Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1911 — A Columbus of Space [ARTICLE]

A Columbus of Space

By Garrett P. Serviss.

Copyright by Frank. A. Munsey Co. CHAPTER VII. The Children Of The Snn. But the situation was too exciting to permit us to think long of {he poor creaures whose deaths we had undoubtedly caused. There seemed less than an even chance of our getting through ourselves. As we went tossing and whirling on, the water rose still higher, and the blocks of ice assailed us on all sides. First the sled on one side was torn loose; then the other disappeared. The car was left to make its way alone. But the loss of the sled was a good thing, now that their occupants were gone. It eased off the weight and the car rose much higher in the water, and gave room more readily when pressed by Ice blocks. It rolled more than before, to be sure, but still it was well ballasted, and did not turn turtle. It took one fearful plunge, howeVer, over a perpendicular fall of, I should say, 20 or 30 feet in height. But the water was very deep, and we came up again after the plunge, like a cork, and whirled off down the rapids. At last the stream became so broad that the danger from the floating ice was to an extent relieved, and we began to .look about us more coolly. As In all cages of long-continued peril," we were becoming hardened by so many escapes and growing more and more confident. We had got out of the ice mountains by this time,, and the elevations about us were of no great height. But we could see the glittering peaks towering far behind, and it was a most appalling sight to watch many of the nearer hills suddenly sink, collapse and disappear, just as—if you have ever watched the operations of the cook in the kitchen when a boy—you have seen pinnacles of soft sugar melt down in water. Edmund! said that all of the icy hills and mounds through which we were passing no doubt owed their existence to pressure from behind, where the sun never rose, and where the ice was piled into actual mountains. These foothills were, in fact, enormous glaciers, thrust out toward the sunward hemisphere. . After a long time the river that bore us broadened into a vertible lake. The surface around became comparatively level and was all covered with the water. The sun rose higher and higher as we approached It, and the heat increased. Vast fields of ice floated in the great lake, whose water was not muddy, as it would have been if it had passed over soil, but of crystal* purity and wonderfully blue in the deep places. And now we began to notice the wind again. - It came fitfully, first from one direction and then from another. At times it rose to the fury of a tempest and lifted the water into hugh waves. But the car rode them beautifully. "Therein lies our greatest danger," said Edmund. “The current still sets in the same direction, and I foresee that we shall be carried into a region where the contending winds will play perfect havoc.' . • “It is the region where the hot air from the sunward side begins to descend, and the cold air from the other side meets it. It is a belt of storms, and it may form a barrier more tremendous than the crystal mountains, themselves. We shall have all we can do to escape being cast away when we approach a shore —for shore of some kind there must be." It came out nearly as be had antic* pated, except that the current gradually died away, and we found ourselves driven about by the wind. This continually increased in force, and at last the sky became choked with dense clouds, which swept down upon the face of the waters, and were whirled into blaek tornadoes by the circling blasts. Frequently the bar was deluged by waterspouts, and at such times, whn

, , . , ■ >» in the center of the gyrating spouts, it would actually be lifted clear into the air. An ordinary vessel would have been unable to live five minutes in that hell of waters and of winds. But the car went through it like a giant bubble. ; 1 don’t know how long all this lasted. It might have been forty-eight hours. The tiding; became worse and worse. Sometimes rain mingled with hail descended in vast sheets. Half the time one window or the other was submerged, and when we .were able to look out we could see nothing but the awful clouds whipping the surface of the water. But at length, and amazing quickness, there came a change. The clouds broke away, brilliant sunlight streamed into the car, and, as we rocked first to one side and then to the other, we caught glimpses of a marvelous dome high overhead. It was not a blue vault, such as we see on the earth. It was of an indescribably soft grayish color, and under it floated here and there delisate curtains of cloud, like the mackerel skies that precede a storm. They were tinted like sheets of mother-of-pearl, but, although the light was bright, no sunshine appeared. 1 : £

The lake had now expanded into an apparently boundless Bea, whose surface had quieted down, for the winds no longer blew with their former violence. Presently Jack, who was standing alone at one of the windows, called to us. > ' We went to his side of the car, and he pointed to something that glittered high up in the air. “What’s that?” he asked. “What are those, rather?” I demanded, for I had caught sight of a dozen of the glittering objects ranged in an almost straight row, at an elevation perhaps of 2,000 feet, abd several miles away from us. . Nobody answered for a long time, while we continued to gaze in astonishment, Even Juba noticed the things with his moon eyes, which did not suffer here quite as much as they had done in the sunshine. At last Edmund said:

“Those are airships.” “Airships!" “Yes, nothing less. An exploring expedition, I shouldn’t wonder. I anticipated something of that kind. You know already how dense the atmosphere of Venus is. It follows that balloons can float much more easily here than over the earth. I was prepared to find the inhabitants of Venus skilled in aerial navigation, and I’m not disappointed.” “Then you think that there are people in those things up there?” “Of course, and I reckon that they have seen us, and are going to investigate us," It was a startling thought, and I confess that I had to screw up my courage. To be sure, we had come here expecting to find inhabitants, but I, as least, hadn’t looked to meet them so soon, and certainly I was not expecting first to find them in the sky.

I felt tike the hunter who goes after a grizzly and suddenly perceives his enemy staring down from a rock just over his head.

Edmund was evidently correct in surmising that they had seen us. Some kind of signal flashed among the airships, and they altered their course. Still keeping in line, they began to advance in our direction, at the same time gradually descending. As they drew hearer make out some of their details. 1

They were long and narrow, and bore considerable resemblance to aeroplanes which I had seen at home. But they were much more complete- They were evidently driven by screws, and they seemed to be steered with great ease and certainty. Their approach was rapid. When we first saw them they were probably three miles away, but in the course of ten minutes they had drawn so near that we could see their decks crowded with what certainly looked like human beings. I felt a great relief in noticing that they bore no resemblance to the creatures we had encountered on the night side' of the planet.

But then came the disturbing thought: Shall we be any safer because they are more like men? With increase of intelligence comqs increase of the power, and often of the disposition to do evil. However, jdfe had to face our fate, whatever it mighl s be. It wasn’t likely that they would begin by making an end of us. Their curiosity would have to be satisfied first. __.

They showed no apprehension. Why should they? All that they saw as yet was an odd-looking affair floating on the water. They might take it for. some strange marine animal, but they could never Imagine that it contained intelligent beings whose eyes were watching them.

At length they came to rest within a hundred yards of tke car. Then one of the airships settled gracefully down upon the water, where It rose and fell with the swell as gently as a swan.

With qome appearance of caution it began to approach us. What should we do? ' Edmund answered the question in a practical manner without consulting the rest of us. He threw open a window and stepped oit upon a steel ledge running just beneath it. You should have seen the astonishment of our Inquisitors when they caught sight of him.

Instantly they stopptpd the slow movement of tbelr craft and gathered at its bow, staring at Edmund and making all sorts of strange gestures.

Edmund repeated the same maneuvers that he had employed at the entr&nce of the cavern where ere first landed. "Hallo, you!” be called out His voice sounded like a tremendous craek, and momentary panic seized them, tfhey were evidently as unused to loud voices as were the. creatures on "the other side of the planet. But they were not so' easily cowed. Feeling, themselves at a safe distance from the strange monster, they held their ground. We were not prepared for their next move. If they had given no Evidence of the abject fright that had overcome the creatures of the cavern when their ears were thus assailed, they had at lea&t shown that they were greatly startled and disturbed, and we ascribed their comparative coolness to the fact that they were in a ship which they knew could take flight into the air at a moment’s notice.

But we misjudged them, or, rather, one of them. To our surprise, after the effect of Edmund’s shout had passed, they began to approach us. Then we saw that this maneuver was due to the commands of a person standing near the bow, and our amazement may be imagined when we recognized—beyond all possibility of doubt —that this person was a woman! They were now within 15 yards of us, and every detail of the faces and figures was visible. There were, perhaps, 30 persons on the airship, which continued floating easily on the water, and of these half a dozen were certainly women.

They stood in a group in frtint of the men, and one of them, as I have saidt by her commands directed the movements of the vessel. Jack, whose irrepressible optimism had not been permanently affected by our recent terrible experiences, exclaimed, as we all crowded at the window behind Edmund: Amazons, upon my word! The women are in command here. 1 should rather have expected to see Mars leading the Venuses.” “Not Amazphs in appearance,” I replied. “Did you ever see any creatures more beautiful than those?” And, indeed, as the way of the approaching craft was stopped, and it drifted very slowly nearer, our eyes were fairly dazzled by the spectacle which those women presented! Thier forms and faces were distinctly human in type, but with a suggestion of something almost superhuman. I particularly noticed their leader. She was bewildering. She seemed a Madonna just descending from .the sky. And yet she was rather an Aphrodite than a Madonna.

Her complexion was light, with a flame upon her cheeks; her hair a chestnut blonde. Her eyes, of a pure sapphire blue, seemed to radiate a iight of their own. I had never seen, had never dreamed of such eyes. They were more than eyes; they were truly What the poets had imagined—“windows of the soul.” Such expression as they had! I verily believed that they spoke. I could feel a strange influence proceeding from them. Her dress and that of her companions was something that I cannot describe farther than to say that it suggested the attire of a was not the dress that woman woifid wear at the present time, except perhaps in some remote Pacific island, but it revealed and enhanced the beauty of the wearer in a manner that would have driven an artist wild with admiration. In the presence of this vision we had no eyes for the men in the background, and yet, as a glance showed, they were no less remarkable for physical attractions. They were of about the average human stature, and very perfectly formed, with attire as classically simple as that of their beautiful companion. We were all lost in admiration that even Edmund seemed struck dumb and motionless, not knowing what to do. The craft drifted within four or five yards of the car and then the woman who commanded it slowly lifted her right hand, revealing a glittering bracelet of gems upon her white wrist, and with a smile of indescribable winningness made a motion which said as plainly as words could have done: “Strangers, you are welcome.” (To be continued.)