THE EARTH HOME.
In the centre of a wide expanse of tableland, walled at a distance by
mountain chains, stood the great stone palace which Regan had built for
their home.
It was founded on a rise of solid rock, which had been surrounded by
three wide terraces, rising each twenty feet above the other. In width
these terraces were one hundred feet.
At the foot of the terrace, on the south side, was a great lake,
artificially formed, from whence the earth used in the terraces had been
removed.
Upon the lower terrace was set a forest of the silver fringe trees;
these drooped over the stone sides and made graceful shades in the still
lake. Along the edges of the terrace were set colossal glass vases,
which were draped with veils of dark green satiny leaves and wealth of
rose-hued blossoms. In the second terrace were only crimson leaved
trees, and a row of giant white statues stood along the wall, thrown
into brilliant relief by the color behind them.
The third terrace had only the deep purple velvet of the pansy tree.
Above this rose, pure white, the columns of the many-pillared palace,
which, about its roof, was decorated with glass panels and numerous
light-spired minarets. At one side rose a glass tower with a dome
overlaid with solid gold.
Regan would have been glad to have built a vast golden-domed roof for it
all, but he must remember the instability of his star; he must build for
earthquake, cyclone, flood and snow.
Within this palace were suits of great cool rooms, some furnished and
decorated, some left for Rondah to furnish as suited her best. Above all
these, upon the walled, flat roof, was a lake of water, wherein was an
artificial glass island, upon which was a golden temple; from this place
Rondah could see the whole vale. At the north was the restless, smoky
sea; at the east the rows of manufactories on the distant hills, their
tall chimneys smoking ceaselessly; at the south the great silvery lake
with its surrounding parks, and, beyond, the houses of the city; at the
west the mountains and their forests, with the western sunsets.
How miraculous the change! From a small house in a hamlet in an earthly
wilderness to the capitol of another world; from nothingness to supreme
power; from loneliness to happiness!
“I wonder,” whispered Rondah, “shall we be always so happy, Regan and I?
These bird people are always so, but I doubt if men and women of our
Earth leave, except by death, their misery inherited. Perhaps, perhaps,”
mused Rondah. “But it seems more reasonable to me that trouble will come
to us here!”
Ah, Rondah!
Blindly she groped after the great law, of which she had one mental
glimpse. She could not understand it, but with the unfailing intuition
of a woman she felt its presence. People of Earth, wherever they live,
must know sorrow.
All glorious and serene the star sailed now, aglow with endless radiance
and sunny warmth. Its path was toward the sun.
Regan dreaded the winter and its dangers. Ahead was storm, cold,
earthquake, Jupiter.
The elf men, the new race, had begun to be insubordinate; they were as
fond of demolishing as were the bird men of building. They often, from
mere caprice, tore down magnificent structures when they were left
unprotected.
“But nothing is too much trouble to endure now that you are here,
Rondah!” Regan said. “Until you came the star was dark!”
“And Earth was dark! It is not the sun which lightens human hearts!”
answered Rondah.