THE WOMAN JOSEFA
This Time-voyage in the Turber aero seemed in duration four or five
hours. Crowded hours! A cosmorama of whirling eons. Turber flung us far
backward in Time. I did not see any of this part of the trip. I lay in
the cabin, pondering what Turber had said--wondering what I could do to
escape with Nanette. And wondering if Alan really were dead.
Then Turber called me for the meal. I found Nanette white and solemn
and very silent. She spoke to me, casually, it seemed cautiously.
I had always known Nanette to have a will of her own; and she was
nimble-witted. I saw now that she was wholly on her guard. She was
silent, apparently docile with Turber. Watchful. She found opportunity
once to press my hand. And to murmur, "Careful, Edward--do not anger
him."
A new mood was upon Turber. He seemed in a high good humor. He was
courtly with Nanette. Pleasant enough with me; but there was an edge of
irony to his pleasantness.
"A long trip, Williams, but we are comfortable enough. If you cause no
trouble you may sit in the control room later. A wonderful view from
there."
I asked, "Where are we going?"
"Nowhere," he said. "In Space we are not moving. I have us poised over
what you and I used to call the shore of the Hudson River. You remember
it? About the foot of Eightieth Street."
He seemed pleased to talk--probably for Nanette's benefit, to please
his vanity by exalting himself. "I'm taking us back in Time--back
near the beginning of life on this earth. Then coming forward. I have
several stops to make. Mere pauses--though in the year 1664 we shall
have to make a longer stop. Stay there perhaps for the passing of a
night. It's a quaint world here, in 1664." He chuckled. "It is to yield
me, I hope, quite a little treasure. Gold and jewels. Money, as you
know, is an all-powerful thing."
There were just the three of us at the meal. The interior of this
hundred-foot aero was capacious, but there seemed only a few people
on board. Turber once made reference to the fact that upon this, his
last passing, we had many people to gather. But what few I now saw
made a motley crew indeed! There were several men, brown, white, hairy
of body, clothed in crude animal skins; heads which showed retreating
foreheads upon which the tangled, matted hair grew low; dangling,
gorilla-like arms. Men from some primitive age, snatched up by Turber.
They seemed stupidly docile; animal-like.
* * * * *
There was a fellow who seemed the opposite extreme. Turber called him
Jonas. A man of about thirty, small and slender, with a long white
robe, a golden-tasseled sash, and a gold band about his forehead. His
wavy brown hair was long to the base of his neck. His skin was pale
white. His features delicately molded; his nose thin, high-bridged; his
mouth loose-lipped. He was obsequious with Turber. He suggested Lea and
San a trifle. I surmised that he might belong to their Time-world.
The giant Indian, he of the flat, broken nose, was operating the
controls of the aero. Turber called him Bluntnose. He was, I learned
later, a Mohican Indian of New York State.
Motley crew! And there was one woman. Turber addressed her as Josefa.
She served us the meal. She wore a waist and a gaudy skirt with a
vivid sash. Her thick black hair fell on her shoulders. Her face had
a barbaric beauty with a mixture of races stamped upon it. She spoke
English, with occasional Spanish words intermingled.
She served us with what seemed a defiant sullenness. It contrasted
with Turber's good humor. He reached for the woman once as she passed
him--reached for her with a coarse caress. But she drew away; and his
grin at me was a leer of amusement.
This pantomime--which Nanette did not see--was to be plain enough. And
a moment later, as I chanced to look around, I saw the woman standing
watching us; staring at Nanette and Turber. And there was upon her face
a blazing intensity of hate. She stood tense, hands upon her hips. Her
fingers were writhing; and in the folds of her sash I saw protruding
the handle of a dagger.