The observatory fascinated me. Never for a moment is the huge telescope,
with its revolving cylinder of mercury, left unguarded. Here sits
constantly Buh Tedn, or one of his assistants, while four students scan
the sky for an occasional rift in the clouds. This vigil, maintained
throughout the ages, and a similar vigil at Mooni, have resulted in a
knowledge of space comparable with ours, in spite of the clouds which
envelop Poros. The Porovians have long been of the opinion that both
Mars and the Earth are inhabited, but that the other planets are not.
Constant demands were made on me to lecture before the students, and to
submit to physical examinations; but, as all this came during my work
time, it did not interfere with my recreation.
The wing of the palace devoted to Lilla and her attendants, lay near to
my quarters and not far from the machine shop, and could be reached by
an outside door without passing through the rest of the palace. Thither
I came as a frequent visitor, by invitation of the princess. In fact, to
be perfectly frank, I spent nearly my entire spare time there.
She had an unquenchable sunny disposition, and a keen sense of humor.
She had no particular accomplishments, and yet possessed that trait,
often overlooked and yet more valuable than any mere parlor tricks, of
tactfulness, sympathy, ability to smooth over the rough places of life,
and to enrich with her personality every gathering which she favored
with her presence.
I certainly was on the top of the world—or rather of the planet
Poros—and to make my contentment complete my old ant friend Doggo was
detailed as attache of the Formian ambassador, and brought with him my
pet buntlote and Lilla’s pet mathlab, which we had left behind in
Wautoosa.
Meanwhile my scientific attainments were attracting considerable
attention, until finally Lilla informed me that her father had reached
the conclusion that these attainments would furnish an excuse for
elevating me to the lesser nobility. The _real_ basis for my elevation
was of course my rescue of the princess, but the king had not dared to
give this reason, for fear of offending the sensibilities of Queen
Formis.
In due course of time my promotion occurred, and I became a barsarkar,
entitled to wear a red circle over where my heart ought to be, _i.e._,
on the right side of my toga.
Lilla gave a special dinner to celebrate this, and invited Bthuh and
Poblath. In fact, she was always getting up special occasions on one
pretext or another, for she was very fond of devising new ways of
cooking alta and mathlab and the red lobsterlike aphid-parasite, and of
trying these dishes on her friends.
We played at a four-handed game resembling checkers, and a pleasant time
was had by all. After the game we sat on a little veranda in the warm
soft evening air, two pairs of lovers blissfully happy.
Doggo had not been invited. He would not have fitted in. Being a sexless
female, what could he know of love? And then, too, I had begun to learn
that, except in educational circles, where “science knows no national
boundaries,” there was very little fraternizing between the Cupians and
their conquerors. The social barrier between Doggo and me, which
resembled the pale between our two countries, was the only drawback to
an otherwise idyllic life.
But as Poblath would say: “The cloudiest day may have its sunshine,”
meaning just the opposite to our “every cloud has its silver lining.”
For one day I received a letter from King Kew announcing, as a special
mark of his favor, my betrothal to—the Duchess Bthuh!
Horrified, I rushed to the apartments of my Princess, and obtained
entrance. She, too, had heard the news, and was in tears.
“My rank or not, Bthuh or no Bthuh, you are mine, mine!” she sobbed as
she clung to me, while I covered her with kisses. “If it were not for
Yuri and your criminal record, we could flee into Formia; but here in
Cupia my father is supreme. If you were still a commoner, you could
marry or not as you chose, within your own class; but as a barsarkar you
must marry as the king directs.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do about it?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” she replied. “A princess cannot marry lower than a full
sarkar, which is a rank that you can attain only by performing some
distinguished service for your country. Our only hope lies in accepting
fate for the present, and in striving to get you a sarkarship before the
wedding. And think of poor Bthuh! This will be as much of a blow to her
and to Poblath as it is to us.”
But, to our surprise and consternation, Bthuh took the news very
philosophically.
“The king’s will be done,” she said with a pretty little pout and shrug.
“Myles Cabot is not a bad match after all; and, if rank prevents him
from having the princess and prevents me from having the mango, why not
solace ourselves with each other?”
And she glanced shyly up at me.
But somehow the idea did not appeal to me at all.
I must have looked at Bthuh with much the same expression of horror as
the princess had worn the day of our first meeting at Wautoosa when I
was still an unkempt earth man, for Bthuh laughed and said: “Come, come,
Myles, do not look thus. Am I so horrible that you cannot learn to love
me, even to please our gracious king?”
“Bthuh! Stop that foolishness at once!” ordered Lilla. “You make me
sick.”
But Bthuh insolently replied: “Cannot I flirt with my own betrothed, O
princess?” She left the room, smiling.
“She is merely trying to hide a broken heart,” I apologized.
Whereat Lilla wheeled on me furiously and said: “Don’t you dare stand up
for that creature!”
So I desisted.
I certainly was in a fix! Engaged to girl whom I didn’t love, but who
had apparently determined to put up with me. Estranged from the girl
whom I did love. Forced to play false with the first man who had
befriended me in Cupia. And no way out in sight. What was I to do?
I thought of renouncing my rank. But this, I found, was impossible; and,
besides, such a step would put the princess even further out of my
reach.
Bthuh bore up nobly; much too nobly, in fact.
Poblath sent me a brief note reading: “I expected no gratitude, but I
did expect a square deal,” and then refused to receive me when I
hastened to the mang-ool to explain.
I took Hah Babbuh into my confidence, but he had no suggestion to offer,
for I had as yet done nothing to deserve a sarkarship.
As time passed I saw less and less of Lilla and more and more of Bthuh,
but I managed to keep from being left alone with the latter.
The date of our wedding was set, and drew nearer and nearer. We were to
be married in state by the king himself. I could not help admitting that
my bride was an exquisite creature. But I did not, could not, love her;
though, if I had never met the Princess Lilla, I could doubtless have
lived very happily with Bthuh. But how can the eagle’s lover mate with a
parakeet?
At last the eve of my wedding arrived. After supper I dragged my
footsteps to the quarters of the princess, to spend with her the last
few parths which I should ever be free to spend, for on the morrow I was
to become a married man. Bthuh, my affianced bride, met me, and the
princess was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh Cabot, Cabot,” entreated Bthuh as she seized my hands and gazed into
my eyes. “Cannot you bow to the inevitable? Is life with me such a
horrible fate? I can be very sweet if you will but let me try. You have
never once kissed me yet. Is that the way to treat your betrothed? Kiss
me, Cabot, kiss me, kiss me, kiss me!”
And, still holding me with her amber eyes, she slid her hands up my arms
and drew her fragrant presence close to me.
But I broke away abruptly from her spell and demanded: “Where is my
princess? Surely you will not rob me of my last few hours of freedom.”
Bthuh shrugged her pretty shoulders. “Your princess, it is always your
princess! Well, what should I care? For tomorrow you are mine, wholly
mine, and even a princess will not pirate the husband of a sarkari. Find
her yourself and gather flowers while it yet is day.” And with another
shrug she left the salon.
“Tomorrow? Why, tomorrow I may be myself with yesterday’s seven thousand
years,” I quoted softly as I pulled the signal cord for the maid.
The maid informed me that her mistress had not been seen since early
morning. It was not like Lilla thus to leave her whereabouts unknown for
such a long time. So I rushed out into the streets and began to make
inquiries.
If I had been less agitated I suppose that I would have been more
systematic; but as it was, I soon learned from a pinqui that the
princess had been seen walking southward over the plaza shortly before
noon. So I hastened down to the plaza and started questioning people.
At last my search was rewarded, for several people reported that they
had seen a woman apparently much agitated, picked up by an ant-man and
carried southward. So hiring a kerkool at the nearest garage, I started
in pursuit.
A few stads outside the city I came upon an ant kerkool lying beside the
road. Gyroscope trouble, evidently. I parked my car and got out to
investigate.
As I was standing there gazing at the fallen kerkool, a bandage was
suddenly thrown about my eyes from behind. Then I smelled the pungent
anaesthetic fumes of decoction of saffra root, and my struggles ceased.
_14_
in disgrace
I awakened to find myself lying bound in a wood. The time was apparently
the next morning. My first thought was to worry about Lilla. My next was
to wonder who was to blame for my seizure. Yuri, undoubtedly.
But, if so, had he not misplayed? If he had let me alone, I should by
this time be marrying the Sarkari Bthuh; and, once married to her, I
could no longer interfere between Lilla and Yuri. Lilla might even
consent to marry the prince out of pique.
My thoughts were interrupted by the return of my captor, who proved to
be an ant-man, numbered 356-1-400. He was a young ant, and bore no duel
numbers. I started to speak, but he warned me to be silent; to make sure
of my obedience, he bit me savagely. Once more, as on my first day on
this planet, I experienced intense pain, followed by oblivion, and then
conscious paralysis.
When I awoke paralyzed, I found that my captor was carrying me. The fact
that he was an ant-man confirmed my suspicions of Yuri. But the fact
that he was carrying me furtively through the woods, instead of on the
main highway, convinced me that I was still in Cupia.
My bonds were still on, but had become very loose. Immediately I decided
that my one chance of escape lay in concealing my recovery from the
paralysis, when this recovery should occur. So I awaited my opportunity.
Thus we proceeded for about a parth and a half, when suddenly my captor
halted and pricked up his antennae. I too listened. Directly ahead of us
there came a long-drawn howl, the call of a woofus. Nearer came the
sound.
We were in a field at the time, and I could see that the ant-man was
looking around for a likely tree, in which to take refuge. But the
bordering woods were all scrub, with not a single sizable tree in sight,
so my captor laid me down and advanced toward the sound of the oncoming
woofus, evidently determined to bluff it out and attack before being
attacked.
Then the purple terror bounded into the open. One lone ant-man is no
match for a woofus. Though my captor fought bravely, he was slowly
driven back, contesting every parastad of the way. When the two were
nearly upon me, I realized that my languor was gone. I undid my bonds. I
stood erect. Then I found a heavy stick.
My captor was entirely engrossed in his conflict. Now was my chance to
crush him with my club, and then escape while the woofus devoured his
remains. Fate was indeed kind to me once more. So I crept stealthily
forward, and then brought my club down with a crash on the head of—
The woofus. For my sense of fair play, my sporting sense, had abruptly
changed my mind, and I had rescued the underdog, instead of killing him.
Now I was again his captive, undoubtedly destined this time to have eggs
laid in me by Queen Formis.
The ant-man stood for a moment astounded, and then wheeled around. I
still held my club. There was now no reason why I should not kill him
too, if I could. But he did not charge.
Instead he said: “Let us not fight. You have saved my life, and so I owe
you yours. ‘A life for a life.’ No one shall ever say that 356-1-400 is
ungrateful. Go in peace. Look, a mist approaches. My excuse shall be
that I lost you in the fog. If you too are grateful, you will tell the
same story.”
Then the fog, a frequent phenomenon of Poros, closed upon me, and I saw
my captor no more. I lay down, covered myself with tartan leaves to keep
off the wet, and waited for the fog to lift.
And the next thing I knew, it was morning.
In spite of my long fast—since supper two days ago—I felt refreshed by
my sleep, and at once set out through the woods in as nearly a straight
line as I could, in the hope of striking a road. The straight line was
easy, as the eastern sky was still faintly pink; and likewise it was
easy to head north along the road, when I finally reached one. But when
at last I came to a city, it turned out to be Ktuth rather than Kuana.
Before seeking food or anything else, except a _much_-needed drink of
water, I found a pinqui and asked him if he had heard any recent news
from Kuana, relative to the disappearance of the princess.
“News from Kuana? Disappearance?” he repeated in surprise. “Surely not.
The princess has been here safe and sound for two days, and left only a
few paraparths ago by the Kuana road!”
So I had just missed her! If I had entered the city a bit later, I
should have passed her on the road!
My tickets were not sufficient to hire a kerkool; and besides now that I
knew Lilla was safe, I was in no hurry to face Bthuh, whom I had left
waiting at the joining-stand, as it were. So, after breakfast, I set out
on foot for Kuana, thirty stads away, carrying some lunch.
Around noon, when I had just eaten my lunch on a stone by the side of
the road, a kerkool passed me, headed for Kuana. I hailed its single
occupant, and was given a lift the rest of the way. He turned out to be
the Chief of Pinquis of Ktuth, bound for a conference with the mango of
Kuana. I welcomed the chance to get inside the Kuana jail, face to face
with my old friend Poblath, for this opportunity would enable me to give
him my long-deferred explanation of my relations—or rather lack of
relations—with his Bthuh.
It was three days since I had shaved, and I must have presented an
uncanny sight. In fact, the Chief had intimated as much, as I got aboard
his kerkool. So, when Poblath saw me, his jaw dropped, and he seemed
convulsed with fear.
“Go away, dead man,” he begged. “I confess it all. I did hire the
ant-man to assassinate you. But, now that you have my confession, return
in peace to the land beneath the boiling seas, and leave me alone!”
So _that_ was why I had been kidnaped. Well, at least it let Yuri out of
being an absolute fool.
“Poblath, old friend,” I replied, “I am not dead. The ant-man lost me in
the fog. And I have returned, not to curse you, but rather to thank you,
for you have saved me from an unwished marriage.”
And then I got across the explanation, which he had so long denied me.
When I had finished, there was no longer any doubt in Poblath’s mind
that I was still his friend; and he warmly patted my jaw, the
conventional Porovian token of friendship.
But I fancied that his sweetheart, Bthuh, would not be so easy to
appease.
From the jail I went to my rooms for a shave and a clean toga, and then
repaired to the garage where I had rented the kerkool, my intention
being to try and arrange to pay for the loss on the installment plan.
But to my surprise, the kerkooloolo informed me that my kerkool had been
found, with its gyros still running, standing beside the wrecked
ant-car, and had been brought back to Kuana intact, so that all I owed
was an extra day’s rent, for which he would gladly trust me until next
ticket-day.
On returning again to my rooms, I found a messenger with a peremptory
summons to attend the king forthwith, in spite of the fact that it was
now nearly time for the evening meal. Evidently, old Kew had heard of my
return.
He had! When I entered the audience chamber, I entered the presence of
an awful wrath. Kew was seated on his royal couch, and standing beside
him was a she-woofus named Bthuh. Never before had I so stirred a
woman’s rage, and I hope never to do so again.
The king demanded an explanation, which I gave readily enough, but which
did not convince him in the least.
“Cabot Barsarkar,” he spoke, “I do not believe you. Concern for the
safety of the princess is very commendable. But, if it were that which
actuated you, you would have inquired first from me, and would have
learned that she had left a note with me, giving word of her departure
for Ktuth.
“No, you took the absence of the princess as a mere convenient excuse to
desert your bride at the joining-stand, unmindful of the high honor
which I was conferring on you in giving the hand of a sarkari to you,
lately a commoner, nay, even a beast from another world. Whether or not
she will still have you, is for the lady to say; but, as for me, you
have greatly incurred the royal displeasure, and I am almost minded to
revoke your rank. You came to us from among those accursed Formians,
under whose thraldom I am chafing. Verily, I believe the ancient
proverb: ‘No good cometh out of Formia.’ Go! I have spoken.”
“But _I_ have not spoken,” interjected Bthuh, ever the disrespectful.
“Know, base earth-thing, that no one can injure the pride of Bthuh with
impunity. You who could have given me your love, or even merely your
hand, and have received in return a love, the passion of which is
unequaled on this planet, chose instead to mete out to me, who am your
social superior, the worst insult which a man can give to a woman.
“I condescend to link myself with a commoner, and for reward am treated
as dirt, am ground under heel like a brink. Never can you wipe out this
insult. Never shall I reconsider my present determination not to marry
you.”
“For this relief, much thanks,” said I to myself.
“But you still have me to cope with,” she continued, “you brink!
Mathlab! Earth-man!”
A particularly delicate touch, putting “earth-man” as the climax of a
list of distasteful creatures!
“Bthuh will have her revenge,” she concluded, “never fear. Now _I_ have
spoken.”
I drew a long breath, as one who has just finished receiving a flogging.
So _that_ was over. (The lady is now a very good friend of mine, and
begs me to tone down this transcription of her tirade. But why not tell
the story just as it happened?)
As I respectfully withdrew from the audience chamber, an attendant
softly radiated into my antennae that the princess desired to see me at
once in her apartments. More trouble!
But I was wrong, for Lilla received me most tenderly and graciously.
Supper was laid for two. I took her in my arms.
At last we seated ourselves side by side on a couch by the table, and
the meal was served.
“I was unable to bear your marriage to another,” she explained,
“especially as you did not seem to be trying to do anything about it.”
“But how can a mathlab struggle in the jaws of a woofus?” I interjected,
quoting one of Poblath’s proverbs.
Lilla smiled indulgently, and continued her story. “There was no one
here whom I could trust, so I finally called upon Doggo. He met me on
the outskirts of the city, and carried me to Ktuth in his kerkool; then
returned to Kuana, to try and devise with you some means of escaping
from Bthuh. But his kerkool broke down en route, and he had to continue
on foot; and, by the time that he reached the city, you had disappeared.
When you failed to show up for the wedding, Bthuh acted like one drunk
with saffra-root, and has continued so ever since. Doggo sent word to me
at Ktuth, and I returned.”
Then I told her _my_ adventures, she sympathizing tenderly with my
misfortunes, and thrilling at my conquest of the woofus.
“Now that Poblath is our friend again, we have little to fear from
Bthuh,” she said. “Bthuh is a mad little wanton, and will cool off if
let alone. But Poblath, for all his philosophy, is a commoner, and so
was to have been expected to misunderstand the situation.”
I wanted to say that Lilla herself had entertained exactly the same
misunderstanding as Poblath, but instead I merely remarked, “I too am a
commoner, Lilla dearest.”
“You are not!” she indignantly replied, “you are a barsarkar, and have
the heart of a king. Could the Princess Lilla love a commoner?”
“The Princess Lilla once spent a whole night in the arms of a commoner,”
I remonstrated.
“And was just as safe and free from insult as she would have been in the
arms of her mother,” she added. “But Yuri believed otherwise, or said
that he did; and threatened that, unless I would by my silence assent to
his version of my rescue, he would tell the king, who would have
believed the worst and would have cast me out. So, as long as I thought
that you were hopelessly doomed, I held my peace. But I was very sad.”
After the meal, Lilla and I sat for a long time together on her little
balcony, discussing plans.
“I shall marry you,” assented my princess, “even if we have to flee
together to islands beyond the boiling seas.”
That was all very well, but quite impractical. The boiling seas were
impassable—unapproachable even. Formia was barred to us by my criminal
record, and by the presence and influence there of Yuri. Cupia was
barred to us by the wrath of King Kew, due to my treatment of his
favorite. And Formia and Cupia constituted the entire world. For us to
hide disguised was impossible, because of my own earth-born deformities.
So, although I gloried in Lilla’s love, my joy was sobered by a
realization that marriage between us was impossible.
And what about the situation when King Kew should die, and Prince Yuri
should succeed to the crown? We had that to look forward to.
_15_
a new game
But with Lilla’s love and trust, I could not despair. As I kissed her
good night, with her warm throbbing girlish body held fast in my arms, a
single star shone down upon us for an instant, through a rift in the
circumambient clouds. Was it my own planet, the earth? I wondered.
During the succeeding days I saw much of Lilla and nothing of Bthuh. And
ever I racked my brains for an idea which would point the way out of my
difficulties. My only hope was to perform such a distinguished service
for my adopted country that the king would relent, would forgive me, and
would promote me to the rank of sarkar.
The most distinguished service which a Cupian can render is to invent a
new and popular game, so I set about to do something in that line. And
at last the idea came, a whiz of an idea! As Hah Babbuh, head of the
Department of Mechanics, had advised me to seek this means of
distinction, so it was to him that I first confided my plans.
At my request, Prince Toron, who had aided me so efficiently in devising
my radio set in the laboratories of Mooni, was detailed to assist me in
this new endeavor. He and a young draftsman and a young chemist set to
work with me to build the new game.
And what was this new game? Target shooting with army rifles. Explosives
were already known on Poros, being used for blasting and for airplane
bombs. With the aid of the young chemist, I adapted these explosives to
be sufficiently slow burning to drive a rifle-bullet without injuring
the gun.
In a surprisingly short time we had turned out a crude rifle which would
actually shoot. The heads of the Mathematics and Astronomy Departments,
Ja Babbuh and Buh Tedn, were then let in on the secret, for the purpose
of computing trajectories and designing the sights and wind leaf, which
they did by an adaption of the principles employed in computing the
orbits of celestial bodies.
A hundred and forty-seven rifles were then turned out and presented to
my athletic club.
My club tried out the rifles; and, when at last they began to get
bull’s-eyes, they went wild over the new sport. The king heard, and
relented sufficiently to send for me and compliment me.
After being thoroughly tried out in my hundred, rifle shooting was next
introduced into the clubs to which my three assistants belonged, and
became popular there, as well. The idea spread, and soon all the clubs
throughout the kingdom were clamoring for guns. The mechanical
laboratory at Kuana was made over into a huge arsenal, and the chemical
laboratory into a huge munitions factory, while the athletic clubs of
Kuana and the vicinity detailed some of their members to work overtime
in my two plants. The Cupians will always work overtime in the cause of
play.
Target practice soon became the national sport of Cupia. The craze even
reached such dimensions that Queen Formis finally dispatched a special
mission to Kuana to study the movement and report whether it could not
be put to some practical use. The report of that mission is now one of
my most treasured possessions, and a framed reproduction of their
conclusions now hangs upon my office wall.
The ant mission concluded, and so reported to their queen, that the new
game had absolutely no practical application, but that if it kept the
crazy Cupians quiet and took their minds off their troubles, it might
prove a valuable contribution toward simplifying the enforcement of the
treaty of Mooni. And so, indeed, it seemed. Toron neglected politics to
become a proficient shot, and his anti-Formian movement rapidly
subsided. All of which was exactly as I had planned.
The collapse of the Toron movement so pleased the exiled Prince Yuri
that he sent a special ambassador to his brother, offering to assist in
introducing the new sport to the Cupians at Mooni. But “I fear the
Greeks even when ferrying doughnuts,” as we used to say at Harvard. So
Yuri’s kind offer was declined. We did, however, present a sample rifle
and some of our powder to the authorities of the Imperial University of
the ant-men at their request, for we could not very well refuse.
Finally King Kew himself condescended to sit in at the conferences
between Hah Babbuh, Bub Tedn, Ja Babbuh, Toron, and myself. He had been
brooding a good deal recently on the indignities inflicted on his people
by Queen Formis, with whom he had had several disputes lately; and the
committee-work seemed to divert and cheer him up greatly. But still I
was not made a sarkar, although I learned from Lilla that Hah Babbuh had
urged this on the king. The influence of Bthuh Sarkari was still too
strong. In fact, it was rumored that she now aspired to make herself
Queen of Cupia.
Well, I did not mind. Better even one of _her_ sons on the throne than
Yuri!
Having got the new game well under way, I next turned to my old love,
radio. First I obtained some stones from the Howling Valley, which was
easy, because of my deafness to radio-waves; but I was unable to put
them to any practical use. Then I devised a simple wave trap for
absorbing the ordinary carrying waves of Porovian speech. Also I
arranged a variable condenser, which could so alter the capacity of the
Cupian antennae that selective sending and reception were possible.
These two devices were combined in a small box which could easily be
carried on a man’s head and be coupled to his antennae. My third
invention on these lines was a broadcasting set, whereby the normal
Cupian sending range of four parastads—about fifty yards—was increased
to half a stad—about half a mile.
And now, in my frantic quest for a sarkarship, I introduced a still
further new game, namely marching evolutions on an extended scale.
Strictly speaking, this was really an adaptation of an old game, rather
than the creation of a new, for marching formations had always been
popular in Cupia; but my three new radio devices made it possible to
perform these evolutions by twelves of thousands.
We tried it out in our own twelve thousand. The commander broadcast his
orders to the selectively tuned headsets of the eklats, and they in turn
to the pootahs, each of whom then directed his hundred at ordinary wave
length. The regimental evolutions went through like clockwork, and
_this_ idea spread to the other twelve thousands of the country.
But still I was not made a sarkar.
I then turned my attention to the construction of two huge engines, one
of which we mounted on a kerkool and one on a concrete base in the
courtyard of the university machine shop. The purpose of these engines
was for the present kept secret. But I had a feeling that they would win
me the sarkarship, even if everything else failed.
As a result of my inventions, King Kew sufficiently unbent to invite me
to occupy the reviewing stand with him on Peace Day, when the annual
athletic prize-giving was to take place. This was a signal honor which
even sarkars might envy, but it was not a sarkarship.
The morning of the five hundredth anniversary of the Peace of
Mooni—three hundred and fifty-eight in Porovian notation—dawned clear
and dazzling. By 460 o’clock—9:00 o’clock in earth time—the whole plaza
and the fields beyond were jammed with marching clubs.
The Minister of Play, who stood with me on the reviewing platform at the
crest of University Hill—along with the rest of the cabinet, Prince
Toron, and a few leading nobles and professors—sadly remarked that he
was afraid the maneuvers would have to be given up.
I replied with a smile that I guessed not; though he was unable to
figure out how evolutions could be possible with that huge crowd.
Pistol shooting had recently been introduced as a tentative subject for
next year’s games, and our committee of five all wore revolvers strapped
to our sides, as a special badge in recognition of our responsibility
for the gala occasion.
The housetops and roads were crowded with Cupian femininity. All was
ready for the grand opening. I adjusted the controls of the big sending
set, and dispatched Poblath, who had been detailed as my aide for the
day, to inform the king that the time had arrived for his address.
As King Kew XII stepped up on the stand, at just 500 o’clock—10:00 in
earth time—practically the entire male population of Cupia gave him the
United States Army present arms in absolute unison. It was an inspiring
sight.
I noticed that the king seemed extremely pale and nervous, but I did not
give this much thought at the time.
Then I yielded the sending set to him, and he began his speech of
welcome, a very different speech from what had been expected, but one
which will go down in history, and which every Cupian school boy
throughout the ages will commit to memory, as American boys do the
Gettysburg Address.
Thus spoke King Kew: “Three hundred and fifty-eight years ago today our
forefathers submitted to the indignities of the treaty of Mooni, and the
stigma of that infamous treaty attached to the Kew dynasty, which was
then founded. For twelve generations, Cupia has been under the dominion
of a race of animals—animals possessed of human intelligence, it is
true, but still merely lower animals.
“Now the parth of our deliverance is at hand. Those rifles which you
hold were designed not for play, but rather for the killing of Formians.
The bullets which have been issued to you this day contain the highest
explosive known to Porovian science. With these weapons you are
invincible. Today, with your support, Cupia will become free, and the
Kew Dynasty will wipe out forever the stigma of its birth.
“Are you men or slaves? If you be slaves, you will bow to Formis, your
sons and descendants forever will wearily serve out their time in her
workshops, she will have veto power over all your laws, your present
king will give his body as food for her maggots, and your future kings
will cower before her. But if you be men, you will today offer up your
lives for your country, that Cupia may at last be free!”
A murmur, as of an angry sea, arose from the crowd and smote upon my
antennae. The sporting nature of the proposition appealed to them fully
as much as any sentiments of patriotism.
The king turned to me. I saluted. And, in front of that huge assemblage,
he pinned upon my breast the long-forgotten insignia of field marshal of
the armies of a nation. Simultaneously Prince Toron and the three
professors displayed the insignia of general. Hah Babbuh stepped to my
side as my chief of staff, while the other three donned their selective
tuners and descended from the platform to take command of their several
corps. The stage was all set for the final denouement.
The king spoke again: “Let all Cupians who are willing to die for king
and country raise their hands aloft.”
Up shot every hand on the hill and plain below.
I seized the phones and shouted: “Then forward into ant land, for Cupia,
King Kew, and Princess Lilla!”
“For Cupia, King Kew, and Princess Lilla!” shouted my army in reply and
the march toward Formia began.
But some Cupian had betrayed us, for at this instant there appeared, at
the crest of the hill overlooking the city, a horde of ant-men, who
debouched in perfect order on the fields beyond the plain. Thank God
that they had not arrived before the king’s speech!
But even as it was, things were bad enough; our advance companies
recoiled in terror before the black assault. Five hundred years of
servile peace are not well calculated to develop a nation of fighters. I
saw Toron frantically trying to rally his troops, but in vain. It had
been easy enough to plan to attack the ant-men, but five hundred years
of submission had bred a tradition of Formian omnipotence, and this
tradition at once revived when the Formians appeared.
I gazed with horror at the scene. Here were thousands upon thousands of
presumably intelligent human beings, armed with the most powerful
weapons which modern science could produce, and yet retreating in
superstitious fear before a handful of unarmed ants. Had the high
resolves of a few paraparths ago degenerated to this?
Why didn’t my men use their rifles? Let them fire a few shots, and they
would realize their power.
So seizing the phones again I tuned them to Toron’s wavelength, and
radiated: “For God’s sake stop! Never mind your whole army. Just hold
two or three men. Get them to use their rifles on the enemy. Use your
own pistol, too.”
Toron did not know who God was, but he sensed the agony of my appeal,
and he gathered the idea. Seizing the nearest Cupian by the shoulder, he
swung him around, at the same time discharging his own revolver. An
ant-man exploded.
The Cupian, fascinated, fired his own rifle with equal success. Then, at
Toron’s peremptory command, a few more of his men halted long enough to
try their rifles on the enemy.
At each shot, one Formian exploded. The effect was splendid. Our men
stopped, formed ranks again, opened fire, and advanced once more toward
Formia. The tradition of Formian invincibility was destroyed forever.
Messengers now came with word that hundreds of kerkools were bringing up
ant reenforcements over all the roads leading from the border. But what
could jaws avail them against dumdum bullets?
I learned later that the ants had attacked certain outlying towns of our
country earlier in the day, expecting to make easy work of them, and to
wreak a vengeance on the unprotected inhabitants. But our casualties
there had been surprisingly light. In the village of Beem, in the Okarze
Mountains, rocks were used on the attackers, and the chance remark,
“Fine target practice!” had suggested to some bright local mind the use
of rifles, with which the ant-men had been repulsed with ease. At
Bartlap, one of the enemy had indiscreetly mentioned that rifles were
the cause of the war, and immediately rifles were effectively produced.
In most of the other instances the Formians had been recalled to
reenforce the attack on Kuana.
Now a new development occurred, for a fleet of airships appeared on the
horizon, and presently high explosive bombs began dropping with
frightful havoc among my astounded troops, who once more broke and ran.
In a few paraparths the planes would be over the city.
I dispatched Poblath on the run to the university, and soon my human
sense of hearing was rewarded by a sharp crack-crack-crack from the
Mechanics Building.
The first plane toppled and fell. The second. And then the third. The
others, sensing a power beyond their ability to combat, wheeled and
withdrew. Our armies reformed and once more advanced toward Formia. The
first of my huge secret machines, an anti-aircraft gun, had spoken.
Soon messengers brought word that intense fighting was in progress for
the possession of the Third Gate. Of course it would be many days before
our forces could reach the western two gates, but the bulk of the
populations of both countries lived near the Third Gate, due to the
mountainous nature of the country to the west.
Then came news that the Formians at the Third Gate had been flanked by
some of our men who had surmounted the pale with scaling ladders. The
Third Gate fell into the hands of Cupia. Our victorious armies were on
enemy soil.
It was war to the hilt! And the fact that the Formians had invaded and
attacked first, satisfied the sporting sense of all Cupia.
A special detachment of Mooni-trained aviators and mechanics had gone at
once to the three planes as soon as we had shot them down, and now one
of them arose into the air fully repaired.
The moment had arrived for the final master stroke in the new Cupian
national game—war. For the second huge machine in the courtyard of the
Department of Mechanics was a sixteen inch barbette coast artillery
rifle, which had been trained upon the Imperial City of the ant queen,
by exact elevation and azimuth, carefully computed by Buh Tedn.
The huge gun boomed forth. Again and again it boomed, as our spotting
plane reported for adjustment of fire. Finally, just at nightfall, the
signal came to cease firing. The Imperial City, from which Queen Formis
had been directing her troops, had been totally destroyed, and with it
presumably the queen and her friend and ally, the renegade Yuri.
Our armies still pressed forward into Formia, protected from air attack
by the three repaired planes and by the anti-aircraft gun, which had
been sent forward by kerkool. I was jubilant. But not so, apparently,
King Kew.
“What is the matter, sir?” I asked. “Why do you look so sad on this
glorious day of deliverance? Are you thinking of our poor boys who have
fallen?”
“No,” he replied, “I did not dare tell you before, for fear that your
well known impetuosity would disrupt our plans. But now you can know.
The Princess Lilla has been missing since morning. The fact that all of
her clothes are intact, except her sleeping robe, leads me to think that
she must have been kidnaped during the night.”
“My God!” I ejaculated in English. Then turning the command over to Hah
Babbuh, and instructing him to move his headquarters to the Third Gate
in the morning, I hastened to the apartments of my sweetheart.
Bthuh met me there in tears and said: “My princess is dead! My princess
is dead! Last night, through connivance with me, Prince Yuri drugged her
with saffra root and spirited her away to the Imperial City of Formia. I
knew all your plans, except the purposes of your two huge cannons, or I
should have warned Yuri of those, too. I thought merely to spoil your
victory and so gain my revenge. The old king, too, had spurned my
amorous advances, and so I declared war on Cupia. But Cupia has won in
spite of me, and as a punishment for my guilt my beloved mistress has
been killed.”
There could be no doubt of it. Every living thing in the city of the
queen had been destroyed. My victory was turned to ashes. In despair I
sank upon a couch.
But comforting arms stole around my shoulders, and a soft voice spoke in
my antennae: “Cabot, can you ever forgive me? I love you so that I would
willingly give back to you your princess, just to make you happy. But,
alas, she is lost to us forever. Cannot we solace ourselves with love
for each other? Cabot, Cabot, I love you so, my dear.”
And her fragrant, voluptuous, intoxicating presence wrapped itself
around my tired body and despondent soul.
_16_
Cabot tells the world
There on the same couch on which I had often caressed the Princess, I
held in my arms her betrayer, the lovely Bthuh. So soon does love
forget.
So soon love does _not_ forget! Casting aside the seductive betrayer of
my princess, I sprang to my feet, resolving never to give up hope until
I actually saw Lilla’s dead body, and even then to remain true to her in
death. Bthuh’s last chance had come and gone. She had played her last
card and lost.
Although it was now night, I at once called my aide, and summoned a
squad out of my own hundred, which had been retained as the king’s
bodyguard. Then, requisitioning a fleet of kerkools, we set out for the
Imperial City, leaving Poblath with his former love, Bthuh.
“Tame her if you can, and good luck to you,” was my parting admonition.
The trip was made in record time. By the light of our flash lamps we
found that the ruins were guarded by several hundred ant-men; so we sent
for reenforcements to be furnished in the morning, and then we
bivouacked for the night, taking turns keeping awake and sniping at the
enemy whenever they showed a light or came within the beams of ours.
Early in the morning, a company of Cupians reported to me, and we at
once began the assault of the ruins, carrying our objective with but
little difficulty.
Then came the individual fighting in the corridors, and in this the
ant-men were not at so great a disadvantage. They ambushed our soldiers.
They pushed rocks on them from above. And, all in all, they made away
with nearly half our force, before the remaining handful of defenders
broke and fled from the city.
Our survivors were put to work exploring. The mangled body of Queen
Formis was hailed with joy, but no signs were discovered of either Yuri
or Lilla, although occasionally we would come upon an enemy straggler
and kill him.
Finally on rounding a turn, whom should I meet face to face but the
ant-man who had let me go after I had rescued him from the woofus. I
recognized him at once.
“Yahoo! Number 356-1-400,” I hailed him, “a life for a life.”
“Nay,” he replied, “for you owe me nothing on that score. But if you
will spare me, I will repay you well.”
“Your life is already yours,” I said.
“Then,” said he, “I will lead you to the princess.”
I could have embraced the uncouth creature for joy. But, suspecting a
trap, I gathered nearly a squad of my soldiers before following the
ant-man. He led us into the subterranean depths of the city. Several
times we had to remove fallen fragments which barred our way, and once
had to wait until explosives could be obtained to blast a passage. But
at last we came within sight of an undamaged dungeon, where Lilla lay
chained, alive and well.
Yet even as we hailed her through a crack in the debris, we saw two
ant-men enter the dungeon through another passage, unchain the princess,
and carry her away.
Quick as a flash I remembered my revolver, and opened fire through the
crack, blasting one of her abductors. But as I drew a bead on the other,
my weapon was knocked from my hand. Turning angrily. I beheld our guide
standing over me.
“I fulfilled my bargain,” he said, “when I showed you the princess. Now
I owe you no more. Those Formians are my fellow countrymen, and I have
saved one of them, at least, from the horrible death.”
“And lost me my princess,” I shouted angrily.
We were now surrounded by my squad with drawn rifles, but they did not
dare fire, for fear of hitting me. I was at the mercy of our guide. He
had too much respect for the dum-dum bullets, however, and was easily
hauled off of me and placed under arrest.
My men then proceeded to hack their way into the dungeon, and we at once
followed the trail of the princess. This was not easy, for the city was
a total wreck. A hundred ways presented themselves, through which her
captor might have crawled. So we withdrew and threw a cordon around the
entire city, dispatching a few searching parties again into the
interior. This was made possible by additional reenforcements from
headquarters.
As luck would have it, the ant-man finally made his appearance, with
Lilla held tightly in his jaws, at the very point in the line of
sentries where I happened to be. Instantly a dozen rifles covered him.
But he radiated the peremptory command: “Stop! Put down your rifles.”
“Put them down!” I ordered.
“Now,” he continued, “if a rifle is raised again, I bite, and the
princess dies. She lives only on condition that I am given safe passage,
_with her as my prisoner_. Once within our lines she will be treated
well, for she will prove a valuable hostage to support the demands of
Formis for a return to power.”
“Formis is dead,” I objected.
“One Formis is dead,” he replied. “But there are always maggots which we
can fatten to make a new queen.”
At this point Lilla interjected faintly: “Bite, oh Formian, for I would
die, rather than betray my country.”
But I said: “You may proceed. Not a rifle will be raised against you,
for the princess must be saved.”
Nothing however had been said about revolvers, and evidently the ant-man
was unacquainted with that weapon. As he passed through our lines,
keeping a careful watch on the rifles of our sentries, I fired my
revolver from the hip and the ant dropped dead. A moment later Lilla was
clasped safely in my arms.
Tenderly we greeted each other. She was parched and hungry, and our
first task was to give her food and drink, which were easily found among
the ruins.
Then came explanations. She had awakened to find herself in the dungeon
about noon of the day before. Yuri had informed her that the Cupian
attack had been met and stopped, and that airplanes were about to
destroy Kuana. Then he had been hurriedly called away, and she had seen
no one since. She could hardly believe us when we told her that the
attack had been a success, that Queen Formis was dead, and that the
power of Formia was broken forever.
When she had rested, I at once sent her home under guard in a kerkool,
and myself proceeded to headquarters to learn how the war was
progressing. Much as I longed to accompany her, my first duty was to my
adopted country.
To Number 356-1-400, before leaving, I gratefully offered an honorable
freedom in Cupia, but he scornfully replied that he would rather die
fighting for his own country. I respected his attitude, and so gave him
a safe-conduct through our lines to rejoin his own troops. Later in the
war his number was reported to me as being among the casualties.
At headquarters I found Hah Babbuh in fine spirits. The power of Formia
was broken indeed!
Wautoosa had fallen into our hands and, with it, a number of planes,
which thus were added to our steadily growing air-force. Kerkools were
patrolling all the roads, shooting ant-men at sight.
Hah was particularly jubilant over what had happened at Mooni. Early on
Peace Day, the Cupian students had somehow received word of what was
afoot. Joining with the slaves, they had slightly outnumbered the
ant-men there present and had captured the University after a fierce
struggle, thus preventing the ant-men from removing or destroying the
priceless gems of knowledge stored there. When our vanguard arrived, our
students were already in control.
In the days that followed, our advance progressed. City after city fell
into our hands, in sufficient numbers and containing sufficient
supplies, so that we did not have to give any thought to the quartering
or feeding of our men. All that was necessary was a steady stream of
ammunition proceeding from Kuana to our outposts.
I had given strict orders that Doggo and Yuri were to be taken alive,
the former because I wished to spare him as a friend, the latter because
I looked forward with extreme pleasure to seeing him executed for
treason. But neither was captured. The numbers of all dead ant-men were
taken and turned in, but Doggo’s number was not among them. And to this
day I do not know what became of him or of Yuri.
It was my ambition to exterminate the entire race of ant-men from the
face of Poros, with the single exception of my friend Doggo. But this
wish was not to be gratified. For, as the Formians retreated southward,
our lines of communication became more and more extended, and our troops
more and more undisciplined.
Gradually the Formians obtained rifles, particularly from the two cities
which they had bombed. Then they made a stand and sent out snipers, and
this netted them more rifles.
Our people began to grumble. The widows and orphans of the slain did not
appreciate the honor which had been thrust upon them. The sport-loving
Cupians in the field chafed under military restraint, and demanded to be
returned home to their games. And a considerable number of the populace
were even heard to say that two years slavery to Formia was far better
than a life-long slavery in the army of a military dictator—meaning the
four or five weeks since the war had started.
So, reluctantly, King Kew concluded a new peace with what was left of
Formia. A new pale was set up far to the south of the old. Formia had to
bear the entire cost of the war. Ant-men were forbidden to carry arms or
to enter Cupia, and all their airships were confiscated. The Kings of
Cupia reserved a veto power over Formian laws forever. But King Kew
wisely decided not to demoralize Cupia by the introduction of Formian
slaves.
Our University set up a branch at Mooni, in order that the glamour of
that name might not be lost. Our bravest soldiers and our war widows,
were rewarded by grants of land and of city residences in the captured
territory, which almost completely alleviated the popular discontent.
Not until the treaty was concluded did I return from the field. The
papers were signed in the same hall at Mooni which had witnessed the
degradation of Cupia five hundred years ago; for “defeat is bitterest at
the scene of a former victory,” as Poblath remarked. And on the occasion
of the present treaty, Kew, surrounded by his generals and in the
presence of the signatories, was crowned King of all Poros. This idea,
by the way, was due to Poblath, the philosopher, and it won him a
barsarkarship, which came in very handy.
There was much decorating with medals and handing out of promotions.
Needless to state, the King made me a sarkar; and the Assembly, not to
be outdone, voted to make me a winko, or field marshal, for life!
Now marriage was possible between Lilla and me. And also between Bthuh
and Poblath, for Bthuh had proven to be a good sport and had finally
accepted him; and as Lilla had prophesied, Bthuh settled down and became
a most quiet and domestic wife.
The proudest and happiest moment of my entire life was when, upon the
joining-stand of Kuana in the presence of the assembled multitude, King
Kew pronounced the words which made Lilla my wife.
We spent our honeymoon camping out on a most beautiful rocky island in
the middle of Lake Luno, which nestled in the hills and surrounded by
deep woods, about a thousand stads to the northward of Kuana. I had
discovered the place by accident, while on an airplane trip to an
isolated mountain community immediately after the war, for the purpose
of conferring decorations on the first company which had stood its
ground against the onslaught of the ant-men.
The walls of the island rise sheer some nine parastads from the water’s
edge, save where in one spot a sloping lawn runs through a cleft in the
rocks down to a sandy beach. The interior of the island slopes gently
from the cliffs down from all sides to a little pond in the center, and
is about equally divided between lawn and stately grove. Here Lilla and
I plan to build.
Here we spent many golden days, swimming and fishing and climbing, but
mostly just looking into each other’s eyes.
At our first dip in the water, I was horribly embarrassed. In the first
place, I had to shed my headset, which always puts me at a disadvantage.
And, in the second place, my wings came unstuck and fell off, and my
matted hair exposed my ears, so that I stood before her an earth-man,
with all my horrible earthly deformities. Yet, still she loved me.
Our honeymoon was idyllic and ideal. But all good things must end, and
we finally had to return to the city to take up my duties, for added to
my honors was a place in the Royal Cabinet as Minister of Play, the
former incumbent having died during my absence.
I have various projects in hand for my adopted country. Already a
network of radio stations is going up throughout the land. A systematic
extermination of the whistling bee is under way by means of
anti-aircraft artillery. Various earth devices are being tested out in
our laboratories as fast as I can recall them to memory. And I have
resumed, but with great precautions, my experiments on the wireless
transmission of matter, in which work Toron is assisting.
Lilla and I occupy her old suite in the palace, and entertain
constantly; among our most frequent guests are my old friend Poblath and
his completely tamed wife.
But often I wonder what has become of Doggo and Yuri. In spite of
present prosperity, Cupia is not safe, if the renegade prince still
lives on the planet. But I hope that Doggo survives, and that we shall
meet again.
Fate now seems to be through with its hard knocks. But happy as I am, I
occasionally wonder what is going on in dear old Boston, whether
America’s World War allies ever repaid the billions which they borrowed,
whether our country joined the League of Nations in time to save the
world from a second World War, etc., etc. And I have a yearning to write
home.
Of course, the obvious step for me was to attempt communication by
radio, so I built a particularly powerful sending set with long wave
length. But the lack of any reply convinced me that my signals were not
being received on earth.
So recently I got together my old committee of five: Hah Babbuh, Buh
Tedn, Ja Babbuh, Toron and myself; and together we designed a super gun
and a streamline projectile, and computed the necessary powder-charge
and principles of aiming, so that we could shoot the projectile to the
earth.
Then I prepared this manuscript in quadruplicate, with three of which
copies I shall try to reach the world. For this purpose, each copy will
be placed in a gold cylinder and be swathed in the fur of the fire-worm,
that peculiar creature which dares to live almost at the edge of the
boiling seas, because its matted fur is the most perfect insulator
against heat known on Poros.
The swathed cylinder will then be packed into the interior of the
projectile, and a covering put on, especially calculated to resist the
devouring heat of passage through the atmosphere of the two planets. The
projectile will be weighed, its center of gravity will be determined,
and its moments of inertia will be tested, the firing data being
corrected accordingly. It will be placed in the gun.
Then, at exactly the appointed time, the gun will be discharged, and may
God speed my message on its way to you, my earth-brethren.
The End
_Myles S. Cabot._
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