Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1911 — A Columbus of Space [ARTICLE]

A Columbus of Space

By Garrett P. Serviss.

Cdpyrlght by Frank A. Munsey Co. —O CHAPTER XV. Wild Fden. We stopped at the mines, and Edmund, as cooly as if nothing had happened, resumed his work in the laboratory. What had passed between him and Ala, in regard to Ingra and his coconspirators, I do not know, but I remember that sometimes there was a grim look on Edmund’s face when he sat silently meditating, which I interpreted as an 111 omen for his enemies. Several times an aeroplane was dispatched to the capital, apparently on a secret mission. In an incredibly short time sufficient uranium had been accumulated to answer Edmund’s needs, and then, with the precious stuff on board, we set out on our return. On reaching the capital, we had a magnificent reception. The news of what had occurred had been noised abroad, and Ala’s friends were out in force to welcome her. If Ingra’s partisans were on hand, they took good care not to let themselves be known. Ala’s popularity had immensely increased, because her romance took the hearts of her people by storm. Edmund’s stock rose, and ours along with it. I shall attempt no description of the reception, only saying that it was similar in character, though far more gorgeous in details, to the one which had attended our first arrival. Edmund was too much absorbed in his work to waste time on these things. He immediately sought the car, and devoted himself to its preparation. Four or five days may have elapsed before he announced the completion of his work. Then he called us together.

“I believe the car: to be all right now!” he said, “and I am going to make a trial trip. You can, all go, and I'll take Ala and one of her maids along, leaving Juba here.” I shall not soon forget that trip! At the start we were delighted. It seemed like home to be once more inside the familiar car, and to watch Edmund manipulating the revolving knobs that governed the mysterious force. Henry begged Edmund to take us back to the earth at once, biff Edmund refused. ~ ' •: “I'm not yet done With Venus,” he said. “There’s a lot of things here that we haven’t seen. Now that we J ve got the car in shape, we can make rapid work of it.” Jack’s spirits had risen to a high pitch with the knowledge that the means of return were once more in our hands, and he joined in with Edmund. . , “Of course, we won’t go back yet,'’ he said. “I want to see Edmund crowned king of the planet first.” An enormous crowd assembled to see us off. I belidve that the' capital was more populous than London, and everybody in’it was on the alert when we launched the car from one of the upper stories of the great tower. The air was crowded with gay aeroplanes and airships, banners and streamers were displayed on all sides, and the atmosphere bloomed with undulating colors. The noise was extraordinary for Venus, and a universal cry of astonishment burst forth when the car, without visible machinery, swiftly rose into the air and circled over the city. The aeroplanes chased us like children following a street-organ, but soon Edmund touched a knob, and we shot up, rocket-like, leaving them all behind and below.

Higher and higher we rose, until the vast roof of the cloud-dome was reached. From that immense elevation the whole breadth of the inhabited zone appeared spread below us, bordered with luminous clouds along both of its edges. The metropolis looked like a giant flower-bed, and dotted over the country were smaller cities, while innumerable aeroplanes sailed about far beneath us, like flocks of brilliant-plumaged birds. \ I studied Ala’s face to note the effect upon her. She showed some surprise; but more, her countenance denoted admiration of Edmund, and her enthusiasm was fairly girlish. Yet her quick intelligence manifested itself also, and she attended with keen interest when he showed her how the controlling knobs were managed. He even permitted her to turn some of the controllers, and her delight knew no bounds when she found how easily, under his guidance, she could direct our course. Now we shot along under the dome like a meteor, now we darted downward, and then we ventured a little way up into the clouds. I was surprised, though, of course, I ought not to have been, to find that when we entered the cloud-dome the darkness around us was hardly noticeable. The clouds, although close-packed, were filtered through with sunshine from above, so that w r e seemed to be immersed in a rose-pink mist.

Ala exhibited no fear whatever, and, at length Edmund proposed that we should rise through the dome into outer space. We did this rapidly, so that in a few minutes we emerged on the upper side, and Venus was changed into a vast white globe, brilliant with sunlight, but as soft in appearance as a ball of wool. The world below was completely hidden. Only one thing astonished Ala —the sun. It was too blindingly brilliant to look upon, but frequently I saw her turn in its direction with an expression that grqatly puzzled me. I did not understand it until afterward. Then occurred one of those things which are bound to happen whenever two persons as much interested in one another as were Ala and Edmund are together, and one of them tries to he particularly agreeable to the other. Apollo, in the old legend, was not guilty of a greater indiscretion, when he allowed Phaeton to take the reins of the horses of the sun, than was Edmund, when Ala, a little Vain of what she had learned, asked to be allowed to guide the car. He foolishly consented, and the consequences were prompt in declaring themselves.

Edmund had worked up a pretty lively clip, and we may have been making ten miles a minute, when Ala’s desire to try her hand alone was gratified. She had hardly grasped one df the knobs, when my consciousness went off skylarking and, as I quickly found out, the same thing happened t* everyone In the car. You can easily imagine what had occurred—inadvertently Ala had brought us to the rightabout, which flung us off our feet with such violence that we were knocked senseless. When I came to myself and got on my legs, Edmund had already recoverd, and was working desperately at the controllers. I knew from the motion that he was trying to stop os. The car shook as If it would fall to

pieces, jolt following jolt, like an express train under emergency brakes. Blood was running down his face, and. with a quick motion, he wiped it out of his eyes, without ever ceasing his labor at the kftobs. Seeing, ‘more by instinct than by looking, that I had recovered, he cried out: “For Heaven’s sake, Albert, look to Ala!” She lay senseless near the center of the car, while Jack and Henry had been pitched into a corner, the maid lay beside a bench. I lifted Ala, and, after being jerked from my feet two or three times, succeeded in placing her on one of the benches against the wall. I could see Edmund’s anxious glances over his shoulder, but he could not quit his place, nor for an instant remit hi 3 exertions.

Never had the beauty of this queen of Venus seemed so wonderful as when I thus bore her in my arms. I even imagined that Edmund must feel a pang of jealousy. Very gently I placed her upon the cushioned bench, and seeing no blood on her white face and arms, I believed that she had suffered no injury beyond a shock. Soon she opened her eyes and, as they fell upon Edmund, I realized that I and my exertions in her behalf were already forgotten. She immediately strove to rise, pushing me away, but Edmund, seeing the mdvement, signaled her to remain where she was. Docilely she obeyed him, and'then for the first time she smiled at only to express her gratitude, but it sent the blood into my face. In the meantime, Jack, Henry and the maid had recovered. None of them were seriously injured, and they scrambled to their feet. The car by this time had ceased its eccentric movements, and a moment later it came to rest.

I felt that it had touched ground—but where? Edmund instantly ran to Ala’s side and began to caress her hands. “Thank Heaven!” he said aloud, and if she did not understand his words she knew well his meaning. When she began to bind up the cut on his head I felt like an intruder, and hurried to one of the windows. The first glance outside filled me with astonishment —and well it might! One would have said that we had descended into the midst of a garden of gorgeous orchids. Strange flowers of the most exquisite beauty, and mo3i extraordinary shapes, hung all about us, some of them brushing against the window. I called Jack and Henry to look at them, and while we stood there gazing, no qne speaking a word, a mass of foliage parted, and there emerged into view a bird so dazzlingly splendid in color that we all three muttered a simultaneous “Oh!” Our exclamation attracted the attention of Ala and Edmund, who at once came to the window. No sooner had she looked out than Ala joyously clasped her hands and immediately addressed herself to make Edmund understand her thought.

After a minute or two, he said to us: “We have'had great luck! In rushing back to the surface of Venus without knowing where we were going, we landed, in what I make out from Ala, in a kind of wild Eden, famous' for the beauty of its flowers and its birds. She proposes that we shall at once alight from the car, in order to enjoy the singular sights and pleasures which this place affords.” _. - We alighted, according, and found ourselves in a perfect wilderness of the most, beautiful flowering shrubs and trees. Pushing aside the branches we emerged into a kind of arbor, as if It had been a park. (To be continued.)