THE END OF A PERILOUS JOURNEY.
A tall, gaunt figure, swathed in black robes, Stood waiting some
distance from me. I knew that it was Death, for under the hood I beheld
the grinning skull with its sightless eye-holes, and I turned away in
loathsome dread. But even as I did so, the bony arms were stretched out
in welcome, and to them ran a slight girlish form--it was Zarlah! For a
moment I stood paralyzed with horror, then rushing toward the now
retreating figures, I called out wildly, "Zarlah! Zarlah! Flee not with
Death! I am here--your Harold is here!" Suddenly I was seized from
behind; instantly my strength seemed to be sapped from me and I fell
back exhausted, crying in my despair, "Oh, my God! save her! save her!"
A cool, soft hand was laid upon my burning brow, and a sweet voice
gently murmured, "Poor Harold! If you could only know that God in His
mercy has saved us both!"
It was the voice of the living, not the dead, and slowly the words
formed a meaning in my confused brain, dragging me from the depths of
unconsciousness to the life that still existed about me, warmed as it
was by the wondrous power of a woman's love. Opening my eyes I beheld
Zarlah bending over me, her beautiful face full of compassionate love.
It seemed as though in a dream my loved one had come to me, and for a
moment I lay peacefully gazing into her face, feeling neither curiosity
nor alarm. Then, as my mind awoke to a realization of all that had
transpired, a sudden bewilderment came upon me, and, clasping the hand
that sought to ease my head, lest the vision should vanish, I cried:
"Zarlah, my beloved, speak to me! Are we by a miracle saved from the
death that had engulfed us, or is this the strange meeting of our souls
after death?"
At the sound of my voice, Zarlah clasped her hands in a fervent prayer
of thankfulness, then, burying her face on my shoulder, gave way to a
flood of tears.
"Oh, Harold, my love!" she sobbed. "Thank God, you have been spared to
me! It is indeed by a miracle that this moon, intercepting our aerenoids
in their wild flight through space, thus brought us together at the
eleventh hour, and laid you helpless and dying at my feet."
"The _moon_!" I gasped, raising myself and staring out of the window at
my side in astonishment, as my mind gradually comprehended our
hairbreadth escape from death.
A blazing orb of fire, shining from the intense blackness around it, was
all that met my gaze, and I sank back, exhausted with the effort, into
the arms that awaited me.
"Tell me more, darling," I said, as a great happiness came over me, and
my heart was filled with the simple desire to hear the gentle voice I
loved. What mattered it to me whether we ever reached Mars or not? The
future held no fears for me now; enough that I had Zarlah, for the walls
of the aerenoid that surrounded us seemed to compass the whole universe.
"Ah, my love!" sighed Zarlah, bending over me and nervously clasping my
hands in hers, "now that the danger is past and you are restored to me,
the long hours of agony seem like a dream. But, oh, the anguish of that
moment when I beheld another aerenoid lying close to mine, upon the
surface of the moon that had intercepted my journey to Earth! My soul
cried out that in it lay my beloved, suffocating to death. Who else
would have followed me over the dreaded Pole! With wild haste I attached
an oxygen respirator to my mouth, and, releasing the air from the car,
sprang out upon the surface, little suspecting the danger that lurked
there. But so small is the force of gravity upon this moon that I was
without perceptible weight, and the tendency to rise with every step I
took filled me with terror, and I crept upon my hands and knees to the
aerenoid which lay a few yards away. Opening the door, I found you lying
apparently lifeless upon the floor. My heart told me that it was my love
who lay within Death's grasp, and, desperate at the thought that you had
been so near to me, only to be torn away by the hand of Death, I lifted
you up and hastened with you back to the aerenoid I had left. The small
amount of gravity now aided me, and I carried you without feeling the
burden.
"Filling the car with oxygen and applying regenerating rays, I waited
for a sign of life. Oh, the agony of those moments, as in despair I
frantically called your name! At last the sign came--a quiver of the
lips, a faint breath--and I knew there was hope. Gradually your
breathing became stronger, but a terrible fever raged within you.
Through long, long hours on this strange globe I knelt beside you,
listening to your piercing cries of delirium, as you lived that awful
experience over and over again. Little by little, in the cries of agony
that rent my heart, I learned how you had come to me a moment too late;
how you had followed my aerenoid, and, being unable to stop me, had
rushed to the fate that was mine, to be hurled into space, unprepared
for such a journey; how you had suffocated, and--oh! my love, as you lay
through the long hours, gazing at me with wild unseeing eyes--ever
calling my name--imploring me not to rush to my death--I at last
despaired of your life, and my soul prepared itself to fly with yours to
the life beyond, leaving our bodies clasped in each other's arms, to
circle round the world which had denied us our love until the end of
time!
"But suddenly the light of reason came into your eyes--your voice lost
its wild accents, and I knew that you had been restored to me. In a few
hours now, Harold, the rays will have completed their work, and you will
be in full possession of your former strength."
What a happy future we now looked out upon! The danger of our position
upon a heavenly body but a few miles in diameter, with barely enough
gravity to hold us on its surface, was forgotten in the great joy of
being together and feeling that we should never again be parted.
I related to Zarlah all that had happened since I had left her; how I
had encountered Reon at the observatory and learned of Almos' departure
to Earth, and how I had later discovered the letter in which Almos gave
to us the great happiness we had despaired of ever possessing. And now
the fast encroaching darkness warned us of the approach of a lunar
night. As darkness with us would necessarily mean daylight on that part
of Mars to which we had come opposite in our journey round the planet, I
felt that now had arrived the time for action, as Mars would become
visible. Moreover, as the days and nights of this rapidly moving
satellite were but three and a half hours in duration, I realized that
no time should be lost in making the necessary preparations for our
hazardous journey. But although I was now able to get on my feet and had
the use of my arms, I had not by any means regained all my strength, and
upon laying my plans before Zarlah, she urged me not to undertake such a
journey until the rays had fully restored me. Therefore it was decided
to postpone our attempt to reach Mars until the following night.
But soon a strange and unforeseen incident warned us of the great danger
to which we were exposed on the surface of this diminutive moon, and
left us no alternative but immediate departure.