"There," said I, but poorly concealing the contempt I felt for the black
stone as I pointed to it. "You may take stock in the superstition if
you will, professor, but I will have none of it."
The professor gave me a queer smile, then picked up the Bolla and
surveyed it curiously.
"Would you like to look at it, Mr. Meigs?" he asked.
"A fetish like this is a sure sign of barbarism," observed Meigs, taking
the stone. "The creatures who inhabit this planet are not of a very
high order mentally."
He passed the Bolla to Popham and Popham handed it to Markham. It was
presently returned to me and I packed it away as before.
The professor then asked me for an account of what had happened during
my flight toward Baigol with the exchequer. Gilhooly was not able to
help me much in the recital, as the most important part of our
adventures was a perfect blank to him.
I did not try to conceal anything from Quinn. I painted my designs on
the king's money as black as they really were and he smiled as he
listened.
"When did Mr. Gilhooly lay hands on the Bolla?" Quinn asked.
"How do you know that he did?" I returned.
"I am very sure that he did," was the quiet reply.
Thereupon I told the professor how I had thrown the stone from the heap
of gold and Gilhooly had picked it up, his reason returning shortly
afterward. Quinn wagged his head sagely and mumbled something I could
not understand, but which had to do with the ridiculous pretensions of
the Bolla.
I feared then for the mind of this great and good man. Was he breaking
under the tremendous responsibility incurred by removing the plutocrats
from Earth?
A chill of apprehension shot to my heart. I was about to say something
of a soothing nature to my patron--for I certainly looked upon him as
such--when Olox and his Gaddbaizets appeared.
Key seven of the high chief's word-box titillated with relief the
instant the officer got his eye on Gilhooly. The exuberance faded into
a note of foreboding and the foreboding into the words:
"Where is the king's treasure house? If that has not been recovered,
calamity threatens our expedition to the planet Terra!"
"The treasure house has been broken and wrecked," replied the professor,
"but my friends, Mr. Gilhooly and Mr. Munn, are returning the gold to
his majesty in their coats."
"Why should Mr. Gilhooly steal the gold and then help to return it?"
came incredulously from Olox. "Is it simply a vagary of his unbalanced
mind?"
"I am pleased to say, Chief Olox, that his mind is no longer
unbalanced," returned the professor, warning me to silence with a look
as I was about to operate my talking machine. "Mr. Gilhooly is now as
sane as you or I."
Olox looked worried.
"I declare," said he, "I don't know how the president and board of
directors of the Interplanetary will regard this unexpected occurrence."
"They should feel overjoyed at the unclouding of so bright a mind as Mr.
Gilhooly's."
"But what if it interferes with the traffic of the road? They have been
running limited trains on a schedule heretofore beyond their wildest
dreams. His majesty farmed out the concession to the management of the
road for ninety-nine years, on a cash basis. If the traction power
proves unavailable, a demand will be made on the king for a return of
the money--and just now any depletion of the imperial coffers might
prove fatal to the projected expedition."
It was just as well that the ex-magnates could not comprehend what was
going on between the word-boxes. The utilitarian views of the king, as
exemplified in Gilhooly's case, would have jarred somewhat on their
conceit and self-esteem.
I noticed that a gleam of hope crossed Quinn's face when Olox spoke of a
possible failure of the king's plan of conquest through lack of the
sinews of war. But the hope died away almost instantly when Quinn
reflected, as I did, that the monarch was as unscrupulous as he was
resourceful.
No further conversation was indulged in. The royal troops executed an
about face and returned to the capital, convoying our reunited party of
aliens.
As we drew up in the square the two glittering soldiers appeared in the
turrets and sounded a call that drew the king to the balcony.
His majesty listened to the report of Olox with a beaming face, but his
smiles fled when he learned how the traction interests of the realm were
threatened by Gilhooly's returning sanity.
While this momentous question was still up for debate, Meigs plucked at
the professor's sleeve.
"Tell the king, professor," said he, his eyes downcast, "that I see the
error of my way and frankly acknowledge it. If I am ever so fortunate
as to get back to Earth I shall be a reformer. Please ask the king when
I can have my clothes."
And this was Meigs! Had the heavens fallen I could not have been more
astounded.
"Tell him the same for me," spoke Hannibal Markham. "Make it even
stronger, if you will. I have not been starved into submission--I should
have withstood such a siege to the death--but the change has been
wrought here."
He struck a hand against his heart.
"And ask him, professor," added Markham plaintively, "to have my wants
supplied immediately from the palace kitchens."
"Allow me to join my honorable friends in this free announcement of a
change of heart," chimed in Augustus Popham. "Look at my hands!"
He held his hands out to us and we found them calloused and scarred.
"I can't go back to those mole burrows!" he supplemented.
Professor Quinn showed no signs of amazement. After grasping the palm of
each ex-magnate, he fairly electrified his word-box with the
supplications of the exiles.
"Are these acknowledgments freely made and do they come from contrite
hearts," said the king, "or do they merely cloak a desire to escape
further privation at the expense of truth?"
The professor indignantly repelled the insinuation. When he had
finished his vigorous remarks, I stepped to the front and made a
complete confession of my designs on the Bolla and the imperial
exchequer. Quinn tried to stop me, but I would suffer no interference.
"Are you aware," said the king gravely, "that _lese majeste_, felony,
and half a dozen other capital crimes are mixed up in your confession?"
"Am I less courageous than an ex-trust magnate?" cried I warmly.
"Their confessions free them from servitude and the inconveniences of
hunger and lack of raiment," responded the king; "yours condemns you to
a blast of zet that will consume and dissipate your body as though it
had never been."
Professor Quinn groaned and turned away with one hand over his eyes. My
affection reached out for the good man then as it had never done before.
"Bring on the indexograph, Olox," commanded the king. "We will see how
much of truth or falsehood it registers in the cases of these
gentlemen."
The indexograph was brought and test was made of all of us except the
professor. The ideographs must have registered mightily in our favor,
for the king seemed more than convinced of our sincerity.
"Restore to the clothing trust man the apparel that is rightfully his,"
ordered his majesty; "allow the gentleman who would monopolize food to
partake of a sufficient supply to satisfy his hunger; free the person
who has been delving for my black blocks from further duty--and
incidentally confiscate the funds paid into the royal treasury for his
services, as well as for the services of the B.&B. traction power--for
Mr. Gilhooly's sanity precludes his further use on the Interplanetary.
Be happy, gentlemen! I feel that I must do some worthy deeds to
commemorate this the day that witnesses our departure for the
subjugation of Terra."
Quinn was rent with conflicting emotions, as was plainly apparent. He
was glad the ex-plutocrats had fallen into royal favor, he was sorry to
have me yet under that ban, and he was greatly wrought up to learn that
the king meditated such an early start on his inter-stellar campaign.
"What of Mr. Munn, your highness?" he inquired.
"Oh, yes," returned the king, "I was forgetting him. Olox, let him be
decorated with the Order of the Open Hand and see that he is inducted on
the morrow into the office of executioner-general. We need an
executioner to fill the place of the late incumbent and I should have to
look far before I found so conscientious a person as Mr. Munn. Leave
orders with a subordinate, Olox. Neither you nor I will be here to
attend the ceremony. My royal will shall be conveyed to the regent.
"And now," added the king as he rose from his seat, "while the treasurer
counts the kyicks and takes care of the Bolla, Olox, you and I will
proceed to the metal house, guarded by the Gaddbaizets and accompanied
by our alien friends."
Some preparations were necessary before a start for the car could be
made; and while these were going forward Meigs and Markham were led away
to receive the attention their condition demanded.
In an hour we were on the road. Meigs and Markham were in jubilant
mood; Popham was optimistic but subdued, Gilhooly was silent and
thoughtful, and I was inclined to look at the future with reckless
indifference.
But Professor Quinn was bowed under a grievous load. If this madcap
monarch carried out his scheme of conquest, Quinn felt that on him alone
would rest the responsibility.
"I am making my plans, Mr. Munn," he whispered hoarsely to me as we
proceeded on our journey to the car. "If the king's expedition gets
away, I shall have to accompany it; and I shall take care that neither
he nor his Gaddbaizets ever reach our native planet."
"But suppose we can outwit the king in some way," I returned, "and
escape in the car, leaving him and his subjects behind?"
"You and our other friends may go, if we can possibly manage it," said
Quinn, "but I have made up my mind to stay here."