"Because the time be ripe for it. Are not all our kind looking
forward to it? Are we not all expecting and longing for it? Know we
not that we shall, must, have what we all so earnestly desire?" It
was striking, to hear this bit of modern psychology uttered by this
primitive woman. "Let me hear no more of thy weeping! Ye shall not
be made to wed Corrus!"
Nevertheless, at the speaking of her lover's name, the older woman's
lips trembled despite themselves; and she said nothing further
beyond a brief "Sleep well." After which the two women turned in,
and shortly reached the drowsy point.
Thus it happened that Rolla, after a minute or two, once more
aroused Cunora in great excitement, and after securely closing the
entrance to the hut against all comers, proceeded to relate what she
had seen. She finished:
"The seed of the flower can be grown in the heart of rotting wood!"
And for hours afterward the two whispered excitedly in the darkness.
It was hard to have to wait till dawn.
As for Corrus and Dulnop, they even went so far as to search the
heaps of stone in the mineral yards, although neither really
expected to find what they sought.
But the four on the earth, not being able to do anything further
until morning, proceeded to make themselves at home in the doctor's
house. Smith and the doctor slept together, likewise Billie and Mrs.
Kinney; Van Emmon occupied the guest-room in lonely grandeur. When
he came down to breakfast he said he had dreamed that he was Corrus,
and that he had burned himself on a blazing cow.
Again in the trance state, the four found that Rolla and Cunora,
after reaching an understanding with Corrus and Dulnop, had already
left their huts in search of the required stone. Five bees
accompanied them. Within a few minutes however, Corrus and Dulnop
set out together in the opposite direction, as agreed upon; and
shortly the guards were withdrawn. This meant that the holiday was
officially sanctioned, so long as the two couples kept apart; but if
they were to join forces afterward, and be caught in the act, they
would be severely punished. Such was bee efficiency--and sentiment.
The doctor had impressed Rolla with the fact that she would find the
desired stone in a mountainous country. Cunora, however, was for
examining every rock she came to; Rolla was continually passing
judgment upon some specimen.
"Nay," said she, for the hundredth time. "Tis a very bright stone we
seek, very small and very shiny, like sunlight on the water. I shall
know it when I see it, and I shall see it not until we reach the
mountains." Soon Cunora's impatience wore off, and the two
concentrated upon making time. By midday they were well into the
hills, following the course of a very dry creek; and now they kept a
sharp lookout at every step.
Van Emmon and Smith had similarly impressed Corrus and Dulnop with
the result that there was no loss of time in the beginning. The two
men reached the hills on their side of the valley an hour before the
women reached theirs.
And thus the search began, the strangest search, beyond a doubt,
within the history of the universe. It was not like the work of some
of earth's prehistoric men, who already knew fire and were merely
looking up fresh materials; it was a quest in which an idea, an idea
given in a vision, was the sole driving force. The most curious part
of the matter was that these people were mentally incapable of
conceiving that there was intelligence at work upon them from
another world, or even that there was another world.
"Ye saw the stars last night?" Corrus spoke to Dulnop. "Well,'tis
just such stars as shall awaken the seed of the flower. Ye shall
see!"
Both knew exactly what to look for: the brassy, regularly cut
crystals with the black stripings, such as has led countless men to
go through untold hardships in the belief that they had found gold.
In fact, iron pyrites is often called "fool gold," so deceptive is
its glitter.
Yet, it was just the thing for the purpose. Flint they already had,
large quantities of it; practically all their tools, such as axes
and knives, were made of it. Struck against iron pyrites, a larger,
fatter, hotter spark could be obtained than with any other natural
combination.
It was Dulnop's luck to see the outcropping. He found the mineral
exposed to plain view, a few feet above the bottom of the ravine the
two were ascending. With a shout of triumph he leaped upon the rock.
"Here, Corrus!" he yelled, dancing like mad. "Here is the gift of
the gods!"
The older man didn't attempt to hide his delight. He grabbed his
companion and hugged him until his ribs began to crack. Then, with a
single blow from his huge club, the herdsman knocked the specimen
clear of the slate in which it was set. Such was their excitement,
neither dreamed of marking the place in any way.
First satisfying themselves that the pyrites really could produce
"stars" from the flint, the two hurried down-stream, in search of
the right kind of wood. In half an hour Corrus came across a dead,
worm-eaten tree, from which he nonchalantly broke off a limb as big
as his leg. The interior was filled with a dry, stringy rot, just
the right thing for making a spark "live."
Then came a real difficulty. It will be better appreciated when the
men's childish nature is borne in mind. Their patience was terribly
strained in their attempts to make the sparks fly into the tinder.
Again and again one of them would throw the rocks angrily to the
ground, fairly snarling with exasperation.
However, the other would immediately take them up and try again.
Neither man had a tenth the deftness that is common to adults on the
earth. In size and strength alone they were men; otherwise--it
cannot too often be repeated--they were mere children. All told, it
was over two hours before the punk began to smolder.
"By Mownoth!" swore the herdsman, staring reverently at the smoke.
"We have done a miracle, Dulnop--ye and I! Be ye sure this is no
dream?"
Quite in human fashion, Dulnop seriously reached out and pinched the
herdsman's tremendous arm. Corrus winced, but was too well pleased
with the result to take revenge, although the nature of these men
was such as to call for it.
"It be no dream!" he declared, still awestruck.
"Nay," agreed Dulnop. "And now--to make the flower grow!"
It was Corrus's lungs which really did the work. His prodigious
chest was better than a small pair of bellows, and he blew just as
he had been told in the vision. Presently a small flame appeared in
the tinder, and leaped eagerly upward. Both men jumped back, and for
lack of enough air the flame went out.
"Never mind!" exclaimed Dulnop at Corrus's crestfallen look. "I
remember that we must be ready with leaves, and the like, as soon as
the blossom appears. Blow, ye great wind-maker, and I shall feed the
flower!"
And thus it came about that two men of Sanus, for the first time in
the history of the planet, looked upon fire itself. And when they
had got it to burning well, each of them stared at his hands, and
from his hands to the little heap of "flowers"; from hands to fire
they looked, again and again; and then gazed at one another in awe.
X