The Fire People

  CHAPTER XIII.

  THE CAPTIVE EARTH-MAN.

  As we came out of the valley I had my first view of the Great City. Itoccupied a huge, mound-shaped circular mountain which rose alone out ofthe wide plain that spread before me. As far as I could see extended arich muddy soil partially covered with water. A road led out of thevalley, stretching across these wet fields toward the base of themountain. It was built on an embankment some eight or ten feet high, ofthe red, metallic ore of the mountains.

  All along the base of this embankment, with their roots in the water,graceful trees like palms curved upward over the road. The landscape wasdotted with these and other tropical trees; the scene was, indeed,essentially tropical.

  I wondered at the continued absence of sight of human beings. The fieldswere quite evidently under cultivation. A rise of ground off to the leftwas ridged with terraces. As we passed on along the road I saw a rude formof plow standing where it had been left in a field which evidently wasproducing rice or something akin to it. Yet there was not a person insight. Only ahead in the sky I could see a little cluster of black dotsthat Miela said was a group of females hovering about the summit of theGreat City.

  "It is the time of sleep now, Alan," she said, in answer to my question.

  I had not thought of that. It was broad daylight, but here on Mercurythere was no day or night, but always the same half light, as of a cloudyday.

  The mountain on which the city was built was dotted thickly with palms,and as we approached I made out the houses of the city, set amid thetrees, with broad streets converging at the top. As we came still closer Isaw that the summit of the mountain was laid out like some beautifultropical garden, with a broad, low-lying palace in its center.

  When we were still a mile or so away from the outskirts of the city Mielaspoke in her soft native tongue to Anina. The girl smiled at me inparting, and, unwinding the veil from about her breast, flew into the air.

  We stood watching her as she winged her way onward toward the sleepingcity. When she had dwindled to a tiny speck I sighed unconsciously andturned away; and again Miela smiled at me with comprehension.

  We started forward, Miela chattering now like a little child. She seemedeager to tell me all about the new world of hers I was entering, and therewas indeed so much to tell she was often at a loss what to describe first.

  She named the cereal which constituted the only crop to which these marshlands were suitable. From her description I made out it was similar torice, only of a somewhat larger grain. It formed, she said, the staplearticle of food of the nation.

  As we approached the base of the Great City mountain the ground begangradually rising. The drainage thus afforded made it constantly drier aswe advanced. It assumed now more the character of a heavy loam.

  Still farther on we began passing occasional houses--the outskirts of thecity itself. They were square, single-story, ugly little buildings, builtof reddish stone and clay, flat-roofed, and raised a foot or two off theground on stone pilings. They had large rectangular windows, most of themopen, a few with lattice shades. The doorways stood open without sign of adoor; access to the ground was obtained by a narrow board incline.

  Interspersed with these stone houses I saw many single-room shacks,loosely built of narrow boards from the palm trees, and thatched withstraw. In these, Miela explained, lived poorer people, who worked in therice fields for the small land owners.

  We reached the base of the mountain proper, and I found myself in a broadstreet with houses on both sides. This street seemed to run directly tothe summit of the mountain, sloping upward at a sharp angle. We turnedinto it and began our climb into the sleeping city. It was laid outregularly, all its principal streets running from the base of the mountainupward to its summit, where they converged in a large open space in whichthe castle I have already mentioned was situated. The cross-streets formedconcentric rings about the mountain, at intervals of perhaps five hundredfeet down its sides--small circles near the top, lengthening until at thebase the distance around was, I should judge, ten miles or more.

  We climbed upward nearly to the summit; then Miela turned into one of thecross-streets. I had found the climb tremendously tiring, though Mielaseemed not to notice it unduly, and I was glad enough when we reached thisstreet which girdled the mountain almost at the same level. We had goneonly a short distance along it, however, when Miela paused before a houseset somewhat back from the road on a terrace.

  "My home," she said, and her voice trembled a little with emotion. "_Our_home it shall be now, Alan, with Lua and Anina, our mother and sister."

  A low, bushy hedge separated the street from a garden that surrounded thehouse. The building was of stone, two stories in height. It was coveredwith a thick vine bearing a profusion of vivid red flowers. On its flatroof were tiny palm trees, a pergola with trellised vines, and still moreflowers, most of them of the same brilliant red. The whole was surroundedby a waist-high parapet.

  One corner of the roof was covered with thatch--a little nest where onemight be sheltered from the rain, and in which I could see a bed of palmfiber. At one side of the house a tremendous cluster of bamboo curvedupward and over the roof. A path of chopped coconut husks led from thestreet to a short flight of steps in the terrace at the front entrance.

  We passed along this path and entered through the open doorway directlyinto what I judged was the living room of the dwelling. It was some thirtyfeet long and half as broad, with a high ceiling and stone floor. Itsthree windows fronted the garden we had just left; in its farther wall alow archway led into an adjoining room. The furniture consisted only oftwo or three small tables and several low, wide couches, all of bamboo.

  A woman and the girl Anina rose as we entered. Anina ran toward useagerly; the elder woman stood, quietly waiting. She was about forty yearsof age, as tall as Miela, but heavier of build. She was dressed in loosesilk trousers, gathered at waist and ankle; and a wide sash that coveredher breast. Her hair was iron gray, cut short at the base of the neck.From her shoulders I saw hanging a cloak that entirely covered her wings.

  As she turned toward us I saw a serious, dignified, wholly patrician face,with large, kindly dark eyes, a high, intellectual forehead, and a firmyet sensitive mouth. She was the type of woman one would instinctivelymark for leader.

  Miela ran forward to greet her mother, falling upon her knees and touchingher forehead to the elder woman's sandaled feet. As she rose I could seethere were tears in the eyes of them both. Then Miela presented me. Istood for an instant, confused, not knowing quite what I should do.

  Miela laughed her gay little laugh.

  "Bow low, Alan--as I did--to our mother."

  I knelt to her respectfully, and she put her hands lightly upon my head,speaking low words of greeting. Then, as I stood up again, I met her eyesand smiled an answer to the gentle smile on her lips. From that moment Ifelt almost as though she were my own mother, and I am sure she took methen into her heart as her son.

  The introduction over, I turned toward one of the windows, leaving Mielato talk with her mother. Anina followed me, standing timidly by my side,with her big, curious eyes looking up into my face.

  "You're a sweet, dear little sister," I said, "and I _am_ going to loveyou very much."

  I put my arm about her shoulders, and she smiled as though she understoodme, yielding to my embrace with the ready friendship of a child. For somemoments we stood together, looking out of the window and talking to eachother with words that were quite unintelligible to us both. Then Mielasuddenly called me.

  "We shall eat now, Alan," she said, "for you are hungry, I know. And abovethere is water, that we may wash." Her face clouded as she went on: "Ourmother has told me a little that has happened. It is very serious, Alan,as you shall hear. Tao, with his great news of your wonderful world, isvery fast winning over our men to his cause. A revolt, there may be, herein our own city--a revolution against our government, our king. We canonly look to you now, my husband, to save our countr
y from Tao as well asyour own."

  The situation as I found it in the Light Country was, as Miela said,alarmingly serious. During the two years Tao had been in the TwilightCountry, preparing for his attack upon the earth, his project had causedlittle stir among the Light Country people.

  Its women were, at first, perturbed at this wanton attack upon thehumanity of another world, but since the earth was such an unknownquantity, and the fact of its being inhabited at all was problematical,interest in the affair soon lagged. The government of the Light Countryconcerned itself not at all.

  But now, upon Tao's return, the news of his venture, as told by theemissaries he sent to the Light Country, struck its people like abombshell. These emissaries--all men--had come to the Great City, and,finding their presence tolerated by the authorities, had immediatelystarted haranguing the people.

  The men were inclined to listen, and many of them openly declared theirsympathy with Tao. These, however, were for the most part of the poorer,more ignorant classes, or those more adventurous, less scrupulousindividuals to whom the prospect of sudden riches appealed.

  "Why doesn't your government just throw Tao's men out if they're causingso much trouble?" I asked. "They never should have been allowed in thecountry at all."

  Miela smiled sadly.

  "That is so, my husband. That should have been done; but now it is toolate. Our men would protect them now, declaring their right to stay hereand speak. There might be bloodshed among our people, and that must notbe."

  "Are they armed?" I asked.

  She shook her head. "No one is armed with the light-ray. To carry it is acrime punishable by death, for the light is too destructive."

  "But Tao has it?"

  "Tao has it, indeed, but he is not so great a monster that he would use itagainst us."

  I was not so sure of that, and I said so. "You don't mean to tell me,Miela, that your government has allowed Tao to prepare all thisdestructive armament without itself arming?"

  Again she shook her head. "We have been preparing, too, and all our youngmen can be called if occasion comes. But that must never be. It would betoo terrible."

  * * * * *

  Miela and I occupied, that first night on Mercury, a broad wooden bedbuilt low to the floor, with a mattress of palm fiber. At first I couldnot sleep, but lay thinking over the many things she had told me. Thelight in the room, too, was strange. Lattice covered the windows, but itwas like trying to sleep at midday; and the heat and heaviness of the airoppressed me. I dropped off finally, to be awakened by Miela's voicecalling me to breakfast.

  We sat down to the morning meal at a low table set with shining plates andgoblets of copper, or whatever the metal was, and napery of silk. The riceformed our main article of food, with sugar, milk, and a beverage notunlike coffee. There was also a meat like beef, although more highlyflavored, and a number of sickish sweet fruits of a kind entirely new tome, which I could do no more than taste.

  We were served by a little maid whose darker skin and heavier featuresproclaimed her of another race--a native of the Fire Country, Miela toldme. She was dressed in a brown tunic of heavy silk, reaching from waist toknee. Her thick black hair was cut to her shoulders.

  On her left arm above the elbow was welded a broad band of copperinscribed with a mark to identify Lua as her owner, for she was a slave.Her torso was bare, except for a cloak like Lua's which hung from hershoulders in the back to cover her wings. By this I knew she could notfly.

  It was not until some time afterward that I learned the reason for thiscovering of the clipped wings. The wing joints were severed just above thewaist line. The feathers on the remaining upper portions were clipped, butthrough disuse these feathers gradually dropped out entirely.

  The flesh and muscle underneath was repulsive in appearance--for whichreason it was always kept covered. Lua showed me her wings once--mereshrunken stumps of what had once been her most glorious possession. I didnot wonder then that the women were ready to fight, almost, rather thanpart with them.

  Difficulties of language made our conversation during the meal somewhathalting, although Miela acted as interpreter. Lua and Anina both expressedtheir immediate determination to learn English, and, with the samepersistence that Miela had shown, they set aside nearly everything else toaccomplish it.

  We decided that we should see the king and arrange our future course ofaction. Whatever was to be done should be done at once--that we allagreed--for Tao's men were steadily gaining favor with a portion of thepeople, and we had no means of knowing what they would attempt to do.

  "What will your people think of me?" I suddenly asked Miela.

  "We have sent our king word that you are here," she answered, "and we haveasked that he send a guard to take you to the castle this morning."

  "A guard?"

  She smiled. "It is better that the people see you first as a man ofimportance. You will go to the king under guard. Few will notice you. Thenwill he, our ruler, arrange that you are shown to the people as a greatman--one who has come here to help us--one who is trusted and respected byour king. You see, my husband, the difference?"

  I did, indeed, though I wondered a little how I should justify thisexalted position which was being thrust upon me. After breakfast Lua andAnina busied themselves about the house, while Miela and I went to therooftop to wait for the king's summons. From here I had my first reallygood view of the city at close range.

  Miela's home sat upon a terrace, leveled off on the steep hillside; allthe houses in the vicinity were similarly situated. Behind us the mountainrose steeply; in front it dropped away, affording an extended view of thelevel, palm-dotted country below.

  The slope of hillside rising abruptly behind us held another house justabove the level of the rooftop we were on. As I sat there looking idlyabout I thought I saw a figure lurking near this higher building. I calledMiela's attention to it--the obscure figure of a man standing against ahuge palm trunk.

  As we watched the figure stepped into plainer view. I saw then it _was_ aman, evidently looking down at us. I stood up. There was no one else insight except a woman on the roof of the other house holding an infant.

  Something about the man's figure seemed vaguely familiar; my heart leapedsuddenly.

  "Miela," I whispered, "surely that--that is no one of your world."

  Her hand clutched my arm tightly as the man stepped forward again andwaved at us. I crossed the rooftop, Miela following. At my sudden motionthe man hesitated, then seemed about to run. I hardly know what thoughtsimpelled me, but suddenly I shouted: "Wait!"

  At the sound of my voice he whirled around, stopped dead an instant, andthen, with an answering call, came running down the hillside.

  "The earth-man!" cried Miela. "The earth-man of Tao it must be."

  We hurried down through the house and arrived at its back entrance. Comingtoward us at a run across the garden was the man--unmistakably one of myown world.

  My hurried glance showed me he was younger than I--a short, stocky,red-headed chap, dressed in dirty white duck trousers and a torn whitelinen shirt.

  He came on at full speed.

  "Hello!" I called.

  He stopped abruptly. For an instant we stared at each other; then hegrinned broadly.

  "Well, I don't know who _you_ are," he ejaculated, "but I want to say itcertainly does me good to see you."