A MODERN GULLIVER
"The clattering fall of rain brought us to ourselves. Rising to her
feet, Lylda pulled me over to the window-opening, and together we stood
and looked out into the night. The scene before us was beautiful, with a
weirdness almost impossible to describe. It was as bright as I had ever
seen this world, for even though heavy clouds hung overhead, the light
from the stars was never more than a negligible quantity.
"We were facing the lake--a shining expanse of silver radiation, its
surface shifting and crawling, as though a great undulating blanket of
silver mist lay upon it. And coming down to meet it from the sky were
innumerable lines of silver--a vast curtain of silver cords that broke
apart into great strings of pearls when I followed their downward
course.
"And then, as I turned to Lylda, I was struck with the extraordinary
weirdness of her beauty as never before. The reflected light from the
rain had something the quality of our moonlight. Shining on Lylda's
body, it tremendously enhanced the iridescence of her skin. And her
face, upturned to mine, bore an expression of radiant happiness and
peace such as I had never seen before on a woman's countenance."
The Chemist paused, his voice dying away into silence as he sat lost in
thought. Then he pulled himself together with a start. "It was a sight,
gentlemen, the memory of which I shall cherish all my life.
"The next day was that set for my entrance into the war. Lylda and I had
talked nearly all night, and had decided that she was to return with me
to my world. By morning the rain had stopped, and we sat together in the
window-opening, silenced with the thrill of the wonderful new joy that
had come into our hearts.
"The country before us, under the cloudless, starry sky, stretched
gray-blue and beautiful into the quivering obscurity of the distance. At
our feet lay the city, just awakening into life. Beyond, over the
rolling meadows and fields, wound the road that led out to the
battle-front, and coming back over it now, we could see an endless line
of vehicles. These, as they passed through the street beneath our
window, I found were loaded with soldiers, wounded and dying. I
shuddered at the sight of one cart in particular, and Lylda pressed
close to me, pleading with her eyes for my help for her stricken people.
"My exit from the castle was made quite a ceremony. A band of music and
a guard of several hundred soldiers ushered me forth, walking beside the
king, with Lylda a few paces behind. As we passed through the streets of
the city, heading for the open country beyond, we were cheered
continually by the people who thronged the streets and crowded upon the
housetops to watch us pass.
"Outside Arite I was taken perhaps a mile, where a wide stretch of
country gave me the necessary space for my growth. We were standing upon
a slight hill, below which, in a vast semicircle, fully a hundred
thousand people were watching.
"And now, for the first time, fear overcame me. I realized my
situation--saw myself in a detached sort of way--a stranger in this
extraordinary world, and only the power of my drug to raise me out of
it. This drug you must remember, I had not as yet taken. Suppose it were
not to act? Or were to act wrongly?
"I glanced around. The king stood before me, quietly waiting my
pleasure. Then I turned to Lylda. One glance at her proud, happy little
face, and my fear left me as suddenly as it had come. I took her in my
arms and kissed her, there before that multitude. Then I set her down,
and signified to the king I was ready.
"I took a minute quantity of one of the drugs, and as I had done before,
sat down with my eyes covered. My sensations were fairly similar to
those I have already described. When I looked up after a moment, I found
the landscape dwindling to tiny proportions in quite as astonishing a
way as it had grown before. The king and Lylda stood now hardly above my
ankle.
"A great cry arose from the people--a cry wherein horror, fear, and
applause seemed equally mixed. I looked down and saw thousands of them
running away in terror.
"Still smaller grew everything within my vision, and then, after a
moment, the landscape seemed at rest. I kneeled now upon the ground,
carefully, to avoid treading on any of the people around me. I located
Lylda and the king after a moment; tiny little creatures less than an
inch in height. I was then, I estimated, from their viewpoint, about
four hundred feet tall.
"I put my hand flat upon the ground near Lylda, and after a moment she
climbed into it, two soldiers lifting her up the side of my thumb as it
lay upon the ground. In the hollow of my palm, she lay quite securely,
and very carefully I raised her up towards my face. Then, seeing that
she was frightened, I set her down again.
"At my feet, hardly more than a few steps away, lay the tiny city of
Arite and the lake. I could see all around the latter now, and could
make out clearly a line of hills on the other side. Off to the left the
road wound up out of sight in the distance. As far as I could see, a
line of soldiers was passing out along this road--marching four abreast,
with carts at intervals, loaded evidently with supplies; only
occasionally, now, vehicles passed in the other direction. Can I make it
plain to you, gentlemen, my sensations in changing stature? I felt at
first as though I were tremendously high in the air, looking down as
from a balloon upon the familiar territory beneath me. That feeling
passed after a few moments, and I found that my point of view had
changed. I no longer felt that I was looking down from a balloon, but
felt as a normal person feels. And again I conceived myself but six feet
tall, standing above a dainty little toy world. It is all in the
viewpoint, of course, and never, during all my changes, was I for more
than a moment able to feel of a different stature than I am at this
present instant. It was always everything else that changed.
"According to the directions I had received from the king, I started now
to follow the course of the road. I found it difficult walking, for the
country was dotted with houses, trees, and cultivated fields, and each
footstep was a separate problem.
"I progressed in this manner perhaps two miles, covering what the day
before I would have called about a hundred and thirty or forty miles.
The country became wilder as I advanced, and now was in places crowded
with separate collections of troops.
"I have not mentioned the commotion I made in this walk over the
country. My coming must have been told widely by couriers the night
before, to soldiers and peasantry alike, or the sight of me would have
caused utter demoralization. As it was, I must have been terrifying to a
tremendous degree. I think the careful way in which I picked my course,
stepping in the open as much as possible, helped to reassure the people.
Behind me, whenever I turned, they seemed rather more curious than
fearful, and once or twice when I stopped for a few moments they
approached my feet closely. One athletic young soldier caught the loose
end of the string of one of my buskins, as it hung over my instep close
to the ground and pulled himself up hand over hand, amid the
enthusiastic cheers of his comrades.
"I had walked nearly another mile, when almost in front of me, and
perhaps a hundred yards away, I saw a remarkable sight that I did not at
first understand. The country here was crossed by a winding river
running in a general way at right angles to my line of progress. At the
right, near at hand, and on the nearer bank of the river, lay a little
city, perhaps half the size of Arite, with its back up against a hill.
"What first attracted my attention was that from a dark patch across the
river which seemed to be woods, pebbles appeared to pop up at intervals,
traversing a little arc perhaps as high as my knees, and falling into
the city. I watched for a moment and then I understood. There was a
siege in progress, and the catapults of the Malites were bombarding the
city with rocks.
"I went up a few steps closer, and the pebbles stopped coming. I stood
now beside the city, and as I bent over it, I could see by the battered
houses the havoc the bombardment had caused. Inert little figures lay in
the streets, and I bent lower and inserted my thumb and forefinger
between a row of houses and picked one up. It was the body of a woman,
partly mashed. I set it down again hastily.
"Then as I stood up, I felt a sting on my leg. A pebble had hit me on
the shin and dropped at my feet. I picked it up. It was the size of a
small walnut--a huge bowlder six feet or more in diameter it would have
been in Lylda's eyes. At the thought of her I was struck with a sudden
fit of anger. I flung the pebble violently down into the wooded patch
and leaped over the river in one bound, landing squarely on both feet in
the woods. It was like jumping into a patch of ferns.
"I stamped about me for a moment until a large part of the woods was
crushed down. Then I bent over and poked around with my finger.
Underneath the tangled wreckage of tiny-tree trunks, lay numbers of the
Malites. I must have trodden upon a thousand or more, as one would stamp
upon insects.
"The sight sickened me at first, for after all, I could not look upon
them as other than men, even though they were only the length of my
thumb-nail. I walked a few steps forward, and in all directions I could
see swarms of the little creatures running. Then the memory of my coming
departure from this world with Lylda, and my promise to the king to rid
his land once for all from these people, made me feel again that they,
like vermin, were to be destroyed.
"Without looking directly down, I spent the next two hours stamping over
this entire vicinity. Then I ran two or three miles directly toward the
country of the Malites, and returning I stamped along the course of the
river for a mile or so in both directions. Then I walked back to Arite,
again picking my way carefully among crowds of Oroids, who now feared me
so little that I had difficulty in moving without stepping upon them.
"When I had regained my former size, which needed two successive doses
of the drug, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of the Oroids, pushing
and shoving each other in an effort to get closer to me. The news of my
success over their enemy have been divined by them, evidently. Lord
knows it must have been obvious enough what I was going to do, when they
saw me stride away, a being four hundred feet tall.
"Their enthusiasm and thankfulness now were so mixed with awe and
reverent worship of me as a divine being, that when I advanced towards
Arite they opened a path immediately. The king, accompanied by Lylda,
met me at the edge of the city. The latter threw herself into my arms at
once, crying with relief to find me the proper size once more.
"I need not go into details of the ceremonies of rejoicing that took
place this afternoon. These people seemed little given to pomp and
public demonstration. The king made a speech from his balcony, telling
them all I had done, and the city was given over to festivities and
preparations to receive the returning soldiers."
The Chemist pushed his chair back from the table, and moistened his dry
lips with a swallow of water. "I tell you, gentlemen," he continued, "I
felt pretty happy that day. It's a wonderful feeling to find yourself
the savior of a nation."
At that the Doctor jumped to his feet, overturning his chair, and
striking the table a blow with his fist that made the glasses dance.
"By God!" he fairly shouted, "that's just what you can be here to us."
The Banker looked startled, while the Very Young Man pulled the Chemist
by the coat in his eagerness to be heard. "A few of those pills," he
said in a voice that quivered with excitement, "when you are standing in
France, and you can walk over to Berlin and kick the houses apart with
the toe of your boot."
"Why not?" said the Big Business Man, and silence fell on the group as
they stared at each other, awed by the possibilities that opened up
before them.