Across the Zodiac (19 page)

By this time we had reached the utmost point to which the carriages
could take us, about a furlong from the platform on which I had rested
during my descent. Seeing that the Regent and his companion had
dismounted, I stopped and sprang down from my carriage, holding out my
hand to assist Eveena's descent, an attention which I thought seemed
to surprise her. Up to the platform the path was easy enough; after
that it became steep even for me, and certainly a troublesome and
difficult ascent for a lady dressed as I have described, and hardly
stronger than a child of the same height and size on earth. Still my
companion did not seem to expect, and certainly did not invite
assistance. That she found no little difficulty in the walk was
evident from her turning back both sleeves and releasing her bird,
which hovered closely round her. Very soon her embarrassments and
stumbles threatened such actual danger as overcame my fear of
committing what, for aught I knew, might be an intrusion. Catching her
as she fell, and raising her by the left hand, I held it fast in my
own right, begging to be permitted to assist her for the rest of the
journey. Her manner and the tone of her voice made it evident that
such an attention, if unusual, was not offensive; but I observed that
those who were following us looked at us with some little surprise,
and spoke together in words which I could not catch, but the tone of
which was not exactly pleasant or complimentary. The Regent, a few
steps in advance of us, turned back from time to time to ask me some
trivial question. At last we reached the summit, and here I released
my companion's hand and stepped forward a pace or two to point out to
the Regent the external structure of the Astronaut. I was near enough,
of course, to be heard by Eveena, and endeavoured to address my
explanations as much to her as to the authority to whom I was required
to render an account. But from the moment that we had actually joined
him she withdrew from all part and all apparent interest in the
conversation. When our companions moved forward to reach the entrance,
which I had indicated, I again offered my hand, saying, "I am afraid
you will find some little difficulty in getting into the vessel by the
window by which I got out."

The Regent, however, had brought with him several light metal poles,
which I had not observed while carried by his companion, but which
being put together formed a convenient ladder of adequate length. He
desired me to ascend first and cut the riband by means of which the
window had been sealed; the law being so strict that even he would not
violate the symbol of private ownership which protected my vessel.
Having done this and opened the window, I sprang down, and he,
followed by his companion, ascended the ladder, and resting himself
upon the broad inner ledge of the window—which afforded a convenient
seat, since the crystal was but half the thickness of the wall—first
took a long look all round the interior, and then leaped down,
followed by his attendant. Eveena drew back, but was at last persuaded
to mount the ladder with my assistance, and rest on the sill till I
followed her and lifted her down inside. The Regent had by this time
reached the machinery, and was examining it very curiously, with
greater apparent appreciation of its purpose than I should have
expected. When we joined them, I found little difficulty in explaining
the purpose and working of most parts of the apparatus. The nature and
generation of the apergic power I took care not to explain. The
existence of such a repulsive force was the point on which the Regent
professed incredulity; as it was, of course, the critical fact on
which my whole narrative turned—on which its truth or falsehood
depended. I resolved ere the close of the inspection to give him clear
practical evidence on this score. In the meantime, listening without
answer to his expressions of doubt, I followed him round the interior,
explaining to him and to Eveena the use and structure of the
thermometer, barycrite, and other instruments. My fair companion
seemed to follow my explanation almost as easily as the officials. Our
followers, who had now entered the vessel, kept within hearing of my
remarks; but, evidently aware that they were there on sufferance,
asked no questions, and made their comments in a tone too low to allow
me to understand their purport. The impression made on the Regent by
the instruments, so far as I could gather from his brief remarks and
the expression of his face, was one of contemptuous surprise rather
than the interest excited by the motive machinery. Most of them were
evidently, in his opinion, clumsy contrivances for obtaining results
which the scientific knowledge and inventive genius of his countrymen
had long ago secured more completely and more easily. But he was
puzzled by the combination of such imperfect knowledge or
semi-barbaric ignorance with the possession of a secret of such
immense importance as the repulsive current, not yet known nor, as I
gathered, even conceived by the inhabitants of this planet. When he
had completed his inspection, he requested permission to remove some
of the objects I had left there; notably many of the dead plants, and
several books of drawings, mathematical, mechanical, and ornamental,
which I had left, and which had not been brought away by my host's son
when he visited the vessel. These I begged him to present to the
Camptâ, adding to them a few smaller curiosities, after which I drew
him back towards the machinery. He summoned his attendant, and bade
him take away to the carriages the articles I had given him, calling
upon the intruders to assist.

I was thus left with him and with Eveena alone in the building; and
with a partly serious, partly mischievous desire to prove to him the
substantial reality of objects so closely related to my own disputed
existence, and to demonstrate the truth of my story, I loosened one of
the conductors, connected it with the machinery, and, directing it
against him, sent through it a very slight apergic current. I was not
quite prepared for the result. His Highness was instantly knocked head
over heels to a considerable distance. Turning to interrupt the
current before going to his assistance, I was startled to perceive
that an accident of graver moment, in my estimation at least, than the
discomfiture of this exalted official, had resulted from my
experiment. I had not noticed that a conductive wire was accidentally
in contact with the apergion, while its end hung down towards the
floor Of this I suppose Eveena had carelessly taken hold, and a part
of the current passing through it had lessened the shock to the Regent
at the expense of one which, though it could not possibly have injured
her, had from its suddenness so shaken her nerves as to throw her into
a momentary swoon. She was recovering almost at soon as I reached her;
and by the time her fellow-sufferer had picked himself up in great
disgust and astonishment, was partly aware what had happened. She was,
however; much more anxious to excuse herself, in the manner of a
frightened child, for meddling with the machinery than to hear my
apologies for the accident. Noting her agitation, and seeing that she
was still trembling all over, I was more anxious to get her into the
open air, and out of reach of the apparatus she seemed to regard with
considerable alarm, than to offer any due apology to the exalted
personage to whom I had afforded much stronger evidence, if not of my
own substantiality, yet of the real existence of a repulsive energy,
than I had seriously intended. With a few hurried words to him, I
raised Eveena to the window, and lifted her to the ground outside. I
felt, however, that I could not leave the Regent to find his own way
out, the more so that I hardly saw how he could reach the window from
the inside without my assistance. I excused myself, therefore, and
seating her on a rock close to the ladder, promised to return at once.
This, however, I found impossible. By the time the injured officer had
recovered the physical shock to his nerves and the moral effect of the
disrespect to his person, his anxiety to verify what he had heard
entirely occupied his mind; and he requested further experiments, not
upon himself, which occupied some half-hour. He listened and spoke, I
must admit, with temper; but his air of displeasure was evident
enough, and I was aware that I had not entitled myself to his good
word, whether or not he would permit his resentment to colour his
account of facts. He was compelled, however, to request my help in
reaching the window, which I gave with all possible deference.

But, to my alarm, when we reached the foot of the ladder, Eveena was
nowhere to be seen. Calling her and receiving no reply, calling again
and hearing what sounded like her voice, but in a faint tone and
coming I knew not whither, I ran round the platform to seek her. I
could see nothing of her; but at one point, just where the projecting
edge of the platform overhung the precipice below, I recognised her
bird fluttering its wings and screaming as if in pain or terror. The
Regent was calling me in a somewhat imperious tone, but of course
received neither answer nor attention. Reaching the spot, I looked
over the edge and with some trouble discovered what had happened. Not
merely below but underneath the overhanging edge was a shelf about
four feet long and some ten inches in breadth, covered with a flower
equally remarkable in form and colour, the former being that of a
hollow cylindrical bell, about two inches in diameter; the latter a
bluish lilac, the nearest approach to azure I have seen in Mars—the
whole ground one sheet of flowers. On this, holding in a
half-insensible state to the outward-sloping rock above her, Eveena
clung, her veil and head-dress fallen, her face expressing utter
bewilderment as well as terror. I saw, though at the moment I hardly
understood, how she had reached this point. A very narrow path, some
hundred feet in length, sloped down from the table-rock of the summit
to the shelf on which she stood, with an outer hedge of shrubs and the
summits of small trees, which concealed, and in some sort guarded, the
precipice below, so that even a timid girl might pursue the path
without fear. But this path ended several feet from the commencement
of the shelf. Across the gap had lain a fallen tree, with boughs
affording such a screen and railing on the outward side as might at
once conceal the gulf below, and afford assistance in crossing the
chasm. But in crossing this tree Eveena's footsteps had displaced it,
and it had so given way as not only to be unavailable, but a serious
obstacle to my passage. Had I had time to go round, I might have been
able to leap the chasm; I certainly could not return that way with a
burden even so light as that of my precious charge. The only chance
was to lift her by main force directly to where I stood; and the
outward projection of the rock at this point rendered this peculiarly
difficult, as I had nothing to cling or hold by. The Regent had by
this time reached me, and discerned what had occurred.

"Hold me fast," I said, "or sit upon me if you like, to hold me with
your weight whilst I lean over." The man stood astounded, not by the
danger of another but by the demand on himself; and evidently without
the slightest intention of complying.

"You are mad!" he said. "Your chance is ten times greater to lose your
own life than to save hers."

"Lose my life!" I cried. "Could I dare return alive without her? Throw
your whole weight on me, I say, as I lean over, and waste no more
time!"

"What!" he rejoined. "You are twice as heavy as I, and if you are
pulled over I shall probably go over too. Why am I to endanger myself
to save a girl from the consequences of her folly?"

"If you do not," I swore, "I will fling you where the carcass of which
you are so careful shall be crushed out of the very form of the
manhood you disgrace."

Even this threat failed to move him. Meantime the bird, fluttering on
my shoulder, suggested a last chance; and snatching the tablet round
its neck, I wrote two words thereon, and calling to it, "Home!" the
intelligent creature flew off at fullest speed.

"Now," I said, "if you do not help me I will kill you here and now. If
you pretend to help and fail me, that bird carries to Esmo my request
to hold you answerable for our lives."

I invoked, in utter desperation, the awe with which, as his hints and
my experience implied, Esmo was regarded by his neighbours; and
slender as seemed this support, it did not fail me. The Regent's
countenance fell, and I saw that I might depend at least on his
passive compliance. Clasping his arm with my left hand, I said, "Pull
back with all your might. If I go over, you
shall
go over too." Then
pulling him down with me, and stretching myself over the precipice so
far that but for this additional support I must have fallen, I reached
Eveena, whose closed eyes and relaxing limbs indicated that another
moment's delay might be fatal.

"Give me your hand," I cried in despair, seeing how tightly she still
grasped the tough fibrous shoots growing in the crevices of the rock,
whereof she had taken hold. "Give me your hand, and let go!"

To give me her hand was beyond the power of her will; to let go
without giving me hold would have been fatal. Beaching over to the
uttermost, I contrived to lay a firm grasp upon her wrist. But this
would not do. I could hardly drag her up by one arm, especially if she
would not relax her grasp. I must release the Regent and depend upon
his obedience, or forfeit the chance of saving her, as in a few more
moments she would certainly swoon and fall.

"Throw yourself upon me, and sit firm, if you value your life," I
cried, and I relaxed my hold on his arm, stretching both hands to
grasp Eveena. I felt the man's weight on my body, and with both arms
extended to the uttermost hanging over the edge, I caught firm bold of
the girl's shoulders. Even now, with any girl of her age on earth, and
for aught I know with many Martial damsels, the case would have been
hopeless. My whole strength was required to raise her; I had none to
spare to force her loose from her hold. Fortunately my rough and tight
clasp seemed to rouse her. Her eyes half opened, and semi-consciousness
appeared to have returned.