UPON THE HOUSE-TOP
A few days after our joint wedding Max came running in one day, and
said:
"It is to be to-morrow."
He gave each of us a red cross to sew upon our clothes. He was very
much excited, and hurried out again.
I had said to him, the morning of our marriage, that I desired to
return home before the outbreak came, for I was now responsible for
Estella's life and safety; and I feared that all communication of one
part of the world with another would be cut off by the threatened
revolution. He had begged me to remain. He said that at the interview
with General Quincy it had been made a condition of the contract that
each of the executive committee--Cæsar, the vice-president and
himself--should have one of the flying air-ships placed at his
disposal, after the outbreak, well manned and equipped with bombs and
arms of all kinds. These "Demons" were to be subject to their order
at any time, and to be guarded by the troops at their magazine in one
of the suburbs until called for.
The committee had several reasons for making this arrangement: the
outbreak might fail and they would have to fly; or the outbreak might
succeed, but become ungovernable, and they would have to escape from
the tempest they had themselves invoked. Max had always had a dream
that after the Plutocracy was overthrown the insurgents would
reconstruct a purer and better state of society; but of late my
conversations with him, and his own observations, had begun to shake
his faith in this particular.
He said to me that if I remained he would guarantee the safety of
myself and wife, and after I had seen the outbreak he would send me
home in his air-ship; and moreover, if he became satisfied that the
revolution had passed beyond the control of himself and friends, he
would, after rescuing his father from the prison where he was
confined, accompany me with his whole family, and we would settle
down together in my distant mountain home. He had, accordingly,
turned all his large estate into gold and silver, which he had
brought to the house; and I had likewise filled one large room full
of a great library of books, which I had purchased to take with
me--literature, science, art, encyclopedias, histories, philosophies,
in fact all the treasures of the world's genius--together with type,
printing presses, telescopes, phonographs, photographic instruments,
electrical apparatus, eclesions, phemasticons, and all the other
great inventions which the last hundred years have given us. For, I
said to myself, if civilization utterly perishes in the rest of the
world, there, in the mountains of Africa, shut out from attack by
rocks and ice-topped mountains, and the cordon of tropical barbarians
yet surrounding us, we will wait until exhausted and prostrate
mankind is ready to listen to us and will help us reconstruct society
upon a wise and just basis.
In the afternoon Max returned, bringing with him Carl Jansen and all
his family. A dozen men also came, bearing great boxes. They were old
and trusted servants of his father's family; and the boxes contained
magazine rifles and pistols and fixed ammunition, together with
hand-grenades. These were taken out, and we were all armed. Even the
women had pistols, and knives strapped to their girdles. The men went
out and again returned, bearing quantities of food, sufficient to
last us during a siege, and also during our flight to my home. Water
was also collected in kegs and barrels, for the supply might be cut
of. Then Max came, and under his orders, as soon as night fell, the
lower windows, the cellar openings and the front door were covered
with sheathings of thick oak plank, of three thicknesses, strongly
nailed; then the second story windows were similarly protected,
loopholes being first bored, through which our rifles could be
thrust, if necessary. Then the upper windows were also covered in the
same way. The back door was left free for ingress and egress through
the yard and back street, but powerful bars were arranged across it,
and the oak plank left ready to board it up when required. The
hand-grenades--there were a pile of them--were carried up to the flat
roof. Then one of the men went out and painted red crosses on the
doors and windows.
We ate our supper in silence. A feeling of awe was upon all of us.
Every one was told to pack up his goods and valuables and be ready
for instant flight when the word was given; and to each one were
assigned the articles he or she was to carry.
About ten o'clock Max returned and told us all to come up to the
roof. The house stood, as I have already said, upon a corner; it was
in the older part of the city, and not far from where the first great
battle would be fought. Max whispered to me that the blow would be
struck at six o'clock in Europe and at twelve o'clock at night in
America. The fighting therefore had already begun in the Old World.
He further explained to me something of the plan of battle. The
Brotherhood at twelve would barricade a group of streets in which
were the Sub-Treasury of the United States, and all the principal
banks, to wit: Cedar, Pine, Wall, Nassau, William, Pearl and Water
Streets. Two hundred thousand men would be assembled to guard these
barricades. They would then burst open the great moneyed institutions
and blow up the safes with giant powder and Hecla powder. At daybreak
one of Quincy's air-ships would come and receive fifty millions of
the spoils in gold, as their share of the plunder, and the price of
their support. As soon as this was delivered, and carried to their
armory, the whole fleet of air-vessels would come up and attack the
troops of the Oligarchy. If, however, General Quincy should violate
his agreement, and betray them, they had provided a large number of
great cannon, mounted on high wheels, so that they could be fired
vertically, and these were to be loaded with bombs of the most
powerful explosives known to science, and so constructed with
fulminating caps that, if they struck the air-ship at any point, they
would explode and either destroy it or so disarrange its machinery as
to render it useless. Thus they were provided, he thought, for every
emergency.
At eleven he came to me and whispered that if anything happened to
him he depended on me to take his wife and mother and his father, if
possible, with me to Africa. I grasped his hand and assured him of my
devotion. He then embraced Christina and his mother and left them,
weeping bitterly, in each other's arms.
There was a parapet around the roof. I went to the corner of it, and,
leaning over, looked down into the street. Estella came and stood
beside me. She was very calm and quiet. The magnetic lights yet
burned, and the streets below me were almost as bright as day. There
were comparatively few persons moving about. Here and there a
carriage, or a man on horseback, dashed furiously past, at full
speed; and I thought to myself, "The Oligarchy have heard of the
tremendous outbreak in Europe, and are making preparations for
another here." It was a still, clear night; and the great solemn
stars moved over the face of heaven unconscious or indifferent as to
what was going forward on this clouded little orb.
I thought it must be nearly twelve. I drew out my watch to look at
the time. It lacked one minute of that hour. Another instant, and the
whole city was wrapped in profound darkness. Some of the workmen
about the Magnetic Works were members of the Brotherhood, and, in
pursuance of their orders, they had cut the connections of the works
and blotted out the light.