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33 chapters
CHAPTER I MIRIAM’S VISITOR
CHAPTER I MIRIAM’S VISITOR
THE twenty-second of June, of the year 2001, was Miriam Mayne’s birthday—her twenty-first. She and her father, Terence Mayne, the billionaire contractor, had arranged to meet at the Long Island house for dinner. After an early breakfast, she kissed him good-by; he went down-town to business, and she to her room, to put on her traveling dress. A glorious day it was! When the tall girl stepped from the window of her room on to the balcony, the sun embraced her graceful figure as if it loved her; t
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CHAPTER II RACE FOR LOVE
CHAPTER II RACE FOR LOVE
A LITTLE more than a year after Miriam became Mary Faust’s pupil and partner, the new Madison Square Garden was opened with the annual horse-show, which, for ages, had been a leading function of New York society. The new building covered four city blocks, and was raised above the vast plaza in the midst of which it stood by flights of ornamental steps. The great central tower rose fifteen hundred feet above the pavement, and the towers of less elevation stood at the four corners. Forests of deli
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CHAPTER III LOST!
CHAPTER III LOST!
TWO days after the horse-show opening Jack stood in front of an easel, in the studio on the top floor of an up-town building. He had charcoaled on the canvas a design of a girl on a horse. No model for either figure was in sight; but the artist’s rapt expression suggested that his eyes were opened to things invisible to common senses. The girl had long, black hair, and the horse seemed to be a white Arab stallion. The only other person in the big, empty room was an undersized boy of fifteen, who
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CHAPTER IV MARY FAUST
CHAPTER IV MARY FAUST
“HERE is where I saw Miss Mayne last,” said Jack, as he and Jim paused before a massive door studded with iron nails, in the western end of a high cement wall, on which the shadows of the trees bordering the avenue were thrown by the noon sun. “It’s just twenty-one hours since that door opened, and she went in.” “What opened it, boss?” inquired the gnome. “I don’t see no handle.” Jack thought a minute. “She pressed her thumb on one of those nails,” he said. “I think it was this one,” and he laid
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CHAPTER V “I’M GOING”
CHAPTER V “I’M GOING”
THESE astounding words were so composedly and confidently spoken as to make incredulity clash against conviction in a bewildering battle. Jack’s knees relaxed, and there was a prickly sensation over his scalp. “Sattum!” muttered Jim. “Must be in Jersey. I never heard of it—not me!” “Things more startling have become commonplace by use,” remarked the woman. She was about to say more, but the entrance of Terence Mayne, accompanied by Sam Paladin, interrupted her. She closed the cabinet and moved f
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CHAPTER VI THE LEVER
CHAPTER VI THE LEVER
A GREAT resolve is magnetic: it transforms the bystanders. Jack, modest and shy by nature, suddenly became the leading personage of the group. He had not spoken rashly or without realizing what his purpose involved. A journey of near nine hundred million miles, and back again, across the void of space! Courage, faith, devotion, consciousness of resources adequate to cope with the unknown, belief that love, the moving power of the universe, was more than a match for all obstacles—these were his a
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CHAPTER VII 800,000,000 MILES
CHAPTER VII 800,000,000 MILES
“NOT a bit what I expected,” murmured Jack to himself: “not the least!” He looked around him, turning slowly this way and that. On every side stretched out a plain—if it were a plain; but it had no horizons—no curvature. In fact, though solid beneath the feet, it was not easily distinguishable from the medium in which he stood, moved and breathed. It was transparent, too, in all directions, below as well as above and sidewise. It was as if he were walking on water—or in water, like a fish. This
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CHAPTER VIII THE RED SPIDER
CHAPTER VIII THE RED SPIDER
JACK was lying on his back on the ground. In the beautiful sky overhead hung what looked like a vast silvery simitar, the curved edge downward, flashing in the sun, if it were not itself the source of light. The weapon extended its arc from horizon to horizon: beautiful but menacing, it was suspended over him like a cosmic sword of Damocles, and without any visible support: were it to descend, it would not only cut Jack in twain, but the planet on which he lay, and any others of our system which
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CHAPTER IX TORPEON’S MARK
CHAPTER IX TORPEON’S MARK
THE newcomer was a pleasant-looking young fellow, of about Jack’s age, and similarly attired, though in different colors. He came swiftly forward, with arm upraised in a friendly greeting. “Welcome, Jack!” exclaimed he. He laid his right hand on Jack’s breast, over the heart—apparently the Saturnian mode of accost. “And this must be Jim,” he added, smiling at the urchin: “you are welcome, both. Lamara, our highest, sent me to find and attend you. My name is Argon. I would have reached you sooner
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CHAPTER X THE TRANCE
CHAPTER X THE TRANCE
LAMARA’S countenance was youthful, but luminous with intelligence, and her stately grace gave an impression of dignity and superiority. She was exceedingly lovely. She gave him the Saturnian greeting, together with a look of such amity and understanding as made him feel as if she had known him all his life. “I wish your Uncle Sam and Terence Mayne had come with you,” she unexpectedly said. “Mary Faust is always near us. Miriam is within.” She turned to a lofty man of middle age beside her: “This
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CHAPTER XI THE ISLAND
CHAPTER XI THE ISLAND
“IS Miriam safe?” asked Lamara. “She is safe for the present. But Zarga herself was the traitor,” replied Aunion. “The fault was mine! She seemed so lovable that I left her too much to her own unfolding. Why should she turn against us? And at such a time!” “A spirit undisciplined—in whom impulses of nature, blameless in themselves, are prone under temptation to unite with the evil. Torpeon, as we now know, working on the kinship between them, long since began his appeals to her vanity and ambiti
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CHAPTER XII THE SECRET EXIT
CHAPTER XII THE SECRET EXIT
MIRIAM’S trance was physical only; and the disjunction of spirit from body was not so complete as to prevent occasional gleams of consciousness from passing from one to the other. But normal cooperation was suspended. The spirit, however, was beyond Torpeon’s reach, and his power over the body was limited to reducing its functions to quiescence. A far greater effort would be required to bring the living and conscious woman herself under his control. Such an effort, in the Saturnian environment,
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CHAPTER XIII FALSE TRAILS
CHAPTER XIII FALSE TRAILS
JACK’S subjection to the power of mortification and despair did not last long. He raised himself from the ground and stared about him. The first thing he saw was Jim squatting before him. “We was sure up ag’in a tight squeeze dat time, boss,” remarked his retainer. “Did yer hear de yell I let loose? Dat big guy in the red sweater was a comin’ head-on! But our folks had heard de alarm, an’ before I gits knocked out I seen ’em hot-footin’ up de trail. I guess dere was some scrap; but which side gi
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CHAPTER XIV THE MAGICIAN’S HALL
CHAPTER XIV THE MAGICIAN’S HALL
ZARGA did not wait for the banqueters to recover from their surprise, but came forward at once with the air of a hostess conscious of having pleased her guests. Her bearing seemed so artless that Jack, rendered genial by the good fare, told himself that there must be something amiss in his recollection of their last meeting. “I tried to make a dinner for you that would remind you of home,” she said. “We Saturnians don’t use food of this kind. Are you satisfied?” Jack had risen, and could think o
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CHAPTER XV A FRIEND FROM THE STARS
CHAPTER XV A FRIEND FROM THE STARS
AFTER Jack and Zarga had disappeared into the butte, Jim wheeled and hobbled back to the place where he had parted from them. It had been his intention, in spite of orders to the contrary, to slip in after them, and take a hand in whatever might be going to take place. His boss, though the first of mankind in Jim’s estimation, was not qualified to take proper care of himself. But he was confronted by the impenetrable face of the rock, with not a crack in it large enough to admit the point of his
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CHAPTER XVI THE LASSO
CHAPTER XVI THE LASSO
LAMARA, having convinced herself that Miriam was no longer on the island bethought herself of the subterranean passage. This was a secret way to the mainland, and known to few; but one of those few was Zarga. There was no escape, therefore, from the conclusion that the girl had taken this means of continuing her treachery; but Lamara hastened to explore the cavern, and found abundant traces of the passing of both Zarga and Miriam. On the shore at the other side there were signs that sufficiently
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CHAPTER XVII THE WINGED HORSE
CHAPTER XVII THE WINGED HORSE
ARGON, on alighting, was encountered by Aunion, and the two were soon joined by Lamara. Argon bowed before her with a mortified look. “I blundered from beginning to end,” he remarked. “You did your best,” she replied; “none can do more, but the spirit rules the outcome. No just cause is lost through our effort to win it; it is gained, though in ways beyond our comprehension. The good we try to do may bless us even more through failure than success. It may be that to have brought these two lovers
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CHAPTER XVIII THE BLACK MAGIC
CHAPTER XVIII THE BLACK MAGIC
JACK, seated in a corner of the silver bench, kept his eyes upon the column of blue vapor that rose upward from the smoldering fire in the font. But his mind was filled with somber thoughts of Miriam, and he was only superficially conscious either of the incantation or of Zarga. Of Miriam’s faith he had no doubts; but as little could he question that Torpeon had by some means contrived to convey her to his stronghold. He could not think that Zarga would willfully mislead him upon that point, tho
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CHAPTER XIX HOME THOUGHTS
CHAPTER XIX HOME THOUGHTS
THE genius of the Torides had qualities which more affiliated them with the people of our own earth than did that of the Saturnians. Their desire for power had stimulated them to develop the material sciences, and to experiment with a view to the physical control of nature for personal ends; whereas the Saturnians sought knowledge for the sake of its inherent goodness and beauty, and therefore aimed to obliterate self as far as they might, in order to thus remove the obstruction to influx and re
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CHAPTER XX REBELLION
CHAPTER XX REBELLION
TORPEON, sitting alone in his official chamber, leaned his elbow on the table, his chin supported on his clenched fist, and bent his thoughts upon the problems before him. His rule, despotic though it was, had never been free from difficulties. There were two parties among the Torides—one occupying the savage portion of the globe; the other the enlightened or civilized regions. Among the former were many outlaws—men who had either committed crimes against the state and had escaped from punishmen
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CHAPTER XXI CAVE MEN
CHAPTER XXI CAVE MEN
KROTOX and Asgar had killed a goat and were eating it. They squatted at the entrance of their habitation, with the skinned carcass between them, and cut strips of flesh from it with their sharp stone knives. These they toasted over the red flames that flickered up from a crevice in the rocky platform which was their feeding place. Their cave was half-way up the side of a crag, at whose foot, several hundred feet below, ran a hot river from the lake that filled the basin further up the gorge. The
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CHAPTER XXII MIRIAM
CHAPTER XXII MIRIAM
“SURE, miss,” Jenny allowed herself to say, as she set down the tea-tray before her mistress, “’tis a sight for sore eyes ye are! You seeming so natural-like, after all the signs and wonders. And the rooms and all just the same! However did it happen I don’t know. Up till you touched the bell, I says to meself, ‘Jenny, ye’re dreaming!’” “A great poet said, ‘The earth hath bubbles, as the water hath, and these are of them,’” replied Miriam. “Nobody really knows the difference between what seems a
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CHAPTER XXIII TRUTH
CHAPTER XXIII TRUTH
LAMARA sat on a bench in the island garden, her hands folded in her lap. The bench was carved out of a piece of chalcedony, with soft orange-veins running through it, and bearing figures in high relief of little children tossing balls from one to another. The color was so adapted as to give the figures the hues of life; and if glanced at sidelong, one could fancy they had the movement and diversity of living beings. The bench was overshadowed by the level boughs of a tree, amid the dark, whisper
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CHAPTER XXIV THE HIGH COURT
CHAPTER XXIV THE HIGH COURT
AT a high point of the seacoast there lay a great amphitheater, the period of whose construction was known to none living; it had stood there for more than a thousand Saturnian generations; and there was a general belief that it was substantially a natural phenomenon, shaped out by unknown forces before the dawn of man, and added to or modified by human architects to adapt it more completely for its function. It possessed a mountainous grandeur and dignity, such as mortal hands might enhance, bu
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CHAPTER XXV JUDGEMENT
CHAPTER XXV JUDGEMENT
PROBABLY none of the myriads who leaned forward to observe the proceedings, except Jack, were surprised at these words. He had not fathomed the nature of the Saturnians. He might have looked for the brother of the culprit to appear as her defender. But as her accuser—incredible! Indeed, the entire conduct of the court thus far had been unimaginable, in his ideas of legal procedure. The chief judge had begun by stating in outline the crime of the accused, preceding it by what amounted to a plea f
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CHAPTER XXVI THE ELIXIR
CHAPTER XXVI THE ELIXIR
JACK was so much dazed by what he had seen and heard that he could find nothing to say to Lamara, or to Aunion either. The slope from the amphitheater led down to the beach, where a boat was in waiting. Lamara, who had been conversing apart with Aunion, now addressed Jack. “I must leave you in Argon’s care. We shall soon meet again. We, no more than you, know what is to come. We cannot promise that what you wish will come to pass; but we sometimes live to be thankful for hopes unfulfilled. The s
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CHAPTER XXVII DISASTER
CHAPTER XXVII DISASTER
TORPEON, after receiving the signal that Miriam wished to speak with him, was on his way down the main staircase of the castle when he met a servant hurrying in the opposite direction. The man, at the sight of him, stopped and made his obeisance. He was panting and evidently frightened. “Well,” said Torpeon, with a note of stern interrogation. “Gracious prince,” faltered the man, “it has fallen into the river!” Torpeon was silent for a moment, frowning upon the messenger. “What is this?” “No. 19
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CHAPTER XXVIII BATTLE
CHAPTER XXVIII BATTLE
JIM ducked his head in a delighted greeting to Miriam and performed a wave of salutation with his crutch. “Dey can’t lose us, miss,” he remarked. Miriam regarded him with increasing pleasure and cordiality. Here was a creature, absolutely trustworthy and highly intelligent, come to her at a moment when she was most in need of precisely such a person. “Did you come alone?” was her instinctive question. “Don’t let dat worry yer, miss,” was his reply. “I’s John de Baptis’, hollerin’ in der wilderne
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CHAPTER XXIX PARADISE POSTPONED
CHAPTER XXIX PARADISE POSTPONED
SOLARION caught the crystal cup as it dropped from Jack’s hand, and with his other arm supported his body as it fell. Argon uttered a cry of dismay. But meeting the other’s eyes, which were now filled with a soft but almost insupportable light, he recognized the benign significance behind the apparent calamity. “We will let the body rest in the plinth,” Solarion said, lifting it as he spoke into the cavity, and replacing the cup and its golden receptacle. “He is honest and brave, all will go wel
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CHAPTER XXX ZARGA MAKES AMENDS
CHAPTER XXX ZARGA MAKES AMENDS
ZARGA had met her mistress, alone and unseen, immediately after the breaking up of the high court of justice. The place was on the island, at the spot where the pavilion had stood; but the pavilion was gone, and the island was rocky and barren. The change reflected too clearly to be disregarded the alteration which had been wrought in the girl’s ambitions and hopes. Lamara was standing beside a thorn-tree. The birds and the Nature people had departed. Zarga approached with lagging steps. A sprin
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CHAPTER XXXI TORPEON
CHAPTER XXXI TORPEON
TORPEON now fought single-handed against the maddened thousands of his subjects. He laughed as he fought. He cleared a space around him, and at every wave of his truncheon a man fell. But they still came on, for they were desperate. They knew that, so long as Torpeon survived, misery, torture, and death would be their portion. The gage of battle having been thrown down, there could be no truce or quarter until he was slain; and if he were to be victorious, so much the more reason for them to fig
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CHAPTER XXXII DIVIDED
CHAPTER XXXII DIVIDED
LAMARA took Miriam in her arms and kissed her. The caress revived the girl’s drooping strength and sent currents of joyous sunshine rippling through her veins. A glorious light invested Lamara herself, as if from a divine baptism. “Saturn will bless you forever,” Lamara said. “You have brought us a new era. We were relaxed in a dangerous ease, too well content with what we were, and too little mindful that what we receive loses its virtue if it be not passed on to others. Tor was a lesson never
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CHAPTER XXXIII JIM’S REWARD
CHAPTER XXXIII JIM’S REWARD
AN East Indian reclining chair, eased with soft pillows and placed in the embrasure of a western window, took the rays of the sinking sun, and was breathed upon by the light evening air. The window was open, and across a breadth of green park enclosure was visible the broad gleam of the Hudson, flowing seaward beneath its parapets of brown rock. Miriam, as she lay in the chair, had just opened her eyes upon this familiar scene; and not less familiar was the spacious room which she knew she could
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