“Do you see that crimson ball in the distance?” asked the guide. “That
is Jupiter, the planet whose Satellite Island we are now about to visit
and I am sure you will admire its inhabitants very much.”
Such handsome people as these Jupitarians proved to be! Far beyond their
greatest expectations. They were all tall and commanding in appearance,
with features like chiselled marble so perfect were they in outline.
With their classic brows, straight noses, and clear, luminous eyes they
one and all looked like gods and goddesses. Their manners were dignified
yet courteous in the extreme, and in a way they impressed one as being
rather haughty and reserved.
When our young people landed on the island they found themselves in the
middle of a great square on three sides of which were magnificent
buildings dedicated to the arts and sciences, over the colossal doorways
of which were symbolical mythological figures.
“It is an excellent idea to have them all here together facing the
square with its fourth side opening into a beautiful park containing
fountains and marble statues, also representing the gods and goddesses
associated with the arts and sciences as well as those symbolical of the
peaceful and just natures of this island’s inhabitants,” said Harold. “I
imagine the building before us with the broad, sweeping stairway must be
the Hall of Justice, for I see mythological figures in marble over the
doorway illustrating Justice and Mercy.
“And the building on our right must be their Palace of Art for it is
embellished with figures holding harps, flutes, horns, and various
musical instruments.”
“Suppose we keep on our invisible robes until we have made a tour of all
these wonderful buildings,” said Ione.
“And I suggest,” said the Princess, “that Ione and I go to the Palace of
Art while you two boys go with Mercury, to listen to the debates in the
Hall of Justice, for I am sure Ione and I will not care for the debates
no matter how fine they may be.” To this the boys assented and all
agreed to meet in two hours’ time at the fountain where they were now
standing.
When the girls first entered the Palace of Art they had a surprise for
they saw coming toward them three beautiful smiling women with hands
outstretched to greet them. They involuntarily stepped back, when they
remembered, all at once, that they were invisible, and on looking closer
they found that the women were but wonderfully life-like paintings.
“Well!” exclaimed Ione, “I never had such a start in my life and even
yet I can scarcely believe my eyes for there is no frame to mar the
effect and the perspective is so perfect that you imagine they are
living, moving people coming to welcome you to the Palace.”
“We must have the boys come here so we can fool them, too,” said the
Princess. “I have heard of portraits being so perfect that they were
called ‘living pictures,’ but these paintings surpass any ever seen on
the Earth. Look! all around us are prancing horses, wild animals
devouring their prey, and numberless pictures so realistic that I am
actually afraid I shall be trampled upon or devoured. The babies, too,
dimpled and smiling are so life-like they make one feel that they will
roll off the canvas and get hurt in some way.”
The pictures proved so fascinating to the girls that they forgot how
fast the time was passing until they heard steps behind them and,
turning, saw that the boys had come to look for them.
“We have been waiting for you and thought perhaps you were lost,” said
Harold.
“No, we did not get lost, but we were so absorbed with the paintings
that we forgot all about time and our appointment with you, but we are
so glad you came for us for we want you to meet three beautiful women
who welcome all strangers who enter this building,” said Ione, winking
at the Princess, for though they were invisible to the world at large,
they could see each other at all times.
“But, perhaps you have seen them already,” said the Princess. “By which
door did you enter?”
“We came through the passage-way that leads from the Hall of Justice,”
said the Prince.
“Then you did not meet them, so come with us,” said the Princess. “But
first drop your magic robes and approach them in your native costume.”
The girls led the boys around until they faced the picture and Ione was
nearly suffocated with laughter when she saw Harold tip his hat and
extend his hand to one of the ladies while the Prince bowed almost to
the ground. The Princess also laughed merrily at the astonished
expression on the faces of the boys when they discovered their mistake.
Later on Mercury said, “Before you leave the island I want you to see
the Palaces these people live in and the superb way in which they are
furnished, to say nothing of the magnificent grounds that surround
them.”
“You lead and we will gladly follow,” said the young people.
Talk of Aladdin’s Palace! It was a paperdoll’s house compared to these
enchanting palaces built of snow-white marble and crystal. Think of it!
One palace was built of emerald-colored, crystal-clear glass cut in
prisms joined in dainty designs to represent flowers and leaves. Being
cut in this manner, no one could look in to get a peep at the occupants;
but the sunbeams found their way throughout, the rooms and corridors
reflecting an exquisite golden-green light. This whole palace was held
together by wide bands of purest gold, which took the place of our
woodwork, while it was furnished throughout with the corresponding
magnificence of its structure; for instance, one drawing-room was
furnished in white velvet with jewel-set chair-frames of gold; another
in rare satin and velvet, while for pictures, mirrors, and statuary, it
had no equal on Earth or any of the other planets, for the Jupiter
people love to a marked degree splendor and magnificence.
There were many of these rainbow palaces all different in design, for it
is against the law for one to copy another in any way—from matters of
dress to those of homes and furnishings, each must have an original
design. In this way there is an opportunity for great display of taste
and individuality and one can tell at a glance from the outside of a
person’s home how rich the owner is in ideas, for the buildings and
surroundings will reflect his nature and tastes.
At the summit of a hill they saw a palace shining so brightly in the
sunlight that it looked like the sun itself. It was built of yellow
topaz. Another of sapphire surrounded by green foliage looked like a
bluebell hid in the woods, and so on until one could not tell which he
thought the most magnificent or desirable.
“Listen! I hear music!” exclaimed the Princess.
“What you hear,” said Mercury, “are the church bells that ring at
sunrise and at sunset. Are they not the sweetest-toned chimes you ever
listened to?”
“Indeed they are,” replied the Prince.
When the music of the bells had ceased, Mercury told them it was time to
start for Saturn as it would take some time to reach it even with their
magic robes, as it was out in space some seven hundred and eighty
million of miles away from the sun and they were only part way there,
Jupiter being but four hundred and twenty-six million miles distant from
the sun.
“As we travel there, Harold will tell you what a surprise we have for
you,” said the Prince.
“Oh, how nice, for if there is anything I enjoy it is a surprise,” said
the Princess. “I hope it is a nice one, though,” she added.
“Of course it is, or we would not tell you,” said the Prince.
“Do let’s hurry and get off, then,” said Ione, “for I, too, am anxious
to know what it is. I am simply dying with curiosity.”
“I never knew a girl to die so often and come to life so easily,” said
Harold in a teasing voice.
“I suggest that we take hold of hands so that we can keep close
together,” said Mercury, “if you people talk while we are travelling;
otherwise, some one will lag behind and lose part of the story.”
His suggestion was followed and soon all found themselves floating
smoothly and rapidly through space.
“Now for the surprise!” laughed Ione. “I can’t wait patiently any
longer. I am not fond of waiting for things.”
“In the first place, who do you think lives on the island we are going
to visit after we take a look at Saturn? Some one in whom you are
interested?” queried Harold.
“Why, no one, you foolish boy,” said Ione. “Why do you stop to tease me
when you know the Princess and I are all on tip toe to know your
surprise?”
“But I am not teasing this time,” said Harold. “Guess just once.”
“Oh, I can’t,” said Ione.
“Your father and mother,” said the Princess, “or else Ione’s.”
“No, no relation to any of us, but a relative to some one we are all
indebted to for most of the pleasant things that have ever happened to
us.”
“I know! I know!” cried Ione. “Some one who is related to our wise man,
the one who invented the Elephant.”
“You are right, Ione. That was a good guess.”
“Do tell us about him,” cried both girls at the same time.
“Well, it happened in this way. We were sitting in the gallery in the
Hall of Justice when an old man got up to speak. He was enough like our
old man to be a twin brother, (which he proved to be) and I cried out,
‘There is the wonderful old man who left me the Elephant!’ Mercury said
that could not be as this old man had not left the island for a century
as he could not get away, being at the head of the wise and learned men
here and President of the Island.
“‘I can’t help it,’ I said. ‘If you don’t believe me just look at this
picture I carry here in my watch and see if the man speaking is not its
exact counterpart even to hair, eyes, and beard; besides, the voice is
exactly the same.’
“Mercury looked and said, ‘The picture is certainly a perfect likeness
of the man on the platform.’ Then he told me to sit still and when the
session was over we would go and speak to him and find out if he were
really the one who left the Elephant, or if he were a relative of the
man.
“This we did and the old man met us very graciously and told us that he
was a twin brother to our old man. ‘And a wonderful old fellow he is,’
continued the sage. ‘I never saw his equal in inventive genius. He
originates things and then goes to the earth to try them. His hobby is
electricity and finding out the secrets of nature, while mine is to
bring peace and administer justice, as well as to promote the arts and
sciences. I never go to the earth but remain here and plan, sending my
deputies to carry out my ideas.’
“‘In speaking,’ said I, ‘you said is instead of _was_, do you mean to
tell me that your brother and my wonderful old man is alive still?’
“‘Certainly, I do. You thought he was dead when he fell back on his
pillow, but he had merely fainted and after a time when he recovered his
senses he found himself, so he said, on a bed of spruce bows, shut in a
cave. He knew immediately what had happened and that you had buried him,
thinking him dead, so he lay still for a time until the coolness of the
cave revived him, then having his wishing-robe with him, he wished
himself back on his beloved planet Uranus, and there he is now, safe and
well. If your travels take you that distance, to that most wonderful
planet which all inventors love, you will find him there and I am sure
he will be delighted to see you all.’
“Now, what do you think of that for a surprise?” asked Harold when he
had finished his story.
“It certainly is a pleasant one,” said Ione, “and of course we will go
to Uranus, no matter how far it is. I would not miss it for worlds,
would you, Princess?”
“Neither would we,” cried the boys, “and we will go there as soon as we
have seen Saturn. We may remain on Saturn for some time though, for they
say it is different from the other planets and that there is more change
and variety there than on the other planets.”
“How is that?” cried Ione.
“Well, you see it has different colored belts on its surface
corresponding to our zones, and a luminous flat ring that surrounds or
encircles it about where the equator does the earth, besides it has
satellites that belong to it as the Moon belongs to your Earth,” said
Mercury.
“Who knows but that different colored races of people live on those
different belts?” said Harold.
“I say, let’s go and find out,” said the Prince.
“Agreed,” they all said and, wishing themselves on Saturn, our travelers
found themselves on the island itself instead of its accompanying
Satellite Island, for it seemed to hold out so many inducements in the
way of its belted surface, rings, and seven satellites.