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27 chapters
CHAPTER I OVER THE COFFEE CUPS
CHAPTER I OVER THE COFFEE CUPS
If I recall the conversation of that evening so minutely as to appear tedious, I must plead that this was the last occasion on which I saw Sir Spofforth alive. In such a case, one naturally remembers incidents and recalls words that otherwise might have been forgotten; besides, here were the two opposed opinions of life, as old as Christianity, confronting each other starkly. And, as will be seen, the test was to come in such manner as only one of us could have imagined. I picture old Sir Spoffo
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CHAPTER II THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
CHAPTER II THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
Since Sir Spofforth was a little infirm, and leaned on my arm to make his slow ascent of the stairs, we entered the drawing-room a full minute after the others. The room was empty; Esther and Lazaroff had gone into the big conservatory that opened out of the south side. I heard the rustle of the girl’s dress as she moved among the palms, and Lazaroff speaking earnestly in a low voice. “Sit down, Arnold,” said Sir Spofforth, subsiding stiffly into his arm chair. “Thank you, my boy. I feel old age
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CHAPTER III IN THE CELLAR
CHAPTER III IN THE CELLAR
I have heard patients, emerging from the chloroform swoon, describe how, before awakening, they had seemed to view themselves lying unconscious upon their beds, detailing the posture of their motionless bodies and inert limbs. In this way, now, I seemed to see myself. I am sure that was no dream of the vague borderland between death and life. I saw the pallid face, so shrunken that the skin clung to the edged bones, and the dry hair, the pinched lips and waxen hands. I saw myself as if from some
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CHAPTER IV THE ROAD TO LONDON
CHAPTER IV THE ROAD TO LONDON
A shadow swept over me, and, looking up, I saw an airplane gliding noiselessly above; it stopped, hung poised and motionless, and then dropped slowly and almost vertically into the road, coming to ground within a dozen yards of where I lay. There stepped out a man in a uniform of pale blue, having insewn upon the breast a piece of white linen, cut to the shape of a swan. He came toward me with hesitancy, and stood over me, staring at me and at my clothes with an expression indicative of the grea
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CHAPTER V LONDON’S WELCOME
CHAPTER V LONDON’S WELCOME
Inside the rotunda a burly man in blue, with the white shield on his breast, was standing on guard in front of a second swinging door, above which was painted something in the same strange characters. A few words to him from my captors apparently secured us precedence, for he stared at me curiously, opened the door, and bawled to some person inside. I was pushed into a large courtroom. It contained no seats, however, for spectators or witnesses. The only occupants were the magistrate and his cle
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CHAPTER VI THE STRANGERS’ HOUSE
CHAPTER VI THE STRANGERS’ HOUSE
During my brief journeys through the streets earlier in the day I had been too conscious of my surprise and perplexity to examine my surroundings with any concentration of mind. Now, standing on the middle platform of what seemed to be one of the principal streets and traveled at a speed of about eight miles an hour, I looked about me with increasing astonishment. I do not know which attracted my attention more, the crowds or the buildings. I asked David for information as we proceeded, stating
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CHAPTER VII HIDDEN THINGS
CHAPTER VII HIDDEN THINGS
It was not until a week had passed that the first stimulus of the amazing life into which I had been plunged abated, leaving me a prey to melancholy reflections. The memory of Esther, which I had tried so hard to put away, began to recur incessantly. I felt shut off from humanity, a survival from a generation whose memory, even, had become legendary. They seemed to understand my feelings, although they could not know their cause, and tried to keep me from brooding. By tacit understanding no refe
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CHAPTER VIII HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE OVER
CHAPTER VIII HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE OVER
David possessed a small library of books, nearly all of a scientific nature. Among them, however, I found two histories, and, in spite of their obvious bias and violent character, I was enabled to understand what had happened in the world since my long sleep began. I learned of the great war that had begun a few days after I entered the cylinder, when Russia and the democracies of Europe stamped out German autocracy and laid the foundations of democratic government. I learned how this democratic
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CHAPTER IX THE BOOK
CHAPTER IX THE BOOK
I found the book beneath my pillow. David had been afraid to hand it to me, and I was not surprised. For assuredly the anonymous author would have received the utmost penalty from the Council. He was a Christian, and he took the ground that democracy, in itself bad, had become impossible when the atheistic deism of the eighteenth century pervaded the minds of the voting masses and took the form of Hæckel’s materialism and that of his school of thinkers. He claimed that, so far from indicating th
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CHAPTER X THE DOMED BUILDING
CHAPTER X THE DOMED BUILDING
“Arnold! Arnold!” The funnel in the room was calling me, not in its customary strident tones, but with a muffled, intimate appeal. David was at the Bureau, and Elizabeth had gone out on one of her infrequent journeys. It was as if the voice knew I was alone, for it had never spoken to me before, and had never called in that particular tone of intimacy and understanding. “Arnold, I am your friend,” the voice continued. “You will come to no good in the Strangers’ House. Go out quietly by the exter
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CHAPTER XI THE GODDESS OF THE TEMPLE
CHAPTER XI THE GODDESS OF THE TEMPLE
The man in blue with the machine badge on his shoulder, who was waiting for me at the entrance, surveyed me with a smile of tolerant amusement. “You are now at the heart of civilization,” he began. “Let me act as your guide, for I see that you are a stranger. Is it not wonderful to contemplate that here, upon a space of a few hektares, man has erected a monument that shall endure forever! This wing,” he added, “is Doctor Sanson’s domain, while Boss Lembken exercises his priestly function from th
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CHAPTER XII THE LORDS OF MISRULE
CHAPTER XII THE LORDS OF MISRULE
I saw her eyelids quiver and half unclose an instant, and, though there was no other sign of awakening upon the mask-like face of sleep, I knew she lived. The indicators upon the dials showed that five days remained before the opening of the cylinder. And, as I stared through the glass plate, so horror-struck and shaken, some power seemed to take possession of me and make me very calm. An immense elation succeeded fear and rendered it impotent. Esther was restored to me. We had not slept through
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CHAPTER XIII THE PALACE OF PALMS
CHAPTER XIII THE PALACE OF PALMS
The sun dipped behind the western buildings, and the glare of the glow on fort and Temple and encircling wall was like phosphorescent fire. I saw the guards stirring in their enclosure. The Airscouts’ Fortress shone, hard and brilliant, against the sky. I gathered my wits together. I had seen the hidden things, and, because I knew of none other to whom to turn, I resolved to appeal to David. Esther, the prey of these insane degenerates when she awakened ... David’s own secret troubles ... could
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CHAPTER XIV THE HOUSE ON THE WALL
CHAPTER XIV THE HOUSE ON THE WALL
She stared at me with eyes that seemed to see nothing; and then a look of recognition came into them, and a twitching smile upon her lips. She put her arms out and came unsteadily toward me. She threw her right arm back. I caught her hand as it swung downward, and the dagger’s razor edge grazed my shoulder. The next moment she was fighting like a trapped panther. I could not have imagined that such strength and fierceness existed in any woman. She twisted her wrists out of my grasp time and agai
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CHAPTER XV THE AIRSCOUTS’ FORTRESS
CHAPTER XV THE AIRSCOUTS’ FORTRESS
So I told them my story from the beginning. I spoke of the days of the Institute and Lazaroff’s experiment, of my awakening within the cylinder at the end of a century of sleep, my flight from the cellar and my discovery by Jones. I continued, telling of my first bewilderment in London, of David’s kindness which had saved my reason, described my summons that morning and the relays of spies who had led me to the Temple. When I narrated my discovery of the cylinder containing Esther’s living body
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CHAPTER XVI THE MESSIAH’S ANNUNCIATION
CHAPTER XVI THE MESSIAH’S ANNUNCIATION
Jones left us and came back with some food. Upon his arm he carried a stranger’s uniform, which he handed to me. “You cannot wear those robes,” he said. “Take this. It should fit you; it belonged to one of our recruits who was ascribed last week and has not yet returned it to the Wool Stores.” I was glad to see the last of the priest’s robes. He carried them away, promising to return for us in an hour. Elizabeth made us eat, but we had little heart to do so. At her insistence, however, we made t
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CHAPTER XVII THE CHAPEL UNDERGROUND
CHAPTER XVII THE CHAPEL UNDERGROUND
In the subterranean chapel, lit by rushlights that sent the shadows scurrying and made fantastically unreal the eager faces and the dissolving groups that clustered now around me, now around David, and again gathered about the tall old bishop with his peasant’s face and child’s eyes, David told them my tale, and then in turn told me the legend that I had brought so wonderfully to fulfillment. The more bewildered I appeared, the stronger grew their faith, for the legend foretold that I was to com
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CHAPTER XVIII SANSON
CHAPTER XVIII SANSON
For a long time I could not persuade them to let me go. But I pleaded so hard and set out the arguments so forcibly that at last I persuaded them. For it was clear that if Lembken, realizing that his power was waning, should accept our offer, then my plan was the wisest; and, if he refused, our desperate chance would lose but little by my death. It was even possible that the rôle for which he had cast me was the same that I was to play for the Cause. He had meant to use me against Sanson; and th
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CHAPTER XIX THE STORY OF THE CYLINDERS
CHAPTER XIX THE STORY OF THE CYLINDERS
“So it was you, Arnold,” said Sanson quietly. “Well ... what do you think of Sir Spofforth’s theories now?” All my hatred and fear of him had died in that blinding revelation. Bewilderment so intense that it made all which had occurred since my awakening dim, a sense of pathos and futility at once deprived me of my fears and robbed him of his power; and we might have been the fellow-workers of the old days again, discussing the problem of consciousness. He seated himself on the mud mound, and hi
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CHAPTER XX THE SWEEP OF THE NET
CHAPTER XX THE SWEEP OF THE NET
“I am not at all afraid,” I retorted, nettled at Lazaroff’s sneer, “but how do I get in?” A dog was yelping somewhere outside the Institute, and all the dogs in Croydon seemed to have taken up its challenge. It was difficult for me to make my voice audible above the uproar. “I am not at all afraid,” I repeated, “but—” I was back in the cellar with Esther and Lazaroff, and we were examining the cylinders. As I looked about me, I seemed to be in the cylinder still, but gradually it expanded, until
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CHAPTER XXI AMARANTH
CHAPTER XXI AMARANTH
I stepped out of the elevator into a part of the Palace that I had not seen before. The room into which the waiting negro ushered me was completely dark, though a thin line of light at the further end showed me that there was a lighted room beyond. I strained my eyes, striving to penetrate the gloom. I took a few steps forward, stretching out my hands to feel if any obstacle were in the way. Looking back, I could not even discern the heavy curtain that had dropped soundlessly behind me. I knew t
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CHAPTER XXII ESTHER
CHAPTER XXII ESTHER
I left the dead girl on the divan and went into the hall. My head ached, and I was still dizzy from my wound, but I had grown suddenly composed, and all my perplexities had vanished in the face of Esther’s imminent need of me. There was nobody in the hall. The negroes were gone, and the palm gardens were dark and seemed deserted. Silence had descended everywhere. Withal it was the silence of hushed voices, I knew, and not of emptiness. Within those walls, in hidden rooms, lurked those who waited
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CHAPTER XXIII THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE
CHAPTER XXIII THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE
The Temple was profoundly dark. Crouched on the swinging stone, helpless in Sanson’s power, I was not conscious of fear. Rather, a melancholy regret possessed me that this was the end, as it inevitably must be. A hundred years of separation, the knowledge of each other’s love—no more; and all had gone for nothing. Yet, there was cause for happiness that this much had been granted me, to die with Esther; and the loss of all hope brought calmness to my spirit and acceptance of the inevitable. It m
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CHAPTER XXIV LEMBKEN
CHAPTER XXIV LEMBKEN
The maneuvers of our party had been so skilfully planned and carried out so surely that the Temple fell into our hands almost immediately. Entering upon that side which faced the Airscouts’ Fortress, our men had surprised and overpowered the guards posted about the elevators, and driven them in flight toward the Science Wing, into which Sanson withdrew to rally them about him. The Council Hall and offices beneath it were occupied as quickly. Including the Airscouts’ Fortress, we had thus three-f
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CHAPTER XXV THE COMING OF THE CROSS
CHAPTER XXV THE COMING OF THE CROSS
I stood with a small group of our men beneath the dome, where Lembken’s gardens had been. The havoc that had been wrought is almost indescribable. The beauty molded by the most cunning hands in Europe had been obliterated in one short hour. The gardens were a waste of uprooted trees and trampled earth, while from the broken conduit a dozen muddy streams were pouring like high waterfalls upon the courts below. The Palace was a mass of wreckage, in which the mob still moved, shouting for fire to f
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CHAPTER XXVI THE ADMIRAL OF THE AIR
CHAPTER XXVI THE ADMIRAL OF THE AIR
I saw defeat written upon his face, but there was no sign of fear. He stood alone, unarmed, confronting me, and if he had fled when he saw that his cause was lost I do him the justice to believe it was his undaunted will which drove him to flight, that he might plan new havoc for the world. No chance remained for him. By the glare of the searchlights I saw the last vestige of rout end at the Temple doors. Trapped and surrounded, the Guard begged for quarter. This was accorded them; but instantly
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CHAPTER XXVII THE NEW ORDER
CHAPTER XXVII THE NEW ORDER
Three months have passed. It is Easter Day, and we have only begun to struggle with the difficulties before us. But we are working with a faith that will overcome all obstacles. All the world is at work, for the same impulse was felt simultaneously in every land. The Mormon airplanes never arrived, because, practically at the same hour, America rose in revolt against her masters. And the Sanson régime has been swept away forever. We were rescued from our airplane by the airscouts who had followe
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