MY WEIGHT DISAPPEARING.
We halted suddenly, for we came unexpectedly to the edge of a precipice,
twenty feet at least in depth.
"Let us jump down," said my guide.
"That would be dangerous," I answered; "can not we descend at some point
where it is not so deep?"
"No; the chasm stretches for miles across our path, and at this point we
will meet with the least difficulty; besides, there is no danger. The
specific gravity of our bodies is now so little that we could jump twice
that distance with impunity."
"I can not comprehend you; we are in the flesh, our bodies are possessed
of weight, the concussion will be violent."
"You reason again from the condition of your former life, and, as usual,
are mistaken; there will be little shock, for, as I have said, our
bodies are comparatively light now. Have you forgotten that your motion
is continuously accelerated, and that without perceptible exertion you
move rapidly? This is partly because of the loss of weight. Your weight
would now be only about fifty pounds if tested by a spring balance."
I stood incredulous.
"You trifle with me; I weigh over one hundred and fifty pounds; how have
I lost weight? It is true that I have noticed the ease with which we
have recently progressed on our journey, especially the latter part of
it, but I attribute this, in part, to the fact that our course is down
an incline, and also to the vitalizing power of this cavern air."
"This explains part of the matter," he said; "it answered at the time,
and I stated a fact; but were it not that you are really consuming a
comparatively small amount of energy, you would long before this have
been completely exhausted. You have been gaining strength for some
hours; have really been growing younger. Your wrinkled face has become
more smooth, and your voice is again natural. You were prematurely aged
by your brothers on the surface of the earth, in order that when you
pass the line of gravity, you might be vigorous and enjoying manhood
again. Had this aging process not been accomplished you would now have
become as a child in many respects."
[Illustration: "I BOUNDED UPWARD FULLY SIX FEET."]
He halted before me. "Jump up," he said. I promptly obeyed the
unexpected command, and sprung upward with sufficient force to carry me,
as I supposed, six inches from the earth; however I bounded upward fully
six feet. My look of surprise as I gently alighted, for there was no
concussion on my return, seemed lost on my guide, and he quietly said:
"If you can leap six feet upward without excessive exertion, or return
shock, can not you jump twenty feet down? Look!"
[Illustration: "I FLUTTERED TO THE EARTH AS A LEAF WOULD FALL."]
And he leaped lightly over the precipice and stood unharmed on the stony
floor below.
Even then I hesitated, observing which, he cried:
"Hang by your hands from the edge then, and drop."
I did so, and the fourteen feet of fall seemed to affect me as though I
had become as light as cork. I fluttered to the earth as a leaf would
fall, and leaned against the precipice in surprised meditation.
"Others have been through your experience," he remarked, "and I
therefore can overlook your incredulity; but experiences such as you now
meet, remove distrust. Doing is believing." He smiled benignantly.
[Illustration: "WE LEAPED OVER GREAT INEQUALITIES."]
I pondered, revolving in my mind the fact that persons had in mental
abstraction, passed through unusual experiences in ignorance of
conditions about them, until their attention had been called to the seen
and yet unnoticed surroundings, and they had then beheld the facts
plainly. The puzzle picture (see p. 129) stares the eye and impresses
the retina, but is devoid of character until the hidden form is
developed in the mind, and then that form is always prominent to the
eye. My remarkably light step, now that my attention had been directed
thereto, was constantly in my mind, and I found myself suddenly
possessed of the strength of a man, but with the weight of an infant. I
raised my feet without an effort; they seemed destitute of weight; I
leaped about, tumbled, and rolled over and over on the smooth stone
floor without injury. It appeared that I had become the airy similitude
of my former self, my material substance having wasted away without a
corresponding impairment of strength.I pinched my flesh to be assured
that all was not a dream, and then endeavored to convince myself that I
was the victim of delirium; but in vain. Too sternly my self-existence
confronted me as a reality, a cruel reality. A species of intoxication
possessed me once more, and I now hoped for the end, whatever it might
be. We resumed our journey, and rushed on with increasing rapidity,
galloping hand in hand, down, down, ever downward into the illuminated
crevice of the earth. The spectral light by which we were aureoled
increased in intensity, as by arithmetical progression, and I could now
distinguish objects at a considerable distance before us. My spirits
rose as if I were under the influence of a potent stimulant; a
liveliness that was the opposite of my recent despondency had gained
control, and I was again possessed of a delicious mental sensation, to
which I can only refer as a most rapturous exhilaration. My guide
grasped my hand firmly, and his touch, instead of revolting me as
formerly it had done, gave pleasure. We together leaped over great
inequalities in the floor, performing these aerial feats almost as
easily as a bird flies. Indeed, I felt that I possessed the power of
flight, for we bounded fearlessly down great declivities and over
abysses that were often perpendicular, and many times our height. A very
slight muscular exertion was sufficient to carry us rods of distance,
and almost tiptoeing we skimmed with ever-increasing speed down the
steeps of that unknown declivity. At length my guide held back; we
gradually lessened our velocity, and, after a time, rested beside a
horizontal substance that lay before us, apparently a sheet of glass,
rigid, immovable, immeasurably great, that stretched as a level surface
before us, vividly distinct in the brightness of an earth light, that
now proved to be superior to sunshine. Far as the eye could reach, the
glassy barrier to our further progress spread as a crystal mirror in
front, and vanishing in the distance, shut off the beyond.
[Illustration: "FAR AS THE EYE COULD REACH THE GLASSY BARRIER
SPREAD AS A CRYSTAL MIRROR."]
INTERLUDE.--THE STORY AGAIN INTERRUPTED.