the astonishing +invention he had made. + +I can make no pretense of understanding it; although Edmund declared +that, in substance, it was no more wonderful than a telephone. The +machine consisted of a little metal box. (He made three of them, and I +have mine yet, but it will not work on the earth, and it lies on my table +as I write, serving for the most wonderful paper weight that a man ever +possessed.) When this box was pressed against the ear in front of one of +the revolving disks that threw out blending colors, or in the presence of +a "singing" bird, the most divine harmonies seemed to awake _in the +brain_. I cannot make the slightest approach to a description of the +marvelous phenomenon. One felt his whole being infused with ecstatic +joy. It was the very soul of music itself, celestial, ineffable! The +wonder-box also enabled us to catch many sounds peculiar to the +atmosphere of Venus, formed of vibrations, as Edmund had explained, that +lie outside our gamut. But to these, apart from the music, I could never +listen. They were _too_ abnormal, filling one with inexplicable terror, +as if he had been snatched out of nature and compelled to listen to the +sounds of a preternatural world. The only sound that I ever heard with my +natural ear which bore the slightest resemblance to these was the awful +piercing whistle of the monster that killed Ala's man. + +Yet we derived immense pleasure from the possession of those little +boxes. With their aid, we could appreciate the exquisite melodies that +were played everywhere--in great halls where thousands were assembled, in +the temples great and small, and in the homes of the people, to which we +were often admitted. In every house there was on one of the walls a +"musical rose," whose harmonies entranced the visitor. And the variety of +musical _motifs_ seemed to be absolutely without limit. One was never +tired of the entertainment because there was so little repetition. + +On one ever-memorable occasion we heard the great national, or, as Edmund +preferred to call it, "racial" hymn, played in the air from the principal +tower. When we had only beheld the play of colors characterizing this +composition we had found it altogether delightful, although, as I have +said, Edmund detected, even then, some underlying tone of sadness or +despair; but when its _sounds_ broke into the brain the effect was +overwhelming. The entire thing seemed to have been "written in a minor +key," of infinite world-embracing pathos. The listener was plunged into +depths of feeling that seemed unfathomable, eternal--and unendurable. + +"Heavens!" whispered Jack to me in an awed voice, dropping the box from +his ear, "I can't _stand_ it!" + +I saw tears running down his face, and felt them on my own. Edmund and +Henry were equally affected, and could not continue to listen. Edmund +said nothing, but I recalled his words about the traditional belief of +this people that their world had entered upon the last stage of its +existence. Then I watched the countenances about us; they wore an +expression of solemnity, and yet there was something which spoke of an +uplifting pride, awakened by the great paean, and swelling the heart with +memories of interminable ages of past glory. + +"Come," said Edmund at last, turning away, "this is not for us. The +measureless sadness we feel, but the triumphant reflection of ancestral +greatness is for them alone. Heavens! what an artist he must have been +who composed this!--if it be not like the Iliad, the work of an age +rather than of a man." + +We almost forgot the passage of time in the enjoyment of our now +delightful and untroubled existence, but there came at last a rude +awakening from this life, which had become for us like a dream. + +As I have said, we had ceased to worry about Ingra, whom we seldom saw, +and who, when we did see him, gave no indication of continued enmity. At +first we had kept the car under continual surveillance, but as time went +on we became careless in this respect, and at last we did not guard it at +all. + +One day, during the time of repose, I happened to be, with Juba, in our +room on that stage of the great tower where the car was anchored, while +Edmund and the others were below in the palace. Juba was already asleep, +and I was lying down and courting drowsiness, when a slight noise outside +attracted my attention. I stepped softly to the door and looked out. The +door of the car was open! Supposing that Edmund was there I approached to +speak to him. By good fortune I was wearing the soft slippers worn by +everybody here, and which we had adopted, so that my footsteps made no +sound. + +As I reached the car door and looked in, I nearly dropped in the +intensity of my surprise and consternation. There, at the farther end, +was Ingra, on his knees before the mechanical mouths which swallowed the +invisible elements of power from the air; and beside him was another, +also on his knees, and busy with tools, apparently trying to detach the +things. The explanation flashed over my mind; Ingra had brought a skilled +engineer to aid him in discovering the secret of the car, and, no doubt, +to rob it of its mysterious mechanism. They seemed to fear no +interruption, because Ingra had undoubtedly informed himself of the fact +that for a day or two past we had abandoned the use of our room in the +tower, and taken our repose in our apartments in the palace. It was by +mere chance that Juba and I had, on this occasion, remained so long aloft +that I had decided to take our sleep in the tower room. + +Anticipating no surveillance, Ingra was not on his guard, and had no idea +that I was behind him. Instinctively I grasped for my pistol but +instantly remembered that it was with my coat in the room. I tiptoed +back, awoke Juba, making him a sign to be noiseless, got the pistol, and +returned, without a sound, to the open door of the car with Juba at my +heels. They were yet on their knees, with their heads under the shelf, +and I heard the slight grating made by the tool that Ingra's assistant +was using. The pistol was in my hand. What should I do? Shoot him down +without warning, or trust to the strength of Juba to enable us to +overcome them both and make them prisoners? + +While I hesitated, and it was but a moment, Ingra suddenly rose to his +feet and confronted us. An exclamation burst from his lips, and the other +sprang up. I covered Ingra with the pistol and pulled the trigger. There +was not a sound! The sickening remembrance then burst over me that I had +not reloaded the pistol since Edmund had emptied its whole chamber in the +closing fight with the tarantula of the swamps. Ingra, followed by his +man, sprang upon me like a tiger. In a twinkling I lay on my back, and +before I could recover my feet, I saw Juba and Ingra in a deadly +struggle, while the other ran away and disappeared. Jumping up I ran to +Juba's assistance, but the fight was so furious, and the combatants +whirled so rapidly, that I could get no hold. I saw, however, that Juba +was more than a match for his opponent, and I darted into the car to get +one of the automatic rifles, thinking that I could use it as a club to +put an end to the struggle if the opportunity should offer. But the +locker was firmly closed and I could not open it. After a minute of vain +efforts I returned to the combatants and found that Juba had nearly +completed his mastery. He had Ingra doubled over his knee and was +endeavoring to pinion his hands. + +At this instant, when the victory seemed complete, and our enemy in our +power, Juba uttered a faint cry and fell in a heap. Blood instantly +stained the floor around him, and Ingra, with a bound, dropping a long +knife, attained the door of a nearby chamber, and was out of sight before +I could even start to pursue him. Nevertheless, I ran after him, but +quickly became involved in a labyrinth where it was useless to continue +the search, and where I nearly lost my way. + +I then returned to see how seriously Juba had been wounded. He had +crawled into the car. I bent over him--he was dead! The knife had +inflicted a fearful wound, and it seemed wonderful that he could have +made his way unassisted even over the short distance from where he was +struck down to the door of the car. + +_Juba dead!_ I felt faint and sick! But the critical nature of the +emergency helped to steady my nerves by giving me something else to think +of and to do. Edmund must be called at once. There were no "elevators" +running regularly during the general hours of repose, and I did not know +the way up and down the tower by the ladder-like stairways which +connected the stages. But there were signals by which the little craft +that served as elevators could be summoned in case of necessity, and I +pulled one of the signal cords. It seemed an age before the air ship +came, and another before I could reach Edmund. + +His great self-control enabled him to conceal his grief at my news, but +Jack was overcome. He had really loved Juba almost as if he had been +human and a brother. The big-hearted fellow actually sobbed as if his +heart would break. Then came the reaction, and I should never have +believed that Jack Ashton could exhibit such malevolent ferocity. His +lips all but foamed, as he fairly shouted, striking his big fists +together: + +"This'll be _my_ job! Edmund! Peter! You hear me! Don't either of you +dare to lay a hand on _that devil!_ He's _mine!_ Oh! I'll--" But he could +not finish his sentence for gnashing his teeth. + +We calmed him as best we could and then summoned an air ship. While we +waited, Edmund suddenly put his hand in his pocket, and withdrawing it +quickly, said, with a bitter smile: + +"What a fool I have been in my carelessness. Ingra has had the key +abstracted from my pocket by some thief. That explains how he got the car +open." + +The moment the ship came we hurriedly ascended to the platform. When +Edmund saw poor Juba's body lying in the car and learned how he had made +his way there to die, he was more affected than when he first heard of +his death. + +"He has died for us," he said solemnly; "he has crawled here as to a +refuge, and here he shall remain until I can bury him among his people in +his old home. Would to God I had never taken him from it!" + +"Then you will start at once for the dark hemisphere?" I asked. + +"At the earliest possible moment; and it shall be on the way to our own +home." + +But we were not to depart before even a more terrible tragedy had +darkened over us, for now the tide of fate was suddenly running at flood. + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +THE CORYBANTIA OF THE SUN + +I have several times mentioned Edmund's half-formed impression that there +was some very remarkable ceremony connected with the cyclical apparition +of the sun before the eyes of its worshipers. He had said, you may +recall, that it seemed probable that the religious rites on these rare +occasions bore some resemblance to the _bacchanalia_, or _dionysia_, of +ancient Greece. How he had derived that idea I do not know, but it proved +to have been but too well founded---only he had not guessed the full +truth. The followers of Dionysus made themselves drunken with the wine of +their god and then indulged in the wildest excesses. Here, as we were now +to learn, the worshipers of the sun were seized with another kind of +madness, leading to scenes that I believe, and hope, have never had their +parallel upon the earth. + +With our hearts sore for Juba, we had completed our preparations for +departure within six hours after his tragic death. Ala had been informed +of the tragedy, and had visited the car and looked upon the dead form, +which I thought greatly affected her. Edmund held little communication +with her, but it was evidently with her cooperation that he was able to +procure a kind of coffin, in which we placed Juba's body. I do not know +whether Edmund informed her of his purpose to quit the planet, but she +must have known that we were going to convey our friend somewhere for +interment. + +We were actually on the point of casting loose the car, Ala and a crowd +of attendants watching our movements, when there came the second great +sound of united voices which we had heard in this speechless world. It +rose like a sudden wail from the whole city. There was a rushing to and +fro, Ala's face grew as pale as death, and her attendants fell upon their +knees and began to lift their hands heavenward, with an expression of +terror and wild appeal. + +At the same time we noticed a sudden brightening about us, and Edmund +stepping out on the platform, immediately beckoned, with the first signs +of uncontrollable excitement that I had ever seen him display. I was +instantly at his side, and a single glance told the story. + +High in the heavens, the sun had burst forth in all its marvelous +splendor! + +A vast rift was open in the cloud dome, through which the gigantic god of +day poured down his rays with a fierceness that was inconceivable. The +heat was like the blast of a furnace, and I felt my head beginning to +swim. + +"Quick!" cried Edmund, grasping my sleeve and pulling me into the car. +"These rays are fatal! My God, what a sight!" + +As by magic the atmosphere had become crowded with air ships, and throngs +of thousands were pouring from them upon the great platform and the other +stages, as well as upon the surrounding towers. Every available space was +filling up with people hastening from below. As fast as they arrived they +threw themselves into the most extraordinary postures of adoration, +lifting hands and eyes to the sun. I remember thinking, in a flash, that +the intense glare of light must burn to the very sockets of their +eyes--but they did not flinch. It was evident, however, that those who +looked directly in the sun's face were blinded. + +I looked round for Ala, and noticed with a thrill that her beautiful eyes +were wide open and glancing with an expression that I cannot describe, +over her kneeling people. Beside her was the towering form of the great +priest, who was staring straight at the sun--and yet, although his eyes +were open, it was evident that they were not rendered altogether +sightless even by that awful light. They burned like coals. He was making +strange gestures with his long arms, and in unison with his every +movement a low, heart-thrilling sound came from the throats of the +multitude. + +Edmund, at my shoulder, muttered under his breath: + +"Shall I try to save her from this?--But to what good?" + +For a moment he seemed to hesitate, and I thought that he was about to +rush out upon the platform and seize Ala in order to rescue her from some +danger that he foresaw; when, all at once, the multitude rose to its +feet, staggering, and began to rush to and fro, colliding with one +another, falling, rising again, grappling, struggling, uttering terrible +cries--and then I saw the flash of knives. + +"Good heavens!" shouted Edmund. "It is the ultraviolet rays! They have +gone mad!" + +In the meantime the gigantic high priest whirled upon his heel, swinging +his arms abroad and uttering a kind of chant which was audible above the +dreadful clamor of the rabid multitude. Though he had no weapon, he +seemed the inspirer of this Aceldama, and around him its fury raged. +Presently he drew close to Ala, who still stood motionless, as if +petrified by the awful scene. I felt Edmund give a violent start, and +before I comprehended his intention, he had dashed from the car, and was +forcing his way through the struggling throng toward the queen. + +"Edmund!" I shouted. "For God's sake, come back!" + +Jack started to follow him, but I held him back with all my strength. + +"Let me go!" he yelled. "Edmund will be killed!" + +"And you, too!" I answered. "Break open the locker and get the guns!" + +Jack threw himself upon the door of the locker, and strove to wrench it +open. Meanwhile, half paralyzed with excitement, I remained standing at +the door. I saw Edmund hurl aside those who attacked him, and push on +toward his goal. But a minute later a knife reached him, and he fell. + +"Quick, Jack, quick!" I shouted; "Edmund is down!" + +He had not got the locker open, but he darted to my side, and together we +rushed out into the press. Shall I ever forget that moment! We were +pushed, hustled, struck, hurled to and fro; but we had only a few steps +to go, and we reached our leader where he lay. Seizing him, we succeeded +somehow in carrying him into the car. Our clothes were torn, our hands +and faces were bleeding, and there was blood on Jack's shoulder. Edmund +was alive. We placed him on a bench, and then the fascination of the +spectacle without again enchained us. + +Suddenly my eyes fell upon Ingra, who had not previously made his +appearance. He was as insane as the others, and like many of them had a +knife in his hand. In a moment he pushed his way toward Ala, and my heart +rose in my throat, for I did not know what mad thought might be in his +mind. If I had had a weapon, I believe I should have shot him, but before +he had arrived within three yards of the queen there came an explosion of +flame--I do not know how else to describe it, for it was so sudden--and +the great platform was instantly wrapped in licking tongues of fire. + +The wickerwork caught like tinder, and the gauzy screws threw off streams +of sparks like so many Fourth of July pinwheels. The gush of heat from +the conflagration was terrible, and I turned my eyes in horror from the +stricken multitude which seemed to have been shocked back into sanity by +the sudden universal danger only to find itself a helpless prey to the +flames. + +"It's all over with them!" cried Jack. + +His words awoke me to our own danger. We must get away instantly. Knowing +the proper button to touch to throw the mechanism into action, I pushed +it forcibly and pulled out a knob which I had often seen Edmund +manipulate in starting the car. It responded immediately, and in a second +we were afloat, and clear of the tower. Seeing that the direction which +the car was taking would remove us from the reach of the flames, and that +there was nothing ahead to obstruct its progress, and knowing that Edmund +often left it to run of itself when the speed was slow, and there was no +occasion to change its course, I now hurried with Jack to Edmund's side. +Henry all this time had been lying on a bench like one in a trance. + +Jack and I stripped off Edmund's coat, and at once saw the nature of his +wound. A knife had penetrated his side, and there was considerable +effusion of blood, but I was surgeon enough to feel sure that the wound +was not mortal. He roused up as he felt us working over him, and opening +his eyes, said faintly: + +"You will find bandages under the locker. What has happened? We are +moving." + +"The tower is all in flames!" exclaimed Jack, before I could interrupt +him, for I should have preferred not to tell Edmund the real situation +just at that moment. + +Jack's words roused him like an electric shock. He pushed us aside, and +struggled to his feet. Then he sprang to a knob, and brought the car to +rest. + +We had been moving slowly, and had not gone more than a quarter of a mile +from the tower. The car had swung round so that the fire was not visible +from the open door, but now, as Edmund arrested its progress, it swayed +back again and the spectacle burst into view. The heat smote us in the +face even at this distance. In the few minutes since I had last seen the +tower the flames had made incredible progress. The whole of the immense +structure was blazing. Spires of flame leaped and swayed from its summit, +partitions were falling, platforms giving way, and hundreds of air ships +caught by the sheets of fire were crumpling and falling in swooping +curves like birds whose wings had been seared. I was thankful that we +could not see the unfortunates who were perishing in that furnace. It was +but too evident that not a soul on the tower could have escaped. + +I glanced at Edmund's face. It was pale and set--the face of a man gazing +upon an awful tragedy with which he is absolutely powerless to interfere. +His breath came quick, but he did not utter a word. Then came the +reaction, and, staggering, he leaned on my shoulder, and I led him to the +bench from which he had risen. For a moment I thought he had fainted, but +when I put a flask to his lips he swallowed a mouthful and immediately +recovered sufficient strength to sit up, resting his head on his hand. + +"Had we not better go on?" I asked. + +"Ye-es," he replied, after a moment's hesitation. "We can do nothing. +They are all gone; the queen has perished with the rest! Pull out that +knob on the right, but gently, and then push this button. We must circle +round the outskirts until we see whether the fire will seize upon the +other towers and extend to the city below." + +I followed his directions, and, as we started our circuit, the vast tower +suddenly swayed aside, and then, tumbling in upon itself, it went down in +a whirl of smoke and eddying sparks. + +As far as we could see none of the other aerial structures had caught +fire. The entire absence of wind was no doubt the favorable circumstance +that saved them. But all the towers were swaying under the impulse +imparted to them by the excited multitudes that crowded their platforms. +Although the light of the conflagration faded as soon as the principal +tower fell, the others continued to shine brilliantly in the solar rays, +but suddenly, as we watched, the splendor failed, and the subdued +illumination characteristic of the endless daylight under the great dome +took its place. The rift in the clouds above had closed as unexpectedly +as it had recently opened, and the sun was no longer visible. It had been +in view less than an hour, but in that brief space what scenes had been +enacted! + +Presently Edmund, shaking his head sadly, said: + +"It is useless to stay longer. Even if the conflagration should spread we +could do nothing to help the unfortunates. They must depend upon +themselves." + +He then gave me directions for changing our course to a direct line away +from the city, at the same time increasing the speed. In the meantime he +himself aided in binding up his wound. + +"If there were the slightest chance that Ala could have escaped," he +said, after a few minutes, "I would remain here, and search for her, but +it is only too clear what her fate has been. She was really our only +friend, and now that she is gone, we must get away from the sight and +memory of these things as quickly as possible." + +Seeing that his strength was gradually coming back to him, and secretly +rejoicing that he bore this terrible blow so stoically, I felt that we +might now converse about the catastrophe which we had witnessed. + +"What do you think was the cause of the sudden outburst of fire?" I +asked. + +"It could hardly have been the direct action of the sunlight," he +replied. "It must have resulted from some accidental concentration of the +solar rays upon an inflammable substance by a mirror." + +"I recall seeing a large concave glass on the principal platform in which +they were fond of looking at their magnified images," I said. + +"Yes, and no doubt that was the instrument chosen by fate to bring about +this terrible end. The power of the sunbeams is twice as great here as +upon the earth, and the heat in the focus of a mirror a couple of feet in +diameter would suffice to set fire to the flimsy materials which abounded +on the tower. Once started in such a place it ran like sparks in a train +of gunpowder." + +"But the madness that seized the multitude before the catastrophe--what +did you mean by saying that it was the ultraviolet rays?" + +"I used the term," Edmund replied slowly, "without attaching a very clear +meaning to it. It simply expressed the general thought that was in my +mind. It may be some other form of solar radiation to which we are not +accustomed on the earth, but which is specially effective here when the +sun is uncovered because of the greater nearness of Venus. This +atmosphere, notwithstanding its density, may well be diaphanous to the +ultraviolet rays, owing to some peculiarity in its composition which I +have not had time to study. At any rate, it is evident, from what we have +seen, that the rays of the unclouded sun almost instantly affect the +brain. I, myself, felt them as if a thousand needles had been thrust +through my skull; and I believe that they are responsible, rather than +the shock of the wound in my side, for my present weakness." + +"And did you foresee the consequences of the uncovering of the sun?" + +"Not altogether. I had been led to think that something extraordinary +must accompany the periodical appearances of the great orb, and if I +could have known that an apparition was at hand I might have made +preparations for it and we might have been able to save Ala. When I saw +what was going on, I tried to reach her, and you know the result." + +"But is it not incredible that a people of so peaceable a disposition +should be seized with such murderous instincts when driven out of their +senses by the effect of the rays?" + +"No, it does not seem so to me. You know the general tendency of sudden +madness, which usually produces a complete reversal of the ordinary +instincts of the demented persons, making them dangerous to their dearest +friends. But why talk longer of this? It is too painful--too +overwhelming. What can man do against the great forces of Nature? At this +moment I solemnly declare to you that I regret that I ever entered upon +this expedition." + +While we had been talking, the car had receded to a great distance from +the city, and now all but the tops of a few of the airy pinnacles were +lost to our sight forever. But as we gazed, straining our sight for a +last look, we perceived a familiar flickering of prismatic lightning on +the horizon. We glanced at each other meaningly. It was the color speech +again. But, oh, what must be the burden of their communications now! +Suddenly, Edmund, whose eyes were fixed with intensity upon the scene, +remarked, half shuddering: + +"It is the great Paean." + +Seized with curiosity, I pressed the magic box to my ear, and faintly +there echoed in my brain a few disconnected strains of that solemn music. +But now, more than ever, it was insufferable to me, and I dropped the box +with a crash. + +As Edmund recovered his strength he once more took charge of the car, and +in a little while he had risen to a great height in order to take +advantage of the easier going in the lighter atmosphere above. Thus we +ran on for several hours until we began to catch sight of the sea, which +was soon beneath us, while far ahead we saw the tumbling clouds marking +the location of the belt of tempests behind which we knew lay the range +of the crystal mountains. At length we issued from beneath the cloud +dome, and then we saw the sun again, and the storms whipping the waters, +whose waves occasionally flashed up at us through rifts in the streaming +clouds beneath. And at last the icy peaks began to glitter on the +horizon, and we knew that we were nearing the world of eternal night and +frost. It was with strange feelings that we once more beheld the crystal +mountains, for our minds were filled with the recollection of the scenes +that had occurred among them when we were helpless in the grasp of their +tempests. But now there was a certain exhilaration in the thought that +this time we could safely sail over their summits. As we passed over them +we looked eagerly for landmarks that might show where our former passage +had occurred, and as Edmund purposely dropped as close to their summits +as it was safe to go, I at last believed that I recognized the mighty +peak of rainbows that had so nearly wrecked us. + +When we had left the mountains behind and entered into the region of +night, I asked Edmund how he would proceed in order to find the location +of the caverns. + +"I shall go by the stars," he said. "I noted the bearing of the place, +and I have no doubt that I can find it again." + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +THE EARTH + +Edmund's reference to the stars instantly drew my attention to the +heavens. They were ablaze with amazing gems, but at first I could not see +the earth among them. + +"I know what you are looking for," said Edmund. "Here, look through the +peephole in the bow. From our present position the earth appears but +little elevated above the horizon, but when we reach the caverns, which +are in the center of the dark hemisphere, we shall see her overhead." + +I knelt at the peephole, and my heart was in my throat. There was our +glorious planet, oh, so bright! and close beside her the moon. At the +sight, an irrepressible longing arose in me to be once more at home. Jack +and Henry took their turns at looking, and they were no less affected +than I had been. But Edmund retained a perfect self-command: + +"Do you know," he asked with an odd smile (for now the lamps were +glowing, and we had plenty of light in the car), "how long we have been +absent from home?" + +Not one of us had kept a record. + +"It is just six hundred and four days," he continued, "since we left New +York. We were sixteen days on our way to Venus; six days after our +arrival at the caverns occurred the conjunction of the earth, and the +ceremonies that Peter will not forget as long as he refrains from hair +dye; two days later we departed for the sun lands; and since then five +hundred and eighty days have passed. Now, between one conjunction of the +earth and Venus to the next, five hundred and eighty-four days elapse. +Already five hundred and eighty-two of those days have passed, so that +within two days another conjunction will occur, and if we are then at the +caverns we shall doubtless witness another sacrifice to the earth and the +moon." + +"God forbid!" I exclaimed. + +"I feel as you do," said Edmund. "We have seen enough of such things. In +order, then, to hasten our arrival at the caverns, where we must bury +Juba, for on that I insist, I am going to rise up out of the atmosphere, +in order that we may fly with planetary speed. We can thus reach the +caverns, traversing the five thousand miles of distance that yet remain, +in something like an hour, for some time must be lost in rising out of +and returning into the atmosphere, and in the meantime I must make +observations to determine our location. Having found the caverns we will +complete our rites at Juba's grave, and get away for good before the +sacrificial ceremonies begin." + +It was a programme that suited us all, and it was quickly carried out. I +had not thought that my admiration of Edmund's ability could be +increased, but it was carried a notch higher when I saw how easily, +guiding himself by the ever-visible stars, he located the caverns. When +he knew that he was directly over them he dropped the car swiftly, and we +could not repress a cry as we saw directly beneath us the familiar shafts +of light issuing from the ground. + +"We may have to do a little searching," said Edmund, as we approached the +lights, "for, of course, my observations are not accurate enough to +enable me to locate the exact spot where we landed before." + +But fortune favored us marvelously, and the very first opening that we +approached was at once recognized, for there stood the sacrificial altar. + +We anchored the car near the shaft, and carried out Juba's coffin. + +"Wait here," said Edmund, "while I descend." + +"No, you're not going alone," exclaimed Jack. "I'll go with you." + +Edmund made no objection and he and Jack descended the steps. Half an +hour elapsed before they returned, accompanied by a dozen of the natives, +stolid, and not exhibiting the signs of surprise over our return which I +had expected to see. Edmund had now made so much progress in their +strange means of communication that he had little difficulty in causing +them to comprehend what was wanted. They easily carried the coffin, and +all of us followed down into the depths. It was the strangest funeral +procession that ever a man saw! + +While the grave was being prepared in the underground cemetery where we +had witnessed the interment of the first victim of our pistols, Henry and +I remained as a sort of guard of honor for Juba in the lower of the two +great chambers which have been described in the earlier chapters of this +history, and there a most singular thing occurred. We were startled by a +low whining, and looking about saw one of the doglike creatures which +appeared to be the only inhabitants of the caverns except the natives +seated on its haunches close to the coffin, and exhibiting exactly the +signs of distress that a dog sometimes displays over its dead master. +That we were taken aback by this scene I need not assure you. We had +never observed, during our former visit, that either Juba or any of his +people was followed by these creatures; in fact, they had always fled at +our approach, and we had paid little attention to them. + +But now, if the poor animal could have spoken, he could not more plainly +have told us that, by means of the mysterious instinct which beings of +his kind possess, he had recognized the presence of his old master, and +was mourning for him. It was truly a touching spectacle, and Henry was +hardly less moved by it than I. When Edmund and Jack came back, having +superintended the preparations, Jack was cut to the heart by the sight. +Immediately he declared that the "dog" must accompany us in the car, and +Edmund assented by a grave inclination of the head. The animal followed +us to the grave, and remained there watching us intently. He seemed to +have dismissed his fear, as if he comprehended that we were friends of +his master. + +There were not more than twenty of the natives present at the interment, +and none of them showed signs of sorrow. And when the grave was closed +and we turned away, the little creature followed at our heels. Edmund had +carved on a flat stone the word "JUBA," and left it lying on the grave, +and Jack, having nothing else, threw a silver dollar on top of it. The +natives probably regarded these things as talismans, or religious +symbols, for they treated them with the greatest deference, and no doubt +they lie there yet, and will continue to lie there through all the eons, +for in those dry caverns the progress of decay can hardly be perceptible +even after the passage of ages. It was a singular fact, noted by Edmund, +that the natives exhibited not the slightest curiosity concerning their +comrades who had been lost in the crystal mountains, and I really doubt +whether they knew what the coffin contained. + +When we had paid the last honors to Juba, we began to think of our final +departure. This place had become disagreeable to us. After the brilliant +scenes that we had witnessed on the other side of the planet, the gloom +here, and the absence of all that had made the land of perpetual daylight +seem a paradise of beauty, were intensely oppressive to our spirits. But +Edmund still wished to make some investigations, and we were compelled to +await his movements. What the nature of his investigations was I do not +know, for I was devoured by the desire to get away, and did not inquire. +But fully twenty-four hours had elapsed before our leader was ready to +depart. In the meanwhile "Juba's dog" had become firmly attached to Jack, +who petted it as probably no creature of its race had ever been petted +before. It was a strange-looking animal; about as large as a terrier, +with a big square head, covered with long black hair, while, in startling +imitation of the hirsute adornment of the natives themselves, its body +was clothed with a golden-white pelt of silky texture. It would eat +anything we offered it, and seemed immensely pleased with its new master, +as it had every reason for being. + +During the last hours of our stay we noticed unmistakable indications of +preparation for the dreaded ceremonies of the conjunction, and our +departure was hastened on that account. The priests, whom Edmund had been +compelled to put out of the way of further mischief on the former +occasion, had been replaced by others, and we thought that, perhaps, this +being the first opportunity for the display of their functions, they +would try to make it memorable--which presented a still stronger reason +why we should not delay. But, with one thing and another, we were held +back until the very eve of the ceremonies. + +When we finally stood ready to enter the car, with Juba's dog at Jack's +heels, the procession up the steps had already begun. Edmund decided to +wait until the multitude had all assembled. They came trooping up into +the starlight, and I am sure that they had no idea of what we intended to +do. Undoubtedly they must have recalled what had happened on the other +occasion, but they showed no sign of either regret or anxiety on that +account. They arranged themselves in a dense circle, as before, and the +priests took their place in the center. At this moment Edmund gave the +word to enter the car. We sprang into it, and immediately Jack and I went +out on a window ledge in order to get a better view of the scene. Edmund +started the car, and we rose straight toward the earth which glowed in +the zenith. Our movement was unexpected, and we at once arrested the +attention even of the priests. The beginning of the ceremony was stopped +short. All eyes were evidently drawn to us, and when they saw the +direction that we were taking a low murmur arose. + +"Let me give them a parting salute," said Jack. + +Edmund thought a moment, and then said: + +"Very well, take a gun, but don't fire at them. If it terrifies them into +abandoning their sacrifice we shall have done one good thing in this +world." + +Jack instantly had the gun roaring, and although we were now high above +their heads, we could see that they were seized with consternation, +rising from their knees, and running wildly about. Whether the noise and +the sight of us flying toward the earth, had the effect which Edmund had +hoped for, will never be known; but the last sight we had of living +beings on Venus was the spectacle of those white forms darting about in +the starry gloom. + +Our long journey home was interrupted by one more almost tragic episode. +When we had been ten days in flight, and the earth had become like a +round moon of dazzling brilliance, Juba's dog, which had grown feeble and +refused to eat, died. Jack was broken-hearted, and protested when Edmund +said that the body of the animal must be thrown out. He would have liked +to try to stuff the skin, but Edmund was firm. + +"But if you open a window," I said, "the air will escape." + +"Some of it will undoubtedly escape," Edmund replied. "But, luckily, this +is the air of Venus which we are carrying, and being very dense, we can +spare a little of it without serious results. I shall be quick, and there +will be no danger." + +It was as he had said. When the window was partially opened, for only a +second or two, we distinctly felt a lowering of the atmospheric pressure +that made us gasp for a moment, but instantly Edmund had the window +closed again, and we were all right. As we shot away we saw the little +white body gleaming in the sunlight like a thistledown, and then it +disappeared forever. + +"It is a new planet born," said Edmund, "and the law of gravitation will +pay it as much attention as if it were a Jupiter. It may wander in space +for untold ages, and sometime it may even fall within the sphere of the +earth's attraction, and then Jack's wish will have been fulfilled; but it +will be but a flying spark, flashing momentarily in the heavens as it +shoots through the air." + + * * * * * + +Our home-coming was a strange one. For some reason of his own Edmund did +not wish to take the car to New York. He landed in the midst of the +Adirondack woods, far from any habitation, and there, concealed in a +swamp, he insisted upon leaving the car. We made our way out of the +wilderness to the nearest railway station, and our first care was to +visit a barber and a clothing merchant. Probably, as we carried some of +the guns, they took us for a party of hunters who wished to furbish up +before revisiting civilization. + +On reaching New York, we went, in the evening, straight to the Olympus +Club, where our arrival caused a sensation. We found Church in the old +corner, staring dejectedly at a newspaper. He did not see who was +approaching him. Jack slapped him on the shoulder, and as he looked up +and recognized us he fell back nearly fainting, and with mouth open, +unable to utter a word. + +"Come, old man," said Jack, "so we've found you! What did you run away +for? Let me introduce you to the Columbus of Space, and don't you forget +that I'm one of his lieutenants." + +I don't think that Church has ever fully believed our story. He thinks, +to this day, that we lost our "balloon," as he calls it, and invented the +rest. We purposely allowed the newspaper reporters to take the same view +of the case, but when we four were alone we unburdened our hearts, and +relived the marvelous life of Venus. I use the past tense, because I have +yet to tell you most disquieting news. + +Edmund has disappeared. + +Within three months after our return he bade us good night at an +unusually early hour and we have never seen him since, although more than +a year has now elapsed since he went out of the room at the Olympus. Jack +and I have made every effort to find a trace of him, without avail. Led +by a natural suspicion, we have ransacked the Adirondack woods, but we +could never satisfy ourselves that we had found the place where the car +was left. Henry persists in the belief that Edmund is trying in secret to +develop his invention, with the intention of "revolutionizing industry +and making himself a multibillionaire." But Jack and I know better! +Wherever he may be, whatever may occupy his wonderful powers, we feel +that the ordinary concerns of the earth have no interest for him. Yet we +are sure that if he is alive he often thinks of us. + +Last night as Jack and I were walking to the club with my completed +manuscript under my arm, a falling star shot across the sky. + +"Do you know what that recalls to me?" asked Jack, with a far-off +expression in his eyes. + +"What?" + +"Juba's dog." + +Neither of us spoke again before we reached the clubhouse steps, but I am +certain that through both our minds there streamed a glittering +procession of such memories as life on this planet could never give birth +to. And they ended with a sigh. + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Columbus of Space, by Garrett P. 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