The Blind Spot
XLVI
OUT OF THE OCCULT
"HOW DID IT HAPPEN?"
"I scarcely know. We went up to play with the dog. It was unwilling toleave the place, and Aradna teasingly tried to push her off on to thesteps. She succeeded, but--well, it was all over that quick. The Aradnawas gone!"
But the Spot had by this time lost a good deal of its terror. Knowingwhat was on the other side, and who, made a great difference. As thedoctor said later in a private consultation with Chick and Harry:
"It's not so bad. That is, if Hobart Fenton is at work there. I thinkhe is. Really, I only regret that we didn't know of this beforehand; wecould have sent a message through to him."
And the professor went on to explain what he meant. At the time hespoke, it was twenty-four hours after the Aradna's going; anothertwenty-four hours would see the evening of the Last Day--the sixteenthof the sacred Days of Life--what the Rhamdas alluded to as "the Day ofJudgment." And the Mahovisal was a seething mass of humanity, all bentupon seeing the fulfillment of their highest hopes.
"Bear in mind that if the Spot should not open at the last moment, youand I are done for. We will be self-condemned 'False Ones'; our liveswill not last one minute after midnight tomorrow night if we fail to getthrough!
"That Prophecy means EVERYTHING to the Thomahlians. There was a timewhen they accepted it on faith; now it is an intellectual convictionwith every last one of them. And one and all look forward to a new andglorious life beyond the Spot--in the occult world--our world!
"Now, the ticklish part of the job will be to open the Spot just longenough to permit us to get through, yet prevent the whole Prophecy fromcoming to pass. We've got to get through, together with that black caseof mine, and then shut the door in the face of all Thomahlia!"
Nothing more was said on the subject until late the following afternoon,as the doctor, Harry, and Chick sat down to a light meal. They ate muchas if nothing whatever was in the wind. From where they sat, in one partof a wing of the temple, they could look out into the crowded streets,in which were packed untold numbers of pilgrims, all pressing towardsthe great square plaza in front of the temple. No guards were to beseen; the solemnity of the occasion was sufficient to keep order. Butthe terrific potentiality of that semi-fanatical host did not cause thedoctor's voice to change one iota.
"There is no telling what may happen," he said. "For my own part I shallnot venture near the Spot of Life until just at the end. I shall remainin the chamber underneath.
"But you two ought to show yourselves immediately after sundown. Certainancient writings indicate it. You, and the Nervina, will have to mountthe stair to the Spot, and remain in sight until midnight--until theend.
"So we must be prepared for accidents." He took some papers from hispocket, and selected two, and gave one to each of his pupils. "Here arethe details of what must be done. In case only one of us gets through,it will be enough."
"But--how can these be of any use, on such short notice?" Harry asked.
"Cudgel your brains a bit, gentlemen," he chided good-humouredly. "Youwill soon see my drift. This is one of those occasions when the psychicelements involved are such that, without doubt, it were best if youreacted naturally to whatever may happen.
"Now you will note that I have made a drawing of the Blind Spot region;also certain calculations which will explain themselves.
"Moreover, I have written out the combination to my laboratory safe inmy house in Berkeley. The green stone is there. Bertha will help, assoon as she understands that it is my wish; no explanation will beneeded.
"You may leave the rest to me, young gentlemen. Act as through youhad no notion that I was down below the Spot. I shall be merelyexperimenting a bit with that circle of jewels, to see if the phenomenawhich affected the Aradna cannot be repeated. I fancy it was not mereaccident, but rather the working of a 'period.'"
He said no more about this, except to comment that he hoped to get intodirect communication with Hobart Fenton before midnight should arrive.However, he did say, in an irrelevant sort of manner:
"Oh, by the way--do either of you happen to recall which direction thehouse at Chatterton Place faces?"
"North," replied Harry and Chick, almost in the same breath.
"Ah yes. Well, the temple faces south. Can you remember that?"
They thought they could. The rest of the meal was eaten without anydiscussion. Just as they arose, however, the doctor observed:
"It may be that Hobart Fenton has got to come through. I wish Iknew more about his mentality; it's largely a question of psychicinfluence--the combined, resultant force of the three material gems, andthe three degrees of psychic vibration as put forth by him and you two.We shall see.
"Something happened today--the Geos told me about it--which may link upHobart very definitely. It was about one o'clock when one of the templepheasants began to behave very queerly up on the great stair. It hadbeen walking around on the snow-stone, and flying a bit; then it startedto hop down the steps.
"About sixteen steps down, Geos says the pheasant stopped and beganto flutter frantically, as though some unseen person were holding it.Suddenly it vanished, and as suddenly reappeared again. It flew off,unharmed. I can't quite account for it, but--well, we'll see!"
He spoke no more, but led the way out into the entrance to the wing.There they waited only a moment or two, before the Nervina and herretinue arrived. Without delay a start was made for the great blackstairway.
The doctor alone remained behind.
There was a guard-lined lane through the crowd, allowing the Nervina andthe rest access to the foot of the steps. Reaching that point she pausedfor a look around.
The sun had just gone down; the artificial lights of the temple had notyet been turned on. Overhead, the great storm-cloud hung portentously,even more ominous than in the brighter light. The huge waterspoutcolumns, the terrific size of the auditorium, were none the lessimpressive for the incalculable horde that filled every bit of floorspace. At the front of the building the archway gave a glimpse of thevastly greater throng waiting outside.
But all was quiet, with the silence of reverence and supremeexpectation.
The long flight of stairs was lined on either side, from bottom totop, with the Rhamdas. On the landing there stood only two of the threechairs that Chick had seen on the previous occasion. The green one hadbeen brought down and placed in the centre of an open spot just at thefoot of the stairs.
In this chair sat the Bar Senestro. Deployed about him, at a respectfuldistance, was a semi-circle of the Bars, many hundreds in number. Behindthe Bars, separating them from the crowds at their backs, were groupedthe crimson and blue guardsmen. Among them, no doubt, were the Jan Lucarand the MacPherson, but Chick could locate neither.
The Nervina, taking Harry's arm, ascended the steps. Chick followed,with the Rhamda Geos at his side. At the top of the flight the Nervinawas escorted to one of the chairs, while Chick placed the Geos in theother.
It left the two Californians on their feet, to move around to whateverextent seemed commensurate with dignity. Chick drew Harry aside.
"What do you suppose," said Chick, indicating the handsome, confidentfigure in the chair at the base of the stairs--"what do you supposefriend Senestro is thinking about?"
Harry frowned. "You know him better than I do. You don't think he hasreformed?"
"Not on your life; not the Bar. He's merely adjusted his plans to thenew situation. He sees that the Prophecy is likely to be fulfilled; so,he counts on being the first to get through, after the Nervina. Then,whether the rest of the Thomahlia follows or not--he calls himself thedivinely appointed leader now, I understand--he will get through andmarry the two Queens anyhow!"
Perhaps it was because the crowd was so terrifically large. Or, theremay have been something in the destiny of things that would not permitthe chief actors to feel nervous. Certain it is that neither of the twomen experienced the least stage fright. Had they been on display beforea crowd one-te
nth the size, anywhere else, both would have been ill atease. This was different--enormously so.
No longer was there any circulation in the crowd. People remained intheir places now, just as they expected the end to find them. Chickand Harry marvelled at their composure, strangely in contrast withthe ceaseless activities of the temple pheasants darting everywhereoverhead.
Suddenly Harry remarked:
"I've got an idea, Chick! It's this: How does the professor expect tosend a message to Hobart?" Chick could not guess.
But already Harry had taken his sheet of instructions from his pocket,and was rolling it into a compact pellet. Then he went to Queen, andwith a ribbon borrowed from the Nervina, tied the message tightly to thedog's collar.
"Hobart will be certain to see it," said he. "I wonder if the doctor'sfigured it out yet?"
"He's playing with a tremendous force," observed Chick, thoughtfully.He reached out and touched the snow-stone with his foot, just as he haddone before, and fancied that he could feel that electric thrill eventhrough the leather of his shoes. "Still, it's worth any risk he maybe taking down in that chamber. If only he could send Queen through!Hobart--"
He never finished the sentence. He staggered, thrown off his balance byreason of the fact that he had been resting the weight of one foot onthe stone and--it moved!
Moved--shifted about its axis, just as it had done forty-eight hourspreviously, when the Aradna had dropped through.
And Chick had only a flash of a second for a glimpse of the startledfaces of Harry, the Nervina and the Geos, the huge multitude below thestair, Queen on the other side, and the fateful Prophecy on the wallsabove him, before--
A figure came into existence at his side. It was that of a powerfullybuilt man, on whose wrists were curious red circles. And Chick shoutedin a great voice:
"Hobart!"
And then came blackness.