CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE DRUNKARDS' DEN.
As we progressed the voices in our rear became more faint, and yet thewhistling volleys of screeching voice bombs passed us as before. Ishuddered in anticipation of the sight that was surely to meet our gaze,and could not but tremble for fear. Then I stopped and recoiled, for atmy very feet I beheld a huge, living human head. It rested on the solidrock, and had I not stopped suddenly when I did, I would have kicked itat the next leap. The eyes of the monster were fixed in supplication onmy face; the great brow indicated intelligence, the finely-cut mouthdenoted refinement, the well-modeled head denoted brain, but the wholeconstituted a monster. The mouth opened, and a whizzing, arrow voiceswept past, and was lost in the distance.
"What is this?" I gasped.
"The fate of a drunkard," my guide replied. "This was once anintelligent man, but now he has lost his body, and enslaved his soul, inthe den of drink beyond us, and has been brought here by his comrades,who thus rid themselves of his presence. Here he must rest eternally. Hecan not move, he has but one desire, drink, and that craving, deeperthan life, can not be satiated."
"But he desires to speak; speak lower, man, or head of man, if you wishme to know your wants," I said, and leaned toward him.
Then the monster whispered, and I caught the words:
"Back, back, go thou back!"
I made no reply.
"Back I say, back to earth or--"
Still I remained silent.
"Then go on," he said; "on to your destiny, unhappy man."
"This is horrible," I muttered.
"Come," said the guide, "let us proceed."
And we moved onward.
Now I perceived many such heads about us, all resting upright on thestony floor. Some were silent, others were shouting, others still werewhispering and endeavoring to attract my attention. As we hurried on Isaw more and more of these abnormal creatures. Some were in rows,resting against each other, leaving barely room for us to pass between,but at last, much to my relief, we left them behind us.
But I found that I had no cause for congratulation, when I felt myselfclutched by a powerful hand--a hand as large as that of a man fifty feetin height. I looked about expecting to see a gigantic being, but insteadbeheld a shrunken pigmy. The whole man seemed but a single hand--aBrobdingnag hand affixed to the body of a Liliputian.
"Do not struggle," said the guide; "listen to what he wishes to impart."
I leaned over, placing my ear close to the mouth of the monstrosity.
"Back, back, go thou back," it whispered.
"What have I to fear?" I asked.
"Back, I say, back to earth, or--"
"Or what?" I said.
"Then go on; on to your destiny, unhappy man," he answered, and the handloosed its grasp.
My guide drew me onward.
Then, from about us, huge hands arose; on all sides they waved in theair; some were closed and were shaken as clenched fists, others movedaimlessly with spread fingers, others still pointed to the passage wehad traversed, and in a confusion of whispers I heard from the pigmyfigures a babble of cries, "Back, back, go thou back." Again Ihesitated, the strain upon my nerves was becoming unbearable; I glancedbackward and saw a swarm of misshaped diminutive forms, each holding upa monstrous arm and hand. The passage behind us was closed againstretreat. Every form possessed but one hand, the other and the entirebody seemingly had been drawn into this abnormal member. While I thusmeditated, momentarily, as by a single thought each hand closed,excepting the index finger, and in unison each finger pointed towardsthe open way in front, and like shafts from a thousand bows I felt thevoices whiz past me, and then from the rear came the reverberation as acomplex echo, "Then go on; on to your destiny, unhappy man."
Instinctively I sprang forward, and had it not been for the restraininghand of my guide would have rushed wildly into passages that might haveended my misery, for God only knows what those unseen corridorscontained. I was aware of that which lay behind, and was only intent onescaping from the horrid figures already passed.
"EACH FINGER POINTED TOWARDS THE OPEN WAY IN FRONT."]
"Hold," whispered the guide; "as you value your life, stop."
And then exerting a power that I could not withstand, he held me astruggling prisoner.
"Listen," he said, "have you not observed that these creatures do notseek to harm you? Have not all of them spoken kindly, have any offeredviolence?"
"No," I replied, "but they are horrible."
"That they realize; but fearing that you will prove to be as weak asthey have been, and will become as they are now, they warn you back.However, I say to you, if you have courage sufficient, you need have nofear. Come, rely on me, and do not be surprised at anything thatappears."
Again we went forward. I realized now my utter helplessness. I becameindifferent again; I could neither retrace my footsteps alone, nor guidethem forward in the path I was to pursue. I submissively relied on myguide, and as stoical as he appeared to be, I moved onward to newscenes.
We came to a great chamber which, as we halted on its edge, seemed to bea prodigious amphitheater. In its center a rostrum-like stone of ahundred feet in diameter, flat and circular on the top, reared itselfabout twelve feet above the floor, and to the base of this rostrum thefloor of the room sloped evenly. The amphitheater was fully a thousandfeet in diameter, of great height, and the floor was literally alivewith grotesque beings. Imagination could not depict an abnormal humanform that did not exhibit itself to my startled gaze. One peculiaritynow presented itself to my mind; each abnormal part seemed to be createdat the expense of the remainder of the body. Thus, to my right I behelda single leg, fully twelve feet in height, surmounted by a puny humanform, which on this leg, hopped ludicrously away. I saw close behindthis huge limb a great ear attached to a small head and body; then anose so large that the figure to which it was attached was forced tohold the face upward, in order to prevent the misshaped organ fromrubbing on the stony floor. Here a gigantic forehead rested on ashrunken face and body, and there a pair of enormous feet were walking,seemingly attached to the body of a child, and yet the face was that ofa man. If an artist were to attempt to create as many revolting figuresas possible, each with some member out of proportion to the rest of thebody, he could not add one form to those upon this floor. And yet, Iagain observed that each exaggerated organ seemed to have drawn itselfinto existence by absorbing the remainder of the body. We stood on theedge of this great room, and I pondered the scene before my eyes. Atlength my guide broke the silence:
"You must cross this floor; no other passage is known. Mark well mywords, heed my advice."
"This is the Drunkards' Den. These men are lost to themselves and to theworld. Every member of this assembly once passed onward as you are nowdoing, in charge of a guide. They failed to reach the goal to which youaspire, and retreating, reached this chamber, to become victims to thedrink habit. Some of these creatures have been here for ages, othersonly for a short period."
"Why are they so distorted?" I asked.
"Because matter is now only partly subservient to will," he replied."The intellect and mind of a drunkard on surface earth becomes abnormalby the influence of an intoxicant, but his real form is unseen, althoughevidently misshapen and partly subject to the perception of a few onlyof his fellow men. Could you see the inner form of an earth surfacedrunkard, you would perceive as great a mental monstrosity as is anyphysical monster now before you, and of the two the physically abnormalcreature is really the least objectionable. Could you see the mindconfigurations of an assembly of surface earth topers, you wouldperceive a class of beings as much distorted mentally as are thesephysically. A drunkard is a monstrosity. On surface earth the mindbecomes abnormal; here the body suffers."
"Why is it," I asked, "that parts of these creatures shrink away as somespecial organ increases?"
"Because the abnormal member can grow only by abstracting its substancefrom the other portions
of the body. An increasing arm enlarges itselfby drawing its strength from the other parts, hence the body withers asthe hand enlarges, and in turn the hand shrinks when the leg increasesin size. The total weight of the individual remains about the same.
"Men on earth judge of men not by what they are, but by what they seemto be. The physical form is apparent to the sense of sight, the real manis unseen. However, as the boot that encloses a foot can not altogetherhide the form of the foot within, so the body that encloses the lifeentity, can not but exhibit here and there the character of thedominating spirit within. Thus a man's features may grow to indicate thenature of the enclosed spirit, for the controlling character of thatspirit will gradually impress itself on the material part of man. Evenon surface earth, where the matter side of man dominates, a viciousspirit will produce a villainous countenance, a mediocre mind a vapidface, and an amorous soul will even protrude the anterior part of theskull.
"Carry the same law to this location, and it will be seen that as mind,or spirit, is here the master, and matter is the slave, the same ruleshould, under natural law, tend to produce such abnormal figures as youperceive. Hence the part of a man's spirit that is endowed most highlysways the corresponding part of his physical body at the expense of theremainder. Gradually the form is altered under the relaxing influence ofthis fearful intra-earth intoxicant, and eventually but one organremains to tell of the symmetrical man who formerly existed. Then, whenhe is no longer capable of self-motion, the comrades carry thedrunkard's fate, which is here the abnormal being you have seen, intothe selected corridor, and deposit it among others of its kind, as inturn the bearers are destined sometime to be carried by others. Wereached this cavern through a corridor in which heads and arms wereabnormal, but in others may be found great feet, great legs, or otherportions of self-abused man.
"I should tell you, furthermore, that on surface earth a drunkard is notless abnormal than these creatures; but men can not see the form of thedrunkard's spirit. Could they perceive the image of the real man lifethat corresponds to the material part, it would appear not lessdistorted and hideous. The soul of a mortal protrudes from the visiblebody as down expands from a thistle seed, but it is invisible. Drinkdrives the spirit of an earth-surface drunkard to unnatural forms, notless grotesque than these physical distortions. Could you see the realdrunkard on surface earth he would be largely outside the body shell,and hideous in the extreme. As a rule, the spirit of an earth-surfacedrunkard dominates the nose and face, and if mortal man could besuddenly gifted with the sense of mind-sight, they would find themselvessurrounded by persons as misshapen as any delirious imagination canconjure. Luckily for humanity this scene is as yet withheld from man,for life would otherwise be a fearful experience, because man has notthe power to resist the temptation to abuse drink."
"Tell me," I said, "how long will those beings rest in these caverns?"
"They have been here for ages," replied the guide; "they are doomed toremain for ages yet."
"You have intimated that if my courage fails I will return to thiscavern and become as they are. Now that you have warned me of my doom,do you imagine that anything, even sudden death, can swerve me from myjourney? Death is surely preferable to such an existence as this."
"Do not be so confident. Every individual before you has had the sameopportunity, and has been warned as you have been. They could notundergo the test to which they were subjected, and you may fail.Besides, on surface earth are not men constantly confronted with thedoom of the drunkard, and do they not, in the face of this reality, turnback and seek his caverns? The journey of life is not so fearful thatthey should become drunkards to shrink from its responsibilities. Youhave reached this point in safety. You have passed the sentinelswithout, and will soon be accosted by the band before us. Listen wellnow to my advice. A drunkard always seeks to gain companions, to drawothers down to his own level, and you will be tried as never have youbeen before. Taste not their liquor by whatever form or creaturepresented. They have no power to harm him who has courage to resist. Ifthey entreat you, refuse; if they threaten, refuse; if they offerinducements, refuse to drink. Let your answer be No, and have no fear.If your strength fail you, mark well my--"
Before he could complete his sentence I felt a pressure, as of a greatwind, and suddenly found myself seized in an embrace irresistible, andthen, helpless as a feather, was swept out into the cavern of thedrunkards.