A Columbus of Space

  CHAPTER XVIII

  WILD EDEN

  The next day after our return from the trip above the cloud dome, and ourastonishing reception (you will, of course, understand the sense in whichI use the term "day"), Edmund sprang another surprise upon us.

  "I have persuaded Ala," he said, "to make a trip in the car."

  "You don't mean it!"

  "Oh, yes, and I am sure she will be delighted."

  "But she is not going alone?"

  "Surely no; she will be accompanied by one of her women--and by Ingra."

  "_Ingra_!"

  "Of course. Did you suppose that he would consent to be left behind? Alaherself would refuse to go without him."

  "Then," I said, with deep disappointment, "he has resumed all hisinfluence over her."

  "I'm not sure he ever lost it," returned Edmund. "You forget his rank,and his position as her destined consort. Whatever we do we have got tocount him in."

  Jack raged inwardly, but said nothing. For my part, I almost wishedJack's bullet had not gone astray at that first memorable shooting.

  "Now," Edmund continued, "the car, as you know, has but a limited amountof room. I do not wish to crowd it uncomfortably, but I can take sixpersons. Ala's party comprises three, so there is room for just twobesides myself. You will have to draw lots."

  "Is Juba included in the drawing?"

  "Yes, and I'm half inclined to take him anyway, and let you three drawfor the one place remaining."

  "You can count me out," said Henry. "If there is another to stay with meI prefer to remain."

  "Very well," said Edmund, "then Peter and Jack can draw lots."

  "Since we can't all go," said Jack, "and since that fellow is to be ofthe party, I'll stay with Henry."

  So it was settled without an appeal to chance, and I went with Edmund andJuba. As usual Edmund immediately put his project into execution. Itshowed an astonishing confidence in us that Ala should consent to makesuch a trip, and that her people, and especially Ingra, should assent toit, and I could not sufficiently wonder at the fact. But we were now atthe summit of favor and influence, and it is impossible to guess whatthoughts may have been in their minds. At any rate, it showed howcompletely Edmund had established himself in Ala's esteem, and I suspectthat her woman's curiosity had played a large part in the decision. Therewas another thing which astonished me yet more, and, in fact, awakened agood deal of apprehension in my mind. I could not but wonder that Edmund,after all the precautions that he had previously taken, should now thinkof admitting these people into the car, where they could witness hismanipulations of the mechanism. I spoke to him about it. "Rest your mindeasy about that," he said. "Now that everything goes like a charm, theywill suspect nothing. It will be all a complete mystery to them. Even thegods used natural agencies when they visited the earth without shakingthe belief of mankind in them. I employ no force of which they have theleast idea, and if they see me touch a button, or pull a knob, what canthat convey to their minds except an impression of mysterious power?"

  I said no more, but I was not convinced, and the sequel proved that, foronce, Edmund had made a serious mistake, the more amazing because he hadbeen the first to detect the exceptional intelligence and shrewdness ofIngra. But, no doubt, in the exultation of his recent triumph, he countedupon the strength of the superstitious regard in which we were held.

  Our departure from the tower was the signal for the assembling of greatcrowds of spectators again, and we sailed away with the utmost _eclat_.Ala at once showed all the eager excitement of a child over so novel andenjoyable an experience. The motion of the car was entirely unlike thatof the air ships. Perfectly steady, it skimmed along at a speed whichfilled her with amazement and delight. The city, with its towers, seemedto fly away from us by magic, and the trees and fields beneath ran intostreaming lines. The windows were thrown wide open, and all stood bythem, watching the scene. Finally Ala wished to go out on the windowledges, where one was perfectly secure if he kept a firm hold on thesupports. Edmund was most of the time with us outside, only steppingwithin when he wished to change the course. I thought that he showed adisposition to conceal his manipulations as much as possible, as if whatI had said had made an impression. But all were so much occupied withtheir novel sensations that, for the time at least, there was no dangerof their taking note of anything else.

  I believe that it must have been some intimation from Ala which finallyled Edmund to hold his course toward the mountains, but in a directiondifferent from that which led to the mines. When he had once chosen thisdirection he worked up the speed to fully a hundred miles an hour, andall were compelled to go inside on account of the wind created by ourrush through the air. We held on thus for five hours. During this timeEdmund spread a repast made up of dishes chosen from the supplies in thecar, and, of course, utterly strange to our guests. They found them totheir taste, however, and were delighted with Edmund's entertainment. Wespent a long time at our little table, and I was surprised at the varietyof delicious things which Edmund managed to extract from his stores.There was even some champagne, and I noticed that Edmund urged it uponIngra, who, nothing loth, drank enough to make him decidedly tipsy, afact which was not surprising since we had found that the wines of Venuswere very light, and but slightly alcoholized.

  At length we began to approach what proved to be the goal of our journey.Before us spread a vast extent of forest composed of trees of the mostbeautiful forms and foliage. Some towered up to a great height, spreadingtheir pendulous branches over the less aspiring forms, like New Englandelms; others were low and bushy, and afire with scarlet blossoms, whoseperfume filled the air; a few resembled gigantic grasses or great timothystems, surmounted with nodding plumes of golden leaves, streaming outlike gilt gonfalons in the breeze; but there was one species, as tall andmassive as oaks, and scattered everywhere through the forest, that Icould liken to nothing but enormous rose bushes in the full bloom ofJune. When we began to pass above this strange woodland, Ala made somecommunication to Edmund which caused him to slow down the movement of thecar. By almost imperceptible touches he controlled the motive power, andpresently we came to rest above a delightful glade, where a small streamran at the foot of a gravelly slope, crowned with grass and overhung bytrees.

  Here the car was allowed to settle gently upon the ground, and allalighted. Ingra, over whom the influence of the champagne had beengrowing, tottered on his legs in a way that would have filled Jack withuncontrollable delight, but Edmund gravely helped him out of the car andsteadied him to a seat on the soft turf under the tree. I saw Alaregarding Ingra with a puzzled look, and no wonder, for Edmund had beencareful that no one else should take enough of the wine to produce morethan the slightest exhilaration of spirits. It is possible that Edmundhad plied Ingra with the idea of rendering him less observant, and itprobably had that effect; but it resulted, as you will see presently, ina revelation which finally put Edmund on guard against the very danger towhich he had seemed so insensible when I mentioned it to him before ourstart.

  The place where we now were was, beyond comparison, the most charmingthat we had yet seen. A very Eden it seemed, wild, splendid, and remotefrom all cultivation. The air was loaded with indescribable fragranceshed from the thousands of strange blossoms that depended from trees andshrubs, and starred the rich grass. I learned afterwards from Edmund, whohad it from Ala, that the spot was famous for its beauty and otherattractions, and was sometimes visited in air ships from the capital. Butfor them, what took us but a few hours was a trip extending over severaldays of time. One would have said that the forest was imbedded in agarden of the most extraordinary orchids. The shapes of some of theflowers were so fantastic that it seemed impossible that Nature couldhave produced them. And their colors were no less unparalleled,inimitable, and incredible.

  The flowery bank on which we had chosen our resting place was removed afew yards from the spot where the car rested, and the latter was hiddenfrom view by intervening branches and huge racemes of g
orgeous flowers,hanging like embroidered curtains about us. A peculiarity of the placewas that little zephyr-like breezes seemed to haunt it, coming one couldnot tell whence, and they stirred the hanging blossoms, keeping them inalmost continual rhythmic motion. The effect was wonderfully charming,but I observed that Ala was especially influenced by it. She sat with hermaid beside her, and fixed her eyes, with an expression of ecstasy, uponthe swinging flowers. I whispered to Edmund to regard her singularabsorption. But he had already noticed it, and seemed to be puzzling hisbrain with thoughts that it suggested to him.

  Thus as we sat, the leaves of a tree over our heads were lightly stirred,and a bird, adorned with long plumes more beautiful than those of a birdof paradise, alighted on a branch, and began to ruffle its iridescentfeathers in a peculiar way. With every movement waves of color seemed toflow over it, merging and dissolving in the most marvelous manner. Assoon as this bird appeared, Ala gave it all her attention, and thepleasure which she experienced in watching it was reflected upon hercountenance. She seemed positively enraptured. After a few moments theconviction came to me that she was _listening!_ Her whole attitudeexpressed it. And yet not an audible sound came from the bird. At last Iwhispered to Edmund:

  "Edmund, I believe that Ala hears something which we do not."

  "Of course she does," was his reply. "There is music here, such music aswas never heard on earth. That bird is _singing_, but our ears are notattuned to its strain. You know the peculiarity of this atmosphere withregard to sound, and that all of these people have a horror of loudnoises. But their ears detect sounds which are beyond the range of thevibrations that affect ours. If you will observe the bird closely youwill perceive that there is a slight movement of its throat. But that isnot the greatest wonder, by any means. I am satisfied that there is _adirect relation here between sounds and colors_. The swaying of theflowers in the breeze and the rhythmic motion of the bird's plumageproduce harmonious combinations and recombinations of colors which aretransformed into sounds as exquisite as those of the world of insects. Acluster of blossoms, when the wind stirs them, shake out a kind ofaeolian melody, and it was that which so entranced Ala a few moments ago.She hears it still, but now it is mastered by the more perfect harmoniesthat come from the bird, partly from its throat but more from theagitation of its delicate feathers."

  You may imagine the wonder with which I listened to this. It immediatelyrecalled what Jack and I had observed at the shop of the bird fancier,and when the lady carried off her seemingly mute pets in the palanquin.

  "But," I said, after a moment of reflection, "how can such a thing be? Tome it seems surely impossible."

  "I can only try to explain it by an analogy," said Edmund. "You know how,by a telephone, sounds are first transmuted into electric vibrations andafterwards reshaped into sonorous waves. You know, also, that we haveused a ray of light to send telephonic messages, through thesensitiveness of a certain metal which changes its electric resistance inaccord with the intensity of the light that strikes it. Thus with a beamof light we can reproduce the human voice. Well, what we have doneawkwardly and tentatively by the aid of imperfect mechanicalcontrivances, Nature has here accomplished perfectly through the peculiarcomposition of the air and some special adjustment of the auditoryapparatus of this people.

  "Light and sound, color and music, are linked for them in a mannerentirely beyond our comprehension. It is plain to me now that the musicof color which we witnessed at the capital, was something far morecomplete and wonderful than I then imagined. Together with the pleasurewhich they derive from the harmonic combinations of shifting hues, theydrink in, at the same time, the delight arising from sounds which areassociated with, and, in many cases, awakened by, those very colors. Itis probable that all their senses are far more fully, though moredelicately, developed than ours. The perfume of these wonderful flowersis probably more delightful to Ala than to us. As there are sounds whichthey hear though inaudible to us, and colors visible to them which liebeyond the range of our vision, so there may be vibrations affecting theolfactory nerves which make no impression upon our sense of smell."

  "Well, well," I exclaimed, "this seems appropriate to Venus."

  "Yes," said Edmund with a smile, "it is appropriate; and yet I am notsure that some day we may not arrive at something of the kind on theearth."

  I was about to ask him what he meant when there came an excitinginterruption. Ingra, who had fallen more and more under the influence ofthe champagne, had stumbled to the other side of the little glade,virtually unnoticed, and Juba had wandered out of sight. Suddenly therecame from the direction of the car the sound of a struggle mingled withinarticulate cries. We sprang to our feet, and, running to the car, foundboth Ingra and Juba inside it. The former had his hands on one of theknobs controlling the mechanism, and Juba had grasped him round the waistand was trying to drag him away. Ingra was resisting with all hisstrength, and uttering strange noises, whose sense, if they had any, we,of course, did not comprehend. Just as we reached the door, Jubasucceeded in wrenching his opponent from his hold, and immediately gavehim a fling which sent him clear out of the car, tumbling in a heap atour feet. Juba's eyes were ablaze with a dangerous light, but the momenthe encountered Edmund's gaze he quietly walked away and sat down on thebank. Ala was immediately by our side, and I thought that I could readembarrassment as well as surprise in her looks. Fortunately the knob thatIngra had grasped had been thrown out of connection; else he and Jubamight have made an involuntary voyage through space.

  We picked up Ingra, found a seat for him, and Edmund, going down to thebrook, filled a pocket flask with water and flung it in the fellow'sface. This was repeated several times with the effect of finallystraightening out his muddled senses sufficiently to warrant us inembarking for the return trip. All the way home Ingra was in a sulkymood, like any terrestrial drunkard after a debauch, but he kept his eyeson all Edmund's movements with an expression of cunning, which he had notsufficient self-command to conceal, and which could leave no doubt in ourminds as to the nature of the quest which had led him into the car. As toJuba--although his interference had been of no practical benefit, sinceIngra, especially in his present state, could surely have made nodiscovery of any importance--the devotion which he had again shown to ourinterests endeared him the more to us. Ala's manner showed that she wasdeeply chagrined, and thus our trip, which had opened so joyously, endedin gloom, and we were glad when the car again touched the platform, andour guests departed.