CHAPTER IV
THE WORLD SWEPT WITH TERROR
The tempest of hail, snow, lightning, and rain, which burst sounexpectedly over Washington, was not a local phenomenon. It leveled theantennae of the wireless telegraph systems all over the world, cuttingoff communication everywhere. Only the submarine telephone cablesremained unaffected, and by them was transmitted the most astonishingnews of the ravages of the storm. Rivers had careered over their banks,low-lying towns were flooded, the swollen sewers of cities exploded andinundated the streets, and gradually news came in from country districtsshowing that vast areas of land had been submerged, and hundredsdrowned.
The downfall of rain far exceeded everything that the meteorologicalbureaus had ever recorded.
The vagaries of the lightning, and the frightful power that itexhibited, were especially terrifying.
In London the Victoria Tower was partly dismantled by a bolt.
In Moscow the ancient and beautiful Church of St. Basil was nearlydestroyed.
The celebrated Leaning Tower of Pisa, the wonder of centuries, was flungto the ground.
The vast dome of St. Peter's at Rome was said to have been encasedduring three whole minutes with a blinding armor of electric fire,though the only harm done was the throwing down of a statue in one ofthe chapels.
But, strangest freak of all, in New York a tremendous bolt, which seemsto have entered the Pennsylvania tunnel on the Jersey side, followed therails under the river, throwing two trains from the track, and, emergingin the great station in the heart of the city, expanded into arose-colored sphere, which exploded with an awful report, and blew thegreat roof to pieces. And yet, although the fragments were scattered adozen blocks away, hundreds of persons who were in the stations sufferedno other injury than such as resulted from being flung violently to thefloor, or against the walls.
Cosmo Versal's great ark seemed charmed. Not a single discharge oflightning occurred in its vicinity, a fact which he attributed to thedielectric properties of levium. Nevertheless, the wind carried away allhis screens and electric fans.
If this storm had continued the predicted deluge would unquestionablyhave occurred at once, and even its prophet would have perished throughhaving begun his preparations too late. But the disturbed elements sankinto repose as suddenly as they had broken out with fury. The rain didnot last, in most places, more than twenty-four hours, although theatmosphere continued to be filled with troubled clouds for a week. Atthe end of that time the sun reappeared, as hot as before, and aspotless dome once more over-arched the earth; but from this time thesky never resumed its former brilliant azure--there was always a strangecoppery tinge, the sight of which was appalling, although it graduallylost its first effect through familiarity.
The indifference and derision with which Cosmo's predictions andelaborate preparations had hitherto been regarded now vanished, and theworld, in spite of itself, shivered with vague apprehension. Noreassurances from those savants who still refused to admit the validityof Cosmo Versal's calculations and deductions had any permanent effectupon the public mind.
With amusing inconsequence people sold stocks again, until all theexchanges were once more swept with panic--and then put the money intheir strong boxes, as if they thought that the mere possession of thelucre could protect them. They hugged the money and remained deaf toCosmo's reiterated advice to build arks with it.
After all, they were only terrified, not convinced, and they felt that,somehow, everything would come out right, now that they had theirpossessions well in hand.
For, in spite of the scare, nobody really believed that an actual delugewas coming. There might be great floods, and great suffering and loss,but the world was not going to be drowned! Such things only occurred inearly and dark ages.
Some nervous persons found comfort in the fact that when the skiescleared after the sudden downpour brilliant rainbows were seen. Theirhearts bounded with joy.
"The 'Bow of Promise!'" they cried. "Behold the unvarying assurance thatthe world shall never again be drowned."
Then a great revival movement was set on foot, starting in theMississippi valley under the leadership of an eloquent exhorter, whodeclared that, although a false prophet had arisen, whose delusiveprediction was contrary to Scripture, yet it was true that the world wasabout to be punished in unexpected ways for its many iniquities.
This movement rapidly spread all over the country, and was taken up inEngland and throughout Protestant Europe, and soon prayers were offeredin thousands of churches to avert the wrath of Heaven. Multitudes thusfound their fears turned into a new direction, and by a strangereaction, Cosmo Versal came to be regarded as a kind of Antichrist whowas seeking to mislead mankind.
Just at this juncture, to add to the dismay and uncertainty, a grand andfearful comet suddenly appeared. It came up unexpectedly from the south,blazed brightly close beside the sun, even at noonday, and a few nightslater was visible after sunset with an immense fiery head and a broadcurved tail that seemed to pulsate from end to end. It was so brightthat it cast shadows at night, as distinct as those made by the moon. Nosuch cometary monster had ever before been seen. People shuddered whenthey looked at it. It moved with amazing speed, sweeping across thefirmament like a besom of destruction. Calculation showed that it wasnot more than 3,000,000 miles from the earth.
But one night the wonder and dread awakened by the comet were magnifieda hundredfold by an occurrence so unexpected and extraordinary that thespectators gasped in amazement.
The writer happens to have before him an entry in a diary, which is,probably, the sole contemporary record of this event. It was written inthe city of Washington by no less a person than Professor JeremiahMoses, of the Council of the Carnegie Institution. Let it tell its ownstory:
"A marvelous thing happened this night. I walked out into the park nearmy house with the intention of viewing the great comet. The park on myside (the west), is bordered with a dense screen of tall trees, and Iadvanced toward the open place in the center in order to have anunobstructed sight of the flaming stranger. As I passed across the edgeof the shadow of the trees--the ground ahead being brilliantlyilluminated by the light of the comet--I suddenly noticed, with aninvoluntary start, that I was being preceded by a _double shadow_,with a black center, which forked away from my feet.
"I cast my eyes behind me to find the cause of the phenomenon, and saw,to my inexpressible amazement, that _the comet had divided intotwo_. There were two distinct heads, already widely separated, buteach, it seemed to me, as brilliant as the original one had been, andeach supplied with a vast plume of fire a hundred degrees in length, andconsequently stretching far past the zenith. The cause of the doubleshadow was evident at once--but what can have produced this suddendisruption of the comet? It must have occurred since last evening, andalready, if the calculated distance of the comet is correct, the partsof the severed head are 300,000 miles asunder!"
Underneath this entry was scribbled:
"Can this have anything to do with Cosmo Versal's flood?"
Whether it had anything to do with the flood or not, at any rate thepublic believed that it had. People went about with fear written ontheir faces.
The double shadows had a surprising effect. The phantasm was pointedout, and stared at with superstitious terror by thousands every night.The fact that there was nothing really mysterious about it made nodifference. Even those who knew well that it was an inevitable opticalresult of the division of the bright comet were thrilled withinstinctive dread when they saw that forked umbra, mimicking their everymovement. There is nothing that so upsets the mind as a sudden change inthe aspect of familiar things.
The astronomers now took their turn. Those who were absolutelyincredulous about Cosmo's prediction, and genuinely desirous of allayingthe popular alarm, issued statements in which, with a disingenuousnessthat may have been unintentional, they tried to sidetrack his arguments.
Professor Pludder led the way with a pronunciamento declaring that "the
absurd vaporings of the modern Nostradamus of New York" had nowdemonstrated their own emptiness.
"A comet," said Professor Pludder, with reassuring seriousness, "cannotdrown the earth. It is composed of rare gases, which, as the experienceof Halley's comet many years ago showed, are unable to penetrate theatmosphere even when an actual encounter occurs. In this case therecannot even be an encounter; the comet is now moving away. Its divisionis not an unprecedented occurrence, for many previous comets have metwith similar accidents. This comet happened to be of unusual size, andthe partition of the head occurred when it was relatively nearby--whencethe startling phenomena observed. There is nothing to be feared."
It will be remarked that Professor Pludder entirely avoided the realissue. Cosmo Versal had never said that the comet would drown the earth.In fact, he had been as much surprised by its appearance as everybodyelse. But when he read Professor Pludder's statement, followed by othersof similar import, he took up the cudgels with a vengeance. All over theworld, translated into a dozen languages, he scattered his reply, andthe effect was startling.
"My fellow-citizens of the world in all lands, and of every race," hebegan, "you are face to face with destruction! And yet, while itsheralds are plainly signaling from the sky, and shaking the earth withlightning to awaken it, blind leaders of blind try to deceive you!
"They are defying science itself!
"They say that the comet cannot touch the earth. That is true. It ispassing away. I myself did not foresee its coming. It arrived byaccident, _but every step that it has made through the silent depthsof space has been a proclamation of the presence of the nebula_,which is the real agent of the perdition of the world!
"Why that ominous redness which overcasts the heavens? You have allnoticed it. Why that blinding brightness which the comet has displayed,exceeding all that has ever been beheld in such visitors. Theexplanation is plain: the comet has been feeding on the substance of thenebula, which is rare yet because we have only encountered some of itsoutlying spirals.
"But it is coming on with terrible speed. In a few short months we shallbe plunged into its awful center, and then the oceans will swell to themountaintops, and the continents will become the bottoms of angry seas.
"When the flood begins it will be too late to save yourselves. You havealready lost too much precious time. I tell you solemnly that not one ina million can now be saved. Throw away every other consideration, andtry, try desperately, to be of the little company of those who escape!
"Remember that your only chance is in building arks--arks of levium, themetal that floats. I have sent broadcast plans for such arks. They canbe made of any size, but the larger the better. In my own ark I can takeonly a selected number, and when the complement is made up not anothersoul will be admitted.
"I have established all my facts by mathematical proofs. The most expertmathematicians of the world have been unable to detect any error in mycalculations. They try to dispute the data, but the data are alreadybefore you for your own judgment. The heavens are so obscured that onlythe brightest stars can now be seen." (This was a fact which had causedbewilderment in the observatories.) "The recent outburst of storms andfloods was the second sign of the approaching end, and the third signwill not be long delayed--and after that the deluge!"
It is futile to try to describe the haunting fear and horror whichseized upon the majority of the millions who read these words. Businesswas paralyzed, for men found it impossible to concentrate their mindsupon ordinary affairs. Every night the twin comets, still very bright,although they were fast retreating, brandished their fiery scimitars inthe sky--more fearful to the imagination now, since Cosmo Versal haddeclared that it was the nebula that stimulated their energies. And byday the sky was watched with anxious eyes striving to detect signs of adeepening of the menacing hue, which, to an excited fancy, suggested atinge of blood.
Now, at last, Cosmo's warnings and entreaties bore practical fruit. Menbegan to inquire about places in his ark, and to make preparations forbuilding arks of their own.
He had not been interfered with after his memorable interview with thePresident of the United States, and had pushed his work at Mineola withredoubled energy, employing night gangs of workmen so that progress wascontinuous throughout the twenty-four hours.
Standing on its platform, the ark, whose hull was approachingcompletion, rose a hundred feet into the air. It was 800 feet long and250 broad--proportions which practical ship-builders ridiculed, butCosmo, as original in this as in everything else, declared that, takinginto account the buoyancy of levium, no other form would answer as well.He estimated that when its great engines were in place, its immensestores of material for producing power, its ballast, and its supplies offood stowed away, and its cargo of men and animals taken aboard, itwould not draw more than twenty feet of water.
Hardly a day passed now without somebody coming to Cosmo to inquireabout the best method of constructing arks. He gave the requiredinformation, in all possible detail, with the utmost willingness. Hedrew plans and sketches, made all kinds of practical suggestions, andnever failed to urge the utmost haste. He inspired every visitor at thesame time with alarm and a resolution to go to work at once.
Some did go to work. But their progress was slow, and as days passed,and the comets gradually faded out of sight, and then the dome of thesky showed a tendency to resume its natural blueness, the enthusiasm ofCosmo's imitators weakened, together with their confidence in hisprophetic powers.
They concluded to postpone their operations until the need of arksshould become more evident.
As to those who had sent inquiries about places in Cosmo's ark, now thatthe danger seemed to be blowing away, they did not even take the troubleto answer the very kind responses that he had made.
It is a singular circumstance that not one of these anxious inquirersseemed to have paid particular attention to a very significant sentencein his reply. If they had given it a little thought, it would probablyhave set them pondering, although they might have been more puzzled thanedified. The sentence ran as follows:
"While assuring you that my ark has been built for the benefit of myfellow men, I am bound to tell you that I reserve absolutely the rightto determine who are truly representative of _homo sapiens_."
The fact was that Cosmo had been turning over in his mind the greatfundamental question which he had asked himself when the idea of tryingto save the human race from annihilation had first occurred to him, andapparently he had fixed upon certain principles that were to guide him.
Since, when the mind is under great strain through fear, the slightestrelaxation, caused by an apparently favorable change, produces a reboundof hope, as unreasoning as the preceding terror, so, on this occasion,the vanishing of the comets, and the fading of the disquieting color ofthe sky, had a wonderful effect in restoring public confidence in theorderly procession of nature.
Cosmo Versal's vogue as a prophet of disaster was soon gone, and oncemore everybody began to laugh at him. People turned again to theirneglected affairs with the general remark that they "guessed the worldwould manage to wade through."
Those who had begun preparations to build arks looked very sheepish whentheir friends guyed them about their childish credulity.
Then a feeling of angry resentment arose, and one day Cosmo Versal wasmobbed in the street, and the gamins threw stones at him.
People forgot the extraordinary storm of lightning and rain, the splitcomet, and all the other circumstances which, a little time before, hadfilled them with terror.
But they were making a fearful mistake!
With eyes blindfolded they were walking straight into the jaws ofdestruction.
Without warning, and as suddenly almost as an explosion, the _thirdsign_ appeared, and on its heels came a veritable Reign of Terror!