THE STORY
I
THE MAN
I am Strokor, son of Strok, the armorer. I am Strokor, a maker of tools
of war; Strokor, the mightiest man in the world; Strokor, whose wisdom
outwitted the hordes of Klow; Strokor, who has never feared, and never
failed. Let him who dares, dispute it. I--I am Strokor!
In my youth I was, as now, the marvel of all who saw. I was ever robust
and daring, and naught but much older, bigger lads could outdo me. I
balked at nothing, be it a game or a battle; it was, and forever shall
be, my chief delight to best all others.
'Twas from my mother that I gained my huge frame and sound heart. In
truth, I am very like her, now that I think upon it. She, too, was
indomitable in battle, and famed for her liking for strife. No doubt
'twas her stalwart figure that caught my father's fancy.
Aye, my mother was a very likely woman, but she boasted no brains. "I
need no cunning," I remember she said; and he who was so unlucky in
battle as to fall into her hands could vouch for the truth of it--as
long as he lived, which would not be long. She was a grand woman, slow
to anger and a match for many a good pair of men. Often, as a lad, have
I carried the marks of her punishment for the most of a year.
And thus it seems that I owe my head to my father. He was a marvelously
clever man, dexterous with hand and brain alike. Moreover, he was no
weakling; perchance I should credit him with some of my agility, for he
was famed as a gymnast, though not a powerful one. 'Twas he who taught
me how to disable my enemy with a mere clutch of the neck at a certain
spot.
But Strok, the armorer, was feared most because of his brain, and his
knack of using his mind to the undoing of others. And he taught me all
that he knew; taught me all that he had learned in a lifetime of
fighting for the emperor, of mending the complicated machines in the
armory, of contact with the chemists who wrought the secret alloy, and
the chiefs who led the army.
Some of this he taught me when I was not yet a man. Why he should have
done so, I know not, save that he seemed to value my affection, and
liked not my mother's demands that I heed her call, not his. At all
events, I oft found his shop a place of refuge from her wrath; and I
early came to value his teachings.
When I became a man he abruptly ended the practice. I think he saw that
I was become as dexterous as he with the tools of the craft, and he
feared lest I know more than he. Well he might; the day I realized this
I laughed long and loud. And from that time forth he taught me, not
because he chose to, but because I bent a chisel in my bare hands,
before his eyes, and told him his place.
Many times he strove to trick me, and more than once he all but caught
me in some trap. He was a crafty man, and relied not upon brawn, but
upon wits. Yet I was ever on the watch, and I but learned the more from
him.
"Ye are very kind," I mocked him one morning. When I had taken my seat a
huge weight had dropped from above and crushed my stool to splinters,
much as it would have crushed my skull had I not leaped instantly aside.
"Ye are kinder than most fathers, who teach their sons nothing at all."
He foamed at his mouth in his rage and discomfiture. "Insolent whelp!"
he snarled. "Thou art quick as a cat on thy feet!"
But I was not to be appeased by words. I smote him on the chest with my
bare hand, so that he fell on the far side of the room. "Let that be a
warning," I told him, when he had recovered, some time later. "If ye
have any more tricks, try them for, not on, me." Which I claim to be a
neat twist of words.
It was not long after that when I saw a change in my father. He no
longer tried to snare me; instead, he began, of his own free will, to
train my mind to other than warlike things. At first, I was suspicious
enough. I looked for new traps, and watched all the closer. I told him
that his next try would surely be his last, and I meant it.
But the time came when I saw that my father was reconciled to his
master. I saw that he genuinely admitted my prowess; and where he
formerly envied me, he now took great pride in all I accomplished, and
claimed that it was but his own brains acting through my body.
I let him indulge in the conceit. I grudged it not to him, so long as he
taught me. In truth, he was so eager to add to my store of facts, so
intent upon filling my head with what filled his, that at times I was
fairly compelled to stop him, lest I tire.
My mother opposed all this. "The lad needs none of thy wiles," she
gibed. "He is no stripling; he is a man's man, and a fit son of his
mother."
"Aye," quoth my father slyly. "He has thy muscle and thy courage. Thank
Jon, he hath not thy empty head!"
Whereat she flew at him. Had she caught him, she would have destroyed
him, such was her rage; and afterwards she would have mourned her folly
and mayhap have injured herself; for she loved him greatly. But he
stepped aside just in the nick of time, and she crashed into the wall
behind him with such force that she was senseless for a time. I remember
it well.
And yet, to give credit where credit is due, I must admit that I owe a
great deal to that gray-beard, Maka, the star-gazer. But for him,
perchance, the name of Strokor would mean but little, for 'twas he who
gave me ambition.
Truly it was an uncommon affair, my first meeting with him. Now that I
shake my memory for it, it seems that something else of like consequence
came to pass on the same occasion. Curious; but I have not thought on it
for many days.
Yes, it is true; I met Maka on the very morn that I first laid eyes on
the girl Ave.
I was returning from the northland at the time. A rumor had come down to
Vlama that one of the people in the snow country had seen a lone
specimen of the mulikka. Now these were but a myth. No man living
remembers when the carvings on the House of Learning were made, and all
the wise men say that it hath been ages since any being other than man
roamed the world. Yet, I was young. I determined to search for the thing
anyhow; and 'twas only after wasting many days in the snow that I cursed
my luck, and turned back.
I was afoot, for the going was too rough for my chariot. I had not yet
quit the wilderness before, from a height, I spied a group of people
ascending from the valley. Knowing not whether they be friends or foes,
I hid beside the path up which they must come; for I was weary and
wanting no strife.
Yet I became alert enough when the three--they were two ditch-tenders,
one old, one young, and a girl--came within earshot. For they were
quarreling. It seemed that the young man, who was plainly eager to gain
the girl, had fouled in a try to force her favor. The older man chided
him hotly.
And just when they came opposite my rock, the younger man, whose passion
had got the better of him, suddenly tripped the older, so that he fell
upon the ledge and would have fallen to his death on the rocks below had
not the girl, crying out in her terror, leaped forward and caught his
hand.
At once the ditch-tender took the lass about the waist, and strove to
pull her away. For a moment she held fast, and in that moment I,
Strokor, stood forth from behind the rock.
Now, be it known that I am no champion of weaklings. I have no liking
for the troubles of others; enough of my own, say I. I was but angered
that the ditch-tender should have done the trick so clumsily, and upon
an old man, at that. I cared not for the gray beard, nor what became of
the chit. I clapped the trickster upon the shoulder and spun him about.
"Ye clumsy coward!" I jeered. "Have ye had no practice that ye should
trip the old one no better than that?"
"Who are ye?" he stuttered, like the coward he was. I laughed and helped
the chit drag Maka--for it was he--up to safety.
"I am a far better man than ye," I said, not caring to give my name.
"And I can show ye how the thing should be done. Come; at me, if ye are
a man!"
At that he dashed upon me; and such was his fear of ridicule--for the
girl was laughing him to scorn now--he put up a fair, stiff fight. But I
forgot my weariness when he foully clotted me on the head with a stone.
I drove at him with all the speed and suddenness my father had taught
me, caught the fellow by the ankle, and brought him down atop me.
The rest was easy. I bent my knee under his middle, and tossed him high.
In a flash I was upon my feet, and caught him from behind. And in
another second I had rushed him to the cliff; and when he turned to save
himself, I tripped him as neatly as father himself could have done it,
so that the fellow will guard the ditch no more, save in the caverns of
Hofe.
I laughed and picked up my pack. My head hurt a bit from the fellow's
blow, but a little water would do for that. I started to go.
"Ye are a brave man!" cried the girl. I turned carelessly, and then,
quite for the first time, I had a real look at her.
She was in no way like any woman I had seen. All of them had been much
like the men: brawny and close-knit, as well fitted for their work as
are men for war. But this chit was all but slender; not skinny, but
prettily rounded out, and soft like. I cannot say that I admired her at
first glance; she seemed fit only to look at, not to live. I was minded
of some of the ancient carvings, which show delicate, lightly built
animals that have long since been killed off; graceful trifles that
rested the eye.
As for the old man: "Aye, thou art brave, and wondrous strong, my lad,"
said he, still a bit shaky from his close call. I was pleased with the
acknowledgment, and turned back.
"It was nothing," I told them; and I recounted some of my exploits,
notably one in which I routed a raiding party of men from Klow, six in
all, carrying in two alive on my shoulders. "I am the son of Strok, the
armorer."
"Ye are Strokor!" marveled the girl, staring at me as though I were a
god. Then she threw back her head and stepped close.
"I am Ave. This is Maka; he is my uncle, but best known as a star-gazer.
My father was Durok, the engine-maker." She watched my face.
"Durok?" I knew him well. My father had said that he was quite as brainy
as himself. "He were a fine man, Ave."
"Aye," said she proudly. She stepped closer; I could not but see how
like him she was, though a woman. And next second she laid a hand on my
arm.
"I am yet a free woman, Strokor. Hast thou picked thy mate?" And her
cheeks flamed.
Now, 'twas not my first experience of the kind. Many women had looked
like that at me before. But I had always been a man's man, and had ever
heeded my father's warning to have naught whatever to do with women.
"They are the worst trick of all," he told me; and I had never forgot.
Belike I owe much of my power to just this.
But Ave had acted too quickly for me to get away. I laughed again, and
shook her off.
"I will have naught to do with ye," I told her, civilly enough. "When I
am ready to take a woman, I shall take her; not before."
At that the blood left her face; she stood very straight, and her eyes
flashed dangerously. Were she a man I should have stood on my guard. But
she made no move; only the softness in her eyes gave way to such a
savage look that I was filled with amaze. And thus I left them; the old
man calling down the blessing of Jon upon me for having saved his life,
and the chit glaring after me as though no curses would suffice.
A right queer matter, I thought at the time. I guessed not what would
come of it; not then.
II
THE VISION
'Twas a fortnight later, more or less, when next I saw Maka. I was
lumbering along in my chariot, feeling most uncomfortable under the eyes
of my friends; for one foot of my machine had a loose link, and 'twas
flapping absurdly. And I liked it none too well when Maka stopped his
own rattletrap in front of mine, and came running to my window. Next
moment I forgot his impertinence.
"Strokor," he whispered, his face alive with excitement, "thou art a
brave lad, and didst save my life. Now, know you that a party of the men
of Klow have secreted themselves under the stairway behind the emperor's
throne. They have killed the guards, and will of a certainty kill the
emperor, too!"
"'Twould serve the dolt right," I replied, for I really cared but
little. "But why have ye come to me, old man? I am but a lieutenant in
the armory; I am not the captain of the palace guard."
"Because," he answered, gazing at me very pleasingly, "thou couldst
dispose of the whole party single handed--there are but four--and gain
much glory for thyself."
"By Jon!" I swore, vastly delighted; and without stopping to ask Maka
whence he had got his knowledge, I went at once to the spot. However,
when I got back, I sought the star-gazer--I ought to mention that I had
no trouble with the louts, and that the emperor himself saw me finishing
off the last of them--I sought the star-gazer and demanded how he had
known.
"Hast ever heard of Edam?" he inquired in return.
"Edam?" I had not; the name was strange to me. "Who is he?"
"A man as young as thyself, but a mere stripling," quoth Maka. "He was a
pupil of mine when I taught in the House of Learning. Of late he has
turned to prophecy; and it is fair remarkable how well the lad doth
guess. At all events, 'twas he, Strokor, who told me of the plot. He saw
it in a dream."
"Then Edam must yet be in Vlama," said I, "if he were able to tell ye.
Canst bring him to me? I would know him."
And so it came about that, on the eve of that same day, Maka brought
Edam to my house. I remember it well; for 'twas the same day that the
emperor, in gratitude of my little service in the anteroom, had relieved
me from my post in the armory and made me captain of the palace guard. I
was thus become the youngest captain, also the biggest and strongest;
and, as will soon appear, by far the longest-headed.
I was in high good humor, and had decided to celebrate with a feast. So
when my two callers arrived, I sat them down before a meal such as cost
a tenth[2] of my year's salary.
[Footnote 2: Since Mercury had no moon, its people never coined a word
to correspond with our "month," and for the same reason they never had
a week. Their time was reckoned only in days, years, and fractions of
the two.]
I served not only the usual products of the field, variously prepared,
but as a special gift from the emperor's own stock, a piece of mulikka
meat, frozen, which had been found in the northland by some geologists a
few years aback. It had been kept in the palace icing-room all this
time, and was in prime condition. Maka and I enjoyed it overmuch, but
Edam would touch it not.
He was a slightly built lad, not at all the sturdy man that I am, but of
less than half the weight. His head, too, was unlike mine; his forehead
was wide as well as tall, and his eyes were mild as a slave's.
"Ye are very young to be a prophet," I said to him, after we were
filled, and the slaves had cleared away our litter. "Tell me: hast
foretold anything else that has come to pass?"
"Aye," he replied, not at all boldly, but what some call modestly. "I
prophesied the armistice which now stands between our empire and
Klow's."
"Is this true?" I demanded of Maka. The old man bowed his head gravely
and looked upon the young man with far more respect than I felt. He
added:
"Tell Strokor the dream thou hadst two nights ago, Edam. It were a right
strange thing, whether true or no."
The stripling shifted his weight on his stool, and moved the bowl
closer. Then he thrust his pipe deep into it, and let the liquid flow
slowly out his nostrils[3].
[Footnote 3: A curious custom among the Mercurians, who had no tobacco.
There is no other way to explain some of the carvings. Doubtless the
liquid was sweet-smelling, and perhaps slightly narcotic.]
"I saw this," he began, "immediately before rising, and after a very
light supper; so I know that it was a vision from Jon, and not of my own
making.
"I was standing upon the summit of a mountain, and gazing down upon
a very large, fertile valley. It was heavily wooded, dark green and
inviting. But what first drew my attention was a great number of
animals moving about _in the air_. They were passing strange affairs,
some large, some small, variously colored, and all covered with the
same sort of fur, quite unlike any hair I have ever seen."
"In the air?" I echoed, recovering from my astonishment. Then I laughed
mightily. "Man, ye must be crazy! There is no animal can live in the
air! Ye must mean in the water or on land."
"Nay," interposed the star-gazer. "Thou hast never studied the stars,
Strokor, or thou wouldst know that there be a number of them which,
through the enlarging tube, show themselves to be round worlds, like
unto our own.
"And it doth further appear that these other worlds also have air like
this we breathe, and that some have less, while others have even more.
From what Edam has told me," finished the old man, "I judge that his
vision took place on Jeos[4], a world much larger than ours according
to my calculations, and doubtless having enough air to permit very
light creatures to move about in it."
[Footnote 4: The Mercurian word for earth.]
"Go on," said I to Edam, good-humoredly. "I be ever willing to believe
anything strange when my stomach is full."
The dreamer had taken no offense. "Then I bent my gaze closer, as I am
always able, in visions. And I saw that the greenery was most remarkably
dense, tangled and luxuriant to a degree not ever seen here. And moving
about in it was the most extraordinary collection of beings that I have
ever laid these eyes upon.
"There were some huge creatures, quite as tall as thy house, Strokor,
with legs as big around as that huge chest of thine. They had tails, as
had our ancient mulikka, save that these were terrific things, as long
and as big as the trunk of a large tree. I know not their names.[5]
[Footnote 5: Probably the dinosaur.]
"And then, at the other extreme, was a tiny creature of the air, which
moved with a musical hum. It could have hid under thy finger-nail,
Strokor, yet it had a tiny sharp-pointed bill, with which it stung most
aggravatingly. And between these two there were any number of creatures
of varying size and shape.
"But nowhere was there a sign of a man. True, there was one hairy,
grotesque creature which hung by its hands and feet from the tree-tops,
very like thee in some way, Strokor; but its face and head were those of
a brainless beast, not of a man. Nowhere was a creature like me or thee.
"And the most curious thing was this: Although there were ten times as
many of these creatures, big and little, to the same space as on our
world, yet there was no great amount of strife. In truth, there is far
more combat and destruction among we men than among the beasts.
"And," he spoke most earnestly, as though he would not care to be
disbelieved, "I saw fathers fight to protect their young!"
I near fell from my stool in my amaze. Never in all my life had I heard
a thing so far from the fact. "What!" I shouted. "Ye sit there like a
sane man, and tell me ye saw fathers fight for their young?"
He nodded his head, still very gravely. I fell silent for want of words,
but Maka put in a thought. "It would appear, Strokor, that it be not so
much of an effort for beings to live, there on Jeos, as here. Perchance
'tis the greater amount of vegetation; at all accounts, the animals need
not prey upon one another so generally; and that, then, would explain
why some have energy enough to waste in the care of their young."
"I can understand," I said, very slowly. "I can understand why a mother
will fight for her babes; 'tis reasonable enough, no doubt. But as for
fathers doing the same--Edam, dost mean to say that _all_ creatures on
Jeos do this?"
"Nay; only some. It may be that fewer than half of the varieties have
the custom. Howbeit, 'tis a beautiful one. When the vision ended I was
right loath to go."
"Faugh!" I spat upon the ground. "Such softness makes me ill! I be glad
I were born in a man's world, where I can take a man's chances. I want
no favoring. If I am strong enough to live, I live; if not, I die. What
more can I ask?"
"Aye, my lad!" said Maka approvingly. "This be a world for the strong.
There is no room here for others; there is scarce enough food for those
who, thanks to their strength, do survive." He slipped the gold band
from off his wrist, and held it up for Jon to see. "Here, Strokor, a
pledge! A pledge to--the survival of the fittest!"
"A neat, neat wording!" I roared, as I took the pledge with him. Then we
both stopped short. Edam had not joined us. "Edam, my lad," spake the
old man, "ye will take the pledge with us?"
The stripling's eyes were troubled. Well he knew that, once he refused
such an act, he were no longer welcome in my house, nor in Maka's. But
when he looked around it were bravely enough.
"Men, I have neither the strength of the one nor the brains of the other
of ye. I am but a watchmaker; I live because of my skill with the little
wheels.
"I have no quarrel with either of ye." He got to his feet, and started
to the door. "But I cannot take the pledge with ye.
"I have seen a wondrous thing, and I love it. And, though I know not
why--I feel that Jon has willed it for Jeos to see a new race of men, a
race even better than ours."
I leaped to my feet. "Better than ours! Mean ye to say, stripling, that
there can be a better man than Strokor?"
I full expected him to shrink from me in fear; I was able to crush him
with one blow. But he stood his ground; nay, stepped forward and laid a
hand easily upon my shoulder.
"Strokor--ye are more than a man; ye are two men in one. There is no
finer--I say it fair. And yet, I doubt not that there can be, and will
be, a better!"
And with that such a curious expression came into his face, such a glow
of some strange land of warmth, that I let my hand drop and suffered him
to depart in peace--such was my wonder.
Besides, any miserable lout could have destroyed the lad.
Maka sat deep in thought for a time, and when he did speak he made no
mention of the lad who had just quit us. Instead, he looked me over,
long and earnestly, and at the end he shook his head sorrowfully and
sighed:
"Thou art the sort of a son I would have had, Strokor, given the wits of
thy father to hold a woman like thy mother. And thou didst save my
life."
He mused a little longer, then roused himself and spake sharply: "Thou
art a vain man, Strokor!"
"Aye," I agreed, willingly enough. "And none has better cause than I!"
He would not acknowledge the quip. "Thou hast everything needful to
tickle thy vanity. Thou hast the envy of those who note thy strength,
the praise of them who love thy courage, and the respect of they who
value thy brains. All these thou hast--and yet ye have not that which is
best!"
I thought swiftly and turned on him with a frown: "Mean ye that I am not
handsome enough?"
"Nay, Strokor," quoth the star-gazer. "There be none handsomer in this
world, no matter what the standard of any other, such as Edam's Jeos.
"It is not that. It is, that thou hast no ambition."
I considered this deeply. At first thought it was not true; had I not
always made it a point to best my opponent? From my youth it had been
ever my custom to succeed where bigger bodies and older minds had
failed. Was not this ambition?
But before I disputed the point with Maka, I saw what he meant. I had
no _final_ ambition, no ultimate goal for which to strive. I had been
content from year to year to outdo each rival as he came before me; and
now, with mind and body alike in the pink of condition, I was come to
the place where none durst stand before me.
"Ye are right, Maka," I admitted, not because I cared to gratify his
conceit, but because it were always for my own good to own up when
wrong, that I might learn the better. "Ye are right; I need to decide
upon a life-purpose. What have ye thought?"
The old man was greatly pleased. "Our talk with Edam brought it all
before me. Know you, Strokor, that the survival of the fittest is a rule
which governs man as well as men. It applies to the entire population,
Strokor, just as truly as to me or thee.
"In fine, we men who are now the sole inhabitants of this world, are
descended from a race of people who survived solely because they were
fitter than the mulikka, fitter than the reptiles, the fittest, by far,
of all the creatures.
"That being the case, it is plain that in time either our empire, or
that of Klow's, must triumph over the other. And that which remains
shall be the fittest!"
"Hold!" I cried. "Why cannot matters remain just as they now are--and
forever?"
"That" he said rapidly, "is because thou knowest so little about the
future of this world. But I am famed as a student of the heavens; and I
tell thee it is possible, by means of certain delicate measuring
instruments, together with the highest mathematics, to keep a very close
watch upon the course of our world. And we now know that our year is
much shorter than it was in the days of the mulikka."
I nodded my head. "Rightly enough, since our days are become steadily
longer, for some mysterious reason."
"A reason no longer a mystery," quoth Maka. "It is now known that the
sun is a very powerful magnet, and that it is constantly pulling upon
our world and bringing it nearer and nearer to himself. That is why it
hath become slightly warmer during the past hundred years; the records
show it plain. And the same influence has caused the lengthening of our
day."
He stopped and let me think. Soon I saw it clearly enough; a time must
come when the increasing warmth of the sun would stifle all forms of
vegetable life, and that would mean the choking of mankind. It might
take untold centuries; yet, plainly enough, the world must some day
become too small for even those who now remained upon it.
Suddenly I leaped to my feet and strode the room in my excitement. "Ye
are right, Maka!" I shouted, thoroughly aroused. "There cannot always be
the two empires. In time one or the other must prevail; Jon has willed
it. And--" I stopped short and stared at him--"I need not tell ye which
it shall be!"
"I knew thou wouldst see the light, Strokor! Thou hast thy father's
brains."
I sat me down, but instantly leaped up again, such was my enthusiasm.
"Maka," I cried, "our emperor is not the man for the place! It is true
that he were a brave warrior in his youth; he won the throne fairly. And
we have suffered him to keep it because he is a wise man, and because we
have had little trouble with the men of Klow since their defeat two
generations agone.
"But he, today, is content to sit at his ease and quote platitudes about
live and let live. Faugh! I am ashamed that I should even have given ear
to him!"
I stopped short and glared at the old man. "Maka--hark ye well! If it be
the will of Jon to decide between the men of Klow and the men of
Vlamaland, then it is my intent to take a hand in this decision!"
"Aye, my lad," he said tranquilly; and then added, quite as though he
knew what my answer must be: "How do ye intend to go about it?"
"Like a man! I, Strokor, shall become the emperor!"
III
THE THRONE
A small storm had come up while Maka and I were talking. Now, as he was
about to quit me, the clouds were clearing away and an occasional stroke
of lightning came down. One of these, however, hit the ground such a
short distance away that both of us could smell the smoke.
My mind was more alive than it had ever been before. "Now, what caused
that, Maka? The lightning, I mean; we have it nearly every day, yet I
have never thought to question it before."
"It is no mystery, my lad," quoth Maka, dodging into his chariot, so
that he was not wet. "I myself have watched the thing from the top of
high mountains, where the air is so light that a man can scarce get
enough to fill his lungs; and I say unto you that, were it not for what
air we have, we should have naught save the lightning. The space about
the air is full of it."
He started his engine, then leaned out into the rain and said softly:
"Hold fast to what thy father has taught thee, Strokor. Have nothing to
do with the women. 'Tis a man's job ahead of thee, and the future of the
empire is in thy hands.
"And," as he clattered off, "fill not thy head with wonderings about the
lightning."
"Aye," said I right earnestly, and immediately turned my thoughts to my
new ambition. And yet the thing Maka had just told me kept coming back
to my mind, and so it does to this very day. I know not why I should
mention it at all save that each time I think upon Maka, I also think
upon the lightning, whether I will or no.
I slept not at all that night, but sat[6] till the dawn came, thinking
out a plan of action. By that time I was fair convinced that there was
naught to be gained by waiting; waiting makes me impatient as well. I
determined to act at once; and since one day is quite as good as the
next, I decided that this day was to see the thing begun.
[Footnote 6: It seems to have been the custom among the soldiers never
to lie down, but to take their sleep sitting or standing; a habit not
hard to form where the gravitation was so slight. No doubt this also
explains their stunted legs.]
I came before the emperor at noon and received my decorations. Within
the hour I had made myself known to the four and ninety men who were to
be my command; a picked company, all of a height and weight, with bodies
that lacked little of my own perfection. Never was there a finer guard
about the palace.
My first care was to pick a quarrel with the outgoing commander. Twere
easy enough; he was green with envy, anyhow. And so it came about that
we met about mid afternoon, with seconds, in a well-frequented field in
the outskirts.
Before supper was eaten my entire troop knew that their new captain had
tossed his ball-slinger away without using it, had taken twenty balls
from their former commander's weapon, and while thus wounded had charged
the man and despatched him with bare hands! Needless to say, this
exploit quite won their hearts; none but a blind man could have missed
the respect they showed me when, all bandaged and sore, I lined them up
next morning. Afterward I learned that they had all taken a pledge to
"follow Strokor through the gates of Hofe itself!"
'Twere but a week later that, fully recovered and in perfect fettle, I
called my men together one morn as the sun rose. By that time I had
given them a sample of my brains through ordering a rearrangement of
their quarters such as made the same much more comfortable. Also, I had
dealt with one slight infraction of the rules in such a drastic fashion
that they knew I would brook no trifling. All told, 'tis hard to say
whether they thought the most of me or of Jon.
"Men," said I, as bluntly as I knew, "the emperor is an old man. And, as
ye know, he is disposed to be lenient toward the men of Klow; whereas,
ye and I well know that the louts are blackguards.
"Now, I will tell ye more. It has come to me lately that Klow is
plotting to attack us with strange weapons." I thought best, considering
their ignorance, not to give them my own reasons. "Of course I have told
the emperor of it; yet he will not act. He says to wait till we are
attacked."
I stopped and watched their faces. Sure enough; the idea fair made them
ache. Each and every one of these men was spoiling for a fight.
"Now, tell me; how would ye like to become the emperor's body-guard?" I
did not have to wait long; the light that flared in their faces told me
plainly. "And--how would ye like to have me for your emperor?"
At that their tongues were loosed, and I hindered them not. They yelled
for pure joy, and pressed about me like a pack of children. I saw that
the time was ripe for action.
"Up, then!" I roared, and, of course, led the way. We met the emperor's
guard on the lower stairs; and from that point on we fair hacked our way
through.
Well, no need to describe the fight. For a time I thought we were gone;
the guards had a cunningly devised labyrinth on the second floor, and
attacked us from holes in a false ceiling, so that we suffered heavily
at first. But I saw what was amiss, and shouted to my men to clear away
the timbers; and after that it was clear work. I lost forty men before
the guard was disposed of. The emperor I finished myself; he dodged
right spryly for a time, but at last I caught him and tossed him to the
foot of the upper stairs. And there he still lies for none of my men
would touch him, nor would I. We covered him with quicklime and some
earth.
As soon as we had taken care of those who were not too far gone, I
called the men together and caused a round of spirits to be served. Then
we all feasted on the emperor's store, and soon were feeling like
ourselves.
"Men," I said impressively, "I am proud of ye. Never did an emperor have
such a dangerous gang of bullies!"
At that they all grinned happily, and I added: "And 'tis a fine staff of
generals that ye'll make!"
Need I say more? Those men would have overturned the palace for me had I
said the word. As it was, they obeyed my next orders in such a spirit
that success was assured from the first.
First, using the dead emperor's name, I caused the various chiefs to be
brought together at once to the court chamber. At the same time I
contrived, by means I need not go into here, to prevent any word of our
action from getting abroad. So, when the former staff faced me the next
morning, they learned that they were to be executed. I could trust not
one; they were all friends of the old man.
With the chiefs out of the way, and my own men taking their commands,
the whole army fell into my hands. True, there were some insurrections
here and there; but my men handled them with such speed and harshness
that any further stubbornness turned to admiration. By this time the
fame of Strokor was spread throughout the empire.
And thus it came about that, within a week of the night that old Maka
first put the idea into my head, Strokor, son of Strok, reigned
throughout Vlamaland. And, to make it complete, the army celebrated my
accession by taking a pledge before Jon:
"To Strokor, the fittest of the fit!"
IV
THE ASSAULT
Now, out of a total population of perhaps three million, I had about a
quarter-million first-class fighters in my half of the world. Klow, by
comparison, had but two-thirds the number; his land was not a rich one.
But he had the advantage of knowing, some while in advance, of the new
ruler in Vlama; and shortly my spies reported that his armories were
devising a new type of weapon. 'Twas a strange verification of my own
fiction to my men. I could learn nothing, however, about it.
Meanwhile I caused a vast number of flat-boats to be built, all in
secret. Each of them was intended for a single fighter and his supplies;
and each was so arranged, with side paddle wheels, that it would be
driven by the motor in the soldier's chariot, and thus give each his own
boat.
Again discarding all precedent, I packed not all my forces together, as
had been done in the past, but scattered them up and adown the coast
fronting the land of Klow; and at a prearranged time my quarter-million
men set out, a company in each tiny fleet. Some were slightly in advance
of the rest, who had the shorter distance to travel. And, just as I had
planned, we all arrived at a certain spot on Klow's coast at practically
the same hour, although two nights later.
'Twas a brilliant stroke. The enemy looked not for a fleet of
water-ants, ready to step right out of the sea into battle. Their fleet
was looking for us, true, but not in that shape. And we were all safely
ashore before they had ceased to scour the seas for us.
I immediately placed my heavy machines, and just as all former
expeditions had done, opened the assault at once with a shower of the
poison shells. I relied, it will be seen, upon the surprise of my attack
to strike terror into the hearts of the louts.
But apparently they were prepared for anything, no matter how rapid the
attack. My bombardment had not proceeded many moments before, to my
dismay, some of their own shells began to fall among us. Soon they were
giving as good as we.
"Now, how knew they that we should come to this spot?" I demanded of
Maka. I had placed him in my cabinet as soon as I had reached the
throne.
The old man stroked his beard gravely. "Perchance it had been wrong to
come to the old landing. They simply began shelling it as a matter of
course."
"Ye are right again," I told him; and forthwith moved my pieces over
into another triangle. (Previously, of course, all my charioteers had
gone on toward the capital). However, I took care to move my machines,
one at a time, so that there was no let-up in my bombardment.
But scarce had we taken up the new position before the enemy's shells
likewise shifted, and began to strike once more in our midst. I swore a
great oath and whirled upon Maka in wrath.
"Think ye that there be a spy among us?" I demanded. "How else can ye
explain this thing? My men have combed the land about us; there are none
of the louts secreted here; and, even so, they could not have notified
Klow so soon. Besides, 'tis pitch dark." I were sorely mystified.
All we could do was to fling our shells as fast as our machines would
work and dodge the enemy's hail as best we could. Thus the time passed,
and it were near dawn when the first messengers[7] returned.
[Footnote 7: Messengers; no telegraph or telephone, much less
wireless. In a civilization as strenuous as that of Mercury, there
was never enough consideration for others to lead to such socially
beneficial things as these, no more than railroads or printing presses.
Civilization appears to be in exact proportion to the ease of getting a
living, other conditions being equal.]
"They have stopped us just outside the walls of the city," was the
report. It pleased me that they should have pushed so far at first; I
climbed at once into my chariot.
"Now is the time for Strokor to strike!" I gave orders for the staff to
remain where it was. "I will send ye word when the city is mine."
But before I started my engine I glanced up at the sky, to see if the
dawn were yet come; and as I gazed I thought I saw something come
between me and a star. I brushed the hair away from my eyes, and looked
again. To my boundless surprise I made out, not one, but three strange
objects moving about swiftly in the air!
"Look!" I cried, and my whole staff craned their necks. In a moment all
had seen, and great was their wonder. I blamed them not for their fears.
'Twas Maka who spoke first. "They are much too large to be creatures of
Jon," he muttered. "They must be some trick of the enemy.
"Dost recall Edam's vision of the creatures in the air of Jeos?" he went
on, knowing that I would not hinder him. "Now, as I remember it, he said
they flew with great speed. Were it not possible, Strokor, for suitable
engines to propel very light structures at such high speed as to remain
suspended in the air, after the manner of leaves in a storm? I note
these strangers move quite fast."
It was even so; and at that same instant one of them swung directly
above our heads, so close that I could hear the hum of a powerful
engine. So it was only a trick! I shook myself together.
"Attention!" My staff drew up at the word. "They are but few; fear them
not! We waste no more time here! Pack up the machines, and follow!"
And thus we charged upon Klow.
I found that my men had entirely surrounded the city. Klow's men were
putting up a plucky fight, and showing no signs of fearing us. Seeing
this, I blew a blast on my engine's whistle, so that my bullies might
know that I had come.
Immediately the word ran up and down the line, so that within a few
minutes Klow was facing a roaring crowd of half-mad terrors. I myself
set the example by charging the nearest group of the enemy, all of whom
were mounted within the rather small and perfectly circular chariots
which they preferred. They were quick, but slippery. Also, they could
not stand before a determined rush, as several of them learned after
vainly trying to slip some balls through my windows and, failing in
that, striving to get away from me.
But I ran them down, and toppled them over, and dropped suffocation
bombs into their little cages with such vigor and disregard of their
volleys that my men could not resist the example. We charged all along
that vast circular line, and we cheered mightily when the whole front
broke, turned tail, and ran before us.
But scarce had they got away before a queer thing happened. A flock of
those great air-creatures, some eight altogether, rose up from the
middle of the city. It was now fairly light, and we could see well. One
of them had some sort of engine trouble, so that it had to return at
once; but the other seven came out to the battle-line and began to
circle the city.
As they did so they dropped odd, misshapen parcels, totally unlike
materials of war; but when they struck they gave off prodigious puffs of
a greenish smoke, of so terribly pungent a nature that my men dropped
before it like apples from a shaken tree. 'Twas a fearful sight; lucky
for us that the louts had had no practice, else few of us should be
alive to tell the tale.
And so they swept around the great circle, many triangles in area; and
everywhere the unthinkable things smote the hearts of my men with a fear
they had never known. Only one of the devices suffered; it was brought
down by a chance fling of a poison shell. The rest, after loosing their
burdens, returned to the city for more.
I am no fool. I saw that we could do nothing against such weapons, but
must use all our wits if we escaped even.
"Return!" I commanded, and instantly my staff whistled the code. The men
obeyed with alacrity, making off at top speed with the men of Klow in
hot pursuit, although able to do little damage.
Aye, it were a sorrowful thing, that retreat. The best I could do was to
remain till the very last, having to deal with a number of persistent
louts who all but suffocated me, at that. But I managed to empty my
slinger into some of them and to topple the rest. I was mainly angry
that Klow had not showed himself.
By the time I had reached the seashore, most of my men were in their
boats. Again I stayed till the last, although I could see the enemy's
fleet bearing down hard upon us from the north. In truth we would have
all been lost, had we come in the manner of former campaigns, all
together in big transports. But because we could scatter every which
way, the fleet harmed us little; and four-fifths of us got safely back.
Happily, none of the air-machines had range enough to reach Vlamaland.
As soon as I could get my staff together, I gave orders such as would
insure discipline. Then, reminding my hearties that Klow, knowing our
helplessness, would surely attack as soon as fully equipped, I made this
offer:
"To the man who shall suggest the best way of meeting their attack, I
shall give the third of my empire!"
So they knew that the case was desperate. As for myself, I slept not a
bit, but paced my sleep-chamber and thought deeply.
Now, a bit of a shell, from an enemy slinger, had penetrated my arm.
Till now, I had paid no attention to it. But it began to bother me, so I
pulled the metal from my arm with my teeth. And quite by chance I placed
the billet on the table within a few inches of the compass I had carried
on my boat.
To my intense surprise the needle of the compass swung violently about,
so that one end pointed directly at the fragment of metal. I moved them
closer together; there was no doubt that they were strongly attracted.
The enemy's shells were made of mere iron!
The moment I fully realized this, I saw clearly how we might baffle the
men of Klow. I instantly summoned some men gave the orders much as
though I had known for years what was to be done, and in a few moments
had the satisfaction of seeing my messengers hurrying north and south.
And so it came about that, within three days of our shameful retreat, a
tenth of my men were at work on the new project. As yet there was no
word from my spies across the sea; but we worked with all possible
haste. And this, very briefly, is what we did:
We laid a gigantic line of iron clear across the empire. From north to
south, from snow to snow; one end was bedded in the island of Pathna,
where the north magnetic-pole is found, while the other stopped on the
opposite side of the world, in a hole dug through the ice into the
solid earth of the South Polar Plain. And every foot of that enormous
rod--'twas as big around as my leg--was insulated from the ground with
pieces of our secret non-magnetic alloy!
Not for nothing had our chemists sought the metal which would resist the
lightning. And not for nothing did my bullies piece the rod together,
all working at the same time, so that the whole thing were complete in
seven days. That is, complete save for the final connecting link; and
that lay, a loglike roll of iron, at the door of my palace, ready to be
rolled into place when I were but ready.
And on the morrow the Klow reached our shores.
V
THE VICTORY
My first intent was to let them advance unhampered; but Maka pointed out
that such a policy might give them suspicions, and so we disputed their
course all the way. I gave orders to show no great amount of resistance;
and thus, the louts reached Vlama in high feather, confident that the
game was theirs.
I stood at the door of the palace as Klow himself rolled up to the edge
of the parade-ground. My men, obeying orders, had given way to him; his
crews swarmed the space behind and on all sides of him, while my own
bullies were all about and behind the palace. Never did two such giant
armies face one another in peace; for I had caused my banner to be
floated wrong end to, in token of surrender.
First, a small body of subordinates waited upon me, demanding that I
give up the throne. I answered that I would treat with none save Klow
himself; and shortly the knave, surrounded by perhaps fifty underlings,
stepped up before me.
"Hail, Stroker!" he growled, his voice shaking a bit with excitement;
not with fear, for he were a brave man. "Hail to thee and to thine, and
a pleasant stay in Hofe for ye all!"
"Hail, Klow!" replied I, glancing up meaningly at the air monsters
wheeling there. "I take it that ye purpose to execute us."
"Aye," he growled savagely. "Thou didst attack without provocation. Thy
life is forfeit, and as many more as may be found needful to guarantee
peace."
"Then," I quoth, my manner changing, "then ye have saved me the trouble
of deciding what shall be thy fate. Execution, say you? So be it!"
And I strode down to the great log of iron which lay ready to fill the
gap. Klow looked at me with a peculiar expression, as though he thought
me mad. True, it looked it; how could I do him harm without myself
suffering?
But I kicked the props which held the iron, and gave it a start with my
foot. The ends of the pole-to-pole rod lay concealed by brush, perchance
fifty yards away. In ten seconds that last section had rolled completely
between them; and only a fool would have missed seeing that, the last
ten feet, the iron was fair jerked through the air.
As this happened we all heard a tremendous crackling, like that of
nearby lightning, while enormous clouds of dust arose from the two
concealed ends, which were now become connections. And at the same time
a loud, steely click, just one and no more, sounded from the intruding
host.
For a moment Klow was vastly puzzled. Then he snarled angrily: "What
means this foolery, Strokor? Advance, and give up thy ax!"
For answer I turned me about, so as to face my men, and held up my hand
in signal. Instantly the whistles sounded, and my hearties came bounding
into the field.
"Treachery!" shouted Klow; and his officers ran here and there,
shouting: "To arms! Charge and destroy! No quarter!"
But I paid little attention to the hubbub. I were gazing up at those
infernal creatures of the air; and my heart sang within me as I saw
them, circling erratically but very surely down to the earth. And as
they came nearer, my satisfaction was entire; for their engines were
silent!
At the same time consternation was reigning among our visitors. Not a
man of all Klow's thousands was able to move his car or lift a weapon.
Every slinger was jammed, as though frozen by invisible ice; all their
balls and shells were stuck together, like the work of a transparent
glue. Even their side arms were locked in their scabbards; and all their
tugging could budge them not!
But none of my men were so handicapped. Each man's chariot was running
as though naught had happened; they thundered forward, discharging their
balls and shells as freely as they had across the sea. Their charge was
a murderous one; not a man of Klow's was able to resist, save with what
force he could put into his bare hands.
Klow saw all this from the middle of his group of officers. None were
able to more than place his body 'twixt us and their chief. In a very
few moments they saw that the unknown magic had made them as children in
our hands; they were utterly lost; and Klow turned away from the sight
with a black face. Again he faced me.
"What means this, ye huge bundle of lies? What mean ye by tricking us
with yon badge of surrender, only to tie our hands with thy magic of
Hofe? Is this the way to fight like a man?"
I had stood at ease in my door since rolling the iron. Now, I looked
about me still more easily; my men were running down the louts, who had
jumped from their useless chariots and taken to their heels. 'Twere but
a matter of time before the army of Klow would be no more, at that rate.
"Klow," I answered him mildly; "ye are right; this is not the way to
fight like a man. Neither," I pointed out one of the fallen air-cars;
"neither is that the way, flitting over our heads like shadows, and
destroying us with filthy smoke! Shame on ye, Klow, for stooping to
such! And upon thy own head be the blame for the trick I have played
upon ye!"
"You attacked us without provocation," he muttered, sourly.
"Aye, and for a very good reason," I replied. "Yet I see thy viewpoint,
and shalt give thee the benefit of the doubt." I turned to my whistlers
and gave an order; so that presently the great slaughter had stopped. My
men and Klow's alike struggled back to see what were amiss.
I handed Klow an ax. "Throw away thine own, scabbard and all," I told
him. "It is useless, for 'tis made of iron. Ours, and all our tools of
war, are formed of an alloy which is immune from the magic."
He took the ax in wonderment. "What means it, Strokor?" asked he again,
meanwhile stripping himself in a businesslike fashion that it were good
to see.
"It means," said I, throwing off my robe, "that I have unchained the
magnetism of this world. Know you, Klow, that all of the children of the
sun are full of his power; it is like unto that of the tiny magnet which
ye give children for to play; but it is mighty, even as our world is
mighty."
"Good Jon!" he gasped; for his was not a daring mind. "What have ye
done, ye trifler?"
"I have transformed this empire into one vast magnet," I answered
coolly. Then I showed him a boulder on the summit of a distant hill;
through the tube, Klow could see some of my men standing beside it.
"Place one of thy own men on the roof of the palace," I told Klow, "and
give him orders to lower my banner should ye give him the word.
"For upon the outcome of this fight 'twixt me and thee, Klow, hinges the
whole affair! If thou dost survive, down comes my banner; and my men on
the hill shall topple the boulder which shall rush down the slope and
burst the iron rod and break the spell. Stand, then, and defend
thyself!"
And it did me good to see the spirit fly into his eyes. He saw that his
empire lived or died as he lived or died, and he fought as he had never
fought before. Small man that he was beside myself, he were wondrous
quick and sure in his motions; before I knew it, he had bit his ax deep
into my side.
And in another moment or two it was over. For, as soon as I felt the
pain of that gash, I flung my own blade away; and with a roar such as
would have shaken a stouter heart than his, I charged the man, took a
second fearful blow full on my chest and heeding it not at all I
snatched the ax from his hands. Then, as he turned to run, I dropped
that tool also.
And I ran him down, and felled him, and broke his head with my hands.
VI
THE FITTEST[8]
[Footnote 8: This chapter was originally as long as the others, but an
unfortunate accident of Mr. Smith's, before he was thoroughly familiar
with the machine, mutilated a large portion of the tape so badly that it
was made worthless. This explains why something appears to be missing
from the account, and also why this chapter begins in the middle of a
sentence.]
slaves; but the most were slain. Neither could we bother with their
women and others left behind.
Now, by this time the empire was as one man in its worship of me. I had
been emperor but a year, and already I had made it certain that only the
men of Vlamaland, and no others, should live in the sight of Jon. So
well thought they of me, I might fair have sat upon my reputation, and
have spent my last days in feasting like the man before me.
But I was still too young and full of energy to take my ease. I found
myself more and more restless; I had naught to do; it had all been done.
At last I sent for old Maka.
"Ye put me up to this, ye old fraud," I told him, pretending to be
wrathful. "Now set me another task, or I'll have thy head!"
He knew me too well to be affrighted. He said that he had been
considering my case of late.
"Strokor, thy father was right when he told thee to have naught to do
with women. That is to say, he were right at the time. Were he alive
today"--I forgot to say that my father was killed in the battle across
the sea--"he would of a certainty say that it were high time for thee to
pick thy mate.
"Remember, Strokor; great though thou art, yet when death taketh thee
thy greatness is become a memory. Methinks ye should leave something
more substantial behind."
It took but little thought to convince me that Maka were right once
more. Fact; as soon as I thought upon it, it were a woman that I was
restless for. The mere notion instantly gave me something worth while to
look forward to.
"Jon bless thee!" I told the old man. "Ye have named both the trouble
and the remedy. I will attend to it at once."
He sat thinking for some time longer. "Has thought of any woman in
special, Strokor?" said he.
I had not. The idea was too new to me. "The best in the world shall be
mine, of course," I told him. "But as for which one--hast any notion
thyself?"
"Aye," he quoth. "'Tis my own niece I have in mind. Perchance ye
remember her; a pretty child, who was with me when thou didst save my
life up there on the mountainside."
I recalled the chit fairly well. "But she were not a vigorous woman,
Maka. Think you she is fit for me?"
"Aye, if any be," he replied earnestly. "Ave is not robust, true, but
her muscles are as wires. It is because of what lies in her head,
however, that I commend her. I have taught her all I know."
"So!" I exclaimed, much pleased. "Then she is indeed fit to be the
empress. And as I recall her, she were exceedingly good to look at."
"Say no more. Ave shall be the wife of Strokor!" And so it was arranged.
Well, and there ye have the story of Strokor, the mightiest man in the
world, and the wisest. More than this I shall not tell with my own lips;
I shall have singers recite my deeds until half the compartments in the
House of Words is filled with the records thereof. But it were well that
I should tell this much in mine own way.
My ambition is fulfilled. Let the hand of Jon descend upon our world, if
it may; I care not if presently the sun come nearer, and the water dry
up, and the days grow longer and longer, till the day and the year
become of the same length. I care not; my people, such as be left of
them, shall own what there is, and shall live as long as life is
possible.
I shall leave behind no race of weaklings. Every man shall be fit to
live, and the fittest of them all shall live the longer. And he, no
matter how many cycles hence, shall look back to Strokor, and to Ave,
his wife, and shall say:
"I am what I am, the last man on the world, because Strokor was the
fittest man of his time!"
Aye; my fame shall live as long as there be life. Tonight, as I speak
these things into the word machine, my heart is singing with the joy of
it all. Thank Jon, I were born a man, not a woman!
Tomorrow I go to fetch Ave. I shall not send for her; I cannot trust her
beauty to the hands of my crew. The more I think of her, the more I see
that mine whole life hath been devised for this one moment. I see that,
insignificant though she be, Ave is a needed link in the chain. I have
come to want her more than food; I am become a lovesick fool!
Aye! I can afford to poke fun at myself. I can afford anything in this
world; for I be its greatest man.
Its greatest man! Here is the place to stop. There is no more I can say,
the story is done; the story of Strokor, the greatest man in the whole
world!
VII
THE GOING
'Tis several years since last I faced this machine, many and many a day
since I said that my story was done, and placed the record on the shelf
of my anteroom, my heart full of satisfaction. And today I must needs
add another record, perhaps two, to the pile.
When I set out for the highlands on the morn following what I last
related I took with me but two or three men; not that I had any need for
guards, but because it looketh not well for the emperor to travel
without retainers, however few. Practically, I was alone.
I reached the locality as the sun went down. The sky was a brilliant
color; I remember it well. Darkness would come soon, though not as
quickly as farther south. Commonly, I think not upon such trifles; but I
were nearing my love, and tender things came easily to my mind.
My chariot kept to the road which lay alongside the irrigating flume, a
stone trough which runs from the snow-covered hills to the dry country
below. I had already noted this flume where it emptied into the basin in
the valley below; for it had had a new kind of a spillway affixed to it,
a broad, smooth platform with a slightly upward curve, over which the
water was shooting. I saw no sense in the arrangement, and made up my
mind to ask Maka about it; for the empire prized this trough most
highly. It ran straight and true, over expensive bridges where needed,
with scarce a bend to hold back the flow.
When I stopped my car outside the house I was surprised that none should
come out to greet me. Maka had sent word of my coming; all should have
been in readiness. But I was forced to use my whistle. There was no
stir. I became angry; I told my bullies to stay where they were, and
myself burst in the door.
The house was a sturdy stone affair of one floor, set against the side
of the mountain, a short distance above the flume. I looked about the
interior in surprise; for not a soul was in sight in any of the
compartments. There were signs that people had been there but a few
moments before. I called it strange, for I had seen no one leave the
house as I approached.
At last, as I was inspecting the eating place, I noted a small door let
into the outer wall. It was open; and by squeezing I managed to get
through. I found that it let into a long, dark passage.
I followed this, going steadily down a flight of stairs, and all of a
sudden bumped into an iron grating. At the same moment I saw that the
passageway made a turn just beyond; and by craning my neck and straining
my eyes I could see a faintly lighted chamber just a few feet away.
And before my eyes could scarce make out the figures of some people in
the middle of the place, a voice came to my ear.
"Hail, Strokor!" it said; and great was my astonishment as I recognized
the tones of Edam, the young dreamer whom Maka had brought to my house.
"Edam!" I cried. "What do ye here? Come and open these bars!"
He made no reply, save to laugh in a way I did not like. I shook the
grating savagely, so that I felt it give. "Edam!" I roared. "Open this
grating at once; and tell me, where is Ave?"
"I am here," came another voice; and I stopped in sheer surprise, to
peer closer and to see, for the first time, that it were really the
dreamer and the chit, these two and no more, who sat there in the
underground chamber. They seemed to be sitting in some sort of a box,
with glass windows.
"Ave--come here!" I spoke much more gently than to Edam; for my heart
was soft with thoughts of her. "It is thy lord, Strokor, the emperor,
who calls thee. Come!"
"I stay here," said she in the same clear voice, entirely unshaken by my
presence. "Edam hath claimed me, and I shall cleave to him. I want none
of ye, ye giant!"
For a moment I was minded to throw my weight against the barrier, such
was my rage. Then I thought better on it, and closely examined the bars.
Two were loose.
"Ave," said I, contriving to keep my voice even, although my hands were
busy with the bars as I spake. "Ave--ye do wrong to spite me thus. Know
ye not that I am the emperor, and that these bars cannot stand before
me? I warn ye, if I must call my men to help me, and to witness my
shame, it will go hard with ye! Better that ye should come willingly. Ye
are not for such as Edam."
"No?" quoth the young man, speaking up for the chit. "Ye are wrong,
Strokor. We defy thee to do thy worst; we are prepared to flee from ye
at all costs!"
I had twisted one of the bars out of my way without their seeing it. I
strove at the next as I answered, still controlling my voice: "'Twill do
ye no good to flee, Edam; ye know that. And as for Ave--she shall wish
she had never been born!"
"So I should," she replied with spirit, "if I were to become thy woman.
But know you, Strokor, that Ave, the daughter of Durok, would rather die
than take the name of one who had spurned her, as ye did me!"
So I had; it had slipped my mind. "But I want thee now, Ave," said I
softly, preparing to slip through the opening I had made. "Surely ye
would not take thine own life?"
"Nay," she answered, with a laugh in her voice. "Rather I would go with
Edam here. I would go," she finished, her voice rising in her
excitement, "away from this horrible man's world; away from it all,
Strokor, and to Jeos! Hear ye? To Jeos! And--"
But at that instant I burst through the grating. Without a sound I
charged straight for the pair of them. And without a sound they slipped
away from before my grasp. Next second I was gazing stupidly at the
rushing, swirling water of the flume.
And I saw that they had been sitting in the cabin of a tiny boat, and
that they had got away!
There was an opening into the outer air; I rushed through, and stared in
the growing twilight down the black furrow of the flume. Far in the
distance, and going like a streak, I spied the glittering glass windows
of the little craft. Once I made out the flutter of a saucy hand.
"We shall get them when they reach the valley!" I shouted to the men.
Then I reached for my tube, and sighted it on the lower end of the
flume, far, far below, almost too far away to be clear to the naked eye.
In an incredibly short time the craft reached the end. It traveled at an
extraordinary rate; perchance 'twas weighted; I marveled that its
windows could stand the force of the air. And I scarce had time to fear
that the twain should be destroyed on that upturned spillway before it
was there.
And then an awesome thing happened. As the boat struck the incline it
shot upward into the air at a steep slant. Up, up it went; my heart
jumped into my mouth; for surely they must be crushed when they came
down.
But the craft did not come down. It went on and on, up and up; its speed
scarcely slackened; 'twas like that of a shooting star. And in far less
time than it takes to tell it, the little boat was high up among the
stars, going higher every instant, and farther away from me. And
suddenly the sweat broke cold on my forehead; for dead ahead, directly
in line with their travel, lay the bluish white gleam of Jeos.
So great was my rage over the escape of the dreamer with my woman, at
first I felt no sorrow. Later, after days and days of search in and
about the basin, I came to grieve most terribly over my loss. When I
came home to the palace, I was well-nigh ill.
In vain did I make the most generous of rewards. The whole empire turned
out to search for the missing ones, but nothing came of it all. Yet I
never ceased to hope, especially after my talk with Maka.
"Aye," he said, when I questioned him, "it were barely possible that
they have left this world for all time. I have calculated the speed
which their craft might have attained, had it the right proportions,
and, in truth, it might have left the spillway at such a speed that it
entirely overcame the draw of the ground.
"But I think it were a slim chance. It is more than likely, Strokor,
that Ave shall return to thee."
Was I not the fitter man? Surely Edam's purpose could not succeed; Jon
would not have it so. The woman was mine, because I had chosen her; and
she must come back to me, and in safety, or I should tear Edam into
bits.
But as time went on and naught transpired, I became more and more
melancholy. Life became an empty thing; it had been empty enough before
I had craved the girl, but now it was empty with hopelessness.
After a while I got to thinking of some of the things Maka had told me.
The more I thought of the future, the blacker it seemed. True, there
were many other women; but there had been only one Ave. No such beauty
had ever graced this world before. And I knew I could be happy with no
other.
Now I saw that all my fame had been in vain. I had lost the only woman
that was fit for me, and when I died there would be naught left but my
name. Even that the next emperor might blot out, if he chose. It had all
been in vain!
"It shall not be!" I roared to myself, as I strode about my compartment,
gnawing at my hands in my misery. And in just such a fit of helpless
anger the great idea came to me.
No sooner conceived than put into practice. I will not go closely into
details; I will relate just the outstanding facts. What I did was to
select a very tall mountain, located almost on the equator, and
proclaimed my intention to erect a monument to Jon upon its summit. I
caused vast quanities of materials to be brought to the place; and for a
year a hundred thousand men labored to put the pieces together.
When they had finished, they had made a mammoth tower partly of wood and
partly of alloy. It was made in sections so that it might be placed,
piece upon piece, one above another high into the sky.
It was an enormous task. When it was complete, I had a tower as high as
the mountain itself erected upon its summit.
And next I caused section after section of the long, iron, pole-to-pole
rod, which had tricked Klow, to be hauled up into the tower. I was only
careful to begin the process from the top and work downward. I gave word
that the last three sections be inserted at midday at a given day.
And at that hour I was safe inside a non-magnetic room.
I know right well when the deed was done. There was a most terrific
earthquake. All about me, though I could see nothing at all, I could
hear buildings falling. The din was appalling.
At the same time the air was fairly shattered with the rattle of the
lightning. Never have I heard the like before. The rod had loosed the
wrath of the forces above our air!
And as suddenly the whole deafening storm ended. Perchance the rod was
destroyed by the lightning; I never went to see. For I know, the
electricity split the very ground apart. But I gazed out of a window in
the top of my palace, and saw that I had succeeded.
Not a soul but myself remained alive.
None but buildings made of the alloy were standing. Not only man, but
most of his works had perished in that awful blast. I, alone, remained!
I, Strokor, am the survivor! I, the greatest man; it were but fit that I
should be the last! No man shall come after me, to honor me or not as he
chooses. I, and no other, shall be, the last man!
And when Ave returns--as she must, though it be ages hence--when she
comes, she shall find me waiting. I, Strokor, the mighty and wise, shall
be here when she returns. I shall wait for her forever; here I shall
always stay. The stars may move from their places, but I shall not go!
For it is my intention to make use of another secret Maka taught me. In
brief--[9]
[Footnote 9: The record ends here. It may be that Strokor left the
machine for some trivial reason, and forgot to finish his story. At
all events, it is necessary to refer to the further discoveries of the
expedition in order to learn the outcome of it all.]