THE WARNING OF DANGER----THE RACE WITH DEATH.
Slowly crept the long tedious hours of darkness. The heavy cloud of
despair that had so long hung over me, now being dispelled as if by
magic, I was all impatience. My heart yearned for the moment when,
gazing into the depths of Zarlah's wondrous eyes, I should see
there--not the appealing timid look, full of the dread of hopeless
separation from her lover, that had so wrung my heart at our last
parting--but the radiant happiness of perfect contentment and fulfilled
desire. I had thrown myself on the couch, and, as a miser jealously
counts over his gold, fondling each precious bit with eager fingers, so
I pondered on the happy hours spent with Zarlah, carefully reviewing
each golden moment with its precious burden of Love's confessions.
Suddenly I sprang to my feet--a piercing, despairing cry of "Harold, my
love, save me! save me!" was ringing in my ears.
It was Zarlah's voice, and some terrible danger confronted her.
Rushing into the adjoining room, I glanced anxiously about--all was
still. The numerous books and instruments lay just as I had left them,
and I gradually realized that, tired with the experiences I had lately
undergone, I had unconsciously fallen asleep, and Zarlah's cry for help
was only a dream.
Although greatly relieved by this discovery, my mind remained in a state
of unrest. I was oppressed with a sense of danger which, in spite of my
endeavor to overcome by occupying my mind with the volumes of Martian
astronomical discoveries, I found to be impossible. Laying aside the
book I had endeavored to read, I started to my feet and paced restlessly
to and fro, but each footfall, echoing in the profound stillness, seemed
to be an appealing cry for help. A premonition that a terrible danger
hung over Zarlah came upon me, and, maddened by the thought that I
remained inactive, whilst yet I might save her, I rushed out upon the
balcony.
The sun was just rising, but in place of the gray light of dawn on Earth
with its beautifully colored eastern sky, there appeared sharp contrasts
of the blackest darkness and the most brilliant light, in the long
shadows that were cast across the landscape. Without the diffusion of
light which the denser atmosphere of Earth causes, night seemed to
linger on the very footsteps of day. Though the remarkable effect of
this Martian sunrise would have been pleasing under other circumstances,
it now served only to increase my apprehension, warning me that I was in
a strange world, and that I must be prepared to meet extraordinary
emergencies.
I had but one thought, that of reaching Zarlah as speedily as possible
and saving her from the awful fate which menaced her. What this fate
was, I knew not, but I could feel its presence like the hot breath of
some ferocious beast, as it stands over its prostrate victim. Greatly
did I now deplore the loss of Zarlah's valuable instrument.
With eager hands I prepared the high-speed aerenoid for the journey,
feeling that I must trust to Almos' knowledge of its operation to carry
me through safely. Though I realized that the danger was increased a
thousand times in an aerenoid capable of such terrific speed, the fear
that even now I might be too late compelled me to make use of it.
Taking my place in the forward part of the car, I was greatly relieved
to find that my hand instinctively sought the levers, and operated them
with a judicious care that could result only from long experience.
Rising high enough to avoid small aerenoids, I proceeded at a
considerable speed and soon came within sight of Zarlah's dwelling. The
serene and peaceful appearance of this beautiful white marble villa, as
the morning sun glorified it, quickly dispelled the fears that had
brought me hither at such an early hour, and I gladly attributed them to
overwrought nerves and the loss of a night's sleep.
Moreover, as I slowly circled over the lake that only a few hours before
Zarlah and I had wistfully gazed upon together as we built a world of
happiness for ourselves, I felt that I was near to her, should the
danger of which I had been forewarned prove real. Here in the scene of
our happiness I would wait through the early hours--the last hours of
our separation.
Slowly descending, I brought the aerenoid to rest in a spot obscured by
trees from the villa. A few feet away, the little brook sparkled merrily
in the sunlight as it leaped along on its journey to the lake, and, as I
opened the door of the car, its joyous song swelled upon the fragrant
morning air, laughing at my forebodings in this world of peace, as it
had laughed at my despair of the previous night.
As I stepped out into the warm sunlight and made my way toward the
lake, a great joy filled my heart. It would not be long ere Zarlah
shared with me the happiness of the knowledge that we need never again
be separated.
"Poor Zarlah!" I murmured, as the memory of our last parting with its
great anguish of a forlorn hope sent a pang to my heart. "The bitterness
in thy cup was indeed great, but it is past. Oh, my beloved, awake to
the light of a new day filled with gladness, and sorrow shall not again
cross thy path!"
I paused, fancying I heard footsteps, and, glancing back, listened
intently. All was still, and I was just about to proceed when again the
sound came. This time I could not be mistaken; it was the sound of
hurried footsteps some distance off and in the direction of the villa.
I was still hidden from the villa by the trees, but across the stream,
some thirty yards away, was an opening from which a view of it could be
had. Leaping the stream I hastened thither, anxious to learn the cause
of the untimely activity. Another moment, and I should have been too
late to see a slight figure, laden with what appeared to be wraps and
other travelling equipment, hurry across the balcony and step into the
large high-speed aerenoid that I had observed there the previous
evening.
It was Zarlah! But what was the reason of this hasty departure at such
an hour? Suddenly a frenzy seized me, and, rushing toward the villa, I
frantically called to her, but it was too late. She had not seen me,
and, before I had taken many steps, the aerenoid rose rapidly to a great
height and disappeared over the trees.
Not a moment was to be lost. Turning, I dashed wildly back toward the
aerenoid I had so foolishly left in concealment. Reaching the stream, I
stumbled over an entanglement of vines and plunged headlong therein,
only to scramble, dripping and bruised, up the opposite bank and
continue my frantic efforts to reach the aerenoid, before Zarlah's car
had disappeared from sight. What her intention was I knew not, but the
early hour, the haste with which she had departed, and the absence of
her brother, all conspired to arouse the fears that had beset me during
the long hours of the night.
Arriving at the aerenoid at last, after a journey that seemed to consume
hours, I jumped in and closed the door. Frantically I seized the lever
that controlled the ascension and, pulling it so that the full repelling
power was instantly exposed, the car bounded high into the air with
terrific force.
The shock hurled me off my feet, but in an instant my eyes were again
fixed upon a mere speck many miles distant, which I knew to be the
aerenoid containing all that life possessed for me. As the car plunged
forward at great speed, the speck disappeared, and I at once realized
that Zarlah had reached a canal, into which she had turned her aerenoid.
It was now impossible for me to see which direction she took, and unless
I arrived at the canal within a few seconds, I felt that all hope of
overtaking her would have vanished, as she would doubtless proceed at
full speed and soon be lost to sight.
Opening to its fullest extent the valve that controlled the exhaustion
of air in the chamber beneath, the velocity of the car soon became
terrific, and, rising still higher as I sped along, I caught sight of
Zarlah's aerenoid proceeding in a northerly direction.
With a disregard for all safety I swerved to the north, thus forming the
third side of a triangle, of which the other sides were the course
Zarlah had taken. This movement reduced the distance between the two
aerenoids considerably, and upon turning into the speedway of the canal,
I was greatly relieved to find that I was but a few miles in the rear.
The hope that Zarlah might see the car speeding so close behind her,
flashed through my mind, but instantly I realized the impossibility of
such a thing, for a glance behind, even for a second, while travelling
with such frightful velocity, would entail certain destruction by being
dashed to pieces against the sides of the canal. My only chance lay in
overtaking her and making some signal, and with my free hand I wrenched
at the speed valve, endeavoring to open it wider.
On we sped in our wild career over the planet's surface. Hundreds of
miles were quickly swept beneath us, but not one foot did I seem to
gain. Vainly did I strive to put from my mind the fears that lurked
there, by seeking a plausible reason for Zarlah's strange action.
On, on we flew, each aerenoid going at its maximum speed; surely Zarlah
had gone far enough north; she must slacken her speed soon to turn down
a branch canal, and I would then be able to run alongside of her car and
signal my presence. There was a gleam of hope in this, and to it I clung
like a drowning man to a straw.
The air in the car, which had steadily grown colder, was now biting in
its sharpness, and as I clutched the steering apparatus with numbed
hands, a white object loomed up in the distance and in a second flew
beneath me--another came, then another, and another, and as they
appeared in greater numbers, I observed that they were huge blocks of
ice. The sight filled me with grave apprehension. It was now impossible
to stop our terrific momentum, yet in spite of this great danger, on and
on we sped, still farther north.
What could be the reason for this perilous journey? Did Zarlah not
realize the danger to which she was exposed, rushing thus madly into the
wilds of the North--the region of the Repelling Pole--without the means
of stopping?
Suddenly I shrank in horror as a fearful thought entered my mind. My
senses reeled, and a strange sensation swept over me, as of an awful
Presence in the car with me. "No, no," I muttered between clenched
teeth; "it cannot be! She surely realizes that it would be going to a
certain and terrible death!" And as I frantically wrenched at the valve
in an effort to get more speed, a strange hollow voice echoed through my
brain, laughing at my unutterable agony, and crying with fiendish glee,
"Your love has no thought of stopping; she hastens to her bridegroom,
Death!"
As hot irons scorching the living flesh, the words burned into my
brain, setting it on fire. It was the voice of Death--which voice no
living mortal can mistake--and I recognized it also as the fury of the
storm which was abroad when I departed from Earth, and the echo of the
stream's song of peace in the midst of danger. Had Death thus followed
me from the world in which he thrived to wreak this vengeance upon me,
by tempting my bride into his arms, believing that she hastened to her
love?
On, on we rushed into the region of the dreaded Pole. All signs of the
canal had disappeared, and before us lay only a vast uninhabitable field
of ice. I stood at the levers, frozen rigid with the intense cold, but
with my eyes ever on the flying object before me, while visions of my
beloved one, now so close to death, passed rapidly through my fevered
brain. As if Death had thus planned to torture me, before tearing my
loved one from my very arms, I seemed to stand impersonally apart and
watch two lovers--Zarlah and myself. Bending over her, I tried to
console her with a false hope--a story of impossible fulfillment. I
succeeded; and now I saw that I had laid the trap which Death had
placed in my hands to draw her toward him, and, with a cry of horror, I
tried to wrench my hand from the lever to which it was frozen, so that I
might shut such a scene from my sight--
I realized the meaning of it all now. Zarlah, unable to obtain the
repelling force necessary to carry her off Mars, was rushing toward the
Repelling Pole to be hurled off the planet, risking all in the hope of
being drawn to Earth, which was in opposition. It was a vain hope--alas,
I knew this too well. She was rushing to her death--a death that I had
lured her to, and my hands would be stained with the blood of my
beloved.
Desperately I wrenched at my frozen hands to free them from the metal to
which they adhered, with a wild idea of smashing the window and calling
loudly to Zarlah. The skin tore from the flesh like paper at the fury of
my efforts, and I freed my hands at last, only to find that my arms hung
lifeless at my side.
In a frenzy of grief and despair at my utter helplessness, I fell on my
knees, crying aloud, "Oh, my God! Save her from this awful death!"
A sudden gloom filled the car, and, struggling to my feet, I found that
we had entered the belt of semi-darkness that covers the polar caps in
their winter season. Our doom was near at hand--nothing could save
Zarlah now, and only by swerving my car around instantly and returning
could I preserve myself. But life was nought to me without Zarlah--I
preferred death to such an empty existence. Condemned by Fate to be
separated in life, we would meet death together.
I could dimly see Zarlah's car outlined against the white snow beyond,
but, even as I stood now helplessly and silently awaiting the end, a
dark line rapidly spread over this field of white. Beyond, all was
black, and as this sharp-cut boundary line rapidly approached Zarlah's
car, my blood froze in my veins, for in this vast area of bare black
rock I recognized the terrible power of the North Repelling Pole. There
was another moment in which my heart refused to beat, then a groan of
great anguish escaped my lips, as Zarlah's car was hurled upwards into
space with frightful velocity.
Shutting my eyes I awaited death. For an instant it seemed to me that I
heard Zarlah's voice call to me in clear accents, then came a terrific
shock which hurled me to the far end of the aerenoid, amid a confusion
of furniture, books, and instruments that had been torn from their
fastenings. Frozen into a state of utter helplessness, my senses fast
leaving me, I lay unable to extricate myself from the heavy mass.
In this comatose condition I remained totally ignorant of the lapse of
time, until, feeling the terrible pressure diminish, I opened my eyes
and dreamily beheld the heavy instruments and pieces of furniture move
gently away, and bump against one another as they floated lightly about
within the car.
Relieved of the great weight, I now breathed more freely. My senses grew
clearer, and soon I became conscious of a loud hissing noise close at
hand. Drowsily I turned my head in the direction of the sound, and
discovered that it came from the door in the side of the aerenoid. In an
instant the full faculty of my senses returned, as with intense horror I
realized the cause--the air of the car was escaping into the void of the
universe without! Desperately I struggled to gain my feet, but being
without weight, the effort resulted only in my drifting helplessly about
the car, until, gasping for air, I realized that the end had come.
A moment's consciousness of being drawn gently to the floor of the car
again, while the furniture and other articles that had been drifting
about piled lightly upon me without any perceptible weight; a slight
shock, then, as the suffocating sensation became more intense, a
blackness rushed in upon me, and my senses reeled--
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