Trial and Judgment
To our disappointment, we received no immediate explanation of the
arrival of Captain Gavison and his men. A score of the natives, who
stood frowning in the background, appeared disinclined to permit any
extended conversation; and it was but a minute before they motioned the
newcomers to follow them. I was interested to observe that all, from
the Captain down to the humblest recruit, obeyed as readily as though
in response to an absolute master, marching not in military formation
and yet at a regular pace and with every appearance of discipline.
Having nothing better to do, Stranahan and I trailed in their wake,
for at their first appearance Aelios had murmured a hasty “Good-bye”
and had gone tripping out of sight around a bend in the colonnade.
In a few minutes we saw our comrades entering a building we well
knew--the palace of sapphire and amber. Although expecting to be
ordered out, we made bold to follow, and to our surprise passed through
the gates of the building and into its gorgeous interior without
attracting any noticeable attention. Arriving at the great central
theatre, we observed that hundreds of the natives were assembled as
though in solemn debate. Many an eye was turned upon the newcomers
in curiosity and amazement; but there was no audible murmur at our
entrance. And when Captain Gavison and his followers were motioned to
seats, Stranahan and I had no hesitation about joining them.
But the unlucky Stranahan was doomed to still further boredom. For
nearly an hour he was compelled to listen to a discussion of which he
understood scarcely a word. Certainly, he had cause to envy me, for I
easily followed the greater part of what was said--and most unusual and
absorbing I found it!
The leader of the debate was a broad-browed woman, with a firm and
distinguished manner, and more than a trace of beauty in spite of her
graying hair. But she spoke comparatively little; and six or eight of
the audience took turns in standing in the open space in front and
delivering brief addresses. Their theme was not at first apparent
to me; I thought that they were perhaps discussing some question of
politics, or pleading the merits of some new law; and I was surprised
to discover that what they were arguing was no mere practical matter,
but concerned the architecture of a new building, to be known as the
“Palace of the Ten Arts.” One, there was that suggested a lagoon
fronting the edifice, a second who recommended rainbow fountains, and
a third who favored an arcade of multi-colored crystal; and all the
proposals were heard with equal respect and duly noted down by the
leader of the debate, who smiled benignantly upon all the speakers and
refrained from obtruding her personal preferences.
I was relieved when at length all who desired to speak had had their
say. The leader now declared the meeting open for further business;
and now it was that a tall young man, whom I recognized as one of the
attendants of Captain Gavison and his men, rose quickly to his feet and
advanced with a determined air toward the speaker’s space. A hush of
expectation had come over the gathering; all eyes were fastened upon
the tall young man as though he had a message of rare importance.
His first words were to justify this impression. “Fellow citizens,”
said he, speaking in a deep-toned voice which had something of that
musical quality common to his people, “I have to bring to your
attention today a matter unique in the history of Atlantis. First,
however, let me recall to your minds several facts with which you
are no doubt familiar. Two months ago we were astonished to find in
our midst two creatures whose sallow complexion, grotesque costume
and still more grotesque features, proclaimed them not to be natives
of Atlantis. How they had penetrated beneath the secluded dome of
our country we could not imagine, but it was decided that the best
course would be to educate them in our language, and, after they
were thoroughly conversant with the tongue, to question them in the
attempt to solve the mystery. This decision was only reinforced by
the appearance of two more of the queer creatures a day or so later,
and then again by the arrival of a third strange couple. While it
was feared that our age-old seclusion had been broken and that we
were being invaded by the upper world, still it was decided that for
the present the best course would be to maintain an unperturbed but
vigilant silence.”
The speaker paused, and cleared his throat as though the important
part of his address were to follow. “Only yesterday, fellow citizens,”
he continued, “you heard the startling sequel. A field naturalist,
roaming along the Salty River in the wilderness beyond the furthest
colonnades, made the most surprising discovery of his life--a peculiar
ugly rod-like ship of unknown type, a ship that seemed to be fairly
swarming with uncouth humans! Naturally, the scientist was alarmed;
and, having made his escape, he hastened back to the city to secure
aid in capturing the aliens. As he described them, they were in every
respect like the barbarians of which ancient annals tell,--great,
brawny humans of unkempt and ferocious appearance. But we knew that
they could be no more redoubtable than their kindred who were already
among us; we knew that they would be easily subdued by the superior
minds and irresistible magnetic wills with which nature and a select
inheritance have endowed our race. And when the twenty men of the
searching expedition set out early this morning, we had reason to
believe that the aliens would be present by evening to face trial
before this assemblage.
“As you observe, we have not been disappointed. But now, fellow
citizens, the great problem arises. The prisoners appear to be unclean
as well as wanton and unprincipled men. Contrary to all regulations,
they have been catching fish from the Salty River and using them
for food. They have been slaying unoffending crabs and turtles,
and--disgusting though the idea be--frying and eating them! They have
been polluting water of the stream; they have been trampling down the
rarest seaweeds, and beating to death the daintiest of water-flowers;
they have been scrawling all sorts of crude and outlandish designs on
the delicate pink and blue of the roof-bearing columns.
“But all this--criminal though it be--we may overlook for the moment.
The chief problem presented by the arrival of these aliens is of such
wide-reaching social consequence that their minor transgressions pale
into insignificance. For the first time in more than three thousand
years, the principles of Agripides have been violated. Visitors
from outside have at last appeared; at last we are in danger of
contamination by the passions and vices of the upper world. Whether the
invasion was deliberate is not definitely known, but how it was made is
sufficiently clear: the barbarian ship, which was equipped to travel
under the sea, was sucked into the whirlpool at the ocean entrance of
Atlantis and forced into the valve through which the waters of the
Salty River find admittance. Of course, this trespass may have been
merely accidental; but remembering the warlike and unfriendly ways of
the upper world, I personally suspect that the intrusion was planned
with cunning design, and that other invading craft--possibly a whole
invading fleet--may be expected to arrive. Fellow citizens, what is
your opinion?”
* * * * *
Amid general silence the speaker took his seat--applause was apparently
unknown among the Atlanteans. But this fact did not then enter into my
thoughts; I was too much enraged at the tall young man’s misstatements.
With a lack of self-consciousness that I can explain only by my
blinding fury, I found myself doing the unprecedented.
Springing excitedly to my feet, I demanded, hotly, in the native
tongue, “Friends, may I say a word?”
Instantly hundreds of pairs of eyes were turned upon me in surprise; I
saw that I had no more been expected to speak than if I had been a tree
or a stone. But the glances that were darted at me were not unfriendly,
and as yet I was too much incensed to regret my words.
“Certainly, you may say all you wish,” rang out the clear, well-rounded
tones of the lady leader of the debate. “This is the Hall of Public
Enlightenment, you know, and any person with anything to say will
gladly be heard.”
“Go on, old sport, give it to them good!” whispered Stranahan into my
ear, although he could not have caught the drift of what was happening;
and, with his words rankling in my mind, I started toward the speaker’s
space.
But as I took my place before that silent, staring multitude, I wished
that I could have been safely back in my seat. Something suspiciously
like fear overcame me--what right had I to be addressing this strange
assemblage? What reason to expect that I could speak their language
intelligibly? Yet necessity prodded me on; and, after gaping stonily
at the spectators, I found myself somehow uttering a series of more
or less connected sounds. I did not say what I had intended, and I
suspect that more than one English word got itself intertwined with my
Atlantean vocabulary; but I was encouraged when I observed that all
eyes were fixed upon me with apparent interest, and that no one openly
laughed or so much as tittered, though one or two (and among them
Stranahan) could hardly suppress a smile.
After a vague, sputtering introduction that I cannot begin to recall,
I found myself on fairly solid ground. I declared that I could
answer many of the questions which the previous speaker had put; I
explained that my companions and myself were not barbarians, being
representatives of the highest of modern civilizations; I stated that
we had no evil intentions, having come to Atlantis by accident, and
certainly not being the forerunners of a wave of invasion; and, at the
same time, I offered our thanks for the treatment already accorded us,
and expressed our intention to abide by the laws of Atlantis and to act
in conformity with the best traditions of the land.
As I took my seat, I could see from the faces of my hearers that I
had produced a favorable effect. Many were the nods of approval that
greeted me, and many the sympathetic smiles. But at the same time I
could perceive that I had not made myself perfectly clear; and when a
score of voices simultaneously requested that I return to the platform,
I had no other choice.
Questions regarding my native land were now rained upon me in
profusion. But whether because of my limited knowledge of the language
or because the experience of the Atlanteans differed so fundamentally
from my own, I had great difficulty in making myself understood. My
description of the growth and attainments of the modern world was
listened to with interest, but with a lack of comprehension that I
thought almost idiotic. Thus, when I declared that the United States
was a leading nation because of its population of a hundred million,
its rare inventions and its prolific manufactures, my hearers merely
looked blank and asked how the country ranked in art; and when I stated
(what surely is self-evident to all patriotic Americans) that New
York is the greatest city on earth because of its tall buildings and
its capacity for housing a million human beings in one square mile,
my audience regarded me with something akin to horror, and one of the
men--evidently a dolt, for he seemed quite serious--asked whether no
steps had even been taken to abolish the evil.
But it was when describing my own career that I was most grievously
misunderstood. Had I confessed to murder, the people could not have
been more shocked than when I mentioned that I was one of the crew of
a ship commissioned to ram and destroy other ships; and I felt that
my prestige was ruined beyond repair when I stated that I had entered
the war voluntarily. Even the most friendly hearers seemed to draw
unconsciously away from me after my recital; loathing and disgust
showed plainly in their faces, as though I had announced myself to
be an African cannibal or a Polynesian head hunter. Only too plainly
I perceived that what was termed heroism among my fellows was here
regarded as villainy. It did little good to explain that war was a
cherished custom in the upper world, and that patriotism was among the
prime virtues; it was useless to plead that there might be reasons
for taking the lives of men, whom one had never seen, and that such
reasons were generally recognized among civilized nations. The more I
argued, the greater the abhorrence I aroused; and beyond an occasional
murmured “Agripides was right,” my words brought little direct reply.
And at length I returned to my seat feeling myself to be in disgrace,
yet curbing my embarrassment by inwardly cursing the stupidity of the
Atlanteans.
The remaining business of the assemblage was disposed of quickly
enough. Following my retreat, the tall young man again addressed the
meeting, reminding his audience that they had not yet passed judgment
upon us. “Fellow citizens,” said he, in conclusion, “I have a proposal
to make, which, so far as I can see, is the only one possible under the
circumstances. Whether we like it or not, we must recognize that the
intruders are here; and, though we did not will their presence, we must
treat them humanely. Since we cannot dispose of them by violence and
since we must accept their assurance that no others of their kind are
to follow, we must let them remain, and see that they are educated and
put to work like all other citizens. But one thing we must insist upon
above all else: the isolation of Atlantis must be protected, and the
countries above seas must never learn of our existence. Hence we must
decree that, no matter how many years go by, none of the aliens shall
ever return to the upper world!”
And it was with a sinking heart, with the hopelessness of one being
sentenced to life imprisonment, that I heard the assemblage endorse
this recommendation.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Half a dozen of the queerest beings we had ever seen
came crowding into our path ... from the blank amazed stares with which
they greeted us, it was evident that our appearance was as much a
surprise to them as theirs was to us. But from a certain sternness and
resolution which invested their faces following the first speechless
astonishment, we concluded that they had probably seen others of our
kind, and were not disposed to treat us leniently.]
* * * * *