It was like turning into a hothouse from a keen winter walk, our
arrival at the beautiful but nerveless city after my life amongst the
woodmen.
As for the people, they were delighted to have their princess back, but
with the delight of children, fawning about her, singing, clapping
hands, yet asking no questions as to where she had been, showing no
appreciation of our adventures--a serious offence in my eyes--and,
perhaps most important of all, no understanding of what I may call the
political bearings of Heru's restoration, and how far their arch
enemies beyond the sea might be inclined to attempt her recovery.
They were just delighted to have the princess back, and that was the
end of it. Theirs was the joy of a vast nursery let loose. Flower
processions were organised, garlands woven by the mile, a general order
issued that the nation might stay up for an hour after bedtime, and in
the vortex of that gentle rejoicing Heru was taken from me, and I saw
her no more, till there happened the wildest scene of all you have
shared with me so patiently.
Overlooked, unthanked, I turned sulky, and when this mood, one I can
never maintain for long, wore off, I threw myself into the dissipation
about me with angry zeal. I am frankly ashamed of the confession, but
I was "a sailor ashore," and can only claim the indulgences proper to
the situation. I laughed, danced, drank, through the night; I drank
deep of a dozen rosy ways to forgetfulness, till my mind was a great
confusion, full of flitting pictures of loveliness, till life itself
was an illusive pantomime, and my will but thistle-down on the folly of
the moment. I drank with those gentle roisterers all through their
starlit night, and if we stopped when morning came it was more from
weariness than virtue. Then the yellow-robed slaves gave us the wine
of recovery--alas! my faithful An was not amongst them--and all through
the day we lay about in sodden happiness.
Towards nightfall I was myself again, not unfortunately with the
headache well earned, but sufficiently remorseful to be in a vein to
make good resolutions for the future.
In this mood I mingled with a happy crowd, all purposeless and cheerful
as usual, but before long began to feel the influence of one of those
drifts, a universal turning in one direction, as seaweed turns when the
tide changes, so characteristic of Martian society. It was dusk, a
lovely soft velvet dusk, but not dark yet, and I said to a yellow-robed
fairy at my side:
"Whither away, comrade? It is not eight bells yet. Surely we are not
going to be put to bed so early as this?"
"No," said that smiling individual, "it is the princess. We are going
to listen to Princess Heru in the palace square. She reads the globe
on the terrace again tonight, to see if omens are propitious for her
marriage. She MUST marry, and you know the ceremony has been
unavoidably postponed so far."
"Unavoidably postponed?" Yes, Heaven wotted I was aware of the fact.
And was Heru going to marry black Hath in such a hurry? And after all
I had done for her? It was scarcely decent, and I tried to rouse
myself to rage over it, but somehow the seductive Martian contentment
with any fate was getting into my veins. I was not yet altogether sunk
in their slothful acceptance of the inevitable, but there was not the
slightest doubt the hot red blood in me was turning to vapid stuff such
as did duty for the article in their veins. I mustered up a
half-hearted frown at this unwelcome intelligence, turning with it on
my face towards the slave girl; but she had slipped away into the
throng, so the frown evaporated, and shrugging my shoulders I said to
myself, "What does it matter? There are twenty others will do as well
for me. If not one, why then obviously another, 'tis the only rational
way to think, and at all events there is the magic globe. That may
tell us something." And slipping my arm round the waist of the first
disengaged girl--we were not then, mind you, in Atlantic City--I kissed
her dimpling cheek unreproached, and gaily followed in the drift of
humanity, trending with a low hum of pleasure towards the great white
terraces under the palace porch.
How well I knew them! It was just such an evening Heru had consulted
Fate in the same place once before; how much had happened since then!
But there was little time or inclination to think of those things now.
The whole phantom city's population had drifted to one common centre.
The crumbling seaward ramparts were all deserted; no soldier watch was
kept to note if angry woodmen came from over seas; a soft wind blew in
from off the brine, but told no tales; the streets were empty, and,
when as we waited far away in the southern sky the earth planet
presently got up, by its light Heru, herself again, came tripping down
the steps to read her fate.
They had placed another magic globe under a shroud on a tripod for her.
It stood within the charmed circle upon the terrace, and I was close
by, although the princess did not see me.
Again that weird, fantastic dance commenced, the princess working
herself up from the drowsiest undulations to a hurricane of emotion.
Then she stopped close by the orb, and seized the corner of the web
covering it. We saw the globe begin to beam with veiled magnificence at
her touch.
Not an eye wavered, not a thought wandered from her in all that silent
multitude. It was a moment of the keenest suspense, and just when it
was at its height there came a strange sound of hurrying feet behind
the outermost crowd, a murmur such as a great pack of wolves might make
rushing through snow, while a soft long wail went up from the darkness.
Whether Heru understood it or not I cannot say, but she hesitated a
moment, then swept the cloth from the orb of her fate.
And as its ghostly, self-emitting light beamed up in the darkness with
weird brilliancy, there by it, in gold and furs and war panoply, huge,
fierce, and lowering, stood--AR-HAP HIMSELF!
Ay, and behind him, towering over the crouching Martians, blocking
every outlet and street, were scores and hundreds of his men. Never
was surprise so utter, ambush more complete. Even I was transfixed
with astonishment, staring with open-mouthed horror at the splendid
figure of the barbarian king as he stood aglitter in the ruddy light,
scowling defiance at the throng around him. So silently had he come on
his errand of vengeance it was difficult to believe he was a reality,
and not some clever piece of stageplay, some vision conjured up by
Martian necromancy.
But he was good reality. In a minute comedy turned to tragedy. Ar-hap
gave a sign with his hand, whereon all his men set up a terrible
warcry, the like of which Seth had not heard for very long, and as far
as I could make out in the half light began hacking and hewing my
luckless friends with all their might. Meanwhile the king made at
Heru, feeling sure of her this time, and doubtless intending to make
her taste his vengeance to the dregs; and seeing her handled like that,
and hearing her plaintive cries, wrath took the place of stupid
surprise in me. I was on my feet in a second, across the intervening
space, and with all my force gave the king a blow upon the jaw which
sent even him staggering backwards. Before I could close again, so
swift was the sequence of events in those flying minutes, a wild mob of
people, victims and executioners in one disordered throng, was between
us. How the king fared I know not, nor stopped to ask, but half
dragging, half carrying Heru through the shrieking mob, got her up the
palace steps and in at the great doors, which a couple of yellow-clad
slaves, more frightened of the barbarians than thoughtful of the crowd
without, promptly clapped to, and shot the bolts. Thus we were safe
for a moment, and putting the princess on a couch, I ran up a short
flight of stairs and looked out of a front window to see if there were
a chance of succouring those in the palace square. But it was all
hopeless chaos with the town already beginning to burn and not a show
of fight anywhere which I could join.
I glared out on that infernal tumult for a moment or two in an agony of
impotent rage, then turned towards the harbour and saw in the shine of
the burning town below the ancient battlements and towers of Seth begin
to gleam out, like a splendid frost work of living metal clear-cut
against the smooth, black night behind, and never a show of resistance
there either. Ay, and by this time Ar-hap's men were battering in our
gates with a big beam, and somehow, I do not know how it happened, the
palace itself away on the right, where the dry-as-dust library lay, was
also beginning to burn.
It was hopeless outside, and nothing to be done but to save Heru, so
down I went, and, with the slaves, carried her away from the hall
through a vestibule or two, and into an anteroom, where some
yellow-girt individuals were already engaged in the suggestive work of
tying up palace plate in bundles, amongst other things, alas! the great
gold love-bowl from which--oh! so long ago--I had drawn Heru's marriage
billet. These individuals told me in tremulous accents they had got a
boat on a secret waterway behind the palace whence flight to the main
river and so, far away inland, to another smaller but more peaceful
city of their race would be quite practical; and joyfully hearing this
news, I handed over to them the princess while I went to look for Hath.
And the search was not long. Dashing into the banquet-hall, still
littered with the remains of a feast, and looking down its deserted
vistas, there at the farther end, on his throne, clad in the sombre
garments he affected, chin on hand, sedate in royal melancholy,
listening unmoved to the sack of his town outside, sat the prince
himself. Strange, gloomy man, the great dead intelligence of his race
shining in his face as weird and out of place as a lonely sea beacon
fading to nothing before the glow of sunrise, never had he appeared so
mysterious as at that moment. Even in the heat of excitement I stared
at him in amazement, wishing in a hasty thought the confusion of the
past few weeks had given me opportunity to penetrate the recesses of
his mind, and therefrom retell you things better worth listening to
than all the incident of my adventures. But now there was no time to
think, scarce time to act.
"Hath!" I cried, rushing over to him, "wake up, your majesty. The
Thither men are outside, killing and burning!"
"I know it."
"And the palace is on fire. You can smell the reek even here."
"Yes."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Nothing."
"My word, that is a fine proposition for a prince! If you care nothing
for town or palace perhaps you will bestir yourself for Princess Heru."
A faint glimmer of interest rose upon the alabaster calm of his face at
that name, but it faded instantly, and he said quietly,
"The slaves will save her. She will live. I looked into the book of
her fate yesterday. She will escape, and forget, and sit at another
marriage feast, and be a mother, and give the people yet one more
prince to keep the faint glimmer of our ancestry alive. I am content."
"But, d--- it, man, I am not! I take a deal more interest in the young
lady than you seem to, and have scoured half this precious planet of
yours on her account, and will be hanged if I sit idly twiddling my
thumbs while her pretty skin is in danger." But Hath was lost in
contemplation of his shoe-strings.
"Come, sir," I said, shaking his majesty by the shoulder, "don't be
down on your luck. There has been some rivalry between us, but never
mind about that just now. The princess wants you. I am going to save
both her and you, you must come with her."
"No."
"But you SHALL come."
"No!"
By this time the palace was blazing like a bonfire and the uproar
outside was terrible. What was I to do? As I hesitated the arras at
the further end of the hall was swept aside, a disordered mob of slaves
bearing bundles and dragging Heru with them rushing down to the door
near us. As Heru was carried swiftly by she stretched her milk-white
arms towards the prince and turned her face, lovely as a convolvulus
flower even in its pallor, upon him.
It was a heart-moving appeal from a woman with the heart of a child,
and Hath rose to his feet while for a moment there shone a look of
responsible manhood in his eyes. But it faded quickly; he bowed slowly
as though he had received an address of condolence on the condition of
his empire, and the next moment the frightened slaves, stumbling under
their burdens, had swept poor Heru through the doorway.
I glanced savagely round at the curling smoke overhead, the red
tendrils of fire climbing up a distant wall, and there on a table by us
was a half-finished flask of the lovely tinted wine of forgetfulness.
If Hath would not come sober perhaps he might come drunk.
"Here," I cried, "drink to tomorrow, your majesty, a sovereign toast in
all ages, and better luck next time with these hairy gentlemen
battering at your majesty's doors," and splashing out a goblet full of
the stuff I handed it to him.
He took it and looked rather lovingly into the limpid pool, then
deliberately poured it on the step in front of him, and throwing the
cup away said pleasantly,
"Not tonight, good comrade; tonight I drink a deeper draught of
oblivion than that,--and here come my cup-bearers."
Even while he spoke the palace gates had given way; there was a
horrible medley of shrieks and cries, a quick sound of running feet;
then again the arras lifted and in poured a horde of Ar-hap's
men-at-arms. The moment they caught sight of us about a dozen of them,
armed with bows, drew the thick hide strings to their ears and down the
hall came a ravening flight of shafts. One went through my cap, two
stuck quivering in the throne, and one, winged with owl feather, caught
black Hath full in the bosom.
He had stood out boldly at the first coming of that onset, arms crossed
on breast, chin up, and looking more of a gentleman than I had ever
seen him look before; and now, stricken, he smiled gravely, then
without flinching, and still eyeing his enemies with gentle calm, his
knees unlocked, his frame trembled, then down he went headlong, his red
blood running forth in rivulets amongst the wine of oblivion he had
just poured out.
There was no time for sentiment. I shrugged my shoulders, and turning
on my heels, with the woodmen close after me, sprang through the near
doorway. Where was Heru? I flew down the corridor by which it seemed
she had retreated, and then, hesitating a moment where it divided in
two, took the left one. This to my chagrin presently began to trend
upwards, whereas I knew Heru was making for the river down below.
But it was impossible to go back, and whenever I stopped in those
deserted passages I could hear the wolflike patter of men's feet upon
my trail. On again into the stony labyrinths of the old palace, ever
upwards, in spite of my desire to go down, until at last, the pursuers
off the track for a moment, I came to a north window in the palace
wall, and, hot and breathless, stayed to look out.
All was peace here; the sky a lovely lavender, a promise of coming
morning in it, and a gold-spangled curtain of stars out yonder on the
horizon. Not a soul moved. Below appeared a sheer drop of a hundred
feet into a moat winding through thickets of heavy-scented convolvulus
flowers to the waterways beyond. And as I looked a skiff with half a
dozen rowers came swiftly out of the darkness of the wall and passed
like a shadow amongst the thickets. In the prow was all Hath's wedding
plate, and in the stern, a faint vision of unconscious loveliness, lay
Heru!
Before I could lift a finger or call out, even if I had had a mind to
do so, the shadow had gone round a bend, and a shout within the palace
told me I was sighted again.
On once more, hotly pursued, until the last corridor ended in two doors
leading into a half-lit gallery with open windows at the further end.
There was a wilderness of lumber down the sides of the great garret,
and now I come to think of it more calmly I imagine it was Hath's Lost
Property Office, the vast receptacle where his slaves deposited
everything lazy Martians forgot or left about in their daily life. At
that moment it only represented a last refuge, and into it I dashed,
swung the doors to and fastened them just as the foremost of Ar-hap's
men hurled themselves upon the barrier from outside.
There I was like a rat in a trap, and like a rat I made up my mind to
fight savagely to the end, without for a moment deceiving myself as to
what that end must be. Even up there the horrible roar of destruction
was plainly audible as the barbarians sacked and burned the ancient
town, and I was glad from the bottom of my heart my poor little
princess was safely out of it. Nor did I bear her or hers the least
resentment for making off while there was yet time and leaving me to my
fate--anything else would have been contrary to Martian nature.
Doubtless she would get away, as Hath had said, and elsewhere drop a
few pearly tears and then over her sugar-candy and lotus-eating forget
with happy completeness--most blessed gift! And meanwhile the foresaid
barbarians were battering on my doors, while over their heads choking
smoke was pouring in in ever-increasing volumes.
In burst the first panel, then another, and I could see through the
gaps a medley of tossing weapons and wild faces without. Short shrift
for me if they came through, so in the obstinacy of desperation I set
to work to pile old furniture and dry goods against the barricade. And
as they yelled and hammered outside I screamed back defiance from
within, sweating, tugging, and hauling with the strength of ten men,
piling up the old Martian lumber against the opening till, so fierce
was the attack outside, little was left of the original doorway and
nothing between me and the besiegers but a rampart of broken woodwork
half seen in a smother of smoke and flames.
Still they came on, thrusting spears and javelins through every crevice
and my strength began to go. I threw two tables into a gap, and
brained a besieger with a sweetmeat-seller's block and smothered
another, and overturned a great chest against my barricade; but what
was the purpose of it all? They were fifty to one and my rampart
quaked before them. The smoke was stifling, and the pains of
dissolution in my heart. They burst in and clambered up the rampart
like black ants. I looked round for still one more thing to hurl into
the breach. My eyes lit on a roll of carpet: I seized it by one corner
meaning to drag it to the doorway, and it came undone at a touch.
That strange, that incredible pattern! Where in all the vicissitudes
of a chequered career had I seen such a one before? I stared at it in
amazement under the very spears of the woodmen in the red glare of
Hath's burning palace. Then all on a sudden it burst upon me that IT
WAS THE ACCURSED RUG, the very one which in response to a careless wish
had swept me out of my own dear world, and forced me to take as wild a
journey into space as ever fell to a man's lot since the universe was
made!
And in another second it occurred to me that if it had brought me
hither it might take me hence. It was but a chance, yet worth trying
when all other chances were against me. As Ar-hap's men came shouting
over the barricade I threw myself down upon that incredible carpet and
cried from the bottom of my heart,
"I wish--I wish I were in New York!"
Yes!
A moment of thrilling suspense and then the corners lifted as though a
strong breeze were playing upon them. Another moment and they had
curled over like an incoming surge. One swift glance I got at the
smoke and flames, the glittering spears and angry faces, and then fold
upon fold, a stifling, all-enveloping embrace, a lift, a sense of
super-human speed--and then forgetfulness.
When I came to, as reporters say, I was aware the rug had ejected me on
solid ground and disappeared, forever. Where was I! It was cool,
damp, and muddy. There were some iron railings close at hand and a
street lamp overhead. These things showed clearly to me, sitting on a
doorstep under that light, head in hand, amazed and giddy--so amazed
that when slowly the recognition came of the incredible fact my wish
was gratified and I was home again, the stupendous incident scarcely
appealed to my tingling senses more than one of the many others I had
lately undergone.
Very slowly I rose to my feet, and as like a discreditable reveller as
could be, climbed the steps. The front door was open, and entering the
oh, so familiar hall a sound of voices in my sitting-room on the right
caught my ear.
"Oh no, Mrs. Brown," said one, which I recognised at once as my
Polly's, "he is dead for certain, and my heart is breaking. He would
never, never have left me so long without writing if he had been
alive," and then came a great sound of sobbing.
"Bless your kind heart, miss," said the voice of my landlady in reply,
"but you don't know as much about young gentlemen as I do. It is not
likely, if he has gone off on the razzle-dazzle, as I am sure he has,
he is going to write every post and tell you about it. Now you go off
to your ma at the hotel like a dear, and forget all about him till he
comes back--that's MY advice."
"I cannot, I cannot, Mrs. Brown. I cannot rest by day or sleep by
night for thinking of him; for wondering why he went away so suddenly,
and for hungering for news of him. Oh, I am miserable. Gully! Gully!
Come to me," and then there were sounds of troubled footsteps pacing to
and fro and of a woman's grief.
That was more than I could stand. I flung the door open, and, dirty,
dishevelled, with unsteady steps, advanced into the room.
"Ahem!" coughed Mrs. Brown, "just as I expected!"
But I had no eyes for her. "Polly! Polly!" I cried, and that dear
girl, after a startled scream and a glance to make sure it was indeed
the recovered prodigal, rushed over and threw all her weight of dear,
warm, comfortable womanhood into my arms, and the moment after burst
into a passion of happy tears down my collar.
"Humph!" quoth the landlady, "that is not what BROWN gets when he
forgets his self. No, not by any means."
But she was a good old soul at heart, and, seeing how matters stood,
with a parting glance of scorn in my direction and a toss of her head,
went out of the room, and closed the door behind her.
Need I tell in detail what followed? Polly behaved like an angel, and
when in answer to her gentle reproaches I told her the outlines of my
marvellous story she almost believed me! Over there on the
writing-desk lay a whole row of the unopened letters she had showered
upon me during my absence, and amongst them an official one. We went
and opened it together, and it was an intimation of my promotion, a
much better "step" than I had ever dared to hope for.
Holding that missive in my hand a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Polly dear, this letter makes me able to maintain you as you ought to
be maintained, and there is still a fortnight of vacation for me.
Polly, will you marry me tomorrow?"
"No, certainly not, sir."
"Then will you marry me on Monday?"
"Do you truly, truly want me to?"
"Truly, truly."
"Then, yes," and the dear girl again came blushing into my arms.
While we were thus the door opened, and in came her parents who were
staying at a neighbouring hotel while inquiries were made as to my
mysterious absence. Not unnaturally my appearance went a long way to
confirm suspicions such as Mrs. Brown had confessed to, and, after they
had given me cold salutations, Polly's mother, fixing gold glasses on
the bridge of her nose and eyeing me haughtily therefrom, observed,
"And now that you ARE safely at home again, Lieutenant Gulliver Jones,
I think I will take my daughter away with me. Tomorrow her father will
ascertain the true state of her feelings after this unpleasant
experience, and subsequently he will no doubt communicate with you on
the subject." This very icily.
But I was too happy to be lightly put down.
"My dear madam," I replied, "I am happy to be able to save her father
that trouble. I have already communicated with this young lady as to
the state of her feelings, and as an outcome I am delighted to be able
to tell you we are to be married on Monday."
"Oh yes, Mother, it is true, and if you do not want to make me the most
miserable of girls again you will not be unkind to us."
In brief, that sweet champion spoke so prettily and smoothed things so
cleverly that I was "forgiven," and later on in the evening allowed to
escort Polly back to her hotel.
"And oh!" she said, in her charmingly enthusiastic way when we were
saying goodnight, "you shall write a book about that extraordinary
story you told me just now. Only you must promise me one thing."
"What is it?"
"To leave out all about Heru--I don't like that part at all." This
with the prettiest little pout.
"But, Polly dear, see how important she was to the narrative. I cannot
quite do that."
"Then you will say as little as you can about her?"
"No more than the story compels me to."
"And you are quite sure you like me much the best, and will not go
after her again?"
"Quite sure."
The compact was sealed in the most approved fashion; and here,
indulgent reader, is the artless narrative that resulted--an incident
so incredible in this prosaic latter-day world that I dare not ask you
to believe, and must humbly content myself with hoping that if I fail
to convince yet I may at least claim the consolation of having amused
you.