The air was clear and from the crest of the hill I obtained a fine view.
Beneath me lay a forest that covered, I should imagine, some four or
five miles. Beyond was the blue sea, and close to the shore what looked
like a small town or village of much the same character as we are
familiar with in England. These were the first buildings above ground
that I had seen in Thule, and constituted the dwellings of beings of the
second class.
The attitude of the first class towards the second was rather puzzling.
The restriction of the numbers of the workers was quite ruthless.
Children that were not wanted were destroyed as we destroy superfluous
kittens, fewer girls than boys being allowed to live. The punishment of
death was given for any act of disobedience, and even, after due
warning, for carelessness and incompetence. But the workers whom I had
seen so far--all men--were evidently well treated. They showed no signs
of over-work, or under-feeding, or disease. They were tall, stout
fellows, all of them, and evidently in fine condition. Not one of them
adopted or attempted to adopt the quadrupedal position. They walked
erect, and were obviously the physical superiors of their masters.
Doubtless utilitarian views had prevailed with the first-class beings,
and they gave such treatment to the second class as would ensure the
maximum of effective work from them.
The clothing of the workers was of the same thick woollen material as
that of their masters, but of a different colour--a reddish brown. The
men threw off their upper garment when working in the fields. It will be
remembered that on my arrival I was provided by the late MZ04 with grey
garments similar to those worn by the first class. I was thus in the
nature of an anomaly to everyone who met me. I walked erect and
therefore did not belong to the first-class beings. I wore the grey
garments, the sleeves of which had now been abbreviated to suit me, and
therefore did not belong to the second class. To tell the truth my
stature was inferior to theirs, and would by itself have distinguished
me.
Standing on the crest of the hill I made my plans. It was in my mind to
get away from this island as soon as might be. In a forest of that
extent I might easily lie hidden for weeks, and I doubted if, with all
his knowledge and cunning, the Professor would be able to find me.
Meanwhile I would establish friendly relations with some of the second
class. Living as they did upon the sea-shore, I expected that they would
have contrived boats for their own use, and thus I might make my escape.
I had the whole day before me, and began now to explore the forest,
intending to go on to the village on the shore when the workers had
returned in the evening.
I followed the course of the stream that trickled down the hill-side.
There was no wind, and except for the burble of the stream and the call
of the birds all was still in the forest. Here and there the stream
broadened out into wide shady pools, where it seemed to me there might
be the chance of tickling a trout. Presently I heard below me a loud
splashing. The trees and undergrowth were so thick that I could see but
a very little way before me. I still followed the stream in the
direction of the sound, but I went with extreme caution, taking care
that my footsteps should not be heard. I did not know what danger might
not be awaiting me below.
Presently I reached the pool from which the sound had come. Peering
through the bushes I saw, seated in a dejected attitude by the edge of
the pool, a very beautiful woman. In spite of the fact that she had been
swimming, and her long dark hair hung dankly about her brown
shoulders--wet hair is ever unbecoming to a woman--her beauty was
amazing. The brown shoulders peeped from the heavy folds of the garment
which she had thrown round her after her swim. It was of the colour
prescribed for beings of the second class. The women of that class wear
but one garment--a long piece of stuff like a plaid, that they drape
about them. As I came into view she started up and gave a scream of
terror.
"Do not be afraid," I called. "I mean you no harm. I will not hurt you."
As she looked at me further she seemed reassured. "I thought," she said,
"at first that one of the gods had come to take me."
"What gods?" I asked.
"The gods that walk on four legs and against whom no man can do
anything. Your dress is of the same colour that they wear."
"I am no god, but an ordinary man enough--a shipwrecked mariner cast up
on this island a few weeks ago, and now planning to escape from it
again."
"There is no escape," she said mournfully. "The gods know everything."
"Let me come down and speak with you."
"Come," she said. "I am not afraid any more."
"What do you do here?" I asked, as I sat beside her.
"I have fled from death. It was ordained by the gods that I should die
at sundown seven days ago. I escaped and hid myself here. But there is
no escape really. Sooner or later they will find me. They never fail. In
their coming and going they are unseen. Suddenly before you stands one
of the gods, and he points his rod at you and you are dead. It is not
possible to hide from those whom one cannot see in their approach."
"Has no one ever escaped?"
"Years ago a girl like myself fled to the forest, and for three months
in the summer she lived there. It was I myself who found her lying dead.
Her garment over her breast was scorched by the lightning of the gods,
and her heart was burned within her. It was all one; for in the winter
she would have perished of cold and starvation. I love life. I want
every day and hour that I can get. But I have no hopes."
"Tell me, what is your name?"
"To the gods I have no name. When I am at work a number is put upon me;
it may be a different number every day. Among my own people I am called
Dream."
"And why was it that seven days ago you incurred the anger of your
masters and were to die?"
"Seven days ago I had the care of a loom. By sundown so much work was to
be finished. It is easy work. Our gods never give the women hard work.
All the same, that which is appointed must be done. It was just at the
beginning of the first spell of hot weather. The forest called me. It
was stronger than I was. When I went to my midday meal I slipped into
the forest and swam in the pool, and could not go back to the loom
again. After that I dared not go back, for those who have disobeyed die
instantly. Such is the will of the gods, and we cannot alter it."
"Listen to me," I said. "Those whom you call gods are not gods. They are
descended from those who, many years ago, were men and women just as you
are. They are not all-powerful. I myself mean to escape from them.
Generations of slavery have crushed your spirit, but in the country from
which I come there are no slaves. I shall escape and I shall take you
with me."
"You are good. I will do as you say. But how can one escape?"
"In the town on the shore I hope to be able to find a boat."
She looked at me with her dark and lustrous eyes wide open in sheer
wonderment.
"What is a boat?" she asked.
Her ignorance I found was not assumed. The making of a boat had been
prohibited so long by the beings of the first class that now even the
recollection of it had passed from the workers. They regarded the sea
with terror. It was the grey liquid wall of their prison-house. To touch
it was to die. They bathed in the forest pools, and never in the sea.
The fish that they ate were fresh-water fish only. Their masters had
told them numberless strange lies about the sea.
"Dream," I said, "there is one thing which I cannot understand. You live
in daily terror of these people whom you miscall gods. You are fairly
well treated, but you are not free. You live as slaves. Why do you tell
me, then, that you want every hour and every minute of life?"
She dipped a bare foot in the water below her, passing it slowly to and
fro.
"There is always love," she said pensively.