CHAPTER XXIV - WINTER.
Hitherto I had experienced only the tropical climate of Mars, with theexception of the short time spent in the northern temperate zone aboutthe height of its summer. I was anxious, of course, to see somethingalso of its winter, and an opportunity presented itself. Noinstitution was more obviously worth a visit than the great Universityor principal place of highest education in this world, and I wasinvited thither in the middle of the local winter. To this Universitymany of the most promising youths, especially those intended for anyof the Martial professions--architects, artists, rulers, lawyers,physicians, and so forth--are often sent directly from the schools, orafter a short period of training in the higher colleges. It is situatefar within the north temperate zone on the shore of one of the longestand narrowest of the great Martial gulfs, which extends fromnorth-eastward to south-west, and stretches from 43 deg. N. to 10 deg. S.latitude. The University in question is situate nearly at theextremity of the northern branch of this gulf, which splits into twoabout 300 miles from its end, a canal of course connecting it with thenearest sea-belt. I chose to perform this journey by land, followingthe line of the great road from Amacasfe to Qualveskinta for about 800miles, and then turning directly northward. I did not suppose that Ishould find a willing companion on this journey, and was myselfwishful to be alone, since I dared not, in her present state ofhealth, expose Eveena to the fatigue and hardship of prolonged wintertravelling by land. To my surprise, however, all the rest, when awarethat I had declined to take her, were eager to accompany me. Chieflyto take her out of the way, and certainly with no idea of findingpleasure in her society, I selected Enva; next to Leenoo the mostmalicious of the party, and gifted with sufficient intelligence torender her malice more effective than Leenoo's stupidity could be.Enva, moreover, with the vigorous youthful vitality-so often found onEarth in women of her light Northern complexion, seemed less likely tosuffer from the severity of the weather or the fatigue of a landjourney than most of her companions. When I spoke of my intention toDavilo, I was surprised to find that he considered even femininecompany a protection.
"Any attempt upon you," he said, "must either involve your companion,for which there can be no legal excuse preferred, or else expose theassailant to the risk of being identified through her evidence."
I started accordingly a few days before the winter solstice of theNorth, reaching the great road a few miles from the point at which itcrosses another of the great gulfs running due north and south, at itsnarrowest point in latitude 3 deg. S. At this point the inlet is no morethan twenty miles wide, and its banks about a hundred feet in height.At this level and across this vast space was carried a bridge,supported by arches, and resting on pillars deeply imbedded in thesubmarine rock at a depth about equal to the height of the land oneither side. The Martial seas are for the most part shallow, thelandlocked gulfs being seldom 100 fathoms, and the deepest oceansoundings giving less than 1000. The vast and solid structure lookedas light and airy as any suspension bridge across an Alpine ravine.This gigantic viaduct, about 500 Martial years old, is still the mostmagnificent achievement of engineering in this department. The mainroads, connecting important cities or forming the principal routes ofcommerce in the absence of convenient river or sea carriage, arecarried over gulfs, streams, ravines, and valleys, and through hills,as Terrestrial engineers have recently promised to carry railways overthe minor inequalities of ground. That which we were following is anespecially magnificent road, and signalised by several grandexhibitions of engineering daring and genius. It runs from Amacasfefor a thousand miles in one straight line direct as that of a Romanroad, and with but half-a-dozen changes of level in the wholedistance. It crossed in the space of a few miles a valley, or ratherdell, 200 feet in depth, and with semi-perpendicular sides, and astream wider than the Mississippi above the junction of the Ohio. Nextit traversed the precipitous side of a hill for a distance of three orfour miles, where Nature had not afforded foothold for a rabbit or asquirrel. The stupendous bridges and the magnificent open road cut inthe side of the rock, its roof supported on the inside by the hillitself, on the outside by pillars left at regular intervals when thestone was cut, formed from one point a single splendid view. Pointingit out to Enva, I was a little surprised to find her capable, underthe guidance of a few remarks from myself, of appreciating and takingpride in the marvellous work of her race. In another place, a tunnelpierced directly an intervening range of hills for about eight miles,interrupted only in two points by short deep open cuttings. Thispassage, unlike those on the river previously mentioned, wasconstantly and brilliantly lighted. The whole road indeed was lit upfrom the fall of the evening to the dispersion of the morning mistwith a brilliancy nearly equal to that of daylight. As I dared nottravel at a greater rate than twenty-five miles per hour--myexperience, though it enabled me to manage the carriage withsufficient skill, not giving me confidence to push it to its greatestspeed--the journey must occupy several days. We had, therefore, torest at the stations provided by public authority for travellersundertaking such long land journeys. These are built like ordinaryMartial houses, save that in lieu of peristyle or interior garden isan open square planted with shrubs and merely large enough to affordlight to the inner rooms. The chambers also are very much smaller thanthose of good private houses. As these stations are nearly alwaysplaced in towns or villages, or in well-peopled countryneighbourhoods, food is supplied by the nearest confectioner to eachtraveller individually, and a single person, assisted by the ambau, isable to manage the largest of them.
The last two or three days of our journey were bitterly cold, and nota little trying. My own undergarment of thick soft leather kept mewarmer than the warmest greatcoat or cloak could have done, though Iwore a large cloak of the kargynda's fur in addition--the prize of thehunt that had so nearly cost me dear, a personal and very graciouspresent from the Campta. My companion, who had not the formeradvantage, though wrapped in as many outer garments and quilts as Ihad thought necessary, felt the cold severely, and felt still more thedense chill mist which both by night and day covered the greater partof the country. This was not infrequently so thick as to rendertravelling almost perilous; and but that an electric light, requiredby law, was placed at each end of the carriage, collisions would havebeen inevitable. These hardships afforded another illustration of thesubjection of the sex resulting from the rule of theoretical equality.More than a year's experience of natural kindness and considerationhad not given Enva courage to make a single complaint; and at firstshe did her best to conceal the weeping which was the only, but almostcontinuous, expression of her suffering. She was almost as muchsurprised as gratified by my expressions of sympathy, and the troubleI took to obtain, at the first considerable town we reached, anapparatus by which the heat generated by motion itself was made tosupply a certain warmth through the tubular open-work of the carriageto the persons of its occupants. The cold was as severe as that of aSwedish winter, though we never approached within seventeen degrees ofthe Arctic circle, a distance from the Pole equivalent to that ofNorthern France. The Martial thermometer, in form more like awatch-barometer, which I carried in my belt, marked a cold equivalentto 12 deg. below zero C. in the middle of the day; and when left in thecarriage for the night it had registered no less than 22 deg. below zero.
One of the Professors of the University received us as his guests,assigning to us, as is usual when a lady is of the party, roomslooking on the peristyle, but whose windows remained closed. Enva, ofcourse, spent her time chiefly with the ladies of the family. Whenalone with me she talked freely, though needing some encouragement toexpress her own ideas, or report what she had heard; but she had nointention of concealment, perhaps no notion that I was interested inher accounts of the prevalent feeling respecting the heretics of whomshe heard much, except of course that Eveena's father was among them.Through her I learned that much pains had been taken to intensify andexcite into active hostility the dislike and distrust with which theyhad always been regarded by
the public at large, and especially by thescientific guilds, whose members control all educationalestablishments. That some attempt against them was meditated appearedto be generally reported. Its nature and the movers in the matter werenot known, so far as I could gather, even to men so influential as thechief Professors of the University. It was not merely that the womenhad heard nothing on this point, but that their lords had droppedexpressions of surprise at the strictness with which the secret waskept.
As their parents pay, when first the children are admitted to thepublic Nurseries, the price of an average education, this specialinstruction is given in the first instance at the cost of the State tothose who, on account of their taste and talent, are selected by theteachers of the Colleges. But before they leave the University a bondis taken for the amount of this outlay, which has to be repaid withinthree years. It is fair to say that the tax is trivial in comparisonwith the ordinary gains of their professions; the more so that no suchpreference as, in our world, is almost universally given to areputation which can only be acquired by age, excludes the youth ofMars from full and profitable employment.
The youths were delighted to receive a lecture on the forms ofTerrestrial government, and the outlines of their history; a topic Iselected because they were already acquainted with the substance ofthe addresses elsewhere delivered. This afforded me an opportunity ofmaking the personal acquaintance of some of the more distinguishedpupils. The clearness of their intellect, the thoroughness of theirknowledge in their several studies, and the distinctness of theiracquaintance with the outlines and principles of Martial learninggenerally,--an acquaintance as free from smattering and superficialityas necessarily unembarrassed by detail,--testified emphatically to theexcellence of the training they had received, as well as to thehereditary development of their brains. What was, however, not lessstriking was the utter absence at once of what I was accustomed toregard as moral principle, and of the generous impulses which in youthsometimes supply the place of principle. They avowed the most absoluteselfishness, the most abject fear of death and pain, with a franknessthat would have amazed the Cynics and disgusted the felons of almostany Earthly nation. There were partial exceptions, but these were tobe found exclusively among those in training for what we should callpublic life, for administrative or judicial duties. These, thoughprofessing no devotion to the interest of others, and little thatcould be called public spirit, did nevertheless understand that inreturn for the high rank, the great power, and the liberalremuneration they would enjoy, they were bound to consider primarilythe public interest in the performance of their functions--the rightof society to just or at least to carefully legal judgment, anddiligent efficient administration. Their feeling, however, was ratherprofessional than personal, the pride of students in the perfection oftheir art rather than the earnestness of men conscious of grave humanresponsibilities.
In conversing with the chief of this Faculty, I learned somepeculiarities of the system of government with which I was not yetacquainted. Promotion never depends on those with whom a publicservant comes into personal contact, but on those one or two stepsabove the latter. The judges, for instance, of the lower rank areselected by the principal judge of each dominion; these and theirimmediate assistants, by the Chief of the highest Court. The officersaround and under the Governor of a province are named by the Regent ofthe dominion; those surrounding the Regent, as the Regent himself, bythe Sovereign. Every officer, however, can be removed by his immediatesuperior; but it depends on the chief with whom his appointment rests,whether he shall be transferred to a similar post elsewhere or simplydismissed. Thus, while no man can be compelled to work withinstruments he dislikes, no subordinate is at the mercy of personalcaprice or antipathy.
Promotion, judicial and administrative, ends below the highest point.The judges of the Supreme Court are named by the Sovereign--with theadvice of a Council, including the Regents, the judges of that Court,and the heads of the Philosophic and Educational Institutes--fromamong the advocates and students of law, or from among the ablestadministrators who seem to possess judicial faculties. The code iswritten and simple. Every dubious point that arises in the course oflitigation is referred, by appeal or directly by the judge who decidesit, to the Chief Court, and all points of interpretation thusreferred, are finally settled by an addition to the code at itsperiodical revision. The Sovereign can erase or add at pleasure tothis code. But he can do so only in full Council, and must hear,though he need not regard, the opinions of his advisers. He can,however, suspend immediately till the next meeting of the Council theenforcement of any article.
The Regents are never named from among subordinate officials, nor is aRegent ever promoted to the throne. It is held that the qualitiesrequired in an absolute Sovereign are not such as are demanded from orlikely to be developed in the subordinate ruler of a dominion howeverimportant, and that functions like those of a Regent, at least asimportant as those of the Viceroy of India, ought not to be entrustedto men trained in subaltern administrative duties. Among the youths ofgreatest promise, in their eighth year, a certain small number areselected by the chiefs of the University, who visit for this purposeall the Nurseries of the kingdom. With what purpose these youths areseparated from their fellows is not explained to them. They arecarefully educated for the highest public duties. Year by year thosedeemed fitter for less important offices are drafted off. There remainat last the very few who are thought competent to the functions ofRegent or Campta, and from among these the Sovereign himself selectsat pleasure his own successor and the occupant of any vacant Regency.The latter, however, holds his post at first on probation, and can, ofcourse, be removed at any time by the Sovereign. If the latter shouldnot before his death have named his own successor, the Council by aprocess of elimination is reduced to three, and these cast lots whichshall name the new Autocrat from among the youths deemed worthy of thethrone, of whom six are seldom living at the same time. No Prince isever appointed under the age of fourteen (twenty-seven) or over thatof sixteen (thirty). No Campta, has ever abdicated; but they seldomlive to fall into that sort of inert indolence which may be called thedotage of their race. The nature of their functions seems to preservetheir mental activity longer than that of others; and probably theyare not permitted to live when they have become manifestly unfit orincapable to reign.
When first invited to visit the University, I had hoped to make itonly a stage and stepping-stone to something yet more interesting--tovisit the Arctic hunters once more, and join them in the most excitingof their pursuits; a chase by the electric light of the great Amphibiaof the frozen sea-belt immediately surrounding the permanent ice-capof the Northern Pole. For this, however, the royal licence wasrequired; and, as when I made a similar request during the fur-chaseof the Southern season, I met with a peremptory refusal. "There aretwo men in this world," said the Prince, "who would entertain such awish. _I_ dare not avow it; and if there were a third, he wouldassuredly be convicted of incurable lunacy, though on all other pointshe were as cold-blooded as the President of the Academy or theVivisector-General." I did not tell Eveena of my request till it hadbeen refused; and if anything could have lessened my vexation at theloss of this third opportunity, it would have been the expression ofher countenance at that moment. Indeed, I was then satisfied that Icould not have left her in the fever of alarm and anxiety that anysuspicion of my purpose would have caused.
I seized, however, the opportunity of a winter voyage in a smallvessel, manned by four or five ocean-hunters, less timid andsusceptible to surface disturbances than ordinary seamen. On such anexcursion, Enva, though a far less pleasant companion, was a lessanxious charge than Eveena. We made for the Northern coast, and ranfor some hundred miles, along a sea-bord not unlike that of Norway,but on a miniature scale. Though in some former age this hemisphere,like Europe, has been subject to glacial action much more general andintense than at present, its ice-seas and ice-rivers must always havebeen comparatively shallow and feeble. Beaching at last a break in thelon
g line of cliff-guarded capes and fiords, where the sea, halfcovered with low islands, eats a broad and deep ingress into theland-belt, I disembarked, and made a day's land journey to thenorthward.
The ground was covered with a sheet of hard-frozen snow about eighteeninches deep, with an upper surface of pure ice. For the ordinarycarriage, here useless, was substituted a sledge, driven from behindby an instrument something between a paddle-wheel and a screw, worked,of course, by the usual electric machinery. The cold was far moreintense than I had ever before known it; and the mist that fell at theclose of the very short zyda of daylight rendered it all butintolerable. The Arctic circular thermometer fell to within a fewpoints from its minimum of--50 deg. Centigrade [?]. No flesh could endureexposure to such an atmosphere; and were not the inner mask andclothing of soft leather pervaded by a constant feeble current ofelectricity....
As we made our way back to the open sea, the temptation to disobey theroyal order was all but irresistible. No fewer than three kargyndauwere within shot at one and the same time; plunging from the shore ofan icy island to emerge with their prey--a fish somewhat resemblingthe salmon in form and flavour. My companions, however, were terrifiedat the thought of disobedience to the law; and as we had but onemordyta (lightning-gun) among the party, and the uncertainty of theair-gun had been before proven to my cost, there was some force intheir supplementary argument that, if I did not kill the kargynda, itwas probable that the kargynda might board us; in which event our casewould be summarily disposed of, without troubling the Courts orallowing time to apply, even by telegraph, for the royal pardon. I wassuggesting, more to the alarm than amusement of the crew, that wemight close the hatches, and either carry the regal beast awaycaptive, or, at worst, dive and drown him--for he cannot swim veryfar--when their objections were enforced in an unexpected manner. Wewere drifting beyond shot of the nearest brute, when the threesuddenly plunged at once, and as if by concert, and when they rose,were all evidently making for the vessel, and within some eightyyards. I then learnt a new advantage of the electric machinery, ascompared with the most powerful steam-engine. A pressure upon abutton, and a few seconds sufficed to exchange a speed of four for oneof twenty miles an hour; while, instead of sinking the vessel belowthe surface, the master directed the engine to pump out all the liquidballast she contained. The waterspout thus sent forth half-drowned theenemy which had already come within a few yards of our starboardquarter, and effectually-scared the others. It was just as well thatEnva, who heartily hated the bitter cold, was snugly ensconced in thewarm cushions of the cabin, and had not, therefore, the opportunity ofgiving to Eveena, on our return, her version of an adventure whosealarming aspect would have impressed them both more than its ludicrousside, For half a minute I thought that I had, in sheer folly, exposedhalf a dozen lives to a peril none the less real and none the moresatisfactory that, if five had been killed, the survivor could nothave so told the story as to avoid laughing--or being laughed at.
Sweet and serene as was Eveena's smile of welcome, it could notconceal the traces of more than mere depression on her countenance.Heartily willing to administer an effective lesson to her tormentors,I seized the occasion of the sunset meal to notice the weary andharassed look she had failed wholly to banish.
"You look worse each time I return, Madonna. This time it is notmerely my absence, if it ever were so. I will know who or what hasdriven and hunted you so."
Taken thus by surprise, every face but one bore witness to the truth:Eveena's distress, Eunane's mixed relief and dismay, shared in yetgreater degree by Velna, who knew less of me, the sheer terror andconfusion of the rest, were equally significant. The Martial judge whosaid that "the best evidence was lost because colour could not betested or blushes analysed," would have passed sentence at once. Butif Eive's air of innocent unconsciousness and childish indifferencewere not sincere, it merited the proverbial praise of consummateaffectation, "more golden than the sun and whiter than snow." Eveena'smomentary glance at once drew mine upon this "pet child," but neitherdisturbed her. Nor did she overact her part. "Eive," said Enva oneday, "never salts her tears or paints her blushes." As soon as shecaught my look of doubt--
"Have _I_ done wrong?" she said, in a tone half of confidence, half ofreproach. "Punish me, then, Clasfempta, as you please--with Eveena'ssandal."
The repartee delighted those who had reason to desire any diversion.The appeal to Eveena disarmed my unwilling and momentary distrust.Eveena, however, answered by neither word nor look, and the partypresently broke up. Eive crept close to claim some silent atonementfor unspoken suspicion, and a few minutes had elapsed before, to theevident alarm of several conscious culprits, I sought Eveena in herown chamber.
In spite of all deprecation, I insisted on the explanation she hadevaded in public. "I guess," I said, "as much as you can tell me about'the four.' I have borne too long with those who have made your lifethat of a hunted therne, and rendered myself anxious and restlessevery day and hour that I have left you alone. Unless you will denythat they have done so---- Well, then, I will have peace for you andfor myself. I cannot leave you to their mercy, nor can I remain athome for the next twelve dozen days, like a chained watch-dragon. Passthem over!" (as she strove to remonstrate); "there is something newthis time. You have been harassed and frightened as well as unhappy."
"Yes," she admitted, "but I can give nothing like a reason. I dare notentreat you not to ask, and yet I am only like a child, that wakesscreaming by night, and cannot say of what she is afraid. Ought shenot to be whipped?"
"I can't say, bambina; but I should not advise Eive to startle _you_in that way! But, seriously, I suppose fear is most painful when ithas no cause that can be removed. I have seen brave soldierspanic-stricken in the dark, without well knowing why."
I watched her face as I spoke, and noted that while the pet name I hadused in the first days of our marriage, now recalled by her image,elicited a faint smile, the mention of Eive clouded it again. She wasso unwilling to speak, that I caught at the clue afforded by hersilence.
"It _is_ Eive then? The little hypocrite! She shall find your sandalheavier than mine."
"No, no!" she pleaded eagerly. "You have seen what Eive is in yourpresence; and to me she is always the same. If she were not, could Icomplain of her?"
"And why not, Eveena? Do you think I should hesitate between you?"
"No!" she answered, with unusual decision of tone. "I will tell youexactly what you would do. You would take my word implicitly; youwould have made up your mind before you heard her; you would dealharder measure to Eive than to any one, _because_ she is your pet; youwould think for once not of sparing the culprit, but of satisfying me;and afterwards"----
She paused, and I saw that she would not conclude in words a sentenceI could perhaps have finished for myself.
"I see," I replied, "that Eive is the source of your trouble, but notwhat the trouble is. For her sake, do not force me to extort the truthfrom her."
"I doubt whether she has guessed my misgiving," Eveena answered. "Itmay be that you are right--that it is because she was so long the onlyone you were fond of, that I cannot like and trust her as you do.But ... you leave the telegraph in my charge, understanding, of course,that it will be used as when you are at home. So, after Davilo'swarning, I have written their messages for Eunane and the others, butI could not refuse Eive's request to write her own, and, like you, Ihave never read them."
"Why?" I asked. "Surely it is strange to give her, of all, a specialprivilege and confidence?"
Eveena was silent. She could in no case have reproached me in words,and even the reproach of silence was so unusual that I could not butfeel it keenly. I saw at that moment that for whatever had happened ormight happen I might thank myself; might thank the doubt I would notavow to my own mind, but could not conceal from her, that Eveena hadcondescended to something like jealousy of one whose childishsimplicity, real or affected, had strangely won my heart, as childrendo win hearts hardened by experience of life's ro
ughness and evil.
"I know nothing," Eveena said at last: "yet somehow, and whollywithout any reason I can explain, I fear. Eive, you may remember, has,as your companion, made acquaintance with many households whose headsyou do not believe friends to you or the Zinta. She is a diligentcorrespondent. She never affects to conceal anything, and yet no oneof us has lately seen the contents of a note sent or received by her."
There was nothing tangible in Eveena's suspicion. It was mostrepugnant to my own feelings, and yet it implanted, whether by forceof sympathy or of instinct, a misgiving that never left me again.
"My own," I answered, "I would trust your judgment, your observationor feminine instinct and insight into character, far sooner than myown conclusions upon solid facts. But instincts and presentiments,though we are not scientifically ignorant enough to disregard them,are not evidence on which we can act or even inquire."
"No," she said. "And yet it is hard to feel, as I cannot help feeling,that the thunder-cloud is forming, that the bolt is almost ready tostrike, and that you are risking life, and perhaps more than life, outof a delicacy no other man would show towards a child--since child youwill have her--who, I feel sure, deserves all she might receive fromthe hands of one who would have the truth at any cost."
"You feel," I answered, "for me as I should feel for you. But is deathso terrible to _us_? It means leaving you--I wish we knew that it doesnot mean losing for ever, after so brief an enjoyment, all that isperishable in love like ours--or it would not be worth fearing. Idon't think I ever did fear it till you made my life so sweet. Butlife is not worth an unkindness or injustice. Better die trusting tothe last than live in the misery and shame of suspecting one I love,or dreading treacherous malice from any hand under my own roof."
When I met Davilo the next morning, the grave and anxious expressionof his face--usually calm and serene even in deepest thought, as arethose of the experienced members of an Order confident in theconsciousness of irresistible secret power--not a little disturbed me.As Eveena had said, the thunder-cloud was forming; and a chill went tomy heart which in facing measurable and open peril it had never felt.
"I bring you," he said; "a message that will not, I am afraid, bewelcome. He whose guest you were at Serocasfe invites you to pay himan immediate visit; and the invitation must be accepted at once."
I drew myself up with no little indignation at the imperative tone,but feeling at least equal awe at the stern calmness with which themandate was spoken.
"And what compels me to such haste, or to compliance withoutconsideration?"
"That power," he returned, "which none can resist, and to which youmay not demur."
Seeing that I still hesitated--in truth, the summons had turned myvague misgiving into intense though equally vague alarm and eventerror, which as unmanly and unworthy I strove to repress, but whichasserted its domination in a manner as unwonted as unwelcome--he drewaside a fold of his robe, and showed within the silver Star of theOrder, supported by the golden sash, that marked a rank second only tothat of the wearer of the Signet itself. I understood too well by thistime, through conversations with him and other communications of whichit has been needless to speak, the significance of this revelation. Iknew the impossibility of questioning the authority to which I hadpledged obedience. I realised with great amazement the fact that asecondary position on my own estate, and a personal charge of my ownsafety, had been accepted by a Chief of the Zinta.
"There is, of course," I replied at last, "no answer to a mandate soenforced. But, Chief, reluctant as I am to say it, I fear--fear as Ihave never done before; and yet fear I cannot say, I cannot guesswhat."
"There is no cause for alarm," he said somewhat contemptuously. "Inthis journey, sudden, speedy, and made under our guard as on oursummons, there is little or none of that peril which has beset you solong."
"You forget, Chief," I rejoined, "that you speak to a soldier, whosechosen trade was to risk life at the word of a superior; to one whoseyouth thought no smile so bright as that of naked steel, and had often'kissed the lips of the lightning' ere the down darkened his own. Atany rate, you have told me daily for more than a year that I am livingunder constant peril of assassination; have I seemed to quail thereat?If, then, I am now terrified for the first time, that which I dread,without knowing or dreaming what it is, is assuredly a peril worsethan any I have known, the shadow of a calamity against which I haveneither weapon nor courage. It cannot be for myself that I am thusappalled," I continued, the thought flashing into my mind as I spokeit, "and there is but one whose life is so closely bound with minethat danger to her should bring such terror as this. I go at yourbidding, but I will not go alone."
He paused for some time, apparently in perplexity, certainly in deepthought, before he replied.
"As you will. One thing more. The slips of tafroo with which youfurnished me have been under the eyes of which you have heard. This"(handing me the one that bore no mark) "has passed, so far as thehighest powers of the sense that is not of the body can perceive,through none but innocent hands. The hand from which you receivedthis" (the marked slip) "is spotted with treason, and may to-morrow bered."
I was less impressed by this declaration than probably would have beenany other member of the Order. I had seen on Earth the most marvellousperceptions of a perfectly lucid vision succeeded, sometimes withinthe space of the same day, by dreams or hallucinations the mostabsolutely deceptive. I felt, therefore, more satisfaction in theacquittal of Eunane, whom I had never doubted, than trouble at thegrave suspicion suggested against Eive--a suspicion I still refused toentertain.
"You should enter your balloon as soon as the sunset mist will concealit," said Davilo. "By mid-day you may reach the deep bay on the midsea-belt of the North, where a swift vessel will meet you and conveyyou in two or three days by a direct course through the canal and gulfyou have traversed already, to the port from which you commenced yourfirst submarine voyage."
"You had better," I said, "make your instruction a little moreparticular, or I shall hardly know how to direct my course."
"Do not dream," he answered, "that you will be permitted to undertakesuch a journey but under the safest guidance. At the time I have namedall will be ready for your departure, and you have simply to sleep orread or meditate as you will, till you reach your destination."
Eveena was not a little startled when I informed her of the suddenjourney before me, and my determination that she should be mycompanion. It was unquestionably a trying effort for her, especiallythe balloon voyage, which would expose her to the cold of the mistsand of the night, and I feared to the intenser cold of the upper air.But I dared not leave her, and she was pleased by a peremptorydecision which made her the companion of my absence, without leavingroom for discussion or question. The time for our departure wasdrawing near when, followed by Eunane, she came into my chamber.
"If we are to be long away," she said, "you must say on whom mycharges are to devolve."
"As you please," I answered, sure of her choice, and well content tosee her hand over her cares to Eunane, who, if she lacked the wisdomand forbearance of Eveena, could certainly hold the reins with astronger hand.
"Eive," she said, "has asked the charge of my flowerbed; but I hadpromised it, and"----
"And you would rather give it," I answered, "to Eunane? Naturally; andI should not care to allow Eive the chance of spoiling your work. Ithink we may now trust whatever is yours in those once troublesomehands," looking at Eunane, "with perfect assurance that they will dotheir best."
I had never before parted even from Eunane with any feeling of regret;but on this occasion an impulse I could not account for, but have eversince been glad to remember, made me turn at the last moment and addto Eveena's earnest embrace a few words of affection and confidence,which evidently cheered and encouraged her deputy. The car thatawaited us was of the light tubular construction common here, formedof the silvery metal _zorinta_. About eighteen feet in length and halfthat breadth, it was divi
ded into two compartments; each, with the aidof canopy and curtains, forming at will a closed tent, and securingalmost as much privacy as an Arab family enjoys, or opening to thesky. In that with which the sails and machinery were connected wereDavilo and two of his attendants. The other had been carefully linedand covered with furs and wrappings, indicating an attention to mycompanion which indeed is rarely shown to women by their own lords,and which none but the daughter of Esmo would have received even amongthe brethren of the Order. Ere we departed I had arranged her cushionsand wrapped her closely in the warmest coverings; and flinging overher at last the kargynda skin received from the Campta, I bade hersleep if possible during our aerial voyage. There was need to provideas carefully as possible for her comfort. The balloon shot up at onceabove the evening mists to a height at which the cold was intense, butat which our voyage could be guided by the stars, invisible frombelow, and at which we escaped the more dangerously chilling damp. Thewind that blew right in our teeth, caused by no atmospheric currentbut by our own rapid passage, would in a few moments have frozen myface, perhaps fatally, had not thick skins been arranged to screen us.Even through these it blew with intense severity, and I was gladindeed to cover myself from head to foot and lie down beside Eveena.Her hand as she laid it on mine was painfully cold; but the shiveringI could hardly suppress made her anxious to part in my favour withsome at least of the many coverings that could hardly screen herselffrom the searching blast. Not at the greatest height I reached amongthe Himalayas, nor on the Steppes of Tartary, had I experienced a coldseverer than this. The Sun had just turned westward when we reachedthe port at which we were to embark. Despite the cold, Eveena hadslept during the latter part of our voyage, and was still sleepingwhen I placed her on the cushions in our cabin. The sudden and mostwelcome change from bitter cold to comfortable warmth awakened her, asit at last allowed me to sleep. Our journey was continued below thesurface at a rate of more than twelve hundred miles in the day, aspeed which made observation through the thick but perfectlytransparent side windows of our cabin impossible. I was indisposed formeditation, which could have been directed to no other subject thanthe mysterious purpose of our journey, and had not provided myselfwith books. But in Eveena's company it was impossible that the timeshould pass slowly or wearily.
In this balloon journey I had a specially advantageous opportunity ofobserving the two moons--velnaa, as they are called. _Cavelna_, orCaulna, the nearer, in diameter about 8' or a little more thanone-fourth that of our Moon, is a tolerably brilliant object, about5000 miles from the surface. Moving, like all planets and satellites,from west to east, it completes its stellar revolution and its phasesin less than seven and a half hours; the contrary revolution of theskies prolongs its circuit around the planet to a period of ten hours.Zeelna (_Zevelna_) returns to the same celestial meridian in thirtyhours; but as in this time the starry vault has completed about arotation and a quarter in the opposite direction, it takes nearly fivedays to reappear on the same horizon. It is about 3' in diameter, andabout 12,000 miles from the surface. The result of the combinedmotions is that the two moons, to the eye, seem to move in oppositedirections. When we rose above the mists, Caulna was visible as a veryfine crescent in the west; Zeelna was rising in the east, and almostfull; but hardly a more brilliant object than Venus when seen to mostadvantage from Earth. Both moved so rapidly among the stars that theircelestial change of place was apparent from minute to minute. But, asregarded our own position, the appearance was as opposite as theirdirection. Zeelna, traversing in twelve hours only one-fifth of thevisible hemisphere, while crossing in the same time 144 deg. on thezodiac--twelve degrees per hour, or our Moon's diameter in two minutesand a half--was left behind by the stars; and fixing what I may callthe ocular attention on her, she seemed to stand still while theyslowly passed her; thus making their revolution perceptible to senseas it never is on Earth, for lack of a similar standard. Caulna,rising in the west and moving eastwards, crossed the visible sky infive hours, and passed through the stars at the rate of 48 deg. per hour,so that she seemed to sail past them like a golden cloudlet orcelestial vessel driven by a slow wind. It happened this night thatshe passed over the star Fomalhaut--an occultation which I watchedwith great interest through an excellent field-glass, but which lastedonly for about half a minute. About an hour before midnight the twomoons passed each other in the Eastern sky; both gibbous at themoment, like our Moon in her last quarter. The difference in size andmotion was then most striking; Caulna seeming to rush past hercompanion, and the latter looking like a stationary star in the slowlymoving sky.