CHAPTER V.
OUR INTRODUCTION TO MARS.
Ever since the doctor had been inside of the moon he had not ceasedto regret that we had left all our goods in the car of our balloon. Hemourned the loss of the instruments and other apparatus which hadcost him so much care, and then there were our official papers. Ourintroduction to Mona had been rather too informal, and we thoughtwe might stand better with her if we could show her our credentials,though, to be sure, she could not read them.
Several times the doctor proposed to me that we should go out and bringin what we could carry if, perchance, we should find the wind had leftus anything. But I had my own reasons for preferring to remain where wewere. I was happy and was expecting every day to be happier still, andso I put the doctor off by reminding him that the weather was very badoutside and that we had been glad enough to get in with our lives.
I think he would have agreed with me and would have been contented tostay if the question had been left entirely to ourselves. But Mona heardus talking it over one day and said we could go without much risk if wecared to try it, and she would go with us to take care of us.
Although it would be difficult to tell how Mona could help us when wewere outside, this idea sounded so assuring that the doctor determinedto make the attempt. I was obliged to acquiesce, fearing, in myignorance of all that was to happen to us, that the trip would keep metoo much from Mona's side.
After due preparation we started, and reached the upper end of the longpassage without incident. But as we emerged we noticed that the lighthad a peculiar tinge of red, quite different from its usual tone.Meditating on this phenomenon, and speaking to each other as we couldfind breath, we ascended the side of the crater, when there burst uponour view a magnificent world, apparently but a little way off. Its ruddyface showed us plainly what had caused the red light, and the doctormade haste to exclaim:
"Aha! let me introduce you to the planet Mars."
"Yes," I replied, "and we may become too well acquainted before a greatwhile if our rapid flight is not checked."
We soon found our car just as we had left it, and were glad to takeadvantage of its shelter. In the new danger which loomed up before usso threateningly, we all agreed that it would be rash to return intothe interior of the moon, to be crushed to death in the shock of theimpending collision; and yet, in remaining where we were, the doctor andI felt that no reputable insurance company would call our lives a verygood risk.
But now was our opportunity to witness some of the depths of Mona'scharacter. What was there in her nature so entirely different fromanything we had ever known? We had seen persons of cheerful dispositionbefore, and had heard of many exhibitions of courage and indifferenceto danger, but here we had the very personification of fearlessness andcontentment. She talked freely of our situation and of what was likelyto happen, but appeared to be as light-hearted as ever, and her song wasjust as cheerful as it had been in her quiet home. When we asked herif she were not afraid, she replied that there was no such word in herlanguage and she could not appreciate its meaning.
"Fear," said the doctor, "is a feeling excited by the apprehension ofdanger."
"I think I know about the danger we are in," she answered, "but I havenot the feeling you are trying to describe. When I was alone in myunderground village and thought the roof was about to fall down and buryme there, I had no fear, as you say. I know that whatever has come to meor to any of my race has always been for our good, and I am sure itwill be so in the future. I have but a short time to remain as the soleinhabitant of this now useless globe, and the manner of my taking off isnot of the slightest moment. This old world's day is now passed, andI realize in that fact the reason for its unseemly behavior, firstknocking its toughened crust so rudely against the earth and thencoquetting in this manner with Mars. It certainly no longer shows anyrespect for the race it has nourished, and hence I see that my day, too,will soon be over. Whatever may be your fate you will doubtless see nomore of me after this excursion is ended."
In the light of history this seemed extremely probable, and yet Monawas not half as concerned about it as I was. I thought she ought to haveshown more anxiety about her future for my sake if not for her own, andI ventured to say, although in a rather doleful tone:
"I hope, Mona, if the doctor and I are freed from this peril that youwill escape with us. If I thought there was no hope of that, I am sureI should propose that we return at once to the middle of the moon and beburied together."
She laughed aloud as she sang out in joyous notes:
"Your mournful voice, my ardent friend, makes me think you would not bevery happy with the last alternative. But cheer up, we will all stand byeach other to the last." It was in her abounding good nature and in herfaculty for inspiring us with her own hopeful disposition that we foundMona fulfilling her promise to take care of us.
But now our attention could not be diverted from the planet which wasrapidly growing before our eyes. As we approached nearer and nearerevery minute, flying at such a terrific rate and aimed, apparently, fora direct collision, it may be imagined that the doctor and I, in spiteof Mona's presence, began to be exceedingly anxious lest our journey andour lives should meet an abrupt and common end.
Unless such excursions as ours become more frequent in the future, itwill probably always remain a mystery how this one came to a close.I can only relate our experience during the time that we retained ourconsciousness, and leave the imagination to picture the rest. As weentered the atmosphere of the planet, the rush of air increased till itseemed as if a hundred Niagaras were sounding in our ears. I rememberhaving a dim feeling of satisfaction in the belief that such a violentcontact with the atmosphere must impede the moon's progress, and offerus some chance of landing in safety. Then I was bereft of all sense, andwhen I regained consciousness I was lying in the bottom of our car inperfect quiet and apparently unharmed.
I called aloud for the doctor, but no voice replied. Rising, I lookedabout me and found I was afloat on a ruddy sea, alone, as far as mysenses could inform me, alone in a new world. Such a sensation ofhomesickness came over me, such a longing for human fellowship, that ourformer lonesome condition on the moon seemed like a paradise compared tomy present wretchedness.
So this was Mars, which we had studied with our telescopes and aboutwhose condition and history we had so often speculated. And now, as Ileaned my elbows on the edge of the car and gazed off over the deep, Iwondered, with more interest than I had ever before possessed, if theworld I had discovered were inhabited. Perhaps because it was such avital question with me, my naturally hopeful disposition began to findreasons for a cheerful view. There were certainly favorable evidencesall about me. I was breathing an atmosphere evidently made for lungslike mine. The air was soft and pleasant, and though I was drenched withwater by my fall I was not uncomfortable. I tasted the water and, oh!joyful reminder of home, it was salt. The sun shed a beautiful lightaround me, and as I glanced upward to see how bright and cheerful thesky was, my reverie was suddenly broken off, for directly over my head,poised as quietly as if it had always been there, was our old moon. Itseemed but a few miles away and I gazed at it with mixed feelings, withthankfulness that I had escaped from its inhospitable surface withmy life, and with scorn for its present behavior. For there it was,apparently perfectly at home and ready to bear the torch for Mars asfaithfully as it always had for the earth, its rightful mistress.
"Inconstancy," I cried, "thy name is Luna."
THORWALD DISCOVERS ONE OF THE EARTH-DWELLERS.]
When the novelty of this sensational discovery was gone, my mindreturned to the contemplation of myself, and my situation seemed to meso unique as to remove some of the natural feeling of fear. When one isshipwrecked in the ordinary way his anxiety is caused by the uncertaintythat anyone will come to his rescue; while in my case I did not evenknow there was anyone to come. But when I looked up at the moon andremembered its erratic climate and our wild, unearthly journey, I couldnot suppress a fe
eling of satisfaction with my changed condition. Ifthe doctor had only been with me we would have been able to extractconsiderable comfort from our surroundings. But, as it was, I was verylonesome, and whatever consolation I got from my reasoning about theplanet's habitability was increased a thousand fold by seeing a speckupon the horizon, which I hoped might prove to be a sail. I watchedit with intense interest, and was not disappointed. I will not try todescribe my feelings as this ship of Mars approached me, while I satwondering what manner of men I should see. The first thing that struckme was the enormous size of the craft, and as it drew near I could seethat it was manned by beings proportionately large. I now began to fearI should be run down, but soon I noticed one of the passengers or crewwho seemed to be looking at me through a glass. In a little while thevessel slowed up, and a boat was put off in which a number of giants,including the man with the glass, rowed toward me. When they had nearlyreached me I heard the latter say to the others:
"Yes, this is surely the little fellow we are searching for."
I could not imagine what he meant by this, although it occurred to methat it was a pleasant thing to have him speak good, plain English; butthe other circumstances were so entirely novel that, instead of openingthe conversation with some conventional remark, like a sensible person,I burst out with:
"But Proctor says Mars has passed its life-bearing period."
I hardly knew what I said, but it proved that they were just the wordsto commend me to my new friend, for as he reached over and lifted meinto the boat he said:
"Why, how did you know Proctor? You must have misunderstood him, for hewould never say such a thing as that."
While I was puzzling over this strange speech he continued:
"I think we have some one in the ship whom you will be glad to see."
I began to fear I should not get on very well in Mars if all theinhabitants talked in such riddles, but I said, as politely as I could:
"I am sure I need not wait to get to the ship to be pleased. I amdelighted to see you and your companions here."
While we were returning to the vessel I gave Thorwald, for such I foundto be his name, a brief account of our journey on the moon and of mymysterious arrival on their planet. I expatiated on the merits of thedoctor, and told Thorwald that he was probably still on the moon or elseat the bottom of their ocean.
I was thinking that Thorwald did not show much sympathy with me, when,our boat having nearly reached the ship's side, I looked up and saw thedoctor himself standing on the deck, a pigmy among giants. I was soon byhis side, and we embraced before our new-found friends without a blush.
"Where's Mona?" were the first words he said.
"Mona!" I replied. "Who's Mona?"
"Who's Mona?" he returned. "Well, you have recovered pretty rapidly."
I now discovered that, although I had found the body of my friend, thebest part of him was missing. In the fall from the moon he had evidentlylost his wits. I thought I would not let him know too suddenly what wasthe matter, and so I merely said:
"Yes, I went into the water, but was not much hurt. When I came to mysenses I found myself in our car still. Tell me how you escaped."
"Oh, I happened to fall near this ship, fortunately, and they picked meup, and then, at my request, they set out to search for you and Mona."
"Well," said I, "you found me, and I am very thankful for it, but Mona Ifear you will never see."
"What was the last you saw of her?" he asked.
I had great difficulty in keeping myself from laughing in the doctor'sface at his odd fancy, but the thought came to me with some force that Imust not let his mental condition become known to the men of Mars aroundus; and so, instead of replying to his question, I turned to Thorwaldand asked him if he could tell us how the moon had landed us so easilyon their planet.
In answer he gave it as his opinion that as the moon came rushing towardthem so swiftly it compressed the air in its path to such a degreethat it acted as a cushion, preventing a collision and sending the moonbounding back over the path by which it had come. Probably at the momentwhen it was nearest the surface, we had fallen off into the ocean.The rebound, he supposed, was not sufficient to carry it beyond theattraction of the planet, and so it poised itself and began to make arevolution around Mars in its old-fashioned way.
Thorwald told us we had taken the best possible time to visit them, forMars had not been so near the earth before in a great while.
Our new acquaintances were from nine to ten feet tall andproportionately large every other way, so that they appeared quitemonstrous to us. But they were agile and even graceful in theirmovements, while in manner they were so gentle and pleasing that werecognized at once their high culture.
The vessel was soon under way and made rapid progress, and though ourvoyage was not very long, it proved to be an exceedingly profitable oneto the doctor and me, for we learned more, through conversation with ournew friends, about the history and condition of Mars than we could havegained in any other way. The men were all kind to us and seemed to beall equally able to impart information, but most of our intercourse waswith Thorwald. He gave us much of his time, at intervals as he could bespared from work, for every man helped at the service of the ship. Thereseemed to be no system of leadership, but all appeared to know what wasto be done, and did it without orders and without clashing.
As we entered into conversation about the earth and Mars, I wassurprised to find the doctor taking his full share in it with his usualintelligence. His questions and answers were all so pertinent that Ishould have supposed his mind was entirely unaffected, had I not knownto the contrary. When I saw he could hold his own so well, I determinedto take the first opportunity when we were alone to ask him again whoMona was.