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ONLY AUTHENTIC PORTRAIT OF
WILHELM HEINRICH SEBASTIAN VON TROOMP
(FROM THE OIL PAINTING;.
MARVELLOUS
^ /
UNDERGROUND
JOURNEY
BY
INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD
* *
AUTHOR OF “ TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF LITTLE BARON TRUMP AND HIS WONDERFUL DOG BULGER ” “ WONDERFUL DEEDS AND DOINGS OF LITTLE GIANT BOAB AND HIS TALKING RAVEN TABIB ” “EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES OF LITTLE CAPTAIN DOPPELKOP ON THE SHORES OF BUBBLELAND ” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY
CHARLES HOWARD JOHNSON
>
•) > n o »
BOSTON
OCT lA
■
/^vK
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
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10 MILK STREET
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COPYKIGHT, 1892, BY INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD
All Rights Reserved
Marvellous Underground Journey
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF WILHELM HEINRICH SEBASTIAN VON TROOMP, COMMONLY CALLED LITTLE BxlRON TRUMP
As doubting Thomases seem to take particular pleasure in popping up on all occasions, Jack-in-the-Box-like, it may be well to head them off in this particular instance by proving that Baron Trump was a real baron, and not a mere baron of the mind. The family was originally French Huguenot — De la Trompe — which, upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, took refuge in Holland, where its head assumed the name of Van der Troomp, just as many other of the French Protes- tants rendered their names into Dutch. Some years later, upon the invitation of the Elector of Brandenburg, Niklas Van der Troomp became a subject of that prince, and purchased a large estate in the province of Pomerania, again changing his name, this time to Von Troomp.
The “Little Baron,” so called from his diminutive stature, was born some time in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He was the last of his race in the direct line, although cousins of his are to-day well-known Pomeranian gentry. He began his travels at an incredibly early age, and filled his castle with such strange objects picked up here and there in the far away corners of the^orld, that the simple-minded peasantry came to look upon him as half bigwig and half magician — hence the
VI
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE
growth of the many myths and fanciful stories concerning this indefatigable ""globe-trotter. The date of his death cannot be fixed with any certainty ; but this much may be said : Among the portraits of Pomeranian notables hanging in the Rathhaus at Stettin, there is one picturing a man of low stature, and with a head much too large for his body. He is dressed in some out- landish costume, and holds in his left hand a grotesque image in ivory, most elaborately carved. The broad face is full of intel- ligence, and the large gray eyes are lighted up with a good- natured but quizzical look that invariably attracts attention. The man's right hand rests upon the back of a dog sitting on a table and looking straight out with an air of dignity that shows that he knew he was sitting for his portrait.
If a visitor asks the guide who this man is, he always gets for answer : —
“ Oh, that’s the Little Baron ! ”
But little Baron who, that’s the question ?
Why may it not be the famous Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian von Troomp, commonly called “ Little Baron Trump,” and his wonderful dog Bulger ?
CONTE^JTS
CHAPTER L
PAGE
BULGER IS GREATLY ANNOYED BY THE FAMILIARITY OF THE VILLAGE DOGS AND THE PRESUMPTION OF THE HOUSE CATS.
HIS HEALTH SUFFERS THEREBY, AND HE IMPLORES ME
TO SET OUT ON MY TRAVELS AGAIN. I READILY CONSENT,
FOR I HAD BEEN READING OF THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD IN A MUSTY OLD MS. WRITTEN BY THE LEARNED
DON FUM. PARTING INTERVIEWS WITH THE ELDER BARON
AND THE GRACIOUS BARONESS MY MOTHER. PREPARA- TIONS FOR DEPARTURE 1
CHAPTER II.
DON FUm’s mysterious DIRECTIONS. BULGER AND I SET
OUT FOR PETERSBURG, AND THENCE PROCEED TO ARCHAN- GEL. THE STORY OF OUR JOURNEY AS FAR AS ILITCH
ON THE ILITCH. IVAN THE TEAMSTER. HOW WE MADE
OUR WAY NORTHWARD IN SEARCH OF THE PORTALS TO
THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD. IVAn’s THREAT. BUL-
GER’s distrust of the man and other THINGS ... 7
CHAPTER III.
IVAN MORE AND MORE TROUBLESOME. BULGER WATCHES HIM
CLOSELY. HIS COWARDLY ATTACK UPON ME. MY FAITH- FUL BULGER TO THE RESCUE. A DRIVER WORTH HAVING.
HOW I WAS CARRIED TO A PLACE OF SAFETY. IN
THE HANDS OF OLD YULIANA. THE GIANTS’ WELL . . 15
CHAPTER IV.
MY WOUND HEALS. — YULIANA TALKS ABOUT THE GIANTs’
WELL. I RESOLVE TO VISIT IT. PREPARATIONS TO AS- CEND THE MOUNTAINS. WHAT HAPPENED TO YULIANA
AND TO ME. REFLECTION AND THEN ACTION. HOW I
CONTRIVED TO CONTINUE THE ASCENT WITHOUT YULIANA
FOR A GUIDE 20
vii
V"lll
CONTENTS
CHAPTER V.
UP AND STILL UP, AND THROUGH THE QUARRIES OF THE
DEMONS. HOW THE CATTLE KEPT THE TRAIL, AND HOW
WE CAME AT LAST UPON THE P.RINK OF THE GIANTS’ WELL.
THE TERRACES ARE SAFELY PASSED. BEGINNING OF
THE DESCENT INTO THE WELL ITSELF. ALL DIFFICUL- TIES OVERCOME. WE REACH THE EDGE OF POLYPHEMUS’
FUNNEL
CHAPTER VI.
MV DESPAIR UPON FINDING THE PIPE OF THE FUNNEL TOO
SMALL FOR MY BODY. A RAY OF HOPE BREAKS IN UPON
ME. FULL ACCOUNT OF HOW I SUCCEEDED IN ENTERING
THE PIPE OF THE FUNNEL. MY PASSAGE THROUGH IT.
Bulger’s timely aid. — the marble highway and SOME curious things CONCERNING THE ENTR.\NCE TO THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD 33
CHAPTER VII.
OUR FIRST NIGHT IN THE UNDER WORLD, AND HOW IT WAS
FOLLOWED BY THE FIRST BREAK OF DAY. BULGEr’s
WARNING AND WHAT IT MEANT. WE FALL IN WITH AN
INHABITANT OF THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD. HIS
NAME AND CALLING. MYSTERIOUS RETURN OF NIGHT.
THE LAND OF BEDS, AND HOW OUR NEW FRIEND PROVIDED ONE FOR US 42
CHAPTER VIII.
“good-morning AS LONG AS IT LASTS.” PLAIN TALK FROM
MASTER COLD SOUL. WONDERS OF GOGGLE LAND. WE
ENTER THE CITY OF THE MIKKAMENKIES. BRIEF DE- SCRIPTION OF IT. OUR APPROACH TO THE ROYAL P.ALACE.
QUEEN GALAXA AND HER CRYSTAL THRONE. MASTER
COLD soul’s tears 51
■v
CHAPTER IX.
BULGER AND I ARE PRESENTED TO QUEEN GALAXA, THE LADY
OF THE CRYSTAL THRONE. HOW SHE RECEIVED US. HER
DELIGHT OVER BULGER, WHO GIVES PROOF OF HIS WON- DERFUL INTELLIGENCE IN MANY WAVS. HOW THE QUEEN
CREATES HIM LORD BULGER. ALL ABOUT THE THREE WISE
MEN IN WHOSE CARE WE ARE PLACED BV QUEEN GALAXA . 56
PACK
28
CONTENTS
/
CHAPTER X.
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF MY CONVERSATIONS WITH DOCTOR NEBU- LOSUS, SIR AMBER o’PAKE, AND LORD CORNUCOREj WHO TELL ME MANY THINGS THAT I NEVER KNEW BEFORE, FOR WHICH I WAS VERY GRATEFUL
CHAPTER XL
PLEASANT DAYS PASSED AMONG THE MIKKAMENKIES, AND WON- DERFUL THINGS SEEN BY US. THE SPECTRAL GARDEN,
AND A DESCRIPTION OF IT. OUR MEETING WITH DAMOZEL
GLOW STONE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT
CHAPTER XII.
THE SAD, SAD TALE OF THE SORROWING PRINCESS WITH A SPECK IN HER HEART, AND WHAT ALL HAPPENED WHEN SHE HAD ENDED IT, WHICH THE READER MUST READ FOR HIMSELF IF HE WOULD KNOW
CHAPTER XIIL
HOW I SET TO WORK TO UNDO A WRONG THAT HAD BEEN DONE IN THE KINGDOM OF THE MIKKAMENKIES, AND HOW BUL- GER HELPED. QUEEN GALAXA^S CONFESSION. — I AM
CREATED PRIME MINISTER AS LONG AS SHE LIVES. — WHAT
TOOK PLACE IN THE THRONE-ROOM. MV SPEECH TO THE
MEN OF GOGGLE LAND, AFTER WHICH I SHOW THEM SOME- THING WORTH SEEING. — HOW I WAS PULLED IN TWO DIF- FERENT DIRECTIONS AND WHAT CAME OF IT
CHAPTER XIV.
BULGER AND I TURN OUR BACKS ON THE FAIR DOMAIN OF QUEEN CRYSTALLINA. — NATURE’S WONDERFUL SPEAKING-
TUBE. CRYSTALLINA’S ATTEMPT TO TURN US BACK.
HOW I KEPT BULGER FROM YIELDING. — SOME INCIDENTS OF OUR JOURNEY ALONG THE MARBLE HIGHWAY, AND HOW WE CAME TO THE GLORIOUS GATEWAY OF SOLID SILVER . .
X
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XV.
THE GUARDS AT THE SILVER GATEWAV. WHAT THEY WERE
LxKE. OUR RECEPTION BY THEM. I MAKE A WONDER- FUL DISCOVERY, THE WORLD^S FIRST TELEPHONE. BUL-
GER AND I SUCCEED IN MAKING FRIENDS WITH THESE
STRANGERS. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SOODOPSIES,
THAT IS, MAKE BELIEVE EYES, OR THE FORMIFOLK, THAT
IS, ANT PEOPLE. HOW A BLIND MAN MAY READ YOUR
WRITING
CHAPTER XVL
IDEAS OF THE FORMIFOLK CONCERNING OUR UPPER WORLD. —
THE DANCING SPECTRE. THEIR EFFORTS TO LAY HOLD
OF HIM. MY SOLEMN PROMISE THAT HE SHOULD BEHAVE
HIMSELF. WE SET OUT FOR THE CITY OF THE MAKE-
BELIEVE EYES. MY AMAZEMENT AT THE MAGNIFICENCE
OF THE APPROACHES TO IT. — WE REACH THE GREAT BRIDGE OF SILVER, AND I GET MY FIRST GLANCE OF THE CITY OF CANDELABRA. — BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE WONDERS
SPREAD OUT BEFORE MY EYES. EXCITEMENT OCCASIONED
BY OUR ARRIVAL. OUR SILVER BED-CHAMBER .... 98
CHAPTER XVII.
IN WHICH YOU READ, DEAR FRIENDS, SOMETHING ABOUT A LIVE ALARM CLOCK AND A SOODOPSY BATHER AND RUBBER.
OUR FIRST BREAKFAST IN THE CITY OF SILVER. A
NEW WAY TO CATCH FISH WITHOUT HURTING THEIR FEEL- INGS. HOW THE STREETS AND HOUSES WERE NUMBERED,
AND WHERE THE SIGNBOARDS WERE. A VERY ORIGINAL
LIBRARY IN WHICH BOOKS NEVER GET DOG-EARED. HOW
VELVET SOLES ENJOY'ED HER FAVORITE POETS. I AM PRE-
SENTED TO THE LEARNED BARREL BROW, WHO PROCEEDS TO GIVE ME HIS VIEWS OF THE UPPER WORLD. THEY EN- TERTAINED ME AMAZINGLY AND MAY INTEREST YOU . . . 104
CHAPTER XVIII.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE SOODOPSIES AS RELATED BY BARREL BROW. — HOW THEY WERE DRIVEN TO TAKE REFUGE IN THE UNDER WORLD, AND HOW THEY CAME UPON THE MARBLE HIGHWAY. — THEIR DISCOVERY OF NATURAL GAS
PAGE
91
CONTENTS
XI
WHICH YIELDS THEM LIGHT AND WARMTH, AND OF NA- TURE’S MAGNIFICENT TREASURE HOUSE. HOW THEY RE-
PLACED THEIR TATTERED GARMENTS AND BEGAN TO BUILD
THE CITY OF SILVER. THE STRANGE MISFORTUNES THAT
CAME UPON THEM, AND HOW THEY ROSE SUPERIOR TO THEM, TERRIBLE AS THEY WERE
CHAPTER XIX.
BEGINS WITH SOMETHING ABOUT THE LITTLE SOODOPSIES, BUT
BRANCHES OFF ON ANOTHER SUBJECT; TO WIT; THE
SILENT SONG OF SINGING FINGERS, THE FAIR MAID OF THE
CITY OF SILVER. BARREL BROW IS KIND ENOUGH TO
ENLIGHTEN ME ON A CERTAIN POINT, AND HE TAKES OCCA- SION TO PAY BULGER A VERY HIGH COMPLIMENT, WHICH,
OF COURSE, HE DESERVED 123
PAGE
114
CHAPTER XX.
THIS IS A LONG AND A SAD CHAPTER. IT TELLS HOW DEAR,
GENTLE, POUTING-LIP WAS LOST, AND HOW THE SOODOPSIES
GRIEVED FOR HIM AND WHOM THEY SUSPECTED. BULGER
GIVES A STRIKING PROOF OF HIS WONDERFUL INTELLI- GENCE WHICH ENABLES ME TO CONVINCE THE SOODOPSIES THAT MY DANCING SPECTRE ” DID NOT CAUSE POUTING-
LIP’S DEATH. THE TRUE TALE OF HIS TERRIBLE FATE.
WHAT FOLLOWS MY DISCOVERY. HOW A BEAUTIFUL BOAT
IS BUILT FOR ME BY THE GRATEFUL SOODOPSIES, ’AND HOW BULGER AND I BID ADIEU TO THE LAND OF THE MAKE- BELIEVE EYES 129
CHAPTER XXI.
HOW WE WERE LIGHTED ON OUR WAY DOWN THE DARK AND
SILENT RIVER. SUDDEN AND FIERCE ONSLAUGHT UPON
OUR BEAUTIFUL BOAT OF SHELL. A FIGHT FOR LIFE
AGAINST TERRIBLE ODDS, AND HOW BULGER STOOD BY ME
Through it all. — cold air and lumps of ice. — our
ENTRY INTO THE CAVERN WHENCE THEY CAME. THE
BOAT OF SHELL COMES TO THE END OF ITS VOYAGE. SUN-
LIGHT IN THE WORLD WITHIN A AVORLD, AND ALL ABOUT THE WONDERFUL WINDOW THROUGH WHICH IT POURED,
AND THE MYSTERIOUS LAND IT LIGHTED 140
Xll
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIL
PAGE
THE PALACE OF ICE IN THE GOLDEN SUNLIGHT, AND WHAT I
IMAGINED IT MIGHT CONTAIN. HOW WE WERE HALTED
BV A COUPLE OF QUAINTLY CLAD SENTINELS. THE KOLTV-
KWERPS. — HIS FRIGID MAJESTY KING GELIDUS. MORE
ABOUT THE ICE PALACE, TOGETHER WITH A DESCRIPTION
OF THE THRONE-ROOM. OUR RECEPTION BY THE KING
AND HIS DAUGHTER SCHNEEBOULE. BRIEF MENTION OF
BULLIBRAIN, OR LORD HOT HEAD 150
CHAPTER XXIIL
LORD HOT HEAD AGAIN, AND THIS TIME A FULLER ACCOUNT OF
HIM. HIS WONDROUS TALES CONCERNING THE KOLTY-
KWERPS: WHERE THEY CAME FROM, WHO THEY WERE, AND HOW THEY MANAGED TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD OF ETERNAL
FROST. THE MANY QUESTIONS I PUT TO HIM, AND HIS
ANSWERS IN FULL 159
CHAPTER XXIV.
SOME FEW THINGS CONCERNING THE DEAR LITTLE PRINCESS
SCHNEEBOULE. HOW SHE AND I BECAME FAST FRIENDS,
AND HOW ONE DAY SHE CONDUCTED BULGER AND ME INTO HER FAVORITE GROTTO TO SEE THE LITTLE MAN WITH THE
FROZEN SMILE. SOMETHING ABOUT HIM. WHAT CAME
OF MY HAVING LOOKED UPON HIM QUITE FULLY DESCRIBED, 164
CHAPTER XXV.
A SLEEPLESS NIGHT FOR BULGER AND ME AND WHAT FOLLOWED
IT. INTERVIEW WITH KING GELIDUS. MY REQUEST AND
HIS REPLY. WHAT ALL TOOK PLACE WHEN I LEARNED
THAT THE KING AND HIS COUNCILLORS HAD DECIDED NOT
TO GRANT MY REQUEST. STRANGE TUMULT AMONG THE
KOLTYKWERPS, AND HOW HIS FRIGID MAJESTY STILLED IT,
AND SOME OTHER THINGS 171
CONTENTS
Xlll
CHAPTER XXVI.
PAGE
HOW THE QUARRY MEN OF KING GELIDUS CLEFT ASUNDER THE CRYSTAL PRISON OF THE LITTLE MAN WITH THE FROZEN
SMILE. MY BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT, AND HOW I BORE
IT. WONDERFUL HAPPENINGS OF THE NIGHT THAT FOL- LOWED, BULGER AGAIN PROVES HIMSELF TO BE AN ANI- MAL OF EXTRAORDINARY SAGACITY 176
CHAPTER XXVII.
EXCITEMENT OVER FUFFCOOJAH. I CARRY HIM TO THE COURT
OF KING GELIDUS. HIS INSTANT AFFECTION FOR PRIN- CESS SCHNEEBOULE. I AM ACCUSED OF EXERCISING THE
BLACK ART. MY DEFENCE AND MY REWARD. ANXIETY
OF THE KOLTYKWERPS LEST FUFFCOOJAH PERISH OF
HUNGER. THIS CALAMITY AVERTED, ANOTHER STARES US
IN THE FACE : HOW TO KEEP HIM FROM FREEZING TO
DEATH. I SOLVE THE PROBLEM, BUT DRAW UPON ME A
STRANGE MISFORTUNE 183
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HOW A LITTLE BURDEN MAY GROW TO BE A GRIEVOUS ONE. — STORY OF A MAN WITH A MONKEY IN HIS HOOD. MY TER- RIBLE SUFFERING. CONCERNING THE AWFUL PANIC THAT
SEIZED UPON THE KOLTYKWERPS. MY VISIT TO THE DE-
SERTED ICE-PALACE, AND WHAT HAPPENED TO FUFFCOO- JAH. END OF HIS BRIEF BUT STRANGE CAREER. A
FROZEN KISS ON A BLADE OF HORN, OR HOW SCHNEEBOULE CHOSE A HUSBAND 190
CHAPTER XXIX.
SOMETHING CONCERNING THE MANY PORTALS TO THE ICY DO- MAIN OF KING GELIDUS AND THE DIFFICULT TASK OF
CHOOSING THE RIGHT ONE. HOW BULGER SOLVED IT.
OUR FAREWELL TO THE COLD-BLOODED KOLTYKWERPS.
SCHNEEBOULE'S SORROW AT LOSING US 198
XIV
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ' XXX.
PAGE
ALL ABOUT THE MOST TERRIBLE BUT MAGXIFICENT RIDE I EVER TOOK IN MV LIFE. — NINETY MILES ON THE BACK OF A FLYING MASS OF ICE, AND HOW BULGER AND I WERE LANDED AT LAST ON THE BANKS OF A MOST WONDERFUL RIVER. HOW THE DAY BROKE IN THIS UNDER WORLD . . 205
CHAPTER XXXI.
IN WHICH YOU READ OF THE GLORIOUS CAVERNS OF WHITE
MARBLE FRONTING ON THE WONDERFUL RIVER. IN THE
TROPICS OF THE UNDER WORLD. HOW WE CAME UPON A
SOLITARY WANDERER ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER. MY
CONVERSATION WITH HIM, AND MY JOY AT FINDING MY- SELF IN THE LAND OF THE RATTLEBRAINS, OR HAPPY FOR- GETTERS. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEM 211
CHAPTER XXXII.
HOW WE ENTERED THE LAND OF THE HAPPY FORGETTERS.
SOMETHING MORE ABOUT THESE CURIOUS FOLK. THEIR
DREAD OF BULGER AND ME. ONLY A STAY OF ONE DAY'
ACCORDED US. — DESCRIPTION OF THE PLEASANT HOMES
OF THE HAPPY' FORGETTERS. THE REVOLVING DOOR
THROUGH WHICH BULGER AND I ARE UNCEREMONIOUSLY'
SET OUTSIDE OF THE DOMAIN OF THE RATTLEBRAINS. ALL
ABOUT THE EXTRAORDINARY' THINGS WHICH HAPPENED TO
BULGER AND ME THEREAFTER. ONCE MORE IN THE OPEN
AIR OF THE UPPER WORLD, AND THEN HOMEWARD BOUND, 218
ILLUSTEATIONS.
PAGE
Only Authentic Portrait of Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian von Troomp
(from the oil painting) Frontispiece
Departure from Castle Trump . 9
Along a Highway of the Under World 23
Before her Majesty Galaxa, Queen of the Mikkamenkies ... 35
A Dinner easily provided for 47
Princess Crystallina uncovers her Heart 59
Crystallina’s Heart on a Screen . 71
Bulger parts his Master from Princess Crystallina .... 83
The Formifolk try the Beat of the Baron’s Heart b}’ Telejjhone . 95
Barrel Brow engaged in reading Four Books at once . . . 107
A Soodopsy Maiden reading her Favorite Poet . . . . 119
The Gigantic Tortoise that devoured Pouting Lip .... 131
Sailing away from the Land of the Soodopsies .... 143
The Battle for Life with the White Crabs 155
The Little Man with the Frozen Smile 167
Bulger shows the Baron Something Wonderful 179
The Baron’s Flight to the lee Palace . . . . . . 191
Death of FutFeoojah .......... 197
Koltykwerpian Quarrymen hewing a Passage through the Wall of Ice 203 The Wonderful Ride on the Block of Ice ..... 207
The Tro23ics of the Under World .213
Through the Revolving Door 219
Caught up in the Arms of the Torrent 225
Hurled out in the Sunshine 231
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
CHAPTER I
BULGER IS GREATLY ANNOYED BY THE FAMILIARITY OF THE VILLAGE DOGS AND THE PRESUMPTION OF THE HOUSE CATS. — HIS HEALTH SUFFERS THEREBY, AND HE IMPLORES ME TO SET OUT ON MY" TRAVELS AGAIN. I READILY CONSENT, FOR I HAD BEEN READING OF THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD IN A MUSTY OLD MS. WRITTEN BY THE LEARNED DON FUM. — PART- ING INTERVIEWS WITH THE ELDER BARON AND THE GRACIOUS BARONESS MY MOTHER. — PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.
Bulger was not himself at all, dear friends. There was a lack-lustre look in his eyes, and his tail responded with only a half-hearted wag when I spoke to him. I say half-hearted, for I always had a notion ifiat the other end of Bulger’s tail was; fastened to his heart. His appetite, too, had gone down with his spirits ; and he rarely did anything more than sniff at the dainty food which I set before him, although I tried to tempt him with fried chickens’ livers and toasted cocks’ combs — two of Ids favorite dishes.
There was evidently something on his mind, and yet it never occurred to me what that something was ; for to be honest about it, it was something which of all things I never should have dreamed of finding there.
Possibly I might have discovered at an earlier day what it was all about, had it not been that just at this time I was very busy, too busy, in fact, to pay much attention to any one, even
o
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
to my dear four-footed foster brother. As you may remember, dear friends, my brain is a very active one ; and when once I become interested in a subject, Castle Trump itself might take tire and burn until the legs of my chair had become charred before I would hear the noise and confusion, or even smell the smoke.
It so happened at the time of Bulger’s low spirits that the elder baron had, through the kindness of an old school friend, come into possession of a fifteenth-century manuscript from the pen of a no less celebrated thinker and philosopher than the learned Spaniard, Don Constantino Bartolomeo Strepholofidge- guaneriusfum, commonly known among scholars as Don Fum, entitled “A World within a World.” In this work Don Fum advanced the wonderful theory that there is every reason to believe that the interior of our world is inhabited ; that, as is well known, this vast earth ball is not solid, on the contrary, being in many places quite hollow ; that ages and ages ago ter- rible disturbances had taken place on its surface and had driven the inhabitants to seek refuge in these vast underground cham- bers, so vast, in fact, as well to merit the name of “ World within a World.”
This book, with its crumpled, torn, and time-stained leaves exhaling the odors of vaulted crypt and worm-eaten chest, exer- cised a peculiar fascination upon me. ■ All day long, and often far into the night, I sat poring over its musty and mildewed pages, quite forgetful of this surface world, and with the plum- met of thought sounding these subterranean depths, and with the eye and ear of fancy visiting them, and gazing upon and listening to the dwellers therein.
While I would be thus engaged, Bulger’s favorite position was on a quaintly embroidered leather cushion brought from the Orient by me on one of my journeys, and now placed on the end of my work-table nearest the window. From this point of van- tage Bulger commanded a full view of the park and the terrace and of the drive leading up to the porte-cochere. Nothing
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
3
escaped his watchful eye. Here he sat hour by hour, amusing himself by noting the comings and goings of all sorts of folk, from the hawkers of gewgaws to the noblest people in the shire. One day my attention was attracted by his suddenly leaping down from his cushion and giwng a low growl of displeasure. I paid little heed to it, but to my surprise the next day about the same hour it occurred again.
My curiosity was now thoroughly aroused ; and laying down Don Fum’s musty manuscript, I hastened to the window to learn the cause of Bulger's irritation.
Lo, the secret was out ! There stood half a dozen mongrel curs belonging to the tenantry of the baronial lands, looking up to the window, and by their barking and antics endeavoring to entice Bulger out for a romp. Dear friends, need I assure you that such familiarity was extremely distasteful to Bulger? Their impudence was just a little more than he could stand. Ringing my bell, I directed my servant to hunt them away. Whereupon Bulger consented to resume his seat by the window.
The next morning, just as I had settled myself down for a good long read, I was almost startled by Bulger bounding into the room with eyes flashing fire and teeth laid bare in anger. Laying hold of the skirt of my dressing-gown, he gave it quite a savage tug, which meant, “Put thy book aside, little master, and follow me.”
I did so. He led me down-stall's across the hallway and into the dining-room, and then this new cause of discontent on his part became very apparent to me. There grouped around his sil- ver breakfast plate sat an ancient tabby cat and four kittens, all calmly licking or lapping away at his breakfast. Looking up into my face, he uttered a sharp, complaining howl, as much as to say, “ There, little master, look at that. Isn't that enough to roil the patience of a saint ? Canst thou wonder that I am not happy with all these disagreeable things happening to me ? I tell thee, little master, it is too much for flesh and blood to put up with.”
4
A MAHVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
And I thought so too, and did all in my power to comfort my unhappy little friend ; but judge of my surprise upon reaching my room and directing him to take his place on his cushion, to see him refuse to obey.
It was something extraordinary, and set me to thinking. He noticed this and gave a joyful bark, then dashed into my sleep- ing apartment. He was gone for several moments, and then returned bearing in his mouth a pair of Oriental shoes which he laid at my feet. Again and again he disappeared, coming back each time with some article of clothing in his mouth. In a few moments he had laid a complete Oriental costume on the floor before my eyes ; and Avould you believe me, dear friends, it was the identical suit which I had worn on my last travels in far- away lands, when he and I had been wrecked on the Island of Gogulah, the land of the Round Bodies. What did it all mean ? Why, this, to be sure : —
“ Little master, canst thou not understand thy dear Bulger ? He is weary of this dull and spiritless existence. He is tired of this increasing familiarity on the part of these mongrel curs of the neighborhood and of the audacity of these kitchen tabbies and their families. He implores thee to break away from this life of revery and inaction, and for the honor of the Trumps to be up and away again.”’ Stooping down and winding my arms around my dear Bulger, I cried out, —
“ Yes, I understand thee now, faithful companion ; and I promise thee that before this moon has filled her horns we shall once more turn our backs on Castle Trump, up and away in search of the portals to Don Fum’s World within a World.” Upon hearing these words, Bulger broke out into the wildest, maddest barking, bounding hither and thither as if the very spirit of mischief had suddenly nestled in his heart. In the midst of these mad gambols a low rap on my chamber door caused me to call out, —
“ Peace, peace, good Bulger, some one knocks. Peace, I
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
5
It was the elder baron. With sombre mien and stately tread he advanced and took a seat beside me on the canopy.
“ Welcome, honored father ! ” I exclaimed as I took his hand and raised it to my lips. “ I was upon the very point of seeking thee out.”
He smiled and then said, —
“Well, little baron, what thinkest thou of Don Fum’s World within a World? ”
“ I think, my lord,” was my reply, “that Don Fum is right: that such a world must exist ; and with thy consent it is my intention to set out in search of its portals with all safe haste and as soon as my dear mother, the gracious baroness, may be able to bring her heart to part with me.”
The elder baron was silent for a moment, and then added : “ Little baron, much as thy mother and I shall dread to think of thy being again out from under the safe protection of this venerable roof, the moss-grown tiles of which have sheltered so many generations of the Trumps, yet must we not be selfish in this matter. Heaven forbid that such a thought should move our souls to stay thee ! The honor of our family, thy fame as an explorer of strange lands in far-away corners of the globe, call unto us to be strong hearted. Therefore, my dear boy, make ready ai;d go forth once more in search of new marvels. The learned Don Fum’s chart will stand thee by like a safe and trusty counsellor. Remember, little baron, the motto of the Trumps, Per Ardua ad Astra — the pathway to glory is strewn with pitfalls and dangers — but the comforting thought shall ever be mine, that when thy keen intelligence fails, Bulger’s unerr- ing instinct will be there to guide thee.”
As I stooped to kiss the elder baron’s hand, the graeious baroness entered the room.
Bulger hastened to raise himself upon his hind legs and lick her hand in token of respectful greeting. The tears were pressing hard against her eyelids, but she kept them back, and encircling my neck with her loving arms, she pressed many and many a kiss upon my cheeks and brow.
6
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY.
“ I know what it all means, my dear son,” she murmured with the saddest of smiles ; “ but it never shall be said that Gertrude Baroness von Trump stood in the way of her son adding new glories to the family ’scutcheon. Go, go, little baron, and Heaven bring thee safely back to our arms and to our hearts in its own good time.”
At these words Bulger, who had been listening to the conver- sation with pricked-up earn and glistening eyes, gave one long howl of joy, and then springing into my lap, covered my face with kisses. This done, he vented his happiness in a string of ear- splitting barks and a series of the maddest gambols. It was one of the happiest and proudest days of his life, for he felt that he had exerted considerable influence in screwing to the sticking- point my resolution to set out on my travels once again.
And now the patter of hurrying feet and the loud murmur of anxious voices resounded through the castle corridors, while inside and out ever and anon I could hear the cry now whispered and now outspoken, —
“ The little baron is making ready to leave home again.”
Bulger ran hither and thither, surveying everything, taking note of all the preparations, and I could hear his joyous bark ring out as some familiar article used by me on my former journeys was dragged from its hiding-place.
Twenty times a day my gentle mother came to my room to repeat some good counsel or reiterate some valuable caution. It seemed to me that I had never seen her so calm, so stately, so lovable.
She was very proud of my great name and so, in fact, were every man, woman, and child in the castle. Had I not gotten off as I did, I should have been literally killed with kindness and Bulger slain with sweetcake.
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
7
CHAPTER II
DON FUM’s mysterious DIRECTIONS. — BULGER AND I SET OUT FOR PETERSBURG, AND THENCE PROCEED TO ARCHANGEL. — THE STORY OF OUR JOURNEY AS FAR AS ILITCH ON THE ILITCH. — IVAN THE TEAMSTER. — HOW WE MADE OUR WAY NORTHWARD IN SEARCH OF THE PORTALS TO THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD. — IVAN’S THREAT. — BULGER’s DISTRUST OF THE MAN AND OTHER THINGS.
According to the learned Don Finn’s manuscript, the portals to the World within a World were situated somewhere in Northern Russia, possibly, so he thought, from all indications, somewhere on the westerly slope of the tipper Urals. But the great thinker could not locate them with any accuracy. “ The people will tell thee ” was the mysterious phrase that occurred again and again on the mildewed pages of this wonderful writ- ing. “ The people will tell thee.” Ah, but what people will be learned enough to tell me that? was the brain-racking ques- tion which I asked myself, sleeping and waking, at sunrise, at Iiigh noon, and at sunset ; at the crowing of the cock, and in the silent hours of the night.
“ The people will tell thee,” said learned Don Fum.
“ Ah, but what people will tell me where to find the portals to the World within a World?”
Hitherto on my travels I had made choice of a semi-Oriental garb, both on account of its picturesqueness and its lightness and warmth, but now as I was about to pass quite across Russia for a number of months, I resolved to don the Russian national costume ; for speaking Russian fluently, as I did a score or more of languages living and dead, I would thus be enabled to come and go without everlastingly displaying my passport, or having
8 A MAIiFELLOl/S UNDERGROUND JOURNEY.
my trains of tliouglit constantly disturbed by inquisitive travel- ling companions — a very important thing to me, for my mind possessed the extraordinary power of working out automatieally any task assigned to it by me, provided it was not suddenly thrown off its track by some ridiculous interruption. For instanee, I was upon the very point one day of discovering per- petual motion, when the gracious baroness suddenly opened the door and asked me whether I had pared the nails of my great toes lately, as she had obs.erved that I had worn holes in several pairs of my best stockings.
It was about the middle of February when I set out from the Castle Trump, and I journeyed night and day in order to reach Petersburg by the first of March, for I knew that the govern- ment trains would leave that city for the White Sea during the first week of that month. Bulger and I were both in the best of health and spirits, and the fatigue of the journey didn’t tell upon us in the least. The moment I arrived at the Russian capital I applied to the emperor for permission to join one of the government trains, which was most graciously accorded. Our route lay almost directly to the northward for several days, at the end of which time we reached the shores of Lake Ladoga. Ihis we crossed on the ice with our sledges, as a few days later we did Lake Onega. Thence by land again, we kept on our way until Onega Bay had been reached, crossing it, too, on the ice, and so reaching the station of the same name, where we halted for a day to give our horses a well-deserved rest. From this point we proceeded in a straight line over the snow fields to Arehangel, an important trading-post on the White Sea.
As this was the destination of the government train, I parted with its commandant after a few daj^s’ pleasant sojourn at the government house, and set out, attended only by my faithful Bulger and two servants, who had been assigned to me by the imperial commissioner.
My course now carried me up the River Dwina as far as Solvitchegodsk ; thenee I proceeded on my way over the frozen
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
11
waters of tlie Witchegda River until we had reached the govern- ment post of Yarensk, and from here on we headed due East until our hardy little horses had dragged us into the picturesque village of Hitch on the Hitch. Here we were obliged to aban- don our sledges, for the snows had disappeared like magic, uncovering long vistas of green fields, which in a few days the May sun dotted with flowers and sweet shrubs. At Hitch I was obliged to relinquish from my service the two faithful govern- ment retainers who had accompanied me from Archangel, for they had now reached the most westerly point which they had been commissioned to visit. I had become very much attached to them, and so had Bulger, and aft^r their departure we both felt as if we were now, for the first time, among strangers in a strange land; but I succeeded in engaging, as I thought, a trust- worthy teamster, Ivan by name, who made a contract with me for a goodly wage to carry me a hundred miles farther north.
“ But not another step farther, little baron ! ” said the fellow doggedly. I was now really at the foot hills of the Northern Urals, for the rocky crests and snow-clad peaks were in full sight.
I turned many a wistful look up toward the wild regions shut in by their sheer walls and parapets, shaggy and bristling with black pines, for a low, mysterious voice came a-whispering in my inward ear that somewhere, ah, somewhere in that awful wilder- ness, I should one day come upon the portals of the World with- in a World! In spite of all I could do Bulger took a violent dislike to Ivan and Ivan to him ; and if the bargain had not been made and the money paid over, I should have looked about me for another teamster. And yet it would have been a foolish thing to do, for Ivan had two excellent horses, as I saw at a glance, and, what’s more, he took the best of care of them, at every post rubbing them until they were quite dry, and never thinking of his own supper until they had been watered and fed.
His tarantass, too, was quite new and solidly built and well
12
,A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
furnished with soft blankets, all in all as comfortable as you can make a wagon which has no other springs than the two long wooden supports that reach from axle to axle. True, they were somewhat elastic ; but I could notice that Bulger was not over- fond of riding in this curious vehicle with its rattlety-bang gait up and down these mountain roads, and often asked permission to leap out and follow on foot.
At length Ivan reported everything in readiness for the start; and although I would have fain taken my departure from Hitch on the Hitch in as quiet a manner as possible, yet the whole village turned out to see us off — Ivan’s family, father, mother, sisters, and brothers, wife and children, uncles and aunts and cousins by dozens alone making up people enough to stock a small town. They cheered and waved their kerchiefs, Bulger barked, and I smiled and raised my cap with all the dignity of a Trump. And so we got away at last from Hitch on the Ilitch, Ivan on the box, and Bulger and I at the back, sitting close together like two brothers that we were — two breasts with but a single heart-beat and two brains busy with the same thought — that come perils or come sudden attacks, come covert danger or bold and open-faced onslaught, we should stand together and fall together ! jMany and many a time as Ivan’s horses went crawling up the long stretches of mountain road and I lay stretched upon the broad-cushioned seat of the tarantass with a blanket rolled up for a pillow, I would find myself uncon- scioush' repeating those mysterious words of Don Fum: —
“ The people will tell thee ! The people will tell thee ! ”
So steep were the roads that some days we would not make more than five miles, and on others a halt of several hours would have to be made to enable Ivan to tighten his horses’ shoes, grease the axles, or do some needful thing in or about his wagon. It was slow work, ay, it was very slow and tedious, but what matters it how many or great the difficulties, to a man who has made up his mind to accomplish a certain task ? Do the storks or the wild geese stop to count the thousands of miles between
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
13
them and their far-away homes when the time comes to turn their heads southward? Do the brown ants pause to count the hundreds of thousands of grains of sand which they must carry through their long corridors and winding passages before they have burrowed deep enough to escape the frost of midwinter?
There had been many Trumps, but never one that had thrown up his arms and cried, “ I surrender I ” and should I be the first to do it? “Never! Not even if it meant never to see dear old Castle Trump again ! ”
One morning as we went zigzagging up a particularly nasty bit of mountain road, Ivan suddenly wheeled about and without even taking off his hat, cried out, —
“ Little baron, I cover the last mile of the hundred to-day. If thou wouldst go any farther north thou must hire thee another teamster ; dost hear?”
“ Silence ! ” said I sternly, for the fellow had broken in upon a very important train of thought.
Bulger, too, resented the man’s insolence, and growled and showed his teeth.
“ But, little baron, listen to reason,” he continued in a more respectful tone, removing his cap ; “ my people will expect me back. I promised my father — I’m a dutiful son — I — ”
“Nay, nay, Ivan,” I interrupted sharply, “curb that tongue of tliine lest it harm thy soul. Know, then, that I spoke with thy father, and he promised me that thou shouldst go a second hun- dred miles with me if need were, but on condition that I give thee double pay. It shall be done, and on top of that a goodly present for your yoluhtchika (darling).”
“Little baron, thou art a hard master,” whimpered the man. “ If the whim took thee thou wouldst bid me leap into the Giants’ Well just to see whether it has a bottom or not. St. Nicholas, save me!”
“ Nay, Ivan,” said I kindly, “ I know no such word as cruelty although I do confess that right seems harsh at times, but thou wert born to serve and I to command. Providence hath made
14
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
thee poor and me rich. We need each other. Do thou thy duty, and thou wilt find me just and considerate. Disobey me, and thou wilt find that this short arm may be stretched from Hitch to Petersburg.”
Ivan turned pale at this hidden threat of mine ; but I deemed it necessary to make it, for I as well as Bulger had scented treachery and rebellion about this boorish fellow, whose good trait was his love of his horses, and it has always been my rule in life to open ni}’' eyes wide to the good that there is in a man, and close them to his faults. But, in spite of kind words and kind treatment, Ivan grew surlier and moodier the moment we had passed the hundredth milestone.
Bulger watched him with a gaze so steady and thoughtful that the man fairly quailed before it. Hour by hour he became more and more restive, and upon leaving a roadside tavern, for the very first time since we had left Hitch on the Hitch, I noticed that the fellow had been drinking too much ktvass. He let loose his tongue, and raised his hand against his horses, which until that moment he had been wont to load down with caresses and pet names.
“ Look out for that driver of thine, little baron,” whispered the tavern-keeper. “ He’s in a reckless mood. He’d not pull up if the Giants’ Well were gaping in front of him. St. Nicholas have thee in his safe keeping ! ”
A MAJirELLOdS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
15
CHAPTER III
IVAN MORE AND MORE TROUBLESOME. — BULGER WATCHES HIM CLOSELY. — HIS COWARDLY ATTACK UPON ME. — MY FAITH- FUL BULGER TO THE RESCUE. — A DRIVER WORTH HAVING. — HOW I WAS CARRIED TO A PLACE OF SAFEITY. — IN THE HANDS OF OLD YULIANA. — THE GIANTS’ WELL.
W HEN we halted for the night it was only by threatening the man with severe punishment upon my return to Hitch that I could bring him to rub his horses dry and feed and water them properly ; but I stood over him until he had done his work thoroughly, for I knew that no such horses could be had for love or money in that country, and if they should go lame from standing with wet coats in the chill night air, it might mean a week’s delay.
Scarcely had I thrown myself on the hard mattress wliicli the tavern-keeper called the best bed in the house, when I was aroused by loud and boisterous talking in the next room. Ivan was drinking and quarrelling with the villagers. I strode into the room with the arrows of indignation shooting from my eyes, and the faithful Bulger close at my heels.
The moment Ivan set eyes upon us he shrank away, half in earnest and half in jest, and called out, —
‘‘Hey, look at' the mazuntchick ! [Little Dandy!] How smart he looks ! He frightens me ! See his eyes, how they shine in the dark ! Look at the little demon on four legs beside him ! Save me, brothers ! Save me — he will throw me down into the Giants’ Well ! Marianka will never see me again I Never 1 Save me, brothers ! ”
‘‘ Peace, fellow,” I called out sternly. “ How darest thou exercise thy dull wit on thy master? Get thee to bed ar once.
16
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
or I’ll have thee whipped by the village constable for thy drunkenness.”
Ivan clambered up upon the top of the bake oven, and stretched himself out on a sheepskin ; then turning to the tavern-keeper, I forbade him under any pretext whatever to give my servant any more liquor to drink. Vasha prevoskhoditeUtvo
[Ah, your Excellency !] ” exclaimed the tavern-keeper with a gesture of disgust, “ the fools never know when they have had enough. It matters not what the tavern-keeper may say to them. They tell us not to spoil our own trade. Akh! [Ah!] they don’t know when to stop. They have throats as deep as the ‘ Giants’ Well ! ’ ”
“The Giants’ Well I The Giants’ Well!”! murmured to myself, as I again threw myself down upon the bag of hay which did service as a mattress for those who could afford to pay for it. It’s strange how those words seem to be in every peasant’s mouth, but I thought no more about it at that time. Sleep got the better of me, and with my usual good-night to the elder baron and the gracious baroness, my mother, I dropped off into sweet forgetfulness.
It is a good thing that I had the power of falling asleep almost at will, for with my restless brain ever throbbing and pulsating with its own over-abundance of strength, ever tapping at the thin panels of bone which covered it, like an imprisoned inventor pounding on his cell door and pleading to be let out into the daylight with his plans and schemes, I should simply have become a lunatic.
As it was, with the mere power of thought I ordered sweet slumber to come to my rescue, and so obedient was this good angel of mine, that all I had to do was simply to set the time when I wished to awaken, and the thing was done to the very minute.
As for Bulger, I never pretended to lay down any rules for him. He made it a practice of catching forty winks when lie was persuaded that no danger of any kind threatened me, and
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
17
even then, I am half inclined to believe that, like an anxious mother over her babe, he never quite closed both eyes at once.
Though entirely sobered by daybreak, yet Ivan went about the task of harnessing up with such an ill grace that I was obliged to reprove him several times before we had left the tavern yard. He was like a vicious but cowardly animal that quails before a strong and steady eye, but watches its oppor- tunity to spring upon you when your back is turned.
I not only called Bulger’s attention to the fellow’s actions, and warned him to be very watchful, but I also took the precau- tion to examine the priming of the brace of Spanish pistols which I carried thrust into my belt.
We had scarcely pulled out into the highway when a low growl from Bulger aroused me from a fit of meditation; and this growl was followed by such an anxious whine from my four- footed brother, as he raised his speaking eyes to me, that I glanced hastily from one side of the road to the other.
Lo and behold ! the treacherous Ivan was deliberately engaged in an attempt to overturn the tarantass and to get rid of his enforced task of transporting us any farther on our journey.
“Wretch!” I cried, springing up and laying my hand on his shoulder. “ I perceive very plainly what thou hast in mind, but I warn thee most solemnly that if thou makest another attempt to overturn thy wagon. I’ll slay thee where thou sittest.”
For only answer and with a lightning-like quickness he struck a back-hand blow at me with the loaded end of his whipstock.
It took me full in the right temple, and sent me to the bottom of the tarantass like a piece of lead.
For an instant the terrible blow robbed me of my senses, but then I saw that the cowardly villain had turned in his seat and had swung the heavy handled whip aloft with intent to de- spatch me with a second and a surer blow.
Poor fool ! he reckoned without his host ; for with a shriek of rage, Bulger leaped at his throat like a stone from a catapult, and struck his teeth deep into the fellow’s flesh.
18
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
He roared with agony and attempted to shake off this unex- pected foe, but in vain.
By this time I had come to a full realizing sense of the terri- ble danger Bulger and I were both in, for Ivan had dropped his whip and was reaching for his sheath-knife.
But he never gripped it, for a well-aimed shot from one of my pistols struck him in the forearm, for I had no wish to take the man’s life, and broke it.
The shock and the pain so j)aralyzed him that he fell over against the dashboard half in a faint, and then rolled completely out of the wagon, dragging Bulger with him. The horses now began to rear and plunge. I saw no more. There was a noise as of the roar of angry waters in my ears, and then the light of life went out of my eyes entirely. I had swooned dead away.
It seemed to me hours that I lay there on my back in the bottom of the tarantass with my head hanging over the side, but of course it was only minutes. I was aroused by a prickling sensation in my left cheek, and as I slowly came to myself I discovered that it proceeded from the gravel thrown up against it by one of the front wheels of the tarantass, for the horses were galloping along at the top of their speed, and there on the driver’s seat sat my faithful Bulger, the reins in his teeth, bracing himself so as to keep them taut over the horses’ backs ; and as I sat up and pressed my hand against my poor hurt head, the whole truth broke upon me : —
The moment Ivan had struck the ground Bulger had released his hold upon the fellow’s throat, and ere he had had a chance to revive had leaped up into the driver’s seat, and, catching up the reins in his teeth, had drawn them taut and thus put an end to the rearing and plunging of the frightened beasts and started them on their way, leaving the enraged Ivan brandishing his knife and uttering imprecations upon mine and Bulger’s heads as he saw his horses and wagon disappear in the distance. Now was it that a mad shouting assailed my ears and I caught a glimpse of half a dozen peasants who, seeing this, as they thought.
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
19
empty tarantass come nearer and nearer with its galloping horses, had abandoned their work and rushed out to intercept it.
Judge of their amazement, dear friends, as their eyes fell upon the calm and skilful driver bracing himself on the front seat, and with oft repeated backward tosses of his head urging those horses to bear his beloved master farther and farther away from the treacherous Ivan’s sheath-knife.
As the peasants seized the animals by the heads and brought them to a standstill, I staggered to my feet, and threw my arms around my dear Bulger. He was more than pleased with what he had done, and licked my bruised brow with many a piteous moan.
“ St. Nicholas, save us ! ” cried one of the peasants, devoutly making the sign of the cross ; “ but if I should live long enough to fill the Giants’ Well with pebbles, I never would expect to see the like of this again.”
“The Giants’ Well, the Giants’ Well!” I murmured to my- self as I followed one of the peasants to his cot, standing a little back from the highway, for I stood sore in need of rest after the terrible experience I had just had. The blow of Ivan’s whip- handle had jarred my brain, and I was skilled enough in surgery to know that the hurt called for immediate attention. As good luck would have it, I found beneath the peasant’s roof one of those old women, half witches perhaps, who have recipes for everything and who know an herb for every ailment. After she had examined the cut made by the loaded whip-handle, she mut- tered out, —
“ It is not as broad as the mountain, nor as deep as the Giants’ Well, but it’s bad enough, little master.”
“The Giants’ Well again,” thought I, as I laid me down on the best bed they could make up for me. “I wonder where it may be, that Giants’ Well, and how deep it is, and who drinks the water that is drawn from it ? ”
20
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
CHAPTER IV
MY WOUND HEALS. — YULIANA TALKS ABOUT THE GIANTS’ WELL. — I EESOLVE TO VISIT IT. — PKEPARATIONS TO ASCEND THE MOUNTAINS. — WHAT HAPPENED TO YULIANA AND TO ME. — REFLECTION AND THEN ACTION. — HOW I CONTRIVED TO CONTINUE THE ASCENT WITHOUT YULIANA FOR A GUIDE.
It was a day or so before I could walk steadily, and meantime I made unusual efforts to keep my brain quiet, but in spite of all I could do every mention of the Giants’ Well by one of the peasants sent a strange thrill through me, and I would find my- self suddenly pacing up and down the floor, and repeating over and over again the words, “ Giants’ Well ! Giants’ Well ! ” Bulger was greatly troubled in his mind, and sat watching me with a most bewildered look in his loving eyes. He had half a suspicion, I think, that that cruel blow from Ivan’s whip- handle had injured my reasoning powers, for at times he uttered a low, plaintive whine. The moment I took notice of him, how- ever, and acted more like myself, he gamboled about me in the wildest delight. As I had directed the peasants to drive Ivan’s horses back towards Hitch on the Hitch, until they should meet that miscreant and deliver them to him, I was now without any means of continuing my journey northward, unless I set out, like many of my famous predecessors, on foot. They had longer legs than I, however, and were not loaded with so heavy a brain in proportion to their size, and a brain, too, that scarcely ever slept, at least not soundly. I was too impatient to reach the portals to the World within a World to go trudging along a dusty highway. I must have horses and another tarantass, or at least a peasant’s cart. I must push on. My head was quite healed now, and my fever gone.
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
21
“Hearken, little master,” whispered Yuliana; such was the name of the old woman who had taken care of me, “ thou art not what thou seemst. I never saw the like of thee before. If thou wouldst, I believe thou couldst tell me how high the sky is, how thick through the mountains are, and how deep the Giants’ Well is.”
I smiled, and then I said, —
“Didst ever drink from the Giants’ Well, Yuliana?”
At which she wagged her head and sent forth a low chuckle.
“Hearken, little master,” she then whispered, coming close to me, and holding up one of her long, bony fingers, “thou canst not trick me — thou knowest that the Giants’ Well hath no bottom.”
“No bottom?” I repeated breathlessly, as Don Fum’s mys- terious words, “ The people will tell thee ! ” flashed through my mind. “No bottom, Yuliana?”
“Not unless thine eyes are better than mine, little master,” she murmured, nodding her head slowly.
“Listen, Yuliana,” I burst out impetuously, “where is this bottomless well ? Thou shalt lead me to it ; I must see it. Come, let’s start at once. Thou shalt be well paid for thy pains.”
“ Nay, nay, little master, not so fast,” she replied. “ It’s far up the mountains. The way is steep and rugged, the paths are narrow and winding, a false step might mean instant death, were there not some strong hand to save thee. Give up such a mad thought as ever getting there, except it be on the stout shoulders of some mountaineer.”
“ Ah, good woman,” was my reply, “ thou hast just said that I am not what I seem, and thou saidst truly. Know, then, thou seest before thee the world-renowned traveller, Wilhelm Hein- rich Sebastian von Troomp, commonly called ‘Little Baron Trump,’ that though short of stature and frail of limb, yet what there is of me is of iron. There, Yuliana, there’s gold for thee ; now lead the way to the Giants’ Well.”
22
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
“ Gently, gently, little baron,” almost whispered the old peasant woman, as her shrivelled hand closed upon the gold piece. “ I have not told thee all. For leagues about, I ween, no living being excepting me knows where the Giants’ Well is. Ask them and they’ll say, “It’s up yonder in the mountains, away up under the eaves of the sky. That’s all. That’s all they can tell thee. But, little master, I know where it is, and the very herb that cured thy hurt head and saved thee from certain death by cooling thy blood, was plucked by me from the brink of the well ! ” These words sent a thrill of joy through me, for now I felt that I was on the right road, that the words of the great master of all masters, Don Fum, had come true.
“ The people will tell thee ! ”
Ay, the people had told me, for now there was not the faintest shadow of doubt in my mind that I had found the portals to the World within a World ! Yuliana should be my guide. She knew how to thread her way up the narrow pass, to turn aside from overhanging rocks which a mere touch might topple over, to find the steps which nature had hewn in the sides of the rock}^ parapets, and to pursue her way safely through clefts and gorges, even the entrance to which might be invisible to ordi- nary eyes. However, in order that the superstitious peasants might be kept friendly to me, I gave it out that I was about to betake myself to the mountains in search of curiosities for my cabinet, and begged them to furnish me with ropes and tackle, with two good stout fellows to carry it for me, promising gen- erous payment for the services.
They made haste to provide me with all I asked for, and we set out for the mountain path at daybreak. Yuliana, in order not to seem to be of the party, had gone on ahead by the light of the moon, telling her people that she wished to gather certain herbs before the sun’s rays struck them and dried the healing dew that beaded their leaves.
All went well until the sun was well up over our heads, when suddenly I heard a woman, who proved to be Yuliana, utter a
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A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
25
piercing scream. In a moment or so the mystery was solved. The old beldam came rushing down the mountain, her thin wisp of gray hair fluttering in the wind. Her hands were tied behind her, and two young peasants with birchen rods were beating her every chance they got.
“ Turn back, turn back, brothei*s,” they cried to my two men. “ The little wizard there has struck hands with this old witch. They’re on their way to the Giants’ Well. They’ll loosen a band of black spirits about our ears. We shall all be bewitched. Quick ! Quick! Cast off the loads ye’re bearing and follow us.”
The two men didn’t wait for a second bidding, and throwing the tackle on the ground, they all disappeared like a flash, but for several moments I could hear the screams of poor Yuliana as these young wretches beat the old woman with their birchen rods.
Well, dear readers, what say ye to this? Was I not in a pleasant position truly ? Alone with Bulger in that wild and gloomy mountain region, the black rocks hanging like frowning giants and ogres over our heads, with the dwarf pines for hair, clumps of white moss for eyes, vast, gaping cracks for mouths, and gnarled and twisted roots for terrible fingers, ready to reach down for my poor little weazen frame.
Did I fall a-trembling ? Did I make haste^ to follow those craven spirits down the mountain side ? Did I shift the peg of my courage a single hole lower ?
Not I. If I had I wouldn’t have been worthy of the name I bore. What I did do was to throw myself at full length on a bed of moss, call Bulger to my side, and close my eyes to the outer world.
I have heard of great men going to bed at high noon to give themselves up to thought, and I had often done it myself before I had heard of their doing it.
In fifteen minutes, by nature’s watch — the sun on the face of the mountain — I had solved the problem. Now, there were two difficulties staring me in the face ; namely, to find some-
26
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
body to show me the way up the mountain, and if that body couldn’t carry my tackle, then to find somebody else who could.
It suddenly occurred to me that I had noticed some cattle grazing at the foot of the mountain, and, what’s more, that these cattle wore very peculiar yokes.
“ What are those yokes for?” I asked myself, for they were of a make quite different from any that I remembered ever having seen, and consisted of a stout wooden collar from the bottom of which there projected backward between the beast’s forelegs a straight piece of wood armed with an iron spike pointing toward the ground. At the top the yoke was bound by a leather thong to the animal’s horns. So long, therefore, as the beast held his head naturally or even lowered it to graze, the yoke was drawn forward and the hook was kept free from the ground, but the very moment the animal raised his head in the air, at once the hook was thrown into the ground and lie was prevented from taking another step forward. Now, dear readers, you may or may not know that when a cleft-hoofed animal starts to ascend a steep bank, unlike a solid-hoofed beast, he throws his head into the air instead of lowering it, and therefore it struck me at once that the purpose of this yoke was to keep the cattle from making their way up the sides of the mountain and getting lost.
But why should they want to clamber up the mountain sides ? Simply because there was some kind of grass or herbage growing up there which was a delicacy to them, and knowing, as I well did, what risks animals will take and what fatigue they will undergo to reach a favorite grazing-ground, it struck me at once that if I would make it possible for them to reach this favorite food of theirs, they would be very glad to give me a lift on my way.
No sooner said than done. I forthwith retraced my steps until I fell in with a group of these cattle ; and it did not take me many minutes to loosen their yokes from their horns and tie the hooks up under their bodies so that their progress up hill would not be interfered with.
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27
They were delighted to find themselves so unexpectedly freed from the hateful drawback which permitted them merely to view the coveted grazing-grounds from afar, and then having cut me a suitable goad, I again started up the mountain, driving my new friends leisurely on ahead of me.
Upon reaching the spot where the superstitious peasants had tlirown the tackle to the ground, I proceeded to load it upon the back of the gentlest beast of the lot, and was soon on my way again.
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A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
CHAPTER V
UP AISTD STILL UP, AND THROUGH THE QUARRIES OF THE DEMONS. — HOW THE CATTLE KEPT THE TRAIL, AND HOW WE CAME AT LAST UPON THE BRINK OF THE GIANTS’ WELL. — THE TERRACES ARE SAFELY PASSED. — BEGINNING OF THE DESCENT INTO THE WELL ITSELF. — ALL DIFFICULTIES OVER- COME. — WE REACH THE EDGE OF POLYPHEMUS’ FUNNEL.
Generally speaking, people with very large heads are fitted out by nature with a pair of rather pipe-stemmy legs, but such was not my case. I was blest with legs of the sturdiest sort, and found no difficulty in keeping pace with my new four-footed friends who, to my delight, were not long in convincing me that they had been there before. Not for an instant did they halt at any fork in the path, but kept continually on the move, often passing over stretches of ground where there was no trail visible, but coming upon it again with unfailing accuracy. Once only they halted, and that was to slake their thirst at a mountain rill, Bulger and I following their example.
It was only too evident to me that they had in mind a certain grazing-ground, and were resolved to be satisfied with no other ; so I let them have their own way, for, as it was still up, up, up, I felt that it was perfectly safe to follow their lead.
At last the mountain side began to take on quite another character. The gorges grew narrower, and at times overhanging rocks shut out the sunlight almost entirely. We were entering a region of peculiar wildness, of fantastic grandeur.
I had often read of what travellers termed the “ Quarries of the Demons ” in the Northern Urals, but never till now had I the faintest notion of what the expression meant.
Imagine to yourself the usual look of ruin and devastation
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY.
29
around and about a quarry worked by human hands, then in your thoughts conceive every chip to be a block, and every block a mass ; add four times its size to every slab and post and pecU- ment, and then turn a mighty torrent through the place and roll and twist and lift them up in wild confusion, end on end and on each other piled, till these wild waters have builded fantastic portals to temples more fantastic, and arched wild gorges with roofs of rock which seem to hang so lightly that a breath or footfall might bring them down with terrible crash, and then, dear friends, you may succeed in getting a faint idea of the wild and awful grandeur of the scene which now lay spread out before me.
Would the cattle that had now led Bulger and me so safely up the mountain side know where to find an entrance to this wilderness of broken rock, and what was more important still, would they, when once engaged within its winding courts and corridors, its darkened maze of wall and parapet, its streets and plazas roughly paved as if by demon hands impatient of the task, know how to find their way out again ?
Dear friends, man has always been too distrustful of his four- footed companions. They have much that they might tell us had they but speech to tell it with. I have often trusted them when it would have seemed foolliardy to you, and never once have I had cause to repent of doing so.
So Bulger and I, with stout hearts, followed straight after these silent guides, although I must confess my legs were begin- ning to feel the terrible strain I had put them to ; but I resolved to push on ahead, at least until we had cleared the Demons’ Quarry, and then to bring my little herd to a halt and pass the rest of the day and the night season in well-earned repose.
Once within the quarry, however, all sense of fatigue vanished, and my thankful mind, entranced and fascinated by the deep silence, the awful grandeur, the mysterious lights and shadows of the place, lent me new strength. At length we had traversed
30
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
this city of silence and gloom, and once again we emerged into the full glory of the afternoon sun.
Suddenly my little drove of cattle, with playful tossing of their heads, broke into a run, Bulger and I at their heels, hov^- ever. It was a mad race ; but, dear friends, when it ended I took off my fur cap and tossed it high into the air with a wild cry of joy, and Bulger broke out in a string of yelps and barks, for, look ye, the cattle were grazing away for dear life there in front of me, and as their breath reached me my keen nostrils recognized the odor of Yuliana’s herbs which she had bound on my hurt head.
Yes, we stood almost upon the brink of the Giants’ Well, but I was too tired to take another step farther, too tired, in fact, to eat, although I had a stock of dried fruit in my pockets, and noticed that the nests of the wild fowl were well supplied with eggs. Having unloosened the tackle from the back of the good beast that had carried it up the mountain for me, I threw myself on the ground and was soon fast asleep, with my faithful Bulger coiled up close against my breast.
In the morning the cattle were nowhere to be seen, but I didn’t trouble myself about them, for I knew that old Yuliana would be sent up after them the moment they were missed. After a hearty breakfast on half a dozen roasted eggs of the wild fowl, with some dried fruit and wintergreen berries, Bulger and I advanced to the edge of the Giants’ Well, or, rather, to the edge of the vast terraces of rock leading down to it, each of which was from thirty to fifty feet in sheer height.
Before I go any farther, dear friends, I must beg you to remember that I am an expert in the use of tackle, there being no knot, noose, or splice known to a sailor which I didn’t have at my fingers’ ends, a fact not to be wondered at when you take into consideration the thousands of miles which I have travelled on water.
Nor would I have you shake your heads and look only half persuaded when I go on describing our descent into the Giants’
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31
Well, for of course you’ll be asking yourselves how I succeeded in getting the tackle down when there was no one left at the other end to untie it !
Know, then, that that was the smallest of my troubles ; for, as any sailor will tell you, you only need to tie your line in what is known as a “ fool’s knot,” to one end of which you make fast a mere cord. The moment you have reached the bottom, a sharp tug at the cord unties the fool’s knot, and your tackle falls down after you. My method was to lower Bulger down first, and then let myself down after him. In this way we pro- ceeded from parapet to parapet, until at last we stood upon the very edge of the vast well, the existence of which had been so mysteriously hinted at in Don Fum’s manuscript. Its mouth was probably fifty feet in width, and by straining my eyes I satisfied myself of the existence of a shelf of rock on one side, as nearly as I could judge about seventy-five feet down. It was a goodly stretch, and would require every foot of my rope. You will not smile. I’m sure, when I tell you that I pressed Bulger to my breast, and kissed him fondly before lowering away. He returned my caresses, and by his joyous yelp gave me to understand that he had perfect faith in his little master.
In a few moments I had joined him on this narrow shelf of rock. Below us now was darkness, but think you I hesitated ? I knew that my eyes would soon become accustomed to the gloom, and I also knew that when my eyes failed Bulger’s keener ones were there to help me out.
I rigged my tackle now with extra care, for I was really low- ering my little brother on a sort of trip of discovery.
He was soon out of sight, and then, in spite of my calmness, I drew a quick breath, and my heart started upward a barley- corn or so. But hark ! his quick, sharp bark comes plainly up to me. It means that he has landed upon a safe shelf or ledge, and the next moment my legs encircled the rope, and I began to glide noiselessly down into the stilly depths, his glad voice ringing in my ears.
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A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
Again and again did I send niy wise and watchful little brother down ahead of me, until at last, standing there and looking up, naught remained to me of the mighty outside world but a bright silver speck, like a tiny ray of light streaming through a pin-hole in the curtains of your chamber.
But stop, have we reached the bottom of the Giants’ Well? for with a trial plummet I find that the walls are no longer sheer ; they slope inward, and gently too, almost so much so that I hardly need a line to continue my descent. Lighting one of my little tapers, I make my way cautiously around the edge. In half an hour I find myself back at the starting-place. The curve to the path has been always the same, while my trial plummet at all times has indicated the same slope to the rocky basin. And then for the first time, two certain words made use of by that learned Master of Masters, Don Fum, till then a mystery to me, stood out before my eyes as if written with a pen of fii'e upon those black walls thousands of feet below the great world of light which I had quitted a few hours before. Those words were Polyphemus’ Funnel I Yes, there could be no doubt of it : I had reached the bottom of the Giants’ W ell. I stood upon the edge of Polyphemus’ Funnel I
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
33
CHAPTER VI
MY DESPAIR UPON FINDING THE PIPE OF THE FUNNEL TOO SMALL FOR MY BODY. — A RAY OF HOPE BREAKS IN UPON ME. — FULL ACCOUNT OF HOAY I SUCCEEDED IN ENTERING THE PIPE OF THE FUNNEL. — MY PASSAGE THROUGH IT. —
Bulger's timely aid. — the marble HIGH^YAY and some
CURIOUS THINGS CONCERNING THE ENTRANCE TO THE ^YORLD WITHIN A WORLD.
The rocky sides of Polyphemus’ Funnel were apparently as well polished as those of any tin funnel that I had ever seen hanging in the kitchen of Castle Trump, so making fast my tackle and taking Bulger in my arms, away we went sliding down the side with the line passed under my arm for safety’s sake.
It was nearly a hundred feet to the bottom, for I had measured off the full length of my line before I had come to the apex of this gigantic cone, and not caring to tumble headlong down its pipe, I proceeded to light a taper and look about me.
Ah, dear friends, 1 can feel that shudder now, so terrible was it, and what wonder, too, for a glance at the pipe of the funnel told me that it was too small to let my body pass through. The agonizing thought flashed through my mind that I had com- mitted a terrible error — that I had mistaken some vast pit for the Giants’ Well, that I had thrown Bulger’s and my own life away in mad and unreasoning haste, that I should never reach the wonderful World within a World, that there in that thick gloom must we lay our bodies and bones.
Or, thought I, may not the learned Master of Masters, Don Fum, have made an error himself in holding out the idea that the pipe of Polyphemus’ Funnel was large enough to admit the passage of a man’s body?
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A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
[ii my almost frenzy I advanced to the mouth of the pipe, and, lowering myself into it, let my body sink as far as it would.
ft caught at the slioulders, and after a careful examination I was forced to reach the brain-racking conclusion that my faithful Bulger and I had travelled our last mile together.
There was nothing for us to do but to lie down and die.
Lie down and die? Never! I had noticed in making the descent into the Giants’ Well that its side had much the appear- ance of being walled around by blocks of stone. With Bulger strapped to my back I would slowly climb up from shelf to shelf until my strength failed me, and then I would wait until I thought old Yuliana had come back to gather herbs, and possi- bly I might make her hear me.
In my despair I sighed and clutched my own arms, and as I did so one of my hands came into contact with something cold and slippery having the feel of tallow. Taking a pinch of the substance between my thumb and finger, I rubbed it thoughtfully for a moment, and then a ray of hope broke through the awful gloom that enshrouded me so pitilessly. It Avas black lead — there could be no doubt of it. It had made its way through a crack or crevice in Polyphemus’ Funnel, and I had rubbed it off in sliding down the side. With this greasy material to rub on the inside of the pipe to the funnel, and also to besmear myself with, mayhap I might yet slip through into the World within a W orld !
At any rate, I determined to make the trial, even if I left some of my skin on the flinty rock.
In order to collect my thoughts thoroughly, and that I might proceed step by step in that systematic order so characteristic of all my wonderful exploits, I sat down, and putting my arm around dear Bulger’s neck and drawing him up against me, I communed with myself for a good half-hour.
Then all was in readiness for action ; and to prove to you, dear friends, how careful Bulger was not to interrupt my train of thought, I have to report to you that although a small animal of
BKFORE her majesty GALAXA» queen of the MIKKAMENKIE3.
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
37
the rat family came out from a crevice in the rock while I sat there thinking, as 1 could see by the light of my tiny wax taper, and had the temerity first to snifi; at Bulger’s tail and then to give it a playful nip, yet the sagacious animal never budged a hair’s breadth.
‘‘ Mind hath ordered, now let hands obey! ” I exclaimed, as I sprang up and began stripping oft' my outer garments. This done, I clambered up on the side of the funnel, and began to collect a supply of the black lead, which I deposited near the opening of the pipe. The next thing to do was to get Bulger through tlie pipe ahead of me. To this end I tied him up in my clothing, bag fashion, and began to lower away.
After paying out sixty-five or seventy feet of the line, he struck bottom, and by his loud barking gave me to understand that it was all rigid, that I might make the descent myself. I'pon hearing his voice, I gave the line a few sharp tugs. lie was not slow to comprehend my meaning, and in a moment or so had not only scrambled out of the bag himself, but pulled my clothing loose, so that I might draw the line up again.
My next step was to contrive a way to weight myself when the moment arrived to begin the descent, for I felt sure that I never should be able to arrange it so as to slip through the pipe unless something was pulling at my heels.
Cutting off about ten feet of the rope, I made fast one end of the piece to a long piece of rock, weighing about a hundred pounds. This I laid near the mouth of the pipe ready for use. But now came the most difficult thing of all — it was to draw my shoulders in on my breast and lash them securely in that position, by which plan I expected to reduce my width Iw at least two good inches.
These two inches thus gained, or, rather, lost, might be the means by which I would be able to slip through the pipe of Polyphemus’ Funnel and reach the vast underground passage leading to the World within a World. Putting a noose around my chest, just below my collar bone, I drew my shoulders in as
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A MAKVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
tight as 1 could bear, and changed the slip knot into a hard one ; then having made the other end of the line fast to the side of the funnel, I proceeded to wind myself up as the housewives often do a big sausage to keep it from bursting. This done, I set about rolling in the black lead until I was thoroughly smeared with it.
There was now but one thing more to do before dropping my- self into the pipe, and that was to make fast the weight to my feet. It was no easy task, wound up as I was, with my arms lashed down against my body, but by the use of slip knots I finally accomplished the feat, and sitting down put my legs into the pipe and drew a long breath, for I felt as if I was skewered up in a straight jacket.
Bending down, I called out to Bulger. He answered with a yelp of joy that brought fresh vigor to my heart. Now was come the supreme moment which was to witness suecess or failure. Failure ! Oh, what a dread word is that! and yet how often must human lips pronounce it, and in so doing breathe out the sigh in which it ends ! Quickly lowering the weight, I wriggled off the edge of the opening, and straightened myself out as I slipped into the pipe.
Had I stopped it like a cork, or was I moving? Yes, down, down, gently, slowly, noiselessly, I went slipping through the pipe to Polyphemus’ Funnel. What did I care how that weight caused the line to cut into my ankles ? I was moving, I was drawing nearer and nearer to Bulger, whose joyous bark I could hear now and then, nearer to the inner gates of the World Avithin a W orld 1
But woe is me ! I suddenly stop, and in spite of all my efforts to start again by twisting, turning, and shaking my body, it refused to sink another inch, and there I stick.
“ Oh, Bulger, Bulger,” I moan, “ faithful friend, if thou couldst but reach me, one tug from thee might save thy little master ! ”
In a sort of a wild and desperate way I now began to feel about
A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
39
me as well as I could with my hands wedged in so close to my sides, but in a moment or so I had discovered tlie cause of my coming to such a sudden standstill.
I had struck a portion of the pipe that had a thread to it, like that which encircles a bolt of iron and makes a screw of it, and the thought came to me that if I could only succeed in giving a revolving motion to my body, I would with every turn twist myself farther down toward the end of the pipe.
I could feel that my knuckles and finger tips were being bruised and lacerated by this arduous work, but what cared I for the keen pain that darted from hands to wrists, and wrists to elbows ! It was like twisting a screw slowly through a long nut, only the thread in this case was on the nut and the grooves in the screw, and that screw was my poor bruised little body !
All of a sudden, by the swinging of the weight, I could tell that it had passed out at the lower end of the pipe. It was pull- ing cruelly hard on my tender ankles, but I could twist myself no more ; my strength was gone. I was at the point of swoon- ing when I heard Bulger utter a loud yelp, and the next instant there was such a strong tug at my ankles that I sent forth a groan, but that tug saved me ! It was Bulger who liad leaped into the air, and catching the rope in his teeth had dragged his little master out of the pipe of Polyphemus’ Funnel !
We all fell into the same heap, Bulger, I, and the weight, fully ten feet, and very serious might have been the consequences for me had my fall not been broken by my striking on the pile of my clothing placed directly under the opening; and, dear friends, if you talked until the crack o’ doom you could not make me believe that my four-footed brotlier hadn’t placed those clothes there to catch me.
They weren’t thrown higgledy-piggledy into a heap either, but were laid one upon the other, the heaviest at the bottom.
Having unwound myself and lighted one of my wax tapers,
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A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
I made haste to cast away the undergarment with its coating of black lead and resume my clothing; then stooping down, I made an examination of the floor. It was composed of huge blocks of marble of various colors, polished almost as smooth as if the hand of man had wrought the work ; and then I knew that I was on Nature’s Marble Highway leading to the cities of the under world which Don Fum had mentioned in his book, and I remem- bered, too, that he had spoken of Nature’s Mighty Mosaics, huge fantastic figures on the walls of these lofty corridors, made up of various colored blocks and fragments laid one upon the other as if with design, and not by the wild, tempestuous whims of upbursting forces thousands of years ago, when the earth was in its mad and wayward youth. After a rest of several hours, during which I nursed my torn hands and bruised fingers, Bulger and I were up and off again along this broad and glorious Marble Highway. Strange to say, it was not the inky darkness of the ordinary cavern which filled these magnificent chambers, through which the Marble Highway went winding in stately and massive grandeur ; far from it. The gloom was tempered by a faint glow that met us on the way ever and anon, like a ray of twilight gone astray. Anyway, Bulger, I noticed, could see perfectly well ; so tying a bit of twine to his collar, I sent him on ahead, convinced that I could have no surer guide.
At times our path would be lighted up for an instant by the bursting-out of a little tongue of flame either^ on the sides or from the roof of the gallery. I was puzzled for quite a while to tell what it proceeded from ; but at last I caught sight of the source, or rather the maker, of this welcome illumination. It proceeded from a lizard-like animal, which, by suddenly uncoil- ing its tail, had the power to emit this extremely bright flash of phosphorescent light, and in so doing he made a sharp crack, for all the world like the noise of an electric spark. Bulger was delighted with this performance ; and on one occasion, not being able to control his feeling, he uttered a sharp bark, where- upon apparently ten thousand of these little torch-bearers
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41
snapped their tails at me at the same instant, and filled the vast place with a flash of light of almost lightning-like intensity.
Bulger was so frightened by the result of his applause that he took good care to keep quiet after this.
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A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
CHAPTER VII
OUR FIRST NIGHT IN THE UNDER WORLD, AND HOW IT WAS FOLLOWED BY THE FIRST BREAK OF DAY. — BULGER’s WARNING AND WHAT IT MEANT. — WE FALL IN WITH AN INHABITANT OF THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD. — HIS NAME AND CALLING. — MYSTERIOUS RETURN OF NIGHT. — THE LAND OF BEDS, AND HOW OUR NEAV FRIEND PROVIDED ONE FOR US.
So heavy with sleep did my eyelids become at last that I knew that it must be night in the outer world, and so we halted, and I stretched myself at full length on that marble floor, which, by the way, was pleasantly warm beneath us ; and the air, too, was strangely comforting to the lungs, there being a complete absence of that smell of earth and odor of dampness so common in vast subterranean chambers.
My sleep was long-continued and most refreshing; Bulger was already awake, however, when I sat up and tried to look about me.
He began tugging at the string which I had fastened to his collar as if he wanted to lead me somewhere, so I humored him and followed along after. To my delight he led me straight to a pool of deliciously sweet and cold water. Here we drank our fill, and after a very frugal breakfast on some dried figs set out again on our journey along the iMarble Highway. Suddenly, to my more than joy, the faint and uncertain light of the place began to strengthen. Why, it seemed almost as if the day of the upper world were about to break, so delicate were the vari- ous hues in which the ever-increasing light clothed itself : then, as if affrighted at its own increasing glory, it would fade away again to almost gloom. Ere many moments again this faint and
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43
mysterious glow would return, beginning with the softest yellow, then changing through a dozen different tints, and, like a fickle maid uncertain which to wear, put all aside and doii the lily’s garb. Bulger and I wandered along the Marble Highway almost afraid to break a stillness so deep that it seemed to me as if I could hear those sportive rays of light in their play against the many-colored rocks arching this mighty corridor.
Now, as the Marble Highway swept around in a graceful curve, a dazzling flood of light burst upon us.
It was sunrise in the World within a World.
Whence came this flood of dazzling light which now caused the sides and arching roof to glow and sparkle as if we had sud- denly entered one of Nature’s vast storehouses of polished gems ? Shading my eyes with my hand I looked about me in order to try and solve the mystery.
It did not take me long to undei-stand it all. Know then, dear friends, that the ceilings, domes, and arched roofs of this underground world were fretted with a metal of greater hardness than any known to us children of sunshine. Its seams ran liither and thither like the veins of gigantic leaves ; and at certain hours currents of electricity from some vast internal reservoir of Nature’s own building, streamed through these metal traceries until they glowed with a heat so white as to give off the flood of dazzling light of which I have already spoken.
The current never came with a sudden rush or burst, but began gently and timidly, so to speak, as if feeling its way along. Hence the beautiful tints that always preceded sunrise in this lower world, and made it so much like the coming and going of our glorious sunshine.
The Marble Highway now divided, and the two lialves of the fork curving away to the right and left enclosed a small but exquisitely ornamented park, or pleasure ground I might call it, provided with seats of some dark wood beautifully polished and carved. This park was ornamented with four fountains, each springing from a crystal basin and spreading out into a feathery
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A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
spray that glistened like whirling snow in the dazzling white light. As Bulger and I directed our steps toward one of the benches with the intention of taking a good rest, a low growl from him warned me to be on the alert. I gave a second look. A human being was seated on the bench. Beside mj^self, as I was, with curiosity to come face to face with this inhabitant of the under world, the first we had met, I made a halt, determined to ascertain, if possible, whether he was quite harmless before accosting him.
He was small in stature, and clad entirely in black, a sort of loose, flowing robe much like a Roman toga. His head was bare, and what I could see of it was round, smooth, and rosy, with about as much hair, or rather fuzz, upon it as the head of an infant six weeks old. His face was hidden by a black fan which he carried in his right hand, and the uses of which you will learn later on. His eyes were shielded from the intense glare of the light by a pair of colored glass goggles. As he raised his hand between me and the light I couldn’t help catching my breath. I could see right through it : the bones were as clear as amber. And his head, too, was only a little less opaque. Suddenly two words from Don Finn’s manuscript flashed through my mind, and I exclaimed joyously, —
“ Bulger, we’re in the Land of the Transparent Folk ! ”
At the sound of my voice the little man arose and made a low bow, lowering his fan to his breast where he held it. His baby face was ludicrously sad and solemn.
“ Yes, Sir Stranger,” said he, in a low, musical voice, “ thou art indeed in the Land of the Mikkamenkies (Mica Men), in the Land of the Transparent Folk, called also Goggle Land; but if 1 should show thee my heart thou wouldst see that I am deeply pained to think that I should have been the first to bid thee welcome, for know. Sir Stranger, that thou speakest with Master Cold Soul the Court Depressor, the saddest man in all Goggle Land, and, by the way, sir, permit me to offer thee a pair of gog- gles for thyself, and also a pair for thy four-footed companion.
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45
for our intense white light would blind thee both in a few days.”
I thanked Master Cold Soul very warmly for the goggles, and proceeded to set one pair astride my nose and to tie the other in front of Bulger’s eyes. I then in most courteous manner in- formed Master Cold Soul who I was, and begged him to explain the cause of his great sadness. “ Well, thou must know, little baron ” said he, after I had taken a seat beside him on the bench, “that we, the loving subjects of Queen Galaxa, whose royal heart is almost run down, — excuse these tears, living as we do in this beautiful world so unlike the one you inhabit, which our wise men tell us is built, strange to say, on the very outside of the earth’s crust where it is most exposed to the full sweep of blinding snow, freezing blast, pelting hail, drowning rain, and choking dust, — living as we do, I say, in this vast temple by Nature’s own hands builded, where disease is unknown, ancl where our hearts run down like clocks that may have but one winding, we are prone, alas, to be too happy ; to laugh too much ; to spend too much time in idle gayety, chattering the time away like thoughtless children amused with baubles, delighted with tinsel nothings. Know then, little baron, that mine is the business to check this gayety, to put an end to this childish glee, to depress our people’s spirits, lest they run too high. Hence my garb of inky hue, my rueful countenance, my frequent outflowing of tears, my voice ever attuned to sadness. Excuse me, little baron, my fan slipped then; didst see through me ? I would not have thee see my heart to-day, for some way or other I cannot bring it to a slow pace ; it is dreadfully unruly.”
I assured him that I had not seen through him as yet.
And now, dear friends, I must explain that by the laws of the Mikkamenkies each man, woman, and child must wear in their garments a heart-shaped opening on their breast directly over tlieir hearts, with a corresponding one at the back, so that under certain conditions, when the law allows it, each may have the right to take a look at his neighbor’s heart and see exactly
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how it is beating — whether fast or slow, whether throbbing or leaping, or whether pulsating calinl}^ and naturally. But this privilege is only accorded, as I have said, under certain condi- tions, hence to shut off inquisitive glances each Mikkamenky is allowed to carry a black fan with which to cover the heart- shaped opening above described, and in this way conceal his or her feelings to a degree. I sa}" to a degree, for I may as well tell you right here that falsehood is unknown, or, more correctly stated, impossible in the land of the Transparent Folk, for the reason that so wondrously clear, limpid, and crystal-like are their eyes that the slightest attempt to say one thing while tliey are thinking another roils and clouds them as if a drop of milk had fallen into a glass of the purest water.
As I sat gazing at this strange little being seated on the bench there beside me, I recalled a conversation which I had had with a learned Russian at Solvitchegodsk. Said he, speaking of his people, “We are all born with light hair, brilliant eyes, and pale faces, for we have sprung up under the ^now.” And I thought to myself how delighted, how entranced, he would have been to look upon this curious being, born not under the snow, but far under the surface of the earth, where in these vast chambers of this World within a World, this strange folk had, like plants grown in a dark, deep cellar, gradually parted with all their coloring until their eyes glowed like orbs of pure crys- tal, until their bones had been bleached to amber clearness, and their blood coursed colorless through colorless veins.
While sitting there following out this train of thought, the clear white light suddenly began to flicker and to play fantastic tricks upon the walls by dancing in garbs of ever-changing hues, now brightest yellow, now palest green, now glorious purple, now deepest crimson.
“ Ah, little baron ! ” exclaimed Master Cold Soul, “ that was an uncommonly short day. Rise, please.”
I made haste to obey, whereupon he touched a spring and the bench opened in the centre, disclosing two very comfortable beds.
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“ In a few moments night will be upon us,” continued the Mikkamenky, “ but thou seest that we have not been taken by surprise. I should explain to thee, little baron, that owing to the capricious manner in which our River of Light is apt both to begin and to cease flowing, we are never able to tell how long a day or a night will prove to be. This is what we call twilight. In thy world I suppose day goes out with a terrible bang, for our wise men tell us that nothing can be done in the upper world without making a noise ; that your people really love noise ; and that the man who makes the greatest noise is considered the greatest man.
“ Owing to the fact, little baron, that no one in Goggle Land can tell how long the day will last, or how long it may be necessary to sleep, our laws permit no one to set any exact time when a thing shall be done, or to exact any promise to do this or that on a certain day, for, bless thy soul, that day may not be ten minutes long. Hence we say, ‘ If to-morrow be over five hours long, come to me at the beginning of the sixth hour ; ’ and we never wish each other a plain good-night, but say, ‘ Good- night, as long as it lasts.’
“What’s more, little baron, as night is apt to come upon us this way unawares, by law all the beds belong to the state ; no one is allowed to own his own bed, for when night overtakes him he may be at the other end of the city, and some other sub- ject of Queen Galaxa may be in front of his door, and no matter where night may overtake a Mikkamenky, he is sure to find a bed. There are beds everywhere. By touching a spring they drop from the walls, they pull out like drawers, they are under the tables and divans, in the parks, in the market-place, by the roadside ; benches, bins, boxes, barrows, and barrels by pressing a spring may in an instant be transformed into beds. It is the Land of Beds, little baron. But ah I behold, the twilight goes to its end. Good-night as long as it lasts ! ” and with this Mas- ter Cold Soul stretched himself out and began to snore, having first carefully covered up the two holes in the front and back of
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his garment, so that I shouldn’t have a chance to take a peep through him in case I should wake up first. Bulger and I were right glad to lay our limbs on a real bed, although from the way my four-footed brother followed his tail around and around, I could see that he wasn’t particularly delighted with the softness of the couch.
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CHAPTER VIII
“ GOOD-MORNING AS LONG AS IT LASTS.” — PLAIN TALK FROM MASTER COLD SOUL. — WONDERS OF GOGGLE LAND. — WE ENTER THE CITY OF THE MIKKAMENKIES. — BRIEF DE- SCRIPTION OF IT. — OUR APPROACH TO THE ROYAL PALACE. — QUEEN GALAX A AND HER CRYSTAL THRONE. — MASTER COLD soul’s tears.
I don’t think the darkness lasted over three hours, perhaps it was longer ; but Master Cold Soul was obliged to shake me gently ere he could rouse me.
“ Now, little baron,” said he, after he had wished me a good- morning with the usual “ as long as it lasts ” tacked to it, “ if thou art quite willing, I’ll conduct thee to the court of our gra- cious mistress, Queen Galaxa. Our wise men have often dis- coursed to her concerning the upper world and the terrible sufferings of its people, exposed as they are to be first frozen by the pitiless cold and then burned by the scorching rays of what they call their sun, and she will no doubt deign to be pleased at sight of thee, although I must warn thee that thou art most uncomely, that thou seemst so black and hard to me as scarcely to be human, but rather a bit of living earth or rock. I greatly fear me that thou wilt make our people extremely vain by com- parison. Thy four-footed companion we know well by sight, having often seen his petrified image in the rocks of the dark chambers of our world.”
“Master Cold Soul,” said I, as we walked along, “ when thou gettest to know me better thou wilt find me more comely, and although I shall not be able to show thee my heart, I hope to be able to prove to thee and thine that I have such a thing.”
“ No doubt, no doubt, little baron,” exclaimed Master Cold
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Soul, “ but be not offended. It is not more pleasant for me to tell thee these disagreeable things than it is for thee to hear them, but I am paid to do it and I must earn my wage. Vanity grows apace in our world, and I prick its bubbles whenever I see them.”
To my great wonder I now discovered that the world of the Mikkamenkies had its lakes and rivers like our own, only of course they were smaller and mirror-faced, being never visited by the faintest zephyr. To my question as to whether they were peopled with living things. Master Cold Soul informed me that they literally swarmed with the most delicious fish, both ill scales and shells.
“ But think not, little baron,” he added, “ that we of Goggle Land have no other food than such as we draw from the water ; for in our gardens grow many kinds of delicate vegetables, springing up in a single night almost as light as foam and just as white. But we are small eaters, little baron, and rarely find it necessary to put to death a large shellfish. We merely lay hold of his great claw, which he obligingly drops into our hand, and forthwith sets about growing another.”
“ But tell me, I pray thee. Master Cold Soul,” said I, “ where ye find the silk to weave such soft and beautiful stuff as that thy garment is fashioned from ? ”
“ In this under world of ours, little baron,” replied INIaster Cold Soul, “ there are many vast recesses not reached by the River of Light, and in these dark chambers flit about huge night moths, like restless spirits forever on the wing, but of course they are not, for we find their eggs glued against the rocky sides of these caverns and collect them carefully. The worms that are hatched from them spin huge cocoons so large that one may not be hidden in my hand, and these unwound give unto our looms all the thread they need.”
“ And the beautiful Avood,” I continued, “ which I see about me carved and fashioned into so many articles, whence comes it?”
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“ From the quarries,” answered Master Cold Soul.
“ Quarries ?” I repeated wonderingly.
“ Why, yes, little baron,” said he, “ for we have quarries of wood as no doubt thou hast quarries of stone. Our wise men tell us that thousands and tliousands of years ago vast forests grown in your world were in the upheavals and fallings-in of the earth’s crust thrust down into ours, the gigantic trunks wedged closely together, and standing bolt upright just as they grew. At least, so we find them when we have dug away the hai-dened clay that has shut them in these many ages. But see, little baron, we are now entering the city. Yonder is the royal palace — wilt walk with me thither?”
Ah, dear friends, would that I could make you see this beau- tiful city of the under world just as it showed itself to me then, spread out so gloriously beneath the glittering domes and vaulted corridors, from which poured down upon the exquisitely carved and polished entrances to the living chambers of this happy folk, a flood of white light apparently more dazzling than our noonday sun !
It was a sight so strangely beautiful that many times I paused to gaze upon it. Young and old, all clad in tlie same gracefully flowing garbs of silk, now purple, now royal blue, and now rich vermilion, were hurrying hither and thither, each armed with the inevitable black fan, and the baby face of each aglow with life and sweet content, while a hundred fountains spring- ing from crystal basins glistened in the dazzling white light, and ten times a hundred flags azid gonfalons hung listless but rich in splendor from invisible wires. Strange music came floating along from the gracefully shaped barges with silken awnings, which were gliding noiselessly over the surface of the winding river, the oars stirring the waters until the wake seemed a path through molten silver.
As Bulger and I followed Master Cold Soul along the streets of polished marble, it was not long before a crowd of Mikka- menkies was at our heels, whispering all sorts of uncompli-
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mentary things about us, mingled with not a few fits of suppressed laughter.
The Court Depressor reproved them sternly.
“ Cease your ill-timed mirth,” said he, “ and go about your business. Must I pause and tell you a grewsome tale to check your foolish gayety? Know ye not that all tins silly mirth doth quicken your hearts and make them run down just so much sooner ? ”
At these words of Master Cold Soul they fell back, and put an end to their giggling, but it was only for a moment, and by the time we reached the portal of the royal palace, a still louder and noisier crowd was close behind us.
Master Cold Soul suddenl}^ halted, and drawing forth a huge pocket-handkerchief, began to weep furiously. It was not with- out its effect, and from that moment I could see that the Mik- kamenkies were inclined to take a more serious view of my arrival in their city, although it was only Cold Soul’s presence that kept them from bursting out into fits of violent laughter.
Above the portals of the queen’s palace there were large openings hewn in the rock for the purpose of admitting light into the royal apartments ; but these windows, if they may be called such, were hung with silken curtains of delicate colors, so that the light which entered the throne room was tempered and softened. The room itself was likewise hung with silken stuffs, which gave it a look of Oriental splendor ; but never in my travels among strange peoples of far-away lands had my eyes ever rested upon any work of art that equalled the crystal throne upon which sat Galaxa, Queen of the Mikkamenkies.
In the upper world most diligent search had never been able to unearth a piece of rock crystal more than about three feet in diameter; but here in Queen Galaxa’s throne four glorious columns at least fifteen feet in height, and at their base three feet in diameter, shot up in matchless splendor. Their low^er parts shut in spangles of gold that glittered with ever-varying hues as a different light fell upon them. The cross pieces and
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pieces making up the back and arms had been chosen on account of the exquisitely beautiful hair and needle-shaped crystals of other metals which they enclosed. A silken baldachin of rare beauty covered in the throne, and from its edges dropped heavy cords and tassels of rich color and the perfection of human handicraft as to fineness and finish.
At the foot of the throne sat the young princess Crystallina; and standing behind her, and engaged in combing her long silken tresses, was her favorite waiting-maid, Damozel Glow Stone, while around and about, in files and group-wise, stood lords and ladies, courtiers and counsellors, by the dozen.
As Master Cold Soul advanced to salute the queen, a throng of the idlers who had followed at our heels crowded into the anteroom with loud outbursts of laughter. The Court De- pressor was greatly incensed, and turning upon the throng he began weeping again with wonderful energy ; but I noticed that it was nothing but sound : not a tear fell to obscure the crystal clearness of his eyes. Then he began chanting a sort of song which was intended to have a depressing influence on the wild mirth of the Mikkamenkies. I can only recollect one verse of this solemn chant of the Court Depressor. It ran as follows : —
“ Weep, Mikkamenkies, weep, O weep.
For the eyeless man in the City of Light,
For the mouthless man in Plenty’s bowers.
For the earless man in Music’s realm.
For the noseless man in the Kingdom of flowers,
Weep, Mikkamenkies, weep, O weep !”
But they only laughed the louder, crying out, —
“ Nay, Master Cold Soul, we will not weep for them ; weep for them tliyself.” At last Queen Galaxa raised the slender golden wand, tipped with a diamond point, that lay within her hand, and instantly a hush came upon the whole place, while every eye was riveted upon Bulger and me.
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CHAPTER IX
BULGER AND I ARE PRESENTED TO QUEEN GALAXA, THE LADY OF THE CRYSTAL THRONE. — HOW SHE RECEIVED US. — HER DELIGHT OVER BULGER, WHO GIVES PROOF OF HIS WONDERFUL INTELLIGENCE IN IVIANY WAYS. — HOW THE QUEEN CREATES HIM LORD BULGER. — ALL ABOUT THE THREE WISE MEN IN WHOSE CARE WE ARE PLACED BY QUEEN GALAXA.
Owing to the soft air, the never-varying temperature, and the absence of all noise and dust, the Mikkamenkies, although they die in the end like other folk, yet do they never seem to grow old. Their skin remains soft and free from wrinkles, and their eyes as clear and bright as the crystal of Queen Galaxa’s throne.
At the time of our arrival in the Land of the Transparent Folk, Queen Galaxa’s heart had almost run down. In about two weeks more it would come quietly and gently to a stop ; for, as I have already told you, dear friends, the heart of a Mikka- menky being perfectly visible when the dazzling white light in its full strength was allowed to shine through his body, why, it was a very easy matter for a physician to take a look at the organ of life, and tell almost to the hour when it would exhaust itself — in other words, run down. Galaxa looked every inch a real queen as she half-reclined upon her glorious crystal throne. She was clad in long, flowing silk garments of a right royal purple, and the gems which encircled her neck and wrists would have put to shame the crown jewels of any monarch of the upper world. Her garb had very much the cut and style of the ancient Greek costume, and the gold sandals worn by her added to the resemblance ; but the one thing that excited my
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wonder more than all the others put together was her hair, so long, so fine and silken was it, such a mass of it was there, and so dazzling white was it — not the blue or yellow white that comes of age in our world, but a milk white, a cotton white. And as we drew near, to Bulger’s but not to my amazement, her hair began to quiver and rustle and rise, until it buried her whole throne completely out of sight. Of course I knew that, seated as she was upon a throne of glass, it was only necessary to send a gentle current of electricity through her to make her wonderful head of hair stand up in this manner, like the white and filmy tentacles of some gigantic creature of the sea, half- plant, half-animal.
“ Rise, little baron,” said Queen Galaxa, as I dropped upon my right knee on the lowest step of the throne, “ and be welcome to our kingdom. Whilst thou may be pleased to tarry here, my people shall bestir themselves to show thee all that may seem wonderful in thine eyes ; for although our wise men have often discussed to us of the upper world, yet art thou its first inhabit- ant to visit us, and thy wonderful companion is right welcome too. Can he talk, little baron?”
“Not exactly. Queen Galaxa,” said I with low obeisance, “ yet he can understand me and I him.”
“He is quite harmless, is he not?” asked the queen.
You may try to imagine how I felt, dear friends, when as I was about to say, “ Perfectly so, royal lady,” to my amazement I saw Bulger advance and sniff at the Princess Crystallina and then draw back and show his teeth as she stretched out her hand to caress him.
Bending over him I reproved him in a whisper, and bade him kneel before the queen. This he proceeded to do, saluting her wdth three very stately bows, at which everybody laughed heartily.
“ I would have him come nearer,” said the queen, “ so that I may lay my hand upon him.”
At a sign from me Bulger began to lick his fore-paws very
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carefully, and then having wiped them on the rug, sprang up the steps of the throne and placed his front feet upon Queen Galaxa’s lap.
The fair ruler of the Mikkamenkies was delighted with this sample of Bulger’s fine manners, and in order to amuse her still further I proceeded to put Bulger through many of his quaint tricks and curious feats, bidding him “ say his prayers,” “ feign death,” “weep for his sweetheart,” “ count ten,” “walk upright,” “go lame and cry to tell how it hurts.”
Scarcely had he gone half around the circle, feigning lame- ness, when the damozel Glow Stone began to weep herself, and stooping down commenced to caress Bulger and to kiss his lame foot, caresses which, to my more than surprise, Bulger was not slow in returning, and later too when I bade him choose the maiden he loved best and kiss her hand, he bounded straight toward Glow Stone and bestowed not one but twenty kisses upon her outstretched hands, while the princess Crystallina shrank away in fear and disgust from the “ ugly beast,” as she termed him.
“ Bid him bring my handkerchief to me, little baron,” cried Galaxa, throwing it on the floor. I did as the queen commanded, but Bulger refused to obey.
“ Thou seest, Queen Galaxa,” said I with a low bow, “ he refuses to lift the handkerchief without a command from thy royal self,” which delicate compliment pleased the lady mightily.
“How comes it, little baron,” she asked, “that thou shouldst be of noble lineage and thy brother, as thou callest him, plain Bulger?”
“ It comes, royal lady,” said I right humbly, “ as it often comes in the world which I inhabit, that honors go to them that least deserve them.”
“Well, then, little baron,” cried Galaxa gayly, “though I be but a petty sovereign compared with thine, yet may small rulers do acts of great justice. Bid thy four-footed brother kneel before us.”
>
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At a word from me, Bulger prostrated himself on the steps of Galaxa’s crystal throne, and laid his head at her very feet.
Leaning forward she touched him lightly with her golden wand, and exclaimed, “ Rise, Lord Bulger, rise ! Queen Galaxa seated on her crystal throne bids Lord Bulger rise ! ”
In an instant Bulger raised himself on his hind feet and laid his head in the queen’s lap, while the whole room rang with loud huzzas, and every lady gently clapped her frail and glass- like hands, save the princess Crystallina who feigned to be asleep.
Queen Galaxa now undid a string of pearls from her neck and tied them with her own hands around Lord Bulger’s — and so it was that my four-footed brother ceased to be plain Bulger. Then turning to her counsellors of state. Queen Galaxa bade them assign a royal apartment to Lord Bulger and me, and gave strict orders that the severest punishment be at once visited upon any Mikkamenky who should dare to laugh at us or to make disrespectful remarks concerning our dark eyes and skins and weather-beaten appearance, for, as the royal lady said to her people, “Ye might look worse than they were ye compelled to live on the outside instead of the inside of the world, exposed to biting blasts, piercing cold, and clouds of suffocating dust.”
By the queen’s orders three of the wisest of the Mikkamen- kies were selected to attend Bulger and me, look after our wants, explain everything to us — in a word, do all in their power to make our stay in Goggle Land as pleasant as possible.
Their names, as nearly as I can translate them, were Doctor Nebulosus, Sir Amber O’Pake, and Lord Cornucore. I should explain to you, dear friends, the meaning of these names, for you might be inclined to think that Doctor Somewhat Cloudy, Sir Clear-as-Amber ; and Lord Heart-of-Horn might indicate that they were more or less muddled in their intellects. Far from it : I have already stated to you they were three of the very wisest men in the Land of the Transparent Folk, and the lack of clear- ness indicated by their names had reference solely to their eyes.
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Now, as you know, the learned men of our upper world have a different look from ordinary folk. They are stoop-shouldered, shaggy-eyebrowed, long-haired, pursed-lipped, near-sighted, shambling-gaited. Well, the only effect that long years of deep study had upon the Mikkamenkies was to rob their beauti- ful crystal-like eyes of more or less of their clearness.
Now I think you’ll understand why these three learned Mik- kamenkies were named as they were.
At any rate, they were, in spite of their strange names, three most charming gentlemen ; and no matter how many times I might ask the same question over again, they were always ready with an answer quite as polite as the one first given me. They did everything that I had a right possibly to expect them to do. Indeed, there was but one single thing which I would have fain had them do, and that was to let me look through them.
This they most carefully avoided doing ; and no matter how warmed up they might become in their descriptions, and no matter how on the alert I was to catch the coveted peep, the inevitable black fan was always in the way.
Naturally, not only they, but all the Transparent Folk, felt a repugnance to have a perfect stranger look through them, and I couldn’t blame them for it either. I despaired of ever getting a chance of seeing a human heart beating away for dear life, for all the world just like the swing of a pendulum or the vibration of a balance wheel.
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CHAPTER X
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF INIY CONVERSATIONS WITH DOCTOR NEBULOSUS, SIR AMBER O’PAKE, AND LORD CORNUCORE, WHO TELL ME ]SIANY THINGS THAT I NEVER KNEW BEFORE, FOR WHICH I WAS VERY GRATEFUL.
Lord Bulger and I were more than pleased with our new friends, Doctor Nebulosus, Sir Amber O’Pake, and Lord Cornu- core, although so eager were they to make us thoroughly comfortable, that they overdid the matter at times, and left me scarcely a moment to myself in which to make an entry in my notebook. They were extremely solicitous lest in my ignorance I should set down something wrong about them.
“ For,” said Sir Amber O’Pake, “now that thou hast found the way to this under world of ours, little baron, I feel assured that we shall have a number of visitors from thy people every year or so, and I have already issued orders to have extra beds made as soon as the wood can be quarried.”
Doctor Nebulosus gave me a very interesting account of the various ailments which the Mikkamenkies suffer from. “ All sickness among our people, little baron,” said he, “ is purely mental or emotional ; that is, of the mind or feelings. There is no such thing as bodily infirmity among us. Wine and strong drink are unknown in our world, and the food we eat is light and easily digested. We are never exposed to the danger of breathing a dust-laden atmosphere, and while we are an active and industrious people, yet we sleep a great deal ; for, as our laws forbid the use of lamps or torches, except for the use of those toiling in the dark chambers, it is not possible for us to ruin our health by turning night into day. We go to bed the
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very moment the River of Light ceases to flow. The only ailment that ever gives me the least trouble is iburyufrosniaN
“ Pray, what is the nature of that ailment ? ” I asked.
“ It is an inclination to be too happy,” replied Doctor Neb- ulosus gravely, “ and I regret to say that several of our people attacked with this ailment have shortened their lives by refus- ing to take my remedies. It usually develops very slowly, beginning with an inclination to giggle, which, after a while, is succeeded by violent fits of laughter.
“For instance, little baron, when thou earnest among us, many of our people were attacked with a violent form of iburyufrosnia ; and although Master Cold Soul, the Court De- pressor, made great efforts to check it, yet he was quite power- less to do so. It spread over the city with remarkable rapidity. Without knowing why, our workmen at their work, our children at their play, our people in doors and out, began to laugh and to be dangerously happj’’. I made examinations of several of the worst cases, and discovered that at the rate they were beating the hearts of most of them would run down in a single week. It was terrible. A council Avas hastily held, and it was deter- mined to conceal thee and Lord Bulger from the public view, but happily my skill got the upper hand of the attack.”
“ Didst increase the number of pills to be taken ? ” I asked.
“ No, little baron,” said Doctor Nebulosus ; “ I increased their size and covered them with a dry powder, which made them extremely difficult to swallow, and in this way compelled those taking them to cease their laughing. But there were a number of cases so violent that they could not be cured in this way. These I ordered to be strapped in at the waist with broad belts, and to have their mouths held pried open with wooden wedges. As thou mayst understand, this made laughing so difficult that they speedily gave it up altogether.
“ Ah, little baron,” continued the wise doctor Avith a sigh, “ that Avas a sorry day for the human race Avhen it learned hoAV to laugh. It is my opinion that we owe this useless agitation
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of our bodies to you people of the upper world. Exposed as ye were to piercing winds and biting frosts, ye contracted the habit of shivering to keep warm, and, little by little, this shivering habit so grew upon you, that ye kept up the shivering whether ye were cold or not ; only ye called it by another name. Now, my knowledge of the human body teaches me that this quivering of the flesh is a very wise provision of nature to keep the blood in motion, and in this way to save the human body from perish- ing from the cold ; but why should we quiver when we are happy, little baron ? All pleasure is the thought, and yet at the very moment when we should keep our bodies in as perfect repose as possible, we begin this ridiculous shivering. Do we shiver when Ave look upon the beauties of the River of Light, or listen to sweet music, or gaze upon the loving countenance of our gracious Queen Galaxa ? But worse than all, little baron, this senseless quivering and shivering which we call laughter, unlike good, deep, long-drawn, wholesome sighs, empty the lungs of air without filling them again, and thus do we often see these gigglers and laughers fall over in fainting fits, absolutely clioked by their own wild and unreasoning action. I have always contended, little baron, that we alone of all animals had the laughing habit, and I am now delighted to have my opinion confirmed by my acquaintance with the wise and dignified Lord Bulger. Observe him. He knows quite as well as we what it is to be pleased, to be amused, to be delighted, but he doesn’t think it necessary to have recourse to fits of shivering and shud- dering. Through the brightened eye — true window of the soul — I can see how happy he is. I can measure his joy ; I can take note of his contentment.”
I was delighted with this learned discourse of the gentle Doctor Nebulosus, and made notes of it lest the points of his argument might escape my memory, the more pleased was I in that he proved my faithful Bulger to be so wisely constructed and regulated by nature.
I made particular inquiry of my friends. Sir Amber O’Pake
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and Lord Cornucore, as to whether Queen Galaxa ever had any trouble in governing her people.
“ None whatever,” was the answer. “ In many a long year has it only been necessary on one or two occasions to summon a Mikkamenky before the magistrate and examine his heart under a strong light. The only punishment allowed by our laws is confinement for a shorter or longer time in one of the dark chambers. The severest sentence ever known to have been passed by one of our magistrates was twelve hours in length. But in all honesty, we must admit, little baron, that falsehood and deception are unknown amongst us for the simple reason that, being transparent, it is impossible for a Mikkamenky to deceive a brother without being caught in the act. There- fore why make the attempt? The very moment one of us begins to say one thing while he is thinking another, his eyes cloud up and betray him, just us the crystal-clear weather glass clouds up at the approach of a storm in the upper world. But this, of course, little baron, is only true of our thoughts. Our laws allow us to hide our feelings by the use of the black fan. No one may look upon another’s heart unless its owner wills it. It is a very grave offence for one Mikkamenky to look through another without that one’s permission. But as thou wilt readily understand, inasmuch as we are by nature trans- parent, it is utterly impossible for a marriage to prove an unhappy one, for the reason that when a youth declares his love for a maiden, they both have the right by law to look upon each other’s hearts, and in this way they can tell exactly the strength of the love they have for each other.” This and many other strange and interesting things did my new friends. Doctor Nebulosus, Sir Amber O’Pake, and Lord Cornucore impart unto me, and right grateful was I to good Queen Galaxa for having chosen them for me. Good friends are better than gold, although we may not think it at the time.
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CHAPTER XI
PLEASANT DAYS PASSED AMONG THE MIKKAMENKIES, AND WONDERFUL THINGS SEEN BY US. — THE SPECTRAL GARDEN, AND A DESCRIPTION OF IT. — OUR MEETING WITH DAMOZEL GLOW STONE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
From now on Lord Bulger and I made ourselves perfectly at home among the Mikkamenkies. One of the royal barges was placed at our disposal, and when we grew tired of walking about and gazing at the wonders of this beautiful city of the under world, we stepped aboard our barge and were rowed hither and thither on the glassy river ; and if I had not seen it myself I never would have believed that any kind of shellfish could ever be taught to be so obliging as to swim to the surface and offer one of their huge claws for our dinner, politely dropping it in our hand the moment we had laid hold of it. On one of the river banks I noticed a long row of wooden compartments looking very much like a grocer’s bins ; but you may think how amused Bulger and I were upon coming closer to this long row of little houses to find that they were turtle nests, and that quite a number of the turtles were sitting comfortably in their nests busy laying their eggs — which, let me assure you, were the most dainty tidbits I ever tasted.
I think I informed you that the river flowing through Gog- gle Land was fairly swarming with delicious fish, the carp and sole being particularly delicate in flavor ; and knowing, as I did, what a tender-hearted folk the Mikkamenkies are, I had been not a little puzzled in my mind as to how they had ever been able to summon up courage enough to drive a spear into one of these fish, which were as tame and playful as a lot of kittens or pup-
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pies, and followed our barge hither and thither, snapping up the food we tossed to them, and leaping into the air, where they glistened like burnished silver as the white light sparkled on their scales.
But the mystery was solved one day when I saw one of the fishermen decoying a score or more of fish into a sort of pen shut off from the river by a wire netting. Scarcely had he closed the gates when, to my amazement, I saw the fish one after the other come to the surface and float about on their sides, stone dead.
“ This, little baron,” explained the man in charge, “ is the death chamber. Hidden at the bottom of this dark pool lie several electric eels of great size and power, and when our peo- ple want a fresh supper of fish we simply open these gates and decoy a shoal of them inside by tossing their favorite food into the water. The executionei'S are awaiting them, and in a few instants the fish, while enjoying their repast and suspecting no harm, are painlessly put to death, as thou hast seen.”
One part of the city of the Transparent Folk which attracted Bulger and me very much was the royal gardens. It was a weird and uncanny place, and upon my first visit I walked through its paths and beneath its arbors upon my toes and with bated breath, as you might steal into some bit of fairy-land, look- ing anxiously from side to side as if at every step you expected some sprite or goblin to trip you up with a tough spider-web, or brush your cheeks with their cold and satiny wings.
Now, dear friends, you must first be told that with the loss of sunshine and the open air, the flowers and shrubs and vines of this underground world gradually parted with their perfumes and colors, their leaves and petals and stems and tendrils grow- ing paler and paler in hue, like lovelorn maids whose sweet- hearts had never come back from the war. Month by month the dark greens, the blush pinks, the golden yellows, and the deep blues pined away, longing for the lost sunshine and the wooing breeze they loved so dearly, until at last the transforma-
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tion was complete, and there they all stood or hung bleached to utter whiteness, like those fantastic clumps of flowem and wreaths of vines which the feathery snow of April builds in the leafless shrubs and trees.
I cannot tell you, dear friends, what a strange feeling came over me as I stepped within this spectral garden where ghost- like vines clung in fantastic forms and figures to the dark trel- lises, and where tall lilies, whiter than the down of eider, stood bolt upright like spirits doomed to eternal silence, denied even the speech of perfume, and where huge clusters of snowy chrys- anthemums, fluffy feathery forms, seemed pressing their soft bodies together like groups of banished celestials in a sort of silent despair as they felt the warmth and glow of sunlight slowly and gradually quitting their souls ; where lower down, great roses with snowy petals whiter than the sea-shells hung motionless, bursting open with eager effort, as if listening for some signal that would dissolve the spell put upon them, and give them back the sunshine, and with it their color and their perfume ; where lower still beds of violets bleached white as fleecy clouds seemed wrapt in silent sorrow at loss of the heav- enly perfume wliich had been theirs on earth ; where, above tlie lilies’ heads shot long, slender, spectral stalks of sunflowers almost invisible, loaded at their ends with clusters of snowy flowers thus suspended like white faces looking down through the silent air, and waiting, waiting for the sunshine that never came ; and higher still all over and above these spectral flowers, intwining and inwrapping and falling festoon and garland-wise, crept and ran like unto long lines of escaping phantoms, ghostly vines with ghostly blossoms, bent and twisted and Avrapped and coiled into a thousand strange and fantastic forms and figures which the white light with its inky shadows made alive and half human, so that movement and voice alone were needful to make this garden seem peopled with sorrowing sprites banished to these subterranean chambers for strange misdeeds done on earth and condemned to wait ten thousand years ere sunlight and their color and their perfume should be given back to them again.
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While strolling through the royal gardens one day, Bulger suddenly gave a low cry and bounded on ahead, as if his eyes had fallen upon the familiar form of some dear friend.
When I came up with him he was crouching beside the damozel Glow Stone who, seated on one of the garden benches, was caressing Bulger’s head and ears with one of her soft hands with its filmy-like skin, while the other held its black fan pressed tightly against her bosom.
She looked up at me with her crystal eyes, and smiled faintly as I drew near.
“ Thou seest, little baron,” she murmured, “ Lord Bulger and I have not forgotten each other.” Since our presentation at court I had been going through and through my mind in search of some reason for Bulger's sudden -affection for damozel Glow Stone, but had found none.
I was the more perplexed as she was but the maid of honor, while the fair princess Crystallina sat on the very steps of the throne.
But I said nothing save to reply that I was greatly pleased to see it and to add that where Bulger’s love went, mine was sure to follow.
“ Oh, little baron, if I could but believe that ! ” sighed the fair damozel.
“ Thou mayst,” said I, “ indeed thou mayst.”
“ Then, if I may, little baron,” she replied, “ I will, and prithee come and sit beside me here, only till I bid thee, look not through me. Dost promise ? ”
“ I do, fair damozel,” was my answer.
“ And thou. Lord Bulger, lie there at my feet,” she continued, “ and keep thy wise eyes fixed upon me and thy keen ears wide open.”
“ Little baron, if both thine and our worlds were filled with sorrowing hearts, mine would be the heaviest of them all. List ! oh, list to the sad, sad tale of the sorrowing maid with the speck in her heart, and, when thou knowest all, give me of thy wisdom.”
CRYSTALLINA*3 HEART ON A SCREEN.
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CHAPTER XII
THE SAD, SAD TALE OF THE SOREOWING PRINCESS WITH A SPECK IN HER HEART, AND WHAT ALL HAPPENED WHEN SHE HAD ENDED IT, WHICH THE READER MUST READ FOR HIMSELF IF HE AVOULD KNOAAL
“Little baron and dear Lord Bulger,” began the crystal- eyed damozel, after she had eased her soul of its load of Avoe by tiiree long and deep, deep sighs, “ know then that I am not the damozel Glow Stone, but none other than the royal piincess Crystallina herself ; that she Avhose hair I comb should comb mine ; that she whom I have served for ten long years should have served me I ”
“ And to think, O princess,” I burst out joyfully, “ that my beloved Bulger should have been the first to discover that she who was seated on the steps of the crystal throne was not entitled to the seat ; to think that his subtle intellect should liave been the first to scent out the Avrong that had been done thee ; his keen eye the first to go to the bottom of truth’s well ; but, fair princess, I am bursting Avith impatience to knoAv hoAV thou thyself didst ever discover the Avrong that has been done thee.”
“ That thou slialt speedily knoAV, little baron,” ansAvered Crystallina, “and that thou mayst know all that 1 knoAV Til begin at tlie very beginning : The day I Avas born there was great rejoicing in tlie land of the Mikkamenkies, and the people gathered in front of the royal palace and laughed and cried by turns, so happy Avere they to think tliey Avere to be governed by another princess after Queen Galaxa’s lieart should run doAvn ; for, many years ago, a bad king had made them very unhappy.
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and they had hoped and prayed that no more such would come to reign over them. And pretty soon one of them began to tell the others what he thought the little princess would be like.
‘She will be the fairest that ever sat upon the crystal throne. Her hands and feet will be like pearls tipped with coral ; her hair whiter than the river’s foam; and from her beautiful eyes will burst the radiance of her pure soul, and her heart, Oh, her heart will be like a little lump of frozen water so clear and so transparent will it be, so like a bit of purest crystal, bright and flawless as a diamond of the first water, and therefore let her be called the princess Crystallina, or the Maid with the Crystal Heart.’
“ Forthwith the cry went up : ‘ Ay, let her be called Crystal- lina, or the Maid with the Crystal Heart,’ and Queen Galaxa heard the cry of her people and sent them word that it should be as they wished — that I should be the Princess Crystallina.
“ But. ah me, that I should have lived to tell it ! after a few days the nurse came to my royal mother wringing her hands and pouring down a flood of tears.
Throwing herself on her knees, she whispered to the queen, ‘ Royal mistress, bid me die rather than tell thee what I know.’
“ Being ordered to speak, the nurse informed Queen Galaxa that she had that day for the first time held me up to the light and had discovered that there was a speck in inj^ heart.
“ The queen uttered a cry of horror and swooned. When she came to herself she directed that I should be brought to her and held up to the light so that she might see for herself. Alas, too true ! there was the speck in my heart sure enough. I was not worthy of the sweet name which her loving people had bestowed upon me. They would turn from me with horror ; they would never consent to have me for their queen when the truth should become known. They would not be moved by a mother’s prayers : they would turn a deaf ear to every one who should be bold enough to advise them to accept a princess with
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a speck in her heart, when they had thouglit they were getting one well deserving of the title they had bestowed upon her.
“ Queen Galaxa knew that something must be done at once ; that it would be time and labor lost to attempt to reason with the disappointed people, so she set to work thinking up some way out of her trouble. Now, it so happened, little baron, that the very day I had come into the world a babe had been born to one of Queen Galaxa’s serving women ; and so hastily sum- moning the woman she ordered her to bring her babe into the royal bed-chamber and leave it there, promising that it should be brought up as my foster-sister. But no sooner had the serv- ing woman gone her way rejoicing than the nurse was ordered to change the children in the cradle, and in a few moments Glow Stone was wrapt in my richly embroidered blanket and I swathed up in her plain coverlets.
“ How things went for several years I know not, but one day, ah, how well I recollect it ! my little mind was puzzled by hear- ing Crystallina cry out: ‘Nay, nay, dear mamma, ’tis not fair; I like it not. Each day when thou comest to us thou givest Glow Stone ten'kisses and me but a single one.’ Then would Queen Galaxa smile a sad smile and bestow some bauble upon Crystallina to coax her back to contentment again.
“ And so we went on, Crystallina and I, from one year to another until we were little maids well grown, and she sat on the throne and wore royal purple stitched with gold, and I plain white; but still most of the kisses fell to my share. And I marvelled not a little at it, but dared not ask why it was. How- ever, once when I was alone with Queen Galaxa, seated on my cushion in the corner plying my needle and thinking of the sail we were to have on the river that day, suddenly I was startled to see the queen throw herself on her knees in front of me, and to feel her clasp me in her arms and cover 1113' face and head with tears and kisses, as she sobbed and moaned, —
“ ‘ O m3' babe, my lost babe, my blessing and my jo3’, wilt
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never, never, never come back to me? Art gone forever? Must I give thee up, oh, must I?’
“ ‘ Nay, Royal Lady,’ I stammered in my more than wonder at her words and actions. ‘ Thou art in a dream. Awake, and see clearly ; I am not Crystallina. I am Glow Stone, thy foster- child. I’ll hie me straight and bring my royal sister to thee.’
“ But she would not let me loose, and for all answer showered more kisses on me till I was well-nigh smothered, so tight she held me pressed against her bosom, while around and over me her long thick tresses fell like a woven mantle.
“And then she told me all — all that I have told thee, little baron, and charged me never to impart it unto any soul in Goggle Land ; and I made a solemn promise unto her that I never would.”
“ And thou hast kept thy word like a true princess as thou art,” said I cheerily, “for I am not of thy world, fair Crystal- lina.”
“ Now that I have told thee the sad tale of the sorrowing princess with the speck in her heart, little baron,” murmured Crystallina, fixing her large and radiant eyes upon me, “ there is but one thing more for me to do, and it is to let thee look through me, so that thou mayst know exactly what counsel to give.” And so saying the fair princess rose from her seat, and having placed herself in front of me with a flood of white light falling full upon her back, she lowered her black fan and bade me gaze upon the heavy heart which she had carried about with her all these years, and tell her exactly how large the speck was and -where it lay, and what color it was.
I was overjoyed to get an opportunity at last to look through one of the Mikkamenkies, and my own heart bounded with satis- faction as I looked and looked upon that mysterious little thing, nay, rather a tiny being, living, breathing, palpitating within her breast ; now slow and measured as she dwelt in thought upon her sad fate, now beating faster and faster as the hope
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bubbled up in her mind that possibly I might be able to counsel her so wisely that an end would come to all her sorrow.
“ Well, wise little baron,” she murmured anxiously, “ what seest thou? Is it very large ? In what part is it? Is it black as night or some color less fatal ? ”
“ Take courage, fair princess,” said I, ‘‘ it is very small and lies just beneath the bow on the left side. Nor is it black, but reddish rather, as if a single drop of blood from the veins of thy far distant ancestors had outlived them these thousands of years and hardened there to tell whence thy people came.” The princess wept tears of joy upon hearing these comforting words.
“ If it had been black,” she whispered “ I would have lain me down in this bed of violets and never risen more till my people had come to bear me to my grave in the silent burial chamber — unvisited by the River of Light.”
At this sad outbreak Bulger whined piteously and licked the princess’s hands as he looked up at her with his dark eyes radi- ant with sympathy.
She was greatly cheered by this message of comfort, and it moved me, too, by its heartiness.
“ List, fair princess,” said I gravely. “ I OAvn the task is not a liglit one, but hope for the best. I would that we had more time, but as thou knowest Queen Galaxa’s heart will soon run down, therefore must we act with despatch as well as wisdom. But first of all must I speak with the queen and gain her con- sent to act for thee in this matter.”
“ That, I fear me, she will never grant,” moaned Crystallina. “ However, thou art so much wiser than I — do as best seems to thee.”
The next thing to be done, fair princess,” I added solemnly, “is to show thy heart boldly aind fearlessly to thy people.”
“Nay, little baron,” she exclaimed, rising to her feet, “that may not be, that may not be, for know that our law doth make it treason itself for one of our people to look through a person of royal blood. Oh, no, oh, no, little baron, that may never be! ”
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“ Stay, sweet princess,” I urged in gentlest tones, “ not so fast. Thou dost not know what I mean by showing thy heart boldly to thy people. Never fear. I will not break the law of the land, and yet they shall look upon the speck within thy heart, and see how small it is and hear what I have to say about it, and thou shalt not even be visible to them.”
“ O little baron,” murmured Crystallina, “ if this may only be ! I feel they will forgive me. Thou art so wise and thy words carry such strong hope to my poor, heavy heart that I almost ” —
“Nay, fair princess,” I interrupted, “hope for the best, no more. I am not wise enough to read the future, and from what 1 know of thy people they seem but little different from mine own. Perchance I may be able to sway them toward my views, and make them cry, ‘ Long live princess Crystallina ! ’ but I can only promise thee to do my best. Betake thee now to the palace, and scorn not for yet a day or so to take up the golden comb and play the damozel Glow Stone in all humility.”
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CHAPTER XIII
HOW I SET TO WORK TO UNDO A WRONG THAT HAD BEEN DONE IN THE KINGDOM OF THE MIKKAMENKIES, AND HOW BULGER HELPED. — QUEEN GALAXA’s CONFESSION. — I AM CREATED PRIME MINISTER AS LONG AS SHE LIVES. — WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE THRONE ROOM. — MY SPEECH TO THE MEN OF GOGGLE LAND AFTER WHICH I SHOW THEM SOMETHING WORTH SEEING. — HOW I WAS PULLED IN TWO DIFFERENT DIREC- TIONS AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
The first thing I did after the genuine princess Crystallina had left me was to seek out Doctor Nebulosus and learn from him the exact number of hours before the queen’s heart would run down.
As he had just been making an examination, he was able to tell the very minute : it was seventeen hours and thirteen minutes, rather a short time you must confess, dear friends, in which to accomplish such an important piece of business as I had in mind. I then made my way directly to the royal palace and demanded a private audience with the Lady of the Crystal Throne.
With the advice of Sir Amber O’Pake and Lord Cornucore she firmly but graciously refused to receive me, giving as an excuse that the excitement that would be sure to follow an interview with the “Man of Coal ” — so the Mikkamenkies had named me — would shorten her life at least thirteen minutes. But I was not to be put off in so unceremonious a manner. Sitting down, I seized a pen and wrote the following words upon a j)iece of glazed silk : —
“ To Galaxa, Queen of the Mikkamenhies^ Lady of the Cr'ystal Throne.
“I, Lord Bulger, a Mikkamenkian Noble, Bearer of this, who was the first to discover that the real princess was not sitting on
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the steps of the Crystal Throne, demand an audience for my Master Baron Sebastian von Troomp, commonly known as ‘ Little Baron Trump,’ and prompted by him I ask, What are thirteen minutes of thy life, O Queen Galaxa, to the long years of sorrow and disappointment in store for thy royal child? ”
Taking this letter in his mouth, Bulger sprang away with long and rapid bounds. In a few minutes he was in the presence of the queen, for the guards had fallen back affrighted as they saw him draw near with his dark eyes flashing indignation. Raising himself upon his hind feet, he laid the letter in Galaxa’s hands. The moment she had read it she fell into a swoon, and all was stir and commotion in and round about the palace. I was has- tily summoned and the audience chamber cleared of every attendant save Doctor Nebulosus, Sir Amber O'Pake, Lord Cornucore, Lord Bulger, and me.
“ Send for the damozel Glow Stone,” commanded the queen, and when she had apj^eared, to the amazement of all saving Bulger and me, Galaxa bade her mount the steps of the Crystal Throne, then, having embraced her most tenderly, the queen spoke these words : —
“ O faithful Councillors and wise friends from the upper world, this is the real princess Crystallina, whom I have for all these years wickedly and wrongfully kept from her high state and royal privileges. She was born with a speck in her heart, and I feared that it would be useless to ask my people to accept her as my successor.”
“ Ay, Lady of the Crystal Throne,” exclaimed Lord Cornucore, “thou hast wisely done. Thy people would never have received her as Princess Crystallina, for, being by the laws of our land denied the privilege to look for themselves, they never would have believed that this spot in the princess’s heart was but a tiny S[)eck like a single hair crystal in the arm of thy magnificent throne. Therefore, O queen, we counsel thee not to imbitter thy last hour's by differences with thy loving subjects.”
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“ M j Lord Cornucore,” said I with a low bow, “ I make bold to raise my voice against tbine, and I crave permission from Queen Galaxa to parley with her people.”
“Forbid it, royal lady! ” cried Sir Amber O’Pake savagely, at which Bulger gave a low growl and showed his teeth.
“ Queen Galaxa,” I added gravely, “ a wrong confessed is half redressed. This fair princess, 'tis true, hath a speck in her lieart which ill accords with the name bestowed upon her by thy people. Bid me be master until thy heart runs down, and by the Knight- hood of all the Trumps I promise thee that thou shalt have three hours of happiness ere tliy royal heart has ceased to beat ! ”
“ Be it so, little baron,” exclaimed Galaxa joyfully. “ I pro- claim thee prime minister for the rest of my life.” At these words Bulger broke out into a series of glad barks, and, raising upon his hind legs, licked the queen’s hand in token of his grati- tude, while the fair princess looked a love at me that was too deep to put into words.
“ I had now but a few hours to act. The excitement, so Doc- tor Nebulosus assured me, would shorten the queen’s life a full hour.”
It had always been my custom to carry about with me a small but excellent magnifying-glass, a double convex lens, for the purpose of making examinations of minute objects, and also for reading inscriptions too tine to be seen with the naked eye. Hastily summoning a skilful metal worker, I instructed him to set the lens in a short tube and to enclose that tube within another, so that I could lengthen it at my pleasure. Then hav- ing called together as many of the head men of the nation as the throne room would hold, I requested Lord Cornucore to in- form them of the confession winch Queen Galaxa had made ; namely, that in reality damozel Glow Stone was princess Crys- tallina and princess Crystallina was damozel Glow Stone.
They were stricken speechless by this piece of information, but when Lord Cornucore went on to tell tlie whole story and to explain to them why the queen had practised this deception
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upon them, they broke out into the wildest lamentation, rejoeat- ing over and over again in piteous tones, —
“ A speck in her heart ! A speck in her heart ! O dire mis- fortune ! O woful day ! She never can he our princess if she hath a speck in her heart I ” By this time my arrangements were complete. I had placed the princess Crystallina just out- side the door of the throne room where she stood concealed be- hind the thick hangings, and near her I had stationed Doctor Nebulosus with a large circular mirror of burnished silver in his hand. Calling out in a loud voice for silence, I thus addressed the weeping subjects of Queen Galaxa : —
“O Mikkamenkies, Men of Goggle Land, Transparent Folk, I count myself most happy to be among you at this hour and to be permitted, by your gracious queen, to raise my voice in de- fence of the unfortunate princess with the speck in her heart. Being of noble birth and an inhabitant of another world, it was lawful for me to look through the sorrowing princess, and I have done it. Yes, Mikkamenkies, I have gazed upon her heart ; I have seen the speck within it I Give ear. Men of Goggle Land, and you shall know how that speck came there ; for it is not, as you doubtless think, a coal-black spot within that fair enclosure, clearer than the columns of Galaxa’s throne. Oh, no, Mikkamen- kies, a thousand times no : it is a tiny blemish of reddish hue, a drop of princely blood from the upper world, which I inhabit, and this drop in all these countless centuries has coursed through the veins of a thousand kings, and still kept its roseate glow, still remembered the glorious sunshine which called it into being; and now. Men of Goggle Land, lest you think that for some dark purpose of mine own I speak other than the pure and sober truth, behold, I show you the fair Crystallina’s heart, in its very life and being as it is, beating and throbbing with hope and fear comingled. Look and judge for yourselves ! And with this I signalled to those on the outside of the palace to carry out mj^ instructions.
In an instant the thick curtains were drawn and the throne
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room was ^^'rapped in darkness, and at the same moment Doctor Nebulosus, with his mirror, caught the strong, white rays of light and threw them upon Ciystallina’s body, while I through an opening in the hangings made haste to apply the tube to which the lens had been fitted, and, catching the reflected image of her heart, threw it up in plain and startling view upon the opposite wall of the throne room. Upon seeing how small the speck was and how truthfully I had described it, the Mikkamenkies fell a-weeping for purest joy, and then, as if with one voice, they burst out, —
“ Long live the fair princess Crystallina with the ruby speck in her heart ! and ten thousand blessings on the head of little Baron Trump and Lord Bulger for saving our land from cruel dissensions I ” The people on the outside took up the cry, and in a few moments the whole city was thronged with bands of Queen Galaxa’s subjects, singing and dancing and telling of their love for the fair princess with the ruby speck in her heart. I had kept my word — Queen Galaxa would have at least three hours of complete happiness ere her heart ran down.
But suddenly the River of Liglit began to flicker and dim its flood of brilliant white rays.
Night was coming. Noiselessly, as if by magic, the Mikka- menkies faded from my sight, stealing away in search of beds, and as the gloom crept into the great throne room, some one plucked me gently by the liand and a soft voice whispered, —
“ I love ! I love thee ! Oh, who other than I can tell how I love thee ! ” and then a grip stronger than that gentle hand seized me by the skirt of my coat and dragged me away slowly, but surely, away, through the darkness, through the gloom, out into the silent streets, ever away until at last that soft voice, choking with a sob, ceased its pleading and gasped, “ Fare- well, oh, farewell ! I dare go no farther I ” And so Bulger, in his wisdom, led me on and ever on out of the City of the Mik- kamenkies, out upon the Marble Highway !
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CHAPTER XIV
BULGER AND I TURN OUR BACKS ON THE FAIR DOMAIN OF
QUEEN CRYSTALLINA. — NATURE’S WONDERFUL SPEAKING-
TUBE. — crystallina’s attempt to turn us back. —
HOW I KEPT BULGER FROM YIELDING. — SOME INCIDENTS
OF OUR JOURNEY ALONG THE MARBLE HIGHWAY, AND HOW
WE CAME TO THE GLORIOUS GATEWAY OF SOLID SILVER.
Me, the sorrowing Sebastian, loaded with as heavy a lieart as ever a mortal of my size had borne away with him, did the wise Bulger lead along the broad and silent highway, farther and yet farther from the city of the Mikkamenkies, until at last the music of the fountains pattering in their crystal basins died away in the distance and the darkness far behind me. I felt that my wise little brother was right, and so I followed on after, with not a sigh or a syllable to stay him.
But he halted at last, and, as I felt about me, I discovered that I was standing beside one of the richly carved seats that one so often meets with along the Marble Highwa3^ I was quite as foot-weary as I was heart-heav^y and reaching out I touched the spring which I knew would transform the seat into a bed. and clambering upon it with my wise Bulger nestled beside me, I soon fell into a deep and refreshing sleep.
When I aAvoke and, sitting up, looked back toward Queen Crystallina’s capital, I could see the River of Light pouring down its flood of white rays far away in the distance ; but only a faint reflection came out to where we had passed the night, and then I knew that my faithful companion had led me to the verj’ uttermost limit of the Mikkamenky domain before he had halted. Yes, sure enough, for, as I raised m3" eyes, there tower- ing above the bed stood the slender crystal column which
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marked the end of Goggle Land, and upon its face I read the extract from a royal decree forbidding a Mikkamenky to over- step this limit under pain of incurring the queen’s most serious displeasure.
Before me was darkness and uncertainty ; behind me lay tlie fair Kingdom of the Transparent Folk yet in sight, lighted up like a long line of happy homes in which the fires were blazing bright and warm on the hearthstones.
Did I turn back? Did I hesitate? No. I could see a pair of speaking eyes fixed upon me, and could hear a low whine of impatience coaxing me along.
Stooping down, I fastened a bit of silken cord taken from the bed to Bulger’s collar and bade him lead the way.
It was a long while before the light of Queen Crystallina’s city faded away entirely, and even when it ceased to be of any service in making known to me the grandeur and beauty of the vast underground passage, I could still see it glitter like a silver star away, away behind me.
But it disappeared at last, and then I felt that I had parted forever with the dear little princess with the speck in her heart.
Bulger didn’t seem to have the slightest difficulty in keeping in the centre of the Marble Highway, and never allowed the leading string to slack up for a moment. However, it was by no means a tramp through utter darkness, for the lizards of which I have already spoken, aroused by the sound of my foot- falls, snapped their tails and lighted up their tiny flash torches in eager attempts to discover whence the noise proceeded, and what sort of a being it was that had invaded their silent domains. AVe had covered possibly two leagues when suddenly a low and mysterious voice, as soft and gentle as if it had dropped from the clear, starry heavens of my own beautiful world, reached my ear.
“ Sebastian ! Sebastian ! ” it murmured. Before I could stop to think, I uttered a cry of wonder, and the noise of my voice
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seemed to awaken ten thousand of the tiny living flash lights inhabiting the cracks and crevices of the vast arched corridor, flooding it for a moment or so with a soft and roseate radiance.
“ Sebastian ! Sebastian ! ” again murmured the mellow and echo-like voice, coming from the very walls of rock beside me.
Hastily drawing near to the spot whence the words seemed to come, I laid my ear against the smooth face of the rock. Again the same soft-sighing voice pronounced my name so clearly and so close beside me that I reached out to grasp Crystallina’s hand, for hers was the voice, — the same low, sweet voice that had told me of her sorrow in the Spectral Garden ; but there was no one there. In reaching out, however, I had passed my left hand along the face of the wall, and it had marked the presence of a round smooth opening in its rock}' face, an open- ing about the size of a rain-water pipe in the upper world.
Instantly it flashed upon my mind that through some whim of nature this opening extended for leagues back towards the city of the Mikkamenkies through the miles of solid rock, and opened in the very Throne Room of the Princess Crystal! ina.
Yes, I was right, for after a moment or so again the same low, sweet voice came through the speaking-tube of nature’s own making and fell upon my eager ear.
I waited until it had ceased, and setting my mouth in front of the opening I murmured in strong but gentle tones, —
“ Farewell, dear Princess Crystallina. Bulger and the little baron both bid thee a long farewell ! ” and then raising Bulger in my arms, I bade him weep for his royal friend whom he would never see again.
He gave a long, low, piteous cry, half-whine, half-howl, and then I listened for Crvstallina’s voice. It was not long in coming.
“Farewell, dear Bulger; farewell, dear Sebastian! Crystal- lina will never forget you until her poor heart with the speck in it runs down and the Crystal Throne knows her no more.” Poor Bulger ! It now became my turn to tear him from this
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spot, for Ciystallina’s voice, sounding thus unexpectedly in his ears, had aroused all the deep affection which he had so ruth- lessly smothered in order to bring his little master to his senses and free him from the charm of Ciystallina’s grace and beauty. But in vain. All my strength, all my entreaties, were powerless to move him from the place.
Evidently Crystallina had heard me pleading with Bulger and had imagined that now I would waver and stand irresolute.
“ Heed dear Bulger’s prayer, O beloved,” she pleaded, “ and turn back, turn back to thy disconsolate Crystallina, whom thou madest so happy for a brief moment ! Turn back ! Oh, turn back ! ” Bulger now began to whine and cry most piteously. I felt that something must be done at once, or the most direful consequences might ensue — that Bulger, crazed by the sweet tones of Crystallina’s voice, might break away from me and dart away in mad race back to the city of the Mikkamenkies, back to the fair young queen of the Crystal Throne.
It became necessary for me to resort to trick and artifice to save my dear little brother from his own loving heart. Drawing his head up against my body and covering his eyes with my left arm, I quickly unloosened my neckerchief, and thrusting it into this wonderful speaking-tube closed it effectively.
And thus I saved my faithful Bulger from himself, thus I closed his ears to the music of Crystallina’s voice ; but it was not until after a good hour’s waiting that he could bring himself to believe that his beloved friend would speak no more.
After several hours more of journeying along the Marble Highway a speck of light caught my eye, far on ahead, and I redoubled my pace to reach it quickly. I was soon rewarded for my trouble by entering a wonderful chamber, circular in form, with a domed roof. In the centre of this fair temple of the underground world sprang a glorious fountain with a mighty rush of waters which brought with them such a phosphorescence that this vast round chamber was lighted up with a pale yellow light in which the countless crystals of the roof and sides sparkled magnificently.
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Here we passed the night, or what I called the night, refresh- ing ourselves with food which I had brought from the Kingdom of the Mikkamenkies, and drinking and bathing in the wonder- ful fountain which leaped into the air with a rush and a whir, and filled it with a strange and fitful radiance. Upon awaking both Bulger and I felt greatly refreshed both in body and mind, and we made haste to seek out the lofty portal opening upon the Marble Highway, and were soon trudging along it again. Hour after hour we kept on our feet, for something told me that we could not be far away from the confines of some other domain of this World within a World; and this inward prompt- ing of mine proved to be correct, for Bulger suddenly gave a joyful bark and began to caper about as much as to say, —
“ O little mastei', if thou only hadst my keen scent, thou wouldst know that we are drawing near to human habitations of some kind ! ”
Sure enough, in a few moments a faint light came creeping in beneath the mighty arches of the broad corridor, and every instant it gathered in strength until now I could see clearly about me, and then all of a sudden I caught sight of the source of this shy and unsteady light. There in front of me towered two gigantic candelabra of carved and chased and polished sil- ver, both crowned with a hundred lights, one on each side of the Marble Highway — not the dull, soft flames of oil or wax, but the white tongues of fire produced by ignited gas escaping from the chemist’s retort.
It was marvellous, it was magnificent, and I stood looking up at these great clusters of tongues of flames, spellbound by the glorious illumination thus set in silent majesty at this gate- way to some city of the under World.
Bulger’s warning growl brought me to myself, but I must end this chapter here, dear friends, and halt to collect my thoughts before I proceed to tell you what I saw after passing this glo- rious gateway illumined by these two gigantic candelabra of solid silver.
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CHAPTER XV
THE GUARDS AT THE SILVER GATEWAY. — WHAT THEY WERE LIKE. — OUR RECEPTION BY THEM. — I MAKE A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. — THE WORLD’S FIRST TELEPHONE. — BULGER AND I SUCCEED IN MAKING FRIENDS WITH THESE STRANGERS. — A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SOODOPSIES, THAT IS, MAKE BELIEVE EYES, OR THE FORMIFOLK, THAT IS, ANT PEOPLE. — HOW A BLIND MAN MAY READ YOUR WRITING.
O GREAT Don Fnm, Master of all Masters, what do I not owe thee for having made known unto me the existence of this wonderful World within a World! Would that I had been a worker in metal ! I would not have passed the glorious portal at which I had halted without having set in deep intaglio upon its silver columns the full name of the most glorious scholar whom the world has ever known. Bulger had warned me that this gateway was guarded, and therefore I entered it cautiously, taking care to peer into the dark corners lest I might be a tar- get for some invisible enemy to hurl a weapon at.
No sooner had I passed the gateway than three curious little beings of about my own height threw themselves swiftly and silently across the pathway. They wore short jackets, knee- breeches, and leggings reacliing to their ankles, but no hats or shoes, and their clothes were profusely decorated with beautiful silver buttons.
Their hands and feet and heads seemed much too large for their little bodies and pipe-stemmy legs, and gave them an un- canny and brownie look, which was greatly increased by the staring and glassy expression of their large, round eyes. When I first caught sight of them they had hold of hands, but now they stood each with his pair stretched out toward Bulger and
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me, waving them strangely in the air and agitating their long fingers as if they were endeavoring to set a spell upon us.
I imagined that I could feel a sensation of drowsiness creep- ing over me and made haste to call out: —
“Nay, good people, do not strive to set a spell upon me. I am the illustrious explorer from the upper world, — Sebastian von Troomp, — and come to you with most peaceful intent.”
But they paid no heed to my words, merely advancing a few inches and with outstretched hands continued to beat and claw the air, pausing only to signal to each other by touching each other’s hands or different parts of each other’s bodies. I was deeply perplexed by their actions, and took a step or two for- ward when instantly they fell back the same distance.
“ All men are brothers,” I exclaimed in a loud tone, “ and carry the same shaped hearts in their breasts. Why do you fear me? You are thrice my number and in your own home. I pray you stand fast and speak to me ! ”
As I was pronouncing these words, they kept jerking their heads back as if the sound of my voice were smiting them in the face. It was very strange. Suddenly one of them drew from his pocket a ball of silken cord, and, deftly unrolling it, tossed one end toward me. It flew directly towards me, for its end was weighed with a thin disk of polished silver, as was the end retained in the hand of the thrower. His next move was to open his jacket and apparently press his disk against his bare body right over his heart. I made haste to do the same with mine, holding it firmly in place. This done, he retreated a step or two until the silken cord had been drawn quite taut. Then he paused and stood for several instants without moving a muscle, after which he passed the disk to one of his compan- ions, who, having pressed it against liis heart in turn, passed it to the third of the group.
With the quickness of thought the truth now burst upon me : The three brownie-like creatures in front of me were not only blind, but they were deaf and dumb. The one sense upon which
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they relied, and which in them was of most marvellous keenness, was the sense of feeling. The strange motions of their hands and fingers, so much like the beating and waving of an insect's feelers, were simply to intercept and measure the vibrations of the air set in motion by the movements of my body. Their large round eyes, too, had but the sense of feeling, but so won- drously acute was it that it was almost like the power of sight, enabling them by the vibration of the air upon the balls to tell exactly how near a moving object is to them. Their purpose in ihrowing the silken cord and silver disk to me was by measur- ing the beating of my heart and comparing it with their own to determine whether I was liuman like them.
Judge of my astonishment, dear friends, upon seeing one of their number point to the silver disk and, by means of sign-lan- guage, give me to understand that they wanted to feel the heart of the living creature in my company.
Stooping down, 1 hastened to gratify their curiosity by apply- ing it over my dear Bulger’s lieart.
At once there Avas an expression of most comical amazement depicted on their faces as they passed the disk from one to the other and pressed it against different parts of their bodies — now against their breasts, noAv against their cheeks, and even against their closed eyelids. Of course I kneAV that their amazement proceeded from the rapid beating of Bulger’s heart, and I enjoyed their childlike surprise very much. All expression of fear now vanished from their faces, and I was delighted with the look of SAveet temper and good humor that played about their features, uoav Avreatlied in smiles.
Slowly and on tip-toe they dreAV near to Bulger and me and for several minutes amused themselA'es mightily by running their long, flexible fingers hither and thither over our bodies.
It did not take them long to discoA^er that I Avas to all intents and purpose a creature of their own kind, but not so with Bulgrer. Their round faces became seamed and lined Avith
o
wonder as they made themselves ac(iuainted Avith his, to them.
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strange build, and ever and anon as they felt him over would they pause and in lightning-like motions of their fingers on each other’s hands and arms and faces exchange thoughts as to the wonderful being which had entered the portal of their city.
No doubt you are dying of impatience, dear friends, to be told something more definite concerning these strange people among whom I had fallen. Well, know, then, that their existence had been darkly hinted at in the manuscript of the Great Master, Don Fum. I say darkly hinted at, for you must bear in mind that Don Fum never visited this World within a World; that his wonderful wisdom enabled him to reason it all out without see- ing it, just as the great naturalists of our day, upon finding a single tooth belonging to some gigantic creature which lived thousands of years ago, are able to draw complete pictures of him.
Well, these curious beings whose city Bulger and I had entered are called by two different names in Don Fum’s won- derful book. In some places he speaks of them as the Soodop- sies, or Make-believe Eyes, and in others as the Formifolk or Ant People. Either name was most appropriate, their large, round, clear eyes being really make-believe ones, for, as I have told you, they had absolutely no sense of sight ; while on the other hand, the fact that they were deaf, dumb, and blind, and lived in underground homes, made them well entitled to the name of Ant People. In a few moments the three Soodopsies had succeeded in teaching me the main principles of their pres- sure-language, so that I was, to their great delight, enabled to answer a number of their questions.
But think not, dear friends, that these very wise and active little folk, skilled in so many arts, have no other language than one consisting of pressures of different degree, made by their finger-tips upon each other’s bodies. They had a most beautiful language, so rich that they were able to express the most diffi- cult thoughts, to give utterance to the most varied emotions ; in short, a language quite the equal of ours in all respects save
THE FORMIFOLK TRY THE BEAT OF THE BARON’S HEART BY TELEPHONE.
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one — it contained absolutely no word that could give them the faintest notion what color was. This is not to be wondered at, for they themselves neither had nor could have even the faint- est conception of what I meant by color, so that when I at- tempted to make them understand that our stars were bright points in the sky, they asked me if they would prick my finger if I should press upon one of them. But you doubtless are anxious to know how the Formifolk can possibly make use of any other language than that of pressures. Well, I will tell you. Every Soodopsy carried at his girdle a little blank-book, if I may so term it, the covers being of thin silver plates vari- ously carved and chased as the owner’s taste may prompt. The leaves of this book also consist of thin sheets of silver not much thicker than our tin-foil ; also fastened to his girdle by a silken cord hangs a silver pen or, rather, a stylus. Now, when a Soo- dopsy wishes to say something to one of his people, something too difficult to express by pressures of the finger-tips, he simply turns over a leaf of the silver against the inside of either cover, both of which are slightly padded, and taking up his stylus proceeds to write out what he wishes to say ; and this done he deftly tears the leaf out and hands it to his companion, who taking it and turning it over, runs the wonderfully sensitive tips of his fingers over the raised writing and reads it with the greatest ease ; only of course he reads from right to left instead of from left to light, as it was written. So, hereafter, when I repeat my conversations with the Formifolk, you will under- stand how they were conducted.
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CHAPTER XVI
IDEAS OF THE FORMIFOLK CONCERNING OUR UPPER WORLD. — THE DANCING SPECTRE. — THEIR EFFORTS TO LAY HOLD OF HIM. — MY SOLEMN PROMISE THAT HE SHOULD BEHAVE HIM- SELF. — WE SET OUT FOR THE CITY OF THE MAKE-BELIEVE EYES. — MY AJVIAZEMENT AT THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE APPROACHES TO IT. — WE REACH THE GREAT BRIDGE OF SILVER, AND I GET MY FIRST GLANCE OF THE CITY OF CAN- DELABRA. — BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE WONDERS SPREAD OUT BEFORE MY EYES. — EXCITEMENT OCCASIONED BY OUR ARRIVAL. — OUR SILVER BED-CHAMBER.
Although thousands and thousands of years had gone by siiuie the Formifolk had, by constant exposure to the flicker and glare of the burning gas which their ancestors had dis- covered and made use of to illumine their underground world, gradually lost their sense of sight, and then in consequence of the deep and awful silence that forever reigned about them had also lost their sense of hearing and naturally thereafter their power of speech, yet, marvellous to relate, they still kept within tlieir minds dim and shadowy traditions of the upper world, and the “ mighty lamp,” as they called the sun, which burned for twelve hours and then went out, leaving the world in darkness until the spirits of the air could trim it again. And, strange to sa}', many of the unreal things of the upper world had been by the workings of their minds transformed into realities, while the realities had become the merest cobwebs of the brain. For instance, the shadows cast by our bodies in the sunlight and forever following at our heels they had come to think were actual creatures, our doubles, so to speak, and that on account of these “ dancing spectres,” as they called them, which dogged
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our footsteps for our life long, sitting like marjoys at our feasts, it was utterly impossible for the people of the upper world to be entirely happy as they were, and it occurred to them at once that I must have such a double following at my heels, so several times they suddenly joined hands, and, forming a circle about me, gradually closed up with intent to lay hold of the dancing spectre. This they did, too, after I had assured them that what they had in mind was the mere shadow cast by a person walking in the light. But as they had absolutely no idea of the nature of light, I only had my trouble for my pains.
Nor did they give over making every now and then the most frantic and laughable efforts to catch the little dancing gentle- man who, as they were bound to think, was quietly trudging along at my heels, but who, so they informed me, was far quicker in his motions than any escaping water or falling object. Finally, they held one of their silent but very excited powwows, during which the thousand lightning-like pressures and tappings which they made upon each other’s bodies gave the spectator the idea that they were three deaf and dumb schoolboys engaged in a scrimmage over a bag of marbles, and then they informed me that they had resolved to permit Bulger and me to enter their city provided I would give them the word of a nobleman that I would restrain my nimble-footed double from doing them any harm.
I made them a most solemn promise that he should behave himself. Whereupon they greeted both Bulger and me as brothers, stroking our hair, patting our heads, and kissing me on the cheeks, and, what was more, they told us their names, wliich were Long Thumbs, Square Nose, and Shaggy Brows.
All this time I had been every now and then casting anxious glances on ahead of me, for I was dying of impatience to enter the marvellous city of the Ant People.
I say marvellous, dear friends, for though many had been the wonderful things I had seen in my lifetime in the far-away corners of the upper world, yet here was a sight which, as it
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gradually unfolded itself before my eyes, shackled my very heart and caused me to gasp for breath. It was with no little sur- prise at the very outset that I discovered that the walls and floor of the beautiful passage through which the Soodopsies were leading Bulger and me were of pure silver, the former being composed of polished panels ornamented with finely executed chasings and carvings, and the latter, as had in fact all the floors and streets and passages of the city having upon their polished surfaces slightly raised characters which I will explain later. But as one passage opened into another, and then four or more all centred in a vast circular chamber which we traversed with our three silent guides only to enter chambers and corridors of greater size and beauty, all brilliantly lighted by rows of the same glorious candelabra upholding clusters of tongues of flame — I could compare the scene to nothing save a series of magnifi- cent ball-rooms and banquet-halls, out of which the happy guests had been suddenly driven by the deep and awful rumble of an earthquake shock, the lights having been left burning.
Now the scene began to change. Long Thumbs, who was leading the way, and in whose large palm my little hand lay completely lost, suddenly turned to the right and led me up an arched way. I saw that we were crossing a bridge over a stream as black and sluggish as Lethe itself.
But such a bridge ! Never had my eye rested upon so light and airy a span, springing from bank to bank ; not the plain and solid work of the stone-mason, but the fair and cunning re- sult of the metal worker’s skill, like the labor of love, dehcate, yet strong, and almost too beautiful for use.
Two rows of silver lamps of exquisite workmanship crowned its gracefully arching sides, and when we stood upon its highest bend, Long Thumbs halted and wrote upon his tablet : “Now, little baron, we are about to enter the dwelling-place of our people. Thy head is large, and there is, no doubt, much of wisdom stored away in thy brain. Make such use of it as not to disturb the perfect happiness of our nation, for no doubt
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many of our people will be suspicious of thee, and for the first time in thousands of years a Soodopsy will lay him down to sleep, and in his dreams feel the touch of the dancing spectre of the upper world.” I promised Long Thumbs that he should have no reason to be dissatisfied with me, and then making an excuse that I was a-weary, I feasted my eyes for several moments upon the glorious scene spread out before me.
It was the city of the Formifolk in all its splendor — a splen- dor, alas, unseen by, unknown to, the very people dwelling in it, for to them its silver walls and arches, its endless rows of glorious candelabra uplifting their countless clusters of never- dying jets of flame, its exquisitely carved and chiselled portals and gateways, its graceful chairs and settees and beds and couches and tables and lamps and basins and ewers and thou- sands of articles of furniture all in purest silver, hammered or wrought by the cunning hands of their ancestors while they still were possessed of the power of sight, could only be known to these, their descendants, by the sole sense of feeling.
From the lofty ceilings of corridors and archways, from the jutting ornaments of the house-fronts, from cornice and coping, from the four sides of columns, and from the corners of cupolas and minarets, here and there and everywhere hung silver lamps of more than Oriental beauty of form and finish, all with their never-dying tongues of flame sending forth a soft though unsteady light to fall upon sightless eyes !
But yet these countless flames, by the aid of which I was enabled to gaze upon the splendor of this city of silver palaces, were life if not light to the Soodopsies, for they warmed these vast subterranean depths and filled them with a deliciously soft and strangely balmy air.
And yet to think that Bulger and I were the only two living creatures to be able to look upon this scene of almost celestial beauty and radiance !
It made me sad, and plunged me into such a fit of deep abstraction that it required a second gentle tug of Long Thumbs’ hand to bring me to myself.
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As we crossed the bridge and entered the city proper, I was delighted to note that the streets and open squares were orna- mented with hundred of statues all in solid silver, and that they represented specimens of a race of great beauty of person ; and then it occurred to me how fortunate it was that the Soo- dopsies could not gaze upon these images of their ancestors and thus become living witnesses of their own woful falling- away from the former physical grace of their race.
Now, like human ants that they were, the Formifolk began to swarm forth from their dwellings on every side of the city, and my keen ear caught the low shuffling sound of their bare feet over the silver streets as they closed in about us, their arms flashing in the light and their faces lined with strange emotions as they learned of the arrival among them of two creatures from the upper world. They were all clad, men and women alike, in silk garments of a chestnut brown, and I at once concluded that they drew this material from the same sources as the Mikkamen- kies, for, dear friends, you must not get an idea that the Formi- folk were not well deserving of the name which Don Fum had bestowed upon them. They were genuine human ants and, ex- cept when sleeping, always at work.
It was true that since their blindness had come upon them they had not been able to add a single column or archway to the Silver City, but in all the ordinary concerns of life they were quite as industrious as ever, chasing, carving, chiselling, planting, weaving, knitting, and doing a thousand and one things that you and I with our two good eyes would find it hard to accomplish.
I had made known to Long Thumbs the fact that Bulger and I were both very tired and weary from our long tramp, and that we craved to have some refreshment set before us, and then to be permitted to go to rest at once, promising that after we had had several hours’ good sleep we would take the greatest pleasure in being presented to the worthy inhabitants of the Silver City.
It was astonishing with what rapidity this request of mine spread from man to man. Long Thumbs made it known to two at
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the same time, and these two to four, and these four to eight, and these eight to sixteen, and so on. You see it wouldn’t take long at that rate to tell a million.
Like magic the Formifolk disappeared from the streets, and in a sort of orderly confusion faded from my sight. Bulger and I were right glad to be conducted to a silver bed-chamber, where the traveller’s every want seemed to be anticipated. The only thing that bothered us was, we had not been accustomed to keep the light burning upon going to bed, and this made us both a little wakeful at first ; but we were too tired to let it keep us from dropping off after a few moments, for the mattress was soft and springy enough to satisfy any one, and I’m sure that no one could have complained that the house wasn’t quiet enough.
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CHAPTER XVII
IN WHICH YOU READ, DEAR FRIENDS, SOMETHING ABOUT A LIVE ALARM CLOCK AND A SOODOPSY BATHER AND RUBBER. — OUR FIRST BREAKFAST IN THE CITY OF SILVER. — A NEW WAY TO CATCH FISH WITHOUT HURTING THEIR FEELINGS. — HOW THE STREETS AND HOUSES WERE NUMBERED, AND WHERE THE SIGNBOARDS WERE. — A VERY ORIGINAL LI- BRARY IN WHICH BOOKS NEVER GET DOG-EARED. — HOW VELVET SOLES ENJOYED HER FAVORITE POETS. — I AM PRESENTED TO THE LEARNED BARREL BROW, WHO PRO- CEEDS TO GIVE ME HIS VIEWS OF THE UPPER WORLD. — THEY ENTERTAINED ME AJVIAZINGLY AND MAY INTEREST YOU.
I can’t tell you, dear friends, exactly how long Bulger and I slept, but it must have been a good while, for when I was awakened I felt thoroughly refreshed. I say awakened, for I was awakened by a gentle tapping on the back of my hand — six taps.
At first I thought I was dreaming, but, upon rubbing my eyes, I saw standing by the side of my bed one of the Soodopsies who, feeling me stir, took up his tablet and wrote as follows : — “ My name is Tap Hard. I am a clock. There is a score of us. We keep the time for our people by counting the swing of the pendulum in the Time House. It swings about as fast as we breathe. There are one hundred breaths to a minute and one hundred minutes to an hour. Our day is divided into six hours’ worktime and six hours’ sleeptime. It is now the rising hour. If thou wilt be pleased to rise, one of our people from the Health House will rub all the tired out of thy limbs.
I touched Tap Hard’s heart to thank him, and made haste to scramble out of bed. Now, for the first time, I looked about the
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silver chamber in which I had slept. On silver shelves lay silver combs and silver shears and silver knives ; on a silver stand stood a silver ewer within a silver basin ; on silver pegs hung silken towels, while spread upon the silver floor lay soft, silken rugs, and above and around on ceiling and walls the tongues of flame were a thousand times repeated in the panels of burnished silver.
I had made trial of all sorts of Oriental rubber and bath at- tendants in my day, but the silent little Soodopsy who laved and rubbed and tapped and stroked me exceeded them all in dexterity, added to which was a new charm, for I was not obliged to listen to long and senseless tales of adventure and intrigue, but was left quite alone to my own thoughts. Bulger was also treated to a sponging and a rubbing — a luxury which he had not enjoyed since we had left Castle Trump.
]\Iy toilet was no sooner completed than Long Thumbs made his appearance to inquire after my health and to superintend the serving of my breakfast, which consisted of a piece of most delicate boiled fish flanked with oysters of delicious flavor, and trimmed with slices of those monstrous