CHAPTER XIII
WE FALL INTO TROUBLE AGAIN
It was not long after our visit to the marvelous fountain when Jackproposed to me that he and I should make a little excursion on our ownaccount in the city. Edmund was absent at the moment, engaged in someinquiries which interested him, under the guidance of Ala and hercustomary attendants. I forget why Jack and I had stayed behind, sinceboth Juba and Henry had accompanied Edmund, but it was probably becausewe wished to make some necessary repairs to our garments for I confessthat I shared a little of the coquettishness of Jack in that matter. Atany rate, we grew weary of being alone, and decided to venture just alittle way in search of adventure. We calculated that the tower of thepalace, which was so conspicuous, would serve us as a landmark, and thatthere was no danger of getting lost.
Nobody interfered with us at our departure, as we had feared they might,and in a short time we had become so absorbed in the strange spectaclesof the narrow streets, lined with shops and filled with people on foot,while small air ships continually passed just above the roofs, that weforgot the necessity of keeping our landmark constantly in view, and werelost without knowing it.
One thing which immediately struck us was the entire absence of beasts ofburden--nothing like horses or mules did we see. There were not evendogs, although, as I have told you, some canine-like animals dwelt withthe people of the caverns. Everybody went either on foot or in air ships.There were no carriages, except a kind of palanquin, some running onwheels and others borne by hand.
"I should think they would have autos," said Jack, "with all theirscience and ingenuity which Edmund admires so much."
But there was not a sign of anything resembling an auto; the silence ofthe crowded streets was startling, and made the scene more dreamlike.Everybody appeared to be shod with some noise-absorbing material. Westrolled along, turning corners with blissful carelessness, staring andbeing stared at (for, of course, everybody knew who we were), peeringinto open doors and the gaping fronts of bazaars, chattering like acouple of boys making their first visit to a city, and becoming everymoment more hopelessly, though unconsciously, lost, and more interestedby what we saw. The astonishing display of pleasing colors and thebrilliancy of everything fascinated us. I had never seen anythingcomparable to this in beauty, variety, and richness. We passed a marketwhere we saw some of the bright-plumaged birds that we had eaten at ourfirst repast hung up for sale. They had a way of serving these birds attable with the brilliant feathers of the head and neck still attached, asif they found a gratification even at their meals in seeing beautifulcolors before them.
Other shops were filled with birds in gilded cages, which we should havetaken for songsters but for the fact that, although crowds gathered aboutand regarded them with mute admiration, not a sound issued from theirthroats--at least we heard none. A palanquin stopped at one of theseshops, and a lady alighted and bought three beautiful birds which shecarried away in their cages, watching them with every indication of theutmost pleasure, which we ascribed to the splendor of their plumage andthe gracefulness of their forms. As a crowd watched the transactionwithout interference on the part of the shopkeeper, or evidence ofannoyance on that of the lady, we took the liberty of a close lookourselves. Then we saw their money.
"Good, yellow gold," whispered Jack.
Such, indeed, it seemed to be. The lady took the money, which consistedof slender rings, chased with strange characters, from a golden purse,and the whole transaction seemed so familiar that we might well havebelieved ourselves to be witnessing a purchase in a bazaar of Cairo orDamascus. This scene led to a desire on Jack's part to buy somethinghimself.
"If I only had some of their money," he said, "I'd like to get somecuriosities to carry home. I wonder if they'd accept these?" and he drewfrom his pocket some gold and silver coins.
"No doubt they'd be glad to have a few as keepsakes," I said.
"By Jo! I think I'll try it," said Jack, "but not here. I'm not a birdfancier myself. Let's look a little farther."
We wandered on, getting more and more interested, and followed by athrong of curious natives, who treated us, I must say, much morerespectfully than we should have been treated in similar circumstances athome. Many of the things we saw, I cannot describe, because there isnothing to liken them to, but all were as beautiful as they were strange.At last we found a shop whose contents struck Jack's fancy. The placediffered from any that we had yet seen; it was much larger, and morerichly fitted up than the others, and there were no counters, the thingsthat it contained being displayed on the inner walls, while a singlekeeper, of a grave aspect, and peculiarly attired, all in black, occupieda seat at the back. The objects on view were apparently ornaments to behung up, as we hang plaques on the wall. They were of both gold andsilver, and in some the two metals were intermixed, with pleasingeffects. What seemed singular was the fact that the _motif_ of theornaments was always the same, although greatly varied in details ofexecution. As near as I could make it out, the intention appeared to beto represent a sunburst. There was invariably a brilliant polished bossin the center, sometimes set with a jewel, and surrounding rays ofcrinkled form, which plunged into a kind of halo that encircled theentire work. The idea was commonplace, and it did not occur to me amidstmy admiration of the extreme beauty of the workmanship that there was anycause for surprise in the finding of a sunburst represented here. Jackwas enthusiastic.
"That's the ticket for me," he said. "How would one of those things lookhanging over the fireplace of old Olympus? You bet I'm going to persuadethe old chap to exchange one for a handful of good solid American money."
I happened to glance behind us while Jack was scooping his pocket, andwas surprised to see that the crowd of idlers, which had been followingus, had dispersed. Looking out of the doorway, I saw some of themfurtively regarding us from a respectful distance. I twitched Jack by thesleeve:
"See here," I said, "there's some mistake about this. I don't believethat this is a shop. You'd better be careful, or we may make a badbreak."
"Oh, pshaw!" he replied; "it's a shop all right, or if it isn't exactly ashop that old duffer will be glad to get a little good money for one ofhis gimcracks."
My suspicion that all was not right was not allayed when I noticed thatthe old man, whose complexion differed from the prevailing tone here, andwho was specially remarkable by the possession of an eagle-beaked nose, apeculiarity that I had not before observed among these people, began tofrown as Jack brusquely approached him. But I could not interfere beforeJack had thrown a handful of coin in his lap, and, reaching up, had puthis hand upon one of the curious sunbursts, saying:
"I guess this will suit; what do you say, Peter?"
Instantly the old fellow sprang to his feet, sending the coins rollingover the polished floor, and with eyes ablaze with anger, seized Jack bythe throat. I sprang to his aid, but in a second four stout fellows,darting out of invisible corners, grappled us, and before we could makeany effective resistance, they had our arms firmly bound behind ourbacks! Jack exerted all his exceptional strength to break loose, but invain.
"I tried to stop you, Jack--" I began, in a tone of annoyance, butimmediately he cut me off:
"This is on _me_, Peter; don't you worry. _You_ haven't done anything."
"I'm afraid it's on all of us," I replied. "The whole party, Edmund andall, may have to suffer for our heedlessness."
"Fiddlesticks," he returned. "I haven't got his old ornament, but he'sgot my coin. This looks like a skin game to me. What in thunder did hehang the things up for if he didn't want to sell 'em?"
"But I told you this wasn't a shop."
"No, I see it isn't; it's a trap for suckers, I guess."
Jack's indignation grew hotter as we were dragged out into the street,and followed by a crush of people drawn to the scene, were hurried along,we knew not whither. In fact, his indignation swallowed up the alarmwhich he ought to have experienced, and which I felt in full force. Ibeat my brains in vain to find some exp
lanation for the mercilessseverity with which we were treated so out of all proportion to thevenial fault that had unconsciously been committed, and my perplexitygrew when I saw in the faces of the crowd surrounding us, and running tokeep up, a look of horror, as if we had been guilty of an unspeakablecrime. We were too much hurried and jolted by our captors to address oneanother, and in a short time we were widely separated, Jack being led, orrather dragged, ahead, as if to prevent any communication between us.Once in a while, to my regret, I observed him exerting all his force tobreak his bonds and slinging his custodians about; but he could not getaway, and at last, to my infinite comfort, he ceased to struggle, andwent along as quietly as the rapid pace would permit.
Presently an air ship swooped down from above, and alighted in a littlesquare which we had just entered. Immediately we were taken aboard, withsmall regard to our comfort, and the air ship rose rapidly, and bore offin the direction of the great tower of the palace which we could now see.Upon our arrival we were taken through the inevitable labyrinth ofcorridors, and finally found ourselves in a place that was entirely newto us.
It was a round chamber, perhaps two hundred feet in diameter, lighted,like the Roman Pantheon, by a huge circular opening in the vaulted roof,through which I caught a glimpse of the pearl-tinted cloud dome, whichseemed infinitely remote. No opposition was made when I pushed ahead inorder to be at Jack's side, and as a throng quickly hedged us round, ourconductors released their hold, although our arms remained bound. When atlast we stood fast we were in front of a rich dais, containing athronelike seat occupied by a personage attired in black, the firstglimpse of whose face gave me such a shock as I had not experienced sincethe priest of the earth-worshipers seized me for his prey. I have neverseen anything remotely resembling that face. It was without beard, and ofa ghastly paleness. It was seen only in profile, except when, with alightning-like movement, it turned, for the fraction of a second, towardus, and was instantly averted again. It made my nerves creep to look atit. The nose was immense, resembling a huge curved beak, and the eyes, asblack and glittering as jet, were roofed with shaggy brows, and seemedcapable of seeing crosswise.
Sometimes one side of the face and sometimes the other was presented, thetransition being effected by two instantaneous jerks, with a slight pausebetween, during which the terrible eyes transfixed us. At such momentsthe creature--though he bore the form of a man--seemed to project hisdreadful countenance toward the object of his inspection like a monstrousbird stretching forth its neck toward its prey. The effect wasindescribable, terrifying, paralyzing! The eyes glowed like fannedembers.
"In God's name," gasped Jack, leaning his trembling shoulder upon me,"what is it?"
I was, perhaps, more unmanned than he, and could make no reply.
Then there was a movement in the throng surrounding us, and the old manof the sunbursts appeared before the throne, and, after dropping on hisknees and rising again, indicated us with his long finger, and, as wasplain, made some serious accusation. The face turned upon us again with alonger gaze than usual, and we literally shrank from it. Then its ownerrose from his seat, towering up, it seemed, to a height of full sevenfeet, shot his hand out with a gesture of condemnation, and instantly satdown again and averted his countenance. There seemed to have been a worldof meaning in this brief act to those who could comprehend it. We wereseized, even more roughly than before, and dragged from the chamber, andat the end of a few minutes found ourselves thrown into a dungeon, wherethere was not the slightest glimmer of light, and the door was lockedupon us.
It was a long time before either of us summoned up the courage to speak.At length I said faintly:
"Jack, I'm afraid it's all over with us. We must have done somethingterrible, though I cannot imagine what it was."
But Jack, after his manner, was already recovering his spirits, and hereplied stoutly:
"Nonsense, Peter, we're all right, as Edmund says. Wait till he comes andhe'll fix it."
"But how can he know what has happened? And what could he do if he did?More likely they will all be condemned along with us."
Jack felt around in the dark and got me by the hand, giving it a heartypressure.
"Remember Ala," he said. "She's our friend, or Edmund's, and they'llbring us out of this. You want to brace up."
"Remember Ingra!" I responded with a shiver, and I could feel Jack startat the words.
"Hang him!" he muttered. "If I'd only finished him when I had the drop!"
After that neither spoke. If Jack's thoughts were blacker than mine hemust have wished for his pistol to blow out his own brains. At no timesince our arrival on the planet had I felt so depressed. I had no courageleft; could see no lightening of the gloom anywhere. In the horror of thedarkness which enveloped us, the _horror of space_ came over my spirit.One feels a little of that sometimes when the breadth of an oceanseparates him from home, and from all who really care for him--but whatis the Atlantic or the Pacific to millions upon millions of leagues ofinterplanetary space! To be cast away among the inhabitants of anotherworld than one's own! To have lost, as we had done (for in that moment ofdespair I was _sure_ Edmund could never repair the car), the onlypossible means of return! To have offended, just _because_ we werestrangers, and _could_ not know better, some incomprehensible social lawof this strange people, who owned not a drop of the blood of our race, orof any race whatsoever dwelling on the earth! To lie under thecondemnation of that goblin face, without the possibility of pleadingeven the mercy that our hearts instinctively grant to the smallest miteof fellow life on our own planet! To be alone! friendless! forsaken!condemned!--in a far-off, kinless world! I could have fallen down inidolatry before a grain of sand from the shore of the Atlantic!
In the murkiest depth of my despair a sound roused me with a shock thatmade my heart ache. In a moment the door opened, light streamed in, andEdmund stood there.