Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 298, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1910 — Page 3

A Columbus of Space

By Garrett P. Serviss.

Copyright by Frank A. Munsey Co. CHAPTER IV. Tlie Caverns of Venus. For two or three minutes the creature continued to stare at us, motionless, and we to stare at him. It was so dramatic that it makes my nerves tlng .l e now when I think of it. His eyes alone were enough to Bcare a man out of his senses. As I have said, they looked like full moons, they were so big, so round and so luminously yellow. It was the phosphorescent yellow, shot with green, that you sometimes see in the eyes of a cat or a wild beast. Its great, hairy head was black, but its short, stocky body was as white as that of a Polar bear, its arms were long, like an ape’s, and it had a look of immense strength and activity. . Edmund was the first to recover from the surprise, and then he did a thing that seems absurd when I recall it. “Well, hallo, you!” he called out, in a voice that made us jump as if it bad been a thunder clap. In that heavy atmosphere the sounds struck the eardrums like trip-hammers. The effect on the creature was electric. A film shot across his big eyes, he made a sudden movement, uttered a queer squeak that seemed ridiculous coming from an animal of such size,* and, in an instant more, he had disappeared, stumbling and tumbling ■down the steps. “Hurrah!” shouted Edmund. “We have conquered a hemisphere!” In fact, the evident terror of the creature immediately heartened us ail. Our fear vanished, and, following Edmund, we rushed for the hole and began a hurried chase down the steps. We noticed That the air was decidedly warmer around the mouth of the pit, and as we descended the temperature rose. After a while we pulled off our Arctic togs and left them on a shelf of the rock, but we didn’t leave the automatic pistols. Then we proceeded downward. It was an awful hole for depth.—The steps, rudely cut, wound round and round the sides like those in a cathedral tower, except that the shape of the pit was not regular. It looked like a natural formation. Perhaps, 1 thought, the throat of an extinct volcano; though, there being no mountain, that didn’t seem probable, either. But the steps were certainly of artificial origin. When we had descended several hundred feet, we emerged suddenly into a broad cavern. The temperature had been rising all the time, and here it was as warm as in an ordinary room. The cavern was, I should say, about 20 yards broad and 8 or 10 feet in height, with a flat roof. Over in a corner I saw a hole down which the steps continued. There was not a living thing visible, but there was light coming from what looked like a heap of coal, burning with great brilliance in the center of the floor.

A strange, but not unpleasant odor filled the place, as we paused to consult we all spoke of the curious exhilaration which we hhd experienced, almost from the moment of setting foot on the planet. Edmund said it was due to the dense atmosphere, which undoubtedly was heavy with certainly had a good deal to do with our rising courage and our insensibility to fatigue. Notwithstanding the precipitancy of our long descent, we did not draw an extra breath. As we looked about us, seeing no one, Edmund declared that it was necessary to go on. “We can’t give it up,” he said. "We've got to find the inhabitants, and now that we have seen one of them, we know pretty well what to expect. Come along.” .He led the way down the steps in the corner. They wound round Just like the others, and again we descended a long distance, perhaps as much as 300 feet. Then we reached a second cavern, larger and loftier than the first. And there we found them! There never was such a sight! It made our blood run cold again, notwithstanding our initial triumph, which had been so cheaply won. Ranged along the farther side of the cavern, visible by the light of another heap of bright coal, were 20 or 30 of those creatures, standing shoulder to shoulder, with their great eyes glaring like bull’s-eye lanterns. But the most frightful of all were their motions. , You have read how a hugh cobra, rearing on its coil, sways his terrible head from side to side before striking. Well all those black heads before us, with their lantern eyes, were swaying in unison, only the motion was circular Three times by the right, and then three times by the left, those heads circled, in rhythmic cadence, while the luminous eyes made phosphorescent rings in the air, intersecting one another in consequence of the rapid movemepj; —. —-jjfes—u—it was such a spectacle as no man «ver behelf in the wildest dream. It i „ unipfuli It was the charm of the serpent paralyzing its terrified prey. fe t « in an lMtant * and *»» Lins began t«r whirl. I found my-

self staggering In spite, of all my efforts to stand .firm, and a kind of paralysis ran through my limbs. Presently, all moving together and uttering a hissing, whistling sound, they began slowly to approach us, keeping in line, each shaggy leg lifted high at the same moment, like so many soldiers on parade, while the heads continued to swing, and the glowing eyes to cut linked circles In the air. But for Edmund we should have been lost. He spoke to us over his shoulder, in a whisper: * “Boys, take your pistols and kill as many as you can, but don’t shoot unless they make a rush. I’ll knock over the leader, in the center, and I think that'll be enough." So saying, he raised his pistol, but, as for the rest of us. we could no more have stirred our arms than if we had "been marble statues. As the creatures approached another stdp Edmund blazed away. The report was like an earthquake! It shocked us into our senses, and almost out of them again. -Tbs. weight of the atmosphere and the confinement of the cavern magnified and concentrated the sound until it was awful.' The fellow in the center, that Edmund had aimed at, was hurled to the ground as if shot from a catapult. The others fell as flat as he, and all lay groveling, the big eyes filming and swaying wildly, but no longer in unison. The charm was broken, and, as we saw our enemies prostrate, our courage and nerve returned. ‘ I thought so,” said Edrpund, coolly. “It’s the sound that they can’t stand. I’m sorry I killed that fellow, for the report alone would have been sufficient. This atmosphere acts like a microphone. You have heard the voices of these creatures, which are hardly louder than whispers. Their ears are evidently not made for sounds of any magnitude. I shouldn’t wonder if I had burst every ear-drum in -the lot. *

“After all,” he continued, after a moment s thought, “it is perhaps as well that I took one life. Probably it would have had to come eventually, and now we have them thoroughly cowed. If they had ever reached us they would have torn us asunder, in a moment with those muscular arms.” As he spoke Edmund boldly approached the groveling row, and pushed with his foot the huge, white, furry body, of the one he had shot. The bullet had gone through the At Edmund’s approach the creatures sank even lower on the rocky floor, and those nearest to him turned up their moon eyes, with an expression of submissive terror and supplication that was grotesque, though unmistakable. He motioned us to approach, and imitating him, we began to pat and soothe the shrinking bodies until, understanding that we would not hurt them, they gradually acquired some confidence in us. In short, after a while a relation like that of masters with the most submissive slaves was established. In the meantime the crowd in the cavern increased; others of the creatures, attracted perhaps by the noise, coming ir. continually through side passages. Those who had been present at our arrival explained the situation to the newcomers, as we could see, and it was evident that our prestige was thoroughly established. As we became better acquainted with these creatures we found that they were*not as savage as they looked. Their heads, and the larger part oftheir faces, were covered with black hair, but on their bodies was a white silky fur. Why the difference of color existed I could never, imagine. The reason for the great size of their eyes appeared evident. It was the prevailing darkness of the sidethe planet on which they dwelt. With those eyes they could see in the gloom like cats. They were surprisingly intelligent, too, in their way. Their construction of the hundreds of steps leading down into the caverns and their employment of a kind of coal for heat and light showed that. But this was not all. We found that in some of the caverns, which were connected with one' another by winding passages, they cultivated their food, which consisted entirely of vegetables of various sorts, all unlike any that I have ever met with on the earth. Water dripped from the rocrfs of these caverns, but there was no light except that derived from the burning coal, yet the vegetation, though almost colorless, seemed to thrive astonishingly. They had many ways of cooking their food, and although there yet remained a good supply of stores in the car, Edmund thought It advisable for us to accustom ourselves to the diet of the inhabitants. We found it decidedly agreeable and ijl effects of any kind.

The only brqte animals of any size that we could discover in the caverns were some dog-like creatures, about as large as terriers, but very furry. The burial-ground of the community we discovered when they came to dispose of the fellow that Edmund l.ad shot. It wqs a large, lone cavern, situated at a long distance from the one which we had first entered. We thought we saw indications of some kind of religious ceremony when they put their slain comrade in the groupd, and then, for the flrßt time, we recognized the women. We were astonished by the evidence of a monogamous relatiqn among the sexes, which was furnished by the fact that one of these women manifested by her sorrow a special grief, which we thought could only be accounted for upon the supposition that she was the wife of the dead person. ■ She held two or three little ones by the hands, and we were fairly moved to tears by the spectacle, Edmund be ing particularly affected. “I almost wish I had never come here,” he said, bitterly, "since the first

thing I have done Is to kill an inoffensive, intelligent creature.” “Not so inoffensive, either,” put in Jack. “J.t you hadn’t killed him, where should we be now?” “But it wasn’t necessary,” Edmund insisted. “The noise alone would have sufficed.” ,; r . • -'■■' C, "DopV borrow trouble?’ said Jack, sympathetically. “You did the best you knew, and Heaven knows what we should have done without you.” But I noticed that Edmund was afterward very gentle with the poor creatures, who seemed to bear us no ill will, feeling, probably, that we were superior beings who could do as we liked. I have spoken of them as a community, and I may say here that we afterward discovered that all this part of Venus was sprinkled over with similar communities, somewhat resembling seperate tribes. Each tribe occupied a group of caverns by itself, and there seemed to be but little intercourse among them. They seldom went out of the caverns, expept to perform a very remarkable ceremony, which led us into a danger that put Hreaks of silver on my head where no gray hair was due for many years yet. But of that later. The most surprising discovery that we made in the cavern was a big smithy! It was really nothing else. Edmund had foretold us that we should find something of that kind. He. based his prophecy on the fact that there were rude tools and utem sils of metal in the caverns. He examined the metal and pronounced it iron. “All the planets are largely composed of iron,” he said. “These people here, primitive as they seem in many ways, have found out how to smelt and make various articles of it. They must have a blacksmith shop, and I’m going to find it.” It wasn’t long—perhaps two days’ time after our arrival—when we came upon the place. It was in one of the side caverns, and we actually found several of the savage smiths at work, with furs fastened over their ’ ears to ward off the sound. They were turning out long, sharp-jfbinted tools, the purpose of which Edmund divined in a moment. “They’re to dig coal with,” he said. And he was right. The strata of rock were filled with seams of a very hard coal, an 4 -these people hug it out to keep their fires going. It was the best coal that I have ever seen, infinitely btetter even than anthracite. “But where did they get their fire to begin with?” asked Jack. “Perhaps by friction, like our savages on the earth,” Edmund replied. “Perhaps they got it down below,”' I added.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Jack. ”1 know what he means,” interposed Edmund, “better than he does himself, perhaps. Venus, there is reason to believe, is not as old planet as the earth.. Consequently its crust is not as thick. It may be that the internal fires do not lie so deep. I shouldn’t be surprised if that accounts, in part, for the comfortable temperature down here, when the surface above us is so terribly cold, owing to the absence of the sun.” Our discovery of the smithy seemed to have set Edmund to thinking. After musing a while, he said: “This is a most fortunate thing for us. We’ll have occasion to employ the skill of these fellows and to teach them something new, for our own benefit.” “How’s that?” I asked. “It’s this way: I want to take some of these fellows along when we start for the daylight side of the planet. I can find my way well enough with the aid of the stars, but these creatures may be useful to us in other ways. But we can’t take them in the car, wJiich is full enough already. Luckily, the power of the car is practically unlimited, and it could draw a whole train, if necessary. Now, I’m going to carry the malong in sleds, dragged after the car, and I’ll make the sleds of iron, since there’s no wood to be had. It’s another lucky thing that this part of Venus is almost a dead level, a sort of rolling prairie, as you have observed, covered with a kind of icy shingle, which is just suited for runners. Trees can’t grow here, and if there were ever any rivers .they became frozen ages ago.” “But why not make the fellows walk?” asked Jack. ‘‘They’ve got good legs.”

“Walk!” said Edmund. “Why, man, we’ve got at least 5,000 miles to go before we reach the edge of the sunlit hemisphere, and I don’t propose to spend several months on the way. With the sleds drawn after the car, we can make the journey at the rate of 100 miles an hour.” “All right,” said Jack. “The sooner you start the better, as far as I’m concerned. I want to find the goodlooking people of Venus. These don’t suit my taste.” Henry, after his said nothing, but as I saw*him looking about I got the impression that he was calculating the millions ttmt might be made out of these iron mines on Vends. Edmund never reached a decision without starting immediately to put it into practice. He now began his preparations for the journey to the other side. But they were quickly interrupted in a most dramatic fashion. While we were occupied in the smithy, as I call it, showing the native smiths how to fashion the runners and upper parts of the proposed sleds, we were Interrupted by someone coming in and calling our assistants away from us. They all ran out, and we after them. On arriving in the principal cavern we found a singular scene. Two natives, whom we did not rec-

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ognize as having made their appearance before, were evidently in charge of some kind of ceremony. They wore tall, conical caps of polished metal, covered with curious heiroglyphics, and had staves of iron in their hands. They marshaled all the others, numbering several hundreds, into a long column, and then began a slow, solemn march up the steps. The two leaders produced a speaking music by blowing into the ends of their staves. Women were mingled with men and even the children were not excluded. We followed at the tail of the procession, our curiosity at the highest pitch. At the rate we Went it must'have taken nearly an hour to mount the steps. As we emerged into the open air the cold struck to our marrow The natives, covered with fur, didn’t seem to mind it, but we ran back to the shelf where we had left our Arctic outfits, and put them on. Then we ascended again and emerged into, the night, finding the crowd assembled not far from the entrance to the cavern. The frosty sky was ablaze with stars, and directly overhead shone a huge, brilliant planet of amazing beauty and close beside ir i smaller one. “The earth,” said Edmund, pointing upward, “and the moon.” It was indeed our planet and her satelite. I can’t describe the feeling that came over me at the sight. But in a moment Edmund interrupted my meditation. “Look at that!” he said.

The natives had formed themselves in a great circle under the starlight, with the two great leaders standing in the center. All the others dropped on their knees, and the leaders raised their long arms toward the sky and gazed up at the zenith, at the same time uttering a kind of chant in their queer, subdued voices. “By Jove, they’re worshiping the earth!” exclaimed Edmund. Indeed, she looked worth worshiping! Never have I seen so amazingly splendid an object. She was 20 times as brilliant as the brightest planet that anjy terrestrial astronomer ever beheld. And the moon, glowing beside her like a, great attendant star, redoubled tbfe beauty of the sight. "It’s just the time of the conjunction,” said Edmund. “This is their religion. Those fellows are their priests. The earth is their goddess. I understand it all now. I would’nt have missed this for a world.” Suddenly the two priests began to pirouette. As they whirled more and more rapidly, their huge glowing eyes made phosphorent circles in the gloom, like those that had alarmed and fascinated us when we first met the creatures in the cavern. They gyrated round the ring of worshipers with astonishing Bpeed, and all those creatures fell under the fascination and dropped to the ground, with eyes fixed in evident helplessness upon the two performers. \ Now, for the first time, I caught sight of a Square object that seemed to be a stone, rising a couple of feet above the ground, in the center of the circle. At this instant the spinning priests, having drawn close to the ring of fascinated worahippera, made a dive, and each caught a native In his arms and ran with him toward the square object that I have described. “It’s a sacrificial stone!” cried Ed-

mund. “They’re going to kill them as an offering to the earth and the moon.” The truth flashed into my mind, and froze me with horror. But just as the second priest reached the altar, where the other had already pinned his victim with a stroke of the sharp point of his staff, his captive, suddenly recovering his senses and terrified by the awful fate that confronted him, uttered a cry, wrenched himself loose, and, running like the wind, leaped, ever the circle and disappeared in the* darknqss. The fugitive passed close to us, and Jack shouted, as he darted by: “Good boy!” The enraged priest was after him like lightning. As he came near us his awful eyes seemed to emit actual flames. But the runner had already vanished. Without an instant’s hesitation the priest shot out his long arm and caught me by the throat. In another second I felt myself carried, in a bound, as if a tiger had seized me, over the drooping headß of the worshipers, and toward the horrible altar (To be continued.)

, PUBLIC SALE. Having decided to quit farming, we will sell at public sale on the H. B. Harris farm, 7 miles south and 2 miles east of Rensselaer, 5 miles north and 2 miles east of Remington, beginning at 10:30 A. M., on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1910, the following property: 6 Horses and Mules—l bay horse, 3 years old, weight 1,400; 1 black horse colt, 2 years old, weight 1,200; 1 gray mare, 3 years old, weight 1,050, broke well for single driver; 1 good mule, 9 years old, weight 1,200. Two coming 2-year-old bay driving mares, weighing 900 pounds each. 4 Miich Cows-*-! roan cow, 4 years old, fresh now and giving about 4 gallons of milk a day; 1 red cow, 3 years old, will be fresh in April, giving good flow of milk now; 1 black cow, 3 years old, and a good milker; 1 red cow, 5 years old, will be fresh in April. 80 head of Ewes, two and three years old, all good ones. Farm Tools—l good Capital wagon, with new triple box; 1 new J. I. Case cornplanter, with fertilizer attachment and 80 rods of wire; 1 new Acme mower; 1 new Acme rake; 1 Avery cornplanter; 2 riding cultivators; 1 sulky plow; 1 14-inch walking plow; 1 disc; 1 harrow; 1 McCormick binder, with tongue truck; 3 sets of work harness; 2 sets single harness, on 9 new; 2 buggies, good as new; five tons clover hay in stack; 5 dozen hens; 1 Air-Tight heater, and other articles too numerous to mention. Terms—A credit of 12 months will be given on all sums over |IO.OO, with approved security, without interest if paid when due; if not paid when due, 8 per cent interest will be charged from date of sale. A discount of 6 per cent will be given on sums over >IO.OO for cash. Sums of 810.00 and under, cash. No property to be removed until settled for. C. and E. HASTY. F>ed Phillips, Auctioneer. C. G. Spitler, Clerk. Every family has need of a good, reliable liniment. For sprains, bruises, [soreness of the tnusdes and rheumatic pains there Is none better than Chamberlain’s. Sold by all dealers, c

PUBLIC SALE. The undersigned having sold his farm and expecting to move away, will sell at public sale at his residence in Newton township, 1 mile north and 4% miles west of Rensselaer, 2% miles directly east of Mt. Ayr, commencing at 10 a. m., on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 81, 1910, the following property: 6 head of Horses —Consisting of 1 grey mare, 4 years old, weight 1,550, In foal to Ben Miller’s black horse; 1 grey mare, 3 years old, weight 1,500, in foal to same horse. « This is a number one good pair of mares and well matched and absolutely sound; 1 black gelding, 5 years old, weight 1,460, sound; 1 bay gelding, 4 years old, weight 1,475 and sound; 1 bay mare, 10 years old, weight 1,150, In foal to Padgett's road horse, a good driver and lady broke; 1 brown mare, 12 years old. In foal. “ 12 head ot Cattle ■ Consisting of 9 number one good milch cows, two with calf by side, others giving a good flow of milk now; 2 three-year-old Jersey heifers with calf; 1 two-year-old heifer with calf. 33 head of Hogs— Consisting of shoats, averaging about 126 pounds each. Parm Implements, Wagons, Harness, eto*—Consisting of one 3%-inch tire Studebaker wagon, with triple box; 1 top buggy; 1 Oliver 16-inch riding plow; 1 14-lnch Oliver walking plow; 2 Avery cultivators; 1 disk; 1 ! 16-foot harrow; 1 hay ladder; 1 mud boat; 3 sets work harness; 1 set single harness; 1 set double driving harness. This stuff has been used just one season and is good as new; 1 cream separator, used about two months; about 20 tons good clover hay. Poultry— l 2 dozen chickens, some full blood Rhode Island Reds, also some full blood Plymouth Rocks; 6 turkey hens; some household goods, and numerous other articles. TSBECB —Ten dollars and under, cash m hand; on sums over $lO a credit of 12 months will be given, purchaser executing note with approved security, without interest if paid when due, but If not paid at maturity, 8 per cent Interest from date; 6 per cent oft for cash on sums over SIO.OO. No property to be removed from premises until terms of sale are complied with. Hot lunch on grounds. H. E. WAX)XL John G. Culp, Auctioneer. C. G. Spitler, Clerk. When you have a cold get a bottle of Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy. It will soon fix you up all right and will ward off any tendency toward pneumonia. This remedy contains no opium or other narcotic and may be given as confidently to a baby as to an adult Sold by all dealers. c

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Thomas M. Honan, attorney generalelect, has announced the appointment of Francis M. Griffith, of Vevay, and Thomas H. Branaman, of Brownstown, pa deputies. The assistant to Mr. Honan, who is J. E. McCullough, of Greenfield and Indianapolis, was named some tiipe ago. Mr. Griffith was formerly a representative in congress from the Fourth district. Mr. Branaman is a practicing lawyer at Brownstown. Mr. Honan wilt take office January 1. "1 had been troubled with constipation for two years and tried all of the best physicians in Bristol. T«nn.. and they could do nothing for me,” writes Thos. E. Williams, MiddVhoro, . Ky. “Two packages of Chamberlain’s | Stomach and Liver Tablets cured me.” . For sale by all dealers. o ■ 'j. -• ■ ■