CHAPTER XIV.
THE JOURNEY TO CALNOGOR.
There was in Kioram a temple dedicated to the god Rakamadeva, orSacred Locomotive, which was one of the many gods worshipped by theAtvatabarese. It belonged to the gods embraced in the category of"gods of invention," and its motive power was magnicity, the sameforce that propelled the flying men. It was a powerful structure builtof solid gold, platinum, terrelium, aquelium, and plutulium, andalloys of the most precious and heaviest of metals, and was both carand locomotive, and was hung over a single elevated rail thatsupported it, the weight resting on six wheels in front and sixbehind, all concealed by the body of the car.
The battery consisted of one hundred cells of terrelium and aqueliumthat developed a gigantic force. The six driving wheels at either endof the car were of immense size, and the tires were hollowed out witha semi-circular groove that fitted upon the high rounded rail. On thisrail rested the entire weight of the car, which oscillated as itrushed. The end of each projecting head was inlaid with an enormousruby, and the framework of the god was enriched in numerous placeswith precious stones. The sacred locomotive had as attendantstwenty-four priests, clad in flowing vestures of orange and aloe-greensilk (the royal colors), arranged in alternate stripes of great width,typical of a green earth and golden sky.
Royal and privileged travellers were alone permitted to harness thegod, and by command of the king we were to enter Calnogor by means ofthe sacred courier.
The route to the temple led through a different part of the city thanthat traversed by us when going to the governor's palace. We hadleisure to observe more particularly the architecture and theappearance of the streets through which we passed. The roadwayeverywhere was one solid block of white marble, and emporiums anddwellings were built of the same material.
"You seem to have sculptured the city out of a mountain of whitemarble," I said to the governor, who rode his bockhockid alongsidemine.
"That is, indeed, the fact," replied the governor. "The entire cityhas been laboriously hewn from an immense mountain."
"Then in building your houses, you laid the foundation with the roof,and built them downward until you arrived at the level of the street,"I said.
"That is precisely so," said he. "Our streets are simply ornamentalchasms cut in the solid rock. Both roadway and building are composedof the same stone. One stone has built the entire city."
I was surprised at the idea of the stupendous labor involved incarving a city containing half a million of inhabitants, but,considering that a man could easily lift a block of stone weighinghalf a ton in the outer sphere, I saw that even so prodigious a taskas chiselling Kioram might well be accomplished. It was a newsensation to bound on a bockhockid over the smoothly carved pavement,where once stood the mighty heart of a mountain of stone. All thebuildings along the route were wonderfully sculptured. There seemed noend to the floriated mouldings, pillars and other decorations inrelief, wrought in a strange order of art that was most captivating.
As for ourselves, we must have presented an interesting procession.Our Viking helmets of polished brass gleamed in the sunlight likegold. The emblazoned bear thereon was a symbol to the Atvatabarese ofa species of divinity that protected us as beings of another world.
We arrived at the temple of the sacred locomotive, and were receivedby the winged priests in charge. Dismounting amid the sound of music,a procession was formed, the priests leading the way along a widehallway that terminated in the temple of the god.
The god Rakamadeva was a glorious sight. On a causeway of marbleflanked with steps on either side stood that object of magnic life andbeauty in a blaze of metals and jewels worthy the praise of thepriests, in itself a royal palace.
This automobile car in shape seemed a compound of the back of a turtleand a Siamese temple, and was of extraordinary magnificence. Bothfront and rear tapered down to the solid platinum framework of thewheels, that extended beyond the car at both ends, the projectionssimulating the heads of monsters that held each between their jaws onehundred cells of triple metal, which developed a tremendous force.
The priests chanted the following ode to the sacred locomotive:
"Glorious annihilator of time and space, lord of distance, imperialcourier.
"Hail, swift and sublime man-created god, hail colossal and brightwheel!
"Thy wheels adamant, thy frame platinum, thy cells terrelium,aquelium!
"Thou art lightning shivering on the metals, thy breathless flightsaffright Atvatabar!
"The affluence of life animates thy form, that flashes through valleysand on mountains high!
"The forests roar as thou goest past, the gorge echoes thy thunder!
THE SACRED LOCOMOTIVE STORMED THE MOUNTAIN HEIGHTS WITHITS AUDACIOUS TREAD.]
"Thy savage wheels ravage space. Convulsed with life, thy tirelessform devours the heights of heaven!
"Labor and glory and terror leap as thy thundering feet go by; thyaxles burn with the steady sweep, till on wings of fire they fly!"
The four-and-twenty priests formed a guard of honor as wereverentially entered the car. On our side of the god were seatedGovernor Ladalmir, Admiral Jolar and staff, myself and officers of the_Polar King_, including the scientific staff. The other side containedthe sailors under command of Flathootly, master-at-arms, escorted byCaptains Pra and Nototherboc.
The priests were distributed around the outside of the car, holding onto golden hand-rails. A priest seated on a throne in front moved aswitch, and, with a roar of music, the god leaped upon the metals. Thewonderful lightness of the car allowed us to attain a tremendousspeed. The mightiest curves were taken at a single breath. The silkenrobes of the priests flashed in the wind.
The car vibrated with a thousand tremors. In the wide windows of thickglass were framed rapid phantasmagoria of landscapes, as the flyingpanorama unrolled itself. There were visions of interminable prairies,over which we swept, a blinding flash, leaving a low, spreading cloudof dust on the rails to mark our flight.
We plunged into tunnels of darkness, where the warm air roared withthe echoes of the delirious wheels. The cry of the caverns saluted uslike the shouts of unknown monsters dwelling in the heart of themountains.
The sacred locomotive was an element of life, as it shot from thetunnels and bounded up curving mountain heights through pastures ofdelightful flowers. With wheels prevailed upon by the tension of theinvincible fluid, the monster swerved not before the proudestprecipice. It stormed the heights with its audacious tread, flingingitself on the mountain pass, a marvel of power and intrepidity, andknown as the devourer of distance.
In five hours we had traversed five hundred miles, the distance fromKioram to Calnogor.